My flesh burned as I was dragged into the darkness, my eyes squinting as the only light that leaked through the area were small candle flames. There were short black candles hanging on the walls of the long corridor the demon was dragging me down. I could hear blood-curdling screams all around me. Every few steps I heard a new noise; the crack of a whip as it bit into flesh, the distinctive wet plop of something hitting stone, chains rattling, and the constant screams that echoed from every which way but at the same time they seemed to come from no where.
The demon that held my wrist pulled me towards a large iron bar door opening that was across from where we now stood in the hall. With a simple flick of his arm, he flung me onto the sticky stone floor of the cell, my hands catching myself right before my face slammed into it. My heart was beating quickly as I looked around the cell in a panic. I looked down at my hands and could see the red tint in the stones even in this low light of a cell. I pushed myself up as quickly as I could before hearing, "Welcome to eternity." The guttural voice sending shivers down my spine as I sat up. I refused to turn towards the demon, earning me a deep laugh before the creaking of the door slammed shut. The low light of the candles seemed to dim even further though I knew the door was made up of iron bars much like a jail cell. The light seemed to be unable to travel freely into my cell leaving me in a darkened area almost unable to see my own hands in front of me.
I shakily pulled myself to my feet, wrapping my arms around myself as I looked around the room making out shapes but no details. A wooden table sat in the furthest corner and I could see a deep color even in the darkness which appeared to be a permanent red stain that covered most of its surface. Chains draped the entire left wall of the room, some ended in manacles while others had large hooks each a different size then the last. A small metal table lay by the closed door; the low light hit it and it reminded me of the small surgical table where doctors have all their tools on during surgery. The top of it looked almost rusted like pools of liquid sat there too long. The only thing on the right side of the room was a wooden chair, the arms and legs having large leather restraints on them and one large restraint on the top of the chair. Beside that sat a large blackened metal basin on a small metal stand beside the chair. The air to this whole place smelled of brimstone and sulphur just like they say but the added copper smell almost suffocated me.
The sweat was pouring down the entirety of my body. Ugh, this awful place was sweltering. I felt like I was going to pass out it was so bad, I had chosen this though and I had no one to blame but myself. I saved someone at the cost of my soul; I still felt that I had done the right thing even though I was going to suffer for all of eternity for it.
Loud boots on the stone echoed through the whole room causing me to grip my arms tighter. In a matter of seconds, a short man who couldn't be more then a few inches taller then me; with dark hair tied in a ponytail stood in front of my cell door, a small leather bag in his hand. "What a beautiful new toy." He hissed, his voice made my skin crawl and my heart to stop, he stared at me a dark smirk on his face. The iron bars swung open and he entered in swift strides as the door swung shut a loud metal clang signaled the start of my time in hell.
The man set his leather bag on the small medical table beside the door and in a swift movement he had charged me, grabbing me by the throat. He squeezed just enough to let the smallest amount of air into my lungs, my vision started to darken as my hands came up and tried to pry his hand away from my neck. Every movement I made caused my fight for air to worsen and soon it became a losing battle. "Oh come now don't you have a little more fight in you?" He mocked as my hands slipped from around his wrist and my eyes started to roll back in my head.
He pulled me by my throat over to the wooden chair and threw me against it hard enough to cause my head to snap back and slam into the top of the chair. I groaned loudly as I could feel a small trickle of blood running down the back of my head. I was dazed as he tied me quickly to the chair and the last restrain was the one at the top of the chair it went right around my forehead forcing me still.
"Now we are going to start off easy. Please don't hold in any of those delicious screams." He chuckled as he turned from me going over to grab the medical table and wheeling it over to me. He opened the bag, "Wow where should we start?" He started pulling out shiny metal tools, "Maybe cut the flesh," He brought out a large knife, "Or cut off a finger," He pulled out a long set of tongs, "What about removing your tongue? That's always fun." He chuckled as he pulled out what appeared to be a branding iron, "We could always play with fire." He snapped his fingers and a fire appeared in the metal basin beside me, he set the brand in the fire and went back to his bag. "You know you're a lot quieter then my normal play things."
I stared at him as if he had 3 heads, taking in deep breaths as my heart raced. I had nothing to say, I earned this. It felt almost like a badge of honour for some reason. I knew this was going to be no cakewalk but I also knew there was no getting out of it. "Come now you have to want to say something. Why don't you start with 'please I don't belong here or maybe I'll do anything if you don't hurt me', those are always my favourite." He said with a dark smile.
This time he pulled out a thin piece of metal he twirled it in his fingers before bringing it down hard against my upper left leg. I let out a loud high-pitched scream as it sunk into my flesh, hot tears fell down my cheeks and the man smiled, "Well at least you will do that." He pulled the metal out of my leg and shoved it into my right leg causing the same loud scream to echo through the cell as tears streamed down my cheeks. Both times the metal went through my flesh was like a knife through butter. He continued to remove it before stabbing it in somewhere fresh and untouched. I screamed louder each time fighting against my restraints as the blood started to cause splotches of red to appear and grow large in my clothes and drip down my limbs.
