Page 48 of A Fury Of Shadows

Mae tensed when she spied the weapon slinking innocently toward the flight deck. “That little—!”

Lou snatched a recalcitrant Hellreaver by the blade before she could jump to her feet and stop him.

“How about you park your sorry ass by your mistress?” the super soldier said thinly. “Ain’t nobody wants a replay of what happened two hours ago.”

Several people groaned. A headache thrummed between Mae’s temples as she recalled the incident in question.

Hellreaver had waltzed into the cockpit to find out where they were while no one was looking and scared the bejeezus out of the pilot and co-pilot. Five bladder-loosening minutes later, aided byWind Furyand the buffering spells Cortes, Violet, and Miles raised, the men had finally regained control of the nose-diving aircraft some thousand feet before it hit the surface of the Atlantic.

Everyone had needed a drink after that, including the pilot and the co-pilot. Chris the flight attendant had finished a bottle of wine all by himself.

A crimson aura bloomed around Hellreaver.Unhand me this instant, you naked monkey!

Mae’s headache intensified to the point where she suspected an imp with a war hammer was pounding the inside of her skull.

Serena put her gun down, rose, and took Hellreaver from Lou before she could intervene.

“Listen here,” the super soldier said coldly, nose to knuckleduster. “Either zip your blades and sit down quietly for the rest of this flight or I’m throwing you off this aircraft.”

Hellreaver quivered belligerently.Oh yeah? I can float, lady!

Serena narrowed her eyes. She looked at Mae. “Did he just say something asinine like he can float?”

Mae blinked. “How’d you know?”

Serena’s frown deepened. “Because I live with a Hellhound who can be just as idiotic.” Her gaze shifted to Brimstone and Tarang. “You two. Come here.”

The fox and the tiger got up and padded over.

“Whoa,” Violet muttered. “It’s like her words are wired to their brainstems.”

Mae was similarly impressed. Vlad on the other hand looked like he had words to say on the subject of someone else commanding his familiar.

Serena put Hellreaver on the floor.

“Sit on him,” she ordered Brimstone and Tarang.

The demon fox’s tail drooped a little.

I don’t know about that, he said warily.What if he bites us? He looks pretty bitey to me.

The tiger rumbled his own doubts.

Serena rolled her eyes. “You have fangs. Just bite him back if he bites you.”

Hellreaver tried to heave her off him, to no avail.Argh! Why is this damn woman so strong?!

“Because I have divine powers,” Serena muttered.

“Because she has divine powers,” Mae said thinly at the same time. She paused and squinted at the super soldier. “Are you sure you can’t read minds?”

Brimstone and Tarang gingerly squished an annoyed Hellreaver. There were audible sighs all round.

“If you’re a good weapon, I’ll give you plenty of demons to eat,” Serena said.

Hellreaver stilled.You will?

“Yes.”

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