Lesbian Paranormal Romance | Fiction
Her Witch, Her Demon: Episode 5
Meredith and Nyx go on their first date… and trouble brews
Nyx sat in the Seven Pearls Restaurant waiting for her date.
Nyx. She smiled at the nickname. Only Meredith had the guts to call her that. Then again, Meredith had no idea who she was. Sure, the witch knew she was a demon, but that was all. What would Meredith do if she found out about Nyx’s true identity?
Nyx shuddered at the thought. She was almost fifty, and in all those years, she had never thought she would find her fated one. The way her heart literally stopped beating for five seconds the first time she laid her eyes on Meredith would forever be ingrained in her bones. The universe must be playing a cruel joke on her to be fated to a witch. A Huang witch no less, and the daughter of two elders.
Nyx sighed. This was going to be a real shitstorm. She could just feel the drama waiting to unfold.
Yet, she truly couldn’t care less what anyone thought about her relationship with a witch. She was more worried about whether that witch wanted to be with her at all. Well, Meredith didn’t entirely reject Nyx’s gift, so all hope wasn’t lost. Yes, the witch came to the Union to return the gift. But Nyx smoothly turned things around. Using Meredith’s own words against her, she kissed Meredith until the sassy witch was too stunned to speak. Then she asked Meredith out on a date, and to Nyx’s surprise, she accepted, albeit reluctantly.
So, here she was at the Seven Pearls Restaurant, waiting for her beautiful date. It was half past seven. Meredith was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. Did she decide not to come? Maybe the thought of going out with a demon finally repulsed her.
Reading her was difficult. Sometimes Nyx heard Meredith’s heart thumping so erratically. And just as she thought Meredith was attracted to her, the witch would say things that were the exact opposite. Meredith had even said that she didn’t like Nyx at all. No woman had ever rejected her. No woman had stopped her heart from beating either.
She glanced at her watch. It was 7:45 pm. Through the glass windows, the massive city sprawled below in the distance. Meredith wasn’t coming. Had she been stood up? She, Onixcasria, of all demons. There was indeed a first time for everything. She just never thought that would apply to her. How ironic it was that the very woman who had stood her up was her fated mate.
Now that Nyx had laid eyes on her, thereby initiating the fated bond, it would be impossible to get the witch out of her head. This was a whole level of fucked up. Why did she even have to meet Meredith in the first place?
When she built the Union, never once had she expected her fated mate to come walking through the doors. She hadn’t slept peacefully since then. The witch always found a way to show up in her dreams and Nyx would wake up panting, drenched in wetness, sometimes an aching bulge in her pants. The longer it took to finalize the fated bond, the harder things would become for her. How could she even think of doing that when Meredith wasn’t showing up for a simple date?
By the three realms, she was fucked.
Just as Nyx stood up to leave, her world stopped, her heart racing at the mere sight of the small-framed beauty strutting with elegance toward her.
She wore a tight-fitting red dress that hugged her in all the right places, accentuating her curves. Her long black hair cascaded on one side of her neck and her red lipstick perfectly complimented her brilliant onyx eyes. So dark, and yet so warm and full of light. It took Nyx a moment to realize that Meredith was already in front of her, and another minute to release the breath she was holding.
Running her eyes over Nyx from head to toe, the witch bit her lower lip. “Sorry, I’m late.”
No one ever dared to waste Nyx’s time. No one. Nyx had known Meredith for less than a week and the woman had broken every single one of her rules. But did she care? Absolutely not. It excited her even more. Finally, she understood her parent’s absurd relationship as fated mates. Unlike her parents, however, she was unlucky to be fated to a witch — one who might never feel the same way about her.
Calm down, Onixcasria. She was getting way ahead of herself. If she rushed things, it would scare the witch away. She had to take things slow.
“You look stunning,” said Nyx, pulling Meredith’s chair.
“You’re not mad at me?” Meredith sat.
“What for?”
The waiter came by with a menu.
“I almost stood you up,” said Meredith as soon as the waiter was gone. “I had second thoughts.”
“You’re here now. That’s all that matters.” Nyx flashed her a smile before getting back to the menu. Honestly, she was upset when she thought Meredith had stood her up. But her anger instantly evaporated as soon as her date appeared. “So, what will you have? Everything here is excellent.”
Meredith read the menu silently. With delicate fingers, she turned the pages ever so gently. Everything about this woman was refined and sophisticated. No wonder such gentle hands produced such exquisite pieces of art. Nyx gulped when Meredith suddenly looked up at her and flashed her white smile.
