Denying Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Series) (7 page)

Drake had already instructed the head warriors in each area to have their people guard the city perimeters in events like these, making sure the mortal Mageia inhabiting the cities were protected. They were the most vulnerable beings in the Realm, and the Guardians had a responsibility to ensure their safety.

He, Bastian, and Sirena helped the other warriors down the vast meadow toward the small lake tucked up against a tree line. The city was at their backs, settled atop a steep cliff leading to the sea. The nice thing about fighting there was that the vegetation was much further from Limni than it was from the other cities. It gave the guards plenty of warning when hell beasts approached.

To your right.
He spun and cut the head off another hound. The fact that Bastian’s warning was needed just pissed him off. He was slow to find his footing in the fight. His dick was slowly starting to soften into a semi, but fighting with a hard-on was a hell all its own and only seemed to get worse with each passing day. The fact that it still rubbed up against the leather fighting pants wasn’t making it any better.

Bastian and Sirena both sent him looks, waiting for him to lose his shit. Wasn’t going to happen. He knew they could smell how fucking horny he was, and all of his brethren knew the cause and had tried to get him to go to Rain. Drake was the scariest of them all. He’d been quiet.

Dorian was on edge. Everyone was pissed that he held out from claiming the Mageia. Fuck them. They all thought he wouldn’t be able to focus on the battle, but he planned to prove them wrong. He would get his head in the fight if it killed him. He clenched his jaw and finally gave himself to instinct and centuries of battle experience. He ignored the feel of the leather fighting gear and instead focused his power again, pulling water to douse the flames in the spots where the hell beasts had tried to set the hill ablaze.

Sirena, warrior down in Thalassa, and the healers are asking for help,
Drake said through the link. Thank fuck, at least he’d get a reprieve from her dirty looks until she was done. If the other healers were calling Sirena, it usually meant dismemberment; he felt for whoever was down.

Bastian was further to his right, amid the city’s warriors. The air was filled with battle cries and the pungent stench of sulfur from the downed hell creatures. The Immortals fighting were mostly Ailouros, a whole fuck ton of cats out there in half human form, using blades and claws against their opponents. He looked to where Bastian was finishing off another ophiotaurus. Its horned bull head rolled away from the still-twitching bulk of its body. The beasts seemed to be thinning, and so far no hell creature had made it up to the city and into the second line of defense. It would take a lot to make it through to the city’s shield. They were still secure.

Report.
Drake’s booming voice filtered through the Guardians’ mental link. He waited, half listening as the others reported in. It seemed the battle was coming to an end everywhere. It hadn’t been waging for long.

P, or Pothos if you wanted to piss the male off with his given name, Sander and their sister Sacha reported thinning in Efcharistisi. Uri reported for the city of Lofodes, Conn for Thalassa, and Dorian knew Drake was in Ouranos.

Limni’s fine. The horde is thinning.
He informed the others.

Dorian pulled power and doused more flames as the hell beasts caught the meadow on fire in yet another spot. At the same time he engaged an ophiotaurus of his own. The key was teleporting around and lopping the serpent tail without getting kicked, bitten, burned or gored in the process. He managed it fairly quickly, dodging the heavy hooves. He scanned the area, still dousing flames as he sliced halfway through the beast’s thick neck while porting out of the way of the horns. He hated the stench of tainted hell-beast blood. It sprayed and stung his bare arms, but he didn’t like wearing full-sleeved gear. His leather protection only covered his torso, the acid like blood wouldn’t kill him, and he found it less irritating than fighting without range of motion in his arms. It was bad enough his dick felt strangled, he wanted to at least be able to move his fucking arms. He looked over at Bastian, who wore the full-sleeve version. The dark Kairos moved as if a shadow.

Dorian teleported around and took another swing, barely missing a horn to the gut.

He mulled over why so many hell beasts had attacked in the last week? It all seemed to start a couple of days after Cyril’s death.

He listened to the alarms going off in the city, alerting the mortal Mageia to stay indoors while they battled. It was a faint hum down the hill where he fought. So far, there hadn’t been any casualties or shield breaches, just hell beasts let loose toward the cities. Not that the Tria were all that bright, sadistic and pure evil, definitely, but not necessarily intelligent. Now that the Guardians knew Cyril’s bitch, Elizabeth, could contact the Tria in Hell, it was likely that things were more planned out than they’d ever imagined. A way to distract the Guardians in order to abduct more Mageia to experiment on.

