She shot me a playful wink and a toothy smile as she asked, “There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?” She laid a hand on top of mine then yanked it back quickly and looked at her hand in shock for some reason. Then the shocked look faded off her face, and her enticing smile returned. I looked at my hands, sweaty and clammy, no wonder she pulled back. Smooth Lisc, really smooth.
I finally pushed my shy attraction to the side and smiled back and said, “Sorry. Just nervous.”
She tilted her head again, and her eyes seemed to be studying me more thoroughly this time. I felt like she was taking everything in. When her eyes stopped on my shoulder and narrowed like she was trying to see something better, I had absently lifted a hand to cover the bottom of the sleeping demon brand.
She seemed to make a decision with a slight nod of her head, and she inclined her head to me and stated, “Don't apologize Lischca, I can call you Lischca can't I?”
I blushed again and nodded, just great, I had a crush on the woman. I hated when people called me by my full name, I preferred Lisc, but she could call me anything she wanted to.
She finished with, “I think you'll fit in just fine here.” She stood, indicating the meet and greet was over. I stood and scurried out of the office with the grin I tried to hide behind my hand, concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other. Just what I needed to do was to trip over myself as I retreated.
Now here, just an hour later, I was going to disappoint her, and myself, as I lose the internship I had fought so hard to get. I didn't even make it through orientation. At that moment, I hated my curse more than I ever had.
As she looked at me from the front of the group, I shot her an apologetic look. My skin was starting to burn all over, indicating I had lost the battle to hold the change at bay, it was going to happen whether I allowed it to or not, it must be a strong calling this time, to force the change upon me like this.
I slid away into the shadows and started running down the back corridors of the museum. Following the call, I was drawn toward like a moth to a flame. The overwhelming burning sensation from inside me started dissipating now that I was doing as I was supposed to. Being a good little slave to the calling. Paying penance for the sins of my family's past. Sins I did not commit, and sins I had nothing to do with. I hated my ancestors so much for making me into this... beast. And that I had to atone for their sins and indiscretions.
I turned down a hall and was drawn to a door with a red sign which read, “Employees Only.” I buzzed myself through the door by scanning my intern badge, which was hanging on the lanyard around my neck, over the lock. I dashed down the stairs before the door had even finished closing. My mouth was salivating, and I licked my long fangs with my now forked tongue, then it snicked out to sample the air.
I could taste my quarry now, and smell it, the viscous black blood coursing through its veins, and the sour sulfurous odor of its breath. A Velscore Demon? Shit, what was something that nasty doing here at the museum, and during the day even? It must be hunting for someone in particular, tasked a specific target. That's all those things did, with a single-minded purpose, hunt their prey to the ground. They were incredibly efficient at it and were tougher than most other demons.
The only plus was that they were possessed of no innate magics of their own, they were just beasts who lived for the hunt, and for instilling as much terror into their victims as they could before the kill.
I was so far out of my league here.
At that thought, a tear rolled down my cheek, since I knew what was coming next, something I had no control over. The curse which was placed on my family so long ago, when my ancestors foolishly communed with demons for power back before Christ, causes us to be compelled to battle all evil.
If we ignore that calling, as punishment, we are slowly changed into the form of the very demons which my family had dealings with. It is agonizing, and it slowly drives us out of our minds as we feel what the demons would feel. I didn't like the things I felt and thought when I tried to ignore the call.
As recompense, if we did follow the calling, we were granted the boon of soul fire to help us defeat evil, to soothe the pain and mental anguish thrust upon us by our demon form. From what I gathered from the sparse information my father had shared about the curse before his death, we can win our souls back if we do as we are compelled to do. That keeps me pushing forward, knowing that one day... I may be free.
Just as I braced myself, my body exploded into a pain and torment which I cannot describe adequately, as my full demon form burst forth, shredding my clothing as my wings tore from my flesh at my back. The curse always made sure I was able to handle a threat by changing me, stripping my humanity away to a point which I could complete my hunt. Like a good slave.
