“We do what must be done,” said a female mage, hardly over thirty but already missing half of her marbles.

“Alden is too strong,” another Council member added. “His movement is spreading across the planet like wild fire. This is the only way to stop him.”

“There is another way, and we will find it. Together.” He extended his hand toward them.

“We will not side with a Dragon Born abomination,” the female mage jeered, her nose lifted in disgust.

“You will not call her that,” Kai said coldly. “She is a good person. She is risking herself to fight Alden.”

“And then what?” a fairy asked. “Once, long ago, the Dragon Born tricked us into worshipping them as gods, but they were demons all along.”

“Not demons,” Kai said.

“As bad as demons then.”

“You are summoning demons,” Kai snapped at them. “Real demons. The Dragon Born are not our enemies. The demons are. And you are inviting them into this realm.”

“The Dragon Born are the enemy,” the one-track mage insisted. She looked at her comrades. “They lied to us. They made us believe they were dragons. But they are mages.”

“They deceived us, a trick to make us worship them.”

“They want to subjugate us again!”

The hatred poured off the Council members, the stench almost as bad as the miasma of demon-summoning drugs in the air.

“For too long, the Magic Council has allowed their prejudice to condemn the innocent to death. Look at her.” Kai pointed at Sera. “She is not a monster.”

“Monsters often come behind pretty faces,” a vampire said with a saccharine smile.

“This is pointless,” Kai grumbled.

“Something isn’t right,” Sera whispered to him. “Alden’s presence is here. Like right here.”

“How close?”

“In this room. There.” She pointed at two blue-haired fairies standing together. “They are his.”

“They own this casino,” Kai said.

The two fairies smirked widely.

“This is a trap,” Sera told the Council. “Alden is playing you.”

A loud crack thundered through the room, and then Alden was suddenly there, standing between Kai’s forces and those from the Magic Council.

“How nice to have guests.” He smiled at them all, but his gaze honed in on Sera. “Welcome to my castle.” He motioned the blue-haired fairies forward.

The Magic Council members gasped in shock when the fairies moved to either side of him.

“Alden lured you here,” Sera said to the Council members. “He lured us all here. He wants to turn us all at once. Or kill us. I guess it depends on his mood.”

“Sera.” Alden smiled at her. “You are far too clever for the company you keep.”

A mist formed around him, swirling up from his feet, rising. It rolled out toward the last remnants of the Magic Council.

“He’s trying to turn them,” Sera told Alex.

“That mist smells like candy-coated dreams,” her sister agreed. “Too bad the core is rotten.”

They ran forward, pushing out with their magic at the same time, the combined shockwave dissolving the mist.

“The two Dragon Born sisters. Together.” Alden shot them an indulgent smile. “It’s too bad you will never realize your true power together. You are too weak.”

“Big words from someone who can’t even hold his magic together,” Sera replied.

“Oh, Sera. I am just getting started.”

She felt the wave of magic coming, but she was too slow to dodge it. It hit her in the chest, electrocuting her from head to toe as it hurled her into the midst of the Magic Council members, who were chanting, kicking off the ritual to summon the demons of hell. Several of them glared at her, murder burning in their eyes.

Alex was about to run to her, but Sera held up her hands, shouting, “Stop the mist!”

Alden had summoned a second batch. Alex jumped into its path, blasting it back. The silver cloud sparkled and sizzled against Alex’s barrier, not advancing but not dissolving either. Alden had clearly put more magic into it this time. Alex’s face contorted from the effort of holding it back.

A sliver of harsh red light flared at the corner of Sera’s vision. She whipped around, watching in horror as the first portal to hell began to open. A demon waited just beyond it, its eyes alight with greedy anticipation as it waited to unleash hell on earth.

Past the opening portal to hell, Kai and the commandos moved toward Sera, but a fresh wave of Alden’s forces popped into the room, cutting them off. Sera was on her own, alone against a dozen Magic Council members and whatever demons they were about to unleash.

Few of the Council members are likely to survive the demons’ emergence, Amara commented.

Ah, so we only have to worry about the demons.

Pretty much.

Somehow, I don’t find that very comforting, Sera told her.

Neither do I. Amara sighed. What are they doing here?

Sera turned toward the elevators. Lara and Ares entered the room together. They’d escaped from Drachenburg Industries the night of the battle at Witching Point. By the time Kai’s forces had returned, they were gone. That seemed to only confirm their allegiance with Alden.

But then why are they fighting against Alden’s soldiers right now? Sera wondered as she watched them brutally blast and throw Alden’s minions aside.