How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15


"Would you defy Me? I am the eater of hope."

The grotesque voice dripped with malice and promise of anguish, and in the umbral darkness of the freezing caverns, I was afraid.

"Who...what are you?!"

Without knowing the horror I had wrought for myself, I stared into the abyss.

The abyss answered.

I could do nothing but scream.


I wake up with a start, throwing my blanket off and flying out of my bed.

I'm shivering and hyperventilating, my heart won't stop pounding, and I'm drenched in a cold sweat. My horns burn, and my head feels like it's being crushed...it takes all I've got not to collapse on the ground and scream.

Just another day in paradise.

I back up against the wall, and try to steady my breathing- that comes first, if I get that under control then the heartbeat and shivering will fix themselves. I clutch at my chest and take huge gulps of air, trying to hold them in for as long as possible- it works, and within a minute my breathing is back on track. Slowly, painfully slowly, my heart slows and the shivering stops.

The headache stays, and my horns tingle with fading pain, but I can breathe again, and that's what matters.

The door to my room opens, and my worried mother peeks in. My wild eyes meet her concerned ones, and she sighs in sad recognition.

"Another nightmare?"

Her voice is quiet, almost as if she's afraid for her question to be answered.

"I think they're getting worse…" I mumble, backing up against and sliding down the wall.

"You still can't remember anything?"

kill

I rack my brain, trying to remember something, anything, about what caused this abnormal panic, but once again- like every other time- I draw a blank. I've got absolutely no recollection of the apparently horrific dream, other than that it happened.

My mother sighs. She fully enters my room, and sits down beside me on the floor. My head is in my hands, and she touches my shoulder reassuringly.

"Issei, darling...I know this isn't what you want to hear, but maybe a psychiatrist-"

kiLL HER

"No." Weird, I haven't heard this voice before...

"I know you don't want to, but please-"

CRUSH HER EYES RIP HER THROAT BURN HER FLESH

What is this? What the fuck?

"I said no, damn it!"

My mom flinches away, not expecting my sudden fury. She gives a hasty but genuine apology, and all of sudden I'm left confused. I could've sworn I heard something odd just then, but I can't remember who I'd even been talking to. I thought it was mom, but I would never yell at her like that.

My headache flares in intensity, and I hear whispers at the edge of my mind and they wont stop and they wont stop and they wont stop

"Issei, are you alright?"

EAT HER SOUL AND ALL THE REST

What is happening to me

"Darling, please, you're scaring me, say something…"

YOU HAVE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH

GAh, my hEAD

"Oh my God, Issei!"

LET THE RED RAIN FLOW

WHo IS TALKiNG

KILL KILL KILL

STOP LEAVE ME ALONE

KILL KILL KILL

I CANT I WONT

KILL KILL KILL

KILL KILL KILL

"AAH!"

WHOSE BLOOD IS THIS


"Bye, mom!" I close the door behind me, and start the walk to school.

The whole trip is uneventful, with the most abnormal thing about it being that my stomach growled right before I got to Kuoh. Not even a single visit from one of my spectral friends.

Huh, I guess I didn't eat breakfast. Mom did say we were almost out of food yesterday...wait, did I even talk to her yet? Come to think of it, I haven't seen her all morning...

"Yo, hornboy!"

While I'm standing at the gates of the school and not paying attention, a firm slap on my neck knocks me back to reality, and within seconds I'm glaring at a happy-go-lucky blue haired girl. We only met yesterday, but I think she's technically my girlfriend. Sort of? We kissed...it was nice.

"Don't call me that."

"What should I call you? Issei? Hyoudou? Goat? Lover? Darling?"

Darling?

A shock slams through my head, making me stumble and nearly fall. With one hand, I'm clutching at my forehead, and the other is on my right knee, keeping me from collapsing on the ground in right front of our school.

The pain is gone almost instantly, and I quickly recover, but Katherine is staring at me from a few feet away with a "mildly concerned but also totally freaked out" look, and I can't say I blame her. I have absolutely no idea what happened, but it hurt. Guess I'll just play it off…

"Sorry. Bit my tongue, really hard." I say with a cringing smile. Relieved I wasn't dying or anything, she laughs it off and we keep walking.

