Page 69 of Soul of a Witch

A chill went up my back as I stared into those empty eye sockets. The being didn’t move, but I knew with absolute certainty they were watching me.

The bathroom door quietly swung open, the subtle click of claws on the tile announcing Callum’s arrival. He was already standing in the room when he knocked, drawing my attention away from the window.

“Someone is out there,” I said.

The demon didn’t seem alarmed as he nodded. “I know. He is one of the fae; Darragh told me he was coming. It’s been a very long time since magic like yours has been unleashed in their forest. You’ve caught their attention, my lady. The fae are curious creatures, but cautious too. It is the duty of the Old Man to ensure you don’t mean his kind any harm.”

“Old Man?” I jerked my head toward the window again, but the horse skull had vanished. Rising halfway from the bath in alarm, I pressed my face closer to the window, looking all over the garden for him.

But the haunting figure was gone.

“That’s what Darragh calls him,” Callum said. “I suppose he has other names, too. But demons don’t fuck with fae. We certainly don’t seek out their names. It’s bad form.”

Frowning, I sank back into the water. “There’s so much I don’t know. The fae. Heaven and Hell. The gods. I feel lost.” It frustrated me to be so naïve, soignorant.

“A hunger for knowledge can be more valuable than knowledge itself. People take what they know for granted.”

I turned away from the window and faced him. The night he rescued me, flying me here through the dark, through the rain, I’d seen a different side to him. Something beyond the feral monster who pursued me like a ravenous wolf, who could shake the stone walls with his voice.

That night, he’d been afraid. Afraid forme. Even in the depths of my pain, I’d felt the way he held me. As if he was prepared to fight death itself to keep it from taking me.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve claimed a human soul?” The moment my words emerged as a question, I felt like a fool and shook my head. “Of course it isn’t. You’ve been alive hundreds of years…thousands…”

The silence stretched. It grew thick, heavy with tension.

“It’s been a very long time since I claimed a soul,” he finally said. The words were slow and careful, and he looked away as he spoke. “Claiming a soul binds that life to yours. Over time, and with distance, that bond can fade, but it can also grow stronger. I’ve claimed more human souls than I can count. More names than I could ever remember. But there was once a time when such bonds didn’t terrify me. That was very long ago.”

In that haze of pain and exhaustion, I’d heard the arguments. The shadowy figure —Lucifer— demanding my soul be claimed. Callum’s voice breaking when he realized it was his only choice to save me.

“Did it terrify you? Claiming me?” Callum’s head snapped toward me at my question, and I flinched.

“Yes,” he said, after a long pause.

“Then why did you do it?”

His expression fractured, and Ifeltit. A pang of uncertainty shot through my chest like a bolt. Then came the rolling wave of fear, a ripping terror that could hardly be encompassed by words, so shockingly intense I gasped.

The feelings left me as suddenly as they appeared, and Callum said, “That’s part of it…the emotions. For most humans, it would merely be a hint of my feelings, but your magic amplifies it. What I feel may bleed over to you and vice versa.”

He still hadn’t answered, but it was clearly on his mind. He looked as if he were trying to solve a puzzle, and his frown didn’t dissipate until he met my eyes again.

In the blink of an eye, he was standing over me, with his hands braced against the edge of the tub.

My eyes drifted over him with appreciation. The lean muscles, tight with anticipation. The hard set of his jaw, the intensity of his eyes. My brain turned to mush every time I saw that taut, lickable chest…

Lickable? Oh, God, Everly, get yourself together, girl.

“I have no reason to live without you,” he said, his sharp teeth clenched. “Perhaps what I’ve done was incredibly selfish, but I would save your life again. I swore to protect you, and now, I’m bound by the demands of our bargain to do so. No matter what it takes. No matter what I must sacrifice. No matter who I must kill. For you, I would burn this world and the next.”

His words snatched the air from my lungs. It was impossible to disbelieve the sincerity in his voice, theviciousness. His hands tightened on the edges of the tub, and I jumped when a crack appeared on the porcelain edge. He winced, standing up slowly as he clenched and unclenched his fingers.

“Whether you choose to stay in this house, or leave, I will follow you,” he said. “If you choose to face the God, or don’t, I will be by your side. Whether or not you can find it in yourself to trust me, I will not leave you. This obsession might mean the death of me, but that is an end I will meet gladly. Humans have their deities, their great and powerful gods, guiding them to live and die. I have you.”

Words were completely lost to me. I could only stare at him, this powerful being who seemed so much larger than life, who vibrated with a deep and ancient energy. My demon. My protector.

From within the pocket of his trousers, Callum withdrew a corked glass vial, filled with honey-colored liquid. “Your grandmother prepared this. She said it should be applied to your wounds, to help them heal. If you would allow me.”

Nodding, I stepped out of the bath. Black eyes seared my skin as I reached for a towel and dried myself, squeezing the water from my hair. The way he looked at me caused heat to pool in my abdomen.

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