“You could come with me and we could see what happens. I know your body, I know who you used to be, but I don’t know you now…and I think I want to.”
“I’m a witch. That’s not going to change.”
“I’m an assassin. That’s not going to change. Every relationship has its own struggles. You didn’t leave me, Esme. When you strip away all the other shit that makes up a person, it’s things like that that matter. The witch I once knew in the winter land never would have stayed.”
“I’ve never been so afraid, Nic. Not even with the Devil’s Bit in my mouth.”
“I’m going to cram that bit down that fucker’s throat for what he did. You take back your magick and his when we find him. Call it interest.”
Esme loved it when he was bloodthirsty.
Chapter Nine
When Frost had healed they hit the road again, tracking the bastard who’d stolen her magick. He’d hadn’t moved from the last place Frost had sensed him—Belle Valley, Utah. It was early afternoon when they rolled into town.
There was a sign for a psychic fair happening that week, so Esme imagined the witch was there to feed on the unsuspecting and steal as much magick as he could. She wondered what kind of horrible fuck would use something as awful as the Devil’s Bit against his own.
As soon as she saw him, she knew.
Sebastian Rafferty looked no worse for wear for his time in Hell.
And instantly Esme knew this would be easy. For all his slick ways, Sebastian was no match for the Witchfinder. She smiled, thinking of how good it would feel to take her magick back and watch Nicodemus crush him like the little shit-bug he was.
He was talking up some young, uninitiated witch outside a diner. Using his greasy-car-salesman looks to get her to drop her guard.
Esme didn’t think twice about approaching him—maybe because Nicodemus had snuck around the other side of the building and was watching over her.
“Who was dumb enough to let you out of Hell?” she demanded.
The girl he was talking to backed away from him, eyes wide.
“You should have known no chains could hold me forever.” Rafferty flashed a sly grin. “But hey, can we catch up later? April and I are just getting to know each other.”
“Honey, you better run as far and as fast as those legs will take you. He’s a bad man. Stranger danger. Yell it loud.”
The girl kept backing away.
“Now why would you do that? She and I were just talking.”
“Until you suck her soul out with her magick.”
“Ah, well. It can’t be helped.” He winked at the girl and she ran. Sebastian laughed. “What do you want from me?”
“What do think I want, asshole? I want my magick back.”
“I don’t have it.” One side of his lip curled in a defiant smile.
“You’d best find it.”
“Or?” He dared her to finish the threat.
But it was no threat.
Nicodemus rose up like some avenging angel born of shadow and fear. He snapped a cord that had been threaded with saint’s hair around Sebastian’s neck and jerked him back into an alley, between a Dumpster and the wall of the diner.
He shoved the Devil’s Bit in his mouth and clamped it tightly into place. No fuss, no muss.
“Take your power, Esme.”
Hatred flashed in Sebastian’s eyes.
“You’ve had this coming for years. For what you did to me, to Scarlett. To every other witch whose powers you stole. You absolute fuck.” Esme bent over Sebastian and concentrated on her power. Her magick slammed into her, filled her, and it was like the first immersion in a cold pool at the beginning of summer.
But she didn’t stop with her own. She kept taking, kept drinking while the saint’s-hair cord held him immobile. Esme didn’t stop even when his feet burst into flame and the fire crawled up his body, dragging him back to Hell.
When he was gone, Frost flashed a wicked grin. “We make a pretty good team.”
“We do. I get a couple hundred more years of life, we sent an inmate back to Hell and we saved people. I could maybe get into this gig.”
“You know what I could get into?” Frost asked slyly.
“Me?”
“That’s right, witch. Deep. Very deep.” He yanked her against him and kissed her hard.
Esme didn’t know what the future held, but for the first time, she wanted to experience everything on the horizon. After two hundred years, she was finally done hiding from life and was ready to start living it.
She lunged away from him. “And for that, Witchfinder, I think you’re just going to have to catch me.”
Esme ran back to the Jeep, laughing and waiting for her future to catch up.
Epilogue: Nic & Esme
Esme Payne and Nicodemus Frost got their foundation for Happily Ever After.
When they arrived in Nordvik, they found his brother’s sarcophagus empty and villagers who said a scarred redhead had made off with the body, leaving Nic and Esme with another witch to hunt.
They were never able to contact Galatea, and Nic reluctantly accepted it was likely because she had nothing to say. It had been hard for him to let go, but once he realized she was in Elysium with no hurts, no worries and no pain, he couldn’t take that away from her. She’d found joy—and so had Nic.
Epilogue: Sebastian
Sebastian Rafferty returned to Hell and is doing permanent time for his crimes against humanity, but gnawing his own arm off to escape is starting to look like a viable option. If only he can slip past Hell’s head jailer again, it’ll all be Easy Street. Until the Devil sends his bounty hunter after him. But Sebastian has a plan for that too.
Scarlett would make an excellent consolation prize. Her soul would be a tasty treat that could keep the Devil and the bounty hunter off his back for a while. She still loves him; she’s already proved it—and Sebastian hopes to use that love to his benefit.
It’ll be child’s play, tricking her into taking his place in Hell.
Epilogue: Scar
And Scar Alder? Turns out Scar no longer hated Esme as much as she’d thought she did. Oh, she still hated her plenty. But when it came down to the dying and the killing, she couldn’t do it. It made her a little vomitous that Esme had hooked up with the Witchfinder, though Scar had troubles galore of her own…
Breaking a man out of Hell was no easy feat but it had to be done. It’s not Sebastian she wants, however. Scar wants the Devil’s bounty hunter. He owes her some dark magick—and she plans to collect. You see, Scar needs every weapon she can get her hands on if she wants to survive. When she took the dagger out of the cursed ice king’s chest, he awakened…hungry for Scar’s blood.
If she’d thought Nicodemus was a nightmare to have on her tail, he has nothing on his undead brother—Valerian.
About Saranna DeWylde
Saranna DeWylde has always been fascinated by things better left in the dark. She wrote her first story after watching The Exorcist at a slumber party. Since then, she’s published horror, romance and narrative nonfiction. Like all writers, Saranna has held a variety of jobs, from operations supervisor for an airline, to an assistant for a call girl, to a corrections officer. But like Hemingway said, “Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.” So she traded in her cuffs for a full-time keyboard. She loves to hear from her readers.
Saranna welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Saranna DeWylde
Furyous Ink
Lust and Other Drugs
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
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Felony H
ex
ISBN 9781419942266
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Felony Hex Copyright © 2012 Saranna DeWylde
Edited by Kelli Collins
Cover design by Fiona Jayde
Photos: Aleksandar Todorovic/Dreamstime.com and Kulilsh Viktoriia/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication October 2012
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