Chapter 2
The next morningsaw them pulling up opposite the address Abraham Whitworth had given them. Mae stepped out of the Jeep with Nikolai and stared at the imposing facade of the seven-story, redbrick and limestone mansion taking up half a block on 5th Avenue.
“This is the temporary headquarters of the coven?” she said leadenly.
“It’s Bryony’s ancestral home.”
Mae startled. “Really?”
A smile tilted Nikolai’s lips as they crossed the road, late autumn leaves dancing colorfully around them on a mild breeze. “Don’t tell me you thought she lived in the apartment at the coven?”
“I totally did.”
The sorcerer chuckled. Relief lightened Mae’s chest at the sound.
Over half a month had passed since their return from Europe. Most of that time had been spent grieving what they had lost during their last battle with the Dark Council.
But the time for mourning was over.
There may not have been any signs of the Sorcerer King, Barquiel, or even the missing Oscar Beneventi as of late, but no one in the world of magic was foolish enough to believe that they were truly gone. The magic councils and the covens allied with them all over the world remained on high alert, aware their enemy could strike at their heart at any given moment.
Mae greeted the guards manning the entrance distractedly as she and Nikolai entered the building.
We need to put in motion the plan I came up with if we are to have a fighting chance against Vedran and Barquiel.
Nikolai was not only crucial in any future fight against Vedran. He was the most powerful white magic user on Earth and had been able to follow traces of Ran Soyun’s magic to where Barquiel had hidden her in Hell. Mae was convinced that once they met up with Azazel, the sorcerer and the demon’s combined abilities would allow them to track down her stolen soul and body.
She shot a faint frown at Nikolai. And for that plan to work, he needs to be on top of his game.
She could see the darkness gnawing at him in his eyes and the troubled expression he often wore when he thought she wasn’t watching him. Mae suspected the sorcerer still had not absolved himself of what he had done to her and her bonds after he fell under Anya Mendes’s Illusion Sorcery. And she feared the wrathful emotions he harbored toward his father and brother would influence his future actions in such a way that they would put him in danger once more.
She had already lost him once. Mae’s nails dug into her palms.
I refuse to lose him again.
Warmth thrummed across her bond with Brimstone.
The fox nudged her leg. Are you alright, my witch?
Yes. I will be.
Hellreaver’s pendant lay against her chest under her T-shirt, his broken pieces temporarily fused with their magic. His silent presence was a cold reminder of their defeat at Vedran’s hands.
Brimstone’s gaze found Nikolai. He is strong. Stronger than he was before he fell under the Illusion Sorcery. You must trust in him, my witch. His heart may be tainted with rage but he will stand by your side whatever comes.
Guilt knotted Mae’s shoulders at his solemn words.
Or you could just take two consorts, Brimstone continued blithely. In case something happens to one of them. Even if it doesn’t, I hear from a reliable source that threesomes are all the rage these days.
Mae’s footsteps faltered. “What reliable source?”
Nikolai aimed a puzzled glance her way.
The tiger told me some pretty saucy stories about the incubus. Brimstone sniffed. That guy could charm the pants off Satanael himself.
A group of witches and sorcerers came out of a corridor to their right. They slowed when they spotted Mae and Nikolai, admiration and awe etched across their faces. Heads bobbed sheepishly in greeting as they scurried across the foyer.
Stories of the epic battle in Europe had spread through the covens like wildfire.
Mae smiled and waited until they were out of earshot before fixing Brimstone with a glare. “Is that why the two of you were snickering in the corner of the room the other day while we were watching a movie?!”
Alastair eyed the demon fox disapprovingly.
Suspicion clouded Nikolai’s face. “What did he say?”
“Nothing you want to know.”
She was still watching Brimstone with a pinched expression when a familiar voice rang across the vestibule.
“Mae!”
Oh, look. Brimstone’s eyes shrank to amused slits. Here comes consort number three.
Mae’s eyes widened. “Roman?!”
A handsome young man with blond hair and tawny eyes was crossing the marble floor, a jade and sapphire chameleon clinging to his shoulder. Roman Volkov seemed oblivious to the admiring glances he was drawing from the coven members in the foyer as he closed the distance to them.
Mae stared. The Vissarion bloodline is really something, huh?
And you have two of them willing to be notches in your bedpost, my witch, Brimstone contributed with a grin.
“Could you not put it that way?!” she muttered under her breath.
