Page 42

Seven

“I forgot,”

Dove said as Elder Peter scurried out the door, her brown eyes all big and filled with guilt like it was her fault it slipped her mind. “Damon, we need you to repair the Hellgate before the demons come out. There were legions down there preparing for battle.”

Damon shifted uncomfortably as we all turned to him. “I would if I could.”

“What do you mean?”

Rhys demanded. “You will do as ordered. It’s your job.”

The Lord of Nightmares frowned, a confusion crossing his expression. “My job is to guard the gate. But I have no way to repair it.”

“Then what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

Enko demanded.

Dove straightened her shoulders back, looking at each of us seriously. “We fight.”

All of us erupted at Dove’s words, various forms of disagreement, all in our own way, but Dove was already racing up the stairs.

We followed her, heading into our own rooms. I opened my closet, pulling out my armor and beginning to put it on. For regular demon hunting, I never used it. But if what Elder Peter said was true, I may need it this time.

We all geared up and met again in the hallway, Dove still only wearing her thin human cloth, her odachi at her side, along with her dagger and throwing knives strapped to her legs.

“Vixen, we made something for you. Just in case this happened,”

my brother told her, gesturing for all of us to follow him into his room.

Against the wall, it stood. A brand new set of armor, made to perfectly fit our Fated. We had argued for weeks over what to make it out of. Whether she would want it to be black or white. Eventually we compromised, a layer of blackened quicksilver and iron, adorned with the white gold and platinum.

Dove’s jaw dropped, looking at the armor while we all looked at her beautiful admiring smile. “For me?”

“Yes,”

I snapped. “Now put it on and remember how important you are to us.”

She grinned as I glared at her, but she rushed forward to hug each of us. We ushered her back to the armor, each of us grabbing a piece and shoving our Fated into it. Because right now we didn’t have time for her thankfulness.

I unstrapped her odachi while Kairos’ secured the cuirass across her front and Enko tightened the sides. Damon and Rhys worked on either arm as I knelt before her and began on her greaves. I unfastened her knives and dagger, touching her thighs a bit longer than was necessary.

We would have imprisoned her at home if we could, but she would never forgive us. It was a double-edged sword. Letting her fight and endanger herself, or lock her up and have her hate us for the rest of eternity. But when it came down to it, she would get what she wanted, no matter the cost. For Dove, it was worth it.

My Fated let out a gasp as I tightened the straps near her upper thighs. She peered down at me, admiring me in a way I never thought a woman would. She loved me. She didn’t pretend my scar across my face didn’t exist, or that I was good-looking despite it. She gazed down at me like I was attractive because of it. She understood what it meant, the pain and the story behind it. She loved it like any other part of me.

Goddess, protect her at all costs, I prayed. As a Disciple, Dove could hear the goddess, which must mean that the goddess was real. And after being blessed with my Fated, I knew she was watching over all of us.

“Ready?”

Kairos asked in his golden armor, jerking his head toward the door. My own armor was black, and Enko’s grayish-silver, with the slight twinge of red iron-oxide. My brother wore the armaments of the Archfox, more adorned and embellished than the rest of ours because it was made for the Commander of our army. He wore a white cloak trimmed in red and gold, in honor of the goddess.

And now Dove had her own. We hadn’t had time to finish the helmet for her, and her white hair flowed freely down both of her shoulders. Her expression had turned serious, and I knew she was hellbent on getting revenge against the demons that had attacked her temple. She stroked her odachi like it was a shrewd kitten she was keeping calm.

Dove gazed at Damon, who wore only his normal clothes. “Where’s your armor?”

Damon bowed his head slightly to hide the trace of a smile on his lips. “I’m a Mind kitsune, Dove. I won’t be in the heat of the battle like the rest of you. My job is to protect you from afar.”

Dove nodded in understanding. “Let’s go,”

Dove said, still giving Damon a concerned look and we headed downstairs and out the door.

I got into the driver’s seat of my Land Rover and everyone else piled in. Before the doors were even closed, I revved the engine and drove.