"So, how'd the job interview go yesterday?" She asks me after a comfortable silence.

Ah, right. Totally forgot about that.

"It was alright. I got a bit further than most other times, I guess."

"Which means...?"

"I got kicked out right as I walked in."

Kat cringes. "Yowch, really? As soon as you walked in?"

"Yeah. Didn't even get to sit down."

"Damn, that sucks."

"I'm used to it."

"Doesn't change the fact that it sucks."

"...Guess not."

"So if you got further than most others, how far were they?"

"Removed on arrival."

"Yeesh. Who knew people would hate some goofy horns so much?"

"Tell me about it. At least you don't, I guess."

"Duh, why would I? I have some, dumbass."

We finally make it to the main school building, whereupon I get a weird look from a couple of blonde guys; one of those looks. I didn't plan on saying anything, but Kat is immediately provoked, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna try and stop her.

"The hell you two looking at? Piss off." She spits at them, and both instantly turn and briskly walk the opposite way down the hall. I'm no small part impressed, and nod in appreciation. She practically snarls at the two as they retreat, and I totally love it.


"Did you feel that guy, Kiba?!"

"Saji, this has to get to Rias and Sona right now. Something is just...wrong, with him. Let's go, and stay quiet. The girl might be in on it."


Kat and I make it to class, and the rest of the day basically passes like normal. We talk while the teacher isn't paying attention, talk quiet when he is, and basically just mess around. Everything he's going over is just old stuff, so it's not like I need to kick into good student mode just yet, and Kat is way more fun than taking notes anyway.

I feel an odd tug at the back of my mind, and the Shadow Man spills out of my body from the front, obscuring my view while he takes the shape of my silhouette.

This time, something's wrong.

He's afraid. I don't know how, but I can feel it.

"We got a problem, man."

"Problem?"

"Yes, Mr. Hyoudou. The problem, if you would." Mr. Kotegawa is looking at me expectantly from behind the Shadow, and I realized that not only had I been asked to solve a question written on the board, I had accidentally spoken to the Shadow out loud. Whoops.

The Shadow seems more than a little annoyed at being interrupted, and waves his hand dismissively.

"Say ten x plus three, then listen to me."

"Ten x plus three." I answer, totally confused. Upon actually looking at the problem Kotegawa has written on the board, I realize it's one I would never have known how to solve. There's no way the Shadow could have. I probably just made a huge fool of myself-

"Very good, Mr. Hyoudou. Fast, too. Well done. Now, back to…"

...

How?

That's not...possible.

I don't know how to even start the problem I just answered.

So how in the hell did a voice in my head? Come to think of it, the Mouth did this shit yesterday-

"FUCKING PAY ATTENTION!"

I nearly jump out of my skin. The Shadow is right in front of me, and was apparently talking the whole time I was thinking. The rest of the class is looking at me expectantly, everyone having noticed me flip shit in my seat.

I quickly stand, and place a hand over my stomach to indicate a medical issue.

"Bathroom?" I ask Kotegawa, faking distress. He nods, and I dash out of the room, closely followed by the Shadow.

I swiftly walk down the hall and enter a janitorial closet, not bothering to turn on the lights.

"You fucked up, man. Big time. Like, somebody's head is gonna roll."

"What are you talking about? What the fuck are you? How did you know that answer?"

"You have bigger problems right now, Issei! The big guy is waking up! Like, the bad one! The really bad one!"

"Who? Who's waking up? What are you talking about?"

I feel another tug, and the Mouth and the Beast slip out, coming to position next to the Shadow. The Mouth lands on his face, right where a normal mouth would be, and the Shadow perches on his shoulder. I'm starting to freak out, they're never all appeared at once before…

"You should be...very afraid." The mouth whispers, folded into a very uncharacteristic frown.

"Somebody better start explaining right the fuck now! I thought you were just hallucinations! How do you know things I don't?!"

"Focus, dumbass! We're obviously not just hallucinations!" The shadow, exasperated, lashes out…

...and knocks over a broom.

A real broom.

