He leered at the glut of feeders while sloppily sucking at her wrist and Elizabeth trembled.
“What beast took a bite out of you?” Elizabeth asked, eyeing the angry red burn encircling Victoria’s slender neck.
It stood out, when most injuries were healed immediately.
There were an abundance of healers in the castle. Fire tended to be a dangerous magic to learn to wield. Healers were a necessity and not a luxury.
The blue rope of fire around her neck blistered unshielded for only a few seconds, but it scalded her throat inside and out before she slipped water under the tightening band.
If Victor wasn't leashed by her life, he would boil the blood in George’s veins until it bubbled from his ears, slice the skin from George’s rotten hide, and reveal the demon within inch-by-inch.
She just had to hold on a few agonizing moments more.
“Let’s run,” Victoria said, her voice revealing none of her tortured thoughts. “We can talk about it on the way.”
Victoria ran past their instructor, who quickly stepped aside to avoid being mowed down.
Elizabeth blinked the violent images away slower this time.
Hoping she could run and talk better today, she chased after Victoria.
“So, about the books I threw at you,” Elizabeth started with as they entered the forest.
It would be weird to not mention it at all.
Thankfully, the weather was cooler today. The run was still brutal, a pounding exercise in futility, circling the castle grounds.
She wondered how much worse it was for Victoria with her burned throat.
“We got off on the wrong foot,” Victoria said, cutting off any apologies.
Not that Victoria was going to get one.
She didn’t sound breathless at all. It was the same voice she might use to ask for salt and pepper to be passed over.
Only Elizabeth’s lightning could feel the pain each word cost, like swallowing glass, not fooled, but helpless to do anything.
“Victor and I were just curious. We pushed a bit too far,” Victoria said, turning off the path.
Elizabeth didn't need to read Victoria’s thoughts to know heading off trail was a trap. She was a little insulted they thought her so stupid.
‘Vic would hit her with shielded fire.’
‘The flames would scare Liz into wasting magic, but it wouldn't burn her.’
‘The witch wouldn't have a mark on her when they delivered her to George, but afterward…’
Elizabeth felt goosebumps creep up her arms despite the sweaty run.
Victoria was scared to death of George, literally willing to risk Daemon killing her to do what George wanted in delivering Elizabeth.
She couldn't feel any real malice from Victoria. That was the only thing that kept Elizabeth blindly following Victoria like a little lamb.
There had to be some way to delay her.
Elizabeth tripped. It was a brilliant stumble.
She landed on her hands and knees, too hard to stop her descent, face-planting onto the dirt trail. It hurt.
Victoria stopped and turned around.
“Come on,” Victoria said, tugging Elizabeth's arm.
There was no need to fake her groan. Elizabeth felt like she'd scraped half her skin off in the fall.
“Can't move,” she insisted. “I broke everything.”
“Some demon handler you are, tripping over your own feet.”
“It was a root.” Elizabeth rolled onto her back.
Victoria would probably carry her if she could, but Elizabeth was pretty sure she outweighed her by at least twenty pounds.
Extra desserts, for the win.
“You can't lie there forever.”
Watch me. Elizabeth could feel Victoria’s racing heart finally slowing down as she was forced to rest from the run and her diabolical planning. Time stretched seconds into minutes.
Elizabeth hoped she could think of a plan before Victoria decided to drag her body to her brother.
“Why don't you sit, too?” Elizabeth asked.
Victoria was shaking her stubborn head in refusal when Elizabeth used air to sweep the smaller girl off her feet and settle her onto a large rock.
Victoria looked surprised.
It felt good to use air again, like stretching a forgotten muscle.
“I should go ahead, get help,” Victoria offered, hopping off of the rock after a few moments.
She flitted around Elizabeth like a butterfly, unable to hover in one spot long before the wind blew her to another flower.
Her thoughts were the same, idea after idea quickly disregarded as Victoria tried to salvage the plan Elizabeth ground into the dirt.
“Okay, you go to get help,” Elizabeth agreed, interrupting Victoria’s racing thoughts. “I’ll wait here.”
She tried to sound like helpless, defeated prey, cornered in a bolt hole, with nothing left to do but wait as the predators dug her out.
Too bad, they didn’t know she could burrow out from the other side.
‘It’ll be easier this way. Vic and I can attack from cover and she’ll never have to know it was us.’
As soon as Victoria was out of sight, Elizabeth forced herself to get up.
She didn't run, partly because it hurt so damn much and it would be noisy, but also because she didn't need to run to escape.
Victoria wasn't the only one thinking about using the forest.
Elizabeth had skills learned from navigating off of the beaten paths at home. It was simple to open the blocks on her mind to pick up the thoughts of anyone that strayed too close to her.
She could navigate her way through the woods around them with her lightning radar.
Victoria and Victor were familiar with the forest as well. Elizabeth never heard their footfalls, no matter how close their thoughts pinged.
They kept tight to her trail, only circling around when they thought they could flank her.
