A Demon’s Book Of Shadows (Witches & Demons #1)

8. Amon

8

Amon

As soon as the book opened, a terrible force gripped me around the throat. I was hurled out of the library, flung over the rooftop, and landed somewhere in the road. Hitting the pavement, my shadows were nearly ripped to shreds as the spirit of the witch who had been locked inside of the pages emerged.

Lucy’s magic shattered the hex my father placed on the grimoire.

Anger surged through me, making my shadow thicker and darker than it should be. The bookworm must have dug the grimoire up. He’d known from the beginning where it was, and he was intentionally trying to give it to Lucy.

Now that another witch had broken the enchantment, Melrose would soon be searching for me.

“ Amon. . . ”

I shivered as my feet scraped the pavement. Her voice was already echoing in my head.

“I’m coming for you, my Hidden One,” she whispered, sending my shadows retreating .

Dandelion stems curled in the cracks on the sidewalk as Melrose’s sinuous vines began to unravel toward me. They buckled the concrete as they reached for my shadows.

“ How about we play a game of hide-and-seek ?” she teased, her voice high and childish.

I shifted sideways as one of the vines lashed out, curling toward my ankle.

“ Oh, come on. You didn’t used to be so shy around me . I remember how insatiable your desires used to be .” Vines became fingers, gripping for my leg, where she caught me. “ Gotcha !”

I pulled away, shuddering as her fingers elongated toward my crotch.

“You can’t hide from me forever, my Hidden One. Your daddy’s spell has been broken. Now I’m going to take back from the shadow archives what I want.”

Lurching away from her sharp fingers left my skin burning. Shit . My tattoo had a nasty finger-shaped gash sliced into it. She'd marked me so that she could track me down. Melrose would be able to smell my bleeding shadows from miles away.

The only way to cover this wound was to rub some serious dirt in it. The more earth magic mixed with the dirt, the better. Gathering what I could of my shadows, I coalesced and headed for Lucy’s house.

“ You won’t get far, Amon darling. You know how good my sense of smell is ,” Melrose said, her voice fading in my head as I distanced myself from her .

By the time I reached Lucy’s home, the earth magic was so thick in the air, I could barely catch my breath. It was suffocating me. As difficult as it was to get a lungful of air, this was exactly the kind of magic my wound needed. The sooner I stopped myself from bleeding, the quicker I could hide myself.

I settled at the base of the giant oak tree outside of Lucy’s window. Grabbing a handful of dirt, grass, and fallen leaves, I smudged the detritus into my wound. My tattoo burned, but the skin reformed.

“ Hey, what are you doing to my dirt ?” A familiar voice echoed in my head. “ Can’t a bookworm chrysalis in peace ?”

My sense of relief was quickly sabotaged by the bookworm who put me in this situation to begin with.

I rounded on him, my shadows brimming to lash out from my fingertips. “Why would you give Lucy the grimoire, you little maggot?”

Grubs accordioned his body tight before me. “I did no such thing.”

“Liar. I know that you’ve been digging for something. And that something just broke free from the grimoire.”

He inched backward, his tiny body aquiver. “What are you accusing me of, demon?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that bookworms are called bookworms for a reason? I know why you’ve been tunneling through the shelves.”

“Tell me about this book you’ve accused me of giving to my witch,” he grumbled.

“Come on, I’m not stupid. Why did you give it to Lucy? Why didn’t you give it back to one of us demons?”

What little bit of brain that he had was struggling to comprehend my accusation.

“Let me get this straight. You think that I, a familiar, would spend my time digging up a crotchety old shadow book and give it to the witch I am bound to?”

“Yes, I do.”

The tree trembled at my apparent lack of understanding.

“Do you have any idea what the Earth Uprising was for? It was to prevent you demons from sticking your dicks into the witches we work our asses off for!”

“ Oh. . .Amon ?”

I plastered myself against the tree as Melrose drifted above. Perched atop her broom, neck craning, red hair curling, green eyes flaring, she searched for me. She scented the wind, her nostrils flaring as she hovered only feet above the tree.

Grubs shimmied his body, sending out a plume of dust and what appeared to be pollen.

“Ewwwww!” Melrose cried, fanning her hands in front of her face. “This town is infested with maggots!”

I sighed, sloughing forward as Melrose flew over the rooftops, her pointy hat disappearing from sight.

My heart jumped into my throat, pounding as adrenaline flooded my blood. I was safe, for now. Who knew how long it would take for her to find me .

“ That was no normal witch. They never compare me to the likeness of a maggot ,” Grubs scoffed, inching toward me.

“Melrose isn’t just any witch—she’s a green vampire.”

“ Hmmmmm. Not my problem, ” he huffed, promptly returning to his munching.

I slammed my back against the tree, making the branches shudder above me. Shit . This was really bad. I couldn’t just stay here next to this grouchy bookworm and expect the earth magic to conceal me forever.

My boot was nudged sideways as something scurried out of the bushes.

“ Get back you little devil, this is my tree !” Grubs snapped as a hedgehog darted away from me.

Hedgehogs—the wild ones Zed had complained about snacking on something in the graveyard. I’d forgotten all about the rose petals—bewitched rose petals that were full of earth magic. Maybe they could help me.

I tossed one of the petals into the air. It fluttered to the ground in front of Grubs. He took a bite out of it, and the little maggot froze.

His body trembled as a puff of yellow pollen erupted into the air. My chest swelled as Lucy's nasty little bookworm shriveled at my feet.