Chapter 2
The child couldn't have been more than three. His blue eyes wide as he looked at me, one thumb in his mouth, as he used his other chubby hand to hold himself up against the door frame. Dark, curly hair fell in his eyes, and he wore no shoes. A woman came up behind the child. She had the same dark hair but tied in a bun on top of her head, with dark circles under cautious eyes.
Apparently, they already knew about what was happening in the rest of the town, and the mother wasn't about to start trusting strangers. The woman ushered the child back inside the house, and stood guard in the doorway, like I was the threat rampaging through town.
"You need to leave," her words were curt; but she didn't appear to be as much of a threat.
"Give me like five more minutes and I will," I retorted, turning my gaze away from the woman. Breathe in. Breath out. Repeat. Why did I bother loaning any strength to that Holy Knight? If I had known he'd fold so quickly, I never would have…
"You need to leave now." The woman stated, louder this time. I blew out a breath through clenched teeth. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself.
"Excuse me, but do you really think it's going to make a difference whether you live or die if you just let me rest for five freakin' minutes?" I sneered; the woman flinched at my words. I caught the glimpse of a remorseful look across the woman's face. But her eyes narrowed suspiciously at me.
"Fine, then come inside. I don't need some loiterer drawing attention to this side of town." She turned, not looking back to see if I followed. I didn't have to think twice before I rose and quickly ran inside the house.
The house wasn't more than a room, well maybe two. I could vaguely see the outline of a second door in the wall to the left of me. The woman shut the door behind me, and everything was dark, except for where a few shards of light leaked through the ceiling onto an old rug that covered a dirt floor.
"I wasn't aware people lived around this area of town." I muttered, not really expecting an answer.
"We don't, but it's more secluded than the rest of town. We're less likely to be noticed here." I silently nodded in agreement. True, no one could possibly live here. There was no kitchen, no bedrooms, probably no bathrooms. If I raised my hand, I could brush the ceiling with my fingertips. The panic from the rest of the town could still be heard through the thin walls, and honestly, even I could probably kick down the door with little effort. "It shouldn't be much longer," the woman spoke again. Now she sat cross-legged on the floor pulling the child into her lap, and she ran her fingers through his hair. The child held a toy in his hands, fingers deftly passing it back and forth between hands, and raising it to his lips to bite it.
"For what? The town to be dead?" I started. Sure, my family could go to hell, not that'd I'd seen my parents in years; but I had friends here, coworkers, people I cared about. Even the drunks I dealt with at the bar didn't deserve this. I thought about the two Holy Knights, who I hadn't known, but they still didn't deserve to die. What had the one said? You can't fight him? Ha, sure I could. If I actually had any desire too.
"Not dead, just," the woman paused, not quite sure what to call it. "We came up from the south, not quite as far as Camelot, but from the villages around the outskirts of the city. My son and I haven't lived in one town for more than two weeks before one of the demons shows up. We're running out of places to hide."
I pressed my lips together and kicked my foot against the rug, causing it to wrinkle, before smoothing it out again. "What are they after?" I asked; not sure why, but I suddenly didn't like the close confines of the shack I was in. It almost seemed better to be out in the open, at least I'd have an escape. Here I felt trapped.
"Souls," the woman shrugged as if a soul were nothing. As she hugged the child closer, I saw something glint in the faint light as the child held the toy up to his eyes, and then bit it again. "They like the Holy Knights. More strength to obtain from those ones, but they'll go after anyone really." She paused, and I heard more yelling outside. This time it wasn't panic, but someone shouting commands, trying to organize an assault.
You can't fight him, the voice echoed in my head again. What the hell did that even mean?
"My fiancé was a Holy Knight," the woman continued talking, although I was only half listening. I walked towards the side of the room closest to the group of people attempting to launch an assault. I felt more on edge than ever before. If there was going to be a fight on the other side of this shack, then we needed to get out of here. "…never returned from Camelot," I turned back to see the woman sobbing quietly, her face hidden in the shadows, but the child looked up at me, brilliant blue eyes visible in the dark as he played with that toy.
"seven, nine, oh" his high-pitched gurgling voice a sharp contrast to the hushed silence that wrapped around us. "eight, one, two" I smiled as the child tried to count, the numbers completely out of order.
I took another breath and blew out, "we should leave. If they fight right outside, this place won't last five seconds." I paced towards the back door.
"eight, five, oh." The child said again; but this time I heard the woman's breath hitch, and a sudden dread filled my entire being. I turned to see the child looking up at me through his little toy, and the woman's eyes were wide as a realization dawned on her.
"You're a Holy Knight," her words were barely audible; I reached for the door behind me, just as the first wave of screams and shouts erupted from the other side of the shack.
"No, I'm not," I stated. My fingers clawed at the wall, trying to find the rickety door handle to open it. "I am not a Holy Knight," I repeated; but my words fell on deaf ears.
"You have power like the Holy Knights," she whispered. "More than any of the knights here, for certain." She spoke more to herself. Finally, my fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the handle. I turned it quickly, whoops, wrong way.
A blast hit the far wall of the shack and darkness tore the weak building apart. I threw myself to the ground, but I still flew several feet backwards, my head hitting something solid. Spots filled my vision; my ears rang. I coughed, and pushed myself up on my hands and knees, barely able to keep myself up in that position as I raised my head. Where's the damn kid? I felt concern, even though the little shit had given me up.
As my vision cleared, (h/l), (h/c) strands of messy hair hung in my eyes as I watched the darkness pull back from the surrounding area, revealing flattened buildings, mutilated corpses, hollow bodies. I followed the darkness all the way up, until it reached its wielder. It snaked around the demon's arm, before disappearing back inside the monster's body altogether.
