by Lumtrexa
"This is where we'll find him." Viktor's voice states from beside me.
"How do I know you aren't making this up? You could just be tricking me again." I say nervously.
"The only reason I'm showing you is because this is the only place I can see where he is. My powers do not enable me to pin point my...friends outside of my dreamwalking unfortunately. I am just making sure he's in Hell, where he belongs." Viktor vents out defensively, he crosses his arms and suddenly the scenery shifts closer to the castle-through the walls and into it's interior. It's almost as if we are watching a tv screen while being shown the deep depths of the castle.
Soon enough, the scenery shifts into a dark room inside of the dark castle. The soft glow of a candle illuminates the figure sitting on what looks to be some kind of throne.
My jaw drops when I identify the figure as Colt. I had a feeling he was some kind of higher up demon...but is there even "royal" demons down there? He isn't wearing a crown or anything, not even fancy clothing.
"Is he the king?" I ask uneasily.
"No! He only rules a small worthless section of Hell." Viktor laughs.
"Why wouldn't he have told me he has his own castle and why..." I begin to ask, but Viktor cuts me off.
"I don't think you want to keep watching, I have gathered enough information to assure myself he's where he belongs." He scoffs.
Suddenly, a woman appears in front of Colt, her red velvet dress clings to her body suggestively and her hair is midnight black. She reaches out a pale slender arm toward Colt and he takes it.
She sashays herself over to him, closing the distance.
Gulping I cock my head to the side watching them, beyond confused at this woman's relationship with Colt. I feel Viktor's stare, watching me as I'm about to view something I wasn't suppose to know about.
"The girl will be as good as dead, my lord." Silvia purrs into his ear.
"I'm sure she will be in due time. No longer will I use my powers for your little plot. I trust your witches will give you enough power alone. Reach the coven in good time and you will be rewarded as I promised." Colt says smoothly.
"Did you take care of that brother of yours? The last thing I need is another demon tracking me down." She says seductively, but I catch a hint of seriousness in her voice.
She's afraid of Viktor, yet she has no fear of Colt.
"The last time I checked, he was in Hell. Viktor has never left Hell, even if he was thinking about it he'd stay now that I'm here. He's been after my head for a long time." Colt replies. Colt never told me Viktor was his brother! Apparently he didn't recognize Viktor when he shot him or maybe he didn't see who shot him to begin with. It was pretty chaotic after all.
"Does he know of the girl? If he knows about her, he'll follow us to use her to get to you." She explains with a frown.
"Let him. I have no sentiment towards her." He says coldly. Something in me withers into dust at his remark. All this time, he's been lying to me and to Lorcan. He was the one that was leading the witches to me.
"I've heard of your brother. Wiping out villages of demons over some stupid trivial matter between the two of you. The last thing I need is for my coven to be made extinct because of some fairy girl." She hisses.
"Like I told you before, Viktor would never leave Hell now that I'm here. You've ridded yourself of Lorcan for the time being, I suggest you continue your job." Colt says.
Silvia wraps her hands around Colt's neck leaning into his face. Soon enough, they are flush against each other, making out. My face reddens and my heart feels as though it's been trampled on.
"Still want to watch?" Viktor mocks.
"N-no." I manage to say barely keeping my emotions under control. The scenery of Colt and Silvia vanishes into darkness. In this moment I realize how alone I really am. I don't want to believe the things Colt said were true, but watching it all seemed too real to be fake.
I almost forget Viktor's presence, as I think over everything I've just discovered. The darkness around me in my dream seems to seep beneath my skin, tempting my heart to fade away in it.
"Are you going back to Hell now that he's there? How does Silvia not realize you're...you?" I ask barely above a whisper.
"It's not just fairies who can glamour themselves. And did you forget what I told you?" He asks with annoyance.
"You would get rid of the witches." I think out loud.
“Now you’re catching on.” Viktor says with mischief.
