Page 5 of Warrior Witch

The whisper floated through the alley, and without conscious thought, my head dropped back and my eyes focused on the largest blood moon I’d ever seen.

In an instant, my body seized. Every muscle turning to stone as the moon expanded, flooding my vision so that all I could see, all I knew, was the deep, viscous red.

“Little lightning rod, your time is as short as your temper. Seek your salvation in Spells Hollow.”

The voice reached for me through the moon’s powerful pull. Like an anchor, I wanted to reach back. It sounded female. Warm and tinged with an affection that was almost as confusing as the message, it carried a weight to it that was almost physical. Authoritative. I took a step forward, and as though the loss of paralysis broke the spell, the red drained from my vision, and I sagged like a marionette with its strings cut.

Awareness returned slowly as I registered the cool night air, followed by…

“Motherf—”

Pain radiated through my cheek, and I blinked hard to focus on the beefy blonde asshole who was rearing back for a second shot.

“Playtime’s over, assholes.” No longer in the mood to entertain, I gathered my power, ready to let loose.

The fire exit beside us blew open to reveal Lindsay’s favorite Mr. Tall, Hung (his words, not mine) and Extremely Pissed Off.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kedron glowered at the group of us like we were teen miscreants caught smoking behind the school bleachers.

“This has nothing to do with—”

My boss kept talking at me as though the blonde idiot didn’t exist.

“I’ve told you before. Kick these guy’s asses on your own time. While you’re here, you’re mine. Get back to work.”

“But I was just gonna—”

“No.”

Spoilsport.

Pouting at Kedron for ruining my fun, I shouldered past the pretty psycho behind me who was too busy frowning at the sky to notice my departure and headed back toward the front of the establishment.

Seek your salvation in Spells Hollow.

I paused, wondering if the echo came on the wind, or if it had tunneled into my subconscious. Either way, it didn’t matter. Salvation was for those looking to be saved.

“And my life is fucking peachy just the way it is,” I muttered, lifting my chin at Benji and striding back inside to greet the chaos.

Harlow

I tried to stay close to the main dance floor through my shift for two reasons; first, it was my job. Duh. The dance floor was where all the action was, and a third lecture from Kedron within a day didn’t sound appetizing.

Second, I was a lot less likely to get a repeat of the knife-to-the-back trick if I stayed indoors. No matter how much I enjoyed a good fight—or how lickable that MC psycho’s tattoos were—knife play wasn’t on my kink list.

A restless energy pulsed through me as I slowly circled the crowds. My eyes darted around the room, unable to concentrate on anything for more than a second, until my gaze settled on the direction of the exit. I forced myself to keep walking, desperately trying to shake the strange feeling. Each step away felt wrong somehow. Like at any moment, I’d be scolded by a teacher for breaking some arbitrary rule I never cared to learn.

Positioning myself against a wall, facing the crowd with the exit behind them, the feeling faded into something more comfortable. I stood there, pretending to watch over the dancing patrons, and the pounding bass faded into the background until the only sound in my mind was the voice from earlier.

Your time is as short as your temper.

Rude. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

Slipping my cell out of my pocket, I did a quick search on Spells Hollow. The first result was some new age gemstone store in Delaware, followed by some tourist attraction in Dublin.

Please tell me the moon doesn’t want me to go overseas.

At the bottom of the page was a Reddit thread on local legends and urban explorer locations. Four hours away near New York was a town rumored to be deserted, and infamous in certain circles for being home to a broken coven.

---