Burn

CHAPTER 1

He met her on the first day back from Winter break, as he was crowding out of last period alongside his equally frantic classmates.
Biology had been a particularly gruesome beast, and already students were sequestering themselves into small groups to bemoan the newly assigned homework.

For that reason, he forgave himself for not noticing her, standing by the classroom door with an expectant frown.

She was short and stout and chubby, with shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair and bangs cut in a blunt line directly above her brows. She was, Carter observed, remarkably pretty. There was nothing remarkable about the way she dressed, however, nothing to suggest he ought to have been wary of her.

So when her hand shot out and snagged the sleeve of his hoodie, tugging him firmly from the crowd of bustling students, he didn't think to cry out or struggle.

He only spun on his heel and stared, rather stupidly, at the girl scowling up at him with unbridled rage.

"You," she hissed, and though she was a good foot shorter than Carter, she managed to stick her nose into his face and scrutinise him through narrowed eyes. Carter blinked as her perfume washed over him. "It is you. I knew it. You stink of it."

Just as suddenly as she'd grabbed him, the girl shoved him away, and Carter stumbled in an attempt to remain balanced.

"I'm sorry," he interjected as she continued to glare at him, mind swiftly blanking, "but what, exactly, do I stink of?"

Somehow, the girl's expression darkened further. She stalked back into his space and stood on her tip-toes to jab her index finger into his chest. "Death. Rot. Fire."

At his continued confusion, she grit her teeth and released a low hiss of frustration. When she spoke, it was both soft and sharp as a blade.

"Demons."

Oh. Carter straightened. Pulled away from the girl entirely. And blinked several times. "Oh."

"Yes." The girl seemed only further incensed by his non-reaction. "Oh. Maybe now you can understand my situation."

Carter frowned. "Not really," he admitted.

The girl ignored him. "You'll have to come with me," she began, more to herself than to him. "Who knows how long that demon's been with you-might be so deeply rooted we can't possibly extract it without causing you harm-"

"I'm sorry," Carter said again, resisting the urge to wilt beneath her glare. "But...are you talking about Ryu, by any chance?"

"Who?" The girl demanded.

"The demon I had with me," he elaborated. "Ryu."

"If that's what it calls itself, sure," The girl muttered in reply. "Whatever, the point is, we need to get it out of you before-"

"Him."

"What?"

Carter cleared his throat, suddenly feeling much smaller beneath her scrutiny. "Ryu's a him. And, you needn't bother with this...extraction stuff." A shiver ran through him at the word. "He's...he's gone."

Fresh pain surged through him, cutting him open so suddenly he could barely breath around the agony.

Ryu.