Demon

4. Anything.

At first I thought it was just me; my world had stopped staring down at my younger brother. My sobs filled my ears over the thumping of my heart. I couldn't breath; the lump in my throat was getting bigger and bigger, and soon enough I was coughing more than crying. Moments passed and I realised the rain had stopped, but not as though the sky had cleared. It had stopped mid fall. The shock of lighting had frozen in the in the sky, lighting everything up. Apart from my crying, the world was silent.

My father still sat across from me but stiller than a statue. "Dad?" Nothing, not that he was communicating well before, but now rainwater hung from his lashes and with a tiny bit of movement, it would fall. What was happening?

Saturn.

I thought I had heard my name but I knew I hadn't. I also knew there was someone behind me before I turned around. I had that feeling on the back of my neck that I've had for most of the day, but this time I knew I wasn't being paranoid. There was someone behind me watching. Turning my head, I could make out a large figure through the still curtain of rain.

Come to me.

Again I hadn't heard the words, for they weren't spoken, but I knew it was him; whoever he was; communicating with me. On shaky legs I began I to stand I make my way over to him. On any other day, I probably would have been running fast and far, but I just didn't have it in me today. I felt hurt, confused, heartbroken and all in all ready to give up. Who or whatever this was couldn't do anything to make me feel worse than I already did.

Water fell as I walked towards him, and even though he was stood in the rain, not a drop touched him. He stood there, leaning on an unopened umbrella in one hand and the other in his trouser pocket. Intricate designs ran along his neck and the hand which I could see. It was him from this morning in the coffee shop. His dark mahogany gaze burned into me as I stood staring back. The shock only lasted so long until I remembered why I was here and what had happened to Mars. Tears were still flowing down and the lump was growing bigger and bigger.

He brought his hand out of his pocket and tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear. The action reminded me of the dream in the library. His touch so gentle, I felt pulled into him. In the back of my mind somewhere the thought that I was soaking his suit played around but it was the least important thought that I have ever had. Both arms engulfed me into him as I pressed my face into his warm chest. My breathing was starting to go back to normal before I even realised I was hyperventilating.

"How far would you go to save him?" This time he spoke, and his deep voice vibrated through me and raised the hairs on my arms; it was hypnotising. Pushing away from him, I stared deep into his eyes trying to read him, to pick at anything I could to find out what he wanted, but the more I looked the more lost I felt.

"Did you do this?" My voice sounded, tiny, cracked and broken, from the crying and screaming.

"Of course not but I can fix it though." He spoke. I knew of demons that grated wishes could change events, higher demons, but none looked like him.

"Are you a Jin?" Jin were wish granting demons but they weren't to be trusted though. A Jin's only purpose is to ruin lives and cause destruction. A person who finds a Jin always ends up dead. They grant your deepest desires, but they always turn against you and in the end they eat your souls. The demon before me didn't look like any Jin I had ever seen though. He didn't look like any demon I had ever seen.

"If anyone else would ask me such a question I would probably kill them." Reaching up a hand, with the pad of his thumb he wiped away a line of tears from my cheek, but the action just cause another wave of tears to come, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight to try and stop them. "It's you though, and I would never hurt you."

"Who are you?" With my eyes still shut and his hand still cupping my face, I tried to focus on his touch rather on what happened behind me.

"I can save him, but for a price."

I really would do anything to have my brother back. "Anything." I daren't open my eye, to look at him.

"Look at me." He demanded, and like a spell I did. His head was bent forward, close enough that a slither of air separated their noses. I then realised I wasn't at the docks anymore. We were no longer outside and instead stood in what looked to be a chapel.

The cool grey stone was contrasted to the crimson carpet the stood on. There were no crosses or statues of saints, but the stain glass windows showed images I had never seen in any church before. One showed a man impaling himself with a spear; another had a creature of some sort eating a head of a goat. I couldn't look at anymore and instead looked down to the floor. I realised then I was no longer wearing my bloodstained pyjamas but a long white dress. I wasn't head to toe wet, but bone dry. The long flower-patterned sleeves covered my tattoo, but my shoulders were bare.

"What happened? Where are we?" I asked, confused and was everything at the docks real? Did my brother really-

"He died, but I'm going to save him, but first we need to do something." He told me there would be a cost. I didn't even think to ask what that cost was, jumping at the chance to save my brother. I grew nervous taking in the situation now. The dress; the chapel; it didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening.

"Why me?" I had to ask, surely this isn't random. If he can bring my brother back, surely he can do anything; have anyone. Why me?

"You're more important than even you know." My head was pounding and I wanted to go home to my family I didn't want to push him any further, not today. I had agreed to this. Maybe I didn't know what would happen but that's because it didn't matter. I meant when I said I would do anything; even if that meant getting married.

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