Page 52 of Mirror of Vanity

Behind us, the pounding footsteps grew louder, closer. There was no doubt in my mind the hellhound had escaped the library and was barreling toward us with all the fury of the underworld.

I whirled toward Justice, my voice cracking like a whip in the tense air. “Untie him before the hellhound reaches us!”

Justice flinched at my tone. I thought he might argue, might refuse to free the man who had caused us so much turmoil. Then, with a low grumble, he knelt and began working at Garrick’s bindings.

Garrick rubbed his chafed wrists, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. He raised his palm, his lips moving in a silent incantation as a dark, monstrous shape rounded the corner of the library, hurtling toward us with terrifying speed.

I swallowed hard. We were out of time, out of options. I raised the mirror once more, facing it toward the hellhound, praying whatever power it held would be enough.

The beast yelped as if struck by an invisible force. At the same moment, the veil shimmered and parted, revealing a swirling portal of mist and shadow.

“Go!” I screamed, grabbing Justice’s hand and pulling him toward the opening. Garrick was beside us, pale but determined.

We stumbled through the veil, the chill of the mist biting at our skin. Yet as the portal closed behind us, we found ourselves surrounded not by safety but by a ring of snarling, snapping wolves, their eyes glowing with a feral, malevolent light.

The air was thick with the stench of their fur and the coppery tang of blood. I felt their hot breath on my face, heard the click of their teeth as they circled us, waiting for the command to attack.

Then, with a shiver of dark energy, Maci materialized before us. She wore a gown of deepest black, her hair cascading over her shoulders like a river of midnight. With a wave of her finger and a cruel, mocking smile, she purred, “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

My heart sank. We had come so far, fought so hard, only to be confronted with yet another deadly obstacle.

But as I caught the determination and courage etched on Justice’s and Garrick’s faces, I knew we couldn’t give up. We had the mirror. We had each other. Somehow, we would find a way through this nightmare.

I squared my shoulders, facing Maci with a defiance I hardly felt. “We’re not afraid of you,” I lied, my voice ringing with a bravado I wished I truly possessed. “We will defeat you and the Demons of Pride. We won’t stop until we’ve broken the Grimoire’s curse.”

Maci’s laughter was like the tinkling of shattered glass. “Oh, my dear Sawyer,” she drawled. “You have no idea what you’re up against. But by all means, try. I do love a good show.”

With that, she snapped her fingers, and the wolves advanced, their jaws slavering, their eyes fixed on our throats.

We immediately turned our backs to each other, forming a tight circle of defense. I readied the mirror, aiming into the shadowy depths of the woods. One by one, wolves emerged from the trees, their fur matted and their eyes eerily luminous with a malevolent green sheen. They moved with a predatory grace, muscles rippling beneath their ragged pelts.

At the lead was the largest black wolf I had ever seen, her form nearly twice the size of her companions. Her fur was a deep, glossy ebony marred by a series of jagged scars that raked across her flank, a testament to the battles she had fought and survived. She pulled back her lower lip, revealing sharp, blood-stained teeth.

Her eyes made my heart stutter. Beneath the sickly green glow, I saw a flicker of something achingly familiar. A warmth, a fierceness, a stubborn determination.

Somehow, deep in my soul, I knew it was Maggie.

The realization hit me like a physical blow. Maggie now stood before us as a monstrous beast, her humanity buried beneath layers of dark magic. The friend we had fought so hard to save had become a weapon turned against us.

I swallowed hard, my grip tightening on the mirror’s handle. We had one chance to save her, to save all of us. With a shaking hand, I raised the mirror, holding it aloft like a beacon in the darkness.

The effect was instantaneous. The wolves howled in agony, a sound that seemed to rend the air. They thrashed and rolled on the ground, their bodies contorting. Dark shadows poured from their eyes and mouths, swirling into the air with shrieks of rage before sinking into the earth and vanishing.

Amid the chaos, the huge black wolf began to change. Her form shimmered and blurred, fur receding and limbs elongating until Maggie lay before us, naked and shivering on the ground.

Garrick was at her side in an instant, scooping her into his arms with a tenderness that belied his usual gruff demeanor. His eyes shone with unshed tears as he cradled her close, whispering words of comfort and love into her hair.

Maggie looked up at him, her face pale and drawn but alight with joy. She reached a trembling hand to touch his cheek as if hardly daring to believe he was real.

“You’ll pay for that, Sawyer,” Maci cried. Her eyes flashed, her lips curling back in a snarl that was far from human. Her body rippled and changed, her skin darkening and hardening into gleaming obsidian scales.

She threw her head back, a guttural roar tearing from her throat as her form expanded, growing larger and more monstrous with each passing second. Her gown shredded like tissue paper, falling away in tattered strips as her body reformed itself into a creature of nightmare.

Massive wings unfurled from her back, their leathery membranes stretching wide to block out the sky. Wicked talons tore at the earth, each claw as long and sharp as a sword. A sinuous tail whipped behind her, tipped with a venomous barb.

Her head was the most terrifying. Gone was any trace of the beautiful, enigmatic woman she had appeared to be. In her place was a dragon’s visage, all jagged horns and razor-sharp teeth. Her eyes burned with an infernal fire, twin pits of brimstone and rage that seared my soul.

I stumbled back, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm. I had faced many horrors in my time as a hunter, but never anything like this. Maci’s transformation was a twisted perversion of nature, a mockery of all that was right and good in the world.

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