Page 45 of Crimson Skies

The only saving grace is that the attack took place early in the day. There won’t be many people in the building!

The sound of battle and exploding spell bombs rose from the floors where Argonaut agents engaged the black magic sorcerers who had attacked them. Theo could smell the stench of the Hells coming from what remained of the high rise.

There were war demons inside.

His stomach lurched when he spotted Charlie and Bailey in the grounds of the building. One of the monsters was attempting to get past the defensive barrier they’d raised to protect a small group of injured agents they’d pulled out of the wreckage. The creature’s claws sparked violently where it made contact with their magic. From the way the shield was wavering, Theo knew it wouldn’t be long before it disintegrated. He closed his wings and dove.

Talons glinted on his right. He glimpsed the narrow, bat-like face of a war demon out of the corner of his eye.

Tisiphone’s brass-studded scourge carved the monster into several pieces before he could castSuspend.

“Go!” the Fury barked as he slowed. “We’ll lure out the ones inside!”

Megaera released a burst of divine energy that made the air tremble. Darkness swelled around Tenebra.

Ghastly screeches reverberated from the high rise when the war demons caught the scent of the Goddesses’ power. The billows of smoke wrapping around the building parted where they emerged, their claws scoring lines in concrete and metal as they crawled out of gaping windows and the breaches their attacks had created. Their crimson eyes flared. They took to the air with powerful thumps of their leathery wings.

The Goddesses were their enemies of old.

Theo twisted around and plunged toward Charlie and Bailey. The enchanter and the wizard’s barrier shattered a second before he reached them.

“Suspend!” Theo shouted.

The war demon froze, claws stopping an inch from Charlie’s chest and Bailey’s face.

Loki jumped down from Theo’s back and shifted into his Gargantua form mid-fall. He landed on the war demon, took him to the ground, and drove the golden broadsword in his hands through the creature’s skull with a roar. The light in the monster’s pupils faded, its grotesque shape sagging lifelessly on the asphalt.

Theo alighted in front of Bailey and Charlie. “Are you guys okay?!”

Charlie swallowed and nodded, sweat beading his ash and blood-stained face. Theo stiffened when he detected a trace of sulfur and black magic.

Bailey’s eyes rounded at something behind him. He cursed, pushed Theo aside, and attempted to block the spell bomb flashing toward his back from the foyer. His defense broke instantly, his magic weakened from battling the war demon. The wizard grunted as the attack smashed into him and sent him flying across the parking lot.

“No!” Charlie yelled.

“Bailey!” Loki roared.

They rushed toward the fallen wizard.

Theo whirled around, fury sending seraphic light blazing from his pupils. “SHIELD!”

His golden guard blocked the barrage of spell bombs that followed the initial charge. Two warlocks emerged from the debris-strewn vestibule, the rubble parting around them on a dense wave of black magic. Theo narrowed his eyes.

One of them was holding Strickland up by the throat. The other had ripped the mage’s weapon from his grip and overpowered it with a corrupt spell.

The red veins of their summoning staffs turned the warlocks’ skin to parchment where they’d spilled over and inked their marks upon their flesh.

Strickland ground his teeth, his knuckles white on the wrist of the man with his fingers locked on his windpipe. Pale light flickered violently around the mage as he fought the dark magic suppressing his core.

The warlocks glared at Theo.

“Where are they?” the one who clasped Strickland snarled. “Where are those damn summoning staffs?!”

Strickland turned his head with some difficulty. His left cheek and eye were swollen and bruised where he’d been beaten. “Don’t—don’t tell them anything!”

The warlock bared his teeth and tightened his hold on the mage’s throat. The second man started invoking a spell.

Theo lowered his brows. He couldn’t afford to make a wrong move. Not with Strickland’s life on the line.

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