The Devil's Temptation!

187 Death Trap!

“Are you sure this is the place?”

Adryan asked with a hint of uncertainty as they ventured deeper into the forest, with only two of his loyal guards following his trail.

Before they stepped into Viscarrian, he made sure to take just two of his guards in order to lessen the suspicion they might encounter on the way, and he strictly ordered the rest to stay outside the border in case something goes wrong.

To say he was surprised that the Demons evidently had a kingdom was an understatement and it left his mouth hanging agape.

He was effortlessly taken aback by the sight before him after they crossed the magic border. Just like he was told, the barrier was indeed breaking but despite that, it still wasn’t so easy to cross the invisible barrier without making use of some of their special artifacts.

Their belief was that the Demons always hid in the shadows, they made it their home while ambushing from the forest in search of their next victim, and to think that belief was a partial lie made him curious to figure out more secrets about this hidden kingdom.

To top it off, when they spotted a few demons walking down the path, they looked nothing like the Demon’s they mostly slayed in Euphrasia.

They looked more....human!

“Your majesty.” Sir Bryan called his attention the moment they stopped before another horse in the forest. Confusion and bafflement painting the faces of the three men as they exchanged puzzled glances before fixing it back on the horse.

.....

“A horse?”

Adryan got down from his own horse to check out the charcoal-colored horse that was stranded in the middle of the forest. The horse didn’t move when he approached it slowly, and he made sure to assure the horse that he meant no harm before taking any closer steps towards it.

“Who could possibly abandon horse’s in the middle of the forest?” Questioned Bryan who equally got down from his horse, staring questionably at the black horse before averting his gaze to the narrow path ahead.

“I don’t know.” Adryan responded, but before he could jump into thorough conclusions, something very pleasing invaded his nostril as he scented a familiar floral scent from the horse. A very unique lavender floral scent that left his brows knitting into puzzlement.

“This scent....” He muttered to himself, trying to remember where he perceived a similar scent as this, but sadly, his brain was refusing to click on the owner of that specific floral scent.

“Come on, we go on foot.” Adryan announced to the remaining two before taking the route that appeared denser. It appeared that the horse’s too were unwilling to move further, which brought about his decision on finishing the journey on foot.

The two guards took their weapons as well, including every other necessity that would be needed while going further.

Adryan wasn’t sure why he sensed those scents were familiar, but one thing he knew was that Demons had the ability to teleport and run faster than the wind, so it could only mean that whoever brought the horse was a human, and judging from the scent, he knew it was a lady.

But what sort of woman enters a place as dangerous as this?

~

Without stopping or slowing down on her pace, Anna kept running through the deep woods without considering the direction she kept taking.

The crunching sounds of dried leaves echoed through the forest as she ran on them, but she just fixed her gaze on the path she kept taking, not looking back either or stopping to catch her unsteady breath.

She wasn’t really bothered as long as it got her away from that evil demon, but the forest seemed to have no end as she kept running.

As for Gemma, she didn’t worry too much about the little one cause she assumed she’d know the route a lot better than her, and also, with her blood still dripping from her palm, the scent of her blood was more than enough distraction to lure Luderick away from Gemma’s direction.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to beat nature and when she realized she had run enough, she stopped in her tracks to quickly catch her breath, bending slightly with her hands resting on her knees.

Living under the same roof with Demons seemed to have influenced her and she keeps forgetting she’s a human, she couldn’t run as fast as them but felt like she could.

Brushing that off, she immediately scanned the area for a specific spot to hide and there was an enclosed space somewhere behind the trees, covered with leaves.

Spotting the perfect hiding spot, she hid herself there and crouched on the ground to avoid being seen, just in case to secure her protection.

Looking at her injured palm, Anna stared at her open flesh that was still bleeding, and it was only after she chose to examine it that the pain returned.

“Aish!!” She winced when she used a piece of her cloth she had quickly torn to tie her wounded palm with.

She had slit herself a little too deep and if she keeps losing this much blood, she’ll grow weak and even pass out from triggering the stupid mark on her head.

“How do I find my way out?” She muttered while glancing from tree to tree, then wisely decided to wait in her hidden spot for some extra minute.

After an unknown amount of time of waiting, it didn’t feel like anyone was coming and that relieved her a bit, which means Luderick didn’t follow her, else he would have been here long before now.

Slowly getting to her feet once again, Anna wasn’t willing to take any more rest until she was out of here.

Coming out of her hiding place and standing on the earthly path, she continued from where she stopped, but didn’t run since her limbs were already feeling weak.

She picked up a thick broken branch from the ground for defense, in case any other hungry demons try to come for her blood.

As she kept moving with the aim of finding the exit, she halted when Luderick stood ahead, and her eyes widened seeing he had truly followed her.

“You!” She took a step back.

A devious smile formed on his lips and his eyes glinted with humor. Blue threadlike lines of vein inhumanly stretched from the skin of his eyes to his ears before disappearing from sight.

“Human”

“Stay away from me.” She pointed the heavy stick at him, “forget the fact you’re a demon I won’t hesitate to smash your head if you come near me.” She threatened and took a cautious step back.

Sensing he wasn’t going to come after her, she turned around, getting ready to run when he unceremoniously uttered.

“Isn’t this how fate works,” he began, “I guess your lover figured it out and is here to find you,” he chuckled darkly, “it’d be so sad since he’s going to die if you can’t reach him on time.”

With that unpredicted statement, Anna halted as he said those words, turning around quickly to look at Luderick who folded his arms.

“Roshan is here, and is looking for you, I feel his presence but he’s unaware of the fact he’s walked into a death trap.”

“What do you mean?” Anna didn’t fully understand and waited for Luderick to finish.

“What I mean is, if you can’t get to Roshan soon enough, he will die.” He smirked evilly.

“It’s already counting, go go go.” He said almost melodiously, as though he was enjoying the shock that plastered her face and after hearing that, all Anna could think about was Roshan before she ran off again.

But Luderick had no intention of going after her, he’s got her blood and now he’s waiting to see who’ll die first.

“Will it be Anna? Is it Roshan? Or none?” He laughed, “this should be fun.”