Witch Infernal (Infernal Hunt Book 3)

by Holly Evans

  “This is a complex ritual, but they are prepared for us. We must kill every bitch we can. Do not take any risks. Rip their throats out; near-fatal injuries are not good enough.” She looked around the group making sure everyone understood. “There will be a battery powering the ritual. Most likely a man. He will be surrounded by blood runes. Kill him and they cannot go ahead with the ritual. Everyone clear on what we’re doing here?”

  “Kill them all!” a lycan shouted.

  Elise smirked. “Exactly.”

  A baying howling noise erupted from the group. The fae snarled and cried out war cries. The lycans yipped and howled. Even Raif and Lysander joined them. The energy rippled through the group. We would not be defeated.

  Horns began honking outside. Azfin held up his hands to quiet everyone down. “There are vehicles waiting outside. More of our kind are joining us. They stole our friends. Our lovers. They killed our family in the fae realm. We will have our vengeance!”

  “What are we waiting for?” I shouted.

  Everyone turned and squeezed out the door. A neighbour peered out of their door as they watched our small army march down the hallway and jog down the stairs. I smirked to myself.

  It would give them something to gossip about.

  Sixty-Four

  We headed outside to find the varying fae in cars outside on the street. We piled into a sleek blue thing that Azfin was driving. I’d barely shut the door when the tyres squealed and he took off down the road.

  “We’d have a better chance of saving them if we arrived alive!” I shouted.

  Azfin ignored me while I battled to put on my seatbelt. I was going to need it.

  It felt like we were doing urban rally driving. He swung the car between other cars, squealed around corners, and ducked down gaps that should have been far too small. The others cars in our group remained hot on his heels. The fae could drive. They’d make fantastic getaway drivers. I had to wonder if, perhaps, they did. They were quite fond of shiny things, after all.

  “How long?” I called out to Azfin while clinging onto the seat and the door handle for dear life.

  “Thirty minutes, forty if we hit traffic.”

  That seemed like a long time to survive his driving. I muttered a small prayer to the moon goddess to watch over us. The surroundings changed at a break-neck pace. They shifted from simple yet classic buildings with angels strewn along their facades to blocky communist buildings with garish colours splattered between the greys. We were making real progress when the large apartment buildings shifted to roman-style houses with bright red tile rooves and green trees in courtyard-style gardens. The roads were narrow and winding. Azfin was a firm believer in driving through the corners instead of around them. I was pretty sure at least one guy ended up in a field trying to avoid a head-on collision.

  We screeched to a halt in a gravel-covered area bordered by old pine trees. I looked around for any sign of life and couldn’t see any; there hadn’t been a house or other building for a good mile. All the better to hide the bodies and dispose of the cars. We piled out of the car. Azfin had gathered quite a few fae, elves, pixies, and Sidhe, all emerging from the various vehicles. Fire rippled over my hands and I began spinning my blades while the Sidhe talked amongst themselves.

  “Evie, would you stop doing that,” Quin hissed.

  I put my blades away; I hadn’t even realised I was doing it. Lysander sniffed the air. Raif quickly followed suit. Their ears pricked, and they began walking into the trees. Everyone stopped talking and watched them. The small group of lycans stiffened and watched them intently. Raif pushed forward; furry ears sprouted from the mop of hair on his head. Lysander looked back at us, his muscles tense.

  “We have their trail.”

  “Go, then,” Kadrix shouted.

  That was all they needed. Raif shifted into his wolf form mid-run and took off into the trees. Lysander remained mostly human; black ears pushed through his hair, and his face elongated a little. The cub was bloody fast. We ran through the tense forest, jumping small logs and pushing through dense undergrowth. He slowed his pace when he was almost out of sight. Lysander led the pack with Kadrix close behind him; I kept pace with Elise and Quin with the fae around us. Shimmering lines kept catching my attention as they wove their way through the trees. The further we got into the forest, the denser the lines became. Raif stopped dead; Lysander paced around behind him, both of them sniffing the air. A rustle caught their attention. They both spun around, ears pricked as they listened intently. The shimmering lines were dense all around us. I couldn’t help but feel as though they were a web, and we were the poor fly caught in the middle.

