by Sonia Harper
"We believe they've found some kind of concoction that enhances their healing abilities. We'd like to extract it and find a way to counteract it," Donovan finished for Derion, stepping back to his original position again Derion's desk and crossing his arms over his chest.
"That's why you aim for their heads," Pytho interjected, looking down to watch Derion work. "They heal pretty fast from anything else."
Gideon snorted again. "It's pretty fucking hard to come back from that kind of a hit."
"And yet they manage to do it," Derion shook his head, pulling the needle through Pytho's skin once more.
A loud crash came from behind a closed door across the room from Adelyn, followed by an angry shout.
"There goes the other half of my supply room," Derion sighed as he turned around and glanced at the door before focusing on Pytho's arm again. "He's been quiet for so long. I thought he had calmed down."
"After that fight?" Gideon grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, his huge biceps flexing. "I think he took out twice as many as I did. He's still on a high from the fight," he raised his bottle to the door as if saluting Cain before taking another long drink.
"Is anybody prepared in case that door breaks down?" Donovan asked, eyebrow raised. He stood up straight, arms dropping to his sides.
Gideon gave his back pocket a pat before putting down his bottle. "I'm always prepared," he replied as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Another crash came from behind the door, and this time something hit the floor with a clang.
"There go my surgical trays," Derion remarked casually as he finished up with Pytho's shoulder. He turned around and frowned, searching for something. His eyes landed just beyond Adelyn. "Adelyn, could you hand me that roll of gauze?" He pointed to something behind her.
She turned around and glanced at the desk behind her. Her eyes fell on the white roll trapped in between a few books. "This one?" She asked as she pried it free and held it up.
Derion nodded and reached out a hand. He caught it easily as she tossed it in the air. "Thanks," he gave her a smile before turning back to wrap up Pytho's shoulder.
"Is that sanitary?" She asked, glancing down at the dust that covered most of his desk and the pile of books.
"Not really," Derion replied cheerfully as he ripped open a large pad of gauze and slapped it onto Pytho's shoulder. Pytho grunted in pain. He then used the roll Adelyn had given him to wrap around Pytho's shoulder and upper arm.
Pytho glared at Derion. "Thanks," he replied sarcastically.
"You really need to organize this place," Donovan muttered to himself softly as he reached behind him and picked up a roll of medical tape from under a pile of papers. "It's a mess." He threw it onto the metal table next to Derion.
"I'm a little busy at the moment," Derion replied breezily as he finished up with the gauze and placed the roll on the table.
Suddenly, everyone jerked and turned to face the closet door as something large and heavy pounded against it. An angry shout followed, along with a long string of words that Adelyn couldn't understand. She jumped as something hit the door again, and a loud crack came from the door. A sudden split appeared vertically through the top half of the door, the light wood creating a visible line through the dark brown stain.
"He's going to break through it," Donovan warned as he stepped forward and threw his arm out in front of her, forcing her to back up next the desk and further away from the closet door.
"I'm ready," Gideon said as he pulled a gun out of the back band of his pants and aimed it at the door.
Adelyn watched as Pytho reached behind him with his uninjured arm and picked up a large kitchen knife that was already covered in dried blood. Her stomach churned as she wondered what had gone on in the kitchen earlier, and what state it was in now.
"Shit," Derion muttered as another loud crash came from behind the door, forcing the crack deeper. "I'd better get that tranquillizer out. Adelyn needs to get out of he-," he was cut off by the sound of a loud crack and the clunk of wooden pieces falling to the floor.
Adelyn's eyes widened as Cain's arms shot out and ripped the remaining half of the door from its hinges and threw it to the ground with an angry shout. The clothes he had on earlier were in shreds and looked as if they had been clawed at repeatedly. His jaw was twice its normal size on the left side of his face and discolouration had already begun to spread across the lump. She couldn't see any visible cuts on him, but his skin was covered in bloodstains, most likely not belonging to himself.
