Shea blew her a kiss, and then rubbed her hands together. “Check this out. I found an advanced Mage book while I was grading papers in Mr. Claymore’s office, and I’ve been dying to try this spell. It creates a portal between two points. So let’s say the gauntlet is a long run. I can open the portal here and end it at the finish line, bringing us all through to win.”
Luke let out a low whistle. “But remember the time you tried that spell to make my horns drip poison and I almost died?”
Oh, ouch. That was pretty scary. Luke’s Beast form was frightening, but it was even scarier that his horns could pierce flesh. Shea had the brilliant idea to make them drip poison, but it went all wrong, and he’d ended up in the healing ward for a week.
Shea rolled her eyes. “I’ve improved a lot since then. This is harmless. No one has to go through right now. I’m just going to start practicing opening the portal.”
Chloe shrugged. “Fine, but do it over there so if it blows up we don’t get hurt.” She gestured to the corner of the room.
Shea gave her a pissy look, but did as she’d asked.
“Okay, Luke, you shift,” I instructed, then pointed to the Nightblood. “Chloe, I want to test your strength.”
She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.” Her lips puckered as she laid a kiss on her inner arm, which she then lifted and flexed.
I chuckled. I’d somehow become leader of our little practice group. So far no one had died, so I figured I was doing something right.
Luke started shifting, and I knew I’d never get used to the sound of cracking bones. There were varying types of Beast Shifters. Most of them were earthly animals with horns, which was the case with Luke. His bulked-out brown bear form with curled black horns was pretty terrifying to look at. The only thing that calmed me was knowing that it was my good friend inside it, and that he’d never hurt me.
After Luke was on all fours, letting out a little roar to make sure we wouldn’t easily wet our pants during the gauntlet, we were ready.
“All right, Chloe, strength and speed are your main two gifts,” I acknowledged.
She put a hand on her hip. “And my devilishly good looks.”
I grinned. “And that. So let’s see if you can chuck Luke’s bear into that mat across the room.”
Luke’s big brown bear eyes went wide, but Chloe didn’t look fazed. She was a daredevil who liked a challenge; it was what I admired most about her.
“You ready, big boy?” Chloe asked, tossing her red hair over one shoulder.
He hated being called big boy, so at her words, he spread his paws out, and stood as still as a five-hundred-pound statue, just glaring at her.
Chloe tore across the room blindly fast and slammed into Luke’s rib cage, knocking him on his side. I winced at the impact. She wouldn’t go hard enough to hurt him, but that definitely wasn’t comfortable. With a grunt, she heaved him six inches into the air before slipping, and then he went plopping down to the ground again.
“Uhhh, guys?” Shea shouted from her corner of the room.
I turned back over my shoulder to look at her, my eyes bugging out of my head. What am I seeing?
Shea had created some hole in the ground and a tiny Snakeroot demon was crawling out of it, looking pissed as all hell. She went rigid and slowly started to back up, knowing full well how nasty those little shits could be. It was best not to startle them either, as one spit to the face could leave you blind for life. I had the acid scar on my foot to prove how temperamental the little buggers could be.
Chloe was staring at the demon with abject horror. She’d likely never seen one in her whole life by the shock written on her face. Luke was a bit more relaxed, shifting his weight as if deciding to charge it or not.
“Don’t move. They spook easy and spit acid,” I told my friends. We’d all taken the course on demonology in history, but I wasn’t sure how much of it they’d retained. I didn’t want anyone losing an eye or being scarred for life over a careless move.
The Snakeroot demon had fully crawled out of the portal by that point and was looking around the room. Those little creatures loved sugar. Cupcakes, syrup, candy—anything sweet would distract them. But fate wasn’t on our side, because we were in the freaking gym without a scrap of food on us.
The demon snapped his head in Shea’s direction and hissed.
“Shea, Monkshood illusion,” I shouted.
That brought the creature’s attention to me, and he puckered his lips and spit in my direction. I leapt out of the way just in time, the acidic goo landing a mere foot away.
“Calm down. We know where the candy is,” I told him.
He cocked his head to the side, drool forming in his lizard-like mouth. If he didn’t spit acid and act like a total maniac, he’d actually be cute. At twenty-four inches tall, he was reminiscent of a medium-sized dog, except with scaly skin, and sticky hands and feet that let him climb walls.
“Yes, and cupcakes too.”
Shea was working her magic, arcs of purple spell work spinning through the air. I was hoping she’d gotten my meaning that I wanted her to create an illusion of a Monkshood demon, because Snakeroot demons were terrified of them.
Just when it looked like she was doing exactly that, all hell broke loose.
Loud sirens burst into the night, blaring deafeningly, and sent the Snakeroot demon into a spitting frenzy. He scurried up the wall, his sticky-pad feet holding him there as he continued to spit rapid-fire.
“Take cover!” I shouted, diving behind a huge practice mat. The sirens were so loud I had never noticed them before but sure enough, on the top of the far wall, there was a red blinking light and speaker.
