Her Witch, Her Demon [WxW]
15. The Plan

Nyx woke up to replace her hands chained up and hanging from the ceiling. When she pulled the chain with all her might, it rattled noisily, yet it didn’t even break. It was too strong, obviously fortified with powerful magic.

A magic she knew very well — a mystical combination of demoncraft and witchcraft.

Crescentra magic.

Since when did Crescentra magic become this powerful? It had completely overpowered her like it was nothing. How could that be? Crescentra magic might be stronger than the average witchcraft or demoncraft. But as a royal demon, Nyx should have no problem fighting against it. What was going on?

No… there was something different about that last person who had captured her. They were on a different level of power compared to the others. And they did something to Meredith. Meredith… Nyx clenched her jaws as the anger hammered in her chest. She couldn’t protect her fated one. This was all her fault.

She still couldn’t purge Meredith’s horrifying screams out of her thoughts. This was all Nyx’s fault.

She promised she would protect Meredith from all their enemies. Yet here she was, an utter failure. She couldn’t even break out of these chains. They seemed to be suppressing her demoncraft somehow. What could she do?

Stop it. Now was not the time to feel sorry for herself. She had to come up with a plan. She had to replace Meredith. She might be unable to use demoncraft now, but that didn’t mean she was helpless. She needed to calm down to access the situation.

Everything will be fine. Whoever took her would regret it soon.

Faint footsteps got her attention. Two people were coming.

“I can’t believe she killed them all.” It was a woman’s voice Nyx had never heard before.

“Well, I did warn you,” came a second voice. A man’s voice. Nyx frowned. This voice she knew very well. Was she hallucinating? “I told you to go alone.” A pause. “Where did you get that kind of demoncraft anyway? It’s stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.”

“What you should be worrying about is our deal. You better not break it, demon.”

“Don’t insult me, witch.” Nyx sensed the anger in the voice.

Interesting. A demon and a witch working together. Then again while Crescentra hated demons, they wouldn’t mind using the power of demons for their dark sinister shit. Fucking hypocrites.

“She’s in there,” said the woman.

Nyx glared at her new company when they entered.

“Staslok,” she seethed. “I should have known you were behind all this.”

Staslok laughed. “Not all. But I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Nyx glared at the young woman beside Staslok. She was still wearing the long black robe, but her head was not covered in the hood. Her presence was identical to the person who had abducted her.

While Nyx was certain she had never seen this redhead woman, she couldn’t help but feel quite the opposite. Gazing into the depths of those blue orbs, Nyx felt as though she could see right through the woman.

As one skilled in concealment, Nyx was certain that the witch was either disguising her true form. Or perhaps, this was her true form and Nyx had once seen her disguised form. Either way, it explained why Nyx felt the woman’s presence so strongly.

“We’ve met, haven’t we?” Nyx asked, staring pointedly at the woman. The witch flinched a little, but she didn’t react. Nyx laughed. “Why are you in disguise? Afraid of me?”

The woman laughed. “You’re the one in chains, Onyx.”

“Am I?” Nyx smile. She inhaled deeply, trying to trigger her memory with the woman’s scent. The witch had done well disguising herself thoroughly. But she wouldn’t fool Nyx. And then the witch’s blue eyes changed slightly brown, before returning to blue again. Gotcha. Nyx grinned. “Ida Thompson.”

Ida’s eyes widened for a moment, then clenched her jaws.

Nyx laughed without. “Well, I’ll be damn. The grand fucking elder of the Witch Council is Crescentra? Do they know about this?” Nyx narrowed her eyes, looking between Staslok and Ida. “What kind of deal do you two have? Are you giving these fuckers your demoncraft, Staslok? I didn’t peg you for a little bitch.”

“Shut the hell up.” Staslok’s eyes darkened.

“Or what? You’ll torture me?” Nyx laughed some more. “Might I remind you that you’re the one trapped, not me?”

