I darted an appreciative glance at Paxton, Zak, and Axel before returning my gaze to Héctor. And then a lump choked my throat.
He was mortal now. He’d given up his immortality to save Zak, so I wouldn’t lose a mate, so all of us would be together.
“Gather around,” Axel shouted. “I’ll teleport us to the top of the valley. And we’ll kick the fuckers down to the bottom and feed them to the beasts.”
That sounded cool.
We stopped running and grabbed each other’s hands, waiting for a magical wind to sweep by and transport us to the terminal set by the war demigod.
But nothing happened. The wind didn’t come, our hair didn’t stir, and our feet remained glued to the blades of the grass.
Axel shouted his command again, his voice laced with irritation and authority.
We still didn’t teleport.
Zak sighed, letting go of Axel’s and Paxton’s hands.
“We’ve lost our demigod gifts,” he said. “The Void stamps out all alien powers. I tried to summon my lightning when I spotted Lucifer and Ares, but my thunderbolts and lightning were gone. Where my power used to be, there’s only a hollow echo.”
Axel swore. “That’s exactly how I just felt.”
“If it’s any comfort, our demigod strength and speed still stay with us,” Zak said. “For now.”
Paxton called for his water element, but no icy current moved out of him. Héctor didn’t even try as he monitored the monsters’ moves.
Héctor turned to us. “We need to run faster.”
We resumed the circular formation and broke into a dead run.
“The Void must have negated Lucifer’s and Ares’s powers, too,” Zak said.
“Or they wouldn’t have run like chickens.” Axel spat.
Lucifer and Ares scrambled toward the side of the valley unblocked by the mountains. They kept a certain distance from each other. After I’d put a wedge between them during our last battle, they didn’t seem to stay besties anymore.
Yet I doubted they would combat each other to death before they dealt with us first.
“What if something worse waits for us on the other side?” Paxton asked, suspicious as ever.
“We’ll deal with it then,” Héctor said harshly.
“Hurry up,” Zak urged.
We picked up our paces and stopped talking, determined to outrun our immortal enemies. To my glee, we were gaining on them.
The duo had always relied on their supernatural powers. I’d bet they hadn’t been to the gym a day in their lives. So it wasn’t a shocker that we were catching up with them.
Lucifer glanced back and saw us, then he sped up, too. He threw his head back as he ran. It was a bad posture. But I could see why he didn’t know better. His vast, red wings had somehow shrunk to half a foot in width and length, yet they refused to vanish, despite his many tries.
It must be humiliating for him.
Except for the wings, he remained in his mutant, part-archangel and part-devil form, with a monstrous body, long horns, blade-like claws, and crimson eyes.
The vain devil was no longer handsome.
Ares raced a couple paces behind Lucifer, his broadsword held tightly in one hand. Following Lucifer’s example, he looked back as well. His vicious gaze met mine, then slid beyond me. He grinned, and even amid the monsters’ deafening howls, I could hear the war god’s vile, delighted laughter.
Instantly, cold dread sank to the pit of my stomach. I risked looking back, and came skidding to a halt.