Shadow Witch (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 1)

by Richardson, Kim

  “Can’t we just kill them?” asked the female Unseen, her hands on her weapons. “They’re in our way. If we don’t neutralize the threat, we don’t get the other half of our pay.”

  “Patience, Kaito,” purred Emmet. “You know the rules. You must wait for your opponent to strike first,” he said and then added with a smile, “then we can kill them.”

  I inched forward. “Is that a threat?” I growled back, releasing some pent-up frustration.

  Emmet flashed me his pearly whites. “No, witchling. It’s a reality.”

  I was tired of his crap. First with my family home and now this? I didn’t think so. I hated bullies. If he wanted a fight, a fight he would get.

  Emotions high, I felt my will reach out to the elements around us, and their power answered in a tickling of my skin. My will and power seethed in my gut, in my core, and a pressure behind my eyes.

  The big Unseen’s eyes narrowed. “What’s this? Are you going to try your witchling magic on me again?” he sneered, and I heard Kaito snicker. “Because we all saw how that turned out for you.”

  I inched forward again until my nose was practically touching his chin. “You’re not taking my spot. If I have to spell your big ass myself, I will.”

  Emmet lost some of his smile. “You think I have a big ass?”

  Ronin smacked his forehead. “This is priceless. So glad Karen turned me down. This is so much better.”

  “What?” I shook my head staring up at the big witch.

  Emmet looked over his shoulder at an attempt to glimpse his behind. “I’m big-boned. Not fat. There’s a difference.”

  My jaw fell and I couldn’t get it to shut. “I’m not having this conversation with you.” I opened my mouth to tell him to get lost, but a warning vibrated through my body.

  I felt it, the cloud of cold energies that accompanied creatures not of this world.

  Energy flew around us like a wind, lifting strands of my hair from around my face. With a sudden pop of air pressure in my ears, the scent of sulfur rushed around me.

  A thread of alarm unrolled as energy sizzled against my skin along with the tingling cold pricks of demon energies. And when a cold sensation filled me, all my warning flags shot up.

  I spun around. “Holy crap.”

  The bridge was teeming with demons.

  20

  “Well, you wanted some action,” commented Ronin. “You got it.”

  Tension stiffened my body. “Not exactly what I was thinking.”

  I’d never seen so many demons all at once. Not unless you counted doing a flip animation through the Demons of the Netherworld Encyclopedia.

  It was like someone had opened the gates of Hell and let them through. No, not someone. A sorcerer.

  The demons seemed to have been put together with the idea of “anything goes.” No two were the same. Some had flat heads, some had pointy heads, some had no heads at all and just looked like giant slobbery worms. I could see patches of clumping fur on wet, rotten bodies while tendrils grew upon the exposed skin of others. Wide-gaping maws full of fishlike teeth sent out horrific sounds with a frenzied edge of madness as they scrambled along the bridge in a wave of massive demon muscle. One let out a howl of fury so loud the water below the bridge vibrated in time with it.

  Shoulder to—scratch that, the wiggling giant worms didn’t have shoulders—but it was wall to wall.

  And they were coming straight for us.

  My eyes widened with horror, and I might have peed myself.

  “It’s a freaking demon smorgasbord,” I breathed, my heart pounding in my ears.

  “Where the hell did they all come from?” asked Ronin, throwing his gaze around like he expected to see a doorway to the Netherworld somewhere on the bridge.

  “You said it. From hell.” Emmet pushed his cape behind him—if he had worn tights, the cape would have made sense—and took three steps forward before turning. “You. Witchling. Watch the ward,” he ordered, as though I was part of his crew. Then he spun around again, just as Kaito pulled out a long sword that looked like a curved katana.

  I didn’t really care that Emmet thought he was in charge. I would protect the ward, even if he hadn’t mentioned it. That was the reason I was here.

  But if he called me witchling again, I was going to castrate him.

  The familiar scent of sulfur and the pulse of the paranormal was thick and unyielding, sticking to our skin and clothes like an overlay of heavy mist. The demon energies pulsed, thrumming through me and beating like a second heart, alive as though a second awareness beside my own.

