Page 32 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)

Chapter 31

“ I ’m curious,” Killian started. “When you decided to poison me in my sleep, was the next step of your devious plan to run around the human realm questioning strangers until you stumbled upon the right coven?”

I shot him a flat look.

After reluctantly leaving bed this morning, we’d taken turns to freshen up in the fanciest en suite I’d ever seen and stolen clothes from our unsuspecting hosts. Thank fires millionaires travelled a lot, because nobody came back to the penthouse Killian had broken into.

We’d kept our muddied leather boots, but I’d been lucky enough to find designer jeans and a cashmere jumper that fit my lean frame, readying me to face the British chill of late summer despite its low-cut neckline. Killian had dug the realm’s softest grey sweatpants out of the dresser in the next room over, poking a hole through for his tail. They stretched indecently tight around his muscular thighs and an arse that made mine look pancake flat, but at least he was clothed. Of course, that left the distractingly sexy incubus topless like he didn’t feel the cold, which compared to my weak mutt self, I supposed he didn’t.

I’d managed to cast a human-looking glamour on us both without the vicious darkness in me rearing its head to tear Killian apart. We’d then spent the last few hours in the biggest hire-car we could find, on account of Killian’s giant wings, driving south to the not-so-secret location for the Sage Coven.

There’d been flirting and teasing but also talking about home, laughing, and joking about the latest antics the other enforcers had been getting up to, and generally avoiding anything too serious like the fact he’d fucked my brains out the night before or that I was one wrong move away from accidentally killing him.

We’d stopped only briefly at a service station, using the facilities and stocking up on a million different snack options. I was a teensy bit obsessed with all the adorable shapes of buttery shortbread you could get here. They even had a cat-shaped pack, and I vowed to bring my death-kitty familiar back some as a thank you for saving my life.

It had been oddly reassuring to watch Killian get crumbs everywhere as he ate shortbread while driving, like a normal person rather than the viciously untouchable enforcer he was.

I huffed. “It was much more thought out than that.”

Killian smoothly pulled the car into a parking spot, and we silently observed the other cars and humans milling about the gravel lot, one of many dotted through the New Forest.

Trees swelled on one side, elms and ash growing thickly. On the other two sides, wide plains stretched, leading to rolling hills of vibrant grass and tufted heather. The heathland was brushed in pinks and purples with tiny flowering buds.

In the distance, a herd of wild horses galloped across the landscape, led by a stunning dappled grey stallion.

“Beautiful,” Killian murmured.

I glanced over, only to find his stormy eyes locked onto me.

Warmth suffused my cheeks, and I offered him a shy smile. “You are such a flirt. Even for an incubus.”

A grin bloomed across his face, showing off pointy fangs.

“Come on, sweetness.” His voice dropped to a husky octave, eyes flaring silver. “Before you tempt me into staying in the car.”

I gaped at the wicked enforcer, fighting another heated blush. As much as I wanted to pounce on the sexy demon, I didn’t want to accidentally murder him.

Since I’d feasted on Killian last night, that darkness skulking inside me seemed quieter, but I couldn’t trust it.

I opened the car door and hopped out before that demon could tempt me to sin.

The moment I stepped out, the buzz of life thrummed through me like a string being plucked. I drew a deep lungful of fresh, cool air and focused on the ripples of power all around me.

Killian coming up beside me was a low vibration in my mind. Beyond him, small waves seemed to signal the humans exploring through the national park, and even further out, I could sense wild ponies grazing and birds flitting through the trees.

Everything pulsed so strongly, but that dark hunger inside me was ever-present, lurking just below the surface, like a monster from the deep.

I blinked my eyes back open, turning to Killian with a frown. “So… Where are we actually going?”

He ran a hand along the waved length of one horn, flashing me a too-bright smile. “Into the woods.”

I frowned. “You do know where we’re going, right?”

He waved his claws dismissively. “Of course. I’ve been there before. But…not for some time. It’s where I go for glamour if I’ll be in the human realm for a long mission.”

I pursed my lips, a frisson of jealousy winding through my chest. He had a mage contact who just happened to be from the coven we were looking for?

How often did he come here?

“I usually fly from our portal straight here, but it has to be at night,” he said, scanning the landscape.

I grimaced at the reminder of the scourge plaguing this world. The hunters.

My time in their tender care had broken me in so many ways that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be fixed right.

Warmth enveloped my hand, pulling me back into the here and now.

“I won’t let them hurt you.” Silver lightning streaked Killian’s eyes, lighting stormy ocean depths. “Not ever again.”

It was almost as if he could read my thoughts. My throat closed off. His words were said with that quiet kind of conviction I believed more than if he’d shouted them from the rooftops.

I nodded, feeling a different sort of warmth spreading through me.

“I know,” I whispered, fighting back tears. “You already saved me once.”

“Come on, Princess, let’s go find you some hippies,” he said, his small smile heartbreakingly handsome.

I followed Killian towards the tree-line, leaving our hire-car and the wandering humans behind.

Gravel gave way to thick grasses as we walked. Long minutes passed, with the swish of heather brushing the tops of my boots the only sound. The damp tips painted the hem of my trousers with moisture that lingered in the air.

Nature pulsed with life around me, filling me with a strange form of peace I’d not felt in a while.

