Amalgamate

Chapter 66

Rowan had never been more scared in her life. She'd forgotten to even breathe. Reaching the last stair, out of breath, she fell across the threshold into the confines of her cavernous sub level cell. Whatever spell was guarding the doorway before had vanished and that gave her pause because that meant anything could come in now.

Turning to keep her eyes on the doorway she backed into the farthest corner of the cell, like an animal that had been cornered and had nowhere to run. She realized her legs were giving beneath her just before her knees gave out completely. She sank, uncontrollably, to the floor. Pulling her arms around her middle she held on as tightly as she could, rocking herself for comfort.

The devil did exist, and he'd found her. Hell, he'd kissed her! She'd felt the strength of his arms, the warmth of his body and the forcefulness of his tongue against hers. Where were her powers when she'd really needed them? Why weren't they triggered? She had been completely helpless in his midst, like a fly in a spider's web. Tears streamed down her face as she began imagining how much worse the situation could have been had Ian not come to her rescue. For the first time since this all started she honestly considered how much trouble she was really in and realized that Ian hadn't exaggerated, even a little, when he'd said she needed training because she had no idea what was out there.

All the times he'd talked her through their toughest cases...the things he'd said all made sense now. Like the night they'd found the woman who'd been skinned alive, and she couldn't wrap her mind around how someone could do something so malicious and cruel. Ian had said, "There are worse things in this world Rowan." Back then she couldn't have imagined what could've been worse, but now she knew of at least one, and he'd been standing right outside her door.

Within minutes she heard footsteps descending the staircase. She closed her eyes hoping beyond hope that it was Ian. Too petrified to even allow herself to think of Feider closing in on her, she subconsciously held her breath. Compelling her eyes to open slowly she saw nothing, but they widened quickly in both fear and anticipation of who would come through the door.

Ceasing his forward motion he stood just outside her door. He couldn't hear her, not even her breathing, but the room was flooded with tangible fear. Realizing the extent of the damage, he listened for a moment longer...nothing.

She could hear breathing just outside her door and the controlled, audible inhalations and exhalations made every inch of her skin crawl. She knew denial wouldn't make it go away, but the thought of facing the devil petrified her, so she closed her eyes like a child who was attempting to convince herself that monsters didn't exist. Focusing her energies on the entity didn't help either. She couldn't discern who it was. Her body trembled in fear as she pulled her limbs further into herself. She had to focus, pressing her nails into her palms she tried to inflict enough physical pain to kick start some kind of self-defense mechanism.

She didn't dare open her eyes. Somehow she knew that if the demon sauntered into the room, her fragile psyche would suffer irreversible damage. Something warm and viscous ran down her wrists and arms pooling at her feet.

As he edged further forward, the smell of her blood filled his lungs. It called to him, just smelling the light scent from this distance had physiological effects on him. As her essence grew stronger, permeating the air more intensely, his pupils dilated, his fangs elongated and it finally registered. It wasn't just that he wanted her...he needed her.

He'd never had this reaction to her before, not even in the presence of her blood that night when she'd collapsed in her bathroom. But, she was different now. He was beginning to understand the depth and experience behind the dampening spell. It must have been a very good one because it was covering up more than he had initially surmised. There was something different about Rowan, something just beyond his grasp or understanding...something he'd never experienced before but would certainly need to figure out. He wondered if anyone else had picked up on it?