Page 53 of A Fury Of Shadows

A forlorn sound rent the air. Nikolai looked down, his heartbeat a heavy sound that filled his wretched world. Alastair was crying, deep shudders quaking his tiny body.

Nikolai’s vision blurred with unshed tears as the agony of their loss threatened to drown him in an ocean of dark despair.

The rage that swelled deep within him with his next breath ignited his belly with a power that would not be denied. Alastair’s eyes flashed white, his core responding with a wrath that matched his own.

The crow lent him his power as he climbed shakily to his feet.

Light filled the arena, drawing cries from those it blinded. Nikolai’s gaze did not waver as he headed for the one he blamed for his mother’s death and the misery that had been visited upon him and all his dead siblings.

The Sorcerer King lowered his brows, his sight unaffected by the white magic pulsing across the amphitheater. “You mean to kill me, son?”

“I am not your son!”Nikolai snarled. He raised his arm to lob the blazing spell bomb floating in his palm.“And you are not my father!”

Vedran’s gaze shifted past him. “Don’t kill him.”

In that instant, Nikolai realized he’d forgotten about the other monster in the arena with him. Oscar’s sword lanced his back, leaving a trail of fire.

Black magic seared his senses as the sorcerer grabbed him by his neck. He lifted him up with a savage sound and slammed him face down into the floor. Pain locked the air in Nikolai’s lungs. He felt his jaw and nose break.

Oscar clutched his hair and bowed his head so far off the ground he thought his spine would snap. He smashed Nikolai’s skull down, again and again.

Blood stained the marble, a crimson mess Nikolai could barely make out. Shadows blanketed out parts of his vision. His body started going numb. Sight and sound faded.

He thought he heard a woman’s voice as he fell into a void from which he feared he would never emerge.

CHAPTER20

The SUV door opened.

Lou climbed in with a large paper bag.

Brimstone perked up where he sat in the passenger footwell.I smell meat.

Lou closed the door and removed a pair of foot-long subs dripping with fat from the carrier. Hellreaver drooled against Mae’s chest. The weapon transformed and inched closer to Lou.

The super soldier handed the food to him and Brimstone. “Don’t make a mess.”

His warning was lost amidst the sound of scarfing. He frowned as food debris pelted the interior of the vehicle.

“I’m sorry,” Mae said. “The only place they mind their manners is at my mom’s.”

“She must be a powerful witch if she succeeded in putting the fear of God into them,” he grunted.

She grimaced. “She’s a South Korean matriarch.”

“Oh. One of those.” He took more packages out of the bag. “I got us some subs too.”

Mae’s stomach growled at the delicious aroma of bacon and sausage wafting from the bread rolls.

“Thanks,” she said gratefully.

They ate their breakfast in companionable silence and watched the rundown place twenty feet south of where they were parked, on a busy street in Budapest’s District 7. Serena had disappeared inside it an hour ago.

It housed a ruin bar, a style of drinking establishment that had become popular in the city in the past decades. With a predilection for vacant, pre-war buildings, they boasted eclectic interiors and a bohemian atmosphere that appealed to people of all ages.

Though it was mid-morning, the place was already seeing a steady footfall with a stream of diverse clientele heading in and out the arched doorway.

According to the super soldiers, the bar was popular among some of the city’s less reputable counterintelligence agents. Since the Dark Council had dealings with crime syndicates and gangs in practically every metropolis in Europe, they hoped they would find a clue to their enemy’s possible whereabouts from one of those sources.

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