Battle With Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

Surprise flickered through me. Unicorns mostly surrounded the shifters, mages, and fae, not crowding them but keeping the demons or other creatures from getting to them. They were also keeping my people from getting out, cutting them off from the battle. The demons on Lucifer’s side didn’t push or look like they were trying to get through the line. They were instead going around them on both sides, pouring into the elves’ forces, able to do so because of the small force we’d brought. We’d created an impediment to keep them from directly attacking.

My vision magnified as my gaze shifted to those within the unicorn barrier—some effect of magic, obviously, still not controlled by me.

I could just make out a collection of mages, Dizzy and Callie among them, their canvas satchels thrown open and their hands reaching in. They were ready to fight but unable or unwilling to harm the unicorns. Roger and Steve were within the protective barrier as well, trying to push through it to get to the action on the elf side. They’d clearly realized the demons weren’t a threat to them specifically, and the battle had moved beyond them. Roger wasn’t one to give up a fight when he was needed.

“You’d planned to protect my people all along,” I whispered to Lucifer, finding Penny, Emery, Darius, and Cahal where I’d left them, each paused mid-action. They’d continued the fight, pushing me to safety but not trying to follow. “Well…some of them.”

“All of them,” Lucifer said, following my gaze. “I’d planned to protect you all. The unicorns volunteered to push you out of the fight. They did want a crack at the elves, but they decided protecting your people in their time of need was more important.”

A host of vampires, led by Vlad, had worked around to the elves and were closing in on them. Dragons hovered overhead, frozen as they looked down, some with fire streaming out of their mouths onto the cowering elves and creatures below. Demons pushed in from all sides, massed more in some areas than others. Various creatures dotted the landscape, in the process of fleeing. They did not plan to stay until the bitter end, or to give their lives for abandoning a cause that was not their own. With their intolerant leadership, the elves had sunk themselves. They’d never stood a chance. We hadn’t made any difference, and nor could we have. My group had been a bunch of cowboys trying to do the right thing regardless of the odds, and in the face of logic.

Every one of us would do it again, though. We’d hoped to find a better solution for everyone, one that didn’t cost so many lives, one that allowed the people of the Realm to continue ruling themselves. Maybe one day someone would be strong enough to make that happen.

“I don’t really care if you save me,” I said, suddenly tired. “I’ve only ever had a half-life, anyway. Only worried about myself. That’s not really someone of moral fiber. If you’re going to expend any effort, help the people down there. Help the people of the Realm. They’ve been in the shadow of tyrants for a long time, it seems like. Help them get set up for a better life, and please save the people who fought beside me down there. Take my life for theirs, if you have to, I don’t care, but make sure they live. And flip Penny off as you do it. She’ll be so pissed I got to be the hero again.”

“I know what you want for yourself and these worlds,” Michael said, his not-voice echoing through my brain. “I see it clearly.”

“First, it’s rude to go digging around someone’s head without asking. Second, if you were going to do that, why bother asking?” I closed my eyes and leaned back. “You’re exhausting.”

“Like father, like daughter, it would seem,” Michael murmured. “I am thankful you were born in the Brink so we didn’t have a repeat of what happened with Lucifer.”

I didn’t know what that meant, so I didn’t bother replying.

“You wish to live in the Brink still,” Michael said. “Is that world to your liking, then? Unlike the Realm, it needs no improvement?”

Lucifer huffed out a laugh but didn’t comment.

I had to agree with Lucifer. “It’s my home. It’s the home of my mother. It means something to me. Improvement, though? Yeah. I’ll say. Non-magical humans are running amok. It’s an utter shitshow at the moment.”

“I’d be happy to step in,” Lucifer said, and I could tell he was taunting Michael again. “Though I’m not sure what more I could do. They are already well versed in sex, war, hate, violence—”

“Yes, yes.” Michael held up a hand, studying me but talking to my father. “I take your point. You are right, if I must admit it. We have been gone for too long. It is time we assert ourselves into their short little lives and see what can be done. Maybe strip away all that…color you seem to allow your subjects.” His eyes cut to Lucifer, who returned the look with a wolfish grin.