Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians (17 page)

"Woof," I said in open admiration of her badass-ed-ness.

"You are not kidding," said Tony in a soft voice.

I nudged him.
 
"Put it back in your pants, or I'll tell Felicia."

He turned to frown at me.
 
"I have all items inside my pants, for your information.
 
I was looking at the sword."

I smiled.
 
"Sure you were.
 
Don't worry.
 
That's what I'm going to put in my report."

He nudged me, turning back to the show.

Jared had stepped out from behind the tree, his hands held up in front of him.
 
"Hello.
 
We do not mean you any harm, and we don't want to fight.
 
We're just trying to return to our realm."

"Which realm would that be?" she asked, a mocking smile playing across her lips.

"The Here and Now."

"Perhaps if you had wanted to be in that realm, you should have stayed there."

She had a point.
 
I was really, really wishing that we had at this particular moment.

Finn came out next, also with his hands up.
 
"Ma'am, I'm sorry if we upset you by bein' here, but we promise to leave A-S-A-on the double P, if you'll just step aside."

"I have a better idea," she said slyly, taking a step towards Finn.
 
"How about I put your head on a pike and stick it on the edge of this field?"

Finn swallowed hard.
 
"Uh, no thank you, ma'am.
 
I'd appreciate it if we could just keep my head where it belongs on my shoulders."

She took one more menacing step towards Finn and Jared, and that was all it took to piss me off beyond reason.
 
I left the safety of the tree and strode over to stand by my friends, realizing once I got there that Samantha had done the same thing, coming from the other side.
 
Recklessness obviously ran in the family.

The angel stopped walking, now about twenty feet away from us.
 
She smiled evilly.
 
"Isn't this sweet.
 
Friends."

I felt a glimmer of hope, like maybe she was second-guessing her attack plan.
 
Until, of course, she finished her thought.

"Your heads will look nice for my collection."

"No one's losing any heads today," said Samantha.

"At least none of us," I added.
 
In my head I started calling in the troops.
 
Beau!
 
We're ready to go back now!
 
Come get us and this angry demon bitch who's here to chop our heads off!
 
Beau!
 
Shayla!
 
Chase!
 
Hello!
 
I hope you're out there!

I heard a movement behind me and turned to see Niles, and Tony behind us.
 
Spike took up a position next to me.

"Come to get a closer look?" I asked him, looking up at his face.
 
I was surprised to see him looking at me and not the angel.

"No.
 
I've come to keep you from doing anything ... unwise."

"You mean stupid."

He shrugged.
 
"I prefer my word."

I smiled, turning back to the angel, feeling only slightly more comfortable about our situation now that we had our whole group here.
 
I was the only one with a weapon of any kind, but it wasn't going to do anything against that sword she had lifted and pointed in our direction.

"Who shall be first?" she asked, slowly moving her sword over the group, maybe trying the blade on our necks for size, I wasn't sure.
 
But it was creepy as hell when the thing was pointed at me, that was a definite.

"None of us," said Samantha.

And then I felt something in The Green.
 
An energy signature pulling from the source at our feet.
 
I looked over at Samantha and noticed the look of concentration on her face.
 
Uh-oh.
 
Magic in the Overworld.
 
This probably isn't going to go well
.

No sooner had the thought left my mind than a bolt of some sick shit came out of Samantha's raised hand.
 
I smiled and almost yelled,
Hey!
 
I remember that trick!
but thought better of it and resisted.
 
It was the same bolt of lightning or white laser or whatever that had kicked Becky's ass when Samantha had tried to get into our compound.

It should have hit the angel square in the chest, but she was too fast for us, lifting her sword and using it to deflect the beam.
 
Thank the Overworld, it didn't ricochet the damn thing towards us or it probably would have taken at least one of us out permanently.
 
Instead it just fizzled and kind of melted down the blade of the sword, eventually disappearing into the air as smoke.

The angel smiled.
 
"An excellent choice.
 
I shall take the witch's head first."

"Moriah!" boomed a voice from above our heads.

I ducked involuntarily, recognizing the voice but not the volume.

"What in the sam hill?" asked Finn from his position on the ground.
 
He'd gone down to his belly, his hands flapping around as if searching for arrows to grab and put in a bow he didn't have.

"It's Beau," I said.
 
"I called him in.
 
Shayla too."

The angel, Moriah apparently, had turned to face her opponent.
 
Beau landed on the ground in front of us, effectively blocking her access to our heads.
 
He was soon followed by Shayla, who landed next to him, her giant sword out now and held up in challenge at the black-winged angel.

"Moriah.
 
What an unpleasant surprise," said Shayla in a saccharine-sweet voice.

"Come to protect your food supply?" Moriah asked.

"We don't eat fae, as you well know, Moriah.
 
We have not lost touch with humanity as you have."

She shrugged.
 
"A wise choice.
 
More food for me. Now step aside so I can dine."

"She wants to eat us?" asked Spike.
 
"I thought she just wanted to chop our heads off."

"I think that's just for her personal entertainment," I said, speculating that this demon was one that fed off fae energy, but also one that had zero interest in ever getting a second chance in the Here and Now.
 
She was an Underworld lifer.

 
"Not today, Moriah.
 
It's time for you to go back where you belong."

She grinned.
 
"But I prefer it here.
 
I think I'll stay a while longer."
 
She raised her sword.