By the time he had finally stopped, I was coming in and out of consciousness and I had more holes in me then I could count. Ninety percent of my clothes were now soaked red as the man in front of me just laughed. He set the tool back on the table then with a dark chuckle he bent down grabbing the red-hot branding iron and brought it slowly methodically close to my face. "Now you have been screaming so beautifully but I wonder if I do this will you sing even more?" I could feel the heat of the hot iron as he brought it closer and closer until it was mere inches from my left eye. I bit tight to my lower lip trying to keep my mouth closed to stop the plea that wanted to escape.
Even though my teeth were drawing blood I couldn't keep my mouth closed, tears were streaming down my cheeks as I stared at the red hot iron, "Please... no," was all I got out as he shoved the searing iron in my eye, feeling my skin burn and my eye melting inside of my eye socket and soon I had lost consciousness from the pain.
The peace that unconsciousness brought was short lived as I was jolted awake by a pain deep in my gut. My eyes flew open and I noticed that I was still strapped to the chair and I had both eyes which darted down to see hands; one holding a large knife carving my stomach out while the other hand was pulling on it. I tried to scream but my voice was too hoarse that only a loud whimper escaped. The same man as before was carving me up like I was some Thanksgiving turkey, he was laying out every organ he could on a table to my left. He soon left my stomach as everything was now gone, he brought the blade still covered in my blood to my right hand, "Your screams are so weak. Are you not enjoying yourself?" He asked in a sick manner, mocking me as he brought the blade down right above my knuckles cutting off my fingers in one fell swoop.
Again I lost consciousness at the shock of it all, it just seemed to be too much to come all at me like this. I woke up completely alone in the cell, still tied to the chair. I struggled as hard as I could to get out of the chair but the restraints were too strong and I seemed to do more damage to myself then to the chair or the restraints. So I sat in the low light, staring at the chains dangling from the wall. I had no idea how long I sat there in silence before the familiar boots steps rang in my ears.
I closed my eyes praying silently in my head that he wouldn't come, that he had some other soul to torture anyone but me. Tears were already spilling out of my closed eyes as I shook my head, I couldn't think that way. No one deserves any of this torment. I had to stay strong. I had to fight with every ounce of my very being. But the sound of my door opening was proof enough that the pain was going to continue.
And continue it did, I don't know if it was hours, days or even weeks but he never relented. Each time he left and came back was a new experience; he never tortured me the same way twice. The worst was when he brought another demon in, she reminded me of the cliché biker chick; leather jacket, black hair, and pale skin. The kind of girl you would get your ass kicked by. He had brought her in as something like bait, trying to convince me that if I just gave in and was willing to torture others that this would all stop. She begged and pleaded to my surprise while he continued to have his fun. I fought with my sense of right and wrong but each time he brought this demon in, a little bit of my fighting spirit seemed to die.
The day came, that I couldn't fight back any longer as he was shoving the chained hooks into my flesh, ready for another round of torture I finally screamed out that I would torture anyone he wanted if he would just stop. I had felt that my soul had broken into a million pieces and once I had said those words, the biker chick demon, which stood in the corner watching almost seemed shocked that I had broken but her emotions were hidden quickly before she left the room. I was pulled from the hooks, screams escaping my lips as it ripped my flesh away. My feet touched the stone floor and laughter filled my ears as my torturer smiled at me, "Finally. Now come my child."
Blood dripped down my body as he motioned towards the door I slowly followed him in small weak steps out of my cell and down the long corridor. I glanced behind me as we walked, the biker demon was a few yards behind us but she was following us that much was evident as we walked down the corridor. I turned back around as I was brought into another cell and it was just as dark and bloody as mine. A large man cowered in the corner, his blood pooling around him, his arms looked like they had been attacked by some wild animal torn up so bad that they couldn't really be called arms anymore. "Here take this and make him sing," the demon handed me a small yet simple dagger, I looked at it for a few moments but hesitantly took it. I glared down at it, trying to prepare myself for what I was about to do.
"Well go on child, I want his sweet screams to fill up all of Hell." He mocked as I took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other.
"Please dear God no! Don't!" The man pleaded before me. He screamed but I knew if I stopped now it would only happen to me again.
"I won't let it continue! It has to be you!" My voice said, it was a foreign sound to me but I didn't stop to think too much of it. I had one thing on my mind; it was making the pain, the torture stop. The man had pushed himself as hard as he could into the corner of the stone wall but it wouldn't save him.
Just taking steps closer to the man caused flashbacks to my first torture and that's when I started to stab the man full of holes, just like what had happened to me, except his holes were larger and gushed red so much better then mine had.
Each time the man screamed or tried to move away from me, I smiled evilly and soon enough… I was enjoying every single minute of the torture I was inflicting on this poor soul. My mind was filled with nothing but pleasure as I watched his eyes start to roll back into his head, leading him to pass out in front of me. My chest heaved heavily up and down as the demon beside me started to speak, "Good, oh by Lucifer that was beautiful. It seems I have a soul after my own evil black heart." I was coated in this man's blood as I stood there watching his body slowly stitch itself back together. My hand that held the blade twitched, I wanted to hurt him more. I wanted his screams to be so loud that they hurt my ears. I wanted this man whom I didn't even know to suffer worse then I had, I wanted him to know true pain and true fear. I wanted to turn him into what I was becoming a demented soul soon to be a demon.
