Page 46 of A Fury Of Shadows

Barquiel’s disquiet grew. He could tell from the Immortal’s disheveled appearance and glassy expression that he had not slept in days.

He only gets like that when he’s close to completing a project.

The demon cursed himself all over again for not having the foresight to distract Vedran and stop him from coming to the lab.

At this rate, he may very well ruin our plans.

Dietrich was the only person in the entire world who knew what the demon truly wanted. Having promised his soul to Hell, the man had nothing to gain from betraying him. Not that he had ever wanted to do so. The Immortal revered Barquiel.

It was clear from the tightness of his shoulders and the furtive glance he gave him that he didn’t like their current situation either. This only deepened the demon’s dismay.

Vedran seemed oblivious to their silent exchange. He stopped next to the Immortal and stared at what floated above the stone workbench. The bursts of radiance it emitted made his eyes gleam with a sinister brilliance.

“Is this it?” he said with a quiet intensity that belied his excitement. “Is this the precursor to the alternative compass?”

Barquiel’s stomach churned as he joined them. He studied the boiling, inky mass. Something was reforming and imploding on itself within the maelstrom of crackling shadows, its shape still undefined.

It had taken months for them to get to this point after countless failed experiments. Vedran’s confident assertion that there were other ways to find theBook of Shadowswhen he’d confronted the Witch Queen in Philadelphia during the Annual Grand Meeting had proven to be disastrously wrong.

After spending weeks using his dark magic and countless malevolent artifacts attempting to locate the book, the Sorcerer King had finally admitted defeat. He had instead tasked Dietrich with finding a way to make an artificial compass that could mimic theBook of Light.

The Immortal genius had deduced early on that they would need Fire Magic to open the artifact he was attempting to recreate. Their failure to capture Roman Volkov, the most powerful Fire Magic user in the world, in Prague had ended up being a mixed blessing. Because it had revealed an even more explosive alternative in the form of Hellfire Magic, as well as the sorcerer who had seemingly mastered it in no time at all.

Vedran’s interest in his second son had been roused after witnessing his white magic and his ability to tap into ley lines in Philadelphia. Bringing his wayward offspring back into the fold became his singular pursuit after the events in the Czech Republic.

Deceiving Nikolai with Anya Mendes’s Illusion Sorcery while isolating and attempting to subjugate Mae Jin at the same time had been an ambitious plan, one that the Sorcerer King deemed a success even though they’d failed to catch the Witch Queen.

It was only in the last month that Dietrich’s attempts to fuse alchemy, magic, and the souls of humans and ghouls to produce an artificial compass had started to bear fruit. What Barquiel was looking at was the best version he’d seen yet.

Judging from Vedran’s zealous expression, he thought so too.

“Well?” he said impatiently.

“Yes.” Dietrich swallowed. “I just need to add the last ingredient to see if it will work.”

Barquiel’s pulse raced as the Immortal walked over to a cold cabinet. He removed a vial from a shelf. It contained a minute amount of dark red liquid. It was the last of Mae Jin’s blood, which they’d obtained in Philadelphia and in New York.

Dietrich extracted a drop of it and returned to the bench.

“You might want to stand back for this,” he warned nervously.

“I have a better idea,” Vedran muttered.

Dietrich tensed when the Sorcerer King raised a black magic shield around him.

“You’re my most prized scientist and the weakest one among us,” Vedran said coolly at his surprised look. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

The Immortal looked doubly skittish at that. He steeled himself and released the scarlet droplet. Barquiel’s gaze followed its descent into the storm cloud of alchemy and magic, his heartbeat loud in his ears.

The Witch Queen’s blood glowed a dazzling crimson as it struck it.

For a moment, nothing happened.

A silent implosion rocked the chamber with enough force to make the air quiver and shake the ground. Glass shattered all around them. The demons screeched.

Vedran grunted as he was pushed back half a dozen feet. Barquiel clenched his jaw and dug his heels into the floor. The forces battering the lab abated with a suddenness that made the demon’s ears ring.

The seething shroud of darkness above the bench began to dissipate. A circular object emerged from the fading maelstrom, its surface shining dully.

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