The Queen of Witches

by Brandi Elledge

  “And here I thought you would take comfort in at least seeing your lover’s face every day and night. Hmm. Maybe I should dispose of this body and take another.” I didn’t respond. “It’s interesting that you mentioned death. My sources say that the Reaper is in trouble of his own and unaware you have been missing for the last five weeks. He must have assumed you were safe with the wolf. You know what they say about assumptions,” he said, chuckling. “I brought you a gift… an early wedding present, if you will.”

  He snapped his fingers, and a demon brought out a small bloody heap to the center of the floor, chucking it at my feet. The lump moaned and rolled over, saying my name.

  “Sammy? Is that you?” I asked, kneeling beside him.

  The demon prince gave me a wicked smile. “He is a bit unrecognizable, isn’t he? Apologies. He put up quite a fight when we captured him, along with the wolf. I would like for you to ask yourself a question. Is denying me marriage worth his life? If the answer is yes, then he will become my slave, and every day he will feel death breathing on his neck just to escape it by an inch, so that he can relive it again the next day… And as for you, I will have someone drag you back to your cell, where you may or may not be lucky enough to die. If the answer is no, then let’s take our vows now, and I will swear you will never want for anything, and not only will I allow this creature to live, but he can be your companion, free to roam my castle for as long as you allow him to.”

  I gathered Sammy into my arms. The ivory of my dress quickly became covered with his blood. My tears dropped onto his bruised face. I ran a shaky hand over his whitish-blond hair, caked with blood. “If you vow to never harm him again, then my answer is yes.”

  Something inside of me broke with those words. It was the snap of the final straw. What other option did I have? It was perfectly acceptable in my book to will myself to die when I had no one else to think of, but how could I cast Sammy, my mother’s gift to me, to a fate that was worse than death?

  “You have my vow. No more harm will come to your friend, and he will live a life of luxury, just like you, until you will it no more.”

  At my nod, he walked to me. With a snap of his fingers, someone took Sammy from my arms. The Demon Prince gave orders that he be put in our chambers. If I had anything in my stomach other than bile, it would have hit the floor. Gripping me by my arms, he pulled me to my feet before giving me a forced kiss.

  I would never have a future with Jamison. My heart cracked at the thought. He was gone. My heart shattered with the realization. My previous life was gone. I couldn’t breathe. This was my fate. I was nothing but a shell. This was my future. Please don’t let it be a long one.

  The Demon Prince swatted me on my bottom and that’s when I checked out.

  Vows were chanted, a dagger was produced, and when I felt it bite into my skin, I didn’t even flinch. Charlie had disappeared somewhere, and I had a hopeful feeling she would never be found.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  After hours of feasting, the party came to a stop. I had dreams of food like this, and yet I hadn’t touched a bite. As the Demon Prince escorted me back to our room, I didn’t bother taking in any of the scenery. To observe meant I was still here, and there was nothing left of me but a shell.

  As he led me into the bedroom, I decided that if he got close enough to me while wearing that dagger of his, I was going to drive it through his heart. Then I would find a way to decapitate him.

  Hope was a terrible thing.

  He locked the door, and I spun around to face him. “Calm yourself, love.”

  “I am not your love.”

  “Yes, yes, you are. I knew it from the first time I laid eyes on you. You have all of my heart, so be careful what you do with it.”

  I snorted. “You owning a heart? What a joke.”

  He walked over to a settee, and I noticed Sammy was lying there with a half-smile on his face. Obviously, he had been hit so hard that he didn’t know how dire our situation was, but if Sammy was in here, maybe he didn’t plan on consummating the marriage unless...

  “You promised not to hurt him,” I spat.

  The Demon Prince sat beside Sammy, placing a hand on his chest. Slowly, all of Sammy’s bruises and cuts began to fade. Within minutes, Sammy was sitting up and swinging his feet back and forth an inch above the ground.

  “You really knocked me around.”

  The Demon Prince smiled. “Had to make it look real, didn’t I?”

