Page 21 of Witch Please
My heart skipped a beat.
“What do you think about that Leviathan?” testing my suspicions, I watched him closely.
“If I am not mistaken it, was you that came to my domain, no?” one perfectly shaped eyebrow arrowed up.
He answered me but not Sissily.
“You have something personal against Miss Stormblood that you decide to ignore her, or…?” mimicking his expression I folded my arms across my chest. A sharp pain shot across my upper back, probably from the few falls I had, had in the last few hours but I managed not to wince.
“I can feel that you are not telling me something and I have a feeling I’m going to be pissed when I find out what it is.”
Leviathan grinned.
My stomach dropped with dread.
Instead of arguing with the cursed demon I took a deep breath and stretched out my senses wondering if maybe another attack was brewing while he had our attention. I wouldn’t put it past him to have us tricked and killed while I dumbly fell for his friendly chat. If the ferryman taught me anything, it was to never believe anything I hear or see in the Underworld.
At first, I didn’t notice anything strange. The thick scent of decay was still announcing the demonic magic loud and clear, even to those who can’t sense it otherwise. The wet moldy stone mixed with it with its misty odor, and the eerie feeling of spirits and nightmares being present muddled my brain. Leviathan had his own powerful, seductive aura around him, tugging at my own magic as if trying his best to have my full attention.
Needy much?
Archdemons or any type of power figure in the supernatural world had their own neediness when it came to being the center of attention. Maybe my own attitude reflected that since I was around Danika my entire life. But even knowing that was not enough to convince me that everything was as it seemed. Urgency that I was missing something was drilling a hole in my stomach.
“I know something is off and I can tell you already that I’m going to be very angry when I find out what.” Forking my fingers through my hair so I could untangle the knots, I avoided looking at him in hopes of catching what was going on through my senses. “And I usually do dumb things acting rashly and such when I’m angry. That gets Danika involved and it turns into a clusterfuck as you can imagine.”
“You Byrne witches do have your way about you.” Leviathan agreed readily, a knowing, almost pitiful look on his face.
“Wanna share what I’m missing then?” not beating around the bush I fully faced him. “I can tell something is up.”
“You were inquiring about the Mazzikin when you first woke up in my realm, were you not?” He placed his hands at the small of his back in a creepily similar fashion like Charon at one point when he was guiding me through the hallway. Goosebumps pebbled my skin.
“Yeah, I wanted to know if they were cursed.” A thought occurred to me, and I squinted at him. “Did you curse them so they could trick me into coming here? If that’s the case, it was a waste of time and effort. I had every intention of finding you without it. All you did was make enemies out of Greywood’s pack. A very bad decision if you ask me. Alex is not someone you want against you.”
“Alex Greywood is not my concern.” He brushed me off, pacing leisurely back and forward in front of me, his dress shoes clicking a steady rhythm on the stone. It was almost hypnotic. “He has a problem within his own family to fix and will now worry how easy it was for me to pay them to betray him.”
Say what now?” anger on behalf of my friend lit my blood on fire. “You paid someone from his pack to betray him? How? Who?”
“So temperamental.” Leviathan chuckled glancing at me from the side of his eye. “Which is it, little girl? You want to know what you are missing here or who betrayed your dear alpha?” Pausing in his pacing he made sure I saw the triumph written all over his handsome face. “You can’t have both, I’m afraid.”
“Hazel?” Sissily sounded freaked out and my head snapped in her direction. She was crouching next to the still unconscious River, a look of horror twisting her features. “Ummm, I think something is seriously wrong with River.”
My chest tightened, when Leviathan snickered at the panic in her tone, I rushed to where she was placing Blackman’s head in her lap. When I saw the grayish color of his skin and the bluish tint of his lips my heart stopped beating. Head jerking up I looked at the archdemon who was looming over us while gloating at his cleverness.
“What’s wrong with River?” Pushing the words through clenched teeth, I glared daggers at him. All the blood drained from my head as I watched the smile on Leviathan’s face grow.
“What’s wrong with him?” I screamed at the prick.
“Hazel, please.” Sissily latched onto my forearm holding me back when I attempted to jump on the archdemon and beat the answer out of him. “We need to know how to save River. Please don’t make thing worse.”
“You should heed the warning of your friend.” Leviathan told me conversationally, and I really wanted to punch him then. “But all things considered it’s not as bad as it looks.”
“What is not as bad? River dying or me skinning you alive?” My comment made the demon throw his head back and laugh while my best friend dug her nails into my skin until she made me bleed. “Sorry. What do you want so you can tell me how to help my friend?” for Sissily’s sake, and River’s, I swallowed everything I wanted to say out loud.
“He is not dying.” Leviathan seemed almost insulted I would suggest he was a murderer. “His angel blood does not agree with his choice of visiting my realm.” Inching closer he peeked at passed out River as if he were a bug under his shoe. “He knew what could happen to him if he ever stepped foot here, yet he still came willingly.”
Sissily and I looked at each other then blinked up at him in confusion. Say what now?
“Why in Lucifer’s name am I wasting time with this?” Apparently not understanding his diabolical tactics made the archdemon cranky. He tossed his hands in the air in frustration. “He is changing.” He told me slowly like I was dumb or something. “The longer he stays here the closer he is to becoming a fallen.”