Ida raised her hand and balled her fist. Instantly, a throbbing pain wrecked through Nyx’s head. She gritted her teeth, doing everything in her power to soothe the pain. But it was so strong that she screamed and her chained hands trembled.

“Keep pissing me off and I’ll make you regret it,” said Ida.

The pain vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

“Where’s Meredith?”

Ida tilted her head. “Who?” Then as if she’d remembered who Nyx was talking about, Ida smiled. “Oh, you mean your little girlfriend. Don’t you already know what happened to her?”

Seeing the sinister smirk in Ida’s eyes, Nyx’s heart beat rapidly in panic. Nyx’s grip on her chains tightened. A dull ache thundered in her chest. The same anguish she had felt when Meredith’ screamed in agony as she was tortured by this woman.

Sure, Nyx had seen her girlfriend lose consciousness just as she was dragged into the portal with Ida. She had also felt the emptiness within her when Meredith collapsed to the ground. But that didn’t mean Meredith was no more, right? She refused to believe that.

She wouldn’t let this bitch get into her head. She could no longer sense Meredith’s presence like she always did. But that was probably because Ida’s magic was severing her connection with Meredith. Her witch was fine.

Nyx enunciated each word slowly, “Where is my girlfriend?”

“Do you know why you’re here?” asked Ida, completely ignoring her. Nyx clenched her jaws. She wasn’t a fan of witch killing, but she wouldn’t mind killing this witch. Ida laughed, taunting her to go ahead and try it.

“You have a lot of powerful enemies, Onyx Castle,” Ida continued in her smug tone. Then she looked at Staslok with a grin. “Like the First Power of the Demon Circle. He fucking hates your guts.”

This was what Nyx got from staying away from the politics of the city. Despite her strength, she refused to take over when she first came to Green Front and discovered it was under the reign of mere greater demons. She’d come to Earth to be free of all the political violence in Heldan. However, nothing could have prepared her for all the drama between demons and witches, vampires and werewolves, and the humans and everyone.

There was hate everywhere, yet, it was nothing compared to what she had seen in Heldan. So not wanting to alarm the artificial dominions of this world, she hid her true identity.

Clearly, that didn’t work. Because Staslok the little bitch, now wanted her dead. This idiot was pathetic. What did she want with a city as ridiculously tiny as Green Front? If she wanted true power, she would simply go back to Heldan and agree to be the First Power of her mother’s dominion — it was twice the size of the Earth and three times its population.

These Earth-born demons were so pathetic it was embarrassing.

“Even your closest allies aren’t really your allies,” Ida said. “I almost feel bad for you, Onyx.”

Allies? Nyx narrowed her eyes. No, stop it. Don’t let her get into your head.

“What, you’re not even a little bit curious?” the witch asked. “I know you want to ask. Go ahead and ask me. They threatened to kill me if I told you anything. But you’re going to die anyway. So it will make no difference if I tell you.”

The coldness seeped through Nyx, stabbing at her chest. All she wanted to do was release the coldness and freeze everything to death. “Where is my fated one?”

“Ugh. That nasty bitch.” Ida rolled her eyes in disgust. “I can’t believe Charles and Andrea will let their kid screw a fucking demon.”

“Where the hell is she?” Nyx thundered. She was not about to argue with Crescentra’s hypocrisy.

“She’s dead, Onyx. You saw her die, right? Why are you still in denial?”

And then the world went quiet. And everything stilled.

Suddenly, an overwhelming urge to laugh took over her. Nyx laughed and laughed, first in hysteria, then in pure unadulterated rage. The fury effused from the deepest core of her being, ravaging through her like the fires of Orothis.

Webs of cracks appeared in thin air… No not thin air. It was the invisible cage trapping Nyx. The greater her demon energy roared and raged within her, the deeper and longer the cracks became. She was weakening the cage.

“What the hell?” Ida’s blue eyes widened.

