Isaac looked away from me and put his hand on the door handle. I almost wanted to tell him to stop, something about opening the door now terrified me, but in the end it wasn’t me who stopped him. It was sudden and loud voice from downstairs, and it wasn’t really a scream, as more of a battle cry. It was Hadley. Isaac looked me briefly before he moved past me and started running down the stairs.
I found myself following him only to stop in the archway to lounge room once I had ran downstairs. Hadley and Felix stood near each other while the demon stood opposite them near the window of the lounge room. My body physical stopped and that was for one reason. I had only encountered three demons so far, but something about this demon brought chills to my bones.
There was a human though, a real person. He looked to maybe be in his mid-forties and I wondered if he had a family. His clothes were torn and dirty and I don’t think they had been changed in a long time. He hadn’t shaved, cut his hair, or anything, he looked ravaged. The human only really was the skeleton to the demon though. It was like the demon was growing off him. His whole body had a kind of protective barrier, a shimmering dark cloak that made him seem bigger, and stronger. His eyes though, his eyes were just black… soulless. It disconnected any human element there was to him.
The demon launched itself at both Hadley and Felix, but both were quick to react. Hadley ducked and rolled herself away. Felix made a similar movement, but with his blade in his hand he made sure he got a swipe into the demon, cutting just under its arm. It screamed, like a real hollowing sound, but it didn’t take long for it to recover. It was up and running directly towards Hadley. She didn’t have a blade but as I watched her take a punch at the demon as well as a kick, I realised she didn’t need it. The demon tried to fight Hadley back, but she was quick, but maybe not quick enough. It was a very quick movement that allowed the demon to get hold of Hadley.
Isaac and Felix had however jumped straight into the action and were both charging at the demon. The demon, realising he had two boys running at him with blades literally just threw Hadley aside. She went flying and she ended up hitting the stereo on the wall, and forcing the TV to fall off its perch and crash to pieces on the fall.
Isaac and Felix made no reaction to Hadley who was now rolling on the ground, groaning a little, they were focussed on the demon. The demon however had turned to them, and he had this smile on his face, and it sent shivers down my spine. There was no way it could take both of them, could I?
Isaac took the first hit at the demon, hitting its arm, but the demon held up his arm, and it was almost like his arm was a metal shield. The shimmering dark cloak seemed to render the blade useless, on his arms at least. Felix took his swing, with the same outcome, and as Isaac went in for another shot, the demon held out its hand towards Felix and Felix suddenly just went flying across the room, hitting the wall in the kitchen.
Isaac tried to not be phased by the demons apparent power and took a different approach then just striking it. Isaac used the arm chair close to him, jumping up on it and then jumping again so he was behind the demon. It was quick too, too quick for the demon and Isaac was able to take a strike at the demons back. I saw Isaac try and stab him, but the demon had managed to arch its body away so that he only cut into the back of it. The demon literally span on the spot, faster than I could blink, and there was no way Isaac was ready for it, and the demon’s arm, the he had held out, hit Isaac directly in the head, forcing Isaac to the ground.
I had barely moved at any point. I stood no chance of fitting this demon if they couldn’t do it, so what was I supposed to? The demon was slow to turn to me and when he did, his empty eyes stared directly into me, and he still had that smile on his face as he advanced towards me.
“Hadley!”
I realised it was Isaac who had yelled. He was trying to get off the ground but his was weakened. I turned my head to Hadley as I had started to back away. Hadley had gotten herself back on her knees, but she was seemed disorientated, but not so much that she seemed to understand why Isaac had yelled her name. She held her hand up to the air and as she did, the couch which had been next the demon suddenly swung around, moving so it blocked the entrance of the archway. I realised in that moment I had never seen Hadley’s mark, I didn’t know what she would do, but that’s what Hadley could do, she could move objects with her mind.
“Lily, run!”
Isaac voice alerted me to the fact that I didn’t have time to be memorised by Hadley’s power. I turned immediately and started to run to the front door. I turned the handle of the door only to found that it wouldn’t open. I yanked on the handle desperately, but the door wasn’t budging. Behind me I could hear what I thought was a laugh. The demon was laughing at me.
I turned and saw that the couch wasn’t much of a deterrent. I started to run again and now to the only place I could go. I charged up the stairs and tried opening any door in the hall, but like the front, none of them would budge, not even the door with the mark on it. I had been backed into a corner.
I turned back in the hall to see that he was now at the top of the stairs and walking slowly towards me. I was trapped, and I was breathing rather heavily and I was shaking and I really didn’t know what to do.
“I would’ve thought it was you that would’ve put up the fight,” the demon said, in a husky echoing voice as he turned his head to the side. “You are supposed to be…powerful, but I see now you are not. Never the less, I doubt that it will be any easier to find the dagger even if you’re alive.”
I hit the wall at the back of the hallway and I was shaking my head for some reason.
“I’ve been asked about that dagger twice now,” I muttered. “They wouldn’t keep coming after me, if they didn’t need me.”
