Page 29 of A Fury Of Shadows

Anya stepped past them all, determination radiating from every line of her body. The fear had vanished from her face. Blue fire ignited her and Sable’s eyes with an audible thump. Illusion Sorcery washed across Mae’s skin.

The Dark Council sorcerers and witches faltered. Their faces took on the peculiar look she’d come to recognize. One that said they’d fallen under Anya’s spell.

They squatted, flapped their elbows, and started squawking.

Everyone stared. Oscar spluttered incoherently.

Regina turned to Anya. “Oh, come now, that’s cheating!”

“Yeah, we wanted to kick their ass,” Erik protested.

Cortes sighed.

Anya’s eyes flashed. “They’re lucky I’m not having them eat their own shit.”

Sable made an irritated sound. Violet snorted.

“Babe,” Cortes mumbled.

“Trash talk doesn’t suit you,” Vlad told Anya.

“You guys, there’s plenty of devils left if you want some exercise!” Tom yelled as he dashed past them. He skidded to a stop, ducked beneath the talons of the devil chasing him, kicked the monster in the gut, and slashed its throat. Dark blood splashed onto his armor. He cringed. “Eww! Hell cooties!”

“Hey, watch the suits!” Lou shot a fiend in the head and stabbed the one trying to eat his arm in the heart. He lowered his brows at Tom and the other super soldiers. “Gideon will have my guts for garters if anything happens to them.”

“Your husband is a pain in our ass,” a woman grumbled.

She lifted a devil in the air and slammed it into a pile of crates before dusting off her hands.

“Yeah,” Tom agreed with a vigorous nod.

“My husband signs your paychecks,” Lou snapped.

Tom decided to overlook this. He blocked an attack by a devil and squinted at Cortes.

“By the way, isn’t that guy Enrique Cortes, theBacatá Cartel’ssecond-in-command?” he asked Lou as he kneed the monster in the groin.

Cortes froze. Anya sucked in air.

Regina’s eyes sparkled with horrified delight as she looked from the mobster to his witch girlfriend.

“Abort! Abort!” Popo warned his sorcerer in a stage whisper.

“Er.” Tom scratched his cheek awkwardly at Cortes’s murderous look. “Was that meant to be secret?”

“I swear, I’m going to shoot him one day,” someone murmured next to Mae.

CHAPTER11

Serena was standing beside her.The super soldier dropped down on her haunches and reached for Mae’s throat.

Mae recoiled.

Serena’s hand stilled inches from her flesh. “I’m just trying to get that collar off you.”

Mae met the super soldier’s steady gaze. She swallowed and dipped her chin. Golden light shimmered on Serena’s fingertips and in her eyes. She took hold of the collar, studied it with a frown, and crushed it.

Air flooded Mae’s lungs on a sweet wave as the debilitating magic suppressing her powers faded. Her bond with Brimstone and Hellreaver brightened her world.

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