Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6), Lan Chan [free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

A squeak escaped me as I called forth both blades. Nothing happened. My head swivelled in panic, trying to find the blades amongst the rabble. My palms burned where the magic was bracing against the counterbalancing demonic energy the malachim were directing into the blades. The one who had stomped on me yanked the blade from its foot and wrapped it in an enormous black paw. As it crushed, a phantom heat drew up my arm and shot straight into the chamber of my pools of magic. When it was unmade the blade’s remaining power returned to me.

In the near distance, a baby leopard growled. The muffled nature of it made it hard to tell if it was a challenge or a plea. Sigh. If I couldn’t convince them to run in the midst of a demon attack, how in the world would I command them if I were their alpha’s mate?

The ridiculous notion took up too much of my headspace. “Sophie!” Andrei shouted. Scuttling backwards, I threw the last of my energy into a protection circle that had only just completed when the claws of the malachim sliced the air in front of my nose. It was so close I felt the displacement of air. Pain licked my right cheek before the claws caught on the circle. I doubled backwards for good measure.

Something punched me in the chest. I clutched at it and drew my attention inwards to see the pool of kitchen magic ebbing almost on empty. Shit!

By now, my wrists were two hot patches of skin. I fought hard to hold on to magic that a low witch like me shouldn’t have been able to contain. Andrei raced before my eyes, his blood blade beginning to erode. Part of its tip had broken off and its effect on the malachim lessened. Only one in three hits was catching the malachim in solid flesh.

“Go!” I yelled at him. His lips pulled back to reveal black-soaked fangs. Once upon a time, I would have rolled my eyes and considered him an idiot. But for too long now, he’d watched my back because of his own code of transferred loyalty. He’d protect me because of Lex, or he’d die in the process. I was afraid the process was going to win. My heart lurched as the malachim slashed him across the chest. Andrei snapped his fangs, blood spraying from the wound.

It happened in slow motion, though it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Time stilled as a malachim appeared in front of me, its enormous wingspan blocking Andrei from my sight. It held my blood blade aloft on a hand that phased between this dimension and another. Drawing out a single, silver spine from its metaphysical body, the malachim pointed the tip of its weapon at the blade.

I held my breath as it slammed the weapon down. Unbearable pain burst in my mind as the blood blade shattered. My mouth opened in a silent scream that somehow came out in the thunderous roar of a lion.

Andrei staggered backwards and fell into a wobbly crouch. His head turned down, chest heaving as he tried to find balance. To my horror, the black fire surrounding the clearing expanded. It spat embers as it moved in a line towards the alleyway leading to the Reserve. My eyes watered as the stench of brimstone clotted my nostrils. It settled into the back of my throat, making me cough. That only served to somehow drag the scent of the Hell dimension into my lungs.

I took in a ragged breath, trying to clear my head. Instead, the tendril of brimstone brushed up against a chamber of magic that I kept locked away. The sweep of Hell acted like a key, busting open the door to my alchemy and the secret that I’d locked away in there ever since Lex had sent me her final message.

Before my eyes, the black fire gave birth to another swarm of malachim. They emerged from the air like someone had blown a breath at a dandelion puff. I should have run. That was the exact message Andrei was throwing at me from where he was trying to push himself up. Even though this many malachim must be draining him to the point of exhaustion. They blotted out the morning sun completely. Andrei tried to crawl in my direction. Usually, his movements were a blur of supernatural speed. Right now, he was like a toddler wading through a pool, tripping over himself and cursing.

There were too many. Even half of them were too many.

The malachim closest to me opened its wings. For a moment, it stood against the backdrop of darkness. Its white eyes swirled, and I couldn’t drag my attention away. Something silvery grey streaked across its vision. Had I not been mesmerised by it, I would have missed the thing entirely. The malachim’s cheek twitched and I could swear that I saw its jaw clench. Almost as though it was biting its own tongue in resistance. Its chest convulsed. And then just like that, the expression evened out and its eyes cleared. I had less than a second to make a decision.

The pool of secondary magic inside me parted to furnish me with a tendril of power I should never have possessed. From the front pocket of my jeans, I retrieved a vial containing a few drops of the most powerful blood in the world. Lex’s blood. Lucifer’s power by extension.

Placing a tiny drop in the centre of each palm, I bit my finger until I bled and smeared the blood against each other. Just as the malachim surged towards us, I slapped my hands together and spat out the words of light.

The world around me became a tundra of lightning as my alchemy grabbed hold of Lex’s blood in an attempt to transmute it into my own power. How she