The waterfall of white blood split like sliding doors. Beyond it, in a world of darkness and chaos, stretched a black moving carpet.

No. Not a carpet. An army.

It was like a doorway had opened to a different reality, in which the sky was a deep purple and the ground, a deep brown of rocks and dirt, was dotted with an infinite army of unseemly creatures.

On the head of that army was a monster. He approached the gate, a humanoid of at least eight feet tall and almost half as wide. His gait was slow and purposeful. His long cloak, the color of a moonless night sky, swallowed the light.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Every step he took seemed like a nail to my coffin. His cloak flared, revealing an armor reminiscent of a time long past. Except the color was a shimmering metallic blue instead of gray. Old scars marred its surface. Obsidian chainmail peeked through the gaps. A helmet covered his face and a massive sword hung at his hip.

On the breastplate stretched across his broad chest, a swirl of white lines was burned in. A crest that became clearer the closer the demon got. A dragon head with two swirling horns.

The demon stopped inches from the portal and reached up with a gauntleted hand, touching a translucent film separating our reality from theirs.

The film cracked, like glass, and shattered in a rain of shimmering stars.

Silence.

The demon lowered his helmet and I sucked in a breath. I never expected a demon would be beautiful, but this one had an odd kind of beauty that repelled and sucked you in at the same time.

His skin was a dark brown with undertones of olive, it stretched across a face that looked human but wasn't. The cheekbones were too high, the nose too flat, and the chin was a perfect square in the middle of which thin lips stretched.

His irises were a perfect leaf green against a backdrop of black; the part of a person's eye that would be white was pure black, and his pupils were slitted against the bright green. The effect was deeply unsettling.

His skin was not smooth, and as he turned his head, I could make out its texture. Like tiny scales of a dragon.

Inexistent wind blew his hair back, the strands long and feathery. White at the roots that deepened into green, then black at the ends.

The ombré style was done very well. The ridiculous thought snapped me out of my shock.

Sound returned to my ears. A flurry of whispers rolled through the crowd as the demon took a step forward and landed in our world. The immortals closer to him all took a collective step back, pushed by an invisible force.

A burst of heat singed my skin. The energy the demon emanated was unlike anything I'd ever felt. It tasted like that of the lesser demons I'd encountered before. But it was more. More refined, more potent, just more. Even to my silver dulled senses, the power in his magic took my breath away.

Rami stepped toward the demon. He looked so small and weak next to him.

The demon opened his mouth, revealing two rows of serrated, sharp teeth. "You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, witch."

The voice was deep and growly, what I expected a dragon would sound like.

Rami bowed his head, eyes still on the demon. "The stage is yours, demon lord."

The demon took another step and looked around him at the faces of stunned immortals, then his gaze went back to Rami. "The gate needs to stretch farther to accomodate my army."

Rami raised his hand, the immortals resumed their chanting, feeding more magic and blood to the spell.

The demon lord and Rami stepped back from the gate. Monsters filed through. Dressed in similar but less impressive armor, helmeted heads and armed with swords, machetes, maces, hammers and all kinds of medieval weapons. Some demons were short, some were tall. Some of them sprouted horns on their helmets. Some had long, protruding heads like those of an animal. Others had bat-like wings.

One by one, monsters stepped into our world, reeking of strange magic and moving like seasoned warriors.

"We're so screwed," I whispered when the seventh monster stepped through. As the immortals chanted, the gate grew wider and clearer.

"Something's coming," Noah mumbled.

I looked at him. The wolf's head was cocked to the side, his eyes closed and a frown crunching his eyebrows.

"What do you-"

An earthquake shook the ground. I waited for it to end, thinking it was like the previous ones. But it stretched for several minutes, gaining in intensity until my chair moved from its original spot. Hope unfurled.

The ceiling cracked.

Chunks of stone exploded upward. It was as if someone had punched the ceiling from the inside. It disappeared in a shower of debris and rocks, revealing the beautiful night sky.

The blinding white stream that was the gate stretched up into the sky like a beacon, at least a hundred feet tall.

More monsters piled in from the gate. The immortals moved, forming a protective circle around the spell, the people feeding it and the demons.

The ground kept shaking.

The demon lord and Rami stepped forward, Rami primed his magic, his eyes glowing silver, and the demon lord put on his helmet and pulled his sword. The wide blade glowed a bright green before erupting in emerald flames. A sword of green fire.

