Page 459 of Evil Hearts

Hell, they fucked me on sacred ground.

“Evynn!”

Lyone’s sharp voice drags me fully out of the vision.

I’ve never had one before, but I know witches are prone to them. Some get them always, some a few times, some never. And there is no rhyme or reason as to why. People like to think magic is neat and orderly, but it’s not.

“What happened to you? I thought you passed out,” Lyone continues. He kneels down and his eyes are also drawn to the silver thread. “Is that what I think it is?”

I nod.

He stands, pulling me to my feet as if I weigh no more than a doll.

“What did she find?” Corel asks.

I open my mouth but can’t speak.

The unnatural hush in this part of the forest deepens, choking me. Choking the brothers as well.

Lyone especially seems weak. His magic can’t resist this.

“Well, how convenient,” the Mayor says, walking up to us in his silver-threaded coat. “I wanted to get you all out here to ‘investigate’; I hadn’t expected to happen upon an orgy.” He smiles, a few teeth missing, leaving rotted, black holes. “Maybeafter I take your demon magic and kill you three, I’ll have my fun with your pet before I steal her magic too.”

Pardus growls and tries to leap forward, but a wall of ice snaps up and he runs into it, falling backwards due to his own momentum.

“You. Will. Not. Touch. Our. Witch,” Lyone states, trying his hardest to remain upright. “I will come back from Hell itself to stop you.”

The Mayor chuckles. “You talk a big game, but really, demons are so weak that my old magic — and the new magic I’ve repurposed — can drain you so easily? Keep resisting, please, it makes the process faster.”

My magic presses against my skin, as if it’s a living thing that wants to get out of me. Something else inside me tries to pull it back, as if my body is warring within itself. However, it makes me able to stand and resist. My hand wraps around the black tourmaline necklace Mother gave me, gathering strength from the whole Maelstrom line of witches.

Lyone falls first, and Corel not soon after; their demon sides can’t resist the pull, and their other sides are also magic-based. They’re weak.

Pardus is too dazed still to fight.

I hate them. I love them. I can’t see them die like this. No, when they do, it will be by my hand. No one else’s. Only I get to take their lives.

They’re mine.

I know magical spells from all walks of this Earth, since magic was used in the time before Monstrato existed. Which means I also know using magic native to the land I’m on makes it stronger.

Viking magic.

“Slutanu!”

The Mayor’s body freezes, except his eyes, which glare at me.

“Omvändaförtroll!” Please work, I don’t know any other reversal spells in this region’s languages.

The Mayor’s body begins to shake, glowing with white magic, threaded with black and green. Corel and Lyone’s magic. My stunning spell begins to wear off, but I don’t think I need to worry about the Mayor trying to escape.

The magic within him is obeying my reversal spell. It’s not just the demons’ magic being released; all magic he’s stolen is beginning to escape.

“No no no!” he cries as blood begins to leak from his eyes, ears, and nose. “That’s mine!”

“It is not yours,” I say. “And you could never command demon magic, you foolish witch. I don’t know which gods you serve, but I hope they have more mercy on you than I do.”

The Mayor screams, a bright light flashes, blinding me for a moment, and then comes a sick, wet sound as his body explodes.

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