A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 39

"So what do you propose, oh the evil one?" I asked still staring at him.

"He is not yours. He belongs to the upper level of fera. He felt in you his superior, but you are not his ultimate master. Not you anyway."

"Then who is?" I asked feeling curious. That demonic hierarchy was still something I didn't know in full details.

"His maker...the mother of all the damned."

I redirected my gaze back to the kiosk. Doubt that Oengus installed in me grew deeper. Too deep to fight it off and reconsider my new thoughts. I reached for the car panel and opened the dashboard. It was empty. But I put my hand inside anyway and swiped the top, bumping on the way to something that felt like a spare key. Immediately, I withdrew my hand and sat back, shutting the dashboard.

Astus stepped out of the kiosk. Moving confidently, he stomped over to the car and began filling the tank with gas. I glanced at Oengus into a side mirror silently giving him my decision.

No allies.

And since, Oengus wasn't my ally...more like a sad predicament. He understood it. We were on our own. Therefore, needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

Ten minutes into the ride we've approached a narrow deserted road. From the left side of the road stretched out a crops field that didn't look like it was used for a while. The other side still belonged to the wood. The field was only about two acres, but it was appealing in certain ways. The tension in the air was invisible. In fact, it felt almost fair. I kept my eyes on the road ahead of me just waiting. Something was going to happen any moment now.

Just as I thought that Astus missed the opportunity at using this perfect for criminal activities piece of land, he took a sharp turn to the left. The tires screeched underneath the vehicle, and I was thrown into the side, hitting my head on the window. My body filled with electricity reacting on the impact. The vibration surrounded me muting every other sound in the salon. Then I felt a tug on my shoulder and realized that the car flipped upside-down in the air. The hood of the car collided with the ground and my entire body has jolted ahead from the impact. The seatbelt has held me in the place and for a second I closed my eyes restarting my breath. My body was aching, but the ache didn't belong to me.

My eyes instantly flew open, and I looked to my left. Astus was in the same position as mine, hanging upside down. I studied his posture finding it oddly stiffened. The metallic smell reached my nose, and I realized what it was.

Blood...demonic blood to be exact.

"Take the knife out of him and cut your seatbelt," Oengus instructed me and groaned rising up from the car's bottom. He kicked the back door open and fell out of the salon onto the ground.

I looked closer at Astus, finally noticing a knife sticking out of his chest. I stretched my hand out and with all my force pulled the knife out him. A black liquid dripped down from the tip of the knife and fell on the car's body inside upholstery with a hiss. Paying no attention to that fact, I grabbed with my free hand the strap that was cutting into my shoulder and began to saw the hard material. The door from my side was suddenly ripped off, and a steady hand that my body recognized grabbed the knife out of mine and in a few quick moved cut the material on two. Gravity pulled me down, and I fell in the heap on the ground.

Feeling finally free, I grabbed the side of the car and crawled outside. Without much fuss, I pushed myself off my knees and rose onto my legs. Oengus was looking around. His clothes were torn in some places, and bloody patches were decorating his head and shoulders. I noticed my own shabby state, but the thing was that the blood that was now leaking down my shoulders wasn't inflicted on me during the crash. It was all Oengus.

"What now?" I asked calmly looking around myself.

"Nothing. Let's get our stuff and get the hell out of here."

"Sound like a plan," I approved and went back to the car to find my backpack.

Meanwhile...

Lilith sighed studying her nails and glanced at her twin. Adam was at the window, curiously eyeing the street that was visible from their floor. His gaze slipped from one pedestrian to another. He wanted to see at least one of his children that looked remotely like him, but to no avail, he didn't catch even a trace of him in any of them. He was bored out of his mind, but there was a certain longing in him that called for one person in particular. Nope, it wasn't his only truthful offspring and the only daughter that he had left or rather managed to acquire after many millennia. In utter honesty, he wasn't too interested in her. Just that she was his ticket back home to the upper realm. He was thinking about his Eve. The woman that he despised and loved at the same time. He knew that she felt the same about him. In was unavoidable.

Out of sudden, Lilith groaned and stood up from her comfortable seat.

"We lost him. We need to send after her a more able person who can lure her alone and bring here unsuspected. It seems that my oldest of Angelic sons took a liking of her. He infatuated with Stacy half a century ago. I was hoping that it was in the past now. How wrong I was."

"She's with Oen?" Adam raised his eyebrow but didn't turn around to look at Lilith.

"Apparently..." she trailed off. "However, maybe it's better this way. Tyrious is reckless. He can ruin my entire plan. If he gets to her first, he will try to figure her out. And we don't want that, do we?" she smirked.

"What if Luci knows about her? We mustn't dwell in thinking that we're the smartest ones here." Adam frowned and finally graced his twin with a sharp gaze.

"Oh, he knows about her, alright," Lilith muttered feeling annoyed.

"Which means..." Adam pursed his lips.

"The hunt is in full swing."