The footsteps following me sounded closer. I ran through the empty corridors of the hospital, my heart pounding with terror. I was desperately hoping for some exit or someplace to hide.
I turned a corner, and then I stopped short. I had reached a dead end. The footsteps were directly behind me now. When they stopped, with no other options, I turned around to face the monster chasing me.
I tried to act tough, but my body betrayed me when my hand flew up to grab my chest as if to slow my pounding heart.
"Avelina Branson," he said, looking me up and down. He had a really cute smirk on his face. It made it so hard to resist him, but I knew that I needed to. "Come, my darling," he said, holding one hand out to me. It took everything I had not to put my hand in his.
"No," I told him, trying to keep my voice steady. "Cameron Paine, you will never have me."
"My little bird," he said, putting his warm, tattooed hand on my now-blushing cheek. I could feel the heat rising to the surface of my face to meet his touch. "You are already mine."
"No," I repeated. It felt like it took every bit of my soul to pull away from him, and when I did, a tear rolled down my face and I turned my head to the side, looking at the floor so I wouldn't have to see that saddened look on his face.
Today was my 18th birthday and I just learned that not only are demons real but that my father promised me to the worst one of them all. You see, my mom almost died when she gave birth to me. She was allowed to keep her life as long as Dad promised he'd let Cameron take me when I turned 18.
My dad said he had planned on preparing me for this day, but then he said that every time he tried to tell me, it just hurt too much. So he never prepared me.
It wasn't today when he told me the truth about it all. He had told me that it was going to be okay. He had told me to just be good and do what Paine told me to do. He said it would all be okay if I just did what he asked of me... If I was a good girl.
But standing in front of Cameron Paine at that moment was too terrifying. I wanted nothing more than to just run away, but I found myself enthralled by him.
He didn't look terrifying, necessarily. In truth, he was quite handsome. Along with those deep brown eyes, he also had straight black hair down to his chest. He was tall and muscular, with tattoos starting on each hand and going up his arms before connecting in the middle of his chest. If I didn't know of him being a demon or of the horrible things he did for fun, I would have been eager to get that close to him. But I already knew too much about him, and it disgusted me that I found him so attractive.
He was truly the worst of the worst. He didn't harm children, from what I had heard, but everyone else was fair game. And that included me... The one promised to him.
"Avelina," came his deep, commanding voice. His warning tone snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up into his deep brown eyes, which seemed to soften a bit when he looked down into my baby blue doe eyes. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be," he pleaded. His voice actually sounded pained.
"I don't wanna go," I finally managed to say through my tears.
"My little bird, you must come." He put his hand on my cheek as if to comfort me, wiping my tears away with his thumb, but I recoiled from his touch.
"No!" I yelled. I pushed him as hard as I could and ran past him.
I had almost made it to the exit when I felt a rough hand grab hold of my long blonde hair and yank on it, pulling me back to face him. He shoved me onto my knees and forced me to look up at him. I felt terrified, and yet, I was strangely excited as well, wanting him to do more.
I looked up and saw a fire in his eyes unlike anything I had ever seen before, and I started crying again, more scared than ever. Something about that look in his eyes filled me with dread. I knew in that moment that he wasn't going to show any mercy.
"I tried to be nice," he said, rolling his eyes. "I know this isn't easy, but you didn't need to make it this difficult," he said. "I'll give you one more chance because I do like you... I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't want to hurt you, Avelina. Please, come home with me." He held his hand out then. He was hoping I'd take it and he'd pull me up and everything would be fine.
Instead, I slapped his hand away from me. I did flinch, expecting him to hit me back immediately, but he didn't. Again I said, "No," even though it hurt my very soul to deny him. "I will not. You do not own me, Cameron Paine."
"That's where you're wrong, little girl. Thanks to your father, I do own you."
He grabbed my face when he said that and then he pulled away from me, sighed as if he was sad, then pulled his hand back and hit me across the face as hard as he could.
I cried out from the pain. My vision turned red and then started fading to black. And within only a few moments, I was completely knocked out, giving him complete and easy access to just pick me up and take me home to him... Home to Hell...
