For a moment, his warning tone took away her thoughts of him having anything to do with the demon chasing her. “No,” she answered, shaking her head gently while staring at him and not wanting to think about what he meant when he said, 'your chances are very slim.'
Like two magnetic poles that are drawn to attract each other no matter what, she was breathing hard as she tried to fight the yearning in her that drew Eric in and the fear of her father's words that pushed him away, warning her she was with the demon that wanted to kill her.
He suddenly bent, moving his body closer, and Wanda's heart began to throb as she stood still trying to control her emotions at his sudden closeness. Wanda knew she was flushed and had to hide the blushes, so she hoped above anything else that she was doing a good job. Abruptly while he studied her, Eric moved his head sideways to the staircase like a spider noticing the faint movement of a fly, though it was swift; Wanda noticed the way he moved his head with precision. He sniffed around like someone trying to smell something in the air, but his head was still bent very low, his eyes and face hidden away from her seeing his expression.
Like he realised something, Eric raised his head back up, and Wanda immediately became disorientated at what she was looking at. Her heart skipped several beats as she noticed his eyes had changed. Her fondness of him disappeared in an instant as trepidation took over. His eyes were no longer the blue eyes she had seen previously; they were now cat-like eyes, with golden coloured irises and black pupil. Shock gripped Wanda as she realised she was looking directly into the eyes that didn't look human. She wanted to run when she noticed that Eric's hands were blocking her on both sides.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Chapter 2
Awave of hot air that only Wanda could sense swirled around her face the moment she noticed Eric's new eyes. She couldn't fathom how Eric's eyes suddenly changed. Wanda felt stupid standing there and discussing with the demon that had been chasing her. Before she could think about it, a scream went out of her mouth as she stared at the unusual eyes.
The loud scream caught Eric's attention. He definitely was not expecting it. He stood up straight from his bent position, and Wanda noticed he was six feet tall or an inch more. He towered over her with about five inches. Eric stretched himself, and Wanda expected that in a moment, his entire body would change to the horrifying demon she had seen. She pushed his left hand off and moved fast, taking two steps away from him and the staircase. But to her shock, he was swift; he caught up with her on her third step. Pressing closer this time, he placed his elbows on the wall, very close to her arms on both sides; he prevented her from escaping. He looked down at her with a serious and intense gaze. With his elbows on the wall and their heads almost touching, he bent his arms and felt his own forehead. Wanda was not expecting it, so she pressed herself against the wall as much as possible, trying to avoid him and his angry expression.
“You should not have screamed,” he complained about her screech. His voice was slightly intense, and his eyes revealed deep anger, which made her even more worried. He took in a deep breath while she watched him in desperation as blood rushed to her brain. “Don't you know anything?”
Wanda stood there for some seconds, her eyes wandered as she thought, 'how she could have been so naive. Eric left when she was outside with Tutu, and the demon appeared beside Alfred, and now the demon left, and suddenly Eric appeared again. - I should have figured it out easily. I should have known he was that demon.'
“Your scream would only attract trouble,” Eric muttered quietly, but his voice still revealed he was disappointed and angered by her attitude. Wanda didn't care; she believed she had done what was right by screaming.
“You are a ...” she finally let out words when a teacher stepped out of the library towards the end of the hall and interjected.
“Is everything alright over there?” The teacher asked, looking towards Eric and Wanda.
Wanda turned her head slowly towards the teacher's direction though she kept an eye on Eric. She wasn't sure if the teacher could see Eric or not. Confused and not knowing what to tell the teacher, Wanda looked back at Eric, but his eyes were back to normal deep sky-blue eyes. She studied him for some seconds, confused, and looking into his blue eyes as the teacher walked back into the library.
Wanda wanted to speak when the horrible smell of the demon she perceived previously filled the air. The odour was more intense than when she was downstairs. It was like she was standing next to it, and she was certain Eric would in a second transform into the demon.
At the same instant, as she thought and looked into Eric's eyes, the demon, she was running from leaped from the stairs that were about three meters from them into the hallway. It stood on its two huge feet like an overgrown and deformed lizard facing Eric and Wanda. It was so big Wanda knew it would close the distance between them in just a step or two.
Instantly, Eric had turned to face the demon and moved to the middle of the hallway. Wanda became totally confused as she fixed her eyes on the bizarre thing staring in her direction. The moment she saw the demon again, her heart palpitate heavily, and immediately she understood what Eric meant by 'your scream would only attract trouble.' The statement didn't mean that the teachers would come out but that the demon would find her.
Unwittingly, Wanda took some steps slowly and closer to Eric as her entire body system shivered at the full sight of the demon that had been chasing her. The thought of Eric's eyes that had changed previously and the search for her brother paled into insignificance at this point. She was staring at what she could not imagine was physically possible.
The demon's head was huge like a humongous lizard’s head placed on an enormous wide stretched neck. Its entire body occupied a good portion of the width between the walls of the hallway. Its hands and legs were formed differently from a lizard's but scaly and slimy looking in a way that made the hair at the back of Wanda's neck stand up.
