Dark Hunger

The eagle or King Edyrm, had dug its beak in the demon and injured him severely. There were high chances that the demon would die of infection from the open wounds. 

Arryn climbed down the throne and ambled to the demon, clicking her claws. "Why Haden? You've been a coward? You ran away leaving your team to save yourself, and not to give us the information about her." 

"N—no!" Haden said, his voice shaky more because of fear and less because of all the pain. "I came here to pass the information that they have moved to a different location." 

"That we already know, Haden," said Arryn coldly. She circled the demon and when she came to stop at the back, she placed her claws on his head. Then she looked at the eagle who had spread its wings over the throne, and nodded. The eagle screeched and shot towards Haden. The demon shouted in terror and tried to move away, but Arryn's grip on his head was so strong that he couldn't move. The eagle attacked Haden's eyes and gouged them with its sharp claws. Haden cried in pain, his face a mangled mass of flesh and blood. The eagle flew back and perched on the throne's backrest. Arryn held Haden by his horns and then struck his neck with his claws to snap it. Haden's head fell on the floor with a thud and rolled several feet away as blood spurted like a fountain from his neck. Each and every demon who was standing on the side was terror-stricken. Arryn was always the cruel one. She was a woman of less words, and very mysterious, but she was extremely merciless… a shade less than her father. 

She turned to the demon who was standing by the throne and watching her act with cold eyes. "Call that messenger inside, Vaden," she said to the twin of Haden. Vaden bowed to her and walked out of the cave. When he came back, he had a man in a hooded cloak trailing him on his heels. The hood was so much drawn on his face that it was difficult to discern his features. Moreover, there was a mist over his face which made his features hazy and was a good mask. 

Arryn walked over the blood of the demon to the throne, her feet tracing the blood on the way. She tilted her head towards the man and rested it over her palm. "Do you have the whereabouts of the king and the queen?" she asked directly in a stiff voice, with narrowed eyes, without a formal greeting. The eagle perched behind her watched the man with his wings tightly tucked. 

The man nodded. "We do have." The voice that came out of him was hoarse and shaky as if being filtered from the mist and then traveling over a gravely path. "They are on their way to Wick, in Scotland." The man moved away from the headless torso of the demon and said, "But I hope you remember our deal." 

"We do," replied Arryn. She tapped the stone armrest of the throne. "You want the Amber Moonstone in return for the vampire mate of the sorcerer king." 

"Yes," he said. "If you don't help us with the Amber Moonstone, then the bargain is off." 

The eagle on the throne spread and fluttered its wings in a dangerous way. Seeing that, magic from the man's hand dropped in the form of white lights that crackled around his fingers. "Don't you try your tricks on us, demon king," he said in the same gravelly voice. "We are in this deal together because it would mutually benefit us." 

The eagle screeched loudly and was about to attack him when Arryn shouted, "Father!" The eagle looked at her in a feral way and fluttered its wings intimidatingly but stayed atop the back rest. She turned to the man and said, "How about we take a blood oath?" She narrowed her eyes to look at him as if trying to pierce through the mist that covered his face. "That will bind us." 

The magic from his hands pulled back in his skin. The mist around him shifted as he nodded slightly. "Yes, we can take the blood oath." 

A smile came on Arryn's lips and she stepped down the throne. She walked to the man and using her claw, she sliced the middle of her palm. Blood trickled down it in a thin line. She looked up at the man. When he presented his palm to her, she did the same thing by slicing his skin in the center. The two brought their hands together and she said, "Dexturi!" The man repeated, "Dexturi." A white light encircled around their joined palms and the blood oath sealed. 

By the time Arryn reached her throne, the skin on her palm started stitching itself. She flicked her black feather robe to the side and crossed her legs. "Is there anything else you want me to do for you?" she asked sarcastically. 

"No," the man replied and without another word, left. 

When he had reached the mouth of the cave, he stopped, as a gust of wind flapped his long cloak on his ankle. The next moment a portal was created and he stepped into it. The portal disappeared the moment he was gone. 

The pin-drop silence in the cave was broken when Arryn called Vaden. "Take half a dozen demons with you to hunt her. We need her as soon as possible. When you find her, don't think twice about trapping her and bringing over." 

Vaden bowed to her and then with one last look at the fallen torso of his brother with whom he had shared the same womb, with whom he had shared the same number of five years, he strode out of the cave. Rest of the demons also followed him. Vaden had been an extremely trusted General of Edyrm outside Galahar. Along with his brother, Hayden, he had recruited many rogue demons. Not only that he had influenced many innocent demons and turned them rogues. When Vaden reached outside, he found two rogue winged demons waiting for him. He chose three demons along with him and then the six of them disappeared into the thick of the night. 

"We need to leave Fulshire, Father," said Arryn as she climbed down the steps of the cave. With a flick of her wrist, she weaved magic for the torches to burn. They came to life with a soft blast and the cave filled with flickering shadows. "Auril's mother, the druid queen, Shalia, is close to us. One of the men informed me. If she finds out that you are here, she will attack you." The eagle lifted his wings and dipped his beak and clucked. She understood what he was trying to convey. "No father, there is very little chance that she will ally with us." She took a deep breath. "If we had come here before that wretched vampire, we would have helped Auril. Her son is the key to everything." She shook her head feeling disgusted. After Edyrm had come to the human realm, this was the only place he could hide because here his daughter could use her magic freely.. But Fulshire was in control of Shalia and that was a big detrimental factor.