31. Farren
Farren
I screamed in terror as I watched Locke start to bring his massive foot down onto the face of our demonic attacker through a hole that a spark had burned into the tent wall. I may have been hunted by a curse that destroyed everything in its path, but never once had I seen it take a life. And I knew for a fact that I was not ready to witness a life being stolen right in front of me.
So I gave up my fight with the zipper and just ripped the tent open at the burn hole before I dashed and stumbled out as I made my way to Locke and threw myself at him. My collision with Locke threw him off balance and he stumbled to the side of the demon, but he caught me before I hit the ground.
“My mate, why did you stop me? This creature was going to take you from us if we didn’t stop him,” he scolded as he held me close.
“I can’t stand the idea of seeing you kill anyone,” I admitted in a whisper as I buried my face in his chest.
He groaned above me as though I’d asked an impossible task of him. I was about to pull back to look him in the eye when he tightened his grip on me.
“Is it that important to you that no blood is shed here?” came his response, murmured into my hair.
I nodded as I clenched my fists against his chest. He sighed before he answered, “Fine, but you need to bind him before he gets enough strength back to cause us problems. I don’t know how much longer Roan can hold him down.”
This time when I tried to pull away, he let me, and I faintly saw my ghost’s arms banded around the chest of our demonic intruder. I looked back at Locke and nodded as I slipped out of his arms and made my way towards the pair on the ground.
When I knelt and placed my hand on the demon, he cracked an eye at me. My breath caught in my throat as our gazes connected and I found myself sinking into brilliant crimson eyes.
“Oh heavenly one, please, please I beg of you. Do not let these brutes send me back. There is still so much left for me to do on this plane,” the demon pleaded as he lifted an unsteady arm in my direction.
Roan must have felt the shift in the demon because he twisted his grip and somehow pulled him deeper into the earth in an effort to restrain him.
I could only mouth my apologies as I called to the winds to bind him in a similar way to how I did Roan when we first met. The biggest differences this time were a gag and blindfold.
“Roan, let him go. It’s done. I have him in chains.” It was a struggle not to bite out the words as I watched my ghostly friend ease his way around the body of our attacker.
Locke came up behind me and carefully looped his arms around me as he lifted me to my feet. I don’t know why, but the binding spell was far more difficult for me to want to cast this time. Why did he call out to me like that?
“Are you both okay? Did he burn either of you?” Roan asked as he approached us. I shook my head in response, still not quite ready to talk yet.
“Asshole got me a few times, but they don’t feel too bad. I think his flames were little more than parlor tricks to try to scare us than actual attacks,” Locke answered as he rubbed at his stomach area where I could see what looked to be the start of something almost like sunburn.
On the ground, our demon captive grunted and struggled trying to tell us he wasn’t happy with what we were saying about him.
“So what’s the plan now? What are we going to do with Sparky over there?” Roan asked as he nodded towards the demon. “Do you think he could be the reason we were called here?”
“Not sure. Fare stopped me from ending him, so I guess it’s her choice.” Both men turned to face me, and I flushed.
“I don’t know. I just, I just couldn’t handle seeing someone die right in front of me,” I muttered as I had to force my gaze away from the demon struggling on the ground.
After a couple of hard pushes on his binds, I gasped and fell to my knees as I felt him ripping at my magic with every attempt to free himself.
Locke must have noticed my struggles because I heard him tell Roan to watch me as he stormed over to our captive. Even though he was blindfolded, he still stiffened at Locke’s approach.
“This is your only warning, demon. Cease your struggles or I will start breaking bones. My mate only said that she didn’t want to see you die. Nothing about being severely maimed.” Locke’s voice was pitched so low that I barely heard it, but the demon got the message loud and clear. “Since our camp’s been compromised, I think we would be wise to pack up and relocate before discussing more.”
“But what about the party crasher?” Roan asked as he guided me to a safe place off to the side of the clearing to rest.
“Do you think the chains will hold if we leave him here?” Locke asked, and I shook my head in the negative.
“If he was human, probably. But I’m having a harder time holding him than I did Ro.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to take him with us.”