19

Walter

I cut a corner in the labyrinth where it forked into different pathways and finished my glamoured incantation, sending a false glowing version of me running onward. Desperately, I took deep breaths, not concerned about how easily obvious the distraction was. I didn't need to fool the demon, simply offer her another trail to follow. With any luck, she'd get lost stalking the mana I cast as a homing beacon to lead her into the twisting tunneled depths of this maze.

My legs wobbled. I braced myself closer to the wall. Even with all the adrenaline coursing through me, exhaustion had finally caught up. The bruises on my back and chest throbbed. The shallow cuts along my stomach burned, a searing reminder of the essence I'd cut out of myself. All this running made it impossible to catch my breath, and now I wanted to pass out and sleep away the pain. I squinted, lights in the tunnels making my vision blur.

Using the tip of the blade of the Demon's Demise, I scratched out the glyphs on the nearest lantern. Their damn proximity sensors made them light up when someone was close, and I needed this hidden corner dark and unassuming. I clutched the hilt, knowing I had to prepare for an inevitable conflict.

"I need…" I bit my lip, biting back the need to process. It was bad enough that every movement I made down here echoed through long corridors. I didn't need to offer up a sound description of my objective to the demon trying to devour me.

She was relentless. Nothing I did shook her from my scent. I barely managed to get the gorgon eyes before she appeared from thin air, demanding a taste of my flesh.

I needed to get back to Bez. Leaving him was the right option since I couldn't allow the demon to grab him. And I certainly couldn't fend her off with an unconscious Bez in my hands. He was unconscious, right? He'd be fine. Wake up soon. It still left me with sinking guilt that he'd assume I abandoned him. I only hoped he realized what I was doing by leaving him with the statues. Would he even know they were petrified? Would he know the first thing about smashing the pair of eyes onto a petrified person to undo the spell? I hated not having Bez's essence, lacking the faintest sense of our connection, which left me bare and hollowed out.

"Little mage, come out, come out," the demon's voice boomed from the end of the hall. She dragged her bare feet along the stone flooring, moving sluggishly despite the fact that she could bolt ahead in an instant.

I couldn't determine if her slow pace came from the chunks of meat she'd ripped out of her own host body before tiring of the flavor, her still adapting to her newfound freedom after being bound in an orb for who knew how long, or if this was her way of toying with prey.

She walked past me, sniffing the air as she contemplated which path to take. Lanterns illuminated her bloody back as she faced away, studying the labyrinth. I inched sideways, bit by bit, to hide further in the darkness, too frightened to blink on the chance she'd vanish.

She pointed to each path over and over like she was playing eeny meeny miny moe, then stopped and licked the wall of the path I'd sent my glamour.

Take the bait. Follow the trace trail of mana.

"Found you," she said from the opposite side of me, hidden by the shadows.

No hesitation. Not again. I swung the Demon's Demise, slashing her neckline, and backed away as tendrils sprang out defensively. She screeched, furious and making the stone walls rumble. I had to get a deeper cut. Stab her. Twist the blade.

"Disrespectful." Her rage had settled, and she sounded eerily composed, standing behind me.

When had she moved again? Damn. So fast.

I tried to whirl around, tracing an incantation in the air to create a barrier between us, but her hands slapped my back, knocking me flat on my face.

Before I had a chance to react, she'd flung me into a wall and kicked me until I rolled over. In a flash, the demon straddled my waist, seeping glittery Fae blood onto my already bloody shirt. She wrapped her hands around my throat, squeezing down. My face burned. I struggled, futile and incapable of loosening her grasp. Slowly, she slid further up, pressing the full weight of her body onto my chest as she cackled and tightened her stranglehold.

"Eligos said no killing the mage, but that was only to the one with Beelzebub's essence." She licked my cheek. "Not sure how many of you little misfits are roaming these halls, but there's not a trace of Diabolic essence inside you."

She released one of her hands, still choking me. My eyes teared up, and the room went fuzzy; everything faded except this demon's pink hand, which turned a sheen metallic black as she curled her essence over her fingers and transformed the limb into a sharpened blade.

"Well, no essence inside you yet." She sneered. "I'm going to have too much fun rummaging through your organs, picking the prettiest one to remember you by, and eating all the others."

