Page 38 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)
Chapter 37
C louds sped across the bruised sky, giving the coven a spooky feel as night crept in.
My father led me from the quiet picnic tables, towards the canvas stretching over part of the clearing. The chatter of excited voices spilled from beneath.
A flickering bonfire roared from the centre, outshining the moon and adding to the moist warmth trapped by the fancy tent.
The feel of so many people was an incessant tapping at my senses. Even my magic reacted to the shriek of so much life around me.
Darkness stirred in my chest, yawning wide enough to show its teeth.
My heart drummed a rapid beat. Panic slicked my palms before I rubbed them off on my stolen jeans, shoving down the hunger corrupting my blood.
Orion weaved us through the buzzing crowd, oblivious to the monster he led through his people, taking me right to the front. He gestured to the first row of plush chairs before a waist-high tree stump wreathed in frosted sage.
“Sit here with the other initiates, child.” Heavy eyes pinned me. “I hope you’ll let me and your destined family help you. It’s the least I can do.”
Saliva pooled between my fangs. The feeling of being trapped only poked the beast my magic had become.
“Thanks,” I rasped, backing away and taking the furthest empty seat at the end of the row.
The coven elder watched me intently before a mage I recognised from the welcome party pulled him aside for a hushed discussion.
I could hardly bring myself to look at the handful of other mages, all around my age, already seated several chairs down, as close to the tree stump altar as they could get.
The nearest witch flashed me a pleasant smile, eyes sparkling as bright as the firelight catching the polished gemstone of her necklace.
I attempted to return the gesture. Judging by the rapid blinking of her false lashes before she spun back to the mage beside her, I needed to work on the whole friendly thing if I was going to stay here.
My breathing shallowed as the bonfire’s heat washed over one side of my face, contrasting the chill smothering the other half.
Either I joined Sage Coven in the next few minutes, or…
Well, there was no other choice.
I couldn’t go home like this.
Either I take a risk with the Sage Coven, go on the run from hunters in the human realm, or try not to get murdered by purist demons and hungry critters in Hell.
Two of the three options I’d already had a turn with, and I did not care for a repeat experience.
“Fires, am I actually doing this?” My breathing turned ragged, and I gripped the base of the cushioned wicker beneath me, snapping the woven fibres one by one.
The monster within writhed with the need to lash out, and I fought to keep a neutral expression plastered to my face.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Eve.”
I startled as hot breath fanned my ear with the whispered words.
Alvie leaned forward in the seat behind me and offered his usual sunny grin. “You’re going to initiate, right? I’m so excited for you to join my coven.”
His damp breath felt sticky against my neck, and I shifted away, my chair creaking in protest.
My answering smile felt brittle enough to crack my lips. “Where’s Killian?”
He jerked a clawless thumb beyond the tent. “Jacaranda needed to dig the spelled bullets out manually before she could heal the wounds.”
I looked for the building he’d been in, worry churning in my gut. He really had needed medical attention, and I’d just let him suffer for hours with bullets that could kill a normal demon. At least I’d been able to recreate the hunter’s stolen magic poison, mainly by trial and error, so over the years, our people could develop a tolerance with carefully measured doses.
The demon I’d been searching for finally stepped out of the building, and I managed to uncurl my claws from the protesting wicker.
Even from this distance, Killian’s glowing eyes found mine. He stalked through the moonlit clearing with all the intensity of a true predator. Utterly perfect, every inch of his muscular chest and arms had been knitted back together, wiped clear of the blood that had coated him.
Blood I’d forced onto his skin.
A surge of bile threatened to rush up my throat, and I swallowed thickly.
Killian towered over both the seated mages and the few stragglers still hurrying in around him as he reached the edge of the shelter, firelight warming his features.
“Oh my goddesses!” A squeaky feminine voice pierced the murmur. “ Killian ?!”
A stunning witch raced to my demon and leaped right for him. Killian’s strong arms caught the woman on impact, and her legs locked around his waist.
He frowned, lips parting, and her mouth crashed against his.
It was worse than being stabbed.
I felt every cut.
Every slice into my soul. Hacking right down to the vulnerable core.
