Lord of Shadows The Dark Artifices 2

“It usually is,” Ty said, and raised the blade in his hand. “Adriel,” he said, and the blade seemed to burn up from within. The glow lit the night, and in its illumination Kit saw that the road leading up to the Institute was packed with moving shapes. Not human ones—a surge of dark things, slippery and dank and undulating, and a stink rolled up toward them from below, one that almost made Kit gag. He remembered having been on Venice Beach once and passing the rotting corpse of a seal, festooned in maggoty seaweed—it stank like that, but worse.

“Hold this,” Ty said, and a second later Kit found that Ty had shoved his blazing seraph blade into Kit’s hand.

It was like holding a live wire. The sword seemed to pulse and writhe, and it was all Kit could do to hang on to it. “I’ve never held one of these before!” he said.

“My brother always says you have to start somewhere.” Ty had detached a dagger from his belt. It was short and sharp and seemed altogether less fearsome a weapon than the seraph blade.

Which brother? Kit wondered, but he didn’t have a chance to ask—he could hear shouts now, and running feet, and he was glad because the dark tide of things was nearly at the top of the road. He had turned his wrist a way he wouldn’t have thought was possible, and the blade seemed steadier in his hand—it glowed without heat, as if it were composed of whatever made stars or moonlight.

“So now that everyone’s awake,” Kit said, “I don’t suppose that means we retreat inside?”

Ty was pulling his headphones out of his pocket, bracing his black-sneakered feet just above the top step. “We’re Shadowhunters,” he said. “We don’t run.”

The moon came out from behind the cloud then, just as the door behind Kit and Ty flew open, and Shadowhunters poured out. Several of the Centurions carried witchlights: The night lit up, and Kit saw the things coming up the road, spilling onto the grass. They clamored toward the Institute, and on the porch the Shadowhunters raised their weapons.

“Sea demons,” he heard Diana say grimly, and Kit knew suddenly that he was about to be in his first real battle, whether he liked it or not.

Kit whirled around. The night was full of light and noise. The brilliance of seraph blades illuminated the darkness, which was a blessing and a curse.

Kit could see Livvy and Diana with their weapons, followed by Diego, a massive ax in his hand. Zara and the other Centurions were just behind.

But he could also see the sea demons, and they were much worse than he’d imagined. There were things that looked like prehistoric lizards, scaled with stone, their heads a mass of dripping needle teeth and dead black eyes. Things that looked like pulsing jelly with fanged mouths, in which hideous organs hung: misshapen hearts, transparent stomachs in which Kit could discern the outlines of what one of them had just eaten—something with human arms and legs . . . Things like huge squids with leering faces and tentacles dotted with suckers from which green acid dripped to the ground, leaving seared holes in the grass.

The demons who’d killed his father were looking pretty attractive by comparison.

“By the Angel,” Diana breathed. “Get behind me, Centurions.”

Zara shot her a nasty look, though the Centurions were mostly clustered on the porch, gaping. Only Diego looked as if he literally couldn’t wait to hurl himself into the fray. Veins stood out on his forehead, and his hand trembled with hatred.

“We are Centurions,” Zara said. “We don’t take orders from you—”

Diana whirled on her. “Shut up, you stupid child,” she said in a voice of cold fury. “As if the Dearborns didn’t cower in Zurich during the Dark War? You’ve never been in a real battle. I have. Don’t speak another word.”

Zara reeled back, rigid with shock. Not a one of her Centurions, not even Samantha or Manuel, moved to argue for her.

The demons—squawking, flapping, and sliding across the grass—had nearly reached the porch. Kit felt Livvy edging toward him and Ty, moving to stand in front of him. They were trying to block him, he realized suddenly. To protect him. He felt a wave of gratitude, and then a wave of annoyance—did they think he was a helpless mundane?

He’d fought demons before. Deep down in his soul, something was stirring. Something that made the seraph blade blaze brighter in his hand. Something that made him understand the look on Diego’s face as he turned to Diana and said, “Orders?”

“Kill them all, obviously,” Diana said, and the Centurions began to pour down the stairs. Diego plunged his ax into the first one he saw; runes gleamed along the blade as it slashed through jelly, spraying gray-black blood.

Kit threw himself forward. The space in front of the steps had become a melee. He saw the full power of seraph blades as Centurions plunged and stabbed, and the air filled with the stench of demon blood, and the blade in his hand blazed and blazed and something caught his wrist, trapping him at the top of the steps.