Gritting my teeth, I killed the last demon aboard and kicked him over the side. Riella anxiously joined me before the demon even hit the water, the lilin still cloaking her in a bubbled sphere of shadow. Turning, I gripped onto Lir’s strong forearm, and shook my head, "There is no time to explain!" I pointed up at the demons gathering. “We must get out of here or we will all be destroyed!"
Shoving his huge body forward, I grabbed onto Riella's hand, a dark foreboding creeping up my spine, quickly followed by an echoed hum, so loud it vibrated the entire ship.
“Fuck!” I screamed, knowing that the Sanguine was about to blast us from the very hell in which we resided. Heaving shadow from the depths of the oceans and the skies, I arc’d it over us right before the first explosive blast hit the shield.
I fell to my knees, arms raised to hold the shadows, layering them just as I had to stop Ethereal in The West Isles,a permanent weavethe death god called it. The Sanguine power crackled a brilliant red against the darkness, hungry to reach us.
“Get Riella out of here Lir! The lilin know what to do!” I roared over the charging hum.
“That won’t be necessary, shadow fae,” a sweet cultured voice from behind me sounded.
I stiffened before screaming, “For the love of the goddess and all of Faerie, you cannot be serious right now.” Glancing over my shoulder, I glared at the queen of Hell, and her sidekick demon Zazion standing smugly with his arms crossed over his chest.
The glinting of the sea king’s head caught my attention next as he bowed to Avalon and her demon, backing Riella closer to the cabin door, hiding her behind his massive body as he did.
I narrowed my eyes on Lir.
“Sorry lass, tis her realm and it’s where mi children be,” Lir whispered to me, seeing my reaction as he straightened.
My eyes fell on my own daughter wrapped in shadow, “Riella, come to me.”
Her hand tightened on her weapon and she hedged away, but the queen of Hell moved quickly, stopping her progress with shocked curiosity.
“No.” I growled, ready to summon the lilin to portal her from here but the command died on my lips when Riella hissed, her spear pointed towards the queen of Hell’s heart.
“Get out of my way, before I take you from this very existence,” my daughter growled.
Another battering of the Sanguine hit the shadow shield and I grunted, bracing it before the power destroyed us all. “I’d do as she says cousin, that is a bás fang she holds and she is my daughter after all…you know how many I took down even in the chains you bound me in.”
But the demon queen did not answer. Her gaze stuck on the vicious snarl on Riella’s face. She held up her hands and stepped back, stating softly. “How old are you, child?”
Riella growled, sidestepping around her with the spear staying on target, Zaki appearing on her shoulder hissing his own warning. “I am seven.”
Avalon stilled and I knew why, she saw in my daughter the little girl she once was. Alone and having to fight for a kingdom that betrayed her family. “Seven,” she whispered.
Riella took her opportunity to blur over towards me, becoming a shadow within lilin shadows, and when she reformed, she stood protectively in front of me.
Avalon spun, staring with wide violet eyes.
Riella pointed her spear again, “Either you help my mother and your own people,” she nodded to the giant sea king Lir, “or you leave. What do you choose, demon?”
Red light lit up the sky and I braced for its impact, a shower of crimson pouring over us. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of my neck.
“My queen?” Zaz whispered, placing his hand on Avalon’s shoulder. She was still frozen, watching my daughter, and with her face turned towards me now, I could see her trapped within phantoms of memories from long ago.
Zaz shook her this time, “Lonnie?” The endearment slipped from his lips and I had a distinct feeling we were never supposed to hear it.
Avalon blinked from the forceful shake, looking at the demon that was manhandling her. She snarled, swiping his hand from her shoulder before turning back to me. “She is truly your daughter?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling the shield tremble. Turning my focus back to the shadows, I hissed. “I am a little busy right now demon queen, come back later if you wish to chat.”
“That red power, what would happen if you released your shadows?”
I weaved more into the cracks after another blow of the Sanguine fizzled over the barrier. “It would destroy us all.”
The demon queen hummed, watching me with agonizing silence before kneeling on one knee before Riella, “Lower your spear, fierce warrior, I have no desire to harm you or your mother, I have decided to help her.”
Riella glanced back at me and I nodded, smiling as she sent the demon queen one more growl and dropped her spear to the hull of the ship with a loud thud.
