Witch Infernal (Infernal Hunt Book 3) (23 page)

"What did you, what was…?" I managed to ask.
 

She frowned and looked at me a minute before she said
,
"Oh! Well, that was magic. Quin helped, it seems he has some interesting skills. He was more acting as battery for me
,
as his skills are so new and raw.”

I nodded as though I had some idea what she was talking about.
 

She laughed. “Let’s get home.”

We were herded into a big black car; Elise headed to another vehicle somewhere. I curled up with Lysander, my head on his warm chest, his arm around me. He was safe.
 

I thanked Felix again for his help. Lycans weren't quite the beasts I'd originally thought. It stung a little to see how my views were evolving
,
but I shrugged it off. The new flat felt odd. Kadrix and Quin were already there. Quin was lying on the sofa with a blanket over him
.
 

I stroked his hair
.
"Are you ok?"

He smiled. "I'll survive."

"You should be very proud of him
,
Evelyn. He helped Elise with very old, very powerful magic
,
“ Kadrix called from the kitchen.

I scowled at him. "I am very proud of him
,
and I don't appreciate you insinuating otherwise."

He smirked at me. "I see you finally had your mating rituals."

I rolled my eyes and led Lysander to the bath with the jets.
 

"Dinner will be twenty minutes."
 

"Thank you
,
Kadrix,” I called back.

The jets on the bath were wonderful. My muscles relaxed, some of the aches and pains vanished, and that was without Lysander's magical touch. Fresh clothes helped my mood some
,
too
.
I needed some more jeans
,
though. I was going to keep a jeans company in business
,
the way I was going. We didn't have a proper dining table
,
so we clustered around the kitchen wall, counter
,
thing. Kadrix was a surprisingly good cook. I'd half expected to be given some colourful powders with a potion and a dash of gloop. Instead
,
he'd put together a divine chicken dish with wine and cheese. I had no idea what it was called, I just knew that it was the best food I'd had in a very long time.
 

"If you cook like this, you can stay any time you want,” I said to Kadrix with a grin.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I was under the impression that I could stay when I pleased as long as Quin was with me."

I laughed.
 

Quin kissed the elf's cheek and cleared away the plates. "You can stay whenever you want, you don't even have to cook. Evie was paying you a compliment."

Kadrix eyed me suspiciously. "Thank you
,
Evelyn."

I shook my head
.
He was a peculiar thing. I stretched and yawned; I felt like I could sleep for a few weeks.
 

"We're heading to bed." I hugged Quin. “You did amazing things today, I'm proud of you." He grinned. "And you
,
Kadrix, thank you for your help today."

The elf preened.
 

We were halfway across the living room when Kadrix said, "Will I need normal earplugs or magically enhanced earplugs?"

I ignored him. Quin laughed. Everything felt right again
.
It all slipped into place.
 

Forty-Eight

I covered my head in the two pillows and groaned. It was so wrong hearing my twin, or possibly Kadrix, I didn't care. I shouldn't have been subject to those noises.
 

Lysander wrapped himself around me, his hand slid over my hip. “We could always block out the noise."

I pulled the pillows tighter around my head, that felt so wrong, competing with my brother. I kissed Lysander tenderly.
 

"Sorry, but that's killing my mood. It's wrong, it's just so very wrong."

He laughed softly
.
"We often had an audience, such things do not concern me."

I wrinkled my nose
.
"You can add that to the list of things that won't be happening now you're mine."

A grin spread across his face and he pulled me into his arms. I kept the pillows over my head as I cuddled up to him and tried to block out the noises.

We went for a run at sunrise; I couldn't bear it any longer.

It felt good to run for the sake of running, to feel my muscles stretching and my heart-rate slowly increasing. The crisp cool air was refreshing and brought a smile to my face. The city changed around us from traditional houses to sleek modern businesses and into more compact housing with narrower streets. The bright pastel colours added a little extra personality to the intricate mouldings and complex artwork that adorned some of the walls. There was no place like home.
 

We eased to a steady walk and passed by a small park affair, a collection of benches around some trees set in a concrete square between two narrow roads. A man stood as we approached, dressed in a black wool coat, black slacks, and a white shirt. He looked out of place. Lysander snarled and I realised who, or perhaps more importantly, what, he was.
 

"Evelyn, you look stunning as always. That faint blush suits you, it brings out your eyes beautifully. That shirt clings rather delightfully
,
too."

Lysander snarled at Tiel; the celestial grinned and said, "Down boy."

I put my hand on Lysander's thigh
,
telling him to behave himself and stay behind me.
 

Tiel's grin widened. "Do remember my offer Evelyn, when you're ready for a real male."

"Why are you bothering us
,
Tiel?" I said in a bored tone while stopping and crossing my arms.

"Unfortunately my superiors are unhappy, once again. The witch still hasn't been dealt with
.
The city remains unbalanced."

I shrugged. "Not my problem."

His eyes flashed an icy blue for a brief second.
 

"It will impact you and your friends,” he growled.

I pursed my lips. "I see they stuck a rod up your ass; shame, you were almost fun."

He smirked and stood up a little straighter. "I'll keep my comments to myself, you are supposed to be a lady
,
after all."

I smiled sweetly. "Run along, I'm sure your superiors have more errands for you to attend to."

He shook his head. “We could have had so much fun."

With that
,
he did his vanishing act.
 

