by Megan Hepler
“I know!” Kerrick said. “I do!”
“Good. Next time don’t think you can go off and handle a demon on your own.”
“I didn’t know it was a demon at that point.”
“I know. I’m just saying. I might be ready to take more responsibility, but that doesn’t stop me from being your partner. We’re partners for a reason, to help each other and protect each other,” Demona said. She tied off the bandage. “Do you have ice?”
“In the freezer,” Kerrick replied.
Demona helped him lie back on the bed. She left the room and came back moments later with an ice pack for his face. She wrapped the ice in a towel and sat on the edge of the bed. Demona partially lay down next to Kerrick and placed the ice on his face. She held it there firmly.
“Thank you,” Kerrick said.
“You’d do the same for me.”
“I would.”
Demona found it hard to turn away when their eyes met. Kerrick was focused on her and she gazed back at him. Before she knew what had happened she had leaned down to kiss him. Kerrick tried to wrap his arms around her, but found that his ribs would not allow it.
Their intensity grew as that spark of lust ignited once more. This time Demona was in control of the situation. She passionately kissed him and bit his bottom lip. A moan escaped Kerrick’s lips.
Demona pulled back slightly. “You like that?”
“You know I do,” Kerrick said.
Demona gave into her burning urge to feel his lips on hers again. For an indefinite amount of time they remained like that. Demona found herself lost in him. Kerrick was helpless to Demona’s passion. Demona felt as if every atom in her body began to radiate. Without conscious thought she tried to roll on top of him. Kerrick groaned.
“I’m sorry!” Demona rolled back off of Kerrick. “I forgot.”
“It’s alright. I wish I was not in so much pain.”
“Me, too.”
“I have a hankering for what we were doing before,” Kerrick said.
“I should be keeping this ice on your face.” Demona felt the pack. “I need to go get fresh ice. Be right back.” Demona returned in moments and resumed her position next to Kerrick. She placed the pack on his face once more and held it there firmly.
Kerrick looked up at her. “You know that I will be healed by tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I realize that.”
“What is that look?”
“Nothing.” Demona looked away.
“You are lying. Now, tell me,” Kerrick said. “What?”
“What are we doing, Kerrick?”
“Here we go again.”
“Stop!” Demona said. She turned and swung her feet off of the side of the bed. “I’m tired of you avoiding the question. What are we doing? Where’s this going? I can’t just play along with your games anymore. I’m not some sleazy girl you can just go to for your entertainment. I’m your partner, and I’m not going to stand for anything other than some type of commitment. I don’t mean long term. I mean, just see where it goes. It’s either that or this ends now.”
“I don’t do relationships.”
“So, you’re just going to throw this away? Whatever this is, because you don’t do relationships?” Demona said, “Wow, Kerrick. You know, for someone as old as you are, I thought maybe you would be a little more mature!”
“What do you want me to do?” Kerrick asked. He rose from the bed and went to sit beside Demona. “Every woman I was ever involved with either died or left me.”
“I can see why,” Demona said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “So, you won’t even try?”
“I haven’t tried since Elisabeth. I don’t know how.”
“Why won’t you try? It’s not that hard, you know. All you have to do is open up to me. Trust me, as more than just your partner. Just don’t lie to me or hide things.”
“Because of Elisabeth… I don’t want to talk about it.”
“See, you give up before you even try. The Kerrick I know never backs down.”
“Fine, but if this doesn’t work we go back to how it was before and forget it ever happened.”
“Agreed,” Demona said. Should I have to agree to this?
Kerrick lay back on the bed. He stretched out his arm and Demona lay by his side.
“What did Elisabeth do to make you stop trying?” Demona asked.
“I would rather not talk about it.”
“We just agreed that you would try. You can’t give in that quickly. Try to trust me for once.”
“Okay…Obviously Elisabeth had been turned while I was in the militia. What I had found out after my transformation was that she had an affair. Her lover had been her master. After he taught her everything he knew, he found no more pleasure in her and disappeared. When I got home Elisabeth decided to change me in order to keep me from leaving her.
“We had fifty years together after my transformation. We spent years trying to make it work; it takes a toll on you after a while. We finally decided to separate. A couple of years later I was informed of her telos. Since Elisabeth’s betrayal my heart hasn’t committed to trying to make a relationship work,” Kerrick said.
“You can’t punish yourself for something your wife did while you were away. You need to move on and give yourself a chance to be happy again,” Demona said. “Will you tell me what happened today? What happened before I found you?”
“There really isn’t much to tell. I knew the demon was ahead of me. I approached cautiously, as usual. I didn’t realize there was a nephilim towering above me. I had been looking for something…average sized. He knocked me down before I knew what was happening. Every time I managed to gain my footing he was knocking me back to the ground. The last time he hit me I was certain he gave me a concussion. Every part of my body screamed in pain.
