Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 103
Boyd inclined his head slightly, acknowledging those present before he turned to lead The Devoted off the steps and into the crowd. As he strode beyond the final step, he sent Raev his desire to end her illusion. As the ladies flanked him once again, the dark flames ceased, and they made their way into the ballroom.
The crowd parted for them as they moved deeper into the room, and the atmosphere shifted once more. Whispers followed their path, eyes tracked their movements, and Boyd felt the weight of expectations settle on his shoulders.
The ballroom was a masterpiece of architectural opulence. Its soaring ceiling was adorned with intricate frescoes, while glittering chandeliers hung from long chains to cast a warm and welcoming glow. The walls were lined with rich fabrics and ornate tapestries. The air was thick with the heady scent of expensive perfume. The sounds of lively conversation and tinkling glasses teased the ear. It was a space built for splendor and indulgence, the perfect setting for the elite and powerful to gather and revel in their wealth and influence.
Once they were deep enough into the gathered crowd that she could get away with it, Silvie bubbled over, “You were so great, Darling! That was perfect. You were all…”
Mindy hushed her as Boyd’s eyes tracked to their primary target of the evening. The Blonde Buffon’s seething face had been easy to pick out of the crowd. Few wore such an ostentatious combination of white and gold. Only one wore it with a gleaming gold accented crown.
Boyd’s gaze locked onto Archangel’s, the man whose every move seemed calculated to undermine what it meant to be a Hero. Somehow, the man was conceited enough still to believe that he deserved the title he thought they would be competing for. A smirk played on Boyd’s lips when he noticed the scowl etched on the man’s face.
It was a clear indication that their entrance had hit the mark.
The big demon then did something that would sting the narcissist even more than being upstaged. He filled his features and eyes with disinterest and casually turned away from him. Instead, he found Sentinal in the crowd, another candidate for the World Hero position. The man would have been Boyd’s pick, if he couldn’t win it himself.
He began to lead his group towards Sentinal as he put his ‘pleased to meet you’ smile on, presumably to introduce himself. In reality, it was just bait. They made it all of four steps when he felt a spike of panic over his Bond with Tinker.
“Cousin Emelia,” the all too familiar smarmy voice of Archangel said with smug amusement. “I knew you were the lowest of the Bells, but somehow you found a way to stoop even lower.”
In response, Boyd sent Hope his desire to protect all of them and a golden dome appeared around the group, opaque from both sides.
“I mean really, to bring even more dishonor on your branch of… what?” The confidence in his tone faded into confusion.
Boyd used the much finer control he had over his aura to extend it to cover only his lovers and exclude anyone more than a few feet from them as he growled, his voice dripping with a lethal warning, “Step away from her or die.”
The big demon heard an audible gulp before he slowly turned to face the Blonde Buffoon, who suddenly found he was looking at an opaque barrier filled with people who would gladly see him dead. They all repositioned themselves, with Tinker moving in close to Hope as they both shifted smoothly behind Boyd. Mindy slid in behind Silvie.
The monster in a Hero’s guise scanned the evolving situation and Boyd saw when the realization hit him.
“That’s right,” Boyd continued to growl, letting his satisfaction at the situation fill it, “you have no way out and no one can see what is happening in here. We could easily kill you and say that it was self-defense. The last thing anyone saw was you flashing over here behind us, and then the dome went up. What happened after that will be our word against yours, and you won’t be able to provide much of a defense if I’ve popped your skull.”
“I could still kill you all,” the pseudo-angel tried to sound confident but wasn’t all that successful.
“Then do it.” Boyd raised an eyebrow as his Black Flame filled his wings, tail, limbs, horns, and eyes.
The Blonde Buffoon flinched and took a step back before hitting the barrier that would make any altercation a bloodbath.
Hope could heal just about anything that he did to their party—as long as she was right there, like she was.
