Everything, Every Day for Eternity (Shadow Haven #1)

The dark

What had possessed her to pick a fight with him? He was so much more powerful than she’d estimated. Even with the extra dose she’d gathered from the Underworld, she’d need to be more creative to overcome his power.

She called on her Power of the Water as his darkness approached and parried it away, but not before the black flame singed the skin on her arms. She winced, holding her eyes shut against the barrage of agony threatening to overcome her resolve.

No. He wouldn’t win. She wouldn’t let him.

Pierce, the name he’d chosen for himself, underestimated her desire for power, her quest for vengeance, and this was the consequence.

Their agreement when she’d summoned him had been death in exchange for his formidable dark power.

But even back then, more than half a century ago, Ethel couldn’t shake the feeling he held something back.

The demon he had been when they met, dark, animalistic, and terrifying, was replaced by the man he now appeared to be.

Their familiarity over the years, his insistence on remaining in human form, and her constant study of his nature had reduced her fear of him.

She’d been waiting, planning, and this was an opportunity she couldn’t afford to lose.

The darkness he’d unleashed in defense of her surprise attack dissipated to reveal his rigid human form. He stood an arm’s length away, the yellow glow of his demon eyes blazing past the blue-gray gaze of his human camouflage.

The anger radiating off him would have terrified her were it not for the confusion marring his handsome features.

“What are you doing?” Many voices in perfect chorus tore from lips that didn’t move, the blaze in his eyes morphing to an orange color, a signal of his anger.

The blend of voices had once terrified her, but she’d learned to reconcile with his nature.

She shrugged. “I need more power than you can give me.”

He tilted his head, his anger dissipating to bring back the familiar blue-gray gaze of his human camouflage. “What did you do?” His voice didn’t lose its otherworldly blend, growing deeper with each word.

She didn’t owe him anything. He’d been a tool in her quest, nothing more, and their trip to the Underworld had provided her with a better one.

He stepped forward, his ability to read her thoughts with minimal effort a constant, grating fact of their mismatched relationship. “Who did you talk to? When?”

“You don’t need to know that…” She couldn’t help her smile.

In the half-century she’d known him, his superiority had been a constant problem for her. Ethel was aware she would never be as powerful as he was, and his contempt was evident in how he shared a negligible portion of his power.

It was nothing personal. She needed power, more power than the Grand Coven possessed if she was to realize her goal.

He stepped closer, and she called on all her strength to resist the urge to step back. “Who promised you this power?”

His many voices echoed through the air, his anger threatening her resolve.

She would have backed down, had it not been for the fresh dark energy coursing through her.

She stretched her hands as the demon had directed and allowed her Power of the Water, the paltry power she’d been born with, to blend with her new ally’s darkness.

She smiled when Pierce gasped, his power diminishing only to grow to inexplicable proportions a second later. The result of the spell his archenemy had given her materialized in a darkness so unnatural she could touch it.

It surrounded them, cloaking them from the physical world. She watched Pierce’s expression move from anger to desperation in the second it took him to decipher its source.

Her joy grew, catalyzed by the increasing power she would soon possess. “Your friend said to tell you he’s waiting.”

Pierce opened his mouth to respond, but the darkness whirled around them to grab hold of his human form.

He roared as it tightened its grip, and it flooded past his open mouth into his body, turning his once pristine skin ashen gray, the color of death.

It took over the human form she’d grown used to in their long acquaintance.

His bones shattered, the terrible cracking sound filling the space the darkness had created around them, but Pierce made no sound, didn’t struggle.

His lack of action brought foreign fear to the joy of fulfilling her end of the bargain.

That fear grew into panic, and she took a step back when his body dissolved into the darkness to reveal the yellow glow of his eyes.

The memory of the night she’d summoned him out of desperation crawled forth, and she couldn’t resist the shiver tickling her skin.

The communication from the unwavering, glowing yellow stare she had no choice but to meet was clear; this was not the last she’d seen of him.

Had she been too hasty in her betrayal of Pierce?

The other demon had whispered its intent to her in her dreams for weeks.

It claimed to be Pierce’s superior, that he was a fugitive using her to escape Underworld justice.

It had also promised unmatched power if she delivered him and provided the spell she would need to accomplish her betrayal.

The silence, deafening in its enormity, as the darkness she assumed was the other demon claimed Pierce, threatened to bring her to her knees. The glowing eyes, the only indication of the demon she’d known, faded away with every passing second, a low hum, the Underworld’s call replacing the silence.

She took a breath when the glow vanished within the darkness, taking away the constant presence of Pierce’s power. It had grown as familiar as her own, and even in her thirst for something better, she missed the reassurance it once brought.

The hum faded into silence, and she braced herself for the unknown, doubting her resolve for the first time since she’d made her deal with the second demon.

A laugh, thick and menacing, floated from somewhere within the darkness still engulfing her. It had the same quality as Pierce’s many voices, only with more power. She smiled. Power she could use.

“That was our agreement, wasn’t it, witch?” Many voices sang in a chorus that seemed to touch her skin, drawing a shiver, not of fear, but anticipation.

Red eyes pierced the darkness. One pair at first, then a second and a third in quick succession. She gasped when the creatures moved closer to her, dragging the darkness around them like a cloak, baring their pointed, animalistic teeth.

“You don’t need to worry. I have no reason to harm you,” the many voices said. “You gave me what I wanted, now I’ll give you what you need.”

With little warning, and too fast for her to even think, the darkness closed in on her, engulfing her body in its power. She gasped for air as it infiltrated every cell of her body. Even in her inexperience, she was certain she would never be the same again.

As it relented, drawing away from her, the changes it had precipitated grew more apparent.

Every witch is aware of their power from an early age, and as the overachiever she was, Ethel had always sought to grow that awareness.

The simple act of whatever the dark power had done to her undid centuries of practice.

Her Power of the Water was gone, engulfed by the new darkness invading her consciousness.

It was thick in its potency, almost tangible, and even as she reveled in her newfound strength, she worried she couldn’t control it.

“It won’t always feel that way.” The many voices answered a question she hadn’t even considered. “You will need to replenish it.”

Her confusion at its words dissipated when all the darkness surrounding her coalesced into a black cauldron at her feet. She stared at it, still enjoying her newfound strength, when the glowing red eyes returned, this time within the cauldron.

“How do I replenish it?” she asked, unwilling to lose this power even for a second.

“You will need to travel to the Underworld to refill your cauldron,” the demon said, its voice coming from within the cauldron. “These creatures will be at your command. They are here to hold the power you gather until you need to use it.”

“It’s not possible to travel to the Underworld, not without…”

But the demon’s red-glowing eyes were gone, as was its presence and the voice it carried. She stared at the darkness the cauldron contained. It swirled around the container as alive as the power now coursing through her veins, and a new fear assailed her.

What if this was temporary? Had she betrayed Pierce for a power that wouldn’t last?

She sought her Power of the Water, the natural power the Goddess had bestowed on her, and it wasn’t there, replaced by the extreme strength of her new dark power.

There had to be a way to journey to the Underworld unscathed.

Pierce said there wasn’t, not without an inhabitant of the Underworld to guide her.

But he was a demon, and demons aren’t known for their integrity.

Her vengeance on the Grand Coven would have to wait until she was certain she wouldn’t lose her newfound power. Until she was certain of an endless supply. There had to be a way.