Page 39 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)

Chapter 38

R age lit a fire through my veins, burning hotter and hotter until I wanted to scream.

Magic spiked in my chest, but something curbed it before it could lash out, like it hit a wall of honey, sticky and soft as it slowly absorbed the sharp darkness.

It did nothing to stem my anger though.

I stormed away from my new coven as the next initiate was summoned to the tree stump altar where I’d just been magically bound.

“Killian!” I hissed, searching the darkness as I stalked between the picnic benches laden with wine bottles and iced buckets of beer. “Come back, you fucking coward!”

Wings fluttered overhead, and my eyes narrowed as the demon I hunted fell from the stars.

He landed on the stone-lined path, drenched in shadows that bled from his ebony wings. Silver eyes glinted through the darkness for a beat, and then he turned his wings on me and strode into the forest, back towards the way we’d come earlier.

I picked up my pace, hurrying after him and leaving the celebrating mages of my new coven behind.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!” I drew a knife from my thigh holster and chucked it after him. It sliced the night inches from his wing arch as he dipped it just in time. “Quit running.”

He hissed, whirling on me as I snuffed out the distance between us. “That’s rich coming from you, kid.”

“Excuse me?” I scoffed.

He drew up to his full height and stood his ground. The second I was within reach, I shoved his chest, slamming him back into a tree hard enough to rain leaves.

“You heard me.” He shook a leaf from his wavy hair, unfazed by the impact. “I was right all along. Your magic isn’t broken , and yet you’re still running from yourself.”

“Fuck you, Kill. I had to join the coven to stabilise my cursed power before I hurt anyone else.”

Doubt crept in at the edges as he snorted in cruel amusement.

“Did you?” He cocked his horns. “Or did your deadbeat dad just pressure a powerful new pawn into joining his coven? If this is just another aspect of your magic, then it’s another part of you, Eve. For years, I’ve watched you teach yourself complex healing magic. All alone. This is no different.”

“It’s completely different,” I snapped. “And that’s not why I followed you.”

“What, then, Eve? What do you want from me? Because I can’t seem to figure it out.” His eyes blazed in the darkness.

“Are you being serious right now?” I snarled, rage and hurt bubbling up in a toxic mix. “You’re the one seeing countless demonesses, and now witches too.” Another blade found its way into my hand, somehow already pressed to his inked throat. “You bastard. I never would have touched you, heat or not, if I’d known.”

He bared his fangs back, unafraid of the poisoned metal kissing his skin. “I haven’t been with anyone since you were taken.”

I stilled. “What?”

A sneer curled his upper lip. “You heard me.”

“Why?”

Silver bled into his eyes fully, flashing brighter than sharpened steel in the moonlight. “You know why.”

“Do I?” A harsh laugh left my lips, as cruel as Hell to a hybrid. “Because I know fuck all, it seems.”

“Eve.” A growl rumbled his chest. Wisps of shadow danced from his wings, rising and falling with each heaving breath.

“What. Are. You. Saying?” I bit out, fighting the urge to claw at him until he spilled sense.

“Dammit, Eve, it’s you , okay?” His eyes burned into me, searing right down to my soul. “It’s always been you.”

Before I could do a single thing, he stormed the final gap between us, fisting my hair and slamming his lips against mine.

He devoured me with a kiss, crossing the line that had separated us for an eternity.

It was everything I’d dreamt of.

But could never have.

I ripped our lips apart, heaving for air.

“It’s too late.” My voice wavered as tears blurred my vision. “My place is here, and I’m not leaving until I’m fixed. However long that takes.” My throat tightened, dropping my voice to a bitter whisper. “Go home, Killian.”

“You’re making a mistake. You can’t trust these people, kid. That bastard who sired you already threw you away once. Come home with me.”

Twin silver pools pleaded, screaming “choose me.”

An image of my mother’s lifeless body, sprawled in a pool of blood, flashed before my eyes. What if that was Rex? Or Zoella? Or him ?

How could I live with myself if I let him down when he needed me most too? It wasn’t just the danger of my bloody magic. It was the loss of my healing powers.

“You don’t understand. I have to do this.” I turned on my heel, dodging his claws as they grasped for my wrist. I couldn’t look at him for another second or my resolve would crumble.

“Eve, wait!” he called after me.

My eyes burned as I picked up my pace, sprinting into the forest, leaving the shattered pieces of my heart at Killian’s feet.

I struggled to breathe. My lungs squeezed tight and refused to obey my desperate need for them to expand with life again.

The ghost of Killian’s lips still imprinted on mine.

I’d never felt more broken.

I hurried through the thickening woods, spindly trees looming over me as I fled the demon I wanted but couldn’t have.

It would be selfish to trap him here in the human realm for years, stuck in a mage coven away from the life he’d built back in the Hybrid Kingdom. Or beg him to wait for me for fires only knew how long while I fixed myself.

As always, he was out of reach. Off-limits.

