Chapter 3 - Friendship

He pushed the door open slightly. At first he didn’t see anyone, and then he noticed Terance was sitting in front of the podium in a meditative pose. He walked over to him, but just as he was about to speak, Terance stood up suddenly and whipped around.

“I don’t think s-” he stopped short, realizing who was behind him.

Noah’s eyes had widened, a look of terror on his face. It took Terance a moment to realize that his eyes had returned to their red color and that his fangs were once more visible. He thought for a moment, and then grinned widely. Noah stumbled backwards and bumped into one of the seats. He broke off a piece of the decrepit old wood and ran toward Terance, piercing it through his chest. Noah’s breath, which had been becoming steadily more erratic, began to slow down again. He let out a sigh of relief.

“What the hell, man?”

Noah looked up slowly to see the same red eyes looking down at him. He fell backwards, wishing he had the courage to get up and run. “Do I look like a vampire to you?” Terance asked, pulling the wooden chunk from his body. Noah watched as the wound instantly healed, with no sign of bleeding anywhere.

“Wh-wh-what are y-” he stuttered, trying to regain his wits.

“We’re demons,” came Devon’s voice from above. Noah looked up to see Devon perched on a rafter. He jumped off it and began falling. Noah braced himself for the impact he was sure Devon’s body would cause, but he seemed to slow down just before touching the ground and landing gracefully.

“D-d-dem-” Noah managed to get out.

“Are you stupid?” Terance asked. “Say it with me, ‘dee-muh n’”.

“Oh, be nice, Alagor,” came a Nikita’s voice. Noah turned his head, trembling, to see her form coming through the wall. “You were about to attack him, after all.”

“I was just gonna rough him up a little,” Alagor mumbled to himself.

Noah, still on the ground, looked around wildly. His eyes were still wide with fear, and his heart felt as though it was going to burst through his chest. As he darted his eyes around, he accidentally made contact with Astar’s glare. Noah felt a cold chill run through his body, his limbs completely petrified. He tried to speak but no sound left his lips. After what seemed like an eternity he drew his breath and, in the calmest voice he could, said, “So…what happens, now that I kn-know you guys are d-”

“Demons,” Alagor finished for him.

“Right, that,” Noah said.

The three exchanged glances, seemingly communicating without a word. After several moments, Astar spoke.

“Nothing,” he said simply.

“What the hell is going on?” Noah thought to himself. Then, as if they all knew what was on his mind, the three nodded their approval to one another. It was Alagor who spoke next.

“Sit down,” he said through a sigh, “this might take a while.”

“Wh-why are you here, on Earth?” Noah asked, still having a little trouble keeping his wits about him. “I mean, there aren’t a bunch of demons in disguise walking around, are there?”

“Ha!” Alagor laughed, “I wish, it’d definitely piss Dad off.” He looked to Astar for a reaction but received only an empty stare. “No,” Alagor continued, calming back down, “no, there aren’t. It’s just the three of us…and a few others.”

“Believe it or not, demons aren’t necessarily bad,” Kaesi interjected. “Certain demons have just given a bad impression to the human world. Personally I blame Grandfather.”

Astar snickered under his breath. Alagor turned to him and raised his hands in frustration. “Oh, she gets a reaction, of course.”

Kaesi, deciding to ignore her brother, continued, “But of course, there are also evil ones, same as with humans. And that’s why we were sent here.”

Noah, who all at once seemed to replace his fear with interest, sat up and asked, “Why? Because something evil is here?”

Astar nodded his head. He began to reel off facts as if they told one fluid story. “Three of the worst demons of all eternity have all been set free. They call themselves ‘The Hidden’. Their leader is another demon named Blackheart. Blackhea-”

Noah nearly jumped out of his chair. “Blackheart???” he asked excitedly. “Isn’t he supposed to be the son of the devil?”

“Um, yes,” Astar responded, taken aback. “How did you know that?”

A slight grin broke the corners of Noah’s mouth. “I…read a lot,” he said with a bit of a blush, realizing how overeager he sounded. “I mean, I’ve always been interested in mythology, and he’s…come up…a lot,” he finished, his words fading. After a few moments of silence, he added, “But I’ve never heard of you guys. Who are you anyway? I mean your real names?”

“Kaesi, Alagor, and Astar,” Alagor said, pointing with his thumb to each in turn. “And I’m not too surprised you haven’t heard of us, Kaesi and me are barely over 400 years old. Astar’s just a little over 100.”

“Why is he so much youn-” Noah began, but once again was cut off.

“Astar is…different than Alagor and myself,” Kaesi said.

There was yet another bout of silence, until once more it was broken my Noah’s voice. “So there are four bad guys, Blackheart, and The Hidden?” he asked.

Astar nodded. “Wallow, Abigor, and Gressil,” he expounded.

“Right, well my point is it’s three against four,” Noah said. “And I know a lot about mythology, maybe I could help!” he concluded, only now hearing how desperate his voice had sounded.

“You know,” Kaesi said thoughtfully, “he makes a good point.”

Astar remained expressionless, and then asked, “What do you think Alagor?”

“I liked him better when he was about to pee his pants,” he said. Then, grinning and clapping a hand on Noah’s shoulder, he continued, “but this is good too.”

Noah felt Kaesi’s hand come down on his other shoulder. He looked up at her; for once, she had no smile on her face, only a look of worry.

“In order to join us, you have to accept the Mark of the Damned,” Astar explained, reaching out and placing a hand on Noah’s chest.

Noah nodded his acknowledgement. Kaesi and Alagor tightened their grip.

“This,” Astar said, “is going to hurt.”

Noah’s screams could be heard echoing through the darkness.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment