The mist was rising, the plants were engulfing the building, and while I could probably have got myself out easily enough, there was no way I could have left the other three there. What were our choices? Fight through the plants on the top floor, and have to find a way down to the ground, or fight through a lot more plants down in the mist at the bottom? Adam thought of another option. There was a magic circle right there, and me.
Of course I knew how to perform a banishment ritual. I stepped inside the circle and began the chant. The magic came easier than I expected. The worst part was feeling my human disguise draw back. The last time Michael saw me like this, my brother was trying to kill him. Maybe that thought is what gave me the strength. I drove back the mist and the plants, enough for us all to escape, but at the same time I found myself in contact with the entity we were facing. Or rather, entities. One, vast and powerful and inhuman. The other, small and very very scared.
We got out of there as fast as we could, and I told the others we needed to get to Gillian straight away. Thankfully there wasn't too much argument, as when we got there things were already bad. Robin and Adam went round the back to ensure nobody was escaping that way, and Michael and me went to the front door. Gillian's friend Carmen was there, trying to tell us it was a bad time, but we already knew that. Gillian was lying on the sofa, wearing a crown of leaves and plant matter that looked like it was on the point of burrowing into her skull.
I told a panicking Carmen that it looked like demonic possession and that we were going to deal with it. I managed to get hold of the crown, but actually separating it from Gillian proved tougher that I'd hoped. Fortunately Adam and Robin came in to join us, and while Adam's attempt to deal with the vine-like tattoos that were snaking down Gillian's arms only resulted in him stabbing Robin's armour, with their help I was able to rip the crown away. I let the others deal with disposing it. There was talk of using holy water, which I didn't want anywhere near me. And besides, Gillian had just been through a traumatic experience. She needed a hug.
Once Gillian had recovered enough to talk we got the whole story out of her. She felt like the developers were destroying her mother's legacy, so she'd used the books her mother had left her to repeat her actions. She summoned a moss hag - a fusion of fairy and demon. So when I said hold that thought about moss demons? Pretty much spot on.
We'd saved Gillian from being completely subsumed by the hag, but this hadn't actually removed it, of course. So it was time to tool up. I stayed out of things while Adam and Robin got to work making some kind of bomb. I knew what my role in this was going to end up being.
Back to the construction site. There was no stopping the thing this time. No sending it back to sleep. Gillian had awoken it and it was going to rampage. It pulled itself out of the ground, those two wooden sticks now clearly the horns of this walking tree demon.
No reason to hold back when fighting another demon. I flew at it, trying to shred its branches with my claws. It was tough, and I don't know how long I could have held out as I was battered by flailing branches. But all I needed to do was survive long enough to keep it occupied while Adam and Robin got their bomb into place.
The edge of the blast caught me, sending me tumbling through the air. Michael already knew what needed to be done next - destroying the magic circle we'd had to abandon earlier. I raced towards the tower, went to fly up, and then realised my wings were in tatters from the explosion. The fall didn't hurt, mostly because I landed on Robin.
Rather delayed, we made it up the tower, where Michael was already scraping away at the dried mud with his cricket bat. I tore into it with my claws. And between us we destroyed the last thing holding the demon in this place.
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