  No. It couldn’t be.

  I felt dizzy. “What’s going on?”

  The Demon Prince stood to face me. “It really is me, Charlie.” I took a step back until my legs bumped into the bed, stopping my retreat. “It was the only way that I could get to you and bypass the thousands of demons making up the Prince’s court.”

  “What kind of trick is this? You are not Jamison.”

  His blue eyes pleaded with mine. “You promised me a plane ride to a sunny destination, and then you disappeared on me, and I couldn’t get to you quickly enough. When I couldn’t smell your scent in the house anymore, I knew you were gone, and like a fool, I didn’t ask for backup. I didn’t even tell a soul where I was going.” Sammy nodded. “This one woke to my shouts and trailed after me. I was too maddened to insist he stay behind. After I entered Hell, I had to go through one realm after another. Each battle was longer than the previous one, and all the while, I knew that every second I was away from you was one more second that you were here… with the Demon Prince.”

  My eyes shifted to Sammy. He was smiling and nodding at me. I looked back at Jamison. “It’s really you?”

  “Yes, love.”

  His arms opened, and I ran to them. I was scared this was another hallucination, so I clung to him while it lasted. He murmured soft words into my ear as he picked me up, cradling me like a small child.

  “Shh, don’t cry anymore, love. We must get out of here. We have perhaps twelve hours before anyone realizes that I’m a prince, just not the right one.”

  “Where is the Demon Prince?” I asked.

  Jamison winced. “In the closet?”

  My eyes darted around. “What?” I looked at the door Jamison was pointing at. “He’s dead, right?”

  “No. The closet is rigged, though, so whoever opens the door will cause an explosion. This whole room will be decimated.”

  “I’m guessing there is a reason he’s still alive?”

  “Yep,” Sammy said, “as one of the royals, his death will be felt by all. Including his sister, Carmen. The reigning Queen of Hell.” He rubbed his round belly. “I hope your blonde friend doesn’t expect me to wait forever on her while she’s trying to get her fang diploma. I mean, I’m a hot commodity, and you know who else is smokin’ hot? The new queen. I could send her a gift basket congratulating her on her new title.”

  Congratulating her on her father’s death? I had nothing to say to that. Apparently, neither did Jamison. Shaking his head, Jamison said, “Yeah, so the Queen of Demons will not like that someone broke into this realm without permission and killed her brother. Keeping the Demon Prince alive a little longer is advantageous to us.” He sat me down on the bed. “We need to leave right now, though. Sammy can remove your cuff. I’m going to heal you as much as I can, and then we’ll fight our way out of here.”

  “Cut this cuff off of me and let’s go.”

  He gave me a wide smile. “That’s my girl, and Charlie, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you.”

  I cupped his face in my hands. On closer inspection, Jamison appeared like a crazed man. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. The last thing I needed to do right now was wallow in self-pity or tell him the horrors I’d went through. Every day he spent trying to get to me was probably a horror of his own. “Don’t worry about it. I had loads of alone time. Lots of self-reflection, which is good for the soul.”

  His laugh rumbled all the way from his chest. He knew I was lying through my teeth, but he a
ppreciated my humor. His eyes were shiny as he pulled me to him one more time. The way he kept touching me told me it was hard for him to believe it really was me standing in front of him. The feeling was mutual. Jamison moved to the side, so Sammy could remove my cuff. He placed his chubby hands around the metal and said some words. The cuff heated up before it broke in two. My body immediately felt different, as if I was getting oxygen for the first time. Jamison set out to heal me. He couldn’t put any of the weight I had lost back on my bones, but my cuts and bruises were long gone. He picked me up in his arms. “I wish I could give you more time but I can’t. Are you ready?”

  “More than ready,” I say but my words are different than my body language. I was shaking from head to toe. Too much had happened and I feared I was going into shock.

