Page 52 of Devastation
"Maybe we should go see Serenity next, since she has a lot of knowledge on portals?" Hale offers from his seat on the corner of the bed.
Deep in my soul, I know that we need to get to the demon realm immediately and that something is wrong. Why would the way to the realm be blocked? The whole situation screams Erebus, I just don't know how he accomplished it or how to get past whatever he's done.
Nodding once, I pull the portal to the witch realm up with ease and answer, “You’re right. We need to get there quickly. Let's go."
We file through the portal and directly into the street in front of the house we stayed in during our training here. What greets us is absolute chaos.
All the homes within a block are in shambles and burning. There's not a witch in sight.
Dread pools in my stomach for Serenity, her mates, and their people. I quickly expand my senses, letting my soul seek out Serenity and the tether I know we'll have to one another.
The teal bond slams into place, and I begin sprinting in the direction it leads me as Ash yells, "Lana! Wait!"
My boots pound against the pavement and my chest heaves as I drag in a breath and yell, "Come on! I know where Serenity is."
I hear them behind me, so I continue towards the looming facility that I can only assume is the fighting arena. Its massive dome gleams amidst the fire that has rampaged through the once extravagant and colorful city.
We cross the distance quickly, and I don't slow my pace as I approach the doors. Holding my hand out, I send a huge surge of wind into them, knocking them open just in time for me to run through.
A battle cry sounds from the other side of the door and teal hair comes into view as the figure jumps at me. We both realize who the other is just a second too late, and we crash into each other and fall to the ground in a mess of tangled limbs.
"Anal!" She screams and grabs my shoulders, pulling me to her chest in a tight hug.
Squeezing her back, I look behind her to see her mates standing at the entrance, still on high alert. They all nod, first at me and then at each of my men behind me. Reese's blonde hair falls over his hazel eyes and he tosses his head to the side to move it. He looks a million times better than the last time I saw him at the dark fae castle.
His lean body has filled out a lot, and cords of muscle are visible on his arms and beneath his tight tank top. Freedom looks good on him.
I can't help the megawatt smile that bursts from me as he looks at me and winks. "Nice to see you alive, Lana."
"Her name is Anal, not Lana!" Serenity instantly corrects him while dropping her arms from me and pulling me with her up to our feet.
I want to fall into our easy banter, but it really doesn't feel like the time with the devastation surrounding us and concern about the broken demon realm portal still burning in the back of my mind.
I skip to the point and grab Serenity's arms. "What happened here?"
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head in somewhat of a daze as she looks behind me. "A mother fucking dragon happened."
My mouth drops in shock and I stutter, "Excuse me? A shifter did this?"
"No way would they attack this realm!" Zedd is quick to pipe up in defense of the magnificent beast.
Serenity's earth mage is quick to rectify her statement. His green eyes lock onto mine as he says, "There's no way there was a soul in that beast. I don't know if it's a dark creature Erebus created or a shifter he captured and altered. But it looked as if it was dripping magma, and it spewed black flames that were impenetrable to our magic when we tried to put the fires out."
Reese huffs out a breath, "And trust me, I dumped a metric fuck ton of water onto those flames. Completely impervious."
Her lumberjack mate Derrick mutters under his breath, "I don't think that's a quantifiable measurement."
Ash interjects, "We didn't see any black flames. They look like typical fire right now. Perhaps that wore off with time?"
Serenity's gaze narrows as she walks to him and stops with a fraction of an inch between them. She cranes her head back to look up at him and shoves a finger into his chest, "Don't ever scare us like that again, you turd..." She stops and prods him with her finger again, "But I'm glad you're back with your family and in one piece."
With that she spins on her heel and walks back to me, leaving poor Ash baffled. Hale claps him on the back and whispers something that I can't hear into his ear.
Serenity gives her men orders, "Go check out the fires and see if we can stop the spread. I'll stay here with our people."
Ahh, so they were all using the arena for safety. Explains where everyone is.
"We'll go with you," Hale tacks on, his face set in determination to help.
