- Whispers and Wonders: An Evil Grin

"And why do you want my help?"

His snarky voice and tone made Lia want to crawl deep within the shadows of the room, hide there, wait for his guard to drop, before dragging him away to the worst nightmare he could ever imagine.

It twisted all her guts, instinct, and character the wrong way , when she reminded herself that she couldn't touch him.

At least not yet.

"You are a part of the security team around here. I've also been given some keen bits of information. About your attitude."

And other things she would have preferred not to hear, considering they only made her hatred for the man grow.

"Oh?"

Marcus took a keen interest in her words, sitting up from his leather chair, a small glass mug in his hand.

"And what are today's rumors about me?"

Lia shrugged, not too keen on getting some innocent maid or butler in trouble if this man simply found whoever he wanted, and blamed them for ratting him out.

"Not going to tell me then?"

She glanced away, his snarkish attitude giving off the hints that he was still trying to woo her. A tactic that Cain, in all his glorious wisdom, could not help but laugh on and on in her head when she revealed this fact to him.

Guys normally didn't see it when a girl tried to woo them, and with Cain, she doubted he would do or be on the receiving end of any wooing.

'I heard that you little brat.'

'Just stating the obvious.'

'And how would you know the obvious?!'

It took everything she had not to break a smile across her face, afraid it would give Marcus and his pig like posse behind him, still drinking and laughing merrily at the sight of another girl, some unneeded confidence.

And yes, there were many females, either maids, or women invited from local villages some ways away. To travel all the way here just to drink with these fools. She couldn't help but feel more and more revolted by this place.

Women sitting on men's laps and chatting on and on about…"bedtime activities," all the while other men were chatting behind the girl's back about which one was better.

She hated every moment of it.

And thankfully, so did Cain by his distasteful gaze she felt crawl and make its way onto his face every time Marcus decided to show his ugly face, his eyes peering over Lia like she was some trophy.

It disgusted him just as much as it disgusted her.

However, despite Lia's attempts at trying to hide her smile from the pig, Marcus caught on enough to rise from his chair, the girls around him complaining, asking him to sit back down ,as he made his way slowly over to her. He stumbled here and there, the blame falling to his dunkardness, before he stood only a few feet away from Lia's face.

Too close for comfort, but she had at least gathered his attention.

Just on the wrong topic.

"Look Marcus. You prance around the Manor, drinking in public, taking away maid after maid to your beds, and all for nothing. You're not afraid of anyone, or anything, and who could blame you?"

Marcus chuckled, the sounds of his "spoils" - as he called them - sounding all too pleasant of memories in his head, wishing he could relive each and every one of them.

"So?"

He asked in a drunken grumble, taking another swig of his bottle.

"So, my point here is that, you've never once been punished by the lords or the head butler or guard smith. You've always had the blind eye turned your way. I want to know, what makes you so confident that you prance around the Manor, without a single fear to show for your shadow."

He actually turned around trying to grab at his own shadow, looking at it for a moment, before turning back to her with a snarkish, pig-faced smile.

"I don't hide any fears in my shadow. Do you?"

"Several. And I can quite honestly tell you that if you saw them you'd crawl into your own fears to get away."

By this she was referring to Cain, who she had no doubt was secretly hoping to get the chance at ripping Marcus' skin off his face.

"Aw."

Marcus got closer, clearly not hearing the threat in her words, though many of his friends did, some even turning their heads to see the commotion going on at the front of the room.

They were currently in a small cellar room down under the Manor, a place where mostly maids and butlers, guards and groundskeepers ate. However, since it was long past lunch time, as well as dinner time, this group of fools had decided to commandeer the place and turn it into a local bar.

Even as Marcus' hand reached out for her check, his words already leaving his mouth before their skin could even touch, she couldn't help but frown at the sight.

"Don't worry, beautiful. If you stay with me tonight I can-"

"I think I'll pass."

She said, slapping his hand away, causing silence to usher in around them, all eyes on them as the sound of the slap echoed through the air.

"Oh? We've got ourselves a feisty one here boys!"

He called back to his friends, turning around with his arms waving in the air.

"Lets see how long it takes for me to bed her?!"

The men and women raised their glasses, all deeply drunk, cheering him on as he turned to face her, a disgusted look on her face.

'Down Cain.'

She said in her head, already feeling the heat of anger rise in her chest, mirroring Cain's emotions.

'Lia?'

'Yes?'

'I want to kill him.'

'Due time. Due time.'

Marcus approached her, a second glass of beer in his hand, the stench of it making her nose scrunch up.

'They actually drink this piss?'

"Take it."

He said, glancing to the door behind Lia, his eyes watching for any shadows moving behind it.

"Or do those men on the other side of that door already have claim to your heart?"

She scoffed, reminding herself why she had asked Rian and Lukali to stay behind.

Contrary to what she would have wanted, Cain had warned her before about bringing Rian and Lukali inside with her, as he told her where to find Marcus. And now, contrary to her own opinion, she agreed with him.

Rian and Lukali were close to her, close enough they could call one another friends. But there were still bridges that could be built between them , and knowing how much respect they had for her as a warrior Huntress, and how much she had put on the line for them, she knew that they wouldn't have lasted more than five minutes inside.

