Demon Seer
Page 25
He sighed and immediately obliged. He had gone to grab it with his right hand, only to remember that most of his arm was still missing. Sighing again, he allowed her to hold it for him as he ate, trying to control his pace.
He didn’t want to remind her of that memory again by eating too eagerly. And he was glad a deer was lying next to them instead of a human – otherwise, she would have had trouble letting the memory fade away. Ironically, he discovered that he wasn’t too worried about how he would feel if there was a dead human lying next to them.
She gave him a bitter smile in response to his thoughts. You might have killed someone just now, and you’re more worried about how it would affect me than you…You’re so silly, my love.
Michael knew he probably would have been at least a little upset himself – a stark contrast to how he would have felt only a day ago – but he couldn’t help but feel despair for the little seven-year-old who had been traumatized at such a young age. No wonder Miriam had grown up viewing herself as a monster, while simultaneously resenting what she was and attempting to be as humane as much as possible.
Her father had been present for her transformation, but he had done nothing to stop her because to him it was just a normal part of their lives. Gilgamesh wasn’t evil – it’s just that killing a human to him was no different than killing a deer to hunters. It wasn’t something to be upset about.
However, her father had been surprised it had disturbed her so much, because most demons had mentally become hardened to the idea of killing humans by the time they were growing horns and wings. That was one way in which Miriam was slightly different from the rest of them – she was more sensitive to life itself, human or otherwise.
Gilgamesh had suspected that it was because of how innocent she was when he had bitten her – she was more innocent than normal, even for a seven-year-old, and he had seen in her mind that she was bothered when regular animals died, even ones she had never become emotionally attached to.
Michael held Miriam tightly as he finished the last bite of the meat that she had with her. “I love you.” He whispered, trying to keep his mind from tugging him back to the fresh meat lying next to them. Despite what he had just eaten, his hunger hadn’t subsided at all. It was like he hadn’t eaten anything.
“It’s okay love.” She whispered back. “If you’re hungry you can eat it. I just didn’t want you to find yourself regretful of what you had done in that ravenous state.”
He went to gently brush her cheek with his fingertips only to realize again that he didn’t have a right hand. However, surprisingly his arm was already growing back. While he had been concentrating on eating, his limb had recovered up to his wrist, and it was still slowly regenerating. He suspected he might have eaten enough already to allow it to fully recover. However, he still needed to grow wings and a tail.
Michael was about to respond, but then realized they weren’t alone – Lilith was still there watching them, having never left.
He glanced over at her to see that she had her arms folded, with one hand resting against the side of her face. Her blue eyes were grinning as she examined them intently. “Oh, sorry.” She said apologetically, sounding insincere. “I was just enjoying seeing you two interact. You’re both very unusual – it’s fun to watch.”
Miriam didn’t seem offended but pretended like she was anyway. “Glad we could amuse you, Lilith.”
“Alright, alright,” she responded. “I’ll leave. Or rather, I’ll keep my distance. Gilgamesh has decided that your brother and I should stay close by, in case Ragnarok tries again. While that would be a very poor decision on his part, your father has decided Michael is too valuable to risk it.”
“Good,” Miriam said, sounding extremely relieved. She pulled herself into him, hugging him tightly, while still speaking to her. “Thank you, Lilith.”
“Of course, sweetie.” She said softly, before disappearing.
Michael noticed that Lilith’s tone was extremely endearing whenever she called Miriam by that pet name – sweetie. He quickly found himself wondering about the nature of their relationship, knowing that Lilith wasn’t her mother, so Miriam explained. “She’s somewhere in between a close friend and second mother. Both her, and my mom Ishtar, spent a lot of time with me growing up. After all, I was thrust into the role of a ruler – the pinnacle of power – of a strange new world at a very young age. However, as I grew older, Lilith became much closer to being a friend – viewing me as an equal instead of a child. As you can imagine, since everyone who is fully matured appears like humans in their twenties, age quickly becomes irrelevant in terms of how relationships are affected by it.”