“You are right, if you are the girl of the prophecy…we do need you once we find the dagger, so you’ll be coming with me,” the demon was getting closer to me, but still advancing slowly.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I answered.
The demon merely laughed at me and I realised I had to do something. Hadley had said there was instinct in me to fight, and right now I figured that was my only hope. I tried to punch the demon in the head, but he managed to grab my wrist. I used my legs now instead. I thought about kicking him, but instead my leg swung around, kicking him on the back of the ankle, forcing him to let go of my wrist, and buckle a little, but he held his ground. I tried another punch, only with the same result. Only this time, with my arm in its grip it pushed me back into the wall.
I feel to the floor from the force of his push, my head being one of the hardest things to hit the wall. I groaned as for a second everything went bit blurry. I felt a sting on my arm and I realised that I was bleeding there, and I felt blood trickle down the side of my head. I turned my head up to see the demon standing over me and it was the moment another instinct kicked in, the moment I realised there was one more thing I could do.
I held my hand, my palm up towards him. I had no idea how to do this, but I thought about it…and eventually it happened. The fire came pouring out of my hand, directly towards the demon. I found myself turning my head slightly, scared to look in a way. Just as quickly as it came on, the fire stopped. I breathed out and looked down at my palm so surprised that I had managed to do it again.
It was the sound of a groan that made me jump. I hadn’t killed the demon, and that didn’t surprise me. However this time as he got to his feet, I noticed something different about him. There was no black shimmering cloak around him. I had burnt him. His face was red from the burns; his skin looked like he had been boiled, and now he just looked angry.
The demon started to come back towards me, faster now. I didn’t know how much times I could shoot him with fire, or if I even could do it again. I held my hand up again, with the hope it would work. Nothing was happening this time though, no matter how hard I thought about it. He was going to get me, I couldn’t do anything about it.
He suddenly stopped in his
tracks, only inches from me. His eyes now opened wide. He breathed in loudly and then he wasn’t breathing, and in an instant I saw his eyes turn from the black nothingness they were, to his eyes, his true eyes, and it was then he feel to floor.
I found myself breathing out heavily as I looked at Isaac in his place. He was standing behind the body, gripping to his blade tightly, and blood dripping off the tip. He was looking at the man first, before his gaze turned to me. He jolted into gear and stepped over the body, towards me, leaning down to my level.
“Are you okay?” he asked, brushing the top of my head.
“He’s dead,” I whispered.
“Lily,” Isaac said, looking slightly the body.
“It’s not that man’s fault, we can save him,” I said frantically trying to get up.
“We can’t,” Isaac shook his head. “He died a long time ago.”
“What?”
“When a demon possess a human, they kill the human inside. He’s been dead for a long time,” Isaac told me.
“But, but-,” I shook my head as I started to get to my feet with Isaac’s help. “His eyes.”
Isaac just shook his head at me. I was crying and I had no idea why. I didn’t know the man, but I felt sorry for him. I was still shaking, I was still scared.
“It almost got me,” I said to Isaac. “It was going to take me.”
“It’s not going to get you anymore, Lily, it can’t,” Isaac promised as my tears flowed down my cheek.
“This isn’t going to stop,” I said through my teeth. “They just kill people.”
“Lily, no, it’s okay.”
I didn’t really take notice to it straight away, the way he then pulled his arms around me. He hugged me tightly and I pushed my head into his chest as I tried to stop crying. His arms were so comforting to me. He seemed so strong and so warm…so safe. He held me so tightly to him and I felt my fear vanish in his arms. He had saved me…again.
“Felix better check out your head,” Isaac noticed, pulling me back slightly. “We don’t need you passing out again.”
Isaac led me down the stairs slowly, holding onto me in case my head wound affected me like the last one.
“Hadley, can you move the couch, I don’t really want to make her climb over it right now.”
Hadley stood with Felix in front of her, healing Hadley’s wounds no doubt. She looked over at Isaac and with an eye roll held her and out and the couch glided to the side. She then proceeded to look at the at the TV that had been knocked on the ground and, holding out her hand again I saw each shard of glass from the broken screen fall into a pile “Felix I need you to take care of Lily. Hadley, we have some business upstairs I need help with.”
Hadley just gave a small nod to Isaac, and then Isaac’s hand, which had been on my back, gave me a light tap before he smiled and lead Hadley back upstairs.
“Come on,” Felix instructed directing me to the kitchen. “As well as fixing you up, I need clean you up. The council would not be happy to see you in this state.”
“What about you?” I whispered, as I leant on the kitchen counter. “Don’t you need healing?”
“You see, Lily, a good thing about the healing mark, is that I can heal others…but I also heal myself. Well, I don’t actually have to do anything to heal myself, my body takes care of that,” Felix explained as he tilted my head for the wound at the back. “It’s helpful in fights, I get up quicker.”
“It’s like finding health in a video game,” I joked.
Felix laughed at me. “Yeah, I suppose it is.”
