The Child

10

I walk into the hospital and towards Ace's room. As I enter his hall I notice police officers and I slow down. I walk further down and I notice crime scene tape.

My breathing hitches as I walk faster, walking towards Ace's room. I notice it taped off with crime tape and I whimper.

I run under the tape and into the room, seeing Ace gone. Vanished. I whimper, looking around.

I notice some stains on his pillows. I pick up one of them, looking closer.

I like at it and then rub it between my fingers.

"Black blood?"I say quietly.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be in here!"An officer shouts, making me jump.

"S-sorry."I say, scurrying past him.

I huff and run to the nearest nurse.

"Excuse me can you tell me what happened to the patient in that room?"I ask.

"Oh, he had a small seizure earlier this morning, then he started to violently act out, he injured one of our doctors and then ran off, talking about how the light hurt his eyes or something."she shrugs.

"Oh god, thank you."I say softly before letting her go and walking towards the exit.

.....

I huff as I walk quietly into my house, looking around. I notice my basement door was wide open, the wood holding it shut ripped away.

My breathing hitches as I look down into the darkness.

"...a-ace?"I say.

I hear a hissing sound come from below and I bite my lips as I grab a flashlight off the wall, clicking it on and aiming it down the stairs.

I walk down then slowly and reach the bottom, turning towards the open dark space.

I hear him groaning and I look, seeing him on the floor, covered in something.

I gasp as I run to him, dropping to my knees and picking him up.

He groans as he turns his head towards me.

I gasp and cover my mouth, seeing his reptilian eyes.

"Ace?"I whimper.

His face was pale and he seemed to have actual snake like scales growing in small patches along his body.

"I'm sorry."he says, his voice smooth.

"What happened to you?"I ask, cupping his cheeks.

"It was the teacher. I was right."he says, holding up a swollen bite mark on his hand.

"He turned me back into a demon. Alice..."he says cupping my cheek.

He pulls me down and pecks my lips once.

"Kill me, Alice."he says, making me whimper.

I shake my head.

"I can't go back to him. You know what he'll do to me, don't make me go back to him."Ace says, gripping my hand.

"No, no there's another way we can keep you up here."I whimper.

"If I don't go back down I'll just get weaker and weaker. I'll turn into a snake, Alice. If I stay in the human world to long I'll turn into a snake."he explains.

I cry harder.

"But I can find a way to turn you back."I sob.

"You have to kill me Alice. There's no cure for this- look at me."he says weakly, lifting up his arm to show the snake scales growing in a slow pattern.

"I'll call H! He can help us!"I cry, cupping his cheeks.

He shakes his head and huffs as I quickly scramble for a nearby box, opening it and searching through.

I find a small piece of chalk and I jump for joy as I begin drawing Hades symbol on the ground.

"Salt. Salt."I say, standing and walking over to Ace.

I dig around in his pants pocket till I accumulate a handful of salt.

"Thank goodness you fucking nerd."I say, tossing the salt onto the symbol.

It glows red and the house shakes a bit. I flip Ace over and then turn away.

"Two bloody calls in one month, are you trying to annoy me?"I hear him say.

I quickly flip Ace over and then look at him myself.

"Oh dear."he says.

"Help him! You said you'd help us, do something!"I say.

"I'm afraid there isn't much I can do. I can supply him with venom maybe, to delay the transformation. But the only way to stop it is to have him go back-"I cut him off.

"He's not doing that!"I say.

This makes Hades huff.

"Belial is coming Alice. He's coming for Cain stop trying to deny such."he says.

I whimper as I shake my head.

"Cain is too young. He's too young."I say softly.

"He's exactly the right age. You know what the number 6 means to Belial. That's why he's doing this now."Hades says.

My lips quiver and I look down at Ace's sickly face.

"The venom. Get us the venom."I say softly.