Page 74 of Rites of Passage

“Mother?!” Mae mumbled weakly, the word underscored by Na Ri’s tortured voice.

Ran Soyun whispered through her mind.Invoke the spell, my daughters…

Fire blazed inside Mae’s heart at the first witch’s command. It ignited her magic core and sent bright lines of power through the bond connecting her to Brimstone and Hellreaver.

The demon fox trembled and shifted, one leg unbending. The weapon snarled and slowly tipped himself onto a pointed blade, metal vibrating under the pressure still weighing him down.

Mae’s brows met, the power of three binding them once more. She bared her teeth and barked out the conjuration rising from the depths of her subconscious.

“Negate!”

Charlotte’s soul quivered, the pale orb flaring with brightness.

Barquiel cursed as the cage of black magic and hell power containing it broke. He took a step back, bewildered.

Brimstone slowly climbed to his feet, his energy returning. Hellreaver howled and exposed his fangs, a scarlet aura detonating along his blades as he levitated off the ground.

The bands holding Mae prisoner fell away. She rose, the blood dripping down her arms and legs slowing as her wounds healed. She lifted her right hand, fingers trembling.

“Soul Shield!”

Barquiel recoiled as a crimson sphere covered in pale runes wrapped around the only thing that remained of Charlotte Brix. He let go jerkily, the white magic burning him.

Mae drew the orb to her, her heart seething with fury.

She caught movement out the corner of her eye.

A portal tore open next to Hellreaver. Oscar emerged from it, an inky globe in one hand and his sword in the other, his lynx Drabek coiling sinuously around his legs. The sorcerer grabbed Hellreaver.

“No!” Mae screamed.

Oscar blurred across the floor and slammed the weapon into the distant wall, his eyes obsidian with black magic. Darkness swarmed Hellreaver as he struggled in Oscar’s grip, his scarlet aura dampening under the magic assault.

Mae’s stomach lurched. “Hell!”

She and Brimstone moved as one.

Barquiel blocked them with his broadsword, wings spreading wide and a powerful demonic aura pulsing around his body as he braced.

“Let him go, you foul man!” Brimstone snarled at Oscar over the demon’s head, thick flecks of drool falling from his jaws.

The sorcerer snatched the bronze skeleton key dangling off Hellreaver’s knuckle guard and cast the weapon to the far side of the room. “We have the book, Barquiel.” He returned to the portal at lightning speed, smirked at Nikolai’s semi-conscious form, and frowned at the demon. “Did you get what you came here for?”

Barquiel’s eyes flashed crimson. He sprang back and glared at Mae, his hand curling into a fist. “Yes.”

“Then, let us leave.”

Oscar vanished inside the gate.

Barquiel followed.

Hellreaver snarled and arrowed toward the closing rift.

“No!” Mae barked.

“Don’t!”Brimstone warned.

Hellreaver froze at their shouts, his rage making the air shudder. The Dark Council magic users and demons still standing retreated rapidly to the portal they had appeared from, leaving their fallen comrades behind.

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