Bastian and he continued to cut down beasts alongside the warriors. Dorian made sure to keep the Immortals as much in his sights as the hell creatures. It was going smoothly enough until, out in the distance, he watched three fucking ofioeidis come slithering between the trees. They were moving along the lake’s edge toward the fight and the city beyond. Shit. He looked over at Bastian; his brother caught the movement too.

Three ofioeidis in Limni,
Dorian sent through the Guardian mental link.

Son of a bitch. We’ve got the same shit in Lofodes,
he heard Uri say through the link. More of the same was coming from his brothers and sisters about the other cities.

I’ll be there as soon as I can. The warrior’s in bad shape,
Sirena sent.

I’ll send help when I take care of these,
Drake’s harsh voice came through. They’d pissed off the wrong dragon. Drake was the deadliest of them all. Only P, son of Hades, was close to their leader in power.

Dorian started barking orders to the other warriors, who were still fighting the other hell beasts. “Keep the beasts from making it up the rise. When you’ve thinned them enough that the warriors in the city can take them, make for the ofioeidis on the left. Stay away from its head. Bleed it, but stay the fuck back.”

Grunts of assent came from the warriors. The Immortal warriors generally respected the Guardians and mostly listened. They tended to be cocky and sometimes liked to pull out their dicks to show just how capable they were.

He took out another hound and saw Bastian working on his second or third ophiotaurus, making sure not to get gored or scorched in the fight. His adrenaline pumped, his body revving up for the bigger fight to come as he watched three of the deadliest of all hell creatures get closer. They fanned out in the meadow. The serpents were fast, and the poisonous venom could get even an Immortal killed. It was their speed and regenerative ability that made it so damn hard to take them out. Bulk alone prevented a swift slice of the head, which was the only way to kill the sons of bitches. He cocked his head. Something seemed odd about these creatures. They looked bigger, thicker. The red eyes and tough grey scales looked the same, but the barbed tails were new. What the fuck was going on?

These look different. A new breed?
Dorian said through the link.

The ones we’ve been taking out in Hell haven’t had barbed tails and weren’t as big,
P confirmed through the link. He and Sander were the Guardians on Hell Realm rotation.

I’ve got the one in the middle,
he said through the link to Bastian after he decapitated one more hound that lunged for his throat.

He and his brethren would be a bit thin with three ofioeidis per each of the five cities and twelve Guardians capable of singlehandedly combatting the damn things. Fortunately they had Uri’s Demi-Goddess mate, Alex, and her twin brothers, which evened the numbers if Sirena came back.

He eyed the creature, not liking the idea of a new breed popping up. He thought they’d nearly eradicated them from Hell. That was what Hell patrol was all about, cutting these fuckers down before the Demon Tria could send them to Tetartos or Heaven, the only Realms the Tria seemed able to send hell beasts to.

“Watch the ofioeidis’ tail too,” he bellowed to the warriors closest to him. He may not fully trust the bastards at his back but counted on them to work together and stall the serpent until he or Bastian could get to it. The warriors at the city had crossbows, which might slow it or maybe just piss it off. Either way, it would buy them some time.

I don’t like this shit,
he said to Bastian.

I don’t either,
his brother replied.

“Make sure the guards at the city stay put,” he yelled as he slid his second blade from the sheath at his back. The last thing they needed was for Mageia to get taken by the enemy, again.

Before the words were completely out, he ported to the top of an ofioeidis and slammed a blade deep into the thick neck; the beast bucked and started to coil. He used his weight and jumped down, pulling the blade through the skin. It barely moved a foot, but would start bleeding the bastard some. Its skin was too fucking thick to cut through even with the sharpest of blades. He kicked off to dislodge his blade and teleported out of reach. The huge beast’s thick middle nearly reached to Dorian’s six feet eight inches of height. He quickly began slicing as he ported around the beast, narrowly missing big sharp fangs filled with poison. He let fighting instinct take him over again, anticipating the beast’s moves. Blood sprayed from the cuts he’d made in the thick skin. It took a lot to finish off one of the fuckers, normally, but this one was even more advanced. He landed blow after blow as the thing bucked and coiled, striking out in quick succession.

