Demon Soul (1)

XVI

Turns out Gabriel had been cooking game hens this whole time. When he pulled them out, they smelled like heaven on a plate and got my mouth watering instantly. He gave one to each of us, and we were free to pick among the sides he'd made. It all looked amazing, so I decided to try a bite of everything.

We took seats at one end of the table, with Gabriel at the head and Nox and I on either side of him. I dug in, taking big bites out of the chicken hungrily. I hadn't realized how much making ice sculptures worked up your appetite. Halfway through his game hen Gabriel wiped his lips with a napkin and took a breath, looking as if he was readying himself to explain something.

"I'll start out with the system of government in the demon world." He began. "We have a Council, people who dish out punishments and decide what to do on matters that could possibly affect the well being of all demons. Lohryx is the oldest demon alive, an Incubus, and has sired two sons, Ranvix and Ryiin. It's been so long since I paid attention to the demon world or even came into contact with another demon, I'm not sure what's been going on."

"We've been talking about moving to Seattle once we're done here." Nox added. "They have compounds there, three of them. If I'm not wrong, we have a relative in Hailstorm, don't we?"

"Ah, yes. Yayuki, last I heard she was still the leader." He chuckled. "She's my sister, so she'd be your aunt."

"What..." I paused, putting my fork down. "What happened to mom?"

The table grew quiet for a second. Nox looked up at Gabriel, who seemed to take another breath before shaking his head. I could see the pain in his eyes.

"Her name was Morrigan." He said quietly. "Chocolate brown curls and rust colored eyes, she was beautiful. I met her in a college when I was trying to pose as a student. She was studying demonology, and I fell head over heels for the girl."

The memories in his eyes were soft, warm, like gentle sunlight. I could picture her, nothing like I imagined, but still beautiful in every sense of the word. Gabriel smiled to himself before continuing.

"She was doing so good, but one day she came in with a red rosary around her neck. Not a Hunter, but a Scribe. She was to record and study demonic activity in the area. It didn't take long for me to fess up to her who I really was, but by this point we'd already been dating. Morrigan didn't have a care in the world, and I admired her for that. We got married the year she graduated, and she was already three months pregnant with you two by then." His eyes turned dark. "The Order began to suspect there was something wrong. When you both were born, we agreed upon two things: Nyx would be handed over to a human family, and we would come back for her when it was safe. And the three of us would proceed to drop off the face of the globe. But it didn't get to that."

"What happened?" I asked, tears pricking everyone's eyes. I had a feeling I knew.

"We'd already handed you off to an adoption agency when they came, and I was out with Nox. When we came home...when we..." He bit his lower lip, his eyes downcast. "They had killed her. She was strung up on a cross in the backyard, with the word traitor carved into her chest. We left that day, after I buried her."

"So the Order...they killed one of their own?" I trembled as I spoke.

"She broke a rule. The most important rule in the world. Humans and demons were never meant to mix, but still, we did. One in a billion, that's the chance you have to birth a half breed. But still, it happened."

"How come I'm the half breed?" I asked. "No offense, but why didn't Nox get affected?"

"I have a theory that it has to do with genetics. Because your mother was the human in the equation, her genes were passed onto you instead of mine. But that would make you human, so...I can only guess that it's like a disease."

"Lays dormant until triggered by an environmental factor." I laughed humorlessly. "It makes sense, honestly. That explains why the Cambion is a girl as well, I wonder if it can only happen to girls."

"There's been boys, but they came from a demon as a mother, not a human." Nox added. "They're all usually killed within a year of birth though. Because we passed you off quick enough, they didn't get the chance to find you. But we're all kind of screwed now, aren't we?"

"Nox." Gabriel said sternly. "That's no way to act."

"We'll get through this." I smiled at my brother, who seemed to perk up. "Just, try and think of it like we're still under the radar. Don't act out of place, don't speak out of place, don't do anything to alert anyone to the fact we're not human. We can't go out and attack groups of them, we have to let them come in and pretend they're welcome. Then we'll wait for everything to settle down, and we'll leave. Let's just get through the next week, okay?"

"Sounds like a good plan." Nox smiled.

We finished up our meals and Gabriel collected the plates, telling us to go have fun. Nox went up to his room, and I could vaguely hear the sound of video games being played through the wall. I could only smile and laugh, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the day. There weren't many options, and it was already getting late, so I decided to just stay in and relax.

I took off my shoes and hung up my coat, finding my duffel bag sitting on the bed where my brother had left it. I snatched it up and walked over to the dresser, beginning to organize things into the drawers and put it all away. There was a lot more space here for clothing, and the room was a lot less cramped than my old one. The only thing I could think about was how much nicer it smelled in this whole house, like cooking food and warm fires, unlike the chemical cleanliness that always hung in the air. I never dared to go in Ronin's room, but I'm sure it didn't smell like a bouquet of daisies in there either.

Just as I was putting the last of my clothes away in the closet, a small tapping distracted me. I looked to the window, spotting something I hadn't seen in a while: a crow. It tapped on my window with its foot instead of its beak, and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. It looked odd standing there on one foot, looking at me expectantly. On a whim I opened up the window and allowed it inside, watching it hop onto the desk with glee. I was worried it might make a mess, but it didn't seem like it was going to do much. It just seemed to take in the room, caw at me quietly, flap its wings a little bit, and finally hop back out the window before flying off.

I walked back downstairs with an idea, and after a few minutes of searching the house, I found a small bottle of birdseed. I filled up a bowl and brought it back upstairs, placing it in my windowsill in the hope to attract more birds to the spot. I could see them in the trees, chirping and fidgeting around happily as they enjoyed the encroaching summer. They all stared at me though, the moment I placed the bowl down, and stopped moving. I guess the birds didn't like me as much as I liked them.

"What are you doing in there?"

"A crow just hopped into my room and hopped right back out." I turned around with a chuckle, watching Gabriel smile at me with amusement. "Is it normal for birds to do that? Just sit there and stare?"

"Well, animals have a stronger sixth sense than humans do. They can tell the difference between us, and I think they act like that because they're curious."

"Curious?"

"Let's say you saw all birds in black and white, but suddenly you saw one in blue. Wouldn't you sit still and be quiet in hopes not to chase it away, and get a good look?"

"I didn't think of it that way." I nodded, smirking vaguely. "I like birds. They get to fly wherever they want and glide through the clouds."

"You really don't like it here, do you?" He asked as he walked in the room, gazing out the window. "I can see why you don't. The snow is practically everlasting, the townsfolk are bland and keep to themselves, and even the poor birds seem bored here."

"At least someone finally gets it." I smiled at him lazily.

"There's things to like about Blackwood though too." He added. "There's no heavy traffic, no pollution, no loud foreigners that scream obscenities at you on the streets. I missed this town, but I also miss the city."

"I can understand that." I nodded, taking a look outside. "Not everyone has snow year round, and they wish they could see it. But not everyone has warm sunlight, and I think we all need that a bit more than we need snow."