Daimon: Guardians of Hades Series Book 6

front of the brothers and the stronger daemons slammed into it. Blue hexagonal glyphs appeared in a wave and disappeared.
A curious power. Effective too.
But it cost Caterina.
She wobbled on her feet and Marek turned back to her, grabbed her wrist and spun her so her back was to his.
Together, they fought a wave of daemons as they piled around the edges of the barrier, breaking left and right. To the right, they ran right into Daimon and Ares, who were combining ice and fire with devastating effect, ravaging the enemy forces.
Cass cursed when something caught her eye and looked to her right, to the other side of the roof, beyond where the gate was located.
Violet-black smoke boiled there, writhing and spreading.
Another portal.
She wasn’t surprised when the two other Erinyes stepped out of it, looking like twins, a perfect reflection of Marinda with their blue-green eyes and blonde hair twisted into a Greek plait across the tops of their heads. These two wore form-fitting black clothes though, leather pants and tanks that showed off their figure.
Cass had always tried to get Mari to dress a little more like her, a little more provocatively to make the most of her figure. Cal would have a heart attack if he saw Mari dressed like her half-sisters.
Shadows rushed across the rooftop, snapping at the black tar and each other, sapping the warmth from the air as they passed Cass. She shivered and watched, fascinated as they rose up from the ground and launched at the Erinyes in a malevolent wave. The two furies broke apart, leaping over the sharp spikes of the shadows and rolling under others, evading them all. The points of the shadows slammed into the rooftop, piercing it before they dissipated.
Another wave of shadows rocketed towards the two.
Cass lent them a hand, launching several spells, twisting spears of red and gold that shot through the air, aimed at points where she hoped the Erinyes would be foolish enough to leap into their paths.
One of the Erinyes managed to evade them all, but the other wasn’t as fortunate. She cried out as a spear sliced through her left calf and hit the roof.
“Sister!” the second Erinyes shrieked and launched towards her, faster than Cass or Keras’s shadows could track. She pulled her fallen sibling up just as a shadow reached them, and the injured one gasped as it stabbed into the roof where she had just been.
The two Erinyes turned as one towards the gate.
That violet light flickered brightly again.
Everything and everyone went still, all eyes shooting to the gate.
Time seemed to slow as Cass summoned more spells to her fingertips, her breath hitching as she waited for the gate to expand.
Only it didn’t.
A thick earth wall shot up before her, a dome that swept over the point where the gate was located, obscuring her view of the Erinyes. The rich brown mud baked in an instant, small cracks forming across it.
“Tell me you all just saw that too?” Ares grunted as he backhanded a daemon and sent him flying across the roof into two more, knocking them over the edge. They screamed as they fell to the road far below and then silence.
“I saw it,” Daimon offered.
“How can they cast a portal so well but their ability to command the gate has weakened just as mine has?” Mari kept her eyes on the dome covering the gate, her fingernails turning into short claws as she spread her feet shoulder-width apart.
A warrior’s stance.
It was still unsettling seeing her sweet, kind-hearted Mari transforming into a vicious, battle-hungry furie.
Violet shone in Mari’s eyes, edged with black.
Caterina muttered something in Catalan and turned with Marek, her back still plastered to his. He finished off the daemon she had been fighting, snapping the man’s neck with nothing more than a well-aimed uppercut with the heel of his right hand.
“Blood,” Caterina hollered as she lashed out at another daemon, driving the female back with her sword. “Eli gave me a cocktail of blood. It gave me powers.”
She grabbed the daemon by her hair and shoved the female’s head down fast as she brought her knee up hard. It cracked against the daemon’s forehead and Caterina released her, letting her crumple to the ground.
“What if they have more of that blood?” Caterina looked at Keras, Ares and then Mari.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Marek turned with her again and she shoved her right hand forwards, driving the sword through the eye of a male daemon.
Ares bit out a black curse.
“So now the enemy can siphon powers from blood?” Daimon raised his hand and five shards of ice shot up from the rooftop, impaled the daemons he had aimed them at and lifted them into the air.
The wretched humanoid things struggled, desperately clawing at the ice protruding from them, causing black blood to roll down the slick surface to the roof.
“We will find out later.” Keras sent a wave of shadows racing over the dome and Cass’s gaze followed them, because she wasn’t sure what he was aiming at.
The Erinyes.
The two blondes were coming over the top of the dome, the one on the left falling behind as she limped.
“Complete the mission. Grab her,” she bit out from between clenched teeth.
The furie on the right nodded.
They were talking about Mari.
Cass grabbed hold of her and pulled her back when she went to launch forwards, held on to her and refused to let go, weathering a hiss as Mari turned on her, her violet eyes flashing dangerously.
Daemons surged towards them from her left, driving Ares and Daimon back towards her, and more poured through the portal, into the falling night.
Two daemons made it past Ares, snarling and snapping sharp teeth as they lunged in her direction.
Daimon appeared between her and the vicious creatures, threw his left hand forwards and sent two spiralling daggers of ice at them. The one on the left went down shrieking. The one on the right nimbly dodged the attack.
“Stay close,” Daimon growled.
“I have