Shudders

Chapter 58 - The Monster

     (Y/N) stared closely at the fumbling doorknob to her locked room. Something about it didn't sit right with her, her gut was literally screaming at her to run.

    Luckily before the door creaked open ominously, Yama lifted her up to the spot next to him on top of the high shelf. She almost gasped when she felt her feet leave the hard floor but being closer to Yama and further from the door gave her some comfort.

    The door was weakly pushed open and the darkness on the other side prevented the demon and the girl from seeing who it was. But when a blackened decomposing hand rested on the door frame, (Y/N)'s eyes widened and her hand immediately went to her backpack. Yama narrowed his red eyes at the hand and recognized it to be that demon that chased after the human. It must have a lot of fight in it to continue in that rotten corpse for this long.

    A head of darkened red hair appeared and leaned against the door frame weakly. The demon groaned and stared at the fire that was still lit. Upon seeing an empty room, I9 wasn't too concerned and took its time to stumble into the room towards the cooking meat.

    It was too hard for (Y/N) to look at the body. Blythe was unrecognizable...

    Despite some obvious attempts at repairing some parts of the body with the bodies of others, the corpse of her once friend looked awful. Her left arm was completely dead and barely any muscle to move it. Her face was beginning to resemble a sunken skull with black eyes that melted down her cheeks. Her once bright red hair was now dark and matted with blood, both black and red. And the clothes she was last wearing were torn to pieces and covered in all kinds of stains.

    Her once best friend now resembled a zombie. A body that should've been buried a long time ago...

   Yama took in the demon's state as well and peaked back to (Y/N) behind him. Seeing that she couldn't lay her eyes on it for even a second.

    I9 lifted up its movable right arm and touched the tips of the fire. A quiet breath of air escaped its lips when it couldn't feel the pain of the heat against its cold skin. Everything felt cold to it...

"I re-remember being warm- once... to have my own body... to feel my own pain... to breathe my own air..."

    That deep voice... (Y/N) shrunk back against Yama. 'It knows we're here!'

    I9 didn't bother looking up. It can tell that its target was on the shelves with another. Always out of close reach.

"I... had skin like yours... hair like yours... and was alive like you... I used to have a- name, I used to be... someone, and now... I'm just a monster... I'm what you call a demon..." Its gaze lingered down to its arms, the arms that turned dark once it took control of its former Keeper.

"I've killed... I've taken... I've let myself get captured- to find a body- to not have to kill and take anymore..."

    Then, it traveled its eyes up to (Y/N), making the girl shiver from its dead stare. It ignored Yama completely and focused on her instead.

"I was cursed this way... We were- a-ll cursed... this way." Then it smiled a sinister smile that made (Y/N) think of the devil. "We were all- cursed to be demons."

    It took a step forward and Yama threw an arm back to cover (Y/N). She had a tight grip on the holy grenade and was ready to throw it at the demon at any second.

"You're meant to die, (Y/N)..." Its voice went deep and monstrous. "Just like your  friend, Blythe..."

     Red tendrils that laid on the ground sprouted to life and launched towards the shelf (Y/N) and Yama were on. The tendrils wrapped around the shelf and yanked it forwards, Yama jumped away in time but didn't manage to grab the girl before doing so. He watched as she tumbled forward screaming and landed right into an open tendril that weaved its way around her throat. She gagged and fought against the demon, slicing at it every chance she got with her knife. Yama quickly used his ability to lift the fire up and send it at the demon as the flames quickly engulfed it.