"Anastasia?" The voice came again. She ran as fast as her limbs could take. When she reached there, she blurted, "Ileus, I—" But what she saw in front of her made the hair on her neck rise. Her panic ratcheted up with each second she stood there. Her limbs became shaky and she thought that if she didn't take support of the wall beside her, she would fall on the ground. 

Giant wings and red eyes of at least a dozen more demons were waiting for her. She stopped to a grinding halt. The man who was calling her wasn't Ileus. He was a winged demon who impersonated Ileus' voice. With wide eyes she stared at him with blank eyes. Barely ten meters away from her, they were standing, their wings rippling with anger and excitement. Her breath wheezed. Where was her dagger? She fumbled for her dagger and took it out from its sheath. 'You can do it Anastasia', she encouraged herself, goaded, pushed herself to face her enemies head on. She was no longer the helpless Anastasia of Vilinski. 

The demon who had impersonated Ileus' voice lunged at her. The demons were taller than her, but they were at a disadvantage. They couldn't use their wings, which Anastasia now knew had become an impediment to their attack. Thanks to Iskra, she was trained to attack without wings and that training helped her now. She spun, ran towards the nearest wall with so much speed that she climbed it, twirled in the air and charged at the demon. She raised her hand in the air and plunged the dagger right in his skull. It cracked open and the demon fell on the floor. Blood sprayed on her face. 

Anastasia wiped the blood off her and looked menacingly at the others. There was a look of horror and shock in the eyes of the rest of the demons. They backed off a little. And she knew that it wasn't because they were only scared of her skills, but also because her skin was turning blue. 

Suddenly two demons charged at her, but cautiously. They wanted to capture her. In the struggle, she tore their wing apart while decapitating one of his wings, but this all didn't go without her getting injured on her thighs. A wave of pain exploded in her thigh. Stars dazzled in her vision again. She screamed with pain that pulsed and throbbed through her veins. She could see the veins on her body turning blue. In her pain, she slashed anyone who came near her. She heard them yelping, crying, shouting, yelling and swearing. Blood sprayed everywhere, but she didn't stop. They just kept coming in hordes, like fleas, like locusts. Plunge, slice, lacerate. Those were the only three moves she knew, those were the only three words she spoke. She didn't know for how long she had fought with them. She must have stabbed so many that she had lost the count. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the day rising and then night falling. 

She didn't stop. She couldn't quit. Her limbs were giving up. There was hardly any energy left. Magic would ebb on its own accord. It would rise when she needed, sometimes feebly, sometimes strongly. Anastasia didn't stop. 

Not even when she heard curses in Russian. 

Not even when he called "Natsya!" 

Did a day pass? 

--- 

When Ileus came back, shock rippled through him. There were winged demons everywhere. His heart plummeted to his stomach and skin lined with goose bumps. She had warned him that a demon had come, but he was so sure that no one could break his invisibility spell that he left her alone, unprotected and vulnerable. He couldn't connect the demons and the faes. Why would winged demons be allies to faes? They were two opposite ends of the pole.

She was already so weak. Foul air filled the night and he was filled with rage. Rage so seething that its intensity rippled a scream from his chest. With his neck corded with strain, he shouted, "Come to me, bastards!"

Some of them turned towards him and he massacred them, blinded by rage, by pain, by panic that he was familiar with. More came and he sprinted out of the cage to attract them, but unfortunately only a few came for him. He knew that they were there for her and it wouldn't be easy to get them out. There were so many of these beasts that he couldn't fathom the numbers. Either Aed Ruad was mad, or Maple had gone insane to send such large numbers. He was sure they were rogues. 

After killing the seven demons with the jāmbiya he had with him, he dashed out of the cave. He had to plan this out properly else he would never be able to save Anastasia. Ileus snapped his fingers and a satellite phone appeared in his palm. He dialed the numbers of the only men who could help him at this moment—Daryn and Caleb. Only these two brothers would assist him without bias. Daryn had just married his mate Dawn and he helped him with that. The girl was sweet, but smart and a kick-ass. Though he felt that his mate was more beautiful and more of a kick-ass. 

After the initial greetings, he said, "I need you here urgently! I am sending you the coordinates. Make sure to come here as fast as possible!" With that he disconnected the call and chucked the phone aside. With an enraged roar he darted in the cave and then pounced on the demons. 

"Anastasia!" he shouted for her. His heart was pounding like a wild horse. He wanted to hear her voice… just once… "Anastasia!" he called her again. But with the noise of daggers meeting the flesh, with demons shrieking in pain, with magic exploding from both the sides, how could she hear? Anxiety, overwhelming dread and crazed, Ileus turned into a killing machine. 

He didn't know for how long he fought, but he knew that Daryn and Caleb had joined him. Together they fought like mad. 

"These are like locusts!" Daryn said, as he snapped a demon's neck. "They just keep coming!" 

"Don't touch their blood," Ileus warned. "They have bane blood!" 

"I love the Lore!" Caleb said as he kicked a demon in his chest who came flying towards him with a hiss and bared fangs. "Take that you dimwit!" he said in a menacing voice. His wife Pia had been so irritating over the last few days that he needed to vent his anger out and the winged demons were fun to kill. 

"Why the hell are you here?" Daryn asked Ileus, as he watched his brother Caleb tearing the bat-like wings of the demons with pleasure in his eyes. 

"Seraph has unleashed his demons on a person I know well. They are chasing her. I am helping her out," he said. 

The brothers were shocked to hear 'HER'. Caleb twisted his face while Daryn said, "She better be worth it." 

"Oh she is!" Ileus rasped. 

"How long have you been fighting?" 

"Four days now!" 

"Bloody hell!" Daryn said. The boy was lovesick as hell. 

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