The Secret Life of a Witch 2
(Mystic Willow Bay Witches, #2)
Jessica Sorensen
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About the Author
Coming Soon!
The Secret Life of a Witch 2
Jessica Sorensen
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Sorensen
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
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Chapter One
I’ve had a ton of strange experiences in my time, but lying petrified on a floor beside a demon while trapped inside an invisible cage is a first for me. It wouldn’t be so terrible if I didn’t have so many unsettling things haunting my mind. Like the fact that I might be a hybrid, that hybrid demons want me for who knows why, and that Hunter, my best friend, might have betrayed me.
No! I refuse to accept the latter.
Maybe you think I’m living in denial, but you don’t know Hunter like I do.
When I first met him in middle school, he befriended me, despite the rumors that I was part zombie—kids loved to play on the fact that I can talk to dead bodies from every tormenting angle. Granted, kids were teasing Hunter about being part skeleton—he was gangly back then—and he didn’t have too many choices in the friend’s department.
He always stuck by my side, stood up for me, and vice versa. He never treated me any differently, even when we reached high school and Hunter turned into a total hottie that almost every girl swooned over. We hung out all the time, and he drove me to school and walked me to my locker. Girls hated me because of that, and my sucky social status bottomed out. Being with Hunter was totally worth it, though. Even if I had to suffer through his dating phase.
Those were quite possibly the worst years of my life. Luckily, he was never in a super serious relationship, although he flirted—still does—all the time. Yet, he hasn’t had a girlfriend since about mid-senior year. At the same time, he’s never offered me the position.
Perhaps he has been using you.
For what?
Shut up, inner voice!
“Trying to figure out if your lover betrayed you, huh?” the demon’s annoying voice slices through my thoughts. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t say ‘lover’ since it seems to be one-sided.” He lies down on the floor beside me, props himself up on his elbow, and rests his chin on his hand. “You know, that’s one positive thing about being a demon—our ability to turn off our emotions. After you tap into your demon blood, you should give it a try.” He gives a chin nod in Hunter’s direction. “It might save you some serious heartbreak from Mr. Punk Rocker over there.”
“That’s not how he normally looks.” The return of movement to my lips slightly alleviates my fear of being dead, something I feared since my sister died from a petrified curse. “He usually has blond hair. It’s just blue, black, and short right now because I messed up a spell … like always.”
The demon’s red eyes sparkle with something unreadable. “Good, you’re coming out of the curse.”
I attempt to wiggle my arms and legs, but remain a useless lump on the floor. “Why on this secret magical planet would you think that was a good thing? Aren’t demons supposed to want people to die?”
Another sparkle in his eyes. “But you’re not people, are you? You’re one of us.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Live in denial all you want. It’ll only make the truth harder to bear.”
“I have no clue what the truth is.”
He rolls his eyes. “I already told you what it is. You just don’t want to accept it.”
“And why the hell would I believe you, a demon?” I wet my chapped lips, my tongue’s little movement making me feel a bit better. “And an ugly demon, at that.”
Okay, it was a cheap shot, but I’ve been lying on this floor for what feels like forever, listening to him babble on about me being a hybrid, Hunter lying to me, and strangely, where he can buy some good hair products.
“Ugly, huh?” He crooks his pierced brow. “Then why could I read lust all over your face when you first saw me?”
“This appearance isn’t even you.” I avoid answering the question. “The dark hair, the piercings, the red eyes, the toned body …” I trail off as a smirk rises on his face.
“Lust is even dripping from your tone.” He winks at me. “Don’t worry; I won’t tell the punk rocker guy over there.”
“Like he would care,” I argue pointlessly, then shake my head at myself. “And again, none of this conversation even matters because you don’t even look like that. You’re just mirroring the last demon I saw earlier today at the park.”
His smirk magnifies. “Which you found charmingly sexy.”
I snort a laugh. “Ha, not even close. More like unpleasantly hideous. And he smelled revolting, too.” None of that is remotely true, but this demon has been driving me crazy for too long.
The smirk on his face morphs into a snarl. “I don’t smell revolting.”
I smile sweetly at him as I roll over to my side. Score! Movement in my upper body is back!
“Yes, you do.” I take a whiff of the air. “Like dirty diapers and rotten olives.” Actually, he smells like cologne with woodsy undertones. It’s sort of nice. However, I’m going to keep that tidbit on the lowdown.
His eyes flare as he pushes up onto his hands and knees before crawling over to me. “You better watch what you say to me. If I wanted to, I could kill you.”
“But if you kill me, then you won’t get your fee for handing me over to those hybrids. That is … if your story is even true,” I taunt, and he responds with a hiss. I roll my eyes. “Will you freakin’ chill? Technically, I’m not even insulting you; just the demon who was at the park. If you don’t like what I’m saying, you could always change your appearance.”
