Elijah drove the car along the side of the road and then turned into the entrance of the pines. I stared at the faded sign in the white sand as we passed. The car slowed to a stop and Elijah got out of the car. Kacey and I followed suit as Dinah hoped into the drivers seat. Elijah motioned for Kacey and I to come towards him. Dinah then drove the car further down the wide fire break between the stands of pines. I watched as the car drove further away and sighed. We were on time, so where was the demon.

“I’m glad you showed,” the demon purred, brown pine needles dangling in her red hair.

“Where’s Delilah, where’s my friend?” I demand as I step towards her. I feel Elijah grab my arm and Kacey sniffles behind us.

“In the stand of pines behind me there is a burnt out car, visible from the track just over there,” the demon pointed to a track. “I put a rusted tire rim over her grave.”

Kacey quickly started texting Dinah.

“Give me the girl, now!” The demon demanded and held out her hand.

Elijah’s grip on my arm tightened as I move to go. “Elijah, it’s fine, let me go.”

“If you want answers, girl, you better come with me.” Behind the woman I saw Dinah turn the car around as Claude opened the passenger door and disappear.

He’s going to save Delilah.

“Whoever it is that sent her, they might be able to tell me why I lost my memories.” I stared at Elijah and he studied my face, after a moment he let me go.

“Wise decision,” the woman says as she closed the distance between us. She grabbed my arm and grinned, “the girls in the trunk of the car.”

The world whirled past us in a flash. When everything stopped I had no idea where we were. Elijah and Kacey were nowhere to be seen, the pines were still in sight.

“Get in the car.” The woman demanded as she opened the door to the silver car. With a shallow breath I obeyed, the woman appeared beside me. “Put your seat belt on, in case I feel like crashing the car.”

The woman cackled and over-revved the engine as I quickly put my seatbelt on in a panic. The car took off with a jolt and we drove through the estates, wineries. For over an hour there was nothing but open road and bushland. I didn’t bother asking where we were going, I barely moved and tried my best not to stare at anything too long. Elijah had said demons have no loyalty, I assumed it also meant no morality too.

I hope they found Delilah. Gods, please be okay.

After a few hours the car rolled to a stop. I resisted the urge to put my hands in my pockets, I didn’t want them to search me. I waited for the woman to call me out of the car. I followed her into a rusted blue tin shed. Nothing but bush surrounding us. I hadn’t seen any infrastructure for the past thirty minutes.

This definitely looks like the ideal place to murder someone.

My skin prickled, my heart hammered in my chest as I walked towards the shed. If there was ever a time to run, this was the time. But there was no where to go, the sun was setting and I didn’t want to incur the wrath of a demon at night.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the brightness, the woman waited by an oil drum staring intently at a makeshift door. The heat in the tin shed was becoming unbearable. I clenched and unclenched my firsts repetitively in an effort to distract myself.

The tin door opened. I gasped as I watched a figure emerge from the darkness. His brown hair was stuck to his forehead, his skin glistened with sweat and his blue overalls were muddied with red dirt. The boots on his feet fell heavy on the ground as he walked. A chill washed over me as his amber eyes stopped on me.

“Where’s Gina?” The man asked without looking away from me.

“I don’t know,” the demon responded.

“Dead.” I whispered quietly.

The mans lips twisted into a grim smile as he said, “good riddance.”

The demon chuckled and drummed her fingers on the top of the oil drum. “She was a pain in my ass. If she hadn’t been there holding me back the entire time I could have delivered her last week.”

“You’re impulsive, I need her alive. I couldn’t risk you accidentally killing her.”

The demon’s face twisted with rage as she spat, “where’s my money?”

“In what world do demons have a use for money?” The man turned towards the demon.

“In this one, now hand it over.”

The man spat on the floor and then scoffed. “Fairies ain’t fairies, and demons ain’t demons in this world? You’ve all been infected by humanity.”

“Just give me the money already. I brought you what you wanted.” The woman stalked towards the man.

He glared at her in response and then pointed to a wooden box against the far wall. The woman smirked and then strutted around him and towards the metal box. As she approached a mischievous grin spread across the man face. I watched on in horror as the woman opened the box. White powered exploded for within, covering the woman. She let out a deathly shriek as her skin bubbled and stewed. She tried to run, but collapsed on the floor by the entrance. Her skin melting into a fleshy ooze.

I clasped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from vomiting. I sharply turned away and breathed in deeply.

“Good riddance,” the man said as he turned away and paced in front of the tin door.

“Who are you?” My voice sounding as terrified as I felt.

“Sericeus, a fairy from…another world,” he murmured quietly.

