Page 7 of The Monster's Desire

I’ll reevaluate those feelings, depending on what happens next. The painful throb that rips through my temple as my eyes flutter open does make me vaguely consider it again.

The low, echoing tone of chanting draws my attention to a few feet away. Kash kneels in a red pentagram that I’m pretty sure he drew with my blood.

That asshole.

The tune of summoning, combined with the flickering of candles, points to the fact this day has taken a turn for the worse.

“Malice, I beseech you,” Kash says before continuing his lovely moaning and mumbling to call a motherfucking demon.

My mind races as I try to figure out how the hell I messed up so badly. This isn’t good. My head rolls around as I try to formulate an escape plan. It needs to be easily accomplished, and it needs to happen now, which isn’t looking so hot.

I’m seeing double and my vision is blurry. The pounding in my skull doesn’t help with thinking rationally. My chest rises and falls in rapid movements as ice seems to slide through my veins. Trying to stay quiet, I suck in a shallow breath. If he notices I’m awake, then he might try to knock me out again.

Being conscious might give me the opportunity to save myself.

Demons in the human realm are one thing. They have incentive to play by the rules and behave, so they won’t get sent back to Hell. Those who are summoned are a completely different story. They’re still essentially feral, or that’s what I’ve heard.

I’m in real trouble here. No one knows I’m with him. He’s part of the council that investigates supernatural crimes. If I go missing, then they could theoretically assign him to my case.Yeah, it’s no great wonder there why it would never be solved.

My only hope is that Nan is seeing this. Once the conflict with Emerson settles down, I’m sure she’ll send someone to save me. She might be having a vision of me right now.

Why the hell didn’t she foresee this happening?

Haven has too much shit going on. Then there’s the fact that seers don’t get to choose their visions or what’s shown to them. It really is a terrible magic to have.

No matter how dark the price I’ll have to pay, I won’t allow myself to be a prize exchanged to a demon for immortality.

Witches and warlocks aren’t meant to live for an eternity. It’s too long of a life, and our powers grow out of control, corrupting the mind. The more I think on it, the likelier it seems this isn’t Kash’s first summoning.

“How many lives have you traded to keep that youthful exterior?” I croak. Damn, my mouth is dry, and my throat aches with even that short question.

Crap, I was supposed to stay covert and plan my escape. Why does everything feel muted and fuzzy?

My shadows form around me, soaking up every drop of my spilled blood.

Confusion rattles around my throbbing brain as I try to determine how this is going to work. My magic reabsorbs any blood I spill and converts it into energy. So, if Kash is summoning a demon, as I suspect he is, then I have no idea how he managed to keep my blood solid without it dissipating into shadow.

I work with dyes to keep the nature of my magic a secret, but the mixture always has to be used immediately. Maybe that’s what he did—used my blood, mixed with dye, to draw the summoning circle.

I have no idea. There isn’t much accessible information about blood witches these days. Theoretically, he could know something I don’t.

The echoing pop of a portal being opened startles me out of my thoughts. My eyes fly to the glowing white disruption. The smoky red-and-black rings that line the inside indicate that it is, indeed, a portal to Hell.

Crap!

I blink a few times, hoping it’s my fuzzy vision and brain fogginess making me see things that aren’t really there.

Nope.

It’s definitely a portal to Hell.

My luck really isn’t great lately.

I’m not sure what I’ve done to offend the universe or the powers that be, but I’ll be so repentant if I survive this. I’ll be a perfect fertility witch. I won’t grumble when I get calls to help some poor female wolf get pregnant. I won’t complain when an ancient fae asks me to patch up his elderly sperm. I’ll be gleeful in every job necessary to populate the supernatural world.

The first being to exit the portal is nothing more than a smoky mass of dark shadows, and a shiver runs down my spine.

I recognize immediately that it’s a nightmare.