“She’s… fuck….” Staslok slowly retreated. “We need to go now.”

Like a sledgehammer to a glass, the air shattered into a million pieces, and the force behind it hurled Staslok and Ida into the wall. Nyx snapped the shackles on her hands before landing swiftly on her feet. She glared at them as power intoxicated her. The more she tasted this newfound power, the more she craved it. Bones shifted inside her, rearranging into places she didn’t know existed.

Usually, she felt a tiny bit of pain whenever she shapeshifted. But not this time. In fact, she relished it.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you both.” She pointed at the two who were now staring at her in horror. As if Nyx’s voice had finally snapped them out of their trance, Ida and Staslok scrambled to their feet and ran for the door.

Nyx watched them silently as they fought over who will leave the room first. She wasn’t going to chase them. They were already in her control, and they didn’t even know it yet.

“I’m so sorry, but it’s not working.”

Rexadan slumped into the couch as he panted heavily. He had appeared as soon as Meredith called him. Meredith had thought that her parents would make a fuss once another demon suddenly appeared in their house. But so far, they’d not done anything to make Rexadan feel unwanted.

Once Meredith explained everything to Rexadan, the demon didn’t waste any time using his demoncraft to track Nyx.

But close to two hours had passed and nothing he did seemed to work. Sweat drenched Rexadan’s pale face, and his eyes were a little sunken. Meredith poured him a glass of water and he gulped the whole thing down quickly.

“Something is wrong,” said Rexadan. “Crescentra magic shouldn’t be this powerful.”

Meredith clenched her jaws. “What do you mean?”

“I ran into a few Crescentra witches about fifteen years ago. I saved one of them from her fellow witches who were trying to harvest her vital energy for some dark magic shit… anyway, long story short, my new friend told me a lot about their coven. Their demoncraft is often from lesser demons because they are easier to capture and drain. It makes their magic stronger than the average witch, but it’s still much weaker than my magic.”

Meredith paused thoughtfully. “Is it possible the demoncraft is not from lesser demons then?”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Rexadan nodded. “I fear it’s something beyond my power. Nyx is far stronger than I am, yet they captured her. I don’t understand how that’s possible. I destroyed that cult myself.”

“Maybe they were getting stronger in the shadows,” Baba said.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Rexadan. “Something must have happened. I have a horrible feeling about this.”

“How do we get Nyx back?” asked Meredith. This was all she cared about.

“I hate to say this Mei Mei, but we can’t use magic to replace Nyx,” said Baba. “We’ve already tried everything we can.”

Meredith willed herself to calm down. Everyone in the room was trying to help her. But it was hard to think clearly when everything was spiraling out of control. She’d put all her hope on Rexadan and now that hope was crumbling because nothing was working. What could she do?

Did she have to report the kidnapping to the police then? Nyx was an influential person in the city and the police would do whatever they could. But with magic involved, it would just be one big waste of time. Was all hope lost then? Would she never see Nyx again?

“Not everything,” Rexadan said suddenly. His pale face was starting to get some color. “There’s something else that could work. But I’m going to need some help from you.”

The embers of hope slowly flickered to life within Meredith’s heart. “Anything. What do you need?”

“I can combine my demon energy with your vital energy. It should be strong enough to break through the Crescentra magic.”

“Are you crazy?” Mama’s eyes darkened. “You trying to kill my daughter or something? She just came from the dead and you want to send her back there.”

“Mama, I’ll be fine.”

“Fine?” Her mother glared at her. “Meredith, you almost died. And now he wants to corrupt your vital energy with demon energy. Do you think your father and I are going to sit back and let that happen?”

Meredith bit her lips. Maybe she had been selfish. She’d really not thought about how her actions had affected her parents, how much they’d worried about her. She was grateful. But she couldn’t sit back and do nothing while Nyx was in danger.

