Page 76 of Filthy Little Witch
I put my hands over my ears to block him out. I’d spent two months falling in love with the way Wes spoke, how he could reach inside me and drag out my insecurities with stone-cold logic. This hurt more deeply than I ever expected.
“Marta,” Atlas hummed, kneeling in front of me to pull my hands down. “Don’t listen to him. Demons lie, remember? It’ll say whatever it can to get us to do what it wants. Focus.”
“What if he’s right?” I whispered, the voice in my head so soft and featherlight.
“He’s not. Deep breaths. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale.”
I matched his breathing until my pulse slowed and the fog in my head cleared.
“What’s next?” Atlas asked. “How do we get him out of my brother?”
I shook my head. “I…uh…I don’t know. We could exorcise and banish him, but I don’t know how to do that. The Harlots forbid it.”
It affected the witch who cast it, marking the soul, corrupting it. The witches who were the best at it eventually lost their humanity, almost like they had to sacrifice a piece of themselves for it to work. Lilith had said they went mad, that they were closer to demon than human afterward.
“It steals a piece of the witch’s soul,” I said. “Nothing is free.” I told him the theory about the old stories, and the more I talked, the more crestfallen his features became. “A gift given for a gift received.”
“But you wouldn’t be doing it over and over again.” He grabbed my hands and squeezed them. “Just this once.”
“I don’t even know if I can banish him from a liminal,” I said. “I don’t know the steps. I don’t know the ritual.”
Wes laughed again, this time drawing our attention back to him. “You can’t, but I’ll enjoy watching you try.”
“Oh yeah?” Atlas snapped. “And why is that?”
Wes only shrugged. “Let me out of here and maybe I’ll tell you.”
“Fuck off,” Atlas said. “And shut up before I tape your mouth closed.”
“Kinky,” Wes said. “Now, I knew you’d like it rough, especially when the witch held you down with a knife to your throat and used your body to get herself off.”
I froze, realization dousing me in icy water. It had been watching us the entire time we’d been here. How? It didn’t give us any signs. It didn’t make itself known. If a demon were lurking around every corner, we certainly would have seen it or felt it or…
“But your brother?” Wes shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll admit. I’ve seen some wild things in my extraordinarily long existence, but the last brothers that had such a sordid affair ended tragically with one beating the other’s head in with a rock. I suppose it won’t be much different this time. Perhaps that’s why brothers shouldn’t fuck each other?—”
“This whole time,” I cut in. “You’ve been watching us this whole time.”
“Ding, ding, ding,” the demon said. “In a whole wide world of nothing, you were my only entertainment. And hell, were you boring. Bitching and moaning about each other and how to get out. But once you decided to try Constance’s little rituals, that’s when things got so much more interesting.”
My stomach clenched, and I curled my fingers into fists. I knew where this was going, even as the shock and surprise boiled through my blood.
Wes gasped in feigned shock. “What? You didn’t know? I had to give you a little nudge, didn’t I?”
“You…” All the tumblers finally locked into place. “You gave me the book.”
“Right again.” Wes heaved a deep sigh. “Getting you to use it took some work. But all I had to do was weave in some influence. A little push here, a little nudge there. Make it unbearable to stay here without touching each other. Make it so even your dreams were infected with me.”
“The nightmares,” Atlas said. “That was you, too.”
“Oh, dear simple warrior,” Wes continued. “I’ve been everywhere the whole time.”
“For what?” Atlas rubbed his hand over his face. “What’s your endgame? If you wanted us trapped here, why give us the key to get out?”
“Who says it’s a key?” Wes raised an indignant eyebrow. “It made you powerful, didn’t it? Maybe I wanted to help you. Ever think of that?”
“Oh, right. An altruistic demon with nothing but benevolence in its heart,” Atlas growled. “Forgive me for not realizing it earlier.”
“That explains nothing,” I said. The only reason the demon would give us these rituals was if it benefited it in some way. But how? I didn’t see the point. What did it want? Would it really guide us here only for its own amusement? No, I didn’t think so.
