Duskwood - Choose or Lose

Chapter 25

A/N: From the asterisks onwards there is a detailed torture scene, if you can't stand this kind of thing, then please only read on from the second asterisks onwards. Enjoy! <3

Ruby POV

It was very dark in the stairwell, so I flipped the switch on the light, and a warm white illuminated the building. I seemed tense, Jake's eyes worried as he looked at me. Jake gave me a kiss on the cheek before walking up the stairs to our apartment. I kept watching until he went up the second flight of stairs, and he disappeared from my view. I didn't tell Jake about it, but my higher instincts told me something wasn't right. I smelled a strange perfume in the far distance, none of our neighbors wore this perfume and judging by the silence everyone was already asleep. Jake was unaware of my new powers, but my higher instincts gave me a huge advantage. I followed the smell and went down the stairs towards the basement. My gut feeling told me I wasn't alone down here.

I cautiously opened the old wooden door to the cellar. The smell of old cellars filled my nostrils. It was pitch dark, but I could see all the old wooden doors with their owners' names on them. I heard a soft footstep from the left corner, and I internally thanked my higher instincts. I took a step in the direction of the noise, and the scent of the perfume grew stronger. It was a sweet fruity scent with a hint of rose scent. I reached into the darkness and felt something, a shoulder. An anxious gasp assured me that the person didn't want to be discovered. The dark figure ran past me, shoved me to the ground, and my head hit the wall before the world went black.

I woke up in the dark and took in the smell of our basement. I lay on my side on the floor, my hair hanging in my face, and I felt a pounding in the back of my head. I braced myself on my hands and pushed myself up, my hair finally falling out of my face. As I knelt, I tried to remember what had happened, and the memory came back quickly. I wanted to wait for my circulation to regulate itself again, but I heard a cry of pain from our apartment. In less than a second, I was on my feet and running up the floors. I texted Dan to call the ambulance as those screams sounded too familiar. I already heard a neighbor call the ambulance. Her words literally made me fly up the stairs.

"Please hurry! The screams are unbearable. He gets stabbed!" she screamed hysterically into the phone.

'Jake!' I thought worriedly and took three steps at a time. She saw me and tried to stop me, but I was too fast and ran up to the fourth floor. She called after me to be careful. She didn't question why I was back among the living, no wonder. Her thoughts were elsewhere. She liked Jake, and she always brought us leftovers when she cooked too much. She was in her late 60s and an incredibly sweet lady.

I heard a female groan mixed with a male rattle. Anger rose in me. Whoever did this to him had to die. I finally got to our door, only to find the door was locked, and Jake had the keys. I raised my foot and kicked the door in. Cindy was right, I was a demon. These physical powers were inhuman and only possible by a demon. The door flew open, and I saw a light brown haired woman sitting on Jake, all covered in blood. This woman looked all too familiar to me.

"Blair," I said, my voice dripping with hatred.

I saw that she was holding his penis and white liquid was running down her hand, but Jake was unconscious. She licked the liquid off her fingers while looking me in the eye and laughing sickly. This woman was more than sick. She could not be helped. My last bit of common sense snapped, and I released my demonic side. My wings spread behind my back, my horns exposed, and my everyday clothes transformed into my armor.