Page 51 of Grimoire Omens

Gryvak laughed as he stalked close enough to loom over Ulseere. “And therein lies the difference between us. I would have let the woman die.”

Ulseere’s lips moved, but nothing emerged.

“What, no parting words?” Gryvak mocked as he crouched. “I’ll bet you never thought you’d die at my hands. I’m sure the king will be quite surprised as well. I’ll be seeing him shortly, thanks to the witch.”

A wheezing noise emerged from Ulseere that contained no words, but Gryvak chuckled.

“Surprised I’m planning to return? So am I. However, circumstances have changed since my arrival. A pity you won’t be around to see my triumphant return.” Gryvak stood and lifted his leg as if to stomp the defenseless elf at his feet.

Despite being terrified, I ran for Gryvak and pounded his chest.

“You fucking bastard. What is wrong with you?”

He grabbed me by the wrists. “Calm yourself, witch.”

“I will not, you murderous bastard. You can’t kill a defenseless man.”

“Actually, I could and quite easily, but I won’t if you do as I say.”

I stilled. “What do you want?” A dull response because he’d won. I’d do anything to keep Ulseere alive.

“Open a door to Infernal.”

“I can’t. I don’t have the spell.”

“Spell?” he scoffed. “Earth witches and their rituals. True magic such as you possess has no need of ingredients and fancy words. The power you wield simply requires strength of mind to shape the will.”

“If that were true,” I seethed, “then me wishing really, really hard for you to go back to where you came from would?—”

Apparently cause my body to heat, my hair to whip around my head, and for a roaring sound to fill the air as the space holding Gryvak—and by default me, since he still gripped me by the wrists—ripped open.

And we fell, into Hell.

14

Okay, so I didn’t exactly end up in Hell—or Wonderland or Oz, which might have been cool—but I could also state with certainty we weren’t in Ottawa anymore, or Earth for that matter. And I had no one to blame but myself.

Gryvak claiming I could shape magic to do as I wanted seemed farfetched. The old me certainly could have concentrated as hard as I liked to no result. However new me, brimming with magic, untrained and emotional, somehow managed to make my wish to send Gryvak back to Infernal come true. Alas, I ended up here with him.

Not ideal.

At all.

Especially since the fucker laughed. “You’re even more powerful than expected.”

“Keep laughing, asshole. It’s the last thing you’ll do.” Despite feeling lightheaded and weak, a simple tug freed my wrists from Gryvak, and I retreated a few paces before extending my hands. “Explode into meat chunks.” Nothing happened. “I want to see you burning alive!” Not really, but it didn’t matter because he didn’t ignite. I shook my fingers. “Come on, magic, kill this fucker.”

“I do believe you’ve used up your magical stores for the moment,” said with a smirk. “But it should be replenished in time for our visit with the king.”

“Doesn’t the king want you dead?”

“He does, and when you opened the door to Earth and I escaped through, I thought myself the luckiest umbradriad alive. Even better, you offered me the opportunity to be greater than just the ruler of Infernal’s Eastern Territory. Initially, I planned to dominate your entire world. It took only a few days on your wretched plane to see why my kind never bothered conquering it. Humans are worse than the roaches that infest the sewers of my world. Annoying creatures who multiply by the thousands, with little redeeming qualities.”

“And yet you needed a human to get back here,” I reminded.

“Only because a quirk in our blood doesn’t allow us to open doors to other worlds. But now, with you in my control, I can go anywhere I want.”

“Excuse me? I am not your slave,” I spat. “You can’t make me do shit.”