“Okay.” He takes a hand on either side of his skull and yanks them out. Like he’s pulling yarn. Not a wince of pain from my command. “Did I make you happy?” he asks, his face just two gaping holes where his eyes were once, blood rushing out. “Please say I made you happy.” Like he’s under some spell, a hopeful smile on his face despite all the agonizing pain.
I won’t give him that pleasure. “No.” I frown. “You watched as they defiled her.”
“Gabriel, I think you’ve done enough.” She tries to stop me. Show the wicked bastard some mercy. Why did he deserve it?
“Die,” I tell him, letting him just drop like a fly. Much less fun than the original plan, but the lady's choice.
Now that the monsters are taken care of, I go to her, talons changing back to my grubby fingernails. I run a hand over her tear stained cheek, but she flinches away. As if I were the bad guy, and not the ones I just murdered.
“Please don’t touch me.” She stares at the bodies. Was she afraid of me? But… how?
“I did it to help you.” I look desperately at her. I attempt to put an arm around her, but she just shuffles away, treating me as if I were the monster.
“A lot has happened tonight.” She shakes her head. “Please, just take me home.”
I shake my head but go by her wishes.
Once we arrive there, she gives me a sad smile. “Gabriel, thanks for saving me. You probably saved several others with your sacrifice.” I didn’t care about that; I couldn’t get to her before they inflicted trauma on her. They scared her.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop it in time.” All my fault. If I’d only have been stronger. If only I gave into the demon beforehand, then I could have killed them all off long before.
“Gabriel. I love you. You stopped it before it got to the worst part.” Her expression shifts, wincing. “I’m not sure what I quite saw tonight but try to use it for good.” She bites her lip, still avoiding looking in my eyes.
I want to grab her face, force her to look at me, but I don’t feel she can handle that tonight. “Honey-” she cuts me off.
“I know your father wants to see the worst. Along with teachers, other students. No matter what anyone says, don’t lose your light.” Why did this have to feel like a goodbye? “I need time to process stuff, but see you in the morning at school?” She finally looks at me, before running off into her apartment. I must go clean up the mess I made.
I shouldn’t have abided by her wishes and left, because the next day I got the call from her mom; she overdosed on her meds. Why was I so stupid? Why did I listen and leave after everything that night? I should have held her until she fell asleep and got her the help she needed. I was so young and stupid.
xxXxx
“Gabriel!” I’m pulled from my chance with eyes that are far too much like hers. “Are you okay?” No. It’s not her, just Aura. She looks at me with worried eyes. Cats are curled up to her like she’s some cat whisperer.
Far from it. “I just need to get going, Aura.” I had to get away from her.
“Wait Gabriel, don’t leave.” She grabs my arm, which I harshly push away, causing her to stumble over with an “oof” and I get a few glares from the surrounding people. Now I look like even a bigger asshole. Terrific.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t do this right now!” My words come out in a fast sputter. my body in tremors. I needed relief, comfort; I couldn’t handle this.
“What’s wrong? Maybe I can help?” She offers, seeming genuinely concerned for me as she dusts herself off.
‘It’s all a ruse. Who could possibly care about the demon half-wit? Monster.’
God damn him. Why now?
‘We’re one and the same, not much else to do here.’
Boredom, deadly in his case. He had to.
“No one can help me right now, Aura. I need to be left alone to face my own demons.” I run off, leaving her with the cats, leaving those eyes behind. Eye’s that I used to know.
‘Can’t run away from me.’
I keep running, having not a damned clue to where I’m going. I’m in desperate need of something to numb the pain. Booze, the dealer; maybe if I was lucky, he’d be at the bar he was usually lounging around.
‘Just turn off those petty emotions, give in. Then you won’t have to feel a damn thing.’
Too fucking tempting, but no, I can’t... that's asking the gates of hell to be thrown to the wind.
