Page 30 of Unbinding the Demon
The musical chirps of happy little birds faintly sounded through the room as they greeted the rising sun with their morning songs. I woke up an hour earlier than usual, with a slight burn in the back of my throat from all my dry, arduous swallowing. I wanted to stay asleep, but dehydration prevented me from doing so. All the crying I’d done the night before after seeing that horrifically brutal ritual murder seemed to have dried me out like a raisin. So, I pried my tired eyes open and sighed with reluctance.
The bedroom was still dark, with the slightest hint of blue, early morning light illuminating my surroundings. Ashton was sleeping beside me like a tranquil giant. His large, heavy arms were wrapped around my much smaller body, keeping me pressed firmly against him. One of his hands rested on the back of my head with his fingers entangled in my long hair, and the other was naughtily holding onto my butt. Quietly giggling at his hand placement, I softly kissed just beneath his collarbone. I took a deep breath, inhaling his wonderful fire and spice scent, then carefully tried to sneak away from his warm, slumbering embrace.
After a good ten minutes of gently struggling and squirming, I was finally free and slipped out from beneath the coverlet. My feet tiptoed across the cold floor over to my dresser, being extra cautious to avoid stepping on any of the notoriously creaky boards. I slipped on a loose black sweater dress and a pair of fluffy light pink socks, then shut the dresser drawer with a soft click. I peeked over my shoulder at Ashton to make sure I hadn’t woken him up, and the living daylights were scared right out of me!
Sweet lemony leprechauns! What the living fuck!... Oh?
For a split second, it looked as though his eyes were glowing like two golden embers. They gazed over at me possessively with a downright demonic gleam. However, the second I whipped around to face him, I found him sleeping peacefully with closed eyes. I took a deep, shaky breath to quiet my paranoid imagination and calm my nerves. I remained facing him as I awkwardly slid sideways across the room as if I were a crab ice-skating along the floor, using my slippery socks to slink out the door.
The weeping crystal chandelier glittered in the dim morning glow as I pranced down the stairs with soft steps. I peeked into the living room and saw little Pepper Paws nestled against Belzar’s much larger body by the fireplace. I smiled, happy that it didn’t take them too long to become friends. Especially since William had taken Esquire back to Oliver’s house with him.
I strolled into the kitchen and poured myself a much-needed glass of water. With my back against the new chrome refrigerator, I guzzled down my drink like I’d been stranded in the Sahara Desert for a month. My mind wandered to the strange and macabre events of last night. Not just to the nightmarish cult ceremony, but also to the way Ashton had ruthlessly killed that woman without a second thought. I then wondered how he had heard all that chanting from where we had dumped her body. And what was up with that strange language he was whispering to Belzar in?
Why was he even whispering to Belzar in the first place? He’s a freaking wolf who can’t even understand what we’re saying?
I sighed and shook my head, then placed my glass on the counter, saving it for later. As I moseyed out of the kitchen, I noticed we had tracked a lot of dirt into the foyer from our boots last night. My brows furrowed as I thought about how pointless it would be to go back to bed at this hour. I had my art class this morning anyway, and I also didn’t want to wake Ashton up. So, I decided to make good use of my extra time and do some sweeping instead.
I frowned as I opened the cleaning closet and saw that the broom that normally lived in there was nowhere to be found. I then searched a few more places throughout the large house with no such luck, either. The only thing I managed to find was that stupid, unsettling feeling that I’d, unfortunately, grown used to. At this point, I barely even acknowledged it. “Where is that goddamn broom?” I grumbled to myself in frustration just as the old wooden door leading under the stairwell caught my eye.
Assuming it was another closet, I creaked open the door, revealing an abyss of darkness. The smell of dirt and stone hit my nose, and I realized it led to the basement. Without any hesitation, I flicked on the light and started descending the creaky, cobweb-filled stairs to continue my search.
