A pop, the digital window exploded into flames, exposing the runes hidden beneath.
Pressure built around her throat as a warmth spread from her breast. Vivian yanked the chain from behind, but it wouldn’t break, cutting into her flesh.
Rae’s back arched backwards, her fingers barely slipping beneath the chain before it cut off her oxygen.
“Why couldn’t you have just died?” Vivian snarled, flames crawling up the wall.
A shard of glass glistened, just out of reach. Rae swung her leg, foot touching, stretching. Vivian pulled tighter, cutting off circulation to the end of her fingers, and making every breath a struggle. “You always have to make everything difficult.”
Rae kicked the shard back, catching it as it slid across the wood. It cut into her palm, but she didn’t care, her blood as hot as the crackling flames. With a cry she twisted, slamming the shard down into Vivian’s leg.
Vivian’s grip loosened, allowing Rae to throw herself forward into a coughing fit. It burned to breathe, the smoke excruciating, filling her lungs. Something cold knocked against her hand, something familiar.
Rae didn’t hesitate, didn’t think as she turned, holding the gun.
Vivian’s eyes widened, Latin exploding from between her lips.
Rae pressed the trigger just as the spell hit her, and she smiled at the perfect hole between Vivian’s eyes, something heavy pressing against her head, swallowing her in darkness.
Chapter37
Titus
His beast was violent, pressing against the inside of his skin.
Lucifer smacked his hand against the side of the screen. “Stupid bloody thing.”
“Stop that!” Titus growled, trying desperately to get the video feed back. Something hadn’t just kicked him out, but fried the whole damn server too. He couldn’t even get a signal to Rae, as the connection was lost. “Fuck this, Axel and Xee just rolled up outside. Let’s jump.”
Lucifer pulled the headgear off. “You got the visual?”
He’d memorised the entrance to the guild, pulling the image to the forefront of his mind. He still didn’t know how it worked, but first he was standing in his bedroom, and next his entire body felt like insects were crawling all over it.
Shaking the sensation away, Lucifer appeared beside him. “Not bad,” he said, nodding to Xander and Kace. “You made it in one piece.”
Titus grunted, his stomach threatening to expel its contents.
Slight buzzing in his ear, Rae’s voice quiet, broken.
“We can’t get in,” Kace said, fingers brushing down the throwing knives he had strapped across his chest.
Titus tapped his ear, hoping Rae could hear him. “There’s still resistance.” He could barely make out any sounds, just muffled static. “Rae? Can you hear me?”He hit against the door, the runes that surrounded the frame pulsating red. “Fuck!”
He hit it again, but the magic was strong, repelling every effort.
“Step back,” Lucifer barked, his hands clapping together to create a large ball of arcane. It hit the door, dissipating on impact with an audible bang. The enchantment throbbed, the red flickering.
Xander dropped to his knee, touching the edge of one rune. “Hit it again.”
Lucifer’s arms danced with arcane, the flames thick. “This is gonna –”
The ward stuttered, the red darkening to black with a fizz.
“Do it,” Lucy finished, the arcane fizzling out. “Huh.”
Titus didn’t hesitate, pulling up his memory of Vivian’s office, and forcing himself through the sensation of insects, his body tearing apart only to crash back together piece by painful piece. A single blink, and the door changed to a wall of flames, the roar of the blaze deafening, eating away at anything exposed.
“Rae?” he called through the smoke. His heart thumped heavily inside his chest, the panic overtaking every thought. A wolf whined in the corner, a man with mismatched eyes trying to grab his scruff.
