CHAPTER 36
~ Dysnomia’s Stronghold ~
“This mist is really roiling in,” Rocky Greysky mentions casually. The monolith shifter has never had much occasion to spend time in the gateways, and he is finding it all a grand adventure.
Nyle only shrugs but looks to Raider, one of the Gate Keepers who joined their little expedition. They had set out nearly two weeks ago from a gateway hidden in Redbud Valley, right smack dab in the middle of a public nature conservancy in the heart of Tulsa. Luckily for supes who need the gateways for inter-dimensional travel, the hiking trail closes at 5 pm daily and stealthy paranormals can easily slip in after dark to access the gate. The Celt notices the Keeper doesn’t look too worried about the mist, but he doesn’t relax, either. This mist could provide perfect cover for an ambush, making Nyle’s wolf highly alert.
“Weather is freaky in the gateways,” Raider says with a nod. “You can be roasting under a blazing sun one minute, and slipping on ice the next.” He shrugs and adds; “This section here is one of the night zones. It is perpetually dark here and barren. Little to no vegetation and very few animals ever venture into this area.”
Okay, that’s really weird. “Has anyone ever mapped all of these paths and pockets of space in here?” Cin asks from the rear of the group.
“Nah,” Raider replies. “It wouldn’t do much good. Some of the newer pathways, those created by random supes wanting their own private gateways, shift and change all of the time. Only the most ancient and well used pathways remain pretty static.” He looks around them and says; “In fact, this section didn’t even exist a hundred years ago.” Raider chuckles at their disbelieving looks. “Don’t worry, it gets even weirder. Up ahead, maybe two or three miles, you can step off this path and find yourself on the pathway which connects Asgard to the Elfin and Dwarf realms.” He looks over his shoulder, to say, “Back that way, about five miles we passed a place where you can step off this path and land smack dab in the middle of a faery forest.” He chuckles, “But I certainly would not advise that. It is the realm of the dark Fae and they do not take kindly to interlopers.”
“So, one wrong step and we could find ourselves in a world of problems?” Nyle asks the keeper, who just nods. “Well, that’s encouraging,” Nyle drawls sarcastically.
“Not so much,” supplies Raider, unhelpfully. “The gateways are dangerous, just by their very nature. The problems are compounded by reckless use of magick in here for selfish purposes. Gateway travel is certainly not what it used to be.” The group falls silent as they all ponder Raider’s words. There is a clear warning in there. Sticking close to their guide would be the wisest move for them all.
“Hey, you assholes wanna know one of the best things about club girls?” Grim asks as the group approaches yet another turn off in a rarely traveled portion of the interdimensional gateways.
The tall male walking in front of him stops abruptly to whip around to face his fellow traveler. “Shit, Grim, you ever gonna give it a rest?” Gunnar barks out his irritation with the badger shifter and fellow Twin Ravens’ enforcer.
“Maybe,” the crazy eyed biker shifter volleys back after he stops walking to squint up at Gunnar Northman, who must be at least a foot taller than Grim’s hard muscled, five and half foot frame. “But probably not.” He smirks when Gunnar’s expression turns truly murderous and the badger decides to taunt his fellow enforcer just a bit more. “Well now, I guess that might all depend on you.”
After nearly two weeks of listening to Grim’s not so subtle hints and references about the redeeming qualities of club girls as the group has scoured every single hidden off shoot of the main pathways, vales, nooks, and crannies of the inter-dimensional gateways looking for any trace of Dysnomia’s horde, the ancient Norseman is just about at the end of his very limited store of patience. Normally, his go-to-hell attitude and the fact that he shifts into a crazed Berserker is enough to keep anyone at arm’s length. But not Grim. This insane asshole is persistent, and seems to take true joy in dragging Gunnar to the very edge of his patience, only to back off just enough to allow the Norse bear to slow his ride sufficiently enough to once again think rationally. “How’s that, little male?” His lip curls as he snarls at the much smaller badger shifter, an obvious challenge.
The short, but no doubt deadly, badger doesn’t even blink at the insult. Since Gunnar is a Berserker shifter who stands at nearly six and half feet tall, and weighs close to two hundred and fifty pounds, most would back up from such a display. Does Grim back off? Oh, hell no, he simply bares his own teeth in what passes for a smile upon his scarred and bewhiskered face. Badgers in general, and this one in particular, have too damn much aggression in their blood to ever back down from a confrontation.
“What in all the nine hells is it gonna take to make you shut the hell up about club girls?” Gunnar demands.
“You gonna talk to that gal?” Grim demands in a calm tone of voice. “You gonna tell her the truth or you just gonna leave her hangin’ out there… on her own?”
“Mind your own fucking business, asshole!”
