23. Annette

“Wait, are you sure we should go inside?” I ask, grabbing his arm. “What if someone’s in there?”

He stops, turning to look at me.

“Someone is in there. I can sense her. She’s a witch. We’re going in,” he states. I don’t argue, knowing that there’s no way to talk him out of something once he decides to do it.

Rukh blasts the door open with his magic, and the two of us walk in. I expect her to be hiding, but she isn’t. Instead, she stands right in the middle of the living room, smiling at us.

“I wondered when you’d find me.” She laughs. It’s a cruel laugh, but I see right through it.

She’s middle aged but still looks young. Her hair is long and a silverish-white color. Her eyes are as black as can be, and I can’t help but be a little creeped out by them.

“You’ve been killing and posing the bodies as if it were me,” Rukh says. It’s not a question when he says it, but I look at him, wondering how he put that together.

“Yes. You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”

“Smart enough to know that the elves you’ve been killing didn’t deserve what you did to them.”

“Ahh, but why does it matter? Do you not commit the same sins as I? Are we not one and the same?”

“I’m nothing like you, witch,” he spits out.

“You say witch like it’s a bad word, but yet you have one standing right beside you. One who I can tell cares about you very much. But does she know what goes on in your head, demon? Does she know the real you?”

I ignore the implications, sensing that she’s only trying to get me to lose my trust in Rukh. She knows she won’t get out of here alive against the both of us.

“I know exactly who he is.” I speak for the first time since entering the house. “There are no secrets between us, so you can give that up now.”

“Another smart one. But are you strong enough to beat me?”

She raises her hands, blasting us with an invisible force that sends us flying back. She laughs, using the same magic to fling the nearest piece of furniture at us. A small bookshelf and all of its books fly towards us.

I throw up a shield, but it’s not strong enough to protect us from it. My shield fails almost instantly, and the bookshelf is a mere foot away from slamming right into me. Luckily, Rukh is stronger. He throws up a second shield, much stronger than the one I attempted to protect us with.

His shield is not only successful, but it counteracts as a rebound spell, causing everything to bounce right off of it and back into her. She easily dodges it, still laughing. This is a game to her.

“Nice.” She smirks. “I love it when my prey fights back.”

“I am not your prey,” Rukh simply says before sending a wall of fire at her.

For a moment, the flames are all I see, but they stay controlled. I’m sure that she’ll be nothing but a crisp when they dissipate. But as they recede, I see that I’m sorely mistaken.

It seems that maybe we’ve misjudged how powerful this witch really is. Or rather, I did. Rukh doesn’t seem fazed that the witch still stands behind a shield of her own, with her arms crossed against her chest.

Anger threatens to take over me as I wonder what it would’ve been like growing up as powerful as her. What it would be like to be able to properly defend myself like this. But more than that, it angers me that she would abuse her power like this. That witches like her are the reason that people like me are getting wrongly accused and thrown out of their homes, or worse, sentenced to death.

Her gaze snaps to mine, and her smile widens, showing all of her teeth.

“Jealous?” she asks as if reading my mind.

“Not even a little.”

“Really? It doesn’t bother you at all that you need this demon to protect you, while I don’t? I could teach you, you know. I could teach you how to kill someone like him. How to be extraordinary. We could take over any one of these towns together.”

I stare into those black eyes, seeing her for who she truly is. A tired, lonely, sad witch. And I could never be jealous of someone like that. So I tell her my truth.

“I may be weaker than you, but I would rather have zero power than be someone with too much, who has no idea how to use it. Sure, you can throw any spell you want my way. You can walk around killing anyone you want and make everyone believe that it was someone else. But at the end of the day, you’re alone. At the end of the day, you have no one to help you if you need it. You’re pathetic, and the only joy you have in life is taking away from others. And I would never, ever want to be like that. I would rather die.”

“I can make that happen,” she retorts, sailing right past all my insults.

“You will do no such thing.” Rukh growls, stepping forward. “This is enough. You will die for your crimes.”

“Is that so?” That creepy smile returns to her face. “Try me.”

And so he does. Tendrils of black mist, just like the ones I saw him use against those elves, make their way towards her. She closes her eyes and puts her hands up in front of her, palms facing us.

