Fiera and Angel dutifully moved in front of Derek and Odette, Angel slightly more forward that Fiera in protection.

Through the shattered window, several demons jumped in, catching the Guardians off guard. They backed the Guardians into an arc of witnesses behind Odette, Derek, Angel, and Fiera, who stayed grouped together in the center of the floor, well away from anyone else. Nobody moved as the largest demon walked through, a regal, yet undeniably evil, expression painted upon his face.

He was very large, about eight feet, with arms and legs like tree trunks. He had a horn growing out the side of his head, poking through the bangs of his straight white hair. His sneer was more evil than anything Odette had ever seen. The bloodlust radiating off of him was tangible, even in the tense and brittle air. Several people gasped at the sight of him.

"Why, Enyo, why didn't you tell me there was a party? And why didn't you tell me who the guest of honor is?" he had a sing song voice that made Odette shiver, taken aback by the way the demon's voice sounded as compared to the rest of him.

"Sabian," Fiera growled, her temper now flared as she had been called her demon name. "Because no one wanted you here! How the hell did you even know about it, anyway?!"

"A little birdie told me," he answered in a sickeningly smooth voice. Fiera's faced dropped into a surprised grimace, as if she had caught something in his tone and words. Frankly, Odette was too disgusted to really notice.

She felt a stab of pain in her heart. It was so strange how all her life, she had not known her mother, and now here was her murderer. White-hot hatred flashed through her. She loathed seeing him. He was the evil thing that had taken her mother away from her. She wondered how much pain and awkwardness she could have been spared if this demon had not interfered.

Fiera dropped her knees in a crouch Odette recognized well. Fiera was about to pounce on Sabian, not even thinking twice about the fact that she was unarmed.

"Unarmed, Enyo?" Sabian asked slyly.

"Enyo is dead! But I still have her with me. Don't forget, demonic instinct dictates that I don't need anything to kill you."

"I still see the treacherous half breed in front of me, and I hear her in your words. Enyo lives, little mix breed, don't forget it."

Fiera's next words struck a chord that made Odette shiver although they were clearly not intended for her. "Be that as it may, you killed Enyo more than twenty years ago. For that, I thank you. Let me return the favor!" At the last word, she sprung high into the air, and with perfect precision, began her descent right over Sabian.

But Sabian moved, however, and she landed on the floor. Sabian whirled around and met her with a hefty fist to her stomach, knocking her back several feet. She stumbled to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. He then turned around and lifted his hands, as if he was giving up. Instead, when he was once again facing Odette head on, he dropped on, and formed a red-orange ball of light in his hand.

"Hell Strike!"

At the two words, the ball flew at Odette. In her shock, she couldn't move to defend herself or dodge whatever attack he had just summoned. It hit her like a brick, like a tree falling on her, like the entire weight of the castle being dropped on top of her.

First, it was the impact, the sheer force she'd been hit with.

Then it was the pain.

It ravaged her. Every part of her hurt, like someone was burning her at the stake and she was being made to swallow fire at the same time. Even breathing was difficult. The air she needed so desperately came to her only in ragged breaths as the pain consumed her. She couldn't even bring herself to move or even speak as she was sent to hell right there in front of every Guardian in attendance. She could hardly see anything that was going on around her. Everything was just a blurry inferno of torture.

Sabian whipped around and did the same thing to Fiera. She tried to continue to walk, as the pain took over, but she too collapsed to the floor, feeling like lightning was surrounding her, rendering her muscles useless, just as Odette's were at the moment. The pain shot up her spine and into her head, making it feel like it was about to split open right there in front of everyone.

Derek had no idea what to do. He couldn't physically see anything attacking Odette, but he knew she was in desperate pain. He'd never seen her hurt so much, and he could not bear to see her normally gorgeous face twisted up into such hellish agony.

"Don't move," Sabian warned the entire crowd, Angel especially, who looked like he was ready to kill Sabian, by the way he was clutching his sword. "Imagine the worst pain you've ever felt, and multiply it… by a thousand. Those two don't have to imagine. I assure you, they are trapped in their own little living hell. If I must, I will kill them both and not have a second thought about it." Complying with the mad demon and his servants, no one in the room moved, even as Sabian strode over to Odette, and knelt down to whisper in her ear.

"You look just like your mother. Unfortunately, it seems you don't have her strength. This attack would have never worked on her. You'd be quite a disappointment, if she knew you. I think I'd let her go just to show her what a miserable failure her daughter is. But, alas, I can't do that. How very sad."

With that, he stood up and faced the crowd of Guardians – angry Guardians. "Now don't worry, she'll come out of it soon. Don't worry about your weakling little monarch. But then again, if you would have worried about her mother in this way, maybe this one wouldn't be such a pathetic mess."

Sabian strode casually over to the window, waved goodbye sarcastically, and leaped through the broken glass, followed by his fellow demons. For a minute, nothing moved when they were gone. The silence was broken by Derek's fearful voice erupting into the quiet.

"Get her to the infirmary!"

Then, in a blind rush of movement, Odette was scooped off the floor and carried to through the hallway. Derek remained behind to organize a search party for those demons. As soon as every available person had joined, they immediately left, planning to fan out in the forest outside of Elmswell.

Angel himself tended Fiera, who had come out of the attack faster than Odette did. It was obvious she had been attacked that way before, as she wasn't in complete shock when she tried to stand up.

She moved quickly, guided by Angel, back to her room, where Angel insist she stay for the night, instead of going with Derek and his search party. One step at a time, they made it up the second tallest tower in the castle. Feeling like she might collapse again, but wanting to be ready in case of another attack, Fiera changed into regular day clothes. However, even this simple task exhausted her.

The pain was something, no matter how many times she'd been attacked with it, was something she would never get used to. It was so crushing that she couldn't move, and so profound that even screaming would do nothing but add more suffering.

Needless to say, after quite a few hours searching by the light of a full moon, Derek and his search party could find nothing. The demons had come and gone so quickly that they were nowhere to be found. Exasperated and frustrated, Derek gathered his group and called off the search, knowing he wasn't going to find them that night and worrying that Odette could be drawing her last breath.

With haste, everyone made it back to Elmswell and its castle. Several people were worried about Fiera, and even more about Odette, Derek among them. Quickly, he made his way to the infirmary after getting directions from someone who seemed to have been living in the castle his entire life.

Down the corridor, up ahead, he could see people being turned away by guards at the door of the infirmary. Upon seeing Derek approach, the guard snapped to attention and gave Derek the full Guardian salute. Derek returned it and entered the room.

There, on the far end, just under a large window that let the shimmering moonlight flow into the room, was Odette. She looked like she was asleep, and Derek was thankful for this. The pain had apparently gone away, which was a very good thing. The memory of her face contorted in torture was forever branded into his brain. He prayed with every breath in him that Odette would never feel that hindering pain again. Finding a wooden chair along the back wall, Derek sat down in it, next to Odette's bed.

Gently, he kissed her forehead. It was hot, as if she had a fever. She felt stiff, and did not respond to his touch in any way. She whispered something, but he couldn't hear it. Her voice was simply too weak to project the sound to a decently audible level.

"What was that, Odette?" he asked softly, bending down closer so he could hear her better.

Her answer was a soft moan, like something was confusing to her, and she could not figure out what it was or why it was even confusing. She sounded like she was talking in her sleep, which Derek could not help being disturbed by, as Odette was a very sound sleeper.

"There's still a chance…"