“What do you want with me?” I ask numbly.
“When that witch interrupted me I suppose I didn’t get to finish telling you. My brother won’t be leaving Hell anytime soon it seems. Your innocence is what attracts my brother to you. He saw you as his redemption. Despite what you just saw him say, he still wants you. You are nothing more to me than a means to an end so like I was about to say before, I will take you for myself. I will use you to get revenge, do you feel scared now, little one?” He says with an evil smile.
“You’re just like your brother.” I state with anger.
“Oh how wrong you are. Have I not told you nothing, but the truth? Everything I told you, you have seen unfold right before your eyes. I will protect you so do not quiver around me so much, I’m suppose to be guarding you after all.” He says with a sly look.
I still don’t understand why he left Hell, he hasn’t bothered explaining what his plan is in great detail either. Such as what he will do with me after he kills the witches, if he kills them. I suppose he thinks it’s none of my business.
Before I can think of something to say back to Viktor, he speaks up again.
“Now wake up, little one. Although I will miss the feel of your frail little body cuddling me in my arms.” He sighs. What is he talking about?
I wake up groggily, overly warm. It feels like overnight the temperature outside didn’t bother to drop. A line of sweat covers my forehead and I sleepily wipe it away. I start to turn over on my side only to realize that I’m trapped in place.
I finally open my eyes to find Viktor’s bare chest facing me. I look up glaring with hate to find him watching me with curiosity.
“Let go of me.” I command furiously. He releases me immediately and I jump to my feet patting my hair down. He mirrors me, standing to his tall height to tower over me.
“There’s no use keeping your glamour on. They already know you’re a fae.” Viktor says.
I decide I might as well comply, besides we are in the fae realm again.
When I remove my demon glamour I imagine myself in a simple pair of jeans and light purple long sleeved shirt. My hair isn’t the rat nest it always ends up looking and is actually combed down neatly and parted nicely.
As I finish removing the glamour I notice Viktor’s stare as his pale eyes scan from my feet to the tips of my wings. A half smile forms on his face and he turns around to look outside of the tent. Maybe he thinks after he kills the witches he can eat me, maybe he thinks eating a fairy will give him some kind of power.
“Your kind don’t eat fae do they?” I ask with concern. A few days ago Lorcan told me demons eat fae, even the kind Lorcan and I am.
“I believe you mistook my stare for the wrong kind of hunger.” He says with a creepy chuckle.
Chapter 9-The Wind Knots Part 2
"You disgust me." I retort while pushing past him and out into the morning air. I spot several witches packing up their belongings.
Most of the tents are already down and being folded up.
"Come now, we have a long road ahead of us. Azalea take the lead, tonight we kill the girl once we get there and we will not be late." A red haired witch says. Strangely, Silvia is out of sight.
When the rest of the witches have already begun following the witch's orders, Viktor and I are left behind.
"Why did they go to the trouble of kidnapping me, if they are just going to kill me this quick?" I ask into the now quiet air.
"It's what they are killing you for that you should be concerned
about. In simple terms, they think you obtain a kind of...power necessary for their plans." Viktor says bluntly.
"I guess you aren't going to bother killing them until after I'm dead." I conclude.
"My brother may have broken his promises, but I tend to keep mine. In fact, the witches will die today. They are unaware we're being watched by a particular nasty kind of fae that don't welcome trespassers. I'm afraid this is where we part, little one." Viktor says with a guarded look.
Just like that, he flickers out of sight like I saw Colt do so many times. I bet he made some kind of trap for the witches. He's probably back in Hell already planning out his next move against his brother for all I know. He'll be laughing when the witches kill me and realize they can't obtain any power from me that would help them. When Viktor was showing me where Colt was, for a moment I felt a level of understanding between the two of us. I must of been wrong. At some point we were both betrayed by Colt, but to a demon I guess that means nothing.