“No, just leave me alone!” I scream out, aware that it's causing alarmed looks from people in the streets but not giving a flying fuck. “Mind your own fucking business!” I yell at a sneering couple, causing them to run off. Serves them right.
“He could be dangerous,” the lady remarked. Maybe they should leave me the fuck alone then, assholes. Damn super hearing.
‘If they only knew.’
There’s a bar around the corner I’ve visited on more than one occasion. A rather shabby place, with several health code violations, but they had cheap drinks. I saunter in. “Hey bartender, get me a couple shots of the strongest shit you have.” I grab a worn-down stool to place my ass in.
‘Fun.’
“I could do without the commentary.”
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
I try to block out his voice.
“Nice to see you again too, Gabriel. You’re in here a little earlier than usual.” A busty fake blonde, with way too much makeup applied on her old face, gets to work on my drinks. Her face is older than it looks from all the taking she’s done over the years.
“I didn’t ask for your commentary, Hailey. Just get me my damn drinks.” I hiss, my body threatening to change into something that shouldn’t exist in its walls.
“Fine, demon boy.” She slides two drinks in front of me. “Problems with the father again?” She knew way more than she should from my drunken convos, but luckily hasn’t told a soul. Far too many nights she’s had to cut my drunk ass off. Lucky for her because I don’t have to kill her.
Relax, it’s a joke.
“Gabriel?” I might if this insistent bitch wouldn’t shut down her annoying mother mode.
I chug the drinks down, the dark liquor burning my throat. “Get me another.” I wanted to forget, I needed to forget. How the hell was I supposed to work with Aura when she had her eyes?
She sighs. “You know you can talk about your feelings with me. I miss her too.” She lost someone as well that day. Her daughter. Pouring me another shot, she gets one of her own as well. Why wasn’t she there for her either, then? Why did everyone just leave her on her own? She said she was okay. Why did no one see through that facade? Maybe they just wanted to believe a happy lie.
“Hailey, if I want to talk about my feelings I will. I don’t feel like it now.” I never did.
She slides me a little something extra with my drink. Cocaine. “Thanks.”
“Just don’t go ODing in the bar bathroom, dead bodies bring in the popo and there’s too many things in here they’d have a field day about.” She sneers. If it wasn’t a demon bar, the place would have closed long ago. Humans weren’t completely incomprehensible; they knew they were weak---most of the time. Now and then there’s a hero... to no sooner mourn. “Is it true Luke is helping an angel?” News got around that fast? “Don’t be so surprised son, news like that travels fast in a demon-ridden city.”
“Why’s it matter?” I shrug, none of her business. I will not throw Luke under the bus like that. Seeing there are no other customers in the pub, I get a line ready, before snuffing it up.
“Gabriel, how many damn times have I told you not to do that on my counter? Are you trying to get this place shut down?” She crosses her arms, glaring at me. I roll my eyes, it’s not like the cops ever came.
“It’s true an angel is here.” I ignore her demand. Giving way from my earlier thoughts. I give her a pointed look as I do whatever the hell I damn please, anyway.
“What brought that stuck up kind into our town? And why’s Lu
ke so fond of her?” Jealous much. Probably just his current interest. I’d ask eventually. If I knew the real reason I’d be choking on those words.
“You haven’t met her? What makes you think she’s that bad?” I scoff.
‘Defending the angel now?’
“They haven’t helped me, or my daughter. So why should I like them? What’s the bitch doing here, anyway?” Humans- everything’s about their needs…
‘As I told you, selfish. Not worth saving.’
Shut it! I send in his direction. Last thing I needed after this endeavor was him giving advice.
“To help me,” I whisper out.
She laughs, an ugly sound just as the doorbell chimes signaling another customer. I quickly stash the drug debris in my pocket. “Angels don’t help your type. All you need is a distraction.” She cocks her head towards the pretty, slim, raven-haired girl that walked in the door. She would do, I guess.
xxXxx
Aura
“He just ran off on you, leaving you there alone?” Luke runs his fingers through his hair, aggravated, yet his voice lacking surprise, not that I was in shock either. “I would have picked you up, had you called.” He frowns. “I’m sorry about my nephew’s poor manners.” Something he’s likely had to apologize for many a time, judging by Gabriel’s character.