“Students, the demon alarm has been activated. Please proceed to a safe place and wait for help,” Raphael’s booming voice came over the speaker.
Shit. Demon alarm?
“Shea, you tripped the school’s demon alarm!” I yelled. She was hiding behind a row of weightlifting medicine balls and probably didn’t hear me.
The alarm sound stopped then, but the light kept blaring. My cell phone was in my bag across the room with Sera, so I had no way of calling Lincoln or getting my dagger.
“Oh God!” Chloe shrieked.
My head snapped in the direction she was looking and my whole body went rigid. Out of the portal, another demon was climbing up and into the gym—a freaking Hellhound.
“Shea!” I roared, then heard the sound of spit hitting the mat I was trying to seek safety under. The smell of burning foam wasn’t pleasant, and I’d probably need to ditch the mat soon, or suffer the consequences.
“Shit! I’ll close it,” Shea said, stepping out from behind her medicine ball hideout. The Snakeroot demon saw and took his chance, sending an arc of spit right at her outstretched hand.
“Look out!” I screamed, tearing across the room with my mat as a shield.
It was no use. The acid connected with Shea’s arm just as she started her spell, and a wail of pain cut through the air.
“Screw this,” Chloe muttered. In a blur, she streaked across the room with something in her hands, and then the Snakeroot demon was flying to the other side of the gym.
Chloe was standing there grinning, holding a wooden bo staff. I’d barely even seen her punt the tiny demon from his perch on the wall.
I used the distraction to get to Sera, chucking the disintegrated mat, and picking up my dagger.
Shea was huddled on the ground, whimpering over her arm, and Chloe seemed to have the Snakeroot demon in check. She was faster than he could spit, so she was dodging his acid attacks, and knocking him across the room with the bo staff like he was a baseball. Luke padded over to my side, both of us staring at the Hellhound.
“Shea, how you doing?” I called out to her, keeping my eyes on the two-headed mutt before me. Hellhounds would rip your throat out in a millisecond, and eat your entire carcass in an hour. Bones included.
“I’ll be fine. You take care of the Hellhound, and I’ll close the portal.” Her voice was racked with pain, and I knew how bad she must’ve been hurting. I’d been there.
One of the Hellhound’s heads was glaring at me, the other at Luke. In that moment, both bared their teeth and growled at us simultaneously. I didn’t know much about them, except that they were rare, and rumored to be Lucifer’s favorite creature. Without a clue on how to kill them, I was at a huge disadvantage.
‘Behead them,’ Sera shared.
I winced. Nasty.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked. Beheading a wolf dog with red eyes wasn’t my idea of a good time.
No time to respond, as the Hellhound lunged for me, probably determining Luke was a greater threat. I dropped to one knee just like Lincoln had taught me, and readied myself for the blow, but the collision never came. As the hound arced through the air, Luke bent his head low and then snapped it up, goring the creature’s side. One of his horns pierced through the animal’s rib cage, and a shriek ripped out of both mouths.
With a toss of his head, Luke chucked the Hellhound across the room and it hit the wall, sliding down into a slump, and leaving a trail of black blood down the wall.
I did a quick assessment of the situation. Shea was closing the portal, hunched over as she flung magic, cradling her injured arm. A hurried look to the right revealed Chloe had the Snakeroot demon pinned under her boot, its jaw forced closed by the weight of her shoe on its face.
Luke and I needed to finish off the Hellhound.
Just then, the double doors to the gym opened and Lincoln stepped in with no less than twenty Fallen Army soldiers, including Raphael and Mr. Claymore.
Lincoln’s eyes widened to saucers. “What the hell is going on here?” he bellowed, striding inside, and pulling two swords—both glowing a ferocious blue.
The Hellhound snapped his heads in Lincoln’s direction and growled, trying to get up. There was a puddle of blood at its feet, but it still looked ready to party.
Lincoln advanced, and in two clean swishes through the air, he took the Hellhound’s heads right off. Easy-peasy.
“Over here, please,” Chloe said. The Snakeroot demon was squirming hard, probably sensing his impending doom. Blake came up behind Lincoln with a flamethrower in hand and lit it.
The Snakeroot demon wiggled harder, and Chloe started to lose balance. With one final pull, he slipped out from under her boot and scrambled up the wall. Lincoln slowly pulled a bag of Skittles from his pocket, opening them with his teeth and scattering them on the floor. The colored candies spread out across the ground, offering a distraction for Chloe to back away gradually, as Blake came around the other side of the demon, flamethrower in front of him.
My eyes flicked to the left, where Raphael was inspecting the now-closed portal with Shea, and Mr. Claymore. If we could get the Snakeroot demon under control, everything was going to be okay.
Just when I thought it, I heard the telltale spitting noise. I flicked my head back to see the demon spit in Blake’s direction, but he passed the flame in front of him and the acid hit it instead, sending a burst of fire up to the ceiling. Interesting. The acid’s combustible. Blake backed away, and Lincoln kicked some of the Skittles closer to the demon.