Page 95 of Rites of Passage

“Oh yeah?” Mae bared her teeth. “Well, this is what I think aboutthat!”

She flipped him the middle finger.

Vlad snorted before groaning in pain. Alicia grinned.

Fury darkened Barquiel’s face. He spread his wings and rose, only to freeze an instant later.

Mae smiled fiercely as she watched awareness dawn on his face.

“What did you do?!” the demon bellowed.

“Negatedoesn’t just disable external magic and demonic energy.”

Barquiel’s eyes widened.

“That’s right, asshat,” she ground out. “It’s destroying the magic and power inside you!”

Crimson ignited along Hellreaver’s blades, the weapon vibrating with power. Brimstone’s tails raised a violent windstorm across the catacombs.

They attacked Barquiel as one.

* * *

Nikolai countered Oscar’s strike,ducked beneath his next swing, and swiped his legs out from under him. Motion flashed to his left as his brother fell. Drabek sprang for his throat, all claws and fangs and madness fueled by dark magic.

Nikolai knocked the lynx aside with the blunt end of his spear before impaling her hind haunch with the sharp end. The lynx yowled in rage.

“Drabek!” Oscar jumped to his feet and charged Nikolai, his eyes full of barbaric intent.

A dark miasma flooded the crypt.

Oscar rocked to a halt. His gaze rose, jubilation brightening his face. Horror wrapped an icy hand around Nikolai’s heart. He knew this corruption.

A black sphere exploded silently into existence some twenty feet above the floor. It expanded and lengthened, forming an inky doorway.

Only one person Nikolai knew possessed a black magic portal.

The Sorcerer King stepped out of it.

Bile filled the back of Nikolai’s throat.Oh God!

* * *

“Mae!”

Vlad’s warning shout reached her faintly above the clashing sounds of blades. She ignored him, her focus on the demon before her. Though Barquiel had been weakened byNegate, and Hellreaver and Brimstone had inflicted many a wound upon him, he was still strong enough to hold his ground against them.

This bastard did use to be an angel, after all!

A savage snarl left Brimstone. Mae startled as the fox whirled around sharply.

“Watch out, Mae!” Nikolai roared across the catacombs.

Someone grabbed the back of her neck with enough raw strength to break her spine, the only thing saving her from instant death the demon power and magic flowing through her flesh.

Her invisible assailant moved at lightning speed, taking her along with him. Mae glimpsed their final destination, gritted her teeth, and managed to shield her head with her arms a millisecond before she was forcibly smashed into the wall.

The impact rattled her bones. Pain bloomed through her body.

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