Chapter 8
The hairs liftedon the back of Mae’s neck.
The voice did not belong to the dead witch.
Mae, Na Ri said guardedly.
Brimstone stepped closer to her, his hackles rising warily.
Help me…please…Witch…Queen…
Mae’s breath caught as black threads flickered to life around the witch’s soul orb.
Magic blasted around Nikolai. “What is that?!”
“Get away from it, Mae!” Vlad snarled.
She ignored them, her chest tightening at the agony emanating from the new apparition. It was the remains of another soul. One drowning in sorrow and despair.
That’s—Na Ri paused, her tone wretched.
“My witch,” Brimstone whined.
His head drooped.
Mae could tell they’d made out what they were looking at and were just as troubled as she was. They’d glimpsed it once before, in the castle where they had fought Vedran and lost Hellreaver.
It was the tainted soul of Vedran’s familiar. The one he had killed so he could turn them into a weapon that would allow him to wield his most formidable spells.
The familiar’s true form manifested for a fleeting moment.
Mae’s throat constricted.
It was a beautiful wolf. One as black as night, whose soul had once been as pure as snow.
My name…is…Balkin…You…must…kill me…my queen…
The breath Mae had been holding shuddered out of her.
Despite his suffering, the wolf was calm and as noble as a king.
“What’s going on, Mae?” Roman asked in a strained voice. “What is that thing?”
“It’s what’s left of Vedran’s familiar.”
Nikolai recoiled. Roman sucked in air. Vlad’s knuckles whitened on his swords.
The dark threads that made up Balkin’s soul faded, leaving behind the remnant of the witch’s pale orb. Mae blinked away the tears that had sprung to her eyes. She could no longer sense the tortured presence of the Sorcerer King’s familiar.
“My witch,” Brimstone murmured.
“I know.”
Mae steeled herself. She still had a job to do. Heat danced through her veins, heralding the demonic power that soon engulfed the pale sphere in her hands.
“Be at peace,” she whispered.
The dead witch’s gratitude washed through her as her soul vanished from the world of the living with a last, bright flicker. A hush descended inside the autopsy lab.
Vlad broke it. “What was that about?”
Instead of replying, Mae frowned at Nikolai. “Did you know?”
Nikolai swallowed. “I heard rumors when I was a child. But I was never certain of their accuracy.” He hesitated before meeting her stare squarely. “My father has never had a familiar for as long as I can remember.”
Mae finally answered the question burning in Vlad and Roman’s eyes. “That was the soul of Vedran’s wolf familiar. He killed him so he could use him as a weapon.”
Vlad cursed. Roman paled, his fingers automatically finding Filomena.
“He was a very dignified creature, my witch,” Brimstone observed sadly.
Mae fisted her hands. “Yes, he was.”
What a pity that his bond was that wretched man, Na Ri murmured.
“Did you manage to see something that might help us find that bastard?” Vlad said in a hard voice.
“No.” Mae observed Nikolai with a frown. “But one thing is for certain. Your father’s familiar wants no part of this.”
A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s jawline.
Mae knew he loathed that the man responsible for his mother’s death was related to him by blood.
“Did you meet him before?” Roman said. “That familiar. You and Brimstone didn’t seem surprised when you saw him.”
“He was there the night we fought Vedran.”
“We caught a glimpse of him in the black sword the Sorcerer King manifested,” Brimstone explained somberly at their shocked expressions. “The one that destroyed Hellreaver.”
Resolve tightened Roman’s face. “Is that a weakness we can exploit?”
A wave of lassitude washed over Mae. “I hope so.”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
After a couple of quiet weeks, events were moving at breakneck speed once more. The dark truths the Sorcerer King and Barquiel had long hidden were coming to light one by one. She could feel her final battle with them looming in their imminent future.
If I lose, a lot of people will be in danger.
The prophecy Bryony had mentioned when they first met rose in her mind for the first time in a while.
On the day the world becomes shrouded in shadows, a woman with white and dark magic will bring about an age of justice and the fall of a false God.
A wry grimace twisted her lips. No pressure then.
She unleashed Devour and destroyed the witch’s physical remains.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
They were halfway to the exit when corruption saturated the air with a suddenness that made them freeze. A brutal pressure bore down on them, rooting their feet to the ground. Brimstone snarled and shifted back into his nine-tailed form.
The stench of black magic imbued the room a second before a dark portal whooshed to life near the ceiling.
Mae’s pulse spiked when she sensed Vedran’s presence on the other side of the rift. “Soul Guard!Augment!”
The spells she and Na Ri had refined to defend all those who fell under their protection fortified Soul Shield inside the men framing her.
Heat surged through her veins, the power she called forth from her cores thrumming across her bond with Brimstone. A red aura detonated around them on a violent tide that made glass tinkle and metal vibrate.
