Everything dark in Keras roared at him to protect her, and he had to force himself to focus on shielding Esher while he was weak, keeping the two other daemons at bay as Enyo dealt with the third.
That daemon was swift to use his wings, spread them and beat them hard, blasting her with wind as he increased the space between them. She weathered the storm and lashed out with her blade anyway. The tip of it grazed the male’s stomach, cut through the remains of his T-shirt but not through his flesh.
They needed to destroy the spells that were protecting these males.
Another ring formed on the gate, rainbow colours chasing around it as it grew and glyphs filled it.
They really needed to destroy the spells.
Or at least the barrier.
“Ares.” He didn’t take his eyes off the battle between Enyo and the trio of males. “Cut me a path.”
“No way. Ares, cut me a path.” Valen’s voice rang out above the shrieks as heat rolled over the battlefield again in a bright blinding burst of orange light. “I can do this. That barrier is about to go down.”
Before Keras could protest, Ares sent a barrage of fireballs at the daemons. They carved a path through the remaining males and females, struck the barrier and exploded, engulfing the dome, but thankfully not breaking through it.
The last thing they needed was the gate being struck by any of their powers. If it took damage, they would be forced to close it.
Another ring formed.
A charge built in the air, raising the fine hairs on the back of Keras’s neck and his arms.
Valen clicked his fingers.
A blinding blaze of lightning shot down, white and purple bolts that spiralled together into one thick jagged stream.
Valen was out of his mind.
Before he could turn on his brother to tell him that and make him redirect it, it struck the barrier. A deafening boom rocked the earth as the lightning connected with it, sent everyone to the ground and had Keras’s ears ringing before the shockwave hit him. His senses jumbled, vision spinning as he gripped the grass, trying to withstand the pain as electricity surged up from the ground.
Valen muttered a ripe curse.
He wasn’t the only one.
“The fuck were you thinking?” Ares slurred those words, sounding as pained as Keras felt as he struggled to get back onto his feet.
His gaze sought Enyo.
She shook off the aftershocks of Valen’s attack and popped to her feet, just as one of the demonic brutes shoved to his. She clashed with him again, keeping him away from Esher.
Who lay on his back in the slick grass.
Keras scrambled over to him, pulse thundering, blood rushing in his aching head as fear gripped him. He fluttered his fingers over his brother’s throat and sagged as he found a pulse and Esher cracked his eyes open. The relief he had felt died the moment Keras looked into them.
Crimson ringed his irises.
Keras was tempted to teleport him away from the battle, even when he knew it was pointless. Esher would only teleport back again, his need to protect the gate and his need to protect his family driving him to be here. The only way to stop his brother from returning would be by locking him in the cage, and Esher wouldn’t be able to handle that. Being in the cage and having his power stripped from him by it, together with the awareness that his family were fighting for their lives, would tip him over the edge again.
So Keras helped him onto his feet instead and held onto him until he felt sure Esher could stand on his own.
Valen yelped as water suddenly poured down on him. “Son of a bitch.”
“You deserve a lot worse than that,” Esher grumbled, rubbing his temples and then his ears. “What were you thinking?”
“I doubt he was thinking,” Keras muttered, earning a black look from a very drenched Valen.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Valen pointed towards the gate.
There was a hole in the barrier, the edges of it sparking blue and white.
An opening Keras was going to take.
He kicked off.
Was blasted backwards, thrown through the air with everyone else as Cass slammed into the grass in a crouch. The auburn-haired woman pinned beneath her struggled and pressed her palms into Cass’s chest. Light burst from them and Cass went flying. She disappeared in a swirl of black smoke and reappeared in Daimon’s arms.
“Work with me here, not against me.” Daimon lost his grip on her as she lunged forwards, her face a black mask of fury as her bright blue eyes narrowed on the witch.
Red tendrils of light snaked towards Cass and she swept her arm out as they reached her, sending them flying away from her as she advanced on the woman. The red streaks shot to her right, ripping through a group of daemons, melting them before Keras’s eyes.
The redhead launched another attack as Keras got to his feet for a second time that night, tempted to berate Cass too.
Blue see-through blades like sickles sliced through the air behind Cass, shot past her and spun towards the witch. The woman quickly waved her hand across the air before her and the blades struck a barrier, this one made up of multiple layers each a different shade. The outermost layer fractured, shattering like glass, and the sickles slammed into the next one, breaking the pale red construction. They struck the third green layer and this time they were the ones that shattered.
The witch hurled her hands forwards and light shot down from the sky, blazes of crimson that struck the earth and tore it up as Daimon grabbed Cass and stepped with her again, narrowly avoiding being hit by one.
Power charged the air, the tinny scent of magic filling it as it thickened.
Green lightning chased across the clouds gathering overhead as Cass clashed with the witch again, unleashing a barrage of orange spears at her. They slammed into the ground as the witch dodged backwards, nothing more than a blur.
Keras sent two waves of shadows rolling across the churned-up ground.
One aimed at the witch.
The other aimed at the three demonic males.
Enyo leaped backwards as they reached her, clearing the way, and the shadows struck at the males she had been fighting, driving them back again.
But not harming them.
The spells protecting them were still in place.
Keras turned his shadows on the witch as Esher focused on the gate and the furie again, ripping a startled, pained gasp from her. The ring that had opened on the gate began to close again as she lost control of it, as she clawed at her throat and turned wild eyes on his brother.
Esher’s knees gave out.
Keras caught him before he hit the dirt.
His brother couldn’t do this alone.
Keras growled as the opening in the barrier began to repair itself, mustered all his strength and commanded his shadows. They swept across the battlefield, snapping at the witch on their way past, causing her to leap away from them and into the path of one of the spears Cass threw at her. He didn’t pay attention to her as she screamed, or the weaker daemons as his shadows engulfed them, feeding on them and growing stronger.
He focused on the furie.
On the closing gap in the barrier.
Green lightning forked from the boiling black clouds, chased by an orange bolt that twined around it.
Keras didn’t see where it struck.
He only saw his shadows rushing up the side of the barrier, heading for that opening.
The ground shook hard, violent green light dampened his vision, and his ears rang.
Pain tore through him.