Her Witch, Her Demon [WxW]
4. The Visitor

Every single night, without fail, the beautiful face of a certain witch invaded Nyx’s dreams. The dreams began with little flashes here and there. Then they evolved, Meredith’s face getting clearer, her smile brighter than the sun. It was always the same dream of the witch smiling at her with such warmth. It was pretty much burned on Nyx’s mind, like a painting on a canvas.

Most nights, she woke up, sweating and panting, completely bewitched by the witch’s gaze. The fated bond was getting stronger, and it was getting increasingly more painful.

To distract herself from the torment, Nyx woke up each night as soon as the dreams started. Cooped up in her studio, she chipped away all night at the lump of bronze with precision and care. She would get so lost in her work that she worked all through the night until the next morning. It was a good thing she didn’t need to sleep.

One night, Nyx ran her fingers along the cheeks of the statue. It was not finished yet, but it was coming up quite nicely and anyone who saw it would easily recognize it as Meredith. Was the witch asleep? Nyx wondered. It was half past two in the morning. She doubted Meredith was awake by now. Or did the witch lose any sleep too because of Nyx?

She sighed. Why would Meredith lose any sleep over her? Nyx was the only one suffering the consequences of the fated bond. As the humans often called it, Meredith was Nyx’s soulmate. Her heart had chosen the witch the very first time she laid eyes on her. But what if the witch didn’t feel the same way?

The very thought sent a rush of panic deep within her gut. Nyx clenched her jaws. Why was this happening to her? Even among royal demons, the fated bond was quite rare.

And for a demon to be fated to someone other than another demon, that was just unheard of. Why was this happening to her?

Nyx suddenly narrowed her eyes as her ears picked up tiny vibrations in the air. She paused, waiting, listening. There was someone upstairs. Who would dare enter her home without permission? Were they tired of living or something? She teleported upstairs in a flash. And there, sitting on a couch, with his legs crossed like he owned the damn building, was the fucking bastard.

She glared at the dark-haired hybrid. He smirked at her.

“Hi, Onixcasria,” he said, with a curt wave.

Nyx grabbed him by the neck and strangled him in midair. “You have some nerve coming back here, Rexadan.” Her grip tightened. “What were you thinking, threatening me with that text? Are you tired of living?”

“Nice to meet you too, big sis.” Even while chocking the life out of him, Rexadan still grinned like the idiot he was. But his smile immediately faded, probably from the murderous glint in Nyx’s eyes. “Look, Oni, I wasn’t threatening you, alright.” His breath was coming in shallow gasps now. “Fuck, sis, can you let me go now? I can’t talk if you keep strangling me.”

After hesitating for a while, Nyx dropped him like a sack of shit. He casually rubbed his neck as if he was unfazed by the whole thing before taking a seat.

“What are you doing here?” she asked her half-brother. Unlike most of her siblings who were all full demons, Rexadan had a human mother. He’d been raised in the human world by her mother until their father took him in when he was nine.

Most people thought the young hybrid would not survive the cutthroat world of demons because of his weak human half. Being eight years older than her brother, she had tried to protect him from other royal demons who loathed his human side. But the older Rexadan got, the more ambitious and scheming he became. He fit right in.

“Have you been spying on Meredith and me? If you dare hurt her-”

"Oni, come on,” he interrupted. His dark green eyes held a sadness she hadn’t seen in him in a long time. “Will you forever hold this against me? I was just a child. I didn’t know any better.”

Nyx folded her arms. The rational part of her mind believed him. But recollecting his betrayal all over again reopened fresh wounds she thought she had buried. But was it really a betrayal if he was controlled by an ancient royal demon?

“I didn’t spy on you and the witch, okay? I just found out by coincidence.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t care. Leave now and stay away from Meredith.”

Rexadan stayed glued to the couch, not moving an inch. “Things are getting worse back home, Oni. Darizen… he’s…” His eyes seemed to be wrestling with something. “You need to come back. Father says only the strongest will succeed him, and it’s a fucking bloodbath. Darizen is getting out of control. You’re the only one who can stop him... Well, and father. But he won’t do shit about it.”

“How’s that my problem?”

It was the same old story. Siblings so divided by deep-seated rivalry and hatred, they would stab each other in the back. She was the only child of both her mother and father and trusting none of her siblings, had put that trust in Rexadan. Yet, her older siblings managed to poison Rexadan’s mind against her. Why would she want to go back to such a place?

