Page 10 of To Hunt a Demon King

Marie sobbed while Mama comforted her and the baby’s father, and I looked at the innocent child in my arms, heart cracking that it had never had a chance to live. I ran a hand gently over its head, closing my eyes and praying that the Goddess give the child peace as it passed into the next life. I felt warmth beneath my fingers as I said the words, a strange, bright magic pouring out of me unbidden and into the cold skin of the child.

A rattling cry startled me, and I opened my eyes to see the little gray face reddening as the baby took in a deep lungful of air and wailed. Mama looked at me, eyes wide as I held the baby out to her. Mama took the child quickly, rubbing the little body and patting its back to help it breathe. The baby’s skin was pink now, and its wails grew loudly as it searched for its mother.

“There now,” Mama said, beaming widely at Marie and her husband. “I have never been more happy to be wrong. It’s a girl.”

She handed the baby to Marie, whose sobbing grew even louder as she took the bundle in her arms.

“Wait for me in the kitchen,” Mama whispered, pushing me out of my dazed stupor and toward the door while she cleaned up and helped Marie with the afterbirth.

I sat in stunned silence for another hour. The baby had been dead. I had seen her lifeless little body, and that no breath filled her lungs. And yet…now she lived. Could my prayer to the Goddess have worked? Only the Goddess possessed the powers of life, and I knew of no spell nor charm that could raise the dead. But I had felt magic pour out of me, and I somehow knew that it was my magic that had brought the babe back.

By the time Mama emerged from the bedroom, the night sky was beginning to lighten, and I was trembling.

“How did I…” I began, looking up to Mama, my hands splayed out as if in prayer. “Was that me?”

“Yes,” Mama whispered, sitting across from me and taking my shaking hands in hers. “Happy birthday, my heart.”

“Happy birthday?” I hissed incredulously, pulling my hands out of hers. “I just brought a child back from the dead! That was not witch magic.”

“No,” she agreed with a heavy sigh. “But itisa gift.”

“Is this what you were going to tell me?” I asked accusingly, standing and pacing across the tiny kitchen. “Is this why you have kept me away from the Coven?”

“Yes,” Mama said simply. “Your grandmother will not see this magic as a gift, nor will the Coven. I had hoped that the Goddess might spare you this burden, but clearly I was wrong. It’s why you must run. Now.”

She stood, nodding to herself as resolve filled her eyes. With a pinched smile, she began bustling around the tiny, dilapidated mortal kitchen, throwing the rest of the bread and cheese and vegetables into her basket as I stared at her in shock.

“Run? Why? Where am I supposed to run?” I asked, watching her as she grabbed a knife from the wall, examined it, and threw it into the basket. “And why do I need a knife?”

“There’s not enough time, my heart,” she said, placing the basket on the table and pulling me to my feet. “That magic will be felt soon, if she hasn’t felt it already. You need to get as far from here as you can.”

“What? Where?” I asked as she threw the cloak around me. “Who will feel it?”

“Your grandmother,” she squeezed my hands. “You have demon magic. Your grandmother cannot know about it, but she will have felt it. I can only buy you a little time.”

“Demon magic?” I asked, ice filling my veins as I recoiled from what lived within me. Demons were wicked creatures, and giving life was a Goddess blessing. Why would demons be blessed by the Goddess?

“You are blessed and cursed with life and death,” Mama said, making no sense to me as she tied my cloak around my neck and pushed me out the door of the little house. “You need to go on foot. The stone can’t carry the horse. Go east. Find the Demon King and tell him you invoke the protection of the Horned God. I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”

“What?” I asked again, feeling like I must be missing several vital pieces of information. “I don’t understand anything you’re saying. Tell me what is going on.”

Mama grabbed my shoulders and gave me a little shake.

“I love you, my heart, with everything I am,” she said. “And right now, I need you to go somewhere your grandmother can’t find you.”

She hastily unclasped the black stone necklace from her own neck and placed it around mine.

“Follow the stone,” she said. “It will guide you.” Mama wrapped me in her arms and whispered an incantation I couldn’t understand. Before I could ask her, I was swept into shadow.

Chapter 5

I landed with a crack on top of the basket, appearing in what must be the middle of the Bloodwood. The light was tinged a faint red, and the trees were black, gnarled things that looked eerie in the bloody light. It was fairly dark, so it must still be very early morning. I rose with a groan, hearing something snap beneath me and feeling a sharp pain in my arm.

The basket handle had split under my weight, and I cursed, inspecting the gash on my arm where the wood had cut into me when I landed. Just what I needed: the scent of blood to draw the monsters to me. Lovely.

“What in the name of the Goddess have you done, Mama,” I hissed through my teeth as I pulled one of the pieces of cloth that covered the cheese out of the broken basket and wrapped it around my arm. Healing spells required specific herbs, and I would need to dig through the basket to figure out what Mama had packed there. With a sigh, I sat on the damp, leafy ground and began sifting through the contents.

Another stab of pain in my wounded arm made me gasp, and I pulled away the cloth I had tied there to see the wound closing before my eyes. That bright magic coiled again in my stomach, surrounded by something darker and totally intangible. I nearly fainted at the shock, feeling my vision go blurry as nausea rose. That was definitely not witch magic.

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