Page 47 of When I Accidentally Summoned a Demon

The impact rattles my knee. I grit my teeth. I slide the dish across the kitchen floor and under the protective table.

Then I slam my elbow back into Skarix’s face. He releases. I turn. I hit him with the pan.

Blood drips down my back. More pools on the kitchen floor, which will be hell to clean up. Especially shadow blood.

Two more have come through the wall.

I assess: two fresh shadow demons, Skarix recovering, the knife in my right hand, the pan in my left, the casserole dish safe under the table, all pots accounted for, Bethie still asleep—I can hear her breathing from the house’s own baseline I monitor without deciding to.

I am managing this.

And then, ice-white terror courses through my blood. Vesper stands in the kitchen doorway. In her oversized white shirt, her curls chaotic, her feet bare, and her sharp eyes moving across the kitchen.

I signal her, stabbing my chin to the door. “Go. Take Bethie. Run!”

She turns tail. Good. I return to the two new arrivals, swinging the pan into the first one’s head with enough force, it goes sideways into the cabinets and does not get back up. Then, I drive the knife into the second’s midsection.

Skarix is almost upright again. I turn toward him.

And then, from directly behind me, Vesper’s voice. “Valefar. Get back!”

I do not hesitate. My Mistress has spoken. I lunge sideways toward her, clearing the kitchen, and I land beside her, turning.

My jaw drops. She is holding a large, aggressively yellow plastic gun—the kind she has used during outside sprinkler play. Mostly targeted at me.

With both hands primed and controlled, she points it at Skarix with the focused calm of a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing.

Skarix looks at the water gun. Then at her, his silhouette flaring out.

I gaze at Vesper with a measure of pride, awe, and curiosity. She pulls the trigger.

And Skarix…unleashes an unholy screech.

17

Vesper

The screeching curdles my blood.

Skarix. I know the name because Valefar snarled it like a blade. The otherworldly being comes apart like shadows do when light hits them suddenly. He goes sideways and then inward, and then he is gone. Shadow particles scatter. The other two vanish

And the kitchen is left with nothing but the smell of something burnt and the sound of both of us breathing. No. Gasping.

I lower the Super Soaker.

The kitchen looks like the aftermath of a disaster. The cabinet door by the stove is hanging at an angle. There are three scorch marks along the floor tiles. The frying pan is on the floor near the island. My grandpa’s old iron knife is in the wall.

I’m going to need a spackle kit.

I turn to Valefar. He is…I don’t have a word for it. He is standing in the wreckage of my kitchen with claw marks raked across his chest and something dark at his shoulder. Oh, God. Blood. He’s bleeding. His chest is heaving, and he is watching me, bewildered, relieved, and yet…carnal.

I woke up when I heard something large hitting my refrigerator. One look at what was unfolding, and I knew what I needed. Or at least what I hoped would get the job done.

“What is this devilry?” he sweeps a hand to the water gun.

“Um. I mean, you know. Oh.” I realize he’s referring to the water, not the toy. I set it behind the fridge, so it doesn’t accidentally spill and hurt him. “I kept it in my bedroom closet. I had the water blessed by Priestess Anaya at the spring equinox, just as a precaution. I didn’t think I’d ever need to use it.”

It all seemed to last forever, but it was just a few seconds.