The demon that tortured me but introduced me to the pleasure of torturing wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me flush to his side. I couldn't take my eyes off the man's body, his blood still pooled underneath him even though all the stab wounds had been healed. The man laid there almost lifeless against the wall, the rise and fall of his chest were the only indication he was still alive if you could say that especially after everything I had done to him. "You enjoyed that a lot, didn't you? I can see it in your face. Do you want to try something new?" the demon asked beside me.
I felt a surge of pride from his words and I knew that it was not just from what I had done to the poor soul laying at my feet but because I accepted a way out of my deserved hell that I was just what Azazel tried to make me; evil. It clicked inside me that I had lost that little bit of humanity I had come in here with. My fight was gone, washed away in a sea of blood and screams.
I couldn't wait to start a new life down here in Hell since I accepted the fate I had chosen. A smile appeared on my face but I didn't pull my eyes away from the soul in front of me. "What kind of new?" My voice sounded too happy to listen to whatever this demon had in mind.
"I heard that you had powers. If I get them unbound, do you think you would enjoy using them on that useless soul?" The demon said with a sinister smile.
I hadn't even thought about my powers during my time here. I thought I lost them the minute I sold my soul. But then the thought of ripping this soul limb from limb without ever touching him was invigorating causing my own sinister smile to appear across my lips.
"Powers? What powers does she have?" A female voice said behind me. I had completely forgotten the female demon had followed us here, my mind was too busy filling up by the torture I was causing.
"Dear Tora, this was one of Azazel's special children." The demon said towards the other, "You see, she sold her soul for someone upstairs and I had to make her see the error of her ways. That's why I never relented and brought you in to help. Her soul always belongs here and soon she will realize how important she is to us." The demon laughed but nothing he said or did made me move. I wanted to torture the soul in front of me more, that was the only thing I could think of. I was being consumed by it; I was becoming what I had always feared when I learned about demons, the night I tried to sell my soul for my dog, Buddy.
"Tora, you stay here and watch our little torturer and I'll go deal with the red tape on her powers." The hand was removed from my shoulder and his boot steps echoed through the cell and muffled as he left. My hand twitched as the soul started to stir from unconsciousness and I wanted to hurt him more then anything.
"Katherine..." Tora's voice was soft and almost fearful as she spoke my name.
I wanted to say something but as I opened my mouth to try, I felt the same horrible jolt in my head. It felt just like that red-hot poker that was shoved into my eye only a night earlier. I gritted my teeth and held the blade in my hand so tight my whole hand went white. The pain only lasted a couple seconds and when it was gone I felt strong even stronger then before. A strange laugh came from deep within me as the soul in front of me started to slowly open his eyes and that was all I needed.
I didn't even have to move my hands as his body was brought from the floor and pinned against the wall, his feet hanging a couple of feet off the stone floor.
"Please! Oh God, what are you doing?!" He started to panic, kicking his legs in a feeble attempt at breaking free from my hold.
My lips curved into an evil smile, "Your God can't help you now! You better start begging!" I yelled and in an instant twitch of my eyes, his left arm came flying off from his body spraying my face with blood as it tore from the flesh, muscle and tendons. A sickening crack made me smile even more as the ball joint of his shoulder cracked and broke free. Blood curdling screams rang in my ears and I felt so much pleasure from that little use of my powers.
I let the arm drop to the stone floor with a small thud, "This feels so good…" My voice was full of joy as the man continued to scream, I stood there relishing in what I just did. His screams started to die down and I wasn't going to have that so I got to work on his right arm causing the room to be filled with new agonizing screams of pain. With this arm I used my telekinesis to pull the arm right below the elbow off and then pulled the rest of it off so now two pieces were dropped on the stone floor to his right. The blood flowed down the wall into a large pool on the floor. Every drop of his blood pushed me to make him scream even more. Even the smell of copper from his blood was driving me nearly insane with pleasure.
The soul passed out in exhaustion and blood loss from the removal of both arms. After staring at the body for a little while longer, I took the dagger that I still held and shoved it into the first wound causing him to groan from the force. I twisted the dagger and he screamed, his eyes flung open.
"There we go." I mocked with a smile, leaving the dagger inside the wound as I stepped away from his body.
"Please. No more..." He begged of me.
"So will you torture others?" The male demon from before spoke up. I didn't realize that I was so caught up in torturing that I hadn't even heard him return.
"Yes I'll do anything!" The man pleaded and I rolled my eyes, his mouth froze open and in an instant his tongue was pulled from his mouth and floated in front of him.
"Katherine..." The male demon chastised me, "He agreed. Now let's find you a new play thing." I let the tongue drop to the floor and then soon after I let the soul fall to the ground as I turned around. Tora looked worried but quickly hid it behind a strong front the male demon smiled and looked almost proud.
"That soul was a hard one to break and you did it in just one session." The demon said and smiled at me, "I knew you would be good but I didn't think you would be that good. Alastair might want to keep an eye on you." He said with a laugh.
"Next!" I shouted at him through gritted teeth. I had to torture something, my powers demanded for them to be fed.
