Page 5

FIVE

willow

H e’d spent the night sleeping at my feet again, and even though I knew now that he wasn’t really a cat, the action still comforted me. It was a small thing, really, to know I wasn’t alone, but it made me feel better.

Damien had disappeared during the afternoon, leaving me to work in the study, making sure I had just the right balance of herbs and ingredients for the spell. It was a relatively simple task, but it still required my undivided attention.

He returned, holding something in between his teeth. After hopping up on the table, he unceremoniously dropped it onto the workstation in front of me.

“This is it?” I asked, holding up a small silver ring, the purple amethyst sparkling in the light. The setting was gorgeous—the entire piece was, really.

He cleared his throat. “It was my mother’s. It’s the only thing I could think of. She gave it to me before she passed away.”

So he’d lost a parent, too. I knew firsthand how heartbreaking that was, and I wondered who had been by his side. Who’d helped him through the grief? How long had it been?

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, brushing my finger over the stone.

Damien’s big yellow cat eyes connected with mine, and I wondered what he would look like if we were successful. What color his eyes would be. If his hair was as dark as his fur. Would he have a strong jaw? His voice was deep, and I imagined?—

“Little witch,” he murmured, breaking me from my trance. “Shall we prepare?”

“Right.” I nodded, setting the ring back down. “We still have a few hours till the sun goes down. I want to have everything ready so I can perform the spell when the moon is at its highest. That way, it’s the most powerful moon magic possible. And hopefully…” I snapped my fingers.

“What are these?” Damien said, nudging a bundle of herbs with his nose.

I looked at my chosen selection. We’d talked about doing the spell, but in reality, I was trying everything .

“I’m going to burn it,” I explained. I’d burn incense—a blend of rue, hyssop, salt, sage, and frankincense. “The smoke should hopefully help to cleanse away the curse from your body.”

If it worked. Some of the herbs served specific purposes: hyssop was good for magical self-defense, while frankincense was used to cleanse and purify. Both of them would take part in my spell.

I explained all of that as I worked. Whenever he had a question, that little cat nose of his sniffing at my workstation, I did my best to answer it.

It was weird, because I always worked alone, except for my coven and Luna. But I didn’t mind him being there. His presence, while also the cause of my current distress, seemed to soothe some of the jittery feelings running through me.

I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“And what about the object you asked me to bring?” He asked, peering at me curiously.

The ring was sitting in the middle of the desk, untouched.

“I’m going to use it as a talisman. Hopefully, it will protect you and keep this from happening again.” I swallowed roughly. If it worked. “You can wear it around your neck, I suppose.”

I eyed his cat collar, the one with the bell. “How’d they get that on you, anyway?” Reaching over, I took it off of him, setting it on the table next to me. I should have taken it off sooner. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me.

“Around the twelfth time of me chewing it off, I realized it was useless. They just kept putting a new one on me. So I just gave up.” He peered down at the orange thing. “Strange, to think I might go back to normal soon.” He licked a paw.

“Hopefully,” I said, giving what I hoped was an optimistic smile. Even though I had no idea if it would work. If any of it would.

Was I strong enough? Powerful enough?

Maybe I was going overboard, but this was all to get the demon out of my house—out of my life. Wasn’t it?

“It will,” he said, his voice strong with conviction. “I believe in you.”

I turned away, not wanting him to see the warmth on my face.

* * *

“What are you doing?”

“Goddess!” I jumped, practically smudging the chalk lines I was drawing on the ground. “Luna! What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t respond to my text. It’s the full moon—we always spend it together.” She pouted.

We did—usually with the coven—but I needed this to work. For Damien’s sake. And I couldn’t risk them all finding out.

“And also… I brought cupcakes.” Luna heaved up the box. My mouth watered at the sight.

“I’m sorry. I just…” I looked down at my partially drawn circle and winced. “Had something I needed to do.”

She didn’t look surprised. “It’s okay, Wil. As long as you’re being safe?”

Was I? I was living with a demon in my house, for goodness’ sake. Even though he’d been so cute when he’d curled up at my feet last night. When I’d caught him resting his head on my ankle, I’d almost sobbed from how adorable it was.

Sometimes it was hard to remind myself that he wasn’t a cat when he snuggled up with me. I’d miss those moments the most.

But maybe he needed it too, that connection—however temporary it was.

As soon as I broke the curse, fixed him, he’d be gone.

“Yeah,” I finally said, feeling sadder than I thought I’d feel about that very prospect.

Luna brushed my shoulder. “Do you need anything?”