“I guess he thought I wasn’t going to get back up. A deer bounded by us and he went chasing after it. It took me forever to will my body to move, because I was in so much agony. Then, I heard you call my name just after I started to hear him heading back towards me. I assume he made his kill and was bringing it back to his home.”
“Lucky for you I got there in time to stop him from doing any more damage.” Demona stared at the ceiling.
“Thank you for that,” Kerrick said. “Those nephilim are not the strongest, but they are all brute strength.”
“What exactly are they?”
“According to myths, nephilim are children of fallen angels and humans. They are an ancient race. They are very fearful and avoid others.”
“What do you think he was doing there?”
“That is the mystery. Nephilim usually stay in seclusion, they forage for wild animals for sustenance. It’s unlike a them to make a home in a public place. The national park had enough human activity to make him stay away,” Kerrick said. “On top of that they are rare, considering their age. He was probably several millennia old.”
“Well, the report said that there has been a lot of demonic activity lately. At least we got one of the big ones out of the way.”
“It’s strange. I’ve been thinking,” Kerrick said. “Lilith was trying to possess that kid with a pure soul, which is also not normal.”
The thought of Felix made her cringe. He was the last person she wanted to think about while she lay on Kerrick’s bed.
“We went to that abandoned house where multiple demons fled from us. Then, the report of increased demon activity. Now, a nephilim in a public place… Something is going on.”
“What do you think it is?”
Kerrick turned to meet her eye. “Something to do with you.”
“Why does it always have to do with me?”
“Well, there is the prophecy, which says that you will have to choose a side and defeat the other. It seems more than coincidental. What do you think?”
“Maybe, but Darius doesn’t control the demons.”
“That is my concern. I think this is just the beginning.”
Chapter 14
Relationships
Demona made her way from her car towards the apartment building. The sun rose in the sky while watery colored blues and purples stretched across the horizon. The warm morning rays cast an orange glow on the clouds floating by.
Demona made her way into the lobby and up the stairwell. She groggily walked down the hallway to her apartment, her feet shuffled against the carpet as she went. Most of the building was still sleeping, so Demona made her way without interruption. She stood in front of her apartment door and placed her key inside the lock. As she was about to turn the key she heard a muffled voiced coming from across the hall. Curiosity got the best of her.
Demona tiptoed across the hall to Hannah’s door and placed her ear against the door. She knew something was up, especially after she had heard the bits of conversation she had, when she met them in the hall way a few days before. It had something to do with Felix. Maybe she would find out what was going on if she listened close enough.
“I have to tell her,” Hannah said.
“You can’t!” Kaleb replied.
“She will want to know. You have no idea how much she cared about him.”
Demona was shocked to find that she had caught them in the middle of another argument. They were definitely talking about her and Felix again. I don’t understand what’s happening.
“I know, but we can’t tell her,” Kaleb said.
“Why not!” Hannah said.
“I can’t tell you any more than what I already did.”
“This is ridiculous, Kaleb. She deserves to know.”
“I know that. I wish I could tell her too.”
“Then do it!” Hannah said.
“You don’t understand,” Kaleb said.
“You’re right. I don’t understand. Just leave!”
“Hannah, please. I don’t want to leave like this.”
If he knows something important he should be honest.
“I don’t care. Just go. You have to pick him up in an hour anyway,” Hannah said.
There it was. Demona stood frozen in place against the door. Felix is coming home. All of those emotions she had been trying to ignore came rushing back. The intensity grew within her and she almost lost control. A gust of wind swept past her in the enclosed hallway.
“Fine, but please just try to understand,” Kaleb said.
“Maybe I would if you actually explained it to me!” Hannah said.
Demona heard a door slam. Then, she heard shuffling feet. The shuffling grew closer. Demona quickly snuck back to her apartment door and quietly opened it. The moment she let the latch on her door lock behind her she heard Hannah’s apartment door opening. Demona leaned up against her door. Nobody was going to tell me! If Felix has any guilt for doing what he did he will come find me when he is ready.
That night Demona fell into a restless sleep, one full of unpleasant memories.
****
Demona heard someone screaming loudly from somewhere in the darkness that surrounded her. She soon realized that she had been the one screaming. A dark figure that gripped her had frigidly cold, strong hands. He leaned towards her and suddenly her screams ended. Things were happening so quickly that Demona had a hard time making sense of it all.
The figure leaned even closer to Demona and the grip on her arms tightened. She felt the cool skin brush against her neck and the fear rose as a lump inside her. Her heart was pounding so quickly, now. She felt as if it would burst. What’s going to happen to me?
Pain shot through her neck; a horrible, piercing, pain. The man had bit her. Demona was able to move slightly and she struggled to push her attacker away. The more she struggled the harder he bit down into her flesh. Demona felt her warm blood spilling down her neck. She struggled and kicked while willing herself to be free from him. As Demona kicked her attacker she lost her balance and fell to the damp ground.
