Page 29 of Her Demon Daddy
I hardly have time to linger on the awful heaviness spreading through me at the thought before the doors blast open, the thick wood splintering beneath the brute force of that last, final blow. The fragments of the doors have hardly hit the ground before looming shadows darken the doorway, strolling into the throne room.
The first thing my eyes settle on are the demons. There are four of them, and while all of them are humanoid and not unlike those I’ve seen on Galmoleth, I know uncannily quickly that these demons do not belong here. It is not just the way they look around the palace with disdain, or sneer at the King standing before them as if they have no regard for their own lives– it’s something about the way they hold themselves.
As if this combination of factors was not enough to make me suspect that these new demons are not from Galmoleth, their companions are more than enough evidence to prove my suspicions.
Behind the small group of demons, a half-dozen winged males follow. I fight to keep the air in my lungs as I look at them, curiosity and awe and overwhelming terror mingling strangely in my chest.
If the males were seen from a distance, they might be mistaken for some strange breed of winged humans. As they draw closer, however, their resemblance to humans diminishes. Each of them is devastatingly beautiful in different ways, the varying shades of their skin seeming to glow from within as though stars flowed through their veins instead of blood.
Power radiates off of them, the symmetrical sets of their faces as haunting as they are alluring. My breath catches in my throat as the mixed group walks toward us, and my survival instincts immediately kick in, tallying up the number of intruders and running our odds of survival.
With Asmodeus’ power leveled against them, I’m almost certain that we could make it- running might not even be necessary. After all, he could probably destroy all of them in one blow, especially given that they’re in his territory.
I glance up at him, waiting for him to unleash some mighty blow or order the intruders to stand down, but he does no such thing. His shoulders are clenched together, his muscles wound tightly, and I get the distinct impression that he’s waiting for some imminent blow.
Why isn’t he doing anything?
As the group of intruders stride into the room, demons I recognize begin to flow after them, their eyes wide in shock and confusion as they glance nervously between their King and the strange group striding toward us. No doubt many of the demons of Galmoleth raced to the palace after the quake, looking for Asmodeus to assuage their worries and explain what’s going on, but Asmodeus pays them no mind.
Instead, he only stares at the oncoming strangers.
“I must say, when we were tasked out to respond to the distress signal, this is not what I expected to find,” one of the winged males says as he steps forward from the rest of the group.
Shrewd blue eyes assess us from beneath dark brows, power radiating off of his golden, tanned skin. Dark, wavy hair falls slightly in his eyes as he stares at us, his fingers twitching at his side as though he’s fighting the urge to reach for the massive blade sheathed at his hip.
Asmodeus doesn’t respond, doesn’t do anything as the male comes to a stop mere feet from us. Every inch of Asmodeus’ body seems to vibrate with rage, and I find myself suddenly grateful for the hood that’s obscuring his face. I can only imagine the wrath etched on his features.
“I am Theliel, general of the Third,” the winged male says, placing a fist over his heart and nodding to Asmodeus. “I am here on behalf of the Demon King and the xaphan, chosen people of Solas–”
“I know who you are,” Asmodeus grinds out beside me, his deep baritone startling me. The formalacy of the winged male- Theliel’s- introduction was strange enough, but what is even stranger is his mention of the Demon King. Any soldier claiming to be acting on behalf of the Demon King would know that he’s speaking to him.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I mull over this latest realization. Whoever Theliel is, or claims to be, we can’t trust him. He’s obviously lying.
“Oh?” Theliel says, narrowing his eyes at Asmodeus. “I wish I could say the same, but given the hood…” he trails off, waving his hand dismissively. He stares, as if waiting for Asmodeus to obey his unspoken command. When he doesn’t, Theliel’s lips curl into a cold smirk.
“You can take it off, or I will have it removed for you.”
“You should have killed me when you had the chance,angel,” Asmodeus spits back. Theliel’s eyes widen slightly, as if finally connecting the dots, before his smirk turns into a fully-fledged grin. With a mere glance at his companions, they’re rushing forward.
I stumble back, thrusting my hands up in front of me as if I could fend them off, but the xaphan and demons pay me no mind, instead leaping at Asmodeus. He does not fight them, though he doesn’t make things easy for them, either. It takes four of them to wrest him to the ground, forcing him to his knees before Theliel.
“Stop!” I scream as one of the foreign demons reaches for Asmodeus’ hood. I run forward before I know what I’m doing, my arm outstretched to knock his hand away, but a powerful set of hands grips me before I’m anywhere close.
“Siara,” Asmodeus murmurs, a warning and a plea all at once. I struggle against Theliel’s grasp, but his iron grip doesn’t budge, even as he hands me off to another xaphan. The male’s hot breath curls off of the back of my neck as he leers down at me, and I suddenly feel more exposed in my nightgown than I ever have naked.
“Keep your hands off of her,” Asmodeus growls at the new xaphan holding me, but the male doesn’t heed his warning, instead dragging a slow hand across my exposed collarbones. I cringe away from his touch, fear and nausea flipping my stomach. Asmodeus lunges forward with a snarl, but the four males detaining him hold fast, lurching with the motion but not releasing him.
“Heartwarming,” Theliel sneers as he walks to stand directly in front of Asmodeus. “I wonder, why would she be so worried about maintaining your anonymity? Surely she’s seen your face, if she’s so attached to you?”
Asmodeus says nothing, staring straight ahead, and Theliel’s smile deepens.
“Unless, of course, she knows why you wear your hood?”
“She knows nothing of it,” Asmodeus snaps, but the edge of fear in his voice is enough to spur me into action.
“Know what? About his scars? What difference does it make to you?” I yell at Theliel, a sudden rage sweeping through me. I have no idea what’s going on, and I am sotiredof being pushed around.
Theliel throws his head back and laughs heartily, stunning my sudden rage away. His laughter echoes around the hall, the demons and xaphan he brought with him laughing along with him.