I was memorized by her, entranced even. She swayed back and forth, humming softly."Softly listen to me, my voice is calling to you. Don"t be afraid I"m here for you to rest."
The demon"s hand trailed the curvature of her body and over the tops of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She ended with her sucking one or two of her fingers.
"h.e.l.lo there," her voice cooed sweetly.
"Why are you hiding there? You know that it"s rude to stare?" she enticed.
A finger pointed then curled.
I had no control over what I did. I brought myself out of my hiding spot and into the open. The red glow in her eyes captured mine. Her curves and features were most appealing, but the most attractive feature about her was her devil eyes.
"I hope you like what you see?" she questioned giggling. It was unusually cute, and I could feel the tips of my ears heating up.
"I"m…"
"You"re shy, aren"t you?"
She gave me a wink.
The heat that was residing in my ears seeped into my cheeks. The demon hopped down from her perch. She had grace in her landing and sauntered up to me. She was my height and appeared to be my age.
"You"re a demon?" I question, after struggling to say it. I don"t know if this was some kind of bewitchment or not, but I wasn"t me in my right mind.
"Hehe, you"re right about that, but I"m a good girl. I promise," she teased, closing the small gap between us. She laid her hands on my chest, leaning in. Her lips looked soft and inviting.
This isn"t right.
A sudden awareness came over me. Green flames engulfed my body. She was fast, unG.o.dly fast, and still graceful when she hopped and flipped to a high tree branch. I drop to my knees, feeling drained of energy.
"You"re a demon," I huff.
"You already said that. I didn"t expect that you would summon that retched h.e.l.lfire," she smiled, giggling.
I had enough energy to get back to my feet.
"You were encased in that statue," I state.
When she brought her attention fully to me. I sensed that I said something wrong. Her eyes narrowed and focused, her body language wanted to kill me, and her smile was a straight line.
"Partially, but you are the one who did set me free" she sung, landing on the ground. She barely made a sound.
"My apologies," I reply.
In the blink of an eye, the demon was in front of my face. I took a step back, tripping over a root. I hit the floor with her straddling on the top of me, pinning my arms down. Her strength was unbelievable; I struggled and tug in vain.
She giggled putting, her forehead on mine, letting her nose brush on mine.
"I should thank you for doing that," she whispered in my ear, licking it. Something in her stomach growled as well. It freaked me out.
"I"m the devil of treachery, betrayer of the h.e.l.ls" she announced.
An invisible force pulsed through me and started draining the energy out of me. I groaned in pain, twitching side to side. She was enjoying my suffering.
"It"s been an eon since I have feasted on energy such as yours," she breathed, smiling wide.
The forest started to darken, and I was losing consciousness. I needed to think of something quick before it was too late. My eyes flared to life, seeking my minions.
"You"re powerful and tasteful. I want you," she moaned.
Before she could, she was yanked up into the trees. She snarled and hissed, slashing wildly. Thin legs turned her around and around, wrapping her in thick webbing.
"Make sure that she can"t escape," I commanded my enlarged spiders, trying to get to my feet.
"This wasn"t a good idea in the slightest," I stated.
The Emma and Mimiku in my head were nodding in agreement. I staggered forward, putting distance between me and the demon.
~~~
"Ninety-nine, one hundred."
Last set.
Push-ups were the best thing for when a person has a bad night. I hated myself, truly hated. I would have never questioned Eugene"s character. He wasn"t evil or dark; he was Eugene. My body was dripping with sweat and in pain, but I forced myself to go further into the shock.
Only when my arm gave out, and my face smacked the floor did I quit.
"I need a freaking shower."
After the shower and eating something, I forced my eyes closed. Yet, I found myself staring at the ceiling wondering if Hue was up. I fought the urge to go and see him.
I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes, and resting a hand on my forehead.
This was stupid. I"m not going to be getting any sleep tonight.
I grabbed my phone and flipped through my messages.
I got out of bed and made my way to Hue"s room. I needed to apologize. It was eating me.
I was in my pajama top and bottoms and was standing in front of his door. I knocked three firm times.
"Hue? Are you awake? Could we talk now?" I call out, hearing the hallway"s silence vanish with my voice.
I didn"t think that I was that loud. It made me uneasy when the silence returned, and there wasn"t an answer from Hue. He wasn"t much of a heavy sleeper.
"Hue?" I knocked again.
Again, there wasn"t an answer.
"Eugene?"
Something"s wrong.
I took a step back, transforming my body into snowflakes, and whisping underneath Hue"s door. Materializing on the other side, I discovered the room to be empty. Everything had its place; the only thing that wasn"t in place was Hue. His phone lay on the table.
I picked it up half expecting there to be some texts from Abby, but there were only messages to Mimiku. It was plainly obvious that he wasn"t here, but that"s what concerned me.
"Eugene James…" I grit my teeth.