I shook my head; I wasn’t Luke’s responsibility. “It’s fine. It’s my fault anyway, he was talking about some old incidence with some girl he was with.” I shrug, feeling guilty for pressing so hard for answers earlier. I shouldn’t have. As if sensing my distress, Maori comes up to me and rubs against my legs, as if to comfort. “Pretty kitty.” I pick up the cuddle bug, her soon making a nice nest of my lap. .
He sighs at the mention of the girl. He undoubtedly knew everything about it but was uneasy to divulge that memory. Fair enough. “Aura it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.” He tries to comfort me but falls short on the right words to say.
Yes, it is. I was prying, sticking my nose where it didn't belong. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Just because I’m a vampire, doesn’t change the fact that I care about you.” He gives me a sheepish smile. “Plus, I’ve been a vampire for a hell of a lot longer than you’ve been alive.” I wonder what it feels like to have extra teeth popping out now and then. Painful? Maybe not since he’s become well acquainted with it.
What would they feel like, if he bit into me? Would it hurt, be an adrenaline rush — drug haze? I just as quickly shake the thought away. Not a road I need to wander onto. It’s wrong on so many levels.
A thought crosses my mind. “You said we’d talk more over breakfast. Could we possibly talk more now?”
“I’m not sure you’re up for that with all that you’ve been through today.” He looks hesitant, avoiding the topic.
“No, I want to know Luke, please don’t keep me in the dark.” I plea. “I should know what I’m going against. Gabriel explained some, but I doubt it was everything.” With all the gaps in that story of that girlfriend of his.
He sighs in submission. “Fine, what do you want to hear about Aura?”
“Where this all started.”
Chapter 10
Luke
“It would be easier to show you than to explain.” She nods, giving the okay, as I put my hands on either side of her head. Her curls are softer than imagined.
The air was dry, the sun beating down on the skin of my brother, and I. "I can’t wait until his rulings are over, and you take over Lucius." Damien sighs, referring to father. It was coming soon to the time father would return home from his journey, then once again Damien would be confined in the inner walls of our home. Once again not feeling the sun on his face for far too long.
“Maybe I could try to talk some sense into him.” I offer. I shouldn’t be taking over; Damien was the eldest. Father forbade him ruling… because of his condition.
“You know he won’t listen, dear brother. He locks me away for ‘my protection’ or so he says.” The light drops from his clear blue eyes. “He just doesn’t want anyone to realize the king has a freak of a son.” The resentment is clear. His face looked like a beautiful yet broken man. Broken by thy father.
Everything would change once I ruled, I promised myself. He wouldn’t be a prisoner in his own home anymore.
I run my hands through my lengthy dark hair, aggravated by it all, not knowing how to help. There’s a yell in the distance, a cry of help, an injured peasant man, and some other figures in the far distance. Damien looks towards the man, as I try to grab his arm preventing him from going. “No, Damien.” He couldn’t stop one of his father’s beatings, no matter how wrong it was.
He shakes my arm off. “NO! I will not sit around while he tortures some poor man. That’s not the RIGHT thing to do.”
I chase after him. “I don’t want it to be you next, brother! This is how things are!” We get closer to the man, and realize he’s not alone, there’s another, too well known and a chunk of bread on the ground. Two children cower in the background, watching their father get beaten.
“Just because it’s how things are doesn’t mean it’s how things should be.” Damn him, and his self-righteous justifications of right and wrong. One had to preserve themselves.
“Damien you really need to go before father sees you!” I grab his arm, stopping him momentarily. Father was a cruel man, finding a citizen to make an example of even on his way back from the journey. Deals must have not gone his way.
“No, this is the last time Lucius!” he shouts, eyes blazing.