"Yes, yes, child we shall sate that lustful need of torture you seem to have soon." He said and immediately moved out of the room, I followed right on his heels as he took me to yet another cell but in this one… there was a small girl not more then a year or two older then me. "Now break her!" He commanded of me. Nothing inside of me felt pity when I saw this girl so I just held my head high, smirking down at her cowering form.
I picked her body up with my powers and slammed her against a rack that was on the other side of the room, hearing a loud groan escape her lips as she made contact. It was easy to tie her there with my powers as the collision with the rack had stunned her and with each use of my powers here in hell they seemed to amplify.
I don't know how much time had past or how many souls I had tortured after that but none of them compared to my first. I was now able to torture them without ever having to touch their worthless souls. Some souls seemed to break faster if I had done it with my bare hands but for the most part I used my powers. From time to time, Tora showed up to watch me torture almost as if she was waiting for something inside me to snap, it was unnerving, especially when I was in the middle of a nice torture session so I tried to pay her no mind as I continued.
I was working on an older man, shoving hot pokers in random spots of his body as the hooks on the walls tore at his flesh while he fought to get away from the white hot pain. I loved when they fought, showed how little humanity was left in their souls. I smiled when I had just shoved the sixth poker in when the door to the room swung open and in walked my torturer, I had never learned his name and I didn't care. "You're needed!" The demon called out to me.
I looked over my shoulder at him a hard glare on my face, "I'm busy!" I growled at him.
"I don't care. Lucifer wants to see you so move it!"
I grumbled, dropping the man's body to the floor with a loud thud. I followed the demon out into the hall and walked down the lengthy corridors for so long I knew I would be lost if I would take a walk around here by myself but I knew the further we went the deeper we were going.
The closer we got to him, the more guards there seemed to be. They looked like they were demons but almost like soldiers at their posts to keep watch. We walked up to a large metal door and to my surprise there were many random circles covering it. Some were open but most of them were closed, I didn't dare to even count how many there were but there were hundreds to say the least. I looked up a little more to notice that close to the top of the door was what appeared to be three iron bars almost like a window.
I heard some movement behind the iron walls, "Did you bring her?" A deep voice came from within the cage.
"Of course but it took a lot of work to just be able to get here." The demon said beside me.
"Yes, yes, I know now leave us!" The man, who I thought was Lucifer, growled at the demon and I was left alone with this deep voice, "So I hear you have finally accepted your role as my general," He said and laughed.
"I don't know..." I said, trying to think about it.
The voice scoffed, "You were made to be the general of my armies when I bring the end of your pathetic little world and get my revenge on my father and brothers."
"But I don't know how to lead..." My voice said, barely above a whisper.
"It will come naturally to you just like torture did. So just be at peace with that and soon you will be ready." The voice said with a pause, "For this war. Until this bloody, bloody war will begin." The word bloody was all I needed to hear and I was drooling for this to happen.
"Now, go continue your work and I will see you again soon." I slowly turned around and walked back the way I came, somehow making it back to wherever my next torture session was waiting. My torturer led me back to the cell that held the poor little soul I was entertaining. Neither of us spoke and he didn't even acknowledge me when he left the cell once again.
The soul was still hooked to the wall when I had left, the pokers long since lost their heat as I slowly and painfully started to pull them out, gaining loud screams from the man as I heard the door open. "Katherine." It was Tora she hadn't spoken to me since my first torture session so I was a little shocked at her voice suddenly. I turned around to lean against one of the pokers causing the man to groan in pain.
"You don't belong here." Her voice said in almost a caring sort of way.
"Don't belong here?" I scoffed and laughed, "Lucifer says this is just where I belong!" I yelled.
"You can't lead his army... Do you know what will happen if you do?" Tora asked.
I looked at her as if she didn't know and I smiled widely, "Yes. War." I said it with so much passion, it was such a happy word to me, the pain, the gore, and the never ending screams of people's suffering.
She shook her head at me, "It's the end of the world." She said and took a couple steps toward me, "Don't you have anyone up there that you love?"
I scoffed again, "Love?" I chuckled lightly, "That is as useless as compassion! Torture, blood, screams and pain is all that matter to me now." I stood up straight to look at Tora, "When I lead the army and I will, I will get whatever I need and so much more. Why would I ever think about not doing it?" I asked her with a tilt of my head.
"What about the reason you're here? The soul you saved! It would make your torture for his life pointless! He will die and you will have sold your soul for nothing!" She yelled at me and a small pain in my heart knew her words were true. There was a pain erupting in my head as I grabbed for it, gritting my teeth. The name; Dean Winchester, had never crossed my mind past the first couple torture session I had to endure.
"I can't go back!" I shook my head in my hands as humanity tried to rear its head and force me from my accepted demonic nature. It felt like someone was trying to rip out every nerve in me as humanity tried with everything it had to tear the demonic nature out of me.
"Yes you can! I know of a way to get out of here!" She said and took the remaining steps toward me, grabbing my wrist, "You just have to trust me!"
I pulled my wrist out of her grip and scoffed, "Trust?! You're a damn demon! I can't even trust myself so how do you think I could trust you?!"
