Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel #1) - Linsey Hall Page 0,66
with power. All around, people raised their hands. Immediately, I mimicked the gesture. The magic flared even stronger, and I realized that these people were feeding their power into the air.
I shared the briefest glance with the Devil, and he shook his head faintly.
Did he mean that I shouldn’t try to mimic what they were doing? I wasn’t even sure if I could push my magic into the air. And if I did, would they be able to sense that I wasn’t the person I was supposed to be?
A low chant began, each person in the room humming notes that made the hair raise on my arms. Magic surged toward the altar, swirling around the great stone platform. Their voices rolled like thunder, vibrating in my chest.
The air shimmered, and a woman appeared, lying still on the dais. She appeared unconscious—please don’t be dead—and her hands and legs were bound. Next to her, a man’s form fizzled into existence.
Unlike the others’ cloaks, his was black. The magic rolling off him made the other participants seem almost nice in comparison.
The necromancer.
Rage seethed through me at the sight of him. He was the real reason Beatrix had been murdered. The reason this other poor woman was on the slab. He raised his hands and began to chant in a rumbling voice. His magic rolled over me, and my stomach pitched. I felt like I was suddenly swimming in acid.
How the hell were we going to fight all these people? We were drastically outnumbered.
But that woman…
I couldn’t look away from her.
She didn’t stand a chance unless we intervened, and it was only going to get more difficult as time went on.
I drew an unsteady breath, trying to brace myself, and murmured to the Devil, “We need to attack. Now.”
Quick as a snake, he raised his wrist to his lips and whispered a command. I caught the word now. The shifters were coming. I pressed my hand to my comms charm and repeated the word, alerting my friends.
The Devil attacked without warning. He slammed his fist into the stone slabs that made up the floor, sending a reverberation of power through the tiles. Somehow, it avoided me, but every other person in the room lost their balance and collapsed to the ground.
Only the necromancer remained standing, and his chants grew louder.
His followers scrambled to right themselves, but the Devil was in motion. He charged the nearest one, landing a devastating punch that slammed the cloaked figure against the wall. His speed was incredible, and he was already moving to the next.
I plunged my hand into the bag at my side, drawing out a potion bomb. I had no idea which one it was, but they were all designed for this kind of fight. I hurled the glass orb at the necromancer. It flew through the air, smashed into an unseen barrier, and disintegrated.
Shit!
The necromancer raised his hands over the woman’s body and kept chanting. Two bloody organs appeared, floating over her chest.
The heart and liver from the other victims.
Fear and revulsion surged through me.
As I fumbled in my bag for another potion bomb, the two organs began to glow. Magic swirled around them, dark and glittery, transforming them into something else, but what?
The Devil moved with deadly efficiency around the room. The other cloaked figures staggered up, calling on their magic and turning it against him. Fireballs whizzed toward me. The Devil intercepted them, taking the hits without so much as faltering. He seemed to absorb the attacking magic, growing stronger with every blow.
The Devil’s security team and my friends burst into the church, spreading out to attack. Magic flashed as the shifters transformed into powerful beasts—a bear, a lion, a tiger, and three wolves. In the flash of an eye, Quinn transformed into a massive golden panther. He roared and lunged for a cloaked figure, while Mac drew her sword and charged another. The eight of them moved quickly, going for the supernaturals who fought back with magic that flashed and boomed through the church.
Eve’s glittering wings appeared behind her, and she launched herself into the air, flying high as she raised her hands and shot lightning from her palms. She aimed for the necromancer, but her attack was deflected by the invisible shield that protected him.
In front of him, the glowing organs had shrunk in size, combining to form a shining red jewel. Magic radiated from it, dark and terrifying. Slowly, the gem lowered toward the woman.