I throw the energy ball at the closest one, hitting it right in the chest. The magic sizzles along the surface, and little veins in the roots glow bright blue as the magic is absorbed.
Oh shit.
I’ve seen this before.
“We can’t fight them with magic,” Ruby rushes out.
“What do we do?”
I throw out my hand, telekinetically throwing the creature away from us. It flies back, rolling and getting right back to its feet. I throw out my hand again, holding it at bay while I try to think of something—anything.
Freya and Pandora go after the other creature, knocking it to the ground. They each grab an arm and pull, snapping the arms right off.
And two grow back in seconds.
Scarlet jumps at the creature I’m holding, sinking her little puppy fangs into its leg. The thing shakes her off. In her current form, she can’t do much damage. But if I took her collar off…
“We need to get into the house,” Ruby says and sends a blast of energy at the creature my familiars attacked. It staggers back, and Freya goes for it again, snapping its legs off as Pandora clamps her teeth down on the thing’s neck. “Seal it and think of a plan.”
“Can they burst through the floor?” Kristy asks, eyes wide with fear.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Ruby takes a quick step back. “Go, now!” She throws out her hands, putting up a shield to give Kristy a head start. Kristy turns and sprints up the porch steps, stopping at the doorway.
“Guys,” I call to my familiars. “Inside, now!” I look at Scarlet, who’s going back to attack the creature again, and a vision suddenly flashes through my mind. It’s a millisecond of an image played out before me, but I know what we have to do.
“There’s a way to kill them,” I say and watch as another root-monster springs from the ground, slipping beneath my warding.
“How?”
“Trees can be cut down.” Two root-monsters come at me at the same time. I raise my leg, kicking one in the chest and telekinetically throw the other back. Freya and Pandora shadow over, pulling it apart. It’ll regrow its limbs, but it buys us some time.
You’ve got hellfire inside you, kid.
“And forests can burn.”
“Cut them with what?” Ruby shoves another wall of energy at one of the creatures. Another pops up, just feet from her, and springs forward, red eyes glowing and mouth wide open. It extends its arm and, with vines twisting from its hands in place of fingers, grabs a handful of Ruby’s braids, yanking her back.
I drop to the ground, throwing out my leg and spinning, knocking one of the creatures off its feet. It falls backwards into another creature, and I send a pulse of energy across the yard, knocking the creature that has a hold of Ruby back.
It tumbles back, taking Ruby with it. Shit.
They both fall, with Ruby landing hard on her back. The creature rolls over, hissing and snarling as it tries to bite her.
“Ruby!” I yell and throw my hand out again, trying to send the creature flying. But another sprouts from the ground right in front of me, and the force of the energy blast snaps its head back, hanging at an unnatural angle.
Freya and Pandora shadow over to me, tearing another apart. I push myself up and sprint forward, magic sizzling around my fingers. I grab the root-monster’s shoulders and try to yank it off Ruby. The thing is strong—too strong for me. It reaches back, smacking me hard in the face. I stagger back, nose stinging with pain. I blink, stars dotting my vision, feeling as if my nose is broken. Fighting through the nauseating pain, I jump forward again.
“Get off her!” I yell, and a bit of blood drips from my nose. It lands on the creature’s arm and sizzles, burning a tiny hole in the roots. Startled, the creature looks at its arm, releasing Ruby. She scrambles back, eyes wide, and throws out her hands, knocking the thing off its feet.
“What did you do?”
“I…I don’t know,” I say and bring my hand up, wiping my bloody nose. I bring my hand back and look at my blood.
Holy shit.
These things are demonic.
I’m half angel.
You’ve got hellfire in you kid…and something else.
Witchcraft can’t kill them, but I have more than just witchcraft in my blood.
“Whatever you did, do it again,” Ruby says, stepping next to me. My familiars shadow by, knocking another creature to the ground and tearing it apart, limb from limb. We need you, I call to Binx, and he’s here in an instant, knocking down and tearing apart as many root-monsters as he can.
But as soon as they go down, they come right back up.
“Fuck,” I mutter, turning and looking at all the root-monsters. My familiars pulverize them again, knocking them down like bowling pins. Evil bowling pins that want to rip our flesh from our bodies.