Demons. That meant demons were around. I’d seen them before but never in a highly populated place like this. Big black blobs in different shapes and sizes scrambled in every direction. There were people dressed in all black and strapped with weapons chasing and killing them, but the second they registered Tenn’s aura, they all stopped and raced toward him with expectant eyes. Tenn summoned Michael’s sword to his hand, then fired that Heavenly lightning into a string of demons as he shouted orders to the Knights.

But there weren’t any Unseelies. I didn’t understand.

Screams filled the air, echoing off the skyscrapers. The ground rumbled like a stampede was headed our way. I followed Tegan’s gaze just as dozens of humans came running up a flight of stairs that led below ground-subway. That’s the subway station! I turned in a circle looking to each corner where the subway station stairs descended and found even more humans sprinting up to the street. It was like someone shoved a hose down there and was flushing them out. The humans shrieked and covered their heads with their hands. A wall of cold air crashed into me a split second before Unseelies emerged on the heels of the humans.

And then it was pandemonium on the street. People ran in every direction. Demons wiggled through the crowd while Unseelies hovered ten feet off the ground.

Everything was happening so fast. In that moment I realized just how new to war I was. Sure, I was a trained fighter and had magic, but I’d never, ever been in a situation like this. My Coven-mates all raced into battle, knowing exactly what to do. Even Tenn’s orders made no sense to me. They were clearly a code, but I hadn’t gotten that lesson. Panic choked me, freezing me in place with my sais gripped in my hands. I wasn’t proud of becoming a statue. In books and movies, the main character always seemed to adapt so perfectly, so naturally, somehow jumping into their battles with ease, always knowing just what to do.

But reality was so much different. It was a rude awakening for me at the worst time.

I glanced left and right, up and down. In every direction there was a human to save or an enemy to fight . . . and yet I couldn’t move.

Everest had vanished. That wasn’t helping. I found myself scanning every source of light for his white hair and looking into shadows to try to find him hiding.

Libby cursed. “Shit, we need Deacon.”

“COOPER!” I shouted because I couldn’t find him in this chaos. “Deacon!”

Cooper darted in front of me, waving his left hand full of sparkling dark-blue magic as he chased a demon with his sword. Red mist sparkled in front of me, then Deacon appeared in his astral projection form where his body looked real but wasn’t.