Page 24 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires (Diabolic Romance #3)

Bez

Black lightning crackled, each strike rippling through the fabric of the world and spilling essence into the city. It fell like a waterfall and splashed in waves larger than most of the buildings. It raged like a tsunami come to eviscerate everyone and everything.

I watched as that swarming essence devoured everything in its wake, miles away from my home, but it wouldn’t take long for it to consume everything here. It wouldn’t take long for Lilith to consume this tiny pocket world and spill out onto the mortal realm, feasting upon everything there, too.

This was Lilith. This devastation was her way of recovering, restoring what she’d lost in battle with Beelzebub. Her form was nothing more than broken essence, desperate and clawing at life and rubble alike.

A sizzle popped beside me and darted past the balcony where I stood. I spun around to find Mora leaping out of the Diabolic threads she’d laced across the city.

“Hurry, Bez.” She extended a hand. “We need to move—now!”

Right. Undoubtedly, Lilith’s destruction would soon consume all the threads Mora had placed for fast travel. I’d almost forgotten about them since she refused to allow other Diabolics to spread their essence throughout her territory but freely offered her webbed dimension for anyone who desired it. Personally, I figured Mora was just looking for an excuse to have more people in her at once. Even adjacently like venturing through her threaded essence.

“Hold on.” I darted away from her and grabbed Weather, tossing the dog over my shoulder where he secured his front paws on my wings and wriggled in my grip. “Stay still.”

“Seriously? Gonna bring the dog?”

“Yeah, he’s not like your trinkets; he can’t be replaced.”

“Whatever, let’s go.” Mora snatched my hand, and we lunged into her Diabolic threads.

She raced ahead, weaving around others who screamed furiously as they whipped round and round in aimless directions. They looked like Wally whenever he tried to hop into the webbed world. Wait. What were so many people doing in Mora’s threaded essence?

“Are you evacuating the city?”

“Best as I can.” Mora shoved a confused gorgon out of her path and sent the serpent plummeting between the cracks of the threads, where they splashed through a golden glittery portal.

“What the fuck?”

“I might’ve mixed a bit of Fae magic with my Diabolic threads,” Mora explained. “Contingency plan in case the Oasis was ever infiltrated. Though, I expected Collective forces or pissy Fae, not a fucking dying devil using my city as an appetizer.”

There was no way Mora could rescue all the citizens. Despite the amount of energy she expelled, reeling everyone in here for safety, I’d wager it was barely half of the people she’d invited to live in her private city.

Every person floating through Mora’s threads ate away at her power, depleting all her essence. Her steps slowed, already pushing past her limits. I wasn’t sure she’d make the trip across the city. Already, we’d spent nearly ten seconds in her webbed world for a trip that should’ve taken no more than three seconds.

When we finally reached the Well of Wonders, Mora ripped through her own Diabolic webs and evaded the waves of devil essence. The huge currents of tar below us weren’t the only threats. Tendrils sprang out with gnarled teeth and snapping jaws, eating away the threads of essence Mora had laced everywhere.

“Dammit.” She used her telekinesis to steady herself, unable to fly like me, and she did her best to send off as many still caught inside her Diabolic webs to a safe destination. Whoever remained inside was devoured by Lilith.

We pushed past a wall of barriers created by Wally and Kell, who warded the raging tar from consuming the store. Each time droplets of black tar struck the conjured barriers, they ate through the magic with the same force as acid. Wally and Kell spent more time reinforcing the defenses they’d just created than summoning new ones to expand their dwindling territory.

“Take him.” I shoved Weather into Mora’s grasp and pivoted in the opposite direction.

I soared overhead, whirling round and round above the chaotic essence. The devil essence latched onto the black wind I summoned; it feasted upon the flames I added; it chased the lightning I hurled in the opposite direction. There was no stopping this. None that I could find, but at the very least, I could stall for time.

“Bez!” Wally shouted, running toward the edge of the barrier line.

Dammit. The last thing I needed was for him to throw himself into even more danger because of me. Since I’d done all I could for the moment, I flew toward the Well of Wonders and snatched Wally around the waist for safe measure.

I moved so quickly, I beat Mora and Weather to the front door. As they joined us, Kell poured powders in every color of the rainbow, chanting something under her breath.

“Whatever witchy woo you’re saying, it won’t be enough to stop a devil’s rampage.”

Kell ignored me, continuing her spell until roots sprang from the ground. The colorful dust carried in the wind and took the form of spirits. Not fully composed like Abe’s summoned soul, but silhouettes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, and a plethora of shades in between.

“It’s an evocation, baby Bez.” Kell winked. “Mixed with a bit of wicked magic.”