  Sixty-Five

  I had my celestial blades in my hands as we slowly walked between the trees. The hounds were listening to every small noise, not that the fae made any noise. The trees stopped and formed a very neat circle around a large cabin that was surrounded by dark grey gravel and totem-pole-style carvings. They were tall tree trunks, entirely devoid of smaller branches, topped with what appeared to be wooden carvings at first glance. We circled around the clearing; upon closer inspection, the carvings turned out to be carcasses. What I had thought was old wood was in fact weathered skin pulled tight over gaunt bodies. I looked away and cursed to myself. Witches were vile creatures.

  We stuck together as a group; we didn’t know what we were facing, and there was no benefit in allowing them to pick us off one by one. A full circle around the clearing showed us that there was no way to approach the cabins without making a lot of noise. The trees around the clearing were coated in the shimmering threads, and the gaps between them almost hummed. I trusted that the fae must have seen that and knew what they were doing. Lysander looked to me for some form of guidance; Raif was sniffing around the edge of the clearing.

  Kadrix turned to the group and said, “Evelyn, take your people and Mila and attack the back entrance. I will take my people and the lycans and attack the front. We will meet in the middle. Every witch you find is to be killed. No survivors.”

  Mila was a dark-haired pixie, small and deadly. Her sharp features shivered before they slipped away to reveal her full pixie form, complete with a mouth full of very sharp teeth and long claws. Raif whined and paced just at the edge of the clearing. The Sidhe had all taken on their full fae forms, all sharp edges and sharper teeth. The lycans growled as they shifted into their full wolf-beast forms. Dense coarse fur covered their tall, muscular bodies. Their eyes shone as a dark ember, jaws extended and filled with sharp canine teeth. I grinned. I was in my element.

  Kadrix gave a nod before he led them through the trees and ran at the porch. Quin and I led our group to the back door.

  That was where things went wrong.

  The back door flung open and three witches hurled curses at us. Elise waved her hands and muttered something while I threw a knife at the closest one. The witch laughed, a hoarse corvid sound, before she began forming curses between her moving hands. I dove to the side, dodging a large ball of curses. Elise landed besides me.

  “My magic doesn’t work!” she hissed.

  I took my eyes off the witches, who were throwing more curses at us. One of them was slowly forming a magical sword.

  “What?” I hissed back.

  “I can’t form magic!”

  “How the fuck is that even possible?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Fuck.”

  The witch with her sword charged at us. I threw another knife at her. It bounced off. Double fuck. Elise and I circled around her while Raif launched himself at the third witch. I heard his snarl and yelp, but was preoccupied with the great big sword the witch was thrusting at me. My throwing knives weren’t touching her, and I couldn’t get in close enough to try with my celestial blades. My hand brushed over the small leather pouches on my belt. I’d forgotten the alchemy. Magic was a no go; we’d see how alchemy worked. I threw a pouch at Elise, it sailed over the witch’s head. She tracked it. I took my opportunity
to try and drive my blade through her stomach. It took more force than it normally would have, but I succeeded. One of her sisters threw curses at me while she tried to sink her fingers into my eyes. I gutted her while batting away her hands. The bitches were just starting to piss me off. Pain flared around my lower back. I dug my hand down into my pouch with the anti-magic powder and threw it at the closest witch. Nothing. When I quickly followed it up with a throwing knife, it bounced off almost tearing into my thigh.

  My fire engulfed my hands. My temper snapped. Elise threw the orbs from the pouch directly at the witch’s head. She screamed as blue gloop coated the back of her head. Her hair fizzled and melted, her skin and skull not far behind. My feelings towards alchemy were becoming more positive.

  More pain cut through my ribs and hacked at my calves. I spun around as best as I could to find two witches throwing curses and magical blades at me. My movements were far slower than I’d have liked due to the magically inflicted wounds. I threw the rest of my alchemical pouches back at Elise before I brought forth every inch of fire that I could. I allowed the pure rage to fill every fibre of my being. The witches remained frozen in their place. I wrapped my hands around the closest’s neck. She screamed and flailed. I let her go, and she continued to flail, succeeding in setting her sister on fire.