“Why don’t you order, instead?” said the witch. “Surprise me.”
Doing her best to appear calm on the surface, Nyx called the waiter and gave their order.
“Where’s everyone?” asked Meredith suddenly. She looked around the very empty restaurant.
Nyx smirked. “It’s just us here.”
Meredith tilted her head as if thinking deeply about something. “Did you… oh my god, Nyx. Did you book the entire floor?”
That made Nyx laugh. Book the entire floor? She owned the goddamn building. But of course, she didn’t say that out loud. Meredith was still uncomfortable with Nyx’s lavish display of affection toward her. She’d have to take things slowly until Meredith was comfortable enough. She was a patient demon.
“It’s fine,” said Nyx. “I just want us to have some privacy.”
Meredith looked like she was going to say something, but then she simply sighed. Their food came in shortly and Meredith thanked the waiter with a smile. Nyx watched in fascination as Meredith ate without reservation. She had been worried the witch wouldn’t like seafood, but it seemed her worries were unfounded as Meredith didn’t mind going through the lobsters with unbridled enthusiasm.
“What?” Meredith raised a brow, then gave a small smile. Nyx realized that she had yet to touch her food and was just watching the witch in fascination.
She tried to change the subject. “You’re not wearing the bracelet.”
“I’m not.”
“Do you really not like it?”
Meredith wiped her mouth. “What’s it to you? Why did you send me something like that?”
“I told you,” said Nyx, “because I like you.”
“You sent a gift worth over a hundred thousand dollars to a witch you barely know because you like her?” She put her fork down, then gave Nyx a long hard stare. “Come on, Nyx. What’s this about?”
How should she explain this?
The witch might be someone she barely knew, but Nyx was certain she was her fated mate. She just knew it, just as every royal demon and Primordial would. But she didn’t want to scare the witch away by telling her that. Things had to develop naturally between them.
“You don’t have to wear it.” Nyx shrugged. “But just know that I got it for you without any ulterior motives… although you probably don’t believe that.”
Meredith gazed at her for a while, then sighed. “My father scanned the bracelet with his vital energy. I’m surprised he didn’t sense any demon energy.”
Nyx hadn’t expected anything less from Charles Huang. The only reason that man had still not put two and two together was that everyone thought Onyx Castle, the owner of Castle Art Centre, was a human. And since no one could sense her demon energy because she was no ordinary demon, it was the perfect disguise.
“I didn’t make it with demoncraft.” She went to great lengths to avoid imbuing the bracelet with her demon energy. Meredith’s parents would have sensed that immediately. And while Nyx feared no one, she had to be careful where Meredith’s safety was involved.
“Oh,” said Meredith, “when you said you were into metal sculpting, I thought you used demoncraft.”
Nyx laughed. “Do you paint with witchcraft?”
“No. I…” Meredith paused. “Right.”
They both laughed.
“So, your father… what’s he like?” asked Nyx.
She’d done her homework about Meredith and already knew that Meredith’s parents, Charles and Andrea, were both prominent witches in Green Front. Like most witches, they would certainly hate Nyx because she was a demon. She wasn’t surprised though. While Nyx’s family couldn’t care less about trivial witch and demon affairs in Rorel — or Earth, as known by the people of this realm — she couldn’t say the same for Earth-born demons. Most of them might try to kill Meredith if they knew about her. But Nyx would never allow that. Anyone who tried to harm her fated mate would be sorry.
After talking so lovingly about her family and how she was an only child, Meredith finally asked Nyx if she had any siblings.
“I do,” said Nyx. “Too many of them, actually. But I’m the firstborn… well, kind of.”
“Kind of?” Meredith tilted her head.
“For both my parents.”
“That must be a big deal.”
“It is.” She nodded. As a firstborn and a fated child, there was a lot of pressure on her to live up to her parents’ legacy. That was why she left home in the first place.
Not wanting to reminisce painful memories, she changed the subject. She wanted to know more about Meredith. Even though she knew a lot about her already, she loved to hear the witch speak.
Meredith majored in graphic design at Calsward University in California and graduated three years ago. She interned at UDex, the leading advertising company in Green Front, while she was still in college. Eventually, they retained her as a full-time employee immediately after she graduated. Though she did a lot of her designs with computer software, Meredith enjoyed drawing and painting by hand.
