Sparks strike to an inferno, fast and hot, my whole body shuddering in response to his sudden, rampant pull on my power, a radiant surge of love for him shearing through my heart. My lines contract toward his with such force I feel as if I’m turning to molten steel, welding to his body, a dizzying rush overtaking me as my inferno of fire, storming rush of wind and water, and one bright violet shard of light flow into Lukas with catastrophic force, his lines lighting up like an invisible torch from the force of his power and mine commingling as I’m drawn into the cave and his form once more.

Lukas lifts his wand arm, my arm inside it, his deep voice vibrating through me as he murmurs the Fire Strike spell, filling his wand with a devastating level of power. Then he lunges out of the cave’s alcove and draws his wand arm back just as Vogel’s pale eyes meet ours. Lukas thrusts the wand forward with a growl, our combined magic roaring into it with Erthia-shattering force.

Our power slams into his wand’s tip, then ricochets backward.

Our vision ignites, a harsh groan wrenching from our throats as our magic’s backflow stretches our lines with unbearable force, the pain like the torching of every vein. We fall, our backs colliding with the stone ground, stars splashing across our vision.

Vogel smiles and levels his Wand at ours as we convulse, hot agony strafing through our bodies, the wand in our hands crackling with sizzling energy before it’s rendered to ash. Vogel murmurs another spell and we grunt as dark vines lash out in a blur to bind us in tight coils, our arms rigidly outstretched, a vine wrapping around our mouths in a tight gag.

Vogel steps forward to loom over us as Lukas and I furiously struggle against the vines, his red-eyed envoys closing in to bracket his sides. Lukas knifes a murderous glare at him, but I can feel the stark desperation sizzling through his power.

Vogel meets Lukas’s gaze with venomous calm. “Did you really think I knew nothing of your incursion into my magic?” He tilts his head, pale eyes glinting. “Did you really think I’d give your guard an unblocked wand?” His gaze sharpens on Lukas, a vicious light in it. “Don’t think for a second that I don’t feel her inside you.” He motions to his demonic envoys with a slight flick of his Wand. “Consume him.”

“NO!” I cry against Lukas as the envoy-demons rush forward, morphing into their true, fiery forms. Teeth of flame sear into our shoulders and our backs spasm, the impaling pain like multiple knife-strikes. A growl chokes from our throats as claws of white-hot fire dig into our sides, the ripping pain unendurable as our vision fractures and the world goes black.

CHAPTER TEN

SHADOW FASTING

Elloren Grey

Xishlon night, twenty-first hour