Firefight in Darkness (32 page)

Incensed, Blythe raced forward and rammed her fist into Nyxa’s cheek, sending her flying onto the ground. Without missing a beat, Blythe whirled around and hurled a ball of fire at the demon as he approached, axe held high, ready to plow into her. The fireball caught the hand that held the axe, and as his flesh burned he dropped it to the ground. Seeing her chance, she grabbed the axe and tossed it to Serendipity.

“Run and get help, I can’t take this bastard on my own.” She ordered, fire in her eyes. Serendipity nodded and raced off, her trembling legs almost giving out on her.

Now that the demon was unarmed, Blythe faced him with her fists up and chin cocked. “Come on, asshole, I ain’t afraid of you.”

The demon growled at her, baring his teeth as his eyes flashed. He lifted his hands to grab her, but before he could charge he suddenly jolted as a lightning bolt shot out of the sky and hit him. He crumbled to the ground, quivering and twitching uncontrollably. Blythe glanced up and saw Capri staring out at her from one of the windows, a big smile on her face.

“Saved you.” She called down, waving. Blythe grinned and waved back.

“Thanks, honey.” Pleased, she reached for her pistol in order to destroy the demon when it vacated the human, only to see Nyxa rising to her feet. A vicious anger flashed through her as she turned to face her mother. “I can’t believe you did this. Actually, maybe I can believe it, because you always were a rotten bitch.”

Nyxa sneered with equal dislike as she fought to stand on her feet, her cheek pulsating with a throbbing pain from where Blythe had struck her.

“How dare you hit me.” Nyxa spat, walking towards Blythe. The two women were suddenly eye to eye, glaring bitterly at each other. “I gave birth to you, twenty hours of horrific labor and this is the thanks I get?”

Snorting out an indignant laugh, Blythe smirked. “It’s always about you, isn’t it, mother? You only think of yourself and how shit affects you.”

“I am only trying to keep my husband.” Nyxa snarled, her dark eyes searing. “He betrayed me, but it was only because that woman has always had her claws in him. She deserves to die.”

“Damnit, no she doesn’t.” Blythe rolled her eyes, the urge to throttle her own mother overwhelming. “Yeah, she’s a terrible wife who cheated on her husband, and I can understand why that hurts you because your ex-husband was the one she cheated with. But that is not a crime that deserves death. Of course, you’ve killed before, so I suppose it doesn’t even occur to you to consider these things before pulling the damn trigger.”

“Balgaire deceived me, lead me to believe that the man I truly loved was a murderer. He deserved to die for that.” Nyxa tossed back her dark, wildly frizzy hair with an air of righteousness.

“Fine, that I’ll agree with. Balgaire was scum. But, damnit, mother, Serendipity is just a weak, pathetic excuse for a woman. If she has any sense at all, she’ll beg Rohan for forgiveness and this will all be over. Letting Dante onto Euphora to kill her was not only idiotic, but it’s put all of us in danger. What about Brogan? Or Nova? Do you even care what happens to them? Or have you given up on them the way you gave up on me all those years ago?”

“You were too much like him for me to bear. I had no choice. Facing you every day was killing me.” Nyxa retorted, her voice suddenly hollow and empty as the painful memories swam through her.

Blythe just shook her head, not ready to forgive. “Yet again proof of you only caring for yourself.”

“Lucian took you in, didn’t he?” Nyxa shot back, a tinge of bitterness in her tone now. “You didn’t need me, and I needed nothing more than to move on.”

“And you did such a good job at it, didn’t you? Moving on was easy for you.” Shaking with more than just anger now, Blythe turned away, not even wanting to face her mother any longer. After a few moments she spoke again, and her voice was heavy with grief. “How come you could be a mother to Balgaire’s children, but you could never be one to me, the daughter of the man you claim to love so damn much?”

When Nyxa said nothing for a few moments, Blythe turned around and faced her once more. “What, you don’t have an answer to that?” She snapped, throwing her hands up in the air. “God, I don’t know why I even bothered asking.”

Before Blythe could turn away, Nyxa reached out to grab her daughter’s arm, pulling her back. The look in the older woman’s eyes took Blythe by surprise. It was almost as if…as if she were sorry.

