Page 70 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

“Right.” She planted her hands on her hips and pouted. “This is ridiculous. I say we just—”

She froze, eyes wide and panic-stricken. The bright blue of her host’s irises turned emerald, and the veins on her face bulged and changed black. Her nose crinkled. There was such an exertion of her essence rising to the surface of her host. She avoided that almost always, given it could lead to a collision of consciousnesses.

“What?”

Coyly smiling, she ran her fingers through her hair, settling the Diabolic features that rooted into the vampire, superseding and deepening the possession in a way Mora never liked.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “Kell’s being approached by a demon. Blah, blah—I know, once again, she’s not paying attention to her surroundings.”

What? My heart pounded. I grabbed my chest, almost confusing the sensation for Wally’s fear, then remembered I hadno connection to him. None. He was lost out there, in danger, and I had no clue. “Is Walter okay?”

“I guess.” Mora waved a hand. “I don’t know. Kell’s lost in one of her daydreams, something about rearranging the stonework of the labyrinth to make it more accessible or whatever? Nothing on Wally in her immediate thoughts.”

“Where is he?” I bolted in front of her and squeezed her arms. “Tell me.”

“He’s fine. They’re both fine. Aside from the fact neither one of them has any idea a demon is stalking their every step.” She flexed her biceps, resisting my grip and doing well to break my hold—another sign my essence was still waning despite the bit I’d replenished. “I’ve told Kell a thousand times to use the essence to track threats. She never fucking listens.”

“I don’t have time for your rants or your games. Let’s go.”

“I guess we’re just going with the improvised plan of picking off threats as they come instead of constructing a real course of action.”

“Wally. Now.” I growled, tails thrashing just enough to slice through her less valuable belongings.

“I’m teasing, relax.” She batted her long lashes. “But it is nice to see how close you two have grown.”

“Stop talking and fucking move.”

“Sheesh. Boys, so emotional.” Mora rolled her eyes, then zipped out of the room.

I followed quickly, desperate to find and protect Wally.

21

Walter

I traced my fingertips along the shallow cuts of my forearm, stitching the skin with a simple yet effective incantation. All those years spent helping Sarai study for the practitioner exam when she applied for the panacea regiment had finally paid off. These were basic at best, but at least it’d stop the bleeding. I winced, tugging at my shirt. Some of the blood had dried, making the fabric stick to my skin. It was like pulling off the world’s worst band-aid. More like plucking since the tattered strings of my shirt didn’t relent until the last second.

All I could think about was Bez. I had to hurry up so I could return to him, help him. I also needed to figure out how the dimensional travel worked, which meant returning to the helm or engine room was my best bet. Placing an incantation below my ribcage, I flinched. Before doing anything else, I needed to mend these injuries. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter whether I solved the demon’s objective. Between my pale skin, the dried blood, the fresh cuts, and all the woozy blood loss, mycomplexion had gone full-blown ghostly. Trying not to clench my shaky stomach, I channeled mana into my core, drawing symbols with my fingers that’d begun to go numb.

“You should invert that one.” Kell pointed to the incantations lining my stomach. “Oh, and overlap those two, then add an iron rejuvenating symbol.”

Kell continued making suggestions while tinkering with the symbols she’d created with sorcery. Stacking basic spells to amplify their power did help make more advanced magics without having to exert nearly as much mana, but the way Kell put hers together—it was like jamming mismatched puzzle pieces together on top of a very wobbly Jenga game.

I swallowed hard, taking her advice and rearranging some of my symbols.

“I’d rip the protective restrictions on that one.” She pointed to the incantation stamped furthest on my side. “It’ll speed up the healing, minimize scarring, and offers a lovely buzz to mellow you out.”

“I’d rather not be high on magic right now,” I said, weaving another healing incantation.

“I would.” Sapphire irises glimmered in front of me. The powder blue replacing the whites of the eyes made their shimmer all the brighter.

I snapped the incantation in half, changing it into faulty repulsion sigils, and slapped them onto the feathered Fae’s chest. The demon possessing the body shuddered, then cackled. His elongated tongue lapped at his beaked mouth as he leaned closer, preparing to bite me.

Blood spattered, splashing my face.

The demon wailed, writhing with a hand punched through his chest. A heart pumped locked in a clenched fist belonging to a man who leaned out from behind the demon he’d impaled with a smirk on his face.

Bez. This was Bez. I smiled, studying the new face that hadn’t quite adopted Bez’s facial structure through a composite yet, but those crimson eyes illuminated by the pink replaced the whites of his eyes perfectly. Naturally, the first thing he prioritized changing was the hair of his body to a shaggy black with glamoured neon orange roots. He’d successfully possessed a new body meaning he had understood my cryptic clues after I abandoned him to lead the other demon away.

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