Serena had acted instinctively. Her body was faster than her thinking and before she could even understand the whole situation, she was standing between her demon and the Shinigami and saw a huge scythe flying down at her. Briefly she caught a glimpse of the shinigami's sparkling green eyes, which widened in amazement as she moved, but the tip of his deadly scythe came closer and closer to Serena at a rapid pace.
Just before the point could ram directly into her head, however, the Shinigami stopped his attack abruptly. Serena stood there, eyes wide and breathing shallow, with the scythe a hair's breadth from her face, like a large animal leaning towards her. For a few seconds there was absolute silence, and each of them did not move a muscle. Then the Shinigami slowly raised his scythe and then leaned it loosely on his shoulder as if it were a thin stick.
"So so ... that's interesting.", he now said in a hushed voice and his green eyes rested thoughtfully on Serena. Before Serena could even move, Sebastian was pulling her back roughly. With just a few steps he was standing in front of her again and shielded her from potential new attacks. With a trembling body, Serena stepped up to Sebastian from behind and clutched the fabric of his jacket. Only now, when she was standing behind her butler, did she realize that she had just barely escaped death aand if Sebastian hadn't been right with her, she would probably have passed out.
"Apparently you managed to end your arguments ...", the Shinigami said mysteriously, but neither Sebastian nor Serena replied to his statement. Sebastian just stood in wait in front of her, ready to defend her at any time.
"And the way I see it, you seem to have done a lot more than just getting along ...", he mused aloud and his face twisted into a wide, crooked grin, "I think that's very good.". And just as quickly as he appeared, the Shinigami suddenly disappeared.
"What ...", Sebastian exclaimed surprised and he dashed forward into the darkness to be able to pursue him somehow, but after a few steps he already stopped. With dark eyes he looked around attentively and Serena could literally see him prick up his ears to track down the Shinigami.
"I ... he's gone.", Sebastian said completely perplexed, "I can't find him anymore.". Serena slowly shook her head, unable to actually understand what he was saying. It was simply not possible that Sebastian could no longer track someone who had just stood in front of him. Then he turned to her and looked at her briefly before returning to Serena and hastily hugging her. Immediately her heartbeat quietened a little when she felt his comforting warmth and leaned against his chest with her eyes closed.
"Are you all right, Lady Serena?", he whispered in a heavy voice and repeatedly stroked her back up and down with one hand. Serena nodded weakly in his embrace and listened to her heart, which grew slower and calmer.
"Why did you do that?", Sebastian asked in a whisper and Serena shrugged weakly.
"I ... just wanted him to stop hurting you.", she whispered against his chest and felt herself blush a little. Now that she was saying it, it sounded even stranger. She had actually placed herself between a shinigami and a demon. Had this Shinigami not been so abnormal, she would probably be dead now. Slowly Sebastian's grip tightened on her and she heard him sigh softly.
"I thought I'd see him impale you, Lady Serena," he said in a low voice and Serena lifted her head slightly. She looked into his pained face and was shocked by the sadness in his eyes. Carefully she reached up to him and pressed a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I'm sorry.", she whispered and he had to laugh slightly. While she watched his features slowly relax a little, he raised an arm and straightened his slightly disheveled hair.
"What do we do about this shinigami?", Serena then asked and began to straighten his tie, which had slipped in the fight. Sebastian cocked his head for a moment and twisted his mouth sourly. Serena could see that he felt hurt in his pride that he hadn't won the fight.
"Nothing at the moment, I would say.", he replied after a short pause and looked at her attentively, "Since we can't find him anyway, we should just continue our mission.". Now Serena raised her eyebrows and cocked her head slightly.
"The way he sounded, he seemed to have expected us.", she said and her butler nodded and straightened his jacket.
"And I don't like that at all. But at the moment we can't do anything.", he said bluntly and paused in his cleaning action for a moment to look for her gaze.
"We should just keep going.", Sebastian added, "It doesn't help if we go through the forest and look for a being that is probably already miles away.". Serena nodded slowly in agreement, then took a step back. Of course she knew he was right, but the mere thought that this strange shinigami was still out there gave her stomach ache. After Sebastian had straightened his clothes, he took her hand and gently pulled her with him.
