BloodWitchInferno (4 page)

He wondered why none of her family had taught her. Even with
her mother gone someone should have stepped in. “Yes.”

“Could he be the one who took my mother?”

“I doubt it. If your mother conceived she would have enjoyed
the Calling. To conceive a blood-power offspring the spell needs to be powerful
and in the witch’s control.”

“Then I could have gotten pregnant?” she interrupted.

He caught his breath and cursed himself for an idiot. He
hadn’t thought about it. It had been so long since he had been Called he had
forgotten to take precautions.

“I apologize. I should have made sure that wouldn’t happen.
If it does there are spells for that too. Although, if it did happen, it might
be a good thing. There have not been many new blood births since the Betrayal.”

Her eyelashes lowered and her hand stole over her belly. “So
every time there is a Calling it’s to get pregnant?”

“No, many use it only for pleasure, or used to. It even led
to Joinings, the marriage of a blood-witch and demon. But these days most choose
only to use it for conception or not to use it at all, unfortunately. Our
community grows smaller every year and some have found other ways of release.”
He gestured to a small cave visible one level below them. He recognized the two
demons inside as lovers. It was common for demons to join as partners now that
there were not as many Calling rituals performed or Joinings with a blood-witch
partner. Mira leaned over the rail to get a better view. As they watched, the
lovers began kissing.

“Do they know we’re watching?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he said, amused at her reaction. “It makes it more
exciting for them.”

Mira blushed but she didn’t take her eyes off the scene in
front of her.

The shorter of the two was getting down on his knees while
trailing kisses down the other’s shoulder and stomach. Mira gasped when he took
the thick penis of his lover in his mouth and lazily began stroking it with his
tongue and hand. Karnon watched her reaction, lust stirring in his belly,
trying not to become hard. He wondered how isolated she had been in her world
that she seemed like a teenage girl observing her first male-on-male sexual
encounter.

The demon receiving the blowjob threw his head back, his
face filled with ecstasy, his hands raking the top of his lover’s head, griping
his horns. Mira’s breathing became heavy. Karnon clenched his fists, trying not
to stare as her tits moved with her breath, her nipples poking through her
shirt, enticing him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could control his
reaction.

“All rested?”

Mira blinked and looked away from the lovers, blushing.

Karnon held his breath as she brushed against him. Her skin
glowed with sweat. She looked incredibly sexy. He could sense her lust and
before his body betrayed him, he gently pushed her away and walked out of the
vista room.

His attraction to her was becoming stronger. He knew where
he had to take her. Only one had the power to help them now.

Mira’s head pounded. She wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
She had never felt so alive, so sensory. With the exception of the random
glares she received, she was more comfortable here than she had ever been in
her world. Watching those two demons make love had been exhilarating. The only
damper had been Karnon’s reaction. When she touched him, he’d about thrown her
away from him. Was he attracted to her or was the desire he had for her before
only from to the Calling spell? Her body hummed with craving but Karnon had
already disappeared around the corner.

She shook her head to clear it and hurried after him.

They continued walking through the dark tunnels of Hell but
this wasn’t so much a tour as it was a race to get somewhere. Mira’s sensual
yearnings faded as she struggled to keep up with Karnon’s long strides while
casting her sense ability. They headed down, deep into the bowels of the
cavern.

The tunnels widened and became more opulent. The glowing red
rocks were shaped like chandeliers and the obsidian walls gleamed brighter,
almost sparkled. They passed open caves with groups of demons at work or play.
Most of them stopped when they caught sight of Mira. Some saluted Karnon,
others just stared. Karnon ignored them all and kept walking.

“Karnon!”

Karnon waited for the demon who had called his name,
surprising Mira as they had raced by everyone else. This demon was tall with
the same sharp features as Karnon.

“Cronus, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Father. He’s not well. And about Xander, he’s at it
again,” Cronus said. He caught sight of Mira and paused. She reeled back from
his glare. Obviously the illness was not something they wanted her to know.

Karnon glanced at Mira and gestured her to an empty enclave
with a bench and table.

She sat down at the table. Karnon and his brother moved down
the tunnel just out of sight. Whatever his older brother Cronus wanted to talk
to Karnon about it was a private family matter. Why would it bother them if she
knew Satan was sick? Maybe they thought she was a spy? But Karnon should trust
her by now as her lack of experience was painfully apparent. She examined the
table in front of her, made from the same obsidian as everything else. She
looked closer and caught sparkles of light scattered throughout the material.
So lovely.