Something rippled through my subconscious. It took me a minute to connect the mental sensation to meaning.

A person waited up ahead.

A clean feeling I was coming to recognise, something magical, lurking in the forest and tripped my instincts.

“Eve! There you are,” a bright male voice called out.

I turned in time to see a shock of golden hair, practically glowing under the dim moonlight filtering through the canopy. Alvie hurried towards me, crunching through the leaf litter.

I dashed the tears staining my cheeks and pasted on a smile as he neared. “Alvie, what are you doing here?”

Why wasn’t he back at the ceremony with the rest of the mages?

He stopped within biting distance, flashing a friendly smile, but the expression didn’t reach his yellow eyes. “I wanted to say congrats on joining my coven,” he said before chewing his lower lip. “But… I also need your help.”

I frowned. “Help with what?”

Something was off with the sunny mage. I just couldn’t put my claw on what.

“It’s the ward,” he confessed, snapping a twig beneath his shifting weight. “The coven needs strength. Will you help me?”

“Sure.” I drew the word out, trying to puzzle out what was triggering my instincts.

I may not plan to be here long-term, but I needed the coven’s help during my stay. As a half-breed, I was a freak back home. If fixing the ward with Alvie encouraged people to overlook my differences, I couldn’t afford not to.

“Excellent.” Satisfaction radiated from the mage’s golden eyes.

He snatched my hand, damp palm sliding wetly against mine. I barely resisted the urge to yank free as he tugged me along, almost breaking into a run.

The faint tingle of magic tickled my senses as we rushed through the dim forest, hinting at the invisible barrier protecting the coven’s grounds.

My coven’s grounds.

I stuffed down the burst of anxiety the thought brought on.

Alvie jerked me to a stop right before the wall of power, keeping my hand captive. At first glance, nothing seemed out of place. The line of half-buried stones sat untouched. Magic fizzed that same static from a few hours ago.

“Alvie…? What’s wrong with the ward?” I peered around the hushed forest. “Was there a disturbance?”

Fear snaked through my middle. Had the hunters found us? Had I led them right to the doorstep of my new coven?

Danger stalked me everywhere I went.

“No.” He cocked his head like he was considering something. “At least, not yet.”

The hairs on my nape rose.

“What are we doing here?” I murmured carefully, stopping my friendly expression from slipping.

Alvie faced me, a serious mask dropping over his charming features. He squeezed, pressing my bones too close. “I need to borrow some of your power.”

“What? Why?” I breathed, heart thudding.

The forest seemed to curl in around us, leaves whispering eerily in the breeze.

His eyes hardened at my reluctance, grip tightening further. “To strengthen our coven. I told you before, I’m our chief protector here.”

Not according to my father.

But Alvie had tried to protect me in the woods. From a terrifying, blood-drenched demon. Whatever weird vibe I was getting was probably from my newfound coven binding and my stupid, broken heart.

“Okay… Anything to help the coven,” I said, offering a tentative smile.

He finally released my aching hand, lifting his fingertips to my face. “Thank you, Eve. I knew you’d do the right thing.”

I held back the urge to flinch as he stroked my cheek.

“Of course,” I whispered.

Fantasies of ripping his hand off and shoving it down his throat played through my mind.

Too many men thought they had a right to touch something just because they wanted to. I’d lived it more than enough times.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Eve. We have a connection,” he murmured, and everywhere his gaze roamed felt sticky.

Something wasn’t right.

I peered through my blood-red lashes as he cupped my cheek.

“I know, I feel it too…” The lie spilled out on instinct, and I traced my lower lip with the tip of my tongue.

He followed the movement, and his eyes dropped to the scant cleavage peeking above my jumper’s neckline. Hints of his soapy desire underscored his hooded expression. Energy rolled through me, wisps of his clean lavender flavour giving me a boost.

“But why would I need protection here?” I asked, nuzzling my cheek firmer into his hand, even as my stomach roiled.

He stroked through my curls like he was petting an animal. I fought the urge to hiss at the invasive touch.

“You won’t.” His grin twisted into an arrogant smirk. “Not when I’m coven elder.”

I sucked in a breath.

His hands snapped around my wrists, tightening painfully. “Meos sumere. Meum est proprium,” he chanted in a fevered rush.

Power bubbled up from my chest. It poured down my arms.

And into him.

Sunlight ignited the forest. Alvie became a supernova in its centre.

I yanked on his crushing hold, but something more than human strength locked us together. Energy drained from me so fast, I swayed like a drunk, crashing into Alvie’s front.

My chest heaved as I thrashed against him, fighting to free myself.

He turned his head, unaffected by my pathetic struggles, and faced something beyond the ward line.

And that was when I felt it.

Life.

Rippling with the currents of multiple beings.

Intent on death.

Alvie lifted our joined hands, and sunshine blasted my retinas. Magic cracked through the air like thunder.

It hollowed me out like a soul-eater.

The ward shattered.