Page 83 of A Fury Of Shadows

Penley landed nimbly on the demon’s blade, shot down it in a flash, and alighted on his shoulder with an angry yowl. He sank his teeth and claws into Barquiel’s right pinion.

The demon tossed him off with a flick of his wing. Bryony’s blood curdled as Penley went flying toward a wall. The cat twisted, kicked off the surface, and flew at the demon. Barquiel snarled and slapped him away with the back of his hand.

Bone cracked. Penley’s pain echoed across his bond with Bryony as he was airborne once more, his small body heading helplessly toward a metal cabinet.

She crushed the despair threatening to overwhelm her and reached for her magic. Heat blossomed in her belly.

“Contain!” someone barked before she could utter the spell.

A golden sphere locked around Penley. It bounced off the cabinet before hovering in mid-air, the cat bobbing unharmed inside it.

Bryony cast a grateful look at Abraham as Barquiel pulled her down through to the next story.

The sorcerer was on his stomach, his outstretched hand manipulatingContainwhere he hung over the edge of the hole in the foyer. He met her gaze, his own wide with panic.

Regina jumped past him, her expression furious. “I’m coming, Bry!”

Daws landed on his witch’s shoulder.

Bryony blinked as Regina’s skirts billowed up around her.I can’t believe she’s wearing silk bloomers!

By the time Barquiel reached the basement, Bryony was covered in cuts and bruises and a thick layer of concrete dust coated her skin and eyelashes.

The only thing that had stopped her skull and her bones from breaking was the veneer of magic she’d erected around her body while the demon made his way through all six floors underneath the lobby with her riding helplessly along.

Barquiel blasted open the steel doors lining the corridor they found themselves in one after the other with sheer demonic energy.

“Where is it?!” he roared. “Where is the damn book?!”

Bryony’s legs kicked at the floor as he dragged her along by her hair, his talons slicing into her scalp while her nails scored the scales on his wrist.

“Go to hell, demon!” she snarled.

He lifted her up and smashed her into the wall, knocking the breath out of her. Scarlet bloomed on her dress as he pressed his sword to her chest, the tip piercing her skin.

“Unless you want me to carve out your wretched heart and feed it to you, you best give me what I want!” he hissed inches from her face. “And it won’t just be you, I shall do the same to your—!”

He froze, his pupils flaring.

He looked down the junction to their right. Bryony’s heart sank.

Barquiel sneered. “I can smell your magic, witch!”

He unleashed a torrent of demonic energy that blasted several walls to smithereens.

Dammit! He’s going to bring the whole building down at this rate!

A savage smile stretched Barquiel’s mouth when the target he sought finally appeared. It was a vault shielded by powerful layers of magic.

Bryony flinched. A dark miasma had erupted around Barquiel’s hand. It sheathed his sword with a sound that made her flesh crawl.

The demon stormed over to the strongroom, debris crunching and flattening under his feet, the black magic he wielded rendering her weak. He sliced through the defensive barriers she had erected with an ease that made her insides twist.

The vault door exploded inward when he kicked it. The metal hatch crashed onto the floor and slid across the repository holding the New York coven’s most precious treasures.

Barquiel released Bryony. He ignored the magic-shielded lockers in the chamber and marched toward the black safe at the far end.

Fear choked Bryony’s breath. “No!”

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