Page 27 of Her Demon Daddy

ASMODEUS

Ibend over my altar, lean on it with my hands, and hang my head. Books are sprawled out along the side tables, some of the pages now ripped from my furious and panicked turning of them. I sigh and expand my cheeks as I exhale and shake my head.

Nothing has worked in trying to contact Oltyx. I’ve used sage and greensbriar in a potion, scried for him in the mirrors, and even spoken in tongues. I’m doing my best to use everything but my pendant. I’ve wanted to grab it almost every time I’ve tried something new, but at this point, I doubt even that would work.

I look at the ceiling and breathe out through my nose as I close my eyes. I have a sneaking suspicion that Oltyx doesn’t wish to speak to me anymore. He’s a chaotic god desperate for destruction, and I wonder if my brooding misery has proved him bored of my existence. He’s probably moved on to other more interesting endeavors, desecrating whole towns, creating famine in various cities, anything he can do to watch more pain unfold. Mine has been consistent for years, and I haven’t given him a human’s soul in a while to satisfy him.

I look to the side and notice the moon high in the sky behind the dark clouds. I glance at the clock on my wall and see it’s struck one o’clock.Shit. Siara.

I quickly clean up my altar and glance at the books, almost getting lost in them before shaking my head. If none of these methods have worked, I doubt it would prove useful to scourge the texts for more failing options.

Once the room has been straightened out slightly, I leave it and rush down the hallway of the third floor, worrying about Siara. She’s probably been wondering where I am for hours now, it’s not like me to forget my commitments, especially not to her, but this Oltyx mess has to stop soon. I can’t keep living with this guilt and lying to Siara.

As I’m about to round a corner of the hallway, I feel another quake beginning. I lean against the wall and roll my eyes, knowing it’ll last a few seconds and be over soon. It’s another reminder that I’m running out of time.

Only the quake isn’t small, and it doesn’t stop. Quickly, objects are crashing all around the palace, and I hear my servants screaming. Paintings and sconces are falling from the walls, so I cover my head as I walk along the wall. One breaks over me, and I feel the glass shards cut my hand and grimace.

I have to find Siara.I walk down the hallway and make my way to her room. My servants rush by me and flee in various directions, screaming about the world's end. They couldn’t be more right, but I’m sure this is just me cutting my time close. it’s not over yet.

I walk toward the staircase and pass my wall of windows. These haven’t broken yet, and I shouldn’t be standing near them, but a terrifying sight lies before me. Galmoleth is falling toward Protheka quickly. My face flushes, and my body goes cold. I almost freeze in fear before I remember I need to find Siara.

I have to find her before we break ground in Protheka. She has to know what’s about to happen, and I must prepare her for what we’re about to face. She has to hear the truth from me before someone else reveals it to her. it’s the only way I stand a chance of her still seeing me as the demon she thinks I am.

I reach her bedroom door and open it quickly. “Siara!” I yell into an empty room. The canopy of her bed has split in two, and her window has broken. I look at the floor beneath it, and I’m grateful she’s not there but terrified about where else she could be.

I walk to the staircase, still using anything solid in my path for support. I see her grasping onto the railing underneath the chandelier. I use the banister for support as I carefully step down the staircase to her. “Siara!” I scream. “Walk down the steps!”

She turns around, and I see she’s been crying, and her face is more fearful than I’ve ever seen it. She nods and hurries down the stairs until she reaches the ground on her hands and knees before she pulls herself up on the wall.

I reach her and look up at the chandelier that was above her. It crashes down onto the staircase, and I turn her around and press her against the wall, covering her with my eyes as the glass from the lights flies everywhere.

After it’s crashed, I look down at her and feel her trembling beneath me. I look around, seeing the door to my study close by. The window there is too big and could shatter in a second. A bright idea comes to my mind, my throne room. It’s the most heavily fortified and insulated, only two doors past my office.

“Do you trust me?” I yell over the shattering sconces. She nods between sobs, and I nod at her. “We need to get somewhere safe, okay? I’m going to pick you up! Hold onto me!”

She nods again, and I carry her quickly down the hallway as more of my servants rush past us, and I bump into them and the walls as I try to balance us from the quake. We reach the throne room, and I put her down in front of the door and open it for her before walking in behind her and locking it behind us.

“Siara, listen to me. I need to tell you something very important. Everything is about to change, and it’s very important that you…”

“Asmodeus, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I was just- I didn’t mean to! I’m so sorry!” She sobs into her hands.

I stare at her and frown, shaking my head. “What are you talking about? You didn’t mean to what?”

“I..I…” Her hyperventilating is stalling her words.

“Hey, hey.” I kneel and almost fall over from the quake but catch myself with my hand on the floor.

I pull her hand down and get her to kneel with me, lessening her chances of falling and bringing us to the same level. I place my hands on either side of her face and look into her panicked eyes.

“Siara, I need you to tell me what you did.”

“When you..you didn’t come to my room, I got worried, and I…” she buries her face in her hands, and I pull her into my chest, putting my chin on her head and looking at the shaking throne room. “I went to your study to look for you, and I waited and waited, but you didn’t come, and there was this pretty stone on a shelf…”

“What?” I shout as I pull away from her, looking at the tears streaking down her face.

“I don’t know!” she yells as she shakes her hands, her fingers outstretched like she’s trying to expel her nervous energy. “I don’t know what it did, it…it had a button on it, and I didn’t mean to press it, but I did, and then there was this blue light, and I…” she holds her face in her hands, and I look around the room.

A cold pit forms in my stomach. My mouth hangs open, and my eyes widen. Rage flows through my blood, and I feel my jaw clench as I bite my upper lip tensely. I look back at her and grab her arms tightly, shaking her as I stare deep into her eyes.