Priceless

what I was hoping.
    A blur of a sword and large male body charged up behind me, deflecting blows, keeping me safe as I reached for India, trying to pull her off the pentagram without actually stepping on it myself. Which would be bad, like really bad.
    “Get down!” O’Shea’s warning came a split second too late. One of the black Coven members physically slammed into me and spun me out toward India, right into the pentagram.
    “Two is always better than one,” he laughed, as fear spiked through me.
    The last thing I saw before hitting the pentagram was Milly battling with three witches, two men and a woman, and O’Shea to one side of me, blood seeping through his white shirt. Then I hit the floor.
    The demon trying to possess India had been invisible to me while I was outside the confines of the pentagram, but inside was a different thing. It was shaped like a large ant, with multiple limbs, but stood upright like a human, balancing on a tail that was far too reminiscent of a scorpion for my liking.
    I looked down. My body lay prone on the floor, my hand around India’s bare ankle.
    “We are here in spirit,” the bare whisper of a voice said. India’s spirit crouched behind her sitting body. “We can’t get away.”
    Swallowing my fear, I cracked my knuckles and faced the demon. “That isn’t true. We just have to send this ugly bug butt-face packing. Then we can leave.” I gave her a wink, turning my back on the demon for a split second, which I knew better than to do, but I needed to reassure her. Even if I was wrong.
    The demon grabbed me around my upper body and lifted me into the air. No weapons on me, I kicked out, catching it in the thorax. There was the crunch of cartilage and the demon dropped me to the ground. There was hope yet; if I could hurt it, then I could kill it. A second kick drove my foot into its chest, forcing it back a step.
    “Our master wants to speak with you,” it said, mandible clicking back and forth. “You will be rewarded greatly for coming to him of your own free will.”
    Three more successive kicks and finally the thing stumbled back. “Nope, not interested.” Grabbing the closest appendage, I twisted hard, breaking it clean off, a spurt of clear liquid shooting out toward me, hitting me in the face. I swiped off the clear goo, gagging on the scent of rotting meat assailing my nose. Fuck, that was nasty.
    Blinking, I caught the movement a second before it struck—the scorpion tail lifted high, then shot toward me with a blinding speed. I rolled to the left, stumbling over my own body. The stinger came down, burying itself into my prone form. That couldn’t be good, but there was nothing I could do about it now.
    The demon jerked its stinger out and advanced on me. Dodging and ducking, I managed to keep the stinger from hitting me, but there wasn’t a lot of room.
    “Put the stinger into the pentagram!” Milly shouted, distracting me.
    I didn’t ask how she could see the demon, but I took her at her word.
    The demon’s mandible chattered, its frustration coming through and its attacks redoubled. The stinger flew toward my face at a speed I could barely dodge. Sweat rolled down my face when a black blur leapt onto the pentagram, a snarl on his misshapen lips.
    “Mean to Ryleeeeeeeee!” He howled as he hit the demon from behind, his teeth sinking into the creature’s neck, snapping the head off completely.
    Dropping to all fours, white goo covering his muzzle, the werewolf looked down at his paws and the demon’s dying body twitching beside him. “No more mean to Rylee. Only good.”
    “Rylee, the demon, before it fades—use the tail or you’ll be trapped!” Milly screamed, her words followed by a thud I didn’t want to analyze. Grabbing the demon’s tail, I jammed the stinger into the pentagram. A bright burst of light shattered around us; the barrier that had held us inside the confines of the pentagram vanished. I let out a groan, my body and spirit once more attached, a large furry body covering mine, pinning me to the ground. Where the stinger had gone into my physical body from the spirit plain we’d been on, there was a dull throb, but thankfully nothing more.”Alex, get off.”
    He crawled away from me, but not too far. I sat up to see the battle still raged. “Help O’Shea,” I said to Alex, who bounded off after the agent, taking a witch out at the knees in the process.
    I scrambled over to India and scooped her into my arms, the