Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) by Brad Magnarella (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

That he would be free to roam the world with only a vague promise to stay away from us.

I’ll lose her.

The time catch was shuddering now with Malphas’s arrival, the shrieks of his legion growing stronger and more soul thirsty. I looked around at my other teammates, then back at the demon-vampire Arnaud.

My magic nodded again.

“Shit,” I spat, and struggled toward him through the hot, swirling winds.

Dropsy followed. When she peered over the edge of the platform, her light picked up a squat body on Broadway. It belonged to Bree-yark. He was lying face down in a haze of infernal smoke, his goblin blade beyond his outstretched hand. Ever the bulldog, he’d tried to fight Forneus when they’d arrived.

You better fucking be all right, buddy.

The open pouch beside him told of Dropsy’s journey all the way up here. I didn’t know how she’d managed it, but I was glad she did. She backed from the edge now in a mournful hunker.

“We’ll check on him in a sec,” I told her.

Arriving at Arnaud’s cocoon, I began cutting it open from the neck down. As I pried the shell from his throat, I saw that the manacle had been removed, probably by Forneus. The same was true of his wrist shackles.

“Wake up!” I yelled, slapping him.

Arnaud’s head rocked, but he didn’t stir. I dragged him from the thick suspension and onto the platform. Thinking of Vega and our daughter and everything I stood to lose, I paused before opening my mouth again.

“I accept,” I whispered.

The energy of the demonic agreement reacted, seizing me hard enough to shock the breath from my lungs. Arnaud’s eyes opened and he sat bolt upright. He peered around, seeming to comprehend everything at a glance. Overhead, Malphas’s form was growing, along with his demon horde. A look of fear and loathing gripped Arnaud’s face. Finally, his eyes locked on mine.

“You’ve accepted the agreement,” he said, an angle of surprise in his voice.

I nodded, but my heart was pounding sickly. “If you’re serious about stopping him, I need your help.”

Arnaud peered skyward again, then felt around his naked neck. Though his body was brimming with infernal energy, much of it courtesy of Malphas, there was nothing now to hide him from his master’s wrath.

“What do I do?” he demanded.

I pulled him to the center of the platform, where the fount of ley energy was thickest, and aimed my sword upward.

“Grasp the handle!” I shouted. Arnaud’s slippery grip came up under mine. “When I give the word, push your infernal energy through the blade. As much as demonically possible. Do you understand?”

He nodded, eyes glowing yellow.

With a Word, I activated the banishment rune. Powered by raw ley, the white light shot like a jet’s contrail toward the portal. The winged demons shrieked and darted from it, but I felt infernal energy pushing back with equal force, reestablishing the balance of opposing energies, wrenching the portal still wider.

All right, here it goes…

I shifted power from the banishment rune to the one beneath it, fire.

“Now!” I called to Arnaud as a spire of flames roared up, consuming the light of banishment.

His face hardened with malice and determination. Dark tendrils of energy burst up the blade and joined the elemental fire. Arnaud and I labored to hold the shuddering sword, to keep our aim true. Arnaud then shrieked something that made it sound as though he were vomiting a lung. But it was Malphas’s true name.

The spire of Infernal Fire steadied and collided into his former master’s face. The entire portal shook. And then Malphas made his first mistake. Believing I’d upped my power, he responded with an even greater output of infernal energy. This time, the portal buckled. Panic seized Malphas’s eyes.

Yes, yes, it’s working!

I could feel Malphas trying to pull back, to correct the balance, but it was too late. The portal was contracting, collapsing around him. Beside me, Arnaud let out a savage cry of glee. When I looked over, he was giving his former master the finger.

“Hold on!” I shouted as the sword started to waver. “Keep pushing!”

Arnaud brought his free hand back to the hilt and willed more energy into the blade, further tipping the balance that had held the nascent portal open, upsetting it further and further toward the infernal.

Malphas’s monstrous face contorted into impossible shapes. With a roar, he thrust a clawed hand down as if intending to seize and crush us. Even though he was far away, I instinctively ducked lower. His winged legion took up the cry and began circling down his arm, spiraling toward us.

Those guys can reach us.

“Push!’ I shouted at Arnaud.

The word was barely out of my mouth when, in a deep, thunderous crack, Malphas broke apart. His winged legion dispersed in shrieks. Some dove back into the collapsing portal, joining their master in ruin. Others remained, flying aimlessly. But with the portal’s demise, our time catch was failing.

When I recalled the power from my sword, the rune obeyed, the fire returning to its symbol. I pulled the sword from Arnaud’s grip and waved it toward my bound teammates. “We’ve got to get them out!”

Fallen pieces of Malphas were impacting around us now. One burst to my left, sending me into a stagger. A shrieker swooped in. With a grunt, I swung my sword around. The blade tore through the creature’s wing, sending it off with a shrill cry. I plunged my blade through the chest of another and blew it apart with a Word. The damned things were everywhere. I summoned a shield around the platform, but it was weak, and it wasn’t going to be worth a damn when the time catch decided to breakdown.

I looked around for Arnaud—our ride home—but I could no longer see him.

I was shouting his name when my shield failed in an eruption of sparks. Energy roared in my ears while plummeting pieces of Malphas crashed around me. The time catch was entering its final throes.

I tried to shape another shield, to hold