Page 91 of Hellish Witch

“Wait,” I hissed, holding up a hand for silence.

Something pulsed again in the magical currents around me. My heart rate picked up as my brain translated the disturbances into information.

“There’re people coming. Humans. Males.” I bit my inner cheek, unsure how I knew these things. “Violent.”

Killian didn’t question it. He just drew his glamoured sword from the sheath between his wings and turned to where I faced.

A human emerged between the thick birches of a distant copse of trees, coming from the direction of the car park we’d left behind.

We hadn’t seen another person since.

“Hunter,” I whispered, eyes locking onto the danger.

Almost a hundred metres separated us, but I could still make out the sneer on his scarred face.

“It’s different ones,” he hissed over his shoulder, waving someone closer. His voice was barely audible over the breeze and the distance between us, but my demon heritage was still enough to give my senses an edge.

Eight men emerged from the trees, dressed casually in hiking gear but with suspiciously bulky coats. My heart sank as they jogged towards us, eyes darting everywhere as if they expected more demons to pop out of thin air.

The way they looked at Killian and me told me they knew exactly what we were, and they were salivating at the chance to hurt us.

Memories flashed through my mind like a slicing blade.

Chains.

Bars.

Screams.

Fists.

Knives.

Bruises.

Blood.

Death.

I swallowed back the bile that tried to surge up my throat. The air had a light quality to it, almost like it was too faint to contain any oxygen.

“Easy, sweetness. Just breathe for me. They won’t lay a finger on you,” Killian murmured, shadows bleeding down his wings to darken his feathers. “They’re dead men walking.”

“How did they even find us?” I struggled for enough breath to voice my question.

If my glamour had failed, we’d have received far more odd looks back at the service station.

Killian shook his horns, eyes locked onto his prey. “I don’t know, but they’re here now. I’m going to need you to run for me, sweetness. I’ll catch up once I’ve had my fun with this lot.” He shot me a quick smirk. “Want another tongue? Or maybe I’ll just gift you their eyes for daring to even look at you. Uncrushed this time.”

I clenched my jaw against the nausea roiling my stomach, glaring at Killian. “How can you joke at a time like this?” I hissed through my fangs. “And I’m not leaving you. Obviously.”

He huffed, but the hunters were only paces away now.

The group fanned out until they formed a semi-circle at an almost safe distance, hands hovering near their waists. No doubt where they hid guns.

The man in the centre looked like most hunters I’d met—grizzled and angry, steeped in scars and righteous fury. He looked ex-military, or maybe law enforcement, but the mean glint in his beady eyes told me he hadn’t joined up to protect people.

He’d done it to hurt.

---