Wicked War of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 9) (2 page)

I looked over my shoulder at the snowy surroundings, and back to the greenery. My forehead pinched. Elyssa pointed to a flake of snow drifting from the sky. When it reached the air above the garden, it melted and fell as liquid water to the earth. Large wooden lanterns with amber glass hung from wooden poles lining a brick pathway. Each shone with a gentle glow. I reached a hand toward the closest one. The second my hand entered its light, I felt warmth creeping up it.

"Greenhouse lanterns," Elyssa whispered.

Hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower. Rabbits hopped amongst the shrubbery. I even spotted a few deer nibbling on leaves. A hive of bees hung from the lower branches of a tree bearing green-leaved branches on its lower half while the barren top extended too far out of the greenhouse lanterns to bloom.

I shook my head. "Who does Kassallandra think she is, Snow White?"

"She is very fond of gardens," Mom said from beside me.

I flinched because I'd been too busy taking in the bizarre scenery to notice the others had come up behind me. "Kassallandra likes gardens?

She nodded. "She has quite a green thumb."

"I can't believe that cold, hard bi—" Ivy's eyes widened, so I hastily amended my language. "Uh, I can't believe that really mean woman likes to grow things. Maybe she likes having total control over plants and animals."

"The garden looks clear," Elyssa said. She pointed at two puddles of crawler remains on the ground below, and dropped a rope ladder into the interior.

Once we reached the bottom, a disturbing thought hit me. "When I summon demons, it feels like a stack of bricks is sitting on my brain." I looked at the two puddles of slime. "I assume Kassallandra feels the same thing. Wouldn't she know immediately if someone is killing off her spawn?"

Mom stood next to me. "David once told me experienced Daemos could tether their summonings with a rune. He said it didn't entirely remove the presence from your mind, but it lightened it immensely."

"In other words," I said, "she might not notice as much, especially since she's preoccupied with getting married."

"Exactly." Mom managed a smile. "I wish mine and David's wedding had been official."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you aren't properly married to my father?"

"Does that mean we're bastards?" Ivy asked.

Mom gave her a disturbed look. "Where did you hear that word?"

"I heard Shelton tell someone they were the bastard child of a two-bit tramp." She blinked her wide innocent eyes. "I asked him what a bastard was and he told me."

Mom's eyes narrowed. "I need to have a talk with that man."

Ivy crossed her arms. "So, are we bastards, Mom?"

"Not by nom standards," she said. "Your father and I got married in Vegas after we left our families."

I gave my mother a horrified look. "You always pick such inconvenient times to traumatize me with this kind of information."

"Not really the time to discuss this," Elyssa said as the orchestral music changed to a militaristic march that was the Daemos equivalent of a bridal chorus. To me, it sounded like the forces of darkness were leading the ceremony.

Elyssa scouted ahead and returned a moment later. We followed her past two unconscious men in black suits with Lancer darts sticking out of their necks. The strong odor of brimstone told me they were actually hellhounds posing as humans. We passed another set of knocked-out hellhound men and it occurred to me that Kassallandra wouldn't be the only Daemos here with a complement of hellhound bodyguards.

I heard the murmuring of guests beyond the vine-covered wall surrounding the garden. We pressed the pendants on our uniforms and activated the disguises magically programmed into the Templar body armor. My outfit morphed into a black-and-white tuxedo. Elyssa's lengthened into a form-fitting red dress. Mom and Ivy's outfits grew into silky white gowns while Joss and Otaleon's mimicked my formalwear.

The other Templars simply switched their uniforms to black to better blend into the scenery since there was no snow in the garden.

"Guard our flanks, but only engage if you hear my signal," Elyssa told them.

They responded with precise salutes and melted into the shadows.

I peered around the corner and saw two large crowds. One was dressed mostly in various hues of blue while the other favored shades of red. The females wore long dresses with their hair worn up in elaborate weaves. The males wore suits or tuxedos that varied wildly in design. Some looked as though they were out of Victorian-era London, while others possessed a modern pizzazz. The one thing they all had in common were long robes in what I assumed were their house colors.

"We don't have robes." I looked at Otaleon and Joss. "And our tuxedos look too plain. We'll never fit in."

