His Demoness

21 ⚔️ A Weakling

A few hours later, the Grandma Ghost returned.

The sound of the trapdoor unlocking above them made the children cower and whimper in fear. They started retreating when the Grandma Ghost wrenched the door open and descended the ladder slowly.

Hanging over her shoulder was an unconscious child. A boy that barely looked seven years old.

The sixteenth prey.

An agonisingly slow minute passed. With each creak they heard, the children's anxiety grew by a notch. The demon dumped the child on the floor and dusted her hands on her clothes. Her glowing red eyes swept across the room and the triumphant smile on her face grew wide, finding her delight in the fearful faces of the children.

It was only when her eyes settled upon Xiaoyu did her smile falter.

"What's wrong with you?" With a loud gasp, the Grandma Ghost stepped closer and eyed the bluish-purple bruise that had appeared on the girl's forehead. "Little wench, what did you do to your beautiful face?!"

Her shriek didn't get much of a response; Xiaoyu remained blankly inscrutable, which only infuriated the demon. The Grandma Ghost surged forward and grabbed her by the arms, catching her off guard with the sudden swift movement.

"You!" the demon hissed angrily at her. "How dare you ruin your beautiful face? You would do whatever it takes to forbid me from having it?"

Just as Xiaoyu suspected, she was only kidnapped because the Grandma Ghost wanted to possess her beauty. But exactly how it was going to be done was something that she really didn't want to find out.

The hideous, old woman ran a finger down her cheek and she tried not to flinch.

"Remember this," the Grandma Ghost broke into a sly smile. "I will have your beauty no matter what it takes. You're going to be my dessert after my main course. Once I regain my youthfulness from consuming the children, I'll wear your skin and charm all the males in the world."

Xiaoyu glared at her but underneath her brave act, a shudder of fear zinged through her.

For all her life, she had been confined to an island and never knew what sort of dangers were lurking in the outside world that was full of mysteries and magic. And right now, being face-to-face with a demon was a first for her.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't frightened. In this plight they were in, the first person that came to her mind was Zhijian.

Where was he? Surely he wasn't too far away? She was desperately wishing for him to appear and save them all.

Even if he had abandoned her, there was no way he would do that to his brother.

Disgruntled, the Grandma Ghost yanked her to her feet and threw her over the shoulders, dismissing Zhixuan's protests when he saw that she was being taken.

"No!" he cried out but his small figure was shoved aside. The Grandma Ghost carried her through the trapdoor and they emerged from what seemed like an underground shed in a backyard of an abandoned hut. Seeing Zhixuan's tear-stained face, Xiaoyu's chest tightened.

At least for now, she thought, the children were safe being away from the demon.

The Grandma Ghost secured the trapdoor with a thick padlock and shoved something into her pocket.

The key.

A frown slipped between the crevices of Xiaoyu's eyebrows. In some way or another, she would have to find a chance to steal that from her.

With the Grandma Ghost running at an inhuman speed, they streaked through the dark woods and ended up in one of the houses at a nearby village. Hearing the doors to his house burst open, a mid-forties man swivelled on his heels and shot them an enraged look.