Shocked gasps sounded from several onlookers when Roman took Mae in his arms and hugged her tightly. She rocked back on her heels and hesitated before returning his heartfelt embrace.
Filomena hissed out a friendly greeting.
Mae suspected from the avid stares locked on them like laser beams that this too would spread through the covens like wildfire. She swallowed a resigned sigh and sneaked a peek at Nikolai.
The sorcerer’s expression was turning thunderous.
Roman ignored Nikolai. He straightened and beamed at Mae.
“I’m really happy to see you.” His smile faded. “And I’m sorry about Hellreaver.”
A dull ache stabbed through Mae’s chest. “Thank you. How did your training go?”
“It’s been a good experience.” A fireball the size of an apple whooshed into life above Roman’s finger, the flames tight and precise. “Filo and I have finer control of our magic. We can even do wordless incantations. And accessing ley lines is becoming easier.” He raised a mocking eyebrow at Nikolai. “I bet he can’t do wordless spells, like us.”
Mae masked a wince.
“No, but I can kick your ass all the way to Prague, kid,” Nikolai growled.
“Now, now, stop trying to wind him up,” someone drawled.
A figure appeared behind Roman. Nadia Hadid ambled leisurely toward them, her desert fox Horus draped around her neck like an expensive fur stole. The High Priestess of the Council of the Sun was wearing a lazy expression that failed to hide the sharp intelligence in her hawk-like eyes.
“I didn’t know you were in New York,” Mae told the witch.
Nadia shrugged. “The High Council called all of us in for the meeting, so I decided to chaperone young Roman here.”
“I don’t need a chaperone,” Roman protested.
Nikolai sneered. “You’re still under age, brat.”
“We’re having a meeting?” Mae said warily while Roman glowered at Nikolai.
“Budimir Volkov and Ludmila Vissarion will have my hide if anything happens to you,” Nadia reminded Roman thinly. “I might be a powerful witch, but those two’s constant nagging is enough to drive anyone into an early grave.” She waved an irritated hand at Mae. “And of course there’s a meeting. Why did you think Bryony called you guys here?”
“There you are,” someone interrupted brusquely before Mae could respond.
They turned.
Abraham was standing on the first landing of the grand staircase dominating the foyer.
“Come on, it’s already started,” the aide said, beckoning briskly.
“No one mentioned anything about a meeting,” Mae said, sullen.
“What do you have against meetings?” Nadia asked.
“Something bad always happens when there are meetings.”
“She’s not wrong,” Nikolai muttered.
“Ah.” Nadia grimaced. “I’d forgotten about that acid-inducing Philadelphia incident for a moment.”
Abraham sighed heavily at Mae’s disgruntled expression. “We have sandwiches and cake. There’s even food for the fox.”
Mae and Brimstone brightened.
It was as they were climbing the stairs to the upper levels of the mansion that Mae noticed the buzz of activity around them. Almost all the rooms had been taken over by the New York coven. Even the sweeping hallways they passed were jampacked with workstations and filing cabinets.
She scanned the defensive magic she sensed throughout the building. It extended to a fifty-foot radius around the entire block and down into the bowels of the structure. She frowned faintly.
We should augment their barrier, she told Brimstone. The coven headquarters on Madison Avenue had ancient runes built into its foundations. Barquiel still managed to smash those in minutes.
The demon fox’s eyes flared crimson. I hope that damn demon is suffering wherever he is.
Heat flushed through Mae at the thought of the Archduke of Hell who had hurt Na Ri and her kin. It still sickened them that he’d coveted Ran Soyun for all these years.
Bryony’s study took up most of the northwest corner of the third floor. The New York coven High Priestess was in the middle of a full-blown argument when they entered the palatial chamber.
“I’m not going to stop her from doing what she wants, Karin!”
Bryony slammed her tea cup on her saucer and glared at the witch seated opposite her.
Karin Everheart scowled. “We can’t just let her waltz into Hell. What if something happens to her?”
“Karin has a point,” Derrick Adlington murmured, absentmindedly stroking the hawk perched on his knee.
“We all know what a trouble magnet Mae Jin is,” Gerard Mosele added with a grunt. “Ten bucks says she gets into a fight with an even bigger numbskull the minute she steps foot in the Underworld.”
“They sure trust you, huh?” Nadia told Mae drily.
Mae pursed her lips as the witches and sorcerers in the room finally registered their presence.
Roman twisted around and gaped at Mae, eyes bulging. “Wait. You’re trying to go where?!”