Pandemonium: A Daemon Saga Novel

by Sonia Harper

  She cried out as the pantry wall suddenly slammed shut on its own, catching two of her fingers and trapping them between the walls. Tears filled her eyes, and she yanked her hand free of the gap in the wall. She cried out in pain once more and doubled over, grasping her hand as warmth immediately rushed into the injured fingers.

  Shaking her hand vigorously to try and ease the unbearably sharp pressure, she turned around and saw Cain looking up at her from the bottom of the stairs, his face contorted into fury. She saw his fists clench and unclench as his body heaved with every breath he took.

  Oh God, she thought. I'm going to die.

  "Gregory!" She screamed and beat at the pantry wall with her uninjured hand. "Gregory!" She shrieked as adrenaline pumped through her veins. "Help!" She pushed hard into the wall with her shoulder, trying to force it open once more. "Oh god, oh god," she repeated mindlessly as she beat at the wall. She heard footsteps ascending on the stairs behind her. "Fucking wall, open!" She screamed.

  She cried out in pain as a hand grabbed the back of her neck. Fingers drove down deep into the soft skin of her neck, not quite reaching around far enough to cut off her air supply. She reached up with both hands and tried to pry the fingers off her neck. Taking in deep gulps of air, she kicked back as far as she could, flailing to shake him off, but couldn't make contact with him.

  She shrieked as she was pulled backwards by her neck, and fought to keep her balance as she was dragged down the stairs faster than she could coordinate her legs to move. As the heel of her foot caught the last step, she choked as the fingers around her neck suddenly drove deeper. A loud clang met her ears, and she realized that her flailing had caused the pepper spray in her back pocket to fall to the ground.

  Her vision started to blur as her lungs burned for more air. Practically clawing at the hand around her throat, she barely caught the sight of the floor and realized that she was being dragged down the hallway to the room at the end.

  "Gre-," Adelyn tried to speak out with what little air was left in her lungs as the fingers loosened their tight grip momentarily, but was cut off as they dug deep again a moment later. A gurgling noise escaped her throat and tears slid down her face as she was suddenly thrown forward, the hand releasing her neck. Stumbling slightly, she fought for balance and clutched at her neck, injured fingers forgotten. Spinning around as fast as she possibly could, she realized she was in his room.

  A roar of anger filled the room, and she watched, horrified, as Cain picked up a chair that was near the door. He threw it across the room, seemingly satisfied when it broke into hundreds of pieces upon impact with the floor.

  Adelyn would have shrieked in terror, but she couldn't seem to muster the energy to do so. Her whole body froze in one spot and shook violently as she watched the pieces of wood scatter along the floor. Clutching at her throat, she took in deep gulps of air and eyed him cautiously, slowly backing away into the far back corner of the bare room. Once her back hit the wall, she began looking around for something, anything, to use as a weapon.

  A partial leg from the chair he threw looked appealing, but it was too far away for Adelyn to reach, and she had a feeling that he would have crossed the room before she could even get to it anyway.

  "Oh god," She coughed out in a hoarse voice. "Please don't kill me." Tears ran down her face as she held onto her throat.

  "Who gave you permission to come down here?" He raged, his loud, gravelly voice echoing in the large room.

  She whimpered as a sharp, throbbing pain gripped both her hand and her neck at the same time. Her adrenaline rush must have abated slightly, and her injuries finally registered once more.

  "Answer me!" He yelled again, this time slamming his fist into the wall. She watched as his hand came away dripping blood, a large red stain now decorating the wall.

  "N-nobody," She finally managed to force the words in one quick rush. "I heard a noise, and I thought you were hurt."

  That seemed to upset him even more as his nostrils flared and his pale eyes narrowed. She cried out as he quickly made his way over to her. He towered over her as he approached and she instinctively crouched down to get away from him. He slammed his bloody fist into the wall behind her, about two feet above her head. She felt blood spray all over her face.