The musty, damp basement looked pretty average for an older house. The dingy lighting flickered. Dirt covered the cracked stone floor and walls. Dusty cobwebs hid in almost every crevice. The place was filled with lots of random old junk and had an overall dilapidated appearance. Dirt caked onto the bottom of my socks, while I aimlessly wandered around searching for that lousy broom. After about a minute, I let out a small yelp as I tripped over some worthless thingamabob. My hands latched onto an antique table to prevent myself from landing on my face and dying in this godforsaken basement.
What did I expect? Of course, my clumsy ass wouldn’t be able to safely navigate this sea of filthy junk!
As I straightened myself out, thankful no one had witnessed that little episode, my eyes landed on what looked like a madman’s nonsensical scribblings. There was a mess of papers strewn all willy-nilly over the table, all of which screamed, “there’s something kind of creepy going on here .” Drawn expertly on them were maps of the town with certain houses circled in red. Bizarre, unsettling symbols and writing in a language I had never seen before covered the maps and other random pieces of paper. I picked one up and inspected it with a look of confusion.
“This doesn’t look like Finnish?”
A dark brown spider crawled across one of the papers on the table, and then up into a small crevice between two stones forming the wall. The movement led my eyes to a list of various names. I picked up that paper too, and a sense of dread fell upon me as I looked it over.
I recognized at least half of the names of local people and school staff members. All whom I only remembered because they had made a point of asking me if I was Elowynn’s niece. But what was really unsettling about it was that some names had red slashes going through them. Someone underlined “Benjamin Adelstein,” as if his name were more important, but they didn’t slash it. However, written right under his name was “Julianna Hoffman” with a big red slash crossing it out.
“Julianna Hoffman? The police officer?” I whispered to myself with furrowed brows. My stomach twisted as I tried to make sense of what I was actually looking at. Suffocating anxiety surrounded me, and the feeling of being watched heightened.
“What are you doing down here?” Ashton’s deep voice asked from literally right behind me, causing me to nearly leap right out of my skin.
I screamed and threw the papers in the air as I frantically jumped and whipped around. With curious eyes fixed on me, he snatched a paper from the air as it fell, like a frog catching a fly with its tongue. The other paper floated gently down onto the table behind me. He then gave me a loving smile, as if I hadn’t just stumbled upon something that I assumed was very private.
How the hell did he even get down those creaky stairs without me hearing him? The man is clearly a master of stealth, but holy fucking guacamole!
“Well, um, I was... You see, we tracked in dirt last night, and I needed a broom...” I shifted my eyes and gestured with my hands, my heart racing.
“Buttercup... It’s all right,” he said softly, with a kind expression and love in his eyes.
“Am I not allowed to be down here?” I looked up at him, my voice catching in my throat, then I gulped.
“Why wouldn’t you be allowed down here?” He chuckled while setting the paper down. “You live here too now. Nothing in this house is off-limits to you.” His arms wrapped around me as he gazed endearingly down into my eyes. “It’s just a strange time of day for you to be awake and down in the basement, that’s all.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I was just looking for the broom, and then I found this.” I pulled an arm free from his embrace and pointed in circles at the table. “What’s, um, what is all this?” My gaze drifted back up to his face.
“That’s just something I’m... taking care of.” He shrugged. “It will be much easier to explain once we’ve had our talk, though.”
“Alright.” I picked up a random piece of paper with the strange writing on it and shook it in my hand. “But can I at least know what language this is?”
He gently took the paper from me and placed it back down. “It’s called Enochian. Now, I know this must seem strange to you, but I promise it will all make sense once I’ve explained everything.” He tilted my chin up, so that I was looking into his loving eyes. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, so don’t worry about it. Just trust me.” His lips softly pressed against mine, and I rested my hand on his bare chest.
“Okay, I trust you,” I said as I looked into his eyes, even though I still had a major case of the creeps.
His smile grew brighter, and he pulled me tighter into the hug. “Come on, let’s go have breakfast.” He kissed the top of my head, then took my hand and began leading me back up the stairs.
I glanced over my shoulder to get one last look at my odd discovery, with a heavy feeling of uncertainty.