Our Demonic Hearts - The Craven Pact Book 1

Chapter 5 - Colloquy

The cacophony of bobcats yowling in the forest filled the night, stopping for just a brief moment before picking back up again. Low, guttural screams and moans entered Ana's bedroom, sounding like a woman in deep pain. She had lived long enough in the forest to know that it was just animals, most likely a mother cat protecting her cubs from a predator. Despite that ingrained knowledge, Ana still couldn't help but think there was a woman in distress somewhere out there, screaming for help and receiving none. Sometimes she felt like that woman, alone in the abyssal forest with nothing but her own voice to keep her company. Had she sounded the same as the bobcats when Marchosias pushed her to exhaustion during training? Maybe that's why he left. She shows any semblance of pain or distress, and he looks the other way. Like the screaming bobcats, she is heard but ignored.

She took her hand out of the blanket and looked at her wrist. She had healed it after Marchosias had left, but she still felt a dull ache in all of her veins. She had used to much Mageia, and now payed the price. Aching wrists and exhaustion plagued her, but no matter what she did she could not fall asleep. She felt as if she was partly to blame for it with her insistence on pushing Marchosias' buttons. She had pushed him far enough that he had found a way to punish her, but what for? Asking questions? Making a few jokes? Her snarky attitude toward him hadn't changed over the years. Had he just been too overwhelmed by everything that she was the final nail in the coffin of his anger control?

It doesn't matter now, she thought. At some point he's going to find the Motloes, and maybe even find out that she talked with Beau. Beau. She had pushed their encounter to the back of her brain, hoping that Marchosias couldn't secretly read her mind and find out about it. She hadn't had time to ruminate on Beau's request, as Marchosias had preoccupied her for the rest of the day. She would admit it was tempting, though. A chance to regain her memories and find out what exactly happened that night, now that she suspected Marchosias was lying. Did he really lie? She started to doubt herself. It's not like I payed much attention to what anybody said in the years preceding the incident, and tried my best to remember what happened myself. That only ended up in fits of rage and horrible headaches, resulting in a cigarette addiction to cope. She hadn't smoked in six months, something her mother was proud of.

Her mother. She turned in bed and looked at the nightstand, where her phone lay in the charger. She could call her and ask for her side of the story. She wasn't there that night, but Marchosias must've told her what happened. She worked night shifts at the hospital, so it was likely she was up this late. It wouldn't give Ana any new information, but it would put her mind at ease...or create new questions.

She rose from the bed and grabbed her phone. She called her mother as she left the room and went downstairs. It rang twice before her mother picked up.

"Ana? Are you alright, hon?"

Her mother, Margaret Devlin, still lived in the town where the incident took place. Livernville, a bustling town in northern Florida, had been her mother's home since she and her dad graduated from university. She seemed quite content there, and refused to move even after the incident. Ana could never understand why she insisted living across the street from the now abandoned Motloe residence. It was one of the reasons why she didn't visit her mother. Marchosias still visited, however, despite not being in a relationship. Ana didn't know what they counted as. Friends? Acquaintances?

She grabbed a mug from the kitchen cupboard. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep. Animals in the forest are keeping me up."

"Oh. Well, it's good to hear your voice. I'm not too busy here at the hospital, so I have time to chat. Anything bothering you?"

Ana filled the cup with water and put it in the microwave. She grabbed a box of tea as she tried not to drop the phone. "Yeah, I just had a question...about the incident."