Nat’s hands transformed into blades, and columns of waters formed in Yelena’s hands.
“Idiots!” I shouted. “They want me, not you. Get the fuck out! That’s an order.”
But my friends ignored my order. They shouted out for help as they ran toward me, but I don’t think their cries were heard by anyone outside the empty field. I could feel the sting of dark spells all around us, but I didn’t know how to diffuse them.
A mage in a dark, hooded dark cloak appeared in front of me. I was too busy to offer him free advice on how to improve his taste in fashion. I was so sick and tired, though, of seeing all the bad guys choose the same costume.
I sniffed. He didn’t smell like the mages Loki had brought with him, so he probably hadn’t come from Hell. Half of the mages served Lucifer, and the other half were under the command of Ares and the demigods.
He graded power seven plus, which was rare among mages. The most powerful mages could reach level eight. The ninth was reserved for the demigods and Lucifer’s heir.
So someone had sent a big gun to grab me. And they did it in the broad daylight, knowing my demigods would guard me tighter at night.
“Who sent you?” I asked. “What do you want from me?”
This time I didn’t shoot first since I needed answers.
The mage ignored me but barked a guttural order at the shadowy beasts. They leapt toward me.
“So, you’re what, a summoner mage?” I asked.
I wasn’t getting any answers, so I lunged at the mage. He threw over a dozen spells at me, and they weaved a net around me before I could reach him.
Behind him, the air rippled as a portal was torn open.
The mage was clever. He was trying to trap me and have his mutants drag me into the portal.
I glimpsed it quickly and noticed that the vista within the portal wasn’t Hell’s landscape. Two moons hung above a violet beach—which meant it wasn’t on Earth.
He was trying to abduct me to another dimension.
“If you’d asked nicely instead of trying to kidnap me, I’d have gone with you to the vacation spot,” I said as I tossed a dagger at him.
He murmured something and spat spells out of his mouth. It was creepy and gross but effective. My dagger plunged to the ground a few feet from him.
“You’re a nasty mage,” I said.
He insisted on non-verbal engagement, but the net he’d woven with dark spells thickened around me.
I called for my Flame of Rainbows, but only a purple fire whooshed out, tracing along my blade.
I wondered why not all twelve flames had come out, as they were more powerful together, but then my magic had never been stable and predictable. I was too busy right now to seek an answer to satisfy my curiosity.
With my flaming dagger, I slashed at the barrier trapping me. As my blade pierced it, a few of the spells dissolved.
The mage widened his eyes in surprise.
Two mutant beasts lunged at me, their claws extending to grab me. I kicked a mutant while driving my blade backward and cleaving the claws of another mutant that gripped my arm with bruising strength.
The mutilated beast howled in pain and rage.
Yelena and Nat slammed into the rank of the beasts to try to get to me, yelling like maniacs. Fear rolled off them, yet they wouldn’t leave me.
I’d gotten into a street fight in Crack when I was seven. I’d started hunting at the same age. My friends had only parried in the training room a few times.
Yet they wouldn’t run from a fight when I was involved.
Shouting battle cries, they were advancing on adrenaline. Nat slashed his bladed hands at a monster, and Yelena tossed powerful icy current into another.