“I think this is something I have to do alone,” I said, straightening my spine. The moment I said the words, the rightness spread through my body.

And I knew I’d spoken the truth. I had to do this alone—for Damien. I couldn’t explain why, but it was an undeniable fact.

My sister nodded. “Okay.” She looked around the room. “Where’s the new cat, anyway? I want to meet him.”

I blinked. “He’s…” Where was Damien, anyway?

He’d been laying in the patch of sun that came through the library windows earlier. It made me snort, because only this demon could sunbathe, still claim he wasn’t a cat, and make it endearing.

The worst part of all of this was I was losing another cat.

Meow. He didn’t jingle anymore, since I’d taken that damn collar off.

“Oh! Hello there.” Luna bent down, extending her hand out to Damien, who tilted his head as he sniffed her unconvincingly.

“This is my sister,” I said to my cat, aware that this was only awkward for me. Because my sister had no idea that the cat who was currently rubbing against her was practically royalty in Hell .

“He’s friendly.”

Damien chirped in response, rubbing against Luna’s ankles happily.

Except for when a man is around, I thought with a snort, and Damien’s head whipped around to look at me.

“Oh, yeah,” I finally agreed. “Definitely friendly.”

You know, I could still bite you, Damien thought into my mind. I do have teeth.

I narrowed my eyes at him, unable to say anything back.

“I’ll have to bring Selene over for a playdate,” Luna gushed, oblivious to the conversation going on in my mind. Selene was her white, fluffy cat she’d gotten at seven years old.

What seven-year-old was good at naming their familiar? I’d named mine Binx, after all. And Luna—named after the moon, well… she’d named her cat after the Goddess of the moon.

That was my sister for you.

I wondered how my sister’s familiar would react to my demon cat. Would she feel that something was wrong with him?

How did cats act around demons, anyway?

Especially ones that could turn into cats?

Still not a cat, Damien interjected.

They well warded Pleasant Grove against evil beings and regular humans, so I’d never met a demon before this. Probably why I was so hesitant to accept Damien’s status as one. How did he even get through the barrier?

“Well? What do you think?” Luna asked, drawing me back into the conversation, prying my eyes away from Damien’s black form.

I resisted rolling my eyes. If I had any luck, well… he wouldn’t be a cat after tonight. And definitely not my cat. “Maybe.” I agreed, not wanting to commit to anything. Especially if I couldn’t figure this out by the next coven meeting, I’d probably have to recruit their help.

We’re definitely not doing that.

I leveled a look at him. Get out of my head, I wanted to say. But it wasn’t like he could read my thoughts.

Sighing, I turned back to my chalk. I’d have to redraw the five-pointed star again later, since Luna’s arrival had messed up my focus.

Placing the chalk on the big table in the center of the room, I propped my hip against it, leaning back to watch my sister.

It was crazy how fast she’d become her own person. There was only three years between us, but she’d been my little shadow when we were younger—always wanting to help her big sister, to do whatever I was doing.

But before my eyes, she’d transformed, blossoming into herself. The witch who loved pastels and baking and preferred to surround herself with happy, bright things, instead of our sad, old house.

I knew why she moved out, wanting to live closer to the bakery, but still… I missed her. Though—maybe I was glad she wasn’t around right now. Not with what was living under my roof. Or who.

“Are you still lonely all alone in this big house without me?” Luna’s mind seemed to track the same way mine did, neither one of us having to say anything.

“It’s not so bad now.” I could feel my cheeks pink, and I knew Damien’s stare was on me without even having to look.

How can she be lonely, Damien thought to me, puffing up his fuzzy chest, when she has me?

Four days. It had been four days, and already, I felt like I was used to his presence. I’d known he could talk for half of it, and yet, it already felt weird not being able to respond to him.

“It’s not like your bedroom isn’t still here. You could always move back.” I pinned her with a stare. Her old furniture still sat in the room, extra dresses left in the closet. It still smelled like her, too, somehow, like freshly made pastries and icing.

The same scent that greeted me every morning at the bakery. If I was being honest with myself, it was the reason I was still there. Sure, I owned half—we’d started it with what our parents had left us—but I stayed because it was my connection to my sister.

She tugged at her overall dress as she stood up. “I’m twenty-five, Willow. You don’t have to keep taking care of me, I promise. I can take care of myself.”

“I just…”

“I know.” She sighed. “I know what losing our parents did to you. But I’m okay, really.” Luna squeezed my shoulder. “Now, I’ll let you carry on with your secret spell.” She winked at me. “Don’t go chasing after your soulmate without me, Wil.”

