Page 9 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)

Chapter 8

I slammed the ornately carved door shut a little harder than necessary.

Killian crossed his arms, and his biceps tensed distractingly. The stubborn bastard had insisted on waiting while I’d sped through a shower and dressed.

I’d then pretended the cookie-thieving hellcat sprawled out on my sofa didn’t exist, and left her snoozing peacefully.

The incubus leaned against the wood siding of my cottage like he had a right to it. A part of me hated that he sort of did.

After all, he had built it.

Last year, when my brother had finally crumbled enough to admit I did need my own space, Rex and his enforcers had built my cabin. I’d shamelessly ogled the hot enforcers while we’d worked—I was part succubus, after all—but really, I’d only ever had eyes for one infuriating incubus.

Until my brother had jokingly growled at me to focus on nailing the timber and not one of his friends.

Killian’s lips twitched like he was remembering a similar thing.

The Bloodwood called to me from just behind the single-storey cabin as I avoided piercing navy eyes. The trees were like the pine forests I’d seen on Earth but with a mix of subspecies native to Hell. Towering redwoods dominated, bleeding rich crimson sap to give the forest its name, but there was a myriad of flora from black ebony hugged by lichens to colourful wildflowers brimming with poisons.

The day after construction, two trough-like planters had appeared outside my cottage, right under my shuttered front windows.

Blooming inside was my favourite flower: bloodbores.

The rich red petals brightened the dark wood facade of my home as much as warning people away, given this flower held a special kind of poison. The same flowers had also been carved into my heavy-set front door.

The flowers were similar to the hellebores I’d seen on Earth, which I supposed was how they’d got their name given demons had been visiting since ancient times. I’d been foolish enough to accept the summons from a nature mage. At first, he’d seemed sweet when he’d started by offering me a multicoloured bouquet of the pretty flowers. Too bad he’d tried to bargain for a deal that would have had me on my knees to earn them and a bland dose of his energy.

Unsurprisingly, I hadn’t taken the deal, but it was still a better experience than my last summoning, which had ended up with me sold to hunters.

From what our witch queen had told me, I wasn’t strictly a nature mage myself, but the healer in me had always been drawn to certain plants for their medicinal uses, as much as their beauty. The majestic creatures of Hell had always fascinated me too.

Killian watched me with an unwavering intensity.

I turned from my cabin and my scrambled thoughts, heading down the path. My throat dried as the demon fell in step beside me, in the opposite direction of his home.

I shot him a sideways glance. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He shrugged his wing arches, unfazed by the blood still seeping down his front from the wounds I’d failed to heal. “With you.”

I ignored the stupid little skip of my heartbeat, flattening my expression. “I don’t need babysitting, Kill. I think I can walk to Rex and Zoella’s on my lonesome.”

It was early enough that the village was still peaceful, the sun barely cresting the vast forest to bathe the low rooftops.

He chuckled. “What if you chip a claw, sweetness? Your brother would skin me alive.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. It was the nickname he’d given me in my dream. He’d never called me that before. I would have remembered. It would be scrawled all over my stupid journal with little hearts all around it.

Had I done something before blacking out last night to make him call me that? That could explain why I’d dreamt about it too.

“Such a stalker,” I muttered, focusing intently on the other cabins making up the Hybrid Kingdom instead.

A hodge-podge of mismatched log cabins dotted the grass, edging the Bloodwood. The village sprawled for a mile beyond the imposing forest’s border, growing every month as more and more outcasts and hybrids found their way into the safety Rex offered to all.

Unless I murdered them, of course.

I swallowed down the guilt trying to choke me.

Crop fields, small orchards, and livestock paddocks had been cultivated along one edge of the village kingdom. Most preferred to hunt for themselves in the Bloodwood, though, so any animals kept were mostly for eggs and dairy.

My recent unintentional stay on Earth had me drawing comparisons between our two realms more than before. Where they had mass farming, we tended towards smaller practices, but what I wouldn’t do for a greasy fast food burger and chips salty enough to murder a snail right now.

I literally had the hangover from Hell.

My stomach grumbled, punctuating the thought, and I stifled a chuckle at my own stupid thoughts.

“Hungry, are we?” Killian’s lips quirked. “Too much glowing drain your energy?”

I flipped my messy red waves over a shoulder. “I’m not the one leaking everywhere. You look fresh from a massacre. And smell like it too.”

I wished that were true. Instead, his smoky-sweet scent taunted me.

He chuckled. “Not a morning person, huh?”

I rolled my eyes, but worry grazed me with its fangs. Killian might be one tough bastard, but he’d been hurt and bleeding for hours now.

And I’d only made things worse. Which seemed accurate for my life right now.

As a sexual demon like myself, Killian siphoned desire for a power boost and faster recovery.

My cheeks rouged again. According to my dreams, I had a few creative ideas for how to help without using my broken magic.

Sexual feeding didn’t have to mean getting frisky with someone, but I was still struck by the idea of him with someone else.

Someone like Zahara.