She reached behind her and pulled out a dark black metal stick, placing it in both of her hands for me to look at. It had innate carvings all over it outlined in a deep almost blood red colour. Tora tossed it at me and I caught it almost immediately, the metal was cool just as I caught it, which confused me because everything in hell was hot or hotter in some cases.
"Come on, we don't have time! The final seal is going to be broken any minute!" She yelled at me to get me out of my mental state but a loud screech echoed through the cell, almost like a rusted gate was being opened for the first time, "We have to hurry!" She said and ran to the door of the cell, looking out into the corridor. I looked over the weapon, as it suddenly felt right holding it, its simplicity was almost comforting. I looked down at it then back up to Tora, I did this a few times until I could finally find my voice again, asking her in a small voice, "Why me?"
"I can explain once we get out of here!" She yelled behind herself at me. I took a deep breath before giving a simple nod towards her as she pulled out two daggers from her lower back and gave them a small twirl. "Be ready cause we're fighting our way out." She said to me as she left the cell. I followed close behind her while keeping a tight hold onto my weapon.
The corridors were pretty empty but I could feel the evil consuming the air around me, I realized that my humanity seemed to be returning to my broken soul. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, that what I had done in the time I was here was against my will but it wasn't. My hands and my powers did this evil and I swore to myself I was going to atone for what I had done.
Tora and I ran through the corridors, as screams from the different cells soon became a distance sound. After a few small turns, we both came up to a small group of five demons almost like they were waiting. "Move!" Tora growled at them as all five of them smiled.
"Where are you taking the general?" One male growled but Tora charged right at him and sunk a dagger into his chest. He dropped dead even before she pulled the dagger and swung at the remaining.
I feared that using my powers would alert more demons but when one of the demons grabbed a hold of Tora, I flung him against a corridor wall. Tora stabbed him and let his dead body drop, I wrung my hands along the metal stick and it broke in the middle. I started to panic a little before noticing that there were hidden metal blades inside. As soon as I saw them, something in me snapped and I was following Tora's lead and fighting off the three remaining demons with her.
I had never fought a day in my life, so where did I learn any of this? I had no clue and it scared me to no end. Did my demonic powers do this? Was it the fact Lucifer was free and I was his general? Or did it have to do with this weapon?
"Come on we don't have time to day dream!" Tora yelled, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along in my daze.
We ran for awhile coming onto a few other small groups of demons that we easily dispatched but a large stone wall at a dead end greeted us as we stopped running. "Now what!?" I groaned, letting my shoulders drop in exasperation but I looked behind us worried more demons would show up.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch!" She growled at me just as I turned around to see her push a stone in the wall, it started to disappear and behind it stood a large grey portal. Tora grabbed my arm and pulled us both through it. It felt like I was dunked into a cold lake but I was dry as a bone as we came out the other side.
I looked back and the portal vanished in front of my eyes. We were surrounded by a grey foggy and dense forest it sent shivers down my entire body. "Stay close. This isn't going to be easy." Tora said, her voice low enough to be a whisper as I turned to see that she hadn't relaxed her fighting posture. "We're in Purgatory." She answered the question that was floating around in my mind as if she could read it. "We have to get through here to get to the portal that leads back to the surface. It's not going to be easy."
I looked at her suspiciously, "But why?"
Tora laughed, "Everything that isn't human, or demon, or an angel. When they die this is where they go." She told me and my eyes widened in shock at the new knowledge.
"What do you mean!?" I almost shouted but she wrapped her hand around my throat to shut me up and she laughed again, "You honestly think that demons and angels exist but other things like werewolves and vampires don't?"
I was shocked I never had truly thought that monsters like the ones I saw in movies existed. Demons and Angels were easy to explain cause I grew up Christian but storybook type monsters? That was a whole nother thing that never came to mind nowadays.
"Come on we gotta keep moving." Tora said releasing my throat and headed into the trees. I took another look around my surroundings before running to catch up to her.
We slowly walked through the thick trees I quickly glanced down at Tora's hands as they kept a death grip on her daggers, looking around as if something was going to jump out at us and I knew that something would. I picked up my pace trying to keep up with her stride which was even longer then my own but my whole body felt like it weighed a ton from walking so far. Next thing I knew, Tora stopped and pushed me hard towards the nearest tree, "Don't move." She growled at me before taking off in another direction and she disappeared in the fog leaving me alone.
I started to panic as the seconds went by but then I heard twigs snapping in the distance as if someone was trying to be quiet but had no other place to step but on the fallen branches from the trees. I gripped my weapon tighter, sliding my hands to the middle to break it apart again. The two long blades in my hands felt so different then when they were a staff, just touching the staff reminded me of the torture I inflicted back during my time in Hell with the different tools. It made my stomach churn inside and out and it took all of my willpower not to throw up right then and there.
Another snap of a twig echoed through the dense forest and a low menacing growl caught my ear. I whipped my head towards the noise and out of the dense fog strode a man his features dark almost animalistic the closer he walked towards me. His mouth opened to reveal two rows, top and bottom, of sharp teeth that lined his gums. I swallowed visibly in absolute horror; he looked like a great white shark letting me see the large row of sharp teeth that lined it.
