Anastasia threw her head back and laughed. "Then you will be very sorry to hear that I have married Ileus just a week back." She brought her hand up and flashed the ring towards them. "See this?" 

Hem'ran's eyes widened with shock. He stared at her as if she had grown two horns. 

She turned her finger as the lights from the orbs reflected the gold band. She caressed it gently and a glow pulsed out of it. "Isn't it beautiful?" she said in the most melodious voice as she watched the glow, which ebbed the moment she removed her finger from it. 

"I don't think you know what you have done," said Hem'ran, as he growled with anger. He looked ready to rip the ring off her finger. 

"It doesn't matter," said another demon from the back. "We will get her marriage annulled!" 

Anastasia frowned. "Annulled?" she mocked. "The marriage took place in Evindal, the elf realm. No one can break it." 

"I got a better idea!" said Hem'ran as he snapped his jaw. "I will bite off the finger and send it to the dark wizard as a gift. He can keep the finger and the rings, while we take her with us." 

"Try touching me," Anastasia hissed. "And you will taste your death. Moreover Aed Ruad can do nothing about it now." 

"It seems that the wizard prince is telling you fake tales." He ran his tongue over his fangs. 

"He has only opened my eyes. And he has done more than just making me wear the ring." She pulled the side of her breeze shirt down to expose her neck. "Do you see those marks?" She proudly pointed to his bite over there—the two prominent red circular marks where her skin had healed. "He has marked me." She chuckled coldly. "Yes, he has marked me." Throughout the conversation she was not able to understand how this demon knew so much. She had seen Kar'den at the wedding ball that night. So if this demon was here, one thing was sure—Aed Ruad was Kar'den's ally. That could be the reason why he must have sent his men to retrieve her. But she couldn't wrap her head around with the way he spoke. It was as if he knew a lot more. "You need me alive from here, Hem'ran, so one thing is sure—you won't harm me." 

Still stunned and now seething with anger, Hem'ran tilted his head. "You are right. We need you alive to take you back to Prince Aed Ruad. But that's it." 

Suddenly he lunged forward and Anastasia realized that he would not stop from harming her. She was meant to be taken alive, not without injuries though. On an impulse, she pulled her dagger out and before he could come near her, she threw the dagger in his heart. However, the demon only staggered back a little. She twisted her hand in the air for the dagger to twist accordingly. The demon screamed out of pain and fell over the pile of bodies. The dagger came back to her hand and she looked at the others, who were now cautiously treading towards her. 

Eyes wide, Hem'ran laughed. "Oh Anastasia, that was the stupidest thing you did. We don't die like that." 

"Really?" she said in a low growl. "You are sitting on a pile that I killed." 

Provoked, he lunged again at her and she kicked him hard in his chest where she had plunged her dagger. 

He yelled in pain. "That was a rude thing to do," he snarled, as Anastasia took her hands back, reaching for her magic. "That was painful." 

"I didn't attack you to relax you." She called upon her energy on the inside. "If you will perceive even a little bit about me, you would do better to stay away from me. My dagger may not kill you, but I have ways to do that and it is going to be very painful. But I assure you, it is going to be quick." She felt the magic pulsing in her hands. 

"You are very aggressive, little fae," he said as his body started healing quickly. "This is your last chance. Come with us quietly. There is no need for any of us to be violent." 

"I suggest you back off," she said and then all of a sudden flung her hands forward. 

Hem'ran ducked as the beams of white and yellow lights hit the demons who were standing behind them. They shrieked with pain as they got lacerated with the beams. 

Hem'ran lunged at her. She reared back. He started to drag her back with his massive weight. The moment his hands reached her hands, she knew she misjudged his strategy. He yanked her hands down, but her magic scooted to his thighs and his legs parted his body. "Ahhhhh!" Hem'ran howled, his grasp of her hands becoming loose. He left her and fell on the floor in front of her but not without striking her hands with his claws. 

Stars exploded in her vision as pain racked her body. She staggered on her feet. Her magic became weak. She heard others hiss as they approached to take her. "Nooo!" she shouted and somehow struggled to her feet. "I. Won't. Allow!" She said that and whatever energy she was left with, she unleashed it. Magic rolled out of her chest like a wave thrashing in the ocean. 

Once again the cave was filled with screeches and painful screams and hisses. More blood flowed, more bodies piled up. 

The magic blazed through her chest. It was so intense and consuming that for once she thought it would take the life away from her. She felt as if she was on fire. She had to stop, and get away from here. Panic set in and she dropped to the floor with her knees on the ground. She looked dazedly in front of her. The mouth of the entrance of the place she was in was clogged with mangled bodies of demons. How much more could she sustain? As her magic gradually suppressed, she looked at the orbs that were floating around her. Weakly, she moved her hands forward for them to come back to her. The air was filled with so much stench that suffocation settled in. Her limbs were shaky. Her gaze went to her hand where Hem'ran had attacked. She gasped. That place had become blue next to the wound. 

Everything had become silent. Did she kill all of them? She rose to her feet shakily. Avoiding the bodies by circling past them, Anastasia went to the blocked entrance. She couldn't help retching. Seeing so much blood and flesh made her feel repulsive. Her stomach roiled and she vomited. 

She was wheezing after puking when a faint voice came, "Anastasia!" She put her hand on her stomach and looked up. But only maimed limbs and heads hindered her vision. 

"Anastasia!" The voice called her again. 

"Ileus?" she called him back feebly. He had come? 

She kicked the pile of bodies and burned some of them with her magic to reach him as soon as possible. When she emerged from that pile, she was covered with blood and stench. Immediately she stood underneath the source of water to wash the blood off her, but soon realized that her body was turning blue. Was she dying? 

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