Shayla raised hers in return, speaking to Beau without taking her eyes off the black-winged crazy bitch.
 
"Take them back to their realm.
 
I'll handle her."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Shayla nodded once.
 
"Absolutely."
 
She took a step closer to Moriah.
 
"Last chance to return unscathed, demon wench.
 
Deny this very generous offer, and you will feel the bite of my steel once more."

"I deny your offer now as I have on every occasion before.
 
You do not decide for me where I go and who I dine with."

"Don't you mean dine
on
?"

Moriah shrugged.
 
"Semantics."

I wasn't sure who moved first, but a split second after their verbal debate ended, the battle began.
 
We all stepped back together, trying to give them room to do their thing.
 
None of us wanted one of our necks to get in the way of their swords.

Beau was gesturing for us to join him out in the field, away from where the two women fought.
 
It was hard to pay attention to him because it required that we tear our gaze away from the most amazing sword fight I'd ever seen, even in a movie with matrix effects.
 
Nothing in the world of cinema could even come close to the sounds of those magic-enhanced blades clanging together.
 
The sound waves hit my ears and made me think the battle was happening inside my own head.
 
I could see the sweat beading up on Shayla's forehead and dripping down by her temples.
 
Drops of the salty stuff flew off both of them and ran down their arms and hands, making their sword-handles slippery.
 
They each had white-knuckle grips on their weapons, their muscles bulging with the effort of not only just holding them up but swinging them side-to-side and in wide arcs up and down and all around, each blow delivered with the goal of severing an arm or a leg or a head, or maybe an artery.
 
It was a deadly dance, and one I knew I'd never be able to learn the steps of.
 
It was part art and part science.
 
I could see a certain geometry to it, a certain grace.
 
I had skills in neither area.

Beau broke into my reverie by grabbing my arm and jerking me towards him.
 
"Pay attention, Jayne!"

"What?
 
Oh.
 
Sorry."
 
I stared up into his face, so incredibly gorgeous.
 
So worried.
 
So, so, so ....

"It's happening to her again, isn't it?" asked Spike.

"Take her.
 
Don't let her go," said the angel, passing my arm over to Spike who took it gently in hand.

Spike was much nicer than the harsh angel.
 
I stuck my tongue out at Beau and gave him a raspberry.
 
"Meanie," I said, pouting as Spike took me into a hug, patting my back but making sure not to squish the baby pixie still hanging from my neck in a sling.

"Everyone hold hands or connect in some physical way.
 
Now!" demanded Beau.

I tried to see over Spike's shoulder to watch the angel-fight, but he was too tall.
 
I leaned to the side to watch, but Finn was in my way.
 
"Move, Finn!
 
I can't see."

"You don't need to see that, girl.
 
Just pay attention to the angel over here.
 
He's tryin' to get us home."

I was straining against Spike, trying to get away so I could see better.
 
"I don't want to go home yet.
 
I'm not done here."

"Oh, yes you are," said Spike, laughter in his voice.

"What's she doing?" asked Ben.

"She's going loopy.
 
This happened last time."

"Shut up, Spike!" I yelled, suddenly angry for some reason.
 
"You don't know what you're talking about!" I was annoyed that they were talking about me like that when there was a very important battle happening just on the other side of Finn.
 
If I could just get over there ...

Beau was talking again, and I tried to block out the sound of his voice, but I still heard, "Samantha, I need you to cast that spell you used to come over.
 
Tony, you get ready to pull them into the Gray when the veil opens."

I looked over at my friends in a panic.
 
Both of them were nodding their heads, as if Beau wasn't trying to kill us.
 
"We have to go!" I yelled, trying to get away from Spike.
 
"He's evil!
 
He's a demon angel!"
 
As soon as I said it, Beau's wings went from white to black.
 
I looked around Spike's arm and Shayla's wings had done the same.
 
Everyone was turning into a demon around me, and I couldn't handle it.
 
I had a baby pixie to protect.

"Lemme go!" I yelled, stomping down on Spike's foot hard enough that he let me go in shock.

I ran.
 
I ran and ran and ran as fast as I could.
 
I had to get away from all those terrible demons who wanted to eat the tiny pixie in my baby sling.
 
I couldn't let that happen.
 
Tim and Abby would never forgive me.

I had almost reached the safety of the trees when I felt something grab me under the armpits.
 
I struggled to get free, not caring who it was, but when I felt the pokey fingers jabbing into my flesh I turned to look at my captor.
 
It sure didn't feel like the last time I'd been picked up and carried through the air.

I nearly had a heart attack when I saw who it was.

"Hello, elemental," said the black-winged wench who should have been sword fighting in the field below us.

"Moriah!" I screamed.
 
"Let me go!"

"As you wish," she said, laughing maniacally.

Suddenly I was free, no more Miss Grabby Fingers digging her claws into my sensitive armpits.
 
My happiness disappeared in the split second it took me to realize I was now falling to the earth from very high up, to what was definitely going to be a very painful end.
 
One long, drawn-out scream erupted from my lungs, splitting the air around me.
 
I closed my eyes, waiting for death to take me and wondering if I'd have wings when it was all over and whether they'd be black or white.

But the end felt more like a bounce than a splat, so I opened my eyes to see what was happening.
 
I was now flying sideways, headed right for my group of friends.
 
Every one of them, save Samantha, had a look of utter shock on their faces, and none of them had the presence of mind to get the hell out of the way.