Page 59 of Of Flames and Crows

Confusion clouded the faces around her.

Vlad lowered his brows. “So, theyweren’tkilled by the Dark Council?”

“No. They were.” Mae frowned at the sorcerer at her feet. “Brim and I can feel black magic in their cores.” She paused, a muscle jumping in her jawline. “By my estimation, these bodies are at least two months old, if not older.”

Julius flinched. “What?” He glanced at the victims. “But—shouldn’t they be in a more advanced stage of decomposition?!”

“The space down here is cold and airtight.” Mae indicated the heavy, metal door at the top of the stairs. “Now that that’s open, the decomposition process will resume.”

“Does this mean these attacks preceded the ones involving Fire Magic users?” Nikolai said after a short silence, his tone hard.

“Yes.” Mae fisted her hands. “It seems we were mistaken.”

“About what?” Violet asked cautiously.

“About the Dark Council lying low,” she replied bitterly. “It looks like they’ve been working hard in the shadows to achieve some goal we weren’t even aware of.”

Her bleak words had everyone frowning.

Miles scratched his head. “There’s something I don’t get.”

“What?” Violet muttered glumly.

“Where are their familiars?” The sorcerer waved a vague hand around the crypt. “Shouldn’t their bodies be next to them?”

Mae blinked.He’s right!

“What did you find?” Ludmila shouted down to them.

Mae looked up distractedly, her mind racing. “They weren’t Fire Ma—!”

She froze, her eyes widening.

CHAPTER25

Ludmila recoiledwhen Mae raised a hand toward her.

“Shield!” Mae yelled.

A crimson barrier detonated above Ludmila.

The cat who’d leapt from the wall of the crypt crashed into it with a snarl. The familiar glared at the shocked Fire Magic witch, a vile darkness oozing out of its eyes. It started shuddering violently.

Mae cursed when its body silently imploded into a dark miasma. Hell’s corruption swamped the crypt as a demon with red eyes and an arrowhead-tipped tail crawled out of the black cloud.

Julius stumbled back a step. “What the—?!”

Moon Magic whooshed into life around his hands.

Herbert’s pupils detonated with Fire Magic. Ludmila cast a blast at the demon.

It evaded the attack, its body blurring as it leapt straight across the vault. Its claws raked lines in the stone and rained fine dust upon the ground when it landed on the opposite wall on all fours, its stance defying gravity.

A noise dragged Mae’s alarmed gaze from the fiend as it focused its attention on them.

Bones were shifting in several of the recesses around the crypt.

Her stomach dropped. More familiars emerged from behind the ancient human remains, the stench of corruption radiating off them so strong it left a taste of ash in her mouth.

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