Well, not the same. Ever since I managed to escape almost two weeks ago, the demons didn’t take any more chances. They enforced the chains and the only door in the room. They also fed me very little, just enough so I wouldn’t starve, but certainly not enough for me to keep my strength. And every once in awhile, one of them came and tortured me. It mostly comprised of punches and shallow cuts, but in my already weakened state, it was enough to extract low howls of pain and sometimes to make me faint.
In these two weeks, Drollmor hadn’t been back. I had asked what was going on, but the demons here didn’t tell me anything. From the very little I overhead, Drollmor was still busy with the demon hunters. I really hoped it was Rey and Erin and that they were kicking Drollmor’ ass so hard, the demon died by their hands.
One could only dream.
On the morning of the fifteenth day, a lesser demon brought me a slice of stale bread and half a cup of water.
“You should eat it all,” he said, a sarcastic tone to his voice. “Drollmor is coming back tonight and when we tell him about your little escape, he’ll torture you before taking your soul to the underworld.”
I stilled, my stiffen limbs sore from barely moving for several days. Drollmor was coming back tonight? Fuck. My time was up. If I didn’t escape now, then I would never escape again. No, by midnight, I would be dead and my soul would be forever lost to the depths of the underworld.
I jerked against my chains, in a vain attempt to break them. Laughing, the demon stepped out of my room and locked the door.
I ate the bread and drank the water, barely being able to hold on to things and take them to my mouth with the tight chains, but I needed all the strength I could get right now.
All day, I waited for the demons to come back and bring me more food. When they came, I would do something, anything. I would make one of them approach me and I would somehow wrap the chain around his neck. He would have the keys to my chains and I would escape.
But no one came.
Desperation was growing inside me when I heard noises from outside. First, it seemed like someone ordering the demons around. After a few seconds, the noises grew closer and I heard better. It was the sound of shouts and a fight.
What the fuck was going on now?
Readying myself to shift and fight, I stood up on trembling legs.
The door burst open. Light and fire exploded from the hallway outside.
I gasped as the two of them stepped into the room.
“There you are,” Ariella said with a small smile.
“You don’t look too great,” Kayden observed.
I collapsed to my knees. “I’m so fucking glad you’re here.”
“As you should be.” Ariella rushed to me and started unlocking my chains with keys she probably got from the lesser demons. “Now let’s go before the higher demon comes.” She glanced at me. “Not that I don’t want a turn with him, but in your state, we better go.” She hooked her arm around mine and tugged me up. I swayed on my feet.
Kayden reached forward and caught my other arm, steadying me. “Hang in there.”
I tried, but our escape from the manor was a blur in my mind. I saw as Ariella used her powers to kill a couple of demons as we left the manor, I saw as Kayden used her powers to set fire to the manor, and I saw as the both of them pushed me on the backseat of a car.
And then I didn’t remember anything else.
When I woke up, I was in a soft bed in a simple room. Sunlight streamed from the closed drapes, and the smell of coffee reached my nose.
I sat up, groaning at my sore muscles and dizzy head. My stomach contracted with hunger. I glanced down at myself. Though my face was clean, my hair was plastered to my head, and I still wore the last clothes the demons had given me after I ripped the previous outfit when I shifted.
I was in desperate need of a bath, but I was even more so for food.
Following the scent of coffee, I exited the room, walked through a small hallway, and found a family room with an open kitchen. Ariella and Kayden had mugs in their hands and ate something with cinnamon. The sweet scent was killing me!
“Sleeping beauty is up,” Kayden said. She gestured to the coffeemaker across the kitchen, then to the plate with cinnamon scones on top of the range. “Help yourself.”
With slow steps, I made my way to the kitchen, grabbed some coffee and a lot of scones, and sat down on one of the stools around the kitchen’s tall stools, right beside Ariella.
“Where are we?” I asked, confused.
“A house on the east coast, near the Shade Fortress,” Ariella said. “The couple living here went to Europe for vacation.”
I frowned and glanced out the window, but didn’t see much. “What about the neighbors. Won’t they see the house occupied?”
She shook her head. “The next house is down the road, and many trees surround all lots.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not dead,” I joked, though it hurt to smile, much less to laugh. I let out a long sigh, but even that was painful. “I’ve been better.”
“I can see that.”
“How did you find me?” I asked, my mouth full of scone. I was inhaling them, though I was sure I would get sick later since my stomach wasn’t used to eating this much, this fast anymore.
“It was hard,” Kayden said. “We had no clue, no idea what had happened.”
“Kayden is a great tracker,” Ariella said, sounding proud for some reason. “After many days following endless trails, she found you in that manor.” Ariella narrowed her blue eyes at me. “What happened? What did those demons want with you?”
I swallowed the last bite of my scone. “Remember I told you I’ve got mixed up with a demon? Yeah, he found me. His name is Drollmor.”
“What did you do to them to have them come after you in a camp full of fae?” Ariella asked.
I let out a long breath. I could lie to her, but was that worth it? I didn’t see why. I was so fucking tired of lies. “Drollmor promised me I would find Farrah again and would be with her if I sold my soul to him.”
Ariella looked at me as if I had told her I had kissed the devil. “No …” she mumbled, shaking her head. “You didn’t. You’re not that stupid.”
“I was lost, I was scared, I didn’t have a life, in fact, I thought about dying all the fucking time,” I explained. Though now that I said those things out loud, they didn’t sound like a good reason. “I don’t know. He found me when I was at my lowest and he made me a deal that seemed like it could change my luck, despite the outcome.”
“I can’t believe you’re that stupid,” Ariella said, her eyes shining with disgust. She hated demons with a vengeance, and now that she found out I had sold my soul to one, she probably hated me just as much.
“It’s done,” I snapped, though I regretted it. I could have found Farrah by myself if I had only stopped mopping and done something about it. “All I can do now is run from him and hope he never catches up.”
Ariella stood from the table and took several steps back. “I’m not sure I can help you anymore.”
What? “You have to!” I rose from my seat but didn’t approach her. “If you don’t help me, help us, we can’t take the shadow prince down. We need to rescue Farrah. Please.”