“That’s what I was doin’. I was just about to tell a funny before you so rudely interrupted,” Grim says nonchalantly. “Now, where was I?” He scratches his beard and then snaps his fingers. “Oh yeah. Do you assholes wanna know one of the best things about club girls?”
“Fuck this,” Gunnar growls and stomps ahead of the group. In just moments, he is out of their line of sight, fading away into the mists that are fast becoming so dense they muffle any sound and reduce visibility to nearly nothing.
“Touchy, ain’t he?” Grim queries, doing his best to appear innocent in front of his companions. He chuckles and mumbles about beasties having the Berserker for their dinner.
Cin, the Nordic fire demon simply chuckles and walks past Grim, tossing over his shoulder. “You just love messing with him, don’t you?”
“Why not?” Grim crows, brushing a lock of white striped dark hair from his face. “He’s jes’ sitting on his hands, wasting precious time.”
“Yes,” Cin concedes dryly as he continues walking at a slow pace, “… and I do not see that changing any time soon, my friend.” Grim nods and grins as though that’s what he has been thinking as well. “Perhaps, you might consider letting up on him a bit?”
“I might if I thought you’d step up,” Grim challenges.
Nyle and Raider, who are leading the group, toss each other questioning looks, but do not interrupt their fellow travelers’ confusing, if entertaining, conversation. Charmer, an incubus, who also happens to be the Club Enforcer for Nox Legion MC, chuckles from his position at the rear of the group. The search is becoming tedious and complacency is settling in among the searchers. Wanting to hear the story because he has heartily enjoyed the badger’s antics over the last weeks, the incubus queries, “Please, do tell us what you think is one of the best things about club girls. My friend, I know a great many good, even wonderful things about club girls. However, as I am a male always thirsty for knowledge, I say please enlighten us.”
Grim chuckles. “I just bet you do, incubus. But I’m gonna save that story for another time when our Berserker buddy is around to hear it. But I got lots of other funny stories.”
“I am quite certain of that, my brother.”
The cackle that Grim unleashes sounds eerie and grotesque in the heavy mist laden air. “I betcha ain’t none of you heard the story I’m gonna share right now.”
“Lay it on us, brother.”
“Once there was this little old lady who wanted to join a biker club. I mean like elderly woman, not some biker’s old lady.” Charmer smirks at the scarred up male’s need for the clarification. “After several shots of tequila, she decides to make her big move. With Jose, Don Julio, and the Patrón a cheerin’ her on, she knocks on the door of a local biker club. When a big, hairy, bearded biker with tattoos all over his arms answers the door, she hungrily appraises his form before she recalls her purpose. Hands on hips, the old lady thrusts her once impressive bosom at the man before she begins to state her case. ‘I was a club girl three towns over for nearly fifty years,’ the old lady proclaims proudly. ‘I’m done being everyone’s girl. Now, I wanna be my own girl. I’m here to join your biker club – as a full patched member.’
“Well now, the guy is genuinely amused and tells the old woman that she would need to meet certain biker criteria before she would allowed to join their club. ‘Lay ‘em on me,’ the elderly club girl responds eagerly, practically salivating at the prospect of finally getting her shot. So the biker asks her, ‘You have a bike?’ The little old lady says ‘Yep, that's my Harley over there. 1963 panhead, I bought it brand new off the showroom floor,’ and points to a Harley parked in front of the compound. The biker asks her, ‘Do you smoke?’ The little old lady nods solemnly, ‘Yep, I smoke. I smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day and a couple of cigars while I'm shooting pool.’ The biker is quite frankly impressed, so he finally asks; ‘Well, have you ever been picked up by the Fuzz?’”
“The little old lady gets a thoughtful look on her face before she adjusts the too big bustier on her too thin frame. Reaching into the top of the revealing garment, she readjusts her less than lush breasts as she contemplates her answer. Finally, she shakes her head and earnestly replies, "Nope, I can’t say that I have ever been picked up by the fuzz, but I have been swung around by my nipples a time or two. Does that count?’”
Despite himself, Nyle cracks up at Grim’s colorful retelling of the tired old joke. His smile gets even bigger when Charmer keeps the fun going by asking, “Now, brother Grim, tell me what kernel of wisdom should I take from that very entertaining story?”
“Hell if I know,” the badger shifter admits. “I was just fuckin’ with the Berserker.”
Now they are all laughing heartily, at least, until Gunnar explodes out of the mists to come running at them hell bent for leather. “I found ‘em,” he whisper shouts. “I found the mother fuckers!”
