The Darkest King (Lords of the Underworld 15)

Finally, the fiend moved on. Adrenaline dulled a twinge of pain as Sunny inched closer to the entrance of the throne room. She paused to let a group of combatants fight their way past her, then inched closer again.

“You will cease this madness, Lucifer!” Hades roared, his voice seeping past the doors.

Lucifer was here? Excitement melded with malice. He dies by my horn today!

The bastard’s gleeful laughter echoed from the walls. “I will not cease until you know what it’s like to lose everything. Even now, my armies are gathering your allies. They’ll be brought here, where they’ll watch you and your precious William die.”

Kill William? Like hellebore! She reached the entrance and peered through the crack in the door. Oh...daisy. More dead bodies. In the far corner, a contingent of Sent Ones punched their own temples and tore out hanks of their hair.

A blonde woman in a tattered brown robe stood before the winged Warriors. She was pale, emaciated and dirty, but she kept her arms extended, her hands aimed at the winged warriors. Must be a witch, tormenting the males with her magic.

Countless demons. A powerful witch. A hated prince of darkness. How was Sunny supposed to subdue them all? She needed William, her knight in shining armor. Her packmate. The one person she shouldn’t be around.

As Hades bellowed a curse, the wrongness of her last thoughts hit her with the force of a baseball bat. What was she going to do, cower until he got here? Was she a coward or a unicorn? A fragile flower or a demon slayer? A loser or a superhero? She did not need a man to save the day. She didn’t need anyone. She could—and would—do this herself!

Once again, Sunny peeked through the crack between the door and its frame. Demon hordes formed a circle around Hades and Lucifer, who still fought. The king’s army had been neutralized, the soldiers lying on the ground, either motionless or writhing in pain.

Black smoke wafted from Hades as he spun and thrust two short swords at Lucifer, who blocked and slammed a massive ebony wing into Hades. As the king stumbled back, the prince did it again, spinning to hit Hades with a wing. This time, the membranous appendage swept the king off his feet.

Sunny fit her fingers around the grooves in the medallion, the horn growing from the center. Time for the unicorn to step in.

39

“All hail the king!”

William met up with Axel at the edge of the Sent One campground, as planned.

“I was able to locate an injured Sent One,” Axel told him, a vein throbbing in the center of his forehead. “The demons hit hard, then flashed everyone away. The witness escaped, but not before he heard mention of Hades’s palace.”

He stiffened. They’d flashed to Sunny’s current location. Demons...attacking his mate... “We flash to Hades’s throne room now.” Words he group texted to his every ally.

As if he and Axel had been partners for centuries, they turned in unison, standing back to back, their swords at the ready.

Hell vanished, total chaos coming into view. Lucifer and Hades fought in the overcrowded throne room, two tornados continually slamming together, moving so fast even William had trouble tracking them. Dead and dying soldiers carpeted the floor. The odor of old pennies, urine and waste, bowels emptying upon death tainted every breath.

He’d entered a literal shit storm.

Where was Sunny? He cast his gaze about...and found the missing Sent Ones, who appeared agonized by an invisible force.

Gillian and Puck appeared beside them, took stock and launched into the fray.

William’s boys appeared next. Then Pandora. Then a handful of Lords and Ladies, including Anya and Keeley. Even more Hell kings.

For a moment, William stood paralyzed by an outpouring of gratitude that they’d dropped everything to come. Awed by the fearsome sight they presented. Humbled that they loved him enough to put their lives at risk to save someone he loved.

As his friends got busy killing demons, William caught sight of a familiar face and sucked in a breath. Lilith. She had survived.

He hadn’t seen her in so long. Now she stood near the Sent Ones, her arms raised. She looked as haunted and defeated as her half sister. Clearly, Lucifer had put her through hell.

William waited for satisfaction to come...but it remained at bay.

The medallion heated against his chest, even more magic seeping into his skin, into his blood, his brain...not dark magic, though, as he’d originally suspected, but pure magic. His muscles plumped another couple of inches, and his bones refortified, stronger than steel. His cells fizzed.