I wriggled, attempting to knock her grip off, but she didn't budge. Every breath became a chore of survival, impossible and useless against such a tremendous Diabolic force.

"Don't worry. It's been so long since I've carved up a little magey treat, I'll probably end up killing you by the second incision. Hope you don't mind if I practice on your corpse."

She punched her clawed hand down, ready to impale my chest. Something cracked, and white light burst between us.

"Well, well, well," the demon cooed. "When did you muster that barrier?"

I'd pulled off the incantation? When? Instinct? Maybe I could do this.

The light shimmering between her blade-formed essence and my shirt popped, transforming into lightning that coiled up her arm, spreading across her body like the lights of a city illuminating all darkness, and pulsed. She leapt off me, zipping back and forth in an effort to shake loose from the magic, but the electricity clamped down onto her and sent continuous jolts that seared her flesh.

I gasped, sucking in all the air my lungs would hold again and again until the fuzzy dots lining my vision faded.

The demon grabbed the lightning with her bare hands, wrapping it round and round until tendrils writhed from the gaping holes she'd made by biting off chunks of her host body. Black essence with crimson hues whipped at the elemental strike, fizzling out the electrical attack. "Nasty, hateful witch bitch."

"Witch?" I asked, slack-jawed.

"Eh. I've been called worse," Kell said, static crackling at her fingertips.

Kell. Kell was here. Alive. It wasn't my attempt at incantations but her successful magic that stopped the demon from killing me.

The lanterns lit with each confident step she took, but her stance was shaky, and her breathing wheezed along the stone walls. She wore her witch's hat and a flared-cut black dress with white stitching. It hung off her shoulders. I winced, pained to see the discolored, twisted skin revealing a fresh burn across her left shoulder. The long sleeves of the dress covered what must've been many other burns along her arms. But veins across Kell's face and thighs glowed green, and essence circulated beneath her skin, moving like tranquil waves and adding an emerald hue to her brown complexion while subtly shrinking and healing the scars all over her body. Did that mean Mora had given her more essence? Were they both okay? Would they be okay?

"Stop daydreaming, Wally." Kell moved her leg back, shifting her weight as she summoned an array of protective sigils. "I can't do this on my own."

"Right." I dragged myself up, saturating the corridor, adding my mana to Kell's magic.

With a wave of her hand, Kell sent a half dozen sigils at the demon. What I considered protective were laced with explosive elements: fire, ice, and lightning. It didn't matter; the demon darted about this confined space, leaping from the floor to the ceiling, dodging the first two bursts. Kell flicked her wrist, changing the trajectory of the remaining sigils. But the demon scaled the wall, moving along the sides and racing in circles closer to Kell.

In a blur, the demon collided with a barrier of light cast by sorcery. Despite the witch's proficiency, a single strike shattered half the sigils keeping Kell shielded.

I slammed my hands onto the floor, rattling the ground like ruffling a carpet. It sent ripples similar to the tide of a lake, raising the stones one by one before they lowered back in place. Each disruption increased the momentum and added to my already strong saturation in play. This wasn't like a lake, more like an ocean of continuously stacked force surging closer. When it finally reached the demon, I threw all my mana into the strike, propelling the floor upward, twisting elemental control over the stonework to smash the demon between the floor and ceiling.

The lack of mobility in this space worked at a disadvantage against her too. Rocks burst, and dust swept through the corridor.

"Rude," the demon said.

Her voice sent a shiver down my spine, a spine fully in her grasp as she stood behind me. Again.

I spun away, adding wind to my escape, hoping the extra speed would allow me to distance myself. It didn't. She lunged forward, swiping her claws. Her strikes were deflected, met with resistance from Kell's sigils working faster to keep up with the demon's attacks. Each blow she attempted was aimed at my tendons, arteries, my most vulnerable points—somehow, Kell kept up with it, magic at the ready.

Grabbing the Demon's Demise, I planned to slice her clawed hand off the next time she attempted to gut me. Instead, the demon skirted around, now ahead of me again. Despite the slow shift in my direction, I managed to turn aside, stopping right as my back collided with the wall.

"You're becoming tiresome," she said, facing Kell.

"Back at you."

The demon didn't bother acknowledging me. Why would she? I couldn't do a damn thing against her. Even when I had Diabolic essence, I choked. Now, I had almost no magic at my disposal, no ability to keep up, and posed no threat whatsoever.

