Such a Cute Mortal | Shyan

Chapter 5

Ryan watched as the man sharpened sharpened his knife. The demon stopped, only to stab the knife into a nearby stool. He looked up at Ryan.
"What the hell are you doing here, eh? Come to spy on us?"
"Come to.. What!? No! I was forced down here! I didn't even want to come!"
The demon raised an eyebrow.
"Really? So.. I'm guessing you're not one of them, right?"
"One of.. Them?"
The demon sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"You're new here, aren't you? Oh, boy. Well, we're currently in a battle with the angels. You know? Bird brained idiots?"
"Oh. Wow, really? I didn't even think that kind of stuff was possible"
"Oh, it's possible alright. No good, lying heathens. They're so uptight and annoying. You'd be surprised by how much they like to torment us and bother us. Whenever we manage to capture one it's always a blood feast."
Ryan looked shocked, disgusted and afraid at the same time.
" Holy shit... So uh would it be bad if I somehow were one?"
He threw the knife, landing it a mere centimeters away from Ryan's cheek. Ryan stood still, eyes wide with fear. The demon stood up, begining to walk towards him.
"Well, For starters.."
He pulled the knife out from the wall and pressed it underneath his neck.
"We'd have you locked up with the hellhounds for three days. No food. No water."
He pressed it harder, grabbing Ryan's hand, digging his claws into his skin.
" Your wings would be ripped off, slowly. One by one. So we don't damage them."
Ryan squirmed and struggled against his grip to no avail as he merely pressed the knife harder onto his skin.
"And then.. We'd slowly slit your throat. And that's the most merciful thing we'd do. "
Ryan screamed, fumbling with the doorknob before getting it open and running out of the closet. He screamed all the way, yelling like a maniac. He was quickly stopped by a female gaurd, who grabbed him by his arm.
"Woah! Woah! Woah! Calm down! What's going on?!"
"LET GO OF ME!"
Ryan tried to pry his arm away but it was no use. The gaurd tried calming him down but Ryan just squirmed and tried to free himself. The gaurd began to lose patience with him and thought of the only thing she knew how to do; Fight.
She raised his sword to strike him, immobilizing him until he healed. What she didn't know is that he was human and striking the tiny man would most likely kill him.
"No! NO! DON'T TOUCH HIM!"
She looked over at the voice who said that, Ryan doing the same. It was Shane. He was running towards him. Ryan groaned and looked over at the gaurd who was holding him as he lumped over her arm.
"Just stab me."
"NO! No no! No no no! Put him down this instance!"
"Or you know you could stab me and put me out of my-uh-my misery."
The gaurd looked at the two for them before looking at Shane. She shrugged her shoulders. Shane sighed.
"Just let the little guy go."
She nodded before letting him go. He plopped onto the ground with a thump. Ryan groaned as she saluted Shane and walked away. Shane knelt down at him and smirked.
"Have a nice fall?"
"Shut the fuck up, Shane."
He quickly got up and dusted himself off.
"What the hell do you want. Thought you were busy off ripping the wings out of other people."
Shane winced before pushing his hair back.
"Ryan, it's normal around here, alright? You better learn to just suck it up and deal with it. You're gonna be seeing alot of blood and death."
"No! Thank you! I think I'll just go home!"
Ryan whirled around and bumped into another demon. He looked up and his heart stopped. It was the same demon who'd nearly made him shit himself in the closet. Without thinking, Ryan ran/tripped all the way to Shane, hiding behind him. Shane looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I get why you were in my closet. You were runnin' from him, weren't you?" he said, pointing at Ryan then at Shane.
Shane smiled.
"Edgar! My main man! How you been?"
"You locked me away in that closet for five years."
"... Right. Anyways, you've met Ryan, right?"
"Sort of. He ran into my closest and ran out screaming. Dont know why."
Ryan narrowed his eyes at him, coming to Shane's side.
"Uh, what the fuck? No! You put a knife to my neck and your fucking alligator claws were digging into my skin!!!"
"Sheesh. What a crybaby. I know children that we train that don't whine as much as you. In fact, are you a child? You're quite small."
Ryan opened his mouth to say something but realized that Shane was holding back his laughter. Ryan narrowed his eyes at him before crossing his arms.
" And what small, feminine hands he has."
Shane lost it at that point. He leaned forwards, laughing and wheezing. Edgar only smiled coldly. Shane slowly stood up, snickering. He looked over at Ryan who was giving him the most angry and dead look he could manage.
" Oh, come on! That was funny!"
"I suggest you hide him before the other ones get here. There's no telling what they'd do to the two of you once they find out you got yourself another pet, Shane. We've also had incidents about a demon going around killing others and stealing their souls."
"Pfft. So what? Isn't that what we do?"
"Shane, this is serious. They're stealing their vessels, making it so they can't ever come back. We've lost at least fifty this week alone."
"Hm. That does sound serious. Go tell other people, I'm busy! Let's go, Ryan!"
Shane began to walk away, Ryan just looking at him like he was insane. Edgar narrowed his eyes at him, walking in front of him.
"Shane, I am serious."
"And I don't really care. Ryan!"
Edgar grabbed his shirt and brought him down to his height.
"Others will die. And you cannot be so sure that one of those who's lives have been lost could end up being your pet."
Shane yanked his hand away.