I snooped around. To be honest, I had never looked through any of Hue"s belongings before. I found his backpack and rummaged through it. I hoped there was be a clue to where Hue might have gone off too.
My hand felt a square velvet box. I pulled it out to examine it. Sure enough, it was a ring box; that was the strange part.
Why does he have a ring box?
I opened the box, and my breath was taken away from me. It was an engagement ring, or at least, I thought that it was. It had two white dragons intertwining with each other as they formed a circle, their claws were gold, their snouts touched, and their mouths held a gorgeous light pink, with a hint of splattered green, tourmaline diamond.
I gasped when I took the ring out and examined the underside:
"Selene Emma Winters"
My heart was skipping in my chest. I was lightheaded, and I felt hot. If I had any doubts about Hue liking me, this squashed them. After a few slow control breaths, the sensation of trying on the ring over through my rationality.
I looked behind me. When I was sure no one was looking, I slipped the ring on.
It"s was a perfect fit! When the h.e.l.l did, he got my ring size?
A searing pain shot into my ring finger. I screamed in pain as I tried to pull the ring off. It was cutting into my finger. There came a flash of red; only then did the ring relinquished my finger.
I sat there clenching my hand fighting tears from my eyes. I examined my ring finger. The wound wrapped around my finger were elegant, glowing red letters:
"Eugene James Dupuex"
The lettering began to fade away as did the pain, thankfully. I had fallen to the floor when the pain hit; sitting up, I was still clenching my finger. Nothing was there.
Panic overcame my tears. I grab the ring and getting to my feet. I set the ring back into the case and shoved it back into the backpack. I put my hand on my chest. This wasn"t good.
I reached for my phone and dialed the number to the paladin that would be in charge of the site and patrols.
"h.e.l.lo, this is Lieutenant Winters, can you tell me if Corporal Dupuex is anywhere there?" I hunted for, beginning to pa.s.s back and forth.
"No, ma"am. It"s been quiet here. No one has come here for anything," the paladin reported, "is there something wrong, ma"am?"
"No, no. If you see the Corporal up there, make sure that he gives me a call immediately, please?" I directed.
"Yes, ma"am," the paladin replied.
*KBOOM*
A loud explosion came over the phone. Voices were screaming and calling out frantically that something was going on in the forest.
"What"s going on?" I shouted at the phone.
"Something"s going on in the forest, a battle or something. The ground is shaking, and there are green and red flashes, ma"am we need you all here," the paladin called out.
"We are on our way," I answered, clicking the phone off and rushed back to my room.
I sent out an alert to Wallow, Abby, and Fitzy. Somehow, I had a bad feeling that Eugene was at the center of that battle.
What was he researching? What did he find?
"And why in the h.e.l.l didn"t he say anything," I shouted, strapping my katana. I launched out the door and to the front. Abby and Fitzy were already waiting for me.
The SUV"s sped off like mad demons. The terrible feeling in my gut grew. Anxiety tingle in my fingers.
"Where"s Eugene?"
"He"s," I paused, "he"s at the site already. I think they are in danger."
"What do you mean?"
"Over the phone, when I was checking in, there came an explosion off in the distance. It was loud enough that I could hear it."
"I haven"t been able to get a hold of anyone," Fitzy announced, tossing his phone.
"What"s the plan when we get there?"
"We get a headcount and find out where everyone is," I ordered.
"Once we know where everyone is, then we can a.s.sist with the explosion in the forest."
Abby and Fitzy were in agreement.
I texted Nekko:
Emma: "Sorry to cut your fun time short, but I need you here, now!"
Nekko: "We are already on our way. Mimiku said that Hue needed us there; he didn"t say why."
My eyebrows scrunched together.
Hue asked Mimiku and her to come here? Why? What"s going on?
My eyes widened.
Were we wrong, and something was summoned? Did Hue find out?
"Why didn"t you say anything?" I snarled.
"Emma," Fitzy asked, looking behind him at me, "is there something that you want to share with the cla.s.s?"
"I stopped by his room tonight," I said.
"Why were you there?" Abby questioned.
I shot a death stare at Abby.
"As I was saying, I stopped by. He said that he was busy and was researching the culture demons," I continued, "he must have found something and went to investigate."
"And he didn"t say anything to anyone?" Abby asked.
"Apparently not," I replied.
"Maybe he wanted to make sure that he had something to bring to us and not thin air?" Fitzy offered.
"That sounds like Hue."
"Yes, yes it does," I agreed with Abby.
If he was going to do that, then why not have Wallow accompany him?
Where is Wallow?
"Has anyone heard from Sargeant Wallow?"
Fitzy and Abby shook their heads.
"Maybe he"s with Hue, hopefully?" Abby suggested.
"Let"s hope," I said.
We couldn"t get there any faster. We were well over the speed limit and, yet, we were so far away.