Every Witch Demon but Mine (Maeren Series Book 1)

by Mercedes Jade

“A blue witch like you is a treasure that no vampire would leave unguarded. Furthermore, you are the sister to the witch that saved my own sister from an old, foolish mistake that has cost her far too much.”

  The fingers left her for a moment, then she felt his whole body shifting closer.

  “I’m going to hold you while we sleep. You will be safe and protected,” he said.

  No sooner had he spoken, then the fiery warmth of his hands was on her again, pulling her by the shoulder and hip against him to rest. He stayed outside the blanket, but there was no mistaking the heat of a body spooning hers.

  “I will be prepared next time George comes near me,” Jill said, voice steady, like it didn’t bother her at all to be wrapped in Victor’s arms. “I could use your help with weapons,” Jill admitted, trying to think about anything but the fire prince in her bed.

  “I will be honoured to help you accessorize. I assume from the sword you pointed at George that you are familiar with martial-arts weaponry.”

  He brushed her hair up, off the pillow, grabbing a gentle handful of her long locks and bringing them to his face. She heard him sniffing her lemony shampoo and maybe a little of the fire from the magic fight earlier.

  He didn’t seem to mind the scent of her power at all, groaning quietly.

  “Yes, I know weapons,” she said, remembering their conversation. Focus. “Weapons modified for magic are new to me, however, and I may need some practice.”

  “We will discuss your training in the morning. Sleep now.”

  He had to be kidding. There was no way she could sleep.

  “You didn’t tell me about dragon shifters.”

  “They are magical creatures that can shift from vampire to their animal forms.”

  “Are they all males, then?”

  “Yes, there are no female dragons anymore.”

  “It sounds dangerous to be sending your brothers out alone to hunt dragons.”

  “Alone? It’s suicidal,” Victor said and then he wouldn’t say anything more, insisting on her sleeping.

  Snake Eyes

  Victoria

  Victoria woke up without a headache, despite the sake last night. She was warm from the soft blanket and the body heat from Elizabeth, who was still snoring beside her.

  The room was bright with sunshine that had woken her, but the drapes filtered it enough, so Elizabeth should still be able to sleep.

  Habit was what had really woken Victoria. Her body knew it was an hour until sundown—an hour more of sleeping in than she normally allowed.

  She got out of bed and soundlessly walked over to the bathroom to take care of her waking needs.

  The ensuite was small but private, and the tub was generous. It was quite a nice room for a guest, most likely given to Elizabeth due to the Norwood name and Jill’s blue fire, more than for herself.

  Somebody had screwed up.

  Hopefully, Elizabeth wouldn’t be overwhelmed by her new quarters this afternoon. Victoria had arranged for servants to move all Elizabeth’s things over to a suite in the unused harem quarters meant for the first prince.

  Daemon was technically that prince. He had declared Elizabeth as his claimed witch, so Victoria had made the move as a statement.

  Victoria had been raised in the court, with intrigue and political maneuverings to gain position part of her daily life. She knew she had to strike when the opportunity presented.

  If it pissed off the rest of her brothers, except her twin—as he had no aspirations to rule—then all the better. She especially hoped George and his mother choked on their jealousy.

  She should send a servant to fetch a light breakfast for Elizabeth before she woke her. It was still early, but with everything Elizabeth had wanted to do today, they had to get started soon.

  Elizabeth had mentioned wanting to explore the library for a secret tunnel, which she hadn’t believed Victoria had never used or even knew it existed.

  Victoria had told her that all it took was a little distraction and she snuck out the front door for most of her ninja exits as Elizabeth called them.

  Elizabeth had nodded and said something about Mardi Gras, and then she had given Victoria’s chest an evaluating look. She’d suggested Victoria eat more chocolate to give her flash more oomph.

  This had been after more cups of sake than Elizabeth should drink, a limit Victoria had determined was more than one.

  Victoria had ignored her advice, pretty sure her boobs didn’t have anything to do with sneaking around the castle.

  She ordered breakfast, asking the servant to have someone wake Jill and her brother.