"The plan isn't to fit in," Mom said. "At least not for long."

A trumpet sounded and two black-suited hellhound men opened the large, oak double doors at the rear of the mansion. Kassallandra stepped outside.

"Ooh, pretty," Ivy said.

"Slut," Mom hissed, her eyes literally blazing with light.

The Maedras of House Assad wore the kind of red dress I imagined a demon princess would wear to her wedding. The top was tight and form fitting, giving ample view of her creamy cleavage. The lower part of the dress looked like layered silk with a long train held up by two little girls. Kassallandra's flame-red tresses were woven in tight braids to expose her long neck. I had to admit she looked gorgeous.

I heard someone clear their throat, and turned to see Elyssa giving me a questioning look. "Like what you see?"

I winked at her. "I like what I'm seeing now."

She smiled and rolled her eyes.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from Mom and followed her gaze. Dad exited the house behind the girls holding Kassallandra's train. He wore a dark blue suit with a fit tailored to his slim, muscular physique. His white shirt was open at the collar. He hadn't even worn a tie. His face looked sober, absent of his carefree smirk.

Mom seemed to rip her eyes from him. She gripped my hands. "Do you remember everything Cinder told you?"

I nodded. "Are we sure she'll go through with this?"

"She won't have a choice." Mom kissed my cheek and her grip tightened on me.

"Don't worry," I said. "Even if things go horribly wrong, I think Dad and House Slade will back me up." At least I hoped that was the case. If I screwed this up, Daemos social codes might prevent them from coming to my aid.

Kassallandra reached the ritual altar and offered a curt bow to a male and female standing there. The woman wore a red robe; the man's was blue. According to Cinder, they were the Paetros and Maedras of another Daemos house and would lead the ceremony.

The murmuring of the crowd dropped to a hush. My father stopped at the edge of the crowd and knelt. I had to get close to that altar without being found out.

I glanced back at one of the unconscious hellhound men and made a quick decision. I touched the Templar armor to the hellhound's suit. The disguise enchantment switched to match the bodyguard's.

Elyssa looked me up and down. "Do you really think they'll let a hellhound get close to them?"

"It's the only choice I have." I gave her a kiss on the lips and left the protection of the garden walls. The brick wall ran along the side of the crowd wearing blue. I stayed close to it and made my way down the side, looking around as if I were patrolling the place. None of the Daemos so much as looked at me. Their arrogance offered me the perfect way to hide. The faint burnt odor of succubus pheromones tickled my senses as I passed by the crowd. The last time I'd been this close to so many Daemos had been during the Battle of Bellwood Quarry in the Gloom. It was a bit unsettling.

I watched as the female ritual leader said something to Kassallandra. My father's bride took the woman's hand and pressed it to her forehead. My gut knotted as the female ritual leader raised her face to the crowd. She said, "Are there any here of worth who denounce this unification?"

Almost there.
I hurried my steps and reached the front of the crowd just as the intense odor of brimstone hit my nose. Everyone else seemed to sense it at the same time.

"I denounce this traitorous whore!" A female screamed. The garden wall to my right exploded and a demon scorpion the size of a car plowed through the crowd, sending wedding guests flying everywhere.

The last time I'd seen a scorp that size had been in Kobol Prison guarding Daelissa's Seraphim resurrection project.

Something became clear to me in that instant. Kassallandra hadn't been the one helping Daelissa. This mystery woman was the traitor.

Chapter 2

A wave of bricks whooshed past my head. I dove to avoid the scuttling legs of the massive scorp. Where claws and a stinger tail would be on a normal scorpion, this monster had giant mouths full of jagged teeth. Where the eyes should be, a human face pressed against the black chitin like someone trying to escape from a black plastic garbage bag. The face screamed and the jaw-claws snapped.

A tall, thin woman with black hair ran past the scorp and kicked the stunned ritual leaders backward off the altar. Kassallandra lay stunned under a pile of bricks. I spotted my father carrying two Daemos to safety while some ran in panic and others morphed into their half-demon forms as if preparing for a fight.

