Obsidian's Reign ¹

∷ Chapter 7 ∷

CLARA COULDN'T HELP but widen her eyes at the man standing amongst the tall grass surrounding them. He had a playful smile on his face and sharp, intelligent eyes that seemed to know the possibilities of everything.

Clara's silent admiration of his warranted beauty was cut short by the sound of James sighing. She turned just in time to see him reluctantly placing his right hand over his heart and bowing his head slightly towards the man in a gesture of respect.

"Jae," James said, his voice monotonous and devoid of his earlier smugness. "What are you doing here?"

The man, who she now knew to be Jae, clapped the former firmly on the shoulder.

"Stop being so stiff about everything," he said. "I'm just here to check how things are going."

This time it was Zeph, or rather, Zephyr's turn to formally acknowledge the newcomer. His greeting equally as apathetic as James'. It was clear that neither of them was the least bit vehement about Jae's sudden appearance.

Jae smiled but remained quiet as he looked at the two demons. He shook his head in silent regard before turning his attention to Clara.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Clara stated her name as had been asked of her, and though she was curious as to who this Jae person was, she dared not question him. She felt the tension in the air and knew he was not someone to be trifled with. Though James and Zephyr looked bitter about his unexpected arrival, she felt that the three of them were closer than they let on.

He peered closely at Clara's bewildered expression before saying, "Am I correct in assuming Zephyr and Rylan have already informed you about what we are and what we do?"

Clara frowned in confusion.

"Rylan?" she repeated, the word sounding foreign to her ears. Who was he talking about?

Jae raised his eyebrows at her stark obliviousness and looked over his shoulder at James, who shrugged indifferently in return.

When he looked back at her, he said, "Rylan would be the one you know as James Duivel. The latter is the alias he uses here but between us, he goes by his real name, Rylan."

Clara's gaze flickered momentarily towards James, or Rylan, but said nothing.

"As I was saying," Jae continued, interrupting her thoughts and claiming her attention once more. "Zephyr and Rylan here are my subordinates. The three of us are a part of a group called the Elite and I'm their leader."

Clara nodded along mutely to his words, uncertain of what to say or if she should even be saying anything, to begin with. Zephyr and Rylan's presence was enough to intimidate her but after being introduced to Jae . . . her silent fear of them seemed to have increased by tenfold. Jae had his own aura that exuded a kind of menace in which the term scary barely scratched the surface.

Clara couldn't be certain of her assumptions, but she was willing to bet that being in charge of the other two demons meant Jae was far superior in terms of strength, power and perhaps even intelligence. He was not someone to be messed with.

The demon in question seemed to notice her somewhat cautious behaviour around him which caused an amused chuckle to escape him.

"You have nothing to worry about, Clara. I'm only dropping in to check on Zephyr and Rylan."

Saying this, he turned away from her to look at the two mentioned. He didn't say a word, simply glancing between them and tilting his head as though the action alone was enough to make known his purpose in being there.