  "Do I look so weak that I require the assistance of a human?" He shouted, and Adelyn could feel that intense heat flaring up around her body again. She cried out as it became painful. She folded into herself and bit down on her lip, tasting something liquid, unfamiliar and warm, as her lip curled into her mouth.

  "Stop!" She was shocked to hear the word escape from her throat as she threw her head up to look at him. Evidently, he was, too. He still looked as though he wanted to rip her into pieces, but the intense heat had subsided very suddenly.

  She remained frozen in that position for what felt like hours. She kept her eyes locked on his face, his eyes. He was staring down at her with such intensity, such hatred. A muscle twitched under his right eye. She knew she would be dead in an instant if he wanted to kill her. She also knew that he was the one that controlled that heat. She had felt it before in this room, and again upstairs before she heard his voice. He obviously had the ability to kill her without even laying a finger on her.

  She counted the heartbeats that were pounding in her ears and tried not to think about when they would come to an end. She looked up at his short-cropped dark hair, down to his thick eyebrows, over his piercing gaze, and swept down his nose to the slight snarl on his lips. The grey tinge she saw in his skin from yesterday had gone and was replaced by an angry red. He certainly didn't look half-dead anymore.

  She barely jerked as something warm fell on her forehead. She glanced up and saw his fist was still pressed against the wall above her head. The skin had been torn open in several places over his fingers, and it was dripping blood down onto her.

  "You're bleeding." It sounded so stupid coming out of her mouth. Of course, he was bleeding. He was also about a second away from killing her.

  His eyebrows dipped lower into a scowl, but he otherwise didn't give any indication that he had heard her.

  Another hot drop fell onto her forehead and slid down the side of her cheek. "You-," she was cut off as a sudden pounding began on the door. She carefully shifted her gaze away from him and peered around his body. She couldn't remember when he had shut the door behind him.

  "Adelyn? Adelyn?" She could hear Pytho calling for her from the other side. He began frantically pounding on the door once more.

  "Leave!" Cain shouted so loud that Adelyn let out a shriek and ducked her head down.

  The pounding stopped, and what sounded like scuffles filtered in from under the door.

  "Let me handle-,"

  "She's in there! I heard her! Damnit, get her out of there before he kills her!"

  Donovan was there, Adelyn realized. It sounded like he was trying to get Pytho to leave.

  "I said leave!" Cain shouted once more before pushing away from the wall with his bloody hand and taking a threatening step toward the door. It looked as if he had forgotten that she was even there, Adelyn thought. He looked ready to rip apart the next person to walk through that door. Somewhat relieved that Cain was no longer towering over her, she slowly leaned back against the wall for support but remained crouched down.

  "I said I would handle it!" Donovan shouted from behind the door, and she was sure she heard something hit the floor - hard. She instinctively knew it was a body that was thrown to the ground.

  There was a pause, and then a firm knock came at the door. "Is it safe to enter?"

  Adelyn heard something akin to a snarl escape from Cain's lips. "If you have to ask, you know it damn well isn't!" He shouted toward the door, his fists clenching and unclenching at his side. His shoulders heaved up and down with every ragged breath he took in.

  "My lord, if the human-,"

  "Don't call me that!" Cain raged as he picked up a piece of the broken chair and hurled it at the
door. It wasn't big enough to do any damage, but it certainly made a loud noise as it hit the door and splintered in half.

  "My apologies," Donovan's voice came through the door after a long pause. When he spoke again, it seemed more cautious. "If anything happens to the human, the authorities will start investigating here. She's listed as an employee of the company."

  "And whose fault is that?" Cain spat out, taking another step toward the door.

  "It would be mine completely."

  That seemed to appease Cain, Adelyn thought as she watched him take a step back from the door and unclenched his fists once more.

  "If we could just remove her from the room before anything happens.." Donovan trailed off, waiting for a reply.

  A snort escaped Cain, and Adelyn froze as he whipped his head around to face her. Eyes narrowed, he carefully examined her up and down. She felt like he was carefully considering whether or not to let her go; like a predator that couldn't decide whether it was done playing with its prey before finally killing it.

