Excerpt:

“Grace!” Pax shouted, bursting into the locker room. He could see now what the commotion was. Iggy and Michael, along with Grace and a handful of other girls half-dressed in softball uniforms were gathered against the far side of the locker room, and between them and the door was what could only be described as a monster. It towered at twice Pax's height, and seemed to be dripping thick viscous liquid from it's overly long appendages. A wide gaping mouth showed a double row of teeth, and its eyes glowed with a hellish red light.

“Don't touch the liquid! It's poison!” Pax shouted, gathering a handful of magical energy in one hand and clutching his sword in the other.

The girls just screamed again. Only Micheal, eyes vacant again, was quiet.

Pax rushed forward, charging the familiar monster with a feral yell. He let loose his bolt of energy as soon as he had good aim, and slashed at the neck of the thing with his sword. All that did was get the monster's attention. The fiery red eyes turned towards him. Pax needed to get a good look into them if he wanted to find out any information from it—this was one of the lowest of the low monsters that could be summoned, but only by a sorcerer. And Pax didn't know of any sorcerers who lived in the mortal world.

He was already tired just from that bit of magic, but Pax gathered up another burst of energy, this one a tendrilous electricly charged bolt. It crackled and pinched in his partly closed hand, and caused the mosnter to take a few steps backwards, gushing it's poisonous fluid across the floor to try and slep Pax up. He'd have to be careful not to step in it or get it on his skin.

“That's right, you star-sucking piece of filth.” Pax muttered, circling it and drawing it away from Grace and rest of the mortals.

“When I say Go, I want everyone to scream as loud as you can,” Pax said barely louder than his mutter. Grace nodded, urging everyone towards the doorway. Pax took a deep breath, focusing hard to not let go of the electric bolt.

“GO!” He flung the bolt at the monster's midsection, and the mortals all screamed. As the thing swept it's head around at the noise, Pax leaped nimbly up and sliced the thing's head off. The head thunked onto the floor with a splat, splashing the poison onto Pax's bared sword arm—he couldn't get away in time.

The high schoolers all screamed again, and the ones who didn't know Pax all fled from the locker room. Grace and Iggy rushed towards Pax.

“Is it dead?” Iggy asked.
“What was it? Where was it from?” Grace asked. She was almost fully dressed in her softball uniform, tall socks pulled up to her knees, jersey unbuttoned and untucked.
“Who cares as long as it's dead!” Iggy insisted. He peered at headless, still-oozing body of the monster, but it was fading even as the three of them watched.