Page 81 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

Ahugely tall, strong, and dare I say, beautiful man stepped out from the shadows. He wore an updated commando uniform—all black. Boots. T-shirt. Cargos. Beret. I bet back in the day, he flaunted his strength as a Roman gladiator. The man just looked the part.

“Kimaris,” Connor said, nodding and looking terribly unimpressed. Given the situation and how well I knew my mate, he was feigning his nonchalance at this dubious situation. “Long way from home, aren’t you?”

Kimaris? Who the hell was Kimaris? I never lamented not growing up in the super community as much as when we encountered bad guys. Bad guys made me feel so inferior. My legitimate grandmother gave rise to all witch culture. Given she’d brought the magic from the Garden of Eden into the world, I felt a little disgruntled at my lack of knowledge. My mate needed me and all I could discern was that a big demon guy had trapped him.

“What are you doing so far from your master, puppy?” Kimaris asked in this condescending tone that made me want to slap him across his dark-skinned, chiseled face.

“Mymaster?” Connor scoffed. “I work for a living. You’re the only one here with a master—marquis. Given Luc pretty much created this whole realm, I’m not sure where your bloated sense of self-confidence comes from.”

Go, Connor.Bloated sense of self-confidence. God, his smart use of vocabulary made me so stupidly happy, especially in the face of this nasty situation. Though the nasty situation was probably why I honed in on smart vocabulary. It kept me from panicking. Panicking always helped, said no one ever.

As big and intimidating as Kimaris appeared, he snickered like a weasel. “He might’ve been the first, but Lucifer is far from the smartest or the strongest.”

“Hmm… If you think that, I pity you,” Connor replied. It hit me then, of all the demons of hell, Luc had angel power. Fallen, yes, but still freaking angel power.

“Enough,” Kimaris snapped. “Where is your mate? You’ve been traveling together.”

“That’s cute that you think I’d tell you even if I knew. We got separated.”

“Bullshit. What kind of imbecile do you take me for?”

“Well, given the cage here, knowing who I am and who I work for—I’d say the biggest kind. And black salt. Bravo. Someone did his homework.”

Black salt? Homework?

Kimaris snickered that weaselly snicker again. “Black salt. Weakens and can even kill hellhounds. It’s pretty brilliant.”

“How’d you know I’d end up here?”

“I just got lucky. Too many of your kind have started siding against us. Why? You pledge your lives to protect supers who don’t care about you. We’re offering power and instead of accepting the offer, you double down on your unrequited loyalty.”

“Unrequited?” Connor asked and I heard the eye roll in his voice.

“Do you think Lucifer cares what happens to you? He’ll replace you faster than you can bark.”

The byplay fascinated me. Clearly, Kimaris had no idea about friendship. Luc would no sooner turn his back on Connor than I would. And the cage was made from black salt? It weakened and could even kill a hellhound? I needed to get my mate out of there—stat. Who thought making hellhounds vulnerable to something like salt was a good idea? And who had the power to implement it?

“Listen, you made a mistake with the cage,” Connor said. “You weren’t even on my radar. Now, I’m going to have to kill you.” He sounded confident, but I heard the softest wince at the end of his statement. This black salt cage hurt him. My mate.

“Oh, Connor…” He tutted. “Do you honestly think that can happen before you die?”

“Well, I’ll give it the old college try.”

“Dare to dream, mutt.”

Okay, no. That was one snarky cutdown too many! Nobody got to make dog jokes with Connor butme. It was our thing. Insults were our love language. I had a problem, though—I needed witch tea or time to get my strength back. I didn’t have witch tea, but Ireallydidn’t have time.

“As much as I love getting together,” Connor said, forcing an easy smile. “I have things to do. Let me go and I’ll deal with you later. You can go about your business for now.”

“I can go about my business? Connor Baghest, I thought you were smarter than that.” The demon held two fingers out in front of him and raised his hand upward. The cage and Connor raised off the floor. As the cage lifted, a black salt bottom formed under my mate, giving him no means of escape. Then the demon pushed his hand out and the cage started to move.

Of course, we were moving. Why wouldn’t we? It took everything in me to keep myself cloaked. Idid notsign up for this. But then again, Connor would burn down the world to save me. He deserved no less.

He pushed the hovering cage deeper down into the bowels of the catacombs. Keeping myself masked became more and more difficult as we entered a dark tunnel with water dripping through the porous stone and puddling on the floor. I timed my steps the best I could with Kimaris’s steps to hit the puddles at the same time. If he heard the splashes from my footsteps, I’d be toast—demons, fire. I carried no illusions that he wouldn’t burn me first and find out my identity later.

Connor’s face had grown pale by this point. I wouldn’t have been able to see his face if not for the red glow signifying Kimaris as a demon engulfing his entire body—Kimaris’s body, not Connor’s. But the glow lit the way enough for us until we halted in front of a stone staircase.

The demon lifted his hand to raise the cage and ascended the stairs that led us into well… It looked like a third-world prison. Or like one out of the sixteenth century.

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