Page 7 of Magic and Mayhem

Making my way deeper into my room, I notice bloody footprints on my plush rugs and a figure wrapped in a blanket, lying on the floor at the end of my bed.

Bruises peek out along her skin, and her face appears pale and exhausted. Her breaths are shallow, and as I step closer, I can taste the fear on her even in her sleep. It’s potent, tainting the air so strongly that it overpowers the scent of her own blood.

A force deep within me snaps, and a visceral roar erupts from me as the room is consumed with a bright purple light. Every object in my tent is turned to ash. When the girl on the floor looks up at me with terror written into every feature of her body, the lack of control over my magic grows even more erratic.

“Why are you here?” I shout.

This is my space,mine. She brought blood and fear here, and now everything within my space is destroyed. Her clothes are scorched off as my fire spreads, transformingmy room into a raging inferno.

She unsuccessfully tries to cover her bare flesh with her arms. The longer I take her in, the more bruises I find, all in different phases of healing.

Her hand is covered in blood, some of it dry and some fresh. She falls to her ass when I try to approach, flames licking the floor around her, brushing her skin in what almost looks like a caress.

That’s when I notice her feet are butchered. Anger surges in me, more potent than I’ve ever known, and the sound of a crack above me tells me the structure threatens to buckle around us.

I can feel her fear rising, her heartbeat so fast I have no idea how any mortal could withstand the amount of pressure the single organ is under.

Her eyes flash a silver violet, and my mouth falls open as my heart is pulled towards her. The reaction is so violent that I physically jerk forward. Everything slows for a brief moment, giving me time to see her clearly.

She is stunning, fear mixed with anger rolling off of her so powerfully that I almost fall to my knees at her feet as the scent overtakes me.

I don’t know her name or how she arrived here, but I do know that one thing has never been so clear to me before in my existence.

Just when I’m about to speak, she screams.

It’s one of the most terrifying sounds I’ve ever heard, and I have to banish my flame to cover my ears from the agonizing sound her terror brings me.

“Stop!” I bellow at her.

Yet, the woman only gets louder in response. Lilu comes running into the charred space in a panic. Kieres, one of my tent neighbors, is right behind her. Pushingback the black hair falling into his face, he surveys my once pristine room with wide eyes.

“What the fuck?” It’s a whisper and definitely rhetorical, but I answer him anyway.

“This human is in my room.Myroom!”

I don’t know why I’m so full of rage, why all of my emotions feel heightened by a million.

Lilu stares at the girl like she’s some sort of miracle, but all that does is make the flames ignite in my hands once again. I don’t want either of them looking at her.

“Eryx,” Lilu barks, “look at her!”

She points and I use all my concentration to hold back the shift into my demon as I attempt to gain control.

My gaze turns to the small body curled up in the corner. She looks utterly terrified as her eyes bounce between us.

This woman should be running for her damn life. It’s not every day that a human comes in contact with a demon, much less a prince and princess of Hell, and lives.

Wait, how the fuck is she even alive right now?

Tears stream down her cheeks, but her cries are silent, as if she’s accepted her fate. The voice in my head tells me I need to calm down, that I’m only making everything worse.

But the blood on her skin and the agony written on her features combined with the hopelessness in her eyes only causes my blood to boil.

“Who hurt you?” The growl of my voice makes her recoil from me, scraping her skin in the process. I try to reach for her, but she screams and Kieres grabs me.

“Come on, man,” he says with his hand on my shoulder. “You need to take a breather.”

He has no fucking idea.Yet, I cannot make my feet move. It’s like I’m stuck here, unable to move away fromher.

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