Page 78 of Unbinding the Demon
My eyes grew wide as saucers and shifted around as I tried to wrap my head around what he had just said. First, bloodthirsty zombies suddenly exist. Then a crazed, murderous black magic cult pops up out of the blue. Next, I find out that there’s some otherworldly mysterious abyss, and an invisible magic force field wrapping around this stupid valley!...And now I have to worry about a FUCKING DEMON coming to get us!? What’s next? Will the flying spaghetti monster show up and shoot us all down with laser beams!?
“But, Father, only seven members of the clergy have arrived. Paul and Rhonda were seen by the road twenty minutes ago, but haven’t shown up yet, either. If her blood is to break down the barrier, won’t we need all our members here to help raise the energies?” a random hooded man asked with concern.
Adelstein sighed in exasperation as he turned to face his posse of ninnies. “I have a feeling the others are with God now.” He gestured toward me. “We’ve angered the beast, after all.”
I awkwardly glanced around at everyone, noticing the fear on their faces. The flickering flames and moonlight reflected on their white cloaks, as they all scrambled like a bunch of headless chickens to form a semicircle around the altar. Adelstein swiftly turned back around while pulling his black dagger back out. He used it to draw a cross in the air above me, as he prayed the apostolic pardon, his voice rising with urgency.
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath as I braced myself for my horrific fate. I imagined how they would later abandon my body in a hidden spot within the forest. Spiderwebs and frost would be my burial gown, and the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees would be my dirge. Judging by the chill in the air, the first snow would blanket my corpse as it softly fell, until I slowly disappeared into the frozen forest floor, erased from this earthly existence in a shroud of glimmering white.
I longed to feel happy and at peace during this time, but that just wasn’t the case. I was terrified and grieving. I grieved for both my short, unfortunate life and for the pain that my friends and Ashton would feel once I was gone. I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter, but the tears managed to slip out, anyway. My lower lip trembled as I took in a shaky, anxious breath. The cold stone and frigid air bit harshly into my exposed flesh, but I barely noticed it. All I could feel was the frantic racing of my heart in my chest.
To my surprise, Adelstein abruptly stopped praying. I felt something cold and sharp against my throat. “Auh, auh, auh, I don’t think so. Take another step and she’s dead!” he sneered venomously. My eyes flew open. Adelstein was scowling over at some anathema in the distance as he held the dagger to my throat. Looks of panic and terror appeared on the shadowed faces of the other clergy members.
“Let her go,” a familiar deep voice clipped out, dripping with malice and hatred.
He found me!
My heart leapt for joy and a smile appeared on my face. I snapped my head to the side to see Ashton standing there menacingly, only about eight feet away. Belzar stood faithfully beside him, baring his canine teeth. Ashton’s expression was dark and lethal. He looked downright fierce in the flaming torchlight. Two severed heads dangled eerily by their hair from his large hand. Warm blood slowly dripped from their tattered necks and melted the frost that glazed the leafy ground.
Oh shit... That’s probably Paul and Rhonda.
Belzar began snarling and pacing back and forth, as if he were eager to sink his teeth into Adelstein’s scrawny throat. His eyes reflected in the torchlight, making it seem as if they were glowing with rage. He bristled his fur threateningly, making him look like some sort of ferocious, bloodthirsty hellhound.
“Well, well, well, isn’t it funny how the one blood sacrifice that’s worthy of your unholiness’s acceptance is the one we simply cannot offer you?” Adelstein chuckled like a sinister slimeball, revealing his villainous nature. “We didn’t bait her to this valley with free tuition just to have the likes of you come along and take her from us, after all.” The dagger pressed further against my throat as he leaned forward, goading Ashton. A small trickle of blood streamed down my neck, and a pained hiss escaped my lips.
Fear flashed in Ashton’s eyes as they flickered down to the dagger against my throat and then back up to Adelstein. “Yeah, well, that’s my Buttercup you’re fucking with.” His voice was a low growl, each syllable a deliberate act of aggression. “And I will not let you make her another victim of your pathetic conventicles of aischrolatreia.”
