Page 53 of Hellish Witch

“Unhitch the unicorn, and be on your way,” Killian said, voice deadly neutral.

Silence answered before a rasping chuckle broke from the largest orc of the group.

The towering male puffed out his chest, a sneer carving his heavy features. “Why? You going to take its place, beast?”

Sniggering rippled the group of orcs at his back. The males focused their mocking stares on us, filtering closer. Tension hummed through the air, the oncoming bloodshed contrasting the sunny morning scene beside the pretty pink river.

Killian joined in with the orcs, his laughter harsh enough for theirs to die on their lips. “Actually, I was going to set him free and give you quick, clean deaths because we’ve got places to be. But now I think I’ll take my time. Let him gorge on your bloated carcasses instead.”

The lead orc scoffed, snorting like a shadow boar. “A battered mutt like you? Your frail body would give out before I even raised a fist.”

I winced at his assessment. Layers of damage etched Killian’s chest, despite the salve I’d packed into his cuts.

Voices murmured from within the carts.

The six visible demons already outnumbered us. I frowned, easing a few steps aside to glimpse the others.

A blood-smeared arm poked through the bars of a cage. Thin and scarred.

Horror choked me.

My gaze raked across the orcs bristling around the cart.

They were all purebloods, and I knew that shouldn’t make me jump to conclusions, but life had taught me too many lessons for me to assume they were transporting prisoners for bounty.

Killian caught sight of the arm hanging limply from the cart. His eyes cut to the demon at the front. “What’s back there?”

The hulking orc took a menacing step closer. “Nothing that concerns you. But if you want, you can join the rest of your worthless kind in there. Even a weakling like you can fetch a good price in certain kingdoms.”

Killian chuckled, and the sound scraped like the edge of a blade. “Be careful, this slave isn’t collared anymore.”

The orc ran his gaze more fully over Killian, then moved onto me. His dull green skin rippled with disgust, and I saw the exact moment he realised what I must be, his face puckering like a dried berry.

My insides pinched as his judgement washed over me.

I had been born in one of the more purist succubus kingdoms. Sneers and mocking were nothing new, from strangers or my own kin. It shouldn’t bother me anymore.

But something about this orc was a little too familiar.

After I’d failed to save my mother, her two sisters raised me. They’d got bored after a few years of beating me, and so the cruel succubae pushed me towards one of the pleasure houses to “earn my keep.”

I’d been fourteen.

Other demon breeds flocked to my old kingdom for a good time, despite the drain on their energy that came with seeking pleasure.

I barely remembered killing my first customer: an orc just like this male sneering at me. All I knew was that I’d run for days, clutching a bloodstained knife in my hand, until I collapsed in this very forest. Rex had found me, half-clothed and coated in dried blood that wasn’t mine.

He’d brought me home and nursed me back to health like I was a baby phoenix with a broken wing.

Seeing this demon brought back a surge of toxic memories. Ones I’d blocked out long ago for my own sanity.

A sharp smile stretched Killian’s lips. Shadow bled through his feathers.

“Hybrid scum.” The orc spat on the floor at his boots. “We’re going to take you and your human whore abomination.” His sneer turned on me as he jabbed a dull claw towards my face.

Killian blurred, sword flashing in a gleam of obsidian.

The orc screamed, black blood spurting from the stump of his arm.

---