Page 99 of A Fury Of Shadows

A vein throbbed in Serena’s temple. The muscles on her arms and legs bunched. She roared and cut through the barrier, her boots digging indents into the ground.

“Now!”

Lou fired at the exposed lock. Vlad carved through the bullet-riddled metal with his swords. Serena stepped back and kicked the door with her foot.

It fell slowly inward. A vile stench flooded the tunnel as it clattered noisily onto a stone floor.

Tom heaved. Tarang growled. Vlad narrowed his eyes. He could smell death coming from the shadows beyond.

They entered and looked around, senses on high alert.

Furnaces glowed here and there, the light they gave off outlining myriad glass equipment and complex machines atop the work benches. Cold cabinets stood against one wall, their low hum drowned out by the generators powering them.

“Serena,” Lou warned.

Vlad looked in the direction the super soldier was staring. A human bone still covered in flesh and gristle lay on the floor. More became visible as his eyes adjusted to the gloom.

“Fuck,” Tom muttered.

Serena’s face tightened. “Well, it’s not as if we weren’t expecting something like this.”

“No,” Tom said hoarsely. He showed them the tablet in his hand. “I mean,fuck!”

Vlad’s eyes widened. The cell doors in the dungeon behind the lab were rising. Red dots filled the screen.

Serena scowled. “Shit!”

Divine power flashed in her pupils. She grasped her blades in a white-knuckled grip and assumed a defensive stance, her gaze locked on the distant wall.

Acid burned the back of Vlad’s throat as he braced. Tarang lowered his head, haunches tensing and fangs gleaming on an unholy growl.

The rear of the chamber exploded. A black cloud carrying the reek of Hell burst through the debris. A sea of red-eyed devils emerged from it, nanorobots gleaming on their teeth and talons, their blood lust corrupting the air.

Vlad knew immediately that they were in trouble.

Because these devils looked different to the ones they’d fought in New York.

CHAPTER37

“Stick him, Enrique!”Popo screeched. “Stick him in the cojones!”

Cortes impaled a Dark Council sorcerer in the chest and scored the eyes of another with his whip. He glowered at his overzealous familiar while the men fell back with groans and screams.

“How about you let me do the fighting, flea brain?!”

Popo sucked in air. “That’s mean! I groom myself every day!”

“This is kinda making me glad Trixie can’t talk,” Violet said dully.

“Same,” Miles muttered. “FYI, that bird has an unhealthy fixation with human genitalia.”

Nikolai cursed and shielded them against a barrage of spell bombs withMoon Storm. He stepped into the fray, his focus unerring as he delivered fatal cuts and stabs to their enemy, his spear blurring in his hands. The last witch grabbed her neck and gurgled before collapsing onto her back, blood pouring through her fingers.

Nikolai’s heart raced as he straightened and looked around.

Most of the Dark Council members in the castle had converged on the entrance hall. Though he and the others were surrounded, they were still winning, if too slowly for his liking.

Just a little more, then I can go find her!

---