And make them stop screaming. Do not forget to stop the screaming.
An odd, low popping noise reverberated from the far corner of the room. Immediately, Kylie’s gaze swung in that direction in time to see another swirling vortex of energy splinter open like a miniature star gone nova. A moment later, deformed figures sprang forth into the auditorium, long, claw-tipped arms swinging out to catch human prey, huge maws opening to show rows and rows of dripping, threatening teeth. They looked like sharks and gorillas and psychopathic dust bunnies all rolled up into one slavering, grasping bundle of evil.
And they kept coming.
She heard Ella scream, a sound of mingled pain and frustration, and knew she must be hurt in order to have allowed the portal in her quadrant to open. She needed help, but first Kylie would have to ensure her own area didn’t add to the nightmare.
Screams of panic had turned to abject terror and agony as the demonic minions began to feed. She could hear the crunching of bones and a wet, sucking, tearing sound that she didn’t even want to know the source of. Keeping her eye on the prize, she quickly found the nocturni she had already jolted once and began pushing through the crowd to get to him.
She could see the edges of the vortex before him begin to glow, and she knew she didn’t have much time. Raising both hands, she began casting as she ran, concentrating on forming the bubble Ella had said would trap a fellow caster and turn his own spell against him. For a moment, she thought she saw a shimmer begin, but then someone knocked into her from the side, interrupting her concentration and snapping the spell in two.
Well, fuck it, she thought. She didn’t know enough about magic anyway. She’d had less than a week to practice the easiest of those spells, and Jews weren’t supposed to be doing magic, anyway. As a half-Jew, she shouldn’t be surprised if her magic turned out to be half-assed. Luckily, her brain was her most potent weapon, and it was still working at full capacity.
Pouring on a burst of speed, she flew toward the portal-opening nocturni, hands outstretched as if ready to trap him in a renewed burst of magical energy. He looked at her briefly and bared his teeth in a taunting smile, but Kylie had her own kind of magic. At the last moment, she dropped her hands, grasped the back of a hard, molded plastic and metal chair, and swung it with all her might at the nocturni’s head. There was a satisfying crack just before he crumpled to the concrete.
The vortex winked out with a shriek of protest. She didn’t know if the sound came from the aborted portal itself, or from whatever had been waiting to cross through it, but either way, it gave her the willies.
Dropping the chair, she looked around, trying to judge a path to Ella’s side. Unfortunately, a multiplying sea of demonic minions stood between them.
What was she supposed to do now? She’d try blasting the portal closed, but clearly magic was not the way she was going to win this fight. What other tools did she have in her little bag of tricks?
She still had the drive-away salt in the pocket of her jeans, but no way did she think the two small pouches’ worth that Wynn had provided would be enough to get her through all those monsters. She’d have a better chance with a handy trailing vine, a leopard-spotted loincloth, and a ululating cry. A better plan must be had.
The scent of blood had begun to taint the air, and although the back of the room remained safer than the front where Ella had been stationed, the murderous creatures had begun to push away from their portal and deeper into the room. This seemed to be keeping Knox and Spar busy, as they tried to take out the demonic minions while avoiding the innocent human bystanders who kept getting in the way. The poor clueless audience members just didn’t know where to run and a few of them inevitably ended up throwing themselves between a Guardian and his prey. Only quick reflexes and solemnly sworn vows kept those fools alive.
Maybe she would have to resort to her half-assed magic after all.
If there was one thing Kylie could do better than almost anyone in the world, it was tweak code. She could always seem to find the subtle little glitches in a string of computer commands that kept a system from operating the way she wanted it to, and she had become renowned for finding the simplest, sneakiest little twists that got her the perfect result. If her magic had first shown itself in this ability, maybe that meant she could turn it back onto the magic itself.