Kapri sat up, she slid to the edge of the bed, the thoughts about what happened in the bathroom was intense and quite fleeting. Nothing close to being as memorable as the dozens of battles she was in during her short lifetime. Though the sensations were still fresh- his silver eyes shimmering with lust and his hands gripping and teasing, and his tongue–became background noise as she found herself unable to see the town Count Lirael's estate overlooked.
It's time to move.
She pulled her housecoat over her nightgown, and she stuffed her feet into her slippers to reduce the sound her footsteps would make. As soon as she opened the door, she jolted back, sliding back into the doorway when she noticed a maid walking down the hallway with sheets in her arms. All the bedroom doors on the second floor were opened as dozens of maids came out as if they were cleaning.
At this time of night?
She slid back into the room as she silently closed the door, and locked it as she leaned against the door. Her eyes fell onto the window again, the variety of muted glow of the moon in its fragmented phase barely pierced through the haze. The town was completely invisible, and she walked towards the window, her palm instantly became chilled as she touched the glass.
"If I can't get through the house…" she muttered, before she pushed open the window, and a gush of wind and ash rushed past her. Her hair fell out of a bun as it flowed behind her, and she pulled her housecoat close to her, "then I'll go through here."
She wished her thicker clothing weren't dark, but she needed to blend in while navigating around outside. Right now, all she could do was replace her slippers with boots, and pull on her glove as she leaned over the edge trying to see into Nyxith and Kavi's room. She wasn't sure if they had left already, but she'll just trust them to have followed her instructions.
With a quick glance back to ensure the door was still locked, she placed her left foot on the sill. A chuckle escaped her lips, knowing how upset Jugo would be if he knew what she was doing instead of "being safe."
"As if," she said, then hopped from the second floor. The wind rushed around her as she fell, and she landed on the ground, the ash and snow cushioning the impact with a soft crunch.
She scanned the landscape before moving around the perimeter, searching for the servant quarters. Eventually, she checked every window on the first floor where she expected them to be. Frustration creased her brow.
"Don't tell me it's below the first floor?" she muttered as she walked again, only to run into a demon servant.
They locked eyes, as Kapri tried to search for a lie to defuse the murderous look in his gaze. Holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender, she stood still through the icy ash bit at her ankles.
"Listen, I was just—"
Before she could finish, the demon's fist shot forward, faster than she expected from a servant. His fist cracked her in the jaw like a sledgehammer, her head jolted back as she crashed a few feet back into the ground. Her head fell into the snow, blood filled her mouth, hot and thick as it spilled over her lips and into onto the ground.
What the hell?
It seemed demons in this county truly despise humans, though she is quite petite he cracked her as if she were eight feet tall. Kapri gritted her teeth, as she spat blood from her mouth and she pushed her self up. The demon towered over her, quite a unattractive one with grotesque figure with jagged teeth, it smirked at the satisfaction of some sense of power. She wondered how many others he done this too without consequences.
"Knight of Duke of Vexheim, my ass," he jeered, a smirk twisting its lips before it spat on the ground near her feet. "Get your weight up, bitch."
"You know I'm gonna have to fuck you up, right?" she shot back, as she inched herself off the ground and she brandished a knife from her hip despite the lingering dizziness in her vision.
The demon erupted in laughter, it echoed in the darkness. Kapri grounded herself before lunging forward. The blade sliced through the air, but he deftly backed away with a laughter that only resonated with each missed strike. Though her knife missed, her fist didn't, she landed a vicious left jab to his ribs. A crack rung through the ripping winds as it crashed into the snow, its faced buried. Kapri quickly glanced around, hoping no one else could hear that.
With adrenaline coursing through her veins, she stepped over the fallen demon planning to just leave if she not him out. As she stood over him, she noticed the snow below her stained red, initially she thought it was from him, but not from him; it was her own blood, thick and deep crimson as it continued trickling down her chin. She touched her nose, feeling the warmth mix with the cold while he was left unscathed.
"Get up," she growled, grasping his horns and yanking its head back up. His eyes jolted open, it was playing dead. "You ain't dead, fool."
