Oscar
" Where do we go now?" The gut feeling I had had since Lyan's dad had come to us in a rush telling us Lyan was gone only intensified as the seconds ticked by and there was still no news of Lyan.
" That way" Lyan's dad seemed serious and sure as he pointed, sure of where we should go but if you listened hard enough you could hear the tremble in his voice.
" A second ago you pointed that way" I glared at Jack. He wasn't wrong, not at all, but telling an already desperate powerful man what he didn't want to hear wasn't the best strategy ever.
" What do you know?" Lyan's dad snapped, his eyes a windwhirl of fury as he glared at Jack and then at me. This was why I didn't like to be associated with other people. They always blamed what they did on me and fixing it was seriously annoying, but all things considered maybe I could get a little bit of fun out of all of this. Seeing a demon lose his cool and cry had been pretty fun. I could only imagine how much more fun it would be if I was the one making him cry.
I smirked.
" Do you know where she is?"
I expected the demon to launch at me, ready to destroy me and tell me I was just being a nuisance, maybe cry a little from frustration. What I didn't expect was for the demon to fall to the ground, tears streaming down his face.
A smile spread across my lips. It really was fun. It made me feel a rush like that of killing. Having someone that could have me under his thumb in normal circumstances crying because of what I had said was such a rush. It was one of the only emotions I could feel properly and one I never wanted to end.
" Do you not know where she is?"
Until Jack spoke I didn't realize all the implications of what I had made the demon confess. My heart squeezed as I stared at him. He had to be kidding. He couldn't just not know where his own daughter was. I couldn't lose her like that, not again.
" Want do you know old man?" Jack's eyes bulged when he heard me calling the King of the demons an old man but that was what he was right now. He was just an useless old man that had fallen to the ground because he couldn't even withstand not knowing everything.
The demon didn't listen to me as he continued sobbing, so I did the only rational thing a person could do in that kind of situation. I slapped him across his face as hard as I could.
" Where is she?" My voice was ice cold as I spoke to the demon, who had spun to look at me, his eyes no longer red.
" What did you just do?" His voice was also ice cold as he got up, rage all over his face.
" Why? What are you going to do?" I puffed out my chest and got into a defensive position, ready for a brawl, maybe even craving it.
I saw the attack before it happened, but I couldn't stop it as I was thrown several feet away, crashing at high speeds against a tree.
Fuck, that had hurt. I smiled as I got up using the tree as support. This was what I wanted, I wanted a fight, I wanted blood, but all of those could wait until later.
I pushed myself to calm down and focus on what mattered most, on Lyan.
" After I find my daughter you're dead" I smiled. That was one hell of a boring threat, but that was fine by me, I wanted a fight.
" Okay, but first we have to find her"
" Where do you think she could be?" Oh, so Jack still had some balls left. I honestly thought he would just stay silent on the back, too afraid of the demon to ask or even speak, but he wasn't such a coward after all. Maybe he wasn't completely and utterly useless, just completely.
" I... I don't know " The demon looked dejected as he confessed to what both Jack and I had known all along. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he was panicking so hard.
" Don't you feel her?" I thought he could feel his daughter. That had to be how he always managed to find her.
" No, something's blocking me"
" Blocking you?" What could block the demon King in this world? I was sure that back on his home world there were lots of artifacts made to stop him, but here?, where he hadn't been spotted in milenia? I doubted those artifacts remained, unless normal artifacts against demons also worked against him.
" Yes, I can't feel her"
Jack eyed me and told me what he thought with his eyes. In them I read the same suspicions I had. It had to be an artifact.
" It could be an artifact" Jack's muttering caught the demon's attention.
I swore. This was the last thing we needed right now. We needed to focus and not explain how artifacts worked to an overly proud demon.
" What's an artifact?"
" Something " My answer was filled with sarcasm, as if I thought he was stupid just for asking, which I kind of did. As I had predicted he went red and glared at me.
I glared back. When we found Lyan I wouldn't mind fighting him. Even if I knew I was going to lose the thrill of the fight was too strong to resist.
" Where could she be, then?" The demon's tone was defeated as he asked.
" I don't know, I don't think she had any enemies"
Jack's words struck a nerve and I begun thinking.
Lyan didn't have anyone that hated her. They couldn't have kidnapped her for who she was and if that wasn't the reason for the kidnapping then the only one left was ....
" Who hates demons the most around here?"
I saw the moment the realization hit Jack. He paled as he looked at me.
" Is that true?"
I shrugged. It was just a gut feeling, but one that made a lot of sense taking the circumstances into account.
" Who has her?" The demon's voice was deep and dark as he glared at us, the air around him electrified with power.
I had no doubt that if we refused to speak immediately he would either kill us or torture the information out of us. That was how much he cared for his daughter. It would've moved my heart if I had one. I only had a heart in what was related to my girl and right now it was beating fast with fear. If what I thought was right we would have to hurry. They weren't the type to keep prisoners alive for very long, or alive at all.
" The mages" Jack's voice was filled with hatred as he spoke.