I was frozen again, too terrified to move. Hastily, I glanced around, but the entire area was wide open, no side streets to sneak through, nothing to hide behind.
"Estarossa, it does no good to go about killing all the damned humans before we eat their souls. Melascula isn't here, so once they're dead, they're gone." I watched bewildered as another man approached the demon. His hair was dark, and much longer, and he wore red armor.
The demon, I guess Estarossa was his name, turned back to look at the man approaching him. "These souls are weak, we wouldn't gain much from them, so they make better target practice instead."
"You practically obliterated them," the dark-haired man sneered, or well, I guess if he enjoyed eating souls, then he was probably a demon too.
"They annoyed me," as if that was reason enough to gut half a town. I bit my tongue to keep myself quiet. Neither of the two seemed to have noticed me, but-
"Six, oh, oh, oh, oh" my body went numb as I heard the little voice chime through the air. My head turned towards the child just as the two demons did the same. Something tackled me from behind, pushing my face into the dirt, knees digging into my back, pinning me to the ground.
"There you go, Fraudrin. I didn't kill all of them."
"That's a child," I heard an odd lit in the demon's voice. As if he felt some sort of hesitation towards killing a child.
"No! NO!" the shout came from the person on top of me, the scream threatened to pierce my eardrums. "Take this one instead! She's stronger than the Holy Knights! Please leave my son and I in peace!" The woman cried above me, begging these obviously merciless creatures for compassion. I struggled to get out of the woman's grasp, but damn, she was stronger than she looked.
"Fucking bitch," I muttered as I finally squirmed my way out from under her. I couldn't blame her though, if I had a child to protect, I'd probably do the same. The woman grabbed at my legs, trying to hold me in place, but a swift kick to her chest sent her backwards as I scrambled to my feet, running face first into someone's chest.
"Ow," I muttered, as I stumbled back, a hand reached out and grabbed my shirt, keeping me from falling, but also pulling me forward till I was flush against the silver-haired demon. How could he move so quickly? He'd been several yards away a second ago.
"The barmaid from earlier?" I heard him question; but I ignored it as I tried to pry his hand away from me. Somewhere in my peripheral vision, I saw the woman grab the child and scramble away, the demons both had their attention fixed on me.
"Let me go!" I yelled, pulling back hard enough that my shirt threatened to tear. Literally, the least of my worries right now. The demon grabbed my wrists instead squeezing hard enough to make me scream.
"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed again and again, raising a leg in attempt to kick out at the monster. Even then, I felt the strength leave my body.
"Enough of that," he muttered before I felt a stabbing pain at my wrists that ran down my arms. My vision blurred and my body went limp as a foreign power pulsed through me. Just as quickly as it had started, it was gone. I panted, my body felt limp, the only thing holding me up now was Estarossa's grip on my wrists. "Scream and I do it again," he threatened, his dark eyes stared down into my (e/c) ones.
"What's your name?" He asked; I stared up at him with as much defiance as I could muster considering the circumstances.
"Fuck you," I sneered; he laughed.
"Another life time, maybe. But since you seem to be the strongest person in this waste of a town, your soul is mine." I watched as his other hand pressed against my abdomen, and I felt the same sickening, choking sensation that the Holy Knight before me must have felt.
"Wait! Wait!" I begged, tears in the corners of my eyes, "I'm more useful to you alive than dead!" I desperately bargained.
"I doubt it," the demon muttered, but his attempt to take my soul lessened.
"I can transfer my power from one person to another," I rambled, "and regenerate it," the pain around my wrists continued to decrease. Even if he didn't say it, the demon Estarossa was, at least, slightly intrigued. "If you let me keep my soul and you leave this town, I'll give my power it to you," I finished, "no tricks."
"A living generator," the comment came from behind me. I had forgotten about the other threat. "She couldn't possibly have enough power to fuel all of the 10 commandments though."
Estarossa smirked down at me before looking at his companion, "who said I would share?" I grit my teeth as I'm pretty sure the demon, Fraudrin, or whatever his name was, growled.
The grip around my wrists loosened completely, and I ripped my arms away from the demon, rubbing the red marks left by his grasp that would surely bruise. "Now's your chance to prove yourself," Estarossa's voice was much closer this time, his tone taunting. I hesitated before placing my hands on either side of his chest, making sure to give him the darkest look that I could muster before transferring my energy to him.
I hated myself. For a second, the ground spun, but it quickly faded as the transfer was complete. I felt drained, exhausted, but not totally. Apparently though, he could tell I hadn't given everything up.
"You said no tricks," a hand around my throat, tight but not squeezing. "finish it, and we'll see if you really can regenerate all of your strength."
I bit my lip to keep from cursing him as I placed my hands on his chest again. Letting the rest of my power transfer to the demon. Now my vision blurred, and I felt my body slump towards the ground, except someone caught me.
"I guess you are as useful as you said," the words were faint above me. I hadn't been this weak in years, maybe ever.
"Now let me go," I don't know where the strength to even speak came from; but I could hear Estarossa laugh above me, I tried to push away from him, but it was no use. "Please," the word tasted bitter on my tongue.
"I can't let someone as useful as yourself go, not until my power is fully restored anyways." I felt my body being lifted off the ground. My mind panicked as I struggled against the arms holding me hostage, but it was a feeble attempt at best. "Even then, I'll probably just kill you after," again I struggled, but my vision finally went black, my ears were deaf to anything else the demon said, and my entire body was devoid of feeling.
Well there's chapter 2, what do you think?
