Chapter 17
“Fuck me,” I groan, rubbing the bump on the top of my head.
“Dimitri?” Triton’s voice floats from the dark, and I grit my teeth. I may have been avoiding Mari as best I could in that small-ass kitchen, but that didn’t mean I wanted to leave. I’d rather see her than Triton anytime.
“What the fuck, Triton.” It’s not a question.
“Uh, I was trying to do something else.”
I glance around the dark landscape. He steps in front of me, blocking my view of what I’m pretty sure is a ring of candles.
Why the fuck would Triton need a summoning circle?
He’s a demon, not a witch. As far as I know, they’re the only ones who use them.
Other humans have tried, and a few even got them right.
They fell out of fashion a long time ago, though.
Then there were the stakes and the burning and most of it stopped.
“Well, can you send me back?” I snarl.
With time being wonky between the worlds, I can’t guarantee I haven’t abandoned Mari for months.
At least time never gets the chance to run on either plane.
Otherwise one of us would be hundreds of years in the future while the other lagged behind.
It’d be a constant race to see who could get to the end of the world first.
“Oh, yeah. Sure.”
He trips over his feet and mutters a curse.
The flame from one of the candles wicks out, and I’m shoved into the void once more.
Did he summon me? Or was this Providence fucking with me?
That’s not exactly her style. More my sister’s.
Karma’s a bitch, but I love her. Even if she is being ridiculous right now.
My stomach flips when I drop back in my seat in Mari’s kitchen.
She’s nowhere to be seen, but I can sure hear her.
I lean to the left and spy her in the living room.
The space looks like it did when she unpacked the closet—destroyed, decimated, tornado-like.
In the middle of the mess is Mari. She throws things around, bellowing and cursing.
Whether she’s pissed off at me or someone else, I don’t know. I’m slightly terrified to find out.
I clear my throat, and she whips around to glare at me. I press my lips together when she narrows her gaze. Guess that answers my question.
She stabs her finger in my direction and growls, “You.”
“Good to see you’re feeling better,” I say, fighting a grin. I can’t help myself. From the blush on her cheeks to the wisps of hair flying about her head, I’m entranced. I much prefer this version of her to the one last night.
“Oh, I’m feeling much better. And you forgot this.” She chucks something round and hard at my face.
Either she has a lot of faith in my abilities or didn’t care whether it whacked me in the face.
I am a demon, though. My hand snaps up and I clutch the dragon egg.
I wonder how long it’s been gone from Hell.
If the horde notices this little one is gone, they’ll come after Omen.
And he’ll deserve it. He never did pay attention when we learned about the dragons residing in the adjacent dimension.
“Are you…upset about the egg?” It has to be more than that.
She straightens, her face clear of the rage. “Egg? That’s what—no. You’re not going to distract me. That’s all that happens with you. I have plans, and you’re constantly muddling them up.”
I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. “What exactly have I muddled up for you? Truthfully, I don’t think I’m why you’re upset.”
Am I goading her? Yes. Is it just so I can watch her keep being a spitfire?
Maybe. Either way, I might finally get some answers.
My curse hasn’t flared up the last couple trips here.
I could choose to believe it’s well and truly gone.
Walking away from her would be easier. I’m in this now, though.
I’ll spend the next century wondering what she was hiding and how I could have helped.
“Upset? You think this is upset?” She stomps closer, then plants her fists on her hips. “Oh, buddy, I can be so much more upset if I want to be.”
“I’d love to see it.” I smirk, counting down from three.
“Fuck you,” she seethes. “Fuck demons. Fuck being a witch. I want human problems. I want to worry about the weather and what I’m going to make for dinner and whether I should have another cup of coffee.
Instead, I’m stuck in this fucking house with a demon who can’t figure out how to be a demon or at least stay in one goddamn place for longer than a couple hours.
I just need the book. A spell. A sign. Something to tell me I’m on the right path. ”
She’s panting by the time she’s done. Tears drip down her face as she stares over my head.
This wasn’t the spitfire I wanted to goad.
When she’s ranting about me, that’s one thing.
This…this is something more. I imagined her secrets to be something mundane I could fix.
Not being a witch? I can’t do anything for her there.
I don’t have the ability to strip them of their power. Few do in Hell.
“Which book?” I murmur, and she blinks slowly at me as if she’s forgotten I’m here.
“Doesn’t matter,” she whispers.
She swipes at her face and makes a noise in the back of her throat before turning around. When she starts cleaning, I know I’ve lost her. Or at least, sharing time is over.
I push to my feet, and the lightheadedness is back. Catching the edge of the table, I close my eyes and wait for it to pass. Sleeping most of the night helped, but not for long apparently. When the dizziness passes, I make my way into the living room and watch her for a bit.
“It’s a dragon egg,” I murmur, and she tenses.
“I can’t hear you when you mumble. If you’ve got something to say, have the balls to say it with your full chest.”
I snort, glancing away. “It’s a dragon egg. Omen’s soulbound needed an egg. He just swiped the wrong one.”
“What’s a soulbound?” She turns to me with confusion on her face and a small green book in her hands. “Wait. A dragon? You brought a fucking dragon into my house?”
“Uh, no. It’s not a dragon…yet. And technically, Providence brought it here. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was in the void and she picked it up. Thought I had hold of it when I got pulled away.”
