And All Things Come

Chapter Eight: Beginning of the Present

Adri's blood ran colder than it already was. She hadn't heard his name since exile. Rannis, the Elder of Crows. It's a silly name sure, but with the control of nearly every black bird, living, demonic, angelic, or dead, he has more power than just crows. He nearly wiped Earth of all life just so he could have control over it. A power hungry demon is more dangerous than one full of fear or one full of rage. Adri turned to face Akiri again with the expression of shaken fear over her face.

"Tell me he's only returned ethereally." Adri begged it not to be true.

"We've only felt his presence, he's been leaving messages around trying to get the big guys attention. If you find him" Akiri looked up at the ceiling, "Kill him, and make sure he stays dead."

Adri nodded. She turned to the door and went into demon form. When she walked passed the door to Sarah's room, she shuddered. As she walked away, she couldn't help but feel a pull on her heart, so she turned back, opened the door, then walked to the corpse. She caressed the dead girls face, Akiri came up behind Adri and touched the girl. Sarah became ethereal, then turned into a pendant about the size of a quarter. She was deep, sapphire blue with streaks of white and gold.

"Should be easier to carry now. This is no place for someone so fragile." Akiri handed the pendant to Adri. "Her soul is waiting for you. Give her back her body, then get her the hell out of there. I can tell there's something in her that brings something in you back out, and i haven't seen that part of you in a long time, Sister." Akiri cupped her sisters hands around Sarah. A wordless glance passed between the two. One of the Hunters knocked on the open door.

"Adri, Eric needs to speak with you." He kept his head down. Adri nodded and placed Sarah in a black steel amulet with a carving of Adri's summoning symbol, then placed the amulet around her neck. Akiri nodded then faded away.

Adri headed to the conference room to speak with Eric. He was sat at the head of the table with two Hunters on either side of him. He looked at the demon and made a motion to tell her to wait outside. He said something in Russian to the man on his left then rose from his seat to greet Adri. 

"You wanted to see me?"

"I did. There's something you should know about." He handed her a file with something written in Russian on the front of it. Adri opened the file and saw a very old picture of a little girl that looked like Sarah. She didn't bother to read the file, because the picture was far more interesting to her.

"Who is this?" Adri looked at the sepia photograph inquisitively.

"That is Alison Erda. She was the great grand daughter of a European immigrant from the 1700's. I'd figured you'd recognise her." Erik grabbed the file and began translating it to english. Adri zoned out and studied the picture. Alison Erda. The name sounded familiar.

"She grew up in a neighborhood in current day Michigan, the same neighborhood Sarah grew up in." Eric looked at the blank faced Adri. As he looked closer he realized her eyes were empty.

"Adri?" He placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. No response. "AKIRI!" he shouted for help. Never in his days of demon hunting had he ever seen a demon get stuck in their own heads.

"What do you- Adri?!" She raced to her sister and gripped her shoulders. "Snap out of it you moron, you need to go hunt down that evil bastard." She slapped Adri with enough force she should have flown across the room. Something held her in place, so the slap just bounced off of her and Akiri's hand snapped away from her face. 

"Oh no."
"What, what's going on?"
"She put herself into the past. She's reliving memories and may be changing it around some too. What did you show her that set it off?"

Erik grabbed the photo and showed it to Akiri. 
"What the hell did this have to do with anything?"
"Look at the girl. Who does she look like?"
Akiri looked at the little girl in the photo again, after a few  minutes, her eyes grew wide.

"It's Sarah's past life. She's going after her."
"Why? She has no reason to."
"That was the little girl she met when she was first exiled."
"What does that mean for us?"
"It shouldn't mean anything to us, but to Adri, it means everything."

Akiri and Erik both looked at the expressionless Adri and decided what they were going to do with her until she came back.

"We need to keep her body safe until she comes back. Do you have a spare room?"
"We have the one we used to keep Sarah in."
"Perfect. Help me carry her."

Akiri effortlessly picked the deadweight demons legs up, Eric struggled with her upper half. They hauled her into the room with the stone bed and lay her down. Her legs hung off the edge. Eric ordered some men to get something to fix it.

Akiri looked at her sister, then at the man that hunted demons for sport. She never liked Eric, not in the slightest. She started thinking about everything he'd done to her brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and everyone in between. 
"Why do you do it?" She asked.
"Do what,  Bies?"
"Why do you hunt our kind for fun?"
Eric paused and closed his eyes. His face remained stoic and calm. He drew in a deep breath and held it for a second, then let it go before speaking.

"About thirty-five years ago, I watched my family be slaughtered by rouge demons. I held my sister in my arms as she drew her last breaths, and she told me to find the demons and kill them to avenge her and the rest of my family. So I  held my promise, I found the demons named Vacha, Numille, Kiver, and Barkas, and I ripped them apart with the hatred in my heart as my fuel. I swore to avenge the families of those who were harmed by demons or any of the supernatural beings that walk the earth. So I did just that, until I met Elaine. I was patrolling a village outside of Moscow, she approached me in a bar and showed me a kindness no one else would. She saw past my mask and saw something no one else did. I fell in love for the first time," he paused and drew in another deep breath, Akiri felt the sadness from where she was standing. "I fell in love even though it was against the Hunters code." He paused and thought for a moment. 
"I had to leave her behind for an assignment. She begged me to stay and leave the Hunters, because she couldn't bear to live without me. And that was the last time I saw her." He shed a tear before he continued. Akiri listened with intent.
"I met Adri a decade later. She was the epitome of beauty. I knew what she was but she made me feel a way I still can't explain. We would chase her, and I would always lose her on purpose."

Silence fell between them. Akiri sat in her thoughts about Eric's story, pondering if she should give him the benefit of the doubt. She looked up at him and met his eyes. She weighed his remorse and found that she couldn't hate him. She knew the rouge demons, and they deserved to die. She couldn't forgive him for the other's of her brethren who were slaughtered unjustly. She looked back at Adri.

"Let's go. I'll cast something over her to keep her safe. She won't be back for a while."
Eric nodded and turned to leave while Akiri placed a veil over Adri. The power of a demon to protect a demon that is powerless. Eric was at the door waiting for Akiri.

They left Adri in peace, then began working on a plan to suppress Rannis' power and his return.