"Listen, Shakespeare, as long as he's with me, there's nothing to worry about! So chill! Don't get so worked up. Now hang out in your closet, I'm sure those mops are getting lonely. Ryan! I'm waiting!"
Ryan sighed.
'There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there? God damnit', he thought.
He walked over to him, his hands in his pockets. Shane smiled like an idiot before he began to walk forward, Ryan following. Edgar narrowed his eyes at the two of them before walking away.
"God, I hate that guy. So worry some. Never can relax, poor guy."
Ryan nodded.
"He was locked in a fucking closet for five years. I'd be pretty pissed off at you too"
"Yeah, but you're you. You short people are always angry. Probably because your closer to hell. I mean, you are in hell so"
"Shut the fuck up!"
Shane laughed and Ryan couldn't help but do so as well. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before his mind reminded him of something horrible; The man he saw in his dreams. One question was still pounding at the back of his head;
'How could he have known about that night?'
He quickly shook the feeling away and continued walking beside his "friend". The two walked back to the room in which they had spent in. It was a fairly regular room. More like a dorm room, as a matter of a fact, with a bathroom and everything.
Ryan walked over to the bed before laying down. Shane did the same except he flopped onto the bed. Ryan laughed slightly as he heard the man groan.
"Why did that hurt?" Shane chuckled.
Ryan smiled at his stupidity before looking into the ceiling, his eyes hardening. He was trying to make sense out of everything but nothing back sense. He wished to be back home. He longed to be back in his own bed, in his own world. Shane looked over at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Ryan? You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost. You might've this is hell after all"
Ryan sighed, looking over at him.
"Yes! I get it! I'm in hell! Haha! So funny! I just want to be back home. Not here."
Shane looked away before he sat up. Ryan sat up as well, looking over at the demon.
"Ryan, I know how you feel. Do you think I wanted to come down here?"
Ryan looked at him, confused.
"What? You-"
"I never truly thought my past would come back to haunt me as a person. But here I am. The second in command to the demon race and a liar."
He began to roll up his sleeves. A tattoo was on his forearm. It depicted wings, angel wings. Ryan's eyes widened. He looked at Shane, who was looking down.
" I was taken hostage and learned the ways of how things worked down here. They gave me a chance to turn sides. I was desperate to keep my life so I did. I'd seen what they did to the other captured angels and I was not about to let that happen. And so they corrupted my soul as much as possible, making it seem as the ultimate betrayel. However, I still needed a vessel. I don't know how but I managed to find my body, beginning to decompose. I was like a parasite and that body became my host. After a while, I regained my charming looks and what not. I then learned how to steal souls"
Ryan looked down at his hands. They were trembling.
" I didn't fully understand it until I stole my first soul. It was that of an injured demon which I had bested in combat. The feeling of watching the life just get sucked out from their eyes is such a pleasant feeling. I wanted more, I needed more. I slowly but surely climbed to the top until finally reaching the same level as our general. My greed and pride got the best of me. I challenged him to a battle to the death. His wife and child watched as I stole his soul and all the other ones he had stolen himself. I thus became the third most powerful entity down here. Second being Satan and first being Death itself"
Ryan hadn't noticed but his eyes had begun to tear up. Shane's hands were gripping onto the bedsheets, trembling and shaking. He chuckled coldly.
" But even then it wasn't enough. I took so many more lives, women, men, children, demons, mortals, the old, the young, the healthy, the sick, the poor, the wealthy.."
Shane shut his eyes.
"I can still see their pained expressions, hear their cries and pleas for mercy, see their tears running down their cheeks, mothers holding their children as they faced death"
Ryan gulped. He had been an angel and had been turned into the complete opposite of what he once was. Shane's hand still trembled as he recalled his past.
" And yet. I didn't even feel bad once. I en ver felt remorse, I never felt guilt. I felt satisfaction and unsatisfactory because I had taken so many lives but not enough to please me. I'm a monster. I don't even think I count as an angel. I've been turned into a beast, a creature, a demon"
"Shane. Holy shit that's really fucked up but we all do things that we regret."
Shane grabbed him throwing him down to the floor, his eyes wide with anger. Ryan yelped before backing away.
"You have no idea what this feels like, Ryan!! You've never taken a life! You've never had to live with the guilt!"
"Okay okay! I might not know what you feel but calm down please! Deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Go. Do it"
Shane sighed before inhaling and exhaling. He did so until he felt calmer. He sat down. Ryan stood up and, hesitantly, sat down next to him.
Shane looked over at him, Ryan doing the same. Their eyes locked. They just stared at each other and it seemed as if time stopped.
"I've known you for so long but I've never truly met you. I don't deserve someone as sweet as you. All those after church conversations, jokes and shit. You really are an angel. God, I really don't deserve you, I'm a piece of shit and you're a piece of gold"
With those words, Shane wrapped his arms around Ryan, embracing him in a hug. Ryan, caught off gaurd, sort of screeched. He then slowly hugged the demon back, smiling. Shane began to softly cry as all those horrid memories came flooding back like water when a damn breaks.
"It's okay man. We all got shit we don't like about ourselves. And.. I think it's time I tell you mine"
Shane pulled away, looking at him.
"What?"
"Yeah. I have a feeling that I've been targeted by one of your past companions and boy is he pissed"