Not wanting to hide things from Meredith — although she didn’t want the witch to know about her family yet — Nyx told her how she started her businesses in Green Front. This was something she could talk about without holding back, after all, Nyx had not depended on her family’s fortune to start her businesses. Well, it did help that she was a powerful royal demon from a different realm. She didn’t tell the witch that though.
Witches may hate demons in general. But the most profound of that hatred was directed at royal demons. They were vermin in the eyes of these witches.
“Wait, you’re forty-eight?” Meredith’s eyes widened when Nyx revealed that to her.
Nyx nodded with a smile.
“I mean, it makes sense that you look twenty-five because you’re a demon. But I was honestly expecting you to be past your hundreds or something because of the way you talk. You’re only forty-eight?”
“Past my hundreds?” Nyx gaped. Then she laughed heartily. “Do I sound that old?”
Meredith nodded. “And you’re also very strong. I sensed your demoncraft when you overpowered the vampire… The older a demon, the stronger they are, right?”
“Indeed.” However, it wasn’t always that simple, especially where royal demons were involved. She had older siblings on her father’s side, all of them centuries older than she, yet none of them was as strong as she… well, at least they wouldn’t be once she evolved.
The more they talked, the easier it seemed for Meredith to open up to Nyx. Unlike their conversation in CAC, Meredith wasn’t holding back anymore. Maybe wooing the witch wouldn’t be so hard after all. As their conversation drifted to art, Nyx’s phone started ringing.
She frowned. Rexadan. What the hell did that traitor want? She ignored the call and continued the conversation.
The idiot kept on calling. Twice. Three times. A fourth time.
“Maybe you should get it,” said Meredith. “It could be important.”
“It’s not.”
Then a message notification. It was from Rexadan. Nyx silently read the message:
She must be one hell of a witch.
Nyx’s grip on her phone tightened, crumpling it like a piece of paper. Rexadan was spying on her. That impudent bastard. If he so much as laid a finger on Meredith, he would wish he had never been born.
“Hey.” Meredith softly touched Nyx’s hand. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” The witch gazed at her with such concern that it was physically painful for her chest. This goddamn fated bond. The pain would only stop if they completed the bond through mating. Ah, now was not the time to think about this.
Rexadan had crawled out of the hole wherever he was, and he was spying on Nyx. Even worse, the goddamn demon was threatening Meredith. She must be one hell of a witch. Fucking hell. She couldn’t let that stand. She had to deal with it before it became a problem.
Nyx stood up and took Meredith’s hand. “It’s time to go.”
Meredith’s eyes widened, but she didn’t protest. It was petty much the first time the witch had cooperated with her without arguing. Could Meredith tell she was fuming inside? She was doing her best to keep her rage under control. Maybe she was failing at that.
Soon, they were outside the Seven Pearls and Nyx walked the witch to her black saloon.
“When will I see you again?” asked Nyx. She still hadn’t let go of Meredith’s hand. “Or do I have to send you another gift?” She smirked.
“Nyx, I’m serious. No more expensive gifts.”
“Okay. From now on, only one-dollar gifts.”
Meredith laughed. Nyx tucked a strand of hair behind Meredith’s ear and the witch’s heart beat faster and faster. If only Meredith could hear Nyx’s own heart too.
“Call me when you get home,” she whispered into Meredith’s ear.
The witch smiled. “I don’t think it will be possible to do that.”
Nyx raised a brow. Then she suddenly remembered that she had broken her phone. Shit. “It’s fine. I’ll get one tonight.” Their faces were only inches apart now. “Meredith, I need to know you’re safe. So call me, okay?”
Meredith paused for a while, not for a second taking her eyes off Nyx. Then slowly, she nodded. “Alright.”
Nyx kissed the woman on the forehead before helping her into the car. She stood silently for a while, watching the saloon speed away into the night. She clenched her fist as the rage slowly intoxicated her.
“Ezerix,” she called out softly.
A figure in a black cloak materialized out of the shadows and knelt before Nyx. “Your Highness.”
“Keep her safe. And be discreet about it. I don’t want her parents finding out.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.” And then Ezerix melded with the darkness.
Now she would have to deal with Rexadan. Why the hell was he back?
Read the next chapter here.
Torshie Torto writes fiction and nonfiction that inspires, informs, and entertains. Join her newsletter to get her stories straight into your inbox. If you love her work, kindly buy her a coffee.