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
All levity and complacency among the group instantly evaporated upon hearing Gunnar’s words. “I found ‘em.” As a man who shared his spirit, with not just one, but two animals – a wolf and now a dragon consort, Nyle’s protective instincts urge him to charge in there and wipe out the entire lot of them so that they can never threaten Callie or their child ever again. As a seasoned warrior and an enforcer, he knows that’s not the way to go. In fact, that could very well be suicide. Instead, he quickly organizes the seven males into three groups, and sends them off in different directions to scout out the encampment Gunnar found, to make sure it is indeed the stronghold they have been searching for. The plan was for the males to rendezvous in an hour, to share their findings and decide what to do next.
After very little discussion, it was decided that Nyle and Grim would assume their animal forms to work their way around the encampment and up the bluff at the back of the depression where Gunnar saw activity. This way, they might be able to figure out just how many enemies, if they are in fact the blood horde, they are facing. While Charmer, Cin, and Raider would flank the depression to the right in order to check for sentries and other defenses. Finally, Rocky and Gunnar would veer off to the left flank of the encampment to do the same.
Nyle and Grim make quick progress, sweeping a wide arc around the encampment down below, gradually climbing higher and higher up a rock face of a cliff which overlooked the stronghold. In his wolf form, Nyle was truly impressed with how well the badger kept up. The male is certainly fast and nimble on those short legs. But the same can be said of the male in his human form. Many a rogue had made the mistake of underestimating the badger shifter because of his size in the years that Nyle had known the male. That was not something Nyle would ever do. He is relying on Grim to have his back because he knows the male is capable and he can trust him to do so.
Upon reaching the summit, the males shift back into their human forms, use Tara’s spell to restore their clothes, and hunker down to survey what can only be described as a fairly deep and wide canyon with near vertical walls, pock marked with hundreds of caves. Towering mountains shelter the canyon on two sides. Mountains so tall, that their peaks are shrouded in dense clouds. Nyle does not ignore the instinct which is telling him that some unknown entity or entities are perched up there watching, waiting. Whoever, or whatever they are, no doubt they are completely safe from attack or discovery because those two mountains are simply much too tall, and the terrain too rough, to be easily negotiated by enemies without magick. Most vamps, ghouls, and blood wraith do not possess the kind of magick which allows translocation, so whoever the watchers are, their secret is probably safe. And maybe, you are just imagining all of that, Nyle mentally chastises himself. But his gut says that’s not the case.
All of these factors, the mountains, the heavy mist, and perhaps even the unknown watchers, work together to assure the canyon remains well hidden. Extremely well hidden. Dysnomia chose well. Even in clear conditions a traveler or group of them could easily traverse the established path and never even see the canyon below, or the huge encampment of vampires, ghouls, and blood wraiths nestled in the bottom. In this mist, it is nothing short of a miracle that Gunnar even found the canyon or noticed the encampment below. Had the male not needed to take a piss right then, and automatically went off the trail to do his business, he would not have noticed the canyon or the army sheltered there. And there is no doubt in Nyle’s mind, this is an army. Several hundred strong. They need to get back to call in reinforcements and do it quickly.
Grim moves to Nyle’s side and whispers; “That mist, it is not natural. They must be using some magick to hide the encampment.” He lifts his nose to sniff, but apparently doesn’t scent anything which especially worries him. “You know, they must also be using magick to muffle any sound they are making down there. Being in the bottom of that canyon, voices and loud noises should echo and carry. We should be hearing something, not this absolute void of sound.”
Those had been Nyle’s thoughts as well. Now as he looks down upon the well organized and provisioned force below him, he has a hard time believing that they did not have sentries posted to watch the path. Surely, Dysnomia’s followers cannot be that arrogant or foolish? His gut is warning him not to trust the situation. No sooner does he get the words; “Something isn’t right,” out of his mouth before he hears a scream from the area where he would expect Charmer, Cin and Raider to be scouting. The males exchange looks filled with concern for their fellow enforcers before shifting back into their animal forms, intent on working their way back down to try to hook up with the rest of their party.
The two shifters have traversed about half way down the steep incline when they see a group of ghouls drag a man into their camp. The male’s tall, bulky form, long blond hair, and beard tell Nyle and Grim the prisoner is none other than Raider. Son of a bitch! Suddenly, Nyle is regretting not going along with Raider’s plan. The Gate Keeper wanted to go back for reinforcements before reconnoitering the canyon. Well, hell, there isn’t time for regrets right now. Now is the time to make it right.
Stealthily, they make their way down and back around to the rendezvous point. They get there only moments before Charmer and Cin. “The blood horde has your compatriot,” Nyle says harshly.
“Yeah, we know,” Cin says. “As soon as we realized this had to be Dysnomia’s blood horde, he broke off from us and said he was going to go contact his father to call in back up.”