Especially with Marcus' words constantly talking about either her figure, or bedding her. Neither of which she would guarantee would leave him with any sets of teeth had her friends been present with her. They wouldn't have standed for this.

"They have claimed my respect. Not my heart."

"So you're still open then?"

Lia's frown deepened as she gave Marcus the death stare.

"Answer my questions. Give me what I want to know."

"Or what?"

His face got serious, for the first time in his entire drunken stupe, as the smile disappeared, finally seeing the threat Lia was implying.

When she didn't reply, he continued to push her, getting closer and closer to her face, though she remained where she was, her stone cold gaze watching him.

"What's the matter baby? Cat got your tongue?"

"Answer me Marcus."

He stared intently at her stone cold eyes, watching for any shiver or tremble in her stature, a sign that his threats were working. However, when he saw none, the smile quickly returned to his face, throwing up his hands laughing, as he made his way back towards his friends.

He didn't want them to know he had lost a stare down, a woman being the one to do so, so he quickly made it look like it was all a joke, receiving many laughs and pats on the back.

"Why don't. You ask. The Masters!"

He yelled to the roof, the posse hooting in laughter with him, some drunken females even clinging to his legs as if he was a god. Though he certainly acted like it.

"I have. They won't-"

"Won't what?"

He leapt towards her, his eyes wide and insane, as he watched her with a piercing gaze.

"Won't what?"

"...tell me."

"They won't tell you? Oh, now isn't that sad."

He licked his lips, the feeling of superiority grabbing at his head.

"I could tell you. For a price."

"Before I kick in your skull, tell me what I want to know before you die."

Lia didn't bother to hide the threat this time in nicer words and instead just said it straight out, causing Marcus to burst out into laughter.

"Ha…hahaha. Hahahaha!"

He wiped away tears forming at the edges of his eyes, the cheers of his friends behind him fueling his arrogance.

"Is that so? You're going to kill me?"

"Maybe not kill…but I can make every moment of it hurt."

"Pfft - hahaha! Y-You…hurt me? Hahahaha!"

He threw his head back, but just as swiftly as he did that, his left hand shot out to slam against the wooden wall behind her, pinning Lia between his chest and the wooden door. His head lowered slowly, the smile of joy and laughter, drunkenness and of a fool disappeared from his face.

"You want to know why I act like I can get away with anything?"

A thought crossed Lia's mind, causing a small prickle of fear to course through her soul, piercing her heart. She was unafraid until now, seeing as all it took was a simple wave of the hand, and his entire bone structure could be broken. But now, she felt the fear everyone in her position faced.

Whether it be man, woman, anyone. Fear is fear. And it crossed her mind, only for a second, digging deeper roots inwards to her soul.

His face got closer and closer, the sounds of cheers of Marcus' friends dying out in the background as his mouth moved to her ear, where his whisper sent chills down her spine.

"It's because I can."

Lia didn't feel anything, even as his words crossed through one ear and out the other, passing through her mind. His eyes were the only thing she was focused on, his smirking grin, pig-face attitude being the one thing so vivid in her mind that she couldn't see anything else.

'Cain…'

Lia didn't need to say anything more after that, as the feeling of a fire rising, burning, coursing through her veins was all that replaced her fear.

Though she couldn't see it, to Marcus, her face turned from a splintering fear, to one of cold and emotionless views.

"Has the fear left you already. Don't worry…"

His other hand reached out for her face, fingers moving in a not so "kindly" way, as he imagined the way she would squirm under his grip.

But his hand never made contact with her flesh, nor her skin as the feeling of a hot and trickling warmth flowed down his arm.

"Ahhh!"

One of the women screamed, staggering back, waking up from her drunkenness in a flash, as the rest of Marcus' friends looked on with wide eyes.

"Huh…?"

He turned his head slowly to the side, looking at his once enacted hand, which hand now had been crumpled to an unrecognizable amount. Bones snapped in various places, fingers disjointed with his wrist, as blood even began to trickle out of small cuts and wounds that had been caused from various sharp and broken bones that had pierced his flesh.

The hand, which had at once been large enough to wrap fully around a small baseball, was now crushed enough that it looked more like a golf ball.

"Wha…what?"

He felt no pain, even as he turned to face Lia's glowing and shimmering crimson red eyes. Wisps of red detached themselves from the glowing pupils, dissipating into the air above her head.

She looked less like a woman and more like a demon. But even then, she looked less like a demon than…something worse.

But what made his eyes widen in fear, was the small smile that crossed her face. It was not filled with joy, nor was it filled with malice. It was just there, empty, lonely, and haunting.

Finally, the pain hit him like a battering ram, as he crumpled to his knees empty of breath and air, as he desperately tried to scream in pain. But no voice came out of his mouth, even as he struggled to breathe, raising his head to face Lia.

His eyes widened at the sight of a dark shadow spreading across the back wall, attached to the feet of one Lia, who stared on like nothing was wrong. Like there weren't two eyes watching from her shadow.

Then came a voice.

Only one voice was heard in the deathly silent room.

A voice so demonic it caused the very skin along their bones to quiver in fear.

Deep and pulsating. Long and echoing. Dangerous while hunting.

Fear filling, yet ever knowing.

One thought.

"Now little mouse. Shall we begin again?"

Demon.