Demons are all about taking as much as they can. And more. My mind echos the words that Viktor told me the first time he entered my dreams. To Viktor, I am merely a tool in whatever plot of revenge he has coming for Colt.
"What are you still doing back here?" A raspy voice asks. A cold hand lands on my arm, sharp nails digging into my skin.
"Um..." I begin to think over how to explain to the witch that I was basically ditched by my so called "guard".
"Where did Finick go? I'm not going to waste my time on his whereabouts...come along." The witch says sharply, while dragging me with her towards the trail the other witches already went down.
Eventually, we meet up with the rest of the witches and begin trudging through the forest terrain. After a couple hours have passed, my feet become beyond sore. I notice how much quieter the forest has gotten, the sounds of birds chirping has ended. The sounds of small fae creatures darting passed bushes has stopped. A gust of wind rustles the leaves of a tree branch overhanging in our path, we come to a stop.
"Silvia should be here, a storm's to pass soon. Look at the sky, it's darkening too quick. Finick has still not caught up with us, he abandoned the sacrifice." An older witch complains while taking out a pouch.
"Lena, if he wants to get lost out here that should be punishment enough for rejecting his duty. We won't see Silvia until we reach the coven tonight. As she ordered, we are to head straight there without any breaks. If we must walk through a small rain storm, so be it." The witch named Azalea retorts. She must be the one taking Silvia's place as leader until she returns.
Lena suddenly ducks to the side as a small flying...fae nearly misses her head.
"I knew we were being watched." She hisses while tossing the unknown contents of the pouch in the direction the fae went. The small fae reappears again, but with a swarm of its own kind. They are no taller than my hand. Their pointy noses and ears remind me of elves, but their reptile like wings tell me otherwise. They don't look too friendly either, if anything, they look peeved.
"Vermin." A witch beside me snarls at the small fae buzzing around above us.
Lightning crackles across the sky and an unforgiving gust of air brings up dirt from the ground stinging my eyes. The trees around us groan in protest as they bend against the violent wind that now howls at us with a threat.
"Wind Knots. A whole crowd of them. We must pass through, scatter witches and meet at the coven. They will use the storm to divide us from each other, be safe." Azalea says as she runs over a fallen log and off to the right. The witches look startled at their leader's cowardice, I would almost feel sorry for them if they weren't trying to kill me.
One by one, they go off running in all directions, some run to the right some run to the left, none of them run back the way we came.
The Wind Knots stay put, their small eyes narrow with glee as they realize their little game is about to begin.
Lena is the only witch left, she mutters some kind of spell and a rubber like rope is tied around my hand and the other end of the rope is tied around hers. The rope like material has no knot, there's no way I can try untying it with my other hand.
"Don't think I'll let you escape. Where ever I go, you go. This rope of mine will make sure of that." She laughs evilly.
I can tell she's probably the oldest of all the witches. Her scraggly greasy white hairs sticks out from under her hood. The whites of her eyes are tinted yellow and her skin is splotchy with red lumps. She hobbles off to the right and I'm forced to follow her lead as she yanks on the rope.
If anything were to attack us they'd kill us with ease, Lena wouldn't be able to outrun them at her age and because of her I wouldn't either. She seems to be in no hurry.
"Go away." A high pitched voice warns. It must be one of the Wind Knots. Sure enough, a tiny fae zips by us, it makes a face at us before flying straight up into the sky. Lightning comes out of nowhere and strikes a tree nearby, the blinding light sends me reeling, but Lena hollers for me to stay put. Despite being an old woman, she manages to yank me forward so that I fall onto the ground, using the rope with just her arm strength. I scramble to get up again.
A group of Wind Knots join the one that I think caused the lightning to strike.
They fly around in a circle raising a dusty wind to send in our direction. Lena lifts a hand to shield her face, but it does little good. She has a coughing fit and chants a spell at the culprits.
"Move out of my way." Lena spits at the Wind Knots. She points one of her gnarled fingers towards the Wind Knots. Then an orange beam of light strikes one of them in the abdomen, it falls to the forest floor, lifeless.