His lips turned into a large sneer as he watched me like a predator watches his prey. He took a step towards me I pushed my back against the hard tree trunk and a low chuckle came from his throat as he took another step. In the blink of an eye, he had his large fingers wrapped around my throat, restraining me to the tree causing small creaks to form in the bark from the back of my head to ring in my ears.
He bent his head toward my neck as I swallowed, quickly closing my eyes shut as I heard him take a whiff of my skin, "Fresh meat," he said almost in a whisper, his raspy voice sounded a little bit too pleased causing my skin to crawl in unease. My body reacted so quickly to the threat without a command from my brain that I shoved both blades into his chest causing him to let out a low growl. I smiled as I twisted them just right and his hand released itself from my throat, I spun him around, shoving both blades further into his chest until I felt the blades make their way into the bark of the tree.
"Cut his head off!" A distant scream came from behind me as I pulled out the blade in my right hand and in one quick motion into the air I decapitated the creature in front of me. I stared at the lifeless, headless body pinned to the tree as a soft hand rested on my shoulder, "Come on we have to keep moving. There are more where he came from." Tora's voice was soft, trying to calm me down as it brought me back to the present. I pulled my blade out of his chest and his body fell to the damp forest floor next to his head.
I looked up at Tora, my chest heaving up and down from the adrenaline on decapitating my first monster, "What the hell was that?" I asked out of breath, putting my bo staff back together before standing up a little more.
"That… was a vampire." Tora said before looking around the forest again then back at me, "We really need to be going."
"How much farther do we have to go?" I asked and gripped my staff tightly, "You know I'm still human. I need to rest every now and then."
"Yes I do know that but to get your ass back to the surface is going to be hard. We have to fight through these monsters to do it." Tora said through gritted teeth, she grabbed for my arm and pulled me along with her.
"There are more like that?!" I panicked as Tora drug me along, digging my heels into the dirt a little.
"And worse then what you just had to deal with so we have to keep moving!" She growled through her teeth again but she never turned her head to look back towards me just kept pulling me along.
I swallowed slowly, looking around the dense forest as my heart beat even quicker thinking about the various monsters that could be lurking around. But a thought occurred to me that a vampire could hear a heartbeat. My eyes widened realizing that those monsters could be surrounding us right now; I wrestled out of Tora's grip and spun around, breaking apart my bo staff as I did. I swung one of my blades through the air, cutting through a female vampire's neck with the blade, decapitating it in an instant before Tora got to turn around to notice it was attacking her. Blood splattered all over my face as the head fell to the ground. I had no idea how I realized that vampires were hot on our trail.
Before I could try to figure it out more vampires came rushing out from behind the trees, I turned back towards Tora and I watched as Tora's head followed the new problems that circled around us. Her hands twitched before grabbing her daggers from her back and as they came around front, she let out a low whistle and a low dangerous growl answered the call. At first I thought it was one of the vampires getting annoyed by the noise but in a split second I was sure it wasn't a vampire growl. I watched as the large male vampire who stood behind Tora lost his head almost like something had ripped it off. The head was carried by an unseen force and floated next to Tora. My eyes widened at the sight but again I had no time to really contemplate what I just witnessed as the vampires all seemed to charge us even before the male vamps body hit the ground. A female vampire got to Tora quicker then the others, she moved so quickly that in the blink of an eye the vampire's head dropped to the ground.
"Katherine," I heard a whisper in my ear and I looked around quickly towards where I heard the voice but the next thing I saw was a vampire running straight towards me. Just as I was about to lift up my arms to block the vampire's sharp teeth from piercing my neck the same unseen force brought down the vampire before it got to me.
A thought clicked in my head as I slowly bent down, watching the vampires come closer to where Tora and I stood, placing my broken bo staff on the branch covered forest floor as if I was surrendering. More of them stepped forward closer to me as I started to stand up straight. Tora looked over at me, her eyes widening in shock at what I was doing, she stepped closer to me but I put my hand out to calm her down. I closed my eyes, tilting my chin down while taking in a deep breath to collect the powerful energy that encircled my body, pulling it into my skin to gain a bit more power. I opened my eyes quickly, glancing down at the long silver blades that stuck out of my bo staff before looking back up and around at the vampires surround us.
I began to lift my head as my long silver blades slowly rose into the air beside me along with my movements and Tora just stared at me, as did the vampires. The corner of my mouth twitched into a smirk, I glanced over at Tora and winked making one of the blades head straight for a vampire, slicing his head off his body, his head flying towards a tree hitting it with a thunk. In the next few seconds, more vampires came towards me but I sliced off their heads with only one thought going through my head; seeing the man I had saved with my own soul, Dean Winchester, back on the surface.
By the time the sun went down, all the bodies and heads of most of the vampires that attacked us were on the ground. I raised my hands into the air and the blades flew right into my hands as I caught them. I smiled triumphantly around at all of the bodies that littered the forest floor as I walked over to Tora, whose mouth was wide open in shock.
"Come on Tora," I said to her with a smile, pointing my head in a different direction from where we stood, "There's someone I gotta see once I get topside."