She put her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Mama, I know you’re worried about me. But I’m worried about Nyx too. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her when I know there’s something I can do to save her. So please, let me do this, okay? I’m the only one who can do this right now.”

“No, you’re not,” said Mama. “You’re not the only witch here.”

It took a moment for her mother’s words to make sense to her. “Mama…” Baba nodded, taking a stand next to his wife.

“Your mother is right, Mei Mei. We’ll take it from here.”

“This is nice and all,” said Rexadan, “but Meredith is right. She’s the only one who can do this right now. I need her connection with Nyx to replace my sister. But you don’t have to worry. She’s not the one casting the magic so her vital energy won’t be corrupted. She’ll only feel a little tired, that’s all.”

Baba glared at Rexadan. “Well, I don’t trust you, demon.”

Rexadan smirked. “Smart move.”

Meredith bit her lips. God, this tension was killing her. Could Rexadan at least read the room?

“We can sign a blood contract about Meredith’s safety if you want,” said Rexadan. “You don’t have to trust a demon. But you can always trust a demon’s blood contract.”

Baba paused for a moment, his eyes wavering. Everyone knew demons could never go back on their word once they signed the blood contract. It was probably why most demons would dare not sign one in the first place unless it benefited them.

Baba sighed. “If she gets hurt-”

“Oni will kill me herself,” Rexadan finished Baba’s sentence.

“Oni?”

“Nyx,” said Rexadan, taking Meredith’s hands. To Meredith’s surprise, her parents didn’t protest. However, they looked about ready to spell Rexadan out of existence as soon as anything went wrong. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

Once Rexadan released his demon energy, he told Meredith to close her eyes and release her vital energy.

“Focus on Oni,” he instructed.

That was easy. She was all Meredith thought about. Those beautiful hazel eyes and long curly hair. That dimple on her cheek. Her soft yet firm voice. Her alluring scent was spring and honey.

And then Nyx appeared in Meredith’s mind. Except that this person who was identical to Nyx, had eyes as golden as the sun and a majestic mane of golden dreadlocks.

The demon energy that effused from her was as deep as the ocean and as dense as space. Nyx’s demon energy had always been powerful. But this… this was utter madness. Could this really be Nyx?

Yes. Meredith’s heart instantly knew the answer. Even if something was very different about her demon, she was the same demon Meredith was in love with.

Meredith’s legs felt wobbly as the energy drained from them. The room spun around her.

“Mei Mei.” Her father held her in his arms before she could fall. “Are you alright?”

Meredith nodded. She waited, breathing heavily to calm herself. Then she glanced at Rexadan, who didn’t look as tired as Meredith. “I don’t understand. I think I saw Nyx, but I still don’t know where she is.”

“I do,” said Rexadan. “I used your fated bond to locate her. She’s right here in Green Front. I’ll go replace her.”

“What do you mean you’ll go replace her, Rexadan? I’m coming with you.”

Rexadan paused. “Meredith, I can’t let you do that. Nyx will kill me if something happens to you. I can’t-”

“Oh, my god.” Meredith was fuming. “Why is everyone treating me like some… some child? I get that my magic isn’t strong enough but that doesn’t make me weak. I will not sit back and do nothing while everyone risks their lives for me. Okay? I’m coming with you and that’s final.”

“Mei Mei-”

“No, Baba. Please don’t even try to stop me.”

“I’m not.” He sighed. “We’re coming with you. Obviously, you won’t stop until you replace Nyx. So we’ll just have to come along and make sure you’re safe.”

For the second time, her parents shocked her today. She knew they loved her. But she didn’t think they would actually support her relationship with a demon.

“Once all this is over, I’m going to have a serious talk with Onyx Castle,” said Baba, her eyes flashing in anger.

Shit. Meredith gulped. Maybe she talked too soon.

“Okay then,” said Rexadan. “Since it’s all settled, why don’t you all grab onto me? Also, brace yourself. If this is your first time teleporting, it won’t be pretty.”