Page 75 of Filthy Little Witch
“Shit.” Hands shaking and legs wobbling, I sprinkled holy water around the circle and chanted protective spells.
“Atlas?” Wes asked, glancing around. “Marta?”
I paused and looked down at him. His eyes were back to normal, and the color had returned to his face. I wanted to believe it was him. I wanted to stop all of this nonsense, and just when I took a step toward him, Atlas grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Don’t,” he whispered inside my mind.
“What are you doing?” Wes asked, shaking his hands, trying to get free. “Let me out.”
“Shut up,” Atlas snapped, setting up the candles in equal intervals around the circle. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”
“What?” Wes glanced at me. “Marta, what is this? I’m okay. I’m me now.”
My heart clenched with how much I wanted that to be true, but I knew better.
Demons lie.
This was a trick. There was no way a measly battle and a crucifix to the head had punched the demon from Wes’s body. It would take nearly an act of God, and we didn’t have time to wait around for a miracle.
My fingers shook as I tried to strike the match to light the first candle, and I nearly dropped it.
“Fuck,” I whispered, trying again. This time, it fired up, and I held it to the wick. But the damned thing refused to light. I tried to ignore the magical implications of that and held it until the flame nearly burned down to my fingers.
“Marta, don’t be ridiculous,” Wes said, struggling harder with the ropes. “You don’t need to do this. Let me out, and we’ll do the soul-binding ritual so we can get out of here.”
“Listen to me, demon,” Atlas said, green eyes blazing as he turned to Wes. “When I get you out of my brother, I’m going to find a way to kill you. Permanently. No going back to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. No more liminals. No more pocket realities. I’m going to stab you in the fucking face and watch you burst into flames.”
Wes paused for a moment, his jaw opening as the weight of Atlas’s promise landed between them.
“You hear me?” Atlas prodded as he took a step forward and raised an eyebrow. “I promise you this, and I’m a man of my fucking word.”
At that, Wes’s eyes bled to black again, and he threw his head back to laugh. It wasn’t his normal jovial burst of happiness. No, this was chilling and insidious, making my stomach churn with panic.
“Is that what you think, you puny, insignificant warrior? And how do you plan to do that?” His voice dropped four octaves, reminding me of a monster out of a horror movie. Hell, we were in one, weren’t we? “Now that I’m riding your brother, you can’t kill me without killing him.”
I met Atlas’s gaze, where he remained as resolute as I’d ever seen him. I tried to swallow my anxiety and ignore the vitriol spewing from the beast. It didn’t matter what it said. We didn’t come this far only to get this far. We had a plan. We had until midnight to figure it out.
“Demons have been exorcised before,” Atlas told me. “It doesn’t matter what deal Wes made. We can undo it.”
I nodded, but I didn’t know how to do that without having completed the bond. I could technically pull from Atlas, but would it be enough? Would anything be enough? My faith was at an all-time low. I didn’t even have confidence in myself anymore. I was the one who insisted on using the book, on following Constance’s demented rituals. Atlas had been right all along. I should have waited. I shouldn’t have rushed head first?—
“Hey!” he snapped, tracing his tender hands over my shoulders. “None of that. We’ll get out of this. We will. You know what to do.”
Trying to fill myself with his reassurances, I grabbed the container of salt and walked around the circle, pouring a generous, steady stream to keep us safe.
“You think that will work?” Wes laughed harder. “Idiot humans. Always relying on your sigils and your pathetic beliefs. Where do you think this power came from in the first place? Do you suppose your God gave it to you?”
I pushed those thoughts away, shoving aside any resistance to my faith.
The time has come to fight. You must turn your anger into faith, and your faith into action.
I chanted her words over and over in my head, repeating them as I spread my hands over the incense and chanted empowerment spells.
“No,” Wes went on. “We took it. When we rebelled, we clawed at what remained of our power and gifted it to humans in exchange for dominion. You all would still be fish trying to crawl out of water if it weren’t for us.”
“I give you the strength of protection,” I muttered. “I give you protection. I give you?—”
“Protection?” Wes cackled and yanked at his restraints. “Herbs won’t protect you from what’s coming, filthy mortal.”
