Page 66 of Hybrid Heroics

But fuck it.

We had to incapacitate them somehow.

I flashed toward Murphy, tackling a huge man before he could jump on the warlock’s back. Vaughn was to my right, so I shoved the guy his way. And then I cringed as the fae’s iced-over fist connected with his face in a spray of blood.

“Turns out orcs are hard to knock out.” Vaughn confessed, a little breathless. “They won’t stay down.”

“So you hit him with a brick?”

“He’ll be up in a minute,” the fae assured me. “They’re like fucking tanks.”

We fought together for only a minute before they separated us. The fight reminded me of Zombies mode on the Call of Duty games. Every time you knocked one down, two more would pop up in its place.

I found Stone next. Well, I didn’t find the demon. A streak of fire blew past me, so close I was sure I was missing eyebrow hair. I followed the trail of singed ground to observe him dancing around a trio of supremely angry, but innocent, cursed women.

I spun and flipped a man over my shoulder before he could attack me from behind. As he landed with a thud, a knife stabbed through the muscle of my forearm.

“What the fuck?” I whispered to myself.

“Sorry,” Stone said with a rumbling chuckle. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“You’re so godsdamned passive aggressive,” I complained.

“You walked right into it. Accidents happen,” he defended with a shrug and a grin. “But you have to admit, that was good timing.”

I ignored him, in favor of keeping my head attached, because the guy who had just swung on me had a fucking katana. It whizzed past my ear, clipping cartilage and my cheekbone.

“We need to find a way to keep these fuckers down,” I shouted.

“Read their minds,” York yelled back. “What are they thinking?”

I hadn’t thought of that, but now that I was, I realized there was nothing.

“They’re blank. No static or anything… Someone is blocking them.”

Briggs growled from somewhere on my right, then yipped. While I had my mind so open, somewhat connected to these cursed people, I slammed all the pain I could into their thoughts.

There was a five second pause in all their movements, but then they were right back to attacking.

That trick worked better when I could make eye contact… Or maybe Alric’s presence was too strongly affecting their thoughts. Either way, it wouldn’t stop them. The only way we could stop this was if Sloane woke up or we—

We started trying to understand the mimicry gift she possessed. Palmer had been on to something earlier with that, but we needed to hone that little bit of the ability we could tap into.

Now, if I could find the mage to talk this out…

“Why is that orc wearing a loincloth?” Palmer shouted, sounding like he was closer to the house than I was.

I flashed forward, sweeping a few sets of legs out from under the cursed on my pursuit of the mage. When I reached him, he was pointing at an absinthe green creature with a bolt of lightning jutting from his thigh.

“He’ll be an elder,” Flint called out from behind us. “Older, more powerful, harder to contain.”

Palmer hit him with some spell, causing the elder orc to tense and fall straight to his back. Another supe slammed into the mage, knocking him down… Leaving him landing face-first on an old, giant, green dick.

I cackled as I slapped Palmer’s forearm and pulled him to his feet. “Don’t fall in love. Your mate will kill him.”

“I’m equal parts terrified and curious,” he admitted, his eyes scanning our surroundings.

“When did you become interested—Oh. You mean scientifically curious.” I snorted, reining in my thoughts before they ran wayward.