A figure robed in black ambled slowly down the darkened street. The night was a time when nobody dared go outside for fear of what lurked in the shadows. This person at home in the night, with no worries about his safety drifting unbidden across his mind. His eyes held no ounce of fear as he made his way down the darkened roads of the small, secluded village.
The rain had started up a few hours ago, the rain would've froze a normal person to the bone already but, not this man. It seemed that the fact that the weather had taken a turn for the worse didn't bother him at all. A light was on inside one of the smaller cottages that lined the street, the inhabitant quickly snapped off the light running out of the room as the outsider glared up catching sight of him.
'It's no wonder he ran after seeing what's following me. Why did I have to be the one picked for this asinine mission?' he thought to himself glancing into the shadows cast by the overhangs.
Several large something's were lopping along spit flying from their parted jaws. They ran on all fours, violet eyes shining cruelly in the moonlight as muscles rippled under their steel gray pelts. These were the reason why so many people were afraid to leave the safety of their homes at night. It wasn't as if he could blame them, working with demons was dangerous business, one that he had taken up reluctantly. Sometimes he found himself wondering why he had even decided to stick with this job after some of the things he had done.
He lifted one pale slender hand removing the cowl from around his head revealing his dim amber eyes that seemed to be devoid of any life and dark auburn hair that only added to the sense of despair hanging around his being. "This couldn't possibly get any worse ….. Then again……I could fail….. NO I refuse to think about that!"
The wind picked up and the alpha male of the demons howled deeply pawing at the ground cueing a number of raucous barks from among his fellow pack members. It seemed that their prey wasn't that far ahead of them. A hand signal was given and they quieted letting the strange man speak, "Now you all should know how important this stage of the operation is to the organization. You demons are our only chance of ever capturing that girl alive. If we manage to get her within the next little bit, my……. OUR master might see fit to let me…..US govern over a small province in his reformed land. This girl is the last thing standing in our way of annihilating the only other people who could possibly harm our group! Now go and get her!"
The demons bounded forward, legs churning as their fur rippled displaying the raw power coursing through their legs. The mist seemed to swallow them up as they slowly but, steadily disappeared from his sight and the pounding rain, his hearing. After what seemed to him an eternity past, he was sure that they were long gone into the surrounding forest on the hunt for one missing link.
The man lifted his eyes skyward and laughed hysterically as it seemed the plan had gone along smoothly. "Well that was too easy. Now all that's left to do is to bring her back."
"Don't think its so easy Damian." , A masculine voice called out from a nearby upon a nearby fence post.
The mist around the fence parted to show another man dressed similarly, he had black hair and glowing green eyes. Damian shuddered in spite of himself moving backwards slightly glancing around for a place to hide as if he was a deer caught in headlights. This action caused the newcomer to laugh in obvious irritation but, that show of annoyance didn't last long when the other called him by his given name, "Raul ….."
The other man Raul charged forward reaching out a hand griping Damian by the throat slamming him against a brick wall as he growled, "How dare you call me by that name! I'm meant to be called 'Master' by you and the other pathetic whelps serving under me!"
"Yes master" Damian choked out since his windpipe was slowly being crushed.
Raul took away his hand, letting the other slide to the ground wiping away the trickle of blood that was running from the corner of his mouth. The leader of the organization spoke then, "Now those demons know not to as much as sniff her unless she attacks them?"
The auburn haired man paled considerably at that question, sheepishly scratching behind his head a nervous chuckle leaving his lips. "No…….I…..kind of…..forgot to mention that fact….. Oops….?"
"If you were smart you would be running right now….. Or you wouldn't' have opened your big mouth. Now you should remember what happened to the last person who messed up something this important." he said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
This caused Damian to shudder greatly as he tried to repress the horrible memory. How could anyone forget what had happen when it had become the most often used threat? The last person that had screwed up a mission had been accused of mutiny and court marshaled. After being found guilty he had then been hanged from the rafters in the belfry tower. As a warning the corpse had been left there for several weeks, anyone who had gone within twenty feet of the door vomited because the horrible stench wafting out of the building. Once the body had been disposed of it had taken several months to rid the place of the smell.
