He ground his jaw but made his way to the animal he’d killed earlier. It was a strange looking thing about the size of a rabbit but feathered like a chicken. He called it a fruthorc. From his tall boot, he pulled out a knife and fileted the animal into bite-sized pieces. Once upon a time, the sight of a bloodied animal might have made her disgusted, but she’d seen mutilated bodies. Nothing compared to that. It took something pretty gruesome to roll her stomach anymore.

He stuck the chunks of meat on a slender stick and handed one out to her with a watchful look on his face. “You surprise me again, witch. This dead animal doesn’t faze you?”

She shrugged and took the stick that looked like a shish kabob. She held it over the little fire he’d built earlier. “After you’ve seen some of what I have, it doesn’t really bother me that much.”

He stared into the fire, rolling his stick slowly so the flames licked each side of the meat. “What do you do if you’re not a practicing witch?”

Her gaze jerked to his. He wanted to know something about her? “I’m a medical examiner trainee for the supernatural department of the police department. The whole division just started a few years ago. I’m still new, in training, but with a little more work I’ll have my certification to work without supervision.” He looked over at her, his brow furrowed and she realized he really was curious. So she went on. “That means when someone is found dead, I’m sent in to inspect the body and try to decide how they died whether it was natural, an accident, or a murder.” She left the part out about how she examines bodies in the lab, cutting them open in some cases. To do that work alone, she still had another certification program to go through. In the meantime, she still worked under the steadfast eye of her supervisor Stan.

“I couldn’t imagine you working with the dead in such a way. You look so fresh and young.”

Ignoring the flutter in her belly at his words, she pulled the now cooked meat out of the fire and started blowing on it to cool it faster. It smelled delicious even without any seasoning. She nibbled a piece and moaned. The meaty flavor tasted like steak. She wolfed down the rest of the meat, careful of any splinters that might have gotten stuck in it.

Belly full, she sighed and laid down on the grassy ground. No sooner than her tired eyes closed, Alrik stepped up beside her. “Time to work.”

She groaned. “Let me sleep for a little while.”

“Work now. This isn’t up for argument.”

Grumbling, she opened her eyes to glare at him. Fine. She slowly stood. “Fine, then tell me what you’re the king of.”

He stiffened, apprehension filling his features. “Why do you care to know?” he asked, suspicion clouding his voice.

“Because I’m bored and you want me to kill someone I don’t even know. The least I deserve to know is a little about my kidnapper, right?” And maybe a bit more about this curse and the queen.

He shook his head and walked back to their designated spell casting area some twenty feet from the stupid branch that refused to fall over.

“You don’t need to know anything about me. Just do what I say, human.”

“My name is Abbigail. If that’s too hard then call me Abby.”

Again, his eyes met hers and she felt his look in a warm flutter down to her belly. The demon had a penetrating stare that never ceased to unnerve her with its intensity.

“I was the king of the shahoulin,” he said at length.

She focused on the branch and put the conversation on the back burner of her mind. She tried to conjure her magic and focus on knocking the branch back as he’d shown her he could do so easily.

“That means you’re a shahoulin demon then, right?”

“Yes.” Again, he seemed hesitant to reveal anything about himself. For some reason, that only made her want to learn more about him.

She was adjusting to the crazy demon because when he stepped up behind her she didn’t stiffen. Her body warmed as it did when she used magic, and she thrust her magic out at the tree branch willing it to move. Nothing happened. She took a deep breath and tried again. She couldn’t let frustration get the better of her. She never worked well that way.

“Why aren’t you king anymore?”

He stood just off to the side behind her so she saw his jaw flex in anger. “Stop asking so many questions, witch.”

She wanted to growl. “Stop calling me witch,” she said slowly. The whole ‘witch’ thing got old—fast.

He crossed his arms across his big chest. “You do not order me, witch.”

Anger flared inside her and she focused it on that branch. The branch shuddered then toppled over to the ground. She let out a squeal and commenced her jumping up and down victory dance. She turned to him, a big smile on her face, and held up her hand for a high-five.

He looked to her hand with a puzzled express then slapped it away. “Don’t try to cast magic on me again, witch, or you’ll regret it severely.”

Her hands curled into hard fists at her side. “You are such an ass. I wanted a high-five. I wasn’t trying to cast any damn magic on you.” He didn’t look swayed in the least. She held out a hand to the toppled branch. “Uh, hello, I just used my magic and made that branch fall over. I call that a good job”

He didn’t say anything, but went back to the tree branch. “Then do it again,” he said propping the branch back up against the tree.

The demon had to be the most insufferable man she’d ever met. What she wouldn’t give to slap him good and hard across the face just once. She started to focus on the branch again, then paused.

“No, you answer one of my questions and then I’ll do it. I’m not going to get nothing outta this deal.” She didn’t state that fact that she wanted to grow her magical powers so she could port home. Some things a girl had to keep to herself.

He growled—an actual growl that sounded too bestial to come from a person’s mouth. “You are the most frustrating woman I’ve ever met. If we were in my kingdom I’d have you sent to the dungeons.”

“Oooh,” she taunted in a high-pitched voice.

His dark eyes narrowed on her. “Be cautious, witch. My patience is at an end.”

“Yeah, well, so is mine. What will it hurt to give me some information? It’s not like—” she stopped herself short. Shit, she’d nearly said “it’s not like you’re not planning to kill me anyway.”

“It’s not like what?” he asked.

She shook her head and focused on the branch again. Anything to distract him. It took longer this time, sweat fell from her brow, but she knocked the branch over. It landed softly on the grass

“Good,” he said righting the branch, “but not good enough. You should be able to make it fly through the air at great speed and power.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Then focus harder. You aren’t doing it right.”

That’s it; she either strangled him or exploded. She chose the latter. “Whatever! I’m done with this. You knock the fucking branch over.”

She turned on her heel and marched for the beach. She needed a damn bath and the thought of that only pissed her off more. She had no soap, no shampoo, not even a dang toothbrush. Oh and no change of clothes either. Yeah, this was going to be a great little vacation.

“Abbigail,” he called in a warning voice.

She laughed and didn’t stop or turn around. “Oh, now he uses my name. No, I don’t think so, demon. I’m done for the day. You hear me, d-o-n-e, done.”

God, she’d never been quick to anger. She’d always been a slow boiler but boy did her temper roar at a boil right now. She swore if he so much as laid a hand on her to try to drag her back up to that stupid tree branch she’d scratch his eyes out. Heavy footsteps followed her but she ground her jaw and pretended to ignore it. She broke through the trees and came upon the dark blue lake near their little cove in the water. The water lapped softly at the sandy edge.