Page 100 of The Darkest Night

Oscar roared and stabbed his sword into Calvarro.

Metal clinked against bone underneath the reaper’s cloak.

Calvarro narrowed her orbits. “I’m a skeleton, you fool!”

She kicked Oscar violently in the chest.

Mae’s vision flickered as the sorcerer went sailing across the chamber and crashed into a demon. The battle her suppressed magic was waging against Barquiel and the Sorcerer King was starting to take its toll on her body.

Hang on, my bond!Hellreaver shouted, his tone full of agony.

Brimstone’s paw pressed against her leg. He’d managed to shift an inch toward her. His magic seeped into her flesh, warming her cold veins.

Whiteness exploded beneath them. Mae gasped, heat filling her in a powerful flash that rocked her senses.

This is—!

Her gaze found Nikolai, her head moving freely for the first time in minutes. His eyes flared with blinding brilliance where he crouched on the floor, brow knitted in a scowl and pulses of dazzling magic passing through his hands and his familiar to reach the binding circle.

The Sorcerer King’s spell fractured under the white-magic attack.

Mae ripped Rose’s hand from her chest, grabbed Hellreaver as he shot up into her palm, and stabbed the curved blade toward the demon’s belly.

Rock-like scales bloomed on Rose’s skin, blocking the weapon’s attack.

Hellreaver bared his teeth, metal vibrating with rage. Crimson exploded around Brimstone, the fox’s body quivering with violent magic as he augmented Mae and Hellreaver’s powers.

The blade pierced the demon.

Barquiel froze, pupils flaring with shock. The reaper’s scythe broke free from his hold and carved a deep gash across his chest, Mae and Hellreaver’s magic weakening the black plates. The demon looked down jerkily at his wounds, disbelief rounding his eyes. He scowled, lifted his face to the sky, and roared in fury.

Black lightning detonated around him.

Mae and Calvarro jumped free from the tainted bubble that shielded the demon. Hellish energy started to build up inside the building

“That explosion will rip the city apart!” the reaper warned.

“Shit!” Mae turned to Vlad and Nikolai, her heart slamming against her ribs. “Get everyone out of here!”

They stared at her, confused.

Mae gritted her teeth.Dammit! I don’t have time to explain!

“Brim!”

Yes?

“We need to move everybody out of this building!Now!”

Brimstone’s eyes flashed with fire when he caught her intent. Fire flared inside her, her soul brightening with overwhelming magic once more. Mae opened her mouth and barked out the spell birthed from her consciousness.

“Levitate!”

Startled cries erupted around them as everyone who was alive or wounded found themselves inside a bubble of crimson magic. Vlad and Nikolai shouted angrily when they realized her intent, muffled thuds sounding where they banged on the barrier holding them prisoner. Tarang spun helplessly where he floated beside them, Alastair flying around the tiger.

Mae ignored their protests and swiftly guided the spheres to a safe distance outside the factory.

“What do you intend to do?” Calvarro asked, her red gaze still locked on the enraged demon before them.

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