Chapter 1
He sat in the dark, unmoving. Anyone who saw him would think he was a statue. After more than five years of sitting and watching, he might as well be. He’d become her immobile guardian, her sentry as he waited for…he no longer even knew what he was waiting for. He just knew that if she woke, he wasn’t going to let it be alone, in some dank crypt.
She wasn’t dead, but she also wasn’t alive. Ishmir had warned it would take time, but he was beginning to think all he’d done was lock her body away from the decay of death. That her soul, the part he’d been trying to save, had disappeared in that burst of light. Every day he reached out to her, his aura surrounding her and seeking some sign she was still there. It was like reaching into an abyss, with no clue how deep it went.
There were times he thought he felt something, brushed against something in the dark, but when he reached out, there was nothing. He began to think he was going mad, that this was his punishment for…everything. He could accept being punished, as a demon, it was expected that at some time he would meet the end of a hunter’s blade, or perhaps even be dealt the final blow by one of his own kind. He’d done it plenty to fellow demons, but she did not deserve this. She did not deserve to be stuck in this kind of limbo. His actions should have led to consequences for him, not her.
He’d brought them home and sealed up his residence. The wards around the area kept out even the most stubborn demon or angel. He knew they had tried to get through to him, the magic alerting him, but he wanted to see no one. He began to wonder if perhaps Ishmir’s words of earning a soul had been true and not the blasphemous lies of an angel seeking to raise his ire. That is the only thing to explain how he felt every time he looked at her lifeless body.
He was a demon. He should have left her to rot and gone on to fill that power vacuum left by Balor’s removal from this plane. It would have been the expected move. The connections that Devyn had fed into him had given him immense power and he could wreck serious damage on this plane. There was truly no one who could stop him if he so chose, and at one time, that would have been his exact plan. But, none of that called to him anymore. He just wanted to stay here and stand watching over her.
He lowered his head, reaching a shaking hand out to take hers. His thumb gently stroked over her knuckles. “You are not being a very good girl, little pet. You are being so disobedient towards your master. I ordered you to live, and you need to follow that order,” he murmured. “It’s been.. I don’t know how long..but you need to do as you are told. Pl-please be my good little pet.”
He sighed when he got no response, and reaching out still felt like he was touching nothing. A tug at his magic made a low rumble build in his chest. He reached out, feeling multiple intrusions around his warding. He ignored it, focusing back on Devyn. It was like gnats buzzing around his ear and they were not worth his time.
Another tug in his magic nearly thirty minutes later had him lift his head. This time it felt sharper, focused on one area and he felt rage building that someone was pulling his focus from his little pet, trying to breach his barrier. Clearly, they were unaware of just who was behind this warding, or they would not be so tempted to break through.
The need to lash out built inside him, all of his frustration churning and rising inside him. He just wanted to be left alone with her and someone was interrupting that. He just wanted to stay and continued to encourage his little pet to return. She was in there, she was just being stubborn and he needed to force her to come out. He needed to make her listen and just do as she was told.
He rose slowly, his rage and frustration boiling over. He might not be able to do anything about her, but he could deal with the disruption at his border. He’d felt so helpless for so long, and the idea of being able to do something pulled him from her room.
***
She ran, the rough sound of her breathing her only companion as she sprinted through the trees. She couldn’t stop, not with her goal in sight. Her staff rested easily in her hand, a constant as she fought her way through enemy after enemy.
This had been her life for so long now. She felt like a rat caught in someone’s twisted excuse for a maze, racing through towards some end point, fighting her way through demons, vampires, shifters, mages–even some things she’d never seen before. Every time she thought she was finished, she was dropped into some new hell. Hundreds of times this had happened, and she had no idea when it would end.
She broke through the tree line, skidding to a stop at the sight before her. This wasn’t like the other times. A dark ripple hung in the air roughly fifty feet away from her. The air around it shimmered and the area behind it blurred.
Vines lashed out from between the trees, wrapping around her arms and torso. She yelped, squirming and tugging to try and break the hold they had on her. Her wrists and ankles burned as the thorns dug into her exposed skin.
Realizing pulling was doing nothing, she jogged backwards and then spun around. She stabbed her staff down amongst the vines and began to twist it. The vines caught by her trick wrapped around the staff until they snapped.
It helped lessen the hold on her and she tugged hard on the remaining strands. The few left snapped, the branches around her falling off and making her stumble as she continued towards that dark ripple.
She had no idea what was beyond it, but if the vines didn’t want her near it, then that was exactly where she needed to be. Sounds behind her let her know that the vines had not given up and she scrambled back to her feet. Huffing and gasping for air, she leapt into the ripple.
She tumbled on the floor of the darkened room, grunting as she hit the wall. Trying to move her limbs, she winced as her nerves burned. Her vision was blurred and she struggled to see and understand where she was. She felt a weakness in her body that she hadn’t felt before and she fought to roll over onto her stomach.
Her arm slowly reached out and opened her hand to call for her staff. She felt it hit her palm and she wrapped her fingers around it. The touch of it felt different this time, a sluggishness brushing against her mind.
It took her several attempts before she was able to get up to her feet. Her legs were shaky as she used her staff to help her shuffle across the floor towards what she thought was an entrance. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision.
She felt a panic beginning to build as everything felt..off. Her sight, her hearing, her touch–it all felt different. When she paused, taking a moment to try and understand, she realized there was something off with her gift and her magic.
Her breathing and heart rate began to increase as she pushed her gift out. She felt a dark aura filling this room, filling the entire structure and she began moving once more. She needed to get free of this place. Maybe then, her senses and magic would begin to feel normal.
She stumbled from the room, leaning against the far wall as she panted softly. Sweat was running down her face, the effort just to move nearly too much for her. Knuckles whitening around the staff, she shuffled her way down the hallway.
A set of stairs she came to seemed to be as daunting as climbing a mountain. She let out a low groan and used the staff and the railing as she pulled herself up one step at a time. She was a sweaty mess by the time she reached the next floor and she slumped down to take a moment to catch her breath.