"You smell delectable. Perhaps a bit undercooked for my tastes. Witches are best when well done, I always say. No worries, though. I can fix that." Black flames formed in the demon's palm, swirling and burning brighter. She hurled the fire at Kell, who cast a barrier to block the swelling fire. Not a barrier, telekinesis. I could see the glowing green veins meant to heal her body receding the longer she stopped the Diabolic flames from engulfing her.

"Stop it!" I shouted, springing off the wall with all the rage in the world, stabbing the dagger into the demon's back.

She wailed and whirled around. Too fast. Her clawed swipe slashed my shoulder. I flinched, stifling a scream. It was only a flesh wound. A graze compared to what she intended to do to me, to Kell, if I let up for a second. I pressed forward, casting a glamour as I moved in to stab her a second time. She blocked my left hand holding the blade.

"Wrong hand." I stabbed her thigh with my right. "Can't believe that glamour worked on you. Guess you weren't kidding about being rusty."

The skin on her face cracked, tearing open from the infuriated scream she released. So much angry power that it tore her host body apart. In one swift, blurred motion, she knocked the dagger out of my grip, snatched a fistful of hair, and slammed my head into a stone wall. My glasses cracked, snapping in half, and blood ran down my face.

Black flames funneled forward, and the demon extended her hands, holding her own conjured element at bay. Kell and this demon remained in a locked stance, each using essence to try and burn the other one alive.

I tensed, flashes of Kell's charred body playing over in my mind again. The horrid screams she let out. My cowardly inability to do anything to help her. All I'd done was run. I couldn't let this happen again.

Not happening. I refused to remain idle during another demon attack. I wouldn't fail Kell a second time.

Ignoring the throbbing of my head and the pain in my muscles, I crawled to my discarded dagger and swiped the Achilles tendon, dropping the demon to her knees as her essence struggled to repair the damage. Bleeding her wouldn't work; I needed precise strikes to slow her recovery and prevent mobility.

"I should thank you." I swung the dagger. "After all, it was you aiming for my vitals that inspired the tactic."

I sliced the supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendons in her right shoulder. Her arm dropped, essence whipped about erratically, incapable of healing the injury but slashing at me when I moved in close. I couldn't stop. Not yet.

Black flames barreled closer to us, halted only by the demon's left arm casting the willpower to control them.

I ground my teeth and fought through the searing cuts caused by the defensive tendrils. I stabbed her left shoulder, missing vital spots. It didn't matter; I'd make it work. I buried the blade deep and twisted it until her left arm drooped.

Fire engulfed her, swirling close to me, but a gush of wind knocked me back.

Kell stepped in closer, brow furrowed and hands trembling as she controlled the demon's fire to burn the demon herself. "We have to eradicate every ounce of essence or she'll kill us."

I nodded. If I used my own fire, it'd only feed her essence, and without a connection to Bez's Diabolic abilities, I lacked telekinesis, so I summoned wind and circled it around the black flames, fueling them and turning their blaze into an inferno that Kell kept condensed through sigils, fixated on burning the demon to cinders.

She screamed so loudly it echoed through the entire hallway, shattering stone and cracking the walls apart.

I created incantations, settling the crumbling corridor.

Finally, it stopped. She stopped. Kell wobbled, planting her hands on her shaky knees, allowing the black fire to fizzle out as only charred remnants remained. Then, after a few deep breaths, Kell waltzed over, a strut in her step, and kicked the embers, scattering ashes of the dead demon.

"I'll be damned if I get set on fire a fourth time."

"Fourth?" I quirked a brow.

"Yeah." Kell forced a smile. "Witch hunters back in the day, then my angry coven over a slight miscommunication about the use of dark magic—still peeved about that one, but I always say let bygones be bygones, which is probably easiest when you're bi and they're gone—and now that asshat of a demon. I'd like to think this is all just some unfortunate circumstances, but I'm starting to think it's a me thing, and that's not cool. It's hot. Literally. Flames. Alicia Keys playing in the background of my life soundtrack."

"Wait," I interjected because Kell rambled more than anyone I'd ever met. "Witch hunters?"

