Page 38 of Fallen Demon

Jasmin stood tall, her chin lifted. “I am.”

Sarki’s lips stretched wide. “This will be fun.”

“Hardly,” Rage said, pointing his spear at her. “You’ll die today. Not even the underworld will have you then.”

He threw the spear.

It froze midair.

Sarki rose from the ground and floated several feet in the air. I called my magic. It refused to come. I extended my hand and called my sword … it also didn’t come.

“What the …?”

My friends struggled with their abilities, struggled to move!

“Isn’t this fun?” Sarki’s voice echoed through the prison’s shadow walls. “Newsflash: I might have been stuck down here for a few years, but I've only gotten stronger.”

“Stop this!” Jasmin shouted.

The witch laughed. “Stop? No, no, no. There’s more, dear princess. A lot more.” She fixed her red eyes on Drake. “And it starts with you.” She pointed a white finger at him. “Drake DuMoir, I curse you and your bloodline. On her birthday, your daughter will die and her power will be mine! And with that power, I’ll kill you, your lover, and the entire DuMoir and Silverblood coven.”

“No!” With all his might, Drake broke through her spell.

But the witch was ready. She turned Rage’s spear and sent it flying toward Drake. The vampire didn’t move in time, and the spear impaled his left shoulder, sending him to the ground.

With renewed energy and fury, we fought against the witch’s powers. How the hell was she so powerful inside this prison?

Rage and Zad were the next ones to break.

The witch pointed her fingers at them, and they both fell on their knees as a white line snaked out of them.

“Their souls!” Farrah cried. With a yell, she moved one arm and sent several ice stakes toward Sarki.

The witch let go of Rage and Zad to defend herself. She pushed the ice stakes out of the way, except for one that zoomed past her head, nicking the top of her ear.

“Powerful little fae,” Sarki drolled.

Finally breaking free, Farrah advanced on her.

Just to end up on her knees like the others.

“You bitch,” Wyatt snarled, his eyes turning into his wolf’s, on the verge of shifting, but the witch’s magic wasn’t letting him.

I screamed and pushed through the magic enveloping me. A second later, Lacey broke free too. We rushed the witch, but she flicked her hand and we joined the others, kneeling in front of her.

How the hell was she doing this?

I reached for my magic, and begged it to work with me here. But it was even deeper than usual, and I understood why.

I felt it.

A faint, foreign power inside me, like a string through my skin into my gut, using my magic against me.

“She’s using our magic,” I said, straining to get even my words out. “That’s how she’s so powerful.”

“Ah, isn’t that a great trick?” Sarki said, sounding way too cheerful. “Please, let me borrow a little more.” This time, the pull was stronger and all of us groaned as she took our magic, the power that made us supernaturals, and converged them into one black, shadowy bolt between her hands. The bolt grew and grew as she got more of our magic. “And now more of yours.” She glanced at Jasmin and the princess gasped, her body trembling as the witch took her power.

The bolt crackled and sizzled, and when it was bigger than her torso, Sarki flung it to the wall.

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