I felt warmth on the back of my head, but nothing else. Felix tilted my head back, and I knew it was healed; I reached up to touch my head to find that it was smooth, like it was untouched. Felix however noticed the graze on my arm I had gotten also and pulled my arm down to heal that too.
“The demon…,” I whispered. “It spoke to me.”
Felix only nodded slightly. “They always seem to with you.”
“This wasn’t like the other ones,” I shook my head as I felt the warmth on my arm. “He… he talked about…a prophecy.”
“A prophecy?” Felix asked surprised.
I nodded at him as he dropped my arm. “I think I was…trying to convince him out of killing me. I said that I must be needed to find the dagger…and well he didn’t seem so concerned about me finding it…he said he would need me when he found it.”
“I don’t know any prophecy,” Felix shook his head, “which is more reason to get you the council. I don’t why though you would be needed for more than finding the dagger if you’re the one to find it.”
“He knew a lot,” I said. “More than we know.”
“Well, it’s any bet that the council will know too.”
I nodded at Felix as he went over to the sink and grabbed a cloth, and rinsing in the water before proceeding back over to me. He then started to wipe what blood he could off me.
“Is that what always what happens? When a demon possess a human?” I asked Felix softly.
“Possession, is dangerous,” Felix shrugged. “Once a demon possess a human…they kill the human inside and simply control the body.”
“There’s nothing they can do?”
“Demons are powerful,” Felix answered. “That demon however, is one of the more powerful ones. Their shields are mostly resistant to our blades.”
“But not fire,” I shook my head.
“Fire?”
“I...I shot him with my fire, and it didn’t injure him that much…but his shield came down,” I told him. “Isaac was able to stab him then.”
“Demons don’t usually like fire,” Felix replied. “Except for a fire demon.
“They’re going to keep coming, aren’t they?” I guessed.
Felix paused as I felt the cold water drip off my arm, taking some blood with it. He looked directly at me now before he spoke.
“Until they get what they want, they won’t stop,” Felix nodded.
“Then neither can we,” I told him. “You said…that there was war…so we do the only thing to make it stop.”
“And what’s that?”
“Win the war.”
Chapter Ten
I’m not sure what Hadley and Isaac did exactly, but I knew it involved getting rid of the body, hiding any evidence that the man was here. I never saw it again, which was a relief because it only made the image easier to get out of my head. Felix had waited for them before he led me back upstairs, and walking up there I kind of just felt…empty. I had taken in so much that I had just gone, numb.
“He’s been in there forever,” Hadley groaned as she saw us. “It’s just a bunch of damn research, but Isaac insists that you look at it, Lily.”
“I just want to get out of here,” I shook my head slightly.
“Try making it quick then?” Hadley suggested.
I gave Hadley a little nod and walked past her and into the room. Last time I had stepped in this room I didn’t understand anything here, and that I really hadn’t looked at it properly, and now I could, because this time I understood what it all meant. This time I noticed the board on the wall and the maps and marks, but before I never noticed marks that had been carved into the wall and lists of words I could barely see.
“They must have been here for at least three years,” Isaac said, when he noticed I walked in as he was leaning on the desk flipping through a book. “I don’t even know how they could’ve found this all.”
“Isaac-,” I found myself whispering.
“I know I was in the chambers learning marks for a year, but not even I could write these all down,” Isaac was engrossed in all of it, he sounded kind of excited.
“Isaac,” I said again.
He suddenly turned from the book and he stood up straight to look at me. I had my arms crossed over my chest and I could feel my nails digging into my arms.
“I want to go,” I told him. “After…what happened before…I don’t want to be here anymore. I…I ca
n’t be here anymore.”
Isaac bit his lip a little and then he just nodded at me. “Get Felix and Hadley and get into the car. I’m going to grab some stuff from here to take to the council; they’ll want to see this. I’ll be there in a second, okay?”
I felt myself nod and I started to walk out, glad to be leaving.
“Lily?”
I turned back to look at Isaac and when his eyes meet mine I could see his concern.
“There’s something things we have to do to keep safe, and sometimes it calls for more than we think. This is dangerous…but I’ll do what I can to protect you for now, okay?”
“Yeah…well, thank you.”
I sat in the back of the car with Felix this time and we didn’t wait too long for Isaac to return. It was completely silent until Isaac came back and put his sword and whatever else and he had taken and put it in the trunk of the car. The sound of him shutting the door just filled the silence, and when he got into the driver’s seat he just looked around at all of us before sighing.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Isaac said, as he started the car. “This was my bad idea.”
“You can say that again,” Hadley said.
“I didn’t think it would be that strong, and I knew I had to get what was in that house before we went to the council,” Isaac said. “Plus there was four of us, and one of him, figured it would work out.”
“Well, you seriously misjudged that,” Hadley muttered.
“I’ve apologised once, what else do you want?” Isaac asked firmly.
“Nothing,” Hadley whispered glancing back at Felix and Felix shrugged at her.
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