Michael discovered that he inherently understood what she meant. After all, Miriam had already lived more than fifteen of his lifetimes, yet he didn’t feel like she was old. She was mentally and physically the age of an eighteen or nineteen-year-old human, despite her chronological age. It was almost as if she had been semi-frozen in time, aging at an extremely decelerated pace compared to her normal human self.
He found the whole thing amusing, explaining himself at Miriam’s request. “Well, it’s almost like we were meant to be together in a way. Normally, it wouldn’t have been possible – time would have stopped us. Yet, becoming a demon allowed you to overcome time, our inherent enemy, in order for our lives to become one. I feel like you’re the other piece of me – as if we were once a complimented pair that was separated by some fifteen-hundred years.”
She found his idea interesting too, although she doubted there was some conscious force that had separated them. “Although…” She admitted. “There was no way I could have missed you. You’ll understand better when you see how far away my home is…I mean our home… It really is a miracle that I sensed you so far away, and so strongly.”
He nodded, responding gently. “I saw your memory too – saw how it affected you.”
Miriam pressed herself against his chest tightly again, rubbing her fingertips along his skin. “You’re my everything…the center of my world.”
“Mine too,” he agreed.
But then suddenly, Michael pulled away and looked at Miriam oddly. Something was wrong with her. Everything she had just said and done was normal, but yet he couldn’t help but feel it was wrong. It was all wrong. He leaned away further from her, examining her more closely.
“Love? What’s wrong?” She asked seeming concerned.
He wasn’t sure how to answer her, but then it finally sank in. Something deep inside him knew the truth. He looked at her seriously, as he answered her question. “You aren’t real.”
Her reaction gave her away. “Of course I’m real!” It wasn’t the way she should have responded, not if it was really her.
Ignoring the creature in his lap, Michael held up his right hand – the missing right hand – and with sudden anger he snapped his unseen fingers.
Instantly, the scene before him shattered like a mirror and a new scene appeared behind the shards of fabricated glass.
Ragnarok stood before him, holding Miriam in his grasp as she continued to fiercely struggle against him.
And Michael saw that he was completely surrounded by nineteen bloodthirsty demons, ready to attack. He glanced at his right arm to see that it was still there. It had never disappeared. He had never attacked.
An illusion. He suddenly realized. A mind-game, created by a mastermind who knows his players well enough to fabricate them perfectly.
Infuriated, Michael looked back at Ragnarok, just in time to see his smirk quickly disappear.
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Three Storylines, One Plot
Demon Se
er (Demon Demigods) is Book 1 in a massive plot involving three separate storylines with overlapping characters. The events of the other two book series affect what happens in this story.
Find out what happens to Riley Sullivan in The Keras Genome (Keras Demigods Book 1), along with Noah Reid and Madison Ross (the girl on the plane).
Check out the first three chapters on Amazon.com.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to:
Esther Eckstein
Bethany Worcester
Kerry Eckstein
Kyra Eckstein
About the Author
Kurtis Eckstein is a huge fan of coffee, books, and anime. He first started writing stories in high school but didn’t get serious about it until over ten years later when he was working on his graduate degree.
That’s when his interest in writing short-stories turned into a full-blown hobby with the publication of his first fiction book, The Keras Genome. Now, with the addition of Demon Seer, he is one step closer to completing a massive plot involving three separate storylines.
He is the husband to a wonderful wife, and the father to a beautiful little girl. One of his biggest pet peeves has always been when an amazing story crashes with a horrible ending, which is much more common with anime than written fiction. He finally decided that the best way to alleviate that frustration is just to write his own stories.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Encounter
2. Wish
3. Conflict
4. Façade
5. Revelation
6. Confrontation
7. Betrayal
8. Fate
9. Complications
10. Poisoning
11. Desperation
12. Ability
13. Detained
14. Bitten
15. Death
16. Demon Kings
17. Vision
18. Hijacked
19. Stalemate
20. Checkmate
Three Stories, One Plot
Acknowledgments
About the Author