Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,116

already dead. You’re just adding to the tally at this point.”

Tego’s growl was low and menacing as Lamashtu stalked toward her, a sword in her hand. As Layla charged toward her, manipulating the sword to try to bind Lamashtu’s hands, the shape-shifter turned and punched her in the face, sending her flying backward.

Layla smashed into the remains of what had once been an FBI car and was now little more than a heap of scrap, but she was too slow to stop Lamashtu closing the space between them and punching her again in the stomach.

Layla took control of the metal in Lamashtu again, but she laughed as she kicked Layla away.

“That won’t work twice, girl,” Lamashtu said. “I have too many tricks, too many ways to alter my body.”

Layla caught Lamashtu’s kick, broke her knee, and pushed the shape-shifter away, who healed her body almost instantly. “I can’t die,” Lamashtu said mockingly. “You hurt me, I just heal and change my body. You can’t win here.”

Layla swung her hand toward Lamashtu, changing the metal into a whip in an instant. It cut through Lamashtu’s face, the silver causing the shape-shifter to scream and turn to flee. Layla used the same whip to trip her, and Lamashtu fell onto the ground next to Tego, who slashed across Lamashtu’s already-injured face, and what had been an unpleasant wound was now almost half of her face gone.

Lamashtu punched Tego in the jaw, and Layla tackled her to the ground before Lamashtu could drive her dagger into the feline. Layla broke Lamashtu’s elbow, which began to heal once again, but the face remained a raw, bloody mess, one eye all but gone.

Lamashtu grabbed Layla by the throat and threw her over toward the front of the White House. She gave chase and punched Layla in the side of the head.

“I’m going to tear your face off,” Lamashtu said, her words coming out all wrong as the side of her face that was relatively untouched continued to change shape. She grabbed Layla by the throat again and slammed her up against one of the columns leading to the White House entrance.

“You won’t win,” Lamashtu said. “I was just the decoy.”

“And you’re not that smart,” Layla managed.

Lamashtu turned in time to see Tego launch herself at her. Lamashtu’s blade came up, but it was too late—the massive feline clamped her powerful jaws around Lamashtu’s arm, dragging her to the ground, where she grabbed her around the back of the head. Tego crushed Lamashtu’s skull like a grape.

Layla walked over to Jinayca and crouched beside her friend. “Damn it,” she said softly, the tears welling up. They’d been through so much, and to lose her like this . . .

Selene landed beside them, and Chloe threw herself over to Layla, hugging her. Selene gathered Jinayca in her arms and keened.

Layla looked over at Roberto. “He was a good man,” she said softly.

“The elf isn’t here,” Layla said. “Lamashtu said she was a decoy.”

“A decoy for what?” Selene asked, looking up from Jinayca’s body.

A crisscross of light-blue power filled the grounds of the White House, and Layla looked beyond the gates and saw that the magic was the same everywhere as far as she could see. The ground began to shake, and screams sounded out from somewhere in the distance.

“We’re not done yet,” Layla said.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

NATE GARRETT

Realm of Atlantis

I had never been angrier. Arthur had helped murder my friends, my dad, people I cared about, people I loved. He’d taken Mordred’s eye, turned Tommy into a walking homicidal monster, left Judgement for dead on the floor, along with a seriously injured Lucifer, and hurt my mum. I was going to fuck. Him. Up.

I sprinted across the throne room, jumped over the ruined throne, and blasted Arthur in the chest with enough lightning to kill an elephant. Arthur, smoke rising off his body, dropped to one knee but was back on his feet just in time for me to grab him by the face and smash the back of his head into the wall behind him.

I created a sphere of lightning in my free hand and drove it into his chest; the resulting explosion of power took him through the wall into the room beyond. I stepped over the ruined wall to continue the assault. I wanted to check that everyone was okay, but if I gave Arthur even a second to recover, we were all in trouble.

Arthur had rolled along the ground and got back to his feet