After waiting a moment, Boyd smirked and said, “I thought so. Now, this is how this is going to go.” Boyd sent his angel a cue to drop the barrier and play her part.
“For the last time, Archangel, leave me alone!” Hope spoke in a clear and strident voice that carried to most ears within the room. “The way you treated me while I was on your team was horrendous. I will not suffer it now that I am no longer a member of Eden’s Protectors. I am a person, not a toy that exists solely for your amusement. I have never, nor will I ever, love you. You are a vile being and it makes me ill just to be in your presence!”
The Blonde Buffoon gaped at the woman he professed to love, left aghast by the words that came from her lips. Then her aura did its thing, and he found a different place to lay the blame. He turned a hate-filled glare on the big demon right beside her.
“You!” he seethed. “You are making her say these horrible lies. Your vileness has already corrupted her. Well, I won’t let it go unanswered.”
Unfortunately for Archangel, the angelic woman’s aura made most of the men in the room find a different place to put the blame. It followed the direction she sent it, squarely to the Blonde Buffoon. Most of the women in the room believed Hope over Archangel on general principle.
Plus, Boyd was really hot while the Arch-prick was only classically handsome. It probably shouldn’t have mattered in an ideal world, but it certainly made a difference amongst this crowd. Boyd was happy to work with human nature, as superficial as it was.
He gave Archangel a winning smile before slowly panning his eyes over the crowd, bringing the narcissist’s attention to the onlookers and back to reality. A good ninety percent of the eyes that watched them leveled looks of disdain, disgust, or outright anger at the man who dared to treat others like disposable playthings. It meant that many of those who should have been on his side by merit of being in his faction had turned against him.
The big demon knew that it wasn’t a lasting switch—any blemish on Archangel’s sterling reputation would soon be buffed out—but it would last long enough for his purposes.
Boyd shook his head and turned to Hope with a sad smile. “I’m sorry you had to deal with him, Hopewing.” He made sure his warm tone carried to the witnesses. “But know that I am here for you. No one will ever hurt you again; not as long as I can help it.”
His angel gave him a watery-eyed smile and stepped in to cling to his side, seeking his protection in the eyes of all the onlookers.
Boyd leveled a glare at the confused pretender while Hope spoke from his side, loud and clear for the little drama they were enacting. “I’ll say it again. I want nothing to do with you, Archangel. It isn’t proper for you to approach any member of The Devoted, seeing as you are openly hostile to and regularly spew horrible lies about our wonderful Captain.”
“Hopewing, please… I know it must be hard, but you must fight his insidious influence and tell these people the truth.” Archangel spun around, desperation etched into every line on his face as he pleaded with Hope.
He was completely delusional, believing she would come to his rescue despite the pain and suffering he had caused her. Boyd was glad he planned to act fast; the crown the fool wore wouldn’t have far to push the man into insanity. He only needed a slight nudge.
Hope remained resolute, she clung to Boyd’s side, tucked under his arm and wing in a silent but powerful declaration of her choice and her loyalty. The crowd watched in awe as the scene unfolded, their murmurs growing louder with each passing moment.
Boyd’s gaze turned cold as he glared down at Archangel, disdain evident in his golden eyes. “You still believe your own lies, don’t you?” His voice cut through the tension in the air like a sharp blade. “Hope has spoken her truth, and no amount of manipulation from you will change that. I know there are three Powered certified to detect lies in this room right now.”
He raised his eyes from the idiot sputtering before them. “If either Hopewing or I have spoken a lie, please step forward now. I promise you will face no repercussions by law.” Boyd waited a moment as the murmurs intensified, but no one called out a lie. “There you have it; how can you deny reality now? Hopewing has made her choice.”
The Blonde Buffoon staggered back, his facade cracking under the weight of Hope’s unwavering stance and Boyd’s piercing words. The onlookers shifted uncomfortably, sensing the impending confrontation that loomed over them. The demon saw the moment that Archangel would break fast approaching, his face crumbling into rage and hate, centered squarely on Boyd.