  Elise threw a handful of anti-magic powder at the witch closest to her; nothing happened. Elise ducked away from the magical sword and shouted a few choice curses.

  I turned to see Quin glaring at another witch just before she exploded. Raif launched himself back at another witch, his teeth grazing her face. It was enough to push her backwards and get us into the cabin.

  “Why isn’t the anti-magic powder working?” I growled at Quin.

  “The fae traitor has altered their magic, rendering the powder useless,” he snapped back.

  Elise had recovered from her lack of magic and had a pair of viciously serrated knives in her hands. Her face was a mask of pure fury. The witches were all backing up into the cabin. We entered a sprawling kitchen with a large island. Lysander pushed through a green ribbon on the floor. An explosion of curses burst out from the cupboards around us. We ducked. Lysander snarled. Quin shouted an impressive collection of curses. I peered through the dust and unnatural mist. Everyone was moving. We weren’t that easy to kill.

  Sixty-Six

  “You weren’t supposed to have magic!” A witch screamed as she threw a volley of curses at us.

  One struck home, catching Quin in the shoulder causing him to stumble backwards. The other struck Lysander clean in the ribs; he grinned at her before he leapt on her, his weapons training ignored in favour of the classic teeth and claws.

  My movements were becoming more hindered as the injuries settled in. I didn’t know what they had done, but it hurt like a bitch. I used the pain to fuel my fire. The witches moved through the mist, trying to circle around us. One screamed when Elise sliced her from navel to sternum.

  “We need to find the battery,” Quin shouted.

  “He’ll be near the heart of the ritual,” Elise shouted back.

  Raif yelped; two witches tag-teamed him. One pinned him down while another throttled him. He kicked at them with his hind legs and snapped, but they had him. I jumped over the island and drove my blade into one’s neck while I set the other on fire. The hellfire thing was turning out to be quite useful. A large curse whistled past my ear and exploded the island behind me. I did my best to cover Raif and protect him from the lumps of wood that flew through the air. Once everything had settled more, pain filtered around the fire. I drove it down and used it as further fuel. Raif squirmed under me; I let him go once I was satisfied that he could stand. He launched himself at the witch who was trying to circle around behind me. Elise stabbed her before Raif could tear her throat out.

  And they thought that removing our magic would slow us down.

  The kitchen was finally cleared. We moved into the main space of the cabin. We paused to try and assess the situation before us. The fae were on the far side of the large open space. The lycans were pacing somewhere behind them. Screams and frustrated growls came from that direction, but I couldn’t pause to figure out what was wrong.

  Rustic wooden stairs curved around the outer wall to our right; the second floor was open above us, giving most of the space a double-height ceiling. Witches stood at the top of the gallery area, throwing various curses and implements down at the fae. They hadn’t spotted us yet. More witches came out from some shadowy recess under the gallery area. Quin signaled to Lysander and Raif to go with him. They ran up the stairs. I looked back to see Mila still in reasonable shape and eager to return to the fray. Her face was coated in blood, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t hers.

  The witches caught sight of us just as I heard Kadrix’s shout. Three witches had him and were trying to drag him off to a door to our left. Mila and Elise ran at the witches and drew their attention while I focused on freeing Kadrix. I wished I knew how to throw fireballs; it would have made my life easier. Seeing a living inferno running at them was enough to make the witches pause. They stopped dead. One dropped Kadrix’s head and ran. I laughed and hacked at the one closest to me. My blade cut through her arm like butter, while my fire ignited her robes. Her sister threw a curse at me that cut into my hip. I grabbed hold of her hair and set her on fire. She screamed and pulled a small copper knife from her robes and went to sink it into Kadrix. I kicked her legs from under her and pinned her down while I focused my fire on her heart. She writhed under me, while I remembered Lucien and my home.

  “Evelyn, she’s dead. Move on,” Kadrix shouted, kneeling and pushing himself up into a standing position.

  “Where’s the battery?” I shouted while trying to duck under another volley of curses.

