by Rhys Lawless
“So, Mr. Rawthorne.” Graham addressed me before I could talk to Lloyd who was approaching us. “You’re a witch after all.”
Coming from him, it felt like an insult when it should have felt like a badge of honor. Yes, I knew the irony of being made to kill my own kind. I wasn’t stupid. It didn’t mean it gave Graham any right to judge me.
“I guess I am,” I said, matching his tone, challenging him to say or do anything stupid.
Instead of doing any of that, he smirked.
“Now that we know, I can teach you,” he offered.
Before I even got a chance to tell him I’d rather be fucked by a tree and have my cock blown by a rose bush, Caleb said something simpler, but with far more authority than my insult would have achieved.
“Not a bloody chance.”
“Wade, the guys are helping out the wounded familiars, but is there anything you want me to do?” Lloyd asked, seemingly ignoring the new part of my identity.
I looked behind him at the small group of hunters that were offering water or medical assistance to the wolves that had turned back to human form despite their lacerations and bruises.
It shouldn’t have been just them out there doing what was needed. I wanted to be among them. It was the least I could do. But I couldn’t leave Caleb alone. Not when I had almost lost him too.
“Help the humans out of their cars and into safety,” I said. “Help anyone you can. I need to make sure Caleb is okay and then I’ll join you.”
Lloyd nodded and left, and I took Caleb to the edge of the bridge so he could sit with his back against the side. I spotted Winston in the middle with a weak, but very much alive, Hew in his arms, next to Christian’s dead body. Or at least, I hoped it was dead. I couldn’t even begin to imagine having to fight that asshole again. Not now. Not ever.
“Do you have a spell that can help?” I asked, bringing my attention back to Caleb.
He fiddled with his gauntlets and handed me a green stone.
“This,” he said.
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“I’m too weak to cast anything. You can help, though.”
I knew what he was implying, but I didn’t know if I was ready. I barely knew how to use my natural power, how on earth was I supposed to cast a spell?
I shook my head in response, but Caleb wasn’t having it. He squeezed my fist around the spell and looked me in the eyes.
“You can do this. I can walk you through it.”
I wanted to protest and tell him there were dozens more witches more qualified than me to do this, but a part of me was intrigued by all of this.
“Close your eyes,” he ordered, and the command with the mix of the spell in my hand was enough to wake little Wade in my pants.
So not the right time, dude. So not the right time.
“Now let the energy of the spell flow through you. It’s like a pulse. The stone should feel like a heartbeat. Feel it. Hear it. Let it match yours,” Caleb whispered close to my ear.
I concentrated on the heat in my hand. The heat made by my tightening fist. Or so I thought. The heat didn’t just pulse, it felt radiant. As if I was holding the sun in my hand and I was about to burn. The energy traveled up my arm, giving me goosebumps, and down to my groin, only making my cock harder and my knees weaker.
All of a sudden, I felt a rhythm in my ear. I couldn’t hear it, but it felt like a throbbing on my drums. A throbbing that pounded against me until it was the only thing I could concentrate on.
“Good. Very good. Now say ‘cura.’” Caleb’s breath on my ear was the only reason why I heard what he said.
I thought it before I spoke it, and when my mouth uttered the words, it felt as if I’d opened a secret door to the end of the universe. The coolness chilled my body like a bucket of ice water that washed off me, and I felt it pushing through my hands onto Caleb.
When I opened my eyes, it was just in the nick of time to see the dust settling on his skin before it got absorbed into his pores. In an instant, the color returned to his face, and his eyes looked more vibrant than ever.
“You did it!” he said and hugged me.
I had done it. I’d performed my first, official spell. I was a witch after all. But, what did that mean about me? About my family. About my mom. About my dad…
“Don’t worry,” Caleb said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I know.”
Together, I added, not sure if he could hear it.
Together, he said back.
I had truly healed him. It was impossible to believe. I was a witch and I’d healed my boyfriend.
“Let’s go home,” Caleb said, and I couldn’t agree more.
It was time to go home to our little tribe.
Demon Heart has come to a finish, but Wade’s and Caleb’s adventures continue in Vampire Heart.
What’s next for the couple? How will Wade deal with his new-found witch identity? What will happen with the High Council? And is Christian really dead?
Find out in Vampire Heart, Book 3 of the Blade & Dust series! Pre-order your copy now.
A Letter from Rhys
I hope you enjoyed Demon Heart and the continuing adventures of Wade, Caleb, and their tribe.
Demon Heart is probably my favorite book I have written to-date. I wasn’t sure, initially, if I wanted to go this big on the second installment, but considering most series or trilogies suffer in the second book, I knew I had nothing to lose. I’m aware a lot of you are curious about the mythology behind many of the Nightcrawler species or the BLADE force, but I have purposefully kept certain things off the page because there’s so much that I didn’t want to bore you with. I also didn’t want to write myself into a corner creatively so I could have more freedom to do other series or standalones set in the same world.
I had a lot of “surprise” characters pop up on the pages during the writing process of this book as well that have inspired me. I’m not going to tell you my favorite side characters, but if you want to see a certain character’s story on page, you can email me, message me, or shout it from the rooftops, and your wish may just come true.
But before I delve into any other books, it’s time for Caleb and Wade to face more enemies and have a pickle or two to get out of.
