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  They brought her to a big cavern that resembled a courtroom, its massive length filled with demons. The atmosphere was so tense she could taste the anticipation. They awaited her. A pathway down the center led to a magnificent throne at the far end instead of a judge’s seat. The most imposing demon Mira had ever seen sat on the throne. Bigger than Karnon, steelier than Xander, she knew she had come face to face with—Satan, lord of Hell.

  Her escorts dumped her before the dais. At least she did not cry out as her knees hit the stone floor. She slumped forward, trying to hide behind her hair from all the staring eyes. Karnon was near, she could sense it, and it took all her willpower not to look at him.

  “You are charged with a grievous crime and if found guilty will be sentenced to execution.”

  She looked up to see a young demon standing below the throne, holding a long staff, filling the role of herald. He recounted her charges, and unable to bear thinking about the fact that she was shackled, naked in chains, about to be sentenced to some horrible way to die, she focused on the herald, finding his sharp, angular face familiar. It tugged at her, as if she knew the younger demon. He was obviously a relative of Satan and Karnon but he resembled someone else also, but she couldn’t put her finger on who.

  “Do you have a defense for the crime you have committed here, blood-witch?” Satan’s voice boomed through the cavern, interrupting her trance. The crowd twittered.

  She blinked and swayed, trying to gather her scattered thoughts. They were going to let her speak! She hadn’t thought they would. Unsure where to start she looked around. Cold stares met her wild looks.

  “Speak, witch. Or be condemned,” Satan said, his voice heavy and stern. But there was softness behind the steel. It gave her hope. Involuntarily her gaze traveled to the left where Karnon stood and stared at her with an intensity that made her skin burn.

  “My mother,” she whispered, staring back at him.

  “Louder!” the herald said, slamming his staff on the floor.

  Mira hunched back into the floor, breaking eye contact with Karnon.

  “Enough, Pharic, let her speak,” said Satan.

  Pharic bowed his head in response, an angry glint in his eyes.

  “What about your mother?” Satan asked.

  “When I was a little girl something happened to my mother,” she began. As she told her story and they listened, she felt her words grow stronger, gain weight. She straightened her shoulders and didn’t blush as she recounted the part where she performed the Calling on Karnon. She ignored him and the growing murmurs of the crowd and pushed on to tell them about Xander’s secret prison.

  “And when I came to, Xander was dead and the other witches had disappeared,” she finished.

  Silence, before the crowd erupted with babble. Pharic banged his staff on the ground, attempting to quiet the noise. Satan watched her but she looked straight at Karnon, daring him to respond. At least she had had a chance to tell the truth.

  He looked back at her, his expression unreadable.

  “Quiet.” When the Lord of Darkness commanded, everyone listened. Pharic, who had been desperately trying to get the attention of the crowd for the past few minutes, looked annoyed and relieved.

  “You understand, all we have in your defense is your word?” Satan asked.

  “What about the other witches?” Mira knew they were her only hope. “If we find them they will tell you. Actually they won’t have to. All you need to do is find one of them and you can see for yourself what Xander did to them.”

  “If what you say is true then the others will have been returned to wherever they came from upon Xander’s death, as they were Called by him.”

  The euphoria of finding her mother safe did not last, because that meant the only way she could prove her story would be to let her go back home to her mother. She knew her chance was slipping away.

  “I am afraid we cannot take the risk that you might trap your escort and we cannot let you go back alone either. But you are too powerful, too dangerous to have here.”

  She could hear the sorrow in Satan’s voice as she closed her eyes. He was their leader, he couldn’t risk his people. A tear trickled down her cheek.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  “I am sorry.” Satan clapped his hands. “Return her to her cage and ready the knife.”

  Mira sobbed as they lifted her up again.

  “Wait.”

  The room went still. She dared to look up, not believing her ears. Karnon had spoken. He didn’t look at her, his attention focused on the throne.

  “Father, I will escort her back to prove her story.”

  Satan turned to his son. “And if she is lying?”

  “That’s the point.” Karnon’s voice was thick. “I will wait for her in the pentagram to bring her mother to me, to show me proof of Xander’s crimes.”

  Karnon looked down at Mira. “If she is lying then I will be trapped. But it is a risk I am willing to take. For if we wrongfully execute her then all hope of reconciliation with the witches is lost.” He turned to speak to the hushed crowd. “As angry as many of you are, there is no denying since the rift between demons and witches occurred that we have been lacking. If what she says is true then we are equally at fault for believing we’re superior and that one of our own would not do to them what they did to us. Without communication and trust who knows how many more of these kinds of things could happen? How many more of our kind or their kind will be betrayed and trapped before we do something about it?”

  The crowd murmured. The tight band around Mira’s chest eased. The gleam of pride in Satan’s eye as he watched Karnon address the crowd surprised her. She would have expected him to be angry at his son for speaking out against his orders. She wondered if Karnon was Satan’s choice to be the next Prince of Darkness and felt strangely sad about it. It shouldn’t matter what Karnon does with his future, she chided herself. All that mattered was that she could go home where her mother needed her.