  He pointed at the door some ten feet away. “In there. Take Elise, you need to break the magic.”

  Elise caught my eye; I waved at the door. Subtlety be damned. She nodded and jogged to join me. Two witches fell over the balcony and landed with a crunch on the floor. Someone yelped and snarled, but my attention was drawn by the searing pain in my upper arm. I turned, looking for whoever had caused that. A young witch stalked up to me; Elise threw one of the alchemical orbs at her. The witch screamed as the gloop burnt through her robes and dissolved her ribs. We turned and ran to the door. The sooner this was ended, the better. My injuries were mounting, and I had to assume I wasn’t the only one.

  The door was locked, and my fire wasn’t touching it. We kicked it as one. It bent and shuddered a little. I heard Kadrix and Mila behind us, shouting back and forth in some fae tongue. We kicked again when a scream cut through the air. The third kick made the door buckle. The room shimmered and warped for a moment before it settled into a small office space complete with naked man in the middle of the pale wooden floor. He was covered in symbols written in blood. More blood symbols surrounded him. Even the soft cream walls were covered in blood. I didn’t know how many creatures had died to do that. Elise held me back while she looked around the room.

  “Kill him!” Kadrix shouted.

  “No,” Elise said as she held me still.

  “No?”

  “No, we need to free him,” she said

  “Priestess, now isn’t the time for a conscience. Our people will die unless we get magic back soon,” Kadrix shouted.

  “We free him,” she snarled. “Evie, throw one of the emerald-green orbs there.”

  She gestured at the west side of the room and tossed me an orb.

  “On my mark,” she said.

  I rolled the orb around the palm of my hand.

  “Mark.”

  We threw. The blood runes bubbled and fizzled, they slowly turned black then pale gold. Once they were done, she ran into the room.

  “I’m going to need time, guard the door.”

  She pulled a knife and began cutting the ropes that bound the man to the metal rings on the floor. The air moved next to my ear before a blade appea
red in the wood, barely an inch from my face. I turned and tried to pull up my fire. I couldn’t do it. The pain was clouding my concentration. I stood as strong as I could with my legs beginning to get wobbly. Failure was not in my repertoire.

  Sixty-Seven

  Somehow, there were still some twenty witches left. The floor was littered with bodies and heaps of robes. Something caught Kadrix’s attention. He ignored a pair of witches that stood back to back throwing curses at us and the fae who were pushing further into the room and corralling the witches. A large witch in dark red robes was leaning over a delicate blond woman, an elf perhaps. I’d completely forgotten that we were supposed to be saving Kadrix’s lover and the others. I mentally kicked myself before another curse whistled past my ear and the doorway became a little wider. I glared at the witch. I didn’t want to move and risk one of them getting in to Elise before she was ready. I cursed out Kadrix. I was fucked.

  The lycans finally burst into the room. The smaller sandy coloured one ran over to me and stood at my side, or more accurately towered over me at my side. His muzzle was covered in blood; his hands with the thick black claws protruding from his fingertips were partially bent. His gaze was intent on the witches before us.

  Kadrix joined the Sidhe surrounding the witches; he pushed through their ranks to be closer to what I assumed were the kidnappees. Lysander bounded over to me in his hound form. He stood in front of me, hackles raised, blood coated his thick black fur. He snapped and snarled at every witch within reach. We stood strong as a united front, protecting Elise. Lysander tore the arm off a witch that got close enough.

  The number of curses being thrown around was thinning. The screams and snarls were increasing in volume as our people gained control over the situation. The fae pushed in around the witches; they were surrounded and growing more panicky. The remaining lycans had charged upstairs to finish clearing that out. Something shifted in the air. It became clearer. The colours were more vivid. The fae cackled and began forming curses of their own. The witches screamed; those that could made a break for it. They took off through every exit they could. The lycans bayed and tore off after them, huge grins on their deformed faces. Those witches that couldn’t, died, screaming in agony. It was over in a matter of seconds. I looked back to find Elise stroking the man’s face; his eyes were open and his chest was rising and falling steadily. I had to assume she’d succeeded.