The demon lord bellowed, and his people answered his battle cry with one of their own, pulling their weapons and readying their magic.

Darkness approached.

It tasted of power and rage, of vengeance and death. It tasted of Arthur.

A shadow crossed the sky above us and fell right in front of me in a crouch. Power punched the ground, sending stones and debris flying around, creating a small crater around him. Arthur.

I would recognize that broad back anywhere.

He straightened. His white t-shirt smudged with dirt, his feet shoulder width apart and his hair a mess.

The immortals in the vicinity all stood straighter, their weapons raised and their faces slapped by fear. He was one man, but at that moment, with his magic roaring like a vengeful dragon, they might as well be faced with an army.

"Too late, lord Arthur. It is done," Rami said, his voice drowning the hum of the chanting.

"It will not be done until you are begging by my feet," Arthur said, his voice impossibly cold.

"What will one man do?" Rami sneered.

Arthur flicked his hand. Rami flew to the side. He crashed into several of his men and they all hit the wall, sending stones out. Someone shot a dart toward Arthur. He plucked it inches from his chest, crushed it with his fist and threw it aside.

A blood chilling laugh echoed through the night. It came from the demon lord, tucked in the middle of the protective circle of immortals. "Bazbell's progeny. I did not expect to see family so soon after coming here."

"Good to see you, too, great uncle," Arthur said, his tone belying his words. "Unfortunately, you are not welcome here."

The demon lord raised his sword and stepped forward, the green fire erupted upward, extending the reach of the blade by several feet.

A swarm of immortals fell from the sky.

Fae and vampires, dozens of them. Some dropped and some climbed down. Among them was a giant white fox with nine fluffy tails. Irene's white coat and pale blue eyes glowed from within. Venus landed on soft feet next to Arthur. A thick branch lowered my father next to them.

Then the end began. The two armies engaged.

Arthur turned, the sound of battle, magic and swords, behind him.

His face was terrible. He crouched before me, his eyes completely black and his expression stone cold. Darkness rolled off of him in waves, eager to swallow everything in sight.

Noah stilled beside me, preparing to defend himself from the bigger predator.

Arthur was angry, and he was scary. But he was mine. I leaned forward and put my forehead on his. It felt like coming home. I breathed out in relief. Everything else disappeared.

"You took your sweet time," I said. "Get me out of these chains and give me a sword, your lordship. We have a battle to win."

He blinked. His fingers touched the chains around me and they shattered into a thousand pieces.

His gaze zeroed in on my torn top, on my neck where Rami had bitten. The silver prevented my body from healing the wound fast enough. Arthur took an endless breath, his chest expanding.

Rami was a dead man walking.

Arthur rose and the world returned to my senses. He glanced aside and Noah's chains broke. I pushed to my feet. Arthur's arms surrounded me for a moment, his face in my hair. Then he stepped back. His face looked marginally better.

Behind him, a line of fae and vampires fought the mercs who formed a perimeter between us and the demons. Our ranks were cutting through that perimeter with ruthless efficiency.

One of the demons flew over the gaggle of fighting and landed right behind Arthur. Arthur turned, a blur of movement. If I had been a human I would've missed it. It was three kicks in one. His foot hit the demon's hand first. The demon's gauntlet bent, bone crunched and he dropped his mace. Then Arthur's foot connected with the demon's throat, cutting off his shrill scream. And finally it hit the side of the demon's head.

The monster's neck snapped in an unnatural angle. It all took one second, and the demon dropped down next to his mace.

Wow. He neutralized him with one foot. Apparently, armor didn't work against Arthur.

Arthur put his foot to the ground.

"You could've used your magic," I told him.

"I might deplete my magic reserves before reaching the gate, and I can't wait for them to replenish. We need to close that gate as soon as possible. Charles!"

The blond vampire materialized with two swords. He handed them to us and joined the fight, right next to the white fox who was ripping a witch's throat, the crimson glaring on her white coat. The sound of fighting came from the several entrances of the hall and above ground as well.

I heaved my sword, the comforting weight sealing my resolve.

"Where did you get the manpower?" I asked Arthur. Some of the men and women on our side were dressed in the green and gold of the fae, others were dressed in pale blue and gray fatigues.

