The Fae Bound - Juliana Haygert Page 0,12

room, with the same fucking chains around my wrists.

Well, not the same. Ever since I managed to escape almost two weeks ago, the demons didn’t take any more chances. They enforced the chains and the only door in the room. They also fed me very little, just enough so I wouldn’t starve, but certainly not enough for me to keep my strength. And every once in awhile, one of them came and tortured me. It mostly comprised of punches and shallow cuts, but in my already weakened state, it was enough to extract low howls of pain and sometimes to make me faint.

In these two weeks, Drollmor hadn’t been back. I had asked what was going on, but the demons here didn’t tell me anything. From the very little I overhead, Drollmor was still busy with the demon hunters. I really hoped it was Rey and Erin and that they were kicking Drollmor’ ass so hard, the demon died by their hands.

One could only dream.

On the morning of the fifteenth day, a lesser demon brought me a slice of stale bread and half a cup of water.

“You should eat it all,” he said, a sarcastic tone to his voice. “Drollmor is coming back tonight and when we tell him about your little escape, he’ll torture you before taking your soul to the underworld.”

I stilled, my stiffen limbs sore from barely moving for several days. Drollmor was coming back tonight? Fuck. My time was up. If I didn’t escape now, then I would never escape again. No, by midnight, I would be dead and my soul would be forever lost to the depths of the underworld.

I jerked against my chains, in a vain attempt to break them. Laughing, the demon stepped out of my room and locked the door.

I ate the bread and drank the water, barely being able to hold on to things and take them to my mouth with the tight chains, but I needed all the strength I could get right now.

All day, I waited for the demons to come back and bring me more food. When they came, I would do something, anything. I would make one of them approach me and I would somehow wrap the chain around his neck. He would have the keys to my chains and I would escape.

But no one came.

Desperation was growing inside me when I heard noises from outside. First, it seemed like someone ordering the demons around. After a few seconds, the noises grew closer and I heard better. It was the sound of shouts and a fight.

What the fuck was going on now?

Readying myself to shift and fight, I stood up on trembling legs.

The door burst open. Light and fire exploded from the hallway outside.

I gasped as the two of them stepped into the room.

“There you are,” Ariella said with a small smile.

“You don’t look too great,” Kayden observed.

I collapsed to my knees. “I’m so fucking glad you’re here.”

“As you should be.” Ariella rushed to me and started unlocking my chains with keys she probably got from the lesser demons. “Now let’s go before the higher demon comes.” She glanced at me. “Not that I don’t want a turn with him, but in your state, we better go.” She hooked her arm around mine and tugged me up. I swayed on my feet.

Kayden reached forward and caught my other arm, steadying me. “Hang in there.”

I tried, but our escape from the manor was a blur in my mind. I saw as Ariella used her powers to kill a couple of demons as we left the manor, I saw as Kayden used her powers to set fire to the manor, and I saw as the both of them pushed me on the backseat of a car.

And then I didn’t remember anything else.

When I woke up, I was in a soft bed in a simple room. Sunlight streamed from the closed drapes, and the smell of coffee reached my nose.

I sat up, groaning at my sore muscles and dizzy head. My stomach contracted with hunger. I glanced down at myself. Though my face was clean, my hair was plastered to my head, and I still wore the last clothes the demons had given me after I ripped the previous outfit when I shifted.

I was in desperate need of a bath, but I was even more so for food.

Following the scent of coffee, I exited the room, walked through a small hallway, and found a family room with an open kitchen.