Dying Three Times

Phoenix part 2 (Finding Veronica)

Phoenix’s P.O.V (by beanies_and_books)

    I couldn’t even move from that mirror. I just kept standing there, looking at a reflection I didn’t recognize. Every now and then, I noticed that vibrant deep purple in my eyes, lingering, taunting me almost. After what seemed like an eternity of starring at the monster in the mirror, I soon remembered why I had come into this bathroom in the first place; to get out of this hell-hole. I looked around the surprisingly average looking bathroom, with no door nor window in sight. I decided there was no escape. I had to face the demons. It was my only choice.

     After ten minutes of thinking how to even deal with the situation, I take a few steps closer to the door I had entered, but not before falling on the carpet. You are such a fucking klutz! Get a grip, dude. I told myself  before groggily pushing myself against the only door in the room. I gripped the metal handle with my left hand and push open the door  ever so slightly, making sure that I could escape without being detected. What I see is probably the worst thing possible at this moment. My girlfriend. Veronica.  As a demon. Screaming at Will for not “finishing it”, what ever the hell that meant. It was like she had come back from the dead. tears started to fill my eyes as I opened the door, come out of the bathroom, and shut the door without breaking my gaze from the beautiful girl. She still had the same flowing blonde hair, and her face and smile brought back good memories to me. She soon noticed me starring in her direction, and I turned cloud white. The held her gaze in my eyes for a few seconds then said, “Hello young man,” then stepping aside to show two other demons behind her, “My name is Dagger, leader of the Demon Underworld. These are my sisters Jinx and Jezebel. What might your name be?” Her smile was a genuine one, but you could see she was planning something in her mind; something I should be afraid of.  

     I took a deep breath and said, “You’re name’s not Dagger.”

     She looked confused at the statement, “I’m sorry, my name’s not Dagger? Sure… and these aren’t my sisters,” She mocked “You still haven’t told me your name.”

     I shook my head slightly and retorted, “First of all, these random girls aren’t your sisters, you were an only child. Secondly, were you brainwashed?  Because I’ve known you my whole life and we lived five minutes away from each other. “ My head dropped. She had forgotten about her mortal life completely. This was worse than becoming a demon and almost dying. I’ve learned you really die twice in this world; the first one when you actually die and the second one when your forgotten by the person you love most. And three times if you’re a demon.

     This made her even more confused, “Do I know you from somewhere? Or have you lost your mind? What do you mean by brainwashed? and these not being my sisters?” She kept piling questions on top of me, and I could answer every one of them.

     I kept my words short, sweet and to the point, “You were a mortal at one point, you know. Two days ago in fact.” 

     Will then butted in saying, “This is true. Sorry Dagger, I tried my best to keep it from you. Time goes really slow in the underworld, plus all of us were alive at some point, just some react to being a demon differently than others. We even had to give you a serum so you wouldn’t---”

     “That’s enough Will.” Gabe cut him off  “This here is Phoenix. And Dagger, your mortal name was Veronica.  Angles know everybody in the world who’s supposed to be an angel, you know, before you demons come in and---”

     “I think we all get the point,” Will butted in once again, clearly wanting to be the center of attention. I liked his sarcasticness and get used to a friend like him, “So what are we gonna' do with what’s his face now? Can I kill him for good?”  Great friendship we’ve got going here.

      Finally Dagger/ Veronica/ whatever we’re calling her now was out of shock, “He could be useful, I mean, after all, he’s the only person who can go to earth during the day…”

     Everyone stared at me just then with the same expression on their face. They had just realized how useful I could be to them. Even Gabe, who seemed to have hatched a plan in his brain. Veronica’s “sisters” had somehow snuck out of the gloomy house and vanished into the darkness. Now it was just me, the two demons and Gabe.  Shit was about to get real.

     Then Veronica shouted, “Protect the demi-demon!” She took a scarlet red sword from her back as Will did the same with deadly black one.  

    “Demi-demon?” I questioned

     “Ever heard of demi-god? it’s the same thing except not as popular. You’re not a blood related demi-demon, but you’re still half mortal.” Will shouted from over his shoulder.

     Gabe pulled out a shining gold bow and arrow and uttered, “We’ll see about that.” and pulled a silver arrow through the gold bow up to the regular shooting position.

     Veronica lunged at the angle, catching him off guard. He almost fell to the ground, but regained his balance. Will stood in front of me, but not directly so I could watch the battle go down. Gabe shot an arrow at Veronica’s foot, making her cringe a bit in pain. She shook it out and snapped in in half, tossing it to the ground. Gabe seized another arrow and brought it up to his cheek. Veronica brought her sword up as well, making her look dangerous. Gabe shot at her shoulder. Veronica dodged the shot and instead tripped Gabe to the ground, making him also drop his bow. Veronica pointed the sword at him in victory and picking up the bow from the ground. “All too easy.” she smirked

     “Never think the competition is over till your opponent is either hurt so much they can barely move or dead.” He tripped her to the ground making her drop her sword. He picked up this bow and now the rolls were reversed.

     Then he bent down to her on the ground and stated, “Well, look where you are nn--” and suddenly fell backwards onto the black tile floor. I looked up from the crumpled angel to a girl in the only window I had seen, looking at me with glowing red eyes. We made eye contact for just about two seconds before she scurried off. From the back, all I could tell was that she had long wavy hair flying behind her back.

     I looked back at Gabe, still breathing, but hurt severely. Then Will said, “He really needs to watch behind him.” with a smirk.

     He proceeded to help up Veronica, but I was still curious about the girl in the window and made a remark about it, “Any demons with red eyes?”

     “What? Where?” Will licked his lips and Veronica rolled her eyes.

     “Those aren’t demons, they’re vampires. I’m guessing you don’t have demon senses, because otherwise you should be able to smell them.” Veronica explained. “Their blood is the richest of them all, which explains Will’s reaction.  Anyway, that doesn’t matter now, what really matters is your training.”

     “I second that.” Will said “Let’s get going.” And with that I started my training on being a demi-demon. Correction; useful demi-demon.