Page 1 of Court of Heathens

PROLOGUE

“Now, little witch,” the dark voice calls, the husky timbre making me shake.

For a god, he truly is a patient man, being held in my trap for so long. When I set it and cast a summoning spell, I didn’t expect this, but I had nowhere else to turn. The magic in me called something dark, and I need help or it will be the downfall of my coven, my court, and this world as we know it.

“From the beginning once more,” he urges, sitting cross-legged.

He disappeared a few days ago, and I panicked, but he returned, which begs the question—if he can leave, then why hasn’t he?

“I told you,” I say as I pace. “I don’t know how I called it, and neither does the demon that feeds on our magic. When you left, I was trying to rid my coven of it. I thought if I could show them I could banish the demon, we would be okay, but I called something much worse.” I peer at him. “I called something wrong, something dark . . . something dead. Please, Phrixius, please help me.”

I feel the demon I speak of pushing from the shadows as if the world takes a pause when such evil emerges. A cold chill goes over me as the demon’s heat meets my back. The god stands then, anger furrowing his brow as he meets the demon’s eyes—the eyes of thedemon I’ve been haunted by my entire life, the demon I tried to rid myself of before I got all of us into this mess.

“He cannot, but I can. I told you, little witch, just make one pesky little deal and I’m yours,” he purrs in my ear. His voice is smooth and relaxing, making me sway into him, wanting to give in to the bargain he has been peddling since I turned eighteen.

One I can never agree to, but for a moment, I falter.

“No,” Phrixius snaps, his fury breaking me from the spell the demon weaves around me, and with a furious look at the chuckling demon, Phrixius steps from the spell circle, righting his suit, and he doesn’t stop until he stands before me.

Their powers surge through me, leaving me breathless.

“I will help you. You called and trapped me, after all,” he counters.

“What could a god know of such dark, evil things?” the demon retorts.

“More than a lowly ground crawler,” the god replies, leaving me swaying between them, my head aching from their power.

Something dark, evil, cold, and dead grasps my ankle and yanks me down, and with a scream, I reach for the demon and the god, but it’s too late.

The thing I called forth rips me from my cave and into its grasp.

CHAPTER 1

Six Months Ago. . .

Ihate this fucking demon.

I really do.

Not only do I not know his name so I can curse him, since that would give me power over him, but he is such a creepy stalker. I don’t know if the others simply don’t see him or don’t want to, but he won’t stop following me around, whispering in my ear at inappropriate times, like now.

“Don’t you think Hagatha”—his name for Agatha, the head witch—“looks particularly ugly today?”

“Shut up,” I hiss to him, and a witch close to me frowns in my direction then moves away.

Great, another person who thinks I’m crazy, hence the no friends thing, just the demon chuckling in my ear.

Being a witch isn’t easy. The more powerful we are, the more we are praised and revered. It’s a hierarchy without men, but don’t get us wrong, we aren’t nuns. No, there are local warlock covens who are visited often, not to mention the nearby town, but our village is a sanctuary for women and magic. It always has been, with lineagestracing back to the witch trials hundreds of years ago and blood so deep in magic, you cannot separate it.

Family is important, or at least that’s what I hear often, and it’s another reason I am mostly ignored.

I have none.

I am completely alone. Add that to the fact that I have been haunted by a demon since before I could remember, and most think I am strange or odd and choose to ignore me as much as they can. They don’t shun me or kick me out since I’m useful. I’m not super powerful, but I’m not weak either. I make spells and charms no one else can. Usually, they are the darker kind, which worries them, but beggars can’t be choosers. It’s why they keep me here, under the protection of the blood circle and within our magical village.

Most would assume it resembles something from the fifth century, and although there are buildings that look like some of the historical shops and homes, the rest are influenced architecturally by the modern era. It’s a mix of what shouldn’t work but does. It is also a paradise where you are free to be as you wish without persecution.

Unless, like me, you have a demon taunting you, telling you to do bad things, which you may or may not sometimes give into when he dares you so he will stop calling you his ridiculous, little nicknames.

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