The hands curved in a bow-like shape, like a baby's legs that were yet to straighten out fully. They were huge and with four claw-like talons that were shaped to grip at something. His legs were also big; they had sharp claws as toes, which pecked on the floor with a creepy sound as the demon waited for the best time to attack.
It was coloured in green with shades of bright yellow patches all over its body. Wanda could see that it had expanded, and what she thought was a shiny yellow raincoat was actually part of the creature’s body.
“Reptallion Sniffer,” Eric called the name of the demon without taking his eyes off it. His hands had gone to his waist; each one was resting on one of the items by his waistline. “Someone must have told it to fetch you.”
“What!” Wanda exclaimed and moved her head slightly in amazement to see Eric, who had undivided attention on the demon. She was perplexed, although she wasn't sure why; she wondered if it was because Eric knew so much about the creature standing in front of them or the fact that the demon was summoned to get her.
“It's a very fast demon," Eric said slowly with his eyes locked on the demon. “You can't escape it alone, so when I tell you to run, you run as far away as you can from the school. I will hold it down here.”
Wanda was going to ask how he planned to do that when the demon launched at her. It was extremely fast, but to her shock, Eric moved faster.
“Now,” he shouted as he threw the first object from his waist with his left hand.
Wanda watched as a little metallic and silvery object he brought out and threw turned into a long pointed object, like a long peg rolling in midair. The symbols on it glowed brightly like there was a golden light in the object that illuminated the emblem on it. The object went straight towards where the demon's heart should be, but it missed the heart and stuck into its chest. An unbearable odour filled the air as ichor poured out from the wound the object Eric threw created.
“What are you still doing here?” This time, Eric turned and shouted at Wanda, who looked lost, staring at the demon. The
demon hissed a horrible sound, which sounded something like 'you ... you' as it looked at Eric with wicked eyes. It was apparent that the object Eric threw had a supernatural touch to it. The demon moved its left hand to the point the object stuck into. It squirmed gently, and then its eyes looked more brutal the moment Eric turned to tell Wanda to run.
As Wanda listened, the demon swung its right hand towards Wanda. The talons were about to cut Wanda when Eric pushed her off and jumped in front of her.
“Arhhh!” Eric cried as the creature’s talons pressed deep into his chest, and Wanda fell to the floor.
Wanda gasped in dreadfulness, seeing the talons in Eric's chest. Unwittingly, her legs wiggled on the floor, pushing her back till she hit the wall. She went into a dream-like mood, watching his blue shirt turn dark at the points where the talons penetrated his body. Within seconds the dark parts spread more and more growing wider. Wanda was so shocked that she began to stiffen up as she watched the scene.
The demon hissed again, and Eric groaned in pain some more. The hiss caught Wanda's attention, waking her back to consciousness. She looked up to see the face of the disfigured and overgrown lizard-like creature. She was confused at what she was looking at - it was like the creature was smiling, happy that it had finally got Eric.
“Get up.” Eric groaned as the words slowly came out of his mouth. Wanda turned to look at him and could see his eyes had turned red. He was definitely in excruciating pain. “What are you waiting for – to see my death?” He continued rudely, but Wanda thought nothing of his rudeness. She was confused about what was happening. “Run ... Go!”
The sudden shout by Eric and his last two words woke up Wanda fully. She got up in a rush, turned, and began to run further down the hallway. She got to the entrance of the library turned before she entered to see that the demon was still holding its right hand in Eric's chest, and Eric was pushing back with his hands to get the talons out, then she hurried into the library.
As Eric held onto the massive hand of the demon and tried to push it out of his chest, the demon hissed again, speaking in some ancient language that seemed long dead to humanity.
“No, you are wrong,” Eric responded. “I am not dying today.” He lifted the demon's right-hand talons away from his chest and was about to jump out of the way when he saw the demon's left-hand talons swinging towards his head. He instantly pulled out another object from his waist, and the object turned into a long silvery knife. The symbol Wanda had noticed previously also shone in glittering colours as Eric waved the knife. The talons of the demon met the silvery knife, and the knife went through smoothly, creating a crunchy sound like slicing through freshly plucked apples. The long talons fell, and immediately Eric staggered backwards holding on to the silvery knife. His left hand was on the wound on his chest. The demon groaned in pain, but within seconds the talons had grown back. It raised its head and looked at Eric, who was struggling to stand upright; the pain in his chest was severe.
The demon readjusted the position it was in, and then it hissed in its ancient language. This time it opened its mouth wide enough to reveal long and razor-sharp uneven looking teeth. Its eyelids were closing bizarrely.
“That's never possible,” Eric replied, sounding confident though his words were weak because of the wound on his chest. “You will have to finish me up before you can get to her.”
The demon hissed and jumped with its huge legs covering the distance between it and Eric. Eric looked up, but he was weak; he couldn't move as fast as he did before. The demon landed on top of him, its full body totally covering Eric.
The school library that Wanda was very familiar with and could easily describe with her eyes closed now seemed to be a complicated maze. The different rows and shelves of books all looked the same to her.
