Page 22 of Devoted

In the center of the dock, Dante slowly turned toward the approaching creature, two more hatching out from their sticky nests. Then a fourth, clicking those sharpened mandibles. One for each of us. As if this had all been planned.

I closed my eyes. Cursed my own stupidity.

Because it had been.

Of course, Blackwood had seen what would happen tonight.

A trap set, not for the others… but for me.

“Take Rocco and get out of here. Take your brother, too, if you can get him to listen to reason.”

Dante tipped his head, then sent a plume of fire toward the spider, engulfing the beast in a whirling twist of flame. When the fire died away, the thing shook off sparks and ash—like a wet dog—and skittered straight toward him.

I shot out a tendril of shadow, catching one of its legs before the thing got close enough to drain Dante and flung it across the dock. Every piece of me recoiled from its foul magic, my shadows slithering away from that void as if they’d been burned.

The creature rolled, then was up, snapping its teeth.

Great. Now I had its attention.

“Dante,” Gabriel roared. “Get your shit together. If one of them touches you, you’re dead.”

Dante clumsily pivoted, another of the Drax making a beeline for him.

“You can’t kill them with fire,” I shouted, casting out another tendril of shadow, slower this time, barely stopping the thing in time. “They can only be killed with black magic.” If I was at my full strength, I might hold my own against one. Maybe two.

But I was drained.

My emotions were a fucking mess. I couldn’t focus. I was running on fumes, and once my magic was completely gone…

“Please,” I begged Gabriel, my voice breaking on the raw, terrible truth. “You are my best friends. Don’t make me watch the two of you die.”

I pushed to my feet, but Gabriel caught my arm, yanked me back down, something blooming in his narrowed gaze I’d never seen before. Suspicion.

“How do you know about these things, Nico?”

“I can’t tell you,” I said miserably. “I just… can’t.”

The remaining guards closed in, and Dante exploded, fire erupting from both hands. The guards might create the Drax, but they weren’t protected by the same magic.

Everywhere Dante’s flames touched, they burned, just like everything else.

When the inferno died away, it was just us and four soul-sucking monstrous voids none of us could kill. I erected a sloppy web of shadow around us, strong enough to keep them out long enough for me to make Gabriel see sense.

“Listen to me. I’m not strong enough to kill them all. Speak to your brother mind to mind; do it now. I’ll drop the shield around Rocco, then you’ll have about ten seconds to reach him and dematerialize.”

“He’ll bleed out.”

“Probably. But better than getting his soul sucked out through his eye sockets.”

“Fucking godsdamned hell.” Gabriel closed his eyes, beads of sweat forming on his brow, wrinkled in concentration.

Dante’s head swung our way, and the flames cloaking his body died away. “Where is Emberline?” he demanded, an echo of the demon’s power still in his voice.

“She and Luca took the boat and got out.”

Gabriel dropped his voice, his hand tightening around my arm. “You can’t be sure of that.”

“No,” I shook my head. “But I have to believe it’s true. I can only hold this shield together for a few more seconds, then we’re all dead. Are you ready to move?”