Page 77 of Of Flames and Crows

“What?!” Ludmila gasped, horrified.

As if to prove his claim, a tongue of dark red flame licked the edges of the crevasse some hundred feet ahead. Explosions ripped through nearby streets and buildings as Hellfire Magic shattered gas mains and pipelines.

Mae’s stomach roiled.We have to stop it! But how?!

CouldNegatework?!Brimstone snarled.

It might.She scowled.But this Hellfire Magic is so widespread I don’t know if my spell will cover the whole city!

Brimstone looked over at Nikolai.Then how about you use someone who can focus it just where it needs to go?

Mae’s pulse stuttered.You’re right! I can try tapping into his core to direct our magic!

“Nikolai, I need you to channel my spell into this Hellfire Magic!” she yelled.

CHAPTER32

“What?!”he spluttered.

“I’ll explain later!” Mae’s gaze shifted to Roman. “Come with us! Your Fire Magic might be of use too! Vlad, Ludmila, Julius. Stay here and see what you can do to minimize the damage to the area!”

“I’m only letting you boss me around ’cause you’re the Witch Queen,” Ludmila grumbled.

The Vissarion matriarch and her escort started erecting shields around the neighboring structures. Vlad watched forlornly while Mae made for the breach in the road with Nikolai and Roman.

Heat warmed her flesh when she stopped on the edge of the rift. Mae frowned at the Hellfire Magic boiling and hissing some hundred feet below them. Smoke from the nearby fires engulfed the road, concealing them from curious eyes.

“Brim, Hellreaver. Transform!”

The familiar and the weapon whooshed into their true shapes.

“I’m gonna need your powers to do this,” she told them grimly.

Does this mean I get to play hero again?!Hellreaver asked excitedly.

Brimstone sighed at the weapon.Our powers are yours to do with as you wish, my witch.

Nikolai’s face tightened with determination. “I think I understand what you want to try.”

“Me too,” Roman mumbled. He recoiled when Hellfire Magic bloomed around Nikolai and Alastair, the crow’s feathers crackling with eerie flames. “Wait! How did you—?!”

“It was because of what you did to the nexus with your Fire Magic.” A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s cheek. “When you forced Filomena into it, your fused powers merged with white magic and created a way for Hellfire Magic to leak into the Earth. It entered my core since I was the next person to touch the nexus.”

Mae blinked.Oh. So, that’s what that crack he felt was. A fracture line between the place where Azazel sealed Hellfire Magic and our realm!

It explains what we sensed when we were at the headquarters of the Council of the Moon,Brimstone huffed.

“What?!” Roman looked wildly at the destruction around them, the blood draining from his face. Flames and fumes obscured the sky. The screams renting the air grew in number even as they listened. “You mean I—I’m responsible for all of this?!”

Mae shook her head. “No, Roman.” She squeezed his shoulder, her voice hard. “There was no way you could have predicted this would happen. And neither did the Dark Council. I’m certain this wasn’t part of their plan. Otherwise, they would have tried to find a way to inject a nexus with Fire Magic to obtain Hellfire Magic.” She faltered. “It seems they thought the only way to get their hands on it was through a Fire Magic user’s core.”

“Mae is right,” Nikolai said. “None of this is on you, Roman. You were only trying to save yourself and Filomena.”

Roman swallowed convulsively, still upset at the revelation despite their reassurances. He gasped when the earth shifted violently around them. The crevasse expanded.

“Let’s get to it!” Mae said hurriedly. She knelt on the perimeter of the gulf, Nikolai and Roman framing her. “See if you guys can connect your magic to that Hellfire!”

Nikolai bobbed his head. The flames around him and Alastair crackled and sparked as he focused their powers. A jet of black and crimson fire arced out of his hands and slammed into the inferno below.

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