Playing with Fire [COMPLETED]

15 ~ the mist

When I wake up, Imogen and Maude are healing me, and Ruin is pacing.

"Ruin?" I croak, my throat too dry. He whirls around and kneels down before me, looking into my eyes, touching my face softly.

"Are you alright? What were you thinking? Going out there and .... you could've died!"

"So could've you," I protest, even though my voice squeaks. "I could feel your wounds. Your pain. I couldn't let you die. Not when I could have helped."

He sighs.  "I .... okay."

"You did almost die, Elorha," Imogen adds, looking down at me. She lowers her hands and turns to Maude. "If Ruin had not gotten you back here when he did ...."

"Yeah, I get it. I'm stupid. I am weak, and I got Lucian killed, and I — I'm sorry," I say.

"No one blames you, Elorha," Ruin murmurs.  "But Lucian did not have to die. Destruction and Pain will pay for what happened to him. It isn't your fault, he protected you."

"What happened to Zariah and Orayn? We were attacked in the library."

His eyes go wide.  "What? I haven't heard from them."

"Go, we will take care of her," Maude says.

"I want to go with you," I say.

Ruin hesitates. He looks over at me, then to Maude, who simply shrugs. "If you wish to come with me, then .... fine. But if I tell you to run, you run. Okay?"

I nod.

"And don't hesitate, okay? Don't just stand there and say you aren't going to leave without me, because you matter more, okay? To me, at least."

"Alright," I say, sighing.

Ruin helps me stand up, and we leave his room, while Imogen and Maude work on cleaning up the blood from the bed. I follow Ruin down long, winding halls and into the stairway that leads down to the library. We walk in silence, until he palms his blade, looking around us. I nervously draw my own dagger, and he smirks.

"You know how to use ice picks, right?" Ruin whispers. I nod, confused. "Stab up and sideways. Hold the dagger like you would an ice pick, and that will help you strike the enemy."

"Okay," I say, nodding once more.

We enter the library, which is darker than it has been before. The women who work in the library aren't wandering about like they usually do. No, it's empty. Ruin looks around us, his eyes blazing orange in the dim light, like small, twin suns.

Suddenly, as we pass by the shelves containing books I've never dared look at, a low hissing sound fills the chilly air. Ruin whirls around, flaring his wings out to shield me. I peek over his shoulder as best I can, as I am shorter than he is, and gasp.

The shadowy mist floats toward us.

"Reveal yourself, do not hide from me," Ruin snaps.

The mist swirls around and lashes out, but Ruin raises his hand, and the mist bounces off the invisible force field between him and it. It swirls around us, and Ruin pushes me backward, I watch as it lashes at him once more, wrapping around his wrist and yanking him away from me. It swirls toward me, hissing as it wraps around my waist and pulls me away from Ruin.

"Elorha!" Ruin leaps up, and looks at me. "Duck!"

I obey, and he throws his dagger over my head and it strikes into the mist creature. It shrieks and whirls, the dagger staying in its side despite it turning to its mist form. The thing releases me, and I stagger back into Ruin's arms.

"That's what attacked us!" I cry.

He steps between the mist and I as it surges toward us once more. Ruin plants his feet on the floor, bends forward a little, and spreads his wings wide. "Show yourself!" He claps his hands together, and a thunderous boom bursts forward and the mist transforms, morphing into a person.

The man that lays there, hunched over on the ground as black blood leaks from his side, dagger sticking out of him. The man glares at Ruin and I, pure rage on his face and his black and red eyes.

Ruin stands there, staring down at the man. "Who are you?"

"Ha! Of course you don't remember me," he says, laughing, even as he spits up more blood.

"I'll ask you this once more, and you will fucking answer me," Ruin snarls, kneeling forward.  "Who the fuck are you?"

"Call me Erasmus," the man says.  "We will see each other again. Soon." His visage flickers, as though he is gonna disappear, but nothing happens.  Confused, Erasmus looks at me, then Ruin.

Ruin grins.  "You can't vanish in here, I brought the wards back." He stands up. "So, Erasmus, where are Zariah and Orayn? Where are the women who were living down here? And why are you here, in my library?"

"Fuck you," Erasmus snaps.

"You will tell me where they are!" Ruin roars, sheer power rolling off him to the point where I start shaking. I stumble back, watching from behind as Erasmus stares up at Ruin, horror etched on his face.

"My people took them," Erasmus says, grinning. "I mean, what's left of them."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Ruin demands.

Erasmus coughs, splattering more blood on the floor.  He grins, his teeth glistening with his blood. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know, demon prince?"

Erasmus flickers once again, but then, I feel a sharp pain in my side. I scream, and Ruin whirls, just as Erasmus pulls the blade that was hidden from our sight until now.... out of my side.