"And the next time we meet this Shinigami, I will definitely not let you stand in front of me again, my lady.", he said while he started moving and gave his lady a short wink. She smiled weakly, but wasn't particularly keen on another encounter with the gray-haired man. Though she would have loved to ask him what he'd done to the corpse of Erchyll and what all these strange questions were supposed to be, she could safely do without it. Together they walked on through the darkness, each of them a little lost in about their own thoughts. But with every step that brought them closer to the ir destination, Serena's heart pounded louder and faster in her chest. She tried to get the gray-haired Shinigami out of her mind and instead concentrate fully on Wyrodd. It wasn't long before she would face the man who had destroyed her life and her family a few years ago.
After a while Sebastian slowed down in front of her and finally stopped. This time, however, he half turned to her and then nodded in the direction that was ahead of them.
"We're almost there.", he said in a soft voice, "Are you all right, Lady Serena?". She looked at him briefly before Serena nodded weakly. Still, she reached out and grabbed the fabric of his sleeve with one hand to hold onto it. Sebastian's gaze rested on her for a moment before he nodded as well and then turned back. With one hand on his arm, Serena followed him through the darkness, concentrating completely on his tall figure in front of her. If she hadn't held onto him, she would probably just stand in the dark and wonder if she was doing the right thing. But if he kept walking, she had to follow him.
After a short time, a large estate appeared in front of them in the dark. In the daylight it might have an imposing appearance, but now at night it looked more like the abandoned homestead they were currently using as their shelter. There was no light in any of the numerous windows. It looked like the estate was deserted and that no one had set foot in this building for a while. But Sebastian had said he was here, so this had to be true. For a moment, Serena let her gaze slide over the dark and ivy-covered facade.
He's holed up behind these walls, she thought, and unconsciously held her breath for a moment. Her grip on Sebastian's sleeve tightened as they carefully moved towards a narrow door on one of the side wings. Presumably it was a servant entrance, Serena thought, wondering at the same time that they hadn't met any guards or other people. If Wyrodd holed up here, why was nobody guarding the building, she wondered, and she felt uneasy.
"Sebastian.", she whispered very softly and immediately she recognized his red eyes in the darkness, which looked at her questioningly, "What ... if we run straight into a trap here?". She tried to speak as softly as possible, but her voice pecked noticeably. Sebastian briefly let his gaze wander over their surroundings.
"I think there is no danger in that regard.", he replied in a whisper, "There are too few people in the building to be able to set a trap for us.". Immediately Serena's breathing calmed a little and she nodded weakly.
"We just have to hope that Wyrodd is not in league with this Shinigami ...", Sebastian added after a short pause, "Otherwise he may have been warned.". A little horrified, Serena looked at her butler and her breathing rate picked up again immediately.
"Do you think the two belong together?", she whispered excitedly and she saw how Sebastian shrugged his shoulders.
"We'll find out soon.", he answered her and turned around with these words. Without further discussing this potential problem, he started moving again. Serena followed him, her body trembling, her fingers still clutching the fabric of his sleeve.
When he reached the narrow door, Sebastian stopped right in front of it and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. When he clicked and cracked the door, Serena's eyes widened a little with surprise.
"Since when have you been able to do something like this?", she asked quietly, while she tried to watch him use lockpicks to open the door. A low laugh could be heard from her butler.
"If you want to know exactly: For about 400 years.", he whispered in response and although Serena actually knew that he had existed for several years, it was almost shocking for her to hear him say something like that. While she was still trying to process his statement, the lock gave one last loud crack and Sebastian was able to carefully push the door open. Then he gave her a quick look and nodded inside the house.
"After you, my lady.", he said in his usual butler tone and very slowly Serena crossed the threshold, but not without letting go of his sleeve. She still needed the physical support his arm offered her.
As expected, it was pitch dark in the house. No sound could be heard and again Serena had the slight suspicion that this building was currently completely uninhabited. But Sebastian had said there were people here, so she believed it. She knew she could blindly trust him on that point.
"Follow me, Lady Serena.", Sebastian said softly behind her and closed the door almost noiselessly. She felt how he gently took her hand from his sleeve and stepped beside her. Immediately she found his red eyes in the dark and looked at him for help. He just looked at her for a brief moment before slowly stepping past her and taking the lead again. This time, however, it was Sebastian who deliberately held her hand. He led her unerringly through the darkness and every now and then gently stroked the back of her hand with his thumb as if he knew how nervous Serena was.
"There's still nobody here.", Serena whispered after a while, during which they had crept through numerous corridors and rooms. This estate was huge, and Serena estimated it was about ten times the size of her cottage.
