Her Darkling

Chapter 5.

Intense anger rippled through me at the audacity these men had to stand before us to utter those words.

"And that gave you all enough temerity to paddle your filthy boats across the lake? To question our identity after we vanquished the demons for your sorry sakes?"

"You were not allowed to speak."

"And you, old man, are not allowed to speak to me in a derogatory manner. Get that?! You all cast us out several years ago, forcing us to live in harsh conditions and after that, we came to save your lives only for you to come here and spit profanity?"

"It is a simple test," A younger man stepped forward. He seemed calm, not wanting any trouble but so long as he was with these men, asking for us to get our identities tested, he was a threat to me and Eldrion. "All you have to do is come to the perimeter first thing tomorrow morning. We do it with no intentions to humiliate your identity."

"Your indirect narrative about your saviors being demons further debunks your statement, blondie," I spat bitterly. "You do not expect us to take this well. You have not only insulted our generosity, you have insulted our identity and we are not coming to the perimeter to get tested. Go back to whoever sent you and tell them they can run the tests on themselves because we won't be appearing there tomorrow."

"I told you she's as stubborn as a mule," The old man said to the other men, his voice dripping with disdainful mockery. "A woman like her who swears and curses at every provocation belongs to the dungeons."

I saw red. Before I knew what I was doing, I lunged at the man, ready to punch his nose into his face but Eldrion was right on time, his strong arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me back into him. "Nariel!"

"Yeah, I do belong to the dungeons but you know where your entire clan would have belonged to if we hadn't come to rescue your sorry asses from a bloodbath and m******e? f*****g Hades. The land of the dead. Probably burning in hell!"

"Nariel." Eldrion grabbed my hand and pulled me into him. His lips grazed my ears in a whisper. "Calm down."

I faced him. "Calm down, Eldrion? Is this the f*****g appreciation we get after we saved them?

He ignored me and pushed me behind him before stepping forward. "I am really sorry for the outburst. She didn't mean any of that."

"f**k you, Eldrion!"

"She needs to be tamed, young man," The elderly man said with disgust. "A tiger like her only destroys men after ripping them of their masculinity."

"I will not have you speak about her in that manner," Eldrion stated sternly. "I have already apologized to you."

"He doesn't deserve it—"

"Shut the hell up, Nariel!" He snapped. I hadn't seen that coming. Glaring at him, I stepped to the side and fixated my eyes on the man, making sure my glare was hot enough to burn through him.

He turned back to face the men and in the calmest tone, he said. "We can not go with you back to Twinecrest for any test to ascertain our identity. No, we will not be appearing at the perimeter tomorrow, with all due respect. Please, go back to whoever sent you and tell them that we have turned this command down. We find it disrespectful and utterly displeasing that you think we had a thing to do with the demonic attack. You have no right, absolutely no right to come here, asking for us to be tested when all we've done over the years is maintain peace with you all.

"When your mother came to the chief, begging for us to spare her a place to live, our chief, in his kindness, asked her to take the hill and build a cottage on it. If he hadn't done that, you all would have been utterly miserable and helpless. Count that as a very huge help from us. But you question our polite summon to the perimeter for a test? How insulting is that? Who is the ungrateful one here if not you all?"

Eldrion scoffed and stroked his chin. I hated how he could maintain a calm demeanor in aggravating situations like this.

"You all are wasting your time here if you think we are going to come to the perimeter tomorrow. We won't be showing up on the grounds and that's final. You all should return to town and have a good night."

"I guess force will be used then," Another man replied. "We decided not to use force the first time but seeing how adamant you both are, that is our next option. We're giving you till tomorrow morning to come yourselves or you will be humiliated."

"What?" Eldrion asked, his voice filled with s**t surprise and anger. "We will be forced and humiliated for turning this disgraceful summoning down? Excuse me, are we even a part of Twinecrest? What makes you think you can just come here and order us around?"

Fucking comical.

"We gave you the opportunity to live on the hill—"

"Outside your f*****g boundary?!" Eldrion growled. "We are literally inhabiting a no man's land so you have absolutely no right to come here and try to make us cower to your foolish orders—"

Eldrion suddenly stopped amidst his sentence and his ears perked up, causing me to lean away from the rock. He had sensed something. That I was sure of.

"Young man, you can not walk out on elderly people! We are not done here!"

He walked back to me, grabbed my hand, and whispered hotly. “Come, Nariel.”

I didn't ask questions. I let him pull me away and into the closest cavern by the rocks.

The first sound I heard was the malevolent screech of several creatures, twigs snapping as they made their way in this direction. The second came, low in pitch, deep, rough, and pharyngealized.

I exchanged looks with Eldrion. "They're here again? Is this some apocalyptical revolution?"

"I don't know, Nariel. Let's just hide in here. From the sound of it, they are numerous."

Another sound wafted into our ears, amidst the ruffling of bushes. It was far away and its voice came in low tones that scraped like nails on a blackboard. It sounded as though it had been broken on the rack, thin and pained and filled with so many negative feelings.