“But what about the throne? Your mother is worried about you. And the kingdom needs you.”

“I don’t need the kingdom.” As for her mother, she would be fine. She was one of the most powerful demons in existence. “Look, I’m busy. Stay the night if you want. But I don’t want to see you here tomorrow.”

She was about to vanish into thin air when Rexadan dropped the bombshell. “The Durug is back.”

Nyx stiffened, narrowing her eyes. “That’s impossible. It’s been disbanded since the truce.” That was about three hundred years ago. No one’s heard from them all this time.

“Come on, Oni. Do you really think the most extremist demons just gave up their hatred for witches?”

Nyx paused thoughtfully. That made sense. Just because the demons and witches had a pact seemingly keeping the peace didn’t mean that all those millennia of hate would suddenly go away.

“I’m sure they’ve been active in the last three centuries. We just didn’t know it yet. Until recently.”

“That still has nothing to do with me,” said Nyx.

“No? Your girlfriend is a witch.”

Nyx clenched her jaws, anger slowly intoxicating her.

“She’s your fated one, isn’t she?” Rexadan smiled. This was unlike his mocking smirk. It was actually a rather thoughtful one, yet a little sad. When Nyx said nothing in reply, Rexadan added, “I thought as much. The day you two met at the Union, I was there. I saw how dumbstruck you were by her.”

“What?” Shit. She must have been so distracted that she didn’t even notice Rexadan’s presence. “What were you doing at the Union?”

“I was looking for someone… Look, that’s not what’s important, Oni. The Durug has eyes on you.”

She gazed intensely at her brother, but he didn’t flinch. She stopped trusting him over twenty years ago. She wasn’t about to start now.

“Well, to be fair, they don’t know that Onyx Castle is Onixcasria.” Then shook his head. “Seriously, Oni, did you have to adopt a human name that was so close to your real name? I’m surprised no one has figured it out yet. Fucking idiots.”

She ignored him. “How do you know so much about the Durug? Did you join them?”

“What the fuck, Oni.” Rexadan looked visibly disgusted. His verdant eyes darkened in anger. “I’m trying to destroy that fucking cult. Those assholes killed my friends.”

Friends? Rexadan had friends? This crafty motherfucker?

Yet, his pain and rage were all too apparent.

“I know you don’t trust me, Onixcasria. I get it. I wouldn’t trust me too. But I really need your help. You’re the only one who can help me take them down. Please.”

After a momentary pause, Nyx said, “You already know how to find them, don’t you?”

His stupid smirk was back, and his eyes shone. “I’ve been spying on one idiot. He’s a lesser demon with a low rank in the Durug. But I can use him to get some information.”

Honestly, she would rather not help Rexadan. But if the Durug was back and had eyes on her, then Meredith was in danger. Nyx would rather work with someone she didn’t trust than let Meredith get hurt.

Not for a second taking his eyes off him, she said with the utmost calm, “I’ll help you, Rexadan. But if you so much as betray me again, I will fucking kill you.”

Rexadan gulped, then nodded slowly.

The next day, Nyx and Rexadan appeared in a trailer park.

“The demon you’re spying on lives here?” Nyx asked as they passed by rows and rows of rundown trailers. The stench of filth stabbed at her nose.

“His name is Jakubs. And he’s a fucking moron.”

They were soon in front of a large gray trailer. Rexadan knocked once. Nyx was surprised he didn’t even break down the door.

A burly man with a thick brown mustache came outside. As Nyx looked through him, his human form seemed to wither away until his pale face became deep purple, a horn protruding from his forehead, and two eyes on his temples. Nyx almost scoffed. How weak was this demon that his concealment skill was so easy to see through?

“Who are you?” Jakubs glared at them.

Rexadan snapped his fingers in Jakubs’s face. “Freeze, motherfucker.”

The demon stiffened like a pole. Not even his facial muscles twitched. It seemed Rexadan had perfected his freezing magic.

Rexadan shoved the demon in the chest, hurling him inside the trailer like a ball. Something, probably glass, shattered. When Nyx followed Rexadan inside, Jakubs had toppled over a chair, sitting flat on his ass.

His concealment had worn away, and his dark purple face was even darker with shock.

“Hello, Jakubs. Long time no see.”

Jakubs’s confusion only deepened. “Who the hell are you?” Then his shock warped to disgust and rage. “Are you fucking witches? You… I’m going to kill you all.”

