The Bewitching - Book 1

Chapter 22 - The Enraged Witch

Elyssa gripped his fur tightly as Tobias charged through the trees, hurtling over all the obstacles in his way. The sounds of the others battle, and Leo’s screams of pain faded in the distance. She hated the idea of leaving Leo in such a condition but it wasn’t him that Chammaday was after. It was her. The further she distanced herself from the others the safer they would be, at least for the moment.

It didn’t take long before she could see the stretch of sand before them as they exited the trees and brush. Dantes’ house sat not much further over a small dune of sand. She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d do when they reached it, but at least it created some distance between them. At the very least she hoped it would buy her some time to think of a plan.

As they started up the dune she risked a glance back over her shoulder. A sigh of relief left her lips upon seeing that it appeared safe and calm. She hoped it meant that they had bought themselves a few extra minutes. As she turned back an explosion of sand erupted underneath them.

Tobias yelped in anguish as she was thrown from his back. She hit the sand hard as she landed, knocking the wind out of her. For a moment her whole body felt paralyzed from the fall as she tried to roll over to her stomach and curl herself into a ball. She tried to catch her breath as she rose to her knees. Looking back towards where the blast had taken place she saw Tobias lying still in the sand not far from her.

Her body ached as she started the crawl over towards him. She could see the small cuts and scratches across her arms and forearms, and was sure that within the next few hours the bruises would follow. As much pain as she felt though, Tobias appeared to be in far worse shape. She could only imagine what type of aching he must be enduring seeing as how he had caught the brunt of the blast.

She had almost reached him as a dark shadow formed over her head. Her crawl slowed to a dead stop as she looked up. Chammaday stood over her, looking down with his pitch black eyes and a nefarious grin. He kneeled down leisurely in front of her until his eyes were level with her own.

“I don’t believe we were done playing yet.” His mouth curled and his voice rang with a sick sense of amusement as he spoke to her in a hushed tone. He raised up his hand and waved it in a small circular motion. A slight breeze picked up. It grew stronger and stronger, soon lifting up the particles of sand from the ground and becoming what appeared to be a mini-tornado that surrounded both of them.

He reached out and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her up to her feet. She forced herself not to yell out in pain, and tried to suppress any indication of the fear she was feeling at the moment. She wanted to lash out at him, to hurt him in the most agonizing way possible, but her body refused to respond. She watched, frozen in fear, as he examined her face with his treacherous eyes.

“Such a precious little thing you are. To think that you would pose so much concern to so many...” He laughed insidiously as he ran his nails along her cheek. The sensation sent a shiver down her spine as his nails moved across her skin. Slowly he moved his hand down lower towards her neck before clenching her tightly along her jawbone.

“You’ll make a nice meal,” he continued as he squeezed harder at her jaw and twisted her head to the side. His face distorted as his jaw started to protrude from his face. It unhinged itself and opened wide revealing several rows of sharp teeth that dripped with a thick yellowish saliva. His gaping mouth was almost large enough to engulf her entire head.

She tried screaming as she attempted to shove him away from her but his grip never loosened. His mouth slowly moved forward opening wider yet. She closed her eyes as she struggled against him. Just before clamping down around her head he stopped and for some odd reason he pulled away as he released his grip on her jaw. She watched as his face reverted back to its previous state.