After watching the sparkles for a time, she grew bored and
turned her attention to practicing her sense ability.

She reached out and was slammed back by the power. A
chilling presence lingered nearby, one that brought memories of that night
rushing back.

She staggered out of her seat.

“Karnon?” she whispered, but he was still far down the
tunnel, deep in conversation. He wouldn’t hear her. The aura faded. She couldn’t
lose it now. She tiptoed in the direction it came from, away from Karnon and
his brother. The presence strengthened again and she paused, unsure. It began
to fade again and desperately she charged after it. She could not lose it after
getting so close.

She followed it through twists and turns and it grew
stronger. Uncertain, Mira slowed, sniffing the air. The atmosphere was acrid,
the walls around her duller than before. Her heart beating rapidly, she turned
around to tell Karnon what she had found.

A demon stepped out of the shadows in front of her.

“So you are the one following me,” he said, his voice
slithering over her.

She opened her mouth to yell but he was beside her, gripping
her by the wrists and covering her mouth.

“Now, now. None of that, my little blood-witch.”

Up close the resemblance to Karnon was clear, except his
dark eyes were colder and his expression meaner. She struggled in his grip and
bit down on his hand.

“Bitch!” he cursed.

She inhaled to scream as his fist smashed into her temple.

A Circle of Witches

“Xander has been on Father to name a heir. He’s really
stressing the old man out.” Cronus paced in front of Karnon, his expression
concerned.

“Have you talked to him?”

“I tried, but you know Xander, slippery as always. Says some
simpering thing like ‘he just wants to be there for his father.’”

“Well maybe he does,” Karnon said.

“He doesn’t give a shit about our father!” Cronus whirled to
face Karnon. “If he cared he wouldn’t be adding stress to his state.”

“That bad?” Karnon willed it not to be true.

“I’m afraid so. This illness is nothing like anything our
medicine man has seen before.”

“I’ll talk to Xander. I just have to take care of something
first.”

“Be careful with her,” Cronus said. “With our leader
weakened it’s a dangerous time for a witch, and anyone who brought her here.”

“You worry about taking care of Father. I can take care of
myself,” Karnon said.

“Your funeral.” Cronus saluted his brother and stalked off.
Karnon shook his head. He couldn’t believe Xander was pressuring their father
to name an heir, not allowing Satan to rest when he needed it most. It was time
to have a long talk with Xander.

“Damn it, where did she disappear to?” Karnon stood in the
empty enclave, Cronus’ warning echoing in his head. He had to find that
blood-witch before she got into serious trouble.

He cursed again and stalked through the tunnels. What had he
shown her? Something must have caught her interest and she’d probably gone back
to check it out. He began to retrace their steps.

* * * * *

Mira was sure her brain was going to punch out of her skull.
She opened her eyes. They watered from the intense pain at her temple.
Disoriented, she sat up and then regretted it as the room spun around her. She
moaned and buried her head in her hands.

“And my sleeping beauty wakes up.”

A cold voice floated out of the darkness. Mira raised her
head again.

“Where am I?” she whispered.

The owner of the voice shifted into view. In the low red
light his sharp face and corded, muscled neck were terrifying. Mira swallowed.
His smile became predatory.

“Now what’s a tasty morsel like you doing wandering through
the halls?”

“You’re Karnon’s brother.”

That made him pause. He watched her.

She felt a dim ray of hope. “He’ll be looking for me, you
know.”

The demon threw back his head and laughed. Mira shrank back
from the sound.

“My foolish witch, Karnon has never guessed what I have been
busy with for some time. What makes you think he would even think to look for
you here?”

“Let me go.”

He stepped forward. “That I can’t let you do. I have worked
too hard and waited too long for this. I will not have some blood-witch on the
loose to mess it up.” Xander looked at her scornfully. “I would not try to
escape.”

He leaned closer, his heavy breath on her face. She cringed.

“For I can do things to you that will make you understand
the true meaning of the word ‘hell’,” he hissed.

Mira trembled.

“Now come. I will add you to my collection of pretties.”

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. She winced in
pain, her head still pounding from the earlier blow, and faltered. He slapped
her. Shocked, she put one hand up to her cheek where it burned.

“Move, you lazy bitch!”

Bowing her head, she stumbled in the direction he pulled,
her eyes teary. He muttered something. A tunnel appeared in the same way it had
in Karnon’s room. Grunting, Xander pushed her through it.