  It would be easier to assemble here before they went exploring. Elizabeth hadn’t mentioned taking others with them to check out the library tunnel, but after yesterday, Victoria didn’t really want to split them up.

  Victor needed time to convince Jill to accept his claim. The younger witch was more likely to accept him being around her if he was part of their group, instead of the two of them alone.

  Victoria was surprised her twin had even gotten Jill to agree to be alone with him last night, but then, her brother could be awfully persistent and protective.

  “Aspirin,” croaked Elizabeth from the bed. She had a pillow over her head to block the weakening sunlight.

  Victoria grabbed a couple of the blackmarket aspirin from the bottle and handed them to Elizabeth.

  She dry swallowed them and then the pillow went back on her head.

  “It’s evening,” Victoria told her.

  “No, it’s early,” Elizabeth said. “Why are you dressed?”

  “I slept in my clothes,” Victoria admitted.

  Her robes looked fresh as yesterday, not really needing much care and made to be worn for extended periods when on the hunt.

  “Is anyone dying?” Elizabeth asked.

  “No,” Victoria answered, a bit confused.

  “Wake me up if there is an emergency,” Elizabeth said and fell asleep a few seconds later, her snoring muffled by the pillow.

  “You need caffeine,” Jill said, entering the room with a yawn, after she imparted that wisdom. “Did you order tea with breakfast?”

  “Of course,” Victoria said.

  Tea must have this caffeine thing Elizabeth needed in the morning. Victoria thought it was from coffee, but that kind of human drink wasn’t available in Maeren.

  “I also asked for cream and sugar,” Victoria told Jill.

  Sugar was particularly valuable in Maeren, but the castle could afford it. She had noticed Elizabeth add three cubes to Daemon’s tea.

  Elizabeth must like her tea tasting as sweet and thick as honey.

  The servants carried in a small table and chairs, and then their breakfast, quickly setting up under Victor's direction.

  Elizabeth slept through it all, although her snoring had stopped.

  Victoria was getting the feeling that Elizabeth didn’t like to roll right of bed.

  That was an easy enough problem to fix. She’d wake Elizabeth an hour earlier than needed next time.

  Jill solved Victoria’s dilemma on how to gently wake Elizabeth by yanking the pillow off her sister’s face and whacking it back down on her chest.

  “This is your evening wake up call. There is a vampire in your room!” Jill shouted.

  “Fine. I’m up. I’m up,” Elizabeth said, groaning and hugging the pillow to her chest as she sat up.

  She looked over to where Victor was standing, with their breakfast laid out.

  He uncovered a plate of warm bread and the scent wafted to Elizabeth’s growling belly.

  “Do you want to get dressed first, while we prepare your breakfast?” Victoria asked.

  Elizabeth gave her a look of disbelief. “Tea first.”

  Abandoning the pillow, Elizabeth walked over to the table and sat down.

  She put one of everything on her plate and poured a cup of black tea, ignoring the sugar and cream. She didn’t wait for anyone else and started drinking her tea. />
  Jill sat down and kicked her sister under the table.

  Elizabeth paused in drinking tea for a moment. “Well, hurry up while it’s hot.”

  Everyone complied. They had missed dinner and they were all quite hungry.

  Jill was pickier than Elizabeth and only took yogurt with some fruit on top.

  Victor ate a little of everything, like Elizabeth, but he doubled up on the boiled eggs and bacon.

  He put a couple pieces of bacon on a small plate, with a wedge of cheese, and a slice of bread, handing the whole thing over to Jill without comment.

  Victoria ate bread slathered with butter and honey, and an egg.

  “So, tell me about dragon shifters,” Elizabeth demanded.

  “Dragons are a nuisance. They’ve been raiding the smaller towns for years, but in the last few months, they’ve even hit near the castle,” Victoria said. “Every so often, our father sends Daemon to take a head and remind the dragons of their territorial boundaries.”

  “It’s normal to go hunting for dragons, then?” Elizabeth asked.

