Page 17 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)

Chapter 16

C ookie lifted her head, cocking a tufted ear to the lightening sky. For the past half an hour since Killian had disappeared, she’d been lurking within the hell-fire Alpha had lit, much to his irritation.

I never knew a hellhound could pout.

Something pulsed through the tendrils of my magic that snaked around me, like a disturbance in the currents of power. I followed the ripples overhead and squinted out at the winding pink river, bathed in the first rays of dawn.

Killian dropped to the grassy riverbank on silent wings. His white feathers still held a damp sheen, painting them almost silver like the flecks in his eyes when he felt particularly violent. He folded his wings and strode towards our makeshift camp.

A small brace of spear quails, already plucked of their sharp feathers, dangled from his raised hand.

I quirked a brow, but my stomach rumbled, betraying me.

Killian’s eyes ran over me, some tightness around them easing a fraction.

I hadn’t moved from the log where he’d left me, throwing out his confusing words and vanishing like a cloaked bone-kin. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and when I’d tried to grab the wrapped boar from my pack, it was no longer there, even though I’d seen it when I’d fished out the salve earlier.

I hadn’t seen the hellcat take it, but I just knew it was her. I didn’t call her Cookie because she baked.

Killian busied himself setting a spit over the hell-fire, shooing the hellcat like a misbehaving kitten. Within minutes, he had the four game birds roasting nicely.

The scent of cooking meat filled the area, ridding the last of the bloody tang leftover from the bone-kin massacre.

I was half-surprised he hadn’t just hauled one of them over to cook up, but then again, just because I was immune to most poisons with my healing abilities didn’t mean anyone else was safe.

The incubus cleared his throat, sitting beside me while he watched the flames dance. Given the extreme heat of hell-fire, it was only a few minutes before Killian was pulling the roasted birds out. He handed me one with a small smile. “Here. I didn’t bring any seasoning when I came after you, but they’re pretty good plain, anyway.”

I smiled back, accepting his offering with a grateful nod. I gripped the base of the stick, still warm from the fire, eyeing the golden-coloured delight it held. Crispy skin and a pleasant aroma reminded me of the deep-fried chicken I’d had in the human realm once.

“Do your pets want a snack too?” His lips twitched, and he raised the last two cooked birds to Alpha and Cookie in offering.

With a grouchy huff, Alpha stalked over, muzzle extended to sniff at the meat in Killian’s outstretched hand.

Cookie leaped through the fire with an excited yowl, snagged both birds between her giant fangs, and darted off into the bushes. Alpha barked and raced after her.

A small chuckle fell from my lips.

Killian peered after them. “Should we be worried?”

They might annoy each other as only a hellcat and a hellhound could, but they weren’t actually out to hurt each other. They’d fought the bone-kin together, and whatever uneasy truce they’d forged seemed intact.

I shook my head. “They’re just playing. Besides, your feline admirer can fend for herself.”

A light frown formed between his brows, and I could almost feel his curiosity around my new understanding of animals.

Before he could question me further, I bit into dinner. The warm poultry was delicious, with a lick of smoke from the hell-fire, and I took another bite with a pleased hum.

A hush descended as we finished our quails to the crackle of burning wood and the faint symphony of insects.

Killian chucked the speared remains into the fire, the lilac flames devouring the bones with a loud pop. “You need to learn to block before I take you to bed.”

“What are you talking about?” I almost choked on my last bite of food, but Killian didn’t seem to notice his word choice might give a girl a heart attack. I copied his movements, pushing my leftovers into the hungry bonfire that warmed us.

He rested his inked forearms on the scuffed leather at his knees. “If your magic is lashing out because you’re underfed, you can’t afford to leak so much, even to help me heal. It’s probably more potent than your other emotions because of your heritage.”

“It’s fine.” I pointedly ignored the squeaky quality to my voice, swiping back the scarlet curls determined to get into my mouth. “I always give off energy. Must be a mage thing.”

Killian shot me a knowing smirk, half his features cast into shadow by the eerie fire.

I wanted to punch his pretty face in.

Of course the stunning incubus found this amusing. He was used to demons lusting after him. Every unmated person in the kingdom wanted to fuck the guy.

I’d even seen a racist of pure blood linger a heated gaze on him.

He shrugged, shoulders and wings rising and falling as one. “Let’s try blocking anyway. More energy left to satisfy your hungry magic, then.”

The enforcer was always trying to look after me. It would be cute, but I knew he saw me as more of a kid in need of protection. To him, I was just his best friend’s bratty little sister.

“And how will you teach me to block?” I arched a brow, crossing my legs as I shifted on the bark, pricking me even through the drying fabric of my trousers.

He grinned, a heart-stopping smile that could liquefy the robes off a priest. “I’m going to seduce you, sweetness. And you’re going to shut that door in your mind until I can’t taste your drugging need on my tongue.”

Flaming. Hell-fires.

I somehow managed to unstick my mouth to cough out a word. “What?”

“A man could get lost in your big, innocent eyes. So eager to be corrupted, aren’t you? My pretty princess,” he purred, watching me with all the intensity of a predator cornering prey.

Yet his voice was like being wrapped in silk and stroked by claws.

The shiver that ran through me was nothing to do with the light breeze across my skin.

He cleared his throat, forked tongue tracing his lower lip. “Picture the front door of your house and slam it closed.”

