warn you, I'm exhausted. Dash took nearly everything I had."
"How long could you maintain the spell?"
"Perhaps half an hour. Beyond that, I'll probably pass out." She sighed. "I do have a levitation spell that might work to gently lower us down the shaft. How much do you weigh?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea. Two hundred pounds maybe?" I'd lost all of my chunky bits during my transformation from nerd to incubus, but had put on height and muscle, so my net weight had increased. But I hadn't exactly weighed myself lately to see the exact results.
"Goodness." She looked up, muttering calculations.
I pulled out my phone and gave Elyssa a rundown on the situation.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?" Elyssa said, and barked out commands to her comrades.
"What do you think you're doing?" I heard Fausta say in the background.
Elyssa gave the other Templar a terse reply and ended the call. I ran back to the overhead display and scrolled to my companions just as Fausta threw up her hands like an angry Italian, and motioned for Elyssa to lead the way. My phone chirped with an incoming call from an unknown number. I'd added Maximus's number to my contact list, so I knew it wasn't him.
I answered, and an unfamiliar voice said, "This is Sergeant Itchi. Fausta gave me your number. She wants you to guide us to the remaining OPFORs in the compound."
Since there wasn't much more I could do before Amanda and her goons burst inside, I rattled out a list of directions, took a couple of pictures with my phone, and sent them to Itchi. At any other time, I would have also tossed in a few jokes about his name as well, but decided to devote the time to staying alive until help arrived. I looked at the display and watched the main force of Templars enter via the side entrance they'd secured and head toward their pinned-down comrades. I noticed the squad entering via the other secret tunnel also moving in and felt a wash of relief.
"Justin, my spell won't work." Bella's eyes looked empty of hope. "You're too heavy for me to lower that far. I don't know what to do."
I heard scuffling noises echo from outside the door to the lab and panic took hold. If only we could hold out for a few minutes, it might give Elyssa and the others time to reach us. I spotted the huge pile of crates near the door and zipped over to them. Despite the strength granted through my demon spawn genes, the crates hardly budged. I resorted to pushing them one at a time with more success until the door was blocked.
Someone pounded on the metal door. "Slade! I know you're in there, you son of a bitch! Let me in!" It was Amanda.
"I'm sorry, my mom told me not to open the door for strangers."
She screamed a flurry of curse words at me, pounding on the door. "Give it here, you idiot," she shouted at someone. I heard her maniacal laugh. "Let's see how you like this, Slade."
The echo of quickly retreating feet alerted me something very bad was about to happen. I grabbed Bella and jerked her away from the door. An explosion rocked the room. The door blasted through the crates. Whistled through the air about a foot from my head. Clanged off a support beam.
Amanda hooted with laughter and appeared at the doorway. "Here, catch!" She threw a square package my way. It landed on the floor and skidded next to my feet.
"Oh, fudge." I gripped Bella's hand and dove for the tunnel left by the leyworm.
A hot blast ripped through the air, slapping me like a red-headed stepchild. I lost my grip on Bella and skidded down the tunnel, ricocheting around the corner. My frantic hands grabbed at the rock. I shouted as the rough surface tore into my skin. I hit the crushed rock at the back edge of the hole and bounced off the rim in a shower of gravel. There was nothing below me but empty air.
I fell into the dark. Somehow, my hand caught on a shard of rock protruding from the side of the shaft. Agony sliced into my hand. Blood dripped into my face as it dribbled down the rock from this latest injury. I heard a crack. Pebbles skittered from beneath my handhold, falling into the pit. With my free hand, I reached for the lip of the hole. Too