Her mouth tightens as if she’s holding back what she really wants to ask. “Do you still have it?”
I really don’t want to answer her. “A soulbound is basically soulmates. Though it’s a bit more intense than humans make it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. One soul is bound to another. Can I see it?”
Sighing, I pull it from my pocket and hold it out. She scrambles over, her bad mood vanishing in the wake of something new and exciting. I glance over my shoulder and note her clean plate, filing away the information for later. If there is a later for us.
She hesitates, her hand hovering over the egg. “Is it hot?”
“Why don’t you just take it and see? It’s not about to hatch so you’re fine.”
Her eyes snap to mine. “How do you know?”
I shrug, then grab her wrist, turn over her hand, and drop it in her palm. “Worked with them for a bit.”
“You worked with dragons? Didn’t they want to eat you?”
I smirk, raising an eyebrow. “You thought I wanted to eat you when we first met, spitfire. Which I’m still willing to—”
“Stop talking,” she growls, but there’s a hint of a smile on her lips. “It’s glowing. And not as hot as I thought it’d be. Wait, is that because it’s dying?”
“For someone who was concerned with dragons eating demons, you’re pretty cut up about a baby dragon not making it.”
Her mouth drops open. “It’s a baby.”
I hold my hands up with a chuckle. “Okay, no jokes about the baby. Got it.”
“Don’t you need to take it back?” she asks as she cradles it to her chest. I start to reply when her nose scrunches. “Who’s Providence. I mean, what’s Providence? And who’s Omen? And Clara?”
“You realize by asking me about my life, you’re going to have to tell me about yours, right?”
She tips her chin up. “If you don’t want to tell me anything, just say that.”
I hold my hands up and gesture her into the living room.
If I don’t sit down soon, my knees are going to give out.
Not that she needs to know that. There’s nothing she can do for me other than find a cure, which I’m not entirely sure she can.
I don’t even know if she would help me. Our relationship thus far hasn’t exactly been stable.
Asking again feels like a fool’s errand.
Once we’re settled on the couch, I take a deep breath, trying to figure out where to start.
“Omen’s another demon. We’re best friends.
Providence is his sister, though it’s not like siblings up here.
It’s hard to explain. You just met her, but I doubt you’ll see her again.
She keeps to herself most of the time. Um…
Clara is the witch Omen is soulbound to.
She summoned him, and they’re kind of in the middle of some bullshit.
I don’t know. I try to stay out of the nitty gritty—only give advice when it’s necessary. ”
Her eyebrows climb up her forehead the longer I speak. “Clara’s a witch? Why didn’t you just ask her about your curse?”
“Did you miss the part about them being in the middle of bullshit? I barely touched her arm a while back and Omen almost flamed out on me. Put me into a fucking wall.”
Alarm flashes across her face. “Why are you laughing about that?”
“Mari, I’m a demon. It’s how we deal.”
“Putting each other into walls and turning into balls of fire? Because I’m assuming when you say ‘flamed out’ he literally turned into flames.”
I nod, realizing how observant she’s been. I thought most of the time she was merely tolerating my presence. Now I’m not so sure.
“So?” I prompt, hoping she’ll open up.
“So what? Oh, is this the part where I spill all my deepest, darkest secrets? Maybe throw in a couple childhood traumas and a good generational prophecy or two?”
I sigh, wondering how far I should press this. “Why do you do that—push me away? Do you do it to everyone or am I just special?”
She clamps her lips together, her fingers stroking the egg absently. “Clearly, I don’t make friends well. Didn’t realize that was a fatal flaw.”
“You’re doing it again,” I murmur, and she huffs.
“Fine. You want me to open up? I have Percy. And my sister. My parents are dead and so is the aunt who raised us.”
I swallow hard. “I wasn’t asking—you know what? I’ll take it. What about your coven?”
Her face screws up and her gaze meets mine. “What coven? I didn’t grow up in one. Figured that was for, like, witches.”
“Covens are pretty universal. I mean, not all witches are in one, obviously, but it’s a common enough thing. You realize you’re an actual witch, right?”
She snorts, fixing her gaze on the egg once more. “There are definitely different types of witches. You’ve got your extreme witches who make it their entire identity. Then there’s the earthy witches and the dark witches and the—”
“Okay, I get it. But covens are universal.”
“Then you’ve got the foolish witches. The ones who dive so deep into the lore, so far into their delusions, they’re no longer able to function.
They forget about the world around them and all the responsibilities they have.
Unless it’s to admonish those around them about the dangers of being a witch.
How it would be better to cut that part out of themselves rather than suffer a fate worse than death. ”
She’s so blasé I almost think she’s reciting something she read once. In actuality, I think this was her life. With her parents dead, I’m guessing her aunt was the one who suffered. And heaped that suffering onto her nieces with no thought of how it would impact them when she was gone.
She drops the egg in my lap and sighs. “I need a book. One that has darker magic in it. Like a scrying spell that can span dimensions.”
She’s still holding something back. It rests in the tightening of her eyes and the twitch of her lips. She wants to tell me more, but something holds her back.
“I don’t have spells.”
“Then how do you keep vanishing? Where do you go?”
I smile ruefully. “Oh, spitfire. I’m a demon. I walk through worlds.”