Chapter 345: Thalia Brought The Prince Of Hell With Her

The room emptied as people ran to prepare.

Nicholas caught Lilith’s arm before she could leave. "Stay alive. Whatever happens. Promise me."

"I promise," Lilith said.

But Nicholas could feel through the bond that she was terrified.

They all were.

***

*Forty-five minutes later*

Lilith stood on the front steps of the estate with Victoria on her left and Nicholas on her right. Behind them, the combined forces of witches and wolves waited in defensive formation...thirty pack warriors, twelve coven members, all of them armed and ready and absolutely terrified of what was coming.

The wards around the estate shimmered with combined magic. The ground had been prepared with ritual circles. Every defensive measure they could think of had been implemented.

It would not be enough.

Lilith could feel it in the air, the weight of something massive approaching. Something dark and ancient and absolutely malevolent.

"There," Sebastian said from somewhere behind her.

Lilith looked toward the eastern woods and saw them.

Shadows moving between the trees. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. Dark creatures and twisted shapes and things that should not exist in the mortal world.

And at the center of it all, a figure in red robes radiating power that made the air itself distort.

Thalia.

She had come for war.

And this time, she was not leaving without Lilith.

The army of darkness broke through the tree line and charged.

And Lilith felt her power explode in response, white light blazing around her like a star going supernova.

"HERE THEY COME!" someone screamed.

And the battle began.

***

Victoria threw a blast of green fire at an approaching demon and watched it dissolve into ash. Beside her, a pack warrior took down two dark creatures with blessed silver claws. Behind her, Magdalene was chanting a barrier spell that held back a wave of corrupted magic.

It was chaos.

Pure, absolute chaos.

Thalia’s forces were everywhere....demons and dark creatures and rogue wolves all attacking simultaneously from multiple directions. The wards were holding but barely. And every time Victoria thought they had pushed back one wave, another appeared.

"LILITH!" Victoria screamed. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She spun around looking for her niece and felt her heart stop.

Lilith stood in the center of the battlefield surrounded by darkness, her hands blazing with white light, her power exploding in every direction.

And she was losing control.

Victoria watched in horror as Lilith’s magic lashed out wildly....hitting demons, yes, but also hitting the ground, the estate walls, and....

"NO!" Victoria screamed.

Lilith’s power slammed into one of the pack warriors, a young wolf who had been fighting three demons at once. The blast hit him square in the chest and sent him flying backward. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get up.

Lilith’s eyes went wide with horror. "NO! I didn’t mean...."

"LILITH, FOCUS!" Victoria screamed. "Control it!"

But Lilith was panicking. Her power was spiraling. And Victoria could see exactly what was about to happen.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" Victoria screamed.

Lilith’s power exploded outward in a wave of pure force.

Victoria threw up a shield just in time. The blast hit it and nearly shattered it. Around her, witches and wolves dove for cover. The demon army was thrown backward.

And Thalia....standing at the edge of the battlefield started laughing.

"MAGNIFICENT!" Thalia’s voice carried across the chaos. "Do you see, little cousin? Do you see what you’re capable of? Imagine what we could do together!"

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Nicholas roared.

He charged toward Thalia in full Alpha form....Kael massive and silver and absolutely murderous.

Thalia waved her hand and demons swarmed him.

"NICHOLAS!" Lilith screamed.

Her power exploded again.

And Victoria knew with absolute certainty...

They were going to lose.

***

Nicholas’s POV

Nicholas fought through the demons surrounding him, feeling Kael’s rage and desperation pushing him forward. He had to reach Thalia. Had to stop her before she got to Lilith.

But there were too many.

For every demon he killed, two more appeared. For every dark creature he tore apart, the darkness just reformed.

Thalia was toying with them.

"FALL BACK!" Nicholas roared through the pack bond. "RETREAT TO SECONDARY POSITIONS!"

But before anyone could move, the air itself SCREAMED.

Every ward around the estate shattered simultaneously. Every protective spell dissolved. And through the gaps in their defenses poured something infinitely worse than demons.

Nicholas felt the magical signature slam into him like a truck.

Massive. Ancient and absolutely overwhelming.

He looked toward the eastern woods and saw it.

A portal.

Massive and swirling with dark energy.

And stepping through it....

More demons. More dark creatures. And at the center of them all, something that made even Thalia’s corrupted power look small.

"Oh no," Victoria breathed beside him. "Oh no no no."

"What is that?" Nicholas demanded.

"That," Victoria said, her voice hollow with dread, "is a demon lord. Thalia didn’t just summon demons. She made a pact with one of the princes of hell."

The demon lord stepped onto the estate grounds and the earth itself shook.

It was massive....easily fifteen feet tall, with skin like volcanic rock and eyes that burned with hellfire. Power radiated off it in waves that made every supernatural on the battlefield go weak.

"THIS IS OVER!" Thalia’s voice rang out. "SURRENDER LILITH NOW OR I LET MY PET DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU LOVE!"

Nicholas looked at his pack. At Victoria’s coven. At everyone fighting and dying to protect one girl.

Then he looked at Lilith.

She stood in the center of the battlefield with tears streaming down her face and power blazing around her like a dying star.

And Nicholas made a choice.

"SCOUTS!" he roared. "REPORT TO THE CAPITAL! TELL THEM WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS! TELL THEM..."

A massive magical signature slammed into his awareness from the south.

Then another from the west.

Then a third from the north.

Nicholas’s head snapped up.

"What..."

Through the darkness, through the chaos, through the absolute hell of the battlefield....

Help arrived.

Pack wolves burst through the southern tree line, wolves Nicholas recognized from allied packs, responding to distress calls sent hours ago.

Witches appeared from the west...Victoria’s contacts, arriving to defend one of their own.

And from the north...

Nicholas felt his breath catch.

The Moon Temple Guardians.

Warriors sworn to protect sacred spaces, arriving to face a demon that should never have been summoned to the mortal realm.

The battlefield erupted into even greater chaos.

But this time....

This time they had a chance.