“We heard someone scream,” Charmer supplies.
Grim chuckles. “Incubus, I think everyone heard that. Didn’t sound like the demi-god, though. Besides, he was on his feet and fighting when they dragged him into that camp.”
Gunnar and Rocky materialize from the mist at that moment. Nyle and the others are amazed at the way such large males can move so damn stealthily. “We found where Raider took down three vamps and ghoul before they got him.” Rocky chuckles. “These damn Vikings love to fight.” He jabs his thumb at Gunnar, “That one took out several when they came after us, and he didn’t even go furry or lose his mind.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, ain’t it?” Grim asks with a deranged chuckle.
“What now?” Nyle interrupts. “I’m not leaving the Gate Keeper behind.”
“Me neither,” agrees Rocky. “That guy is Morna’s brother, and she is my friend and ally. I will not leave her brother behind.”
“Didn’t know that,” Nyle concedes. “But it don’t matter. I won’t leave a fallen comrade in a fight, regardless whose brother he might be.”
Rocky looks around at the dark and jagged rock formations sheltering their impromptu war council. “It’s a long shot, but I might be able to get a message to my creator using these stones.” He grins. “They are similar to the flint from which my kind was created. It is possible.” He shrugs, but doesn’t wait for approval. The Monolith shifter strides over and places his hands on an outcropping of the black flint. He closes his eyes and mutters an incantation in a language that sounds very similar, if not exactly the same, to the language Blood uses in the cavern below the MC when he communes with those ancient spirits.
In just a matter of moments, every male in the group can feel magick vibrating throughout the stone surrounding them. Soon, the very walls of the canyon are also vibrating. “Shit, that’s bound to get their attention,” Charmer mutters.
Cin, who had been watching over the edge of the ledge where they are standing, growls. “They are going to kill the demi-god.”
Nyle rushes over, accidentally kicking a loose stone, which skitters over the edge ahead of him to clatter noisily down the sheer face of the canyon wall. The sound is quickly muffled, confirming their suspicions about magick being used to shield this stronghold. When Nyle leans over the edge, he sees that the bastards have apparently tired of beating on the male and not getting the answers they seek. One of the vamps is now brandishing a wicked looking sword. That’s bad news, but perhaps even worse for the rest of them, the stone Nyle kicked apparently gave away their hiding place.
“Okay, I’m going in,” Nyle says without thought. Instinct will have to carry him through now. No time for careful planning. Summoning his human-dragon hybrid battle form, Nyle moans in pleasure because he can instantly sense his mates. He can feel Callie’s love and fear, as well as Kazar’s sense of furious helplessness that he is not there to fight at Nyle’s side. Without thought to how such an action might impact his mates, he pushes the message through their connection; “No matter what happens to me next, know that I will always love you both.”
The vamps, ghouls, and wraiths below are not waiting to see what their visitors plan to do next. A vast horde of them are right now climbing up the face of the canyon wall, while others are pouring out of caves carved into the canyon face.
Not waiting to see what happens next, Nyle’s massive blue-black wings unfurl and he dives off the precipice. He struggles against surprisingly strong updrafts for just a moment, and wishes he had taken a bit more time to practice using these damn wings. “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. Not the fucking time, Wolf!”
Diving into the mass of monsters surrounding the demi-god gatekeeper, Nyle accidentally knocks an oblivious vamp on his ass with the very tip of one of his wings. Neat trick! The shifter muses, as he shifts and deliberately uses the leathery webbing of the other wing to toss the sword wielding fiend away from Raider before the blond guardian loses his head. The Norse demi-god nods his approval and continues slugging his way through the pissed off group of attackers who are trying to take him to the ground. Nyle is losing altitude, and realizes he has to make another sweep and come back to snatch up his ally. Making a wide, high arc, he then goes in low where he discovers the sharp edges of his wings actually work pretty well for removing the heads of his enemies. Although, he isn’t too crazy about the feel of the foul blood drying upon his new appendges.
Upon approaching Raider’s location again, the allies make eye contact and the fucking Viking actually winks. Yeah, those Norse bastards are crazy and always enjoy a good fight. Raider is having fun in this fight for his very life. Nyle doesn’t have time to dwell on the gate keeper’s mindset as he dives in just in time to see that his ally has claimed some dead enemy’s sword and makes a lunge at an incoming vamp. The strike should have impaled the male, however, the lucky vamp manages to deflect the blow just enough that it only grazes his leather jacket. Nyle smirks when Raider simply kicks him in the balls instead. When the vamp doubles over, the Nordic badass easily cleaves the bloodsucker’s ugly head from his foul body.
