Demon Seeks Witch (part 5 of 6)
Monday-Labor Day
Early the next day, right after you opened the Play-a-Rama, I made my crows bring the warped Ouija board down from your roof. They dropped it on the counter beside you at the cash register.
D-A-R-I—I-S—D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S, I spelled with the planchette.
“Com’on Hux, don’t be jealous. We’re only having some fun.”
D-A-R-I—T-R-I-T-O-N
“He’s a merman?” Your scoff turned into a sneering laugh. “Good thing I’m not a sailor.”
H-E—W-I-L-L—K-I-L-L—Y-O-U
“Oh, please.”
W-I-L-L
“Hux, chillax.”
P-L-E-A-S-E
“Hux, I have to open the arcade. Dari will not hurt me.”
I recoiled, crossing my wisps and hovering above the planchette. Then she broke my heart.
“Our bonding didn’t work, Hux. Get over it.”
Our relationship, such as it was, hung by a thread.
“You’ll be fine. There’s a witch for you somewhere.”
The condescension in your voice echoed Yofiel’s. I may only be a 5th-level imp-demon, but I have my pride. With a mental snap, I made the planchette scrape like fingernails on a blackboard. You hunched your shoulders, watching as I wrote K-A-R-L-Y, and knocked the planchette upside down at the GOODBYE position.
“Goodbye? Good riddance!”
I rocketed out of the arcade, hexing the games as I left. Nobody patronizes me, especially half-baked semi-witches who date killer supernaturals. I called my crows, and we went to the lighthouse to brood.
A couple of hours later, I returned to lurk in the rafters of the Play-a-Rama, ashamed of my inability to stay away from you. I pushed flies into the zapper, but it failed to amuse me. I was a half-hearted demon.
#
Late in the day, Leah Sandover rolled in. She leaned on the counter next to you.
“I wish there were tickets for the Pony’s show at the Conch stage tonight,” said Leah.
You reached into your pocket and handed her a ticket. “Take my seat. I can’t close the arcade that early.”
Leah grabbed the ticket with a whoop. Enough was enough. I sent my crows to the top of the Conch to watch for Yofiel. I wanted to tell them that Karly was out of danger.
#
“Hello, Ruxton Beach!” said Dari as he stepped onstage, teeth gleaming in his tanned face.
High-pitched screams of female ecstasy scared my crows into the air as Dari began playing "What I Like About You" by the Romantics. With reluctance, I admired his performance. He played aces guitar and got the audience dancing in the aisles by the third bar. As he sang, the thick tentacles of his Triton magic caressed the audience. They stretched across Atlantic Avenue and found you on the boardwalk, closing the Play-a-Rama.
“Don’t fall for his spell, Karly,” I said, watching Dari’s magic wrap your body.
I hexed the crosswalk signals, but I couldn’t keep you away. Your witch sign responded, unfurling from your heart, reaching to wrap around his magic. I dashed to the stage and tried to fill his Dari’s mouth with wisps. He bit a hole in my core and spat me out. Then Dari called to you.
“Hey, Karly, come on stage and say hello.”
Frantic to keep you safe, I countered his spell. Your steps slowed, but Dari stroked his guitar and reinforced his coercion. His magic was more potent than mine, and you took another step toward him. Abandoning my sense of self-preservation, I pushed past Yofi’s winged barriers—entangled in dark green magic—and slid deep into your mind to shield you from Dari’s compulsion. But Dari’s spell had taken hold and transformed your mind into a dimensionless kaleidoscope. Redoubling my will, I pushed for contact.
“Karly, it's Hux. Please talk to me.”
The colorful cacophony continued; I hadn’t even slowed it. You remained oblivious.
“Karly, it’s me, Hux. Please!”
There was no response, and the kaleidoscope churned faster. I locked my focus down and ignited a fiery hex, hoping to burn Dari’s spell into vapor.
