Arcane Entanglement (The Mage and His Brute #1)

Chapter 30

A group of cloaked figures loitered in the shadows at the far end, their faces obscured by their hoods. Evander counted a dozen men at least. Though they stood still, their posture projected an alertness they failed to mask.

“Griffiths,” Rufus muttered warningly.

The sergeant gave a silent signal to the constables. They removed their truncheons from their waists, the runes on the wood glowing faintly as they engaged the defensive magic contained within.

“Oh, don’t worry about those men,” Father Smith said hastily when he noticed their weapons. “They are student priests joining me for prayer this evening.”

Evander reluctantly entered the nave and headed after him with Rufus and the other officers, the unease coiling inside him intensifying with every step he took.

Father Smith was already halfway towards the chancel, the priest moving as if the devil himself was on his tail.

They were twenty feet inside the building when he shot a glance at Evander over his shoulder. A smirk twisted his mouth.

Evander stiffened, the dark mage from the alley where Millbrook’s body had been found coming immediately to mind. The man had worn a similar expression when Evander had chased him on the rooftop.

He barely had time to fathom the priest’s strange expression and its uncanny resemblance to Millbrook’s murderer when his senses were assaulted by a wrongness that made his scalp prickle.

The air inside the church suddenly felt thick and oppressive, as if trying to smother him. A bitter taste coated his tongue at the same time an ominous buzzing filled his ears. But worst of all was the bone-deep chill that seemed to emanate from the very walls, a cold that had nothing to do with the autumn weather outside.

Dark magic!

Every instinct screamed at Evander that something terrible was about to happen. There was a malevolent energy growing around them, like a storm about to break.

Power blossomed in his chest and raced through his veins.

“Get out! Now! ” he barked at Rufus and Griffiths.

The inspector and the sergeant startled and froze.

Before Evander could say more, the sinister energy drenching the inside of the church surged. A sixth sense had him erecting a barrier of wind and ice around them a heartbeat before the world exploded in a violent flash of searing light and sound.

The force of the blast sent Evander staggering backward even behind the magic shield. He shot an alarmed glance at Rufus and the officers. Relief rendered him weak for a brief instant when he saw they were unharmed. Motion captured his gaze.

His ice magic had begun to melt, revealing the shadowy figures emerging from the smoke and debris.

A vile power bloomed around several of the men. Tendrils of darkness reached for Evander through the wind barrier, hungry and cold. He deflected them with his magic, his heart slamming erratically against his ribs.

It took him a moment to register that Father Smith was leading their assailants. The priest’s face was contorted in an evil expression.

Except he no longer looked like the man Evander and Rufus had just met.

The figure leering at him was the principal suspect in Millbrook’s murder.

Standing amidst the group poised to attack them were the men who’d been with Magnus when Evander’s carriage had been ambushed.

Evander’s chest tightened as he studied the dark mage who’d worn the disguise of a priest. He was tall and lean, with blond hair slicked back above his sharp, angular features, and cruel grey eyes that made him look older than his thirties.

He must have an Illusion Amulet on him!

Light from the flames licking through the church gleamed off a silver locket hanging from the mage’s neck. The edge was engraved in minute arcane symbols, their intent to alter the wearer’s appearance to the extent where they would be unrecognisable, including changing their age, height, and even their gender.

It could not however mask their scent.

“We meet again, Ice Mage,” Millbrook’s murderer sneered, the smell of dark magic and Noctis Bloom rising thickly off him amidst the smoke.

Evander swallowed down bile.

The letter had been a trap meant to lure him to the church.

Rufus appeared beside him. The inspector was unscathed save for a cut on his forehead. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand.

“Do you know this bastard?!”

“Yes.” Evander clenched his jaw. “He’s the dark mage who attacked us in the alley where Millbrook’s body was discovered. The one I chased on the rooftop.”

Rufus’s eyes grew flinty.

“Your Grace, Inspector Grayson,” Griffiths said stiffly, “the exit is blocked.”

Evander’s shoulders knotted when they looked behind the sergeant.

Rufus swore.

A wall of flames sealed off the entrance to the church.

Evander knew there was no point trying to douse the fire burning through the building. It was too heavily tainted with dark magic and would be resistant to water for some time. His gaze swept the interior of the building.

Dark mages stood in the path of the remaining escape routes at the side and the back of the building.

Dread curdled Evander’s blood as their dire situation sank in.

It had taken a single dark mage to incapacitate Shaw and Brown in Bethnal Green.

Rufus and our officers won’t be able to withstand a sustained attack from this many of them. They’re only casters! Even channelling their magic into their weapons will barely scratch these men!

Though Rufus and Griffiths were doing their best not to show their nervousness, Evander could see panic growing in some of the younger officers’ faces.

The dark mage’s eyes shrank to slits. “Oh my. Are we boring you?”

His gaze flicked to the right.

A strangled shout had Evander’s head snapping around. His throat closed up at the sight of the constable writhing on the floor.

One of their attackers had managed to pierce his barrier.

Bands of wind magic trapped the officer’s body in a cage that cut straight through his uniform and lacerated his flesh, the wards in his truncheon and clothes helpless in the face of a power polluted with dark magic. Griffiths rushed towards the screaming constable, only to fall back when an inky bolt cracked the stone at his feet. The sergeant cursed.

Evander’s stomach sank when he saw the crimson light brightening the wind mage’s pupils. The man’s face was unnaturally blank.

It’s just like what happened with Magnus!

He looked jerkily around and realised half the cloaked figures had eyes glowing a similar uncanny red beneath their hoods. The rest wore rings bearing the dark stone that had robbed the senseless mages of their will, including their leader.

“Dammit!” Evander bit out. “They’re being manipulated!”

Understanding tightened Rufus’s face.

Evander’s nails dug into his palms. Unleashing his magic fully inside the crumbling church risked bringing the building down on all their heads and hurting not just the officers, but the innocent men whose minds the dark mage and his followers had ravaged with their corrupt magic.

His gaze found the loathsome figure heading the group, conscious their enemy had picked this location for that very reason.

“What the hell do you want?!” Evander growled.

“It’s simple, really. We’re going to capture your friends and hold them hostage until you bring that vial to us. If you refuse, we’ll kill them. Then we’ll go find some more Met officers and kill them too.” The dark mage shrugged, his expression growing disinterested. “And so on and so forth, until we get what we want.”

Rage narrowed Evander’s vision.

It was at this point that a voice shouted his name.

Evander whirled around. There was movement at the church entrance.

His heart leapt when he recognised the imposing figure barrelling through the smoke and flames.

Viggo?!

Their eyes met across the chaotic space.

“Sorry I’m late!”