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her down as he stood and slammed her against the marble pathway. Her body hit the stones hard, the impact rattling her bones as she gasped for breath. Before she could recover, his foot rose above her head, preparing to stomp down. She rolled to the side, the blow missing her but sending snow flying.
Leaping back up, she hurled her knife at him, the blade plunged into his eye with a sickening squelch. Before he could scream, she jumped and the bottom of her foot hit the knife driving it deeper into the socket. The demon's eye burst like a grape, a torrent of dark ichor sprayed out. It mixed with the snow while the ragged edges of its eyelid fluttered, well attempted to against the blade. She stuffed a filthy cleaning rag into its mouth, muffling any cries for help as she mounted him. The hell of her boot pressed against it shoulder. With an elbow strike to its nose, she heard the another crunch that satisfied her bloodlust, though the sound was a little too stifled.
"Two times this hand tried to kill me. Looks like a demon too comfortable with its hands on humans," she snarled, grabbing its heavy arm and placing it across its chest. "Hate me all you want, but know your place around me, demon."
Yanking the knife from his eye, it let out another guttural cry, too scared to attack under her eye as she raised her hands high. Both grips on the knife, the blade glinted as the light of one of the moon's fragments glinted on it before she drove it into its wrist. It thrashed underneath her, as she sliced through flesh and muscle with a visceral tearing as she severed through it. She breathe out heavily, growing exhausted driving the small blade through so much as she watch the hand flop limply only being held by bone.
"Wah, I took too much time on you," she exhaled, watching him tremble and cry quietly. Typical, weak demons were broken so much easier than humans despite their strength over humans. She intertwined her fingers within his hand softly.
"Bullying the weak will never give you the power of the strong. You have to damn near die for it," she chuckled deeply, with all her strenght she twist it until the bones snapped and she triumphantly raised it above her. The blood spraying down over her like a warm shower, and she slammed her other hand over his mouth as it howled louder, more tears pouring from his eyes. The crimson warmth felt exhilarating against her skin, and her voice rose with a mocking innocence.
"Oh my gods, who did this to you?" she feigned shock, holding the trophy against her chest. "It wasn't Kaprice Sanaa Voss, right?"
The demon servant continued screaming behind the rag, as he closed his eyes.
"Right," she said, her voice dropping in amusement as she leaned closer, her expression morphing into a serious expression. "Right?"
He nodded, fear spilling from him like the blood pooling beneath them. With a final smirk, she slowly backed away with a swing in her step before she disappeared around the corner of the castle. She stopped initially intending to return to her room, to at least pretend she was in there, but her gaze fell on a large two-story house not too far from the castle. Light glow from the window and smoke from the chimney as if occupied.
"Was that the servant quarters?"
It looked almost inviting amid the bleakness. A path wound through the trees, leading directly to it, but it was still quite far. Far enough to keep Sergeant Jiron away without contact nearly the entire time.
"Shit, do we even need him at this point?" She hesitated, no longer feel like going to him as she felt her body grow colder. She glanced back at the castle, then towards the house, weighing her options of whether she should tell Jiron or hurry up and search the library with the juniors before the guards started looking for the "intruder" who did that mess to their servant. Ultimately, she decided it would be better to talk to Jiron first, she was sure her juniors could handle the library.
As she approached, the warmth emanating from the house igniting a slight jealousy. When she peered through a window, she saw several servants gathered inside all participating in laughter and conversation the she could not hear through the wind. Kraxil was in there in the center of the conversation with his son Bilbo nestled next to him, and they were feasting as if the famine in the county didn't exist. The same as when they were served dinner.
"For a famine, they sure are eating quite enough," she muttered, her brow furrowing at the sight. The cheerful atmosphere seemed eerie, and not just because they were demons. She trailed around the house in search of Jiron, hoping he was still safe.
Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a noise in the dark nearby. Grunts and muffled sounds reached her ears causing her to crouch against the exterior of the house as she tried to listen for where exactly it came from. Her heart raced before she spotted a familiar silhouette—Jiron, with his dreads swaying as he hunched over and he seemed oblivious to her presence.
