Beyond His Evil

TWENTY-NINE.

~~~

It had been two days since I returned to Safe Land, and much to my displeasure, I realized my unwanted popularity had only grown.

I couldn’t leave my room without finding a cluster of idle humans and hunters outside my door, waiting like vultures, eager to flood me with questions.

My response was always the same—slamming the door in their faces.

Sometimes, they didn’t even need to see me to talk about me. They whispered just outside my door, speaking as if I couldn’t hear them.

‘She should have died, she's so chaotic.’

‘She doesn't belong in safe land.’

I clenched my fists.

Their words didn’t sting anymore, but they irritated me to no end.

I hadn’t seen Devon or Evelyn since my return. Even Kathryn, whom I had seen on my first day back, seemed to have vanished.

There was a massive celebration for Safe Land’s anniversary coming up, and everyone was caught up in preparations.

For them, life was the same. For me, nothing could ever be the same again.

There were too many unanswered questions. Too many tangled mysteries. And at the center of it all—me.

But one thing had become painfully clear: I was different from other hunters, but I wasn’t powerless.

My mother had known that.

Everything suddenly made sense: all the times she had stopped me from doubting myself, all the strange, cryptic things she had said. She had known exactly what I was.

And I needed to know too. I needed to find out the truth.

There was only one person who could give me answers—Rya.

The things she had said in the library… she knew something. And I was going to find out what.

But if my truth had been buried for so long, was it a good idea to go digging?

That was the question that held me back.

I turned to the mirror once more, staring at my reflection. I had been doing that a lot since I returned, watching and waiting for my eyes to change color again. But they never did.

A deep unease settled in my stomach.

Shaking off the feeling, I stepped out of the bathroom and went to my wardrobe. After shuffling through my clothes, my fingers brushed against something solid. The holy book.

I carried it to my bed, hesitating for a moment before placing it before me.

With a deep breath, I opened it.

The pages smelled exactly how they looked—ancient.

I hesitated, unsure where to begin. My thoughts drifted, unwillingly, to Devon. As irritating as it was, he was always in my head.

With him in mind, I flipped to the section about demons.

The first thing I saw was a drawing. A rough sketch, but unsettling nonetheless.

The demon had long, sharp claws. Its mouth hung open, revealing elongated canines. But what sent a chill down my spine were its eyes—crimson red, surrounded by those eerie black vein-like lines. The same ones that had framed Devon’s eyes when he had assaulted me.

My stomach twisted. Cold sweat prickled my skin.

Beneath the drawing, a single phrase stood out: 'THE ABOMINATION IN ITS TRUE FORM.'

I forced myself to keep reading.

"Demons are born from the union of a vampire and a hunter. At birth, they are the size of a seven-year-old human, tearing out of their mother's womb and causing her death. Their vampire side is stronger than their hunter side. Their thirst for blood is insatiable."

I swallowed hard.

I knew they were part vampire. But I hadn’t known they actually drank blood like them.

I turned the page.

"With time, their thirst becomes controllable. Unlike vampires, they do not require blood for survival, but they still crave it. Their hunter side grants them abilities—most notably, teleportation.

Demons are rare. When one is seen, it is advisable to kill it immediately.

They are deceivers. Never trust a demon.

They are beautiful creatures in their human form, but it is only a facade. Evil hides in facades. They are evil. Be warned!"

Those words… The woman at the hut had said them to me. And now, they were here, carved into the holy book’s pages.

I shut the book, gripping its cover to steady my breathing.

Devon’s words, over time, echoed in my head.

"I know everything about you, Kira."

"Don’t trust me, Kira."

"You’d be making a huge mistake if you did."

My God...

My mind reeled. I remembered the book I had found in Devon’s room, the one where he had written about healers.

I flipped through the holy book’s pages, searching. And then—I found it.

The section about healers.

It was short. Barely a full page.

"Healers are the only hunters created by God himself. Born to cleanse the Earth of all evil, their power is limitless. Even the angels believed they were stronger than demigods, for they bore the gift of life within them. The only difference was that they were mortal. And mortals could die.

The vampires believed that healers were powerful enough to restore Zalas’s soul. But when they failed, the vampires slaughtered them all.

There has been no known survivor."

I exhaled shakily.

The child of Zalas was my next thought.

I turned the pages again, searching.

The section was shorter than the last—almost a poem.

"A child born of evil and pain.
We still mourn the loss of our immortal to this day.
Cursed is he forever.
He shall bear the same fate as Dear Arathes, the fairy said.
But oh! How can something so evil be so beautiful?
No creature compares to his beauty.
With markings all over his body that we do not understand,
And silver eyes that shine so bright.
How can something so beautiful be so evil?"

My breath caught.

At the bottom of the page was a drawing. An eye. Silver, impossibly beautiful.

And it looked exactly like the one I had seen in Devon’s room.

I turned back to the page about healers. At the very bottom, in tiny, almost unreadable writing, were more words.

"Then came the prophecy.
Another shall come.
One more powerful than the others.
In their hands, they shall bear the gift of life and death."

I froze.

Prophecy.

Rya had spoken of a prophecy.

The same one in the holy book?

The same one the woman had spoken of?

The same chant by a hundred voices I heard from the mirror?

Pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, but the picture they formed was terrifying.

"When you’ve read all that you need to, find me."

I had to find Rya.

***
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