That is when Nyle swoops in once again, and uses his deadly talons to behead two attackers, before snatching Raider by the shoulders to lift him away from his would-be killers. When he realizes he forgot to retract his nasty talons, he silently apologizes to the demi-god and hopes like hell those were actually Blood Wraiths he had beheaded and not ghouls or vamps. It would really suck to infect an ally with that particular kind of nasty. Nope, accidentally transforming the son of Valliant, the Norse god who oversees the gateways, would not make him very popular in Asgard, nor any other place where gods and their kin choose to dwell.
He quickly flies up to rejoin his group, depositing Raider on his feet. “Sorry man, I didn’t think.” He indicates the deep wounds in the male’s shoulders caused by Nyle’s talons.
“Shit happens,” the gate keeper says with a shrug that earns him a grimace. “While that shit hurts, I’m sure it’s better than what they had planned for me.” He looks back over the edge of the cliff and growls. “Now what? Those fuckers are not going to just let us just stroll out of here and reveal the location of their stronghold to the outside world.”
“No, they won’t,” Gunnar growls. “I’m going down there, you assholes stay up here and beat them back as they try to crawl out of their hole. I’ll let the bear have his head, so stay the hell away from me! When I run amok, I do not know friend from foe.” The Norse warrior’s eyes are already glowing gold and Nyle knows he’s barely managing to contain the Berserker spirit. Nyle hates this plan. Really hates it. Even a Berserker cannot fend off that many by himself. But before anyone can voice any opposition, the crazy Viking hops over the edge, and clambers down the face of the canyon wall, taking out several climbing vamps and ghouls along the way.
“Crazy bastard,” Grim mutters, and moves to the edge to assume his badger form and follow the Berserker over the edge.
“Pot, meet kettle.” Nyle shrugs. “Good a day as any to die.” His wings unfurl and he once again takes to the skies as Charmer calls upon the earth magick of his witch mother, to call forth a strong wind which will blow away the heavy mists, allowing the fighters to see their enemies approach. Fighters on the side of the blood horde are easily scaling the wall, and clambering toward the recon party. This is about to get ugly. Once Charmer has blown most of the bespelled mists away, he withdraws his Desert Eagle .50 cal and a vicious looking sword that had been strapped to his backpack to face the oncoming horde. “Let’s dance, motherfuckers!” he cackles before taking off the head of a ghoul, as he fires into the charging body of a blood wraith.
Nyle quickly settles on his plan of attack. Flying erratic patterns around the lip of the gorge, he easily peels blood minions off their precarious positions as they attempt to climb out of the canyon. Using his powerful hands and sharp talons, he easily beheads each creature as he plucks them from the stone wall. A few times, he even used his wings like a huge ass fucking cutlass, but he soon realizes that’s making flying more difficult. Regardless, once he rips the head off, he gleefully drops each body only to fly round to snatch up yet another to send him or her to his doom.
A quick glance below reveals Gunnar is truly running amok, easily mowing down vampires, ghouls, and blood wraiths left and right with his sword and deadly claws. In this form, the male doesn’t exhibit even an ounce of finesse, but there is something to be said for crazy brute force. The part man, part beast form slashes, claws, kicks, punches, and snaps those vicious teeth until whatever is in front of him falls to a bleeding heap on the ground. Despite his amazing success, Gunnar is also taking some pretty serious hits along the way.
But that is not what surprises Nyle, no, the sight of the badger shifter fighting at the Berserker bear’s back is the real shocker. The crazed battle persona of their brother Gunnar doesn’t even really seem to be aware of the badger protecting his back. Perhaps because in the wild, a full grown badger is not easy prey for a bear, nor does one typically pose a threat. Odd as it sounds, the Berserker seems wholly oblivious to the presence of Grim.
Rocky, the massive Monolith shifter, was unwilling or unable to remain out of the melee. He, too, has made his way down the canyon wall and is ripping his way through the seemingly never-ending oncoming tide of blood feeding monsters. Loud cracking noises resound as Rocky’s fists impact with Stone Colds, and wet, sickening sounds of flying blood as he rips the heads from ghouls and wraiths alike fill the air, along with their screams of rage and terror as the Monolith devastates the attackers facing him.
Raider, the gate way guardian and demi-god, is flashing from one location to another. Materializing just long enough to take a head here, or to run a ghoul through there, before flashing out to another location to do it all again. “Well, hell!” Why didn’t he just flash back up to the cliff before this whole battle began? That’s when Nyle realizes the male is only flashing away a few feet at time. No doubt, he cannot flash great distances inside the gateways.
