Cassandra

Chapter

III


Idiots.. Cassandra voiced to herself. Referring to the tension of testosterone both men she fancied, had exuded an hour ago. She'd knew things would be this way from the moment Marcus had reentered her life. Why dammit, why now of all times she could remember saying to herself at the sight of her ex-lover stepping into their bijou association of monster hunters.

She'd retreated to her room. After all, the abandoned apartment building they'd reclaimed as their base of operations did harbor a plethora of vacant dormitories; hers being decorated with hundreds of trees, and Hummingbirds. My, how she adored Hummingbirds; they were such elegant creatures, a creature of uplifting, resilience, and independence. Traits, she diligently admired.

The sun had began to set, its peach-colored tone gracefully filling the afternoon skies. She could feel the breath of Autumn saute across her smooth, tan skin, while dancing sporadically alongside her maroon colored mane. She'd always loved the season of Fall, ever since she was a little girl. The changing of warm, to cool; leaves changing from green, to a vibrant yellow, brown, and red.. My, how she loved it all.

"Marcus, and Leon.. Leon, and Marcus.." She sighed, staring deeply into the sky's portfolio as if in a trance of deep thought. Leon.. One of the most beautiful men she'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. His sharp, thin-cut hazel hair, along with those golden-brown encrusted eyes, that radiated intimidation, but below the surface masked a heart of gold. He was an angel in the humble form of a man.

And then, there was Marcus. The reckless outcast, who radiated trouble. Those cold-grey eyes.. Eyes only someone who'd been the recipient of pain, and heartbreak could bear. He was the complete opposite of Leon; Marcus was ruggedly handsome, sporting a military buzz cut, that any women would swoon over. He had the face of a "bad boy", but harbored feminine features as well, being the cause of many women, and men alike referring to him as "pretty". A quote he'd avidly grown to detest over time.

She could remember their days back at camp, when he'd first arrived on the premises, after killing a wandering cyclopes with its own horn, suffering fatal injuries from his reckless style of physical interaction. What's your name? Are you alright? What happened? She'd remembered asking him, while helping carry him to the infirmary. His response had been the catalyst of the constant feuds they'd had in the future.

Piss off. An on the verge of death, Marcus rebutted. Cassandra's lips had edged into a smile without her notice, at the fact that she could still remember that fateful moment word, for word as if it had just happened yesterday. She cherished that moment. How far their relationship had grown from being two strangers who couldn't stand being within the same vicinity as one another, to being lovers..

Ex-lovers she reminded herself, as her jaw began to clinch ambiguously, at the painful truth. A sudden knock at the door broke her entrancement, forcing her to come back to reality. The sky.. Cassandra had taken note of. No longer was the sun's radiant features glistening within the empty atmosphere, instead, its replacement had been that of a dusk of clouds, the night sky emitted its own emotion of malice. She could sense negative energy flowing throughout the cool, midnight winds. Something sinister had located its prey, awaiting in the same manner a snake lies in wait, striking when the moment presents itself at the utmost pinnacle of times. When its prey is at its weakest, and most vulnerable.

Another knock hit the door, as she finally came to terms. "C-Come in." She stammered, inviting whoever was on the other side of the door to enter her living quarters.

Knock-Knock.. Knock-Knock..

"…" She hesitated, calling out once again an invitation of entrance. Perhaps this was one of the men pulling a trick. She unknowingly inferred.

"Alright!" She shouted back in a semi-playful tone. "That's enough, cut it out. Just come in." Cassandra turned her back, naive to the situation.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Her gaze swayed instantly back to the door's location. Prank, or not she'd had enough. Humor? At a time of dire alarm? That wasn't something she'd tolerate. Ever.

Cassandra had began to march forward, ready to snap at whoever was behind the wooden crevice. Right then, a series of several more knocks surfaced, but these were different, these shook her very being. As if whoever had been pounding upon the other side of the wooden substance, had also been playing with her insides. Manipulating her bones in a virulent rhythmic way an inexperienced xylophone player would.

She fell to the floor, gripping the sides of her midsection, gyrating in pain, as the vibrations traveled from her stomach, to her chest, into her skull. "STOPPPP!" She screamed, as her lungs seemed to give out the second she began to yell. "HEL-" unable to finish her screaming plea for help, her voice faded to black, silencing any future attempts of vocalization.

She'd began to squirm, panicked, and in a state of shock. Cassandra scanned the room; the paintings had begun to peel from their positions, resuscitating hundreds of trees, and Hummingbirds. The trees began to develop visages that would put Hades himself to shame, while the Hummingbirds transitioned from elegant birds of vibrant life, into fiercer versions of their Stymphalian kin.

Screams of terror attempted to find their passage of exit, but futilely were intercepted by an invisible blockade, which amassed into her throat. She could only lay there in submission, while the demons of malevolence had their way with her. The sturdy bark from the trees entangled her, ravaging her clothing into tethers, nicking her deeply, as her crimson substance leaked vigorously onto the cold, stone tile.

Then came the cannibalistic birds, hungering for living flesh. Before her mind could register what had began to take place, she'd been engulfed by a swarm of devilish Hummingbirds. Each tearing into a deep slab of skin, then ripping it from her body, in the same manner an ogre would peel an onion. The pain had overpowered her; breaking her power of will to endure.

Moments away from passing out; suffocating, and while on the verge of being eaten alive, time stopped. The previous paintings turned demon reverted back to their original statures, her breathing came back, the bleeding stopped, and the internal vibrations came to a halt. Cassandra continued to hyperventilate, scanning the room in efforts to reassure herself the room was clear, and it was all an hallucination.

