I woke up alone with the bed cold and empty beside me. My hands smoothed out across the sheet and felt nothing but silk. It was a strange feeling that overcame me. The unfamiliarity of this place mixed with comfort and longing, but the sting of missing my life—my home, dislodged it. Gran, Styx and Amiah. I missed them and wondered how long it would be until I saw them again.
Slipping from the bed, I crept to the bathroom. The soreness was more prominent this morning and ached with every step. After reluctantly using the toilet, I ran a bath hoping the warm soothing water would help ease the pain. I spent an hour lounging in it and the temperature never grew cold. There were things about this place like that that I couldn't wrap my head around. Like how when I walked back into the room, expecting the darkness it held when I woke, the candles had all flickered to life at my presence.
An hour had passed, and Lucifer still had yet to return from wherever he had gone to, so I walked to the door, and upon testing the handle, I found it locked. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I hissed in the quiet of the room. He didn't trust me. Of course he didn't. It wasn't like I had wanted to come here, but after last night . . . I don't know why I thought that would have changed anything.
For all I knew it meant nothing to him, and I would be stupid to let it mean something to me. It would be reckless, and I couldn't do that. No matter what pretty words he spewed, he was still the Devil, and if Sunday school had taught me anything, it was not to trust it.
The gown that had been left out for me since mine had been ripped to shreds, was deep blue, and thankfully didn't show the full expanse of my sides like the last one. It swished around my feet as I paced the room, searching for something to fill my time. Surely there was a way out—something I was overlooking. I thought back to dinner the night before, the wait staff had slipped into the room from behind a tapestry. There were plenty in here that lined the stone walls. I ran my hands across them to feel for any openings that might be hidden behind them.
As I rounded the room and came up beside the fireplace, I felt a ridge in the wall behind the tapestry and lifted it away to find a wooden door. I gasped in excitement as I reached for the handle. This one was unlocked. I cracked it open, and a cool draft rushed through sending flames from the fire whipping along the stone. It was dark and the air smelled musty and stale, but I proceeded to slip inside. Feeling my way through as I dragged my hands along the wall, I felt a turn and followed it down to a set of stairs that spiraled steeply.
The air grew colder as I descended, and as I reached the bottom, I could hear the murmur of voices that grew louder. I continued through the dark passage, keeping my steps light and quiet. Ahead, I could see the shine of light seeping beneath a door. I crept closer, though I didn't want to expose myself, I wanted to hear what was being said.
"It isn't time yet," a deep voice rasped.
"I'm telling you; it's coming whether you think so or not."
"You and your theories, always blabbering on and on like you've got any clue."
"Oh, but I have. Heard it from a reliable source, too."
"You got no reliable source."
"You smell that Azrom?"
"Mm. Aye."
The door whipped open and two hulking figures stood before me. Horns twisted up from their foreheads as sick grins spread across their marred faces. Their hands reached out and grabbed me as I screamed and kicked, but they were too strong and easily dragged me from the hidden passage.
"She smells sweet," one of them said as he pressed his thick nose into my hair with his rank breath hot on my cheek.
"Get your hands off me," I barked as I struggled against their grasp.
YOU ARE READING
The Devil and I
Romance"I like looking at you," he breathed. "Looking at you is like taking a breath of fresh air. Not the polluted gas above," he waved his hand dismissively. "But fresh air, like from the garden." He stood from the chair and walked to the end of the bed...
