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A dozen lightning strikes collided.

For an instant, Byron got the distinct impression he'd been shot, the thunder cracked his ears so loudly. He'd just barely missed cleaving off Gorrum's arm. The next moment, the Valkyries were standing there, half smoking, all silver-eyed, and every last one was now armored in silver.

The demigods gaped a moment.

Regin cackled, "Ohhhh... you done fucked up, bitches."

Their bodies tensed, snapped into movement. Wendigoes were sundered in several different directions. Two of the demigods lost fingers, ears, and other bits.

The other immortal males recouped, shaking and growling. They began throwing the demigods into disarray, striking with fists, heads, feet, knees, and elbows.

Lothaire, for his part, was continually battering that diseased bastard Pachdral further out to the water. Byron joined him there with Gorrum, swinging back and forth.

Pachdral scored a particularly vicious hit on Lothaire, throwing the vampire back a half dozen feet. Byron slung out Scalpere, smashing the demon's chest and throwing the diseased demigod back a dozen feet. He juked clear of the hell-sword intended to cleave his chest in two.

Gorrum was snarling, then traced.

Byron twisted on instinct, ducking. The whoosh of the sword's blade over his head told him how close. Only an inch that time. He recalled Scalpere, rolling on one shoulder to avoid another vertical strike down that buried Gorrum's sword in the sand a moment.

Pachdral was just recovering when Conrad Wroth and Garreth MacRieve plowed into him. Garreth tore off a chunk of Pachdral's arm with his fangs, Conrad severed a finger.

The lanky demigod hissed hate, bashing Conrad across the cheek. Pachdral's eyes widened when Lothaire reappeared in a trace. The ancient vampire plunged his hand through the demigod's chest plate.

Lothaire grinned with relish, squeezing his claws past the beast's ribcage. "I have always wondered if your heart's deader than mine was, suka."

Pachdral battered him off weakly, then traced clear.

Byron glanced over. His aura could take up some of the slack, more of the demigods were out of action... he focused and turned off the demons' ability to trace.

In moments the other demigods began misstepping, their bodies tensing to trace and instead staying put. The Valkyries and their mates and friends were dismantling them ably now.

Gorrum swung. Byron juked underneath, then brought the haft of his scythe around into the bastard's chin. The primordial snatched at the haft, gripping. Byron couldn't pull it free. Gorrum grinned victory.

"Time's up–"

Byron dropped the scythe and unsheathed his hidden blades. He stabbed once in the sword arm elbow, twisted hard, sundering several ligaments, then pierced the knee, bisecting the kneecap. The patella nearly fell out of the joint with the force of his twist.

The bastard lost balance, falling to his damaged knee, stunned. "The fuck!?"

Ducking, Byron avoided the primordial's clumsy backswing. He buried his right-hand Ka-Bar up to the hilt under Gorrum's left arm, severing into the lung, then down with the left-hand knife into the shoulder and punching out the artery there.

Gorrum choked, lifeblood pouring from his lips. Byron twisted both blades out of the demon's flesh, sheathed them. Gorrum's onyx eyes lifted, gazing at him. On his knees he was still almost as tall as Byron was standing.

"I learned how to smith some Ka-Bars from my ancestors' steel." Byron sneered while he recalled his scythe to his grip. "Welcome to the new era, ya creepy bitch!"

He sliced once. Gorrum's head splattered into the shallow water. Then he spat on the glazing eyes.

"See you in Hell."

When he turned, the wendigoes were almost wiped out. Melanthe had fallen limp, her face blank.

He sensed. One last demigod was getting clear. Charging onto the beach, he snatched up another demigod's bow and an arrow. He stilled a moment, sensing. The damned thing was a dieumort.

He roared, "Phenїx!"

Her head whipped around to him. Every inch of her the righteous warrior. He pointed. "That way, one mile out! I'll give you a boost."

She ran towards him and he tossed both bow and arrow to her. He linked his fingers and instinctively she cupped her foot into his grip. He launched her skywards. She lofted up, taking aim. Hung at the apex for a singular second, eyes glimmering down the shaft of the arrow. Released.

The arrow collided, and the last fleeing demigod wailed a scream. Dead. He caught the Valkyrie in his arms when she came down. "Nice shot, demigoddess."

"Thank you."

Daniela was shouting, "Melanthe!"

They ran over.

Thronos was shaking his beloved as hard as he dared. Byron put a hand on his shoulder, "Easy, King. Give it a minute."

The demon looked at him wild-eyed, but Byron lifted a finger. For a scant second, the older king looked on the verge of throwing a haymaker. Not that he would have blamed the Vrekener.

Then the angelic demon heeded him. Long heartbeats later, Melanthe's eyes connected with Thronos'. Cerulean blue emotion flashed over her irises. "THRONOS!"

She tackled him hard.

Byron glanced over the rest of them. Every one of them were staving off injuries. Not just a few, either. Lothaire was the least injured, and he'd still broken a couple fingers trying to carve out Pachdral's heart.

"I think we overstayed our welcome here," Byron grunted. "Can you all get back home like this?"

"We're not going anywhere, reaper," Cadeon gruffly intoned while he clasped Holly to his chest.

Byron turned to Cadeon's voice. "Kingmaker, your wife was three inches away from taking a dieumort to the chest."

The rage demon stilled. Byron nodded. "I appreciate the back-up. But these bastards were just the first wave. You all need to get home, heal. Rest. There's plenty of time to go hunting after Phenїx ascends."

Once they ensured none of the wendigoes remained alive, the rest of Nїx's friends traced back to their homes, or returned to the mansion. Byron cleaned up the remnants of their camp.

Then he caught Nїx staring at him.

He finished dousing the fire, "Something on your mind, swan maiden?"

"Yes. Something that's been bothering me the last couple days."

A part of him wanted to point out all the corpses lying around, but none of these were exactly 'good' beings that were now rotting. If anything, Gorrum's death had just brought a jolt to him. That was three of the bastards from Persephone's crime. He had just earned another power hit. A truly ancient one.

"I'm listening," he muttered, tossing the last few spare cloaks to his home.

"I saw Melanthe's memories."

He stilled.

Nїx put a hand on his cheek. That warmth made him lean a bit into it. Her lips pursed slightly. "You're risking damnation of your soul, rather than letting me be reaped?"

Byron grunted. "The only way they can damn me is if they can judge me as being wrong. Or if they kill me."

"They talked to you." Her eyes bloomed when he winced and she leaned up against him. "You're already...?"

He shrugged. "They broke the law. I haven't broken it, not fully."

She was shaking. He could taste rust on his tongue. "Who?! Who fucking marked you, Byron?"

"Don't know who precisely, but yeah, a couple of them already branded me."

Nїx was almost hyperventilating. "And you didn't tell me?!"

He licked over his teeth a moment, considering that. Then he looked back at her. "You have to worry about you, for a change, demigoddess. I'm not that important."

She shook her head. "Never say that you're not that important, godsdammit! Why? Why are you defending me, Byron? Really? Answer me truly. None of this bullshit. Straight, simple answer. Why?"

When he wrapped her up in his arms this time she didn't budge an inch. His lips formed a thin line. To Hell with it. "Because defending you feels right."

When she stiffened, he muttered, "Let's go."

He opened his portal and they left the hell behind. She hadn't said a word.

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