  “And so I will stand by the witches. To a new beginning!” Karnon shouted.

  The crowd exploded into chaos. Some cheered, others booed. Pharic banged the staff on the ground again. Satan just leaned back with a small smile.

  Mira took a breath. She wouldn’t die today. Tears streamed down her face and she met Karnon’s stare. Gazing into their depths, she realized she was falling for this demon.

  Chapter Six

  The Sins of the Father

  Her fingernails clawed at his back. Her body was on fire, cold fire. She would take him, take this demon and ride him until he was hers. She brought her hands up to his neck and into his hair, yanking it back, as she swept her tongue over his earlobe. He growled in response. They sank down to the floor.

  Mira pushed Karnon onto his back and climbed on top of him, kissing his neck. Her breasts hung down and she trailed her nipples along his stomach before reaching his hardened cock and sliding her tongue around it. He groaned, lifting his hips to meet her mouth. She pushed him back down and sucked harder. He cried out.

  She stopped abruptly and stood up. He watched her with depthless pupils as she walked to his head and kneeled down, lowering her pussy onto his mouth. He licked her wet slit and she threw her head back in ecstasy. He swirled his tongue and she grabbed fistfuls of his hair while moaning from the jolts of pleasure his tongue sent through her body. Her back arched as she orgasmed, his mouth plundering her clit.

  When the last spasm finished she slid down his body, letting her wetness trail on his stomach. Without warning she lowered herself onto his cock and rode him. Pinned beneath her, he grasped her hips and thrust until he exploded into her.

  They collapsed together, sweaty and breathing hard until the magic of the Calling lust faded.

  As the spell lifted she rolled away from him, unsure what to think or say, her stomach in knots. Now that she knew her feelings, her tongue flopped in her mouth.

  He sat up and crossed his legs, watching her without expression. All
the playfulness from their first encounter had gone. His face was a mask.

  Her shyness threatened to engulf her speech. She cleared her throat.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Go find her,” he responded.

  Taken aback, Mira brought her knees up to her chest. “You want me to leave?”

  He nodded, still not betraying any emotion.

  “But I would have to leave the circle. You would be trapped.” She said it out loud to hear the truth of it. He was risking his life for her. He cared about her.

  “If I made the right choice, after your mother speaks with me, you will release me to go back to Hell,” he said.

  His words landed like a blow. He wanted her to send him back to Hell after they were done. He wasn’t here for her, he was there for justice, for his duty. It wasn’t his fault she wanted more. He had not played with her emotions, if anything he had been more than honest with her. The Calling was all there was between them. She nodded and stood up. On her feet, she wavered. Should she at least say something? Maybe it wasn’t just the Calling. She opened her mouth to speak but a banging on the other side of the door interrupted.

  “Mira! Are you in there?”

  It was Tink. Mira ran to where her shirt still lay discarded.

  “Just a minute,” she called back.

  “Thank god! I almost called the police. I’ve been worried sick. Let me in.”

  “Just a second.”

  As the pounding on the door continued Mira frantically dressed herself.

  “I found some poor skinny woman passed out downstairs, does she need a doctor? Who is she?”

  Mira froze and met Karnon’s eyes. It may have been her imagination but there seemed to be a hint of relief in them. She looked down and realized she had already stepped outside the salt circle.

  “Go,” he whispered.

  “Tink, can you run down and check on her? I’m right behind you, just looking for something.”

  Mira blew out a breath of relief when Tink begrudgingly agreed and the pounding stopped. She looked at the demon in the middle of the salt pentagram one more time.

  “I will be back.”

  * * * * *

  “A stupid move.” Satan paced back and forth in the empty courtroom, his feet silent on the black rock.

  “Yes sir.” Karnon stood before the Prince of Darkness, hands clasped behind his back.

  “She could have trapped you, drained you. She could have killed you!”

  “But she didn’t.”

  Karnon watched his father mutter and pace, trying to keep the smile from his face. Satan’s condition had improved quickly since Xander’s death, making the connection between his illness and Xander obvious, even to the most pigheaded. News had spread quickly about Karnon’s return and it had quelled most arguments against the proposed new treaty with the blood-witches.

  “Even so, you must be able to resist the weakness of the Calling. It is nothing more than a spell. I saw the way you watched that witch.”

  “I did my duty. She represented what our future could look like. We need the blood-witches, just like they need us. And if I had not seen the state her mother was in and felt the residue of Xander’s power on her with my own senses, then this treaty would never have been a possibility.”

  Satan grunted and Karnon did allow the smile to reach his face this time.

  “And I understand the difference between the feelings of a Calling and knowing a person. Something more told me she spoke the truth,” Karnon said.

  Satan paused his pacing and looked hard at his son. “Something more?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Why didn’t you stay with her, then?”

  Karnon stared blankly at his father. The thought had never entered his head.

  “You need me here.”

  The Prince snorted. “Like hell I do. Cronus is making up for lost time and we all know he’s going to be the next Lord of Hell. Although, you did show some superior leadership skills during the trial.”

