Hell Fire

Everyone Hates Me

As I promised Charles, we reached a town by late afternoon the next day. Don't ask me how I knew, because it had been an empty promise, and I wished it had remained unfulfilled. We had found the city of Torrine, the very city that I tried to save last year but failed miserably in their eyes. I was tired of traveling though, so I decided to stay in town. Not the smartest decision I had made. I didn't look at any of the townspeople as I passed them, but I could feel their glares on me.

Torrine was a largely demon populated town. People loved them more than normal here.

Everything was quiet, very quiet. No one spoke to me as I passed, so I assumed they had forgotten my face. Not even the simplest insult was thrown my way. For my own comfort I leaned close to Charles's neck, using his own steady heart beat to calm my own. I ran my hand up and down his neck. I wasn't sure it'd be smart to keep him in a local stable for the time I was here, I may have had to spent a few extra coins to stay at a tenement with a stable in back, with room that had a view of it. The best way to get at a person is through their best friend, anyone knows that. Keeping an eye on him while he got rest was more important that my rest.

Charles's hooves clacked against the stones that were meant to be a street, but even that didn't cover the first mutterings. They were mostly inaudible to me, but there were a few phrases that my adequate ears picked up.

"Is that--"

"Why... back here?"

"...epeat her deed from the last time"

"Maybe she'll go after a sleeping demon this time."

"Unethical.."

"She has a blood thirst, you know. Doesn't have any purpose to her killings, just does it to kill them." Now that one offended me a little, but I ignored it. Maybe getting a room would be harder than I thought, I'd probably drain my savings to get a less than mediocre room.

I watched as a mother bent down to whisper something in her daughter's ear. I had never seen a look of such hate appear on a child's face. I dug my heel into Charles's side -- he grunted at me in protest -- and urged him to go faster. I didn't want to stick out in the open. In my opinion, Charles could have been lightning fast and it still wouldn't have been fast enough. I heard the child shriek 'Monster' at me. My pride fell and I dropped my head.

I found a small hotel in the middle of town, tucked away between a bank and a herbal shop. If you were to walked to the street behind it, you'd find a stable. I paid for Charles's room and board and went into the hotel. It was two stories. I walked in to see a desk built into the wall and a well groomed man behind it. There was one hall with rooms leading to a dining area, and a set of stairs leading to the second story.

It took a bit of haggling, and making my coin purse much lighter, to get me a room. Shoved to the back of the hall on the second story in what seemed to be a storage closet with a cot, it was perfect. I glanced out the open window, open as in no glass, and saw Charles's rear end on the ground. Good, he was resting.

Despite its problems, Torrine was a very flamboyant town. The upper class parts of it had lavish parties, shows were offered to every wage class, everything. The most impressive of its, let's call them celebrations, was their creation of a circus centering around demons. Of course, since demons were mostly intelligent, it wasn't a forced performance. They and their companions would perform tricks to amaze the normal people. I had never seen it, but it got great reviews, but again, demon mania was all over this town.

I settled on the cot below the window. I just wanted to rest my feet and back before finding a meal, then I was going to watch over Charles until the city was asleep. I honestly planned to just sit a moment, but apparently more than my bones were tired. I slept with my head against the cold wall. It wasn't an interesting sleep, I'm usually not one to remember dreams, and that was okay with me. I woke up with a crick in my neck, one that remained even after I cracked my neck. A lingering glance out the window told me Charles was okay, still asleep.

Secure as I could be, I ventured out into the city, knowing I could not afford the prices at my hotel's eatery. I needed to find the slums, that was more in my price range now.

I assume you know what the slums are, so I will spare the vivid description. It was filthy, and stunk, the inside of the tavern was dark, not a window in sight. It was called The Hen's Head, and it was filed with men. Their conversation died as I walked passed them, but I looked forward and did not slouch, no satisfaction to them.

I dumped the few coins I had left on the counter of the bar, asking for whatever food and drink it would get me. Conversation quietly picked up, started again by the server girls about things that the men wished to brag about, conversation as filthy as the street outside. The door opened again and I looked back at it, my curiosity getting the better of me.

A man entered, a bean pole of a man with boyish features. His hair was swept to one side, and he had a grin his face. Behind him trailed a large... dog. It was a Cerberus, the same look as a doberman pinscher, but three heads. The beast came up to his hip. Cerberus were the better of demons, they were loyal to a fault and had healing properties, but they were known to snap easily and turn on any living thing, especially if it had no attachment to it.

When the man caught my eye, his grin turned into a curious smirk. I scowled and turned back to face the wall. Being a subject of study was worse than being hated, and many people have wanted to study my mind, wanted to figure out why I had such odd feelings. Perhaps it would be better to study the actual mysteries of our kind, instead of one oddity. People are always so fixated on one thing, it was annoying.

My thoughts were ended by a plate being dropped in front of me. The barkeep seemed to have the same attitude as the clerk of my hotel. He also set a mug of... something down by my arm and scooped up the money. I gave the food a quick once over and stopped wondering how the establishment got its name. The meal did come from a hen's head. The owner must have been foreign, I had heard it was a delicacy in some parts of the world, I couldn't guess as to why.

So I stuck with my drink. Half way through it was when the pain started. Well, it started with nausea. Then pain in my stomach, like something was trying to claw it's way out. The room that had been cool just a moment before became unrealistically hot, and breathing became hard. I don't know what the nausea lead up to, I couldn't remember anything past hitting my head against the bar and sliding to the floor. There were maybe a few shouts, but that was it.

My best guess to what happened? I was poisoned.