Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

closer, their demon riders moving them to evade the arrows. They responded with roars that were followed with fireballs. Mara crouched, her wings flaring to life and cloaking her body to provide some protection.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked of the guard at the rear.

He looked up at the dragons hesitantly, then sighed and broke away from the carriage. The giant fly he rode carried him up to meet the attackers. One of the dragons dove straight for him and opened its mouth wide to let loose a jet-stream of hellfire. The guard’s fly spun to the side, just barely evading. The dragon flew right by, but its rider leapt off the back, going for the guard.

The demon raised his arms and a flaming axe formed in them, which he brought down on the guard, slicing him clean in two from his shoulder diagonally to his waist. The demon’s axe changed into a spear which he used to jam into the head of the fly. Its buzzing ceased and its wings gave up on fluttering. The demon jumped from the dead creature and his own wings carried him back to his steed.

“Dammit!” Mara cursed. She fired several more arrows, but all this seemed to do was anger the dragons and they descended. She gestured to the two remaining guards. “Go, go!”

They broke away from the carriage and flew to engage the dragons. There were five in total and the final guards were no match for their numbers. Two dragons apiece ganged up on each rider and made short work of them. Both ended up being engulfed by twin streams of hellfire and were left as nothing more than charred skeletons.

As their brothers took care of the guards, the other two dragons went for the carriage. One of them released a fireball. By the time Mara noticed it, it was too late to throw up a shield. The blast struck and she was thrown from the roof.

Mara’s wings held her aloft and she used a hellfire whip to grab hold of the carriage and pull herself back to the roof. She crouched behind the driver’s seat and said, “That was a close one, huh?”

No response came. Mara pulled herself up so she could look over the seat and see the driver. All that was left was a burnt husk. She sighed and opened the hatch.

“We’ve got a problem,” she said.

“What kind of problem?” asked Lucifer.

“The driver. He’s kind of…well…dead.”

“Move out of the way,” said Lucifer.

Mara slid from the hatch, unsure of what he had planned. Lucifer pulled himself up to the roof and climbed into the driver’s seat. He pushed the demon’s remains off the carriage and the dead body hit the ground.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “It’s too dangerous for you to be up here!”

“You can’t drive and fight off those attackers at the same time,” said Lucifer. “So what other option do we have?”

Lucifer wrapped the reins around his arm and gripped them tight. His other hand clutched the sword so he could fight back if the situation warranted, though he wasn’t as confident he’d be very successful.

Mara crouched behind Lucifer’s seat, waiting for one of the dragons to get closer. She hurled her hellfire spear. The dragon ducked its head, and its rider was punished for that. The spear went right through his chest, dissipating as it emerged from his back, and he slipped off the dragon’s back.

In the time it took for the rider to fall, Mara leapt from the carriage and her hellfire whip lashed around the dragon’s neck. She pulled herself onto its back and used her hellfire whip to steer the beast away from Lucifer. In the process, her dragon slammed into one of the others. That caused the new dragon to reflexively spit out a jet-stream. Mara’s dragon also took offense. She retracted her whip and let her wings carry her from the dragon’s back. With the two having angered each other, they now ignored the carriage and instead started fighting amongst themselves.

Back at the carriage, Lucifer had two dragons to contend with. They flanked him on either side and he spied the two of them beginning to position their heads for a pincer attack. Lucifer pulled hard on the reins and the basilisk grunted and protested, then skidded to a stop.

The beast turned as it came to a sudden halt, but the carriage still had momentum behind it and swung ahead of the basilisk. Lucifer tightened his grip on the reins, but couldn’t take his eyes off the two dragons that had flanked him. He stopped just before they initiated their attack and it was too late for them to stop now. Both dragons breathed fire right onto each other’s face that had been meant for Lucifer and they both ended up killing each other in the process.

Lucifer rested his sword on his shoulder, admiring his handiwork. He would quickly realize that was a mistake once the remaining dragon swooped down. The rider snatched Lucifer with a thrown net of hellfire. Lucifer tried to extricate himself, but the rider pulled him from the carriage. He hung in the middle of the air, his body hitting the dragon’s side.

“I’ve got him! I’ve got him!” shouted the rider. “The master will be pleased!”

“Mara!” Lucifer shouted. “A little help?”

Mara looked away from the dragons she’d managed to turn against each other. As soon as she realized Lucifer was being carted off, Mara’s wings carried her after the kidnapper. The rider looked back and saw her flying after him. He hurled several hellfire projectiles with his free hand. Despite Mara’s swift maneuvers, the rider blanketed the air with them and she was forced to deflect with hellfire weapons and shields of her own. As she defended herself, the rider used one final burst, pooling the hellfire in the palm of his hand. He threw it and when it struck Mara’s shield, an explosion followed. Lucifer tried to see through the flames and smoke, but