“Ashton, I love you, but you need to run! He controls the zombies! Go, save yourself!” I shouted with tears in my eyes. I wanted him to get out of here and go live a good life, even if I had to die. There were too many cult members for him to take on alone, and who knew where Adelstein’schildrenwere hiding.
Ashton glanced at me and smiled with love in his eyes. “I love you too,” he softly said, then snapped his deadly, steel-cold gaze back to Adelstein. “And don’t worry. I’ll be just fine,” he reassured me as he tossed the two heads to the side. They thumped onto the ground with a grotesque sound and rolled into the bushes, leaving a trail of blood behind them.
Adelstein’s abrupt cackling startled me, his saliva spraying all over my face. “How sweet, the ignorant damsel has come to love the perfidious demon,” he jeered, his expression filled with bitterness. “You know, Azathoth, your plan was far too easy to figure out. Get close to the girl by charming her with your incubus allure and sexual enticements so she’d fall in love with you and perform the unbinding spell. Am I right?” He wore a mocking smirk as Ashton’s jaw clenched.
Azathoth? Like the demon from Aunt Elowynn’s journal? The unbinding spell?
“Um, Ashton, what’s he talking about?” I asked, nearly forgetting that I was half-naked, strapped down to a sacrificial altar with a knife at my throat, and surrounded by a murderous cult of ecclesiastical lunatics.
Adelstein raised a smug brow. “Yes,Ashton, what am I talking about?” he satirized. Ashton remained silent. His murderous gaze was locked on Adelstein with burning hatred. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Well, if she doesn’t even know your real name, then I’ll bet that she doesn’t know what you are or why you need her blood just as much as I do.” An unforgiving expression darkened his face.“Or that you killed Elowynn.”The sneered words were bitter on his tongue, and hatred filled his buggy eyes.
Yeah, flippin’ right.There’s no way that’s true... right?
At this point, I half-expected some camera crew wearing elaborate camouflage to leap from the woods. Some douchebag, hipster guy would likely follow them wearing a backward snapback, microphone in hand, announcing that this was all some prank reality television show. But that didn’t happen. The only things that came out of the forest were the sounds of the branches rustling in the wind and an old owl hooting nearby. Ashton didn’t deny what Adelstein claimed. His jaw remained clenched, and his gaze stayed lethal.
“No, of course not. Why would you ever tell her that little detail? That would certainly put quite the damper on your little romance scheme, now wouldn’t it?” he snickered. “Although, I must say, I had assumed the affections in your frail dalliance were one-sided. However, the scar on her neck says otherwise.” Adelstein slowly brushed the dagger along my scar. “You killed the woman I loved. Now I’m going to kill the woman you love. Tit for tat.” He quickly raised the dagger over his head and then swung it down to stab me in the heart.
I screamed and flinched as I watched the sharp blade flash above me with a threatening glint. But before Adelstein could bring the dagger down even a few measly inches, Ashton let out a deep, otherworldly growl. Then, in an instant, his fist was clobbering Adelstein in the jaw.
Adelstein wentflying backward several feet. His white cloak flapped through the air until he thudded to the ground, with his dagger clanking onto the rocky terrain beside him. His body laid crumpled up and motionless, with the other clergy members staring at him in shock. Judging by the pure force of the blow, I was certain he was dead as dust.
Good riddance to that arrogant, stab-happy peagoose.
Ashton leaned over me and cupped my face with his warm hand, his touch tender and reassuring. “Are you alright?” Concern and worry filled his voice and face. His hair draped to the side, coiling on the stone beside me. Belzar put his front paws up onto the altar and whined as he nuzzled the top of my head with his wet doggy nose.
I smiled up at him, my hands trembling and my teeth chattering. “Well, I’m much better now that you’re here, and that lunkhead is dead.” His thumb caressed the tears from my cheek as I shivered from the cold.
He smiled with relief and softly laughed with love in his golden, fire-illuminated eyes. “Let’s get you home and warmed up, shall we?”
Dark, maniacal laughter ruined our moment and demanded our attention. Ashton and I both whipped our gazes over to see Adelstein’s decrepit, twiggy frame slowly stand up. A psychotic grin twisted beneath his hood. The firelight flickered ominously over his shadowy, contorted face as his head lifted, revealing blackened eyes with dark veins webbing out around them.
