She staggered to her feet and fell again.
Ed's attention shifted back to the mages at Sofia's shout of dismay. Somehow Melinda was back on her feet and Nikolai was sprawled on the ground, unconscious. Blood coated the front of her jacket, but her neck was whole.
"She's got some sort of leach spell going," Sam said. "Not sure who it's attached to, but whoever it was, just died. I think she's got one more. We're going to have to kill her again before we can really bring her down."
Ed huffed. Of course, she couldn't be easy to kill.
"I can help," Sam said when Ed crawled out of the underbrush.
He ignored her and sent a thought to Sofia hoping she would understand he needed a big distraction.
Moments later, Sofia unleashed a tornado of magic and snow and sent it straight for Melinda.
That got her attention. Ed dashed toward the enemy, leapt, and clamped his jaws around her neck, snapping it.
Pain seared through him, and bones snapped as he crashed into the trees. He would recover, but it was going to be a few minutes before he could fight again. Laying there, he watched Melinda stagger to her feet and deflect Sofia's attack.
Thunder cracked through the snow and Melinda jerked. Not thunder, gunfire.
She staggered and the gun boomed again. This time Melinda went down and stayed there.
The front door on the house opened and Sofia's dad came out followed by Ash. Dan held a rifle and Ash's hands glowed with magic.
Together the three of them cautiously approached Melinda.
"I think she's actually dead," Ash said.
Dan clenched his jaw. "Good. What are we going to do with the bodies?"
Ash's hands flared amber before the motes settled on her body. It rapidly desiccated into dust.
Sofia gagged.
"It only works if the person's already dead, if that helps any," Ash said quietly.
"Yeah, kind of."
They turned their attention to Alex.
Before Sofia could even ask what they were going to do with Alex, the demon found Doc's knife, scooped it up and slammed it down into Alex's chest.
Sofia's eyes widened and her dad twitched the muzzle of his rifle toward Ash before he took a deep breath and pointed it at the ground again.
Sofia turned away while Ash destroyed his tormentor's body. Ed couldn't blame him. Not really.
"That's it then," Sofia said, voice flat. She hugged herself.
Her dad put his arm around her. "Where's everyone else?"
That jerked Sofia out of her daze.
Ed woofed and tried to get to his feet. His body didn't want to cooperate, though he could tell his bones were knitting.
Ash tucked Doc's knife into his belt and zeroed in on the unconscious vampire. Sofia and her dad came over to where Ed lay.
"Hey, you okay." She knelt next to him.
He whined.
"Here. I don't have much energy left." She cast a weak heal spell on him. Her magic tingled through him, helping a little.
Dan handed the rifle to Sofia and knelt next to Ed. "Don't bite me, okay?"
Ed nodded and Dan carefully picked him up. He yelped but managed not to struggle. Dan grunted but managed to lift Ed. "Well, you don't lose any weight when you change. Let's get you inside."
Sofia went over to Nikolai and rolled the mage over on his back. Ed could hear his heart beating steadily.
"Nikolai." She shook him and he groaned.
"Am okay," he muttered and managed to sit up on his own.
Sofia grabbed his sword and took it and the rifle inside while Nikolai staggered after her, clutching his head.
Dan put Ed down by the fire and Ash came in a minute later, Doc's arm over his shoulder as he helped the vampire inside. Doc collapsed into Nikolai's recliner, groaning. Nikolai sank to the ground next to Doc and leaned against his legs, resting his head on Doc's knee.
Allan came over to Ed.
"You okay?"
He nodded. Allan sat down next to him ran his hand through Ed's ruff.
Ash went back out into the storm. He hoped the demon was going after Sam.
Sofia put the weapons on the kitchen table and came back into the living room.
Ed watched as her eyes went to her parents. Dan stared at Doc, eyes wide. Sofia sighed tiredly, went over to the recliner, and half collapsed into Doc's lap.
Dan twitched, but didn't say anything.
He watched until Doc wrapped his arms around their mate, leaned his cheek against her head, and held her close. Nikolai lifted a hand and let it rest on Sofia's thigh.
Satisfied that everyone would be okay, he let the exhaustion take him.
Chapter 22
Sofia
I didn't move when Ash came back inside with Sam, feeling numb. We'd gotten our asses kicked, but we had still won. Everyone would recover, and the enemy was really handled this time. I shied away from thinking about Ash plunging the knife into Alex's chest. I didn't blame the demon, I just didn't want to think about it.
Sam shivered violently and Ash brought her over to the fireplace.
"Mom, could you get the comforter off of my bed for Sam?" I kept my eyes on the other mage but hoped Ash could handle her if she tried anything. None of the rest of us had any energy left.
The demon worked at the bindings on her wrists, carefully cutting with Doc's knife.
Mom came back and wrapped the blanket around Sam once Ash had her free. She didn't say anything, just huddled near the fire wrapped in my lavender comforter.
"You know how I wanted a day where we had a really nice time and nothing bad happened?"
"Yes," Nikolai answered.
"I'm still waiting."
Doc laughed, though it sounded strained.
Just then someone's phone buzzed.
Doc sighed. "It's mine. I'm not answering it. There is no one who could possibly want to talk to me badly enough right now."
"Adriana?" Nikolai said.
Doc muttered something impolite mostly under his breath. "I think that's what voicemail is for."
After Doc's phone fell silent, mine started up.
"It's definitely Adriana,
