Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(38)

“Amaliya, don’t attack it!” Aimee’s voice shouted.

There was a loud bang and Amaliya saw another dome of magic ripple over the house just as the demon jumped at Amaliya, its hands exploding into fire. With a cry, she darted out of its way. The demon let out a reptilian hiss and stalked after her.

“Reflection spell is up!” Cassandra yelled, racing toward the house.

“Keep them inside it and kill them!” Cian’s voice rang out.

Relief washed over Amaliya now that she didn’t have to hide from the view of the neighbors. The reflection spell would give a peaceful appearance to Samantha’s house even as they waged battle. Amaliya burned more blood, healing the wounds inflicted on her by her earlier fights as the demon stalked her.

“How do we kill it?” Amaliya called out.

“We vanquish it,” the witch answered. “Don’t let it close to you!”

“Amaliya, watch out!” It was Cian.

Twisting about, Amaliya was startled to see another demon slink out of the darkness. It had a somewhat human appearance, but its face was somehow wrong. The eyes were too close together, the mouth too flat, the nose ill-defined. Lifting flaming hands, it lurched toward her. Amaliya twisted away, but it managed to briefly touch her arm. Amaliya screamed in agony as flames licked up her arm. Cian vaulted across the front yard, landed, and snatched her away from the demon before hurling her away to safety. She landed with a painful thud, her arm a mass of scorched flesh.

Aimee stood on the front walk hurling white orbs of light at the demons. The creatures dodged her attacks, their lithe bodies more shadow than form. Cassandra tackled a vampire creeping around the corner of the house that Amaliya hadn’t even seen, while Cian circled behind the first demon.

“Fuck me,” Amaliya gasped. Her arm was useless, dangling at her side. Climbing to her feet, she growled in frustration.

It was difficult not to be distracted by Cian and the first demon squaring off against each other. In Cian’s hand was a glowing orb of some kind. Each time he took a swipe, the demon recoiled in horror. Yet, it wasn’t backing down, its flaming hands casting plumes of fire at Cian, which the vampire deftly avoided. The demon concentrating on Amaliya was thinner, faster, and incredibly tall.

Aimee’s orbs of magic smashed into a vampire leaping off the roof, rendering it into a figure of ash that exploded into a gray cloud on impact with the ground. Somewhere nearby Cassandra was swearing in time with the sound of hearty thwacks against flesh.

The demons moved even faster than vampires, skipping out of the range of Aimee’s attacks, and easily outmaneuvering Cian and Amaliya. While Cian was on the offensive, Amaliya was definitely on the defensive. Burning as much blood as she could, she tried to heal her arm. The skin and muscle refused to knit together, the pain nearly blinding. The fire erupting from the demon’s hand formed into a sword as it flashed a cruel smirk in her direction. It swept the flaming weapon toward her. Amaliya barely dodged out of the way, but the burning blade still left a swath of scorched skin along her back despite the near miss.

Amaliya stumbled, then felt someone grab her about the waist. The smell of Cian’s cologne and shampoo filled her nostrils. Arm around her waist, he kept the magical sphere in his hand between them and the two demons.

Chaos filled the world. Aimee battled a black witch that the ghosts had missed, purple and white orbs of magic flashing through the night. Jeff hacked at a vampire with an ax. Samantha stood in the doorway of her house wielding a pink gun and firing at something big and furry charging toward her. Alexia was tossing spell bags at the were and vampires while her brother rushed to help Jeff.

Anger welled up inside of Amaliya. Everything was out of control. Jerking free of Cian, she plunged her necromancy into the ground, but immediately felt resistance.

“What the f*ck?”

Seconds later the yard lurched upward as stone spikes burst out of the grass. A stalagmite impaled one of the demons, and Cian took advantage of the moment to ram the glowing orb into its chest. Instantly, the demon was enveloped in white flames, then vanished in an agonized howl. The second demon retreated toward the remaining black witch. Aimee summoned a huge wave of white energy and hurtled it at both of them. The demon grabbed the witch, wrapping her in shadow, and vanished just before the magic hit them. The were-creature finally went down, its claws landing near Samantha’s bare feet.

The sudden silence was startling.

“Where’s the witch and demon?” Amaliya demanded, clutching her burned arm.

“Gone,” Aimee answered sounding disappointed.

Cian cast a worried look at Amaliya. “Are you okay?”

“Burned, but fine. And pissed. Something blocked my powers. And who the hell made those?” She gestured to the stone spikes.

“How am I going to explain them to the neighbors?” Samantha frowned, kicking the dead were-creature.

“Sorry about that,” a voice said from behind Amaliya.

The ground trembled and the stalagmites sank into the lawn leaving two blemishes of upturned earth.

Amaliya whipped about to see a tall, handsome black man with a clean-shaven head and well-groomed goatee. Wearing black slacks and a maroon shirt that matched his eyes, he looked vaguely familiar.

“The elemagus,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“Baptiste. Rachoń sent me.” He extended a hand.