Normally, the attacks coincided with the portal opening, but this time, he didn’t hear the familiar pop and whooshing sound it usually made. There was no sign of it at the end of the tunnel either. So either the demons were early because they were restless, or he’d missed it. He was praying it wasn’t the latter. Surviving another six hours under these conditions didn’t seem likely.

The snake was almost at his ankles by the time he disposed of both griffins. He shot it several more times, but stomping on its head was what finally made it go still. Behind it, several more pairs of glowing red eyes caught...