“Churn and burn, spawn of the sea. Return, cold fish…”
I found the sticky gray surface of your subconscious mind.
“…this witch will be free.”
I kept going, powering up the hex. During my third repetition, the borders of your mind reappeared. The growl of Dari’s voice submerged under wild applause. He called to you again.
“Hey Karly. Come over here and say hello.”
Dari’s words choked off my resistance. Helpless to stop your progress, I watched through your eyes as you crossed Atlantic Avenue. Dari reinforced his magic with an a cappella seduction.
“Be with me, alone at sea, babe…” he sang.
I chanted in a high, loud voice, desperate to cut through Dari’s coercion. My chant wasn’t working, but neither was Dari’s magic. The closer you got to the stage, the more you were in charge. Dark laughter chuckled at the back of your mind, and it confused me. You were in the middle of the street, ten steps from the curb. A two-toned Chevy truck driven by a werewolf crawled toward you. He was trying to pick up one of the local girls on the sidewalk and was looking everywhere but the road.
“Loser,” said a bikinied girl as she flipped him off.
“Go back to the sticks,” jeered another.
The werewolf cursed and punched the gas. My wisps flamed red as I screamed a warning.
“Karly, run! There’s a truck.”
You ignored me, walking smoothly, like a celebrity on the red carpet. I flew at the werewolf, trying to make him swerve, but he couldn’t see me. The thud of a body against the grill made the werewolf hit his brakes, but the truck had crushed a body under its back wheels before he stopped. He howled in despair.
“Karly! I couldn’t stop you. I’m sorry,” I said, finding a new depth of despair.
I flashed behind the truck to hover above your crumpled body, but it wasn’t you. Yofi clanged down beside the victim.
“Wait, who is this?” I asked.
“It’s Susie Dalrymple,” said Yofi. “Get out of my way.”
A puddle of blood spread on the hot asphalt as Susie’s mortal life ebbed. And she smiled. She was looking at Yofi. I hovered beside Yofi, a miserable, blood-covered clump of despair.
Susie said, “Angel, I see you.”
“Be at peace, my blessed one,” said Yofi.
For the briefest moment, their magics bonded. Then her spirit rose, trailing purple sparks upward toward the stars. Yofi’s wail of agony rang against the shopfronts, and though inaudible to the humans standing around her body, Yofi’s grief made them weep.
“Such a shame,” said the medic, as he gently closed her eyes and lifted her onto the gurney.
Susie would be forever young now. But where was Karly?
Channeling my sorrow into rage, I turned toward the stage, planning to attack Dari, but he’d vanished. I spun up into the air and circled the beach.
There.
Fifty feet offshore, a plume of spray tossed by a dark fluke marked the water. Dari DiMare, in his triton form, was dragging a woman out to sea.
Demon Seeks Witch (part 5)
Previously in Demon Seeks Witch: Hux knows why Karly cannot bond to him, but he's still trying to save her from danger. Golden voiced Dari may take Karly to her death if Hux doesn't stop him.
Demon Seeks Witch is a paranormal fantasy featuring hidden heritage, a love triangle, and a redemption arc. Set in Ruxton Beach, N.H. it follows Huxley Bleakbeam Hollowstew, a demon-familiar, as he seeks to woo Karly into becoming his witch, while her guardian angel father and a golden voiced rival work to make sure he never gets the chance.
Ann Cudworth (also writing as A. C. Worth) is the author of short fiction in Metaphorosis Magazine, Exterus, and Sci-Fi Lampoon, and the anthologies Score—An SFF Anthology, Radicle, and Sages of Metaphorosis. She writes science fiction and urban fantasy, shaped by workshops at Odyssey Writing Workshop and the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute, as well as Futurescapes and the Juniper Writing Institute.
Copyright 2026 Ann Cudworth. All rights reserved.
Read more at https://www.acworthwriter.com/
My stories are written by hand and edited with ProWritingAid.
