Obsession Of The Demon Prince

The Evil Follows You

After the dangerous and unexpected encounter in the forest Seraphine rushed home without looking back.She steps into the house and takes off her coat to feel the warmth of the fire.

"Uh ah you are early” her father says ,without turning around to glance at her.He never looks at her these days.His eyes rarely leaves the fire as he lays on the cot near the fire place.

People who knew her father five years ago would not be able to recognise the man he is now.

Silent,scared,timid.

All he became in one night.

"I had help to finish up soon,father” Seraphine replied.

He doesn't talk anymore.Seraphine walks into the kitchen to make porridge for dinner.

Lost in thought about tonight's events, she doesn't hear her brother coming inside the kitchen.

"The hunt was good today Sera”

Seraphine looks at the dead deer hanging from her brother's shoulder and her mood lifts up.

"We can manage using that for a week Rhys” she says smiling and starts looking for the butcher knife.

"Yeah I think so”he replies with not much enthusiasm as her.

She looks back at her brother to see him blankly staring at the deer on the table.

"What's wrong?”she asks gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Nothing”

"Rhys tell me”

He sighs and shakes his head.
Seraphine guessed what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"I don't know how long I can do this Sera”he looks at her"this same hunting to survive life or take care of that asshole in the living room”

Seraphine drops the knife and stares at her brother.
This isn't the first time her brother said this but it still never fails to make her heart ache for him.

Their father was not a good man.
He would abandon them for days, sleeping around, gambling, fighting.After her mother died when Seraphine was 10,her father left the kids for 3 years, leaving them to fend for themselves.
He came back after that and within six months he lost everything one night when he went to hunting.He was mauled by a bear and was barely alive when the villagers brought him home.
He lost his ability to walk and has been bedridden since.

Seraphine was sure her father heard her brother's words from the living room and did not care if he did.

"We can't do what he did Rhys”

"I am 23,Sera.I have to live my life.Start a business,travel,meet someone.Taking care of him is keeping me from doing all this”

Seraphine sighed.She lost count on how many times they had this same conversation.

Rhys shakes his head"I am fed up of this” he turns and starts walking towards the door but stops.
He looks back at her"You have your own life too”.

Seraphine pours the porridge in a bowl for her father and places it on the table near his bed.

She helps him sit up and leaves him to eat.

Later that night as she lay in her bed, Seraphine couldn't help but think about what happened in the forest,the creepy guy who followed and the kind stranger who helped her.

Seraphine sits up with a start when she hears a noise outside.
It was 2 am and her heart starts beating wildly at the thought of that creepy guy finding her home.
She rushes into the kitchen and grabs the butcher knife near the dead deer and slides the curtain slightly to look outside.

She sees nothing and she walks to the door and opens it holding the knife infront of her.

Smell, horrifying blood smell.

She stumbles back with a scream seeing the body infront of her,at her doorstep.
She looks around to see if the killer is still around but she sees no one, hears nothing.

Fighting back her urge to puke she steps close to the body.
His face had numerous cuts and had a knife in his eyes.She doesn't know this guy.

Her eyes trail to the arrow in his chest and sees a small kerchief tied to it.

With shaking hands,she grabs the kerchief and opens it to see something written in blood.

       "Don't go into the forest after                dark, Esme”

Esme - (French, meaning "beloved".)