scaled, snarling faces spitting clods of fire down as they flew with bodies the size of house cats. This was everything I’d been afraid of for years. A mass of unarmed, untrained civilians about to face an enemy they were unprepared for. The faces of my unit super-imposed themselves over the ones looking at me now, and it was only Deyva’s—her gold eyes too eerie, horns refusing to be replaced—that grounded me in the moment.
“Stavros, go and get the water hoses, those fuckers aren’t wearing trash bags. Azariah, fly defensively, but give us what you can against this. Candice, grab up anything on the ground that Jason can use to strike them out of the sky.”
Jason’s chest puffed proudly, another rock already fisted in his hand. He turned and faced the enemy, taking a brief breath before winding up and letting his weapon fly. It hit squarely on target, knocking the nearest flyer out of the sky before it could cross the gate.
“I’ll grab the cross bows,” Zach said, marching away.
“I’m going up high, I bet I can leap and grab some of those little gremlins,” Deyva said, squaring her shoulders and pulling away from Stavros’ arms.
My heart slammed in my chest, my eyes on the sky as it turned black with the flying hellions. I grabbed Deyva’s elbow as she passed, yanking her closer, fighting the order on my tongue. I wanted her to get into the church, to be hiding safely away, but I knew by now there was no chance of her agreeing.
“You don’t put a hair over the edge of that gate,” I snapped. The flyers had tiny little limbs, nothing serious enough for them to be able to grab her, but they had big jaws that might get a hold of her long enough to pull her within reach of the demon general.
“I’m not the target,” Deyva said.
“Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t make a good prisoner of war,” I tossed back. Her jaw ticked and her eyes narrowed, so I leaned in, whispering directly into her ear. “Remember what I said about how I can’t lose you?”
I wasn’t expecting the shadow I saw pass over her face, but she nodded. “I’ll target the stragglers and keep well away from the gate.”
I wanted to kiss her, not because she was listening to me, but just because her face was close and her lips were full and I always wanted to kiss Deyva. But I already felt as though I was choking on the stress and panic barely contained in my chest, and I knew that any little indulgence might snap my restraint. Her hand settled over mine on her elbow and she squeezed briefly before we both let go.
“Alright, everybody, keep your eyes up. Watch out for fire, and make sure we don’t lose track of any of these creepy crawlies in town! Candice, get the word out around town. Tell families to get cover and…” I hesitated over the next words, swallowing down the knife in my throat. “And send anyone prepared to help out to meet us.”
Jason was fast and incredibly accurate, but he was only one person. He’d already knocked six of the fliers out of the sky outside the gate, but twice that many had flown overhead, spitting fire down onto our town. A shadow passed between us on the ground and the hellbats above, golden wings spread and a flash of light from Azariah as he covered us and then swooped away before reaching the gate.
“Kais!”
I turned, catching Teresa, my crossbow, mid-air in one hand, and then the sheath of bolts easily with the other, swinging it over my shoulder and loading a bolt into place. All around me, Bethel’s residents launched into action. A young boy—so young I wanted to scream and find his mother—joined Jason in chucking stones at the fliers. He wasn’t as accurate, but he made them swerve away, missing their firing targets.
“This would be so simple, flesh bags. Just turn over the angel, and your town will be left in peace,” the general called across the gate. “I could call my minions off in a moment.”
“How about we just send you and your minions right back to Hell where they came from, barbecue face?” Heather McCann shouted, before charging forward, aiming a fire hose at the hellhound, and letting loose.
The hound howled and the general backed the beast away, but Heather just turned her spray up to the fliers, the water sizzling and burning through black, webbed