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Stone grated against stone as it rotated its humanoid head down.
Golem’s could be as detailed or simple as the mage making them wanted. This one was simple. Too simple. It had no eyes. No mouth. A closer look at the leg that stopped my roll showed squares of paving and bits of sidewalk. Marble stuck out of its thigh at an odd angle. Someone made this golem in a hurry.
I rolled again, my body already aching, and regained my feet, favoring my left side. The golem didn’t move. It probably couldn’t do much more than watch. What was left of my left pant leg dangled in tatters, and road rash burned from my hip to my knees. I brought my hands into a guard position and shifted my weight to my uninjured side.
For a moment, I waited for it to talk. It was the perfect opportunity for dialogue.
The moment passed without a word.
“I told you they be dragons!” The guttural yell cut through the sounds of swirling magic and pounding fists.
The woman from the front desk of our hotel flashed me a smile and pointed one long finger directly at me. A pod of Orcs, still dressed in their tracksuits and bling from Club V, charged down the street.
I made a mental note to make sure my accountant did not follow through on his bribe money and looked for my mates. We were scattered across the street. Og’s glowed, every rune on his skin activated. The sidewalk around him lay chewed up. Chunks of debris flew toward a circle of three demons surrounding him.
Fire bloomed from my left again, and a gust of unnaturally fast air blew the smell of extra crispy flesh in my direction. Rehan’s head stuck out of the biggest pod of demons battlingbetween me and the charging Orcs. London wasn’t known for its water in summer. His magic was the weakest here. I stretched out my hand to cast a shield at my water dragon’s back, but nothing happened.
How the fuck do we keep forgetting?
With a crash, the first Orcs joined the fray.
A demon went flying into the air and landed directly onto a streetlight, which impaled it, leaving it hanging limply, before the magic keeping it in one piece drained. Body parts fell to the ground, rotting into piles of dry dirt.
I turned to the golem. “I guess Orcs aren’t your friends either, Marduk.”
The golem didn’t respond. I didn’t expect it to. Marduk was a mage from my past. At one point, we hated each other. Over the years, our relationship turned into a mutual begrudging respect, including an unspoken agreement to stay out of each other’s way.
Consider the agreement broken, old not-friend.
The largest Orc I’d seen skirted the main fight before charging directly at me. I shifted all my weight to my uninjured leg and threw myself behind the golem. The Orc didn’t stop its charge, and the hastily made minion toppled like the collection of stone it was.
Lights sprang to life. The sound of a helicopter cut through the grunts and yells of battle. “Stop what you’re doing and put down your weapons.” A smooth London accent came over a megaphone.
I cringed, already feeling worse for the supernatural PR team. That sounded like human police. More of Tyson’s flashy fire bloomed in the night. The Orc recovered from its surprise victory over the golem and sized me up. I needed to find a goddamn weapon if I planned to battle supernaturals with only my rudimentary grasp of elemental magic.
The Orc narrowed his eyes and tossed his head toward the night sky. A howl split the air. The fighting around me stilled. Through a crack, I saw a line of police in riot gear slowly advancing. Tyson burst out of the fighting and placed himself between me and the roaring Orc. Black blood covered his scaled body, which also dripped off his sharp claws but didn’t burn him. Not that I doubted, but these were definitely not the same demons who attacked us on the island.
The Orc punched the air. “We find you if Beef Eaters don’t get you first, eyes everywhere.” He howled again before yelling, “Scatter!” The Orcs barreled toward the British Museum.
Tyson took one step to follow, and I grabbed his arm. “We need to leave, too. Scatter is the best tactic.” I looked at the line of police slowly closing in on us. “We should all run in a different direction.”
“No.” Ogden appeared behind me, Lux at his heels. “We stay together.”
I bit my lower lip. If we scattered, we were more likely to get out of here. But if we stayed here and argued, the riot police would literally pin us down. The decision was taken out of my hands as Rehan ran towards us, four demons hot on his heels: either running from the police or herding my mate on Marduk’s behalf.
There wasn’t time to figure out which.
The world turned into shades of grey.
“Down,” Og said before muttering to extend his invisibility spell to Rehan.
Invisibility was traceable by other mages. I didn’t know if Og knew that, but he was already confidently leading us back toward the museum. I fell into step, my heart easing as Rehan slipped his dumb as fuck demons and joined our side.
You don’t really want to get separated, do you?
No. We are stronger together.
So sweet.