At the room on the other end, Mira caught her breath,
horrified. Almost a dozen women in various stages of starvation lay scattered
in heaps on the floor. Some looked up listlessly when they entered. Most didn’t
move.

“Ladies, welcome the newest member of our family.”

He leered at Mira, who flushed. Xander paused and his eyes
became unfocused, as if he listened to something only he could hear.

He snapped back to attention. “Well, it looks like our fun
will have to be postponed. I have work to do.” He grabbed Mira and shoved her
to the floor.

She cried out in pain as she struck the hard stone floor.
None of the women reacted.

“No one is to speak to her. I command it,” he said, pointing
around the room.

Mira shivered from the surge of power from his words.

He smiled, bending down to tweak her nipples. “I think I am
going to enjoy you.”

She pushed his hands away. He growled and slapped her again,
harder than the last time. Pain exploded behind her eyes.

“You will not disobey me!”

She whimpered.

“I will be back to finish this.” He stalked out the tunnel,
his threat lingering behind him. The entrance closed, leaving a smooth wall.

Mira was trapped.

She covered her breasts with her hands as tears gathered at
the corners of her eyes, and began to shake, the pain from his blows still
fresh.

She clenched her fists. She would just have to escape before
he got back. She searched for any sign of hope or help from her fellow
prisoners but there was nothing. She tried not to gag at the sight of ribs
sticking out under shrunken breasts and skin stretched taut against meatless
bones. How were these women still alive?

She explored the small cave of her prison, picking her way
around the limp bodies. A loose scattering of throw pillows on the floor showed
a poor attempt at comfort. No windows or doors, at least none visible to the
naked eye. She ran her fingers down the place Xander had exited but the smooth
walls gave nothing away.

Mira crouched next to a small woman with black skin and dull
eyes. Probably in her early twenties, although hard to tell with the
prematurely aged face and stretched and ashy skin.

“How long have you been like this?” Mira asked.

The witch stared back with eyes that didn’t focus.

“Can you really not speak to me?”

The witch reached out a hand. Mira held out hers, unsure.

“Ow!” Mira jerked away after the girl’s teeth sank into her
palm. Another witch, older with graying hair, tottered over. She shook her head
at the dark girl and gently slapped the hand away from Mira.

“Thank you,” Mira said, rubbing her hand. The bite had not
been strong enough to do any damage—it had barely left a mark. The young witch
smacked her lips, chewing imaginary food. The older woman sank back to the
ground, breathing heavily from the exertion. She mimed fingers to lips,
indicating the girl was just hungry.

“He doesn’t feed you and he keeps you here. How are you all
still alive?”

The witch tapped her chest and pantomimed horns on her head.

“Xander keeps you alive?”

A nodded response.

“How long have you been here?”

The worn expression told Mira it had been very long time.

“How long has she been here?” Mira pointed at the girl who
had bitten her. It was indicated they both had been there for the same amount
of time.

“But you are older than her?”

The older witch shrugged and pantomimed horns again.

“So you don’t age here?”

The witch shook her head.

Mira’s heart pounded. That meant these women could have been
here for years—no, decades. “Is there one here named Selena?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. Mira swallowed her eagerness,
trying to keep her expression neutral as she was stared down. A tingling
sensation caused the hair on her arms to stand up. She was being prodded by
something, a weak magic, as if a hundred caterpillars crawled over her skin. It
withdrew and the witch’s expression lightened. She lifted one hand and pointed.
Mira followed the line of her finger. In the corner there was a body. Dazed,
Mira picked her way over and looked down at the remains of her mother.

“Mommy?”

* * * * *

Karnon chewed his lip. He had searched everywhere and still
no sign of Mira. It shouldn’t take this long to find her. If he got close
enough to her, he should sense her presence, but so far, nothing, which meant
she was either very far away or behind a closed cave. Absorbed in his thoughts
he nearly ran into his brother, who was hurrying the opposite direction.

“Xander! I’ve been meaning to speak with you.”

Xander flicked a glance at him. “I’m late for something, can
it wait?”

Karnon sensed Xander’s impatience as well as something deeper.
Fear? Annoyed, he stepped close to Xander, struggling to rein in his temper.

“On your way to see our father?”

Xander slunk a step away. Karnon had always disliked that
about his brother. Xander was passive-aggressive, he was never straight with
Karnon.

“Go easy on him, okay?” Karnon asked.