  “Hey, look at me, love.” I stared up into his heavenly features. He gave me a slight smile before his mouth covered mine. His warmth, his love seeps into me as I press up against him. Sammy clears his throat as I shyly pull away from the one person who can keep me grounded.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  He smiled at me with pride before he looked at Sammy. “It will be harder leaving than it was getting here, and we have more to lose on our return.”

  “Geez,” Sammy said, rolling his eyes. “What am I, chopped liver?”

  Each realm was exactly the same as far as atmosphere goes. Sammy said that each level was made up of layers of cavern walls. The floor was almost as slick as it was black. Cool to the touch like lava that had hardened over time. The only thing different about the realms was they were controlled by a different under lord. The under lords were in charge of their sections, only answering to the Demon Princess and Prince. Our goal was to skirt on the outside of each realm, where the outcast demons mostly resided. Apparently, each under lord had a lavish place in the center of each level, which made it easier on us.

  There were twelve realms above us we needed to get through. The realm we had just exited was a piece of cake because everyone thought it was the Demon Prince leading us. But the next realm was tricky because those demons were considered the ‘commoners’ of the demon world. They looked at Jamison with suspicion because if he truly was the Demon Prince why would he be walking through the realms instead of just ‘appearing’ where he needed to go. We made it halfway through the realm before the first incident. We stumbled upon sixteen demons who knew we weren’t where we belonged. I was extremely tired and my energy was low but I couldn’t let Jamison and Sammy fight without contributing. I made tunnels of fog around the demons. Jamison and Sammy knew exactly where to find the demons but the demons didn’t know where my boys were. It was perfect. Until the last demon somehow managed to work his way out of my fog. He scampered off before we could stop him. I assumed that he would report us to his under lord who would then report us to his boss the Demon Prince. Then all hell would break loose.

  We hurried our pace. After we climbed through the second realm, Sammy explained that getting to me was tricky for them because they had to navigate through the realms, for the first time, as they had never had a reason to break into Hell. But he said our return wouldn’t take as long, now that they both knew the way to go. I imagined we would have been out of this place sooner if it weren’t for us having to fight our way out occasionally.

  For the most part, we were able to avoid the demons, but sometimes they were blocking our exit, and the confrontation was unavoidable. Even though there were a ton of demons patrolling the boundaries, we still did our best not to be seen. Sometimes it was unavoidable. The ‘unavoidables’ is what was wearing me out. We came upon three demons, and my energy was depleted. Gone. Nothing. Nada. Not even a spark of fire. I watched as Jamison grabbed one demon by the throat slamming him into the demon behind him. Sammy was a blur as he jumped on their chests, taking out their hearts with a wicked blade he had found on a wounded demon a while back, while Jamison dealt with the third. My familiar was jumping up and down. “I haven’t had this much action in ages, I tell ya.” He hitched his chubby chin towards Jamison. “Blondie over there is a man on a mission. All he needs is some theme music.”

  Jamison was hiding a smile. My familiar had bonded with Jamison while I was gone. They made me happy. I really wanted them to like each other. Sammy had grown on me and Jamison, well, he was like my anchor in a storm. He made me feel rooted. We did our best hiding the bodies hoping it would buy us more time. Jamison took any food and ale that the demons had on them but it wasn’t enough for all of us. I had a sickening feeling that he was giving me more than my fair share when it came to the looted goods. I could tell that the weight I’ve lost down here bothered him. Many times, I caught him staring at me with concern. He was almost taking it personally. Like it was his fault that I refused to eat while I was trapped here. It worried me. Jamison was a big guy–he needed more food to sustain him than I did. After nine days, we were hungry and tired, and barely in the fourth realm, when a power washed over us.

  “That would be the Queen of Demons. She’s letting everyone know something has happened to her brother. Time is of the essence now. We need to move fast,” Jamison said.

  We no longer tried to be quiet, moving almost in a blur. It was unheard of that an under Demon Prince died, and in his own court at that. We were on borrowed time. Soon, the under lords would be sending out patrols to ensure the same fate would not happen to them. That was when an idea came to me.

