Page 9 of The Fearless Witch

‘She hasn’t said a word for days!’ Cyrus defended her while I placed the glass on the table a bit harder than I should have. It shattered in my hand, sending shards flying all over the floor.

I pulled my chair, fully intent on ignoring her, when she finally spoke.

“May I have some food? I need to eat if you wish to keep me alive.” Her voice was flat, the words lifeless and mechanical, so I had a hard time deciding if this was some kind of ploy or if she had truly lost her desire to struggle. I was betting on the former.

I leaned my hands on the table, staring at the takeout box waiting beside my plate. Hell wasn’t exactly famous for its kitchen, no matter what the humans believed, and I wasn’t particularly inclined to cook. So the last time we went to the world of the living… Cyrus forced me to buy some for her too.

‘Go on,’ he urged me like I was some child who was too shy to go play with the other kids. I snarled in frustration, grabbing the carton and striding back to her. Her calm, guarded eyes followed my every movement, reminding me of a cat watching its prey. It unnerved me and pissed me off so much, I almost turned around and left the room. Cyrus’s insistent nudging finally led me to her side.

We stared at each other for a long moment and I was just bending over to leave the box by her feet when it hit me. Her hands were still tied up. She couldn’t eat like this. Fuck.

“Who is the idiot now?” she asked, and when I looked back at her, she was fighting a smile. “I don’t mind being fed like a princess. That should humble you a little.”

“Do you want to starve?”

She just shrugged at the threat, like it didn’t matter to her at all. “Starvation can kill a human, you know. I thought you didn’t want me dead?” She cocked her head to the side, staring intently at the tiny white container before meeting my gaze again. “Come on, I promise I’ll be a good girl if you remove these. Aaaand you can keep your image of a big, bad demon. Everyone wins, right?”

My hand shot out before I could stop myself, and I squeezed her throat until her lips parted in a desperate search for air. Her eyes remained passive, but her smile widened.

“You seem… on edge.” She struggled to get the words out but didn’t give up. “Are you hungry? I can feed you… too.” My fingers tightened on the side of her throat and her eyes fluttered closed, her expression turning almost ecstatic. “I’d offer you something else… to eat…” she rasped, opening her legs in invitation. “Interested?”

I yanked my hand back, glaring at her as she chuckled.

“You’d fuck everything that moves, won’t you? Even someone who holds you against your will?” I scoffed, pushing her head down so I could reach the binds behind her. “I suppose that’s your thing.” I unhitched the chain connecting her manacles to her collar, then removed the one between her wrists so she could move them in front of her. She wasn’t getting her magic back, but there was no way in Hell, or anywhere else for that matter, that I was feeding her. “What’s your grand plan now? Seduce me and make me a slave to the power of your pussy?”

“It has happened before,” she smirked while she rubbed her wrists. Still holding my gaze, she reached out, and I was ready to grab her hand before she could touch me, but she just picked up the takeout box and set it down on her lap.

“You have no power here, witch,” I sneered, getting to my feet while she popped the top open and peeked inside. She made a small sound of approval as she dug her fork into the food. I waited for her to contradict me, but she seemed more interested in the takeout than what I was saying. That only fueled my frustration. “So keep your mouth shut, your legs closed, and your ass on that floor, and we might just both get what we want.”

“Yes, sir,” she murmured, voice dripping with sarcasm. When I glared at her, she busied herself with the noodles, but her smile suggested she had no intention of doing any of those things.

‘Happy now?’ I snarled, and the flutter in my stupid stomach told me Cyrus was more than content.

‘We really are alike,’ he said after a few minutes of blissful silence. The witch hadn’t said anything either, making quiet, distracting moans while she enjoyed her food.

‘I’m nothing like her. Shut up already, or I’ll gag her again and it will be your fault.’ I groaned.

Cyrus sighed, adding in a small voice, ‘We were both good people who fell into darkness and had to learn how to protect themselves. But while we embraced suffering and never looked back, she kept searching for another way.’ I watched her lick the sauce from her lips with a delighted expression when Cyrus chuckled and I could feel his smile in every word. “And eventually, she found it.’

I rolled my eyes.

‘It gives me hope,’ Cyrus continued. ‘That maybe… it’s not too late for us to escape this darkness too.’

I cast one last look at the woman in the corner, noting she had finished eating, and buttoned her shirt to cover at least her breasts. Her eyes found mine the moment my gaze fell on her, and she raised an eyebrow in question.

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I stomped toward the door.

“Don’t do anything stupid again,” I warned her. I didn’t bother waiting for her reply as I activated the protective ward around the place. Leaving the only safe haven in Hell behind, I stepped onto the black, putrid ground, walking between ruins and corpses of things both dead and alive without seeing any of them.

‘You are wrong,’ I said as I let my shadows slither out of my body, preparing myself to enter the challenge that I had failed one thousand, five hundred, and thirty-two times before. ‘It’s too late for us. We are the darkness now.'

Chapter 5

Samara

The world was melting. The heat was unbearable, yet… there was this cold feeling swirling in my mind, like an ice cube surrounded by fire. I clung to the coolness, trying to protect it from the long, blazing tongues with everything I had, but it grew smaller and smaller, leaving me alone to burn.

Just as the heat got so insufferable that I couldn’t breathe, an icy wind washed through the field, freezing the entire plane and leaving me alone and confused right in the middle of it. I turned around, searching for the source, yet I saw nothing but twisted, frozen figures in bright red and orange. Curiosity got the better of me, and I reached for the closest one, eager to find out if it was indeed ice or fire, but before my finger touched its strange surface, my body was yanked back.

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