20 The School

The car stopped in front of the Villa a few minutes after Daemon pushed her down and kissed her. His hands gave heavy pressure on her wrists that no matter how hard she squirmed, she failed to escape from his grasp. They stayed on that position for a few minutes staring at each other not knowing what to do next.

"Uhm... " Alex broke their trance. It had been a few minutes since they have arrived in front of the villa and the atmosphere at the back seemed to grow heavier by the minute but neither one of them talking.

Daemon gritted his teeth, banged the door open. His fast and heavy footsteps brought Maia back to earth. He left her there panting as if she had run miles and miles. She lowered her head and arms then ran the opposite direction of the bedroom.

Mrs. Marie saw the dishevelled state of Maia running towards the special room across the bedrooms. The running figure slowed down til it just walked normally inside, the face shadowed and darkened.

"Oh, no... "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daemon walked out of the shower. His scarred brow twitching from the cold water dripping down his wet clothes. He didn't know how long he had been under the cold shower. He needed this, that was what has been running on his mind since he touched Maia's skin from the car.

Soon as he changed his clothes, he noticed that there was no sounds coming from across the room. He tried knocking on her room. The lights were out. It was so quiet. He went back to his room and took the keys lying on the bedside table.

When he opened Maia's room, emptiness welcomed him. He went down and bumped on Farrah. "Where is she?" his face was gloomy which scared Farrah.

"M-Madame... she i-is uhmm... " she looked behind her and found Mrs. Marie nervously fiddling with her apron.

"Well?" he coldly said to Mrs. Marie.

"I'll bring you to her Master. Please come with me. Farrah, a change of clothes for the madame please." she told them. Mrs. Marie strutted down the side hallways from the kitchen and a metallic door in the middle of the hallway with rustic edges presented itself. A latch served as its knob and Mrs. Marie pulled it down slowly afraid of making any noise.

Inside a small space were three more doors in each side of the walls. The doorknobs in each door was rusty and Daemon saw thick black spots, his brow furrowed, his heartbeat racing fast.

"Master, please if you see Madame, know that in this room is the only way she could only sleep sound and peacefully. I-" Daemon impatiently raised his hand to stop her from talking.

"I want to see my wife." the eagerness and overprotectiveness was very evident in his tone. Mrs. Marie bit her lip as she tried to push back the tears that were supposed to fall down.

Mrs. Marie slowly turned the knob on the middle of the room. The smell of blood permeated from the room inside. At first glance, it looked like a huge library with rows and rows of books in cases taller than Daemon. There was a wide path in the middle setting the book cases apart in two groups. But his eyes suddenly froze at the end of the dozens of cases. There was a large bed with white sheets and white pillows in the middle. There was meter-wide study desk at the right side of the bed with a soft-lighted lamp switched on. His eyes bulged from seeing the shackles above the bed. The yellow rays of light from the lamp fell on a small naked figure in the middle of the large bed.

He ran towards the figure and his breath was caught in his throat as he examined her white shoulders and face. His thoughts were getting awry from worry. Mrs. Marie was about to shush him when he abruptly pulled away the white sheet covering the naked figure below. A small slender figure covered with healed scars from shoulders down to waist curved in a fetal position from the sudden action.

"Master... " Farrah looked worried as hell too as she clutched the silk sleeping gown on her hands.

"She's fine. She did not injure herself this time." Daemon sat beside the sleeping woman. He looked at Maia who was still sleeping on the bed. "What is this place?" He scanned the large room and found several large chests at one corner. Every corner and shelf was splattered with something black or brown spots. In all of his years in the military, he was very familiar with this spots. These are blood splatters. He clenched his jaw and he held his forehead as if hurting for the scenes that he was imagining. Maia ran to this room. She was sleeping soundly in the only bed inside. Blood everywhere. Putting the clues altogether, he felt a stinging pain inside his chest.

Mrs. Marie lowered her head and sadness seeped through her heart. "This is the training ground for all the 'Mrs. Stones'. Madame spent the last ten years here." She choked on her words as she tried to fight back the emotion building up inside her. "Your father called it, The School."