Page 108 of Bad Demon

“Yes.”

Delores cawed and landed on the back of the chair beside Agatheena. She took a piece of meat from a small plate beside the fire and tossed it to her.

“He’s powerful, child. I feel echoes of his magical imprint all over you; it’s seeping from your pores. Whoever cleansed you did a good job; it’s almost all gone. In a week or so, there will be nothing of him left.”

“My friend Sutton worked on me, and when she did, I felt it—my power. I just … I couldn’t hang on to it.”

“There’s a reason you couldn’t hang on to your magic—we still need to unlock the power that simmers inside you, not truly.”

I curled my fingers into tight fists. “Have you found something? Do you know how?”

“Yes.”

Hope and terror filled me all at once. “Whatever it takes, I’ll do it. I want him gone—for good.”

She nodded. “I can help you, but it’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to hurt.” Her gaze held mine. “Skin-being-flayed-from-flesh kind of hurt.”

I stared back. “I’m not afraid of pain. I’ve lived with it my whole life.”

She nodded. “Then, when you find him, child, you make him feel the pain you suffered. You make him feel every moment of it,” she said, quiet fury vibrating in her voice. “They hurt us, but in doing so, they make us stronger. So much stronger than they could ever hope to be.”

If fury fueled power and magic, I’d scorch the earth beneath my feet. “What do you need me to do?”

“You need to bleed for your craft. You need to offer your blood to the mother and beg her forgiveness for forsaking her for so long, and you need to ask her to finally accept you as one of her children.”

Mother Nature, the Great Goddess Terra, was the Creatress of all life and was often referred to as the mother by the witches who worshipped her. Not many had seen her true form; some didn’t believe she had one because, more often than not, when she needed one, she chose to inhabit her pet serpent.

I’d only prayed to her once, when I was taken to The Chemist by my grandfather, but she never answered, never came. I never prayed to her again after that. I’d assumed she felt the same way about me as the evil, twisted fucking witch who’d been hurting me.

“Your mother was a witch, as were your grandmother and your great-grandmother,” she said as if she were reading my mind. “Yes, we are also demon, but the mother’s gifts reside in you. You are a witch, child, and to ignore those gifts is blasphemy in the eyes of the Great Goddess. To receive your magic, you must atone.”

“She never came for me when I was a child; she left me to suffer. Why would I ask her forgiveness? Why would I pray to her when she ignored my prayers for help?” My voice shook with anger.

Agatheena closed the distance between us. Her hand lifted, and her eyes rolled up so only the whites were visible, and a strange lightness shifted through her features. “I feel her, you know, all around you.” Her eyes rolled back. “Your mother. Before she was murdered, she cast a spell, didn’t she?”

I stilled, rubbing my thumb over the scar there, where she’d cut my finger. “How did you know?”

“You’re surrounded by a protection spell. It’s as if … as if her arms are wrapped around you, even now. If you hadn’t been taken to that place, the monster never would have found you. When you escaped, that spell was the reason it took so long for him to find you again.”

I always believed she’d been trying to protect me, and now, I knew for sure.

“The mother is like any one of the gods, child; she sees us and the realms in a way we can only hope to. The gods are omniscient and powerful beyond our imagination, but they, like us, are beholden to the Fates. Your life, as unfair as it was, has unfolded as the Fates intended.”

“Well, the Fates are fucking bitches,” I bit out.

Agatheena chuckled. “That might be so, but in the end, they always get their way.”

“So, you’re saying I need to suck it up?”

She shrugged. “I’m telling you to not let what happened to you define who you are. No, don’t ever forget those who hurt you and never forgive them for their evil, but don’t let the hatred you feel for them blind you either; don’t let it erode and poison the good that’s to come.”

When I’d allowed myself to drop my guard, to go after what I wanted, I’d been rewarded with Relic. How much more could there be?

“I think I’ve had all the good there is to be had.”

She shook her head. “It’s boundless, great-granddaughter.”

My heart hammered at her calling me that, at what her words implied, because I wanted to believe her so badly. “And to receive more, I need to invite the mother into my life?”

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