“Cronus needs to watch his mouth. You know, he’s the one who’s
strutting around like he’s the favorite for succession. I want to make sure our
father isn’t fooled into making a hasty decision, considering how delicate he
is,” Xander snapped.

Karnon stared at his brother, unsure what to think. This was
why he didn’t want to be the next Satan. He hated politics, it brought out the
worst in everyone. He wasn’t good at playing sneaky games.

“Well whatever Cronus is doing you both need to back off,”
Karnon said after a long pause. “Also maybe you can help me. I brought a
blood-witch back with me and now she’s disappeared. You didn’t pass anything
strange recently, did you?”

Xander’s eyes were flat and cold. “No, I didn’t. What were
you thinking, bringing one of those here?”

Karnon ran his fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t exactly
thinking.”

Xander smirked, a knowing look on his face. Karnon wanted to
punch him.

“Well, guess you better get going. Don’t want to be too late
for that meeting. I’m going to keep searching,” Karnon said and turned to
leave.

“Don’t bother. There’s nothing that way,” Xander said.

“You sure?”

“Come to think about it, I did hear a rumor about some
disturbance on Level Four,” Xander said, snapping his fingers. “Come on, it’s
on the way to my meeting. I’ll walk with you.”

Karnon hesitated. As much as he disliked the idea, walking
with Xander would give him a chance to talk some sense into him about their
father. And if there really was a disturbance up on Level Four he would bet his
horns that his damn blood-witch was behind it.

* * * * *

Mira stroked her unconscious mother’s hair, holding her in
her arms. Tears threatened and she willed herself to be strong. At least her
mother still lived, even if barely. Although much thinner and sickly pale, Mira
recognized the snub nose and small birthmark on the left cheek. Her mother
appeared prematurely aged but not as old as the added twenty years since Mira
had stumbled into the attic on that fateful night.

“Mommy, what has he done to you?” Mira rocked her mother,
ignoring the curious glances from a few of the other women in the room.

Her mother was unresponsive. Mira waited for any sign of
consciousness. It wasn’t fair! She had come all this way just to find her
mother almost dead. She wanted to scream and shake her into action. Trying to
contain her tremors, she lowered her mother back down to the ground. In the pit
of her stomach electricity bubbled. Magic called her, dared her to use it.

Shaky, she stood up, lowered her head and closed her eyes,
putting her hands over her belly, struggling to keep the power from exploding
out of her. She wasn’t sure what would happen and if it would harm to the poor
prisoners around her. Looking at her mother limp on the floor, her skin began
to glow and heat raced through her veins. Mira breathed in and out, her
awareness clouding, the view beneath her eyelids becoming red. She was losing
her grip. It pushed, insistent, wanting to be released.

Then, through the fog of anger, another presence tugged at
her. She opened her eyes. The older witch stared at her, drawing Mira’s
attention away from her internal struggle. Mira stared back. The two woman, one
emaciated and old, the other young and vibrant with life, locked eyes. The air
crackled between them. The heat inside Mira’s body responded to the older
witch. It was calming, fading. Mira took one last breath and the sense of
needing to release the magic inside her faded, ebbing to a dull ache in her
stomach.

The older witch tottered and swayed, her face expressing
wonderment. Mira rushed to her side, sidestepping the other women on the floor
whose attentions suddenly focused on them. As Mira held up the older woman,
supporting her, she felt a shift in the atmosphere. All the witches, besides
her unconscious mother, watched her and their eyes betrayed something.

She caught her breath as she realized it was hope.

If only she could communicate with them.

“Can someone write?” she asked the group. “Write words in
the ground to talk to me?”

The witch shook her head, making the sign for Xander again.

“So he’s controlling all communication then?”

The witch nodded and then made more gestures.

“But you can sign with me?”

The witch flexed her skinny arm and pointed at herself.

“You’re strong?”

Her friend nodded, flexing again and waving a hand at the
rest of the room.

“Stronger than all of them?”

The witch pointed at Mira’s mother and shook her head.

“Not as strong as Serena?”

Mira got an affirmative nod. The others gathered around
them, paying close attention. Mira tried to ignore the heavy stench of
unwashed, naked bodies and the uncomfortable sense that she was surrounded by
skeletons.

“What happened to my mother?”

From the witch’s pantomimes it appeared that Xander had beaten
Mira’s mother until she passed out. The rage started to grow again. The older
woman put one hand on Mira’s chest and smiled. The rage subsided.