Page 34 of Stuck with my Frenemy
Chapter Thirteen
Ebony
That fucker did not just club me on the side of the head. Dark circles bloomed before my eyes, and I shook my head to clear it before he could swing at me again. Dazed, I rolled on my knees, slipping twice before I could lift myself. Hand pressed to the lump growing above my temple, I swayed on my feet until Ash grabbed my upper arm to steady me.
That’s when I saw Cherry.
The ringing in my ears quieted only for her screaming to stab me in the brain like a hot poker. She was clinging to the asshole that hit my head like he had been pitched her way and she was going for a homerun, squeezing his body with her arms and legs. Her head was thrown back, and she shrieked at the sky while her long nails raked at his face for all she was worth. The squirrel and the bird were attacking him along with her, and his pissed-off roars hurt my poor head.
We were surrounded by a lot of the masked humans, but just like me, they all stood frozen watching Cherry. It took a second for me to understand the words she was screaming, and when I did, my heart punched my ribcage with a brutal thump.
“You will not hurt her again. You hear me?” The shrill sound of her voice was deafening. “I’ll scratch your eyes out, you freaking butt-ugly asshat. I’ll bite your ear off, too.” With a manic snarl, she looked crazed when she tried to follow through with her threat, only she ended up with a mouthful of the cloth mask.
“We need to grab her and get out of here while we can.” Ash still had a tight hold on my arm, and his muttering came like a hiss.
At least my head stopped pounding. I yanked my arm out of his grip. “I don’t know what kind of a world you live in, human, but in mine, when you are surrounded like this, you fight. You don’t tuck tail and run.”
“We are outnumbered if you didn’t notice, princess. And as much as I’ve wanted to throttle you from the moment you walked inside my bar, I don’t want to see you killed.” His head was moving in a slow semicircle so he had our assailants in sight. “If you are to die, it’ll be by my hand.”
I kept my eyes on Cherry, where Bernie hovered behind her not knowing if he should pull her off or join her in blinding the jerk. If the ass who hit me laid one finger on her, I was ready to rip his arms off and beat him with them.
“We are outnumbered.” My mumble had him jolting where he stood. Ash snapped his head in my direction like he expected me to disagree for the sake of opposing him. Why did everyone think I said things just to spite them? “But you forgot the most important thing here, buddy.”
“Me and Bernie can hold them back so you two can get away.” He rushed to reassure me, earning himself a glare.
“What I was going to say is, we are not human.” I shouldered my way past him, throwing the rest of my words over my back loud enough that he could hear me. “Try not to get killed, would you?”
Cherry stopped clawing at the masked attacker the moment she saw me headed her way. Her eyes turned glossy as she blinked fast at me like she couldn’t believe I was still alive. It was a damn wooden bat, not a sword that stabbed me for fuck’s sake. It chipped at my pride that she thought I’d go down that easily. Curling my thumb and forefinger, I pressed them to my lower lip and whistled. Two dark streaks zoomed my way, one from the sky and the other from the ground.
My familiars had been itching for a fight, too.
“Keep her out of harm,” I snapped at Bernie as I tugged Cherry off the dead-man-walking. “Get her out of here.”
“Ebs …” Her voice trailed off when the human took my advice seriously and snatched her in his arms before he rushed toward his brother.
The dozens of masked men got animated too, and they blocked the other three of my companions from escaping. Well, Ash stood next to me with no intention of going away, but it pissed me off that Cherry was still in the middle of it. The girl didn’t have one mean bone in her body. The last thing she needed was to fight.
“You can take me to your master now, or I can kill you all and go find whoever it is myself.” Arms raised to the side, I spun around, noting where each of them was positioned. Sol was vibrating in anticipation on my shoulder, and Corvus had his back arched at my feet. “You should’ve left,” I mumbled to Ash.
“Not a chance,” he snarled back.
Not a very talkative bunch, they attacked. My magic fanned out, covering everyone so the humans couldn’t see a battle in the middle of their city. Back to back with Ash, we pushed our way closer to his brother, and the three of us formed a shield around Cherry. She didn’t sound happy about it, but at least she didn’t try and move out of it. I could deal with her complaining as long as she didn’t end up hurt. Because I didn’t want to be the one to tell Aphrodite that her daughter had been killed by humans, not because of anything else.
I couldn’t care less about her.
My fist connected to the closest attacker, and the hit had him spinning around and taking down two more of his comrades. A hand grabbed at my arm, and I used their hold to twist around and cave their chest with a solid kick. Shouts and screams filled the air around us, the stench of clustered bodies, sweat, and blood searing my nostrils. It boosted the adrenaline coursing through me, and the familiar thirst for battle washed over me. I hated that I was a descendant of the goddess of war, but it worked in my favor in situations like the one we found ourselves in.
Ash held his own, his body moving like a killing machine as he plowed through the attackers almost as fast as I did. More graceful than any human had a right to be, his muscles bunched and tightened while he punched, kicked, and threw people around as if they weighed no more than a feather. Paying attention to him had me lifted off the ground when one of the idiots thought it was a great idea to slam my back over his knee.
I used his strength against him, twisting in the air just as my arm cocked back as far as it would go. He had a split-second to realize his mistake, and then the heel of my palm slammed into the center of his chest along with a powerful wave of my magic. The blast was so strong it sent a whole row of them flying through the air and landing on their backs unconscious, and me dropping to cushion the fall on one knee.
“Fuck me,” Ash breathed at the same time as his brother, but I didn’t slow down. There were still a half a dozen attackers left, and they’d pulled out knives and daggers after my display.
I hoped it wouldn’t come to using magic for that reason.
Sol and Corvus zapped whoever tried to blindside me, messing with their heads so they would turn on each other. A couple of clusters were already fighting their own like they’d forgotten about us. I turned toward Ash as I rose to my feet just in time to catch the glint of the blade one of the masked men had aimed at his back. My body moved without a thought, and I twisted the hand holding the dagger with a firm grip on the wrist. Shoulder tucked under his elbow, I jerked my upper body forward, breaking the arm and causing the weapon to clatter on the pavement.
A jarring shriek split the air.
