The Daemon

Chapter 5 is super short so two chapters at once. The pov changes between chapters 5 & 6.

Chapter 5


Two days. That was how long I have been out here. The woods can seem scary and so lonely but better that than possibly be used and abused by that Percy man from the slavers camp. I had no real clue of the direction I was headed in. I could barely make out the sun only when almost directly overhead. The canopy of the trees covered quite a bit of sky. There was light during the day but it was shadowed.

For water I had taken to licking the dew off of the leaves in the brush and found a few berries that seemed okay to eat. I did not stop long in any one place and many a time I crawled under bushes and climbed over rocky ground. I took the hard way because it would make it harder on the human men as well. I did not sleep the first night I was free. I just kept running until exhaustion forced me to find a place to hide. The gnarled roots of a large tree had uplifted some and there was enough space underneath for a small being like me.

This night when no easy hiding place was to be found I eyeballed the trees. One of them had branches that were close enough together to make a bit of a nest so I climbed up and rested.

It was like I had an alarm go off inside me. There was someone nearby. My eyes shot open and I held as still as possible. My heart beat in my ears muffling the sounds. I debated whether to chance moving or not. I was fairly certain that I was hidden. The only real worry would be if it was someone or something with a good nose.

“Aranata,” the smooth silky voice that called out was familiar. “Little one, it is safe to come out.”

My mind whirled and finally a face came to me. The beautiful man from before, the one that was all silver. What was his name? But Kana said that he was dangerous. Should I let him know where I am?

I stayed still barely breathing. Tears formed in my eyes.
‘I want to go home!’ I screamed in my mind.

“And so you shall little one.” The man suddenly stood before me one the branch. His silver eyes flashed red a moment and he reached for me. I was frozen in terror. Had he read my mind? “Shhh, little one, we shall go home where it is nice and warm. You do not have to worry any longer. I shall take care of you.”

As his hand touched me I lost it. It had been too much for me these last weeks. The true claws that were finally growing in scratched deep furrows into that hand. I jumped for a nearby tree and barely held on to the branches.

“Aranata,” there was a warning growl to the voice now, all sweetness melting away with the growing irritation.

I scrambled down the tree and he dropped in front of me. I let out a raspy yelp and tried to run. Arms of steel picked me up and wrapped around me. His voice was harsh in my ears.

“Behave or there will be consequences.” I squirmed but could do little other than kick my legs. He turned me around and stared into my eyes.

“Do you remember me Aranata?” His voice was back to that soothing baritone. “We met at your sister’s party?”

My mouth worked but other than some croaking squeaks no sound came forth. A frown marred his perfect features.

“Why can you not speak? Did those men do anything to you?”

‘No,no,nonononononono….’ Was all that repeated through my mind.

He shook me hard making my head flop back and forth, a headache forming from the abuse. His eyes turned red once more and I felt like I was slipping away down a long dark tunnel.


Chapter 6


Back in time a ways.


Lord Kairen Enyant was not happy. His current lover had left him and destroyed their rooms on the way. There was a dirty human mongrel waiting for an audience in his receiving room and on top of it all, his current blood donor decided he was tired of being a snack and left with the maid.

If you hadn’t guessed Lord Kairen was the ruling vampire lord in the area. He represented the other vampires in the territory and made sure that they followed the rules. One of their rules was that there would be no killing of the blood donor and donor was exactly what they should be. No one unwilling was to be taken by a vampire. Should that happen Lord Kairen himself was judge, jury and executioner. He was loved and hated in equal amounts. All the rumors that abounded about him were brushed off with a flippant attitude and he went about business as usual.

On top of everything else he had to do, tonight was the night that the merchant guild leader’s daughter was entering her majority. He had an obligation to attend the event as other leading members of the community would be there as well.

With a sigh he rummaged for the least wrinkled outfit he had and dressed. When his lover had destroyed the room, clothing was tossed onto the floor, stepped on and wrinkled. Furniture was either overturned or broken. Glass vases and decorative items were now shards littering the floor. Curtains were ripped off the walls and paintings slashed.

With another sigh, Lord Kairen shrugged and thought ‘that’s what you get when you take a wereleopard as a lover.’

Now, he had to find out what the dirty human wanted before leaving to the festivities.

He found the human to be fingering an ornament on the mantel.

“Kha-hmm,” Kairen cleared his throat to get the man’s attention.

“Ahh! Lord Kairen, sir, um, yes well I am here to offer you an opportunity to hire my fellows and I to do any dirty work you have in mind.”

The man started off on his speech but the lord lifted his hand to silence him.

“I am in a hurry at the moment, if we could make this quick I would appreciate it.” Straightening his coat and tossing his silver hair over his shoulder, he took a seat. “Now, am I to understand that you are mercenaries so to speak for hire.”

“Well I suppose that we are. We are willing to do robbery, kidnapping, extortion and the like.” The grubby man who only stood about five feet five, nervously fingered the hat in his hands. His messy brown hair was short except the front that hung into his eyes.

“I see.” Lord Kairen’s eyes narrowed in either anger or thought. Though it was not the best idea to have scum like this around, you never knew when they would come in handy. “We shall see if I have a use for your sort. As of now this meeting is over. If you’d like you may follow me and we can continue our conversation after the affair I must attend but for now I have no time for this.”

