The Demon's Bride

Chapter 343: Drawing Him Out-II

Elise felt the cold wind brushing over her hair and lifted her hand to remove the strands of hair that landed on her cheeks, she looked down on Barner whose hand had been reduced to ashes. It come to her cold realization that she managed to learn how to control her power after threatening Barner for a moment.

The corrupted angel surrendered himself after the second time she had touched him. He had seen how his healing ability wasn't able to heal the fingers he lost after Elise touched her almost nine years ago. Barner had tried many ways to heal himself, even going far by using sacrifices yet nothing work. He feared that if Elise had swam too deeply to her bile, it would be too late for him before he curtail into a heap of ashes.

"Are you willing to talk now?" asked Elise to Barner. She might hate the man and felt happy somewhere in her deepest heart that he writhe in pain, but deep down Elise was brought up where hurting people was wrong , therefore hurting Barner was still difficult but that didn't mean she would stop any time soon until the man confess.

"I will! I will!" answered Barner in hurry. "He was very handsome for sure. He had a deep black hair and golden eyes. When he came to the village he had black eyes to blend in with humans and not to bring attention to himself."

Elise could tell that, people generally shun the majority of people who are born differently and it was something that came innate. The idea to ostracized the difference had deep rooted amongst human that it was hard to change now. To accept something too different was hard and she could tell her father had done it in order so people wouldn't suspect them as being a different creature. Often times human didn't take it too kindly to other mythical beings.

"How did you know he has golden eyes?" Elise questioned but then she found the answer herself as it dawned in her, "You peeked through our house's window."

"No! This is different, that time I was just curious. Your father named himself as Levi but I'm not sure if it was his true name, he was a person with a stern expression and often a frown between his brows. Like his eyes he also has short ebony hair with a squared jaw and high nose, sharp eyes, prominent cheekbone, and deep hollow cheeks. He had every features that would make him handsome but also hard to approach to.Adelaide brought him to her house even when they weren't married, it started as a rumor at first but the head village allow them as your father was wounded and Adele was the only one who was willing to heal him."

To know more about her father brought closure to Elise toward the man who she never knew, however, at the same time she felt her heart prickled by sadness. A part of her question why he didn't live with her and her mother but she decided to set aside the question.

"You didn't finish earlier, how did you know he had golden eyes?" From what she heard in her discussion with Redrick, Angels held golden eyes unlike Demons whose eyes were red. But her father was a Demon, she wondered why he had golden eyes? It was similar to the dream she had when she fainted in Saltige.

"It was during midnight," started Barner with his voice lowering, "I saw him leaving very late to the forest's direction and followed him out of curiosity, that was when I saw him talking with people with horns and learned that he wasn't an Angel but a Demon."

Elise wondered what happened at that time. Having enough information of how her father should look like, she then question another pressing case which was the loop magic the man cast, "Why did you choose this forest to attack? What did the dark sorcerers want?"

"Strong Demon souls, that's all that I know. I swear to God's name. I had always been doing what I told but the people above me never put the details. I tried to ask them once but," Barner suddenly shivered, "I never wanted to ask them again. They also say something about experiments."

Experiments? The only experiments which Elise was aware of was Angelica's experiments which was to bring dead people back to life— in short resurrection. "You shouldn't swore in God's name, there will be karma," said Elise, and she looked away toward where Ian had disappeared, deciding to wait for him before interrogating Barner more deeply when she was startled by a a loud bang that rang from the other side of the forest. This time around, she saw ghouls surrounding them in circle, appearing in a larger amount than before.

"There is still more of them?" Elise asked with her brows knitted together. She could only roughly guess Barner had killed more than a hundred Demons to produce this many amount of ghouls, but who could guess the man had killed more than that? "How could you," whispered Elise when Barner immediately shake his head.

"No! No! This isn't me! I have a link with my ghouls and I can't assure you that I don't have a single ghoul with me, the one that you killed was the last one."

The word 'kill' struck a chord in Elise which she didn't press her focus on, "Then whose is this? Another dark sorcerer?" The people who was not in their side was Mr Gabriel and Ernest. One of the two must be the one that Ian had chased. Elise frowned, she wondered who the dark sorcerer that controlled this was. But Elise could say for sure it wasn't Ernest as the man was a human who couldn't go against the ghouls. "Was it Ernest?" She questioned Barner as the man was beside Ernest by acting as Alfred.

"No, Ernest was a human and the innkeeper was also a human," claimed the man, "Wasn't there anyone else who come with you? I noticed that there was another dark sorcerer who entered the barrier but I thought to greet him later." If everything had went to his way, Barner thought to meet the dark sorcerer later but had forgotten it as he was occupied with Elise and Ian.

At this Elise's brows raised. There were only five other people other than the three of them at this moment. If it wasn't the magistrate, Ernest, or Gabriel, as they had came her before them, was there someone else? Something caught in the back of her head when the last peace of the jigsaw puzzle was finally set on the empty post. "Frank," it was their coachman who had entered the barrier along with them.

As if in she had called the devil's name, from the ghouls, emerged the shadow of Frank, the coachman. The man appeared very humanely, the same appearance as what Elise recalled he loo without any slightly difference, but after seeing Barner impersonated Alfred, nothing seemed impossible any longer.

In the appearance it was undoubtedly Frank but the person inside wasn't him but someone else.

"Have someone told you that you are too clever, Lady Elise?" The man smiled when looking at her. What he showed wasn't Frank polite smile but rather an eerie one which was suffused with ill intent.

"Yes, he did," replied Elise calmly, jerking her chin lightly to point at Barner as she pulled her hand together behind her. She had thought the night would end soon but it seemed with another participant they finally begin the last scene to end the stage.

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A/N: I have just came back from the hospital, I will be late updating next chapter or maybe I will not update because I am under anesthesia. Sorry everyone and don't forget to vote *^^*~