Page 4 of Mayhem and Ember

I strode inside, heading straight to the passage that led to the underground. The building groaned as we made our way through the dark, twisting halls and descended stair after stair. Scents of decay and dust clung to the air particles, making my nostrils feel like sandpaper with each inhale, and a humming sound vibrated through the basement as we approached the entrance to the room where it all went down. I stopped, turning and giving my team a questioning look.

“I sense a rift.” Chaos rested a hand on Ash’s lower back and closed his eyes. “Lower-level demons and something…other.”

Shade took two knives from his harness, gripping them tightly. “Of course this couldn’t be easy.”

“Where’s the fun in easy?” I nodded to Ash’s bag. “Get the freezing and mending spells ready. Chaos, you handle the demons. The rest of us will take care of the ‘other.’”

Without a word, he brushed past me and entered the room. I followed on his heels, and Ash and Shade took up the rear of our hunting crew.

Inside, we found total chaos, and I don’t mean my sister’s boyfriend.

A swarm of lesser fae, with their brown wings and razor teeth, swooped this way and that, dive-bombing a group of imps. Hadn’t we dealt with these little shits enough?

The imps fought back, throwing books, religious artifacts, scraps of wood…anything they could get their slimy little hands on, and I cracked my knuckles. I hated imps more than I hated fae.

Chaos shouted, “Stop,” and even though the fae kept attacking, the imps obeyed the Prince of Hell’s command and skittered toward him like good little puppies.

“Standing tall or on your knees, in the name of the goddess, I force you to freeze,” Ash cast the spell, and the oversized mosquitoes stopped midair.

My chest swelled with pride. My little sis had grown so much over the past few weeks, finally coming into her power. Power strong enough to take out the entire coven if the curse came to fruition…

I could not let that happen.

Chaos ordered the imps through the rift before helping Ash and Shade shove the fae through. I paced to the massive crevice Chrys and Mayhem had opened in an attempt to kill us and peered over the edge.

Darkness engulfed the bottom of the pit, but my sword lay down there somewhere. I grabbed the rope Chaos had dropped and looped it around one thigh and then the other, making a harness so they could lower me.

A sinister growl that sounded more alien than animal reverberated in the shadows to my right. I swiveled my head toward it, and out stepped one of the ugliest creatures I’d ever seen.

2

EMBER

He stood five and a half feet tall, with stark white—was it hair or fur?—atop his almost-human head. Two insect-like antennae jutted up from his scalp, bending forward like an ant, and enormous black eyes locked onto me as his thin lips—for lack of a better word—peeled back to reveal pointy, dagger-like teeth.

He took a step toward me, and his massive, brown cockroach wings fluttered, the sound reminding me of the nasty insects that dive-bombed me when I visited Texas one summer. A shiver spiraled down my spine before lurching into my stomach and making it turn.

What was it about humidity and bugs? Ick.

I grabbed a dagger from my thigh holster and widened my stance. “Chaos, are you going to take care of this guy or do I get to vanquish him?” I snapped my head toward my team and found Ash sealing the rift.

“Wait! We missed one.” But I was too late. The fabric of reality stitched together before my eyes, and I jerked my gaze back to the beastie in question.

The giant roach-man sprung, half-running, half-flying toward me and screaming like a swarm of cicadas. I swung a dagger, hitting a wing, and let me tell you, those friggin’ things were like armor. The moment the blade made impact, it snapped, the force reverberating up my arm and into my jaw, making my teeth ache.

He lashed out a clawed hand and ripped my shirt. I jabbed the knife at his chest, but the second blade broke as easily as the first. What the hell was this thing made of? Titanium?

With an ear-splitting screech, he slammed into me, grasping my shoulders in his claws and tackling me. My back smacked the ground, and all the air left my lungs in a whoosh. I gasped, which was a huge mistake. Roachman sneered, and a glob of gooey saliva landed right in my mouth.

It tasted like salty snot and regret.

I spit it back at him and gagged as I struggled beneath his weight. Someone…it could have been Ash or Chaos…threw a fireball at him, and it bounced off his roach armor, not singeing it a bit.

He growled, and another bit of gooey mess hung from the corner of his lip, threatening to hit my face. I kept my mouth closed this time and grabbed a dagger from my holster. What good it would do, I had no clue, but I refused to become breakfast for a cockroach.

He reared his head back, ready to chomp my face, and I caught a glimpse of a chink in his armor. I jabbed the dagger into the soft spot just below his ear hole, and praise the goddess, it didn’t break. Roachman squealed and rolled off me, and I scrambled to my feet.

Ash threw the binding spell at him, but he flapped his blade-proof wings and jetted to the ceiling before it reached him, hanging on like he had suction cups in his hands and feet.

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