Page 22 of Witch's Betrayal
9
SETH
Iwatched Deja with fascination for what felt like hours but had to be mere minutes.
Her golden eyes shut tightly in concentration. Her full lips moved rapidly, muttering words I couldn't catch as she traveled through the deepest, darkest trenches of her mind.
I enjoyed watching her and not only because she was beautiful. I'd never admit it to her but she was a prodigy of a student. While unfamiliar with shadow magic, she took my direction easily and used it effortlessly as the tool it was meant to be. I'd never seen anyone grasp it so quickly. Even I took years to successfully work my way through everything hidden in my subconscious. And when I did, I never cared to fully immerse myself in the hidden memories like she did.
Suddenly her brow knitted and her head jerked to the side as if bracing herself against something painful. She let out soft, pathetic whimpers that sounded like a puppy being kicked.
"Deja," I said with clarity and calm. "You can move away from the shadow any time you wish. But don't put your focus away all at once. Ease out of it slowly."
She didn't seem to hear me. She was too deeply entrenched in whatever was happening in her mind.
"Ragnar," she whimpered under her breath. "Ash, I love you."
I moved in front of her and took each of her hands in mine. She was in so deep I had to pull her out myself.
This was just another reason why so many non-demons failed at shadow magic. They went so deep into their own minds as either escape or punishment, they never returned to reality and went mad.
"Deja, listen to my voice," I said loudly and clearly. "It's Seth. What you're seeing now isn't real. Come back to the sound of my voice."
She was crying now, openly sobbing and looking so heartbroken I physically ached for her. Without thinking, I pressed my palm against her cheek and wiped away a tear with my thumb.
"Come back to me, Deja," I said, my voice much lower as I leaned in, my forehead nearly brushing hers. "It isn't real. I'm real. Me, the guy you hate. I can't possibly be worse than what you're seeing right now."
But her sobbing continued. She mumbled something that I couldn't make out the words. It could have been, "He won't let me die. It hurts so much."
Shit! This was bad. Her mind could collapse in on itself if she was reliving some horrible trauma.
Panic and frustration hit me in equal measures as my hands lowered to her slender shoulders. I squeezed and gave her a gentle shake.
"Gods be damned, you gorgeous infuriating bitch! Snap out of it!"
Her head suddenly threw back and released the loudest, most bloodcurdling scream I ever heard.
The shock of it made me release her and sent me stumbling backward. I stood stunned, watching her scream like a banshee and my mind went completely blank on how to stop it.
While I watched helplessly, a force of power surged at my back like a strong gust of wind. It felt familiar but stronger than anything I'd ever faced before. Muttering a curse, I reached for one of my angel-kissed blades tucked into my waistband. But by the time I withdrew it, the demon was already next to her.
"Stay back!" I commanded at the infernal creature who took on the shape of a man with dark red hair and catlike green eyes.
He ignored me, simply waving a hand in front of Deja's face. Her screaming stopped immediately and her knees buckled. She collapsed into his waiting arms and he picked her up as if she were a bride. He looked down at her tenderly, whispering softly when her head rolled onto his shoulder.
"Stop! Put her down, demon!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "I'll cut your backward-beating heart out before I let you hurt her."
He glanced at me with nothing more than annoyance. I suspected it from feeling his power, but right then I knew this was no ordinary incubus. This creature sat much closer to the top of the Hierarchy than the bottom. But what would he want with her?
"She is safe. You never saw me." Those were the only words he spoke before they vanished into thin air.
I stood dumbfounded and blinking, looking behind me and then in front where they had just stood moments before. Deja was nowhere to be seen. She really did get whisked away by a demon.
Slowly as if in a trance, I walked up to Laurel's patio and pulled the sliding door open. She and John sat relaxed and reading books by their fireplace. Laurel looked up and smiled when I came in, giving no indication that she heard Deja's scream or caught sight of the demon that took her.
"Done already?" she asked in a curious tone.
"Yeah." I cleared my throat in an attempt to release the knot that settled there. "Deja wasn't feeling well so she took off. Went out the gate on the side of the house."
