Demon's Genesis

Chapter 9

Unease wormed itself into my gut like a snake into a pit. It could have been a normal question, she could've just been curious.

But... the way she said it... her voice was so, well, there's no other way to describe it but empty.

"Probably," I said stiffly, keeping my gaze set strictly ahead and not allowing myself to look at her.

We were both silent, listening to the distant raging water below. The tailwind behind us was pushing me towards the drop, almost teasingly.

"Well, I suppose we should get going. As you said, Mother—"

"Shut up, Lloyd."

Alarm flooded into my veins at the sudden sharp words. Mother may always be angry at everything and everyone, but she always keeps her cool. She's never snapped at me with such ferocity.

I found myself leaning away from the lilac-furred she-cat, who still sat on the edge of the gorge. She was staring down into it with an intensity that scared me.

I can't trust her right now. Not this close to a cliff.

"Trying to spot fish won't work from up here, mother," I attempted to joke, but my heart faltered when I realised she didn't react.

She didn't even give me a look of disapproval or anything, Urigi help me, I have a bad feeling about this...

Seconds later she turned towards me, and I found myself flattening to the ground in a cowardly manner. Her movements were as stiff as trees, and her eyes held an emotion I couldn't quite decipher. Whatever it was, I feared it. I feared it more than anything I'd ever feared in my life.

Akalino, Lloyd, will you ever learn to shut up?

"Lloyd."

"Y-yes, Mother?"

"Your Mother is gone now, my lovely." Her voice was soothingly low now and dripped with an emotion that had to be something like madness. "This time, you will listen to me. And you'll remember what I say."

A violent shudder ran down my spine, and I shoved away the urge to turn tail and run. "Mother... you're being stupid. Let's get home. Please, this isn't funny..."

I reached out to grab her paw, but before I could make contact she had lept at me, knocking me over with ease. I choked when we landed on the hard ground and gasped for air to cleanse my winded lungs. Before I was satisfied, she'd slammed a paw on my throat and was pressing down, hard. It wasn't enough to kill me, nor seriously hurt me in any way, but I was left gasping for air like a fish out of water. The air I did manage to suck in was raspy and it hurt my throat. Talking? Ha, that was off the table.

My mother bent down, her eyes so close to mine I could see strange red circles framing her irises. She had a crazed look carved into her face that had overtaken her usual bored, lazy expression.

"I am not your mother." She hissed, leaning so close to my face that I could feel the spray of saliva coat my whiskers. "But don't worry." The purple she-cat raised her head so that she was looking down at me, a grin sprouting from the corners of her mouth. "You will soon learn of me, just you wait, Lloyd. You've got so much to come your way, so much to learn. You will suffer—I will make sure of it! You deserve to suffer, you deserve everything that's coming your way. I'll tell you now, I'll tell you right. Now." She exhaled, out of breath because of how fast she'd been talking.

"Whatever happens? You brought it all upon yourself. Every. Last. Thing."

Although her words terrified me, perhaps what terrified me more was the fact that she wore a smile the whole time. This can't be real, it just can't be. She can't know anything about the future that's—that's impossible.