Page 27 of Witch's Exile
He continued his work on the elk as if Chase hadn't said anything. When a shadow darkened his entire form, Astrid and all of her mates jumped back.
"Whoa! Where'd he go?" cried Chase.
"He's still there," Orion breathed with fascination. "Look, his knife's still movin'. He's just invisible."
As the only one perceptible to shadow magic, I saw Sal's grin from beneath his shadow cloak. But he wasn't done yet.
"I'm over here."
Chase jumped as if something bit him in the ass. Sal's voice sounded like it whispered directly into his ear. Everyone laughed as he swatted his ear and spun around in circles. Sal's knife continued moving methodically. I watched his shadowy hand draw gestures in the air for his next party trick.
A baseball-sized flame broke off from the main fire and moved a few feet away, hovering by itself for a few moments while everyone oohed and ahhed. The flames then moved fluidly in the air to form symbols. Lucifer's sigil, then mine, then Sal's own.
"Alright, I think we get it," Chase scoffed as he cautiously sat back down. "I'm a believer now."
"So you're immortal, then." Orion asked as Sal re-emerged from his shadow. Sal confirmed with a nod and Orion looked to me. "And are you as well, miss Deja?"
"No, not exactly," I answered. "I was born human and given my powers by Lucifer personally. I can die and have many times. But I'm reborn into different bodies."
"So you're like a human-demon hybrid?" Conan asked.
I tapped my chin thoughtfully, wondering how much I should really tell them. But the wine already loosened my tongue and I thought, fuck it. As Astrid said, we were all equals here.
"I'm a witch," I corrected. “The original witch, I guess. I'm called the Mother of Witches because all witchkind originally descended from me and my three demon lovers."
All except Sal stared at me as if I grew three extra heads.
I'd never directly told anyone what I was about to say. I never needed to. They either already knew or if it mattered, they figured it out.
Deep breath. Here goes.