The last known recording of active witch hunters was around eighteen sixty-four, which would make Kell very old. Subjectively. Bez was old, old by human standards. Still, Kell must've been a century at least, older than most witches, especially for someone who looked thirty at best. Then again, there were unaccounted cases past the Collectives documents of witch hunter movements. The unofficial, totally unsanctioned witch hunters that came from the infiltration regiment of the Collective, which I'd found links going as far up to the nineteen eighties, but nothing concrete. It wasn't like I had access to those confidential files working as an acolyte in the repository. Still, I did pretty good piecing together rumors and theories and suspicions with only—

Kell stared wide-eyed at me.

"What?"

"Processing what you're saying." She waved her hand up and down. "The muttering's like listening to a bad ham radio."

"Oh. Was I talking aloud? Sorry. Bez says I sometimes do that a bit. A lot. Too much. Probably."

"No, no. I get it. We creatives need to share our wisdom with the masses somehow, right? How else would they learn?" Kell winked. "But we gotta fix your glasses. I don't look a day over twenty-five."

I smiled, heart racing and face burning. Kell was actually pretty amazing company. "I'm… I'm so sorry I didn't stop him, Eligos, I mean. What he did was awful, and I should've tried harder."

"It's nothing." She pushed herself back and lay against the wall. "Though you'd think by the third round, with essence added this time around, it'd get easier."

"What are you even doing here?" I asked between heavy breaths, my entire body puddy on the floor.

"Saving your ass, obvi." Kell snickered.

"No, I mean…" I swallowed hard. What did I mean?

"Mora dropped me someplace private to heal up, and I was zonked out on magic, pain pills, essence, and then I heard someone screaming murder," Kell said, pointing an accusatory finger at me. "So, being the benevolent witch I am, I hopped my happy ass out of bed and saved the damsel."

I glowered, then sighed. I was a damsel, incapable of handling anything remotely at this level, and the only reason I managed anything against the demon possessing the pink Fae was all thanks to Kell's timely intervention. Moving forward, securing the villa, removing Eligos and any other demons he brought, I'd do better. I had to.

"Okay," I said, changing the subject, perhaps burying my ineptitude. "But how are you standing right now?"

"Do I look like I'm standing?" She lazily gestured to herself, clearly too exhausted for flair.

"You know what I mean. You were on fire and…"

"And Mora's essence works miracles." Kell chagrined. "Though she didn't have much to work with, so I might've cast a bit of wicked sorcery to amplify the reserves I've got."

"Dark magic?"

Kell scoffed. "No such thing. It's only considered dark because it works around the rules and doesn't ask for Nature's blessing. And to be clear, she doesn't want to offer her permission for every little spell a witch casts."

"Nature?"

"Yeah." Kell's expression shifted into something happy, excited, and the undertones in her complexion lit from the green essence working its way through her. "She's primordial, chaos, and everlasting. Rules around the Four Corners are the construct of covens, not the goddess of all."

Witches abided and served only one deity—Nature herself. Kell had a point, too. If Nature didn't want witches casting so-called dark magic, she wouldn't make it readily available to them or continuously provide them full access to their Four Corners after accessing ‘bad' magics. No, the only thing that stripped witches of their magic was their coven binding them, their Mythic Council imprisoning them, or the Collective discreetly killing them to save face with rules and regulations.

Kell clapped her hands; the loud pop echoed in the crumbling corridor. Thankfully, my incantations still held because I was just starting to like Kell, and given her knack for destroying things and making my life difficult, I highly doubted our friendship would survive being buried beneath rubble. Mainly because we'd die or I'd kill her.

"Oopsie daisy." She grinned. "I say we drag our butts back to the little hidey hole I was in and rest up until Mora and Bez handle this. Honestly, that knight might've got a drop on your baddie boyfriend. But challenging a devil? That's absurd."

Devil. Kell didn't know the truth about Bez. I guess that was a secret Mora kept safe for Bez from everyone. Even so, Bez was too weakened to do this on his own.

"No." I quaked, legs fighting me every inch I pushed off the ground. "Bez is out there. I have to help him. I have to stop that demon knight."

"Hun." Kell sucked her teeth. "I think you're out of your league. I think we both are. Let them handle the Diabolic drama."

"No. I refuse to accept that." I extended a hand to Kell. She didn't have to help me, didn't have to come with me, but I wouldn't abandon her here in the darkness of the labyrinth. "I'm going to prove I can do better."

"To who?" she asked.

Myself.