Chapter 15
"Use me for cover."
Kateri gaped as Ren moved to stand between her and whatever was approaching them. "Ren-"
"I'm immortal and I just got you resuscitated. You're a lot more important than I am. Now do what I say ... please."
Those words had her riled up until the please at the end. That one word coupled with the break of fear for her in his voice took every bit of the sting out of his sharp order. And it rammed home what he was really saying.
He who never cried, had cried over her.
"A'ight, baby," she said with a smile. "But just so you know, you get hurt, I'm opening up a can of 'Bama whup-ass on them so big it's gonna look like an LSU Bowl showdown. You hear me? Roll Tide."
Sasha turned around to face her with a severe scowl. "I speak dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects, but be damned if I caught a single word of that. Am I the only one completely baffled?"
Sundown cocked his gun. "He said he loved her. She said, 'I love you, too.' Now shush."
Sasha stood there moving his finger back and forth as if repeating her words silently in his head. After a second, he turned to face Jess. "How the hell did you get that out of what she said?"
Urian glared at Sasha. "The man speaks Southern football, now shut up."
"Southern football, my ass," he mumbled before he turned into a wolf and dashed into the woods after whatever was approaching.
Cabeza drew a strange triangle-shaped weapon Kateri had never seen before. "If I accidentally kill Sasha, you think anyone would hold it against me?"
"Yeah, unfortunately." Sundown sighed. "Zarek would tear you apart over it."
"Psycho Zarek?"
"Yep."
Cabeza clapped Ren on the back. "Then I shall blame you, amigo, should I slip and yield to my urges."
Ren gave him a wry stare. "Gracias."
"De nada."
Suddenly, and just as she remembered that so long as Ren's eyes were blue, he wasn't immortal, the forest around them attacked. Literally. The trees. The foliage. Demons.
Ren lowered his bow and moved to cover her. "Cabeza? Huitzauhqui, por favor!"
Cabeza manifested the huge paddle weapon with the jagged edging and handed it off to Ren. Sharper than a machete, it cut through everything it touched. Ren backed her up against a rock wall so that nothing could attack her from behind.
Kateri opened fire on every target that was within range. Sundown unloaded his shotgun, while Urian fought with a sword and Cabeza with a different kind of war club.
Ren cursed as more demons crawled out from the ground to attack. He'd lied to Kateri. His powers were still down, so he was as mortal as she was. But at least the others hadn't outed him for it.
The worst part was that he couldn't refill her quiver or blast them.
Or could he?
He looked at Sundown, who had yet to reload. That meant that Jess was able to create the rounds....
Closing his eyes, he summoned another quiver. It appeared instantly in his hands. Thank the gods!
He turned and handed the arrows off to Kateri, then manifested fireballs to throw at their attackers. They shrieked and screamed as fire hit them and drove them back.
It was a thing of beauty.
Kateri hesitated with her next shot as she saw Ren drop his weapon. He leaned his head back and spread his arms out wide. Arching his back, he chanted under his breath in a language she'd never heard before.
In a single blink, heavily stylized armor, unlike anything she'd ever seen, appeared on his body. A deep dark purple that was edged in gold, it covered him from neck to toe. Steel gloves shaped like talons complete with long claws curving over his fingers, both to protect and to fashion weapons for him, enveloped his hands.
The front of his hair was now pulled back from his face and secured with eagle feathers at the crown of his head.
A heartbeat later, similar armor covered her. She shivered at the feel of it. Instead of being heavy, it was air light. But more than that, it felt like it was breathing.
It's demonic.
Conjured from the powers that he'd inadvertently inherited while breast-feeding from the crow-demon. Amazed by it, she returned to shooting, only to learn that he'd put some kind of force field around her so that her arrows couldn't go more than a few feet before striking it and falling to the ground.
With her safe and secured, he lowered his head into the warrior's countenance that sent chills over her. Then he laid into the demons with a skill that was truly frightening.
This was the creature who had battled her father night and day for a solid year. Three demons attacked him at once. Ren caught one with his claws under its chin. Screaming, it staggered back while another moved to stab him with a short sword.
Ren caught it with his hands, disarmed the demon, then rammed its weapon straight through the demon's stomach. The third turned to run, but Ren wouldn't let it. He sent a blast into its back.
Sundown lowered his gun as Urian moved to stand by his side. "I'm feeling a little unnecessary right now. How about you, Cowboy?"
"About as useful as warts on a pig's bottom."
They turned to look at Kateri.
"Did you know about this?" Urian asked her.
"Kind of, but it's more impressive in live action."
And it was.
Until a bad feeling went through her. He is the Thunderbird....