She turned over lying on her back, closing her eyes in an attempt to relieve the fear, stress, and overall mental taxation she'd just experienced. Opening her eyes, time seemed to freeze again, rewinding Cassandra back in time, to her staring into the midnight sky. "BEHIND YOU!" Shouted a deep, demonic voice.

Cassandra panicked, her heart began to race. She could feel her pulse elevating with each passing second, feeling as if her heart would explode; the shaky atmosphere having her on the verge of puking.

"Ca-" before the voice from behind could finish, Cassandra had spun around with astonishing speed, removing a silver knife from a hidden compartment within her belt loop, plunging it deep into the uninvited presence behind her.

"NO! GO AWAY!" She screamed in fear, continuing to pierce the demonic figure in front of her repeatedly in every area possible. Finally, taking in her victim's attributes after inducting her rage, she suddenly stopped, dropping her knife. Tears of repentance trickled to the surface.

Past

"When I grow up I want to be just like you mama!" A young, and exuberant six year old Cassandra boasted. "Hey!" Her father had protested. "What about papa bear? I thought you wanted to catch the bad guys like me!" He playfully pouted, chasing around one of the two most precious people in the world to him, around the living room quarters.

"Hahahaha!" Cassandra giggled, playing keep away with her father, as he chased her around, finally catching her, and giving her a huge smooch on the cheek. "Your mother has the best job in the world Cassybear, I'd love for my two beautiful girls to save endangered animals across the world. Leave the petty bad guys to your big, strong dad!" He lifted her up over his head, while flexing, and winking at his wife.

"Oh, Tom stop! You're too much of a goofball to be a policeman." Cassandra's mom had chided, at her husband, Tom. "Don't act like you don't love it Janet. Tell mamabear to stop being so coy Cassybear." He laughed, putting her down, so she could run back to her mother.

"Stop being coy!" Cassandra shouted, causing the whole room to uproar in a sudden burst of laughter from the small family of three. "Go get ready for bed Cassandra." Her mom cooed, giving her the biggest goodnight kiss in existence. "Mamabears got to go save the Hummingbirds."

Cassandra marched on toward her room, looking back, and questioning her mother's statement. "The gorgy poofleg?" Janet laughed. "Gorgeted Puffleg, now off to bed Cassy. I love you." Cassandra shot back a toothy grin, skipping to her room jollily.

Cassandra had awoken from her sleep due to a heated argument downstairs between her parents, and a voice she didn't recognize. This captured her six year old self's attention, removing herself from the bed. Before she could catalog what was happening, the stranger lunged forward. Her father, Tom had moved in front of his wife, taking the brunt of the man's attack, falling to the ground as he began to bleed out from the fatal neck wound.

The man was relentless, admiring his work, then repeating his previous action against Janet. "TOM!" She yelled in despair, never losing sight of the devilish man. "Who.. No what do you want? We haven't done anything. We're just trying to live a normal, peaceful life! Please.. Just let us be!" Janet pleaded with the demonic individual.

The man smirked. "You puny creatures are simply prey to us. You live, and then you die." The man roared back, laughing belligerently, as his scratchy voice echoed throughout the ravaged house. He surged forward, his blood lust could be felt from a mile away. He slashed right, then slashed left with what looked like claws. Janet stayed on the defensive taking in the blows, as she was powerless to do anything against the demon's speed.

"Mama.. MAMA!" Cassandra screaming, tears flooding her face, as she rushed forward in futile efforts to protect her loved one. Both parties looked in her direction, the demon was the first to respond, changing his trajectory so that he would instead penetrate Cassandra.

"NO!" Janet roared, in a tone Cassandra had never heard before. Grabbing on to the demon's arm, and pulling him into a tight bear hug. Looking into her daughter's eyes, Janet knew this would be the last time her daughter would see her face. She didn't want her daughter's lasting image of her mother to be anything, but happiness.. So she smiled..

The demon pierced Janet, dealing a fatal blow in efforts to escape the tight coddling grip she'd placed upon him. She didn't let a scream of pain escape her lips, "Cassandra. Your father, and I always will lo-" she'd begun to suffer the repercussions of the fatal wound, coughing up blood, as the demon continued to pierce, and slice at her midsection.

".. Love you.. Run." Cassandra urged forward, she couldn't just leave her dying mother here, being torn apart from the inside by this evil being. "Run.. NOW!" Janet screamed. That was the first time she'd ever yelled at her; Cassandra captured one more look at her mother's dying smile, running out of the backdoor, and into the silent, cold night.

A sudden tremor erupted behind her, as the most beautiful tree she'd ever laid eyes on, erected itself from thin air, within the building she'd previously called home. Her tears blinded her, as she continued to run.

"I love you! Mama, papa!" She screamed into the vacant night. Running, running, running..

Present

"M-Mother..?" Her mother's face began to flicker, shedding away the facade, revealing the true victim of her actions. Cassandra's eyes widened, stained red, with the tears of frustration, and bloody resolve.

"What… What have I done?" She shuddered, sinking to her knees in despair.


A/N: Review & Follow. Criticism of all kinds, is encouraged.

A/N: This chapter will bring to a close, the main characters' introduction. Expect after this chapter utter confusion, and mind numbing suspense.. From both elements of Romance, and Mystery. This story will pull at your heart strings, as well rack your brain. Just wait, and see.

A/N: Marcus, Leon, or Cassandra? Who do you prefer so far? Also, can you possibly guess all, if any of their demigod powers?

A/N: Who did Cassandra KILL?!