Page 92 of Hybrid Heroics

This was show time.

Almost.

I needed to stall him for a few more minutes.

There was already a group of creatures standing in my driveway, waiting for Alric’s signal. Several people stepped out of the Void, flanking him like the little minions they were…

And Alric was displaying too many of his cards for me, keeping none of them against his chest.

I smiled broadly as I stood alone, but I wasn’t on my own.

“Is this all you brought with you?” I lazily taunted, bouncing my eyes from one to the next. “A few strong men to die with you? I’ll have them dismembered in three minutes flat.”

The front door opened, my guys filing out, ready to fight. My parents were right on their heels. Franklin came next, laughing with Lucy and Lil as if this wasn’t a tense situation.

It wasn’t.

Yet.

But I had a plan.

I would slowly up my numbers, keeping my side of the playing field less than Alric’s, seeing how many of those cards I could get him to fold.

We were now fifteen to his twenty.

My guys stood on either side of me, a few feet between us, as my family stretched out behind our line.

Alric narrowed his eyes, looking past me, presumably at his sister. But I didn’t bother turning around. He was mine; he would never make it to Amelia. He had lost his chance.

Dozens of creatures stepped out of the Void at his back, filling the yard. The deranged dark mage smirked at me, as if he’d backed us into a corner, outsmarted us… But I had learned too much about him while we were in my head.

I sorted through the magic within me until I felt the shimmering red thread that belonged to my best friend, my brother.

“Jack. Grim. Baylor. Blaire.” I whispered each name in my mind, summoning them to me.

I smiled at Alric as I waited. “I want you to know, as soon as I kill you, I’m going to the Maldives for a vacation. Or maybe Bora Bora, to stay in one of those huts with the glass floors, so we can enjoy the ocean.”

After this, we would all deserve a fucking vacation. But first, we had a small army to slaughter. Everyone on Alric’s side would die before this day ended, because what they didn’t know… was that they were stuck here.

I hadn’t been stalling for fun.

Even as Palmer and Amelia stood with me, they were working on the wards around the property. The Lynch brothers had called their sister for help, too. So, currently, four of the strongest mages in existence were reversing the magic, making it hold people in instead of keeping them out. And while that was happening, our resident angels and vampires were keeping their minds protected.

There was no way for Alric to know what they were doing.

I had absolute confidence in them.

Now, I was just waiting for Miller’s okay before I started this fight.

Jack popped in at my side, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Bitch, did you say vacation? Sign us up. When are we going?”

Blaire, Baylor, and Grim were quick to follow, each of them ready to fight. Novak’s sister held a more dangerous air than her mates, despite the foot and half height difference between them.

Grim whistled low. “Who fucked up your wall, Lo?”

“That motherfucker over there,” I replied, nodding my head to the confused mage as he argued with an angel.

“I feel sorry for you, man,” the reaper jeered with a grimace.