We saw them before the men did. The first one hovered high in the hair, coated with cloaks of darkness. I had to look closer to see that these were the demons that had attacked our cottage that night.

My realities were starting to warp around each other, plunging me into the past as I fought to remain in the present. I could hear her splitting scream as she helplessly fell to her knees. I could still see these demons ripping the roof apart as wooden splinters fell to the ground. I could see her fighting till claws sank into her guts again and again.

That same screech blew up in my head and I opened my eyes to see that the screech I'd heard was in the present.

Shit.

Eldrion must have noticed my apprehension because he grabbed my hand and pulled me into him, engulfing me in the warmth of his arms and I was forced to wish he had held me this close in a more suitable situation.

The scream of a man jerked me out of my intrusive thoughts and Eldrion immediately pulled away from me, rushing to the mouth of the cave with me following behind him.

A man at the lake had been attacked, pulled out of the boats by very sharp claws, and tossed into the rocks. He was further ripped apart and his body parts lay on the floor, dripping with blood as he spasmed for the last time.

The other men who had rushed towards the boat to escape were caught in a lock. They tried to fight back the demons who were extremely skilled in the art of plunging bodies apart. The young man who had been polite enough to speak to me brandished his burning torch from side to side in a quest to ward off the demon but the light was snuffed out and his horrified screams pierced through the air before he dropped dead.

"These demons are different from the ones we saw today," Eldrion whispered. "Oh, there's two of them over the boulder."

My eyes followed his fingers and I found them. They stood tall, watching and waiting like this was some sort of combat test where they were assigned to grade the lesser demons. I trembled slightly, hating that we were in this situation once again.

We both watched as a few men were brutally killed, blood spilling into the lake, and body parts floating over the water. The stench of blood and flesh wafted into my nose and I heard a man groaning painfully. He was pushing towards the lake, with both of his legs missing, and just before he grabbed the end of the canoe, the tall demon standing on the boulder jumped down and grabbed him, snapping his neck as he left him to topple into the water with a loud, bloody splash.

Two demons were headed uphill, over the cottage and Eldrion was fast enough to catch a sight of them. He ran out of the cave with inhuman speed and I followed him up the hill with such insane velocity that had me gasping.

The first demon floated over to me, jagged teeth wide in a snarl as it clawed for my face but I caught it by both of its arms, ripping it apart easily with my knife.

Killing these demons was easy but I was being watched by one of the higher demons on the boulder. There was something familiar about this one. Oddly sinister and hateful.

It said something to its fellow before jumping to the ground and lunging at me. With my weight on the left side of my body, I was able to step out of the way and land a powerful kick on its spiny back. Its impact had me reeling backwards but I caught my balance and went after it once again.

With every blow it brought my way, I dodged and returned it, making sure I targeted its weak point but there were no signs of it giving up. In fact, it waxed stronger, coming after me with insane speed.

My eyes moved over to Eldrion once, taking in how surprisingly fast he was and how he easily took the demons down. I was just about to yell at him to look out for the other demon when I felt a large blow on my back.

I grunted and landed on the ground face-first. My mouth got filled with sand but I quickly pulled to my feet, wincing in pain.

Behind you!

I didn't know where that came from but I leaped into the air, turning in the wind as I evaded the lesser demon out to attack me.

I had a few seconds to recharge and I remained on the floor, wondering what voice had spoken to me. It was a male voice, one that felt oddly familiar as I had felt its presence a few times for fleeting moments. But now, it was prominent, making itself known to my sentience.

It had a striking semblance to that of the high demon, years past from the gruesome attack—

I was brought out of my thoughts by a husky growl and I looked up to see the demon towering over me. My knife lay meters away from me. I couldn't grab it and this was a life and death situation. I knew why I hadn't been notified of its presence and as it descended its fists towards me, I tilted my body at an ankle, clenching my fists and releasing a powerful blow onto its jaw.

It felt like time had slowed down. The demon flew into the air before splashing into the water and creating huge ripples that rocked the unmoving canoe.

Eldrion had changed positions. He was almost at the top of the hill, fighting off demons making their way to our cottage and towards Neoma.

More demons materialized out of the woods but I didn't stop even with my strength slightly waning, but I was losing concentration—the voice in my head was gone but its impact lingered, reminding me of terrible times.

I blinked and the next moment, my back connected with the walls of the cavern.

Evil yellow orbs glared at me and I didn't miss the smirk on the face of this ugly-looking demon. It didn't have to say anything for me to know that I was being mocked and probably threatened to be shredded apart.

Both of my hands were locked and I couldn't even move my foot.

I struggled, trying to be released from its hold but it was nearly impossible. It raised its winged arms with the intent of piercing through me— a realistic manifestation of my warped memories. I shut my eyes, ready for the cold clutches of death to lead me into limbo but my body hit the ground and a screeching yell faded into nothingness.