  “I haven’t used any of my powers in two days. I’m still tired, but I feel a little better.”

  Jamison gave me a weary look. “What are you thinking?”

  “If you could tell me the way I could freeze time and carry you both on my wind for a bit. It would get us past the demons patrolling.”

  Jamison paced in front of me. It was clear that he didn’t like my idea. His face was covered with doubt. Sammy cuffed him on the leg. “Listen, boy-o. I don’t want her depleted of energy either, but the patrols are getting larger in numbers. Maybe she could at least get us pass this border patrol and the next.”

  Finally, Jamison gave me a nod. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  He looked at the ground both of his hands in fists. I walked over to him placing my hands on either side of his face. “You have no reason to apologize. None of this is your fault. Do you hear me?”

  He pulled me towards him resting his forehead on top of my head. He took a couple of deep breaths. “When we are out of here I’m never taking my eyes off of you again.”

  I gave a little laugh until I realized he was deadly serious. He was squeezing me so tightly. I realized in that moment that whatever I’ve recently endured might not have compared to the hell Jamison had been going through and some part of him holds himself accountable. I could feel his anguish.

  I stepped back. “I’m going to freeze time and get us through on my wind, okay?”

  With his nod, I did just that. I continued freezing time off and on for the next several realms until I had no more energy. We were on our last realm before we could claim freedom when the Queen of Demons showed up. She was maybe four feet tall, pudgy with a ruddy complexion, and was currently blocking our exit.

  “Carmen?” Sammy said. “What kind of body have you snatched now?”

  She flipped her ratty black hair behind her. “My asshat of a father sealed my body off, so I couldn’t claim it. Apparently, he was trying to teach me a lesson. One that I never learned. Now, I’m left jumping bodies until I find mine. Total bummer.”

  This was the freaking Queen of Demons? A girl that said “bummer” and acted like a teenager who just got her cell phone taken away from her instead of her body. Wasn’t expecting that.

  “Introduce me to your friends, Sammy.”

  Sammy was still looking perturbed by the queen’s body choice, which was more than a little hypocritical, considering Sammy looked like a shorter, hairy version of the Michelin man.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. Carmen, this here is the Prince of
Wolves, and this is the Queen of Warlocks and Witches.”

  The Queen of Demon’s pudgy cheeks lifted in a smile. “Cool. Nice to meet you. So here’s the thing. I’m guessing one of you killed my brother? Apparently, he was just blown to smithereens in his own quarters. Personally, I’m not going to cry over it. He was a complete douche canoe, but since I’ve taken over for Daddy dearest, there has been some rebellion. You know how that goes. I have been ruling with an iron hand, putting heads on spikes. Doing the normal everyday ruler of the realms stuff, just to get a little respect. So now, I have to find the killers of my brother, make an example out of them, and yada, yada, yada, so that the other under lords feel safe and all that bull crap. The crown is heavy, but someone has to wear it.” She tried to put a piece of hair behind her ear, and her fingers got caught in the tangled mess. “Ugh. This poor creature didn’t know proper hygiene if it would have bitten her on the ass.”

  Jamison crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Example or not, we are leaving here. If you want to keep that crown on your head, I suggest you let us pass.”

  Her dull brown eyes widened. “Whoa! Temper, temper. You’re not nearly as pleasant as your brother.”

  “You know my brother?”

  “Duh.” She pointed to the large demon army behind her. “As you might have noticed, I made it so they can’t hear anything we’re talking about. There are so many traitors. Who’s a girl to trust? Maybe I should make more spikes for their heads.” She held up a hand. “So not your problem. I get it. So back to your problem. You’ve killed my brother. I need retribution. But I also don’t need the deaths of royalty on my hands, so let’s negotiate. Shall we?”

  “What is it that you want?” I asked, knowing she was going to open her mouth and say the key. There was no way I was letting Jamison give her the key. We worked too hard to have it.

  “I’ll let you pass if you vow to have Ariana contact me.”