Page 79 of Rites of Passage

A hand touched her back, warming her cold flesh.

Tendons screamed in Mae’s neck as she turned her head a fraction.

It was Violet. Tears dripped down the witch’s furious face, her pupils and those of Trixie blazing with purple magic. Miles and Millie followed, the snake coiling around Mae’s leg while Miles pressed his fingers to her back. Barbara, Bryony, Raven, and everyone else joined them along with their familiars, their powers burning her skin as they touched her.

“Take it!” Karin snarled. “Take our magic, dammit!We will not have you die, you hear?!”

Na Ri’s voice reached Mae faintly.It’s okay, Mae. They are our people.

Mae shuddered. She was aware she had the ability to absorb the magic of others. It had always been an unconscious act in the past, one over which she had zero control. Except there was a spell that could help her do it in a restrained manner, without sucking dry every magic core in the vicinity. It had come to her moments ago.

She had refused to incant it, too scared of what it would do.

Na Ri’s words gave her the courage she needed to voice it. Mae called on her last remaining reserves of magic and incanted the spell, the word a whisper on her numb lips.

“Absorb…”

Heat exploded inside her, bright and incandescent. It soaked her flesh and her bones in all the colors of the rainbow, the magic of the witches and sorcerers around her surging toward the cores of power in her heart and belly. She sucked in air as her strength returned with every beat of her worn-out heart, her hair darkening to inky black once more. Brimstone raised his head weakly, his fur regaining its richness and shine. Hellreaver’s aura reignited with a scarlet flash.

“Mae?”

Vlad had opened his eyes. He rose on one elbow, his face still pale.

Nikolai sat up slowly and groaned. “What the hell happened?” He clutched his head and froze when he saw her. He lunged from the couch and fell on his knees, eyes wide with fear and hand reaching out to her. “Mae!”

Mae clenched her jaw and endedAbsorbbefore it could drain the cores of everyone who had gifted her their magic. They stepped back to give her space as she pushed up onto her hands and knees, their heaving chests and flushed faces signs of the toll her spell had exerted on their bodies.

Mae swallowed heavily. Though her mouth tasted like ash and her head still throbbed, she felt like herself once more. Strong hands pulled her to her feet. She swayed and blinked.

Nikolai and Vlad looped their arms around her and steadied her.

The incubus glanced around the room, suspicion furrowing his brow. “Why do I get the distinct feeling that you just did something foolish, Princess?”

The wounded sorcerers and witches were coming to slowly.

Violet scowled. “You scared the shit out of us!”

She punched Mae lightly in the ribs.

“Ouch.” Mae grimaced when Violet blanched. “I’m kidding. I’m all healed up, see?”

She pulled up her top and showed them her unblemished skin.

Vlad sucked in air. “Whoa there. We should do that in private, cupcake.”

Mae narrowed her eyes. “You have a one-track mind, you know that?”

“Are you just permanently horny?” Nikolai snapped at the incubus.

Abraham stormed the sitting room with Mila. “What the hell happened?” The aide’s eyes rounded as he observed the bloody mess around him. He slowed to a stop, the color draining from his face. “Shit! Was it the Dark Council?!”

Bryony sighed. “It’s a long story.”

Mila looked around curiously. “Did you guys fight demons?”

Abraham startled. “How did you know that?”

“I have angel blood, remember?” A golden light bloomed across Mila’s skin briefly. “I can smell them from a mile away. Besides, a bunch of them regularly visit us in Chicago.” The Immortal made a face. “I’m familiar withEau de L’Enfer.”

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