A Demon's Fate

Chapter 6: Enthralled

Three hours of trudging through the rain brought me to Soma's house, looming dark at the end of an abandoned road. Before, I hadn't taken much time to notice the details.

It was two stories, with a vibrant blue paint and white trim. There were two windows facing the street, one broken and boarded up. Around the house was wreckage, houses seemingly burnt to the ground.

But here this one stood, in pristine condition. Soma had mentioned fixing the house after the fire...

It was nice to look at though, like a bright beacon of hope after what I'd just gone through. Soaking wet and tired, I made my way to the front door and knocked.

..........Nothing came from the house. I knocked again, louder this time. Finally, I heard movement.

A few minutes later, I heard the lock clang open, and saw that purple gun pointed at my head. "S-What are you doing?!"

"What are you doing at my house," Soma spoke, threateningly. "Demons aren't welcome here."

"S-Soma, it's me... I know you keep telling me to get out, but I just..." I backed away from him, I didn't know what he was going to do, what he was talking about.

He stood in silence for a moment. ".....What color was the sticky note?"

"That's... a random question... Well, do you mean when I first came here?"

"Yeah, what color was it?"

"Was it... Pink?"

Slowly, Soma lowered his gun and brought me inside. "What happened?" His voice was startling, he must be angry...

I worked up a quick lie. "I was at school with Tamina-san."

"I don't believe you. You were in the forest weren't you?"

"W-what?" I glanced to the side, "No way!"

"Is that where you got," he grabbed my hand, "this?" As I slowly unfurled my hand, the black mark was clearly visible, standing out starkly against my pale skin.

"What is it Soma?"

"This is a Mark. You've been touched by a demon, when did it happen?" he asked, staring at me intensely.

"Around... One I think... Just tell me what it means!"

"So it is as I thought..." Soma began pacing around the living room suddenly with his hand over his face.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, startled by his tone. "Is it bad?"

Soma didn't answer for a while. I feared the worst. At last, he turned to me and looked right at me. "Miyouko, you've been possessed by a demon." I started to freak out, but Soma grabbed my shoulders. "Don't worry, you probably will be fine. You see, so have I."

Suddenly, he reaches back into his hair and loosens his bandage covering his right eye. As it fell to the floor, it revealed a black eye with a tiny red pupil. It looked fairly normal, yet I still screamed and struggled against his grip.

"Relax!" I was thrown into the couch, falling onto my sore butt... "This is my Mark. I have a demon inhabiting my body as well. His name is... Darlobus..."

"I've... heard that before..."

"Yeah, you've caught me talking to him on more than one occasion. We pretty much share our existence. One mind, one body... Two souls. The same is true of you as well. One of two things will probably happen. Either you two can coexist as one, or one of you will invariably be devoured by the other."

I was still freaking on the inside, but I'd managed to suppress it. "So then, what does that mean?"

"Do you remember our conversation about Thralls?" He'd talked about them a couple of times. These were humans that were possessed and devoured by demons! "That's us," he said, "We're a little different though."

"How are we like those zombie things then?"

"Other thralls are kind of like... rejects. Either their souls were devoured by the demon in their body, or they were never compatible in the first place. They're like temporary vessels for demons. Us however, we are built to fight." He lifted his gun to show me. "Real Thralls are meant to be powerful, and that can only be achieved by the resonance of two souls."

I didn't feel any different, like there was another person inside of me. That I would have to fight now... that really scared me. Everything about this, and this meeting scared me...

"I'm going to drop some technical terms, so pay attention." I nodded. "This, is your Demon Scythe. It's your weapon and lifeline, and it takes a different form for each Thrall." Suddenly, the gun transformed into a small revolver. "This, is your Catalyst. It's the item which transforms into your Scythe. Keep it close."

"So then, what's mine? How do I know what it is?"

"You have to figure that out for yourself. I can't help you with that."

"How did you know right away? That I was a... Thrall."

"Every Mark has it's own power. Mine is sight. You have to figure that out too."

I took a step back and looked at the situation. My head was swimming. "This is the most we've talked in the past two weeks."

"I guess... It was important that you knew."

"What's going to happen now?"

"About... that day." Soma looked down and shuffled his feet. "I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. Besides, if you left, it wouldn't do anyone good. You're too involved now."

It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it meant I was no longer banished from the house. "Yeah, I guess... Things are going to be very different from now on, huh?"

Soma and I sat awkwardly in the living room until I finally got up from the couch. "I suppose you're pretty tired after everything that just happened. If you want to go to bed, I won't stop you. We'll talk about it in the morning, all right?"

Ha, all right was an interesting choice of words. I knew it would never really be all right after that. Still, I could take comfort in the fact that Soma and I were on speaking terms again, and that we had a plan for the future, even if it was looking grim. "Goodnight Soma."

"Yeah, goodnight..." I yawned heavily and started up the stairs. Now was as good a time as any to change clothes, I thought wearily, if I was going to bed, I ought to be dry...

My clothes were in the washer I assumed as there was nothing in my closet. Trudging sleepy-eyed to Soma's room, I pulled a white t-shirt and a clean pair of jeans from his closet, and found a towel for my hair.

Dry now, I started to my room, but not before I got a strange chill down my spine. I looked around frantically, but no one was there. I could feel a shift in the air as a new presence entered. W-was it the demon?!

"Miyo...chan...?" A voice filled my head, and I sure as hell knew that wasn't Soma. I also knew that no one called me that... "I figured I'd wake up before you... Where are we?"