The dust clouds dissipated. Callie couldn’t look away from the pile of ashes that used to be Finnegan. It was difficult to process that he was truly gone and she could never have him back. It was a new kind of pain she hadn’t felt before. It threatened to overwhelm her.
Nicholas touched her shoulder gently and asked, "Are you going to be okay?"She wanted to scream from the cocktail of emotions running through her. The loudest was anger. It beat like war drums in her mind, wanting to be unleashed. She felt restless."His death wasn’t your fault.""Don’t lie to me," she snapped. "He wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for me.""He made a choice and he knew the risks. We all did."She shook her head. "I’m not worth the risks. None of you should’ve come here.""You don’t get to decide that," he countered. "Only we can and we all decided that saving you is worth any danger.""You really believCallie didn’t know what would happen to her once they left Hell. She expected to be thrown back into prison or she would have to disappear into the world and never return. She hadn’t counted on Frederick Wood to be her protector. The uncle she’d never known defended her against the Council and the police. She had been a minor arrested and acquitted without trial. They never contacted her legal guardian which should’ve been him. All her actions were made under duress after years of abuse and trauma. It was a case the Magical World had never seen before and it would’ve become bigger than what it was if Head Warlock Castillo didn’t want to keep things quiet.He had a lifetime of secrets he did not want to get out to the public. Frederick did not hesitate to use this leverage to his advantage. Callie could admit she was lucky she got off on probation and half a year in house arrest. Maybe all those years of terrible luck were finally turnin
Lucifer’s Cage was located in the deepest part of Hell where there was only darkness and the cold. The cage was a solid metal box wrapped in chains that no one could see in. The Four Horsemen visited him whenever they could. They informed him about all that occurred in the realms. While he could hear them, they could not hear him through the cage. It was part of his punishment. To never be seen or heard. It had been a very long time since anyone had seen Lucifer’s face.Asmodeus tried to remember Lucifer’s face but wasn’t sure if he was confusing him with another’s. Even a demon’s memory wasn’t infallible. He remembered when he was first met the Morningstar. He had taken a human form to mock God’s newest creation, Adam.He had been the most brilliant thing Asmodeus had ever seen. Like the Pied Piper, he led his fellow angelic brethren to fall from Heaven. They were banished to Hell where they would start building their
Contrary to popular belief, angels were not pretty. Ten feet tall with three pairs of wings, they were surrounded in holy fire with a singular large brown eye in the middle to give judgmental glares at the poor individual who had the misfortune to be in their presence. The Fallen weren’t any better, without the holy fire, they just looked like a giant eyeball with too many wings. Azazel was the Watcher at the gate of Hell, guarding any demons from escaping to the world above and wreaking havoc. He would only let people through either by permission by the Lords of Hell or if he could be bribed. She had been trying to bargain with him for years. Ever since she ended up in Hell as a child, she had pleaded, cried, and shouted at him to let her through. He didn’t budge. What was a child’s misery to an immortal being? It was only when she was nearly sixteen she realized she never directly asked him what he wanted. His answer surprised her, "I want Lilith&rsqu
The demon scoffed. "Your soul is cursed, witch. I have no use for it.""But you want something else."Demons were always wanting. Sin was usually about wanting or not wanting and these matters were the very essence of these deals. The demon she summoned was a minor demon and didn’t have enough power to terrify her. She could kill him if he tried anything. "I want information," he replied. "And what would you like?""Money, IDs, everything to help me with a new start here."She could’ve also asked for a private island but she wanted to keep the cost of the deal minimal. She didn’t want to have to give more than she wanted. She’d seen many deals go wrong too many times. Trusting a demon to be fair was impossible."That’s easy. What name would you like?""Callie Du..." She couldn’t use her family name. She had to pick something else. "Durant. Callie Durant."His eyes flashed black, his glamour flickering away.
Nicholas was polite if not indifferent as he gave her a tour around the school. He gave her the basics, which were the important places she needed to know – the dining hall, the classrooms, the dorms, and the greenhouses. He was as impersonal as a leaflet without the enticement to make parents spend money to send their children there. The school was small enough she couldn't really get lost unless she was an idiot and they both knew it.He brought her to the Third Year dormitories and stopping outside her assigned room. She would be sharing it with another girl in her year."Breakfast is at seven sharp. Don't be late or you won't be able to eat till lunch," he reminded her. "Do you have any more questions?""Could I sit with you?" she asked, hoping to sound flirtatious instead of insecure. She needed him to like her. "I don't know anybody here and you know your way around."His mouth opened a little in surprise, hazel eyes widened just a fraction, before he
Callie decided to get her own familiar. She could purchase one from a store but there was always the cheaper option. The magic folk of old would go into the woods and ask if a spirit would like to be their companion. If anybody was interested, they would come in the form of an animal and be bound to the witch or warlock until death. Most familiars preferred to be domesticated animals like cats, dogs, and birds but some could be reptiles and insects. Wild animals like wolves and big cats were rare. She heard of familiars in other countries where familiars took on the form of exotic animals but hadn’t seen any around campus. She was curious what form hers would take.She had been uninterested with any of the familiars at the pet store and made her way to the forest near campus with a small silver bell and a plate with the lemon cake they had for dinner. She laid down the plate on the ground and moved her flashlight over the circle of trees and tried to see anything in
When Callie was thirteen, she met the infamous Baba Yaga, a great demon known for feeding on the souls and flesh of children. Baba Yaga told her that fear brought out the best flavors in a child before consuming them. The nightmare demon, Batibat, shared the same view and tortured her victims by making them live out their worst fears in their sleep before killing them. Both were generous enough to teach her how to know a person’s greatest fear.It would be easiest to get into a person’s mind in their sleep as it was when they had the least defenses. Getting into Trish’s room would be easy. It was her familiar that would be the problem. It would sense her before she could even get near the bed.Finn didn’t seem to have any reservations about killing another familiar. He offered to kill and eat the rat but Callie was too scared of him getting caught. The punishment for a rogue familiar was death and she didn’t want to lose him. She would have to
Batibat taught her how to cloak herself in shadows. It only really worked at night and in dark places but it was all she needed to sneak into Trish’s room that night. Thankfully, Trish’s roommate didn’t have a familiar but Callie threw a sleeping spell at the other girl in case she was a light sleeper. She threw another one at Trish as Batibat had been very clear that victims waking up mid-nightmare made trapping them again harder.Plunging into somebody’s mind was like falling off a chasm and into a sea of memories. She spent hours going through significant memories and memorizing details. Trish’s mind unconsciously tried to fight back, hiding the worst memories, but Callie chased them down and broke down her mental barriers until she could see. Finnegan had been right that Trish was insecure.The girl was scared of losing Nicholas. She had done a lot of things to get his attention and to retain it. She was more callous than Callie would&rsqu