Killing (And Other Games)

(Eighteen)

(Eighteen)

Instead of leaving straight away, Charlie leads me back into the plaza and right up to the largest shop around. It's called Everything W which doesn't seem very creative to me. He gives me a once over, probably deciding if I'll wait for him or not, and disappears into the shop. It's clear that I shouldn't follow.

I last half a minute before heading in after him.

The inside of the store is the opposite of the outside. Standing in the plaza you'd expect some sort of musty antique store, maybe a well-to-do one considering the size. Inside, I'm practically in Costco. The whole place is a polarizing white with huge shelves lined up in uniform. However, instead selling eggs and milk, things like jars of insects and collectors editions of the Book of Ages are on offer.

I wander down an aisle, peering at all the essential goods for an Underworld citizen. The cosmetics section is particularly fascinating. I don't know what I expected but for some reason it surprises me that there's so much make-up on offer; I guess I thought vanity was a human thing. Something reserved for people with a normal amount of eyes and limbs. But there's mascara for every species under the sun, cream to keep your skin at that natural green colour, even little caps to put on the end of your teeth-their equivalent of earrings I guess.

In the book section, I look for the Book of Blood. Finding an edition that's much more practical then Zane's doorstopper, I sit on the ground and lay it over my legs. Looking through the contents, I find the section on demons and flip though to it.

Species: Demons.

Alignment: Dark.

Status: Hunted.

The image of the demon looks nothing like Zane. Clearly he takes after his vampire side. The thing is less humanoid, more shadow-like with twisted limbs and seemingly no end. A little sidenote states that demons usually possess other creatures and use their bodies so that they remain unnoticed. Well, that's comforting.

The emergence of Demons in the thirtieth year of light brought a new era upon the Underworld and officially began the first Great War. The numbers of demons during the Great War is thought to have been in the thousands, but post-light era dropped to an estimated two hundred.

The passage goes on about this so called Great War, talking about how certain famous demons died and how horribly horrible they all were. I'm not surprised to find that the light creatures won the first Great War considering the tone of the book and the fact that history is always written by the winners.

After the war, most Demons went into hiding but the effect of their presence on earth had already been felt. The first Dark Creature was born from a Demon and a Guide; a vampire. During this period of hundred years or so many more Dark species were born.

So...all Dark creatures are descended from demons? I skim a huge paragraph about the second Great War and come to one with a date; 1890.

A brief note must be made about the early 20th century, the four thousandth year of light, and the final emergence of the Nazareth demon. Thought to have been dead, it ventured to the earth for a final time, taking a vampire woman as its slave. The great King Kaze is largely known for his meticulous hunt and capture of the Nazareth demon, as well as the formal pardoning of its vampire hybrid children.

I stare at the sentence, wide eyed. Could that be Zane? He said he was born in 1901. He's a vampire hybrid. Did he seriously just get mentioned in their big book of creatures? That's like getting a credit on a Spielberg movie!

I flip past the demon pages looking for a page on demon hybrids but there doesn't seem to be one. Is it really that rare? There's a page for vampire-werewolf hybrids, even a few pages with combinations of humans and paranormal creatures. I remember Zane saying that there are only five demon hybrids in the world right now but surely they've been more in history. Then again, you'd think they'd be hard to kill.