“Hey! That’s ours!” Andrew yelled, popping up beside Jonathan. His Eagle Scout knife was in his hand, the stubby blade locked into place. He shook it at the slayer. “That hasn’t been field-tested, missy!”

The slayer didn’t hear him. She fired the freeze ray straight up, zapping the levitating Mayor. Instantly, he was encased in ice, like Han Solo frozen in see-through Carbonite. Encumbered and powerless, he fell through the air. The Glairy demon oozed across the floor in a hurry, stretching himself to catch the frozen Mayor in the safety of his gelatinous body.

The slayer continued to spray down all the demons near the edge of her portal: A Wellex demon. Half a dozen of the adorable pop-eyed genital renders. One of the loose goats from hell. A vampire wearing a brocade jacket and a cravat. All icebound.

“Oh my God, it works,” Andrew said, incredulous.

“Too well,” Jonathan said. Bile burned the back of his throat.

Jonathan had invented the freeze ray for self-defense. It was supposed to be something he could use to stop an attacker and run away. Like pepper spray with less risk from a change in the wind. Seeing it take down demons just trying to protect Demondale was awful.

“Cool your jets,” the slayer said with a maniacal laugh as she continued to cold-shoot anyone who got too close. “Chill out!”

“Oh no,” Andrew said, gripping Jonathan’s arm. “She’s discovered Mister Freeze puns! Someone has to stop her before she asks what killed the dinosaurs!”

“She’s going to overload the gun,” Jonathan said. Panic was making it hard for him to swallow. He didn’t know what would happen to the freeze ray under pressure. It had a hellish ice crystal at its heart, the magic of which Jonathan only vaguely understood. It could burst. Or implode. Or misfire. “It’s specced for short bursts, not a continual blast!”

The slayer realized this a moment too late. The freeze ray’s stream turned to thick white ice in midair. The blue plastic of the barrel iced over from tip to handle, covering the slayer’s hand. Undeterred, she used the icicle sticking out of the muzzle to stab a Juggernaut demon in the eye. The demon cried out and punched the icicle, dislodging it from the barrel but not from his eye.