Page 32 of A Fury Of Shadows

The sorcerer’s mouth rounded on a stunned O. He grabbed frantically at the weapon lodged in his body, his grip turning slippery with blood. Crimson oozed out of the corner of his mouth. He blinked furiously at Mae, the track slowing as it congealed under the effect ofIce Fortress.

“What—what are you doing?!” he gasped.

Mae swallowed. “That which you would have done to me.”

Fire licked her veins as she attempted to penetrate the barrier Vedran had erected around his son’s core. It resisted her.

Mae lowered her brows, her heart thundering in her chest as she called upon everything she had. Blood washed across her tongue.

Brimstone grunted. Hellreaver vibrated violently in her grip.

His blade pierced Oscar’s core.

The sorcerer jerked. Once. Twice. Three times.

An oppressive miasma darkened the interior of the building as his eyes rolled back in his head. Mae’s stomach lurched. An inky doorway whooshed into life behind Oscar. She yanked Hellreaver out of his body as he fell backward into the Sorcerer King’s portal.

Vedran’s glacial voice reached her when the doorway started closing on his heir. “You test my patience, witch.”

Na Ri’s wrath burned through Mae.

“I’m coming for you, asshole,” she growled.

A deafening silence fell around her when the rift vanished.

She turned, her heartbeat loud in her ears. Barquiel had vanished along with the devils and the Dark Council sorcerers and witches who had survived the battle.

Mae met Vlad’s relieved gaze, her breaths rattling her lungs.

A sound had everyone whirling around and raising weapons and spell bombs.

“Whoa.” Miles put his hands up hastily where he stood in the gaping opening that used to be the entrance of the warehouse. The sorcerer stared, his boa constrictor familiar Millie tasting the air curiously with a forked tongue from where she’d draped herself across his shoulders. “What the hell happened?”

CHAPTER12

Curious glances landedon Mae and her companions when they walked inside the headquarters of the New York coven on Madison Avenue two hours later.

“It looks like the cat is officially out of the bag,” Violet muttered as they crossed the foyer. “Jared is gonna be so pissed.”

Mae swallowed a sigh.

Jared Dickson was an NYPD Lieutenant working as a liaison between the Immortal societies and the U.S. Special Affairs Bureau, or, as Violet liked to call it, the U.S. Supernatural Affairs Bureau. He had been tasked with keeping the otherworldly disturbances in New York from the eyes of the public and the curious media.

Though the magic community had tried its best to stay under the radar of the authorities over the decades they’d operated in the state, the rise in magical incidents following Mae’s awakening and the battles they had been forced to wage against the Dark Council in the past year had attracted more attention than they would have liked, including that of City Hall.

From the whispers they could overhear, rumors of what had transpired at the warehouse had already spread among the magic users in the city. Mae suspected the cops who’d turned up in the aftermath of the attack in Brooklyn had something to do with that. Some probably had family members who’d been born a sorcerer or a witch, making them aware of the existence of the not-so-secret coven in New York.

Jared had showed up in Brooklyn that morning. The Immortal had sighed wearily when he’d stepped out of his car onto the icy pavement and seen them.

“My horoscope said I was going to have a shitty day. I should have known it would be because of you guys.” He’d frowned when he’d spotted Serena Blake and her team. “What are you doing here?” He’d slowed and looked around warily. “Wait. Don’t tell me Artemus and the pooch are here too?”

“They aren’t,” Serena had replied drily. “Artemus will be thrilled to hear you talk about him that way, though. Specially since he made that sword for you and everything.”

Jared had flinched guiltily. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that guy is—”

“A trouble magnet,” Serena had interrupted with a weary grimace. “I know. I live with him.”

Everyone had looked at Mae then.

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