by Bella Benz
Several days passed with little change. Delsin watched as his younger self healed. When it was clear that he was going to be just fine, Lilith threw her arms around him, her tears freely flowing. Delsin wasn’t sure whether he should stick around to watch this part because he knew how things would go. His younger self held Lilith tightly, whispering about how thankful he was for her, asking if she was all right. When she cried into his shoulder, his teenage self held her close, murmuring about how much he loved her. The demon’s tears flowed more freely as she began to shake her head.
The older Delsin felt pity for the teen before him who still believed that they could find love and be happy together because they had already confessed their love to each other. But he watched Lilith’s reactions with a lot more criticism. She was sending all of the signs indicating what was to come. Her pleas that she was impossible to love and that she couldn’t fight what she was fell on deaf ears as his younger self insisted that they could do anything.
In his heart, Delsin still believed that he had always been right. Lilith had been too afraid, especially after nearly losing him. She was blaming herself for his near death, and nothing he said back then could change her mind. In his mind, Delsin chastised his teen self for not having fully opened up. Sure, he had told Lilith that he had to live up to expectations, but that seemed as much like a bit of bragging as it did the honest truth coming from someone so young. Of course she had been skeptical. But she had been wrong.
Even after she left, he was hunted with just as much ferocity, but he no longer had anyone on his side to help. He still had a few servants for another year or two. After several more attacks, though, he had decided to let them go because he couldn’t always protect them. As they were not magic users, they were left all too vulnerable to the kinds of people who tried to find and kill him.
He could tell her that now, but now that he was older and wiser, Delsin knew that nothing he said would convince her that leaving was the worst thing she could have done.
He remained in the memory for a few more days, following Lilith as she returned to her mother and snuck away to meet him two more times. Teenage Delsin had promised her that he would always protect her, that his love would help her to find a better life. With a soft kiss, he slipped away from one of their usual meeting places, turning once to watch Lilith as she stood rooted to the spot.
The older version of Delsin had a sneaking suspicion about what came next. Lilith waved after him, a sad smile on her face. Once she could no longer see him, the demon quickly followed, keeping a considerable distance so that he would not know he was being followed. This went on for a while, but as soon as he stopped and turned, she realized that she had to stop. Hiding behind a tree, she waited until she could no longer hear his footfalls in the dry leaves before running as fast as she could. His older version floated along with her, easily keeping up with her impossible speed, floating sometimes beside her and other times in front of her. After a few minutes, she had managed to run all the way to the small hovel where she had waited for him to heal. Tears streaked down her face as she stared up at it.
“I can’t keep doing this to you. I can’t keep using you to prove that everyone is wrong. I can’t and I won’t.” Her small fists balled up by her sides. “I’ll need to tell mother, but it’s time to move on. This is never going to work.” She swallowed hard, her voice not expressing the conviction that she was trying to feel.
She pulled out a small piece of paper and a quill with ink. For a while, Lilith had made the hovel her place of escape away from her mother and Delsin. He had watched her turn it into a quiet little home, not quite comfortable, but nicer than it had looked when they first arrived. The quill moved rapidly across the page as the tears fell from her eyes. Lilith had been incredibly smart about it, though; she angled her face away from the paper so that the tears never spilled onto it. She didn’t want him to know just how much it hurt her to tell him goodbye.
As she folded up the paper and shoved it into an envelope, Delsin whispered, “You are breaking his heart.”
Startled, she dropped the paper and envelope, her finger getting cut in the process. Lilith didn’t seem to realize as she fumbled to pick them up and finish what she was doing. “What do you care?” Her voice was defiant – just like a teenager’s voice. She may have been older than him, but demons aged very differently than humans, their bodies and powers evolving very quickly, which often stunted their personalities and intellect. They could get what they wanted without much effort. Lilith had been much more mature than most demons her age because she had learned to work, never using her own magic until that last year when Delsin had convinced her to try. But that didn’t mean that her age was comparable to a human’s experience at the same age. Though she was in her twenties, her maturity was not equal to a human of the same age – if anything, Lilith was probably more like a 15- or 16-year-old human. That was why she’d taken the actions she took instead of trying to talk it out.
Delsin realized this as he watched her, and his heart went out to her. “You are only hurting yourself too.”
She sniffed, rubbing the sleeve of her shirt along her nose. “I don’t need you, you know. It’s not like you’ve ever done much. You come and go. Speaking enigmatically.”
This was greeted with silence.
Her hand clenched around the quill. “You could have saved him. Delsin almost died, but you didn’t care, did you?”
“I knew he would be fine,” the older Delsin whispered.
Slamming the quill down, the demon turned and glared into the empty room. “It’s not like you can see the future. He might have died. But all you did was help me. Maybe if you had helped him, I wouldn't need to leave.”
Delsin said nothing.
Kicking the chair she had just been using, Lilith balled up her hands. “Too much of a coward to talk, huh? Well, I’ll tell you that you are an absolute monster! You’re never there when I most need you!”
Delsin had nothing to say to that. She was the one who had chosen what he would see – Delsin was little more than a passenger in her memories. There was no point in telling her that, though. He wasn’t about to influence the future.
Lilith’s face was turning red as tears leapt to her eyes, but the words she was saying were too muffled to understand as the world around him began to shift and change.
He had reached the end of the memories, and now Delsin would be pitched back into the present. Well aware that he should have been preparing to put up protections against what was coming, the warlock decided to take another route. As the memory disappeared, he fought the pull of the present, willing his consciousness to remain in the web.
There was a bright explosion as the tension between the present and the past collided around him. Delsin kept his eyes closed, his mind focused on the void and the web. Slowly, he felt the world shift around him and the sensation of the cool, empty space began to tingle along his invisible arms. He opened his eyes with a smile. There was only going to be one shot at getting this right.