  She cradled her throbbing hand up to her chest and casually let her other arm hang loosely toward the floor. She wasn't going to let him hurt her again without a fight. With a sudden determination to live, her gaze shot between his body and the door as if willing him to let Donovan open it. If she could just get Donovan to open the door, she knew she could make it out of there alive. She could go back upstairs and never, ever step foot in the kitchen again. If Gregory wanted an inventory, he could damn well get it himself next time.

  Hell, she was considering telling Gregory that she was moving to another bedroom on the west side of the Manor just to get further away from this cellar.

  As if reading her thoughts, a small smirk suddenly appeared on Cain's lips - an odd change from the usual downturned scowl they appeared to be permanently set in. It quickly disappeared as he turned back around to face the door.

  Adelyn's anxiety spiked as the door handle turned and the door opened by itself. Donovan stood on the other side of the door, hands by his side. He hadn't opened it.

  Psychic, psychotic, and telekinetic. Why had she ever stepped foot onto that stairwell?

  "I'll remove her immediately," Donovan finally spoke. "Permission to enter?"

  "No."

  "No?" Adelyn saw a surprised look on Donovan's face before it quickly changed into a frown.

  "No," Cain repeated, his voice even and low. Adelyn was surprised at how calm he sounded. "Go get her belongings."

  Air escaped her lungs. What did that mean?

  Donovan didn't understand either, judging by the look on his face. "I apologize, but I don't understand-," he was cut off.

  "What part of 'go and get her belongings' did you not understand?" Anger crept into Cain's voice again as his tone rose. She could see his fists starting to clench and unclench once more, his muscles working under dried blood, cracking open scabs and allowing fresh blood to escape.

  "You intend for her to stay down here?" Donovan could barely choke out the words. "She won't last for two minutes!" He exclaimed, a departure from his usual calm, soft voice. "I don't understand how she can possibly still be alive right now! While you may have momentarily demonstrated some semblance of self-control, I don't think it's a good idea to push your luck. This isn't a game, Cain. I can appreciate your frustration with being forced to stay down here, but this isn't the time to try and amuse yourself. She isn't a pet!"

  "I've given you an order. Are you going to disobey it?" Cain's voice was dangerously low and calm.

  A slight shiver went up Adelyn's spine as she anxiously watched the two men - daemons, she corrected herself - in front of her. Her gaze shifted back to the broken chair leg on the floor, no more than three feet away from her. If Cain was planning on forcing her to stay down here, she was going to need some kind of a weapon. Donovan was making it very clear that she was lucky to have lived this long, and there was a possibility she wouldn't live very long if left alone down here. If Cain was dangerous to the others, he was very nearly deadly to her.

  Donovan sighed as Adelyn tried to shift her body closer to the chair leg. She paused, making sure that neither daemon had noticed her movement.

  "No," Donovan finally answered Cain. He turned around and took a step away from the door frame. She saw him bend over and pick up something off the floor. Pytho, she thought warily as she watched Donovan carry an unconscious Pytho down the hallway. He must have knocked him out, she realized. He must have been the loud noise she heard hit the floor. It somehow relieved her to know that these daemons could be knocked out, and a sudden urge to reach that leg renewed itself in her mind.

  She inched closer to the wooden leg once she was sure that Cain was still facing the empty doorway. She stretched her uninjured hand out as far as she could, but her fingers fell about a foot short. Inwardly cursing herself, she shifted along the floor once more and reached out to grab the leg.

  A boot suddenly came crashing down on the leg, narrowly missing the tips of her fingers. Heart pounding, she quickly looked up to find Cain staring down at her with a blank expression on his face.

  Throat suddenly dry, Adelyn slowly crept back until her back was against the wall once more. His gaze followed her every move. Hugging her knees to her chest, she felt a certain hopelessness fall onto her shoulders. No Donovan. No weapon. She wasn't going to last very long.

