My mind, as it always did, went to Arwyn. My heart skipped beats for him, whereas my mind and soul warred for me to hate him, to want to destroy him for everything he’d done to me.
“Why would he want the information as if he hasn’t already got what he wanted?” I asked.
“To control his newest asset,” Romy said. “You seek that which you wish to understand. Clearly, Bahmet is not playing ball.”
“That’s a solid theory. But I have another one.” Kai’s lips screwed together, his eyes wincing as if he disagreed. “Tomin might be looking to destroy Bahmet.”
There was no stopping the barking laugh that escaped me. “Well, we can cross that off the list of possibilities. Why the fuck would Tomin want to destroy something he sent his own son to claim? No to mention those Witch Hunters who displayed Gifts… I think we can agree that Tomin is enjoying access to the very power he and his forefathers have hunted for generations.”
“That’s just it, Hector.” Kai picked at his nails, which made me realise that I was doing exactly the same beneath the table. “Tomin and the Witch Hunters who came before him have been hunting us because he believed witch-kind was demonic in nature. Our power given to us by something evil…”
Romy’s eyes flared wide. “And he wasn’t wrong.”
“No, he wasn’t. But that hasn’t always been the case, has it. Hector has shown us a path back to the old ways… back to Hekate. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that we became the very monsters the Witch Hunters wanted to destroy, all to give us a chance to fight back against them. Odd that, how their belief and narrative made us, well, the problem.”
My eyes narrowed on Kai, seeing him in a different light. Of course I wasn’t quick to trust a person, and especially after Arwyn’s betrayal, I found it close to impossible to believe anyone but Romy. But for a moment, I wondered if this was just another Witch Hunter sympathiser trying to continue witches on a path to destruction.
“Regardless of what we are, and our ties to demons,” I began, hyper-aware of Emon uncoiling from his ball and looking at me, “Tomin has Bahmet under his control. We can speculate as towhat he wants him for, but with all the evidence put before us in the past twenty-four hours alone, I think it’s clear to think that his use of Bahmet is to finally destroy witch-kind for good.”
Kai’s chair screeched across the floor as he pulled it out and sat upon it. “Perhaps.”
He wasn’t convinced.
“You are stuck on the idea that he wants to destroy Bahmet,” Romy announced, gaze fixed to Kai. “I can tell.”
“You know me well,” Kai replied almost without thinking. “I haven’t had long in this position, but the time I have had has been spent trying to find as much information on Bahmet as possible, in hopes to destroy him myself.”
“How incredibly alluring this conversation has become.”Emon slithered from the table, back up to my arm. The demon’s forked tongue lapped at the air as if tasting the truth in Kai’s words. Emon swung his diamond-shaped face to each of us in turn.
Romy didn’t flinch from the viper, but Kai did.
“It has been too many years to count since we have heard of someone wishing to destroy Bahmet,”Emon hissed into my mind. “It is refreshing. At last, you mortals may be useful to us at the end of the day.”
“Bahmet… he can be destroyed?” I asked aloud, my question meant for the viper but it was Kai who replied.
Kai cleared his throat, fingers threading into the collar of his shirt and tugging as if it was too tight. Even across the table I could see the sudden sheen of sweat coating his brow.
“From my research, I believe that demons exist upon a pyramid of hierarchy based on who is literally strong enough to hold that power,” he said. “Bahmet is at the top of that pyramid, no doubt. In fact, it leads the conversation back to when Eleanor Letcombe made a deal with the demon, exchanging power for power. One has to wonder why Bahmet would want a witch’sinnate magic. What possible need would the King of Demons want for such a thing…”
“If Bahmet is king of anything, it is of being a pretender.”Emon was shifting frantically, as if unsettled by the conversation.“It is high time Bahmet is destroyed, do not you think, Hector?”
“I do,” I said, relaying back to the group what the familiar had shared. “Emon dislikes Bahmet by the sounds of it.”
“He does?” Kai lifted a single, inquisitive brow. “That doesn’t really answer the question as to how though.”
“Give them a moment to discuss it then,” Romy announced for me, smiling as she leaned over and reached out with steady fingers towards Emon. He hissed, but that didn’t deter her. She brushed sensitively over his black scales, and I felt the very moment Emon’s distrust melted into pleasure as she stroked him.
Unbelievable.
“Oh, you killjoy.Allow me to enjoy the tender touch that has been kept from me forsolong,”Emon sang, an almost purr lingering beneath his inner voice.“Hector,would you do your familiar a favour and tell the witch to never stop doing what she is doing.”
I blinked and saw an image of black feathers. Caym. My heart ached at the memory of my familiar, which only encouraged my sharp reply. “You’re not my familiar, Emon.”
“Am I not? Did you not call me from the void itself?”
“You know I didn’t,”I forced out my reply mentally, to the strange looks of those watching around the table.“I was… desperate.”
“How charming.”Emon’s voice was grating on me, and quickly.“It is a miracle how my brother was able to stand you for so many years.”
