Page 12 of Pitch a Witch
From any type of shock I kind of expected to come my way when it came to the intriguing man, him being an angel had never crossed my mind. My brain screeched on that thought, and my head whipped toward Sissily.
“I touched him,” was the only dumb thing I could say. “You touched him too.”
The sigils under my skin writhed and churned from the turbulent emotions that were doing their best to stop my heart. Yawning maw opened in the pit of my stomach and the unpredictable power, with a mind of its own, perked up, its entire attention centered on the being that had not been seen on the Earth for longer than I’d been alive.
“I touched him.” Like a broken record, I swiveled my head from River to Sissily.
Angels, including fallen ones, couldn’t make physical contact with the rest of us without killing us. Not just humans, but supernaturals as well. Their powers were too strong and very unpredictable, which was one of the reasons they found Earth lacking and disappeared to wherever they were from. We were the dirt under their shoe, and not significant enough to notice or deal with.
“I think he is a Nephilim,” Sissily hissed and yanked hard enough on my arm to pop my shoulder of its socket. I was dumbfounded enough to brush off anything she said because “angel” was on repeat in my head. “Stop gawking like a fool and move your ass before he sees that we are still here.”
My pumps were stuck to the ground with gorilla glue.
I was not going anywhere.
“Hazel Byrne,” my friend growled, her tone feral enough to make Alex proud.
Anger bubbled up, joining the excitement my magic felt about seeing a Goddess-damn angel in the middle of fucking Cleveland. Screams and roars created a symphony of pain in the air when River descended on the demons, his wings lazily flapping to hold him a few feet off the ground. The monsters that made all of us fearful stumbled over their own feet in their futile attempts to get away from him and the fire burning brighter than any I’d seen from his hands.
“I told you saying my full name never works; it only makes me angry,” I told Sissily through clenched teeth, not taking my eyes from Blackman.
Blackman, my ass.
Whatever his name was, it sure as hell did not have a witch bloodline connected to it. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Staring at him explained a lot of things, including my inability to think with my brain instead of my vagina around him. When I said he was too pretty to be real, I had no idea how right I’d been. And more importantly, how did Danika manage to snag a favor from one of those was anyone’s guess.
Another deal, no doubt.
Maybe my soul was what she’d traded for it.
Seething and glaring daggers at Blondie, I almost missed the demon sneaking around him. At first, I dismissed it as a shadow in my periphery, but a string of fire flew from River’s palm, and it illuminated that part of the stairs that was previously shrouded in shadows. Bat-like wings poked above the lanky demon’s shoulders, and his bold head turned left and right as it moved swiftly away from the massacre. His razor-sharp teeth were bared in a grimace, and the pointy, too-long-for-his-head ears twitched. A thin tail flicked back and forth as he tried to blend with the darkness and disappear.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Snarling I darted to intercept him, Sissily hot on my heels.
8
The imp shrieked when I planted myself in its way with my glowing arms, sigils churning, and all. Its round, too-large eyes with no pupils were a pitch-black emptiness bulging out at me, and it jumped back a step. In my peripheral vision, I could still see the reddish shimmer of the demonic ward, which contradicted the hordes need to get away. If I wanted to escape certain death, I would’ve dropped that shit and hightailed it. Which meant someone was holding them inside.
But to what end?
“You shall die, witch,” the demon brayed at me. “All of you shall die.”
“The only one kicking the bucket here are you and your buddies, dumbass.” Rolling my shoulders, I debated how to provoke the magic inside me and get it to make an appearance.
The book, which had mysteriously decided to mail itself to me, so far had offered no answers, its pages as blank as a newly purchased notebook. While on pack lands, I’d learned how to keep my emotions under control so the ground didn’t rattle like an impending earthquake, but nothing else. I counted on the imminent danger to force it out of me, but that was a no-go. I had a nagging feeling that turning into a magical glow stick would not be enough.
Since I didn’t attack it, the demon found his courage and pounced on me.
Sissily’s shout was drowned by the imp’s shrill bellow of a war cry, and I received a face full of demon breath when it latched onto my face. Sulfur and the smell of something rotten filled my nose, making me gag while the damn thing clawed at my cheeks and shoulders. Retching air since nothing would come out of my stomach, I snatched it by one of the wings and yanked as hard as I could.
Claws dragged down my face when I dislodged a demon the size of a house cat on steroids. Adding insult to injury, its tail flicked hard behind it and slapped me across the nose hard enough for my eyes to water. Rivulets trickled, mixing with blood across my cheeks, and I flung the little jerk to the side as hard as I could. Instead of sailing away from me, it latched onto my arm and its razor-sharp teeth sank into my forearm.
My damn magic bubbled and writhed, but it seemed content to allow me to be used as a chew toy. Less screams bounced from a few yards away, but I was too busy with the stupid demon-turned-octopus to be able to check on River. Sissily darted within the trajectory of my arm, which I shook hard in order to dislodge the imp from it.
“Stop moving,” my friend snarled right before she finally managed to snatch the twitching tail of the imp.
“Let him gnaw on your arm, and then I’ll tell you to stop moving.” A shrill squeal was ripped from my throat when she pulled on the tail, and the demon sank his teeth deeper into my skin.
“Sorry.” Sissily jerked her shoulders up to her ears as if she could feel my pain. “Hold still just a second so I can grab its jaw and pry it open.” Panting, she refused to let go of its cursed tail. I saw stars. “If I use magic, I might blister your skin or burn your arm, but that would be a worst-case scenario.”