"Your father brought the soldiers whose loyalty he was certain of. And Venus brought some of her troops, more are on the way.

"Stay back," he said, watching the scene. "You're silvered, you don't have your magic, and you're a high priority target."

I wanted to snap at him that I was fine and I could fight. But I wasn't. This wasn't about me or what I wanted. Arthur needed to close that gate and worrying about me would get him distracted. Being distracted in a hall full of enemies could be fatal.

I gritted my teeth. "Ugh. Fine. Go. I'll stay behind."

He looked at me. I didn't need the bond to know he was surprised and relieved. He kissed me, gave Noah a look and charged into the fight.

Noah looked like death warmed over. He could barely stand upright and he was chugging water from a canteen like his life depended on it.

Noah heaved the mace of the fallen demon. I crouched down next to the monster and pried the helmet off his head. A pain-twisted face stared back at me. His closed eyes were sunken deep in his face. And his skin, at first glance appearing smooth and grayish, was actually covered with a very short fuzz. His nose and lips, the top one split, were distinctively feline. His ears were pointed and long, covered by his shoulder length hair, a waterfall of jet black streaked with red.

"Still alive," Noah said, hefting the mace up. "Move back."

I stepped back and looked away just as he brought down the mace on the creature's head. It exploded like a watermelon, chunks of bone and gore sputtered around. Ew.

The line of our soldiers surrounded the enemy with the gate right in the middle. I didn't have a good view so I jumped on the chair I'd been chained to. Much better.

Demons were still coming out of the gate. If they didn't close that thing, soon we'd be run over by monsters from the other realm. The immortals standing in the spell were still chanting. We had to get them first. Damn it, if I just had my magic.

As I watched, a root shot up from the ground under one of the chanting witches, it wrapped the woman in thick vines and pierced her chest with its tip. One of the mercs cut off the branch with an axe. The wounded witch landed in a heap on the ground and didn't get up. The branch must have struck the heart.

My hand went to my thighs. I wished I had my throwing daggers with me. Noah climbed to his chair beside me. He almost toppled over. He really was in bad shape.

"Don't die on me, Noah," I told him without taking my eyes off the fighting. Noah grunted.

Arthur had cut his way to the middle of the melee and faced off three mercenaries. His sword blurred. A diagonal swipe cut open one vampire's upper body from shoulder to hip, spilling his innards on the ground. The vampire's two machetes dropped to the ground. Arthur reversed his blade and severed a second vampire's arm. Blood sprayed Arthur's face and chest, and he looked every inch the dangerous vampire lord that he was.

He bent down as another opponent's sword split the air where Arthur's neck had been a fraction of a second earlier. Arthur charged forward, his shoulder hitting the man's chest. He kept going, the bulk of Arthur's body taking his opponent off the ground. Arthur kept barreling into two more mercenaries in that one push. He stopped abruptly, stepped back and buried his sword to the hilt in his opponents. The blade cut through the two mercs, the tip of the long blade peeking from the second vampire's back. Arthur released his sword with an effortless tug and turned.

He really was conserving his magic. Watching him fight now made me realize how much more I had to go. This was a man who could fight enemies for hours on end without slowing down, cutting through an army with frightening efficiency.

A blur of movement snapped my attention from Arthur to the side. Venus, dressed in a tight black shirt and pants, snapped her long leg in a kick, hitting a fae's throat. The slim blade of her rapier cut through the veins entangling a vampire in a blue and gray fatigues, one of her people, and reversed its path to cut a crimson line in a witch's throat.

A woman screamed nearby, a fae, her face contorted in pain and anger, her grief stricken eyes on the fallen witch. She raised her hand, a gust of strong wind knocked everyone around the fae back, knocking them into the other fighters. I felt the wind's breath all the way from my position.

Venus swiped her hand on her thigh and threw. The dagger impaled itself in the fae's throat, she froze, her magic flickering out, and Venus jumped forward, severing the woman's head with a graceful glide of her rapier. She'd reached the last line of defense before the spell.

A wall of ice sprung to life between her and the immortals feeding the spell. Venus jerked back just in time to dodge the sharp peaks of the wall. The wall stretched, the ice moving agonizingly slow, its goal to surround the circle of the spell in its entirety.

Oh, no, you don't. I stood on my toes and searched the fae among the enemies. Who was it? Who?

