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“The curved line there—it’s supposed to curve in, not out. The shift changes the meaning to creatures from the depths.” Vanzir shook his head. “Sloppy work. Whoever did this is no first-rate wizard, I’ll tell you that much.”
And then I knew. I knew who’d drawn this. “I’ve seen this mistake before. On the poster on Larry’s wall and on Larry’s ankle. He has a tattoo of that rune. Harold and the Dante’s Hellions—they have to be the ones who summoned the Karsetii!”
Camille sputtered. “Dante’s Hellions? So that’s how come they smell of Demonkin! Why the hell are they summoning demons?”
“I don’t know, but we’d better find out. Because even if we shut down this gate, chances are they’ll just open up another one, and who knows what the fuck they’re going to call in next time?”
As we stared at the Demon Gate, a low, rumbling noise filled the mists. My stomach flipped. “We’ve got trouble,” I said. “Can you feel it coming?”
Vanzir and Camille nodded, and we all stepped back from the gate. We were just in time. As the rumbling increased, a huge Karsetii—four times the size of the ones we’d been fighting—appeared through the gate.
“It’s Big Mama, folks. I think she’s come to play ball.”
Camille pulled out her unicorn horn. “Batter up,” she said, just as the Karsetii swiveled her way and began barreling down on her.
CHAPTER 19
“Holy crap!” I leapt toward Camille as she stumbled back. “Move! Now!”
She spun around, racing like the wind away from the demon, which was careening at full tilt toward her. Either it sensed her magical energy or the energy of the horn. Whatever the case, it aimed itself at her, tentacles streaming behind it. No lumbering movements here. The thing sailed through the air like a real squid swimming through water.
Smoky was instantly on its tail, shifting into full dragon form again as he hurled himself at the creature. Rozurial pulled out a long silver sword and headed into the fray, with Vanzir on his heels. I decided to help Camille. She might be able to run faster than me out on the astral, but I was still stronger. I raced to the front of the squid and leapt in between them.
The Karsetii was rumbling at me, full throttle. I waited. It could ram me a good one, but it couldn’t suck out any life energy from me because—guess what?—I didn’t have any.
As it loomed large, slowing by a fraction of a second, I ducked and spun, kicking with every ounce of strength I had as it zoomed overhead. My foot met it square in the eye, and I heard a shriek. Even though the impact jarred me to the core, it wasn’t as rough as hitting its incarnations. It occurred to me that perhaps they were part of the hive mother’s defense; maybe the demon was more vulnerable in person than its “children” were.
The Karsetii let out another shriek. I rolled out from under it, arching my back to leap back to a standing position. Smoky was on it now, and he had the bulbous brain of the demon in his gigantic mouth, shaking it like a dog might shake a rat. I stepped back, both impressed and wary. Smoky in attack mode at any time was impressive, but when he was in full dragon form, whoa Mama, he was a mean sucker.
I heard Camille gasp, then she yelled, “Menolly, run like hell. I’m going to fry this thing with fire.”
I ran. I ran so hard I almost tripped over Roz, who was darting around, looking for an opening in which to attack. Vanzir was just standing there, arms folded across his chest, watching the fight.
I raced past him, and he knocked me to the ground, shielding me with his body. I had the feeling the move wasn’t entirely altruistic, but I wasn’t complaining. Anything to keep me from becoming a crispy critter at the hands of my sister’s wayward magic.
“Smoky—move!” Her voice echoed through the mists as she held up the horn. I gather he moved, because she let out some sort of incantation, and a heat wave ripped through the area. The Karsetii let out a piercing scream and—from my prone position—I saw a flaming ball of demon squid barreling through the Demon Gate. The gate pulsated then fell silent.
As I pushed myself to a sitting position, I saw that Camille was covered with soot and slime. She grimaced, and I realized that not only had she been blasted by fallout, she’d been burnt. I raced over to her, but Smoky was there first. She moaned as he lifted her into his arms.
“She’s got burns on her arms and legs. They don’t look life-threatening, but they probably hurt like hell, and they’re going to need attention before she gets infected,” he said.
“Take her back over. We’re already at the FH-CSI. They’ll be able to treat her right there. Meanwhile,” I glanced back at Roz. “Roz will have to shift me over.”
“No. He’s not that good at shielding. He can take Vanzir but not you. All of you wait here,” Smoky said, then vanished with Camille.
I dropped to the ground. I wasn’t tired, but all of this chaos had left me reeling. “I hate this. We don’t know if the thing’s dead—”
“It’s not,” Vanzir said. “But it’s severely wounded.”
“Great. So we’ve got a wounded demon on our tail. And we’ve got a group of college kids opening Demon Gates. And my sister’s hurt . . . again.” I glanced up at Roz, who held out his hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.
“There’s nothing you can do about it now,” he said, moving closer. Vanzir just watched, a bemused look on his face.
I wasn’t sure what to do. In the course of one day, I’d decided to sleep with both of them, and now what? It wasn’t that I felt any sense of guilt or worry; if they got their noses in a snit, too bad. At this point, my heart belonged to Nerissa, if anybody. But how was I going to work this? Somehow Camille’s bed seemed to expand with every addition of another lover. I wasn’t sure I wanted anybody sharing my bed. I might share theirs, but I didn’t want long commitments or ménages. One partner per session was more than enough for me.
Just then, Smoky stepped onto the astral again. “Come, Menolly. I’ll take you over.”
As I moved toward him, Roz and Vanzir vanished. Smoky stopped me. “We need to talk a moment now that they’re gone.”