  And it creeped me out.

  Spurts of blue light exploded from Emmet’s outstretched hands like a volley of fireworks, illuminating the bridge in hues of white-blue, just as the demons exploded around him in a storm of frenzied roars.

  “Next time you ask me to help you out,” said Ronin, his voice a little high. “I’m going to say no!”

  I let out a nervous giggle. I couldn’t help it. No way had I imagined we’d face an army of demons. I was expecting just one stupid sorcerer. Guess the stupid one was me.

  I watched as Emmet danced around the demons, shooting at them with a series of different blasts of multicolored magic. His cape billowed behind him as demons fell. Some burst into blue flame while others withered on the bridge floor. He looked like a superhero. Maybe that’s what he was going for.

  Kaito next to him swung her sword at the nearest demons, cutting and slicing as she spun around like a deadly top. The slaughter she left was incredible. She swept like a great broom down the bridge, tearing and shredding flesh while painting the floorboards with what looked like black oil but was really the blood of demons.

  Okay. I’ll admit it. I was impressed. And I understood now why Marcus had been so adamant about hiring the Unseen. They were good. Very good. Still, even though they both fought like champs, a handful of demons slipped through their defenses and came for Ronin and me.

  Showtime.

  I planted my feet right next to the ward. My heart rate skyrocketed, though my hands were surprisingly steady. With my mouth dry, my body’s reaction to the prospect of mortal danger sent waves of sensation up and down my spine. I embraced the fear and waited.

  Though death stared me in the face, I wasn’t planning on dying today. I had to stay alive to protect the ward. And I would.

  My bag was still where I’d dropped it earlier, but I didn’t need it. I’d spent hours memorizing all the power words I could find until they were practically imprinted in my brain and were like second nature to me, like breathing.

  Come on, you bastards.

  “Get ready,” I told Ronin, who was jumping from foot to foot like he needed to pee.

  “I should be in bed with a sexy redhead,” grumbled Ronin as his eyes flashed black. “Not about to get my innards splattered all over the bridge. I kinda like my innards. They’re special to me.”

  “I won’t let that happen,” I told him, hoping the slight tremor in my voice didn’t betray me.

  The first demon came.

  It had large, thick legs covered in scales, no arms, a head that was three sizes too big, and a mouth that could swallow me whole. Tentacle-like extrusions spread out around it like arms, and bulbous red eyes watched me.

  “Get back! Back! You are not welcome here!” Yes. A touch dramatic in any other circumstance, maybe, but when you’ve got a demon about to eat you, nothing seems too extreme.

  “Think it’ll listen?” came Ronin’s voice next to me.

  The demon lunged.

  Nope.

  I tapped into my will, pulling on the energy of the elements around me as I shouted, “Fulgur!”

  A bolt of white-purple lightning shot from my outstretched hand. Shocked at the sight of it, since it was the first time I’d used it, I flinched and sent the bolt of lightning past the tentacle demon who had halted. It landed near Emmet’s feet.

  The Unseen witch sprang back, glared at me, and then jumped ba
ck into the fight.

  Whoops.

  “You really need to improve on your aim, Tess,” commented Ronin, backing away.

  “No shit.”

  The tentacled demon rushed forward, a blur of scales, slime, and teeth. The horrible face gaped at me, its lower jaw protruding, distorted and wrong, like a blob of melting wax.

  Let’s try this again.

  I flung out my hand, and a rush of power soared through me as I bellowed, “Fulgur!”

  A white-purple lighting bolt hit the demon in the chest.

  Sparks of white-purple light bounced around the demon, entering its body as steam rose with the smell of burnt flesh and hair. The demon let out a loud, wet crackling sound followed by a high-pitched scream. Then the steaming demon toppled, thrashing wildly as more steam rose and more cries followed.

  And then the tentacled demon exploded, shattering to pulp, shards of bone, and scales before simply vanishing into a black-blooded spray.

  “Nice,” commended Ronin. “Remind not to get on your bad side.”

  I rocked back, dizzy from the strength of the power word and the tiny bit of me I’d used to conjure it. I had to remember not to use so much of my will. But it was hard to think when I was about to get my brain sucked out by a demon.

