Page 94 of The Darkest Night

Relief made Mae tremble. She swallowed. “Are you okay?”

“Yes and no,” Ryu replied stiffly, out of sight. “Ye-Seul hurt her head when they attacked us. She needs to go to the hospital.”

Mae finally allowed her rage to escape her soul, the tide of magic that pulsed from her body making the building shake and filling the surrounding neighborhood with a crimson haze.

It was her signal to the others to make their move.

Heat blossomed inside her as she unleashed her powers. She raised a shield around the locker room just like Violet and Miles had taught her before they took off from the heliport and turned to face her enemy, Hellreaver in her hands. Brimstone shook himself out beside her, his towering, nine-tailed form casting a shadow on the ground that made the Dark Council sorcerers stumble back in trepidation, his powers amplifying hers.

Sobol released his inner demon, his hateful eyes gleaming ochre.

Mae’s fingers clenched on Hellreaver. Now that Ryu and Ye-Seul were inside a protective barrier, she could finally let loose. She jumped, pushed off a nearby boiler, and side-kicked the fiend in the chest.

Sobol grunted and stumbled backward, surprise flaring on his face. Mae landed smoothly on her feet, not a hair out of place.

“That’s right, assface,” she sneered at the stunned demon. “We weren’t at max power when we fought you that night.”

An array of black-magic bombs arrowed toward her. She blocked them with a crimson sphere.

“Devour!”

The red globe obeyed her command and expanded, swallowing the sorcerers’ spells hungrily. Mae cast her globe back at them. The men’s screams filled her ears as they were thrown across the floor. The scarlet ball detonated against the east wall of the building and carved out a hole through which the sorcerers dropped.

Sobol came at her with a snarl. Mae blocked his attack, Hellreaver juddering in her hands.

The demon bared his fangs when the weapon sank his teeth into his fist. A black storm exploded above him, dark lightning agitating the red-tinged currents. Sobol growled in delight.

Brimstone bit the demon’s hand off as he reached inside the tempest for Barquiel’s magic.

Sobol froze. He looked blankly at the black liquid oozing from the ragged stump that was all that remained of his upper left extremity.

“Like I said.” Mae levitated off the ground, her magic sending her hair and clothes fluttering wildly, her tone dropping to chilling depths. “We were not at max power when we fought that night.”

She pressed a hand to Sobol’s chest and focused. Sobol’s eyes rounded. Black blood spurted from his lips. He looked down to where Mae had punctured his rib cage and grasped his heart. He groaned as she crushed it.

Still, he did not fall.

Mae frowned.Just like Antonovich.

She yanked her hand free, propelled herself off Sobol’s body, and somersaulted through the air. She swung Hellreaver as she dropped upside down behind the demon, the weapon’s blade and her magic carving straight across the monster’s neck and slicing it in two.

By the time she landed on her feet, Sobol’s head had thudded to the floor some fifteen feet away.

TheOniksgeneral staggered blindly for several seconds, his one functioning hand reaching for his missing skull. Demon blood bubbled out of the raw wound at the top of his severed spine and splattered onto the floor. He fell into the dark, expanding pool, his body shrinking to his human form.

Mae cast a glance at the locker room, her heart racing. She could feel Ryu and Ye-Seul’s life forces beyond the shield. Though Ryu’s felt stronger, their grandmother’s was still potent despite her injury. She fisted her hands.

She had no option but to leave them there for the time being.

Brimstone nudged her with a giant leg. “They will be safer within the barrier than out here.”

“I know.” Mae turned and headed for the stairs. “Let’s go.”

Brimstone followed. Hellreaver hummed savagely in her hands.

Their magic exploded across the building as the first wave of sorcerers and demons reached them.

Chapter 43

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