Page 41 of Witch's Betrayal
"Your daughter already did," I seethed. "My mother died for no reason! And you had the balls to lie to my face and blame demons for it. Are you even listening to yourself?"
The look in her eyes told me while she heard my words, she was not listening. She was too far gone in her own mad world of hate and grief. And when the coppery smell of blood mixed with the bitter taste of dark magic, I knew our time was limited.
"Guys, we have to go." I took one step out of the apartment and was met with the worst pain imaginable. It felt like my blood was lit under a burner and literally boiling underneath my skin. With a scream, I fell to my knees and felt strong arms wrap around me protectively, but they did nothing to help the pain.
"Don't hurt her, witch," I heard Sal's voice threaten. "Take my blood instead."
"No!" I screamed through the pain.
"Stupid demon. Don't you see that it's her that needs to die?" Diana mocked. "I even borrowed an angel's kiss so her soul won't find another body to live in."
"We won't let you have her!"
I was vaguely aware of my head cradled into Raum's chest. His aura reached out to Ash for backup, but the blood magic was already taking its toll on me.
"I can't touch her!" Sal roared in frustration. "She spelled the whole apartment against shadow magic!"
"Just keep that bitch distracted. Our backup's on its way." Raum tilted my chin up to face him and pressed a kiss to my lips although I barely felt it. My entire body was numb. "Don't give up yet, baby," he pleaded with me. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you."
I couldn't reply. All I could perceive was pain. I felt like I was slowly being cooked alive.
My sore eyelids cracked open until I could just see Diana standing in my living room, a maniacally gleeful expression on her face as her blood-coated fingers sank into the flesh of the heart.
A surge of hate momentarily distracted me from the pain. How could she do this, to her own daughter and then me? I was her flesh and blood. I couldn't control which body my soul would be reborn into! She found me and set me on the path to my true nature. After teaching me, guiding me, and treating me almost like a mother, how could she betray me?
I focused on that heart in her hands as my mind swam through the roiling sea of emotional and physical pain. Then, like subconsciously turning over a rock, I found something in a shadow of my mind I hadn't explored yet. I barely had time to wonder,what's this?before the heart burst into flames.
"Aaagh!" Diana wailed in agony, flinging her hands around but her flesh was already seared to the heart as the flame grew bigger. Immediately my pain was gone and all three of us took a deep gasping breath as the blood spell lifted.
"How?!" she cried out, her once gleeful eyes now filled with fear. "You're a fucking earth witch!"
"Fire consumes earth," I said in a robotic voice. "It destroys life."
"Good timing, baby," Raum chuckled with a kiss to my forehead. "Now let's get the fuck out of here."
He and Sal lifted me to my feet and prepared to guide me down the stairs, but I wasn't done yet.
I searched through the shadows in the same area where I found my fire magic. As if turning over another metaphysical rock, what I found brought a smile to my face.
My eyes flew open and I focused on Diana once again. With a sizzlingpsssssssssst, the fire was doused in a cloud of steam. Diana opened her mouth as if to say something, but she choked up a mouthful of water.
"Water puts out fire," my mouth said. "It sustains life."
Diana fell to her knees, struggling to catch a breath but her lungs only filled with more water. She looked up at me, begging with her eyes, but I only looked down at her coldly.
"Did you watch like this when you killed my mother?" I asked. "Did you enjoy watching your pregnant daughter beg for her life as your blood magic slowly poisoned her?"
She shook her head desperately, coughing up blood now along with the water.
"No? So you were too much of a coward to watch the effects of your own spell?" I demanded. "You had to know the fifty percent risk of missing your target."
My grandmother began turning blue as her body and brain became deprived of oxygen. Her eyes, red with broken blood vessels, began rolling back in her head as consciousness slipped away from her. Within a minute she would be dead.
Just as her movements slowed, I halted my magic with a flick of my wrist. When her weak inhale finally took in fresh air, she gulped for it greedily, desperately.
I watched her struggle and cough as life flowed back into her. Both of my demons' auras touched mine, asking the silent question of why I let her live. I gave my answer as I turned to the door and began walking out of the apartment.
"Because this demon whore is better than you."