  “Watch out!” bellowed Ronin, and I saw him pitch sideways from the corner of my eye.

  I wasn’t so lucky. I’d been stupid. While I was focused on this fallen demon, I left an opening for the others.

  Good one, Tessa.

  I looked up, but it was already too late.

  A demon burst from the shadows, reeking of death, and hungry for blood.

  My blood.

  “Accendo!”

  I flung out my hands, pushing my will as I grabbed hold of the elements. Twin fireballs blasted out of my hands.

  The first fireball missed—total airball.

  But I nailed the demon with the second.

  Take that, sucker!

  The demon, a rat-beetle kind of creature the size of a mastiff, wailed as its body was consumed by fire. It howled, ran to the edge of the bridge—and jumped.

  “Not so stupid after all,” I muttered after hearing a splash. I didn’t know if my fire would eventually kill it, but I didn’t think I’d see it back soon.

  Ronin let out a laugh. “Tess, sometimes you amaze me.”

  “Sometimes I amaze myself.”

  “Good.” He pointed with a taloned finger to my left. “Here comes another one.”

  Sure enough, a spider demon that looked like the offspring of some dinosaur spider from long ago scurried our way. Multiple red eyes burned with awareness, hatred, and hunger.

  “Itsy bitsy spider.” I frowned at the vampire as he took a step away. My pulse continued to thrash. “We’re supposed to do this together.”

  “We are.” He grinned. “I’m here with you, cheering you on.”

  I rolled my eyes and faced the newest demon threat.

  “Great. It has fangs the size of machetes.”

  The giant spider had twelve-inch fangs, but it also had a tail—a scorpion’s tail, with a stinger the size of my arm.

  “Awesome. It has a stinger too.”

  The spider-scorpion froze, its head lolling from side to side as though it was sizing me up or wondering which part of me to eat first. The smell was hideous, like month-old garbage sitting in the sun mixed in with a tad of dog poop.

  I took a step back. I couldn’t help it. I liked regular sized spiders, not ones the size of my aunts’ Volvo. “Do spiders or scorpions have a weakness?”

  “Sorry. I’m no entomologist,” answered Ronin with a bewildered expression on his face. “I can talk about cars, women, wine, and women, but I draw the line with bugs. Just shoot it with your fire magic. It did the trick with the other one.”

  Emmet’s frustrated growl pulled my eyes away from the spider-scorpion demon. The big witch was swinging his arms with green electricity shooting out of him like an automatic weapon.

  He swung his cape. “Gotcha, you stinkin’ bastards. Take that! And that! You wanna go crazy? Come on! Let’s go crazy!”

  Kaito was not far away, swinging and spinning and slicing her way through what looked like a white demon slug with no eyes or mouth. The two of them had made a difference in the number of demons. I could only count six more—seven if you counted mine.

  I had no doubt Emmet and Kaito could take care of those last demons. If I could take care of mine, we were golden.

  Once again, I’d spoken too quickly.

  I drew in my will, power simmering in my core as I waited for the spider to lunge at me. So, when it opened its maw and spewed out a shoot of black silk, I froze.

  I blamed the lack of experience for my brain freeze.

  The black silk hit me like a metal sheet. I screamed as its sheer force knocked me off my feet to my back, the weight of the silk pinning me to the floor. I was covered from head to toe by the web of black silk, and I couldn’t move.

  How did this happen?

  “Tess!” Ronin was next to me in a second, his sharp talons slicing and hacking at the black web.

  The smell that oozed from the web was violently rotten, like a combination of vomit and feces. And it was touching the skin of my face. I’d have to use bleach when I got home. The sound of scuttling neared me, and my heart thrashed in my chest. I blinked through the web, staring up at the black sky. I couldn’t turn my head. I was trapped.

  “Hurry,” I cried. “It’s coming.”

  “It’s not working!” shouted Ronin, his face twisted in fear. “I can’t cut through it. It’s like metal or something.”

  Well, this was just great. I did not want to be eaten by a giant spider-scorpion demon. Not on my back like a helpless female.

