The Vessel

Working with a Demon

"Loki, I'm going with him." I said. I needed to find my dad.

"Ari no." He said. "He's a demon. He can lie."

"But he told us his name!"

"He could've lied about that, though."

"I... I need to go with him." I didn't know why but I did, I had to go with him.

"Ari please. Don't." He said.

"I'm still here you know." The demon said. "And Arabella, if you want to find your father, it would be best to come with me. All you have to do is say yes."

"Arabella, don't you dare. You know that saying yes is binding." Loki said.

"I'm going. Yes. Whatever you need me to say. Loki, you can come with if you want, but I'm going no matter what. I love you, but you know that I need this."

"I'm going if you are. But I'm not happy about it." He said after a long pause.

"Thank you." I said. He looked so mad about it but I couldn't help it, I had to go with Zaezohn. "Zohn, where are we going first?"

"Well, I have a natural navigator, so just follow me." He said. 

"How dumb do you think I am? Of course you have a navigator! I was asking which direction, stupid." I said. He looked angry, I knew I shouldn't mess with a demon, but it was in his contract to keep me alive. He morphed shape. His true form, most humans can't handle a demons true form, but I learned how to deal with it. He became a humanoid scaly creature, he had red oily skin that seemed to smolder as if it was burning, he had huge black wings, and massive yellow fangs.

"What was that, Princess?" If a snake could talk, it would be his voice. I laughed in his face.

"I called you stupid." I said. He roared a hissing, dragon-like roar. I waved my hand in front of my face. "Someone needs to brush their teeth, just because you're from the Underworld, doesn't mean you have to smell like it." It was then that his long, black claws ripped across my arm. The burning caused me to fall. My vision turned black, my body was completely focused on the pain. I let myself scream.

"How does that feel, Princess?" His demonic laugh echoed through the forest.

"You bastard." Loki said. My heart lurched. Before the demon could reach Loki, I had the knife of Souls to his chest.

"Zaezohn, I suggest you stop." My arm dripped in blood. It throbbed and the amount of blood leaving my body was getting dangerously high. He growled.

"I supposed I should compose myself." He said. He slowly made the transformation back into the suave looking man he was before. "I apologize for losing my temper." He looked at my arm. He summoned a small towel and wrapped it around my arm, just above the cuts. He then pulled a small bottle of lamb's blood and poured it on my arm while singing a demonic song. It did not heal, but the bleeding stopped. I had four open wounds on my arm and Loki glared at Zaezohn as he dressed my wounds. "To answer your question, we're heading south." Zaezohn said.

We began walking, I was slowed by the pain. By the end of the night Zohn wanted to keep going but I needed to sit.

"Zohn, I have to sleep."

"I apologize, humans do sleep don't they? I will keep watch." He said. Loki set up camp and Zohn left to go find meat. He brought back a deer, which we cleaned and cooked. We ate almost half of it, Loki and I. Zohn just watched. We fell asleep quickly.