Page 64 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

“No. We need him intact.” Eligos patted the demon’s shoulder. “Remember, in order to achieve the impossible, we must…”

His voice fell away, the engine room fell away, the smug smile of the feathered demon fell away, and I sprang forward, back inside my feeble body and still lacking the necessary essence required to finish this fight.

The scent of mana filled the room, and potent Mythic residue permeated beside me.

A set of golden eyes were on the floor.

“Aw, fresh gorgon eyes.” I smiled, searching for Wally to tease him they’d taste best scrambled with a side of bacon.

But he was nowhere to be found. I sniffed the air. Sweat, blood, fear, and pain wafted from his recent arrival here, though his stay was brief. What had happened to him? Why’d he ditch my ragdoll body? And what the hell was he going to do with a random ass pair of gorgon eyes?

I turned around, taking in the room of statues filled with perfectly petrified potential host bodies. Hmm, it appeared Wally had stumbled onto these on his own despite the fact I hadn’t shared the details because I didn’t want him distracted by side projects.

My lips curled into a wicked grin, delighted by the bounty presented by Wally. The fastest way to recover a modicum of my strength was through possession, feeding deeply on the mana from a strong host. The villa wasn’t exactly rolling around in a wide selection, and these statues could only be released through gorgon magic. Or the magic that still resided inside a fresh set of delicious eyes.

Guess I’d have to pass on the tasty treat. I had to figure out which one of these fools would make for the most suitable threads to find and kill Eligos in.

19

Walter

I cut a corner in the labyrinth where it forked into different pathways and finished my glamoured incantation, sending a false glowing version of me running onward. Desperately, I took deep breaths, not concerned about how easily obvious the distraction was. I didn’t need to fool the demon, simply offer her another trail to follow. With any luck, she’d get lost stalking the mana I cast as a homing beacon to lead her into the twisting tunneled depths of this maze.

My legs wobbled. I braced myself closer to the wall. Even with all the adrenaline coursing through me, exhaustion had finally caught up. The bruises on my back and chest throbbed. The shallow cuts along my stomach burned, a searing reminder of the essence I’d cut out of myself. All this running made it impossible to catch my breath, and now I wanted to pass out and sleep away the pain. I squinted, lights in the tunnels making my vision blur.

Using the tip of the blade of the Demon’s Demise, I scratched out the glyphs on the nearest lantern. Their damn proximity sensors made them light up when someone was close, and I needed this hidden corner dark and unassuming. I clutched the hilt, knowing I had to prepare for an inevitable conflict.

“I need…” I bit my lip, biting back the need to process. It was bad enough that every movement I made down here echoed through long corridors. I didn’t need to offer up a sound description of my objective to the demon trying to devour me.

She was relentless. Nothing I did shook her from my scent. I barely managed to get the gorgon eyes before she appeared from thin air, demanding a taste of my flesh.

I needed to get back to Bez. Leaving him was the right option since I couldn’t allow the demon to grab him. And I certainly couldn’t fend her off with an unconscious Bez in my hands. He was unconscious, right? He’d be fine. Wake up soon. It still left me with sinking guilt that he’d assume I abandoned him. I only hoped he realized what I was doing by leaving him with the statues. Would he even know they were petrified? Would he know the first thing about smashing the pair of eyes onto a petrified person to undo the spell? I hated not having Bez’s essence, lacking the faintest sense of our connection, which left me bare and hollowed out.

“Little mage, come out, come out,” the demon’s voice boomed from the end of the hall. She dragged her bare feet along the stone flooring, moving sluggishly despite the fact that she could bolt ahead in an instant.

I couldn’t determine if her slow pace came from the chunks of meat she’d ripped out of her own host body before tiring of the flavor, her still adapting to her newfound freedom after being bound in an orb for who knew how long, or if this was her way of toying with prey.

She walked past me, sniffing the air as she contemplated which path to take. Lanterns illuminated her bloody back as she faced away, studying the labyrinth. I inched sideways, bit by bit, to hide further in the darkness, too frightened to blink on the chance she’d vanish.

She pointed to each path over and over like she was playing eeny meeny miny moe, then stopped and licked the wall of the path I’d sent my glamour.

Take the bait. Follow the trace trail of mana.

“Found you,” she said from the opposite side of me, hidden by the shadows.

No hesitation. Not again. I swung the Demon’s Demise, slashing her neckline, and backed away as tendrils sprang out defensively. She screeched, furious and making the stone walls rumble. I had to get a deeper cut. Stab her. Twist the blade.

“Disrespectful.” Her rage had settled, and she sounded eerily composed, standing behind me.

When had she moved again?Damn. So fast.

I tried to whirl around, tracing an incantation in the air to create a barrier between us, but her hands slapped my back, knocking me flat on my face.

Before I had a chance to react, she’d flung me into a wall and kicked me until I rolled over. In a flash, the demon straddled my waist, seeping glittery Fae blood onto my already bloody shirt. She wrapped her hands around my throat, squeezing down. My face burned. I struggled, futile and incapable of loosening her grasp. Slowly, she slid further up, pressing the full weight of her body onto my chest as she cackled and tightened her stranglehold.

“Eligos said no killing the mage, but that was only to the one with Beelzebub’s essence.” She licked my cheek. “Not sure how many of you little misfits are roaming these halls, but there’s not a trace of Diabolic essence inside you.”

She released one of her hands, still choking me. My eyes teared up, and the room went fuzzy; everything faded except this demon’s pink hand, which turned a sheen metallic black as she curled her essence over her fingers and transformed the limb into a sharpened blade.

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