AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was charged with nerves as I pushed up to my feet. My gaze moved down the hall where shadows rose from the cracks in the floor and billowed in the air. A single moth fluttered, blackness trailing behind it. It blotted out the windows like a dark stain until I was staring through the shadows to a park out in the city. The hum of traffic was only slightly muted, the blare of horns gentle through the haze as she stood there, staring at me. Her orange eyes shone through the dimmed image.
“Asmodeus.” Her arm reached out of the city framed in shadows into Eden’s house.
My hand lashed out, whips of fire surrounded the shadow before it tightened like a noose that wouldn’t end the witch, but would hopefully bring me closer to my answers. I appeared behind her, staring through the smoked mirror into Eden’s hallway until the witch pulled her hand free and it slowly disappeared.
Black smoke covered her, twisting and moving until I couldn’t tell where she was or if she still stood in the place she had when she lured me there.
All that smoke blew away to reveal the woman who likely called it home. Her raven hair fell like a curtain around her, dragging behind her as she stepped out. Her shoulders were bare, faded black fabric draped over them and tied at the front. She wore a brocade corset as dark as her hair. Her skirt was tattered fabric that allowed her thighs to peek out with every step. Her bare toes flexed against the concrete with every step as she ignored the filth of the city.
Night was already upon us, but the sky darkened as her eyes intensified, their vibrancy casting the rest of her face in wickedness. The tattooed script that went down the side of her face was black, but outlined in the same vibrant orange. It glowed and scrolled, moved by her magic.
Familiarity bloomed in my chest. It was like looking at someone I knew once but so long ago their memory was nothing but a phantom in my mind. Outlined, though the details were fuzzy.
How did I know her?
The witch before me smiled, the edges curved up unnaturally high. A moth flew out from her hair, fluttering around her. Its pale wings left shadows in its wake. “She’s a pretty thing, your wife. There’s something about her that calls to even me. Something in the depths of her that feels out of place in a world like this one. How lucky for you, to be forever bound to someone so intriguing. You should thank me.”
I watched as she paced the park. We were in clear view of all the mortals here. All the buildings towered. They stood back and loomed around us, though none dared to step forth and impede in the space.
“It’s funny, is it not? That the cosmos deemed beings like this worthy of a union with demons when witches are not.” The roll of her eyes was dramatic as she let her head fall back and breathed in the air. “As though these beings are worthy of anything outside this place. Their little world they are foolish to believe is the centre of the universe. A place we seldom even bother ourselves with.”
Her chuckle was the sound of nightmares. It boomed through the night, rumbling through the clouds like thunder.
“Maledictia enjoyed this little playground though…” she said the words on a sigh.
The name turned around in my mind, lighting the spaces cast in darkness where I put memories I no longer needed.
My eyes widened as the memory played over.
It felt like a lifetime ago when I went toe to toe with the witch determined to bring about my end. The one I was forced to put down when it came to her life or mine. Our feud had been one about power — she wanted mine. Me, being the selfish demon I was, saw no reason to give a witch something that wasn’t hers.
Maledictia.
What she needed a lust demon’s powers for, I never bothered to ask. I didn’t care.
Insanity seemed to pour through the blood of this coven. Rotting the blood and twisting their thoughts. Her sister seemed just as unhinged.
“She enjoyed the way these beings danced on her strings.” She continued to smile. “I always found these beings to be useless toys but she…” The witch chuckled. “She quite enjoyed her toys.”
“My wife will be no one’s toy.” The words needed to be voiced. They weren’t for the witch alone. These words were for me. A promise spoken into truth.
“No,” the witch agreed. “She will be the strings, the very strings we will use to move the real toy.” Her orange eyes turned as her face dropped, honing onto me. “How we will enjoy toying with you until you take your last breath, demon.”
“Ambitious.” There was no fear in my heart where this witch was concerned. Why would there be? My only fear was what would happen if she pierced Eden with her talons and Eden banished me in turn. “Ambition also failed your sister.”
“Maledictia!” she hissed.
Her name meant nothing to me, but it was obvious it meant everything to the witch before me.
“I know what she wanted with you, Asmodeus. I know what was between you that brought her to her knees at your feet, never to get up again. I know you cut her down and for that, I plan to punish you.” Her grin stretched again, her teeth as bright as her eerie eyes. “For eternity.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t walk into your arms and help you with your ambitions.”
She laughed and the sky rattled. “Why do you think I went through all the trouble of writing that book? Of making sure that pathetic female bought it and could read the script inside? A script so far removed from mortal dabblings there is none without the blood of witch, wizard, or sorcerer who could dare utter them. Why would I go through all the trouble of binding you? You’re bound to her even if you don’t want to be. That box being opened means you’ll end up bending to my will even if it’s the last thing you want to do because her agony is your agony, her heartbreak is yours. Just how long do you think you’ll be able to deny me when your mortal is in distress? How long will you allow her tears to flood the hollows of your chest?”
Fear moved through me in a wave I nearly drowned in. I wanted to deny it, but my lips forbade me from uttering a single word.
“Don’t you see? I’ve already won.” She laughed again. It rose like a crescendo that split the clouds in vicious orange light. The sky boomed and it began to pour.