She was the opposite of me in almost every way. Tall and curvy, she had an innate allure to go with her every demonic feature. Demons prized all those useful extras: horns, tails, spikes, wings, limbs, you name it.

In comparison, I was practically human.

I hurried down the stone path, squeezing between two snowberry bushes the neighbouring houses had let grow out of control, trying to outpace my babysitter in case he could sense my bubbling insecurities.

He already thought of me as an awkward kid. His best friend’s sister. Nothing in the last twenty-four hours would help him take me seriously.

I swear, if he started to coo and pinch my cheeks, I’d nut him in the face. Diddly horns first.

It wasn’t long before a large redwood cabin peeked out from between the thinning buildings up ahead. At one time, it had been the only building here. Rex had slowly built more, budding off the simple one he’d started with. The thought of him all alone, in a kingdom for one, always made my heart ache.

“I think I can make it from here.” I shot Killian an arch look.

A wry smile answered. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Go lie down before you fall down,” I said, shooing him with a hand. “At your age, you should take it easy.”

“I’m going to ignore that because your pretty kitty stole your coffee,” he drawled.

I rolled my eyes so hard I thought my headache would take me, but closed the distance to my old home. The enormous front door was a solid ebony, polished to a gleaming shine and nestled within the rich redwood logs making up the rest of the expanded cabin. It was easily big enough for someone winged and twice my height to walk through without brushing the sides.

I eyed Killian’s muscular frame. Given who Rex’s enforcer generals were, the door choice made sense.

I could probably roll through it, limbs akimbo.

I’d never thought so much about a door.

I may or may not have been stalling.

The thought of confessing my dangerous secret to anyone, let alone our new queen, had a nervous laugh bubbling up. I clamped down hard as the first unhinged peal burst free.

Zoella was a glowing goddess of nature magic and, courtesy of her hellhound familiar, pretty lilac hell-fire too.

I was tainted. Broken.

I swallowed down another crazed giggle, all too aware of the weight of a certain enforcer’s attention on my back.

“Do you need me to knock for you, Princess? Maybe carry you inside?” he purred beside me.

His taunting gave me the push I needed to rap my knuckles against the wood, shooting him a quick scowl that was met by a wicked grin.

A banging sounded within the house, and then the door was thrown open.

A stunning witch with pale-purple hair and matching eyes beamed at me. She threw her arms around my neck in an exuberance I was grudgingly getting used to.

“Eve!” She squeezed me tight, knocking the breath from my lungs.

Since moving to Hell last month, Zoella had been getting stronger with all the training she’d been doing with her mate.

I loved having her around. Not only was she hilarious and sweet, and badass enough to keep my brother in line, but she was magekind. One of the few connections I had to that half of my heritage, since I’d never even met my father. He’d abandoned my mother before I was born.

Zoella and I had started our own grimoire, recording spells and rituals to perform together. She’d been teaching me basic witch magic, like glamouring my appearance and casting truth spells. Things that didn’t rely on my healing affinity.

My eyes welled as a flood of emotions hit me all at once.

I blinked furiously, hugging her right back. If anyone was going to understand what I was going through, it was her. Even though a part of me was filled with shame for bringing even more danger to her door.

She’d almost died for me once already.

I was putting her at risk, just being around her now. That hungry darkness slithered just beneath the surface. Watching. Waiting.

I pulled back, swallowing thickly. “Hey, Queenie.”

Her eyes narrowed, telling me she didn’t miss the extra sad sparkle in mine, but she let it slide. For now.

“Don’t start. Your brother is insisting on calling me ‘Your Highness’ ever since I asked the demon in charge of the orchards not to bother with titles.” She waved a hand, and I knew I could count on her to lighten the mood. “Now let’s head inside before your winged stalker bores a hole through the back of your head.”

She gave an exaggerated wave to said stalker, and I suppressed a sigh at the knowledge that he was still lurking behind me.

Did he think I’d trip over the doorframe and bash my skull in?

The incubus really had no faith in me.

And after what I’d done to him last night and again this morning, who could blame him? He’d probably followed me here to make sure I didn’t assault any unsuspecting citizens.

Zoella lifted her hand, faking a static crackle and speaking into the jumper sleeve at her wrist. “The package has been delivered. I repeat, the package has been delivered. Over.”

I snorted, shaking my horns. “You are such a human sometimes.”

Killian’s husky chuckle reached me too, and I turned to watch him lingering at the edge of the path. His eyes raked me one last time, sending warmth spiralling through me. White feathers spread wide as he flared his wings. With enviable ease, he launched himself into the air and soared gracefully towards the far side of town.

“Yeesh, just fuck him already.” Zoella slapped me on the back with a giggle.

“Oh my fires, could you have said that any louder!?” I hissed, whirling around to see if anyone had heard her, but the streets were mercifully empty, and peering past her into her house didn’t reveal my overprotective brother lurking around.

“Quit your worrying. Rex is still out hunting.” She slapped me on the shoulder. “Come on in. I’m guessing you’re not here for saucy girl talk about why a certain feathered friend was walking you to my place in the early hours, dripping blood and bad intentions, hmm?”

I swallowed thickly. “If only.”