Page 27 of Wicked Ties
“Fuck off,” Maze growled and opened his door.
I opened my door and the smells and sounds of the city assailed me. Memories of the past hit me, and the smells were so familiar. It was a mixture of home-cooked Italian, wine, and cars fumes filled the air. There was a quaintness to Little Italy. The streets were cobblestone, and the shops were so close together they were more like family than neighbors. Strings of lights hung in random spurts inside and outside the restaurants. Tables and chairs crowded the sidewalks. Earlier in the day, it would be packed with people all sitting, eating, and enjoying New York. But this hour of the morning, we were lucky it was a ghost town. The restaurants were closed, and no patrons lingered on the street.
Grayson stopped on the corner and motioned for us to slow down. He peeked around the corner and froze. “Bloody hell.”
He stood straight and walked around the corner. Maze and I followed with Logan and Grayson just behind us. We strolled out into the middle of the street in a loose line. The sound of fighting hit me first, and then I saw it. The shadows moving around two dark figures. Kadieon, the only female Fallen, stood in the middle of the battle. She held a dagger in each hand. Thick black blood dripped from the daggers, and a wide smile spread across her face.
A demon with a humanoid body and the tail of a snake shot out at her with lightning speed. Kade threw her knife at its tail, embedding it through the meaty flesh and into the ground. It twisted its body, reaching for the knife. She spread her wings and leapt onto its shoulders, standing there for a second. She shoved her legs back and knocked the demon to the ground. It hissed and reached out with its talons, trying to grab her. She pumped her wings and back-flipped up off it, knocking it flat. She threw her other knife right at its throat, hitting it just under the chin. A gurgling sound came from deep in its throat, and it twitched on the ground.
Kade grabbed the hilt of the knife and ripped it free, then tossed it at another demon on the attack. Beside her, Taliam swung his sword effortlessly, cutting through the horde of demons swarming them. His silver hair glinted in the moonlight. His eyes were sharp, tracking each of the movements around him. His body was lean and sleek, a bit shorter than Matteaus and Aidenuli but still large. Leather straps wrapped around his bare upper body and wound around his leather pants. Blood poured down his sword and over the ground. He spun around, cutting them down like a hot knife through butter. Bodies littered the ground all around them, twitching and moving—still alive but on the verge of death.
A single demon turned and ran from them, sprinting down the street toward us. It had four legs like a crab, the head of a human, and long, slimy arms. Grayson chuckled and ran at it with his full vampire speed. He rammed it with his shoulder, sending it flying across the street toward Taliam. He spun in a circle and sliced the demon cleanly in half. One piece lay on each side of him.
Another demon shot from the fray toward Maze, and he didn’t even blink an eye. Neon green smoke poured from his hands as he pulled a card from the side of his cargo pants. Long red bands wrapped around the demon, knocking it to the ground, and strapped it there. He pulled a knife from his hip and stabbed it through the heart, leaving it there.
Logan moved to Maze’s other side. He held his hand up, stopping a demon from running into him. “Stop.”
The demon stopped in its tracks. Its muscles twitched as though it wanted to move but couldn’t. It was large with the head of a cobra and the body of a man. It held a bone axe in each hand. Its knuckles turned white as it gripped the axes harder, unable to move.
Logan stepped in closer to it. Magic lingered in the air. “Don’t breathe.”
The demon held its breath. Its eyes widened and the veins in its neck strained. Logan stood there watching as the demon suffocated itself.
“Logan.” He didn’t seem to hear me. “Logan!”
Nothing.
I walked around him, hauled back my fist and let it shoot forward. It connected with the demon’s snake jaw. Its head whipped around, and its neck snapped from the force of the punch. It dropped to the ground.
I got in Logan’s face. “Torture isn’t a thing.”
He didn’t say anything or even blink when he peered at me with those vacant eyes. I didn’t know what happened to him in unseelie but whatever it was it was beginning to show. I shoved him in the shoulder. “Got it?”
“Yea.” I pulled his knife and spun it in his hand. “Got it.”
“Good punch. Nice, but watch this.” Kylian bent down and placed his hand on the street.
Burgundy power flowed from his fingers, seeping into the cobblestone. Three pointed spears shot up from the ground and into some of the demons creeping in the shadows.
In no time, they lay there twitching on the ground, barely clinging to life. Odin wrapped himself between my feet. “Not dying today.”
He wasn’t a normal pet to bend down and comfort. But I would protect him, because he belonged with us. “I’ll kill whatever comes our way.”
But nothing else would come. They were down and all that was left standing was us, Kade, and Taliam. Kade turned toward us and pointed her knives at us. We all took a step back and held up our hands.
I fought the need to scream, “Not a demon.” But I didn’t really know what I was anymore.
“Matteaus sent us here.”
Kade dropped her knives to her side and stepped over the corpses surrounding her. “Interesting.”
Maze strode forward and slightly in front of me. Protective? Did he remember the horror of my transformation the way I did? He motioned to the dead demons. “We need to summon the Keres.”
Taliam lifted his arm, pretending to look at an imaginary watch. “Well, look at that. It’s dinner time, Kade.”
“It is.” She paused, looking right at me. “Stick around. You’ll get what you want.”
Grayson scoffed and kicked an arm away. “Stick around among this . . .”
