Call of the Siren(98)

“What is he up to?” Lina said, shouldering Dagan and nodding toward Rage.

Before Dagan could respond, Rage succeeded in sliding the vellum sheets toward him, so that an inch or two extended outside the circle. He bent and grabbed them, just as a wave of flame wound through the field, melting the sinew from the first line of corpses headed their way.

She glanced over to see Keegan spraying a long arc of fire from his mouth.

Yes!

Keegan didn’t have full control of his ability to breathe fire, but when he managed to call it forth, it was quite a sight to behold.

Rage straightened with the scrolls in his hand and turned toward the blaze.

“Holy shit.” He let out a whoop of impressed laughter and pumped his fist in the air. “Fucking A!”

O-kay.

Whatever response she might have expected from him, it certainly wasn’t that one. Didn’t he realize he was on the wrong end of the fire? Especially considering he’d done jack-squat to come to their aid. But there he was, hooting and hollering like Keegan’s fire-breathing was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.

Belpheg didn’t seem to share Rage’s sentiment, however. The dark fae scowled and jerked his fingers at the zombies that hadn’t been fried. They launched forward in triple speed.

“Watch out,” Taeg yelled.

Hell ya, it’s go time.

Even though they were in deep shit, Lina couldn’t help the anticipation that built as she leaped to the nearest group of corpses. This was when she felt most empowered, with a knife in her hand. And if she was going to go down, she was going to kick some ass first.

“Come and get it, ass-faces.” She incapacitated one with a vicious spin kick while she slice-and-diced two more until they fell to pieces.

Dagan bounded into place beside her and hacked away at four on-comers. Three others approached, snapping at him with their slimy, gaping maws.

“Watch your back,” Lina called, whirling to help him out.

“Only if you watch yours,” he shot back.

He could take care of himself, no doubt. But she couldn’t help but worry. And that made her fight even harder.

After taking out three more flesh-eaters, she glanced up to see Belpheg aiming two long fingers at Keegan.

“Keegan, look out,” she yelled.

Tenos might have woven a field of protection around them, but something told her Belpheg would be able to bypass that in a hot second.

But before Belpheg could act, Rage stuck the fingers of his free hand in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle that carried halfway across the freaking field. “Yo, Belpheg!”

The dark fae’s gaze slid over to Rage before turning dismissively away. But then he did a double take. His fingers shook, and the horde of zombies he’d called up froze in place.

“What the hell?” Lina lowered her bloody dagger, glancing around in confusion at the sudden quiet that had fallen over the field.

Dagan took his place back beside her, his mouth open and his gaze locked on his long-lost brother.

“What’s he up to?” he murmured.

She shook her head and turned to the dark fae, her body poised to move at the slightest flicker of movement from any of the frozen corpses.

“What are you doing?” Belpheg growled.

“What? With these?” Rage reached into his pocket and drew out a silver-plated lighter. He flicked it on and held the scrolls over it, carelessly rolling the precious—and highly flammable—vellum between his fingers. “They aren’t important, are they?”

“You insolent fool.” Belpheg gave Rage his full attention, his hands dropping to his sides.

Oh shit. Lina exchanged a loaded glance with Dagan.

Rage was onto something here. Apparently he knew something they didn’t about those scrolls.

“I took you into my home, and this is how you repay me?” Belpheg’s face contorted in an anger so fierce that he didn’t even seem to notice the energy surrounding his twelve wind down, freeing the men from their paralyzed comas. “I’ll kill you!”

Rage gave Belpheg a cocky grin. “Not without risking setting your scrolls on fire.”

Belpheg growled, his eyes flashing fiercely in the night. “For this betrayal, I’ll devour your soul!”

“Eh.” He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I wasn’t using it anyway.”

Lina chuckled, despite herself. “Wise-ass.”

“Yeah.” Dagan grinned. “I think I might like him.”

No surprise there. Rage was sort of starting to remind her of Dagan.

“What are you doing, idiot?” Mammon spat.

Grinning widely, Rage turned and took a few steps toward one of the incubi standing in the circle.

“What are you doing?” Rage asked the incubus, his grip tight on the lighter. “This is crazy, and you know it.”