The Shadow, a product of my mind, of what the doctors said was dementia…knocked over a broom.

Struck dumb, I stagger backwards and slump against the wall, putting my hands up in a halfhearted barrier against whatever the things in front of me are.

"I'm seriously getting sick of this...We're on your side! Pay attention!"

"I'm listening…" I manage to mumble, terrified. The implication that these things were anything but hallucinations was horrifying, but I'm trying to keep cool.

"We aren't the only ones inside you. You ran into somebody with a...similar condition, and it accelerated your timeline, so to speak. The big guy is waking up, and he's gonna be hungry. He already almost got to you this morning. Look at your palms."

Without a clue in the world as to what the shadow is talking about, I look at my palms. Even in the darkness of the closet, I can see them clearly; scars from huge puncture wounds, under each of the four fingers on both of my hands.

"You almost gored your mom, but you managed to stay resilient and fought it, and cut deep into your hands. Real deep...that's the best healing I could do."

Gored...my mom? Healing? Think, damn it…

"You won't be able to remember, no matter how hard you try. You won't, and she won't either. You're welcome. Back to the main point...look at me."

I look up at the Shadow, who's got two eyes now. They're both brown...same as mine.

"We might be dicks, but we're on your side. Do not listen to any voices that aren't ours. Clear? Something really, really bad will happen if you lose yourself again."

"Stay...focused...don't heed his call."

I don't know what to say. These things are on my side? And there's something worse? I've got to be dreaming…

"More like a nightmare. I live for the hunt, but this is pure evil." The Beast adds, growling.

"Who, and...what are you all? If you're really not all in my head…"

"Don't worry about it."

A rapping knock rang out from the door, and suddenly all my spectral company retreated back into my mind. I spring up from my place on the floor, and come face-to-face with our school's number one.

"Rias Gremory?" I ask, wondering what she's doing in the broom closet.

"Hi. Mind telling me who exactly you're talking to?" She asks, a sweet smile on her face.

"Uh...the brooms?" I say, nervously laughing.

"Cute, but I'm not amused. You're coming with me, Demon."

Demon?

"She's not human. You need to leave. Now." The Beast speaks into my mind without manifesting, seemingly offering actual advice now. My mind is officially fried. Who's a demon?

Oh well. Rias seems hostile, and with everything that's just happened, that's more than enough for me to trust the Shadow.

"Can interest you in our new model, the b-1000? It's got an extra long handle, for cleaning all those hard to reach places."

"What are you-"

Rias is interrupted mid-sentence as I fling the nearest broom into her face and dash out of the closet, aiming to run all the way home.

I don't get very far, because there's about fifteen people waiting in a half circle on the other side of the door for me to try and leave. They all have their hands raised offensively, and a couple even have actual weapons.

"Uh...hi, everyone...wonderful weather we're having, huh?"

"Don't move. Any attempt to act will be regarded as hostile and dealt with accordingly."

One of the people, a short-ish brunette with glasses and bob-cut hair tells me not to do anything in an authoritative voice. I kinda recognize her, actually...I think she's on the student council. Wait, this is the entire student council. Huh...weird.

"Look, I think you have the wrong person. I'm just a guy with horns..." I back up instinctively, only to bump into Rias, who's rubbing a red mark on her forehead with an angry expression.

Whoops.

"This is bad...leave it to me, I guess…"

Please don't do anything crazy. I can't handle much more goofy shit in one day, I already hit my weirdness quota.

I feel a tug, and the Shadow pours out of my front. The eyes of the people around me all light up in recognition and fright, and I realize something insane...they can see it.

"Everybody just calm down, alright?!" The Shadow tries to mediate, but apparently this counted as an 'attempt to act' and was perceived as hostile, because there's now a ton of angry looks and and no less than one raised sword in the area.

"Uh...face the power of my stand?" I mumble half heartedly, awkward chuckling to match.

The Shadow sighs, realizing there's only one way out of the situation we've found ourselves in.

Without hesitation, he decks the nearest person square in the face. Yeah, guess that works.

It was one of the blonde dudes from earlier, and the hit sent him flying into the wall behind him. I use the distraction to bolt down the hallway, and the people behind me all start to give chase, Rias and the short hair glasses girl yelling orders.

