Page 52 of Unbinding the Demon
Not good enough!
My eyes widened in a eureka moment, as I remembered the internet was a useful source of information in this dimension. I found Gwendolyn’s phone in her costume. The thing was wet and slipped out of my trembling hands a few times like a flopping fish as I frantically tried to get a firm grip on it. I opened the browser and hysterically searched link after link for any sort of useful information. I found hardly anything helpful. It was mostly the life stories of blogging housewives before finding their short homeopathic recipes at the bottom of the page.
“At last!”I exclaimed when I found a promising-looking link, then clicked on it. Some sort of abominable upbeat tune assaulted my ears. “What the Hell is this?” I said to myself, as I furrowed my brows and read the title of the strange video that had played.“Never gonna give you up?”My lips curled back over my fangs as I hissed in disgust. I crumpled the phone in my hand, then threw it to the floor and stomped it to smithereens, silencing that odious music permanently. Darrell had warned me about such malevolent cyber tricks...
Using the little knowledge I managed to absorb, I teleported through the shadows and out into the dark, wet yard. My eyes scanned the grass and landed on a plethora of toothy leaves belonging to a dandelion patch. I rushed as I used my sharp claws to slice through the mud and yanked out the long, yellow roots. I then appeared in front of an uva ursi bush and frantically ripped the entire shrubbery from the ground.
With a quick puff of black mist, I was in the kitchen. Dirt sprayed all over the counter as I threw the plants down. I began scrambling to grab a pot from the shelf, accidentally knocking others to the ground in my haste. The first one I grabbed was just a useless frying pan. I crumpled it up like tin foil and whipped it into the wall, causing it to stick halfway out with little cracks all around it.
I then found an appropriate pot and filled it with water. Little bits of leaves flew around my face as I shredded them from the uva ursi branches and into the pot. I put it on the stove and frantically began rinsing the dandelion roots. I didn’t even finish getting all the dirt off before tearing them up and throwing them into the pot, too.
I appeared beside the bed to check on Gwendolyn while my concoction brewed. She didn’t look good, and her breathing was shallow and sparse. My heart pounded painfully in my chest, the air seemed suffocating, and I felt both sweaty and ice-cold at the same time.Is this what anxiety feels like!?My limbs were numb as I reached out to caress her sickly pale face. I planted a light kiss on her forehead and then reappeared in the kitchen.
With trembling hands, I poured the steaming brew into a mug and reappeared beside the bed. My fingers wove their way through her soft locks as I cradled her head up to force her to drink. As the warm liquid slowly flowed down her weak throat, Belzar appeared beside me with an apprehensive look in his eyes.
“Will she heal?”he asked while looking at her with distress.
“I don’t know.” My voice was raw as I choked out the fear-laced words. “If she doesn’t, we’ll both likely perish as well.”
“You do not long for death, nor do you fear it. Yet, you are fearful?”He looked up at me and tilted his head.
I dismissed his inquiry, put the mug on the nightstand, then crawled onto the bed beside Gwendolyn. I held her against my chest while whispering sweetly to her as I so often did from the shadows. Only this time I was begging her to be strong, to hold on. Her sparse breaths and the weakening rhythm of her heartbeat were the only sounds I was listening to for a few torturous moments… and then I heard nothing but a harrowing silence.
No! No! No!
I squeezed her and held her limp head closer against me. Guilt consumed me as I realized what had just happened.This was my fault. I should have never let that filthy mage lead me away. I should have stayed by her side and protected her! Looking back now, I could see that it had all been an obvious trap. I was so consumed by the possibility of torturing some useful information about the abyssal book out of him that I didn’t suspect their vile machinations.
A hollowing sense of bereavement filled my soul. At that moment, it was as if every star began to crash down from the heavens around me. All hope seemed to fade to ashes. Time stood still, and fate itself whispered sorrowful laments to the very essence of my spirit. I didn’t care that her death ensured my own excruciating demise. I only mourned the fact that I had lost her precious soul to the reaper’s icy embrace.
I failed my Buttercup...
“What in mother Lilith’s gracious name are you waiting for!? Heal her, you pathetic ignoramus!”Belzar snarled at me from beside the bed as he yelled in my mind, snapping me out of my crestfallen moment.
“Need I remind you that my powers are bound!?” I spat my words with a growl while clutching Gwendolyn’s lifeless body even tighter.
“They are extremely weakened, yes, but not gone. She is human, and there is no broken flesh to stitch. Attempt it before it’s too late!”he growled back while baring his fangs.
My arms loosened, and I lovingly gazed at her. Even in death, she was exquisite. My breath hitched at the realization that she had somehow become beloved to me...and I’d lost her. I wanted to let out a tormented roar that could bring the mightiest of mountains trembling to their knees. But I didn’t. I remained silent and held her close. I cradled her body against mine, then used my rage, torment, andloveto channel what little power I could convene and desperately poured all its healing energy into her.
I squeezed my eyes closed and willed my soul to be strong enough to bring her back. What felt like almost unnoticeable waves of electricity flowed out from my palms and into her frail body. The power was barely there, but I didn’t give up. I stayed like that and continued my attempt to heal her for a few minutes until I felt I had given everything I had.
While trembling, I leaned her head back and searched her colorless face for any sign of life, yet it seemed my efforts remained in vain. I wasn’t strong enough. I closed my eyes in anguish, and a few hot tears slid down my cheeks. My clawed hand lovingly caressed her cold cheek as Belzar sorrowfully rested his head on the bed beside us.
Then, after a minute or so, a small gasp escaped from her lips. I stiffened as my eyes widened, frantically searching her face. Then I heard it. A gentle thumping followed by a sweet sanguine cadence—the sound of her heart beating once again.
My heavy eyes ever so slowly blinked open, and my body felt as though I’d just been trampled by a stampede of angry rhinoceroses. Ashton was squeezing me with a grip so tight it made me worry my bones might break, which didn’t help either. His hair was all frazzled, and his face held a strange combination of both stress and relief, as his crazed, bloodshot eyes searched me.
“Oh, thank sweet Mother Lilith!”he whispered in relief.
Glistening wet trails streamed down his flushed cheeks. One arm somehow constricted around me even tighter as he began rocking us back and forth. I stared at him with wide, bewildered eyes as he cackled out soft, maniacal laughter while kissing and touching my face. It seemed like he’d just had a severe mental breakdown and was losing his goddamn mind.
What the fuck has this man been smoking?
“I was so afraid that I’d lost you,” he whispered as he loosened his grip, realizing if he kept it up, I might suffocate to death.
I gasped for air and coughed a bit. “What happened?” My voice was embarrassingly raspy, and I felt like I had been stuck in a permanent state of confusion.
He didn’t answer, and there was a long stretch of silence. Ashton continued to hold me close and caress my head as if he were afraid to let go. He then latched onto my face with both of his hands and looked into my eyes. “You don’t remember?” He shifted his crazed eyes back and forth between mine, as if trying to understand something.
