Page 98 of The Darkest Night

Cognizance resonated through her from Brimstone. The fox seemed to recognize the cloaked, skeletal being with the crimson pupils and giant scythe streaking silently above the crowd of Dark Council members and demons.

That is the true form of Alicia Calvarro.

“What?!” Mae mumbled.

She is Thod, the Queen of the Soul Reapers and a close ally of the Goddess Astarte.

“You are mine, Barquiel!” the reaper roared, empty sockets flaring as she scowled at something past Mae’s shoulder.

Mae twisted, alarmed. The pressure inside the building plummeted, making her ears throb and her teeth ache.

Rose emerged from a pool of shadows at the north end of the floor.

The demon inhabiting her body met Mae’s uneasy stare, smiled, and cast a globe of pure-black lightning directly above her.

Mae’s stomach lurched.

It was where the locker room was located on the fourth story.

“No!” she roared, her wrath making the air tremble.

The demon’s spell bomb wavered for a fraction of a second under her magic before it detonated against the ceiling.

It was all the time Mae needed. Power bloomed inside her. She raised her hands and flexed her fingers, reinforcing the barrier she had erected just as the floor of the locker room collapsed.

Ryu and Ye-Seul appeared inside a crimson, see-through bubble floating in mid-air. Her sister blinked slowly. Her mouth fell open when she saw the battlefield below, the color draining from her face.

Relief made Mae dizzy. She moved the protective globe rapidly across the floor and up.

“Er, Mae?!” Ryu shouted as she and Ye-Seul drifted toward the breach in the roof of the factory, her panicked voice traveling faintly through the shield.

“You’ll be safe up there!” Mae waited until they were out of harm’s way before advancing toward Barquiel, her brow furrowing with anger. “Now, how about you and I have a little—”

The hairs rose on her flesh. She rocked to a halt, an eerie premonition flitting through her subconscious. Horror froze her body when she recognized the feeling dancing through her mind. Her gaze locked on Brimstone and Hellreaver a second before the binding ritual brought them to their knees.

* * *

Fear grippedNikolai’s heart in icy clutches as he watched Mae, Brimstone, and Hellreaver drop to the ground, the three of them surrounded by a giant column of black magic. The fox’s giant form wavered before shrinking back to his smaller shape.

A circle had appeared on the floor beneath them, the complex arrangement of lines and runes throbbing with evil energy as it entrapped them.

Oscar emerged from the shadows next to Barquiel, the final incantation of the spell falling from his lips. A vicious smile stretched his mouth.

“Shit!” Calvarro landed beside Nikolai, the reaper queen assuming her human form once more.

Dickson rocked to a halt beside them, his blade dripping with demon blood and a scowl on his face. Vlad appeared at the far end of the chamber, Violet, Miles, and their familiars at his side. They regrouped in the middle of the floor and soon found themselves surrounded by their enemy, their defense barely keeping them at bay.

Nikolai scanned the section of sky visible through the roof as he swooped beneath a demon’s claws. Relief made him dizzy.

Ryu and Ye-Seul were safe in the bubble of Mae’s making.

Thank God!

“She’s isolated them with magic that won’t waver even if she were to lose consciousness,” Vlad said in a hard voice.

Calvarro pursed her lips. “That’s pretty incredible.”

Nikolai’s resolved hardened. He knew what he had to do.

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