Page 23 of A Fury Of Shadows

The devils atop Brimstone and Hellreaver screeched and reared back when the lightning found them, their flesh darkening with fresh burns. Brimstone and Hellreaver escaped their clutches and returned to her side.

Mae’s scalp prickled.

The devils were still standing.

They aren’t disintegrating!

She didn’t realize she’d mumbled the words out loud until someone spoke behind her.

“How smart of you to notice.”

Mae whirled around. A red-haired sorcerer levitated inside a sphere of pungent black magic some twenty feet from her. His lynx’s obsidian eyes were full of hate where she bobbed at his side.

She glared. “Oscar!”

Demonic power drenched the air as Brimstone and Hellreaver moved closer to her.

Oscar smirked. Darkness bubbled on his fingertips.“Disperse.”

To Mae’s shock, his spell endedWind Fury, releasing the Dark Council magic users she had entrapped. The sorcerers and witches rose inside globes of inky magic. Their hands brimmed with spell bombs as they surrounded her.

How the hell did he do that?!

The answer came to her at the same time Na Ri spoke.

It’s Nikolai. The Dark Council must have figured out a way to counter your spells with his Hellfire Magic. That’s what we’re sensing.

Mae’s throat tightened at her first incarnation’s bitter tone. Though they knew Nikolai was acting under an illusion, his betrayal still stung.

“Release us, Mae!” Vlad barked.

“He’s a noisy little man, isn’t he?” Oscar looked at the incubus dismissively before meeting her gaze. “Now, how about you be a good Witch Queen and come with us? We won’t have to kill your friends if you do.”

Adrenaline flooded Mae’s veins on a surge of heat that rid her of her exhaustion.Wait. So, this is about capturing me again?!

Brimstone gnashed his teeth.It seems so, my witch!

Mae squared her shoulders and jutted her chin at Oscar. “How about I rearrange your face instead?!”

The sorcerer’s expression grew ugly.

“Get away from her!” Vlad slammed a fist onShield, his murderous gaze locked on the sorcerer. “She’s not going anywhere with you, asshole!”

A vile light lit Oscar’s eyes. Black magic exploded around him on a wave that drew a gasp from Mae’s lips and shoved her back some half a dozen feet.

He lifted a hand at the incubus. “Rot.”

The barrier protecting Vlad and the others dissolved with a hiss of corruption.

The incubus grunted and fell to his knees before he could counterattack, the demonic magic coating his dark swords and flesh fizzing into nothingness. He clutched his chest with a hand, his face crunched up in agony and his knuckles whitening where he clawed the ground.

“No!”Mae screamed.

The denial tore through her, threatening to break her heart all over again. Desperation knotted her belly as she invokedSoul Shield.

The spell shattered the moment it met Oscar’s magic.

CHAPTER9

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