Sometimes it was a partial change, almost unnoticeable except in my mind, where my thoughts were tainted but still mostly human. My speed and strength are slightly augmented. But sometimes, when the threat was most dire then it would be a more drastic, complete transformation like now.
Even tempered by the soul fire, I felt like every cell in my body was on fire. I could smell and taste the monster which I had become both in body and in mind, and I hated myself. I hated everything. I was torn between the urge to tear apart everyone and anything just to make the pain go away, or to follow the calling. It took all of my will and concentration to do the later.
My head snapped to the side, swiveling unnaturally. The brimstone under my skin smoking and burning every nerve. I licked my lips, feeling my fangs as I listened to the whispers in my head. Yes, the hunt. I could kill. The thought thrilled me in ways I am ashamed of.
I inhaled deeply, pulling air through my enlarged nostrils and over my forked tongue. I clenched my claws into fists, feeling the power coursing through me. Yes, I could kill the Velscore like this, eat its flesh. My mouth turned up into a toothy smile, baring my two-inch fangs to the world. I ran my clawed hands over my breasts and down my sides. Yes, the hunt was so seductive and thrilling in an almost sexual way.
Part of me, so small and human, in the back of my brain, shuddered in disgust. Knowing that my demon was aroused at the thought of killing. I could see the chains in here, inside my head as I watched through the eyes of the creature I had become. See the soul fire binding my demon to do its bidding. Binding... me, to do its bidding. I was the demon and it me, I hated myself for that.
I ran down the hall, following the stench of the Velscore, it was on the move, it had smelled me. Good! I loved prey which ran. I screamed a challenge that sounded of something from lowest pits of hell, and grappled the wall with my leathery wingtips to help increase my speed as I clawed at the floor to gain traction.
I burst into a large room filled with antiquities which were being arranged in an exhibit that would probably be brought up to the main level soon. I sneered and swept a wing, which was crackling and snapping with fire, across the exhibit, smashing it to bits. My inhuman laugh at causing just that small amount of chaos made me curl up in shame into a corner of my mind.
Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I was immediately diving at the Velscore on instinct as it made for the door. I slammed a claw down at its muscular back, my talons sinking in. I raked at him, pulling putrid flesh from it in chunks. I was distracted by the smell of blood and raw flesh and paused to eat a claw full of the rotting flesh of my enemy and lick the delicious hot blood from my fingers. I shuddered in my hiding place, trying to become smaller, to not see and feel the thrill my demon felt.
In my distraction a heavily muscled arm of my enemy struck at me, the curved claw at the end of it sinking into my side, the pincer at the end of his claw tearing at me. I stumbled back out of its reach. Damn it, I needed to focus, not let my demon do the thinking. I reasserted myself, I hated the feel of my demon body, it felt so wrong and so right all in the same instant.
I was outclassed here, that's why the curse had transformed me fully. Even so, my demon could not hope to defeat
this Velscore. This may well give me the peace have desired for so long, maybe in death, I could finally slip the chains of the curse. But my demon would not let me escape it that easily, it loved the violence and mayhem and would fight every inch of the way to survive.
My opponent was single-minded. It was on the hunt for something or someone and would do anything to get to its target. I was in its way. It was going to go through me to get at the poor soul it had ben sent after.
My kind... the cursed, the Scythes of God, had something a normal demon did not have. A human mind and a chained soul. We had free choice to a certain extent. As long as we did our duty like a good dog, we were free thinking. And though I was outclassed physically, there was still a chance that I could out-think the Velscore. I would have shed a tear if I could have, over the fact that sometimes, we humans can be even more brutal than demons. It was shameful but true.
I sneered as I looked around while I backed into the space to give myself more room to act. I took in everything around me, cataloging, categorizing, formulating a plan. I looked down to my injured side. Black blood was pouring out, bubbling, burning, and sizzling on the concrete beneath my feet. I licked my lips at the sight of the blood. I had been so hungry for so long.
