Chapter 35 - Rescue

The demon had stormed into the small home, screaming in an unknown language at Abraxas. Before I knew it, Abraxas was on the ground, glass and ingredients from the tables thrown everywhere. I quickly ran out of the way, and the demon seemed to notice, for he jumped off of Abraxas and pinned me to the ground. I had never been so scared in my life; I literally thought I was going to die right then and there.

The demon whispered things into my ear, but he was using that strange language, so I couldn't understand him. Abraxas pulled him off of me and flung him into a nearby corner, which seemed to knock the demon out slightly. He then helped me up and placed the vial into my hands and looked me right in the eyes with his single orb. He told me to find Seto in Brenjin's castle and give him the potion. He would handle this demon, whoever it was. And so I nodded my head, turned around, and ran in the direction he told me to go.

And that's how Tea found herself climbing over the tall, metal gates, the potion in her pocket. She was happy she wore her yellow shorts and black t-shirt to bed; it was easy clothing to maneuver in. She finally reached the top and started to climb her way back down. "I have to find him," she thought aloud. Looking down, she sighed and decided to do the quick thing. Jumping off the gate, she landed with a loud thud onto the hard ground. She then ran through the double doors that served as the entrance to the fortress and was shocked to find nobody there.

"Maybe there's a battle going on elsewhere..." she thought, recalling Abraxas's short explanation on the demon wars. "Good. If they're involved in some sort of battle, that gives me an opportunity to explore without having to worry." She began running down hallway after hallway, taking in the creepy architecture. The fact that there were even demon realms to begin with was bad enough, but this kind of demon realm was just creeping her out.

"Where would they have him? In the basement?" She made a right and began running down the hallway when she suddenly stopped. "Were those...voices?" Sure enough, she could see two shadows against the opposite wall coming toward the corner. She ran into the nearby room and shut the door as quietly as possible, checking the room for unwanted demons before pressing her ear to the wall.

"Please Sliva, you are taking this too seriously," the first demon stated. "Satr has been sent to dispose of Abraxas. He's become too much of a problem for us."

"But you said that he had his freedom-" That was a female voice. Tea was shocked there were even female demons in the first place.

"-Until he became a problem," the first demon interrupted. "And now he's a problem, so we must dispose of him. Your brother is one of the best mages we have; he'll do a fine job."

"But Brenjin, Abraxas is a healer! An alchemist! We'll need him with these battles at hand. Why get rid of him when we can use him to heal our wounded soldiers!"

"He wouldn't help us anyway, Sliva. Don't you see? His infatuation with the human realm has clouded his conscious. He no longer is the demon that you so loved before he disappeared. He cares about the human race now, and if anything, that's the reason we must kill him."

"Why not ask him to return to the demon realm? We can ask him to call off the bond with the human, letting the human return to his realm and Abraxas to his."

"He's already tasted what the human realm is now like. It wouldn't surprise me if he decided to spend eternity with those filthy wastes of life."

"Well then let him! I don't understand what the big deal is, Brenjin."

"If the humans find out about our demon realms, they will surely try to find a way to destroy us. We can't have that. Sliva, you know we live in secrecy. That's our motto as demons. Abraxas going around the human realm causes us great concern. He could blow our cover and cause who knows how many problems!"

"I still don't think this is a good idea..." Tea could hear their voices become softer and softer until she finally couldn't hear them any longer. Slowly opening the door, Tea looked both ways and saw nobody in the hallway.

"They're going to kill Abraxas?! But why...?" Tea shook her head and started running back down the hallway in the direction the demons had come from. "No, I have to find Seto. Maybe he'll know what's going on with Abraxas." She quickly opened the two double doors at the end of the hallway and walked inside, shutting the doors behind her before looking around. "If they came from here, maybe Seto's in this room." Looking around, she sighed in exhaustion and frustration. All she saw was books lying about, some in piles, some on the bookshelves.

Slowly walking around the room, she closed her eyes and leaned against the nearby bookshelf. She had run non-stop on her way here, and running around the mansion had worn her down. "No...I gotta find him," she reminded herself, pushing herself off the wall. "I just gotta find him..." Opening her eyes, she noticed a sudden glint and looked up only to gasp in horror.

"SETO!" she screamed, running over to him and grabbing him. There was a yellow ring around his neck, which was what had caught her attention in the first place. He was knocked out cold, and his neck looked extremely red from the ring. "Seto, wake up!" she screamed, shaking him as hard as she could. "Seto, you gotta wake up! It's me, Tea! Dammit, Seto, wake up!" But he wouldn't, and her hands fell limply at his side. Remembering the potion, she quickly took it out of her pocket and tried pulling him off the wall. "Dammit, what is this ring!?" she thought. She sighed again in frustration and took the cap off the bottle, tilting Seto's head up and putting the potion to his lips. "Come on, Seto. Just drink this and you'll be fine." She slowly poured the concoction down his throat, making sure none escaped his lips.

Holding his head up, she waited until the bottle was drained dry before setting it down and letting Seto swallow the liquid. She watched as the ring slowly evaporated around his neck, revealing marks along his neck. Feeling tears forming at the edges of her eyes, she thought, "God Seto...what did they do to you? What information did they want that they would do this to you?"

"And what do we have here?" a familiar voice asked. Tea quickly spun around to see a tiny demon, no more than three feet tall, smiling wickedly at her. "Hm, I guess I have two people I can interrogate now."