Two females and one male, two black haired, the other bubble gum pink in biker clothes. Of course, because bikers and truck drivers were the only customers that stopped at this makeshift mall. They were easy to identify as Carmilla's, after all he had served her right alongside them. Unfortunately, that made him easy to spot as well even with an illusion over himself.
Hell's teeth! They had spotted him. Dealing with meddling was easy enough. Fun even but dealing with these demons were a lot more meddlesome and would be a lot harder to deal with. He could not afford to get into a fight now, he had conserve his energy for the ritual.
There it was. The signal. Kalzaar took a pen and paper and swirled his finger over the pen. No, not a signal. An incantation. A tracking incantation. He had to get out of this place and back to the boundary before they caught up with him.
Sakaer had not taken up to five steps out the door when his senses picked up on other demons. Damn it! There were twice as many as there were last week. “Running back to your hole, traitor?” one asked and before he knew it he was surrounded.
“You are not so powerful without your little bodyguards, now are you?” Another one taunted. A dark haired head in her hands.
Sakaer had to admit, he was impressed. Their little plan worked to a degree of success. Definitely far more than the others. They certainly had the numbers. It was just unfortunate that numbers were not going to save them.
*******
Rita opened her eyes to the same dreary sight of cell bars and a twitching light that cast the basement in annoying spritz of light every few seconds. She had not realized when she had slept off, she was not even sure if it was morning or not. Her limbs ached, everywhere ached, she felt like her bladder was going to burst and there was not so much as a bucket in sight.
The smell of blood caught her attention first, followed by the pain below her stomach. No. No. How? This was the worst time for this to happen. She was sure she had at least a week before it came. Rita groaned in frustration and in pain. The lower half of the shirt was probably already stained. More than probably by the wetness she felt and the heavy smell.
Why? Why did this have to happen now?
Rita heard a clang and jumped away from the direction of the sound. A loud scream left her mouth at the gigantic black claw that had gone beyond the bars and was just a couple of inches away from her. The thing resembled the hands the other mother's hands from Coraline.
“Vincent! What I'm hell do you think you are doing?!” Someone chided. Rita turned her head towards the stairs to find a blonde haired man. Not man demon. His eyes blazed yellow. The colour of topaz. He sped down the stairs and to the thing named Vincent so fast her eyes could barely keep up.
“Remove that finger immediately!” The blonde growled.
That was a finger! The creepy claw was still within the cell. It most have been easily twice the length of her leg. That was a finger!
The thing, Vincent or whatever it was, did as ordered, retracting the digit with a pitiful tone, leaving sparks in its wake as it trailed along the floor.
The moment it retracted the digit and moved into the light Rita felt like she could scream again. It was a hulking beast of black mass and dozens of sickly arms protruding from its skin, each with their array of claws and a white boar's skull fitted with six red eyes on her side of the view looking directly at her. “You are extremely lucky that The Master is not within a hundred miles radius of here right now else you would have ended up like Jhaar. Maybe even worse.” The blonde continued. He looked exasperated.
The demon whimpered and whined, sounding almost ghostlike.
“Don't give me that. Change into a more suitable form and get on with your task!” the blonde seethed. If not for the abject fear in her system, she would have been amazed. They were actually communicating.
Rita watched the thing turn into a shaggy brown dog and walk to the stairs. It gave her one last look before going up the stairs.
The blonde demon turned to her. “Apologies mistress.” he said. “My name is Archand. The master asked me to look after you till he returns.”
Sakaer left her with him? And just how many demons were in this specific cabin right now? “Returns? From where? How long has been gone?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable. With her current state and Archand's unblinking stare
“I would answer you but I was given strict orders not to reveal his whereabouts. As for how long has The Master has been gone? I would say five hours.”
Five hours ago?! “What time is it?” she asked. She did not know where that question would lead. If it went anywhere.
“According to the sundial, nine in the morning.” he answered.
Wow, okay. At least he gave her a straight answer. “Umm...can you do something for me? please?”
“It depends on what you ask of me.” Archand replied, his eyes still blazing Topaz and unblinking. Focused solely on her. It unnerved her. She could not believe she was saying this but she wished Sakaer was here instead of this Archand. Then again she would have preferred if none of this ever happened.
“Could you go to the cabin I was staying in and retrieve a bag of items for me?” she asked. Trust was not a thing you could have with demons but she did not have a choice.
“Unfortunately that will be impossible,” he replied.
“What? Why?” she asked. How was she going to deal with now?
“What I mean to say is, your cabin was burnt down last night.”
Her confused expression produced another response from him and thankfully this time he blinked. “It was a total accident. A couple of us got drunk last night and someone decided that a fireball throwing contest was a good idea.”
Fireballs huh. Definitely not terrifying. The word reminded her of her mother, Gordon and the others. She wondered if they knew she was gone. If anyone even told them. “Is that why he left?”
Archand turned and went for a basket that definitely was not there when she slept or got tossed in her. “More or less. If you are worried about your monthly flow, I am running a bath for you upstairs. You will have to free bleed until The Master gets back.”
Rita could not believe she was having this conversation right now with a demon.
“Can I go now? I need to use the bathroom.”
Archand threw his gaze up to the ceiling. “I guess you could go now.” He threw her a piece of cloth from the basket and she caught it before it could teach the mucky floor and tied to on her waist. “Keep in mind you will have to come back here.”
“Fine.” As long as she got out of this shirt and got cleaned up.
*******
/3:56 PM/–– //11th December//
The future Mistress was back in the basement, clean and sleeping. The preparations for the ritual were in place for tomorrow. All that remained was The Master. He had been gone for eight hours. Shopping would never take him this long, so something must be wrong.
The Master abruptly burst through the door. Archand was startled for a moment before composing himself. There was blood all over him, leaving drops and dirt mixed footprints on the wood floor. He did not notice any shopping bags. Only the blood. Black mixed with red. The others were nowhere to be found either. “Welcome back–”
“Where is she?“ Sakaer asked, ignoring his greeting. The blatant show of disregard annoyed him. “In her cell, sleeping.” he answered, not letting the irritation show on his face. He needed to remain on this new master's good side.
“The ritual will take place tonight.” Sakaer voiced walking past Archand. Tonight? Why the haste?
In an instant the master is gone is at the basement door. Archand was there three seconds later. “If I may, Master? Why the rush?” he asked.
Sakaer did not even look at him or stop what he was doing while he answered. “I do not need to further discuss my reasons with you.” he said before throwing the basement door open and walking in. Archand turned around ready to leave when Sakaer roared. “Where is she?!!”
Archand came rushing in and was taken aback by the very empty cell. He looked at a very outrage Sakaer. “I swear she was sleeping right in that cell.”
“Then where the fucking hell is she?!”
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