Page 59 of Absolved In Death

“This is an interesting weapon…” he said as he turned it to a pocket knife again, then a spear. “Would suck if it somehow…broke.” He snapped it in half, then threw the pieces at Ares’ feet. “Don’t bother trying to fix it, I used my superior Fae magic to make sure it can never be repaired. Hope being a nuisance to me was worth it.”

The troops gathered to watch the fighting, and taunts and jeers rang out through the crowd.

Y’all ready to pack it up and accept defeat gracefully,I asked them.

They all snapped their heads in my direction, glaring at me. Guess that meant no. Desmond fully shifted, his red wings snapping out with a loudcrack. Bash followed suit, and a violently golden glow encased Ares’ entire body. The three of them attacked Quelier again, but this time he didn’t even bother blocking them. He erected a full body shield, ensuring their attacks never made contact.

“Fucking prick!” Bash yelled, smashing through his shield. He punched Q in the nose, and blood dripped down his face, spraying onto his uniform.

His weakness is hand to hand combat?I linked Azazel.

Possible. Fae have such advanced magic they may not worry about hand to hand,he responded.

The guys must have caught on, because they started to test the theory. Ares took his legs out in a low spinning kick, and Q fell to the floor. He erected another shield, but this one was made of thick black smoke. It curled around Bash and Ares’ heads, invading their mouths and noses. Desmond casted a bubble shield around his head before it could suffocate him, and tried to magically penetrate the smoke with hit after hit of fire.

He would have succeeded if Diana’s little Dino Posse hadn’t shown up. They ran in like a bolt of lightning, making that creepy clucking shriek. By the time the guys realized we had party crashers, Fang, the little creepy one, had already attacked Ares. Tank toppled Desmond to the ground and ripped one of his toes off. Claw bit Bash on his unblemished asscheek, bringing him to his knees in scream-worthy, agonizing pain.

“Say you’re sorry, and I’ll call them off,” Q cooly offered.

I’d fought with these men. We were assassins together for centuries. I knew all of them served in multiple wars throughout history. How the fuck did they let themselves get their asses kicked by three small dinosaurs? Seriously, this wassoembarrassing.

Ares grabbed his scaled assailant by the throat, and Q wagged his finger at him. “Nuh uh, Greek Daddy. Diana loves her little beasties. Don’t you dare kill them—they’re irreplaceable.”

He has a point. Can you all give up already? The soldiers are going to make your lives a living Heaven.You shouldn’t have even started with him,Azazel linked us all.

Bash continued to fight Claw, getting ripped to shreds in the process. Ares was at a standstill, trying to minimize Fang’s ability to slice his face. Desmond sighed, and finally said “We’re sorry for starting a fight with you…”

Quelier clapped three times and said a strange sounding word. All three of those little shits ran to him and made a line behind him in size order. “You’re forgiven. Hopefully you’ve all learned a valuable lesson here today.” He zeroed his glare at Desmond. “Remember what I told you and Azazel? Heed the warning, devil.”

“Will do,” he groused as his shadows wrapped around his wounds.

“If you excuse me, I have a meeting more important than this,” Q said as he faded away.

Unfortunately, the dinos didn’t follow him. They roamed around the dining hall, the soldiers giving them a wide berth. Lucifer fed one of them a piece of bacon, and itchortled. Like a little scaly alien. The sound sent shivers down my spine. Tank, the biggest one, sat right near my feet. Its reptilian, beady eyes were unsettling.

“Go on now. Shoo, boy,” I ordered him gently. I was scared shitless of these things, but I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself in public by running from it. Desmond, Ares, and Bash embarrassed us enough for one day.

“He wants your popcorn, Mal,” Azazel said. He threw a piece at Tank, who caught it in his mouth. He made a lower version of that chortle sound, then clicked its talons together.

I threw him a few more pieces, and he licked my boots. The other two sat next to him, waiting for their treats.

“Seems we’ve been adopted. Congrats,” Azazel said around a laugh. He reached a handful out to Claw and Fang, who greedily ate it up.

“Of course those little bastards like Mal and Az,” Ares whines. “Little fuckers got me on my money maker.” He rubbed a huge gash on his cheek, pouting like a baby.

Azazel pointedly looked at Ares’ ass, and said “Your ass looks fine to me, Ares.”

“Ha ha ha very funny, Feathers. Tonight I’ll thoroughly check your ass and make sure it’s fine,” he chirped back.

“You guys were so embarrassing.” I tsked, shaking my head. “Come on, let’s go back to the apartment. The room service will be ready soon, and I don’t want Diana waking up by herself.”

The others nodded in agreement, and faded back. I bent down, extending my hand palm out to the Velociraptors. They all licked it, and Tank even rubbed his snout into my palm.

“Bye dinos. Next time I’ll bring some butter flavored popcorn and we can compare,” I said before parting ways.

19

QUELIER

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