I fought the demon inside me down again. I raised a claw and allowed the soul fire to burn through it, heating my blackened skin. It was painful, but I had felt worse. I then grabbed my side with the hand now burning white hot with soul fire and screamed an inhuman screech as I cauterized the wound.
I panted and my demon wanted to dive on the approaching Velscore, to punish it for the pain I caused us by stopping our blood loss. I hissed as I looked at the chains on the hoist above us and said, “No, wait.” My demon roared at me, I roared at me. We roared at us. I was the demon, and I wanted to remind myself of it, warning myself not to think of me as two separate beings. I wanted to punish myself. I looked at the chains again, and I understood my human half as I growled back at myself, “Lischca is smart. But I will eat his heart after.”
I shuddered at the thought, and even more at the fact that it just sounded right to me. I was losing myself into my demon.
I backed away slowly, luring the Velscore to the point I wanted it, as he stalked around while as I kept myself between it and the door. Then just as he crouched to attack, there was a blur in my vision, I flinched at the pure bluish white light that gave the cruel promise of hope. It shone off a sweeping blade which sliced through the air in a graceful arc.
It clanged against the hard shell of the beast's pincer, chipping a small piece off of the monster's carapace. I blinked at the impossibility of it, no mortal weapon could harm a demon.
My eyes were mesmerized by the light of the blade. It promised that impossible hope... and peace. I blinked and forced my eyes up to see... Kimoura?
Chapter 2 – Battle
She danced and parried and stayed between me and the other demon as it pressed its attack. That beautiful blade slicing through the air in those graceful arcs. Chipping carapace off the claws of the beast and actually drawing its blood. Leaving sizzling trails of scarred flesh in its wake.
She was moving faster than any human should be able to. I was mesmerized. I used The Sight and caught fluttering glimpses of wings of pure soul fire slashing through the air behind her as she spun and danced around the demon.
She turned to look at me. That same soul fire burning in her eyes, it hurt, it burned my entire being, and I felt shame for what I was, while I wanted nothing more than to bask in it.
She said with concern coloring her voice as she fought, barely paying attention to the creature, “You're injured.”
I hissed at her, tasting the air with my tongue. I, we, growled out, “I am fine. I had a plan, but you interfered. I will eat his heart!”
She smiled and said softly, “No you won't Lischca.”
My mind almost shut down with the overwhelming wave of shame that flowed through my entire being when she said my name. She knew who I was... what I was. I wanted to die. Maybe that blade of hers, which shone with hope. Maybe the hope it offered was an end to my miserable existence once and for all. An end to the pain.
She spun her sword in the air in a complex pattern, ending with the motion of sheathing it. Yet there was no sheath, and now apparently no blade either. It had simply vanished, that wonderful and terrible light extinguishing.
She stepped back away from the beast and myself and smiled in actual mirth as said in a sing-song tone, “Then by all means, show me this grand plan of yours.”
My demon wanted to take her, sexually, on the floor then tear her apart after the fact for being so smug. I was just staring in shock at her smile. Was she... having fun? I'd show her. I didn't need her help, I'd be done with this demon then I'd eat both of their hearts. I reprimanded myself, “No you won't.”
I screeched out a challenge that could only have come from a hell-spawned beast as it curdled my own blood. The Velscore turned from her to me and answered my challenge with one that would have stripped away the very humanity of whoever it was aimed at. I smiled, as I was not human just then. I was demon. I would bathe in its blood.
We charged at each other. At the moment of impact, I spread my leathery wings wide and with the smell of rot, flame, and brimstone, gave them a mighty flap. I thrust up above the demon, my rear claws sinking deep into its shoulders, my barbed tail wrapping tightly around its neck as I flapped again and grabbed the chains as I came even with the hoist. I grappled the overhead beam with one front claw and grabbed the chain with another.