She smiled at me then scoffed, "You've just realized that?" Her scoff quickly changed into a laugh, "That's what I've been trying to tell you this entire time."
I rolled my eyes but smiled, "Oh shut it. Come on. I wanna get back to the surface before some other monsters come our way."
Tora lightly laughed before tucking her daggers in the sheathes of her pants, "As you wish." She said almost mockingly towards me.
"It was your idea to help me escape so guide me there and you don't have to stick around with me." I said to her as I continued to walk forward.
"But Katherine," She said while grabbing my arm to make me stop, "You'll need me when you get topside."
I laughed, "How about we get to wherever the heck you're taking me to and then I can tell you the plan I have." I said, shaking her hand off my arm, "Now get going. I'm starving for human food."
Tora was glaring at the back of my head and I could feel her eyes burning holes into my back. I refused to turn around because I had to get to the surface as my body was starting to return to what it was before hell. I was starving and my whole body ached from my first fight.
I tried to brush off her glare for a little while longer but after a few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, "What!" I growled as I turned around and coming face to face with Tora.
She raised an eyebrow at me before crossing her arms, "You seem to be acting more..." She hesitated looking between my eyes a couple times before continuing, "Human then I thought you would."
I was a little shocked at her statement before squinting my eyes at her, "Need I remind you that I am human!" I said defensively as Tora uncrossed her arms and walked around me, "Well mostly," She said as she past me and kept walking while I just stood there unable to move, her words repeating themselves in my head.
I stood there a little longer before turning around and yelled as I hurried after her, "Wait what do you mean?!"
"You have no idea what you truly are do you?" She didn't even turn her head to look at me as she continued; "You have been in hell for awhile and have tortured for so long that you are in fact part demon now. It normally wouldn't matter but because you have Azazel's blood in you it changed your very DNA."
I froze in place, trying to wrap my head around it, "What!?" I shouted as Tora continued walking.
"You will never live a normal life. You have become something that isn't truly human and something that isn't truly demonic, you are right in the middle."
I took long strides to catch back up to Tora, "So you're saying..." She kept walking so I ran ahead of her and stood in front of her, holding my hand up for her to stop, "...That I'm not human?! How is that possible? I mean there are others that have Azazel's blood. Does that mean if they die and go to hell they will be like me?"
Tora shook her head, stating, "They did die and came to hell when they did. Well some of them did, they are on their way to be full-fledged demons. I just took you out of hell before that could happen."
We stood in silence before I was strong enough to ask the question that had been on my mind this entire time. "Why?"
"We don't have time for these questions. You said you're hungry so let's get out of here." Tora said and looked away from me before she started walking again. I wanted answers but Tora was right, we needed to get out of here and fast.
I groaned, rolling my head in annoyance before following her into the dense forest again. I kept walking finding silence everywhere around us. "Seriously? Nothing's gonna come jumping out at us?"
A low menacing growl circled us, "Really Katherine? You had to open your mouth!" Tora growled at me before pulling her daggers from behind her as a large scruffy man leaped from a large tree landing in between us, he had large animalistic fangs and large claws. "Werewolf." Tora said before charging at him, her daggers moving fast as she raced around the werewolf keeping his attention. I held tightly to my bo staff that I still carried, I wanted to help her but I was lost in the image of her fighting. She moved so quickly yet so gracefully, slicing at anything her daggers could reach until there was nothing but a pile of body parts. She had hacked the werewolf into pieces. Her entire body was covered in blood, "Yeah thanks for the help." She groaned at me.
"I'm sorry... It's just..." I began to say but she cut me off.
"I know. You are still not used to my speed, are you?" Tora straightened herself and flicked both daggers sending the blood from the blades everywhere before she sheathed them. "Now try to keep the random thoughts about creatures jumping out to yourself." She rolled her eyes at me before she started walking back in the direction we had been going.
I slowly followed and glared at the back of her head before walking ahead of her, "Why the heck did you want to rescue me anyway?" I asked her and scoffed, "Seems like you were doing well down there in Hell without me being there. The sooner I'm out of here, the sooner you don't have to bother with me."
"Why did I rescue you?!" Tora shouted at me, "You shouldn't look a gift demon in the mouth! I could have left you there to become the demonic general you were meant to be, I could have left you to your torture and lose of humanity but I decided to save you from that life so you could have a choice!" Tora grabbed my shoulder and turned me around, forcing me to look at her.
"A choice?! I chose to go to hell to save someone I didn't even know so there is no more of a choice is there!" I said angrily and tried to shrug her hand from my shoulder but her grip tightened on it.
"Yes you saved someone you didn't even know but what do you think he would think if he knew someone else went to hell for him! You don't know the guilt that man dealt with when his father saved him by selling his soul and to think some stranger did the same thing for him!" Tora's voice sounded almost pitiful as she shook my shoulder a little.
"You seem to know a lot about him..." I said and glared at her again.
"Of course I do. Every demon knows about the Winchesters but I also know that they are going to stop this apocalypse and when they do; if you were leading Lucifer's armies, you would be killed or even worse, sent back to hell!" Tora slowly removed her hand from my shoulder, "Just let me do this alright? Don't fight me; don't think you understand anything that's going on. Just cooperate with me at least until I get you somewhere safe on the surface." Tora looked almost broken as she said these words. It was scary to see a demon show anything, especially even a hint of weakness.
