Page 15 of Of Flames and Crows

“No, no, no!” he mumbled.

Zak yanked his cell out of his pocket and began dialing a number. He cried out as the device was ripped from his hand by an invisible force that crushed two of his fingers. Hemorrhages bloomed on his sclera even as he blanched in pain. His lips turned blue.

An incoherent sound left Vincent as he stared at Zak’s cell where it floated in mid-air. His hand dug painfully into Roman’s arm.

Zak fell to the ground and started thrashing around.

Roman’s heart slammed a panicked tempo against his ribs.

Something moved on his right shoulder. It shifted closer, invisible to all but him as its scaly flesh cooled his hot cheek.

The man with the red hair crushed Zak’s cell phone with a bored flick of a finger before starting toward them. They backed away.

“Vincent?” Roman murmured through numb lips as he watched the sorcerer approach.

“Yeah?” his best friend mumbled.

“Get ready to run!”

Roman saw Vincent cast a wild glance at him out the corner of his eye. He kept his attention focused on the red-haired man. He knew instinctively that to look away was to invite instant death.

“My bodyguards will be here soon,” he said in a voice that sounded shockingly steady even to his own ears. “It will be in your interest if you leave. Rightnow.”

The red-haired sorcerer slowed to a stop and cocked his head to the side. “Your bodyguards won’t be coming to rescue you anytime soon, kid.” He smirked. “They’re dead.”

Roman’s legs grew weak. He knew the sorcerer wasn’t lying.

Vincent whimpered beside him.

“Now, how about you show us some of that Fire Magic?” the red-haired sorcerer drawled.

His lynx hissed, her eyes darkening to a vile obsidian.

Roman’s ears popped as the pressure around them dropped. The air became heavy with an insidious power. Vincent choked on his next breath.

Heat filled Roman’s belly as he called upon the magic within his core. It became fractionally easier to breathe again.

He inhaled and invoked a spell a heartbeat before the sorcerer’s attack could crush them. “Fire Shield!”

A wall of flames burst into life a foot from his outstretched right hand, the center of the conflagration quickly merging to form complex, defensive runes. Power bubbled through his veins and that of his familiar as she finally emerged from invisibility where she gripped his shoulder with her claws.

The barrier vibrated violently when the red-haired sorcerer’s magic smashed into it. The man smiled with savage satisfaction.

“A veiled chameleon.” He studied Roman’s familiar with a sneer. “Clever.” He met Roman’s furious gaze. “Looks like you won’t bore me after all, kid.”

Filomena hissed, her tongue darting out to taste the air and her casque quivering. Roman could sense her fear.

“Run!” he barked at Vincent.

Frustration churned his gut when his best friend remained rooted to the ground, his horrified gaze locked on the shield of fire.

Roman raised his left hand and cast a magic blast.

The shockwave lifted Vincent off his feet and carried him past Neptune’s statue and beyond the fountain. A startled cry left him when he landed on the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

“Go, goddammit!” Roman yelled.

Tears glittered on Vincent’s face as he gazed at him, distraught. He scrambled to his hands and knees, rose, and stumbled into the gloom.

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