Page 114 of Bedeviled

I break through the tree line and abruptly stop, swallowing my scream as Memnon and Nero come to my side.

Whatever celebration was occurring here, it isn’t any longer. Instead, the field’s moniker is more appropriate than ever because scattered all across Slain Maiden’s Meadow are dead witches.

CHAPTER 24

All across the field, a deadly fight rages. Dark blood sprays, and overhead, much of the colorful magic shimmering through the meadow has been tainted with a thick, oily substance.

Dark magic.

There’s so much of it—much more than even the most malevolent witches would use. And it’s not just in the air; it clings to bodies and wounds like the deepest of shadows.

It’s as I take in those bodies that I notice there are individuals bending over many of them, drinking from them.

Demons.

“Get your blades ready, my queen,” Memnon says.

I draw them, my neck tingling where I was so recently bit. As we step onto the field, the orbs of light above us are winking out one by one.

That sight is perhaps more frightening than the devilry below because it means my coven sisters are dying.

“Nero, feel free to attack anything with fangs,” I say to my familiar as my shoes crunch against the stalks of dead grass. “Just don’t eat them. They’ll give you indigestion.”

I’ve barely made it past the first body when a demon notices us. She turns, her lips and chin coated in blood.

She lets out a laugh when she sees me. “There’s the girl.” Her gaze drops to my daggers. “Your weapons don’t frighten me, Roxilana.”

The hairs on my arms stand on end. Before I can so much as react, Memnon swings his own long dagger, sinking it into the demon’s throat.

“Say it again,” he commands, grasping the demon by the hair and withdrawing the blade. “Say her name again.”

I can’t see the black blood spilling from her wound, but I do hear her.

“Rox—”

Memnon swings again, cleaving her head clean off her body. The demon’s torso falls to the ground with a sickening thump.

A chill races down my spine as the body continues to writhe. Coolly, Memnon slices through the creature’s limbs, disarticulating it, before he moves onto the next approaching demon.

Nero and I break away from the sorcerer and move deeper into the melee. We haven’t made it very far when my panther sprints toward a brown-haired demon feeding on a fallen witch.

Nero leaps onto the demon’s back, and his jaw closes around the creature’s throat before he rips it clean out.

If that were a human, that would be a killing blow. Because it’s not, I lift my palm toward the demon. I wait for the moment the creature attempts to throw Nero off his back.

As soon as a large portion of his body becomes unguarded, I whisper, “Paralyze.”

My spell hits him in the shoulder, and the demon goes rigid. I force my gaze away from the fight and trust that my familiar can handle himself in combat.

Ahead of me, a witch throws her turquoise power at the redheaded demon leaping at her. The spell hits the creature square in the chest, and it too must inflict some sort of paralysis because for a moment, the demon’s form grows rigid in midair. But the instant the creature hits the ground, her limbs begin to move again.

Other witches are firing off magic at the demons, but there are so many of these unholy entities that there’s always another creature to take a fallen demon’s place. And once the spells dissolve, the struck demons are back up on their feet. It doesn’t help that all my coven sisters have nearly no practice using their magic in battle. Most have been taught to do no harm, which is great for everyday magic wielding. But now, against undying hellspawn? Not so much.

I step between my coven sister and the redheaded demon, squaring off with the creature.

“Call the Politia,” I say over my shoulder to the witch before focusing on the demon.

Blood stains the creature’s lips and teeth. Her eyes glint red as they catch the moonlight. The demon’s attention touches on my daggers for an instant before she rushes me, her sharpened claws extended.