If Elizabeth hadn't had such an unfair advantage, then the twins would have easily caught her.
It was no wonder that Victoria had arrogantly believed her ability to take Elizabeth. Only Victoria’s morality was questionable.
The tattoo sudden burned on her shoulder. She felt Daemon’s thoughts ping a moment later.
He was tracking her. She should have expected it.
That little taste of his blood must have made him hyper-aware of any distress she felt.
Unless it was merely him tracking her more closely by using whoever he had spying on her.
How else was he getting all his information?
She automatically deviated her path to avoid him when he turned north, away from her.
She had blocked thoughts, except to ping, because it was burning through her magic to be reading everything as she navigated.
She stopped and focused again, unmistaken as Daemon’s thoughts pinged again, heading towards the twins.
Daemon wasn't chasing her.
Elizabeth remembered Victoria’s fear.
She turned around, using the ping to track, instead of evading.
Daemon moved quickly.
She had to run through thick brush to cut him off before he crossed the path of the twins.
She looked like she had been mud wrestling with pigs and thrashed by a bramble bush when she finally walked out in front of him.
Despite the fantastic camouflage, he recognized her.
He was a tad more put together than her, but she didn’t miss the anxious look on his face before he smoothed it out with a smug grin. He looked her up and down, taking in her messy appearance.
“You have the worst sense of direction I have ever seen,” he said.
She scoffed. “Brilliant is the word you meant to use,” she retorted without an explanation. “About time you stopped running mindlessly through the woods. I’ve been looking for you.”
His eyebrows went up, but he didn’t say a word.
It was now or never.
&nb
sp; “We need to have a talk,” she said.
Forgotten Trust
“A talk?” Daemon repeated back to Elizabeth. “Here?”
She nodded.
He came closer and started dusting her off with a few firm pats that seemed to be discreetly checking her for injury.
“You’re all alone in the woods, again,” he noted with a slap to dust her butt. “Didn’t that spanking teach you anything about risking your safety?”
Elizabeth gritted her teeth. He was right. She’d followed Victoria willingly, knowing it was a trap and without much of a plan.
She decided he’d made his point, however, when he smacked her on the butt again.
Letting air flap the rest of the dust out of her clothes, she said, “I’m not without my magic. I’m not helpless, as requested.”
She shoved him away with air.
He let her.
“Good then,” he said. “I’ll point you in the right direction back. The path is quite close to here.”
“No,” she refused.
She tried to read his thoughts, but she couldn't slip in easily, like earlier. It almost felt as if he had a block like her own, but that was impossible.
It was more likely she had burned more magic than she had realized, tracking multiple minds and thoughts for miles and hours.
She grabbed his arm to see if direct contact would help.
He tightened under her grip, his biceps involuntarily flexing as she surprised him.
She felt his magic tingling under her fingertips, eager to join back with him, but her own magic was quiescence.
He didn't shrug her off.
“I need you,” she admitted.
“I think you can manage quite fine on your own,” he said, but he followed when she tugged.
They strolled, her hand wrapped around his upper arm. Her smaller frame was tucked next to his, like two lovers enjoying the late autumn day.
“You were right,” she said.
He didn't miss a step. “Of course,” he agreed.
He wasn't going to make this easy on her.
She tried another tactic. “Why is Elf in a class for handlers?”
“Elf?”
“Princess Victoria,” Elizabeth clarified.
“Elf?” he repeated.
She refrained from smacking him.
“She doesn't even like demons,” Elizabeth said, then immediately regretted it. “I mean, she's afraid of other demons and, well, you.”
Elizabeth didn't think this was the way to garner empathy.
He shrugged. “We aren't close.”
His siblings’ fear didn't seem like news.
“She’s your sister.”
“I’m a demon, sweetheart. Vicky wouldn't remember me as anything but a monster used to scare her into behaving.”
“Like the boogieman?”
“Much worse, I’m sure.”
“It couldn't be worse.” Elizabeth bit her lip, deciding how much to reveal.
“What couldn't be worse?” Daemon stopped walking and turned to face her.
Too late to change her mind.
Elizabeth traced a line on Daemon’s throat.
“He burned her, hung her from the ceiling in front of Vic,” she explained, remembering the horrible image from Victoria’s thoughts.
Daemon’s voice was deadly calm when he asked, “Who?” His eyes were furious.
“I don't think it was the first time he hurt her. There were demons feeding on her, while she was chained—”
Daemon grabbed her by the shoulders. His touch lit up her tattoo. His anger radiated from his body, almost too painful for her to stand.
Holding onto a lightning rod in a storm must feel a lot like touching Daemon in a temper.
“She's a fire princess. No demon would dare touch the hem of her dress,” Daemon growled out.
“She was wearing your brother’s mark today, like a morbid necklace around her throat,” Elizabeth insisted.
He squeezed her shoulders tighter.
She whimpered and he loosened his grip. She didn't think he realized what he was doing.
He looked at her and seemed to pull the name right from her mind.
“George.”