Wanda wandered for some seconds in the library, her blood pumping hard and fast. She couldn't take her mind off Eric, who had given her the tiny space to escape to get away, and now he was definitely going to die. She was pondering on Eric when the teacher who came out earlier when she screamed emerged in front of her.
“Are you okay?” The teacher asked as he closed the book he was reading. With his finger, he adjusted his askew glasses upwards so that he could have a better view of Wanda.
Seeing Wanda properly, the teacher's expression changed as he became worried. Previously, he had walked back into the library with the notion that Wanda and the boy who stood in front of her were talking, and her scream was nothing more than the usual female student's playfulness with boys. Now seeing the state she's in, with her hair looking rough, heavy sweat on her forehead, her panting seemed endless, and her arms seemed to hurt. The teacher sensed she was disturbed about something. Wanda shook her head slightly at the man but said nothing. The head movement didn't signify much, so the man became more concerned.
“Did the boy with you at the hallway hurt you or ...”
“No,” she replied curtly. Her voice this time was steady, but she was still panting. She now knew the man saw Eric.
“You students should really know when to get serious and when you should be playing.” The man walked away, turning the next page of the book in his hand.
Abruptly, as Wanda watched the teacher walking away, she remembered she had been looking for her brother - Jason. She ran through several sections in the library, looking for him in haste. She went to the section of books Jason loved most, but without any luck.
She looked at one of the library attendants by the desk, rushed to her, and spoke in a hurry. “Please have you seen Jason?” The lady looked kind of baffled, then Wanda included, “Jason - my brother, Jason Troms.”
“Yes,” the lady answered with her eyes wide open and alive as she realised who Wanda was looking for. “He left some minutes ago with his friends. I think they went outside,” she shrugged. “You know all the students are happy the session is over ...” She broke off the moment she raised her head up and noticed Wanda was already by the entrance to the library.
Wanda stopped the instant she got to the edge of the library door. Fear of what she would see seized her heart, but to her own sudden amazement, it wasn't the fear of seeing the demon chasing her but the fear of a dead body on the floor...Eric's body. She took in a deep breath, like a child trying to learn how to swim for the first time; she took the big step and moved her body into view. She wanted to look away and dash towards the other side where the second staircase was, but she could not resist the urge to look elsewhere. She turned in the direction of Eric and the demon.
Just as she turned, her back pressed further on the doorpost. She froze like ice with her body intensely straightened as she watched Eric lying down motionless. The huge talon claws of the big demon's left foot pressed down into his back, pinning him to the corner of the wall on the side where the library was.
Wanda's hand went up, covering her mouth. She struggled to breathe, trying to hold back the tears. Eric was ... he was dead, one of his silvery knives was on the other side close to the wall but far away from Eric's reach. She could make out a cut on his face where he laid flat on the floor with his face downwards. The demon, on the other hand, now had two silver objects penetrating its body with several lacerations that were exuding ichor.
The demon hissed as it usually did saying something in its ancient language that Wanda could not understand. She looked up into the eyes of the demon when it hissed and saw that it had noticed her. She wasn't sure if it could perceive her or if it was just instincts it had for detecting her when she was close by.
Wanda stood looking into the deadly eyes of the demon. The message in the furious looking eyes revealed nothing to her but that it was coming after her.
Suddenly Wanda noticed movement as the creature and her stared at each other. The motion was underneath the feet of the creature. Wanda shuddered as she watched Eric raise his head slightly. Her heart fluttered as a flicker of hope flashed through her mind that he was still alive, but the glimmer of hope was short-lived as she w
atched his eyes, and then she became confused. His eyes looked like they had changed again to the golden cat-like eyes that she saw earlier when she screamed. She wasn't sure if what she was seeing was right or if it was the terror around her, causing it or the distance that was confusing her sight. Whatever it was, she didn't have to wait any further when she heard his voice.
“Run!” He said in a weak tone.
The instant Eric shouted, the demon took its feet off Eric, took a step forward, and was about to leap towards Wanda. Eric, who was covered in sweat and blood, pulled out the last silvery looking peg by his waist. He stabbed it hard into the foot that was placed on him. The silver peg grew longer in the air just before Eric drove it down; it went straight into the leg of the demon and then into the floor, pinning the leg down.
Wanda turned as the demon grunted in pain, but she didn't wait to see what effect the silver peg had caused. She got to the other staircase closer to the library, rushed down, skipping every couple of steps. She got down the stairs, instantly pushed through the entrance doors, and rushed outside of the school. The school compound, which was previously filled with students, was now almost empty. About eighteen students were left in the entire large school compound, and they gathered in batches of two or three.
After looking mystified from one side to another for some seconds, Wanda spotted two young boys who were Jason's friends and classmates, and she rushed towards them.
“Hi!” Wanda said in a rush. “Do any of you know where Jason is?”
“Jason?” One of the boys replied, looking disturbed at Wanda's usual panicked attitude. “He left a while ago,” the other boy added, recognising Wanda.
The Healing Mendez (Vitrian Secrets, #1) Page 3