Lysander snarled and muttered under his breath
.
We continued our walk home. We needed to deal with the witch; whether I liked it or not
,
the celestials were right. She was clearly causing trouble in the city
,
but we had no leads. I didn't know who or what I was supposed to turn to. The witches we'd captured had all committed suicide; the Sidhe knew nothing of use. The celestials were worthless. I sighed. Lysander wrapped his arm around my waist and directed me to a quaint little café.
 

"Why don't we get breakfast here
,
Evelyn? I'm not quite ready to hear Quin and Kadrix again."

I laughed despite myself. I was happy he was happy, but it was just too weird.
 

Breakfast was pleasant; I texted Elise to come and join us. We giggled over the poor night's sleep we'd had and grumbled over Tiel having the nerve to show up. It felt good to shrug off the chaos and mayhem that had happened the previous day. The demon was gone, the threat was removed. We could finally return to the quiet life we'd had before, with nothing more than irritating redcaps and the odd lycan pushing their luck.
 

Quin texted when we were on our third pot of coffee
,
saying that we had the all clear to return home. I felt a little guilty
,
but pushed it aside; I was sure he'd understand and that he would have done the same had the roles been reversed. Elise returned to her church, saying she had things to do for her lady, and we headed back to our new home. I smiled and leaned against Lysander as he had his arm around me; it was our home. Things were finally falling into place.
 

Forty-Nine

Kadrix was preening and sauntering around the flat in just his boxers when we returned. I wanted to knock the smug smirk off his face, but the contented looked on Quin's stopped me. Fortunately
,
the elf made some excuse about needing to get work done before long
,
and I could relax. Quin stretched out on the sofa and peered at his phone.
 

"Evie, Azfin's pissed about something and wants to talk. Would you mind meeting him? I'm exhausted from the magic-work yesterday."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're blaming the magic for your exhaustion?"

He gave me a roguish grin and left it that.
 

"Fine, where am I meeting him?"

"That new underground bar that opened last week, over in
Holešovice
.”

I curled my lip. "I'll take extra blades then; do you have some of that magic dispersal powder?"

He gave me the address and the powder. If the little shit wanted to try something
,
then I was going to be prepared. I made sure Lysander had a couple of knives
,
too
.
He was good with his claws and teeth, but I wanted to be sure.
 

"I'm sure it's just a whiny nymph or something
,
Evie, you worry too much,” Quin called as I placed the final dagger in its sheath.
 

"I'd rather be paranoid and safe, thanks
,
” I called back.

The address was on the outskirts of
Holešovice
, near the industrial estates. The Sidhe had been good to us as of late, which was suspicious in and of itself. I remained tense on the tram ride out there and looked around for any signs of anything suspicious as we stepped off onto the concrete platform. A trendy little café sat opposite us, with a bank next to it. The neighbourhood was gentrifying; it was currently in the trendy artistic stage of progress.
 

We walked away from the main road down into the denser more industrial area; we went a block before we saw Azfin casually leaning against a wall. I pulled my leather jacket closer around me. Without a word said
,
they led us through the pitch black door down the narrow steps into the club. Magical orbs hung around the edge of the room producing just enough light to stop us from bumping into anything, and nothing more. Azfin and Haeyl took a seat at a small table in the middle of the seating area. We remained standing, and tense. I kept an eye out for any movement or unusual sounds
,
but none came.
 

"Something is wrong in the city
,
" Azfin said.

I narrowed my eyes at him.
 

"The energies have been unbalanced and upset for some time, but they've been shattered and re-attached as of late. The disruptions are growing, and we're quite sure we saw another of those abominations
,
as you called them."

I remembered the broken, haunted looking men who had died with animal paws clawing their way out of their chests. A chill formed at the back of my neck.
 

"The celestials talked about an old witch
,
did they not?" Azfin asked.

I nodded.
 

"We have looked into the energy disruptions and spoken to our people. There was a very old, very powerful witch in Iceland not long ago. It is believed that she moved here just before something began tampering with the energy network."

I didn't like the sound of that. Normal witches were difficult enough. I remembered the terror on Serena's face; the witch that had driven her coven out of the city must have been incredibly powerful.
 

"We need to remove this witch before she does too much damage."

Azfin's cold gaze settled on me. I held up my hands. “I take down lycans and redcaps
.
I am not in a position to kill a very powerful old witch. I've had enough trouble with normal witches
,
thank you."

The Sidhe's mouth tightened. "I don't think you understand what's at stake here
,
Evelyn."

"Clearly not,” I said.

He stood slowly; Haeyl followed suit. Their eyes never left mine. My hands went down to my celestial blades
.
Lysander tensed behind me.
 

"We have not felt a witch of this power in a very long time. Witches aren't normally a concern, they leave the energy networks alone and cause very little trouble. This one appears to be trying to play at being a goddess. If she continues
,
then there will be far more than a few abominations to concern yourself with. There is a risk of her harming the veil between the planes, or more."

"Now you're just being melodramatic,” I said

He bared his pointed teeth at me
,
but remained still. "Do not ignore this warning
,
Evelyn. She has a large coven with many connections. The abominations are only the beginning. She has already demonstrated she'll work with demons. There are rumours of her trying to become a goddess. Do you know how many lives would be taken should that happen? Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

I gritted my teeth. "And what I am supposed to do about a witch that powerful?"

His mouth twisted into a smile. "First we will find her, then you will help us. You're more than you realise
,
Evelyn Hawke."

I curled my lip. "I'm growing tired of people saying that."

He moved a little closer to me; my hands tightened around the hilt of my blades.

“Are you sure you’re completely human, Evelyn?” he whispered.