Her attacker fell with her and temporarily released his teeth from her neck. She continued to try to scream, but no sound came from her mouth. She saw her attacker’s shadowy face bending towards her neck once more. Demona tried to see who it was; she could barely make out anything.
She beat the man with her fists, but the weight of his body pressed her arms down and her struggles came to a standstill. His face was inches from her own now and Demona knew he was going to bite her again. She saw his teeth in the dim light from the distant street lamp. They were sharp teeth. They were longer and sharper than any man’s teeth she had seen before. She was not entirely certain that he was a man at all.
Demona had a single moment of clarity. She thought how eerily similar the moment was to a horror movie. And then there was pain as he sank the teeth into her neck once more. Demona made one last attempt to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. The fear and pain rose as one inside her and she finally lost consciousness.
****
Demona woke with a start. Ugh, not this again. The darkness in that moment was terrifying to her and she lay in bed frozen with fear. She felt as if the man was standing very near her, but she knew it was just the vivid memory.
A gust of wind swept through her bedroom and Demona quickly regained her composure, before a full blown tornado formed inside her room. She reached for her lamp and twisted the knob so that the light flicked on.
It had been several months since Demona had had a flashback. Well, I guess there is no denying that whatever turned me was a vampire. It was the first flashback that had confirmed that her attacker was indeed a vampire, not that she denied it.
She placed her hand on her neck where the attacker had bitten her. The thought made her queasy.
Every time the flashbacks came she learned more about that night. Still, it was not enough to piece together enough information to learn who her attacker was. One day I will find out who you are. It had been such a strange incident, especially since most fledglings were instructed by their master. Demona had been alone every step of the way. There had been nobody to guide her or instruct her as her body began to change.
After contemplating the flashback Demona attempted to shake off the residual feelings. Then, she remembered the conversation she had heard when arriving home from Kerrick’s. Demona’s morning was not shaping up to be a good one.
She threw the covers over her head and sighed. The sunlight peaked through the covers and Demona realized she had slept for an entire day. The events of the previous day had taken a toll on her physically and mentally. I should just stay in bed today. Today is a good day to ignore the world. Then, she felt the hunger.
Demona returned home after getting her rations to figure out what to do with herself the remainder of the day. She sat on her sofa and pulled her laptop out and started looking at random topics. Then, she began searching for, dark versus light prophecies. Most of the search results were useless pieces of information based on movies and cartoons.
Then, something caught her attention. A search result in the middle of the page mentioned a war between dark and light. She clicked the link and waited for the page to load. The website gave her a summary of an ancient scroll that had been roughly translated. It had described a war between light and dark which was supposed to have brought about the apocalypse. The war had been won by light. Of course light always prevails.
Demona searched for more information a while longer, but quickly grew bored. She placed the laptop on the coffee table and drew her legs up under her. Or, is it possible that the prophecy was meant to happen at that moment almost two millennia ago? It seemed too coincidental that they are so similar.
****
Someone knocked on the door as Demona pulled a shirt over her head. She ran to the door and peered through the peep hole. Kerrick was standing there and Demona promptly opened the door for him.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Demona asked.
“I thought I would give this relationship a chance,” Kerrick said. He smiled and handed her the rations.
“Thanks. What
a way to win a girl’s heart.”
“I thought I would pick you up and save you the trouble of going in to TGHC. It will also give us extra time before work.”
Kerrick approached Demona as she finished taking a gulp of blood. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer. He leaned in and gave her a firm, yet passionate, kiss. The taste of blood somehow made it even more erotic. It was always as if her mind could not process any thought while their lips were pressed together. It was nothing, but desire in that moment.
“Uhum-Uhum,” a noise came from behind Kerrick.
They had forgotten to close her door. Hannah and Kaleb stood in Hannah’s doorway staring into Demona’s apartment; they were in shock at the scene before them.
“You might want to close your door for a little more privacy,” Kaleb said. “And Demona you have something on your mouth.”
Demona wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, blood smeared on her pale skin.
“Sorry about that, guys. We kind of got caught up in the moment,” Demona said.
“We can see that,” Hannah said. Her eyebrows were raised.
“Oh yeah, Hannah, Kaleb, this is Kerrick.”
“Hi,” they both said simultaneously. Hannah raised her hand in a wave. Kaleb leaned in for a hand shake. Kerrick declined his hand.
“Okay then,” Kaleb said. He withdrew his hand.
“Hello,” Kerrick said. He pushed the door closed and reached for Demona once more. He planted another firm kiss on her lips.
“Hey!” Demona said. She pulled away. “That was rude.”
“What?” Kerrick said.
“You just closed the door on them,” Demona said. She went and reopened the door, but Hannah and Kaleb were already gone.
“They wanted us to close the door,” Kerrick said.
“You are really bad with people aren’t you?” Demona asked. “Yeah, they wanted us to close the door, before they had to witness us making out. Not while we were making introductions. Remind me not to take you anywhere that I have to introduce you to anyone. Did you lose all sense of manners since you were turned? ”