With that the lord ushered the man out the door and locked it, mentally telling himself to check and see if anything had been stolen while he was upstairs.

The party was a big success. The ceremony welcoming a new adult into the clan had gone off without a hitch and to the surprise of the guests they were invited to celebrate a new engagement as well. There was tons of food and alcohol. Dancing commenced shortly after the daughter, Airen was introduced and then her fiancée. All in all everyone was happy.

After such a stressful day, Lord Kairen was quite willing to get drunk. He was nice and buzzed on a special blood laced wine when he noticed the little boy. Such a beautiful child and fairly graceful despite the few times nearly tumbling, through no fault of his own. The red glints in that black hair were an interesting affect that only members of this particular clan seemed to have. He was not quite sure what type of demons they were but they definitely were popular.

Many times he had heard of the merchant’s wife. Men would speak on the beauty of the woman with enchantingly bright eyes. To be honest, what he had seen of the children, all of the family seemed to be beautiful.

He came out of his musings in time to catch the little boy from falling.

“Be careful young one.” I took the opportunity to look at the little one up close. He was exquisite. The hair was that red tinted black. The boy’s eyes were golden like little suns, not yellow, not honey but a true gold. His skin was very light but had a hint of golden undertones. Though he still had his baby chub, you could tell he would grow up to be a heart breaker.

I then caught the young one studying me as I did him. It amused me. The cuteness of his actions made me want him. It had been so long since someone truly caught my attention.

“So this is the infamous Aranata is it?” Earlier when I had paid respects to the parents, they had gone one about their youngest child.

“Lord Kairen, it is good of you to have come to our family gathering.” The protective way the sister holds him just rubs me wrong but ever the politician I put it aside.

“It is my pleasure miss Kiiren. I would not miss an event such as this. Offer my congratulations to your sister if you will.” I bowed my head a little to the girl. Kneeling I looked at the boy who had caught my attention. “As for you little one, you should be more careful.” I just had to touch his hair so I ruffled it about.

“Gah! What is with everyone and my hair!?” he said earning himself some stern words. I could not help but chuckle at it.

“That is quite alright,” and I smiled.

“It is time for my brother to say his goodnights to everyone, if you would excuse us milord?” I wanted to frown.

“Of course milady. Good night, Aranata.” I had to touch him once more.

“Good night sir.” Locking eyes with the boy I did not wish to let him go. The sister rushed off with him as quickly as was polite. I wanted to glare and growl at her protective nature so instead I grabbed another drink.

I can say I was well and truly drunk by the time the party was over. I could not get the boy out of my mind and it was driving me insane. With the alcohol and madness riding me I did the most despicable thing ever in my entire life.

That hoodlum, the grungy man waited outside under some trees with a couple of his friends.

“I have decided that I am in need of your services after all.”

“I figured you would milord. What can we humble men do for you.” The man was pushing it with the servile act.

“I wish for that little boy with the red black hair.” I took out my purse and pulled out fifty gold coins. “Another fifty for you when I come to pick him up and only if he is unharmed. I only wish for the child. Do not harm the family.” I tossed the coins at them.

“Inform me when you have done the deed.” With that I walked to my carriage and left.

The next morning I awoke with a hangover and a feeling of dread. My memory was fuzzy of the evening before and I knew I had done something wrong. What it could be I had no idea. Stumbling around my home I carefully and slowly cleaned the leftover mess.

Trudging downstairs later in the day, I found a note slipped under my door.

Milord, we have done as you asked and have the boy. We will meet you in about a weeks time at our camp. The directions follow.

Everything came rushing back to me and I fell on my ass in horror. My god what have I done?

I wonder if I could take it back. I can go get the boy and return him and pretend to never have done such a thing. Yes, I think I will do just that. No one need ever know that I had done something so horrible.

Lord Kairen went about his day as best he could while making plans to bring the boy back home. No one should know that he had anything to do with it. The family will be fine and the boy will be safe.


That evening, there was a horrible pounding on the door.

“Lord Kairen! Lord Kairen!”

After opening the door he found one of the townspeople.

“Lord Kairen, there has been a disaster, a catastrophe in the town!”

“Calm down! Now what has happened that has you so upset.” He led the younger man to his sitting room.

“Oh the mercantile, the one run by the Kiiren clan,” the young man’s face was grave.

“What could have happened? Is there a fire or something?” I tried to act innocent.

“They’re dead milord.”

“What!!!!” I could feel all the blood leave my face. There was no way. I had left specific instructions not to harm the family.

“They were found by Makhail. Both the adults were in the back room murdered. We are unable to find any of the children.” The townsman had tears in his eyes.

“I was gonna ask Kana to marry me!” he wailed. “We have to find them! Please milord, we need everyone to help in the search.”

“I will join you in a little while. There are a couple things I must handle before I can leave for an extended period of time. Call my cousin Mikan, tell him what you have told me and that I need him to send word to his contacts. He should be able to find out if there is word in the underground about the family.”

“Thank you, milord. I will get on it right away.”

As the man ran back out the door, all that was going through my head was, ‘Fuck, I’ve messed up big time.’
A load of guilt weighed heavily on me. I had to try to fix what I could.