The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set Read Online Free Page A

pavement – and hard, but only like leathered skin, not hard like stone.”
    “You touched him?” Her mother's voice was tight, her lips drawn in. She looked disturbed.
    “No. He – he touched me...”
    Unbidden, her mind replayed his fingers trailing down her neck, how they felt on the tops of her breasts … she knew her face was an obvious shade of red. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw Karl fold his arms across his chest. Shit!  
    Her mother was eyeing her suspiciously. “Were you attracted to him?”
    “What? No!” She answered too quickly, and her face turned a shade darker.
    Her mother's eyes narrowed. “I see.”
    Karl was standing still as a statue and Elena desperately wanted to explain it wasn't what he thought … or at the very least for the ground to swallow her up.
    “You met a Shanka demon.”
    “You know about demons? What's a Shanka demon? Why have you never told me before? Why don't I know about demons?”
    Ignoring most of her questions, as usual, her mother got straight to the point – as usual. “Demons rarely cross dimensions. Shanka demons are one of the few that do. They are a type of incubi, and their women, succubi – they connect with you through your dreams, often to seduce you so they can steal your sexual energy to feed their own strength, sometimes so they can impregnate you to ensure continuation of their bloodline in this dimension, and occasionally for some other, greater purpose that's not always known to us. As a tribe, they have exactly one goal and they are ruthless in attaining it: they want to rule over our dimension.”
    “And … they're using the pen to help them do this?”
    “I would say so – not just the pen, but you too.”
    Elena's stomach sank. She felt sick. Her throat forced out the word that was eating away at her brain. “Impregnate?”
    Her mother ignored her. “The plane crash was a demonstration. It was to show you what they are capable of and that they're serious about it.”
    “Those words were in my handwriting.”
    “Yes. Your demon wanted you to understand the power that he has over you.”
    “Why? And he's not my demon.”
    Her mother sighed. For a fraction of a second, something that looked like tenderness shone through her features and Elena remembered a moment when she was five, both of them laughing together, sitting on the swings in the park … then the softness was gone and her distant, cold mother stood before her once more.
    “You're a thirteenth generation witch, Elena – and a virgin. He's come to claim you, and your magic, as his own.”
     
    ~*~
     
    Karl's limbs were starting to hurt, because he was stiff as a board. He didn't dare move. If he moved, he may just lash out and hit something. Hearing that Elena was in any way drawn to the demon was enough to churn his blood, but hearing that he – it – wanted to claim her, had violated her through her dreams, had his blood boiling with an anger very few people had the misfortune to witness. He remembered the scream she'd let loose that had pierced the night. He'd touched her … he'd touched her.
    What the hell was 'claiming' her supposed to mean anyway? Elena belonged to no one – she wasn't some kind of possession...
    The thought of someone forcing himself upon her sickened him. But this wasn't someone, this was some thing . Once again, this was a magical incident – once again, he would be rendered useless and unable to do anything to help. Because he was not magical.
    He gritted his teeth. If anyone thought he was about to lie down and just let Elena be seduced by some demon, they had another thing coming, magic or no magic.
    Elena's pinched tone brought him out of his thoughts. “How do I stop him?”
    “I don't know that you can.” A crack sounded in Mrs Green's voice. The woman's façade was breaking – twice he'd noticed this since she'd arrived and it was twice more than he'd have expected. Maybe he should be relieved that she wasn't a complete ice queen,