Demon's Blood

Secrets Revealed

My eyes roll back and I cough, spewing blue blood into his face. He stares into my black-flecked eyes in horror, realizing exactly what I am. He pulls his crinkled leather jacket from his broad shoulders and shreds it into pieces, wrapping the scraps of fabric around my waist and wiping up the horrendous blood. A flashback enters my mind without my permission, causing me to loose feeling in my entire body. His soft voice fades as I am submerged in the waters of my memories.

I stand in a pool of blood, the blood that I had spilled. The sword in my hand glistenes in the moonlight that shines down on my nightmare. Blue liquid flows from my wounds, drenching the bodies I stand upon with a river of despair and fear. A grin spreads across my face, tearing a scar in my pale skin. I cackle through the blood, my laugh ringing off of the city's walls. I am enveloped in searing pain, sparks flying through my skin to my cuts, fractures, and bruises. My skin knits itself together and I faintly hear a sharp cracking from my broken ribs. In just moments, I am perfect again. At least, my body is.

I gasp, launching forward in my bed.

"Arrgh!"

I fall back and grip my stomach, writhing in pain. A darkness creeps to the edges of my consciousness, offering to give me power. I push it back, refusing the evil that lies dormant in my mind. I lay on my cot, panting until my lungs are filled with the stale air once more.

I take in my surroundings, the black room with no windows we use as an infirmary. Moments later, a pixelated woman is projected into my room. Her presence takes up the air at the foot of my bed, and she picks up the tablet there, reading my facts and statistics. Her brow furrows in confusion and the side of her mouth curls into a smile. A tiny whisper escapes her body and she looks up. I realize who she really is, the leader of this region.

Jeala Goodsworth.

I scramble up, now sitting, nearly passing out from the searing hot pain in my back. Her projection walks to me, taking my hand in hers. Her perfectly curved lips quiver as she eyes me, frail and disabled. She takes a large gulp of the air and lets it out in a careful voice, probing me.

"You. You're a DemonMaster, and you have snuck your way into my precious region."

Her hand flicks up to my chin so fast I gasp and she pulls at the skin, forcing me to look up at her terrifying features.

"What is your purpose here."

My mind races, trying to come up with a cover for my appearance here.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. What's a DemonMaster?"

Her face contorts itself and she disappears in a shatter of tiny green shards that hang in the air for a moment before melting away.

She's coming.

My limbs creak and my back blazes as I leap from my cot, grabbing my tools and pistol from a display case beside the bed. I am still dressed in my uniform, so I walk into the hospital's hallways without suspicion. A few nurses try to stop me, but I push them gently aside, moving my way to the front doors. Unfortunately, he stood before me...the boy who had saved me, with his pistol held eye level, safety off and ready to shoot.

"Whoa! Chill!"

I raise my hands before me in a peaceful gesture. He bows his head, and when he speaks, his voice is deep and quiet. A tear falls from the curtain of black he creates with his short brown hair.

"You."

His voice chills my skin and a shiver runs up my back.

"It was you."

"What was me?"

A sob breaks out and his shoulders shudder.

"You killed them. All of them. And now I'm going to kill you."

"Wait, hold on, you don't understand!"

"SHUT UP!"

His voice explodes in rage and I stumble back as he pulls the trigger, aiming for my heart.

The bullet I can barely dodge whizzes past my shoulder, scraping off a few skin cells, spilling my blue blood once again.

"Jeezus."

The shattering of glass behind him causes him to lurch forward and run to me, seizing my hand and dragging me to the trash chute. He pushes me down with such force my wrist almost snaps and I tumble down the enclosed space, feeling the bruises already forming.

"Koa! What have you done!"

Even in the distance, the leader's shrill voice is unmistakable.

She's hunting me. And so is Koa. I have to get away from here!

I land in a mound of smelly trash bags and start to force my way to the edge. The process is slow but steady and I hear the banging of metal against skin. I try to move faster, but my wounds slow me down too much for me to reach the other side. I instead dive down into the mound, gagging from the stench.

I feel his body plunge into the sacks, about a foot away from me. I hold my breath and wait for him to pull the bags away and find me. I hear him scramble around in the bin, throwing sacks of substance I prefer not to name against the walls, shattering whatever fragile contents the bags could have held. He is shouting, screaming at me, cursing me, sobbing.

My feminine side wants to comfort him, save him from the pain, the suffering, and the loss. My warrior side wants to slit his miserable throat for being so weak he lets his emotions run his life. And my demon side purely thrives for the scent, the feel, the taste, of blood. I fight against my mind, forcing my body to stay still, to hold it's breath, to not make a sound.

Eventually he gives up, falling to his knees in the filth. He sobs and sobs, wailing and screaming. I realize that soon, Jeala and her elites will come for me, for us. I have made him a traitor, a fugitive, and my heart aches for I know what will happen next.

I pop my head up, to overlook the sea of garbage. I spot him a few feet away, a disheveled human, a sad soul. I watch as he raises his head to the ceiling and I push myself up further to see what the cause is. The steel grasped in his fingers lies aimed upon his chest, ready to pierce through him right to his heart at any moment.

The blade shines in the green light, an inch away from his ivory skin. Tears fall to the plastic mounds and his other hand rips his shirt off, revealing a chisled chest. As he reaches up, dragging the steel along with him, my voice comes out in a high-pitched scream.

"NO!"