Dark

Chapter 1

    

     "When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide. Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide." -Demons by Imagine Dragons

     My birth name is Liar Elizabeth Grey, but everyone who knew me as that is dead. Or so I thought. Or so they wanted me to think. But I've had many names and many faces, making it hard to separate the truth from the lies. They tried to take that part of me away, give me a clean slate, in a new town with a new identity. I was a problem, an anomaly to their system, a creature never intended to survive, let alone flourish. So they stripped me of my wings and locked me away in a cold, gray world full of cold, gray people.  But the coldness only made me stronger. I am fire, watch me burn.  

Part 1: Before the Frost Comes

Chapter 1

    A haze of snow drifts across my line of vision, adding to the grayness of the view. I've been out here for hours, like a sentry at a post, and my fingers have gone blue and numb. But there's something about the cold that I like. It makes me feel sharper somehow, more alive. The way the snowflakes drift lazily to the earth reminds me of myself somehow, drifting from place to place, though I have yet to land. Ice crackles under my thighs as I shift along the frigid concrete. Bones crackle in my fingers as I flex them repeatedly. I raise my face to embrace the sting of the wind. The sky is hidden with a veil of clouds and smog, only a faint white circle of light shining through. God, now I'm seeing metaphors everywhere. It's all so quiet here, each noise startles me. But I need to be alone, I can't have people around me to witness this. but the waiting is bothering me. Sure, usually they are unpredictable, with no clear pattern, but it has never been this long. It's only getting colder and the light is fading fast so I clench my fists and wait for my demons to come.

     I stare at a fixed point in the distance until my eyes burn and try to even my breathing. Suddenly, I feel the telltale ripple of static course through my veins, like lightning foretelling a storm. I brace myself for the thunder. Crack! I arch my spine and let out a low, guttural scream as the first wave hits me. My vision turns green and gray, clouded with figures who aren't really there, or so I tell myself. Ice races along my bloodstream and my eyes dim and lower themselves into another dimension. The demons run like they are dancing, animalistic cries and howls piercing the moonless night. They rip my hair with their jagged teeth and tear at my flesh with their claws. I scream again and again and gasp for air as a sickly fog rolls over me. I jerk and lash out at them, flailing wildly. My fist connects with a throat and for a moment, I'm too shocked to register the dark blood.

     "Liaaaaaarrrr....." it wails, "It burrrrrnnnnssss...."

     With a flash of white light, I'm back to the present. I'm shaking and chattering, but not because of the cold. This is different, and it frightens me. I've never wounded a demon before, nor have they spoken to me. Liar, it called me. I have not heard that name in years, not since.... A fresh spring day, a secret meeting, and a boy. His name slips from my lips before I let myself fall.