Chapter 1 – Demons and Angels
She ran and ran, but she couldn't seem to get away from them...whatever they were. She didn't even know. They were creepy little things, green and maroon-ish colored. They had tails, and very sharp teeth. They were chasing her, chasing her until she couldn't breathe anymore and almost passed out.
Then she came to a man, a man who had blue flames on him, surrounding him. There-there are flames everywhere! Blue flames! I didn't see them just a minute ago, she thought. They're so bright! They're pretty! They nearly blinded her in the dark night, causing her to run right into this mysterious, flame-clad man. She rebounded off of him, landing hard on the ground. She struggled to get up to get a better look at this man. She couldn't tell anything about the man because of the flames, but she thought he was...familiar, in some way, but she had no idea how. This man...he gave off an aura of pure evil. Terrifyingly powerful evil.
She looked up and froze, staring into the blue eyes with red pupils that captured her. She wasn't sure whether she was paralyzed with shock, fear, or awe, but she didn't care. The man grinned, an awful, evil grin, and showed fangs.
"Hello, my daughter," he said, his voice like an echo of a humans, making it more gruff, more...more demonic. "You will come with me now. Forget those weaklings who thought they could take you away from me—you're mine. You will always be mine."
With that, he took her arm and led her away from the destruction. She listened to the dying screams of many people; she heard the agonized screams of her mother and looked back, curious as to why her mother was crying. The blue flames of the man consumed her, but didn't burn. She looked at the in wonder.
She was only six years old. She had no idea what was going on. She looked up at the man, who was rambling about something like he was surprised that the body he was using was especially resilient or something like that. He then did a sort of ritual—she didn't know if it was actually a ritual or not, but that's what it looked like to her little-girl eyes. A thing—she didn't have any idea what it was-came out of the ground. It had a face-like thing at the top end, though it was all on ground level, and in the middle of what looked like intricate metal-working, as though it was a door or entrance to something, were tons of little red and navy blue...heads? At the corners were statues, menacing statues that rotated around, watching her and the man with the blue flames' every movement.
The man looked at her and smiled, this time in a not-so-evil way. He motioned to the portal. "Jump in, my daughter."
She looked up at him, wide-eyed, and spoke for the first time in this whole ordeal. "B-but... Mister, th-there are heads in there... It sc-scares me." Her voice was innocent, as it should be—she was a little girl after all. "And my mommy... I don't think she wants me going with you, Mister."
His smile faded a bit. "We don't have much time, my daughter. Come with me. You're mother really is okay with it. I checked with her before I brought you here. You have nothing to fear." He looked at her for just a short moment, saw her confliction. "I'll hold you in my arms, and then jump in. Would that work?"
She looked up at him, her eyes big as saucers. "Will you protect me, Mister?"
"Of course," he said, an underlying sinister tone to his supposed kindness.
She didn't pick up on it. She merely smiled widely at him. "Okay! As long as Mommy's okay with it!"
He picked her up and she wrapped her little legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, looking over his shoulder. "Say goodbye to your mother," he said, turning his head for a split second to shoot an evil grin at everyone else-but the little girl didn't notice this.
She saw her mother and waved with one hand, a huge smile on her face. "Bye-bye, Mommy! See you later!"
"Good girl," he murmured to the child, putting the hand that wasn't holding her around the waist to his on her head, pushing her head down onto him. "Now, hold on tight-we wouldn't want you to get separated from me."
With that, he stepped into the pool of heads, slowly sinking down. The girl clung tightly to him, frightened by the heads.
And then they were gone. Into the Gehenna Gate.
Jessicah crawled out of bed, going into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She hated the gritty feeling when they were all dirty and stuff. She brushed them, making sure to be careful about her fangs. She still wasn't used to them—she had only gotten them six months ago, after all. After she was finished with that, she spent a moment looking at the in the mirror. She poked the tip of one with her finger.
"Ow!" she said, pulling her finger away. Luckily, it hadn't broken skin. Her fangs were too sharp, or so she thought. She then looked at her hair and everything else. She sighed and washed her face, then put her hair up into a messy bun, too lazy to actually do anything with it.
She looked down at her pajamas—a red tank top and black pajama pants. She shrugged, not feeling like changing. "Oh well. They can get over it," she said to herself, going down to the dining room.
As always, breakfast was already on the long table, so she sat down and started eating her food, like lady would have; she didn't complain about anything she might've not liked, she knew she would be punished if she did. The room didn't even deserve to be called a room; it was more like a dining hall than a room; the long wooden table stretching from one end to the other, the crystal chandeliers hanging around the room, the fancy chairs, the overly-expensive china. It was way too formal for her tastes, but she didn't really care. She had been living this way since she was six; she was now thirteen years old, but she had always been mature for her age. Especially in this place.