When a bright golden light, the sickening scent of burning flesh, and terrified screams fill the night air, Nyle knows without even looking that the Nordic fire demon is getting in on the action. As he comes around for another pass, he can see that Cin is easily wiping out scores of blood horde foot soldiers with every blast of demonic fire. That’s a kick ass, but finite ability. Nyle knows his fellow enforcer will not be able to do that indefinitely.
Despite their amazingly varied talents and fighting abilities, they are losing the battle because of the sheer numbers confronting them. Charmer is the first to fall. Nyle witnessed the whole thing. Three vampires attacked from behind, ripping into the incubus with sickening savagery as the sound of his breaking bones and tearing flesh resound with unwelcome clarity. Before they can completely devour the male, Nyle swoops in to scoop up his friend and fly him to a sheltered ledge on one of the imposing mountains overlooking the unfolding battle. He is relieved to discover the male’s heart still beats. But he’s badly wounded. If they cannot get him to a healer soon, the odds are the male might not survive. Knowing they must win this battle or at least beat the horde back enough to escape, Nyle flies away with a silent promise to return.
That’s when Nyle sees that the combatants have managed to separate Gunnar and Grim. But Grim, the stubborn little bastard, is still watching out for his fellow enforcer who has basically lost all ability to think rationally because he is in his berserker form. In this state, he has willingly dove right into a heavy nest of attackers. The badger rips out the throat of a blood wraith before charging in to assist Gunnar as a half dozen of the blood horde’s fighters bring him down and savagely begin to rip him to pieces. Grim successfully pulls two vamps off his fellow enforcer, allowing the Berserker to regain his feet. Sadly, that is when still another ghoul drives a sword through Grim’s back, literally pinning the badger to the ground.
Nyle rips the head from his latest victim and throws the body away, before flying in to beat the ghoul and his compatriots off the fallen badger. A blood wraith attacks his right flank, causing some serious damage to that wing, but Nyle can’t worry about that now. He has to check on his fellow enforcer. He easily takes the head off the attacker who damaged his wing and kneels beside the fallen badger. Unsure whether or not to pull the blade out of his friend, he simply scoops him up. He bites back an agonized scream as he forces himself to once again take flight. The battered and bloodied wing burns like hell fire, and the muscles which control it are spasming so badly he fears he might fall to the ground, causing the death of himself and his Brother. He smiles through the agony when he feels his mates send him a hefty dose of their strength through their amazing and wholly unique bond, and he manages to fly his precious burden to the same ledge where he deposited Charmer.
Surprisingly, the incubus has roused, and greets his old friend with a grimace that passes for a smile. “We are falling like fruit flies into vinegar, my friend.” Nyle doesn’t want to admit his friend is right, and his lips form a grim line as he rests the wounded badger beside the Legion’s Enforcer.
“You got anything in that bag to staunch the blood flow?” Nyle asks, his words muffled because his fangs are out, eager to rip into another enemy. “I’m not sure removing that sword is the best move at the moment.” He curls the damaged wing around to see it has been ripped up pretty badly. He hopes it will hold up a bit longer. He refuses to sit out the rest of this fight. Instead of fussing over shit he can’t change, he returns his attention to his companions. “I think ole Grim will bleed out if we even try to move that steel.” The incubus nods, but Nyle can see the movement costs his friend dearly. Even so, Charmer moves slowly to retrieve his bed roll from his backpack and begins tearing the blanket into strips to use as bandages. With each movement, sweat pours off the selfless warrior as he tends to their fallen comrade.
“Yeah, I got him. I think he’s gone into torpor anyway,” Charmer says as he begins giving aid to the badger. “If you can, go back and help our friends. The tide is turning against them.” Nyle knows the incubus is right, but what else can he do but see this through. He could easily fly away, maybe, if the wing would hold up to a flight up and out of this damn canyon. But Nyle doesn’t even seriously consider such a cowardly option. He feels a wave of Callie’s love and Kazar’s pride and he relishes the connection even though he knows his mates must be in hell right now, knowing Nyle will likely die at any moment. Instead of focusing on the negative, Nyle pushes his undying love through their mate connection before he once again takes to the skies, their connection strengthening him enough for one more impossible strike. He lets loose with a battle cry that causes many below to falter and cower as the terrifying roar of a pissed off dragon consort drowns out the clamor of the battle raging below.
In just those few minutes that Nyle left the battle to tend to Grim, the blood horde has seized the advantage. As Charmer so succinctly stated just moments ago, the tide has most certainly turned. Every single enforcer is faltering. Cin’s ability to throw Helfire has apparently tapped out, because he is now fighting the oncoming horde hand to hand. Fortunately, he is still able to summon enough fire energy to cause his attackers to combust when he is able to lay hands upon them, and maintain the connection for a second or two. But in a battle like this, seconds are precious. Lives end in the blink of an eye, but the fire demon isn’t giving up. None of the enforcers are willing to go down without a fight, as evidenced by Raider, now fighting hand to hand with vampires and ghouls. Somehow, he has lost his sword, but still has the ability to flash from one position to another. It fleetingly occurs to Nyle that the gate keeper could flash to safety, but he, too, will not abandon the doomed battle.
