Page 21 of Wandering Witch

I had thrived in the human world in ways that just weren’t possible for me in the demon realms. There, I was a near-bottom-rung kind of demon who just got lucky to be summoned by mistake. But up here, I was on equal footing with superior supernaturals.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at this camp that stank of demonic energy.

With a flare of my power, I strode into the middle of the clearing and was only a little disappointed that there was no one awake to greet me. But that just gave me time to cause some mayhem before I got company.

I snapped my fingers as I sent a small burst of power to their dying campfire causing the embers to flare back into roaring flames. An evil cackle passed my lips as I willed the sparks of the fire to dance toward the tent containing my prey.

Just as the first ones reached the canvas, a specter exploded from within. His clothing choices were definitively modern, but that was the only thing that seemed to keep up with the change of times. Long dark hair curled around his shoulders, and he looked like a wannabe colonist.

But what really caught my attention about him was the power he radiated that called to my own. His blood was greatly diluted, but if there wasn’t at least a good few drops of demon blood in this spirit I’d be damned.

A smile cracked my lips as I swished my fingers around in a tight circle to send more sparks of flame flying at him. Instead of dodging, like I expected him to, he moved to block as many as he could. And the ones that his body didn’t reach, he appeared to pull towards himself and put them out with a sound that reminded me of rain striking a roaring fire. This was going to be fun.

I took a step forward before a massive beast of a man exited the tent. I wasn’t expecting a behemoth like that. I thought as he moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the ghost.

If his size wasn’t bad enough, as his energy reached out to me I realized just what kind of supernatural I was looking at. He was some kind of mixed shifter breed, favoring bears if the musky odor was any indication and demon. I wouldn’t say that he would rate as a half-blood, but definitely more than his friend.

Great. Just fucking great. Had to have been some kind of wrath demon that sired his line. They were just about the only ones dumb enough to try and bed a bear.

At least with them both outside their shelter, I could scent just enough of the air to gather they were the only ones with demon blood in their group. Whatever the final member of their group was, it would be manageable once I got rid of frick and frack here. Still, the bear was giving me a bad feeling.

I was just about to release my blaze on them, hoping to shock and awe them enough to remove the threats they posed before I got hit. The thing that stopped me from doing so came when the bear lumbered towards me. I got a peek at what they were hiding in the tent, and my heart leaped into my throat.

It was only the smallest of glimpses, but there was the most beautiful female I had ever laid eyes on. I knew that there was no way this goddess was traveling with this pair of her own will. Let alone happily dwelling in such a drab, flimsy shelter. I had to get her away from them before they caused her any more harm.

“Look boys, I’ll make this easy. Let the girlie go and I’ll let you live. There’s not enough room in this mountain for more than one demon and I don’t share,” I snarked as the bear bristled.

“No way in hell are we going to let you have our girl,” the large male growled as he lunged at me.

“Fine, it’s the fun way then,” I smirked as I sent small sparks of fire to appear over the males.

When the bear-man reached out to swipe at me, I dipped back and brought a fist of fire to strike at his gut. My fire punch landed with a satisfying hiss of burning flesh that sent him stumbling back. I pressed my advantage and threw flaming fists one after another as I backed him into the trunk of a tree.

Unfortunately, I forgot two things as I lost myself in striking at my opponent. Never back a bear into a corner, and never lose sight of all your enemies.

The bear roared and swung back at me with a half-changed paw that I was only able to dodge by throwing myself backward, right into the ghost who was ready to catch me.

As strong arms held me fast, the shifter charged at us and reduced me to little more than a punching bag. With what breath remained in my lungs, I focused on calling up a firestorm to take out the bear.

However, every time I got anything more than a few sparks ignited, spectral water rushed over me to extinguish the flames. I growled at the futility of my situation and threw my head back to break the nose of the male holding me. But somehow my head passed as though there was nothing there even as his grasp on my torso stayed strong.

My sudden movement did succeed at least in throwing the ghost off balance. Though, I think I felt it more than he did as I threw us back ass over teakettle.

Our sudden stop pushed the rest of the air out of my lungs, and I could only stare up at the sky as the shifter’s leather-clad foot appeared overhead on its downward path to my skull.

Farren

Iscreamed in terror as I watched Locke start to bring his massive foot down onto the face of our demonic attacker through a hole that a spark had burned into the tent wall. I may have been hunted by a curse that destroyed everything in its path, but never once had I seen it take a life. And I knew for a fact that I was not ready to witness a life being stolen right in front of me.

So I gave up my fight with the zipper and just ripped the tent open at the burn hole before I dashed and stumbled out as I made my way to Locke and threw myself at him. My collision with Locke threw him off balance and he stumbled to the side of the demon, but he caught me before I hit the ground.

“My mate, why did you stop me? This creature was going to take you from us if we didn’t stop him,” he scolded as he held me close.

“I can’t stand the idea of seeing you kill anyone,” I admitted in a whisper as I buried my face in his chest.

He groaned above me as though I’d asked an impossible task of him. I was about to pull back to look him in the eye when he tightened his grip on me.

“Is it that important to you that no blood is shed here?” came his response, murmured into my hair.

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