“And take away your reward of getting to look at me instead of the ugly, little troll?” He leans in, dipping his head toward my face.
I try to angle my head in the opposite direction, but he pins me between his arms and hovers over me, his lips directly above mine.
“Now, admit it; you love how I look and smell.”
Golly, oh, witches; he’s becoming obsessed!
“Again, I stress that you don’t look or smell like you, so why does it even matter?” I argue.
“Because, I do look and smell like me!” he roars, then quickly throws on a neutral expression. “You know, for someone who’s supposed to be special, you sure are an idiot. How you didn’t notice that another demon entered the cage about thirty minutes ago is beyond me.”
I blink at him in confusion. “What?”
Heaving an exhausted sigh, he sits u
p and grabs my arm to pull me into a sitting position. Then he reaches for my face, and when I slant away, he fires a deathly glare at me as his hands dart out lightning quick to cup my face.
“Get your gross demon hands off me,” I gripe, sounding funny with my cheeks now squished.
He pushes on my cheeks harder until I have fish lips. “That’s a great look for you,” he sneers. “Fish lips. Rainbow eyes. You’re like a rainbow fish.” He smiles cleverly. “That’s what I’m going to call you from now on. My little rainbow trout.”
“Don’t you dare,” I warn. With my lips smooshed, it comes out sounding like something else entirely.
“I’m not sure what a ‘tote new pear’ is, but I do know that I’m going to call you my little rainbow trout for all of time and eternity.”
“For all of time and eternity? You know the lifespan on a demon is only fifty years, which means your life is half-expired already.”
His expression turns stone cold. “We only live that long because we’re hunted by malicious creatures who think they’re better than us.”
I wiggle my nose, struggling to get my lips to a normal, less fish-like position. “No, they hunt you because you’re murderers.”
“Says who?”
“Says years and years of history in this town. I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys are the ones responsible for the high amount of deaths going on in Mystic Willow Bay lately.”
With eyes like the devil himself, he inches his face closer to mine, his breath fiery hot against my cheeks. “Newsflash, my little rainbow trout, those murders weren’t caused by something this town considers evil, but by someone hiding behind their true colors.”
Hunter’s face flashes through my mind, but I karate chop the image away.
“Maybe you’re right, but that doesn’t make demons any more innocent,” I bite out. “I’m sure you’ve all done your fair share of killings. Plus, you’ve been stealing dead bodies—bodies that don’t belong to you.”
“Don’t belong to me?” he questions. “Then who does a dead body belong to? You?”
“What? No!” I give him an appalled look. “They belong to the people who mourn them.”
“Actually, they don’t. Once someone dies, they cut all ties with the living … including their bodies.” He studies me with his head angled to the side and a ghost of a smirk on his face. “Except for you. In fact, bodies seem to be more in tune with you than the living and breathing.”
I wish I could argue, prove him wrong, but the brutal truth of his words is too great.
His lips expand with a grin. “You know that, too, don’t you?”
Pressing my lips together, I move to turn my head. Surprisingly, he allows me to, but only so he can position his lips beside my ear.
“Don’t worry, my little rainbow trout; one day, you’ll realize you aren’t as different as you think,” he breathes hotly into my ear. “You’ve just been hanging out with the wrong crowd.”
I restrain the shiver wanting to course through my body, but lose control when he kisses the tip of my earlobe. My reaction makes my stomach churn with nausea and guilt. How can I possibly react to him this way when the love of my life is only standing a few feet away, trying to save me! And to a demon, of all creatures. A demon who, underneath the sexy guy façade, looks like an ugly troll.
I really am messed up.
“Let me go,” I say as I writhe my body in a desperate attempt to get away from him.
The numbness that was consuming my limbs has thawed, except for my knees down. The sensation is disconcerting, like my legs have turned into ice sculptures. At least I have most of my mobility back, though.
“Relax.” He reclines back and positions his face in front of mine again. “I’ll let you go, but not before I show you something.” He cups my chin and angles my head in the direction of the cage’s far back wall where a short, rounded figure with wrinkly grey skin and beady yellow eyes is tapping his foot impatiently.
Behind him, Hunter and Evan are trapped on the other side of the cage. Or, well, Hunter is. Evan is currently MIA.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” Hunter promises me with his palms lined up against the invisible wall of the cage. “Evan just went to get something to break down the cage.” He gulps. “Right now, we’re locked out.”
“Okay,” I mouth, trusting him. Then my attention shifts to the ugly, little creature standing inside the cage near the wall.
“I don’t know why we’re still here,” he spits, tapping the gold watch on his wrist. “We were supposed to be underground ten minutes ago.”