Demon Heart was probably the easiest book to write in the series, or possibly ever, I think, partly because I had an almost clear vision of what I wanted to happen after Killer Heart, and mainly because once I had the plot down, I didn’t have the time to worry if it was good enough or not. I just had to write it.
Let me explain.
Sometimes, I will book all my slots with my editor in one go. Victoria, my wonderful creature who perseveres through all my rough manuscripts and manages to come out unscathed, is a busy woman, so if I want to use her, I need to book her in advance.
I find doing that also helps give me a deadline to finish the book and work backwards from that.
Well, guess what happened?
Killer Heart took longer to edit because it was mainly dictated and mixed in with life (why do I never account for life’s distractions?) and I ended up with two weeks to spare before the completed manuscript had to be in her hands.
So what did I do?
Booked myself away for four days in a remote hotel so I could get some serious progress made. I finished pretty much the entire book in those four days. Writing it from dawn to dusk, in my hotel room, at breakfast, at the bar, in the lobby, then back in the room.
It was a great experience, although rather exhausting, as you can imagine. If I learned one thing from it, it’s that I can write fast and my creativity is not restricted by stress or pressure. Isn’t that great?
I will admit I almost had a nervous breakdown with the number of deadlines and responsibilities, and for that reason, I did have to push the editing slot for book 3 back by a couple of months.
While I could write every day and not give a damn about anything else, the pressure of everything that surro
unds both a day job and publishing can become too much. So another valuable lesson learned. Don’t push myself over my limits.
I’m glad I re-scheduled my editing slot and have given myself some breathing room because it allowed me to put some distance between the works (and do lots of admin), which gave me a better perspective over the direction of the series.
Vampire Heart is the next book in the series, and it’s out on January 31st, 2020, so I hope you’re ready.
If you want to get more and frequent updates about what I’m up to, then make sure to join my Facebook group Rhys Everly After.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/everlyafter/
If you’re not a social media kind of person, then you can always sign up to my newsletter (which goes out monthly) and this is where I make all my big announcements. Don’t forget, you also get the free short set in the Blade & Dust universe, Foxy Heart, when you do.
Sign up here by clicking here.
I can’t wait to hear what you thought of Demon Heart.
See you in the next book.
Rhys Lawless
December 2019
About the Author
Rhys writes gay romance. He has been writing since the tender age of 11 and hasn’t really stopped since.
He publishes urban fantasy and paranormal romance under the pen name Rhys Lawless and contemporary sweet and steamy romances under Rhys Everly.
Rhys currently lives in London, UK with his husband and their 12-year-old puppy.
You can find out more about him and his works-in-progress by joining his Facebook group or visiting his website rhyswritesromance.com
Index
Avalis - Goddess/Demon of Compassion. An empath creature who can only be invoked by an empath witch, by mating with another being in a ritual of blood and sex.
Blade - a witch hunter’s sword. Also slang term for a witch hunter.
BLADE force - the task force of witch hunters whose sole purpose is to find and eliminate witches.
Coven - a group of witches, usually based on geographical location.
Crown Jewels - Powerful spells kept in the Tower of London and guarded by the seven raven familiars under the Queen’s command.
Cyclops - A Nightcrawler species descended from giants.
Demon - a higher entity with unimaginable power. Term is interchangeable with God/dess.
Dhampir - A very rare Nightcrawler species. Energy vampires.
Dust - The effect of a spell being cast which in turn turns to residue. It fades off after a certain time, depending on the strength of the spell.
Ealistair - God/Demon of War. Has been trapped under the ley lines for thousands of years. Can be invoked by sacrificing 5 powerful witches at key points of magical convergence in London.
Empathy - the ability to feel the emotions of others.
Familiar - a shifter. Protectors of witches. They bond and mate for life with witches who they are destined to protect.
Green Mile - A pub where humans aware of the paranormal world meet and mingle with Nightcrawlers.
High Council - the governing body of a coven.
High Priest/ess - a member of the high council.
Ignition - The process of awakening a witch’s powers, including their natural power and their spell casting abilities.
Incubus - A Nightcrawler species that feeds off sex. If you get an Incubus to fall for you, then you’ve found a partner for life. Plus, great sex forever. A female incubus is called succubus.
Lacing - the process of mixing energy with a physical object.
Mated App - An app for Nightcrawlers. Primarily used for familiars to find their mates, but also used for hook-ups.
Natural power - a witch’s inherent power that does not require the use of a spell.
Nightcrawler - Paranormal creatures.
Phoenix - a rare and immortal Nightcrawler species that regenerates from their own ashes. They can also heal others by sacrificing part or all of themselves.
Potion - Lesser common use of magic. Usually in liquid form.
Rhafnet - Goddess/Demon of Death. She has been trapped under the ley lines with her husband after her daughter, Avalis, put her there. Can only be invoked by a psychic witch.
Spell - a crystal of various sizes and colours created by alchemy that can be used by witches to perform magical tasks. A spell can be cast by a word or phrase called a spellword.
Spellword - a word or phrase that casts a spell.
The Crow - Nightcrawler and Witch pub.
Tower of London - Primarily a safe place for powerful spells. Secondarily, a ley line instersection.
Troll - Earth Nightcrawlers with immense strength. They are a secretive species and not much is known about them other than they are the strongest species of Nightcrawlers.
Vampire - A Nightcrawler species that feeds off blood.
Xtasy - supernatural and human club in Soho, frequented by a primarily queer population.