Shelby frowned when she saw the number that was calling her. Wait, no, not just calling, it was requesting a video call. That was a little suspicious, since she and Ross had only ever texted since she had left, but she answered it anyways, albeit apprehensively.
She gasped when the screen showed who was on the other end of the call. Ross wasn't the one holding the phone, but, instead, it was the woman that Shelby recognized as the mayor, but her eyes were the same as the pair that had haunted Shelby's nightmares since she was a little girl, and had first seen the 'protector' of Redstone Town.
"Shelby." The monster greeted her, smirking at her fearful expression. "I would like to make a deal with you."
She didn't reply, instead staring, fixated, at the screen, terror bubbling up inside her.
"Your cousin, Ross, has been keeping secrets from the town." Sky explained easily, switching the phone around so that Shelby could see more of the demon's surroundings. She flinched at what appeared. Ross, trembling, in a cell at the police station, half leaning on another, unfamiliar and horribly battered and beaten man for support, and half holding the other man up himself. In Sky's right hand, the one which wasn't holding the phone, there was a gun, pointed straight at Ross' forehead. "And, as such, he must be punished. Now, there are a few ways that this could go down." Sky switched the camera back around, raising an eyebrow at Shelby. "He could be punished with his own death, or he could be punished with the death of you, and his new...friend." The demon sneered, glancing at the stranger in the cell with Ross. "I gave him a choice, to save you, or save Max here, but he refused. Which means, if he want's the two of you to live, or, at least, the one of you that isn't here at the moment, then he has to be terminated."
The camera pointed at the pair in the jail again. Ross was trembling, fiercely. The stranger, the one Sky had called Max, was sending a look of pure loathing towards the demon, arms wrapped protectively around Ross, pulling him close. "If you wanna kill Ross, you're gonna have to get through me first." He growled out.
Ross shook his head. "No, no, don't, Max, please." He gave the camera a pleading look. "Shelby, you too, don't do it, please, I, I can't be responsible for your deaths, please, just hang up the phone, and, and go back to your life. Please." He frantically added, fingers digging into Max's arm. Max winced, slightly, but didn't stop him, instead just pulling Ross close again, sending the demon a furious look.
Sky, for their part, didn't seem to have even listened to the two's words. "You have twenty four hours to get here, and sacrifice your life for the sake of your cousin's. After that, he dies. And, every hour that you don't come, up until that mark, we will inflict pain on him, until the deadline is met, and he is disposed of. We will send you pictures, to show you how much worse his condition is, every hour." A furious shout came from Max off camera, and a muffled whimper from Ross, like he had tried to keep it down so Shelby wouldn't realize how scared he was. "This starts now."
The demon hung up, leaving Shelby trembling in the middle of her apartment, the phone slipping from shaking fingers and landing on the floor with a thud that seemed deafening in the sudden silence.
YOU ARE READING
The Redstone Demon
Fanfiction"You're not Ross." Max choked out, as his hands scrabbled uselessly at the fingers locked around his neck. "Who-what are you?" He wheezed, as his vision started to dim around the edges. The thing wearing Ross' face grinned sinisterly, red eyes glint...