She had grown up very fast when she was brought here, Gehenna, the demon world ruled by Satan. She still had a mostly human body—except for the fangs. She was the most vulnerable person—being—in all of Gehenna... Except for the fact that Satan was always watching over her. She was his prize possession, his perfect creation, his masterpiece. Even so, she was constantly preyed on by demons of all shapes, sizes, appearances, and rank; all of them came after her for one reason or another. Most of it was because she was in a human form. She had to learn to defend herself quickly, had to learn how to be smart in battle. She had to mature quickly from her young age to be able to even survive.
When she was finished eating, she got up and pushed her chair back in, leaving her dishes on the table for the maids—or whoever they were—to come pick them up like she knew they would. She walked around the castle for a bit—yes, she lived in a castle.
She was the daughter of Satan, after all.
Suddenly, her father came up before her. His demonic form was simply blue flames, but he often used other forms to speak to or take action on other demons. He was using one of those forms right then, but Jessicah knew it was him from the eyes. The blue eyes with red pupils. She would never forget them.
"Hello, Father," she said, looking down and not into those demonic eyes. He had told her that when she turns thirteen, she should not look any male demon in the eyes, let alone him; it was a sign of disrespect, and after she was thirteen there would be absolutely no excuse for it.
"Jessicah," he said, the tone to his voice slightly amused. "I have an assignment for you."
"Another demon needs executing?" she asked, her tone bored.
"No. This assignment will be on Assiah."
She looked up at him for a moment, surprise on her face, before remembering to lower head again. "Sorry, Father. I was surprised," she said, a tone in her voice that said she was pleased by being able to go to Assiah. She hadn't forgotten those couple years she had spent there; she hadn't forgotten the years she spent in heaven, either. "What is this mission for?"
"You will meet my sons."
She froze. "What?"
"I have two half-demon sons on Assiah right now; they're twins. I want them brought back here. If you can't get both, get the older one, for he is the one who inherited my power… Though the other twin might gain it soon…"
Her mind reeled from this information. "Oh… How long do I have?"
"As long as you wish."
"Huh?"
"You've been great with your duties, you've kept your temper, and you've kept your head with all emotions," he said. She didn't know what he was thinking; she couldn't see his face. "You've earned something you can enjoy."
This was so out of character for him, it took her a moment to understand what he was saying. "Thank you, Father!" she said, hugging him. She didn't care if it was out of line—she was too happy to care.
She was going to Assiah!
"By the way," he said, after he had extracted himself from her, "you are about one year younger than the two of them. Also, I'm going to have to seal all of your powers—both kinds. You can't blend in with the normal people of Assiah while having flames and whatnot sprouting everywhere. Especially not where you must stay."
She nodded. "How are you going to do that, Father?"
"I will seal one set of your powers in a demon sword that one of my top advisors has taken from an exorcist. I will seal the other set in a bow and its arrows. This bow was made by me for a special woman—it should be able to hold your powers, though they are vast."
She nodded. "When will I be going?"
"Tomorrow, after the sun has gone down in Assiah."
"Right. Thank you, Father!" she said excitedly, heading to her room.
"Be in the main room tomorrow at noon for me to seal your powers," he called after her.
"Alright, Father!"
She was going to Assiah!
She laid on her bed, staring up at her ceiling, then sighed with contentment. She had extraordinary memory because of what she was—she could remember everything since she was one year old. She remembered heaven, in all its glory, all of the white, all of the perfection. She remembered her mother and her mother's siblings. They had always played with her, interacted with her, made sure she was happy. She remembered her mother and a couple of her mother's brothers getting sent down to Assiah to carry out some important mission. She remembered being sent down with them. After two years of living on Assiah, the problem still hadn't shown itself. She didn't know what the problem was at the time, and she definitely didn't understand why she had been sent with her mother.
She had been sent as bait to the "problem."
Her mother was an archangel, and one of the highest in the position; her uncles were also high up in the society of heaven.
They had been sent to eliminate Satan.
Her mother had been possessed by Satan and he had created her from himself and her mother, a number of years before she was actually born, her mother keeping her in the womb by pure will until she couldn't anymore. Her mother named her Jessicah, a more American name; her mother had always loved America.
The rest of heaven thought Jessicah would be the perfect bait—they didn't care if she died, they believed she should've been executed, for she was the daughter of Satan.
They had underestimated the Lord of Gehenna.
Satan was drawn out by Jessicah's presence. Their plan worked after two years. But he came to take her back to Gehenna, and the angels simply weren't powerful enough to stop him. She had gone with him willingly, because she was a child at the time; she thought it would be okay, that she'd be right back.
She never saw her mother again. She suspected they had executed her in heaven for letting both her and Satan get away.
In those couple of years on Assiah, she got to live a semi-normal life, which she absolutely loved. She vividly remembered the amazing things she had seen and done, those that were normal in the life of a human.
She was in a human state because of her powerful demon blood and her powerful angel blood—they canceled each other out, her not embracing either side of her more than the other, even while she was in Gehenna. Her demonic side started showing more, of course, simply because of the fact that she was there in the demonic world, but she was still in a mostly human body. She was stuck in between being a demon or an angel—she just wanted to be what she was, human.