Page 89 of Rites of Passage

“You call this clearing a path?!” the aide spluttered.

“Stop bitching and drive, Owl Boy!” Raven snapped.

“We’re gonna make the six o’clock news, aren’t we?” Derrick grumbled.

Mae turned a deaf ear to their objections, the last location of the demon she had tracked pulsing inside her mind like a beacon.

Do you feel it too, Brim?!

Yes.The fox bared his teeth.I can almost smell him!

It was the blood Barquiel had left on Vlad and Nikolai’s blades that had allowed her to successfully unleashRevealand pin down his latest whereabouts. The signal grew stronger when they crossed the river. Mae’s gaze swung to the treetops on a low hill to the left.

They shot under a railway bridge and took another turn. The shallow elevation came into view, abutting rail tracks and the waterway.

The place the Dark Council had chosen as their hidey hole was a cemetery and park enclosing a historical Georgian mansion and an arboretum. They navigated the police perimeter that had been set up in readiness for their arrival, raced around to the north entrance, and stormed the incline beyond the gates.

Mae jumped out of the SUV the second it came to a stop. “Brim!”

The fox leapt onto her shoulder as she rose from the ground, Hellreaver humming against her chest.

Vlad and Nikolai joined her, the incubus wrapped in a crimson haze of demonic energy while the sorcerer’s enhanced abilities allowed him to levitate within an aura of white magic. Alicia’s scythe flashed in the light of the setting sun as she stepped out of a rift beside them.

Mae looked from the shadows lengthening across the park and the cemetery to the sorcerers and witches disembarking from the vehicles that had just pulled up onto the driveway.

“Get ready. I’m going to shield everyone’s core!”

Raven and Derrick tensed. Abraham nodded stiffly and spread the word.

Heat rushed through Mae, power flowing from the sources of magic deep within her body. Brimstone and Hellreaver’s energies brushed against her soul, the threads connecting all three of them blazing bright.

She raised her hands to the sky. “Soul Shield! Multiply! Guard!”

The air rippled violently. Leaves rustled and branches swayed in the treetops as a giant, red sphere swarming with pale runes exploded into life above her head. It split into scores of smaller globes and arrowed toward everyone around her bar Alicia.

There was a collective indrawing of breath from all those who had yet to experienceSoul Shield, the spell sinking inside them and locking their magic cores within a protective cage. Derrick pressed his hand hesitantly to his stomach, his face pale.

Mae’s focus shifted to the leftover traces of the demonic soul she could sense. The signal was hazier now that they were close to it.

“I can smell Hell’s taint,” Alicia observed. “It’s weak, but it’s somewhere below us.” The reaper frowned. “It’s almost as if it’s hidden behind some kind of wall.”

Mae blinked.Wait! Could it be—?!

Her gut twisted, her instincts telling her she was right.

“I think I know whyNullifyisn’t working!” She met their puzzled stares, her own eyes wide. “It’s a rift. Barquiel is hiding their location by putting up a portal all around the place! That’s whyNullifycouldn’t find their black magic. It would literally have to travel through Hell’s dimension to track them down!”

“They must have done it knowing how your spell works,” Nikolai said grimly.

“That bastard is putting everyone’s lives at risk,” Alicia cursed.

Mae’s nails bit into her palms. “No. From what I’m sensing, Barquiel has complete control over it. I think he’s done this before. I doubt that portal poses a risk to Earth!”

Nikolai turned to Alicia, hope brightening his gaze. “Do you think you can find a safe passage through that thing?”

The reaper shook her head, orbits flaring crimson with frustration. “Each portal is unique to the one who creates it. And a reaper’s gate is very different to that of a demon. Barquiel wouldn’t be able to use mine, nor I his unless we granted each other permission to do so.”

Lines furrowed Vlad’s brow. “Then how comeRevealworked?”

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