  “For Daemon to go hunting, yes,” Victoria answered.

  George was shit out of luck because he’d pissed Daemon off. He would have to hunt his first dragon on his own.

  “What do the dragons want anyway? Gold? Jewels?” Elizabeth asked, bringing her cup up to her mouth to blow on it before taking another sip.

  “Witches,” Victor answered.

  Elizabeth put her teacup down. “Excuse me?”

  “We never heard about dragons, living on the edge,” Jill said. “You told me they shift into vampires. Is that why they steal witches?” she asked Victor.

  “They’re vampire dragons?” Elizabeth asked, her voice completely losing its sleepy quality.

  Victor had to go and stir the pot when Victoria had been making the dragon hunt sound like a routine exercise.

  “All of the female dragons died out,” Victoria said. “Edge towns are too far for dragons to raid. The stronger witches tend to live closer to the castle.”

  “How do they feed? Do they sacrifice the witches?” Jill asked.

  “Nobody knows. None of the witches have ever been found that were kidnapped,” Victoria admitted.

  “This is why powerful witches are kept under guard, and ideally, claimed,” Victor said to Jill. “Dragon appetites would take a lot of witches to satisfy. I bet they use the skinny ones as toothpicks.”

  He purposefully let a little fang flash as he brought a biscuit to his mouth to bite.

  Victoria sucked the moisture out of her brother’s biscuit, so it crumbled dryly in his mouth. She hoped he choked on it.

  What the hell was he doing, worrying Elizabeth, when Daemon was out there trying to bag a dragon?

  “Are we going to check out the library first?” Victoria asked, changing subjects.

  “Why would we go to the library?” asked Victor after he discreetly spit his mouthful of ruined biscuit in a napkin. “Jill needs to go to the practice room to pick out weapons. She’s going to have to load up, if she plans on walking around unclaimed.”

  Wow. Her brother was obsessed.

  She knew once he’d tasted Jill there would be no going back. How much longer Blue could hold him off was debatable, but it would probably be somewhere between breakfast and supper.

  “Weapons can wait. Elizabeth likes to read,” said Jill.

  She sounded like a dutiful, dull little sister.

  As if they were going to the library to read.

  “Remember, I’m keeping track, Jill,” said Victor.

  Jill grabbed a piece of bacon from the plate he’d given her and stuffed it into her mouth.

  “Consider this a boon then,” she said.

  Victoria wanted to kick her twin, but it would embarrass him in front of the other witches.

  He was going to get it later.

  “We don’t need a vampire to accompany us to the library. How dangerous can a few books be?” Elizabeth mocked, saying what Victor was probably wondering. “Reading is not really Jill’s thing, especially if there are some new, shiny weapons to play with, so let her go with Victor to the practice room, while we go to the library.”

  Victoria knew this was a bad idea. She tried to catch Victor's eyes to get him to say something.

  “Jill, is your sister going to the library just to read books?” Victor asked.

  “She doesn’t need us to go with her,” Jill said, sidestepping the question.

  “Maybe getting some weapons first wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Victoria said. “We all burned a lot of magic yesterday.”

  “You want to load up on weapons before the library?” Victor clarified.

  He ignored Victoria’s ‘shut up’ glare. If he made it a big deal, then Elizabeth might not agree.

  “Elf, you are my Lasier, but your brother is not part of the club,” Elizabeth said.

  “He’s not going to rat you out, Liz,” Victoria said.

  Her brother stubbornly stayed quiet.

  “What kind of boon would you want to not talk about the club?” Jill asked Victor, picking at her bread instead of eating it.

  “I suppose, by ‘the club,’ you mean whatever you and your sister are hiding in the library?” Victor clarified. “Or is there more?”

  Jill kept tearing pieces out of her bread. “This is stupid. We can’t trust a vampire,” she said, throwing what was left of her bread on the plate.

  Elizabeth said, “It’s girls only, Elf.”

  “Let me feed on you, once.” Victor ignored Elizabeth and looked at Jill. “At a time of my choosing, you will let me feed on you, willingly.”