"There!" Noah barked, pointing to the left where a female fae stood surrounded by four vampires, her eyes focused on the ice wall and her magic spilling from her like an avalanche. She wasn't strong, but she gave the wall her all.

The fae from our side attacked the ice with fire. The ice melted, then thickened. The fire grew stronger. Ice grew thicker.

Ice. Fire. Ice. Fire.

A sharp whistle. A blur of movement. I ducked down. Thud. A crossbow bolt hit the wall behind my head. Noah and I presented a lovely target standing high on these chairs.

"We're sitting ducks on these chairs," Noah said, crouching low.

A commotion broke in the entrance right next to us. A vampire staggered inside, one of the mercs, a crossbow dangled on his back. His throat was open, belching a thick stream of blood. His wild dark eyes met Noah's, and he dropped to the ground.

Noah jumped down and headed for the fallen vampire, as soon as he was within sight of the entrance, an arrow zipped past him. He jumped back and crouched low, dragging the fallen vampire out of the entrance. He unstrapped the crossbow and the quiver from the vampire and threw them my way. Yes!

I could kiss him right now.

I snatched the weapon from the air, leaned the sword against my chair and straightened. It was a rudimentary crossbow, but it would do perfectly. The quiver only had twelve bolts left. I had to make them count.

I loaded the crossbow, aimed at the fae who was holding up the wall of ice around the spell, and unloaded. The bolt whizzed through the air, embedding itself in the fae's throat. She fell down, hidden by the vampires guarding her. The wall of ice shattered and melted down. Venus advanced on the spell.

Rami on the other side of the spell was fighting my father. I only caught glimpses of their fight because of the gate's presence. My father dodged a flash of white zipping his way from Rami, a bolt caught his green top and burned through the fabric and the skin, but my father pushed through the horizontal rain of burning white and swung his sword at Rami. They disappeared behind the gate. I hoped my father was winning.

The next minute went by in a blur. Load, aim, unload. Load, aim, unload. My targets went down. It was difficult to spot the enemy entangled with the people from our side.

To the left, the wall of ice shattered and melted down. Venus charged through and cut the first chanting immortal, the wall of light that was the gate glitched. The demon lord bellowed, and his soldiers sprung to action, joining the fight when they'd been content with watching behind the mercs' defense.

A demon had been midstep between our realm and theirs when the humming of the witches was disturbed, and his howl of pain echoed in the vast hall, drowning the vicious sounds of the fight. The demon disintegrated into infinite, tiny particles that disappeared into the air.

The gate was still open. I could feel the pull and flow of magic.

Once the demons joined, the tides of the fight changed in the favor of our enemies. I unloaded the rest of my bolts into the chest of a vampire about to swing his sword at Irene's back. She turned at his scream and swiped him with a massive paw. He hit the ground. She pinned him there with her paw and tore at his neck until only tendons connected his head to his shoulders. He was done.

People, allies and enemies, burst through the doors nearby. More mercenaries. I picked up my sword and jumped down. Unfortunately for Arthur, I had no choice but to join the action.

I swiped at the back of a vampire's neck, cutting through the spine. The vampire froze for a second, then dropped like a log. The fae who'd been fighting him gave me a wide-eyed nod and finished the male off.

My neck prickled. I whirled around, ducking down. A sword whistled over my head, an inch from my hair. I kicked the woman's knee in. She bared her teeth, braving the pain and brought the sword down in a sharp diagonal. I was still dizzy from the silver, I reacted slightly too late. The sword grazed my shoulder and the top of my chest. An inch more to the left and it would've cleaved through my arm. I swiped her feet from underneath her. She dropped on her back. We both straightened at once. She was good.

I charged at her. Our swords met. We went at it, blow for blow. I deliberately slowed down, leaving my right side open so she'd think I was getting tired. It wasn't difficult to fool her since I was actually getting tired. As expected, she took advantage of my seemingly low guard and aimed for my right side. At the very last minute I spinned around. My blade went through her neck like a hot knife through butter. Blood spewed out of her in a crimson jet, warm on my face.

I wiped my eyes and turned. More mercenaries were coming through the doors, and the demons have pushed our forces back from the spell. We were being sandwiched between the enemy ranks. They must have pulled more of their numbers in. We would be run over very soon.

But there was nothing to do except fight. So I fought.

