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We didn’t want to know why. Didn’t want to know what they were doing, even though a rusty, almost metallic scent now teased our nostrils.
Blood.
Blood, sweat, and raw flesh.
Flesh the rats were dining on...
Almost unbidden, our pace increased. In that instant, the snake attacked, wrapping around us, winding up our body, sinking its fangs into our neck. Foul coldness washed through our body as the venom-that-wasn’t caught our limbs and froze them in place. We stopped, and panic surged, a brief wave that threatened to completely overwhelm us.
Then Cat’s magic surged, countering the wraith’s, pushing it away from our limbs and our organs, forcing it into a thick knot of evil that was contained, if not erased.
We could move, but we didn’t.
We simply stood there and waited for the bastard to reveal himself. To come closer.
The whispering of his rags stopped, but something flickered past our vision to our right. A shadow that wasn’t.
A demon.
Perhaps the rats weren’t feeding on our father but rather the woman who’d unwillingly betrayed him.
“I did not think you would be so easy to capture a second time.”
The voice was harsh and gratingly loud, the words broken and a little incomplete.
We didn’t reply.
He laughed. The sound made our ears ache. Behind the boxes and the pallets, the moaning started again.
It wasn’t male. It was female.
Rodrika rather than our father.
Relief stirred, even as we clenched our fingers and fought back the urge to move, to react, to save. The wraith remained too far away to use either the holy water or the knife, and his demon now stood between us. Magic was not yet viable, as the minute we began to spell, his creature would be unleashed upon us.
To kill the wraith, we first had to kill said creature.
“You may speak, little witchling,” came the wraith’s raspy comment.
The knot of evil within stirred, reacting to verbal command even though it had no power over us.
“What have you done to my father?” we said, keeping our voice flat, without emotion.
“Nothing more than he deserves” came the harsh reply.
“Such a sanctimonious statement, considering you do nothing more than visit vengeance on a family that almost succeeded in destroying you.”
There was a flicker of movement, a swish of dark ropes. A heartbeat later, our father screamed.
The wraith chuckled, and his creature stirred, its gaze sweeping us, hot and hungry.
We remained still. Time was running out, but there was nothing we could do. Rushing would kill us all.
“Do you not wonder how I intend to kill you?” the wraith asked.
“No, actually. I’m wondering why the fuck you’re standing there talking about killing me rather than actually doing it. Could it be that you haven’t the strength or the power? Could it be that without your other demons, you are nothing more than a raggy windbag?”
Anger surged, a force so strong we took an involuntary step back. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to notice
