Free A Stake With a View (You Are The Worst Witch! Goodbye!) (A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Book 6) by Starla Silver

Stricker insisted she’d been in no danger and would not be traded. Only used to entice…
    Eva was sure to remind Stricker and the Feyk that she hadn’t yet told them where the power source was supposed to be located, just in case they got any ideas. She did not want her soul traded as part of some trick on their part… she was bait only.
    Of course, the Hunter already knew the location of the source as well. It didn’t give her much to bargain with, should the Feyk decide to turn on her. So she also reminded Stricker that she was the only living person that had read the Howard’s diary.
    “You know,” he scowled after her third reminder. “We made a bargain. I do not break bargains. And I’m well aware of how valuable your knowledge is.”
    She didn’t like the way he said this. There were subtle hints of threat in his tone.
    “Sir, sir,” a voice called out.
    Stricker turned to see one of his cohorts running into the fort. “Yes.”
    “We’ve figured it out. Broken the witches spell. We can open the door to release the Hunter.” Like Stricker, there was a hint of slither in his tone as he spoke.
    The Feyk leader licked his lips as if he could taste their success.
    It was time to call the Hunter.
    He ordered a few of his Feyk to various parts of the Isle, to keep an eye out for the Howards and keep the locals focused on the sightings, and told those remaining behind to ready themselves. He motioned for Eva to join him. She did, though somewhat hesitantly.
    “Don’t worry,” he buzzed. “Once we tell the Hunter we can free him, he will not care about collecting your soul.”
    “I hope you’re aware that it won’t be as easy as just freeing Jack Howard? The witches will put up a fight. And I would not underestimate them.”
    “I’ve already got the perfect time bomb waiting to explode,” he blathered triumphantly. “One that will solve more than one of our problems.”
    Eva nodded and moved to the center of a circle. The Feyk began to chant around her. Their chant called to the Hunter, offering a soul in return for his presence. Eva gulped, her throat thick with tension as she waited breathlessly. If the Feyk tricked her and the Hunter collected her soul, she’d never avenge her father’s death. Never mind her mother’s death, the reason she’d come to the damn island to begin with.
    The Soul Hunter arrived much faster than she expected.
    Swirling streams of ink-colored veils encircled her body and once again she found her body weakened and unable to move; the Hunter ready to claim her soul. Terrifying sounds stabbed at her ears. Wailing. Shrieking. Sorrowful moans that filled every fiber of her being with an icy fear.
    The Hunter never fully materialized, always moving, never stopping, never solid. And yet its presence consumed her and chilled her to the bone. Her heart squeezed in her chest, pounding heavily against her skin.
    This had better go as Stricker planned.
    The Feyk leader spoke to the Hunter in a language she’d never heard before and didn’t understand. It sounded like fast clicking and clucking, none of which made any sense.
    Stricker clapped his hands together. “Magnificent!”
    “We have a deal?” questioned Eva.
    “All too easy really,” he said.
    The pressure surrounding Eva lessened, the black streams dissolving. The Hunter disappeared as quickly as it had come.
    “That was… fast,” she spoke breathlessly, her body and soul freed of the Hunter’s icy grasp.
    “You almost sounded grateful when you said that,” Stricker noted.
    “Have you ever had your soul on the verge of being sucked out of your body? Oh right… you don’t have one, do you?”
    Stricker grinned in devilish approval. “I’d dare say you barely have one yourself my dear.”
    Eva stumbled, her strength waning. Even just a moment under the Hunter’s spell, her energy had lessened. The vampire blood still stuck in her veins heightened the effect. She pushed away a Feyk attempting to assist