MIDNIGHT WITCH (PAPERBACK)

One week ago

“Four giant meatball subs and two pastrami cheesesteaks with extra bacon!”

Mae brightened. “Here.”

She slipped through the crowd, took her order from the deli guy, and made for the exit.

Those smell nice, Brimstone rumbled, trotting beside her. He licked his chops. I approve of the chef’s new meatball recipe.

A whine came from the pendant on her chest.

I wanted three meatball subs, Hellreaver protested. Two sandwiches are not gonna cut it, my witch.

“Consider it a diet,” Mae grunted.

Hellreaver sucked in air. Wait. Are you saying I’ve—I’ve gained weight?!

Mae pursed her lips at the demonic weapon. “You’ve definitely grown…chunkier in the last month. Those fiends of yours are nothing but gluttons. I mean, granted demons have a high metabolic rate, but you guys seriously need to cut back on the carbs.”

Hellreaver vibrated with horror before promptly going into a sulk. Brimstone wheezed, eyes crinkling and not an ounce of sympathy on show.

An autumnal wind sent dead leaves dancing around Mae’s legs as she crossed the road to Grandview General. She entered the main building of the hospital and nodded and smiled at the staff who greeted her while she navigated the busy corridors. Even though it had been over three months since Grandview was attacked by the Dark Council, many still considered her their hero.

Having the people whose lives she’d saved treat her with god-like deference had made Mae feel awkward at first. When she’d realized there was little she could do about it, she’d decided to go with the flow. She swallowed a sigh as she took the elevator to the tenth floor.

At least they aren’t as bad as the sorcerers and witches who keep wanting to meet with me.

Her popularity had soared since her first official appearance as the Witch Queen in Philadelphia and covens were now lining up to try to get into her good graces.

It is only right that they swear their loyalty to you, Brimstone said with a haughty sniff. You are their queen, after all.

“You know how I feel about people kowtowing to me.” Mae shuddered as she headed for the emergency stairwell. “It gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

She stepped out onto the rooftop of the building, navigated the banks of elevator shafts and air vents spewing out steam until she reached her favorite spot overlooking the river, and plopped down on the ground. She gazed out over the estuary and the distant boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens as she took the sandwiches out of their bags, one eye on the storm clouds racing across the horizon to the east.

“Looks like we’re gonna have more rain tonight.”

Brimstone grunted around his meatball sub. I like it. There’s no rain in Hell. Even the kingdom Azazel created on Earth suffered from a lack of it due to his demonic influence. He lifted his head and sniffed the air. He ended up creating artificial clouds in the end. It was as much for the benefit of his people as it was for Ran Soyun, who came from a rich and verdant land.

Mae’s heart lurched at the mention of the father and mother she had never known. A month had passed since she had sensed Ran Soyun and seen Azazel, deep within the magic nexus beneath Prague. Though it had been her first meeting with the fallen angel who had gifted humankind with his ungodly powers, Na Ri, the soul whose reincarnation she embodied, had trembled with joy and love upon seeing their father. It was Azazel who had taught them the spell they needed to curb the devastating Hellfire Magic that had been unleashed upon the city. And it was Ran Soyun’s magic that had healed her and Nikolai’s drained cores after they’d achieved that near impossible feat.

Mae hugged her knees to her chest. “Tell me more.”

Brimstone pressed his flank against her side and started talking. The random tales he told her offered a peek into how life had been in the realm Azazel had created for his wife and those loyal to them. Hellreaver stopped pouting and added details and anecdotes from when he and Brimstone had lived with Azazel in the Underworld.

It had become their habit as of late. Mae loved nothing more than listening to them talk about the humans, demons, and hellbeasts she had never known, and Na Ri’s short and happy life among them before her untimely death.

She was unwrapping her second pastrami sandwich when her cell phone buzzed with an incoming message. It was Roman Volkov.

Training sucks SO hard.

Mae smiled. She could imagine the teenager’s heartfelt sigh as he’d typed the text.

A sorcerer born to one of the most powerful families of magic users in existence, Roman was a distant cousin of Vlad Vissarion and had inherited the devastating Fire Magic a select few sorcerers and witches in the Vissarion bloodline exhibited. The last Vissarion to own that power had been Katarina Vissarion, Vlad’s mother.

It was from the knowledge she’d passed on in her journal that Roman had learned how to wield his Fire Magic in secret. Unbeknownst to him, his abilities had ended up placing him in the line of sight of Oscar Beneventi and the Dark Council.

Nikolai Stanisic’s trip to Prague toward the end of summer had been cut short when he, Mae, and Vlad had been forced to face the Dark Council alongside their allies. It had been a deadly confrontation that had seen the white magic sorcerer gain new powers and Roman freed from Oscar and Barquiel’s grasp before they could use the young man for their nefarious scheme.

The Dark Council had never suspected the secret Roman had been keeping from everyone. Like Nikolai, he too could access ley lines, making them the only two sorcerers in the world with that gift. But it left him and his chameleon familiar Filomena with the same debilitating side effects that Nikolai suffered from.

Just as Nikolai and his familiar Alastair had gone to Prague to train with the Council of the Moon to learn how to overcome this weakness, so too had Roman and Filomena. Since the closest thing to his Fire Magic was Sun Magic, they had traveled to Egypt to train with Nadia Hadid and the Council of the Sun after his school term finished in Prague.

It was the agreement Bryony Cross, Ludmila Vissarion, and Budimir Volkov had collectively come to a few weeks ago.

Mae smiled wryly. It hadn’t been difficult to convince Nadia to take on the task. She and her council had as much to gain from training Roman as he had from working with them.

WITCH QUEEN SERIES
The Darkest Night
Rites of Passage
Of Flames and Crows
Midnight Witch
A Fury of Shadows
Witch Queen

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