Chapter 16

I opened my eyes to the gray expanse that surrounded me once again and groaned as a thought occurred to me. If I had found my way in, so too had he.

I was not particularly in the mood to entertain his company, but knowing my luck, he would make his way to me shortly and the quiet I attained would be interrupted yet again.

I laid on the ground and closed my eyes, hoping I would be left alone this time. Hoping I could work through the turmoil of my mind long enough to grasp a sliver of sanity.

My hope for solitude was shattered as he began talking.

"So we meet again." He said, taking a seat beside me.

"Be quiet." I demand, annoyed.

"What's the fun in that?" He chuckled. "I'm here to help you."

"Help me?" I snorted. "Quite a help you have been to me thus far."

"I've been trying." He shrugged. "You're the one who refuses to talk."

"I have nothing to say." I blandly stated. "You speak enough for both of us."

"It's not my fault you're in this mess." He spat out bitterly. "I'm not the one who fucked you, so why do I get the attitude?"

"What did you just say?" I sat up, glaring at him.

"You heard me." He waved his hand dismissively. "Almost everyone knows."

"How do you know?" I demanded, standing, looking down at him.

"My father." He shrugged. "He told me about you, what you looked like, how much you begged. Told me he forced you to eat so his seed would take." He chuckled bitterly. "So did it work?"

Fury blinded me as I kicked him with all my strength. I watched him skid away from me while he held his head close to his chest for protection.

I ran after him and grabbed his head, lifting and slamming it into the ground. I heard a satisfying crunch, but I did not stop beating his face in until I heard him gargle and beg me to stop.

I lifted him by his head and threw him from me, watching with satisfaction as he landed, nearly lifeless, a few feet away.

"He destroyed me on that forest floor." I screamed, compelled to make known, to anyone, some semblance of the truth. "I never wanted it, never asked for it. I wanted my Ada back. I wanted my life back.

"He not only destroyed me, he left me with a parasite. I could hear it growing, heart beating… So I killed it. Stabbed myself through the stomach to destroy it.

"Go tell your father how this little bitch killed his spawn with such ease. Go tell him he failed."

My surroundings began to morph as my consciousness faded, even in this space of unconsciousness, taking me into the blissful arms of absolute nothingness.

I was shaken awake the next morning by a worried Damien; with a groan, I opened my eyes. Pain flared from my stomach as I tried to move, and I hissed out my discomfort.

"Morning." Damien said, brushing the hair from my face. "We need to change your clothes."

I grumbled and buried my head under the covers, not ready to deal with the consequences of my actions.

He gently pulled the covers from my face and grazed my cheek. "Come on now. You can't be comfortable in those."

"M sorry." I muttered, holding the covers close to my chest.

"Is the heartbeat gone?" He asked, impartial.

I nodded, burrowing further into the sheets.

"Then you have nothing to apologize for." He shrugged. "In fact, we should be the ones to apologize. I shouldn't have left you alone, and Lycher should have made sure to give you the remedy at the correct time. We both failed you."

I looked at Damien quizzically, finally undoing the bundle of sheets to fully turn towards him.

"What do you mean, correct time?" I asked.

"The remedy you had is to be given at 2-4 weeks gestation. It's designed to dissolve the fetus, integrating it back into the body." I nodded my understanding so he would continue.

"They had you take it at 8 weeks gestation. Meaning the remedy couldn't dissolve the thing; instead, the remedy tried to have you deliver it. That's what caused the pain and bleeding. Since the fetus was too young and still alive, your body refused the delivery, so you kept bleeding with nothing to show for it."

"Why is my stomach so round if I was only 8 weeks in?"

"Devils and demons are born at 6 months gestation." Damien explained. "Elves have an even shorter gestational period, and you, being both, probably gravitated towards 6 months."

"So what happens now?" I asked, making my way into a sitting position.

"I'll give you a different remedy to get rid of anything that's left, and then you can start working as my assistant in about a week." He explained softly.

"What would I do as your assistant?" I was curious.

"A little bit of everything. You'll learn what you can and study in your free time."

I nodded my understanding and looked down at my hands. They were covered in dried blood, and it hit home exactly what I had done the night before.

"I am sorry for frightening you." I mumbled as I moved the sheet to look at the ruined clothing I was still dressed in. Blood was everywhere. I turned red with shame and embarrassment.

"There's a change of clothes in the bathroom." He smiled, ignoring my apology. "Go get cleaned and changed. I'll have breakfast waiting in the dining room."

"Okay." I nodded.

Before long, I was clean and in my new set of clothes, a red shirt and black flowing trousers. I made my way to the dining room.

The table was adorned with a variety of foods. There was fish, some type of bird flesh, eggs too large to have been sourced from any chicken, and an assortment of fruit. It looked so very appetizing.

I took a seat opposite to Damien and began serving myself a bit of everything, taking my first tentative bite of eggs.

They were good.

"Dragon eggs." Damien explained, filling his own plate. "We keep them as livestock. Not unlike how humans keep chicken."

I nodded and took another bite, humming my appreciation. They did what they could to keep themselves fed in hell, that much was obvious.

"Can you read?" He asked suddenly.

I finished my bite of food before answering.

"I can read Common and Sylvan. Ada made sure to teach me how to read and write at an early age."

"Common is good." Damien hummed. "It's a pretty universal language. I have an abundance of common books. I'll have them brought over so you can start learning about this place."

I nodded and we finished eating in silence.

Once my plate had been emptied, Damien slid a vial of orange liquid toward me, followed by a pink and a blue.

"One is for blood loss," Damien began explaining, "One to help heal your wounds, and the last is for what we discussed earlier."

I uncorked all three and downed them in quick succession. From the three, only one tasted bitter.

"Good job." He praised. "Now back to bed with you."

"It's bloody." I recalled and watched him smirk.

"I changed the sheets. Go on now."

I did as I was told, walking into my room and falling into bed. I had just woken and yet exhaustion took firm hold of me. Within minutes, I was asleep.