I slammed the hook at the end of the chain into the demon's flesh and pushed all of my soul fire into my fist. It burned through his chest. The soul fire flared like a purifying flame, burning the demon flesh that touched it, changing its nature to that of true flesh. I licked my lips. True flesh that would taste so sweet. I hooked the chain to another as my fist came out his back then I started to drop back to the floor.
He snapped at my tail as I uncoiled it and I screeched in pain and anger as his fangs bit into the flesh of it. I dangled upside down. My arms inches above the floor, being held by my tail in the jaws of the chained Velscore, who was thrashing its body and head, trying to sever my tail.
I was about to twist upward to slash at the beast to get free when I heard a sweet chuckle behind me. “Great plan.”
I hissed as I looked back at Kimoura who was just sort of sauntering up to us demons as we hung from the hoist above. By all that was holy, she was beautiful. I would ravage her in bed, make her scream my name knowing only I could show her such ecstasy, then I would bathe in her blood. “No!” I shouted to my demon nature in my head. “You will not touch her!”
She reached to her side and drew out that sword from nowhere. The light was so pure. It shamed me for my tainted thoughts. I wanted to beg for forgiveness. I wanted to bow before that light, grovel and surrender my soul to it and to her.
With a single thrust, her blade pierced the tough hide of the demon, directly through its heart. My eyes went wide as it started to crumble into putrid dust. No I'll... I fell flat on my face.
She chuckled and reached out to help me up as she sheathed that wondrous sword. I skittered back along the floor in shame, pressing my back against the wall, my wings pressed flat. She didn't need to see me like this. She smiled so fondly, so compassionately as she kept approaching with her hand held out. Offering it to me.
I shrieked out in pain and anger and... fear, and was instantly up and crossed to her with a claw around her throat. I screamed out in a shrieking wail, “I will eat your heart!”
She smiled and just reached out with her hand and gently caressed my cheek. There was no fear in her eyes, only amazement and... happiness? Her delicate, warm fingers tracing the cracks in my hide. The red burning of hellfire which was mottled with the yellow and white sulfur veins running across my skin. She whispered, “No you won't.”
My entire soul shifted in its chains. Leaning in, yearning fo
r her touch. Straining hard against the chains that bound it and me. It was the touch of innocence. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, stinking of brimstone, sizzling as it fell to the concrete. She smiled again and said in awe, “So beautiful. I had no idea.”
I started crying and slid to the ground. I didn't know why I was crying. My demon was recoiling into my hiding place forcing me out to deal with something it couldn't comprehend, something it couldn't understand. Something that was not hate and violence. I realized what I looked like, a naked female demon and I dropped my hand from her throat and covered my modesty with a wing as I shrank away from her and curled up into a ball in the corner of the room.
She followed, not allowing me to retreat. She reached out again and ran her hand along my horns. Then the leading edges of my wings. She scrunched down to meet my eyes. Her voice seemed to hum inside my very being as she smiled and said, “It is ok Lischca, you don't need to hide from me. I'm so happy I finally found you after all these years.”
I just stared at her, my body craving her touches as tears continued to flow. I felt the burning agony of my demon form slowly subsiding, melting back into the dark recesses of my being as my skin started taking on a pinkish hue. Oh God no. Please, Lord, don't embarrass me any further. How low can I sink now? I felt my demon aspect retreat from my mind and then the shame and repulsion for the way I had been thinking when it was in control hit me, and I turned my head and puked.
I spit out the chunks of demon flesh that she... that I, had eaten, and I sobbed while this woman, whom I had just met, simply held me and shushed me and rocked me. Comforting me.
Finally, I looked up into her eyes as her own soul fire flickered out, and those beautiful dark eyes smiled at me. I bit my tongue hard as the demon brand on my shoulder reconfigured, curling up and pulling a wing across its face as it went back to sleep. I whispered, “Who... what are you?” I couldn't get enough of her. I felt as if I should know who she was. I felt like we had known each other my entire life.
The Hollow Page 7
