Page 1 of Malicent (Seven Devils #1)

Millicent

RAIN COURSES DOWN MY ARMS, mimicking the sheer, silver-streaked markings branching toward my wrists.

A blinding white flash chases a monstrous boom that rattles my ribcage.

The vibrations run down my bones to my knees, buried deep in cold mud.

No. This can’t be right. Rain isn’t red, yet I’m covered in it.

There’s no silver on my arms, only red. As I inhale, the taste of ash fills my throat, constricting my lungs.

For a moment, it jolts me back to the present, my awareness sharpening as adrenaline courses through my veins.

“Little star,” my mother croaks on the ground, curled around my knees, cradling me even as she feels far colder than usual.

Mama is never this cold. She is warm. She is the sun, and I am the stars.

“You need to go.” Her hands push against my stomach, trying to thrust me away. An inhumane sob escapes from my chest.

I clutch her shirt, trying to form words through my panic.

“Mama, come! Get up!” My voice cracks with desperation.

Each word tears out of me in a screeching plea.

I jolt from shock as lightning strikes again.

The sound silences the screams around me for a moment.

The brief stillness is shattered as the screams and snarls surge back in a cyclone of echoes.

I don’t want to look. I just want Mama to get up.

She shakes her head, her voice trembling but firm.

“I can’t get up. You must go. They’re coming.

” Her tone grows more commanding, urging me to obey.

The witch markings on her arms begin to glow faintly, a soft white light creeping along her skin.

I shake my head, a desperate plea for her to stop trying to push me away, to not use her magic against me.

A gentle arc of white light pulses from her hand, the force knocking me back.

The warmth of it tingles my skin and momentarily lights the area, if but for a second.

It’s her last attempt as she tries to send me away with what little strength she has left.

I dig my knees deeper into the mud, anchoring myself down against her push.

What small magic I possess stirs, my eyes beginning to glow—a defiant light that not even the gold and red flames from the burning buildings can penetrate.

The blackness suffocates the light as though it is the true threat, a malevolent threat that needs to be contained rather than the beasts that prowl within it, the beasts that are claiming my sisters’ lives one by one.

I crawl to her, clutching at her dress. “Up! I can’t go without you!

Mama, up!” My body trembles with sobs. My eyes blur with a mixture of warm tears and cold rain.

She’s crying, too. Her tears are red, crimson streaks run down her face.

A flash of lightning strikes bright and white, illuminating her for only a moment.

Red stains everything—her dress, the ground, and the air around us.

An ocean of red engulfs her and me. Desperation drives me to claw at her dress, tugging with what strength I have left.

Weak. My frustration ignites my magic. Thick obsidian clouds pour down my legs.

They seep into the ground, draining life from the grass under my feet.

“My little star, I love you so much. You are so brave. But you must go. You can’t win this.”

I shake my head fiercely, refusing to accept the idea of being apart from her. “Where I go, you must follow! You promised!”

She coughs, a terrible, wet sound, and more red spills from her lips.

Her breaths grow shallow, each one labored and wrong.

I tug at her again, desperate. The arms that moments ago pushed me back now fall limp.

Her left arm slips into the mud. I lunge forward, grabbing her arm with my small hands, clinging to her.

The blue depths of her eyes, the very ones that mirror my own, dim as the light of her magic flickers and fades.

Finally, she isn’t resisting. She will help me. “Mama!” I scream, standing and pulling with all my strength. But she doesn’t respond. She doesn’t even blink to acknowledge me. I freeze. My fingers tighten around her cold wrist.

For the first time, I feel utterly alone.

A void fills my heart where her presence has always been a steady rhythm as constant as my heartbeat.

Now gone, it settles, as if it were never there.

My chest caves inward. I collapse to my knees, hunching over and heaving to fill lungs that suddenly feel void of any air.

My hands claw at the ground, desperate for something solid to anchor me. My heart fractures, and the scream that tears from my throat burns and cracks, but the sound is masked.

The deep rumbling roar, guttural and otherworldly, from a creature I have never heard sounds.

My ears ring, and I’m briefly deafened. Even in the darkness, the outline is unmistakable.

