Page 70 of Hell to Slay

Of course that was all easy for them — they were all born elementalists. Mel had easily accessed Hudson’s innate fire magic, Hudson had used Nico’s innate earth magic, and Nico had summoned Mel’s innate lightning.

“Let me try something,” I said, getting to my feet. I stood on an old telekinesis circle Mel had created and used my wand to inscribe the circle, tracing over her burned-out sigils like a child learning how to draw. When it was complete, I reached toward Tempest and then… lifted her into the air, using only my mind. The little fox let out a yip of surprise.

That meant we could not only use each other’s innate magic, but arcane as well. I felt unstoppable as the realization hit me.

I set Tempest down gently, and her voice echoed inside all of our heads, feeling all the more powerful now that the cacophony had abated.“With this blood bond, you are now the most powerful coven in your realm.”

“Only until another, larger vampire coven figures this out,” Hudson said.

Nico grimaced. “I’m glad I retired from the bodyguarding business.”

How could anyone hope to defend against a witch with this much magic? I focused on my fingertips, trying to make lightning appear. Electricity zipped between my thumb and index finger, then skipped over to my pinkie finger.

Mel shook her head. “A coven of witches with eight types of magic? Plus vampiric strength, speed, and senses? And the power to compel regs and witches to do their bidding? No one can know about this.”

She was right. People were already terrified of vampires, and this would only make things worse. Keeping it quiet was the safest thing. This secret needed to stay with us.

“Let’s agree to only use each other’s magic where others can’t see,” I suggested. “Or if we have no other choice.”

“Good call,” Nico said.

“The DHA can never know,” Hudson commanded. “I’m not sure we should even tell the Foster or Wildes covens.”

He looked at Mel, who opened her mouth to reply.

That’s when all four of our devices started ringing with high priority calls coming through. For a moment, we all just glanced around guiltily at each other. The timing was nerve-wracking. I felt like a kid who’d been caught sneaking out at night to do something out of bounds.

Mel got up, toed the edge of the magic circle I’d created, then reached for her phone, levitated it, and brought it straight into her palm. My mouth fell open in shock. That meant we could even use each other’s magic circles — that was unheard of, even among witches who shared the same type of arcane magic. Before any of us could properly react to this revelation, she answered the call, putting the phone at the center of our circle.

Bao Preta’s three-dimensional bust rose from her phone to stare at her. The man had seemed unflappable before, but now his eyebrows were furrowed.

Mel spoke before he could. “Good evening, sir. I know I’m late for my turn with the truth-seeker, but we’ll be there shortly.”

“No need for that right now.” Preta wasted no time with pleasantries. “The infernal realm is expanding again. I want you four to get your asses back across the threshold and stop it.”

Mel started, “But what about—”

“We have enough damning statements from other demon hunters against La Cora and Cyrene, Salvos, and it’s obvious to everyone you’re no allies of theirs. You and your coven have more important things to do. Without more infernal antidotes, you’re the only ones we can send to fix this.”

It was Hudson’s turn to speak up. “Any idea—”

“Why it’s expanding or how? No,” Preta snapped. “You know as much as I do. Now, get to the threshold.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Mel

It turned out none of the rest of us could create a teleportation circle like Jax could — he’d had years of training, after all. Maybe our newly combined magic wasn’t as limitless as we thought.

“I wish we had time to practice with each other’s magic,” I grumbled.

“Your magic will come to you when you need it most,”Tempest tried to reassure me. After some meager attempts at creating arcane circles for teleportation earlier today, I wasn’t so sure.

Unfortunately, there was no time to waste on practicing. Releasing all the trapped souls had sapped the infernal realm’s foothold in Charlotte, and the threshold had pulled back miles away. But if Preta was right, and the threshold was rending its way into our world again, we needed to draw Ty out and stop him.

To get us to the threshold as quickly as possible, Jax teleported us somewhere he’d been before. We found ourselves inside the wall, right in the middle of all the abandoned houses where my blood had healed Nico and the four of us had been reunited in battle.

Together, my coven-mates, Tempest, and I picked our way over newly revealed, uneven terrain that stretched for miles between the containment wall and the shadowy curtain of the infernal realm. Where the threshold had expanded and contracted, nothing remained but scorched earth.

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