"Vogue"
By A.J. Flint


Chapter 1

My lie has been my life, from the first start to each and every finish.

A Star student, model citizen, outstanding morals, and exceptional compassion—some even say I have an almost frighteningly gorgeous face. What some would consider a burden is what I make a living off of. I'm a model for one of the biggest agencies in the world—Feel Good Management. I've traveled across Earth, visited six of the seven continents, posed with famous models like Jessica Sommora and Rick Ferrante, and managed to keep a 3.7 GPA all the while. A blonde bombshell with a heart of gold and grades to prove it, that's me, the Lily of Japan...

At least, that is what this incarnation is.

I wish that I could say my name and feel like that young woman on the verge of taking the first scary step into a great career is really me, but I can't.

"Yurina Watanabe…" I whisper softly, a silent hope while brushing one of my long blonde hairs out of my eyes. It wouldn't take much to call up a torrent of tears, but tears will do me no good in a situation like this. Hell, they hardly even help me when I pose in for a spread or do my walk down that long fashion runway.

The choices I made in the past, oh how I wish I could take them back. I was young, so young, to make such a big decision. It seems so stupid now, in this dark, damp cell under hundreds of pounds of earth, to have chosen demonic intervention over the mortal, human existence.

I should have known that the Demon who offered me the deal had something up her sleeve. Eternal demonic life in exchange for one mortal existence? God—now the choice seems so juvenile. If I had known then what I know now, I never would have agreed to the exchange.

My super hearing picks up the soft tapping of the rain against the soil outside the sullen chamber while the thunderous pounding of the otherworldly guards two floors up makes my heart race. If only someone knew I was here…

The commotion from upstairs only grows louder as time passes. The tears welling up behind my eyes, I pull my knees into my chest, leaning against the roughly hewn corner. There is no doubt that they are deciding on the best way to roast me alive.

"I wouldn't eat me," I reassure myself unconfidently. "There's no meat on your bones. They'd have to fatten you up, Yurina. And even then, you've still got a lifetime worth of lives yet to live, and the pain would only last ten minutes, twenty tops.."

The noises reach an all-time high as the tears spill over and roll down my cheeks. I hate dying. Each time I do is more painful than the one before. The pitter patter of the rain outside grows louder as well, a crescendo of sound that culminated with one final bought of thunder and lightning before all goes quiet in the castle around me. Death is imminent.

A rush of footsteps down the stairs at the end of the long corridor outside my cell is the impending sentence that sends me to the stomachs of my captors.

"Yurina?" A gruff voice pants while pounding at the old, wooden door separating me from the brutes outside.

"If your want to eat me," I shout weakly, burying my head in my knees, "I won't taste good, so just let me go."

"Yurina, stay away from the door, okay? I'm going to break it down so I can get you out!"

What is he talking about?

That definitely doesn't sound like the ghouls who kidnapped me from my apartment a few days ago. The owner of the voice actually sounds like he cares about my wellbeing where all the demons wanted were my flesh and the secret to my eternal life of the damned.

"Ok-kay." I stutter, pressing myself against the wall a little harder, and covering my face with my hands.

The door explodes in a giant flash of blue light, shards of wood flying everywhere. Coughing, I stand up, squinting to see my rescuer.

A boy, no older than myself stands outside where the door used to be, panting with a small smirk. "They said you were pretty."

"Excuse me?" I ask, my eyebrows shooting up and my eyes immediately crossing over my chest. I almost lose my balance, but my model training catches the irregularity in my footing before I fall.

He runs a hand through his slicked back black hair and laughs, "The demons upstairs, toots. They really seemed to like you."

He steps in and smiles, flashing a victory sign before offering his hand to me. "Come on, don't tell me you want to stay here."

"Why should I trust you?" I ask, never losing that cool façade that I've been trained to wear in public.

He laughs. "'Cause I'm Yusuke Urameshi, the toughest kid at Sarayashiki Junior High." He leans over and grabs my arm, "Once you get to know me, I think you'll find out that I'm a pretty decent guy."

"I've met many so called decent guys, Mr. Urameshi—what makes you so different?" I ask, pulling my ripped shirt down to cover my bruised stomach.

He looks at me for a second and starts to lead me towards the stairs before responding sarcastically, "How many decent guys have saved you from the drooling mouths of trolls goblins before?"

I smile softly. "Not many, I'll admit."

And as we walk quietly through the ruins of the castle mixed in with the burning flesh of the clan of the demons who inhabited it, he smirks, barely hiding the fact that his lip is curling at the foulness of it all. "And that, Miss Watanabe, is exactly my point."


Please review! I need all the feedback and constructive criticism I can get.

lessthanthree, AJ.