  “No claim?” Jill said. “Hell, Vic, you can have a bite whenever you want. I don’t care,” she said, shrugging. “I’ve got plenty of blood to share.”

  Her twin didn’t look so pleased by that, but witches were rarely monogamous outside of a claim.

  He better not screw this up.

  “We have an agreement. I will keep my silence on everything that happens from the time we enter the library, until we exit,” Victor said.

  Victoria sighed in relief.

  Jill didn’t assent right away, looking at her sister.

  They seemed to have some sort of silent exchange involving a couple of good glares, almost as fiery as the ones Victoria sometimes gave her brother.

  “Well, if that is settled, then we should go to the practice room to load up,” Victoria suggested, pushing for a resolution.

  “I want a sword,” Jill said.

  “I don’t really need a weapon,” Elizabeth said.

  “Hand daggers,” Jill suggested.

  Elizabeth smirked at her sister. “Let’s go check out all the nice, long swords.”

  Victoria let her brother lead them back to the practice room.

  Servants had cleaned up, but the broken windows were still open to outside, letting in the chill.

  The walk over must have done Victor some good because he led Jill over to the fire-modified weapons and started talking technical aspects with her, the earlier awkwardness forgotten.

  They really ought to test the new weapons in a salted and charcoaled circle, but it would be a while before the salt and lines were fixed, after being washed away.

  It wasn’t as strong to simply draw one in chalk over the floor, but it would have to do for now.

  “Come over here,” Victoria told Elizabeth. She handed Elizabeth a piece of chalk. It would be weaker, but chalk was okay for a temporary circle. “Draw a circle as big as you can.”

  Victoria followed Elizabeth as she drew the circle. “How much magic do you have left?” she asked.

  “Not much,” Elizabeth admitted.

  “When you draw a circle, you should focus on your chi and let it flow down your arm, into the chalk, or charcoal, to set the lines to receive power.”

  “How much magic?”

  “A trickle is all it takes,” Victoria said.

  The chalk line glowed as Elizabeth let
a little magic trickle out.

  Not bad for a drained witch.

  “Good,” Victoria said. Elizabeth didn’t seem to struggle at all, working with chalk. “Are you sure you’ve never done circle work before? You seem like a natural.”

  “I know a few glyphs,” Elizabeth said. “Not much, really.”

  Glyphs were more advanced than circles. It seemed strange, but Victoria knew she wasn’t going to get anything further out of Elizabeth right now.

  The whole Norwood family was closed-lipped.

  “Okay, we’ll get Victor to set it when we’re ready. Let’s find some hand daggers. Your sister seemed to think you could handle them.”

  Elizabeth headed over to the fire weapons.

  “Uh, no. Air modified weapons are over here,” Victoria said, pulling Elizabeth in the right direction.

  There were mostly bows, blow darts, and some wicked stars, all made for aerodynamics with a deadly edge.

  Air was about speed. Heavier weapons were usually a disadvantage.

  The daggers were hollowed, not for brute stabbing really, but slicing, although a quick enough fighter could slip them into the right spot to do significant damage.

  “Pointy weapons. Goody!” Elizabeth said, pulling a set of daggers off of the wall.

  “I guess you won’t be able to test them out without air, but I’m sure you get the idea.”

  Elizabeth held the weapons with familiarity. She’d obviously had some training. The daggers were a better fit than Victor's sword had been in her hands.

  Faster than Victoria could blink, the air witch threw one of the daggers across the room and hit a practice target, right in the heart.

  Victoria hadn’t even seen her aim.

  “Are you going to come and watch?” Jill called out. “I have a fire sword as big as my arm.” Her excitement was palpable.

  Victoria cleared her throat before asking, “How good is your sister with swords?”

  “Jill practices every week at the dojo.”

  “And she’s the least violent witch you know?” Victoria let her incredulous tone make it a question.

  “She’s a healer,” Elizabeth said. “Best way to know how to fix something is to learn to take it apart first.”

  Elizabeth entered the circle she had drawn.