Then, right on time, another familiar voice rang out.
“Alright, that’s enough!” Davis stepped out of the crowd with the gorgeous Laura beside him. “I have summoned your handler, Archangel. It is clear to me that you need to take some time and cool off. He will take you for a walk… or something, I’m sure. I know facing rejection can be tough on a young man.”
A whoosh proceeded Victory Seeker’s arrival. He took the situation in, his piercing green eyes reading the room in an instant, and saw that his only path to victory was to retreat. He turned to Davis and stated with a calmness that Boyd knew was only skin deep, “I will remove my Hero, Sir.”
“That would be best.” Davis nodded. “Please instill in him the importance of avoiding contact with any member of The Devoted for the remainder of this event… if not from now on. Given his notably antagonistic history with my team, he has no reason to expect a civil reception from any of them.”
“Yes, Sir,” Victory Seeker stated with a nod. Then, the retired Hero turned to Archangel and clamped a hand on his shoulder as he hissed low enough to avoid it carrying to many of the onlookers, “Walk out or I will carry you out.”
Archangel’s face was still filled with hate. Anyone could see his unwillingness to leave after facing such humiliation, let alone someone with Victory Seeker’s skill at reading people. Another whoosh sounded as the two of them blurred away.
Boyd waited a beat before turning a chagrined smile to the onlookers. “I must apologize for interrupting your evening… again. Please return to your conversations and enjoy the rest of the night. I’ll try not to find myself at the center of any more disruptions.”
He lied with a smile this time, planning to disrupt many of the plans of the people on the other side of their shadow war before the night was done.
Director Davis turned a pleased smile on Boyd and then tilted his head to the side before stepping to follow the motion. Boyd fell in beside him, keeping a self-deprecating, embarrassed-by-the-spectacle smile on his face as he scanned the crowd that slowly returned to their conversations.
As they walked away from the dissipating tension, Davis leaned in slightly, his voice just above a whisper. “Smoothly handled, Devil. That went exactly as you predicted it would, though I’ll admit I was skeptical when you asked for my assistance—especially once you told me you intended to escalate the situation nearly to the breaking point and turn it into a spectacle.”
The man pursed his lips as he regarded his team’s Captain. “You have a surprising knack for managing delicate situations with finesse.”
Boyd nodded appreciatively but kept his gaze on the crowd, making sure no remnants of the confrontation lingered.
“Thank you, Director,” Boyd replied as quietly as he could manage. “I try to keep things under control as much as possible. We can’t afford unnecessary distractions, especially with what we have planned. That’s why we had to address the obvious outlier as quickly as possible. He had three potential targets on my team: Hopewing, Tinker, and myself. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable having our group go their separate ways until he was properly controlled. Plus, this had the added bonus of taking Victory Seeker out of play.”
Boyd didn’t bother hiding the grin that turned up the corners of his lips. “It will be much harder for my old Mentor to cultivate connections and shape opinion when he has to babysit a man-child who is having a fit.”
“Yes, I imagine it will be,” Director Davis said gravely. He continued after a short bark of a laugh. “Ha! I don’t have to imagine how that is going right now. Have I told you I did a stint as a Handler? It only lasted for a few years because that’s how long my Hero lasted. Unfortunately, he was much more like Archangel than yourself—too much ego and not enough sense.”
The older man shook his head and glanced at the demon at his side. “There was a time when I thought you were much the same. This is the third time, however, that you have proved me wrong. I suppose I will need to adjust my perception of you.”
“I appreciate your flexibility in handling these matters,” Boyd replied quietly. His tone reflected his genuine appreciation. “And thank you for placing your trust in my judgment. The safety and cohesion of my team are, and always will be, my top priorities. Now, I believe you had some people you wanted to show us off to?”
