The Demon's Half

Chapter 47

Lesser witches began shouting, their voices rising in a cacophony of anger and disbelief. Veil Queens turned on each other. Even the spirits around looked a bit uneasy. The cauldron in the middle of the room just stood there, bubbling in a dark liquid.

"You what?" one of the lesser witches shrieked. She was dressed in yellow robes. She pointed a trembling finger at Ozias. "He said he killed Shamaska!"

"She was my demon, Ornella!" another witch next to the cauldron shouted. She was a Veil Queen I didn't recognize, her orange robe almost the color of a sunset. "You let this happen?!"

Ornella's emerald eyes flashed. "The rules don't dictate demons can't kill each other, Willa. Learn your place."

"Uhh... Because demons can't kill demons?" Camille said. Her blonde silver hair cascading down her back, and her coven's lesser witches, dressed in pink, started gathering behind her. "Shamaska was the last half-breed."

"The rules exist." A Veil Queen dressed in red snarled. "And he broke them."

"Drusilla is right. She was the last of her kind! I demand justice!" Willa screamed. "I demand his service or his soul!"

Millicent stepped forward. "You will respect the Goddess."

Willa's magic answered before her mouth did.
Millicent flew across the room, her body hitting the wall. They all were so close to the cauldron I thought one would try to drown the other. Camille and Drusilla moved at once, hands raised. And the fighting match began.

Spells aimed to kill. Witches screamed. Bodies collided. Incantations burst from tongues like venom. Nails and teeth. It was a war.
Across the chaos, I finally spotted Solange. She was behind the cauldron, as if they were getting her ready for a sacrifice. She was slumped against the wall, her ankles chained, her head bowed, but her eyes were fire.
Alilla was there.
Her violet robes whipped as she knelt. Her palms glowed faintly, lips moving. Light shimmered through the chains, and they dissolved in a hiss of silver sparks. Solange pushed herself upright, her body trembling. And the fighting swallowed them again.
Words were being chanted. Runes were glowing all around. Bolts of lightning. Flames. Raw magic.A green-robed witch hurled a curse that hit a blue one dead in the chest, slamming her next to the corridor. Pink-robed witches retaliated, drawing water from the stone beneath us, sending it crashing into the green coven like a tidal wave. Color-coded chaos exploded in every direction. No more alliances. Only madness.

The Veil Queens clashed at the heart of the chaos, but Ornella stood unshaken. Her eyes glowed, her hands rising. A lesser witch covered for her as she chanted, and fire exploded from her palms. A roaring inferno surged across the room toward Camille, the golden-haired Queen.
But she only smiled, reciting spells under her breath. She lifted a hand, conjuring a wall of ice. Fire met frost in midair. The fire hit the cauldron next to her, but no one seemed to notice.

"Giselle!" Ornella snapped.

Giselle stepped forward, short blonde hair whipping around her face, she lifted a fist. Octopus-like tendrils erupted from her back that lashed out at Drusilla, the red-robed Queen.
It seemed, not all the Queens stood behind the Goddess.
Alilla appeared beside Camille, her purple robes too big for her unfed body. Her hands were glowing violet. She was fighting with her.
Camille and her coven sang a strange kind of war song. Glowing birds materialized from the air, dozens of them, their wings trailing stardust.
They dive-bombed the opposing witches.

And then came Willa.
The Queen who lit the fuse.
Her coven gathered tight around her, forming a living wall. Several people appeared around them—No, not people. Demons.
Each one grabbed a witch, and they all vanished in a wisp of smoke.
But the fighting around it wouldn't stop.
The scent of burning herbs thickened the air, and since there were no windows I was choking on it. A witch dressed in all blue collapsed under a bolt of lightning, next to the entrance. She was probably planning to escape...