Page 91 of The Darkest Night

The wall started to tremble, bricks and mortar quaking as if under the influence of an earthquake. The tremors intensified.

The magic buried in the structure resisted, pure corruption filling the thin cracks that appeared all over it. Mae narrowed her eyes and lifted the lid off her powers a fraction more.

A muffled shout echoed distantly in her ears. She ignored the agony of the man whose soul she was about to undo and gritted her teeth so hard she tasted blood.

Crimson clashed with black, her magic and that of the Sorcerer King colliding with a force that shoved her away from the barrier. Mae roared and pushed back, the power of Azazel and Ran Soyun blazing deep within her soul.

The wall quivered violently. It exploded in the next instant, the dark blocks disintegrating to ash. And there, flickering weakly as it fell, its size greatly reduced, was Nikolai’s soul magic.

Mae moved rapidly toward the glimmering orb and caught it in her hands. She pressed her lips to it and channeled the dazzling light of Ran Soyun’s magic into the kiss.

The orb flared, growing in size and brightness, the steady pulsation within a reflection of the heart of the man who bore it.

Mae opened her eyes and stared into Nikolai’s tear-streaked face. They were both crying where they knelt on the cabin floor, her mouth pressed to his to give him breath just as she had breathed life into his soul. Alastair swayed on Nikolai’s shoulder, the familiar drained.

Mae and Nikolai caught him as he fell. The crow’s pupils flared white and his feathers regained their luster, his powers returning under their combined touch.

“What the hell just happened?” Violet mumbled, ashen-faced.

“She did it.” Nikolai’s voice trembled as he gazed into Mae’s eyes. “She broke the spell.” He swallowed. “Do you think you can do it now? Do you think you can sense them?”

Mae rose, her heart hammering against her ribs.

“Oh, I can do more than that,” she said grimly. She looked over at Miles where he sat in the passenger seat in the cockpit, his face pale. “Tell the pilot to brace.”

He nodded shakily.

Mae tightened her fists and planted her feet wide. Magic bloomed around her.

It blasted through the cabin and out of the aircraft, a scarlet wave that spread across New York with a single beat of her heart.

“Nullify!” Mae growled.

The helicopter juddered and dropped altitude sharply, the aircraft whining as it tilted violently from side to side. Brimstone yelped, claws scoring deep lines in the seat as he slid sideways.

Nikolai grabbed her arm, alarmed. “Mae!”

“It’s okay.”

She pressed a hand against the roof and stabilized the wildly spinning aircraft with her magic, her pulse racing as she waited for the pilot to regain control. The helicopter finally straightened into a smooth hover. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“I think I just crapped my pants a little,” the pilot mumbled.

Mae closed her eyes and focused on the city spread out beneath them, her brow furrowing. The sources of magic she was seeking appeared in her consciousness, a congress of dark souls.

Gotcha!

Her eyes snapped open. She leaned into the cockpit, gazed out the windshield, and slipped her cell out of her pocket. She pressed a number on rapid dial. It connected in two seconds.

“Vlad?”

“Was that you just now?” the incubus asked stiffly.

“Yeah. I have their location. They’re on the Brooklyn waterfront.”

* * *

The ramshackle buildingstood near an abandoned pier overlooking Upper Bay, at the end of a maze of twisted alleyways obstructed by the carcasses of burned-out vehicles and the makeshift dumping grounds that had sprouted up in what had once been a thriving commercial zone. The four-story industrial relic was open to the sky in parts, its broken windowpanes gaping maws in the fading light.

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