She startled.
Vlad and Roman’s eyes widened at the sight of the thick, black threads woven through the paleness of Ran Soyun’s magic and her own demonic energy.
Dread chilled Mae to the bone. She finally tasted a power that was at once alien and familiar. I was right. This is black magic!
Nikolai’s expression hardened. “So I didn’t imagine it before. That’s Vedran’s magic, isn’t it?!”
Mae opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. She could hardly deny the truth before their eyes.
Brimstone towered over her, his pupils ablaze. “You are wrong, sorcerer. It is my witch’s right to wield all magic. That power was never the Sorcerer King’s to begin with.”
Surprise jolted Mae at her familiar’s words.
He is correct, Na Ri said. Black magic is part of our heritage. Her first incarnation’s tone turned steely. Our enemy is almost here.
Mae’s gaze snapped to the portal. “We don’t have time for this!Get ready!”
The creatures that fell from the hellish doorway before it closed cracked the floor when they landed. Vlad swore.
“Mother of God,” Roman mumbled shakily.
Mae’s throat grew dry as her head tilted up and up. “Brim, what the heck are those?!”
The trio of monsters smashed the ceiling with their heads as they straightened, massive forms casting shadows over the room.
“They are giants!” the demon fox spat.
Mae’s hands itched for Hellreaver’s presence as the creatures lowered their gazes and fixed her with obsidian stares. It was moments like these when she and Brimstone felt his absence the most.
The giants’ attention shifted to Roman and Nikolai.
Na Ri gasped. Vedran is after their cores!
Mae’s heart lurched. The monsters blurred.
“CONTAIN!”
Crimson bloomed around Nikolai and Roman as they prepared to defend themselves, their movements sluggish compared to those of the giants. The monsters’ clubs smashed against the red globe in an explosion of black-magic-tinged sparks.
Containheld.
Mae swallowed. Damn! I can’t believe how fast they are considering their size!
The biggest monster dropped his weapon and slammed his hands palm down upon the barrier. A sour taste filled Mae’s mouth as Vedran’s dark powers bloomed on his fingertips and swarmed the surface of her demonic shield.
“Vlad! I’ll target their heads! You go for their legs!”
The incubus dipped his chin, his expression an ice-cold mask. Tarang released a deadly growl beside him.
“Let us out!” Roman yelled angrily from behind Contain.
“Mae!” Nikolai shouted, his face contorted in frustration and fury.
“Those monsters were sent by Vedran to kill you and absorb your cores!” Mae scowled. “Stay put for now!”
Roman jerked back at her words. Nikolai clenched his jaw so tight she feared he would crack a tooth.
The other giants turned their attention to her and Vlad while their companion unleashed Vedran’s corrupt magic upon Contain.
Power hummed around Mae. “Here they come!”
Brimstone’s quivering tails sent debris flying around the lab as he snatched the first creature’s weapon out of his grasp with his jaws and lobbed it across the room. The fox carved deep grooves in the giant’s face with his claws, taking out his left eye.
Tarang jumped on the monster’s leg and took a chunk out of his thigh before he could land a blow on Brimstone with his fist.
Mae shot out of the way of the second giant’s club, missed his knuckles by a hairbreadth as he spun and swung for her face, and concentrated her magic into her hands and feet. Crimson, black, and white merged until they covered her flesh in layers of pure magic.
She somersaulted into the air, landed on the creature’s arm as it straightened, and ran straight up toward its head, her movements lightning fast. A shadow swallowed her, the monster’s hand closing in to swat her away, his speed just as blistering.
Mae’s stomach dropped. Shit!
The beast grunted and sagged a second before it could strike her. She glanced down.
Vlad had carved through the creature’s left Achilles tendon with his blades.
It was all the time she needed.
Mae leapt off the giant’s shoulder, twisted her body as she arced above his head, and brought her fists up when gravity took over. Scarlet lightning wreathed with black and ivory currents crackled around her fingers.
A roar left her throat. She struck the beast in the temple with a double hammer punch before spinning in midair and delivering a roundhouse kick to the same spot. Bone shattered under the storm of indomitable power she wielded.
The monster’s pupils crossed. He staggered sideways and fell, eyes rolling back in his head. Glass exploded and metal crumpled as he crashed into a row of cabinets. He sagged, his body limp in death.
A heavy thud sounded behind Mae. She landed lightly on the ground and looked over her shoulder, her heart slamming against her ribs.
Vlad had slashed through the other giant’s heel tendons and brought the monster to his knees. Brimstone and Tarang pounced and finished him off before he could defend himself, their fangs glinting with redness while they tore his jugular open.
Vlad joined her. “Did you really just knock out a giant with your bare fists?”
He eyed the translucent power wrapped around her hands warily.
“Let’s just say I found a new way to use my magic,” Mae said darkly.