“Indeed. I have many compatriots who will be even more excited to meet you after that spectacle, especially once I admit to them that it was a bit of theater you planned in advance.” Davis’s pleased smile made another appearance. “Don’t worry. It shouldn’t take too long; then, you can get on with your evening and enjoy the amenities with your fiancées. At least until the next stage of your plan begins.”
Boyd returned Davis’s smile with a satisfied smirk. “Don’t worry, Director. I’ll enjoy that part almost as much.”
Chapter 50
After approximately thirty minutes of talking with powerful individuals who mostly wanted to express their admiration for what Boyd and his team had achieved in such a short time, he and his loves finally had the freedom to move about as they pleased. This meant that phase two of his gala plan could begin more or less on schedule.
They continued to move together as a group for a little while longer, allowing those who wished to meet them as a team to approach while they made the rounds. Silvie, ever the social butterfly, was a natural at charming the guests into approaching her and her team. She had a unique way of making people feel comfortable and accepted, even if they were total strangers.
Hope’s aura aided her floating friend’s efforts, drawing the men in the room in with the sense of purity she exuded. Tinker was her usual shy self, which was extra endearing when surrounded by her confident team and disarmed those she engaged with. Raev allowed her vixen to show through, finding opportune moments for a joke or two. Mindy maintained her emotionless mask and did not engage much; she was busy listening in on the thoughts of any who should have focused more on their mental defense training.
Each woman eagerly took every chance they could to flaunt the sparkling diamonds on their finger. Their eyes glimmered with excitement and love as they gushed about their recent engagement and the man they would soon call husband. Silvie, Hope, and Raev took the lead as they shared details about their future plans. It was a scene straight out of a fairytale, where every princess had found her prince charming and was ready to start their happily ever after.
Boyd’s job required him to strike a delicate balance between exuding confidence and staying humble. He brushed off compliments and downplayed heroic acts, treating them as routine tasks that he would gladly perform again if it were necessary. Whenever possible, he returned compliments about whatever the person he was addressing had achieved using knowledge Mindy provided or gained through the research he had done in preparation for speaking with those he engaged with.
There were plenty of Heroes in attendance, including two that came as a surprise. They weren’t given Hero names before he left the PAC, but Ghost Cat and Lightningcoil out of Wildvine Haven could only be the other Changed he had grown up with. Boyd didn’t recognize the town or the Hero’s names and had looked them up. He found the town, it was mostly a research facility in a tropical rain forest that exported some natural resources to cover their expenses, but there was nothing on the Heroes who had somehow earned invites to this prestigious event.
“Shelia, Daryl, it’s good to see you both!”
Boyd finally allowed himself a genuine smile as he made his way over to two familiar faces in the Grand Ballroom. He now understood why Mindy had signaled for him to head to this corner of the room, where the pair were being given a wide berth by the other guests.
He shook Daryl’s hand as the man replied, “Boyd! It’s been a while, but we’ve kept up with your recent exploits. I knew you were destined for big things, but I never imagined this!” He gestured to the room at large.
Daryl looked sharp in a blue tuxedo jacket and white shirt, the colors complimenting the mostly green scales of the twenty feet of tail coiled under the snake-man’s torso. His mop of brown hair had been tamed for the evening and sat above serpentine eyes and a fanged smile.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Shelia purred as Boyd pulled her into a short, friendly hug instead of a handshake.
The bipedal black cat, who had always been graceful and poised, looked radiant in her simple black dress that clung to her slender frame like a second skin. Feline green eyes sparkled as brightly as her pointed teeth when she grinned as she stepped back, then scanned him up and down.
“You look… different.” She took another step back and rested a hand on Daryl’s arm, her tail swaying back and forth behind her as she cast him a nervous glance.
“Don’t worry, my love,” Daryl said with a rueful chuckle as he shook his head before turning an understanding smile on Shelia. “It’s okay to look, just no more touching and certainly no dancing. Even I can see that he somehow got hotter.”