“Please king, I beg you to stop. I was just trying to get bread to feed my starving children.” Tears run down his blood-streaked, cracked face. His kids are far too thin, all skin and bone. I wasn’t a cruel man who wanted to subject them to this reality, I just had to take care of my own first. Damien still had a chance to get away. Father was too preoccupied with them to notice us.
“Come on Damien, this isn’t our fight,” I whisper to him. “Why don’t you run home, and I try to talk to him?” Trying to find a solution to mend all parties. Something that wouldn’t end in death.
“While leaving two children with a dead father. What then?” He squares up to me, desperation in his eyes. “I can’t watch this!” he pleads.
“Then let’s go.” I try to urge him, but he stands his ground as if he were made of stone.
“Why don’t I kill your children while I’m at it for the sins you committed?” There’s a shriek from the children, as guards seize them. No one questioned whether his law was right. Father is evil; it’s obvious from the joyous glee in his eyes.
“No, anything but them!” The broken man pleads, reaching a shaky hand to father just to have it struck down with the tail end of his whip. The man recoils in pain, curling into himself.
“I don’t need the likes of you touching me.” Father treats the broken man as if he were a bug to be squashed, disgusted by his presence.
“That’s it, I’m going.” Damien takes off. I try to grab his arm, but he’s too fast.
No!
“Father,” Damien calls out to him to see his father’s enraged face.
He shouldn’t be out. It would look bad to society. If they knew his son was a freak of nature, that could be the end of the king. People would have solid reasons to question his ruling. Not that they didn’t, given his cruel ambitions.
“What are you doing out of the castle Damien, with your condition?” he yells in rage. “Let me do my business, then I can punish you when we get back. You know better than to go on the outside.” His voice warns Damien to go no further, to let daddy finish taking care of the issue at hand.
With a sweep of Damien’s hand his father is pushed to the side, by some unseen force. How could a gust of air be enough to bring a man falling to his knees? Father would kill him. Guards swept away from the children.
Oh, damn it Damien, not here. Damien steps in front of the man, “I’m sorry for what cruelt
y my father has done to you. You seem gravely wounded.” His eyes are somber, studying the damage inflicted.
He puts a weak hand to Damien’s face. “Please help them, I don’t know where else they’ll turn to with their old man-,” He’s having trouble speaking as blood is coughed up. The poor man’s eyes widened in worry. A glance at his kids. “Sorry,” he mouths.
“Father!” the son yells, falling to his knees, the sister weeping from the distance.
I cringe as Damien puts his hand to the older man’s face. Pure white, feathery wings expanding out. Fuck! He heals the wounds by some form of witchcraft? It wasn’t natural. Incredible. Monster? I shake the thought from my head. My brother couldn’t be a monster.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing boy?” Damien doesn’t care, as he does what he knows is right, his own sense of justice. “What repercussions you’ve just inflicted.”
Damien removes his hand from the man’s face, as he opens his eyes blinking. “You must be a saint,” he cries, looking better than he must have been in a good many years. Probably feeling alive again.
The sweet moment is soon stifled. “GET HIM!” Father orders the guards, his expression embarrassed and livid, and Damien would have to pay for that.
Guards are at Damien’s sides, forcefully throwing restraints over him, some who were once his friends in the castle. Now just forcefully leading him, like he’s a dog to slaughter.
Damien throws his pouch to the once injured man, mouthing something about not needing it anymore. Feeding the children. How could he not fight this? Not stand for his life? A life of misery locked away...
“Father, don’t make them do this!” I ran up to my father’s side in tears. He couldn’t do this to his own flesh and blood, could he? He’s done many horrible things, but his own son?
“He brought this on himself! I can’t have people going around talking about how I have a freak of an abomination for a son, while I do nothing about it!” Heartless. Calculating. He only cares about his self-image.
“I won’t let you do this!” I run towards the guards that have my brother captured. “He’s your son. My brother!”
The Demon Inside (Hell's Creatures Book 1) Page 5