A monstrous horned head emerges from the crumbling walls of the nearby cobblestone temple.

The structure collapses under its immense weight.

Debris flies from the roof as two leathery, black, clawed wings burst free.

Shards of stone and dust are sent spiraling into the air.

The wings unfurl, massive and terrifying, its veins stark and black as lightning flashes in the distance behind the creature.

My eyes widen in utter shock, my mind unable to fully comprehend its size at such a close distance.

The creature lowers its head, and I can make out jagged horns running down its massive skull.

Its large jaws gape open. From within its throat, a torrent of silver flame erupts, engulfing five of my sisters in an instant.

A sickly wet warmth trickles down my leg as the acrid stench of burning flesh fills the air.

My stomach churns violently, and I double over, retching.

I narrowly miss vomiting on my mother. Anguish twists my insides, bringing more tears to my eyes.

My body shakes uncontrollably—from fear, from adrenaline, and now from the force of heaving sobs.

The leathered lizard—I have seen it in only books—draws my attention as it makes way onto the grass. Its massive hind legs crush the last remnants of the crumbling building. Stones tumble down as it descends to the ground in its full, terrifying length.

Its shadowed, scaled tail drags behind, equipped with immense spikes that slice through the air with each movement. The earth trembles beneath the heavy, deliberate steps. Each one reverberates through my bones.

The lizard completely ignores the hellish chaos erupting around it. The monstrous shadow creatures that are ripping the coven to shreds, that tore Mama apart, don’t even seem to exist to the beast.

Keeping my eyes on the beast, certain it will come for me next, I notice someone perched on its back. My gaze locks with silver eyes—piercing, unnervingly bright, capable of penetrating the oppressive magic suffocating the air.

Confusion whirls in my mind as I recognize him.

Him. Of all people, he is the one riding this monstrous creature.

A cold understanding settles into my bones, heavy and unshakable.

It brings with it a violent fire, a hatred that ignites deep in my very soul, scorching everything it touches.

Our eyes remain locked, but he doesn’t move.

He doesn’t try to help Mama. His beast lunges forward.

Its gaping maw consumes another of my sisters in a flash of silver flame.

A guttural snarl rumbles nearby, and I feel the oppressive gaze of a shadowed beast shift toward me.

He did this.

He turns away, never looking back as the creature—now unmistakable, a dragon—takes flight. Its wings carve through the open night, leaving behind echoes of cries and a hell he created. He rides to safety, soaring above the chaos he unleashed.

I am left behind, surrounded by death. Rage consumes me as my heart falters, its rhythm ceasing in tandem with hers.

I close my eyes.

I PEEL MY EYES OPEN, adjusting quickly to the darkness of my room.

I’m inside, in my bed. Not outside. Not real.

It wasn’t real . I repeat the thought endlessly, grounding myself to the present and trying to soothe the panic.

The room is still cloaked in shadows. Night lingers.

I sit up, running my hands through my obsidian curls.

The unruly thickness and endless kinks tangle around my fingers.

I never sleep well anymore. My memories are hell-bent on replaying themselves over and over, whether I’m awake or asleep.

I feel him before I hear him, the faint, scratchy squeak of the wheel that is Oliver’s voice. His presence is as intrinsic to me as the awareness of my own arm. I don’t have to see it to know it’s there. Ollie is the same. I always know where he is without needing to look.

Shadows gather on my bed near my thighs, coalescing into a small, pudgy blue imp.

He stretches his tiny bat wings, wiggling his stubby toes. “Me Misses!” Ollie squeals, his tone almost surprised, as if he wasn’t expecting me.

Whenever I’m in distress, the bond we share pulls him to me. It requires no conscious thought. I have learned that much by now. His shiny eyes scan me, no doubt taking in the deep circles under my eyes and the sheen of sweat on my skin. He knows the drill already.

Ollie patters his way up to my side, settling next to me with a plop. His distended belly, round and heavy, spills well past his knees as he sits.

“Just a bad dream,” I mutter, leaning back against my headboard. A full explanation is not necessary for Ollie. He is fully aware of what haunts me.

“I don’t dream” he says simply, looking up at me with black voids for eyes.