“It was easier to hate you than it was to love you.” Nyxa said quietly, her face devoid of any emotion now. She was nothing but a hollow shell, her dark eyes stark against her pale face. Knowing that was as good an answer as Nyxa would ever give, Blythe simply nodded.

“Alright, then.” With that, Blythe turned, prepared to finish destroying the demon, when she suddenly saw her father charging at them, a mixture of fear and purpose in his eyes. In what seemed like slow motion, he tore past her and tackled the demon that had risen to his feet, not hurt enough from the lightning bolt after all. The demon fell under Brock’s weight, and within seconds Brock was pounding his fists into the demon’s face. Alarmed, Blythe watched as her father pummeled the demon to a bloody pulp, causing the demon to slither out of the host body and try and escape. But Blythe was ready. She pulled her gun and fired, then had to pull at her father to get him to stop punching the unconscious human.

“Stop it!” She snapped, trying to hold back his arms. “It’s done, he’s not in there anymore. You need to stop.”

He did stop, and as he did so he tilted his head up to look at her, his eyes glassy with rage. His hands were shaking now and his chest heaved with labored breathing as he tried to come back to reality. Assured he was finished, Blythe left him and shattered the demon to pieces, pleased to add another to her current count of three.

When she turned around, she saw her parents wrapped around each other, kissing frantically. She had to shake her head, thinking she was imagining things, but the image wouldn’t go away. A hysterical laugh managed to escape her throat as she gaped stupidly at them.

“What the hell is going on?” She asked, dumbfounded. Brock pulled away from Nyxa and smiled sheepishly at Blythe.

“I came to save my two best girls.” He announced, earning a appreciative smile from Nyxa. “Mission accomplished.”

“She set this whole thing up to kill Serendipity, you do know that, don’t you?” Blythe managed, her head still shaking in disbelief.

“I guess I’ve always loved her vindictive side.” He laughed and resumed kissing Nyxa again.

“You’re both crazy.” Blythe rolled her eyes and turned away, annoyed that part of her was happy to see her parents together. Why in the hell should that make her happy now, when it never had before?

Knowing this wasn’t the time to sit and contemplate such things, she raced off in search of Jax and, hopefully when she found him, she would find Dante as well.

♦ ♦ ♦

All was quiet now on the backside of the castle. What had been an explosive gunfight was now silence as no one moved, no one spoke. The smoke from the simmering fires that surrounded them hung heavy and hot, making it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. Somewhere beyond, in the courtyard, thunder boomed.

Jax turned to Rian, his hand steady as he held up the demon sensor. They both glanced down together, noting the three red dots that hovered in the trees just ahead. Beside them, Brogan held his weapon so tight his knuckles were white, intensity in his eyes.

Rohan had gone to get more ammunition with Rhiannon, so all that was left were the two Furies and Jax.

He was partially annoyed because this wasn’t his fight, and this wasn’t his home to protect. His only business was to get Dante, and getting involved in some massive battle had not been in his plans. But, now that he was here, he figured he should help out. Rian needed him, and he would do anything he could for Rian. However, the instant Dante tried to escape, because he had a gut feeling that eventually the bastard would, he would be on him like white on rice. He wasn’t letting him get away this time.

They could hear muffled and distant screams and booming explosions from the courtyard, but all of that seemed to be worlds away. Blythe was out there, he thought anxiously. But she could take care of herself, that much he knew. Worrying about her now would only hinder his ability to do his job, and that had to be his priority. Focusing back on it, he made a few quick hand signals to Rian, suggesting that they try and move out, using the smoke as cover so as to ambush the demons. Jax had an instinctual feeling that the demon on the far left was Dante, and so he wanted to take that one. Rian nodded, and, motioning for Brogan to stay put in order to protect the door to the castle, he shifted silently out past their cover and into the grasses shrouded by smoke.

Jax mirrored his movements on the other side, keeping low and stepping lightly to avoid making noise. He kept the device on so he would notice the second one of the demons tried to move. So far, they remained stationary.

