Penultimate

He’d caught up with me again. The demon knew where I was. He always did. He was smiling, not a nice smile of course. In the dark room, the curtains closed so that the civilians couldn’t see into the dark room, the lamps off and no flame in sight. The room smelt of old mouldy dirt, small and dark, slightly damp air.

The Demon advanced on me. His dark eyes narrowing onto my chest, where I knew he would drive his dagger. My heart rate quickened and the Demon heard this. He smiled wider, and I could see his white teeth in the darkness. My heart raced, my chest hurting from the pressure my heart was setting. The Demon laughed quietly, his body shaking in the shadows.

I took a step back into the shadows, going so far back that my back hit the wall, which sent my heart into a higher frenzy. I looked behind, to see where I was, but there was no escape near me. The room was empty, a clear sign that the Demon had thought of everything. I wanted to reach for something, anything, which would aid my escape. I couldn’t fight the Demon, I wasn’t that powerful. I never would have the guts to either.

The Demon paused for a moment, his eyes gazing over my entire body, as though thinking. His eyes lit up, before he smirked in the gloom. I pressed my back further against the wall, praying that it would eat me up and I would be free of the Demon.

I saw a flash, a bright light. I didn’t know where it had come from, but I somehow knew that it was something to do with the Demon. Everything about my life here was due to him, no matter what. The Demon took a step forward, his feet barely making a sound on the wooden floor which creaked beneath my feet.

A dagger was shoved in my face and I held my breath. The Demon watched my face with strange eagerness. I turned my head away, praying again that I could just disappear from this room. The sharp point of the dagger touched my chin and forced me to look up at the Demon. I looked at him, trying to shrink into the floor. He smirked and his teeth gleamed once again, almost glowing in the gloom.

The dagger was pulled away from my chin, but it was still in my face. I breathed out, after however long of holding it. The Demon looked as though he was considering something. His eyes were still in slits, though they weren’t life threatening anymore.

“You know, a minute ago I was set on killing you.” The Demon started. His voice was thoughtful and that scared me. He grinned, “But, after seeing just how cute you are when you are scared, I realised something.”

For a second I thought he would spare my life, but then he added, “So I’ve decided that I’m going to continue the hunt. I will find you every three years, watch you cower in fear, and then leave you.”

Quickly rethinking his words, the Demon put in, “after two hundred encounters, I am going to kill you. Mark my words.” The Demon finished. I nodded, the breath leaving my body in a rush. I was scared and he knew that. He enjoyed my fear, fed on it.

“Oh, and my name is Luke.” He finished before he slashed my eyebrow with the knife and fled the scene, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. It smelt worse than the room itself, making me cough from the fumes.

I didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew that Luke would find a way to reach me, he always did. It was his skill as the Hunter, his mission and his power. That’s why he was in the mortal realm and not in his Demon world. I couldn’t be in the Demon world, as I wasn’t a full Demon, but I wasn’t truly unhappy about that. I knew that Demon’s were unnecessary violent.

Recovering from my shocked position on the wall, I realised that my eye was bleeding. I reached and felt the warm red blood that was seeping through the open wound. I ripped a small part of my gown and washed the wound and wrapped the cloth around my forehead.