She watched anxiously as Cain's eyes narrowed. His head snapped around the room, much like a wild animal would, taking everything in at once. Chest heaving and fists clenching in anticipation, his eyes finally fell on Gideon and the gun that was aimed right at him.
Letting out a strangled, unearthly roar that made Adelyn jump, she watched as Cain threw himself forward, arm outstretched. There was no mistaking his intentions, she thought as she saw the pure rage in his eyes. He clearly intended to kill Gideon by ripping him apart with his bare hands.
Gideon took aim and fired off his gun. Crying out, Adelyn watched as Cain suddenly went down behind a table, hidden from her view.
"Oh my god!" She cried out and instinctively ran forward. "Did you kill him?" She shrieked as she ripped an arm away - she wasn't sure whose - from her waist and rounded the table.
It all seemed to happen so fast, but Adelyn was sure she felt a small bit of relief as she saw blood pool from Cain's thigh. He grabbed at it and shouted something in a language she didn't understand. Almost as instantly as she had seen the wound, she saw his eyes turn on her a split second before his hand shot up and locked around her forearm, yanking her down to the ground. Hard.
She heard a sickening crunch as she fell face-first onto the floor. Pain shot up her nose, and she cried out as she felt something warm and wet start to pool under her face. Another gunshot filled the room, but Adelyn couldn't seem to focus on the commotion around her. She felt two hands grab her by her ankles and pull her back. She cried out again as her face slid across the floor, exacerbating the pain.
Cain's hand was still locked around her forearm, and she cried out as he jerked her back towards him. The arms on her ankles yanked back, the tension between the two pulls lifting the lower half of her body slightly off the floor.
The tug-of-war ended when she felt someone kick at Cain's hand repeatedly, kicking her arm in the process as well. She cried out again, and Cain's hand miraculously released her arm. She quickly pushed onto both arms as she was dragged backwards again, this time with her head lifted off the floor.
Her eyes flooded with tears, and her vision went blurry as she was flipped over onto her back. A figure with red hair tilted her chin back and leaned in closer to examine her face.
Pytho.
A hand came up suddenly and pinched her nose. Adelyn screamed in pain and tried to claw at the hand to get it to release her.
"It's okay," Pytho's voice came from above her as her head was lifted and a jean-covered thigh was placed under her head. "It's okay," he repeated as more liquid gushed out of her nose. "Shit, we need to get her out of here."
Adelyn heard Cain shout something angrily, then felt something heavy crash into the ground next to her, air brushing up against her arm as it landed.
"What the hell are you doing?" Pytho shouted. "Get him away from here!"
Adelyn tried to focus her watery eyes, but all she could see was a blurry Gideon leaning down on top of Cain, who appeared to be face down with his head next to her arm.
"You want to take care of this shit while I sit and simper with the little girl?" Gideon raged, then grunted as he was almost bucked off by Cain. "Where the hell is that damn tranquillizer?" He shouted angrily.
"I doubt it will last very long," Derion's voice sounded remarkably calm as he rushed over from the other side of the room. "I haven't had a chance to tinker with it."
Cain must have heard their plan over his shoutin
g because he renewed his efforts to dislodge Gideon from his back and started screaming louder. She saw Donovan shoot forward and grab Cain's legs, helping Gideon keep him pinned to the floor. It went on for several minutes, with each of the daemons trying to shout over each other until Adelyn felt Cain's head suddenly drop near her arm. The shouting came to a stop, and a collective sigh of relief went through the room. Gideon and Donovan slowly stood up, leaving Cain lying on the floor, sedated.
Adelyn swallowed, tasting copper in her throat. She could feel Cain's breathing steadily race across her arm, so she knew he was still alive. She moaned in pain as a wet cloth was brought to her face, mopping up the blood. A light suddenly shone in her eyes, and she couldn't jerk her head back as it moved to her other eye a second later. She blinked furiously, finally bringing her eyes into focus.
