diminutive yet deadly, charging fire demon.
Casey dramatically put the back of his wrist against his forehead and gave
a plaintive and deeply sarcastic cry. “Oh, save me cousin. I can’t protect
myself with my weak fire magic. It’s useless against fire demons.”
The trio of fire demons darted toward me, and I retreated as quickly as I
could, trying unsuccessfully to repel them. “Casey, you asshole!”
My aunt Laurel grinned. “You make a good point, son. As a specialist,
you’re woefully unprepared for a battle like this.”
She clapped her hands, and he was ejected out of the circle of protection
with a yelp.
“Oh, shit!” he cried as the demons converged on their juicy new target.
Chaos ensued. Blasts of magic filled the room as we tried to contend with
the fiery devils. As soon as one was down, my aunt summoned another.
&nbs
p; Finally, I screamed, “Enough already!” and pointed my hand at the
burning pile of charcoal and ash. The shadows converged like serpents and
extinguished the flames. Unfortunately, the little bastards didn’t disappear.
Well, it was worth a shot.
Deprived of their burnt offering, one charged at me in a rage, and I
stumbled back. My foot caught on a seam in the stone, and I slammed down
onto the hard floor, sending a jolt of pain up my tailbone and through my
spine.
I gasped as the burning beastie lunged, but before it landed on me, my
aunt clapped her hands again, and the red glowing circle vanished. A
surprised screech erupted from the flaming demon as it poofed out of
existence, along with all the others.
Pulse hammering in my temples, I flopped back onto the mercifully cold
stone as bits of ash rained down around me. I was more drained than I’d ever
been in my life, but the glowing warmth of triumph trickled through my
veins.