I tilt my head from side to side, wondering how to explain this. “I know how to deal with a witch who used a summoning circle. For one who doesn’t? Not really. Unless you’re dealing in the dark arts or whatever they call it. Did you make a deal? I can work with that. In fact, I can deal with a lot of things.”
“I’m sure you can,” she mutters.
I smirk, though she’s avoiding my gaze. “Definitely can help with most of your issues.”
She shoots me a sardonic smile. “I’ll pass. Go away.”
I glance down, waiting for my feet to disappear or the familiar swoop in my stomach. Nothing happens. I cross my arms over my chest and let out a heavy sigh. Exhaustion hits me hard, and my body sways as my vision blurs. The last thing I need is to pass out in front of her. She’d probably throw a rug over me and pretend I was just part of the decor.
“Why don’t you just saybegone demonand we’ll see if that works.” While I might enjoy our banter, I won’t last much longer.
“Are you—nope. Fine. Begone demon.”
The swoop attacks my gut, yet something’s wrong. I can’t quite put my finger on what as I’m whisked off to the void. Whatever curse I’m afflicted with didn’t go away when the closet opened. I just need to rest. As soon as I get some sleep, everything will right itself. I’ll probably never see the witch again. That thought shouldn’t bother me, but for some reason it does. I’m too tired to figure out why.
My feet slam into the hallway outside the door to my apartment. Bits of obsidian scatter across the floor. I barelymake it through the entrance before I dry heave on the tiles. When I’m finally able to breathe again, I push to my feet and stagger toward my bedroom.
Omen calls his place a house, but that always felt weird to me. It’s a house within a building within a dimension within Hell. It’s not exactly like other worlds. There are layers upon layers of magical places to stay. At least I had the good sense to ward my space from visitors other than Omen. I wouldn’t put it past some demons to just pop in whenever they felt like it.
I collapse into my bed while my head swims. I’ll either end up falling asleep immediately or puking all over my sheets. There will be no in-between. As my eyes flutter closed, a strange tugging in my chest jolts me upright. Exhaustion swamps me and I flop back once more. Whatever curse this is, I need to figure it out quick.
Maybe the little spitfire witch could cure me. It’s my last thought before darkness takes me.
“Demons,” I spit out to the empty kitchen.
I slam the lid on the pot filled with simmering soup. It won’t be ready for another half hour, but my stomach rumbles out its displeasure, anyway. I put off eating too long. Again. One of these days I’ll remember my body can’t run off spite and caffeine. Today’s a wash, but there’s always tomorrow. Or next week. It’s always better to start new habits on a Monday.
“I swear if he shows up again…”
Except I promised myself I wouldn’t be thinking about Dimitri—no, the demon—yet here I am, still cursing his lingering presence in my mind. If he would have just left when I first told him, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t know what bull honkey he was shoveling about not being able to leave. I didn’t summon him. I had no control over where he went or what he did. That thought should probably terrify me.
Regardless of whether or not it was my sister’s summoning circle that brought him here, I’ve stayed far away from it. Ithought about using magic to seal it like I did with the closet. It’s the only link I have to finding her, though. Unless I could find the book. Dimitri,the demon, mentioned other texts. He was pretty much babbling by that point so I’m not entirely sure if I believe him. Plus, he’s a demon. They can’t be trusted.
Still, he wasn’t what our mother described at all. He wasn’t ten feet tall or wearing the bones of witches he’d devoured. His horns weren’t huge and curling around his head. Nor did he seem to have wings or a tail. He didn’t even have blood red skin made of the hardest substance within hell. When he fell on me, he was hard, but no more than a human. And his flesh was grey, though I’m pretty sure I spotted a hint of purple.
“The same color as my hair,” I murmur, then shake my head.
No use making connections between us. We’re not connected. At all.
If anything, he’s linked to my sister. She’s the one with the faulty summoning circle. She’s the one who was dabbling in dark magic. She’s the one who took a little fight and went off the deep end in retaliation. Bitch.
As soon as I find her, we’re going to have some words, then I’m going to kick her ass. She always goes to the extremes in every aspect of her life. From when we were nine and she was convinced she could surf down a raging river to investing all her money in some random digital investment. She never thinks things through and expects me to save her ass. Every. Fucking. Time.
It’s exhausting, but I’m not about to leave my little sister to the wolves. Or the demons, I suppose.
The lid rattles, bringing me back to the present, and I rip it off, then drop it on the counter. Thoughts of my mysterious demon filter through my head once more. I tap my finger against my chin as I stare at the steam curling off the soup.
He’d probably know how to find the book. I don’t have to tell him the whole story. He doesn’t even need to knowwhichbook I’m searching for. Maybe he’s got some hellish library I could…no, that would require me togoto Hell. I’d do a lot for my sister, but dying just to find a book, then to come back as some type of specter and…no. That wouldn’t work at all. Perhaps the demon could help, though.
Huffing, I press the heels of my hands into my eyes. Pressure has been building in my head all day. No amount of hot showers or cold compresses has helped. I finally broke down an hour ago and took pain meds, but they haven’t touched the pounding within my skull. It’s been like this every day since I unsealed the closet. I unleashed the magic, and it’s burrowed its way into my body, sucking the very life from me. Hence the soup.
I added as many herbs as I could think of to calm the magic inside me. The scent of creamy potatoes and fresh basil wafts through the air, and I inhale deeply. One of these remedies has to work or I’m going to lose it. I can’t handle the constant ache much longer.
“This is all that demon’s fault,” I mutter. “Excuse me,Dimitri.”
I spit out his name like the curse that it is. Should I be tempting karma by being an asshole about him? Probably not. I figure she can’t wreak much more on me, anyway. She’s been fucking with me for a lifetime, no matter how good of a witch I was. She’s just got it out for me.
Slowly, I ease myself to the floor and prop my elbows on my knees with my head in my hands. A groan leaves me as my heart beats in my ears.
