Page 21 of A Fury Of Shadows

Cortes glanced at Mae. “Can you tell which direction they’ll come from?”

Mae frowned and extended her magic outward. Her stomach plummeted when a trace of Hellfire Magic flickered against her consciousness. Hope stole her breath.

Wait! Is he—is Nikolai here?!

CHAPTER8

“He isn’t, my witch.”

Brimstone’s voice reverberated in her ears, dashing the suffocating feelings that threatened to swallow her whole and causing Vlad to direct a puzzled look their way.

“Do not be fooled by—” The demon fox’s eyes flared. His hackles rose. He lowered his head and let loose a savage sound, his tails vibrating so hard the eddies raised debris around the warehouse. “Devils!”

Icy fingers danced down Mae’s spine. She recalled the creatures who’d attacked them in the crypt under the church in Prague, where Barquiel and the Dark Council had laid a trap for her and her allies while they’d been hunting down Roman Volkov’s whereabouts.

Violet paled. “Did Brimstone just say devils?!”

Anya’s voice trembled a little. “What are—devils?”

“They are creatures from Hell who answer to Barquiel,” Cortes explained in a deadly tone. “They ambushed us in Europe, two months ago.”

“They’re nasty little sons of bitches,” Vlad grunted.

My witch,we are being surrounded, Hellreaver warned.

Mae’s nails sank into her palms. She squashed the longing bubbling inside her. Thinking about Nikolai was not going to get them out of whatever mess they’d just gotten themselves into.

And if devils are around, then that asshole is definitely skulking somewhere close by.

But try as she might, she could not detect even a whiff of Barquiel’s corruption. Her flesh heated up as she drew on her cores, Na Ri’s fury a hot taste on her tongue that bolstered her weary body. Demonic magic burst from her pores and lit up her skin. She blinked.

Underlying it was a sheen of dazzling light.

“Is that—?!” Violet started.

“—white magic?!” Isabelle gasped.

Na Ri’s presence filled Mae’s consciousness. An invisible wind whipped at her hair and clothes as she rose within a giant, crimson sphere laced with ivory threads, the power they’d inherited from Azazel and Ran Soyun making her very bones tremble. She lowered her brows, raised her hands at her sides, and hurled her magic outward as far as she could.

“Negate!”

Hellfire Magic immediately clashed against her own, shattering the spell that would have eaten away at the demonic energy closing in on them.

Mae scowled.Nikolai may not be here. But his magic sure as hell is!

Something flickered on her mind map before she could give further thought to how he’d managed to counter her spell. Her eyes widened.

The whole load of nothing she’d sensed before was moving toward the warehouse at breakneck speed. Bile burned the back of her throat when she realized her mistake.

Shit. It was a concealment spell?!

Her alarmed gaze met Vlad’s. “Brace yourselves!”

Incubus energy solidified in a thick veneer around the Black Devils’ heir and his familiar at her warning. The others raised their defenses.

Mae barely had time to create a second version ofShieldaround them before the warehouse door blasted open and the skylights and windows exploded inward. A dark mist burst inside the building amidst the falling shards as the door tumbled across the floor, bringing with it the stench of Hell.

Fiends with red eyes and arrowhead-tipped tails emerged from the inky clouds, along with a horde of black magic users.

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