Through my rear-view mirror, Dove wasn’t her normal playful self in the backseat. Her face was stony and determined, staring through the middle of the front seats and out the windshield. When I tried to penetrate her thoughts, I hit the hardened shield of her Mind. Damon had trained her well, fortified her against her fears, watched her face them and helped her through the turmoil.

Smoke rose from the lower city of Lethe, and I sped toward it, coming across the occasional destroyed building and the patrols of kitsune killing any demons that had slipped past our armies.

I turned down a main road, far from the Hellgate and slammed on the brakes, the car squealing to a stop.

Our army blocked the street. We hurried out to see what the commotion was so far from the Hellgate.

Elder Peter scurried toward us, relieved, raising a hand in greeting. The five of us stood around Dove as he bowed.

“Why are you so far from the frontlines?”

Rhys demanded.

“Demons broke through the blockade an hour ago,”

Elder Peter explained. “The enemy has begun to set up a forward encampment a quarter mile around the Hellgate.”

“How many are free?”

Rhys asked, and I could see his brain already churning through the battle strategies.

“Several thousand and growing,”

Elder Peter responded.

“Thank you for monitoring, Peter. Get your Holy Foxes back to safety.”

The Elder gave a long and relieved bow, “Yes, Your Holiness.”

We moved toward the army of kitsune, a good portion of which were students of the Academy, looking nervous. The first-years were given standard-issue weapons, ones that weren’t tethered to their soul and wouldn’t serve them much good against any more than a Tier II.

Elder Peter passed by us once more, and each of his Holy Foxes bowed as they went by us, fear dripping from their faces. Dove’s little red-headed friend was among them rushed forward and wrapped her arms around my Fated.

“Be careful, Dove,”

the Holy Fox said.

Dove returned the hug, leaning into her friend for a second of comfort. “You have nothing to worry about. I have my Fated mates, Sana. Get yourself back to the temple. A battlefield is no place for a Holy Fox. This is our job.”

Sana bowed and hurried off to catch up with the other Holy Foxes.

Rhys took the lead, pushing through the scattered kitsune army in front of us. He began to shout orders, “Get into your assigned groups! First-years in the back and keep close to your assigned Officer, your best chance of survival is with each other! Decorated warriors to the frontline!”

The kitsune moved as ordered, hiding their fears as the Archfox moved through them. The army parted for us as we made our way to the frontlines.

“Brynn!”

Dove called out to the retreating first-years. “Be safe!”

The book-smart kitsune girl waved back, but was ushered along by her Officer, a third-year student who looked almost as scared himself.

When we got past the throng of kitsune, I realized why.

The demons had blasted a hole into Lethe, the skyscraper lined streets near the Hellgate were all but rubble now. Tents made of ragged patchwork cloth—skin, I suspected—had been set up. And Tier IVs patrolled the inferior fiends with whips and screams.

Nearest to the Hellgate, I could hear the banging of metal, crude weapons for the demons to use in the battle. I scanned the battlefield.

“Seven, check the Hellgate. Report back to me,”

Rhys demanded as he shook his head. “At least three thousand strong, and that’s not counting the ones we saw in Hell.”

Dove’s eyes immediately went to mine, the first flash of fear I’d seen from her since she found out we traded Damon. I smirked at her confidently, masking my own uncertainty at the battle. There were more demons than I’d ever seen in my life.

I entered the Vale, drawing my short sword and dagger as I began to slaughter my way through the Shadow creatures to the center of the hellish encampment, down into the cave where the Hellgate stood.

Or where it once had.

The arch of the Hellgate was shattered, the top crumbled into boulders below. None of the blue hellfire flames wrapped around it. The center no longer had its protective barrier. I could see straight into the pits of Hell. Demons marched out in legions and hordes, crawling over each other like bugs to escape.

I rushed back to Rhys and the others, who now stood at the front of an organized army. I gulped before exiting the Shadow Vale.

“The last stronghold has fallen,”

I announced.

My Fated and her mates steeled themselves at the news. Rhys nodded solemnly as though he already suspected it.

The demons had chosen their battlefield, right at the center of Lethe. And in front of us, our foe assembled.