Barking out a laugh, I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Sure.” She shrugged, giving Damien one last pat on the head before turning to head out the door. “Whatever you say, sis.”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” I repeated to Damien after she’d left, who’d curled up on the old wooden rocking chair that sat in the room’s corner.

He blinked, his cat-like eyes flashing red for only a moment. “I know that.” His voice was smooth, deep, and sent a sudden shudder through my spine.

I nodded, saying nothing else.

Maybe I was losing my mind.

* * *

Damien sat in the middle of the magic circle I’d drawn, each tip of the five-pointed star marked with a white candle. The entire thing was ringed in a thick line of black salt, and the bundles of herbs were burning, wafting over the area.

His little cat nose twitched. “Ready?”

Everything was set. The moon was high in the sky.

All that was left was, well… me.

I nodded, stepping up to the circle. I’d donned a more traditional outfit for this, complete with my mother’s favorite hat and the black cloak that covered the billowing layers of fabric of my dress.

The words ran through my mind, and I visualized what I was attempting to do before I started. Find the curse, break the chains, set the magic free. Nothing like performing a ceremony on the full moon to add pressure to you.

This had to work.

Why was it so important to me? I didn’t know the reason, but I could feel it in my soul, the same way I recognized Luna as my twin flame.

Maybe Damien was an evil being, a demon who didn’t belong here in our world, but there was an underlying sadness there that I wanted to understand. That I resonated with myself.

Beginning to chant the spell, I closed my eyes as I visualized my magic pouring out of me. It wasn’t often that I used it like this, undoing what had been done. Hexes and simple spells wore off. But this curse was different.

It was strong.

I squeezed my palm tight around his mother’s ring, grounding me to him, to our connection. I’d already blessed it, placing a protection spell on it and adding a chain so he could wear it around his neck, but it wouldn’t be enough. That was obvious now.

In my mind’s eye, I could see his spirit, trapped inside the form of the cat, staring up at me. Begging to be freed. The curse was complex. Ropes of magic spun around him, keeping him contained, and I slowly worked to untangle them. To free him from the thing that plagued him.

This witch had been powerful, that much I knew.

But, I thought with a smirk, I was more powerful. I could outsmart her.

“ Reverse the curse. Break the ties. Let what has come unbidden, be unbound.” I said in a voice that wasn’t quite my own, and when I opened my eyes, I could see the magic flowing freely from my hands, wrapping around Damien’s body.

And when the magic ran out, when I finally put my hands down, everything faded into black.

I closed my eyes.

Just a minute, I thought to myself.

Before I passed out.

* * *

I was floating on clouds, nestled into a soft, fluffy bed. Warm, comfortable. The feeling of contentment rolled over me. Like everything was peaceful. Happy.

“Willow?” The voice speaking to me sounded so concerned, so… rough . At odds with my current senses.

Whimpering, I shook my head. I wanted to stay in this beautiful place. But the voice pulled me in. I peeled my eyes open, blinking back at the dark head of hair looking down at me.

“Damien?” I squeaked out, looking up into a pair of blood-red eyes. “It… worked?”

“Thank fuck.”

Of course, he’s relieved that it worked.

I sat up, glancing at the bed. Someone had expertly tucked me into the sheets, my favorite fuzzy blanket from the couch wrapped all around me. Oh. I’d—“What happened?” I asked, rubbing my forehead.

The last thing I remembered was unweaving the other witches’ curse.Darkness still flooded in through the window, giving me no indication how long I’d been asleep.

He frowned. “You passed out, Willow. I…” A hand rubbed over his face. “You scared me half to death.”

I looked at my hands. “I… did?” Maybe I’d channeled more power than I realized last night, because I’d never passed out from using my magic before. It had always come to me with ease. “I didn’t know…” I turned my head to the curtains, using a flick of my hand to close them.

Even that movement was straining. My innate magic was clearly temporarily exhausted. I’d never run so ragged before. Never had a reason to.

Damien made an indistinct sound in his throat, guiding my attention back to him.

“Little witch,” he murmured, cupping my jaw with his hand. His voice was rough, like with disuse.

Goddess, help me. I couldn’t stop staring at his face. At that jawline, practically sculpted from granite. I’d never imagined my demon cat would look like this. But holy hell, anything I could have imagined paled compared to the actual man sitting in front of me.

My lips tilted up in a small smile.

“I’ve got you,” he promised. “Nothing will happen to you as long as I’m here, Willow. I vow it.”

His words sank into my skin.

As long as he was here. But how long would that be?

And why did I not want to see him go?