To the stupid hope I’d been harbouring since I’d been a dumb teen, baking him a poisoned cake.
His wide eyes shot to me as he kissed her. With lips that had been on my skin just this morning.
The incubus’s hand wrapped around her throat and shoved back, dropping her, his tail lashing. “Get off me.”
But it was too late.
“Let the ceremony begin!” my father boomed.
I hadn’t realised I’d stood until the weight of too many eyes pressed on me. My claws stabbed my skin, blood slicking my palms, and I carefully folded myself back into the chair.
Darkness built and built in my chest. I tore my gaze off Killian’s thunderous expression as he arrowed towards me, but the image of his lips pressed against another was burned into my mind.
It wasn’t the first mentally scarring image of him I had, and apparently, it wouldn’t be the last.
Not because he was an incubus.
But because he was Killian .
My father’s voice continued, “Tonight is a joyous occasion! Not only is it the coven’s initiation ceremony, but the goddesses have gifted me a powerful daughter, brimming with such potential.”
“Oh, Eve, I’m so sorry,” Alvie rushed out in a whisper. His hand reached over to squeeze my shoulder a fraction too hard. “I didn’t realise he was the same Killian that Melody’s been dating all these years.”
Years.
My chest caved in. Crumbling into the dark abyss that waited to devour it.
Magic buzzed beneath my skin.
“Ow!” Alvie jerked his hand back and frowned at the blood dewing on his fingertips like he’d stuck his hand into a thorn-bush.
A furious presence reached us, but I stood before Killian could get close, taking a step away.
Right to my father’s side.
“Eve, will you initiate into Sage Coven?” My father’s voice rolled out over the crowd, echoing through my brain and bouncing around.
My gaze clashed with Killian’s.
His chest heaved as he watched me, stormy eyes pleading. “Don’t do this. It’s not what you think. Please, sweetness.”
My eyes burned with the threat of tears, but I bared my fangs with a hiss. “Thanks for making this easier.”
Killian’s expression shuttered. A cold, blank mask descended over his carved features.
I turned from him, staring up at my father instead.
His eyes gleamed in the firelight, chin lifting with his smile.
“I accept.” My lips felt numb as the two words sealed my fate.
The crowd erupted in cheers behind me, but even their warm acceptance couldn’t hold together the fractures splitting open my heart.
“Where would you like your mark, dear?” my father asked, hand raised and glowing a bright-ruby hue.
I swallowed thickly, heart pounding too fast, and pulled back the sleeve of my jumper. “My wrist.”
He pressed two fingertips to my skin. A sizzling sounded, and a flash of pain fried my nerves, but he was already pulling away before I could react.
A magical tattoo lay in his wake: a small cluster of sage leaves shining with a faint silvery sheen.
“And now for tethering the anchor to your new family,” my father said with an eager smile. “We usually let the anchor settle first, but I know you’re strong enough to take it.”
I braced for more pain, but he merely hovered his glowing hand over the mark. Something invisible tugged at my wrist, like a piece of thread knotted under my skin.
It didn’t hurt, but the odd sensation made my stomach roil. The thread of magic dived through my arteries, weaving up my arm and into my chest. It collided with my magic store, and the tugging sensation tried to burst from my chest.
I fanged my lip to hold in a whimper, and the magic finally freed itself, taking a portion of my power with it. I got the sense of something large, just out of reach, and I knew instinctively it was the collective power of the coven.
Their energy mixed and roiled, soothing around each other, like a school of fish beneath the waves.
I rubbed my mark, trying to ease the odd push and pull. My skin was tender, but already I could feel it settling as my healing magic swept in.
My father beamed down at me. “I’m so glad to have you join me, daughter. You belong here, with your fellow mages.”
I forced a smile back, still reeling.
The coven elder raised his voice, grabbing my hand and lifting it high so my new mark faced the seated crowd. “I give you our first initiate and new coven member, my long-lost daughter, Eve!”
The gathered mages applauded, whooping excitedly. Including the pretty witch who’d kissed my demon.
My gaze sliced to Killian.
But he was nowhere to be found.