Short snippet from The Trouble with Demons

As promised, a short snippet from The Trouble with Demons. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

With my next step, I felt a crunch followed by a squish. I jumped back and stifled a squeal; it came out as a squeak. I grimaced and raised my boot; Phaelan saw what was on the bottom before I did. The last time I'd seen him look that sick was after a business rival sealed him in a brewing vat and Phaelan had the bright idea to drink his way to freedom.

I flexed my ankle and looked down. The goop on the bottom of my boot was blue, which was a healthy color for a demon, but flat wasn't a good shape. I tried to scrape it off, then froze. I sensed it before I heard it. Scuttling, sibilant hissing, straight ahead.

And right behind.

Above and all around us, glowing eyes peered out of abandoned offices. They were small, but when there were that many, size didn't matter.

Phaelan had a wickedly curved blade in each hand. "Let's hope these bleed and die."

Vegard's lightglobes flared bright as day, showing us things that made me want to scream, run, and not stop doing either one until I was back in the middle of Carnades's kitchen. Tiny demons, no taller than my hand, scurried like mice. That is if mice were blue and spindly and looked like legs with teeth. Really, really sharp teeth. I'd just squished their sibling; they probably weren't happy about that.

A swarm of demons, no room to fight, and we all had blades out. No good could come of this. Magic would be best; fire would be better -- both would make the tiny demons seething around us scream, which would bring bigger demon reinforcements from upstairs.

"If we skewer the little bastards, they're gonna scream," I warned in a singsong voice through clenched teeth.

"If they jump on me, I'm gonna scream," Phaelan shot back. "Can't the kid sing them to sleep?"

Piaras grimaced. "I don't think they have ears."

He was right. With that many teeth, the only other things they had room for on their misshapen heads were yellow eyes.