Demon's Design

Chapter 2

After an hour and a half ride Zandra was starting to feel anxious. She was already further into the forest than she cared to be. "How much further?" Her skin was crawling from the demonic energy surrounding them. How close were they to the castle? It was so long ago she couldn't remember the distance.

"Just a few minutes. You will see the small road coming up here," he pointed to the right.

Sure enough, a few minutes later a smaller dirt road appeared. Zandra recognized the small spires on either side of the road which symbolized the royal homes. Why did this family live here? She asked herself, it was best to keep her guard up, the likelihood of it being a trap just increased.

Approaching the house, it was in the same shape as the road with nature taking its toll. The nicely trimmed bushes were grown out in various directions, which lined the driveway across from the large house. Weeds grew along the building and it was clear how far they had been mowing as the grass and weeds were of adult height closer to the forest. At least they were smart enough to stay away from the forest. She could see still see the shadows creeping through the trees and she was sure they were all being watched.

The cart stopped and the horse stomped its feet, tired from the journey. Zandra took a moment to look over the house. This had been the summer house her and her sister stayed at for a couple of months each year; it was also where all their friends had been. They spent so much time playing in the yard running through the bushes, and playing hide-in-seek in the many rooms of the house. Looking at all the windows in the front she tried to remember exactly how many there had been...eight bedrooms, two for her and her sister, one for the landlady who took care of the house, one for her daughter, and the others for the maids who lived on site. All the bedrooms were on the upper floors; Her and her sister's room were by themselves on the third floor, which had been added after they had been born. The other bedrooms were on the second floor along with the bathrooms; Two were in the two master bedrooms, and the other for the rest to share.

When they needed to go downstairs to use the restroom in the middle of the night it was tricky because the creaking of the stairs woke the maids up. The older lady that had been there for years didn't take kindly to anyone waking her up. Nonetheless, the troublemaker of the family had the bedroom above hers. Zandra remembered getting scolded several times for not going to bed when she was supposed to and she was sure her parents had put her room there on purpose to help reign her in. Who needed a bedtime? She certainly didn't have one now.

Looking to the white front porch, four white posts stood in the entrance way giving it a more royal look to it. Not many homes had such an appeal to them. The stairs leading up to the front door were cracked, and some of them were chipped and falling away. Flower beds were overgrown on each side of the stairs; The beds were lined with stone and were three layers going up with the stairs to the house. What once had been beautiful was now chaos. Although several of the plants survived the chaos and were blooming beautifully, others weren't so lucky. There were lots of dead flowers hanging down the walls and crumbling from years of neglect. It broke her heart to see it this way. This place had been her childhood, her second home...now it was just a sad reminder of her broken past.

A young woman with two little girls walked out of the house and the two girls were excited to see Eric and they ran down to give him a hug. The woman, whose name was Tara, stood in the doorway with her arms crossed leaning against one of the pillars. She looked about Zandra's age, however the woman was a slightly taller and thinner than she was. Her face was sharp making her always seem as though she was scowling with long brown hair that reached the woman's hips that was a thin and shaggy. Zandra could guess that was from raising the girls. If her two girls were anything like how she had been as a child, she was amazed Tara had any hair at all. Tara wore a long dark blue skirt and a light blue t-shirt that was clearly worn with age. The way she glared at Zandra made her think she hadn't had much adult human interaction aside from Eric in a very long time.