The dust. That was those gems crushed into nothing. I checked my pocket for the ruby Wally gave me. Abe remained tucked away and forgotten.

“Like I said, it’s not the first time I’ve done a bit of necromancy.”

“So, you’re controlling these souls?” Wally asked.

“Yes and no. I made a deal.” She gestured to the spirits collapsing onto the roots, which swelled and torpedoed beneath the ground. “Work with Nature herself and join her ranks. Which I think is a much better fate than collecting dust in one of my hats.”

“Nature’s Blessing mixed with evocation.” Wally stared wide-eyed as the roots burst out of the tar, sprouting into trees with branches made of blades, flowers with fanged teeth, vines in the shape of women, and so much more. Every spirit added to the weaponry a hundred-fold, turning Nature into a front-line defense.

“How’d you convince your ex to help?”

“She’s got as much to lose with a rampaging devil as anyone else,” Kell said, leading us inside and away from the raging duel between the earth herself. Away from Lilith, a living entity of a dimension of her very own.

“Wait, you dated Nature?” Wally asked, attention fixed on Kell and unwilling to gloss over the fact the witch dated a deity. “Like thee Nature. Like she’s actually sentient and capable of candlelit dinners?”

“We didn’t really do dinners, but her vine work is divine.” Kell winked. “Speaking of divine, every witch is currently channeling Nature, offering their magics, their spells, their everything.”

“Why?” Mora asked.

“It’s happening everywhere,” Kell said, a tremble in her voice I’d never heard before. “Essence ripping through reality and consuming anything in its path.”

“A matter of hours before she destroys this world,” I said. “We need to flee this realm.”

“We can’t abandon the world,” Wally declared. It was met with silence, which made him swallow his anxiety and his chivalry. “Can we?”

“Fuck ‘em.” Mora retrieved a nail file from her pocket purse. Correction, a dagger that grew to full size once removed from the tiny tote. “I can start fresh anywhere and everywhere. Bez, Walter, I’m more than willing to drop you lot off in any world of your liking, but this is where we part.”

“Not a fan of the heat?” I asked.

“Lilith is gonna chase you two to the end of the universe and back around again.” Mora stabbed the air, tearing the dimensional lining apart with her blade. “Stay and die nobly with the world if you wish, or leave with me to breathe another day.”

“Figuratively,” I said.

“Precisely.” Mora carved open a doorway. “I love you, Bezzy. And your boyfriend’s okay, but I won’t be greeting Oblivion for anyone except Kell.”

“I can’t leave,” Kell said. “I can’t abandon my world.”

“Watching your first world die out and meet its end is sad,” Mora explained. “After a while, it’s like any other death. Numb. Routine. Inconvenient. Circle of life and all that.”

“I’m connected to the pool of witches,” Kell said. “I bound my soul and magic to this battle.”

“Dammit, Kell.” Mora lowered her dagger. “To be clear, I’m pissed by your unilateral decision for self-sacrificing moves of heroism.”

“I know, hun.” Kell pursed her lips. “Total turn-off, right?”

“The biggest.”

“Look out.” Wally lunged ahead and tackled Mora as black tar seeped through the tear Mora carved.

The pair rolled onto the floor as Kell and I went to work sealing the dimension and revoking access to this room.

My role mostly entailed slashing at Lilith’s essence until it retreated back into the portal while Kell cast sorcery to seal it.

“Oh, fuck me!” Mora shoved Wally off her and brushed her dress smooth as she stood up. “That bitch surrounded the dimension. I thought she was fleeing. Who takes the time to create a barricade around the world that they fled to?”

Mora stomped off, cursing in every language known to mortal, Mythic, Diabolic, and probably a few dozen unknown profanities.

“We need to finish repairing the Diabolic orbs,” Wally said. “One at the very least.”

“I can focus on that,” Kell said. “I’m basically spent anyway since I relinquished all my magic to Nature. And I do mean all of it. Like max out your credit cards and apply for a loan with terrible interest rates kind of spent.”

“You okay?” Wally asked.

“Not feeling it now.” Kell shrugged. “But if the world doesn’t die, best believe I’m gonna be hassling you for spells the next decade.”

“Not to be rude,” Wally said before barreling into blunt data—I knew he planned on slapping Kell with facts based on how he politely picked up a book to reference. “Piecing together the orbs requires magic. It’s in the instructions.”

“I’m still fucking up my credit score before anyone revokes my spending habits.” Kell waved a hand, conjuring a slew of supplies onto the front counter. “Basic spell work is fine for me. Life or death combat…” Kell snapped her fingers four times before a flame sparked between her fingertips. “Not so much.”