She shivered and almost felt sorry for George. Daemon looked murderous, his jaw clenched and his eyes black with rage.
This was the demon they all feared.
Daemon abruptly released her. He turned around and started walking more briskly towards the castle again.
She stumbled to catch up.
“What's the plan?” she asked to Daemon’s back. His longer strides meant she almost had to run again.
“Find your mother and sister and stay in one of their rooms. Lock the door.”
Wow. Locked in her room without supper?
Daemon must trade notes with her mother.
She knew he was worried about her safety—that had been made embarrassingly clear last night—but she couldn't let him sideline her like this.
There was no way she could hunt, if he had her under lock and key all of the time.
“I’m not hiding while Elf’s in danger.”
She was a bit breathless chasing after him, but he heard her, stopping so suddenly, she ran into him.
The heat of his back was no less intense than his hands.
“Vicky’s not the only one in danger.”
He turned around and kissed her. It was hot, but soft, a brush of his heated lips over hers that asked permission.
She opened her mouth and he deepened it.
The feeling was like she was swallowing flames that licked, but didn’t burn.
He nicked his tongue on a fang and she tasted a tiny bit of his potent magic and blood before he ended the fiery kiss.
He was primed to be caught off guard.
She grabbed him by the chest and flipped him with a sweep at his legs. Gravity and his weight toppled him over her. He landed hard on his back.
She was on top of him with air-powered speed, no hesitation to straddle his chest.
She didn't have a stake, but he had fed her lightning with his kiss. She let it spark from her fingertips, holding her hands menacingly over his shocked face.
“Maybe you’re the one that needs a spanking,” she accused.
It was obvious that she was still pissed off about it, no matter that his motivations were clearer now.
Her cheeks felt flushed and she was heaving from the sudden burst of exertion.
Daemon didn’t look intimidated under her.
“Don't waste the lightning,” he said, batting at her electrified hands like they were harmless baby sparklers. He ignored her threat to paddle him.
She got that he wasn't threatened. He had to be a heck of a lot more dangerous than the average demon she hunted to deserve even half of his reputation.
She didn't need to prove herself stronger, just strong enough.
“I am not helpless. You said you wanted me able to defend myself. Wish granted.”
“I know you aren’t weak,” he acknowledged. “But you were weakened when I left you claimed without replenishing your blood. Victor could have peeled the flesh from your body,” he graphically informed her. “Victoria could have steamed the eyeballs from your pretty head before I reached you.”
She wouldn’t underestimate the twins again.
“They didn’t do anything but talk,” she lied.
No real harm had been done.
“You are new to court and don’t understand the dangers.”
Oh, she understood the dangers. She chose not to run from them.
“I evaded the twins for over an hour before I trailed you,” she told him. She didn’t mention the magic she’d used, telling him half of the truth. “When my family lived on the edge, we didn’t only rely on magic to keep us safe. I learned to defend myself in ways high powered elementals never see coming.”
Until she stabbed them in the heart, but that nugget of info was on a never needs to know basis
.
Explaining her self-appointed slayer role in the human realm was not something she was ready to approach yet.
He held her by the hips and slid her down his body, while he sat up. His stomach flexed core strength that was earned with hard fighting and not mere pushups.
“Edgers have to make up for their weaker magic with physical strength. At court, magic makes might,” he said.
He stood up, still holding onto her so that she had no choice but to wrap her legs around him.
He had magic and might. She had to show him that she was as strong in her own way.
“I can protect myself.”
She kissed him again before he could refute her point. He quickly pricked his tongue on a fang. She sucked it into her mouth, better prepared for the magical hit.
Her tattoo tingled as he worked his free hand into the neck of her shirt to trace his fingers over it.
The kiss had them both panting a bit before she ended it.
“Magic topped up and kick-ass wrestling skills,” she bragged, smiling at him.
He let her slide down to her feet. “You’ve only just met Vicky. Let me take care of this alone.”
“You have been deciding everything on your own.” She poked him in the chest. “One, you claimed me.”
She poked him again with a second finger.
“Two, you forced me into the demon-handler ‘defence’ class that only has me running into danger.”
He backed up a step and she followed, poking him with a third finger.
“Three, you had the audacity to punish me over getting wrapped up in your family drama.”
She opened the rest of her hand to slap him on the chest with air to back up another step.
“I’m not some weak-kneed court witch you claimed,” she finished, throwing his words from last night back at him.
He smiled at her. It was a truly evil, self-satisfied smile.
She knew she’d somehow been tricked. Her mind screamed run, but he had grabbed her hand and wasn’t letting her go.
He tugged her toward the deeper forest.
“Let’s go find Vicky,” he suggested, suddenly complying too easily with her request to accompany him.
“What will we be doing once we find her?” Elizabeth asked, warily.
“Telling her that you really need her help in class to learn how to run away from danger.”
He used air to lift her off of her feet as he hopped a fallen tree.
Every Witch Demon but Mine (Maeren Series Book 1) Page 30