  But I wasn’t helpless. I was a Davenport witch, damn it. It was time to put my big girl pants on.

  “Get back,” I ordered.

  “What?”

  “Get back,” I shouted again and saw Ronin jump back from the corner of my eye.

  There was a rush of scuttling, clicking sounds, and an excited high-pitched hiss rose from the demon. It was anticipating its meal—me.

  Not going to happen.

  I gritted my teeth as I tapped into my will, my power. A surge of fury went coursing through me, filling me from toes to teeth with scarlet rage. Emotions played an important part when one was about to conjure up a power word—like a boost.

  Adrenaline pounded through my body as I focused on the sound of the demon approaching. It was hard to hear it over the sounds of battle still raging, but when I heard that familiar scuttle near my boots, I knew the demon was right above me. I let go.

  “Inflitus!” I cried and thrust out my will and sending a blast of kinetic force.

  The black web lifted off of me and hurtled into the spider-scorpion demon like a freight train, driving it away from me and crashing into the bridge’s railing.

  I didn’t waste any time.

  “Thought you could eat me, huh?” I rolled to my feet, my body thrumming with magic, and shouted, “Accendo!”

  The demon didn’t stand a chance.

  The ball of yellow and orange fire hit the demon, consuming it as tall flames reached high above it. The demon shrieked, jerking back. It fell on its back, like a house spider, arms and legs thrashing uselessly as it lay dying.

  Then it stilled and never moved again.

  I staggered, staring at the smoking ash pile, the only remains of the demon. A headache throbbed in my temples and behind my eyes. That had taken a lot out of me. Emmet and Kaito were headed my way, and I shrugged off the pain with an effort of will. I couldn’t afford to show any weakness now, especially not in front of the Unseen.

  “You okay, Tess?” came Ronin’s voice next to me.

  I turned and looked up at the vampire. “I’m great,” I lied. “Nothing like killing giant demon spiders to get my magic mojo flowing.”

  “That’s the last of ’em,” said Emme
t as he closed the distance between us. He flashed me a smile. “I saw what you did. Not bad for a witchling.”

  I was not expecting that. I bit my tongue at his use of witchling again since the Unseen had just complimented me. Maybe I’d been wrong about him.

  Kaito snorted. “She was trapped in the thing’s web. That is bad.”

  “I got out of it. Didn’t I?” I shot back, not appreciating her tone. “I’m still here. That’s saying something.”

  Kaito pulled out a cloth from her jacket pocket and used it to wipe her sword of the black liquid and some fleshy bits. “I killed nineteen.” Her eyes gleamed, her brows raised in challenge. “How many did you kill, witch?”

  I opened my mouth to tell her off, but Emmet beat me to it.

  “If this is the best they’ve got to throw at us,” began the large Unseen witch, “it’ll be the easiest ten grand this month.” He smoothed down his cape and tugged at the edges. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

  Giggles aside, unease gnawed in my belly. Throwing a pack of demons at us was one thing. But it couldn’t be this easy. If you took out the part where I almost died, it had gone pretty well. And yet, I knew it wasn’t over. Something else was coming.

  “What is it?” asked Ronin, the worry in his tone pulling my eyes to him. He was learning to read me. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.

  I threw my gaze over the bridge, over the piles of ash and spills of black blood and bits of flesh.

  “I feel like this was just a test. A test of our strength. To see what we can handle.” I shook my head. “This isn’t over.”

  Emmet spread out his arms and gestured at the slop of demon remains. “It is over. We won. I believe a large pint of beer has my name on it. What’s that pub called?”

  “Wicked Witch & Handsome Devil Pub,” answered Kaito, matching his smile.

  “Yeah. That’s the one. Let’s go.”

  Ronin stepped in the big Unseen’s way. “You can’t just leave.”

  “Out of my way, vampire, or you’ll find your head stuffed up your ass,” growled Emmet.

  I waved a hand at Ronin. “Let them go. We don’t need them.”

  Emmet narrowed his eyes at me and scratched his beard. “It’s over. The demons are dead. You should be glad this is the bulk of their power, witchling.”