“And that was me!” she exclaimed angrily, advancing another step. “For three months, I incubated you. It was I who did all the work.”
I shrugged. “Clearly, you did it wrong. It doesn’t take that long to hatch one of us.”
“Right or wrong, you’re still mine,” she said with a dismissive gesture before giving me a baffled look. “Why do you want her anyway? She’s the weakest witch I’ve ever met—if she can even be called that. She’s boring and probably insanely vanilla in bed. She will cramp your style with her stiff, prim and proper ways. You’ll be begging to be freed of her before the week ends.”
The expression on my face must have made it clear she had better tread carefully as I would not tolerate her continued disrespect of my Mistress. Switching up tactics, she shed all angry or aggressive demeanor and returned to the enticing seductress she’d initially greeted me with.
“I can give you the life of endless lust one such as you crave. With me, no kink, no form of debauchery will be off limits. There will be no feeding restrictions, which I’m sure Coral has imposed on you. We both know that she will keep you from exploring your sensuality with anyone else. Whereas I will happily share all that you have to offer with others. My friends will gladly give up some of their lifeforce to feed and sustain you as part of the most potent sex rituals. What more could a sex demon possibly want? You name it, and it’s yours. All you have to do is come back to your rightful owner.”
I shook my head at her with a bored expression. “While all of this might have been tempting to another, it does not appeal to me in any way. Do not waste your time—and especially mine—arguing with me. Whatever you can offer is irrelevant. I belongto Coral, forever. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to spend the evening with my woman.”
I turned around and left.
“We shall see about that,” Angelique hissed behind my back in an angry whisper.
The murderous rage radiating from her made it clear she meant every word. This woman would seek to make our lives miserable. But she would soon discover I wasn’t one to be played with. Whatever she had in store for us, I’d be ready. And then, I’d make her rue the day she ever attempted to cross my Mistress.
Chapter 6
Coral
After Myrtil hogged me for nearly half an hour, I could have wept with relief when Vazul barged in on our conversation and expressed his desire to leave. I didn’t even ask him the reason why and jumped at the opportunity to get the heck out of there.
It shamed me to admit that the entire time I feared I would lose him tonight. With everyone multiplying the ways to drag me away from him, it didn’t take a genius to understand they were playing wingman to Angie. I didn’t understand this blind loyalty, especially since so many of them disliked her.
Sophia actually intervened a few times, injecting herself in the conversation to free me from a particularly clingy minion keeping me from my man. I loved her for it. Although I wished she could have done more, my friend was walking on thin ice. As a member of Angelique’s coven, Sophia had to tread carefully not to be too obvious in her efforts to assist me for fear she might become a pariah herself. While we got along great and genuinely appreciated each other, we weren’t so close that she would jeopardize the future she’d been working so hard for toprotect me. Anyway, I didn’t want that for her either. I was just grateful for whatever assistance I could get.
However, the biggest shock came from Myrtil. As the Head Priestess of their coven, she should be setting the example instead of enabling one of her witches who was attempting to cause harm or distress to another. Granted, I wasn’t officially a member of their coven. But I was still ‘friends’ with all of them. After all, the only reason I hadn’t joined their rank was my lack of assiduity in my training. The door was opened to me if I reached the basic requirement levels. But even with that, if only for ethical reasons, Myrtil shouldn’t have allowed herself to become an accomplice.
The most infuriating part was that I couldn’t even openly accuse her of plotting with Angie against me. The conversation had been similar to the ones she and I had in the past regarding my lack of commitment to magical training. According to her, I possessed great potential that I was allowing to go to waste.
And she was right. Magic came easily to me. With a bit of focus and regular training, I truly believed I could surpass Angelique. However, I couldn’t picture myself interacting on a regular basis with this crowd. I didn’t trust any of them. So having them as mentors felt a little suicidal to me. A few of them I wouldn’t put past causing genuine harm out of jealousy under the guise of pranks or hazing.
As I drove us back home, I stole many wary glances at Vazul. He was sitting quietly, staring straight ahead, the barely visible crease on his forehead indicating that he was intensely reflecting on something. Unable to stand the silence any longer, I took a deep breath and then went for it.
“I’m sorry for what my friends put you through,” I said in an apologetic tone.
He gave me a sideways look, his expression hinting that I had just said something ludicrous.
“Don’t be. You’re not responsible for their actions. And donot call them your friends. None of them are, except for Sophia,” he said in a factual manner.
I flinched. I now understood that Vazul unintentionally spoke in a way that sometimes came across as cruel and insensitive. It was comparable to the way one occasionally blurted out something they shouldn’t have then immediately kicked themselves for it. However, there was no self-kicking where my demon was concerned as he didn’t see how his words were harmful. He was merely being honest and stating facts, not opinions.
This cut deep simply because I knew it to be true. But the people pleaser in me kept clinging to hope that some way, somehow, they would eventually recognize my worth as a person and as a friend.
“Why do you mingle with these people?” he asked in a soft tone with genuine curiosity and confusion.
I shifted uneasily in the driver’s seat and took a moment to reflect on my answer.
“I don’t really hang out with any of them anymore, except with Sophia from time to time. Angie and I attended the same Fine Arts program in college. I focused on sculpture and woodworking while she focused on painting. But we both partook in miniature art workshops. That’s how we started talking.”
He nodded with an unimpressed expression that took me aback at first.
“Right. And let me guess, many of those conversations revolved around her gleaning ideas from you?”
Even though he formulated it as a question, it was more of a statement. I snorted, blown away by his intuition. Or was it his ability to read people?
“It took me too long to realize that she was indeed fishing for ideas she could appropriate. Sadly, I’ve struggled my whole life with pretty sad people pleasing tendencies,” I conceded with self-derision. “But being approached by the popular girl flattered my ego. It turned out she and her roommate were looking for athird to replace the one who had just left. Sharing an apartment would allow me to save even more money towards the downpayment for my house and starting my own business. So yeah, I jumped at the opportunity.”
