One is Rust the Other is Gold

9: The Demon Inside

Joel didn't seem happy that there were four girls staring at him. Fugo looked like she was going to kill him, Trish was making sarcastic goo-goo eyes at him, and Narancia eyed him suspiciously with that slack jaw of hers that dared anyone to cross her. We were all sitting on a dock by the ocean. Joel had requested two cups so Fugo bought some coffee from a nearby vendor.

"Let's see your fancy magic, wizard man," Narancia said while her arms were wrapped protectively around me. She was small and scrawny, but the hug along with her fierceness was comforting. She was like a small dog who was forced to be more feral than the rest of the world to make up for her small stature. I wound one of my arms around her back in support.

"Mom's gonna kill me," Joel mumbled and ran a hand through his hair.

We waited expectantly as Joel took a cup of coffee and turned it upside down. The liquid stayed in the glass and my friends all looked at each other.

"I'm going to teach you how to do this," Joel said. "I must warn you, not everyone can do this, but maybe one among the four of you can."

I grabbed the cup from his hand and tilted it. Hot coffee spilled on the dock.

"Be careful, you'll burn yourself," Joel reached out to touch the cup, but I instinctively jerked back at his approach, coffee splashing onto the front of my shirt.

He let out a humored exhale and asked, "You okay?"

My first instinct was to bite back and tell him to drop the chivalrous act, it's just coffee, but I bit my tongue. "Yes, I'm okay," I said. "The shirt means nothing and it's not that hot, please continue the lesson."

"Alright, I'm going to do something my mom did to me when I first learned Hamon. It's an initial test to see how well your body can store energy. Keep holding that cup upright, but I'll need to touch your hand again."

I slowly drew my hand toward him. He placed his palm over the back of my hand and I felt that familiar warmth spread through my arm. I stared in disbelief when I watched my arm completely heal before my eyes. My friends saw, too, and they all made soft noises of exclamation. How was this real? I looked up at Joel, who was looking directly at me. My whole body felt warm, probably from the Hamon, and I quickly looked away.

He drew his hand back. "Okay, now tip the cup over."

Light oddly glowed from the dark liquid. I turned the cup over and we all gasped when the coffee stayed. However, seconds later, it dumped all over the deck and splashed onto my crossed legs.

"Great! That's a good sign!" Joel said. "It'll take some practice, but I think you'll be able to do it. If mom sees this, she'll be pissed I taught you something that could give you power, but she has to admit you aren't going to turn into an evil vampire lord now."

What if I do turn into what Ms. Kujo fears, though? I'm not a good person even as someone with little power. I steal and no one knows about the rabid demon I keep at bay within, who wanted to tear out Bovoleto's throat when he made sex jokes about a man beating me. The demon that is whispering to me this very moment telling me if I had the fangs of my father, I'd be able to rip apart my step father the next time he touched me. What if my biological father became a vampire in the first place because he was as hurt and powerless as I was, and the burning rage within us was too hot to bear in such a small, weak human body? What if all Joel was doing was giving me the power to afford releasing the demon inside me?

"Look, your arm is all healed," Joel pointed, snapping me out of my thoughts. "That's another power of Hamon. It can heal humans and any other living creature. It can even make plants grow. My ancestor Jonathan Joestar first learned this power when his broken arm was instantly healed by a Hamon master."