As the Demon Demands ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Evangeline sighed loudly, leaning against the wall. She hugged herself tightly as she looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep herself warm in this cold, dirty cell. She wasn't sure how long she had been there for, but she could make an educated guess based on the meals they would bring her. She only received one a day, which was always just some terrible soup or gruel with bread. So, based on the number of meals, she could assume she had been there five days.

So far, things were bearable. She hadn't been dragged out to be tortured, though that wasn't to say she had been treated well. She was only getting one terrible meal a day, and she only had a bucket of water to use for drinking or cleaning herself with. And that was only after what had happened the second night.

She hugged herself tightly at the thought. It had been a horrifying ordeal; two cloaked men and a woman carrying a bucket had come to her cell. The woman had thrown a bucket of cold water at her, telling her that she smelled. Then she had ordered the two men to strip her down and get her cleaned up.

They had been violent, roughly holding her down and tearing her dress off of her despite her pleads to stop. Then, with rags, they had scrubbed her down wherever they could reach. And the way they had touched her... She had truly thought it wouldn't end with a painful watching. She had half expected them both to pin her down and have their way with her.

But they didn't go any further than painful scrubbing. It had all ended as soon as the woman told them to stop. Then she threw an old rag dress at her and told her to wear that before the three of them had left.

Evangeline looked at one of her arms. There was still some redness and discoloration from where they had scrubbed her down. She could still see some red spots, where she had bled from. Fortunately, it had only been that one night, and no one else had bothered her much again. Still, every time people came by her cell, she feared they would hurt her again, or drag her to be tortured somewhere.

She knew it would happen. Lamia had sworn to make Marak suffer by punishing her. So all she could do was wait in anticipation, sitting on her hard bed with her thin blanket wrapped around her. Every time she heard a creak or footsteps, she feared that someone was coming to drag her out and inflict whatever nightmares Lamia had in store for her.

Her stomach growled. With a sigh, she reached over from her pillow and pulled out the piece of bread from her meal. She had made the smart choice to save her bread whenever they brought her daily meal. It held her over and kept her from getting too hungry throughout the day. Even if it was hard and a little stale, it was better than nothing.

She broke it in half, hoping to save the other half for breakfast. Though when she did, she was shocked to find a paper inside of it. Confused, she set down the bread and pulled it out. It was blank, which made her even more confused. But the second her ring touched it, glowing letters bloomed across the page. She nearly dropped it, but managed to only flinch away. Soon, the light dimmed away and only a short sentence was left on the page.

"Help is coming. Be awake."

She only had about twenty seconds to read it before the note burst into flames. She gasped, releasing the burning parchment before it quickly disappeared into ash. Help was... coming? Not sure if she truly believed it, she jumped out of the bed and ran to the bars. She turned her head towards the stairs, anxiously waiting for someone to appear.

Had they found her already? Was she finally going to get out of this nightmare? She didn't even realize she was bouncing on her feet, gripping the bars in the desperate hope that someone was coming. The paper said someone would be here... though it never specified what time. It only said to be awake, so she had to assume it meant late at night.