Sawed off shotgun in hand, he scanned the back gardens, left mostly wild in comparison to the trimmed gardens out front. Here the grass was left to grow tall and untamed, surrounded by charming wildflowers and shady trees. It was perfect cover for both man, and demon. Glancing back down at his device, he noted the tree he thought Dante must be hiding behind. Carefully, he made his way over, only to curse himself as the dot he’d been monitoring on his device blinked off. Swiftly, he changed the setting to Dryad, and with adrenaline pumping he saw a red dot suddenly running away from him, towards the side of the castle. Though the smoke was still so thick that he could barely see, he jumped up and raced after where the dot was going, knowing he had his man.

Though he hated leaving Rian behind, he knew that Rian would notice on his new device that the demon had fled, and that Jax had followed him. He could only hope that the Furies could handle the other two demons without him.

Boots pounding the ground, he burst through the worst of the smoke when he reached the side of the castle, and spotted Dante running ahead of him. Picking up speed, he kept moving, never letting Dante out of his sight.

Suddenly, he spotted a flash of red hair, and his heart clenched viciously in his chest as he realized Dante had just run into Blythe. He saw Dante falter for a second, then swerve around her and keep going. Jax saw Blythe whirl around and give chase almost immediately.

They emerged out into the courtyard, where madness was still ensuing. Jax caught a glimpse of Thea slashing a demon with a gleaming silver sword, and the Water Dryads capturing another with a mountain of ice. Overhead, the storm still raged, lightning bolts raining down and striking the ground.

He pushed ahead as they skirted along the side of the courtyard, keeping to the shadows and smoking remnants of trees. He had to duck under fallen branches scorched by flame and dodge an ash filled pond. He watched Dante reach the entrance to Euphora, and then swiftly change into demon form and disappear.

Immediately he changed the setting on the device back to demon as he kept running, coming only to a stop just outside the gates where Blythe was waiting.

She was breathing heavily, but her eyes were hard as stone. “He’s here somewhere, the coward.”

“I know.” He responded simply as he scanned the area. He began walking forward, into the clearing, with Blythe following him.

Out here, beyond the gates of the courtyard, all was quiet. The night sky above them rioted with stars, and a cool breeze whistled through the air, soothing his skin. Ahead of them, the large oak tree was nothing but a dark shadow, highlighted only softly by the pale moonlight. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to scan the area, wondering if Dante had managed to get away after all. But no, they would have seen the flash from the tree…

Blythe was silent beside him, and he assumed she was being vigilant, scanning the grass around them as he did. But when the dot popped up on his scanner, it appeared right next to where he was standing.

“Shit, I must have left it on Dryad.” He muttered to himself, switching back to the home screen to select demon. Only, as he did so, he found that he already was on the demon setting, just as he had previously thought. His first thought was that the device was broken, stuck on the wrong setting or something. But when he turned to stare at Blythe, who was standing placidly beside him, he realized that no, the device was not wrong. And something was very, very wrong with Blythe.

Her eyes were different, that was the first thing he noticed. They were staring at him coldly, harshly, with none of the usual fire. And she was standing different, too, straight as an arrow with her arms at her sides and her feet planted firmly together. Blythe always had a cocky stance, and hardly ever stood straight. And when her mouth curved into a grin, he knew that it wasn’t her grin, either. No, this was evil.

“Dante.” Backing away, Jax pointed his shotgun at the woman he loved, and the war raging inside his chest nearly took him to his knees. How could he look at her face and pull the trigger?

“What are you talking about Jax? It’s me, Blythe.” She stepped towards him, a quick faltering step that seemed as unnatural as the demon inside of her. And paired with the wicked, echoing sound vibrating with her voice, she sounded, quite simply, demonic.

Jax backed away further, knowing he had to get Dante out of her somehow. If only he was a Fury, damnit, he could summon him out of her. But he was just a human, with a gun that would kill her before it would kill Dante. His hand that held his gun trembled once.

“Come on, kiss me.” Blythe’s arms reached out to touch him as she came closer, and with revulsion he watched her blank stare as her face tilted up for a kiss. Then the eyes he’d stared into so many times flashed with blood red light, and he could do no more than shove her away.

“I’ll kill you for this.” Jax snarled, only to watch her laugh jauntily and begin to skip away towards the tree. Without hesitation he raced after her, grabbing her arm and yanking her around to face him just before she could touch the tree.