And that Rylee would forgive them all.

Chapter 20

THE NEXT NIGHT didn’t roll around, it fucking well erupted into chaos that we should have seen coming. Erik and I had taken turns calling out the demon packs with no apparent success. Until the sun set.

Erik and I were on the rooftop after dinner. Alex was with us this time, his head in my lap as he mumbled obscenities at the demons. Not that he was adding to the actual call out, but it was funny as hell.

Maybe the elementals also found it funny because there was a sudden break in the air. The tension that had been building around us for the last twenty-four hours snapped.

The harpies roosting launched into the sky with a chorus of screeching and squawking that made me clap my hands over my ears. Erik stumbled to his feet, and looked over the edge of the roof.

A woman, floating on the air rose in front of us. Gauzy and surreal, she gave us a soft smile. The wind picked up, swirling her soft pink skirts out around her. Eyes the color of storm clouds pinned me to the roof. “You have called the demons, and I will take your request to them. Do you wish for the giant demon to be called as well?”

I shook my head at the same time as Erik. It seemed that both of us were a bit star struck. An elemental was the thing of legends. And we were staring at one.

Her smile was soft and full of sadness. “It will be done. They will come with a roll of thunder. Be ready, Slayers.”

She clapped her hands and then was gone. I turned to stare at Erik. “Holy fucking shit, was that an elemental?”

“I believe so.” He passed a hand over his face.

We sent Alex to warn everyone to be ready. My hands tightened on my crossbow, nerves jangling and adrenaline pumping. We waited, my uncle and me, side by side. Facing the east. The air around us grew heavy, and a boom of thunder shattered the stillness. I felt it in my chest, the reverberation of what I knew was a turning point in my life.

Erik took a few steps closer to the edge of the roof. He pointed to a spot in the distance. “They’re here.”

I ran to his side and felt the world spin out from under me. Not only had we called the last of the demon packs, but we’d also managed to call out a bunch of demons who’d escaped me at the police station in London. The ones who bred like rabbits. Also known as the ones that, currently, completely outnumbered us a hundred to one.

So the whole thing should have been easy from then on out.

Yeah, right.

“Time to run.” Erik pushed at me and I let him as we ran for the stairs. Everyone in the house was ready to rumble. Doran, Pamela, Frank, and Liam waited impatiently at the front door. Coyote was absent. When I questioned that, Liam grunted.

“He has another job tonight.” Nothing more, though, and I wondered what Coyote’s other job could possibly be.

A unicorn, dark brown like milk chocolate, stood there, stomping his foot. He was the new leader of the crush, since they’d lost Nikko—at least until Calliope grew up.

Let us see if these demons can keep up.

Liam’s plan was simple. Lead the demons on foot to the castle, have Pamela blow the gates once they were all inside and then pull the castle down around them. That was where Blaz came in. He was going to keep any wayward giants at bay, and the rest of us were just bait. India and Kyle would stay behind, with Eve and the harpies watching out for them. Frank was coming with us, seeing as he really wasn’t a kid anymore. At least, as far as he was concerned.

I didn’t wait, just leapt onto my ride’s back. The unicorn reared up and screamed a challenge at the demons, swinging his head and baring his teeth. They responded in kind with snarls and deep-throated roars as they raced across the property.

Those of us who couldn’t shift had a unicorn to ride; Liam and Alex were in wolf form and ran ahead, leading the way. My heart pounded with adrenaline as we leapt forward, hooves tearing up the soft ground. The wind whipped around us, drawing the unicorn’s mane into a frenzy of tangles. I gripped hard with my legs and hands. Around me were the sounds of drumming hooves and the screech of demons in the midst of mania that came from blood lust.

The demons thought they had us on the run, and maybe if they’d been smarter they would have realized we were drawing them into a trap.

The full speed gallop over the countryside whipped by, and the demons never got close enough to do anything but snarl and snap, and hurl a few rocks and shit at us. Literal shit.

Alex took to yelling insults back at them, and that was the most entertaining part of the whole gambit.

“Shit throwers.”

“Rabbit fuckers.”

“Stinker heads.” That last was followed by Alex sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry at the demons.

I glanced at Pamela who rode next to me, expecting to see at least a small smile. Nope, her eyes were focused ahead of us, her body tense like a rubber band pulled taut. I swallowed my own smile. I shouldn’t be thinking this was fun at all; it was serious business. But I couldn’t help it, if you couldn’t look at the world when it fell apart around you and see the funny shit, you would end up hating everyone and everything. Even I knew that.

I turned in my seat and fired a few bolts from my crossbow, taking out the early runners. At least it would slow them down a little. Not to mention it pissed them off and made them even blinder to what we were doing.

We galloped through the forest preceding the open plain to the castle, branches swatting at us, but everyone kept their seats.

Three minutes and we were on the wide open space, the unicorns jumping over the downed legs of what was left of the original giant. The smell of rotting flesh and seriously bad feces rose up. Everyone except the unicorns gagged as the wind shifted, smacking us directly in the face.

Ahead of us, the castle still burned with its freaky blood-red flames and in front of it stood a new giant. This new guy wasn’t any bigger than the last. But he was infinitely more deadly. He held a massive club with spikes and his eyes glowed red, the mark of possession clearly on him. He snarled as he started to run our way.

“Okay, Blaz, you’re up.”

About damn time.

Blaz dropped from the sky where he’d followed us above the clouds. Fire rained down on the running oversized monster that let out a roar as flames wrapped around him. The unicorns turned on a burst of speed as we raced across the open plain, stealing my breath. From my position, I got a clear look at Blaz clamping his mouth around the giant’s hand—the one that held the club—and tearing it off. Previous experience told me the arm would grow back, but it would slow the big-ass bastard a little.