Page 7 of Midnight Witch

The monsters shuddered as they turned. They grew another foot.

Mae’s smile faded. “I didn’t know they could do that.”

Nikolai shook his head and sighed. “You just had to piss them off, didn’t you?”

The monsters roared and bounded toward them at an impossible speed, their deformed figures blurring with shadows as they leapt the rows of seats.

Moon Magic and white magic flared in Nikolai’s eyes. “Dammit! They’re fast!”

The bond that bound Mae to Brimstone and Hellreaver brightened inside her as she called upon the demon magic that lived in her core. Hellreaver shot out of her hand and sliced a heavy cut into the face of the hellwolf approaching her with gaping maws. The monster screeched and dropped to the ground as his serrated blades chomped into its flesh.

Nikolai blasted two hellboars with dazzling spell bombs. He cursed as the monsters released a volley of barbed quills. Hellfire Magic burst forth from his fingers. The inky crimson washed across the theater interior, obliterating the deadly spines and the beasts who had released them.

The front row seats and the curtains on the stage caught fire.

The sprinklers came on. Steam fizzed on Alastair’s fiery wings.

Nikolai caught Mae’s stare. She had gripped a two-headed hellhound in a headlock and was keeping a hellwolf from tearing into her by pressing her foot down on its neck.

He shrugged. “What?”

Mae rolled her eyes, punched the hellhound in the snouts, and picked up the hellwolf withWind Fury.

Brimstone’s tails vibrated with power as he fended off the monsters attacking him, his giant paws sending them crashing into the walls with high-pitched whines. Hellreaver chomped and sliced his merry way through their enemy as he zoomed around the theater with evil cackles.

It took less than ten minutes for them to dispose of the monsters. By then, the college kids inside Mae’s shield had all fainted from shock.

A man with a gun and a scowl barged inside the theater just as Nikolai removed his spear from the eye of the last hellwolf. Jared Dickson slowed when he saw the dead monsters.

“The hell?” the Immortal muttered.

Mae looked past the NYPD detective. “You came alone?”

“I told the other officers to stay outside.” Jared put away his gun and fixed her with a sour stare. “Seeing as this was your place, I gathered it wouldn’t be your run-of-the-mill incident.”

Mae narrowed her eyes. “I really don’t like how you make it sound like this is all my fault.”

Jared ignored her accusation and stopped beside them. Lines furrowed his brow as he studied the hellbeasts.

He prodded one with his shoe. “This the Dark Council’s work?”

“I have no idea.” Mae ran a hand through her hair and grimaced when it came away soaking wet. “They came through a portal. Luckily, it doesn’t look like they killed anyone.” She indicated her shield. “There are some kids back there who got trapped.”

Jared started up the aisle. “They hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

Mae and Nikolai followed the Immortal. Mae frowned when she noticed the cut on the sorcerer’s arm.

“It’ll soon heal,” Nikolai said lightly at her expression.

Jared eyed the charred remains of the seats and curtains he’d set alight. “What’d you guys do, try to burn the place down?”

Nikolai avoided his accusing gaze. “It was an accident.”

“Sure it was.” Jared looked over at Mae. “How about you turn off the sprinklers? This water is erasing all the evidence.”

“How about we wait for the fire department to do that?” Mae suggested coolly.

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