Page 36 of A Leaner Meaner Midlife

Tim rode with Dirk.

Jolly Sue rode with Fred.

Lura Belle rode with Carl.

And Dimple was with Wally.

Tim was back in his mail uniform and looked every bit the Immortal badass Courier he was. He might be a mild-mannered sweetheart who couldn’t cook to save his life on the daily, but as the Immortal Courier, he was a force to be reckoned with. His eyes glowed eerily, and his expression was one of barely restrained ire.

Dimple, Jolly Sue and Lura Belle were dressed in their go-to conservative Chanel pantsuits. The sensible shoes were back, and they gnashed their teeth in anticipation of biting off the Dragon’s tail. Or castration by chompers, to be more accurate.

I was concerned for their safety, but they were not. They slid off the massive horses and calmly walked over to me.

The stunned silent army of scumbags was petrified. Literally. None of them batted an eyelash or moved a hair. It wasn’t every day that one was in the presence of those who were foretold to end the world, and the Demons and Angels weren’t trying to attract any apocalyptic energy their way.

The Grim Reaper was never one to miss an advantageous opening and took it. He roared then began chanting in a language I’d never heard. Sparks of fire detonated with each word. He got down on his knees and slammed the ground with his fists, causing four-foot craters to appear beneath the feet of all who had tried to end us. In a flash of blood-red lightning, they were sucked into the holes.

Gideon stood up, clapped his hands, and closed the craters. Casually, he brushed the dirt off his jeans. There was still blood caked all over them, but his coolness factor was high.

The ghosts went nuts. The applauding dead created a wind that came close to blowing me off my feet. I almost smiled. Almost.

“Where the hell did you send those bastards?” Candy questioned.

Gideon’s mouth thinned into a grim smile that didn’t meet his eyes. It was hot, sexy and scary. “To the Darkness. The punishments there will far outweigh anything we could do here.”

“Excellent,” Dirk said, eyeing the lone bad guy with disgust.

We weren’t done yet.

The Dragon King was still in our midst, and he hadn’t given up.

“Well, now that was kinda show-offy,” the deluded jerk purred. He rubbed his hands together and grinned like an idiot. “I betcha you think you’re just gonna off my ass and go on home to your nice little life. Doncha, Daisy?”

I watched him with narrowed eyes. He was still on the platform. He was still dangerous. Behind him and to the left, mostly obscured by a tree, stood Tory and Gabe. Gabe raised his finger to his lips and motioned us to look away. He was calm and focused. Tory still looked bad, but not as terrible as she’d looked only an hour ago. The Archangel had clearly been healing her with magic. She was not at full strength, but she wasn’t the walking dead.

“Answer me, bitch,” Micky Muggles roared as he continued to rub his hands together even faster.

“What’s the fucker doin’?” Candy muttered softly.

“Not a clue,” I heard Tim answer.

“Well, Micky,” I said with a shrug. “That was the plan. Do you have a problem with that?” The chance of him killing me when I was surrounded by the Immortals present was slim, but he was stupid-clever, and he’d proven repeatedly that his cleverness could spell disaster for us.

“Actually, I do have a problem with that,” he replied and raised his arms over his head.

In his dirty, small hands sat a ball of silver-blue magic. It was mesmerizing.

“This is bad,” Gideon ground out. “He’s absorbed a lot of Tory’s magic through her blood. We might be fucked.”

I didn’t get that. When Micky had abducted Gideon, Gabe, Zander and Zander’s sister Catriona, he’d partaken in their blood. The was a shitload of magic. How was Tory’s blood different?

“Not following,” I said. “How is he more powerful on Tory’s blood than yours?”

“Purgatory’s power eclipses all others,” Gideon explained. “It gives her the ability to control the Souls of the Martyrs.”

“Not what I wanted to hear,” I muttered as I wondered how much longer we could go on. The sage advice of the Four Horseman began to dance in my weakening mind. Fred had advised, Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. Physical strength I had… but was my will strong enough?

The blue magic above Micky’s head was almost white now as sliver tendrils wove in and out of the giant ball of light—like diamonds dancing on the sun. I’d never seen anything like it before. Micky Muggles began to grunt and gyrate. With each repulsive move, he made the ball grow bigger… and bigger.

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