  Karnon stiffened, praying his father was not about to say the words he had been dreading.

  Satan looked at him curiously. “Do you want to be chosen to be my heir?”

  His mind racing, Karnon tried to think of the right answer. He did not want to lead. He wanted to go back to that cozy house where a formidable blood-witch with wild hair and creamy hips lived.

  “She is quite lovely,” Satan interrupted Karnon’s thoughts.

  “What?”

  “I may have to see if I can’t arrange a Calling with her in the future,” his father mused.

  Karnon’s insides twisted. He swallowed a retort, forcing himself to calm down. “With all due respect she’s a little fragile for that, sir.” He looked at the ground.

  “Oh really? Well she will heal in time, and can you imagine the power our little ones would have? Maybe I’ll just drop by and mend some of the damage done.”

  “No!” It was out before Karnon could stop it.

  “No? Are you telling the Prince of Darkness no?”

  “Please,” Karnon whispered.

  “Why not?” Satan had moved closer, close enough that he stood inches from Karnon.

  “Because I love her!” The words burst out of him.

  Satan moved back. “I thought so.”

  “Sir?”

  “I am sorry, my boy, but I had to be sure. Otherwise the spell won’t work.”

  Karnon’s heart came back to life. “Spell?”

  Satan smiled. “I used it once, on your mother. It’s a spell that will allow you to live with your blood-witch in their realm.” He retrieved something from behind the throne.

  “But if that exists, why not give it to everyone?”

  “It is only for lovers, true lovers. Once you admit your love for each other, the spell will go into effect. However, if one of you drinks it and the other does not return the love, then the one who used it will suffer grave consequences.” Satan held out his hand with a vial filled with a thick green liquid.

  “Consequences?”

  “You will pass on.”

  Karnon took a deep breath and reached for the vial but Satan pulled his hand away. “You cannot tell her, you will not be able to speak more than her name. Once you drink this, when she Calls you, you will not be under the Calling spell. It must be love. If she does not return your love, does not say it, you fade away and become a lost soul forever. Use this only if you believe in her.”

  Karnon stared down at the vial, heart pounding. He had trusted Mira once, but that was different, just his physical body. This was his heart, his soul. Could he trust her again?

  * * * * *

  “Come on, Mira. This one is cute, I promise!” Tink, whose bright-green hair had a blue strip on one side, was trying to convince Mira to go on another date.

  Mira shook her head. Her last few attempts had been miserable over the past year. “Sorry, Tink, I just want to be on my own and share time with my sister.” Because Mira’s mother’s appeared too young, Mira told people she was her long-lost sister. Tink had acted understanding for the first few months but after Mira’s mother began to regain her health, Tink had pushed Mira to get out of the house more, setting her up on too many blind dates. Apparently the punky woman had given up on the Wiccan scene and was now into setting her friends up. Tink couldn’t know that Mira spent her nights feverously learning about her blood-witch powers from the one who should have taught her in the first place. Mira’s mother had been horrified to discover that her mother, Mira’s grandmother, had banned magic and was trying to make up for it. As Serena grew stronger, the lessons became more challenging and Mira had less energy for other activities.

  “This one is a really great guy, I swear.”

  Mira sighed. Maybe she should have another go at dating. It had been almost a year since the Calling with Karnon. It all felt like a surreal dream but thinking about it still made her face burn. Her one attempt at sex since then had been lukewarm. She had been te
mpted to perform the Calling more than once, especially after her mother had received word about the treaty between the blood-witches and demons. Pride had stopped her. Karnon didn’t want her, so she wasn’t about to Call him into her world.

  “I’ll think about it, Tink.”

  Mollified, her friend bounced away. Mira stared out the doors of the library, her mind filled with images of horned men and black obsidian.

  That night she found her mother cooking in the kitchen. Her smile warmed Mira’s heart, as it always did. It made Mira happy to see her mother at peace. Even if her mother rarely left the house she filled her time with hobbies, such as cooking, gardening and weaving. She had gained some weight but she retained the almost-skeletal look, appearing to be made out of glass. She didn’t practice magic either, except to teach Mira, and only then when she had the energy. From the worn expression on her mother’s face Mira could tell her mother would be too tired for any lessons tonight.

  “Tink wants me to go on another date.”

  Her mother lifted an eyebrow. She quieted whenever Mira mentioned Tink and when the two of them were in the room there was always a strange tension. Mira guessed it was because Tink had been the closest person to her before her mother had come back into the picture and that her mother was jealous of it. Whatever the reason, Mira chose to ignore it, hoping the tension would fade in time.

  “Do you want to date?”

  “I don’t know.” Mira sank down on a dining room stool and watched her mother delicately chop vegetables. “Sort of. I feel like something is missing. I mean it’s wonderful to have you back and I couldn’t be happier. But I would like…” Mira paused. She almost said, “to have someone to share a bed with” but she remembered the last time her mother had shared a bed it had been with Xander. If her mother noticed Mira’s stumble she didn’t react, her knife chopping away. Her mother had yet to talk about her experience in Xander’s prison and Mira didn’t want to force her.