Rocky, the Monolith, was created by ancient vampire fighters to track and kill vampires. His stone body is virtually impervious to any attack a vampire, ghoul, or blood wraith can naturally rain down on his head. Because of that, the male is steadily plodding his way through the tsunami that is the attacking blood horde. But even a seven foot wall of stone and unleashed fury has a weakness. When a vampire runs into Rocky’s vicinity with an RPG launcher, Nyle curses violently. He’s pretty sure that is going to hurt. Hell, he’s not sure his dragonskin can withstand that much man-made firepower.
It is largely because of humankind’s ability to create such devastating weapons, and their vast numbers, that supes everywhere live and die to protect the secret existence of the paranormal world. And now, it seems the preternatural bad guys are using this human tech to bring down their natural enemies. Nyle has just swooped in to behead yet another ghoul when the projectile fires directly at Rocky. Fortunately, Greysky can move pretty fast for a mountain of rock in human form. He dodges to his left side, right before impact, therefore, he doesn’t take a direct hit when the grenade explodes, but he is wounded. Seriously. Another hit will likely force the Monolith shifter to revert to his human form and then he will be truly vulnerable.
Nyle’s gut clenches because he can plainly see the end drawing nigh. The pain of his breaking heart as he thinks of all that he will miss out on with his new family causes another roar to rip from the male’s very essence as he dives in for yet another attack. That roar is answered by a cacophony of screeches which seem to echo from the mountains above and reverberate throughout the canyon and the entire gateway system. Before Nyle can look up to discover the source of the sound, he realizes the blood horde has yet another RPG launcher. The deadly projectile is upon him before he detects its approach and can try to avoid the impact. There’s no way in hell he can move fast enough to get out of the way, and he roars his anger and frustration as the grenade strikes a glancing blow against his chest. However, that half-assed contact was enough to make the projectile explode. That blast throws Nyle backward, nearly knocking him unconscious.
Nyle tumbles end over end in midair as the pain from the injury leaves him half crazed. His foolish wolf wants to take over and heal the wound. But the Celt rallies enough to push the beast back and flap his shredded wings in a futile attempt to become upright and stay airborne. Just as he is convinced he is about to fall to his death amid the remaining blood horde, powerful talons grip his shoulders and lift him with surprising speed. Immediately, he is deposited upon the same ledge where he left Charmer and Grim. He turns to see who rescued him and nearly swallows his own tongue in shock and surprise.
A massive, red granite creature with burgundy horns curved against his head and an impressive wingspan, at least two feet broader than his own, hovers just out of reach. This being is unlike any Nyle has ever seen before. Ruddy, veined, and bespeckled stone, roughhewn into a near approximation of a man’s face. Pointed ears, heavy brows over deep set eyes, deadly talons, and viciously long fangs jutting from the monster’s mouth assure all who lay eyes upon this creature he is not a man, but a gargoyle. “Rest easy, cousin, allies you did not even know you have will take out the few remaining blood suckers and flesh devourers.” Without further explanation, the gargoyle flies away to join what must be fifty flying monsters of varying shades of stone. As blood loss threatens to force him into the land of unconsciousness, he realizes that the seven enforcers had indeed taken out nearly two thirds of the blood horde before they began to fall underneath the sheer numbers of their enemies. Just as the abyss of black mindlessness drags Nyle under, he wonders what the granite warrior meant when he called him cousin.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Waking up in a gargoyle stronghold is certainly a new experience for Nyle. He looks down at his body and realizes he is once again in his human form. He tries to get up from the stone bed, his intention is to once again take his consort form to check in with his mates and fly out to aid his fellow enforcers. “Easy, cousin. Gargoyles are able healers, but you sustained a great deal of damage when they hit you with that grenade.”
Nyle’s head whips around the moment the massive gargoyle speaks. It is the same eight foot tall, red granite horned and winged male who rescued him and then called him cousin. Which he just did again. “Who are you?” Nyle demands groggily. “And where I am I?”
“My apologies. I’ve been waiting so long for you to awaken, I simply forgot my manners. I am called Ruasciathán. Son of Rualaochra and leader of the surviving Gargoyle Battalion of the Queen’s Guard. ”
Nyle cannot help but smirk over such an obvious name. Red Wing, indeed. “I am Nyle Black. Mate and Consort Sentinel to Callie Boyd, the Ruathar Bànrigh of the new Western Péntearchy, Celtic wolf shifter, enforcer with the Twin Ravens and mate of Kazar, formerly of Alexandria and the court of the mighty Cleopatra.” His deeply ingrained inclination to one up anyone during formal introductions makes Nyle smirk at his own foolishness.
