Bones of the Demon King

Chapter 1

He quietly beckoned for her in the dark like a hunter searching for his prey, "Where are you?"

His voice stretched out each syllable as if he were playing a simple game of hide-and-seek. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Paula Masterson could feel the hard earth beneath her. She was panicking. Tears streamed down her face as she bit her bottom lip until she tasted the metallic sting of her own blood. She tried holding back her sobs as she hid beneath the porch of the small house she had just escaped from. She could hear a creaking sound as his weight pressed into the wooden boards above her. He was close.

She scrunched her body together as tight as she could, hoping she would become less noticeable. She could feel her dress pulled up around her waist, exposing her thighs to the cold night air. Her arms and legs stung as the dirt made contact with the knife wounds he had given her earlier. She didn't bother to think about her injuries possibly getting infected. She was more worried about staying alive.

Less than twelve hours ago, Paula had been attending Samantha Lake's wedding. She didn't want to wear the bright yellow taffeta bridesmaid dress but Samantha was one of her best friends. She remembered joking with Samantha, "This dress will be the death of me. I'll die of embarrassment from wearing it! It's long. It's yellow. It's taffeta!"

At the time Samantha laughed and said, "Oh stop...you would look great in a garbage bag. Taffeta ain't got a thing on you. Plus, if you wear it...I'll buy you some yellow undies to match." The joke had caused Paula to laugh but she made sure Samantha kept her promise.

After Samantha's wedding ceremony, Paula had gone to the reception in the dress that made her feel like a walking banana. She remembered eating some dry salmon, making a fool out of herself with the chicken dance, and even photo-bombing quite a few pictures. Tom, the cute best man with the moss green eyes also came to mind. One look into his green eyes and she had fallen for him. Quite literally as she had accidentally tripped on the yellow monstrosity she was wearing and had landed in his arms. This led to him asking her to dance and the two seemed to hit it off. It had been quite a while since her last date and Paula was so looking forward to where things would lead that she even promised to meet him at his hotel room later that night.

Paula tried to remember what happened after the reception but her head began to ache. She heard mewling noises and her eyes widened in panic as she realized they were coming from her. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands as more tears stained her cheeks. The footsteps had made their way off of the porch. She could hear the crunch of gravel as he walked close by. "Where are you?" he slowly asked again. Paula shuddered.

The last thing she recalled was walking towards her red Kia. Then everything went blank. Less than fifteen minutes ago she woke up to an old song by The Partridge Family blasting through the air. Paula held herself still in her now torn yellow dress. Her shoes were gone and she had what looked like shallow knife wounds on her arms and legs. She was too scared to scream. She was on a bed that wasn't hers, in a room she didn't recognize, and she was bleeding. When she looked around, she was startled by what she saw. Knives, swords, and machete-like weapons decorated the walls. She thought about grabbing one but they were all secured in place. Luckily for her, Paula had taken a few self-defense classes that taught her to stay calm in crazy situations. She heard someone moving around in the room next door. She didn't have time to grab a weapon. She needed to escape.

She inched herself off of the bed and tiptoed to the nearby window. She unlocked it and looked behind her before slowly pushing the window open. A loud banging from the other room caused her to jump. She turned her head and didn't see anyone behind her. The music continued to play and she took a deep breath as she quietly snuck out her only possible escape and found herself in the middle of nowhere.

She looked around and saw nothing but land and trees. She felt a sob get caught in her throat as her idea of asking a nearby neighbor for help quickly died. There was nothing around her except land. Certainly no neighbors and most importantly, there was nowhere to hide. She couldn't help but think that no amount of self-defense classes could've prepared her for this. On instinct, she ran around the house to see if there was a car she could escape in. There was a van but there were no keys inside. It was then that she noticed the music had stopped playing. Whoever did this to her would soon notice she was missing. She saw that the porch was a couple of feet off the ground. It would be a tight fit but she squeezed herself under it.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the voice called out to her again. Paula wanted to escape as fast as she could but that seemed more and more impossible. She had to wait for him to go back inside to give her enough time to run away. Maybe she would be lucky and he would get in his car and drive away.

"I know you're here. I can still smell your blood." He took a deep whiff into the air and then smacked his lips in satisfaction. Paula stuffed part of her fist in her mouth to keep from crying out. She was trying to convince herself that he was lying.

"I just want to play. Won't you come out and play?" He was speaking in a cajoling voice but his pouty tone frightened Paula. He was clearly getting tired of searching for her.

Paula stayed deathly still. She could see his leather shoes from beneath the porch. She heard him step onto the porch and back inside. She heard The Partridge Family song turn back on. She was still silently sobbing with her eyes shut when she heard him again.

"I see London. I see France. I see your yellow underpants!"

Paula opened her eyes to see his leather shoes in front of her followed by a pair of gloved hands. She tried to scurry back, her screams drowning out his laughter. He pulled her forward, causing her to cry out in pain as she heard the pop of her shoulder being dislocated.

Once he had her out of the porch she was kicking and screaming, begging her masked assailant to have mercy on her. She was so absorbed in trying to get free that she didn't notice the knife he pulled out. He pushed the sharp blade into her chest and she gasped.

As the blood gurgled out of her mouth, Paula couldn't help but think about Tom, the best man with the beautiful green eyes. She thought of what could have been and then wondered if he was still waiting for her.

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A/N: This was the very first story I ever wrote on Wattpad. It's not edited. If you've already read it and you're back a 2nd time, please DO NOT post any spoilers. It's a bit darker than my current work.

Newest story I'm working on is below. It's a paranormal cozy mystery that I hope also makes you laugh. Give it a go and good luck trying to figure out who the bad guys are along with Rowena.