Free A Witch's Trial (Witch's Path Series: Book 3) by N. E. Conneely Page A

figure out what to say. I'd wanted him to experience life after spending so many years buried under pain, but I hadn't tried to change him. None of my actions had been focused on making him into someone else.  
    "You cannot see it?"
    "No, I can't. I don't know how to be what you need." My voice broke.  
    "Be you."
    Looking at him, I smiled softly. "I can be me."  
    He closed his eyes, and I trailed my fingers up and down his arm. We sat like that as I tried to understand why he'd come to me. It had been days since I'd seen him, and Landa had told me he wasn't doing well. As pale as he was, I would've guessed he'd sequestered himself inside the lodge if not for the fact that his boots were dirt stained and there were grass smudges on the knees of his pants.
    As the minutes slipped away, his color improved and the harsh lines on his face relaxed. At some point I drifted off, comforted by his presence and relieved that this part of my life wasn't broken beyond repair. He was still my friend.  
    "You shouldn't think so hard."
      I flinched, his voice pulling me out of the relaxing half-asleep thing I'd been doing. "What?"
    Elron lifted his hand and rested a finger between my eyebrows. "You get a wrinkle right here."  
    "Oh."  
    He trailed his fingers down the side of my face before dropping his hand on his chest. "Alas, I am going to give you more reasons to have that wrinkle. I think there is more to the diary, more you need to know."
    I tilted my head, curious now.
    Elron sat up and turned to face me. "The note to me was more than absolution; 'twas insurance. Sylvia knew few elves other than myself would understand the importance of what she penned. Many of us were told stories of demons as children, but even when I was a child they were more fantasy than reality. After Sylvia and I married, she told me her mother insisted that demons had at one point been real. My opinion then was that while I was sure there was some truth to the stories, expecting them to be firmly based in reality was ridiculous." He swallowed, a faraway expression on his face. "Sylvia shook her head and said that, according to her mother, the stories were more truth than fiction. At the time, I just agreed as I didn't wish to argue. We never spoke of it again."
    I nodded and tried to relax even as my stomach knotted.
    "The story I was told as a child went something like this. Back when the earth was young and less civilized, many evil entities roamed the land. They were known as demons. As time went on, it became apparent that the demons were only capable of brutalizing and subjugating other races. Entire villages were destroyed by these creatures.
    "Although not all the races coexisted in harmony, representatives from all corners of the world met. During this meeting, they decided the world needed to be purged of the demons. To further that end, a group was formed. The Hunters were comprised of the smartest, strongest, and fiercest from each race. Few survived being a Hunter, though many people still chose to serve after seeing demon's atrocities. Eventually, the Hunters were unable to find any more demons and they disbanded. They were the only ones who knew the secrets of killing demons, and their practices were never committed to paper." Elron looked me in the eye. "The information is believed to have died with the last Hunter."
    I cleared my throat. "How long ago were the Hunters disbanded?"
    "I don't know. My parents were old when I was born, thousands of years old, and they didn't believe demons were real."
    I sat there and wallowed. Someone had known how to kill demons, but if all the Hunters were dead and they hadn't left any records behind, their secrets were gone with them. "But demons can be killed?"
    "So the story says."  
    "Does the story have any hints as to how to go about it?"
    "I told it to you as it was told to me. I have no additional information on how to capture, contain, or kill a demon."  
    I patted his hand. "It still helps.