AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The ward was made from a ruby-colored crystal, similar to the ones we had at home but they were definitely not Earthside or OW make. Morio and I joined hands and examined the energy. It coiled around the crystal like a snake slithering around its prey. And then I saw the runes magically embedded into the energy.
Apparently Morio spotted them, too. “Vanzir’s right. These are set up to warn when Demonkin come through. They must come and go by the front gate, or they’d be setting off their own wards all the time.”
“Unless it’s set to ignore whatever kind of demons she’s surrounding herself with,” I said. “Whatever the case, you, Menolly, Roz, and Vanzir can’t cross the wards without chancing to activate them, since you’re all considered some form of demon.”
We crept back to the others and reported what we’d found. There was still no one in the backyard, though lights were shining in various windows of the house.
“So we follow our original plan?” We’d turned it around and around during our strategy planning session and couldn’t find any other solution, other than to creep in, leaving those four behind. Once the fight was on, they could charge in as a second wave, given that Stacia would know we were here already.
“Yeah, that’s the only way I can see it,” Menolly said. “I just wish I could go in first, but if there’s a chance my being a vampire will set off the alarm, then I’d better wait with the others.”
Morio pulled out the small casket Rodney slept in and I groaned. He flashed me a look that said Suck it up and opened the box. As Rodney climbed out of the box, Morio hissed, “You will keep your mouth shut or I will tear you apart. I am not kidding. Get it?”
Rodney glared at him, but nodded.
“You’re going to go in as a scout and you’d better keep quiet when you do because there are some big bad demons in there who would think nothing of squashing you like a bug. Got it?”
Again, the nod.
“When you reach the door, you’ll grow to full size. You’re to take out as many of the demons in there as you can. Fight like hell because they’re sure going to. And don’t even think about sneaking out and running away, because I’ll hunt you down and give your bones to the nearest dog. Capiche?”
Morio began to transform into his full demon self and Rodney stumbled back a couple of steps, nodding.
I nodded. “Okay then. Come on.” I motioned to the others. “Spread out and work your way toward the back of the house.”
We’d decided to come at it from several angles. That way if one person was spotted, the others might still get the drop on the action. Fanning out, we slowly began edging our way through the yard. There were assorted shrubs and ferns dotting the lawn, so we had some cover. As I darted behind the nearest huckleberry, it occurred to me that this was getting old hat.
We were good. I couldn’t see the others’ progress, which meant that chances were, anybody looking out the window couldn’t see them either. The yard was dark, illuminated only by the light coming from the windows.
I’d nearly reached the house when the set of French doors nearest me opened and a bloatworgle came out, scratching himself as he proceeded to urinate on the grass next to the patio. I froze, hoping that the thinly trunked birch behind which I was hiding would cover me. Bloatworgles were ugly and dangerous; we’d fought several not long ago. They were among the thousands of grunts in the Sub Realms, almost caricatures of FBHs, with distended bellies and long, drooping arms and unshapely gray skin that drooped in wrinkles. But they could breathe fire and they were unreasonably strong.
The bloatworgle shook his dick and scratched his balls, then looked in my direction. He froze. Oh cripes, he saw me. I knew he could see me. As he opened his mouth, I let out a shout and dove to the side as I called down the lightning. The clouds were so thick that they responded and a ball of blue energy raced down toward the bloatworgle.
Please, please, please, don’t let it backfire, I thought, but just then the energy sputtered and broke up in a shower of sparks, the flaming hot energy hitting everything in sight.
“Fuck it!” I dashed in, drawing my dagger, trying to stay out of the way of that mouth of his. Nasty blasts of fire came out of that mouth. Very nasty.
At my shout, the others broke cover and raced in. Smoky caught the bloatworgle by surprise, blindsiding him as he unleashed his claws and flew by in a blur, leaving five deep gashes across the bloatworgle’s belly. The demon snarled and as he turned, blasting fire after Smoky, Delilah caught him from behind. She didn’t do her usual kick-spin, but brought Lysanthra, her dagger, down on the bloatworgle’s back, driving it in to the hilt between his shoulder blades. Smoky rounded for another hit and between the two of them the bloatworgle was so much dead meat. One demon—easy to kill. Many demons—chaos and trouble.
There was a sound from the doors and I looked up to see a half dozen human-looking guards standing there. Bikers on steroids?
“Tregarts,” Roz said, rushing in behind me. “Demons.”
Morio, Vanzir, and Menolly were on his heels. We spread out, facing the men, who were dressed in thick leather jackets and pants. Knives and chains seemed to be their weapons of choice, though it looked like one was holding a lead pipe. They moved forward, glaring at us. Mr. Lead Pipe tapped the pipe in his hand, a glint in his eye.
“Great, they look like they’re enjoying this,” I said, backing up to attempt another spell. Before I could summon the Moon Mother’s power, they were joined by a herd of shuffling flesh-on-the-sneaker. Zombies. Or ghouls. Oh, I hoped it was zombies—easier to kill, not so much in the brains department.
There was a subtle pause as we sized each other up. They were strong. Very strong. We had a fight on our hands. I just hoped to hell that Stacia would hold off until we took care of these cretins. I grabbed Morio’s hand.
“Let’s try to dispel some of the zombies,” I said. He nodded. We moved off to the side and Morio hurriedly pulled out a quartz crystal-beaded necklace and handed it to me. I draped it over my neck and he did the same with one of obsidian beads. We joined hands and began focusing on the spell that would turn the zombies back into worm food.
Meanwhile, I glanced up in time to see Delilah and Smoky move in on the bikers, and then they were joined by the rest. Iris hung back, shooting a shower of ice fragments at the demons. Demons generally didn’t like the cold unless they hung out in the Netherworld, and considering they were working for the lamia, I doubted that there’d be any cold spots in the house at all.
Wilbur joined Morio and me, and he quickly sprinkled salt into a large pentagram, then drew a circle around it with salt mixed with rosemary. He sat in the center of the five-pointed star and began to incant something low under his breath. I pulled my attention away, trying not to focus on the shouts and screams that were coming from the fight, but on the little squadron of zombies that had noticed us and were heading our way. Great, they were drawn by the necromantic energy. Delightful.
“Concentrate,” Morio hissed.
I shook my head. Why couldn’t I focus? Why couldn’t I ground myself? And then, just like that, the attention was there, shoving aside all other thoughts. I sank into the energy, let it engulf me as it dragged us down into the realm of shadow, into the realm of the night. Everything around me took on a faint violet glow and I knew we’d opened the door.
