Demons Arrive

Chapter Six

I come to still screaming, but this time I'm on the floor next to the bed. The pain in my neck still raging and burning. I can vaguely hear someone in the distance talking. I feel something soft touch my neck, and when I look up, I see Amanda. Tears are streaming down her face.

"Amanda?" My voice is barely above a whisper. "Why are you crying?"

She sniffles. "Look what he's done to you. I knew we shouldn't have chanced you going back under to speak with him."

I look at my shoulder that she's touching and there's blood, a lot of it, everywhere. It's oozing from the bite on my neck.

"That's my fault. I called him a Demon."

"I told you not to do that." Doc says. I look up to see her still sitting in the chair in the corner. She's got her arms crossed over her chest and a disapproving look on her face.

"He was being an ass, and he kept asking me where I was." I tell her.

"Doesn't matter. The first bite was a warning."

"Thane is evil." Amanda sobs.

"He can be, yes." Doc says.

"I never told you his name." I whisper. Amanda and Doc freeze. "How do you know his name?"

They stay silent, no one speaks for several minutes and I'm so tired from the bite and the blood loss I can barely keep my eyes open. "I'm going to pass out." I whisper.

"You have to stay awake, Daryn." Amanda says, her voice frantic. I try to look up at her, but the room is spinning out of control.

I barely shake my head. "I can't."

"Daryn," Doc says, "you need to..." I barely register her words as everything fades again.

I open my eyes to see I'm in a bedroom, a very plain one. All the furniture is black, the dresser, the chair in the corner, the desk. The carpet is a dark gray, the walls are gray, the curtains are black. I look down and I'm in a large bed, with a black blanket covering me.

"I truly did not expect you to pass out, but maybe I shouldn't have bitten you so hard." I turn my head towards his voice.

"Thane?" I croak, and he emerges from some shadowy corner of the room, arms crossed and a glare on his face.

"Yes, Amica mea." He says.

"Why am I back here?" My voice is cracking, my throat is dry, and it feels like I've been run over by a truck.

"Because I wanted you to be. I'm not done with you." He slowly walks towards me and I want to get up and run but my body feels so sore and tired that I can't move.

"I don't want to be here." I whisper as he drops one of his knees onto the bed. I'm scared, I think to myself. He reaches out to touch my face and I just lie there. If he was going to kill me, he could easily do so. I close my eyes as a tear slides down my cheek.

"I don't want to hurt you." He says. "I just need to know where you are. Tell me where you are and I'll heal the bites. I'll heal them and I'll take care of you."

I give him an empty laugh. "I wouldn't have these bites if it weren't for you. I don't need anyone to take care of me. I can take care of myself just fine."

His hand on my face wraps around my throat. "You act as if I'm the enemy, when it's really the people in the room with you."

"You're wrong. They would never betray me." David, Amanda and Doc weren't bad people. I'd know David and Amanda all my life; they wouldn't lie to me.

"Then why did she say my name when you only learned it a little while ago?" He whispered. My blood suddenly ran cold and a whirlwind of questions swirled around my head. The image of Amanda saying "Thane is evil," when I'd never told her his name flashed before my eyes. Why would Amanda lie to me? Why would Doc? How did Amanda know his name? How did they know who he was? I had known and trusted them all my life, they led Joey and I to the community and told us it was a safe place. He smiled at me and moved his hand from my neck. "I see that you're questioning it. Good. It will make you more succeptible to me and what I need from you."

"What do you want from me?" I ask. He places his hands on the sides of my neck over my bite wounds, and I feel a warmth seep into them. The warmth tingles inside the bite marks and slowly seeps back out. When he removes his hands the pain is gone. I move a hand to touch one side of my neck to find that the bite mark is gone. I gaze up at him questioningly.

"I've healed you like I promised."

"But I didn't tell you where I was." I whispered.

"You didn't need to say it verbally. I saw images of the place in your mind." He tapped his temple and grinned. "I know exactly how to get there now. Thank you." My eyes widened and I tried to sit up. He placed a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down onto the bed. "Dont worry, Amica mea. I'll come get you and I'll take care of you and the boy." I flinched at the mention of Joey.

"No." I whisper. "please don't hurt him."

"I won't hurt him, Amica mea. You are going to come live with me, as well as the boy." He places a hand over my eyes. "Now, sleep."

My eyes snap open before I'm fully awake and I see the ceiling. I look around the room and find that I'm alone. I slowly get up, trying not to make any noise. I need to get Joey and run. I inch towards the closet and grab a backpack. I pack some of my clothes into it as well as some of Joey's and I leave the room. I look down the hallway and don't see anyone. I slowly creep out and make my way down the stairs. In the hall before the kitchen, I hear their voices.

"I can't believe you said his name." David says.

"It just slipped out, I didn't mean to. I wasn't thinking-"

Slam! "Exactly! You weren't thinking! Now she's going to know we've been lying! We promised Miranda and John that we would make sure she was taken care of, now look at what's happened."

"Leave her be, David. Like you've never said something you shouldn't have?" Doc says.

"Miranda and John never should've made that deal with him. It's their fault he's after her." Amanda tells him.

"Regardless of what they did, Miranda asked us to make sure she never went with him."

"That's not what she said." Doc scoffs. There's a silence that follows before someone else speaks.

"You don't think we can protect her?" David asks.

"No." Doc says. "You can't keep her from him. One of these creatures, the ones like Thane, they thrive on deals. He was promised John and Miranda's daughter in exchange for helping Miranda survive the boys labor and delivery. John was so desperate when he made the deal that he didn't care what happened to anyone else as long as Miranda lived. By all rights, Daryn belongs to Thane. Creatures like him, they always collect their dues."

No one said anything for a few moments. My head was spinning from the betrayal, the hurt. The people that were closest to me had lied to me for most of my life, my parents the most. I had known my Mothers labor with Joey had been rough but Dad had always told me that the doctors helped her. I had slept in her hospital room when she was in the hospital having Joey. I didn't have a memory of Thane, or Mom dying. The doctor who delivered Joey even received a a recognition in the medical field for the save. I never had any reason to question how my mom lived through the ordeal. Now? Now I was questioning everything.

I took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, shoulders back and back straight. David and Amanda held shocked expressions, while Doc remained as stoic as ever. "Tell me about this deal."