The woman gripped Kassallandra's tresses and jerked her from beneath the bricks. I heard howling and rolled on my back as a large pack of hellhounds charged down the aisle at the giant scorp. The giant scorp screeched. The face trapped beneath its chitin opened its mouth wide and a swarm of small scorps crawled down the face and piled on the ground, forming a ball of legs and black exoskeletons. The ball skittered toward the pack of hellhounds. The two forces met in an explosion of fur and screeches. I tried to pick myself up off the ground when another weakened portion of the garden wall fell. I rolled on my side, but a chunk slammed on my leg. I stifled a shout of pain.

Yelps and whines filled the air. I rose to my knees in time to see the scorps churning through the hellhounds like butter in a wood chipper. A ball of fire blazed through the air and exploded against the scorps. I spotted Elyssa and the Templars herding stunned Daemos from the courtyard while Mom scorched the scorps using Arcane spells instead of Seraphim channeling. I'd learned the hard way scorps could detect incoming blasts of Brilliance or Murk and dodge them easily.

"You will die as my mother died!" the attacking female said.

I crept up behind the altar, desperate to keep the giant scorp from spotting me. The attacker looked vaguely familiar. Her long, thick hair was black, and something about her face reminded me of someone—I just couldn't put my finger on whom.

"Aerianas," Kassallandra said, her voice betraying no fear. "I thought you were dead."

Vadaemos and Orionas's daughter? That's the chick who seduced Shelton!

Aerianas flashed a manic smile and punched Kassallandra in the face. Blood sprayed from the redhead's nose. Aerianas slapped a silver collar around the other woman's neck and threw her to the ground.

By now, a horde of Daemos, hellhounds, and my group were bearing down on the massive scorp. Aerianas's dark eyes glimmered. She pressed a red gem on a circlet at her throat. Something hummed to life and the static feeling of aether pressed against me. Mom and the others bounced back as they ran into an invisible barrier.

The male ritual leader rose from the ground and tried to grab Aerianas. She flipped the Daemos over her shoulder. Before he hit the ground, she spun and kicked him hard toward the giant scorp. One of the massive claws caught the man and cleaved him in two. A thin, flexible tube shot from the scorp's underside and slurped the remains until there was no trace but a splash of crimson on the ground.

Kassallandra lunged toward Aerianas, but fell to her knees as the collar around her throat flashed. Aerianas raised her hands into the air. "Enjoy your final pain, Kassallandra. It is payment in full for hunting my mother like a dog and killing her. As for killing my father, there is no price you could pay to atone for that."

"I didn't—" Kassallandra couldn't finish her sentence as a black inky pond formed beneath her. Dozens of arms jutted from the tar-like substance, hands grasping at Kassallandra as if trying to pull her into the ground while at the same time throwing her into the air. She screamed in such pain, I had to cover my ears.

Do something, Justin!

I had to act now while Aerianas was preoccupied. Gathering my courage, I dashed forward and dove at the woman. A giant scorp claw batted me. I tumbled through the air and smacked into a blue-tinged shield. I saw Elyssa's horrified face on the other side. She pointed frantically behind me.

I regained some of my wits and rolled away just as a giant jaw claw crushed the stone pavers where I'd been an instant before. On instinct, I shot a searing beam of Brilliance at the creature, but it scuttled aside with horrifying speed for something so large. My attack splashed harmlessly against the shield.

I didn't have a wand or staff with me, but I tried casting an Arcane spell with my hand anyway. A fireball exploded from my fingertip. Searing pain shot up my arm. The scorp threw up a claw. The fireball exploded against the chitin, but seemed to do no damage.

"Anyone have a can of bug spray handy?" I shouted as I backed away from the quickly advancing monster.

"Spawn, Justin!" Elyssa called over Kassallandra's cries of agony. "Use brute force!"

I saw my dad kneeling on the ground, his face dripping with sweat. A crack formed in the ground and rammed into the shield several times. He looked up. "She's running this shield on the mansion's own aether generator. It's too strong for an earth elemental to break through."

"Can it go under it?" I asked.

He shook his head. "The barrier is a bubble."

"Where's the generator?" I asked.

He pointed to a cottage-sized brick building near the garden wall. "It's inside the shield with you."