"But soon we will meet people.", she heard Sebastian whisper in front of her and briefly he looked back at her before he turned his head forward again to lead her further through the estate. Every creak of the floorboards under her feet gave Serena goose bumps and with every step they took closer to their destination, she became more nervous. Her fingers clawed tightly into Sebastian's hand and she forced herself to breathe evenly as best she could. She had never felt such a mixture of fear and anticipation before, but she concentrated on Sebastian's hand. This hand gave her strength and support and reminded her that she was not alone.
Finally Sebastian stopped and Serena caught another glimpse of his red eyes in the darkness. As he slowly loosened his grip on her hand and finally let go of it completely, Serena knew that they were now quite close to their destination.
"There are people in front. They seem to be guarding a room, Lady Serena.", he whispered to her and then gently pushed her back a few steps, "I'll do it. Please wait here.". Serena nodded weakly, but her body immediately began to tremble when she registered that she would be standing in the dark without him. Then she felt how he gently put a hand on her cheek and stroked her skin lovingly. When she looked into his eyes, she saw concern, but also unconditional affection.
"I'll be back soon, little star.", he said softly and with these words he disappeared into the darkness. He had slipped away silently and Serena could only hear her own heartbeat and her uneven breathing. Unsure what to do, she just stood cramped in the darkness until she heard the first scream. Even if these people were her enemies, she winced and her body began to shake again. Probably these people were just hired by Wyrodd and were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. An uneasy feeling formed in her stomach area when Serena thought about these human lives. There was only one person she didn't feel sorry for and that was the monster that had turned her life into hell. Serena tried as best she could to ignore the horrified screams of the Wyrodd staff, but it was almost an impossible endeavor.
Finally it became quiet again and Serena looked in the dark for a piece of furniture to hold onto. This waiting in the dark, coupled with the disturbing noises that came from the adjoining rooms, put her self-control to the test. Just as she felt the bitter bile rising inside her, she noticed the presence of a familiar black mist. Immediately her body seemed to calm down and the tremors subsided.
"Come to me, Lady Serena.", the dark mist carried Sebastian's voice directly to her ear and without really thinking about it, her feet started moving. She was in his thick, black mist. He gave her support and the strength to walk through the darkness alone. She let the fog guide her and when she turned the corner and stepped through a narrow door frame, she recognized Sebastian's glowing eyes in the blackness.
In the darkness his hand formed, which he held out to her and in the next moment her butler was standing in front of her again in human form. She quickly grabbed his hand and clung to it again. The fog around her was gone and now the smell of blood and death rose to Serena's nose. Even if she could hardly see anything on the floor, she was still sure that there must be some dead bodies around her. But she couldn't think about that anymore, because her goal was right in front of her eyes.
"He's in there, my lady.", Sebastian whispered to her in a deep voice and literally pushed her in front of an inconspicuous door that led into a small adjoining room. Serena stared briefly at the door in front of her, unable to move.
"Are you sure?", she whispered softly and felt her voice crack.
"I can hear his heart beating. And I smell his fear of death.", he spoke in a low voice from behind in her ear and Serena could now fully see his demonic side. His voice was brimming with thirst for blood. Serena nodded weakly and took a shaky step towards the door. Still, she clung to Sebastian with one hand, who was standing close behind her. Carefully she put her other hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.
"Open the door, Lady Serena.", Sebastian whispered to her from behind and she heard the subliminal growl in his voice, "Your prey is right in front of you.". Serena turned the doorknob very slowly and opened the door.
She looked into a dimly lit chamber. A few pieces of wooden furniture were set up here, and an oil lamp stood on a small desk that lit the room a little. Behind the table sat a somewhat corpulent man who stared at her with wide eyes.
He had changed, Serena thought immediately. His head had become even more bald and his hair had turned gray. Some wrinkles adorned his face and the only clothes he wore was a dark brown dressing gown, as if he hadn't had more time to get dressed. When their eyes met, the sweat ran down the man's temples and even Serena could now almost hear his heart beating.
"Who ... Who are you?", he stuttered with a broken voice and slowly his gaze wandered to the eerie figure behind Serena, who stared at him with piercing, red eyes.
"I'm the girl that you pushed into the darkness four years ago.", Serena now answered him and was surprised at the power in her voice. Her hands shook again, but this time it was no fear. Wyrodd glanced at Serena in confusion for a moment before it seemed to work in his brain. Then the realization hit him and his eyes widened as he realized that his fate was now sealed.
Hello, my dears. :) Thanks for still reading my story after all this time! I am very sorry it took so long to get this chapter published, but I was (and still am) very busy at the moment because of work. (Sometimes I regret being a teacher :D). But I promise you this will change in not too long time, so please be patient.
Published on 09-17-2021
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