"Good," Derion's voice muttered as he waved Pytho's fingers away from her nose. He cautiously felt around the bridge of her nose. She heard a slight crunching noise as he rolled his finger over it.
"Well, it's broken," he sighed. "But it'll heal. Keep pinching it, but pinch it down here," he instructed Pytho before moving away again.
"I don't know how much more of this Cain can handle," Donovan said suddenly. She heard the scraping of a bottle and was sure that Gideon had reunited with his drink.
"I don't know how much more of this I can handle," Pytho grumbled, pinching Adelyn's nose once more, this time lower. "He actually bit my shoulder when we were dragging him in there earlier."
"He's getting worse," Donovan said softly.
"No shit," Pytho retorted. "I used to have actual conversations with him when he first brought me here. Now he can barely get two words out before he's lunging at your throat."
The soft breathing on her arm had a slightly hypnotic effect on Adelyn, especially in the now-quiet room. She turned her head slightly and glanced down at the body next to her. His arms had fallen from behind his back and came to rest next to her shoulder. Cain's eyes were shut, but his mouth was open slightly, distorting the shape of his face. It was the first time she had seen Cain look so calm and almost peaceful.
It looked unnatural, she thought suddenly with a frown. She was surprised by the fact that she didn't like it.
"Why does he do that?" She heard her voice come out slightly muted and distorted as if she had a cold.
She saw Pytho's head shake above her. "He's got...issues," he finally replied, reaching a finger below her nose and wiping up another line of blood.
"No, seriously," She asked, this time more forceful. Her eyes met Pytho's. "Tell me."
She saw Pytho turn toward Donovan.
Donovan sighed. "It's because-," he was cut off by Gideon's snort.
"If this is turning into story hour, I'm out," he slammed the bottle down on the table and made his way to the door. "You assholes can move him yourselves, I've got better shit to do. Call me when he wakes up."
Adelyn tore her eyes away from Cain just in time to see Gideon shoot the room the finger on his way out the door.
"Nice," Donovan called out to him in response before turning back to Adelyn, though his focus was mostly on Cain as he lay motionless next to her. "This is a bad idea," he shook his head again. "I'm not so sure we should be telling you all of this."
"She already knows most of it anyway," Pytho replied. "We already told her."
"Who gave you permission to do that?" Donovan's eyes narrowed.
"You wanted us to leave her in the dark?" Derion stepped in as he started to clean up the mess on the floor. "Cain decided to keep her here. We had to tell her something."
"What did you tell her?" Donovan demanded.
"We told her about the guardians," Pytho replied.
"That's acceptable, obviously," Donovan sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'll assume you told her about our...origins as well?" He watched as Pytho nodded.
"We also told her that Cain is our leader, and for obvious reasons to stay away from him," Derion replied pointedly.
"They didn't tell me everything," Adelyn interjected, making her position clear. "But if I'm going to stay here, I want the whole story," her voice grew stronger with each word that left her mouth.
She wanted to know more about Cain, about their struggles with the guardians, and about how she fit into the picture. If fighting supernatural creatures was going to become the norm around the Manor, she needed to know. Even if she decided to leave and go back home without their permission, there was no guarantee that the guardians wouldn't find her and try to kill her. One of the guardians had insisted that they didn't want to hurt humans, but the other one clearly intended on attacking her before she shot it down. If they saw her as one of the daemons now, then she needed to be prepared.
"I need to know what's going on and what I can do to help," she continued, voice still slightly muted from her pinched nostrils.
"Your help isn't necessary," Donovan said firmly as he shook his head at her.
"It was when I shot that guardian and got him to leave before he ripped Pytho's arm off," Adelyn shot back boldly. She could feel her hands shaking and her stomach twisting, but she found it easy to ignore her fear of overstepping boundaries as anger started to build up inside of her. How dare he treat her like some ignorant, useless child? She shot two guardians, possibly killing one of them. The thought that she had killed anything made her slightly uneasy, but if it meant protecting herself, she could push aside those reactions.
