There was a ritual circle right in the center of the room. One of the desks had been shoved aside to make room. It wasn’t overly large, but still needed a good amount of floorspace.
As Zoe stared at the circle, her frown deepened. It wasn’t a ritual circle. While she had never practiced anything she read in Eva’s books, she had memorized the insignias and sigils associated with infernal summoning circles.
What the circle on the floor before her was for, Zoe couldn’t say. There were several different types of summoning circles. Some for summoning specific demons, some for summoning a specific species, and some for summoning a wide variety of demons. She’d have to drag Eva or Devon over to look at it to know for sure. Possibly Ylva as well.
One thing was certain, it did not belong in a classroom.
She thought about sketching it for later study. That would have taken too long. A photo on her cellphone would have to do.
Just in case the real circle held secrets that her phone did not, Zoe stepped out of the room and locked the door. She scrawled a quick note and stuck it to the front before erecting a barrier of hardened air over the doorway. It would take an air mage all of two seconds to tear down, but she didn’t have the time to put up proper wards. The barrier would keep people from accidentally walking in for the time being.
Zoe turned and took one step down the hallway.
And hit the barrel chest of a man.
She hopped backwards, one hand rubbing her nose while the other readied her dagger.
Even after recognizing the man, she did not lower her weapon.
“Zagan,” she hissed.
“Zoe.” His golden eyes glinted for an instant. “A pleasure as always. You avoid me so much these days, have I offended you somehow?”
“You lied to me. I let you into my home.”
He tilted his head to one side before shaking his head. “I can’t recall a single lie I’ve told anyone. Unless you’re talking about lies of omission. Those hardly count. You’ve done so plenty of times, yeah?”
Zoe frowned. Omitting knowledge of Eva was the primary cause of her and Wayne’s little argument last semester. Still, that was different. Zagan was a legitimate monster. “You licked that nun’s face.”
“She tasted good.”
“That’s disgusting.”
Zagan just shrugged.
Zoe shifted her weight to her other foot as Zagan stared. When he didn’t make any move to give a proper response, Zoe said, “is that summoning circle your doing?”
“Summoning circle?” Zagan said with a blink.
Zoe blinked as well. Surprise was not what she expected.
He slipped around Zoe and opened the door, completely ignoring the barrier of wind in the process. After a moment, he shut the door with a chuckle.
“You had me worried for a moment there. I’ll forgive your ignorance this one time.” At the blank look Zoe gave him, Zagan continued. “That is a transference circle. It sends things to Hell. Not strong enough to bring things here from Hell.”
At least the school won’t be overrun from within, Zoe thought with a sigh. “Why is it here?”
“As I said, it is used to send things to Hell.” Zagan’s voice turned a few notches more menacing. His eyes flashed bright gold. Zoe actually took a few steps backwards. “Presumably, someone wanted something sent to Hell. In a very literal manner. Don’t make me repeat myself.” All the hostility vanished in an instant. “Don’t feel bad, I don’t tolerate my students’ inattention either.”
Zoe licked the edges of her lips with a suddenly dry tongue. She cleared her throat twice before she could form words. “Right.” It took one more clearing of her throat before Zoe felt up to forming a full sentence. “Shouldn’t you be outside fighting?”
“Please. Nothing out there is strong enough to be interesting.”
“So you skulk about in the hallways.”
He put on a goofy, disarming grin. “A demon of my caliber never skulks.”
That had Zoe on edge more than anything. One moment, he looked ready to murder her for making him repeat himself, the next and he looked nothing more than a particularly handsome man. After a borderline insult, no less.
“No, my contract only dictates that I keep this place safe. So long as I patrol the hallways and keep everything out, I am fulfilling my assignment.”
Zoe shook her head and focused. She couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by the antics of a mad demon. “Have you seen Eva in the past hour or two?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Juliana? Or Irene? Shalise maybe?”
“You’re expecting me to remember the names of several mortals that are inconsequential, at best.”
Zoe frowned. He wasn’t about to offer up anything else. “Fine,” she said as she turned on her heel. She kept her enhanced senses trained on him as she walked away. Not a single footstep reached her ears. She glanced back before she turned the corner.
There was nobody in the hallway.
With a shudder, Zoe continued to the main entrance.
The defending force was not performing well. The elf was lying on the ground, unmoving. Over him stood the older security guard. One of his arms swung limply as he tossed around an impressive amount of water and ice.
Tiny Ylva was in the thick of things, surrounded by black ash. All of the creatures seemed to be actively avoiding her.
As Zoe was watching, one creature flew out of the air, crashing into Ylva. For a moment, the beetle-like monster sat on top of where Ylva had been standing. Zoe almost ran out to get the thing off of her.
Her worries were unfounded.
Black veins spread across the beetle’s carapace. Smoke poured from the veins for a minute before the entire beetle exploded into more of the black ash. Ylva stood in the center of the settling remains.
Zoe would have liked to say she was unscathed, but her skin had several dark blotches on it. Bruises?
Following the arc the beetle took, Zoe found a mass of tentacles attached to an innocently smiling woman. One of the security specialists. Like Ylva, she was being given a wide berth. It mattered a lot less to the tentacle demon, however. Her appendages stretched out and grasped anything in their reach.
A massive wall of stone had been built around the entrance to the Rickenbacker. Genoa’s work most likely. She must have been looking for her daughter as well.
There was no Eva, nor any sign of the other missing students. Zoe opened the door and walked outside anyway, heading towards Ylva. The hel would likely be concerned about Juliana and might even know where she was.
For a moment, Zoe entertained the idea of teleporting straight to Ylva. As another creature turned to dust in her grasp, Zoe discarded the thought. Surprising the demon and winding up added to the pile of ash was not a current goal.
There weren’t many creatures between her and Ylva, but enough that she wasn’t willing to risk attempting to run through.
Zoe enhanced her vision to the point where she could pick out the individual strands of the stitchings holding the creatures together. She doubted a lightning bolt would do much good. Most of the creatures fighting the security guards had enough icicles buried in them to fill a large freezer.
Their stitches were a far more obvious weak point.
Taking it slow and steady, Zoe sent out precise blades of compressed wind. Each one neatly bisected the stitching. The insides of the creatures at the point where demon contacted human were… odd.
There were tubes filled with blood, heavy metal clamps at the joints, and more than a few wires. The clamps were drastically more difficult to cut, but it didn’t seem to matter much. Without the wires and tubes, the limbs ceased moving.
Zoe focused most of her blades on their legs. Stopping their movement was more important that actually killing the things. They could be put down at leisure later.
With only three creatures disabled, Zoe had a clear shot at Ylva.