"Out the window!" The Beast roars into my mind, and I see what he's talking about; at the end of this hall, there's a window leading to the express route back to the ground floor.

You know what? Fuck it. Fuck it. This day is already weird, right? Might as well make it weirder. Let's do something insane.

As per instruction, I dash at the window as fast as possible. Just as I'm less than a few meters away, the blonde- the one the Shadow punched- is on my right in the blink of an eye, and a lightning-fast sword strike is swiftly caught by a decaying arm sprouting out of my back. First off, fucking ew; secondly, even all the corpses I saw are on my side? This day just keeps getting better.

"Cover your face!" The Shadow yells, and I leap towards the window, legs folded behind me and arms raised in front of my head. I half expect to just slap into the thing and fall on the floor, but faster than I could even react, the Shadow leaps through my back and out of my chest, slamming his spectral fist through the glass and shattering it to give me a clear path.

I yelp in realization of what's happening; you know, falling from three stories up; but I feel a hand on the back of my shirt collar, and the falling stops. I look up, and Rias herself is holding me in mid-air.

As in, she's in the air too. With bat wings. Flying.

With wings.

Flying.

Wings.

How about that, something new every day...

"Neat trick, demon. You done? Man, what kind of demon can't even handle a group of teenage devils? I thought this wouldn't even be enough, turns out it was overkill." She has a pissed off and smug look on her face, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell me she's not very happy. I didn't really take her for the gloaty type, based on what I've heard about her, but who knows? Guess my show back there might have wounded her pride.

Or my broom wounded her face. Sorry, not sorry.

"Okay, first off, no clue what a demon is, second off, ouch, third...Shadow?" Hanging there in her grip, I glance behind her to the window and see several of her associates with the Shadow cornered against a wall. They all appear to have different flavors of magic in-hand, but fuck if I know. Whatever they're doing, it's got him pinned.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to tap out on this one. I could go further, but...things might get crazy."

Oh, so this wasn't already crazy? Whatever. Beast, you got anything?

"If I come out, we're killing everyone."

Bad plan. Mouth?

"What exactly...do you think...I'll do?"

Touche.

"Uh, yeah, I think we're just about finished up here." I say to Rias, smiling innocently.

"I couldn't agree more." Rias answers, her own innocent smile mocking mine.

She drops me, and I fall three stories onto my face. Let me tell you, nastiest sound I have ever heard is my own nose breaking against concrete. Didn't feel particularly great, either. Oh well...

...consciousness is overrated.

I feel myself slipping, and my last thought before everything goes dark is...does Rias realize I can see up her skirt?

Yeah, no, I'm not particularly proud of it either.


Yay, Belial updated!

I know, right? Crazy.

But anyway, I know I haven't posted anything in a while, and I do feel bad, but like...college. Engineering student. All the other engineers get it, guaranteed. Shit's crazy man.

But yeah, I got a free day today (Tuesday the 9th) because my university (Texas Tech) was playing in the NCAA championships last night (Monday the 8th) and apparently that warrants a day off. I mean, hey, whatever, I'll take it I guess. Anyway, cus of that free day, I was able to get a lot of writing done. I wrote this chapter, a lot of His Angel, some of DDORC and even a bit of His Valkyrie. (Yeah, shocking, I know. But that's like, my second favorite story and I want to perfect it.)

Now, about Horns. Normally in the DxD archive, when you see a story labeled 'horror' it's almost always just an edgy OC MC with some creepy powers. That's not this. I wanted to really double down on the horror aspect of a demonic possession, Exorcism style, and to that effect, I'm using a first person present writing style- something I'm extremely unfamiliar with. As I'm sure a lot of my readers are aware, the majority of my stories are in third person past, so I'm definitely out of my element. Here's hoping it's not too bad. All feedback, negative or positive, is welcome, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think. I encourage it.

I promise I'm not dead, so don't abandon my stories yet...!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to leave a review, like and subscribe for more tips and tricks like this.

Oh, and I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone here this, but uh...

Subscribe to PewDiePie.

Bye till next time!