Mom.
I stagger back, veil on my memory not just being lifted but yanked entirely off.
“And what about American history? Science and basic English? Do they teach that at this…this academy? Socializing is important for kids this age, and Anora is behind compared to the others in her class,” Mom spits, looking at the brochure Aunt Estelle gave her.
I stand there, frozen, and it all comes back to me. My mom did know about magic. Aunt Estelle did tell her, and she…she believed her? No, that’s not the mother I know. She would have denied it. Told Aunt Estelle she was crazy and would have insisted any sort of magic she saw was just some sort of trick.
An incubus flies at me, sharp teeth getting me right in the cheek. Hunter shadows after it, grabbing it in midair, shifting back into a dog so he can break bones with his teeth. Shaking myself, I hold up the sword again and swing it through the air, hitting another incubus. It catches on fire right away and is thrown into a cherry tree several yards away.
The front door opens again and out of the corner of my eye, I see Nik emerge holding a variety of my fireplace tools. He tosses a fire poke to Ethan and gives another to Sam.
“Above you!” he yells to me and then slashes the heavy pair of cast iron tongs in front of him, hitting an incubus to the ground. Sam hits it with the fireplace shovel she’s holding and the thing dies with a squelch of blood.
Three incubi try to make a break for it. I throw out my left hand, telekinetically grabbing them. I strain to keep the hold and bring my hand down in a swift movement, thudding them against the ground. Hunter bounds over, large paws landing on two of them at once. He grabs one with his teeth and shakes his head, ripping the thing in half.
Holding the sword out in front of me, I whirl around, eyes wide as I look to see where the others went. Ethan is running around to the back of the house, following a few demons who are trying to escape. Not today, motherfuckers.
Not. Today.
Realizing they’re in trouble, the incubi scatter, all going in different directions. Hunter barrels to the front of the yard, impressively jumping and pulling another out of the air. He won’t let any escape, though if one or two got out and found their way to nosy Donna’s house, I wouldn’t object.
Really, though, I can’t let a single one out. They’re already here and I know I didn’t summon them on purpose, but it’s my fault. I was the one who brought forth the incubus in the first place, and it’s my energy that fed it and allowed it to burst into a bunch of tiny demons who will no doubt quickly grow up and seek out victims of their own.
Following a group around the house, I throw out my free hand again, tossing a ball of fire at a small group of them. It only hits one and the others come back after me, black wings glimmering in the firelight of my sword. Another bites my hand as I’m swinging the sword through the air and I cry out, taking a quick step back and almost falling right on my ass. Finding my balance, I shuffle one foot back and slice the sword through the air again, hitting two at a time. The fire blade slices right through them and they drop to the ground, insides bubbling and boiling.
Another group of about five of them come at me, circling around me and missing my blade every time I bring it through the air with a whoosh. Gravel crunches and a car slows right in front of the house. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I was just thinking about sending demons to Donna’s house. Of fucking course she’s here, threatening to report me to the police for being noisy after dark even though it’s still early Spring and the sun sets only hours past lunch.
Sucking in a breath, I jump up, turning around at the same time, and bring the sword down again, hitting four at once. They fall to the ground and the fifth takes off, wings flapping furiously in an attempt to get away.
Chasing it around the house, I finally catch up to it near the driveway. The car I heard is still in the road, and whoever is driving is no doubt looking at us, wondering what the hell is wrong with their neighbors. From the road, it has to look like we really hate bats and I went the extra mile with a flame thrower of sorts, which are probably illegal weapons to have, let alone use as pest control. And that’s not to mention that killing bats is illegal, as they’re at risk for becoming endangered.