Lost in Darkness

Chapter 4-Venators

Epic trailer ------> Almost the same as the one from the previous chapter, only this time, the Cole is the right actor :) 

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Chapter 4
 

So yeah. Demons exist. I'd learnt that the hard way on my 16th birthday. Because my mum's heart attack? Not so much a heart attack. 

 Mother had shielded Grace and I from the truth for as long as she could. But she had known that eventually, we would have to carry on the legacy. She came from a long line of 'Venators', or 'Hunters'. We were all built with special powers, powers that set us apart from humans. But don't get me wrong, we're humans. We're just...humans with a kick. 

 While mother had never mentioned any of this to Grace and I when she was alive, she had left everything she knew in a little red notebook that now looked worn and tattered from being overused. Think of it like an instruction manual. The do's and don't's to Demon Hunting. She even mentioned how to tell the different types of demons apart.  

 There were three types of demons. There were the lower demons, which were mainly disguised as ugly humans (because what they were inside showed on the outside, as they weren't strong enough to change their outer shell), and they were the weakest of the bunch. Their main job was to tempt people away from the side of good. I know that sounds really silly, and even kind of stupid, but you would be surprised by the amount of people that can be swayed by peer pressure. According to Little Red (that was how I referred to Mum's 'Instruction Manual'), their proper name is Demitto. I could take one of these bad boys on by myself no problem.  

 Then there were the middle demons. These were powerful, but not overly so. Their proper name was Infestus. Again, these were mainly disguised as humans, but they weren't born that way. What made them so repulsive to me was that to take on a human disguise, they literally took over a human's body. The Host (Host was the way Little Red referred to a human possessed by a demon) didn't die. Their brain lived on inside of them as the demon took control of their body. They found themselves doing things they wouldn't, horrific things that even I, who had seen so much horror in this world, would hesitate to mention. If the demon ever left The Host's body, their mind was nearly always damaged beyond repair.

 And lastly, there were the big boys. Demons so powerful, that I wouldn't dare take on one without back-up. They were known as Validus. And they had all kinds of powers. Some could read minds. Some could move objects with nothing more than an afterthought. Some had more than one power, some only got the one. These were the oldest demons, dating back to when Jesus was around. What was scary about them was that they looked exactly the same as us humans. The only way that you could tell them apart was from their eyes. Their eyes were old, filled with the horrors of death. And they were cold. So cold that it made me shiver just thinking about it. 

 But I had found something out that wasn't in Little Red. About Validus that is. They couldn't get a read on me. Me or Grace, that is, which was strange, since that wasn't what our main power was... That is...when Grace had been around. I'd faced off against a fair few Validus, and they'd all had the same problems. Lucky us, right? Wrong. Because it didn't save Grace. Not in the end. 

 On the day she...you know...a Validus attacked us. Caused her death. It was why I hated them the most. The...thing...had had the ability to read minds and move objects, a dangerous combination. But when he tried to fling Grace and I across the beach, he couldn't.

 We felt his power from across the beach. It was like a living entity, suffocating us with it. I felt dizzy, the world around us fading into non-existance. It was hard to move, hard to think, hard to breath. Terror raced through me, paralysing in its intensity. 
"Hmmmm," he murmered, stalking towards Grace and I. His voice dripped with ice and hatred, and I knew right then that I would never be able to forget his voice...his chilling words. 

 The man had the darkest eyes I had ever seen. They were filled with an ancient wisdom, and while I could admit their chilling beauty, I could not deny that they also repulsed me. Because they were...well, chilling, as I've already said. I don't know how else to describe them, other than they're damn scary. 

 Grace and I backed away from the man, tightly holding hands. My heart pounded in my chest, and a fear so strong seemed to seize control of me, freezing my mind in a blind state of panic. God, why couldn't he just stay away?!

 As we backed away, I noticed a brief look of concentration pass over the man's features.
"My young friends, it seems I cannot get a read on you," he purred, smiling a cold smile. A wave of nausea crashed over me, and I fought back a gag. 
"What does that mean?" Grace asked boldly, even though she was trembling with fear. Grace was like that. She could sound so bold, so confident, even though she was shaking from fear. But the demon meerly sneered at her. 
"It means that I cannot read your mind." He frowned at us for a moment, and I felt a distinct pushing sensation. It was strong, and it was trying to shove me across the beach, away from Grace. I fought it, and managed to stand my ground. At this point, we had stopped moving back, as the man had stopped moving forward. "Or throw you across the beach as I wish."

 Grace squeaked in panic before she could stop herself, but all I could manage to feel was numb. The demon grinned. He had a dazzling smile, but it was...empty, devoid of all happiness, of all emotion. It had the effect of making him look like a wild, exotic animal. The fact that scared me the most was that he looked just like a regular human. He was tall dark and handsome. The monster lurking beneath didn't seem to show on the exterior. 

 Grace and I both knew that we had to kill him. But were we really ready to kill someone? True this...thing...had killed our mother, but... That didn't make killing him right. God, we weren't trained for this. We weren't prepared. We were only just starting to get a hold of our powers. They were unpredictable. We didn't know how to control them, or the extent of them. 

 The man was dangerous, of that I had no doubt. But what exactly were we supposed to do? The last time I had seen him, he had stolen our mother from us. At the memory, fury coursed through my ice cold veins, awakening my numb body. The memory of the last time I'd seen him was seared into my brain, never to be forgotten, the pain never lessening. 

 Our insecurity had cost Grace her life. 

 I shook my head. I didn't want to think about Mum. I didn't want to think Grace...or what she had 'gifted' me with. Those were pains for another time.