We hiked across the uneven ground, finally reaching the tree-line after what felt like an hour. It took another half hour, but we finally stepped out from the small patch of forest into another swath of rolling heathland.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but no magical coven popped up to greet us, dancing around a bonfire with their book of spells and judgy attitudes.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” I asked, giving Killian a dubious side-eye.

“Of course.” He cleared his throat. “Before we get there, there’s something you should—”

“Wait,” I hissed, holding up a hand for silence.

Something pulsed again in the magical currents around me. My heart rate picked up as my brain translated the disturbances into information.

“There’re people coming. Humans. Males.” I bit my inner cheek, unsure how I knew these things. “Violent.”

Killian didn’t question it. He just drew his glamoured sword from the sheath between his wings and turned to where I faced.

A human emerged between the thick birches of a distant copse of trees, coming from the direction of the car park we’d left behind.

We hadn’t seen another person since.

“Hunter,” I whispered, eyes locking onto the danger.

Almost a hundred metres separated us, but I could still make out the sneer on his scarred face.

“It’s different ones,” he hissed over his shoulder, waving someone closer. His voice was barely audible over the breeze and the distance between us, but my demon heritage was still enough to give my senses an edge.

Eight men emerged from the trees, dressed casually in hiking gear but with suspiciously bulky coats. My heart sank as they jogged towards us, eyes darting everywhere as if they expected more demons to pop out of thin air.

The way they looked at Killian and me told me they knew exactly what we were, and they were salivating at the chance to hurt us.

Memories flashed through my mind like a slicing blade.

Chains.

Bars.

Screams.

Fists.

Knives.

Bruises.

Blood.

Death.

I swallowed back the bile that tried to surge up my throat. The air had a light quality to it, almost like it was too faint to contain any oxygen.

“Easy, sweetness. Just breathe for me. They won’t lay a finger on you,” Killian murmured, shadows bleeding down his wings to darken his feathers. “They’re dead men walking.”

“How did they even find us?” I struggled for enough breath to voice my question.

If my glamour had failed, we’d have received far more odd looks back at the service station.

Killian shook his horns, eyes locked onto his prey. “I don’t know, but they’re here now. I’m going to need you to run for me, sweetness. I’ll catch up once I’ve had my fun with this lot.” He shot me a quick smirk. “Want another tongue? Or maybe I’ll just gift you their eyes for daring to even look at you. Uncrushed this time.”

I clenched my jaw against the nausea roiling my stomach, glaring at Killian. “How can you joke at a time like this?” I hissed through my fangs. “And I’m not leaving you. Obviously.”

He huffed, but the hunters were only paces away now.

The group fanned out until they formed a semi-circle at an almost safe distance, hands hovering near their waists. No doubt where they hid guns.

The man in the centre looked like most hunters I’d met—grizzled and angry, steeped in scars and righteous fury. He looked ex-military, or maybe law enforcement, but the mean glint in his beady eyes told me he hadn’t joined up to protect people.

He’d done it to hurt.

“This is our world, Hell scum. Come with us quietly, or we can drag you off in pieces. Our scientists will have to pick over whatever’s left,” he snarled, violent anticipation in his tone.

“Silly human.” Killian chuckled. “None of you are leaving.”

He didn’t wait for a response.

Killian leaped onto the hunter who’d spoken, blade slashing the man’s throat before he’d fully drawn his pistol. The hunter dropped to his knees, scrabbling at his neck as blood gushed down his front.

Gunshots boomed across the flat landscape as the others freed their pistols. It was the middle of the day. There was no way other humans hadn’t heard it too.

I could hardly move as violence unfolded. Terrorised memories locked me in place.

Spelled bullets rained down on Killian. One slammed into his thigh, buckling his knee. He snarled, a whirlwind of pain as he sliced each hunter before they could even think to turn their weapons on me instead.

But it was still eight against one.

Killian was putting his life on the line for me.

Shot. Cut. Bleeding.

He was always the first to take the damage. His whole life was drenched in pain and sacrifice.

Rage consumed me.

My poisoned blades were palmed before I knew it. I launched one at a hunter firing wildly. His pistol buzzed with telltale traces of magic. My knife slammed into the human’s chest with enough force to knock him flat on his back. The poison would kill him quicker than the hole in his heart.

And then it started.

That creeping, vile thing . It filled my veins with dark hunger. The need for blood and pain. I snarled, overcome with the desperate call of my wicked magic. My hands glowed red.

Power lashed my insides and burst free, shooting outwards in a wave of viciousness. It ripped into the hunters, tearing flesh and breaking bones.

The men screamed.

And so did Killian.

The horrifyingly familiar sight of his skin splitting open filled my vision. He grunted, stumbling for a brief second before he continued to hack away at the hunters, firing manically as they tried to process injuries from phantom claws.

“Killian,” I whimpered, choking back a sob. “I’m so sorry!”

I fled.

My feet pounded the heather as I tried to put as much distance between myself and Killian as possible.

I knew I was going to get him killed.

But I’d selfishly wanted him to stay by my side anyway.

I should have pushed harder.

I stumbled, my ankle twinging painfully as it rolled in an unseen dip. But I didn’t dare stop, limping towards the next patch of trees looming steadily closer.

The magic flooding me swelled, and my ankle crunched painfully as something in it was righted. I gulped down air as I sped up, blurring past the first trees and into the forest’s embrace.