“Impressive,” the gargoyle says with an impressed smirk. “I am truly honored to be in the presence of the Fierce High Queen’s Consort.”
If Nyle’s body didn’t ache so much and he didn’t need to get moving, he would have chuckled over the gargoyle’s easy dismissal of the bulk of his pompous introduction. “I need to check on my compatriots and let my mates know that I live.”
“No, you need to rest and eat. Once you passed out, Stone Breakers and your own Twin Ravens MC showed up right before Valliant and a few of his sons arrived.” The massive beast chuckles, obviously relishing what happened next. “Suffice to say, those combined forces, along with my battle wing of gargoyles, easily wiped out the few remaining blood horde soldiers that you lot left standing.” His grin is huge, somehow making those fangs seem less threatening, and his admiration is obvious when he adds; “We were mightily impressed with the prowess exhibited by seven diverse warriors against impossible odds.”
“My MC… the Twin Ravens showed up? How?” The massive granite male simply shrugs. “Why am I here? Why did you not send me back with my brethren?”
“You are among your brethren, Dragon Consort,” the gargoyle supplies helpfully, sincerely. “I would not allow your friend, Blood, to take you back to the human realm until I had healed you completely.”
“Why the hell not?” Nyle demands, throwing his feet over the side of the stone with the intention of standing to face the gargoyle.
“You are my cousin, mate to my queen. I had to personally see to your welfare.”
“Why?” Nyle demands from unsteady legs.
“The ancient Dragon Queens created my branch of the Gargoyle family tree to protect the queens and their offspring. Sadly, one of our own betrayed us and our queens. He gave that bitch Nyx the key to Teleióti̱ta and managed to trick most of my father’s battalion of gargoyle guards into chasing after a diversion.” The massive male rises to his full impressive height and shakes his head sadly. “We were nearly wiped out that day, right along with the last of our Queens.”
He moves to look out a massive opening in the stone wall. “I stood at this window three days ago and watched you creep around the lip of the gorge below as you reconnoitered the forces below. I had no idea that you were one of us. In fact, because we left the human realm behind when the houses of lesser gargoyles allied with dark forces nearly one hundred years ago, we had no knowledge of the foretold reawakening queens.”
Red turns to face Nyle once again. “Imagine my surprise when I saw you explode into your dragonskin and take to the skies! My heart soared with joy because I knew the only way a dragon consort would live would be if the Queens were returning.”
The massive male strides nearer to entreat. “Tell me about our new queen!” the massive male pleads like an eager child wanting to hear about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
“I will do you one better. Get me back to the human realm and I will take you to meet my mates, and our daughter.”
“There is a princess as well? Is she a dragonling?” The gargoyle’s enthusiasm is contagious.
“She is indeed,” Nyle beams proudly. “And she is also beautiful, smart, and deadly. Just like her mother.”
The gargoyle beams, and throws his hands up in celebration as his massive wings unfurl to fill the huge, barren stone room. Suddenly he sobers. “I must confess something, cousin.”
“Yeah? Go ahead,” Nyle invites cautiously.
“Once I confirmed the existence of the new queen with your fellow enforcers, I sent half my battalion to earth to find her and stand vigil over her stronghold. The rest remained behind to eradicate the last evidence of this foul nest of blood minions.”
“What of Dysnomia? Was she among the horde?”
“Nay, you missed the bitch goddess by mere hours. In fact, had you come upon the canyon an hour later, we would have already wiped out the nest in the gorge between our mountain homes.” The gargoyle looks away and his wings now tightly furled, shifts as though he is uncomfortable. “Had I not stood there like an enthralled youngling to watch you and your compatriots fight, we would have joined the fray and ended it all before you and your brethren were even injured. Please forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive,” Nyle insists. “You didn’t know us from Adam.”
Red cocks his head to one side and asks; “Who is this Adam you speak of?”
Nyle can only chuckle at first. “I’ve spent too much time among humans. Adam was the first human, at least, according to the beliefs of many mundanes. What I said, was basically a colloquialism, or figure of speech, which essentially meant you had no way of knowing if we were friend or foe. I do not hold anything against you. In fact, I am grateful for your intervention. We may have kicked ass, but their sheer numbers and those damn grenades were about to take us out when your battalion joined the fight. So, thank you.” Red closes his eyes and humbly nods his quiet acceptance of Nyle’s gesture of appreciation. “Now, please take me to my family.”