Different colored lights began to glow from everyone. Auras, he realized. This is what Sunny sees?

But how could the medallion affect him this way?

Ponder later, fight now. He launched into motion, removing the head of a demon who approached.

Other demons noticed him and Axel, and attacked en masse; claws swiped at him, fangs chomped and tails whipped. Determined to find Sunny, he swung at the next demon to approach and yelled to Axel, “I must find Sunny.”

“I’ll guard your back. You lead. I’ll follow.”

Now satisfaction filled him. Brandishing his swords, removing limb after limb, he surged forward. Axel remained close, guarding his back as promised. They left a trail of dead demons in their wake. Problem: their efforts made no difference. The moment one demon toppled, two others took its place. The fiends just kept coming, soon surrounding them.

We might...lose?

No! The key to winning a battle—be adaptable. “New plan,” he grated, stomping on a tail to halt a demon’s retreat, then lopping off his head. “We’ll free the Sent Ones from the witch’s magic. They can fly overhead and search for Sunny.”

As they backtracked, the medallion heated against William’s chest. He was surprised his shirt wasn’t smoking. Why—

Even though his fingers were not fitted around the medallion’s grooves, a sharp, bony protrusion grew, slicing through his shirt.

He dropped a sword to rip the medallion free of the chain.

A loud, booming war-neigh sounded, echoing off the walls. Demons went still. Actually, everyone went still, all eyes zooming to the doorway. A massive warhorse—no, a war-unicorn—came blazing into the room.

Sunny.

William’s jaw dropped. She. Is. Magnificent. Feral, neon red eyes. Large, sharp teeth. Her scarred flesh bore every color of the rainbow. A ridged black horn the exact dimensions of their spears protruded from the center of her forehead, a glowing, golden ring around it. The exact size of the medallion.

He comprehended three startling facts all at once. The medallions were amputated unicorn horns. Her horn had activated his medallion, drawing the spear—horn—forth. And to see a horn on a living unicorn was to want—need—it for your very own, its magic like a potent wine, inspiring instant, unwavering obsession.

No wonder Sunny had insisted on hiding her unicorn form.

She galloped through the throne room, plowing into demons. With her horn, she ripped through scales, armor and bone, black blood dribbling down her face. After she impaled two demons, she shook her head, sending the pair flying, and mule-kicked the fiends behind her.

This was not a woman who needed saving. Others needed saving from her, and he couldn’t be prouder.

None of his enemies had managed to topple him, but love for Sunny might do the trick.

Everyone else felt as he did—obsessed. No one could look away from the horn, everyone frozen by the sight. Even Hades and Lucifer went still, peering at her as if mesmerized.

Sunny focused on the witch. Shouting with pain, Lilith beat her fists against her temples. At the same time, William’s spear heated, vibrating with a strange, new magic.

No. Not new, and not strange. Lilith’s. His horn worked with Sunny’s, siphoning the witch’s magic. And Lucifer’s illusions apparently. The Sent On

es stopped pulling their hair, and the number of demons decreased by seventy percent, at least, every illusion vanishing.

A corner of his mouth curved up. The smoke around Hades and Lucifer dissipated, revealing two bloody warriors with an array of gashes. Hades was panting and pale, obviously weakened. Lucifer was...no longer beautifully flawless. He’d changed in ways William had never imagined, his eyes sunken and bloodshot. His cheeks had hollowed, his skin sallow. His hair had thinned, and his shoulders had stooped. William’s smile widened. Deserved.

The two predators circled each other. The remaining demons attempted to surround them, creating a wall, but William’s allies slaughtered each and every one. They created a wall.

Frothing with rage, ready to end this, William pushed his way past the crowd and sneered, “My turn to play. Or are you a coward, ready to flash away?” Could the bastard flash, or had the ability been siphoned from him?

Lucifer twirled a dagger between his fingers. “Why don’t we air our dirty laundry instead?”