Page 20 of Mayhem's Magic
“What is this? Is it playtime?” Azazel mock as he drops down from the tree, sauntering towards them.
Garth and I spread out behind the girls, Edon joining us. Edon jerks his head, and I can see four wolves on the other side of the clearing. Azazel is cornered and he has no idea.
“Oh yes,” the girls seem to answer in one voice. “We came to play, Demon. We will have a good time...you, not so much.”
Azazel lets out a roaring laugh before he wiggles his fingers in their direction. Bolts of energy soar across the field towards the girls. Nothing happens. They do not writhe in pain or go up in flames. Then I hear it. They’re laughing. Laughing at his weak show of power. I was wrong about their magic.
All three of them are Nymphs. They’re just different forms of the magical creature. Cari, the oldest, is one with the earth and the woods. Luci, the middle sister, wields the power of the air, the winds. Bessi controls the streams and water. I watch as they unite as one powerful creature.
I was braced for a long war—it seems it will be decided by this battle alone.
“They’re all Nymphs,” Gareth muses, shaking his head. “All this time I just thought...well, I thought my wife was just pure magic. I was wrong.”
“As was I, friend,” I agree, shaking my head in awe.
Watching the clearing, I wait for Azazel’s attack. I am not sure where it will come from. How he will lash out at them for insolence. Steeling his spine, he throws his hands out again, gray strokes of power shooting from his fingertips once more.
“Is this how we play? This is no fun, Azazel,” the girls mock, their tones teasing, their faces smiling as they march towards him. Luci raises a hand on the left and Bessi raises hers on the right. Blue and white crackles of power zip through the air to crash into his chest, sending him hurtling back.
It lights up the whole clearing as they stalk him. Cari lifts her hands, and a crackle of purple energy joins her sisters’, and I hear something I have not heard enough in all my time in Hades. Azazel cries out in pain.
Crumpled on the dirt, he shudders as their attack continues. I would tell them to show mercy, but he has not earned it. Besides, they cannot truly end his miserable existence. Demons exist until the creator above or the creature below decides otherwise.
What they can do is hurt him. Just as I did once, tearing half of his body apart. They can rip him to shreds. And they do. Together, the twist his body and tear parts of the ruined bits of his soul apart. He is whimpering and shuddering at the end.
“Not how I thought this would go,” Gareth admits, sharing a look with me.
“Yeah. We uh...we need to be cautious with our women, my friend. Thank you. Not just for coming with me to get her without asking questions. For all you told me about myself. I am not that man now, but I do not want to be. I want to be better. For her. For our children.”
“Ugh, children? Will they be more Demon or more Nymph?”
It takes me a moment to see he is teasing me. I laugh. As our women taunt the cocky Demon from Hades right back to where he came from, I am laughing with my new witch friend. Edon joins us, back in his human form after sending his pack home, and he is just as awed by the ladies as we were.
“Were they hiding that from us or...” he trails off as the ladies come back to us.
“We were not hiding it. None of us knew we could do that before we did it. It was the first time we had to protect each other that way. You all mentioned our magic, but I don’t think any of us had any clue it was...this.”
Cari comes to me, and I scoop her up, cradling her close. Her soft body still hums a little, her skin shining in the moonlight. Lowering my head, I drag my mouth over hers, breathing in her sweet scent.
“My love. You battled a Demon with ease. I suppose it means you will be able to live alongside another Demon without too much trouble,” I tease her gently.
“He wanted to play games. While I was in Hades, he played games for fun. We decided to play by our rules. Ones that we made up as we figured out who we truly were. We’re all Nymphs. It makes so much sense now. Our connection is bigger than us being sisters. We’re three halves of the same spirit. Nothing can hurt us while we’re together.”
“No, nothing on earth or anywhere else can hurt you if you’re together. I would reckon little could hurt any one of you on your own either, my love,” I tell her proudly.
Cari flushes and dips her head, brushing her lips over mine. We go back to the castle instead of us splitting up. The girls do not want to be apart after all they just went through. I think it is something we will have to accept. They may never want to be apart again.
If they choose it, we will make it so.
Back at the castle, we all gather around a fire as the girls snuggle close to each other, barely making room for the men. We don’t mind. They’re safe, they’re happy, and they’re at peace being with each other.
We stay by the fire until the sun begins to lighten the dark corners of the castle. It is then we retire to our own spaces, ones I think we all best get used to for a least a little while. Because it will be some time before the girls want to be without each other after this ordeal.
“I love you, little flame,” I say once again, and I will say it a thousand more times if she chooses. “You’re the most special creature on this earth. And I do not deserve you, but you are mine,” I remind her as I strip her of the blanket she was wrapped in all night.
In the early morning sunshine, she is so stunning I cannot take my eyes off her. Her skin is perfect again, the marks gone soon after their battle. When she preens beneath me, drawing my hand to her belly, I am not prepared.
“I saw a lot of things tonight, Mayhem,” she whispers with the biggest, sweetest smile. “I saw something I did not expect. You said we will have babies. We do. We will, just as you said. Our babies will all come together. They will have a bond more powerful than the one I have with my sisters. They will come at the same time, Mayhem. We’re going to have a baby.”