Page 105 of Wicche Hunt

I checked the time and forced myself to shake off the ugly thoughts. Declan was alive and well and I had a cake to frost. Working quickly, I assembled the cake, adding strawberry slices to the frosting between the layers, which may have been overkill, but it sounded good.

As I finished frosting, a thought occurred to me. Declan should drive Bracken and me tomorrow. Bracken’s huge RV on that narrow, twisty road sounded harrowing. Plus, Declan could watch the road while we searched magically.

Knowing Bracken was up and I needed to kill time, I went to go talk to him. I was halfway across the deck when I heard the sound of heavy boots. On a yip of excitement, I spun and ran back as Declan came around the corner. I almost threw myself into his arms, but I felt something off, something dark, and skidded to a stop.

The silhouette of Otis, Daisy, and Jasper’s heads popped out from the roofline and hissed.

Grinning, he held out his arms. “I did it! I’m the Alpha.”

I moved back a few steps.

He kept his arms open. “Come give me a kiss and congratulate me.”

I moved back another step. “Are you okay?”

“Never better.” He finally dropped his arms and looked in the studio. “Mmm, have you been baking cookies?”

“I was worried you’d been hurt.” Where was the wound on his jaw? The other bites and cuts could be under his clothes, but Logan had opened a gash on his jaw. And Declan would have recognized the scent of my brownies.

“Nope. I won easily.” He lifted an arm and flexed his muscles. “Come here, honey.”

I dove over the railing and into the ocean. This where my magic was at its strongest and I was going to need it, because that wasn’t Declan.

When I surfaced, he was leaning on the railing, watching me. His eyes were off, though. They were full black, no whites around the irises. “Now, why would you do that?”

“Because you’re a close personal friend of Calliope’s.” I flicked my fingers, pushing him back a foot.

On a laugh, he recovered and leaned on the railing again. “You’ll have to do better than that. And we’re not friends so much as colleagues. She’s not terribly friendly, is she?”

That was just my opening salvo. While the demon chuckled and made a show of not being bothered by my magic, I was silently reciting the spell Sam had shown me in her grimoire. I sent it sailing and the demon went rigid, his black eyes going wide. His mouth opened in a silent scream and then he disappeared.

Unsure if that meant he was really gone, I continued to tread water for a few minutes. Cecil wrapped a tentacle around my arm and I rubbed it. “I’m okay now.” He let go and I swam to the rope ladder Declan made me.

When I got to the top, I stood dripping for a moment, trying to decide if I should do a drying spell or if I had time to take a shower before Declan returned.

“That was rude.” Demon Not Declan walked back around the side of the gallery. “You’re going to come with me now or I’m going to destroy every piece of art in that gallery.” His dark eyes gleamed with the threat. “Oh, you don’t like that, do you?” He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the back door. “I should do it anyway for causing me pain.”

He smiled sharply and I heard glass shatter.

Heart sinking, I leaned against the railing, ready to dive back in. “What does she want?”

“That’s easy. To destroy you.” His black eyes glittered in the moonlight.

“Why? What did we ever do to her?”

He waved a hand. “Who listens? She’s like a gnat, buzzing in my ear.” He clasped his hands together. “I have a proposal for you. If you come with me now and work with me, I’ll help you become the most famous, most lauded artist in the world.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I can do that on my own.”

“Oh, careful.” He waggled a finger at me. “Pride is one of the deadly sins.”

“I don’t truck with demons.”

He tilted his head, studying me. “More’s the pity. We always end up with ones like your cousin knocking on our door.” He rolled his eyes. “What you and I could do together, though, would be amazing. Epic.” He paused. “In fact, if you wanted me to take away that pesky inability to touch people without seeing and feeling horrors, I could do that. You could live a long, happy, horrorless life with me.”

“I don’t know. That sounds pretty horrific.” My voice was steady, but I was trembling on the inside. My magic clearly wasn’t up to battling demons.

“No.” He shook his head. “It’s not. But together, there’s no limit to what you could accomplish.”

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