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

16. Amon

16

Amon

Before I could gather myself, the Summoning ripped Lucy and I away from the bar, vines lashing and crashing around us like an angry monster. This couldn’t be happening. Lucy wasn’t supposed to kiss me. Whatever she did, she unleashed something vengefully dangerous from the grimoire, and now both of us were at her mercy.

Lucy was subconscious, her body hunched over in front of me. I was barely able to keep my grip on her without my shadow coalescing.

Fuck.

I needed Lucy like lungs needed oxygen. As I traced my hand down her hips, my cock hardened. The Summoning was where my shadows took on many separate minds of their own. I really didn’t want Lucy to meet them.

“ But she’s so vulnerable .”

No . I would not fall under the spell of her magic, especially with his dangerous voice filling my head. I needed to break her out of here and send her back to the world of the living, or else .

I couldn’t let her get sucked into the Summoning. Not even the most experienced witches could survive the dangerous nature of shadows like my own, unless, of course, you were a vengeful spirit of one named Melrose.

I reached under Lucy’s legs, lifting her up. She felt so weightless here.

“ She is ours ,” another voice echoed that didn’t belong to my shadows. It was far deeper, pounding against my skull as it thickened in the air. “ You know you want to taste her .”

I spun as the echoing laughter filled the Summoning like thunder. My shadows retreated as a much more sinister demon manifested around me. “Show yourself!”

Something grabbed me around the collar, tugging me back. Lucy’s body ripped out of my grip. The Summoning fell away as gravity grounded me back in the mortal world. Kegs toppled to the ground as I fell forward.

“You fucking asshole,” Krim’s dry voice ground into my head.

I suddenly realized who had a hold of me. Judging by the clock, hours had passed. It was nearly midnight. The bar was completely empty.

“What. The. Fuck. Was that?” Krim growled, his voice gravely and dry. His grip felt like a vice upon my neck.

“Where is Melrose?” I choked out.

“I spent the past hour dealing with her while you disappeared into the Summoning.”

“I wasn’t expecting Lucy to kiss me,” I barked .

“Well, while you were fooling around, Melrose just made off with the grimoire.”

My stomach hollowed.

No. . .

“Where is Lucy?” I asked. Her lifeless body had only moments before been in my grasp.

Krim tightened his grip on me. “You didn’t tell me that Lucy wasn’t practicing magic.”

I grabbed Krim’s beefy hand, forcing my fingers through his. “Tell me where she is, or I’ll fucking deck you.”

Krim put me into a headlock. “I asked you to invite Lucy so I could help you trap Melrose again. I didn’t ask for you to fuck around with her.”

“How was I supposed to know that she would kiss me?” I protested.

Krim’s fingers blackened. His fingernails turned red, a sign that his beastly reaper form was beginning to manifest.

Krim’s aura thrashed as a hood descended over his face.

Green sparks flashed in my periphery as another demon manifested.

Zed entered the bar and sat on one of the stools next to me. “I had the shittiest of the shittiest shifts ever. I need a drink!”

Krim’s reaper fingernails elongated, turning into scythes as they inched for my jugular.

“What did I miss? And why are there tiny crystal dicks all over your bar?” Zed asked, swinging his head toward me .

“Zeeeeeedddd,” I gagged, barely able to choke out a cry with Krim’s palm crushing my neck.

Zed grabbed Krim’s jacket, lugging him off me.

I fell to the ground, wheezing.

“Okay. What did I miss?” Zed asked as Krim shoved him away.

“Amon here has lost the grimoire, meaning the Bone Threader is going to be coming after our hides any minute.”

Zed’s eye sank into the back of his bony head like the skeleton he was. “Fuck, Amon. Is that true?”

Krim withdrew into his hood, his eyes glowing red. He extended one of his arms, pointing toward the exit. “Get out.”

I staggered to my feet. “Come on, guys. I need help getting the grimoire back.”

Before I could center myself, Krim was barreling toward me, his hood descending over his face again. His arm extended as he sent a blast of his reaper shadows toward me. “I said get out!”