Page 22 of Wandering Witch

I nodded as I clenched my fists against his chest. He sighed before he answered, “Fine, but you need to bind him before he gets enough strength back to cause us problems. I don’t know how much longer Roan can hold him down.”

This time when I tried to pull away, he let me, and I faintly saw my ghost’s arms banded around the chest of our demonic intruder. I looked back at Locke and nodded as I slipped out of his arms and made my way towards the pair on the ground.

When I knelt and placed my hand on the demon, he cracked an eye at me. My breath caught in my throat as our gazes connected and I found myself sinking into brilliant crimson eyes.

“Oh heavenly one, please, please I beg of you. Do not let these brutes send me back. There is still so much left for me to do on this plane,” the demon pleaded as he lifted an unsteady arm in my direction.

Roan must have felt the shift in the demon because he twisted his grip and somehow pulled him deeper into the earth in an effort to restrain him.

I could only mouth my apologies as I called to the winds to bind him in a similar way to how I did Roan when we first met. The biggest differences this time were a gag and blindfold.

“Roan, let him go. It’s done. I have him in chains.” It was a struggle not to bite out the words as I watched my ghostly friend ease his way around the body of our attacker.

Locke came up behind me and carefully looped his arms around me as he lifted me to my feet. I don’t know why, but the binding spell was far more difficult for me to want to cast this time. Why did he call out to me like that?

“Are you both okay? Did he burn either of you?” Roan asked as he approached us. I shook my head in response, still not quite ready to talk yet.

“Asshole got me a few times, but they don’t feel too bad. I think his flames were little more than parlor tricks to try to scare us than actual attacks,” Locke answered as he rubbed at his stomach area where I could see what looked to be the start of something almost like sunburn.

On the ground, our demon captive grunted and struggled trying to tell us he wasn’t happy with what we were saying about him.

“So what’s the plan now? What are we going to do with Sparky over there?” Roan asked as he nodded towards the demon. “Do you think he could be the reason we were called here?”

“Not sure. Fare stopped me from ending him, so I guess it’s her choice.” Both men turned to face me, and I flushed.

“I don’t know. I just, I just couldn’t handle seeing someone die right in front of me,” I muttered as I had to force my gaze away from the demon struggling on the ground.

After a couple of hard pushes on his binds, I gasped and fell to my knees as I felt him ripping at my magic with every attempt to free himself.

Locke must have noticed my struggles because I heard him tell Roan to watch me as he stormed over to our captive. Even though he was blindfolded, he still stiffened at Locke’s approach.

“This is your only warning, demon. Cease your struggles or I will start breaking bones. My mate only said that she didn’t want to see you die. Nothing about being severely maimed.” Locke’s voice was pitched so low that I barely heard it, but the demon got the message loud and clear. “Since our camp’s been compromised, I think we would be wise to pack up and relocate before discussing more.”

“But what about the party crasher?” Roan asked as he guided me to a safe place off to the side of the clearing to rest.

“Do you think the chains will hold if we leave him here?” Locke asked, and I shook my head in the negative.

“If he was human, probably. But I’m having a harder time holding him than I did Ro.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to take him with us.”

Benny

“Then I guess we’ll have to take him with us,” the bear commanded over me as I felt him walk away.

I grumbled my protests around my gag as I tried to listen for any sign of where they were taking me. But they were silent as they broke down their camp.

It was only when I felt heavy packs being thrown at me that I could confirm they hadn’t forgotten me on the ground. I grunted when a particularly firm bag landed just above my groin.

The only positive side was that my binds were loose enough that I could roll onto my side and curl up in an attempt to ease the pain. Not that I got much of a chance to do that.

That must have been the last bag because not long after I got hit, I heard the bear shift and land with a heavy thud on his paws. Great, were they lying and are gonna just let the damn animal eat me alive!

I tensed my muscles as the bear came closer and closer before he stopped. Next, I heard the female, Fare I guessed was her name, grunting as she did something with their bags. The ghost argued with her about resting, and although I agreed with him, I wished he would shut up.

She told him to do just that and help her tie down their gear. Tie it down? Tie it down to what? I mused as I absently rubbed my face on the ground.

My reasoning was twofold. First and foremost, I had an itch. And when you have no free hands you did whatever you could to scratch that itch. The other reason was more just an unexpected perk.

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