Donovan's only reaction was to shoot his eyes up from Adelyn's face to Pytho's. He raised his eyebrows after a pause. "That true?"
"He felt stronger than any other guardian I've ever encountered," Pytho replied. "I don't think I could have held him off for long. She shot him in the back of his shoulder and he spooked. Took off."
"Cain should be the one hearing all of this," Donovan shook his head and waved a hand in the air as if pushing aside his words. "We have a lot to tell him when he wakes."
"In the meantime," Derion finally rejoined the group, a small pile of broken wood gathered in his arms. "I think Adelyn needs to know everything. She's here, and there's no getting around that. We might as well let her know everything. Especially since she's asking and offering to help instead of screaming and demanding to be released." He gave Donovan a pointed look.
Donovan sighed and walked over to Derion's desk, pulling out the chair and slowly sitting down. He rested his arm on the desk and propped his head up. "I don't like this."
"You always say that," Derion's lips twitched into a small grin before he turned around and dropped the wood into a trash bin.
"You told her about where we come from?" Donovan turned his head slightly in his hand to look up at Derion.
Derion nodded as he reached for a container of cotton balls. "Gave her the short story about Cain, but nothing detailed," he continued as he opened the jar and took out a few.
Donovan sighed again. "Cain is our...leader," he struggled to find the right word. "We had a leader before him...he was very old and very powerful. Cain was the firstborn of his many children. Cain was always destined to lead after him, but we weren't expecting the change until long into the future."
Adelyn tore her eyes away from Donovan as Derion knelt down next to her and waved Pytho's hand away, using a wet cotton ball to wipe up the dried blood on her face carefully. She winced every time he got too close to the bridge of her nose.
"Our leader, well, more of a ruler," Donovan continued, "has extraordinary powers. He's able to track down and locate every single daemon in existence. He's able to maintain control over the existing gates to our world, and he has the strength to maintain his position on the throne."
"Maintain?" Adelyn felt her eyebrows deepen into a frown.
"There are many who would try to...eliminate competition," Donovan explained curtly. "Cain's had a lot of experience with that as a child. As next in line, he was constantly under attack from our leader's more...casual acquaintances and their kin," Donovan continued.<
br />
"Apparently he had quite a few bastards running around," Pytho interjected pleasantly, grinning down at her.
Adelyn gave a short laugh for the first time in what felt like years, though it reverberated through her nose and she gasped in pain.
"Pytho!" Donovan censured him.
"What? I'm just putting it into terms that she'll actually understand," Pytho shot back. "'Casual acquaintances?' What the hell does that even mean?"
"Some of us are able to read between the lines, Pytho," Derion was clearly trying to fight a smile. He reached down and held Adelyn's chin steady as he quickly wiped the cotton ball over her lips and chin.
"Hey, I'm not an idiot, okay?" Pytho held a hand up. "I just don't understand why descendants of the Court have to use such lofty language like it would kill them just to speak normally."
"As I was saying," Donovan continued, glaring at Pytho. "To put it simply: one day, our leader decided to abandon us. We have no idea why and there was no warning. He somehow transferred all of his power to Cain and ripped a hole through our world to leave. The transfer of power all at once was too much for Cain to handle. He can't use it properly. He's been unable to control and harness all of the power given to him, so he's been unable to repair the rip. From what I've managed to gather out of him, it feels like a giant weight is crashing down on his body. The amount of pressure that crushes down on him at every moment causes him to...lash out when the rage consumes him."
"He also lashes out even when he's calm," Pytho retorted. "We have to keep him away from us most of the time. We used to be able to discuss things normally with him, but lately, we've only been able to get through to him once, maybe twice a day."
"Where's your old leader?" Adelyn asked and winced as Derion felt around the bridge of her nose again.
"We don't know," Derion answered.
"I thought you said Cain had the power to locate other daemons?" She asked, confused.
