Page 51 of Midnight Witch

Brimstone bared his fangs at Oscar. “It looks like there’s a rat in the building, my witch!”

Oscar glowered at them as he backed away, Drabek hissing around his ankles.

Mae narrowed her eyes at the Sorcerer King’s heir. A wall of scarlet spell bombs bloomed in front of her.

Oscar swore when he grasped her intent. “Shie—!”

His incantation ended on a grunt as she blasted him and his familiar straight through a wall and out of the complex.

They dropped from view, their angry voices fading.

Mae landed lightly in front of Nikolai and Vlad. “We should—!”

The air trembled violently. Mae whirled around.

Barquiel’s power choked Nikolai’s throat in the next instant. Vlad cursed.

A feral sound left Brimstone’s chest as the demon who had killed Na Ri ascended through the opening in the floor. Mae unleashedDevourandEclipse,her pupils glowing with an incandescent light.

The air ripped open between them and the demon before they could charge at one another.

Alicia stepped out of a rift in her Soul Reaper form, her raven cloak fluttering in an invisible wind and her dark scythe gleaming with a trace of the cold, red light radiating out of her orbits. She looked around, scowled when she saw Barquiel, and leveled a narrow-eyed stare at Mae.

“I was only gone for a day. What the hell happened?!”

Mae swallowed. “You—you remember who I am?!”

“Of course I remember who you are,” Alicia snapped. She stilled. “Wait. Does that mean—?”

The roar that drowned out the Reaper’s words rattled the building and made plaster dust quake down from the ceiling.

“HOW DARE YOU INSECTS FORGET MY PRESENCE?!” Barquiel shrieked, spit flying from his jaws.

Alicia’s expression grew pinched. “This guy is such a diva.”

Mae’s pupils flared. “Negate!”

Goosebumps raced across Nikolai’s skin as her spell started to consume the storm of demonic power and black magic swirling around the howling fiend. His core throbbed a second before Alastair flew inside the room ahead of Tarang and Hellreaver.

The crow landed on Nikolai’s shoulder and butted his cheek lovingly with his head. Relief lightened Nikolai’s chest as he stroked his familiar. His shoulders knotted as he looked around.

Cracks were appearing in the walls.

“We should get out of here before he brings the place down on our heads!”

Alicia and Mae regrouped with him and Vlad.

“They’ll be right on our tail again if we leave here the normal way!” Mae told Nikolai. “How about you useTransmigrate?!”

Nikolai startled. “What?!”

Mae made a face. “I know you’ve been practicing that spell.”

“The crow told me,” Brimstone explained at Nikolai’s shocked stare.

Alastair carefully avoided Nikolai’s narrow-eyed gaze.

“What’s the problem?” Vlad snapped. “You shy? You want us to turn around so you can slip that spell out of your garter or something?”

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