Page 8 of The Witch and His Crow

Disgust creased her face in lines. It was as if she realised what she’d just accomplished and quickly pushed the corpse forwards. He smashed into the ground with a rather pleasing thump.

‘Urgh, fucking skin juice.’ She flicked her hands at her sides, trying to rid herself of the gunk stuck to her fingers.

I gawped at her, stomach churning as my adrenaline quickly faded. She looked up, catching my stare, making me overly aware of the disgust rippling from my expression. I didn’t even bother to squash it.

‘Are you staring at me because you’re expecting me to thank you?’ the fire-witch asked, smearing the back of her gore-coated hand across her forehead. She didn’t realise, but it left a streak of skin and blood. Perhaps she did, and simply didn’t care.

I pushed up from the floor, Caym coming to perch on my shoulder. My nose was broken and the wound on my arm was deeper than I first thought. Although I usually came away from nights like this with a few bumps and scrapes, I blamed the witch and the distraction she’d caused for the severity of damage.

‘I wasn’t planning on it,’ I said, wincing as the lack of adrenaline made me realise just how much my face hurt.

‘You don’t look too good,’ she said, eyeing me up.

I could sense Caym’s presence within me, begging me to leave. But I feared if I moved too quickly, I’d fall. ‘I don’t feel too good either. I’ve got you to thank for that.’

‘Yes, you should really get that seen to.’ Her smile was genuine, as was her concern. There was no denying the kindness in her face as her smile reached her warm brown eyes, making them gleam. She took in the scene, the three bodies, the hint of decay lingering in the already toxic city air. ‘This isnothow I was planning to spend my evening.’

‘I would say you should go back to your friends, but’ The shift of my eyes to her ruined outfit suggested what I was going to say. Halloween was still over a month away—walking into the club covered in blood tonight would certainly raise suspicions.

‘Never mind that.’ Her hand snaked out, extended in introduction. ‘Romy.’

‘Pardon?’

Caym chirped on my shoulder, blood-wet beak clicking, but that didn’t deter her hand.

‘My name,’ she giggled, as if it was all some big joke. ‘I know we kind of skipped the traditional introductions but since we’ve both saved each other’s asses tonight, I think swapping names is at least the next step.’

‘No offence.’ I folded my arms behind my back, causing more pain in the split flesh of my arm. But that was better than having my skin melted by the witch’s touch. ‘But your hand is still covered in...skin juice?’

‘Ha. So it is.’ That didn’t not stop her from reaching into the pocket of her jacket, withdrawing a phone. Before I could so much as question her, she lifted it to her ear and spoke.

‘Walton Street. Yeah. Three Hunters. Dead.’ Her eyes dragged up to me, lips flashing another smile. ‘No, not alone.’ She paused, a small voice shouting something down the other line. ‘No, it wasn’t a Coven member. I told you… yes, yes, I know the risks, but I had some unexpected help. Although he needs a healer.’

Unexpected help? Coven member?

My mind decided in that very moment that this had been planned. Not by the Hunters, but by Romy. Now, a new fear reared its ugly head. I felt my lungs restrict. This witch had never been the unsuspecting person I first took her for.

She was a plant, a decoy. A lure sent here tonight for the very same reason I was.

‘Let me ask.’ Romy voice cut through the haze in my mind. She lowered the phone, but not completely. Just the polite shift down her cheek as she whispered another question. ‘I never did catch your name—hey—wait. Where are you going?’

I was already running, fast but awkwardly. Where to?Anywhere but here.

My boots slapped against the street, my legs pulsing with renewed adrenaline. Caym took flight, not beside me but up and up, until his presence was only a tingle in the back of my skull. All I could focus on is getting away from her. Maybe minor injuries? I could blame the wounds on something less… monstrous. But I knew I needed to get far enough away that Romy, and those on the other end of the phone call, couldn’t find me.

Mother’s final warning repeated in my mind as it had over and over since her death.

‘Protect him. Keep my son from them.’

‘All of them. Our allies and our foes.’

Foes, being the dead bodies left in my wake. Allies, the very people Romy had just spoken with.

The Coven.

The wound across my upper arm became barely a tickle now that something else had taken over my mind. Nor did my shattered nose worry me as I picked up my pace. Caym’s panic overwhelmed me, his desire to swaddle me up in his shadows. But something was stopping him. I sensed his knowing, the intuition that screamed of something bad.

I ran directly into thatbad thingas I reared around the corner and barrelled right into their path. They might as well have been made from concrete. The collision felt as much.

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