The Demon Within

Chapter Eleven

Kalik lay on his mat, the sun shining in through his window. It's been a week since Mei left, and his anger kept rising every time he thought about it. The only one who didn't show anything was Soushi, who actually seemed sad Mei was gone, and extremely frustrated about something else. Kalik closed his eyes and pictured Mei the night she awakened. Everything about her changed that night; her attitude, personality, skills and looks. Kalik gritted his teeth as he saw Kazuma's confident face appear in his mind. If they think they can challenge the Empire, then they are out of their damn minds. Kalik got to his feet, strapped on his sword and walked out of his room angrily. As he walked towards the infirmary where Takashi and Mizuki were, a dark thought crossed his mind. What if Mei started attacking people and we were ordered to kill her? After leaving them for some random demon cause, Kalik believed he could. Kalik did feel a bit guilty though. Not once did he give Mei a chance to explain what she wanted to see or what she wanted to confirm. His anger blew everything out of proportion, and now none of the samurai even mentioned her name. But Kalik could tell they were thinking about her and could see small signs of sadness, but they were immediately replaced with anger. As long as he wasn't the only one furious with Mei, then he could live with it.

Kalik walked into the infirmary and saw Mizuki was practicing with his right arm. A wooden sword was in his hand and he was practicing against Takashi, who looked incredibly bored as he defended himself against Mizuki's blows. Kalik half-smiled and walked over there.

"How is it coming?" he asked.

"Not so well," Takashi said with a yawn.

"Give me a chance!" yelled Mizuki. "It's not my fault some damn demon decided to take my arm. Too bad I can't grow mine back or I'd use it to strangle him."

"No, be lucky you can't grow it back. It would mean you're a worthless demon if you could," Takashi said irritably. "I'd love to heal random body parts. I bet that's really attractive."

Laughing under his breath, Kalik continued to watch as Mizuki practiced. He was hoping even with Mizuki's disadvantage he could continue being a samurai. It would break Mizuki if he could no longer be a samurai because he was missing an arm. Kalik gritted his teeth and cursed Kazuma for taking Mizuki's arm. I'll kill that bastard next time I see him. For Mizuki, and for taking Mei. Kalik turned at the sound of running feet and saw Kaito burst into the room, sweat coming down his face. Mizuki and Takashi froze as they too saw the look of fear on Kaito's face.

"Kaito, what's wrong?" Kalik asked, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"We have a serious problem. Soushi is talking to people from the capital. One of them...is a Pureblood."

All three of them narrowed their eyes and they followed Kaito as he led them towards the courtyard. Everything seems to happen here, Kalik thought. As they reached the courtyard, they saw samurai with the emperors logo on their on their belt. They stood in a straight line and their heads were facing the ground. Elites, Kalik thought angrily. Kalik heard commotion going on inside the Soushi's room, which was right in front of the main gate. What are the emperor's men doing here? Do we have another order? Is it for Mei? Thousands of questions were circling in Kalik's brain. He looked over and saw Takashi had the same expression on his face, and Kalik wondered if they were thinking the same thing. The doors slammed open, and Soushi and another man came out. Soushi had a grim look on his face, and there were beads of sweat on his brow. The swordsman that came out behind him wore a bored expression on his face and he held his head high. Kalik's stomach tightened as he knew he was looking at the Pureblood. He had on a sleeveless shirt on and baggy pants like Kazuma's. He had spikey orange hair that went into a small pony tail. His eyes were red and his fangs were visible without even baring them. Soushi spotted Kalik and went over to him. Kalik was about to ask him what was going on when Soushi held up his hand to him, stopping him from speaking.