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I searched the area, waiting for the two fuckwits who always worked together in phases. It’d be Venom next. At least I couldexploit their pattern, but it was difficult doing it when I knew how dangerous the snake bastard was when he shifted.

Bear Claw wasn’t caught inside the barrier. That worked in our favor. The one who called himself Poison couldn’t be far. If he could track him down and tear him to pieces, it’d be just Venom left to take down. Which was enough.

These two ranked second to the Death Team, now likely first with those bastards dead and gone. We knew them as well as any of the other Brothers. They acted in stages, but it was tried and true for taking down even the strongest opponents. All they had to do was trap them. It took every bit of your cleverness and power to escape the first phase before you were gobbled up by a slithering monster.

We were already trapped in their poisonous barrier infused with venom. It’d take too long to break down the magic, and it’d be tricky to do while fighting a giant snake and keeping the poisonous fumes from reaching my two.

Venom’s snake was immune to them. My mask would keep me safe, but not my rebel and the lad. They’d need to stay inside my barrier, and the second it came down, they’d be paralyzed by Poison’s gas. My guess was they expected me to focus on the fight with Venom, while the other two were paralyzed by the fumes. Then Poison would swoop in to take my bird.

Mistakes couldn’t be made. If I didn’t do this fight right, they’d get what they wanted. I needed to explain everything before the next phase started. We only had a minute or two at most.

“Venom takes the form of a giant snake, and he’s a tough twat to fight. He’s immune to most magic, at least mine, and it’ll take time to break down his scales to sever his head or get him to expose his underbelly to gut the fuckwit like a fish. He’s strong, fast, and like you probably suspect, venomous,” I explained quickly, twirling my sword. I kept a sharp eye out for the slithery twat. “Poison controls a vaporous form that can travel a sizeabledistance from his body. It'll incapacitate you if you’re in it longer than thirty seconds or so. Paralyze you for the snake to swallow or for someone to kidnap.”

My gaze connected with Nika’s, and she nodded, understanding perfectly what I was implying. My bird was quick on the uptake.

“My mask keeps me safe—”

“But we’ll be at risk,” Nika cleverly surmised.

“Right,” I confirmed, cutting a look to the top of the building.

Bear Claw was in his bear form, trampling across the top. His huge silhouette disappeared. He’d caught the scent of that bastard, that much I was certain. He hadn’t stopped to check on us or cast an assessing glance.

If it was one thing I was grateful for, it was that Bear Claw was former Brotherhood. He’d know these muppets as well as I did. He’d know the stages, and he’d know what was at stake if he didn’t work to bring down the barrier and get Nika out of the fumes.

“Lev, remember the day at the lake?” my bird asked. A conversation passed between them wordlessly. “Think it’ll work with this?”

The lad was all smiles. “I just don’t have to breathe, right?”

Catching on, I nodded. “It needs to be inhaled or it won’t work. As long as you don’t breathe, you’ll avoid its effects.”

“I can hold my breath for ten minutes with a bit of magic. How long can you keep this barrier in place?” he asked, peering around us.

Impressed by his creativity, I eyed the barrier I’d erected. “I can keep it as long as it’s not attacked, but ten minutes is all I’ll need to get this bastard. And if Bear Claw takes care of our little poisonous friend faster than I do mine, then we’ll only have Venom left to fight and no fumes to contend with. It’s the fumes that makes it lethal to fight him.”

The ground under our feet quaked. My head twisted round, catching sight of the oversized monster slinking toward us. “Stay here, little rebel.”

Nika tapped her chin, thinking. “The boys and I want to try something.”

I growled at her. “Now’s not the time—”

“I wasn’t asking,” she interjected. She reached out, her fingers nearly touching the barrier.

I snarled and grabbed her hand before she made contact. “Don’t touch it, love. It’ll poison you the same way the fumes do, just without inhaling and quicker.”

Nika cut a look up at me in irritation before sighing. Then she pulled her hand away and reached out again. The two phantom wankers who’d been invisible until now appeared on the other side of the barrier. Their arms went straight through it, and the magic shuddered and cracked.

A splinter grew around where their arms broke through. I realized within a few seconds that the poison injected into the magic wasn’t affecting them. They hadn’t dropped or grown wobbly on their feet. Were they immune to it, or just incapable of being killed?

“Go,” she commanded.

In awe of another bout of creativity on my rebel’s part, I laughed. “Chitter at me like that again, and I might forget we have to fight at all, love.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just go, asshole.”

Saluting her, I knocked my head the way of the snake. “Let’s see how well you fight while holding your breath, lad.”

We dashed into the thick noxious mist, two stupid plonkers about to take on a building-sized snake. If it weren’t Nika’s future at stake, I’d drag out the fun. But this needed to end before it truly begun. After reinforcing the barrier to protect my feisty goddess, I sought out the beast waiting to strike inthe dense fog. He was massive, but the heavy concentration of vaporous poison inside the alley kept him well hidden.