Darius’s hands were on me, shoving me away.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the battle as another demon got its spear in its opponent and ripped it from side to side, not giving the snakes and also insects enough time to stitch it back together. Fire blistered the skin of yet another demon. Growls and grunts punctuated each new wound.

More fire-powered demons ran from the right, lending backup.

Go! Go! Go! Darius bodily lifted me and ran, pushing through the non-spiked hedge on our left and cutting through green grass stippled with wild daisies. It was a stark contrast to the vicious fight on the path.

“What are we walking into?” I asked, seeing magic rise up over the hedge as the demons continued to rip each other apart. “Is this one of the violent sects?”

I was led to believe the inner kingdom was one of outward peace and political maneuvering. If they need to fight each other, they take it to one of the sects on the outskirts, like the circus sect.

“Clearly things have changed since Ja was running around this place.”

Clearly. Though I can’t imagine Lucifer would allow his inner kingdom to crumble from this type of fighting. They are practically on his doorstep. He has to notice.

“Maybe he is refusing to pick sides and letting them sort it out?”

Possibly. I couldn’t say. Regardless, we will use the distraction.

“We also have someone to blame the deaths on.”

Exactly. We must get into the sect, find the leaders, and destroy them. From them, we can determine how many know your secret. As I’ve said, if this species is like most others, the leaders will not have trusted just anyone with the information. Foot soldiers will only get directions, not the reasons behind those directions. You will simply be a half human to most of them, not Lucifer’s child.

Good, because these sects were huge, and there was no way Darius and I could take out an entire one on our own. I didn’t even know if we could take out the leaders.

Darius pushed me, silently urging me to get running. We cut across the meadow, knowing from the map that the leftward path would wind away. Soon we were out in the open, the daisies and wild flowers not doing much to hide us. In the distance, stone buildings rose up over a metal fence with pointed tops and something resembling barbed wire twisting through the spikes. Everything was spikes here. They loved spearing people, clearly.

On the other side of the fence was a hedge of bushes with long briars ready to prick anyone who made it over. As if in an attempt to soften the buildings and perimeter, ivy sporadically crawled up the stone, dotted with bright pink flowers.

A roar sounded above us. I flinched and looked up.

Huge wings beat at the sky, attached to a dragon with shimmering, multicolored blue scales. It wasn’t Clown Demon, but it didn’t matter. It took a dive for us anyway.

“Darius, put distance between us!”

He didn’t argue. He broke left, putting on the jets.

Thanks to the bond, I was faster than I’d ever been.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as fast as a dragon.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It opened its mouth and issued a stream of blistering fire, scorching the ground in a strip before rolling over me. I cocooned my body in ice magic, keeping the fire from burning away anything not fire proof.

I reached the fence and stared at all the deterrents that kept us from going over. I healed quickly, sure, but if I vaulted over the fence at this harried pace, I’d get torn up enough to make myself vulnerable for a while. I couldn’t afford that.

The dragon turned with incredible speed, agile when in the air. It made another pass, raking me with fire and setting the briars ablaze.

I glanced at Darius, not sure what to do. Which way to go.

Before I could yell the question, another dragon shape drifted over the stone buildings in front of me. Red but with a pink shimmer, another great beast moved through the air. These creatures clearly did not need light to set off the glimmer in their disco-ball bodies.

Its roar was deafening, deep chested and a little raspy. It pumped its wings as the dragon that had been plaguing me with burst after burst of ineffective fire rose into the sky.

Darius was next to me a moment later, putting a small vial to my lips. This will help with your energy. We must hurry.

The unicorn blood slipped past my lips and exploded in my taste buds. Joy and adrenaline pumped through my middle and blossomed, filling up my life force and heightening my senses. Power pulsed within me, giving me the same skin-too-tight feeling I’d had earlier, but this time it was even more acute. There was a pounding sensation—as if all that magic was ready to erupt. I felt powerful. Indestructible.

With tingling limbs, I turned to Darius. “What about you?”

He pulled me closer and bit into my neck. I moaned and dropped my head back. His serum mixed with the unicorn blood, creating an indescribable feeling of euphoria.

The dragons above crashed into each other, gouging with their feet and biting. They tumbled through the air and toward the ground before they broke apart, beating at the sky with their wings and roaring at each other.

Darius pulled away from my neck. A droplet of blood dribbled down his chin, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

The pink dragon blasted us with an unexpected stream of fire, mid-battle with the other dragon but retaining the presence of mind to notice us at what were probably the gates of its sect. The blue dragon used the distraction to its benefit and flew forward with claws out.

I covered us with a hasty shield of ice magic. My magic coated Darius’s suit and immediately unraveled the spells. I’d exposed him.

“I’m sorry, I just reacted,” I said, pushing him along the fence. “But that fire would’ve scorched you. It was a hundred times hotter than the one at the gates.

“I understand, thank you. Come on, if we can get out of view, we can get over.”

We ran around the corner of the fence and staggered to a stop. Up the way, a horde of twenty or so demons climbed or carefully worked their way over the defenses, dropping down into the briars and wading their way out. They were sneaking in the back of their enemy’s stronghold while their cohorts created a diversion at the front.

A horrible screech announced the end of the dragon battle. I looked back in time to see the blue dragon do the flying equivalent of limping away. The pink dragon watched it for a moment, not following. A moment later, it swung our way, looking along the fence.

The land was wild, but the brush and trees had been cleared for a good hundred feet leading up to the gate. We’d never make it.

Darius pushed us away from the enemy demons and back around the corner. It’s coming. Cover us with your magic.

I did as he said, seeing the pink, shimmering beast soar through the sky. The fire came as expected, washing over us but not doing any damage. The dragon saw the enemy a moment later and sounded a trumpet-like call, beating its wings for speed and taking off after the demons that were already across the fence.

“There’ll be a battle here in no time. Let’s get moving,” I said. We chose a spot and started to climb. Metal ripped at my suit and tore my skin.

While they do have defenses, these sects don’t have the added security like the others at the outer reaches of the kingdom. No gorges or traps with spikes. They have merely a fence and some cleared land.

The trumpet call boomed above us.

“And a dragon. Don’t forget about the dragon.”

Yes, but… Darius flinched as a metal burr from the barbed wire nicked his leg. Blood welled up. One dragon can’t replace some of the things we’ve seen. He threw his leg over the spikes at the top of the fence and slipped. A point cut into the inside of his leg. He grunted and scrambled to get a better hold.

“You okay?” I asked as fire rained down. The dragon wasn’t getting the hint that fire didn’t hurt us. I wondered about the fire demons. Were they basically fire proof, too? Because if so, what was the point of using a dragon against them?

These defenses speak of a violent species in a not as violent area.

“What’s your point?” I grimaced as the spike at the top of the fence scraped my leg. Searing pain vibrated through me.

Two things. One, if they don’t usually fight, what is causing this? And two, when will Lucifer put a stop to it?