“It’s right behind me,” he panted, taking her by the arm. “What’s the rest of your plan, Aurelie?”
“Lure it into the circle, leap out, and inscribe the banishment rune on the demon’s skin with the Helping Hand.”
Des stared at her blankly for a moment. “That’s ridiculous.”
Aurelie nodded curtly. “Why, thank you.”
“How do you know it will work?”
“That’s what Kobal is for.” She approached it cautiously, fairly certain it was too weak to hurt her but not sure enough to risk death. She poked it with the Helping Hand, moving a tuft of fur aside and smiling when she saw the faintly glowing runes on its skin. She had been right.
Now she needed to recall the rune for banishment.
She thought it was something like an upside-downUwith a slash through it, but did the slash go left to right or right to left? It was also the rune for everlasting sleep—likely a euphemism for death—and destruction.
As if on cue, the demon roared again, closer this time.
“Aurelie,” Des urged.
She closed her eyes, steeling herself. She was just going to have to trust her instincts. Using the chalk, she drew an extremely crude rune on the demon’s skin, and waited.
Just when she was about to give up hope, the runes pulsed in time with the portal.
“It’s working,” Des breathed.
Before either of them could say another word, Kobal slid across the floor with horrifying speed, disappearing into the maw of the portal.
“It actually fucking worked,” Des said. “You are a genius.”
Aurelie wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and nodded. “All right, it’s time to get the gatekeeper.”
“Let me be the bait,” Des said, taking her shoulders. “It’s the very least I can do.”
“No. You’re much faster than me, and it doesn’t seem to want to harm me. I need you to close off the circle and contain the demon. And I need your sword at the ready, should it break free.”
He sighed but nodded. “All right.”
Aurelie withdrew her dagger from her waist and hurried to the door, listening. “It’s coming,” she said. “Get—”
Before she could finish, the demon burst into the room, and Aurelie barely leapt back in time to avoid being crushed. The creature released an ear-splitting shriek, its breath fetid and foul as it moved toward her. It took all her strength to remain standing, her fear was so great, but she backed toward the portal slowly.
For a moment, the demon merely watched her, its strange fascination with her once more apparent. Or perhaps it sensed this was a trap. It scented the air, turning its massive head from side to side, clocking Des and Everard but making no moves forward. Unlike Aurelie’s invention demons, it seemed self-possessed enough not to leap on its nearest food source. Its size was even more alarming after it fed, and she wasn’t certain it would even fit through the portal now.
It took one step toward her, but Aurelie knew it wouldn’t follow her into the salt circle without a little more temptation. Quickly, she drew the blade across her hand, eliciting a sharp inhale from Des. Fortunately, he remained in place, poised to complete the circle.
The blood was enough. The demon rushed toward her so fast she hardly had time to leap out of its path before its foot landed where she’d been standing only seconds ago. “Now!” she screamed, but Deswas already on it, spilling the salt in an unbroken arc, completing the circle.
As soon as the demon realized what they’d done, it threw its head back and released another roar.
Aurelie picked up the Helping Hand. The demon was so large it took up most of the circle, which was fortunate, because it couldn’t move away from her as she began to reach toward it.
It bellowed as the chalk touched its skin, turning toward Aurelie and bringing its face so close to the edge of the circle she was sure it wasn’t going to hold.
“Over here!” Des ran to the other side of the circle, leaping about, trying to draw the demon’s attention. But he, too, realized they needed a better lure. He cut his hand on his blade and squeezed his fist, dripping blood onto the ground just outside the circle.
Aurelie had to blink away her tears of sheer terror to complete the rune. It was as crude and childlike as all her other attempts, but as she drew the final slash, the portal began to glow again in earnest. Des joined Aurelie, pulling her against him, just as the demon began to shriek. Its muscles strained as it scrabbled for purchase, but there was nothing to hold on to save for the portal itself.
Inch by inch, the demon was dragged backward toward the vortex, roaring in fury as it realized it was being sent back to the hellscape on the other side. Aurelie was about to yell in triumph when she felt something heavy against the back of her head, and then everything was blackness.