  Breaking away from his gaze, she turned her attention to her injured hand. The throbbing had abated, but she was sure that a few of her fingers were broken. She moved them slightly, and a searing pain caused her to cry out. Tears welled in her eyes, and she gave up. Letting them fall, she let her head fall against her knees, huddling her body into a tighter ball. She cried for a few minutes, the room silent save for a few of her sniffles. She wondered briefly if her tears would upset Cain to the point where he would just kill her outright so he wouldn't have to listen to it.

  A loud clang broke the silence and Adelyn gasped as something hit her leg. She quickly looked down and saw the chair leg resting on the floor near her side. She glanced up and saw Cain's foot come back down to the ground. He had kicked it at her, she realized as she watched him turn around and walk away toward the other side of the room. She pushed aside her confusion and quickly reached down to grab the leg, holding it slightly in front of her as she watched him walk away.

  He froze once he reached the opposite wall, next to the headboard of the giant bed. He turned around, and she could see his jaw clenching and unclenching, eyes glaring at her from twenty feet away.

  "Don't think that just because you're still here that I won't still kill you," he spat as he pointed a bloody finger directly at her.

  Adelyn felt her head slowly dip down and come back up. Oh, she knew all right. She gripped the chair leg tighter.

  He began pacing up and down the length of the bed, occasionally stopping at the wall and grinding his fist into it. Every third or fourth pass, it would look like he was going to keep walking past the bed and start toward her, but he would turn violently at the last minute and hurl his fist at the wall.

  She watched him warily, unsure of what to do. The room was bare except for the bed, a few bookshelves, and a small table. The chair that obviously went with the table was in pieces, and a few books lay scattered across the room. Two books looked as if they had scorch marks all over the cover, and a few blackened pages were crumbling from the inside.

  A loud thud came from outside the room. Cain froze and jerked his head toward the opened doorway. Eyes narrowing, he stalked toward the door and disappeared into the hallway. She briefly thought of trying to escape, but she didn't have a chance. He returned a moment later with a small duffel bag in his hands. He threw it across the room quickly, and it landed on the floor, sliding at her feet. She had no doubt that it was full of some of her things.

  She reached out and eagerly opened it, hoping desperately that Donovan or Pytho had put a weapon inside, or at least her pepper spray. They must have seen it on the ground in t
he hallway. Ripping through some clothes and toiletries, she felt her hope subside as she reached the bottom of the bag. Nothing. There was nothing.

  Her gaze became blurry once more as tears fell from her face. Exhausted both mentally and physically, she shook her head. She didn't care that it was most likely still the middle of the day. Grabbing a pile of clothes, she rolled them into a ball and placed them on the floor next to her. She fell sideways and laid her head on the make-shift pillow. Clutching her chair leg to her chest, she closed her eyes. If he wanted to kill her, he could do it while she was sleeping. At least then she wouldn't have to wait in fear all day.

  The sound of Cain's pacing had an oddly calming effect and put her to sleep almost immediately.

  Chapter Seven

  The sharp bite of the cold stone floor woke her up. Shivering involuntarily, Adelyn pulled her arms and legs in closer to her chest as she lay on her side. She opened her eyes, but there was no difference. It was pitch black inside the room. Pausing for a few moments, she was almost relieved as a throbbing in her fingers started up again as soon as she moved them.

  She was still alive.

  That thought alone brushed away the lingering haze of sleep and kicked her pulse into gear. Dragging her freezing hands away from her chest, she reached out along the cold floor in search of the piece of the chair she had held onto earlier. After searching around the ice-cold floor with numb fingers for a few minutes, she finally gave up and pulled her hand back toward her stomach. She must have kicked it away in her sleep. A cold shiver ran up her spine as the room seemed to drop a few more degrees, and she tried to curl into a tighter ball.

  She vaguely remembered a few sweaters in the duffel bag that she had been given, but Adelyn recognized that they would only be a temporary solution. As long as she was lying on the floor, she was still going to be cold and miserable.