Page 1 of A Fury Of Shadows

CHAPTER1

The air sizzled with magic.Static raised the hairs on Mae Jin’s arms as she dove to her left.

She missed the curving whip threatening to wrap around her left leg by a hairbreadth, used Hellreaver to block the powerful spell bomb arrowing toward her asshe twisted in mid-air,and landed on her side with a grunt. The whip hissed close to her cheek as she rolled and came up on one knee. She studied the witch who’d attacked her with a faint frown.

Karin Everheart sneered. “Come now, demon. Is that all you’ve got?!”

The Siamese cat pacing the ground at the High Priestess’s feet hissed and spat, her eyes aglow with the orange magic dancing on her mistress’s fingertips and weapon.

“You give her too much credit,” Derrick Adlington said coldly. Gold sparks danced along the length of the double-ended spear spinning lazily in the High Priest’s hands as he trod the floor to Mae’s right, his stare predatory. “We both know she’s nothing but a fake.”

Wow.

Mae grimaced at the insult and climbed to her feet. She hadn’t anticipated they’d be quite so annoying in the grip of Anya’s Illusion Sorcery.

They’re almost as bad as that brat Abraham was when he was under the influence of her magic,Hellreaver grumbled in her hand.Let me at them, my witch!

Mae tightened her grip on the weapon as he struggled to break free.

“Down, Cujo!” she snapped. “You know that’s not part of the plan.”

Hellreaver growled, annoyed.

She was distracted by a calm voice.

“How’s that counter spell coming along?” Enrique Cortes said from the shadows of the empty warehouse in Brooklyn where the mock battle was taking place.

Anya Mendes stood beside the Columbian sorcerer, her pupils and those of her Harpy Eagle Sable lighting up the gloom with the blue flames of the power pouring out of them.

Karin and Derrick were oblivious to her and Cortes’s presence.

Now that Mae had gotten used to sensing Anya and her familiar’s cores, she could feel their eerie magic throbbing against her flesh. It still set her teeth on edge even though she knew they were no longer her enemy.

She glanced at Cortes. “I know you said I shouldn’t use my full powers during these sparring sessions, but it would be a lot easier to focus if I wasn’t getting my ass handed to me. How about we try something—?!”

Movement out of the corner of her eye had her cursing.

She was too late to dodge the attack hurtling toward her. Heat seared her right thigh when it glanced off her flesh, wringing a gasp from her lips. Though the wound healed almost instantly, it still stung.

Derrick curled a mocking lip. The sorcerer looked like he was enjoying himself, as did the hawk on his shoulder.

It was Cortes who’d suggested the High Council assist Mae with her training. They’d been initially reluctant to do so. Considering how the entire magic community had turned on Mae mere weeks ago after falling prey to the Dark Council’s latest heinous scheme, she could hardly blame them.

Cortes had finally convinced them it was in everyone’s interest that she succeed in overcoming Anya’s spell.

Mae eyed Karin and Derrick glumly.They’ve grown suspiciously enthusiastic now they’ve realized they get to kick my ass every day.

Heat pulsed across her bond with Brimstone.That floozie from the West Coast and the damn fool from Orlando were the same when they visited last week.The demon fox fidgeted restlessly next to Cortes.Allow me to intervene, my witch. I cannot sit still while these weaklings attack you!

“No.”Mae’s gaze flicked to the fox. “I need to do this on my own.” She paused. “And don’t let Abraham hear you call Raven a floozie.”

Brimstone drooped. Cortes frowned at the fox. He’d expressly forbidden him from helping her with his demon magic.

Hellreaver sulked in Mae’s hold, equally annoyed. Though she was allowed to wield him as a weapon, he was also banned from aiding her with his powers. According to Anya, the best way for Mae to learn to combat Illusion Sorcery was by relying on her own two cores. Cortes had concurred.

Though neither of them had said the words out loud, Mae knew what Anya and Cortes were afraid of. If Brimstone and Hellreaver were ever incapacitated again, as they were during her last battle against the Dark Council, she would have to rely on her own magic to defend herself against their enemy.

Mae could feel the sources of power that had recently awakened inside her deep within her belly and her chest. They throbbed with the formidable demonic energy she had been born to wield. Entwined around the bright spheres were pulsing threads of white magic.

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