"Don't w-worry I-I w-won't….. f-fail…..you!" the frightened young man stuttered out barely able to hide his fear.
"I don't doubt that you won't fail me, that was just a simple warning……but, know that if she isn't in one piece I'll have your head for it." Raul whispered dangerously, walking over to a small canvas overhang. He grabbed a hold of it flipping himself into the air to land on the roof of the shop that the overhang belonged to.
Damian was still shaking as he went into the mist after the creatures praying that they wouldn't have hurt the girl in anyway. The trees in the forest were close together letting almost no light through. That and the fact that the area was overgrown with numerous thorny plants and creepers gave it a very murky despair filled look. ' Why didn't I listen to mom when she told me to stay away from freaky eyeliner wear……. Hey,…..is that a bit of cloth from that dress..'
He moved over to the branch gently lifting the pale red fabric of it, it had a soft pink cherry blossom pattern on it. Yes, it definitely belonged to their object of choice hunting. He changed directions going directly into the nest of sharp thorns not noticing the small drops of blood welling up from the pinpricks the thorns caused. The thorns and creepers eventually gave way to a more softer type of undergrowth. Plenty of broken twigs littered the muddy ground showing the demons passage.
Damian soon came to a small clearing, in it the demons were circling a figure who was curled up in a ball on the ground in its effort to get away from the bloodthirsty beats. The figure was a women who had long brown hair that fell in ringlets to her shoulders and framed her blue eyes. A leather satchel was clutched tightly to her chest, as she caught sight of him the girls eyes widen drastically, "What are you doing here?!"
"Well if it isn't the little one who actually managed to evade us all this time? My aren't you looking rather helpless Brie." Damian said a sadistic grin marring his perfect facial features.
The girl shook as she spat vehemently at him, "Traitor! I'll never go to that backstabbing little fink of a ……"
"Yes, well HE wouldn't like that very much now would he……" The young man stated waving a hand around to dismiss what the girl in front of him had said.
"Well I'm not going to that blasted man!"
"Brie, my master never actually said I had to kill you. You should just give in now and come with me." Damian murmured in a pleading voice.
She laughed, a hollow bitter sound, telling him that she would never hand over the satchel to that monster and lashed out with her feet attempting to knock over the leader of the demons as he past by her. " I can't believe your actually trying to get them to attack you." following this Damien ran a hand through his hair sighing at the confounded situation.
Brie reached a hand up the billowing sleeve of her red shirt griping something tightly. "You'll never get your hands on these pendants! I don't even have them anymore!"
"Liar!"
The women drew out an ornate dagger holding it by the tip instead of the black jewel encrusted handle. Damian quickly lunged forward intending to stop her but, it was to late as she released the blade allowing it to fly. The dagger buried itself up to the hilt in the tender flesh between his two elbow joints.
Swearing colorfully he dropped his half drawn knife from his paralyzed limb forming another hand signal unintentionally. The signal was the attack one, the one that the demons loved the most. They surged towards Brie sinking curved fangs and claws into her delicate flesh not minding her muffled scream of pain.
Damian turned his body away not at all liking the sight of a person being torn to shreds before his very eyes. The demons completely disregarded her lashes out in a desperate attempt to keep them from her throat.
The thoroughly disgusted auburn haired man walked away going back into the trees. ' I can't believe she chose to die, I mean Brie was,……she was…….she was once a major part of the organization. What could've caused her to change so suddenly and drastically? Why is it that I always end up having to be responsible for the deaths of all those that I once held dear? Its been that way since my parents died in that fire and I joined Raul and his secret cult.'
His train of thought was interrupted by a hand descending on his shoulder, "Good work Damian. Now go home to your adopted relatives and relax until I need you again."
"Thank you master and next time could I please have a mission that doesn't involve killing something? I don't like it."
"You should know that in our line of work that's about all there is and ever will be." Raul said a smirk dancing about his lips.
Damian started walking away going to his own place of birth.