Page 61 of Soul of a Witch

There was more rustling, snapping branches and crunching leaves. As I backed away, standing in the middle of the vacant road, the beast stepped out of the shadows. Its long boney limbs stretched toward me, claws clicking and grating upon the asphalt. Putrid saliva dripped from its jaws, sharp teeth jutting from its rotten jaw at all angles, like shards of glass growing from the blackened bone.

More beasts crept out of the darkness. Heads low, white eyes fixed upon me as they advanced. They came from every angle, surrounding me, giving me no choice but to retreat toward the trees on the opposite side of the road.

I couldn’t fight them. I couldn’t hide.

One of the beasts lunged for me, its long limbs easily launching over the distance between us. Its jaws audibly clipped together as I spun, nearly losing my footing as I dodged its attack. My moment of clumsiness was exactly what the rest of the pack was waiting for.

With a chorus of horrific yelps and shrieking cries, they attacked.

Their teeth snapped at my heels as I plunged into the woods, sprinting through the dark. The sounds of them were all around me, loud enough to drown out my own panting breath and pounding heart. I feared that if I slowed even a little bit, I would lose my momentum and collapse entirely.

They would eat me alive.

Blackberry thorns tore at my clothes and branches whipped my face. My arm was outstretched, my only defense against the massive trees I couldn’t see until they were too close.

One of the beasts clawed my leg, tripping me. I was sprinting so fast it launched me forward, tumbling end over end and knocking the air from my lungs.

Gasping and coughing, I scrambled onto my hands and knees. I was surrounded. The beasts’ eyes glowed unnaturally in the dark with a pale green luminescence. Rotting gray tongues eagerly licked their dripping maws. Their ragged breath was quick and ravenous as they sniffed the air.

My circulation had been gone for so long my limbs were like dead-weight. But my fingertips were hot and tingling. My swollen veins looked like they were going to burst through my skin.

The cuffs were supposed to prevent any and all magic. As if they were punishing me for even thinking about it, blood seeped from beneath the glass.

I lifted my hands. My fingers were like claws, trembling in agony.

Sparks cascaded around my fingers, illuminating the snouts of the beasts as they closed in.

I wasn’t going to die like this.

The darkness was overtaken with blinding white-hot light. It seared through my body, tearing me apart, crackling through my arms. A cacophony of screams and animalistic cries surrounded me, and there was a terrible sound ofsnapping.

The light died. Embers remained.

A blackened forest swayed before my fading vision. I collapsed, the dirt warm beneath my cheek as I stared at the charred corpse of a beast. Flaming pine needles rained around me, a storm of embers that I couldn’t even feel when they landed on my skin.

It was so hard to breathe.

No one could hear me. No one knew where I was. No one…except…

My papers lay beside me, covered in ash. Dragging my arm through the dirt, I unfolded them. The paper tore under my weak hands.

His sigil. The one thing I needed to summon an archdemon,my demon.

He’d promised me his help. He promised…

Laying my bloody hand over the mark, my throat was too raw and my mouth too dry to give voice to the words. But I mouthed them anyway.

“Come to me, Callum.”

22

Callum

The prison I was locked in was comfortable. There were no windows, but the cavern was spacious. The bed was covered with black silken sheets which smelled of Lucifer’s cologne: cinnamon and clove, a hint of black pepper, and a sharp scent of copper. He couldn’t resist reminding me who was responsible.

It was so quiet that I kept whistling to myself, snapping my fingers so I wouldn’t go mad in the stifling silence. Cruel to do that, honestly. Lucifer knew I loved music, I loved sound. Taking it away from me was a petty attempt to flex his power.

My cell was thoroughly protected with magic and perfectly designed to contain a being as powerful as me. Lucifer was no fool; he knew what he was doing. He also knew he couldn’t get away with it for long.

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