Bones of the Demon King

Chapter 32

An old song by The Partridge Family filled Joelynn's ears. She tried moving her arms but couldn’t. It felt like they were tied up and her eyes had a blindfold over them. Something was on her head too. She couldn’t see and she couldn’t move. What the hell was going on? She started to scream for help until a man came to where she was at. She was blindfolded, but she could hear him breathing.

“Joelynn, I would stop screaming if I were you.”

She felt the tip of a knife caress her cheek. She immediately stopped screaming and started whimpering.

“That’s better,” he said. “I’m sorry for the blindfold. I don’t normally make my girls wear them but you’re a special case.” The knife began to travel down her neck and across her shoulder towards her right arm. He wasn’t cutting her, just letting her feel the cold knife against her hot skin.

“I’m sorry I had to take you like this. You can blame your cousin. The more she tries to find out information about me…the more I want to punish her.” As he said the last words, he pressed the tip of the knife into the inside of Joelynn’s right arm. It was a shallow puncture, but it still made her cry out in fear.

“I would’ve gone after her directly but that’s not fun. Scaring her…that’s fun.” He began to make shallow wounds in her right arm and then her left. He wished he could leave permanent scars on her so that if Eva saw her, she would always be reminded of the power he held, but he didn’t want to kill Joelynn. Not yet.

“I texted your cousin. She’s willing to trade her life for yours. Will you let her do that Joelynn? Will you let her die for you?” Joelynn didn’t answer. Instead she continued to cry in fear, making low guttural sounds that annoyed him. “Answer me, bitch!” He struck her face with his gloved hand.

Joelynn squealed and in between sobs answered, “Yes.”

His low sinister laughed filled the room. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Don’t feel too bad. You’re only human Joelynn. We’re programmed to love ourselves more than others. Your poor cousin loves you more than herself but she’s special.” He was quiet for a moment and all she could hear was the music playing in the background. Finally he spoke again, “I’m not sure how this is going to play out Joelynn. I will make you a promise though. If you come out of this alive, I expect you to disappear from Eva’s life. If you don’t, I’ll come after you and finish what I started tonight. Do you understand?” 

Joelynn could feel him adjusting something on her head. It felt like a very light crown. That’s when she realized who had her. It was the Demon King. Her scream filled the air.

Suddenly she heard Jacob next to her, “Are you okay Joelynn?”

Joelynn was sitting up in bed and Jacob was beside her. She was safe. Mrs. Torres, Jacob’s mother, came running into the room with a baseball bat, “Is everything okay? I heard screaming.” Jacob laughed at the sight of his mother and told her everything was fine. She begrudgingly left the two of them alone.

“I’m sorry Jacob. I just had a bad nightmare,” Joelynn explained.

Jacob put his arm around her to offer her some comfort. “This is all Eva’s fault,” he said in anger.

Joelynn shook her head, “No. It’s not her fault Jacob. It’s the Demon King’s fault. She can’t control what he does.”

Jacob didn’t agree with her, “She can control what kind of articles she writes.”

Joelynn sighed, “Honestly, I think I should have been prepared for something like this. It’s kinda like when you stand too close to a fire and get burned. Well Eva is the fire. She has this burning passion to do her job. She’s always been like that.”