The Devil's Son and His Fated Bride
Chapter 83: Mutation

Chapter 83: Mutation

The door groaned open, the sound grinding through the thick, damp air. Moisture clung to Ren’s skin, the atmosphere of this place was heavy and suffocating exactly like being caught in a nasty nightmare. If not for Kai’s steady presence beside her, sheer terror and revulsion might have driven her to collapse. Her fingers tightened around his, seeking an anchor as the darkness exhaled a stench that coiled in its throat. This place smelled like a dead marsh. Was it for the monster in that cell?

A gust of cold wind slithered through the chamber, making the torchlight waver, its flickering glow barely piercing the void ahead. They stepped forward, their movements were quite slow and deliberate and swallowed by the vastness of the cell. The far end was lost to shadows, but she could make out Agara and Rail standing to the left, Siamon lingering to the right.

The nerve-rattling screeches had vanished, leaving behind a silence so unnatural it pressed against her skull. This was certainly a haunting devil.

"I can’t see it," Ren whispered, though every inch of her skin prickled with the undeniable sensation of being watched. She could feel his eyes lingering on her.

"Stay!" Kai’s warning was sharp, his arm was like a steel bar against her as she nearly stepped forward to watch.

And then...it struck.

Screech!

It was a blur of movement, faster than thought, like a phantom wind slicing through the darkness. The vile creature lunged, yanking against its chains with rabid desperation, the iron links rattling like a death knell.

Ren’s breath hitched, her entire body locking up as raw terror clawed through her. Fear? That was too tame a word. What the hell was this thing!? She couldn’t even name her hellish feeling.

It looked like it had been vomited from the depths of hell itself, skeletal, grotesque, a horror that had no right to exist. Its body was lean to the point of starvation, its ribs jutting out beneath a thin, sickly sheet of pale skin. The skin was corpse-pale, stretched too tightly over its frame. And its eyes... those crimson orbs burned with something beyond hunger, beyond madness, something purely, venomously evil.

As she watched, its legs elongated unnaturally, bones shifting, stretching, reforming with a sickening crack. Its fingers twitched, nails growing into jagged, black talons long enough to flay flesh in a single swipe.

Now, standing this close, Ren understood. She understood why the wounds this monster left festered with hallucinations, why its very existence inspired waking nightmares.

These were no mere creatures.

These were demons.

Ren should have stepped back, every instinct screamed at her to flee. And yet, she stood her ground, feet rooted to the filthy stone floor. Only Gods knew where this defiance came from, but it burned within her, a silent refusal to cower like a lamb.

The creature thrashed wildly against its chains, its slavering focus locked onto her as if she were the only prey worth hunting in the room. Its rabid frenzy sent metal clanking against stone, each yank a ruthless attempt to close the last inch of distance between them.

Her eyes narrowed.

I am no longer an easy prey. Back off.

She shoved her fear aside, burying it beneath the torrent of questions flooding her mind. But as she took a step back, her boot squelched against something wet. Her stomach lurched.

The floor was slick with the thing’s discarded flesh. Sticky remnants of shredded skin and dark, glistening fluids pooled around its feet, the stench so foul it made her throat clench.

She wasn’t the captive here, but the way it looked at her said otherwise. But speaking of fear, did this thing even feel it? Had it once been human enough to understand the terror it invoked? Before turning into this... gods-know-what monster.

"He just... shed his skin," Rail murmured, his voice carrying profound disbelief. His wide eyes traced the grotesque transformation as if he needed confirmation that what he saw was real. "His hair is gone... his body... everything changed into this... look at those ears!"

"It," Arkilla corrected, her voice was sharper, colder. She pointed a finger at the creature’s groin, where smooth, featureless flesh lay in place of any human anatomy. "Not, he. He has no cock."

"Gods," Agara whispered, horror coiling in his tone. "Its teeth... they’re still growing."

"Pull it back!" Kai barked, his patience snapping as the creature thrashed, its rabid fixation on Ren was too unbearable to him. His hand went to his sword, ready to cut it down if it lunged any closer.

"No, wait!" Ren stepped toward the corner, her gaze locked on the grotesque figure. She tilted her head, studying its unnatural proportions. "It’s taller than you. Was it always this tall?"

Siamon answered first, his voice edged with unease. "No. He was... a short man before."

Ren’s stomach knotted. Why had it changed so much?

"We’ve starved it for three days, it should be hungry now." Rail noted, his tone flat, but there was something uneasy in the way his fingers twitched at his side.

Ren wasn’t convinced starvation alone was responsible for this transformation. Her mind spun with possibilities. "What was the last creature it killed?"

Siamon took a step closer to the heavy chain, nostrils flaring. "A human," he muttered. "I could smell it on him the moment I caught him."

A ripple of unease passed through the group.

"I’m certain they evolve into this form," Rail murmured. "But how long ago did he turn into a vampire... I can’t say. Vampires move with their horde. Why was this one alone?"

"Maybe he escaped before losing his mind," Agara suggested.

Ren frowned. This thing had mutated into a perfect killer, something beyond human or even a monster. The way it moved, the way it changed... Could silver stop it?

Her throat tightened as she voiced the question that clawed at the back of her mind. "Does silver harm it?" Terror laced her words because deep down, she feared the answer was no.

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