Terror lashes through me as my gaze whips back to the demon holding my face. “What the hell is that?”
“A demon.” A smug smile dances at his lips. “The demon who pulled you into this cage.”
Confusion bounces through my mind. “No, you pulled me in here.”
“Did I?” he questions, radiating amusement. “Because, from what I remember, you were already in here when I showed up thirty or so minutes ago, like I said, after being summoned by a shapeshifter demon.”
“I …” My gaze skates from the pissed off troll-ish demon then back to the dangerously sexy demon in front of me. “You tricked me.”
“No, you were just too oblivious to notice. But that’s okay; witches can be pretty self-absorbed. Good thing you’re only half a witch.” He frees my face from his grip then sits back, grinning.
I massage my cheeks with my fingers while wiggling my jaw from side to side. “I don’t know where you got your info, but I’m not a hybrid.”
His head bobbles back as he releases a frustrated groan. “Must we go over this again?”
“Please don’t. I’d rather you just stop lying.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Yes, you are.” My hands ball into fists on my lap as frustration simmers beneath my skin. “If I was part demon, I would have realized it by now.”
“How? Because your self-demon sensors would have told you?” he ridicules. “Trust me, sweetheart; these sorts of things don’t work that way. If someone isn’t born into the demon world, they usually don’t know they belong there. Unless someone tells them. And considering you’re pretty ignorant about all of this, I’m guessing your parents never told you.”
“First of all, quit calling me stupid and ignorant, and definitely don’t ever call me sweetheart again,” I snap while he simply grins. My eyes narrow into slits as I continue, counting down on my fingers. “Second, if my parents knew I was part demon, they would’ve told me. And lastly, if I was some sort of special hybrid that the demons wanted to get their hands on, why wouldn’t they just take me instead of using my sister to get to me? I mean, you were right by me in the park, and I was petrified. You could have taken me then, but instead, all you did was threaten to—”
“I wasn’t quite sure what you were then,” he cuts me off sharply, his eyes blazing with a silent warning to keep quiet.
Why? Why would I even trust him?
I open my mouth to finish the rest of my statement and prove I’m not going to listen to him, but I snap my jaw shut as the walls begin to bow, making an ear-splitting noise.
Cringing, I raise my hands to cover my ears, when he snags ahold of my wrist, stopping me.
“As long as you keep your mouth shut about what you are, I can arrange to get your sister back,” he whispers. “But under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near The Illuminating Horror House of Truth, got it?”
My brain rattles in my skull as the cage’s walls bend to and fro. “Why? What is that place even—”
“No questions,” he snaps. “Just a yes or no.”
I sneak a glance over at the ugly troll demon, who is scampering around and squealing with his hands over his ears. “But what about—”
The sexy demon splays his fingers across my cheek and angles my head back toward him. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t say a word; I’ll make sure of it.”
Every single part
of me screams not to make this bargain, that making a deal with a demon is by far the worst decision I could ever make. But so would allowing Ryleigh to remain a demon prisoner, used for trafficking and who knows what other purposes.
“All right, I’ll keep my mouth shut and stay out of The Illuminating Horror House of Truth.” For now, anyway. If I find out he’s lying, though, all deals are off. I also don’t bother mentioning that Hunter and Evan already know, since they overheard the other demon talking to me. If he knew that, he might not have made the deal.
“Good.” He removes his hand from my cheek as he gracefully leaps to his feet. “Now, all we have to do is kiss on it.”
I blink up at him stupidly. “Heck to the no way am I kissing you!”
His eyes glimmer mischievously. “One little kiss on the lips to seal the deal, or no deal at all.”
“You’re a sick, twisted, demon, perv freak!”
“And you’re about to kiss me, so what does that make you?” His brow pops up, his lips tugging upward into a cocky grin.
“I’m not that great of a kisser,” I continue to protest. Which is sort of the truth, I guess. I mean, I’ve never kissed anyone, so I don’t really know …
My gaze roams over toward Hunter, who’s distracted by the ugly demon sticking his tongue out at him. Relief washes over me that he’s not listening to this embarrassing and kind of disgusting conversation going down.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” The sexy demon kneels in front of me. “So, do we have a deal? Or, should I take off and let your sister continue to rot in the underground tunnels?”
Grr … Curse all demons and their evil tricks!
“Fine. One peck on the cheek.” I fold my arms and cross my legs, refusing to act as if I’m enjoying it.
“Nope.” He shakes his head. “It has to be on the lips.”
“Says who?”
“Says the person you’re making the deal with.”
My hands once again ball into fists. “Fine.” Then, to make things really unpleasant, I pucker my lips like a fish.
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