I frowned, but the image he painted came to me. The sturdy dark wood of my cottage wouldn’t close fully, though, like something invisible wedged it open.

Killian leaned close, planting a palm on the trunk, grazing my thigh. His eyes dropped to my lips, slit pupils dilating, and then trailed down the rest of me, like feathers caressing my flesh.

I blinked at him, hyperaware of the scant distance between us. “What?”

Apparently, that word was all I could manage.

He grinned wider, sharp fangs giving his beauty its vicious edge. “You heard me, sweet witch.” He stole more of my personal space and reached for me, tucking a damp strand of my hair behind my rounded ear, so different from the demonic points of his. “Close that door for me.”

I tried to imagine my house again, that wooden door he’d built for me. Strong and solid from the dark timber of the bleeding trees this forest was notorious for. Poisonous bloodbores and scattered feathers had been carved around the door’s edges, grander than any simple door had a right to display.

His smile turned wicked. “Unless you want me to come inside…”

My fang sank into my lower lip, the slight drain on my energy letting me know I wasn’t winning the battle for concentration.

Killian inhaled deep, leaning closer as if he were going to scent me properly before stilling, his face mere inches away. My pulse thundered too loud in my ears.

Stormy eyes glittered silver as they locked with mine.

“I…can’t,” I rasped. His smoky sweetness drugged me, and wetness slicked between my thighs as I breathed him in. “You’re such an incubus.” I tried to brush it off, like it was a normal reaction.

And, I supposed, it was. Killian was designed for sex. For seduction.

He’d have any demoness panting for him now. I had nothing to feel embarrassed about. Having a high sex drive was literally in my blood.

As well as his.

For a moment, fantasies ran rampant through my thoughts.

What would it feel like? To have him shove me down onto the grass and fuck me by the eerie light of the hell-fire like I was his to possess.

I tried to slam the door in my mind, but it wouldn’t budge. Everything about Killian was intoxicating. Seductive.

Who cared about losing energy when he was the prize I’d win?

His claws trailed a path down my arm. Even that innocent touch had me stifling a moan that tried to work its way up my throat.

“Push harder for me, sweetness. Shut that door in my face before I drink you down and swallow you whole. You shouldn’t be devoured by a dark creature like me. You’re too good for that.”

Beneath the wicked fantasy running through my mind, frustration licked my insides. He had no right to decide what was good enough for me or not.

I slammed the door.

The relief was instant. The drain on my energy ceased. I’d been losing so much power, and my cheeks heated as I realised how obvious my longing for him was.

A smirk broke across Killian’s lips even as the flecks in his eyes dimmed. “That’s my good girl.”

His seductive voice shouldn’t be doing the things it was. Especially after he’d just used dirty talk as a lesson like he was a professor and I the unruly pupil.

My schoolgirl crush was making a lot more sense.

He was a few years older than me, twenty-six where I was just turning twenty-two.

Tomorrow, in fact.

I huffed. “I’m hardly a good girl . The other night, you caught me with a dead body.” I inspected my scarlet claws like I was checking for blood.

Killian’s chuckle was a dark, rich sound as he straightened, giving me space to breathe. “No, I suppose you’re not…unless it’s for me.”

This new flirty side to him was giving me heart palpitations.

I cleared my throat, steering well clear of that dangerous territory.

“You never cashed in that favour for your disposal services.” I shot a pointed look at the smirking incubus. “And this whole stalking thing you’re doing does not get you another.”

A slow smile bloomed across his features. “You really don’t know. Do you?”

I stilled. “Know what?”

His vicious grin widened, a small chuckle seeping out. “I already called in my favour. Last night, in fact. Your screams still echo in my ears when I taste your sweet essence in the air.”

My lips parted with dawning horror. “What?” I squeaked. “You…how?”

His forked tongue ran the length of his fangs. “How what? How did I get into your dreams?” he purred. “You summoned me into them, naughty witch. Your need dragged my slumbering consciousness the short distance to yours. I was sleeping in your house that night, after all.”

My jaw stubbornly refused to close.

How could anyone process something this embarrassing?

It. Was. Real.

Killian, my first crush, off-limits best friend of my brother…had made me scream for him.

And. It. Had. Been. Real.

I finally closed my mouth with a snick of my dainty fangs.

Shuffling on the log, I crossed my ankles in a forced display of feminine grace. “Well, I guess that settles that, then.” I lifted my nose and sniffed like a snooty pureblood. “You’re still not getting another favour.”

“Are you sure? That wasn’t the first body I’ve buried for you. If anything, you owe me quite a few now.” He tapped a claw against his chin. “And does it count if I’ve just left them begging for a burial?”

“What?!” My voice hit a dangerously high pitch.

Alpha was probably wincing somewhere off in the woods.

Silver lightning illuminated the storm in his eyes. “Nobody gets to hurt you, sweetness.”

Realisation gripped me by the horns and back-handed me in the face.

The bloody hobby Rex had mentioned. Why none of my exes had ever confessed to who’d almost killed them. Why nobody had looked for the ones who’d disappeared.

I’d bet my last gold coin I knew who’d punished the pain trio too.

“Holy hell-fires,” I gasped. “You’re the reason they call me the widow-witch.”

His grin was as lethal as a poison-tipped blade.