At one point I found myself back to back with Noah. His face contorted with anger and pain, a beginning of a dark bruise darkened his left eye and his shirt had lost its white crispness to soaking scarlet. He was fighting a swordsman and barely holding his own against the long ass scimitar.

The demons were on us. One of them replaced the witch whose heart I'd just turned to mush after she almost burned me with her magic, the side of my face still stung from her attack and I was pretty sure she'd burned part of my hair.

The demon in front of me was armored and armed with a spiked club of all things. my sword wouldn't do much damage against his armor with what little strength I had left. Noah's mace and werewolf strength would do more damage against the armor.

"Switch!" I called out.

I crouched and spinned around Noah's legs as he, too, turned. The move was smooth and flawless, as if we'd performed it dozens of times before.

Surprised, the scimitar wielding male faltered, and I thrust my sword up. It cut through his groin and his stomach in a spray of blood and guts. He went down, but not before his scimitar almost split my face. I pulled back in time to prevent it, but the curved blade still burned a path across my cheek.

Another vampire appeared in front of me. I was getting tired. My movements grew sloppy and my arms felt like they'd fall off at any moment.

I lost track of time. My body felt like it was appropriated by someone else. The haze of pain and exhaustion dulled my senses, but my body refused to give up, fueled by a survival instinct. It knew that if it stopped moving, fighting, it would end.

Something whizzed past my head. I turned away. But I was too slow.

The next arrow hit me in the eye.

There should've been blazing pain. Instead, a cold calm descended over me. Noah's mace descended in a killing blow on his opponent's skull and he rushed over to me.

"It's silver," he said. I knew what he meant. I had to get it out before more silver leaked into my brain.

An animalistic snarl. It was coming from my throat. "Do it!"

He gripped the arrow and pulled out. Blood spilled out of my face. I must have passed out, because when I awoke, I was laying on the ground, Noah and Irene guarding me against the flow of enemies.

It was over. A distant thought. The pain was a blazing white fire. Hot and cold needles stabbed my head. My left side was blind. The earth was trembling. I pulled myself up, managing to prop myself up enough to see through Irene's legs.

Bodies littered the ground. Limbs and heads and blood. Among the remaining standing warriors, Arthur fought the demon lord, sword to sword. His face was blurry to my vision, but the sharp tint of blood was unmistakable. The green flames of the demon lord's sword flared and swallowed Arthur's body. My heart stopped. Then Arthur whirled like a spinning top. The flames died and Arthur's sword flashed, hitting the demon lord's dented armor. The two disappeared behind a wall of demons.

The demons were like cockroaches, no matter how much we killed more took their spots.

This was it. The distant thought took over my head, and with it came a relieving sense of finality. I could just let go and it wouldn't hurt anymore. Sleep beckoned.

No!

I found my sword, planted it on the floor and heaved myself up. If I had to die, I would die fighting, not surrendering to pain. I fell down on my ass.

Damn it, stand up you weak ass legs!

No matter how much I struggled, despair and pain were difficult to shed off.

I stared up at the sky. A dark infinity littered with stars. It was so beautiful even through the fog of agony.

The stars grew brighter. I blinked.

Wings.

I shook my head.

The night exploded into the colors of a flaming sunset. Fiery wings filled the sky. A flood of high pitched notes stabbed through the haze with sharp clarity.

The phoenixes swooped down like avenging vultures. They plucked off the demons and rose.

A commotion broke in the entrances. A minute later, immortals dressed in black and gray fatigues pushed through the gargle of mercenaries.

Their ranks parted, and Burak strode in from the entrance nearby, a roguish grin on his face. The female vampire who was always with him, Hilda, walked next to him, her blue eyes sharp.

I plopped down on my back, unable to fight through the loss of blood anymore. Arthur would live. With the phoenixes, Burak and his soldiers, they would win.

Burak stood over me and his grin widened. His face blurred and his voice sounded distant. "I've always loved to be fashionably late to parties. Don't die, my dear. Arthur will be such a bore without you around. Hilda! Guard her with your life."

The tides changed.

Fighting mixed with the sound of phoenix whistles. Coldness seeped through my veins. I didn't know how long it lasted.

The last thing I saw was Arthur, Burak, Venus and my father with their hands inside the portal. Their magic spilled forth, an angry damn breaking open.