However, that only makes the Wind Knots more angry.
They make a shrieking noise and head in our direction, to my shock Lena hides behind me, using me as her shield. Before the Wind Knots reach us though, they fly straight up into the sky.
A sudden humidity seeps along the forest floor raising upward off the ground. I back away from the troublesome group of Wind Knots above us, but Lena stands her ground holding her end of the rope to keep me from getting away.
"A witch never leaves a good fight." She says. That's funny, a few seconds ago she was hiding behind me!
Lena begins to chant a spell at the Wind Knots, but before she can finish, thunder rumbles above and lightning strikes with a loud crack.
I contemplate whether my wings would be able to carry Lena's weight and mine, if she won't let me run away maybe I can just fly away.
"If you won't come down, I'll make you!" Lena says in a threatening tone. Abruptly she flings her arms in the directions of the trees above us narrowing her eyes on her target-the Wind Knots.
"Exorbusen!"Lena screeches. Suddenly, flames cloak the tips of the trees, licking the leaves and burning them up into nothing. Quickly, the tops of the trees turn a blaze and Lena let's out a crazed cackle.
"You're crazy! This will only make them more violent! You're going to burn down the whole forest-with us!" I yell above the howl of wind.
She dismisses my warning with a wave her arm in my direction and a whoosh of flames follows, making me stumble backwards to narrowly avoid getting burned.
Lena sends flames in the direction of the Wind Knots, but they easily escape. The tree that got struck by lightning earlier snaps and starts to collapse, falling in our direction.
"The tree is falling, run!" I yell at her, pulling on the rope desperately with all my might, however she doesn't budge.
Finally, she looks up at the descending tree, but it's too late.
Lena lets out a yell, but the tree covers her scream. A disgusting crunch follows as the tree meets the ground. I let out a whimper of disgust, no one should have to go out that way. The burning flames sweep over one of Lena's legs sticking out from under the tree. An awful smell meets my nose and I watch in a trance as the flames eat away the tree and Lena.
Suddenly, I realize that my fate will be similar, as my end of the rope is still attached to Lena. It must be fire resistant. I yank on
my end of the rope with all my strength, planting my feet into the ground I use both hands to try and pull myself away. The flames begin to grow closer to me, singeing the grass that sits only a couple yards away from me. The other end of the rope is still trapped under the fallen tree. The immense heat from the fire floats around and it starts to get hard to breathe as a thick blanket of smoke blankets the ground.
Maybe it's better this way, the witches won't be able to use me to get rid of the fae kingdom. My parents will be safe, Lorcan will be safe. I sit down on the ground and give one final try to pull away, but I'm still trapped.
A cough escapes me as I begin to choke on the fumes of the fire. A sleepy feeling grows in my head and I begin to feel like I'm going to pass out. I could just close my eyes and let the flames encroach over me and onto the grass, destroying the rest of the forest.
I watch helpless, as the flames devour the trees above me, soon they will probably fall too.
A tall dark silhouette steps out of the flaming treeline across from me, I'm too weak to lift my head up off the ground to see who.
When the person literally walks through the flames, I begin to wonder if they are an angel ready to take me off into the sky. Because what kind of human or fae for that matter can walk through fire as tall as the trees like it's nothing or even want to?
The figure walks straight in my direction as the flames attempt to devour their skin, but the person seems to be unharmed and effortlessly continues their steady stride over to me.
When the person comes close enough for me to identify, my eyes widen in disbelief.
For they are no angel.
In fact, they are quite the opposite.
They are the last person I want to see right before I die.
I shake my head roughly and tears uncontrollably begin running down my cheeks.
"Looks like you did some of my dirty work for me, little one." Viktor says approvingly while glancing at the dead witch stuck under the tree.
"I-I didn't..." I try say, but my throat is too dry for me to finish.