"Is he peeing outside?" she thought confused, because she knew for a fact demons had toilets. Her eyes widened when she noticed the hands of a woman wrapped around the trunk the tree he was standing in front of with a rhythm sway. The soft moans intertwined with the whispers of the wind from the woman. Suddenly, she just grew very irritated, while she was busy getting her ass beat by a demon and venturing in the cold; he was busy having sex not even worried about the fact she didn't contact him.
Just then, Jiron caught sight of her with his eye glowing as he locked onto her form in the darkness. They both froze, confusion registered on his face, and he paused causing the woman to lift her self up from her bent position as she looked back at him. She recognized the face being the demon maid that woke her up for dinner earlier.
Good, he sees me, but I don't want her to see me.
Before she could retreat, Jiron grabbed the .22 resting against the tree and aimed it in her direction. "He better not shoot me," she muttered, lifting her head slightly to reveal her face, hoping he'd recognize her.
He didn't.
In an instant, a bullet whizzed past her ear and it sent landed into the side of the house. The laughter inside stopped, and she turned her head to him as he readied to fire again.
"This dumbfuck!" she yelled before she darted deeper into the woods, the sound of the crunching of his footsteps propelling her forward. She couldn't let anyone know she was out there, even if it meant having Jiron shoot her. That didn't mean she wanted him to shoot her either.
"Kapri!" he shouted, chasing after her with surprising speed. The soft crunch of snow and ash underfoot echoed as she sprinted, glancing back only briefly to gauge his distance. He was close, too close.
Before she knew it, he caught up to her, he grabbed her from behind and pulled her against his chest. "Boo," he said with an infuriatingly playful grin, his breath warm against her neck and his body replacing the heat she lost.
"Let me go, you idiot!" she snapped, elbowing him in the ribs. Though she really didn't want to since she was still freezing.
"I thought you didn't know it was me!" His hand, slick with moisture, touched her wrist. She grimaced, realizing it was probably from the woman he had been with.
"My palms were sweaty from chasing you," he said explained nonchalantly. "And I don't appreciate you spying on me while I'm busy, by the way."
"Why are you covered in blood with a hand that doesn't belong to you?" he tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"As if I knew!" she shot back, hitting his chest in irritation.
"Don't worry about that. I couldn't contact you because they wouldn't let you come back to the castle. We were planning to hit the library tonight. I need you to see what you can find outside the castle since you're this far out, but if I do get in trouble, leave with the coporal and private."
"Of course, I won't leave with them. Also, I was already planning to do that, especially after hearing about this festival amongst the townspeople this week," he said, pushing his hair back calm despite hearing what she said. "I wasn't just screwing around."
"With that maid?" Kapri arched an eyebrow, as she placed her hand on her hips with the demon's hand in her palm.
"Okay?" he sighed. "And I meant there's this festival—something to do with the binding or linking of hearts I was hearing. It might relate to Lord Dazriel's heart's disappearance."
"Could be," she hummed, glancing back towards the castle in the distance. "But a festival in the middle of a famine? Weird."
Jiron nodded, concern shadowing his features. "I was thinking the same. In honor of Countess Lirael, and what was strange is that they spoke of her like she was more than just a Countess, but like a god."
"It could be a cultural difference, though," Kapri considered, her brow furrowing. "A lot of human over here seeing demons as some higher beings over here, that's why I don't like my team interacting with them."
"Maybe," Jiron said, a hint of unease creeping into his voice. "But it felt different, much more unsettling hearing other demons speak the same. Sila seemed like the only normal one."
Kapri squinted realizing it was the demon maid name. "You're talking about the young demon you were f…" she trailed off, and her tone shifted with a softer tone. "I trust you, but remember the nature of demons, regardless if they bring you comfort or not."
"Of course," he replied with a casual confidence. "But you should know us humans enjoy sex as much as we enjoy eating and breathing sometimes too."
"I'm aware," she muttered as she stepped past him. "I have to get out of here and find a way to get back to the castle without getting caught. I'm sure the girls are already doing what they're suppose to."
"Be careful," Jiron called after her, his eyes following her. "I heard about how Count Lirael and many others are about humans."
Kapri glanced back at him, a smirk creeping onto her lips. "I got Count Lirael handled."
"I'm sure," Jiron said as he watched her dipped into the darkness before he started walking back.