Weakest at the front, mostly composed of Tier I imps and other small creatures. My clever Fated probably knew the names of every single one.

“Hold our ground!”

Rhys was yelling. “We cannot retreat, or these demons will rule over Earth!”

Fireballs began to rain upon us and Kairos struck his mace onto the ground, causing the rumble of thunder above us as a cloud formed to douse them before the hardened coals hit us.

Demons—Ifrit, Tier III—launched them like throwing burning baseballs at us from the middle of the demon army. I only knew because my pesky Fated tortured me with her constant study sessions. She always thought about demons, too. I had learned so much from her.

I didn’t dare tell her that, lest she subjugate me to even more endless reading and knowledge. Now I almost wished I had.

A large black bird swooped above us, wreaking havoc as it plowed through our numbers.

“Kokakucho, Tier IV. It’ll go after the weaker kitsune first,”

Dove yelled, grabbing one of her throwing knives and nailing the creature in its wing joint. It screeched, diving at us now.

Enko’s fire unleashed from his sword, slicing through the demon.

Each of us slaughtered every demon that came our way, but the endless waves continued to come.

Demon blood covered my black armor as I took out a swath of ghostly demons who skirted the edge of the Shadow Vale to bypass us.

We all surrounded Dove, protecting her, but each demon that got through our defenses, she slashed with her odachi. And despite her small size compared to us, she wasn’t afraid.

Hours passed, but night was only just beginning, and I knew our army couldn’t hold them for much longer. A horde of screeching wraiths broke our frontline, heading straight toward the first-years.

“We need to retreat!”

one of the Officers yelled at the Archfox.

But Rhys only shook his head. “Retreat will kill us all.”

Would it be like Dove said? Would we all die here? Together?

But I looked to my Fated, expecting to see the fear of a timid kitsune. But she wasn’t afraid.

She fucking smiled.

The demons broke our Fated group apart, and while Enko went feral, desperately trying to reach her, Dove ran away from us, directly into the demon army.

My eyes shot to her destination.

The archdemon, Zalgore, neared us. Deadened blue skin, his horns coated in pitch. But there were at least a hundred demons between us and him.

But that didn’t stop my beautiful and deadly Fated.

Her blade whipped through every monster that stood in the way of her revenge, her sword glowing with power.

“Damn it, she’s going to get herself killed,”

Kairos snapped as we all sprinted toward her, but another flank of our enemies separated us.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, was all I could think as I entered the Shadow Vale, where less demons stood between me and my Fated mate. I bolted toward my Fated, stabbing anything that stood in my way.

Dove reached Zalgore, and his poisonous blade slashed and sputtered and sprayed at her, while a pile of demons lay dead in a circle of blazing hellfire around her.

She blocked his swing, and her weapon whacked it back out of the way, and she went in for another. But she was still so far away.

She moved at speeds that were impossible for my eyes to keep up with. Faster than I knew she was capable of.

Her blade impaled Zalgore’s face, and the demon screamed as hellfire burned from where the odachi stabbed into. Finally getting her revenge.

Brilliant white light exploded from her, spreading across the entire battlefield, demons falling as soon as her light touched them.

As the light dimmed, I raced to where my Fated had been.

I skidded to a stop, scanning the battlefield. The demons all around us shriveled into ash, leaving the kitsune army confused, their weapons mid-swing as the monsters they’d been fighting burned. Snowfall sizzled against the fiery embers of the dead demons, turning swiftly into a blizzard.

Rhys, Kairos, Enko, and Damon rushed forward until they stood next to me, stopping as they saw what I did.

A small white scintillating fox gazed up at us, her eyes glowing brightly. Her tongue whipped out to catch a snowflake. Six tails swished excitedly behind her. As the rest of the kitsune moved forward to inspect, they all dropped to their knees, bowing before her.

”She doesn’t hear the goddess.”

I finally understood as the five of us glanced at each other and then to our badass Fated. I dropped to my knees and bowed my head in worship as I spoke it out loud.

“She is the goddess.”

To be continued…