“What do you want with me?”

“Nothing.” His fingers twitched with agitation

“Then why am I here.”

The man was becoming more irritated with my questions.

“What do you want me for?”

“None of your damn business!” He yelled in fury and then caught himself. Turning away he began muttering to himself, fiddling with his hands.

I reached into the back pocket of my jeans and pulled out the salt coated blade. Elijah gave me this to kill the demon with, but…

We were standing on dirt, the kind that was soft and silent to trend upon. I closed the distance between us, the man still muttering to himself with wild hand gestures. I gripped the hilt of the blade and hesitated as he stiffened. If I lunged forward then, I could have stabbed him in the spine.

The man slowly turned, his eyes growing wide. I lunged, swinging my arm in a hook motion to plunge the knife under his ribs. He shrieked and pushed away from me, the blade still embedded in his flesh. This time I didn’t hesitate. I bolted out of the tin shed, past the silver car and down the gravel track. I can still feel the phone in my back pocket, the one that Elijah gave me so that he could track me.

I could hear the fairy cursing from behind me, his howls echoing in the tin shed. There was a short line of shrubs on either side of the gravel road, but I needed to be on asphalt. If he was anything like the last fairy, as long as I was standing on earth he would be able to find me.

Sprinting along the gravel driveway I began to notice the trees swaying and the shrubs rustling on either side of me. Branches shot from the shrubs across the gravel path, almost making me trip. I jumped over the branches as they swung wildly. Above me the trees cracked and snapped as branches began to fall onto the road.

A series of cracks echoed through the woods, louder than before. The rustling of leaves and the rushing of wind briefly alert me of a tree collapsing towards me. My feet slipped on gravel as I tried to stop myself. The tree crashed on the gravel path with an earth shaking ‘thump’. I lost my balance and fell onto the gravel road. Wincing, I got to my feet and tried to brush off my palms.

Pain exploded in my hands as I touched raw skin. Tiny pieces of gravel were imbedded in my hands. I gritted my teeth and redirected my focus. Branches swatted at me from the road side, I needed to get past this tree or I’d be caught again. Running towards the tree, I vaulted over the thick trunk. Branches exploded out from the trunk of the tree, trying to cage me in. Slipping between two branches, I narrowly escaped.

The second my feet hit the gravel I sprinted further down the road. I was painfully aware of my scrapped hands. I could not stop, I didn’t want to find out what the fairy had planned for me. Slowly, natures wrath started to subside as I ran further along the gravel road.

I ran onto the asphalt road and come to a stop. The yellow lines beneath my feet were worn and faded. Whilst trying to catching my breath, I reached to my back pocket and tried to take the phone out. My hands stung in protest as my fingers curled and I managed to pinch it between my fingers. I dialled Elijah’s number as I surveyed my surroundings. There were no cars around so I wandered to the edge of the asphalt.

“Terra?” Elijah’s voice called through the phone.

“I’m on a road somewhere,” I panted as I started walking along the road side.

“What? You’re- … up.” Elijah’s voice cut in and out.

“I’m on the road,” I said slowly in the hopes he heard enough syllables.

“We’re on-“ is all I get before silence.

“Okay.” I replied and I hung up the phone, tucking it back into my pocket.

I glanced behind me, but I saw no one. The trees and bushes were still, there was no wind, but I felt the heavy weight of someones gaze. I begin jogging down the road side. That was the first time I felt it, I couldn’t see anyone or anything nearby, but I could feel it. It made my skin crawl.

It wasn’t long before I saw Elijah’s white Land Cruiser appeared on the horizon. Claude was in the car with him. When they pulled over, Claude and Elijah asked me to show them on a map where I was. There were no roads on the map that looked even remotely near where I was. Instead, Claude followed the road to look for the closest gravel exit on the left hand side while Elijah cleaned up my hands.

“So, did he have the answers you were looking for?” Elijah asked as we sat on the tail gate waiting for Claude to return.

I shook my head and sighed. “No, he said he wanted to use me as a bargaining chip for something.”

“A bargaining chip, that doesn’t sound good.” Elijah folded his arms, deep in thought. We sat in silence until Claude returned.

“Did you find anything?” Elijah jumped off the tail gate.

“I found the gravel road, and I found the tin shed, just like you said.” Claude nodded towards me. “But I didn’t find the fairy. Instead, I found a dark room filled with dead animals and bones.”

Elijah sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Come on, let’s go home for now. The fairy is gone, I doubt he’ll be coming back anytime soon.”

“But he could try again,” I say quietly and fumble my fingers.

Elijah smiles and pats me on the shoulder as he says, “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”