Page 35 of Of Flames and Crows

Holy Hellfire! I thought I was a goner there. What with your boobs and his chest, I swear I saw the pearly ga—!

Mae muzzled him with one hand.

A man built like a tank and sporting a hawk on his wrist entered the chamber. A faint frown marred his brow as he rotated his right shoulder with a distracted expression.

“Alright, I’m all rested and ready to—” He froze when he saw Mae and Brimstone. Pale magic bloomed on his fingertips as he assumed a defensive stance. “What the—?!”

Klara appeared behind him, her ferret clinging to her shoulders. She rocked to a halt when she saw Mae.

Her face crumpled. “Thank God!”

“Put that away,” Marlena snapped at the Tank, indicating his magic.

Her terrier huffed.

CHAPTER15

“Hellfire?”Nikolai said numbly.

“Yeah. The flames you manifested carry the same energy signature as the portal Brimstone came to Earth through.” Mae faltered. “It can’t hurt me, since I have demonic power in my core.”

They had relocated to Marlena’s office, on the second floor of the mansion. Julius Vlach was sitting as far away from Brimstone as he could and kept glancing anxiously at his hawk where the latter was calmly grooming the fur between the nine-tailed fox’s ears.

All the familiars in the room had gathered on and around the demonic spirit.

“Is it me or does that look like a scene from some ghoulish version ofBambi?” Miles muttered to Violet.

The witch grimaced. Her rabbit Trixie had draped herself across one of Brimstone’s giant knuckles like some kind of sacrificial offer and was snoring softly, a hind leg twitching from time to time.

Marlena stared from Nikolai to Mae, pale-faced. “I’ve never heard of a human being able to manipulate the fires of Hell.”

“It’s called Hellfire Magic, to be precise. Azazel was the one who created it.”

Marlena and Klara startled as Brimstone’s voice rattled the windows.

Julius’s eyes bulged.

“He can talk?!” the sorcerer whispered fiercely to Violet.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, it soon gets old.”

Mae’s pulse quickened. “Wait. Does that mean I can use this magic too?”

“Probably. Although I thinkEclipseis just as effective.”

“What the heck is Hellfire Magic anyway?” Miles asked.

“It is a power akin to Heaven’s Fire,”Brimstone replied.“Only a few archangels are able to wield it. Azazel was one of them. He used Heaven’s Fire to design Hellfire Magic.”The fox’s expression turned brooding.“Heaven’s Fire is an unimaginable, destructive force that has wiped out entire worlds in the past. So is its derivative, Hellfire Magic. Azazel was so wary of what he’d created, he sealed it somewhere secret.”

Miles blinked rapidly. He turned to Violet. “Artemus’s flames. I wonder if that’s Heaven’s Fire!”

Mae frowned faintly. Artemus Steele was a Chicago ally she had yet to meet but had heard much about. The son of an archangel, he was the leader of a group of beings destined to defend mankind in the holy war at the End of Days, just as she apparently was too.

“Does Fire Magic have anything to do with Hellfire Magic?” Nikolai asked Brimstone.

His face was haggard with dread. Mae had an inkling what was eating at the sorcerer. It was the same fear gnawing at her insides.

If Hellfire Magic was indeed that powerful, then Vedran and the Dark Council had even more reason to get their hands on him now.

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