He was confident that Bastian was making headway with his. As a Guardian, his brother’s Kairos powers were enhanced. He was able to partially teleport unlike the others of his race. It was a gift of the Creators and something only he and Sacha could do. It was like fighting air when they were in battle mode. Bastian would solidify only enough to strike a blow. It was an impressive thing to watch. Not that Dorian could spare a glance. He had enough to fucking deal with. It was taking all of his concentration to keep the damn place from burning down while he fought the beast.

He dodged another strike. The ofioeidis coiled its long body so that the barbed tail was rattling near the right side of its head, protecting one side of its neck, leaving only the left vulnerable for attack. Its massive head was more dragonlike than snakelike and didn’t bend back enough to guard against Dorian’s blades.

Seems like the skin is tougher,
he said through the link in irritation.

Yes,
Gregoire growled back, making it clear his brother was not happy with that particular fact.

One down in Ouranos.
Drake’s voice was deathly calm through the link. Fuck, if they were competing, they’d all lost hard against him. He couldn’t even use his dragon fire. Hell beasts were immune. No, Drake was just fast at cutting any creature down.

One more double slice from his blades and Dorian narrowly missed another strike. The big body was starting to uncoil while Dorian moved, which was exactly what he’d hoped for. The heat of the fire coming from its mouth nearly scorched his skin. The good news was that it seemed to be moving a fraction slower as it lost blood. The tainted blood burned his arms, and the bite of pain kept him focused on the battle instead of his dick. This was what he lived for. He got off on the surge of adrenaline that fueled him.

The minute the tail was free of the coil, Dorian struck. He teleported to the tip and skewered it through the point right between two sharp barbs. Sparing no time, he used his other blade to hack into the thick scales. After two clean swipes, he managed to teleport away just as the creature roared and shot flames in his direction. The bloody tail flailed, but he was already on the other side of the beast’s head. He pulled more water from the lake as he scented smoke from other flames erupting around them.

Drake’s voice came through.
Brianne, go help in Limni.

Good, Brianne would work on the other beast. A second later he heard a loud battle cry and grinned. Brianne loved a fight just as much as he did. He could imagine what was happening to the creature she was fighting. He’d known it’d made it closer to the city, but that was as far as he’d tracked it, too busy dealing with the beast in front of him.

Dorian continued making cuts, but the progress was slower without his other blade. He looked over to where it lay on the ground. The rest of the tail had finally slid away from it. He ported back and picked up the sword that was still stuck between the sharp points of the tail. The minute the creature opened its mouth to fry his ass, he launched the blade and tail down its throat using a boost of telekinetic power. He teleported away while the creature’s harsh noises filled the air. It tried to dislodge the blade, but Dorian had made sure it lodged deep, the barbs cutting into its throat and rendering it incapable of spewing anymore fire. Thank fuck for that. He went in for the kill. His muscles burned from the added strength it took to get through the thick, hard flesh and bone. The head finally made it to a pile on the ground.

Two down in Ouranos. Sacha, go help Conn and Jax.

One down in Limni,
he reported and looked to Bastian, who had maybe one or two blows before his creature was down. More reports of one and, soon, two down in the other cities. There were still a few warriors dealing with the remaining hell beasts on the rise.

He saw Brianne working with some of the warriors to take out the last beast and shook his head. One cat was too aggressive and not nearly fast enough to miss the whip of its barbed tail. It struck hard into the male’s stomach. The easily eight-inch spikes impaled him and then slammed him into the ground. Shit. There would be some damage for the healers to repair. He and Bastian teleported over, working as one they detached the tail. Getting the cat free of the area was priority if they were going to save the male from any more damage. The beast whipped its bloodied stump and sent Dorian flying into a severed ophiotaurus head. He looked down, irritated. He’d landed right on a damned horn. He dislodged it from his bicep as Bastian teleported the cat to the healers and other warriors up near the city. It bled like a bitch, but would heal. He checked Brianne’s progress. She’d be pissed if he got in the way of her kill, so he cut down another stray beast as he glanced over.