The tendrils continue to make their way towards her, but she does nothing. I admire the confidence she has in herself, but she should really be running. Finally, the black mist is only a foot away from her when it hits an invisible wall and starts sizzling away. Her shield reduces it to almost nothing.

The witch’s eyes are still closed, but the corners of her mouth are lifting up. Rukh steps closer, and more tendrils fly at her shield, these ones thicker and darker. It doesn’t take long before these ones are eating away at the invisible wall and slipping right past it.

Her eyes fly open, and the small smile she wore now turns into a look of pure wrath. She tries to reinforce her shields, but before she can, the tendrils are wrapping around her arms and burning her skin.

She lets out a shriek so loud that I’m sure everyone within a few miles radius can hear her. It takes everyone in me not to cringe or cover my ears.

Rukh walks closer and closer to her, her body now completely covered with his black mist, leaving only her face out in the open. A face so angry that if looks could kill, I know for a fact that I’d be dead.

“You will apologize to her for being the reason she was cast out of her hometown,” Rukh demands.

“You may be able to kill me, but you can’t make me do that.”

“You’re right. Besides, I don’t actually think she needs an apology from you. I’m sure doing the honor of killing you will be more than enough.”

My eyes widen. Does he mean that? He can’t possibly think I’m strong enough. But he turns his head to look at me and nods.

I take a few steps in their direction, staring at that evil face. She definitely deserves to die. She’s been killing innocent people for months now. So why am I so hesitant to do this? I should be jumping at the chance.

I stop in my tracks. Because I’m better than this, that’s why.

“No,” I say.

Rukh raises an eyebrow at me, clearly confused.

“I don’t need to kill her. I refuse to stoop to her level. Killing her would only mean that I let her get to me.”

“Ha! And you called me pathetic,” the witch laughs.

“Are you sure?” Rukh asks me.

“Absolutely.”

Without hesitation, he grabs the witch’s neck through the mist.

“You’ll regret this,” she spits out.

He ignores her completely. Instead, he snaps her neck and lets her body drop to the floor. The mist dies with her, leaving only us in the cabin, the silence palpable.

Rukh turns to look at me, and I can’t quite comprehend the look he’s wearing. He walks over to me, putting his hands on either side of my face.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say, giving him a soft smile. “But what happens now?”

He drops his hands, looking away from me.

“Now you get to go back home. Clear your name, Annette. They’ll have no reason to keep you away after that. Your house is probably still vacant.”

“If they didn’t burn it,” I say.

But he’s right. I can go back to Mellara now.

“I can walk you there if you want me to,” he offers.

“No, that’s okay. You’ve done more than enough. I can get there on my own.” I feign a smile. “Then again, maybe I should stay where I’m wanted. I… I love you, you know.”

He bristles a little. “I told you. Demons don’t love. I enjoyed our time together, but this isn’t where you belong.”

I frown. “I suppose not. What about your plans to find us a cabin?”

He shakes his head. “You have a home you can return to now. There’s no reason for that.”

I can’t help but feel I’m being dismissed. I don’t know what to say in response even if I am. He did warn me from the beginning that demons didn’t have companions the way that humans did. Maybe I was stupid for ever thinking I was some kind of exception.

“I’ll walk you outside at least,” he says. I nod and follow him.

Once outside, we turn to each other. He gives me a tight smile, still not making eye contact. I look down at my feet, unsure of what to do. I’ve never had to say goodbye to someone like this before.

“I guess this is goodbye then,” I murmur.

He offers me a tight smile, finally looking at me. His eyes are a darker shade of red, and he almost appears to be angry. Confused by the hostility I’m sensing, I slowly turn to leave.

“Wait,” he says, grabbing my arm.

He closes the distance between us, leaning down. For a moment I close my eyes, thinking he’s going to kiss me. And he does, right on my forehead before pulling away. I try to hide my disappointment.

“Thanks for everything, Rukh. I don’t know where I would be right now if you hadn’t helped me find her.”

He nods, avoiding eye contact again.

“Okay,” I say.

This time, he lets me walk away. I head off into the forest, back to the only real home I’ve ever known. And away from the only person I’ve ever really cared about.