A Demon's Heir

07 i

01:36.

Why couldn't I fall asleep any more? I'd tried everything that would usually make me fall asleep again but this time nothing worked. I lay on my bed, pondering. What had awakened me actually? Then I noticed it was unusually quiet. I'd waken up before in the middle of the night but there had always been some sort of sound to accompany the night, maybe the sound of a fox calling or the leaves rustling in the wind. It was like the night was waiting for something to come. But what could it be? What could it be waiting for, if it was waiting for something. Getting out of the bed, I noticed the curtains were still open and I went to look out of the window to see if anything was moving. Taking a look, I saw the sky was cloudless but there were no stars to be seen. The sky was blacker then usual and it also seemed a lot darker. There was no wind, not even a hint of one. Suddenly there came an outburst of figures from the trees in the field behind. And they were running directly at the house. I noticed half were under demons, the other half another type of monster. King demons? Whatever they were, I had to notify Aiko. I ran full-pelt through the hallway and found myself almost crashing through the kitchen and skidding across the slippery tiles. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it would jump up my chest and out my throat. Once again, I tasted a disgusting bile taste on my tongue. I was so frightened, I could feel myself sweating in a cold sweat. Barging through the door to Aiko's room, I stopped, noticing he was awake. I leaned my hand on the door frame, trying to catch my breath after my sprint.

"Aiko," I panted. "The- demons- are coming- this way."

He jumped up from where he had been sitting, an alarmed look on his face.

"They are?" He asked, but before I could answer, he had started to stride along the hallway, seizing my arm as he walked out.

"Does this mean we have to fight?" I queried, striding to keep up with him.

Aiko didn't answer my question but continued to march down the hallway, leaving his own home and pushing the main entrance door open. He didn't stop or look behind him as he left the building behind me. What was going on? Why wasn't he running or fighting?

"Aiko?"

No answer, only a dark, brooding silence. It made me feel more scared. Why wasn't he answering my questions? All I knew was that demon troops were running towards the house and that we were just simply walking away from it.

"Aiko? Please!" I pleaded, looking into his face.

"Not now." He replied.

Abruptly stopping, he threw an arm in front of me, causing me to bump into it. Confused, I looked into his face again.

"Ai-"

"Sssh!"

I bit my bottom lip, holding my tongue. Why had he stop- All of a sudden I found myself among the shedding trees along the edge of the road and nearly fell from the sudden scenery change. Aiko had his hand wrapped tightly on my own and pulled me up into the tree beside him.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, brushing the branch from my view so I could see the house clearly.

"They still think we're in the house. If we stay here, we can see how many there are."

My breath caught in my throat. "So we're just going to watch them destroy the house?!" I exclaimed, before Aiko clapped a hand across my mouth.

I squirmed, trying to break free from his hand but something in his grim face made me stop. There was an expression in his eyes that told me, he was... scared. Frightened. That he'd seen all this before and maybe not just seen it but taken part in such a massacre. Taken part in the killing of innocent people, people who had done nothing! Did he do this himself? Kill people?