✽✽✽
Epilogue
Now at the core of the web, Delsin looked around and appreciated just how much Lilith had done with so little training. He had never known the full extent of how much she had done to help him after his injuries, but it definitely explained why she had run when she did. His heart went out to her. Without magic, she had ensured that he was cleaned, fed, and hydrated. None of that had been easy for a demon, proving that she wasn’t who she felt she should be.
Typically, this was when the web would fall apart. Its primary purpose was complete, but Delsin wasn’t going to let the web cease to exist – not this beautiful piece of art. Carefully and lovingly, he detached the web from the world and time. Rising ever so slightly above it, he shrunk it so that it was roughly as big as his hand. Placing his other hand over it, the warlock froze the time web within its own space. Holding it up as he drifted in the void, Delsin looked at it.
I understand, Lilith,
but it’s not over yet. It won’t be easy, but this is proof that you aren’t who you think you have to be.
Delsin tucked the web into a spectral bag before allowing himself to finally exit the void.
The first thing he felt was the way his knees struck the ground, then his hands. The cold of the snow brought his mind fully back into the present. Resolve flashed in his eyes as he looked up at the tracks of red. A little unsteady, he slowly stood up, not entirely comfortable with the sudden resumption of physical limitations. With a quick chuckle, he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.
Determination flashed in his eyes as Delsin built a barrier around himself. He had to find her quickly, before she took things any further in the present. The barrier would ensure that nothing could stop him as he resumed tracking her.
For the first time in two decades, he knew how to find Lilith and had a plan for how to finally approach her.
From the author
Thank you so much for taking the time to read The Witch's Demon (Delsin Chronicles Book 1). If you enjoyed this book, I hope you'll consider recommending the book to someone or leaving a review at Amazon.
Sign up for my newsletter and be the first to know about my new books.
DELSIN CHRONICLES
See No Evil Love No Evil
Delsin’s meteoric rise as a demon hunter was not intended. He was just incredibly efficient and effective because he was also a warlock.
A request from a small village came with a promise to pay a healthy sum for his services. The mayor described the presence of something evil that was preying on his people, doing a range of things from apparently innocuous, such as sowing discord, to actual possession. The mayor himself claimed to have witnessed something demonic influencing the nobles of the village. To Delsin, it was just another job.
Until he arrived and something familiar nudged at his subconscious.
There was a very specific reason why he had become a demon hunter, and now he was standing face-to-face with her.
The Witch's Demon
He never thought he’d see her again. Now he’s supposed to kill her.
When the talented hunter Delsin comes face-to-face with a powerful demon from his past, he never could have prepared himself for what he’d find. Far from the girl he once knew in childhood, years of powerful magic and being relentlessly hunted had transformed her into something almost unrecognizable.
But after a magical time web causes him to not only re-live his past but witness Lilith’s as well, Delsin is forced to grapple with questions he’d long since buried. He peels back the layers of mystery to discover the tragic tale behind her conception and her disappearance.
Wrestling between his memories of love and the demon which he’d been recruited to kill, Delsin will have to make a difficult choice – can he save Lilith from what she’s become, or is it already too late?
Books By This Author
The Fortune of Lashire Bluff
Quiet towns hold the most secrets…
Alone, stuck in a dead-end job and with no hope in sight, Libby Fortune feels like a failure. But when she receives a surprise inheritance from her late Uncle, it seems like her life is finally turning around.
There’s only one catch. Her uncle’s will states that to claim it, she must live in the remote and quiet town of Lashire Bluff. Libby jumps at the idea – but upon arriving, something strikes her as odd about the town. Their seeming worship of her deceased family is rivalled only by the 18th-century mansion overlooking them.
As Libby settles into her new home, a series of unexplainable events soon cause her to question if her inheritance is really worth it. But whenever she thinks about leaving, the hauntings only get worse.
A mysterious letter… lingering shadows… creaking in the dark… windows shattering…
A secret lies in the mountains around this sleepy town, one that stretches back through her bloodline for generations.
One that doesn’t want her to leave…
The Ghosts of Lashire Bluff
Not all ghosts are friendly…
Noah doesn’t believe in ghosts. To him, the stories of spirits protecting his hometown and watching over him were nothing more than the silly tales of his mother and the townsfolk. He’d much rather play Xbox and hang out with his friends.
But when a chance encounter brings him face-to-face with a hideous and vengeful spirit, Noah is soon forced to question everything he thought he knew about the dead.
Hunted by an angry ghost who is unable to rest, Noah is torn between the words of his mother and his disbelief of the paranormal. Even when she recruits the help of a mysterious medium, he still sees her rituals as a game.
But as he’ll soon realize, ghosts are far more than simply real. They even walk among us…
The Witch of Lashire Bluff
A mysterious girl. A boy blinded by love. And an old enemy waiting to strike…
18-year-old Noah Fortune is no stranger to the paranormal. Placed in charge of the various rites and rituals that guard the quiet town of Lashire Bluff, he’s a close friend of both the townsfolk and the spirits who watch over it.
And when he stumbles upon a mysterious lost girl in the sacred woods near the town, the two hit it off immediately. Noah is enchanted by her native American ancestry and shaman powers. He feels a strange connection to the girl, one that he’s never felt before.
But the spirits – and his mother – don’t feel the same. Angered at Noah’s willingness to reveal their family secrets, Noah is forced to balance his responsibilities with his newfound love. He ignores their doubts, even when the true extent of the girl’s powers are discovered.
But her powers aren’t the only thing she’s hiding. The girl is hiding a dark secret – one that could endanger the entire town and all the spirits who live in it…