Page 78 of Midnight Witch

A hellboar crashed through and smashed into him in a shower of jagged glass before he could move. Nikolai grunted as he went flying headfirst into a kitchen cabinet. Black spots exploded before his eyes.

Alastair’s squawk of rage reached him dimly above the ringing in his skull.

“Nikolai!” Mae shouted.

“I’m—I’m okay!”

He straightened and shook his head dazedly, his heart thundering against his ribs. He scowled at the charging hellboar and drew on his magic.

The beast froze mid-lunge when he stabbed it through the eye withMoon Spear.

“We need to take this fight out into the open!” Cortes ducked under a demon’s claws and slashed the fiend’s throat. “We’re sitting ducks in here!”

A tortured groan of metal rent the air in the wake of his words. The roof and walls of the trailer came apart as if they were building blocks.

Jared’s knuckles blanched on the holy sword he held. “Looks like you got your wish!”

Nikolai’s insides twisted at the sight of the horned, winged figure blocking out a section of the night sky above them. Sable made an angry sound.

Crimson detonated around Mae.

Barquiel smirked, his broadsword in hand. “There you are. I see Azazel’s daughter has taken to hiding like a rat.”

“How about you not take my father’s name in vain, dipshit?!” Mae snapped.

Barquiel flicked a clawed hand and sent the trailer sections crashing into the trucks on the other side of the field.

Gloria’s eyes bulged when she saw the horde of hellbeasts and demons surrounding them. The monsters were backed by some dozen Dark Council witches and sorcerers. She fell onto her bottom and backpedaled across what remained of her trailer.

Brimstone shifted into his nine-tailed demon spirit form.

“You will never defeat us, fiend!” he snarled at Barquiel.

The demon archduke sneered. “We shall see about that.”

Corruption thickened the air. His figure blurred.

Nikolai blinked, his heart in his throat as he tried to follow the demon’s movements.

A harsh grunt left Alicia. The Reaper Queen’s scythe sparked against Barquiel’s blade where she’d countered his lightning-fast strike before he could reach Mae.

“Go!” Alicia yelled over her shoulder. “We’ll keep them occupied!”

“She’s right,” Violet told Mae grimly. She glanced at Nikolai. “You need to get out of here and find her!”

Mae met Nikolai’s gaze, her expression conflicted.

“We must leave, my witch.” Brimstone looked at the moon. “We’re almost out of time.”

Violet and Miles slammed their hands on the ground. Purple and gold flared brightly around them and their familiars. The divine power they had inherited from their friends in Chicago mixed with their magic to form a pale wall that blocked the barrage of spell bombs the Dark Council cast their way.

Light bloomed on Jared’s sword. He stabbed the blade into the base of Violet and Miles’s shield and strengthened the defensive barrier with the heavenly energy within the weapon.

Barquiel roared in rage where he struggled against Alicia.

Mae rushed over to Gloria and endedContain. “Tell us what we need to do!”

The witch didn’t react, her numb gaze flitting jerkily from the monsters attacking the divine shield to the demon archduke fighting the Reaper Queen.

---