Page 44 of Broken Shadows

Suspicion thickens heavily in the air with Gideon’s statement. Then from one blink to the next, quicker that even my demon eyes can track, Gideon tears through his shadow binds and rolls into the shadow behind the couch. My heart takes flight and lodges into my throat as the King of War exits a shadow cast by one of the high back chairs angled toward the couch like bookends—directly in front of Rosa. Fuck. Her shrill scream grates on my eardrums as Gideon grabs Rosa and captures her against his front.

Gideon chuckles. “Did you really think me, of all people, would make a novice mistake like allowing you fools to detect me?”

Out of my peripheral, Ezra’s body shakes violently in direct contrast to the smooth cadence of his twin’s words, seeming to almost blur in and out of focus. I glanced at him, then tense.

He's about to go full beast mode.

Gideon winks at Ezra as he presses his sharp claws over Rosa’s heart, then Ezra simply disappears. I track the slight distortion in the air marking his movements. Although, Ezra’s King of Monsters powers allow him to seamlessly cloak himself like a chameleon. Those abilities, combined with his demonic speed, are essentially akin to teleportation to the untrained eye.

Gideon roars as Ezra reappears behind him and rips the arm crossing over Rosa’s chest clean from the shoulder joint. Ezra lets out a bestial growl and tosses the offending appendage. Aiden’s head as he screams as it flies over his head and curls into a ball on the other end of the couch. Gideon levels his eyes on Aiden and tilts his head to the side, all his attention zeroing in on him like his shoulder isn’t spirting blood all over the living room. Gideon’s eyes blink once slowly, then he spins, drops to the ground, and kicks out all in one move, catching Ezra hard in the kneecaps with the momentum of his descent.

This is getting out of fucking hand. I shake out of the trance their fight compels and cross to Evie. I wrap my arms around her waist and drag her farther away from my dueling brothers.

“Wait!” she shouts, then reaches for Rosa’s hand and pulls her along with us.

Ezra’s body swiftly swells as he wills his King of Monsters powers to rise and blend with his demonic form.

Evie inhales sharply while my eyes widen when a palpable tension brackets the silence, the chiaroscuro of my brother’s ominous shadow spilling across half the room. Blue horns rise from just within his hairline, curving up and back in an arc akin to a giant sable antelope’s as he continues to grow at least a foot taller. Flames rise higher in the hearth, sparks crackling loudly as if in celebration of the bloodshed, casting an eerie tangerine glow on the twins’ profile. Soft looking, black fur sprouts from the back of his hands and wrists, while navy-blue spots appear on the pelt, their pattern an organized chaos of magnificence. The fur spreads up his arms, over his shoulders, and onto his chest, slowly decreasing in length and volume as it grows into barely visible fine hairs along his abdomen. He bounces his weight from foot to foot and cranes his neck to the side as if to alleviate the strain from shifting.

While Gideon operates on strategies and carefully choreographed plans, Ezra relies on his unhinged nature and the numerous monster forms he houses in his arsenal.

“Are you finished?” Gideon growls.

“Not even fucking close,” Ezra snaps through serrated teeth and unsheathes the dagger strapped to his thigh. The weapon gleams in the firelight as Ezra angles the demonic blade along his forearm.

“Did I touch a nerve, Monster?” Gideon says, then bares his teeth in an aggressive display of emotion his twin easily provokes.

Shit. Ireach for Ezra's mind only to come face-to-face with an impenetrable shield—a solid barrier of uncut black diamond. My brothers are the only beings able to block me out like this, Lucifer teaching all of us simple mind shielding as adolescents, but I sense madness swirling like a whirlpool behind the barrier. I slam a mental fist against it.Ezra, let me in. Ah, fuck. I brace myself as a furry, clawed, yet still skeletal hand spears over the wall, then flicks me out of his mind, while continually circling his twin.

Gideon chuckles darkly, nodding at Gomez who is hiding his face against Evie’s chest and my palm, his new plushy tucked securely under his wing. “I’m surprised you haven’t adopted the bat into your pack of rabid Hell monsters yet.” Gideon’s lips twitch downward. “Those mutts were always the most important things in your life. Weren’t they, Brother?”

I growl as my demonic powers creep from the depths of my magic. I might not like Fluffy Fucker, but no one threatens him but me. The air shimmers over Ezra like a second skin, then dissolves into nothingness as he uses Gideon’s lapse of concentration and cocky overconfidence to his advantage. I angle my head and track him through our brotherly bond. Ezra darts from one side of Gideon to the other in an irregular pattern as Gideon slowly turns in a tight circle.

“Don’t hide, Monster. We used to have so much fun together,” Gideon growls, then slashes the air with his claws. Ezra appears an inch away from his twin, towering over him. Ezra grunts but shoves forward as Gideon’s claws stab into his chest, however, he doesn’t seem to feel the pain.

My arms tighten around Evie and Gomez squeaks in protest as I watch my brothers, waiting for an opportunity to jump between them if necessary. The twins have always fought, but we always knew they never intended for death to end their games.Thisfight, however, is swiftly shifting to murderous territory.

Ezra shoves his body further onto Gideon’s claws, arcs his elbow to the side, then slashes the demonic blade across Gideon's throat. Navy blue blood pearls on Gideon’s skin in a thin line, then the tattoo of crossed swords inked onto his neck splits wide, a deluge of the thick liquid pouring onto his chest. Firelight flashes on the dripping dagger as Ezra flips the blade and grasps it upright in his palm, plunging it into Gideon’s gut. I wince as Gideon crumples to the floor before the hearth with a groan.

Fuck. It’ll take Gideon days to completely heal from those wounds.

He flashes a gruesome smile at Ezra, blood coating his gums and bubbling between his sharp demonic teeth as he coughs. “I've taught you well, Ez.” Pride threads through words before his eyes roll into the back of his head as he passes out.

My brows arch as Aiden’s head pops up from the circle of his arms like a turtle peeking from the shelter within its shell. “Shiiit. That was fucking terrifying,” he says, then gulps. “Is it over?”

I disregard his question and eye Ezra seriously, fine hairs raising all over my body. He looms over our unconscious brother, his chest rising and falling rapidly like bellows, one hand white knuckling the drenched demonic blade, the other clenching and unclenching into a fist, his claws repeatedly stabbing through his palm to the back of his hand. A dark puddle of blood blossoms underneath Gideon, viscous drops of the substance steadily feeding the pool from Ezra’s healing chest.

I open my mouth to speak, but Rosa steps away from Evie. “Ezra,” she calls softly. His pointed, softly furred ear twitches in response but he maintains his pose. “Ezra, Ireallyam okay.”

“Human Rainbow,” I warn as she takes a step forward but jerks to a stop as Evie clamps onto her wrist with a shadow.

“Don't go near him. It's dangerous,” Evie implores, then swallows thickly. “We don't know if he's in his right mind yet.”

Rosa smiles gently at Evie, her eyes conveying a world of unspoken communication with her best friend. Her brown eyes flicker to me, then narrow as one of her brows lifts.

“Just let her go. She can make her own mistakes,” I say to Evie.

A shadow tears from Evie’s hands before I can process what’s happening and coils around my throat, my shadows stretching to their breaking point as she pulls me away. Fury whips down our bond as she states, “He’syourbrother, you help him.”

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