The Forest Keeper

Chapter Fourteen: IN WHICH Talyn and Abaddon Get Into More Trouble

Abaddon roared, sword in hand and raised up to point at Dameon. His trousers were dusted with the grey ash that Milaya had fallen apart as. "You did this!" he bellowed, running toward Dameon with murder on his mind.

Dameon caught his sword and threw his hand forward to grasp him by the throat. "You know nothing," he hissed, throwing him back.

Abaddon gasped as something pierced through his back and into his stomach. He tasted blood immediately. Trying to stand, he turned his body so he could grab the thing that stabbed him. It was the knife that had killed Milaya.

He wrenched it out of his flesh and gasped again, gritting his teeth against the pain. He looked up at Dameon and wiped the traces of blood from his lips. "So what are you going to do to me now, demon?" he hissed.

Dameon chuckled. "Talyn, keep Kea close. I don't want her getting loose on accident – I'm not done with her yet." His laughter died away, his eyes turning as black as pitch once more. "Abaddon Timbercol, leader of the werewolf pack. I don't know what I want to do with you." He raised his hands out to the sides and muttered a word. The flames around them flickered, and then turned into great pillars of silver ice.

Abaddon fought back the darkness that crept along the corners of his vision. He sat up straight and started mumbling a healing spell.

"Oh, no. There'll be none of that, pup." Dameon raised his hand and shouted a counter-spell.

Abaddon screamed as pain flared through his whole body. The healing spell, instead of healing his wounds, was tearing him apart from the inside. He kept screaming, his body writhing as much as he tried to keep it still.

Dameon laughed again and picked him up by the hair. He threw him to the side and watched him tumble. "I'm going to tear you apart. I'm going to rip you limb from limb and watch you bleed. I'm going to make you watch Milaya die again, and again, and again." He picked him up and held him by the throat against a tree. "And then, when you beg for me to kill you, I'll skin you and keep watching you bleed until nothing is left. I'll drink all of it, and I'll make you watch until your soul gets dragged down to Hell, where you will learn what it is like to be a demon, burning for the rest of eternity."

Abaddon tried to breathe. He tried to fight, tried to move, but he couldn't. It felt a hundred thousand weights were being tied, one by one, to his chest, his arms and legs. On top of that, with Milaya gone, Leonas out of commission, and Kea in trouble... He couldn't keep his thoughts straight.

"What's wrong, little doggie? Have I broken your spirit down so far that you're having trouble getting back to your feet?" Dameon smiled and pulled out a silver knife.

Abaddon paled. "You..." He hissed as the blade touched the skin of his arm, leaving a burned, bloody trail behind it.

Dameon grinned. "Yes. I carry silver with me, for moments like this. You forget, my werewolf friend, that I am a demon of the highest order in Hell. Silver can burn me, absolutely, but kill me... No. Nothing like this can kill me." He lifted the knife and trailed it down Abaddon's other arm.

Hissing and writhing, Abaddon closed his eyes and fought back the screams. He gritted his teeth. "Then... how can..."

"You can't stop me. You can't stop what is to come upon Albinan. There is nothing you can do to go back to what you once had – Milaya, a good home and family, the life you always wanted."

He bit his lip to keep himself from screaming again as the knife burned the flesh on his chest. A deep red X ran across his torso.

"I'm going to cut you open," Dameon hissed, cocking his head and drawing closer. "I'm going to bleed you, and then I will drink your blood like wine." He looked back at Leonas, who lay still once more. "And then, once I'm done with you, I'll move onto Leonas, and then to Kea. And once you are all in a state of endless pain and torment, I will kill you. I will destroy your souls, bit by bit, as a child tears apart a toy."