Chapter 37
Demonic magic filledMae’s veins and shook her bones on a tidal wave that drenched the bridge in a scarlet light. She focused it into the skeleton key, jammed it inside the Book of Light, and incanted the name of the first Sorcerer King.
“DAVOR LAZAR!”
The artifact trembled and whined before shifting shape with a blinding flash.
Mae squinted. Her vision cleared.
A dagger filled with all the colors of magic had appeared in her hand, metal warming her skin.
“NOOOO!” Vedran screeched.
The Sorcerer King twisted around and started running toward her.
“Hellreaver!” Mae barked.
Hellreaver spat out the Book of Shadows, spun on himself, and lobbed it at her.
Vedran jumped, his arm rising desperately to catch the artifact. The tome sailed inches above his fingers on a wave of white magic that came from both Nikolai and Ran Soyun.
The sound of rage that left the Sorcerer King made Mae’s ears throb. She snatched the Book of Shadows out of the air and stabbed it with the dagger the Book of Light had become.
Her hair and clothes levitated around her as a silent detonation shook the bridge and spread across the city.
The clouds parted when the invisible blast of power reached them. They rolled out in every direction, exposing the bright, blue sky they had shrouded.
Vedran screamed and clawed at his throat and stomach. He choked, knees buckling. Black magic poured out of his mouth and eyes and nose as he struck the deck.
Motion out the corner of Mae’s eye had her head turning.
Waves were surging across Upper Bay.
Shudders shook the Brooklyn Bridge. She gritted her teeth and widened her stance, clinging grimly to the artifacts quaking violently in her hands.
Brimstone appeared at her left flank and pressed against her. Hellreaver whooshed into view and supported her right side.
Mae swallowed. “Thanks, guys!”
Of course, my witch, they rumbled, pleased.
A spectral shape whooshed out of Vedran’s body. Mae’s pulse quickened at the glimpse of a dark face full of menace before it vanished under the effect of the magic drenching the air.
“Was that—Davor?!”
Yes, Na Ri said.
Vedran twisted onto his back and convulsed, dark foam bubbling from his mouth. His hair turned white. His flesh shriveled. His body contorted and shrank.
Ran Soyun looked away from the awful sight and met Mae’s gaze steadily. “Goodbye for now, my daughters.”
Mae’s throat constricted. “Goodbye, Mother.”
I love you, Mother, Na Ri murmured brokenly.
Ran Soyun’s magic danced across Mae’s forehead as she kissed her brow.
“RAN SOYUN!” Barquiel roared. “Don’t you dare leave meeee!”
Rambrog muzzled the demon.
“Come back to me, Ran!” Azazel’s eyes were dark with grief where he, Vlad, and Cortes blocked Barquiel’s path. “You promised you would!”
Ran Soyun smiled at her husband. “And I always keep my promises, my love.”
The flow of time seemed to stop when she looked at Mae. Their gazes stayed locked as the souls of the first Witch Queen and her familiar shivered and broke apart in pale threads that vanished with sparks of dazzling white magic.
Grief tightened Mae’s chest until she could barely breathe, Na Ri’s sobs rocking her soul.
By the time the Book of Shadows stopped quaking, all that was left of the Sorcerer King was a skeletal husk that began crumbling to dust.
An enraged shout sounded behind Mae. She spun around.
“Mae!” Azazel yelled, fear raising the pitch of his voice.
Her father was chasing after Barquiel, blood pouring from the deep cut his archenemy had inflicted on his shoulder.
Barquiel raced ahead of him, mouth open on a silent snarl.
Wrathseared his right wing off.
The demon reeled, shock flaring in his crimson eyes. His dazed gaze swung to the cauterized stub of his pinion, his motions jerky.
The voices of the fiends inhabiting Hellreaver shook the air on a deafening roar as he flashed toward Barquiel. The demon cursed and parried his attack with his sword.
The blade snapped, Hellreaver chomping neatly through it.
Magic ignited Mae’s cores. She marched toward Barquiel in a dazzling haze of crimson, black, and white, her brow furrowed in a heavy scowl. The spell left her lips on a hiss of rage.
“SOUL UNCHAIN!”
Barquiel shuddered. His form shifted.
* * *
Light filled Rose’s world.She blinked and nearly stumbled, her feet touching solid ground for the first time in months. She looked dazedly at the broken sword in her hand before dropping it and staring at her shaking fingers, conscious of a burning sensation on her right shoulder blade.
“Rose?!”
Rose’s head snapped up.
Heat spread through her cold flesh and made her heart swell at the sight of the woman taking hesitant steps toward her, her large, black eyes round with shock and swimming with tears, her beautiful face crumpling.
“Mae!”
Rose rushed into her best friend’s arms.
“Rose!” Mae sobbed.
She squeezed her tightly, like she never intended to let her go.
Rose took a moment to bask in the warmth of the woman she had long considered her sister. She pulled back, conscious there wasn’t much time left.
“You must bind my soul to this body and kill me, Mae! It’s the only way to get rid of that demon!”
The color drained from Mae’s face. “What?!”
“Rose is right, Mae.”
Rose recognized the man who appeared at Mae’s shoulder. He was the one who had stood by her side since the very beginning. From that dark night when her and Mae’s world changed forever more. And now, at the end. His magic brightened his gaze even as regret and sorrow carved deep lines in his handsome face.
“Ran Soyun told me and Azazel before we left Hell that this is the only way to truly free Rose and stop Barquiel,” he murmured.
A demon with large, curved horns approached, his face full of kindness as he willed his strength upon his daughter. “Nikolai is right.”
“I can’t.” Mae looked blindly at her father and the sorcerer before staring at Rose. She swallowed and shook her head, panic quickening her breaths. “I can’t kill you, Rose! That’s?—!”
Pain tore through Rose’s stomach. She winced and clenched her jaw. She could feel Barquiel trying to regain control of her body.
Rose scowled and grasped Mae’s face. “It has to be you, Mae! Because you know me! Because you love me! That’s why you must be the one who sends me to my eternal rest.”
Mae clasped her fingers, sobs shaking her frame.
Tears choked Rose’s breath.
“This body is but a shell, Mae.” She hugged the trembling witch. “I died a long time ago. The only thing that remains of me is a fragment of my soul. A fragment Barquiel imprisoned so he could use this body. So let me go, Mae. I beg of you.” Her voice broke. “Let me return to the cycle of life and death.”
Heat pierced Rose’s body. She looked down at the dagger of dazzling magic Mae had embedded in her flesh.
* * *
Mae’s heartshattered into a million pieces when Rose slowly lifted her head and met her unblinking gaze. Her best friend smiled, her hauntingly beautiful eyes dazzling her as they filled with happiness and relief.
Mae’s heart thudded dully inside her chest. She whispered the third spell Azazel had taught her. The one Vedran had used to imprison Balkin’s soul.
“Soul Bind.”
Rose shuddered and closed her eyes briefly.
Barquiel’s demonic presence faded from Mae’s awareness.
“Thank you, Mae.” Rose closed her arms around her, bleeding out from the fatal wound Mae had inflicted in her abdomen. “I love you, sister of…my…heart…”
Mae’s world stopped when Rose went limp, her arms sliding to her sides.
Brimstone and Hellreaver pressed against her back and Nikolai and Azazel embraced her as she raised her face to the sky and screamed out her agony and sorrow, her magic filling the air with a red haze that made the city tremble and turned the waters beneath them crimson.