Page 45 of Bewitched By a Vampire

Together, they ran along the corridor.

Another scream sent a chill down her spine, this one distinctly masculine, and she skidded to a halt as the butler hit the wall just ahead of her. Crimson streaked it as he slid down it to land in a mangled heap on the floor.

Not good.

A huge demon stomped into view, the black plates of armour that protected his legs clanking with each heavy step, and he grunted as he bent and grabbed the dead human. Behind her, the three other humans went very still, and she barely breathed as she willed them to remain that way. If they did, the demon might not notice them.

He sniffed the corpse and pulled a short blade from the sheath at his waist, twirled it in his grip and buried it into the dead man’s stomach. He grinned, his polished black horns curling around his pointed ears to flare forwards into deadly daggers beside his temples as he gutted the butler, spilling his entrails across the floor.

The brunette behind Lilian retched.

The demon’s black eyes swung her way, his golden elliptical pupils shining as bright as the sun as they narrowed.

Really not good.

She released the human’s hand and quickly finished the spell she had been constructing. She shoved her hands forwards as the demon ran at her. He grunted as he struck the invisible barrier and shimmering aquamarine glyphs filled the air in front of him.

“The other way. Run!” She gritted her teeth and reinforced the spell, shoring it up as the demon rammed it.

“Witch,” he grunted, his voice a thick snarl, burning with hatred.

The look in his strange eyes said her death was going to be bloody and painful when he got his hands on her.

The desire to hurl a curse at him was strong, but she was finding it hard to focus. The risk of her accidentally cursing one of the humans was too great. She had to settle this with magic.

Something that was waning fast.

Sweat beaded her brow as she kept funnelling power into the barrier, desperately trying to keep the demon at bay, fearing that at any moment the battle haze would clear and he would remember he could teleport to the other side—to her.

She sensed the humans moving away from her and stared the brute down, preparing herself for a fight.

Her heart lurched painfully as a female screamed and the sound cut off.

Lilian flicked a glance over her shoulder. Her blood chilled as she locked gazes with the brunette where she lay on the floor, ragged claw marks cutting across her chest and face. Crimson pumped from the deep gouges and Lilian slowly shook her head as fear began to get the better of her.

One of the men went flying past her and struck the barrier. It shattered under the blow, her magic failing her as panic set in.

They were all going to die here.

He bellowed as the demon she had been holding off grabbed him and dragged him around the corner, his legs kicking and flailing as he tried to break free.

Lilian stared blankly.

Mother earth, they were all going to die.

She grimaced as a sickening crunch filled the silence, the snapping of bone loud in the still air.

The one remaining human barrelled into her back, desperately grabbing her black dress. “We have to run. Right. Run?”

She snapped out of her daze and looked at him. She wasn’t dying here. These demons weren’t going to kill her. They weren’t going to kill them.

She had failed the others, but she wouldn’t fail him. She grabbed his hand and focused, channelling a spell to her fingertips, waiting for the right moment to strike. The demon who had killed the brunette lumbered towards them from behind and the human gripping her back shook her.

“We need to run,” he screeched.

“Not yet.” She breathed through her panic. “Not yet.”

The other demon stalked around the corner before her.