" Where are they?" The demon's voice only got darker when he discovered the culprits. I had no doubt they were already dead. They just didn't know it yet.
" I know where she is. Follow me" There was only one place where there were guards against demons and prisoner's holding facilities in all of the country.
It wasn't that far away from here, which only helped me confirm my suspicions.
" Let's go" The demon grabbed my hand and Jack's and teleported us to the outside of the fortress. How did he know where it was? I had no idea, but all thoughts I had about the how evaporate when I saw the fortress standing strong in front of us.
The fortress was as big as the whole academy, only that made for war. There were cannons all over the walls and guards with rifles every few steps. It was going to be a massacre if we tried to enter by force. This was going to be fun.
" Can't you get us inside?" Jack's question annoyed me. I wanted to kill every single one of them and make them pay in blood for what they'd done to my girl, but he was right. We needed to get to her before it was too late.
" I can't go inside, but I can do this" The demon's smile was crooked as he gathered something in his hands and then opened them.
I coughed as smoke rose from the fortress and got inside my lungs, making it harder to breathe. I also couldn't see from the smoke sorrounding us.
When the air finally cleared I laughed maniacally looking at the broken wall, the whole thing blown to smitherings along with everyone inside.
I hadn't killed them but they were dead, which wasn't as good as killing them myself but was good too.
I looked around to smile at Jack and give him the creeps, I loved when he looked at me and flinched, it was one of my favorite sports, but he was gone.
" Fuck!" I ran to the fortress, following their footsteps.
The inside of the fortress was a massacre. Corpses piled up on the sides following a clear path. I followed them, ignoring the itching in my hands that begged me to take the eyes from evey single bloody corpse that I passed along.
All of them were so brutally murdered that I smiled. That demon and I were going to be friends. I knew it. We both liked the same things.
I begun running, wanting to get to my girl faster and maybe get some action. It didn't take me long to catch up with the demon and Jack. Jack's face was pale as he pushed back his bile, not looking at the blood or the corpses as he followed behind the demon. He, on the other hand, was using his powers to kill everyone that came close to him.
" Have you found her yet?" I asked even though I knew they hadn't.
Jack shook his head and pointed forward.
" Is she there?"
" We don't know" Jack shook his head again.
Lyan's dad didn't stop for us as he continued walking. I ran and stood in front of him.
" What do you think you're doing?" His eyes gleamed as he looked at me. If I could feel fear I'd be dying right now. He was the personification of death himself. His clothes were red now and his hands and fangs had changed colors to that of blood. All I felt was a sense of comradery.
" We have to find where she is. This thing is too big to search everywhere"
" And what do you suggest we do?"
I smiled as I pointed with my eyes to one of the fallen soldiers, one that was still breathing, tough barely.
" I suggest we get the information out of them"
Lyan's dad smiled as he snapped his fingers and the soldier screamed. His shrieks were so high that I put my hands over my ears, my eardrums suffering.
The demon kept at it for a while, while the soldier screamed and screamed, blood pooling underneath him as his bones broke and the white telltale of bones could be seen over his skin.
I watched in amusement as his skin burned and the smell of burnt meat reached me. It was honestly not a bad smell. Unlike me Jack didn't think the same. He gagged and reatched all over the floor. Weakling.
" Where are the prisoners?" The demon spoke calmly, as if he didn't have a care in the world and could keep at it for ages, although I knew it wasn't true it was a pretty convincing performance.
" The... The lower levels" Finally. I took off, running as fast as I could towards the lower levels. I was going to rescue my little demon, and if in the way I found Orus I guessed I could rescue him too.
" Stop!" Lyan's dad's voice reached me all the way on the opposite side of the hallway.
I stopped on my tracks and looked back, to where Jack was pale, holding the dying soldier by his shoulder and saying something to him as the demon was red with rage.
I ran back as fast as I could.
" What's going on?" My question wasn't directed to anyone but I didn't expect them to ignore me any take off in the completely opposite direction of where Lyan was. Just what was going on? Did they no longer want to rescue Lyan?
Rage surged throughout my body as I turned. Fine, they could do whatever they wanted. I was going to go rescue my little demon alone.
" They are going to get executed at dawn"
The corpse's words held me back. I stared at him as his glossy eyes looked at me with something like pity.
No one looked at me like that. In one fluid motion I cut his head off with my dagger. The head fell and I ran to where Jack and the demon had ran off to. I would get the eyes later on. First I had to find my little demon. My fear only intensified with each step I took, the thought that I was too late mocking me all the time.
I caught up with Jack and Lyan's dad in the execution platform, where the first sun rays were hitting the floor, sending golden highlights everywhere.
I stopped on my tracks along with the demon and Jack when we saw Orus, half dead, laying on the floor, his head on a platform and ready to be cut off, but that wasn't what made me erupt with anger and fear, the two emotions battling inside of me.
Lyan was besides Orus, her whole body covered with different wounds as her blood poured out of them and into the platform, which was tainted red.
My eyes were shot red as I ran to them, no longer hesitating. They were dead.
Besides me both Jack and the demon begun moving too, their eyes filled with as much hatred as mine.