As much as Alice hated to admit it, Felisa had gotten a lot stronger since their high school days. She was still a monster back then, but this...

The devildog stumbled about, warily batting at the mages with what little strength it could with Felisa's spell in effect. It had taken her only minutes to take apart the demon, something neither the police nor the swat team could manage. And all it took was a few sprays of incense and some holy water. Even without the others, the dog would have been mincemeat. Having all the mages around to help was just overkill.

"Satisfied, Ally?"

She groaned, continuing to watch the fighting from behind Uncle Brown's binoculars.

It had taken some convincing, but she'd managed to get his okay to come along so long as she didn't go any further than the entrance, which was perfectly fine with her. As curious as she was, she wasn't stupid. She knew as well as anyone else how dangerous the creatures of the undead were. Whole towns were supposedly ravaged by them in the olden days. And modern times were no different. Even with holy magic, some would keep up the attack. Some would resist. And some would outright shrug off their spells, though those were few and far between.

They were lucky the devildog didn't fall into any of those camps. Spirit of Binding was always a tricky spell to pull off when the bindee was stubborn.

"Shouldn't they be killing it now?" she asked as the mages left the canine behind.

"Pretty hard to do that with the ghost in the way."

"Yeah, but it's a ghost, right? It can't actually hurt 'em. It's all smoke and mirrors."

"In theory, yes. In practice...well...let's just say poltergeists are nasty little buggers. And not every mage knows how to handle themselves."

As he said this, the ghost burst into a powdery mist, a haze spreading over the junkyard.

The mages disappeared from sight, Alice having to switch the binoculars to night vision to see them all. Through the scope, everything that gave off heat would appear as a blob of white, hotter entities appearing brighter. The mix of thermal and infrared was supposed to help them see better. But. What in the-? She magnified the scope, squinting as she saw several mages appearing as pale white blobs. More than the amount they'd ridden to the junkyard with.

And none of which she could tell apart.

"Crap. Hey, Uncle Brown. We got a problem."

She handed over the binoculars, Uncle Brown leaning out the window to see.

"Hmm. Yeah. That would be an issue." He handed back the binoculars. "But Felisa's out there, so I wouldn't worry."

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Not even seconds after he said this, the mist violently retracted, an inhuman scream rising across the junkyard. Uncle Brown smiled.

"You can't really fool her eyes, Ally," he said. "Figured you, of all people, would remember that."

The mages all turned towards the noise, the translucent ghost sizzling as she dropped to the ground, Felisa standing over her. She pressed her blade to the back of the ghost's neck, eyes shining green as holy magic coursed through her weapon. There wasn't a scratch on her.

"I did warn you, Ms. Spirit," she said.

The ghost didn't respond. If it even could. The spell fried the spirit on contact. As she should have expected.

Felisa was the only person in the world that made Alice doubt she had the soul of a wizard. As strong as her spells were, the mage could kill anything that looked at her funny in seconds. And that was without the charms. With so many artifacts, she might as well have been untouchable. Just thinking about it made Alice's blood boil. She was the wizard. She was the one with almighty power. So why was that brunette bimbo so strong? Why was she always right there with her? Why couldn't she- Alice handed back the binoculars.

"Alright," she said. "Screw this, I'm ready to go home."

Uncle Brown sighed. "It's not a competition, Ally."

She didn't respond, sitting back with arms folded. God, I hate her. One of Dad's guards offered her water. She traded it for a soda. The fizzy drink washing down her throat gave her a small burn, vision growing dark. Huh. This is a really good soda. She sipped at it again, waiting for the effect to go away.

It didn't.

"Hey, did you guys spike my drink or something?" she asked. "Hello?"

Nobody was responding. She reached out, Uncle Brown jolting. Her vision returned.

"Ally! Ally, is that you?"

Her brow furrowed.

"Uh. Yeah." For some reason, her guards also looked on edge. "Somebody spike everyone's drinks or what?"

Nobody was laughing. In fact, everyone else in the car was looking around confused.

"What just happened?" Uncle Brown asked. "Ally, you saw that too, right?"

"Huh? Saw what?"

"Everything just got dark all of a sudden. I couldn't hear anything. Like I was in a void."

Alice looked at him, her voice rising a notch. "If that's a joke, then you can stop now. I'm not laughing."

Uncle Brown's expression was deathly serious. She didn't notice until then just how quiet the junkyard had become.

The mages stood rooted in place, Felisa's blade held against the spirit's neck but not moving an inch. Not even as the spirit seemed to regain consciousness, its head turning as light returned to its eyes.

"Bark."

Alice's breath caught in her throat. She looked across the junkyard, the devildog standing upright once again. But her attention had zeroed in on the creature perched atop its back. The bright red beast that had one of the mages dangling in the air, suspended by a tail wrapped around her neck.

"Master."

The demon's white eyes glowed, curled horns looking even sharper in person than they did in the books. Alice felt her soul reacting, skin crawling from seeing the monster in the flesh for the first time in her life. Any words she had died the moment he appeared. The hellspawn she was tied to by fate. The demon Luizitine.

"Soul of Cold."

As he recited those words, the mage on his tail was frozen solid.