“How long will it take you to put together a Diabolic orb?” I asked.

“A few days.” Kell shrugged. “If I was bragging.”

“How long for the both of you?”

“A few weeks,” Wally said. “We have different methods.”

“Nonsense.” Kell smiled. “You’re brilliant.”

“I know that. My intellect was never in question.” Wally squinted at Kell before turning his attention to me. “We just have different approaches. It collides in the wrong way. But she’s got a better grasp on the research than I do.”

“So Kell will work on the orbs while you focus on defensive measures.” I flexed my muscles, channeling my essence in preparation for combat. For war. For a one-sided battle against a thrashing devil. “I’m gonna stall for time. Get you at least one day.”

“I can help distract Lilith,” Wally insisted.

“You are helping by securing this place,” I said. “Kell needs peace and quiet to work.”

“I really don’t,” she said, tinkering with tools. “I thrive in chaos.”

“Well, Weather and Antoninus need somewhere safe to rest their heads.” I pointed to the Cerberus and Wally’s familiar.

“They’ll be in the safest place,” Wally said. “Tony, I need you and Weather to go to the well.”

The familiar protested with a clack of his claws, but when the essence inside Wally blossomed, the scorpion settled. Claws coated Wally’s hands, horns grew three times the size they’d ever been, his tail flicked and snapped against the floor, and his cherub wings swelled and transformed the tips of each feather with sharp blades.

I nodded approvingly. “Someone’s finally slipping in and out of his essence with ease.”

“The less I think about it, the more naturally it syncs with my desires.” He stared at his claws, watching the ombre effect reach his forearms.

“Hey, bug.” I stopped the familiar. “Take this with you.”

I tossed him the ruby holding Remington’s soul.

“On the off chance I don’t survive this, I want to ensure he remains in that damn stone.” I smirked. “I’m petty like that.”

Tony carried the gem on his back and shuffled to the back of the store, toward the well, which served as the safest place in the entire Diabolic Oasis. It had more magics protecting it than the rest of the city combined ten-fold. But since the well held Agatha’s Heart, the still beating tool that fueled the dimensional cloak of the city, Mora made it such a priority that no one except for Kell and Wally had access.

“Dog, wait.” I patted my thigh, calling Weather over. I gave each head a few pets and then a kiss on their furry foreheads. Cloudy yipped with excitement. Sunny licked my face in return. Stormy growled and pulled away.

“Shut up.” I held his head, staring into his fiery blue eyes. “You’re gonna accept my kissies, and you’re gonna like the kissies.”

Stormy huffed and conceded. I gave him the biggest smooch before giving Sunny and Cloudy one more little forehead kiss because, obviously, they’d only whine if I played favorites.

After I sent him off to the well for safety, I found Wally filling a bag with artifacts.

“And what are you doing?”

“Putting together a lethal combination of diversionary magics.”

Once he’d filled the bag to the brim, I snatched it from his grasp.

“Hey!”

“Is for unicorns, and unless you’ve got one on hand, you won’t be joining me.”

“I can help,” Wally snapped. “I can actually hold my own against Lilith.”

I glared. Quite the personal jab he threw out, but all the same, his luck against Lilith the last time they clashed didn’t mean he could hold his own.

Facing a devil on my own would be the end of me. There was no way around it. The only chance I had of surviving, of besting a devil, came down to the fact her focus was divided into so many tasks. Her essence split across the entire world, fighting Mythics, mortals, the Collective, and any Fae who deigned to assist. Probably several thousand, at the very least, who found themselves trapped on this dying rock with Lilith barricading the dimensional walls. Plus, while she escaped Beelzebub, her essence was in a state of decay, barely holding on.

Whether this would kill me or not, I didn’t care. Whether the world fell away to dust in the wake of Lilith’s rage, I didn’t care. What I did worry about was Wally. Even with the strength of a devil, his skills were untested and not nearly trained enough. I couldn’t do this, couldn’t focus unless I knew Wally remained safe.

“You are helping,” I said with a surly edge in my tone, swallowing all the kind nothings I wished to whisper. “Reinforce the barriers. Leave the rest to those of us accustomed to battle.”

“I can do more than reinforce barriers.”

“I’m not even sure you can manage that much, lil misfit devil boy.” Corson barged through the front door, a smile on his face.

His sapphire blue eyes shimmered as two others stormed in beside him. Mortal in appearance, unlike Corson, who remained in his demon form, but these two were absolutely Diabolic. The glow of crimson eyes from one and emerald from the other indicated that much.

“Ah, Hells.”

The last thing we needed was demons invading the realm at the behest of their devil.