Free Wicked Demons 2 by Reece Vita Asher Page B

ginger-haired man grinned, slipping the
knife back into a small sheath. His lips were a bit crooked, and
something knowledgeable entered his expression.
    In a strained voice, he said, "Of course. We
only want you. Come, and I will leave him be."
    Her eyes shifted from the man to Toryn and
back again quickly, not wanting to lose sight of the bastard for a
second.
    Why did he want her? And who was the "we" he
was speaking of? Andi didn't really want to go anywhere with this
man, not even on a bad first date in public, with good lighting and
an armed guard. She didn't plan on taking one step by his side, but
she also had to try to save Toryn, who was looking, to be honest,
like crushed ass at the moment.
    "You'll leave him alone if I go with you? Not
just for today, but always?"
    He held one hand over the wound across his
sweaty, solid six pack, and outstretched the other, gesturing to
Andi. "Would I wish to stir the beast once more when the beauty
already walks at my side?"
    Andi crinkled her nose. "That was a real
skeazy way of saying yes."
    Laughing lightly, he dropped his arm and
stared at the blood seeping from his wound.
    Toryn was roused by the noise and struggled
to stand up. "He is a hunter. Witchcraft is in his veins."
    "Yes," the man answered. "Do you wish to burn
me at the stake?"
    Looking at the poor condition Toryn was in,
she nodded her head. "Right about now? Undoubtedly."
    He laughed again, but stopped when he noticed
the blood running smoother and quicker from his body.
    Andi stepped closer. "I can help you with
that."
    "No," Toryn growled.
    Raising a flat palm in Toryn's direction to
quiet him, Andi closed the distance between her and their foe.
    Looking into his deep set eyes, she
whispered, "Heat fixes everything." Laying her hands across his
chest and stomach, she called on that boiling darkness within. The
one that came so easily to her in the woods. And it answered.
    The heat lashed out through her palms and he
began to whimper, though the pain of fire beneath his flesh built
his moans and protests into a scream before he could prepare
himself to hold it back. Andi was scared that he would draw
attention from the neighbors and hurriedly let go.
    "Leave!" she yelled. "But know that next time
I won't give you this choice." As the man, who now looked younger
than he had a second ago, met her gaze with a mixture of fear, awe,
and determination, she implored more gently, "Please, don't come
back."
    Saying something under his breath that she
couldn't understand, he closed his eyes and fell backwards,
disappearing before he hit the hard earth beneath.
    "What. The. Hell?" Andi's lungs felt too
enormous for her chest after her muscled relaxed from the stress.
Spinning to face Toryn, she said, "Shit that was loud. We need to
get inside before my neighbors call the police."
    Just as she shoved Toryn up the back steps to
the porch, she heard a shuffle and turned to find her elderly
neighbor peeking out her back door.
    "It's okay, Mrs. Rebowsky!" Andi reassured
her.
    "What was that? It scared me so bad, I almost
lost my wig." She fidgeted with the short salt-and-pepper wig atop
her head.
    Mrs. Rebowsky was the beloved neighbor of the
entire block, if not for her sweet demeanor, then for the humor her
neighbors found in her absolute candor.
    "Raccoons, Mrs. Rebowsky. Pesky, big ones! No
worries, though. I scared them away. Good night!"
    The older woman began shuffling back into her
home. "They must have been the size of the boil on my late
husband's hump to make such a ruckus!" she noted, before closing
the door behind herself.
    Andi was thrilled that Mrs. Rebowsky went
inside with very little prompting. It enabled her to turn her
attention back on Toryn. Spouting off anything that entered her
mind as she helped him limp to the back door, she said, "The next
time you finally decide to visit, don't bring unwanted witches
along. I don't know how you do it in your world... Actually, I do.
And that's not how we do it here