“Bitch, hush,” said Rexadan, rolling his eyes.

So her brother was right. Jakubs was a fucking moron. Even if he was a lesser demon who couldn’t use demoncraft, shouldn’t he at least know the difference between demoncraft and witchcraft? Or did he think “freeze motherfucker” was a spell?

Jakubs bared his long yellow fangs. Rexadan snapped his fingers again and Jakubs screamed as though someone was peeling the skin off his face. He gritted his teeth, dark blue blood oozing out of his nose.

“If you waste my time again,” said Rexadan, “I’m going to torture you for eternity.”

“What the hell do you want from me? Who the fuck are you?” Finally, when his eyes landed on Nyx for a moment too long, recognition flashed in them. “Onyx Castle?”

Only a few people in Green Front knew she was a demon. Even then, they assumed she was a greater demon.

“Are you going to make him talk?” asked Nyx. “Or should I?”

“Patience, Oni. Asking nicely takes time and I can’t have you just tear him apart.”

She wouldn’t argue with that.

“You’re with the Durug, aren’t you?” Rexadan asked the obviously vexed demon.

Jakubs clenched his jaws. “What are you talking about? The Durug doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Jakubs, how the hell do you think I found you? I’ve been spying on you for weeks.”

He narrowed his red eyes but quickly schooled himself to appear unfazed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rexadan laughed. “Oh, yeah. You remember that caravan of witches you and your fellow Durug abducted and later killed?”

Now Jakubs’s walls were slowly breaking apart, but he still remained silent.

Rexadan continued, “Four of my friends were in there. You killed three of them and one of escaped. That’s how I found you.”

“That little bitch,” Jakubs seethed.

Rexdan punched the vampire in the face and thundered, “Don’t fucking talk about Zara like that.”

His fist trembled as he glared at Jakubs with venom.

Had Rexadan really spoken the truth about his friends being killed by the Durug? Now that Nyx thought about it, she remembered how much Rexadan loved magic and was very much fascinated by both witchcraft and demoncraft.

It was no surprise that Rexadan knew many witches, after all, he could use them to learn witchcraft. But what Nyx had never once considered was that Rexadan would care so much about his friends to avenge them.

Clearly so much had changed since she left home.

“I know the Durug is meeting next week,” said Rexadan.

“How do you-”

“I’m the one asking the questions here.” That shut Jakubs up. “Unfortunately, you’re far more secretive with things like locations. Where are you meeting?”

“What makes you think I’m going to tell you anything? I don’t care what you do to me, I’ll tell you nothing.”

“Who said I was going to do anything to you?” Rexadan laughed manically. “See that quiet demon behind me?” Rexadan pointed to Nyx. “You know who she is right?”

Jakubs spat in Nyx’s direction. “Fucking witch lover. We’ll destroy your club and everyone in it. You just wait and see.”

“Ah, so you don’t really know who she is then.” Rexadan smiled at Nyx. “I told you the Durug exists. My sources told me royal demons are pulling the strings.”

“Royal demons?” Was that even surprising? Royal demons had long been the masterminds of witch hunts since the beginning of time. “You think we can take them down? Alone.”

Rexadan paused. “I admit it will take time. But it’s not impossible. If we go to that meeting, we can learn about secrets that will help us take them down.”

“You realize I’m still here, right?” said Jakubs. “Do you really think I’m going to tell you anything now that I know why you’re looking for the Durug?”

Rexadan sighed. “I guess it’s time for you to know who she is.” He nodded at Nyx.

Nyx instantly released her demon energy. It was a mere sliver, but it was enough to break through Rexadan’s freezing spell and make Jakubs fall flat on his belly, convulsing like a rattlesnake.

“You’re a royal demon…” Jakubs stammered.

“You’ve heard of Princess Onixcasria, right?” Rexdan grinned.

“Princess Onixcasria?” Jakubs’s eyes bulged so wide they almost fell out of their socket. “Your Highness.” He prostrated on the ground, not daring to look up at Nyx. Even the dumbest demon knew of Onixcasria, the firstborn of Lucifer and Lilith, king and queen of hell.

“So are you going to tell us where the next Durug meeting is? Or should the princess rip it out of your throat?”

Without any hesitation, Jakubs told them everything they wanted to know. To Nyx’s disappointment, this was only a meeting of the lower echelons of the Durug.

But it didn’t really matter. Because now, they knew exactly where to look.

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