Animegas (Editing)

Demon Blood

It had been about a week since Alexandra last showed her face...voice. And I wasn't too sad about it. It was hard to not run into at least one trap on your way anywhere. But after a bunch of brainstorming, we have rigged every inch of the castle.

"Sam," I heard Katie say through the door, "Its time." Sighing, I trotted over to the wardrobe. Inside I found a pair of jeans, black t-shirt, jean jacket and combat boots. Damean was going to weaken the barriers just enough so that the Guardians could get through. And when he did, none of us would want to be here. My hand closed over something in the back.

It was a picture. Though old and faded, I recognized everyone. Alex had her arm outstretched towards the camera, like she was holding it. Damean, Calypso, Katie, and the dude that I guessed was Erin, smiled at the camera behind her. I saw a kid with yellowish brown eyes and spiked brown hair, practically tackling Alex from behind. I walked over to the mirror hanging in the bathroom and held the picture up to my reflection. Calypso was right, I'm an exact copy of Alex. Someone knocked on my door and I shoved the photo into one of my many pockets.

"Sammy?" I heard Max call. Walking over to him, I gave my brother a big hug.

"Hey, little bro." I said as cheerfully as I could. "What's up?"

He looked down. "I don't want to run. You always told me it was bad to run away from our problems."

Ouch, I did tell him that. And now it was coming back to bite me. "Well we can't fight." I protested. "There are too many of them. This is the one problem we have to run away from."

"I asked Damean if we could fight." He muttered. "He said we could, but only if you want to. He also told me how to kill them."

My eyes grew wide. Max, my Max, wanting to kill someone? How much did I miss during those few months?" "Well, what did he tell you?" I asked. He was going to pay for giving my 7 year old brother this information.

"Demon blood." He replied. "The same kind that killed you. And he said we would have to get Thanatos first, since he can make dead people come back to life."

I nodded. Yep, Damean is going to pay. "Okay, that's good to know. We may have to fight one or two, but I hope we don't have to fight all of them." Max smiled, and I smiled back. I took his hand and we walked to the ballroom to meet with the others.

Everyone else was gathered in front of the portal. "Took you long enough." Damean joked.

I crossed my arms. "Well, my brother was telling me about the only way to kill the Guardians." I sneered.

He looked down and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh..." Ya, that's right, buddy. Oh.

Thomas cleared his throat. "So, now that everyone is here... Sam?"

I took a deep breath. "The Guardians will appear through this portal. It is the only way in and out of the world. We will go to the dungeon and exit through the passage that Thomas and I escaped through last time." The image of his eerie smile flashed in my mind and I shuddered. "Damean has been to kind as to allow the plants around a certain pit to thrive, and we will climb out through there. Then we will double back to the castle and exit through the portal. Damean will then close the portal forever, trapping the Guardians here."

Thomas stepped forward and brought forward a black sack. "These weapons are made of Demon's blood. I will hand you your weapon once you have drank the antidote. It will only have effect for an hour, so we will have to hurry. It is just a precaution in case someone nicks their finger of something. " Then he proceeded to hand everyone a vial of the milky liquid that Damean had me drink before. I peered at the vial in my hand. The last time I drank this, Damean was our enemy. Without thinking about it too much, I gulped down the liquid and grabbed my weapon.

It was a bow with a quiver of arrows. The bow was made of a dark polished wood. The shafts of the arrows were the same. The heads were made of the same black metal that I had grown to fear, hardened Demon blood. The feathers on the end were black, crow feathers. My eyebrows furrowed together. It was weird to think I held a bow fighting for the Guardians, now I would be fighting against them. I tore me eyes away from the weapon and slung the quiver over my back.

Thomas got a black pistol and bullets. Katie got a blow-gun made of the same wood as my bow. Greg got a sword with a silver hilt. Max got a spear made of the same metal and wood. Sara and Abby both got a dagger. Calypso got fingerless gloves with long blades sewn into the knuckles; it resembled tiger claws All of the weapons were made of the same black metal.

"What? No weapon for you?" I asked Damean.

He rubbed his arm. "I don't really...fight."

"You fought against me in the dungeon." Thomas offered.

"Ya, and we both know how that ended up." He scoffed. I knew too, and it frightened me to death. The image of Damean's glassy eyes and ghostly smile echoed in my brain. His skin was shredded, there was almost none left that was intact. If it weren't for his purple eyes, I would have thought it was someone else entirely. And Thomas did that...he clawed at Damean's face like a cat with a sofa. I snapped my thoughts away from that day.

"Okay," my voice quivered a bit. "Just in case we get seperated, get outside any way you can. Wait at the entrance and we will meet you there once we realize you are gone. Your weapons are for self defence only. Do not attack unless they attack first."

Max stepped forward. "What happens if one of us dies?"

"No one is going to die!" I protested. "I'm not going to let that happen! We are all going to get out of here alive, I promise." I clamped my mouth shut as tears threatened to spill. No one was going to die, they couldn't. I had grown to love these people too much, even Damean I couldn't stand to lose. I had to get them all out alive, I just had to. "Come on," I said, swallowing my tears, "lets get to the dungeon so that Damean can open the portal."