Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(46)

How many monsters had there been? Three hundred. Four? Five? The cameras had probably captured it all. That was some new data for the Legion’s scientists. I only hoped Nero was right, and no one would realize I’d been the one controlling the monsters. My power over beasts was not something I should be advertising.

Centuries ago, when the beasts began to interbreed, mixing light and dark magic together, the gods and demons had lost control of their creations. As it turned out, gods could only control beings made from pure light magic, and demons could only control dark magic beings.

If the gods and demons found out there was someone who could control mixed magic monsters, they wouldn’t just ignore it. There was already a god interested in using me to find my brother, a uniquely powerful telepath. I didn’t also need deities after me for my weird monster-herding powers. The power to control monsters wasn’t a very glamorous superpower. And was it supposed to hurt so much?

I kept walking down that road, trying not to move like every bone in my body was screaming in protest. The scar from the immortal weapon on my abdomen was screaming with renewed pain. It tended to do that whenever I pushed myself too hard. The damn thing really needed to heal already.

“Get that barrier up and running again,” Nero told the grim-faced major in charge of the base we’d just left defenseless. “There might be more monsters in the area.”

“I have my best people working on it, Colonel,” Major Horn assured him.

His tone was perfectly professional. If I’d been in his place, I would have screamed at the people who’d broken my barrier and then demanded I fix it. But Major Horn was too much the perfect soldier to lose his temper. Nero surely approved.

Then why was he being so curt with him? “That won’t be good enough,” Nero said. “I have called in extra support from the Legion to get that barrier up. There’s no time to lose. We need to get it back up right away.”

Major Horn did a good job trying not to look offended by Nero’s lack of confidence in his best people.

When in all of that chaos did you have time to call in extra support? I asked Nero.

Controlling a few hundred monsters had nearly drained the magic from our blood connection. I didn’t have that many more silent questions left. Sure, I could think them, and he might pick them up if he happened to be eavesdropping on my thoughts. But once the power of our last blood exchange was spent, I wouldn’t be able to project my thoughts into his mind.

I can multitask, was all he said as we left poor Major Horn behind to pick up the pieces of our operation.

“Where did all those monsters come from?” I asked. “It’s like they popped out of nowhere.”

“That’s exactly what happened. They popped out of nowhere.”

“They appeared when we tried to go toward the Fire Mountains, where Captain Somerset felt Colonel Starborn might be,” I said. “I think she’s right and Colonel Starborn is there. The monsters tried to keep us away for a reason.”

“It appears so.”

“Captain Somerset and Colonel Starborn still have a connection, even after all these years.”

“Yes.” He looked thoughtful.

“I thought the wall kept out monsters,” I continued. “But somehow they just popped up here. They shouldn’t be able to do that. Not by themselves. Someone is controlling them.”

I didn’t feel anyone else’s mind inside the beasts, he spoke into my mind.

I don’t mean controlling them like we did. It’s more subtle. Like they were conditioned for this purpose, to keep people away from the mountains.

Like guard dogs.

Exactly, I replied. Except they’re guard wolves. And guard lizards. If someone is training monsters to be guard animals, then a missing angel might be the least of our worries.

Her recovery is still our top priority. I’ll let Nyx decide what to do about the monsters.

There’s still something I don’t get. Even if someone has those monsters under their control, how did they get here? I thought the wall blocked the monsters’ magic.

Apparently, our defenses aren’t as good as we’d thought. He paused. You did well out there. You kept those beasts under control. It took a lot of willpower to override their survival instincts and make them throw themselves against the wall.

When he said it like that, it made me sound like a mass murderer. I reminded myself that they were monsters. And that the last time monsters had overrun the Earth, millions of humans had died.

I didn’t do it alone. You helped me. During the battle, I’d felt him in my mind, directing my magic.

You did most of it yourself. I just gave you a little nudge.

Not so little. I’d felt him there, as though he were fighting beside me. It had felt…nice.

So he’d fought monsters in the air and on land, warned the base to put up the barrier, helped me control the beasts, and made a call to the Legion. Multitasking? That was a severe understatement. He must be amazing in bed. And why did I just think that? I stole a quick look at him, but his expression hadn’t changed. He must not be tuning into my thoughts at the moment.

Did you feel something interesting from the monsters? he asked me.

I knew what he was getting at. The beasts just happened to be guarding the area where Captain Somerset believed Colonel Starborn to be? No, there were no coincidences. The beasts and the angel were connected. Somehow.