I looked at her in shock, "You, a demon, cares about me? A half human and half demon?" I blinked a few times, "That's surprising. The one who tortured me didn't give a shit." I crossed my arms, "Now onto the pressing matter... why the heck would "Dean"," I said using air quotes with my fingers, "feel guilty? I'm just a nobody really."
"We have to get moving so either follow me or stay behind your questions are going to have to wait." Tora looked away from me and walked away, I hesitated but I ended up following her. "You seem to have brought more of hell out with you then I originally thought," Tora mumbled to herself.
"What?" I growled at her, not taking any of her nonsense.
"Nothing, now keep your voice low. If there was one werewolf, there will usually be more." She said to me.
I reluctantly shut my mouth before I let the snide remark slip. I had a feeling Tora was right, I was a lot angrier then I used to be. My time spent in Hell changed me and I don't think it was for the better. We walked on as those thoughts floated around in my head trying to figure out who I was now that I was half demon.
I sighed and kept walking, stepping between and over branches that covered the ground, "Are we at least there yet?"
"Does it look like we're there?" She moaned out at me.
"Everything looks the same." I said and glanced around.
"Well then no we aren't there yet!" Tora said, her voice dripping with annoyance and a loud howl echoed around us, "Well we're close that's good." she said and picked up her pace.
"Well screw you too..." I mumbled under my breath before looking up at the sky to see the full moon, "Does it always look like that here?"
"Yes" Tora said flatly.
I shrugged off her tone, "So what was that howl about?" but she didn't answer right away, "Hello?"
Tora groaned, "It's my hellhound."
I was shocked at what she just said, "Your what?!" Tora didn't stop or even turn around to look at me as she answered, "My hellhound. You know large black well invisible dogs that drag people's souls to hell." She said matter-of-factly, "A lot of demons have them and I just kind of got lucky..." She trailed off as we continued, Tora was watching around us and her hands were twitching after each tree we passed.
I trailed along, swallowing in almost a panic, as I tried not to run into her hellhound or bring more monsters upon us, "Why didn't it come and get me when my soul was ready to be claimed?"
"You were brought to hell remember? You had to see Dean being saved with your own eyes then the demon just brought you down to the pit himself. Sometimes it's just easier to drag the soul into hell with your own hands." Tora said and glanced back at me, chuckling, "You know he isn't actually around us right? You would know if he was."
"How the heck would I know!?" I yelled at her.
Tora gave a couple of short whistles, and I could hear large thundering footsteps charging towards me. I looked around but saw nothing just as something hit my left side sending me falling to the ground. I felt a heavy weight on my chest as it pinned me to the ground, its burning hot breath smelled of sulphur as it hit my face. "See? You would know." Tora said and laughed before giving a long whistle and the weight disappeared from my chest.
I groaned, pushing my head back against the ground, "I meant see it. I can't see it." I waved my hand in front of my face, "Geez! Horrible breath like real dogs."
"Well you could see it if you weren't half human or you had some special glasses." Tora chuckled, "Seeing is believing. Well whoever said that is a liar because I bet, you believe in hellhounds now."
I could still smell that horrible breath as I slowly pushed myself from the ground. I wiped off the dirt off my backside before looking around again, "Where'd it go?"
Tora ran her hand through the air to her right as she brought her hand back to her side while loud footfalls could be heard leaving us. "Don't worry about Fraderk. He'll be around." She waited a couple more seconds before continuing through the trees.
I hurried and followed right behind her looking all around us trying to find any hint as to where the Fraderk could be. The insides of my stomach started to gurgle and I groaned, holding my stomach, "How much longer?"
"Oh come on!" Tora growled at me, "You're worse then a little kid!" Tora threw her hands in the air before turning around.
"Well excuse me for needing to eat!" I glared at Tora who returned it with a more intensive one.
"Yes I get it. You're hungry but if you would just follow me without interruption we would have been there by now!" Tora said to me.
"Then go! I'll follow!" I shouted at her.
Tora glared at me one more time before turning back around and stomping away. I followed trying to quiet my growling stomach.
Tora continued at her pace but quieted her footsteps again, she was still watching our surroundings just in case. I had slowed my pace when I was right beside her. We didn't speak at all we just kept walking. Tora grabbed my arm randomly and flung me forward, I thought I would have hit one of the many trees in our path but was surprised when I felt that familiar wet sensation before I rolled onto grass and then onto what felt like large slabs of stone. I was shrouded in darkness, looking up to see that the moon wasn't full anymore and clouds covered most of it. I started to pull myself up into a sitting position as Tora came walking out of thin air.
"Welcome home Katherine." She said with a chuckle as she looked down at me.
"Why did you have to throw me?" I asked her through gritted teeth.
She walked over and held out her hand for me to take, I reluctantly took it and she pulled me up, "That was for being annoying in there. Now let's go find you some food shall we?" She said and released my hand to start walking away into the night, I followed her but shook my head, stopping in my tracks as she walked away further.
"I need to see my family first!" I yelled through the darkness.