Demons

I Never Did Like Swimming

I woke up in a wooden chair, my head throbbing. I tried to raise my hand to my head to find that i couldn't. I opened my eyes to see why: ropes bound me to a chair.
I groaned as i lifted my head, wincing at the soreness in my neck. I was in a small, hot room, cramped with metal pipes and machinery. The boiler room. To my right there was a door, also metal with a small window in the top. There were no other windows.
Above me, there was a single light shining, only allowing me to see a few feet in every direction.
I heard footsteps outside the door and struggled against the ropes. It was no use though, the ropes were too thick. The door opened, spilling in light to reveal who was coming. Ms. Piper walked in, accompanied by a tall man with dark hair; Mr. Burns.
"Great," Ms. Piper exclaimed. "You're awake!" She slowly made her way over until she was standing in front of me. "I was beginning to fear that the explosion might have taken a greater toll than expected," Ms. Piper purred.
"Why do you care if i'm hurt?" I croaked.
"Because," Ms. Piper said sweetly. "I need some information."
"I don't know anything."
"Well, we'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" She leaned in, her breath hot and sweet-smelling, inches from my face. "Tell me everything what you know about Derek Hunter."
"I-I told you." My voice wavered, half from fear, half from trying not to gag from the sickly-sweet of her breath. "I-I don't know anything."
"Don't lie to me. You were with him when he attacked me. You have to know something."
"I swear, I don't." Weirdly, I found myself defending him. A small part of me wondered how far I would go to protect a guy that I just met.
She sighed. "I was hoping that we could make this quick and easy, but since you refuse to cooperate..." She said, gestured to Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns stepped towards me, taking Ms. Piper's place in front of me.
"I'm going to ask you one last time," she warned. "Tell me what you know about Derek Hunter or Mr. Burns here will have to...convince you to share."
"You're going to torture me?" I asked warily. Now that i had seen her in her true form, i knew that she was a demon. But i didn't know what a demon was capable of.
Ms. Piper winced. "That's not the answer that i'm looking for. Mr. Burns?" She made a gesture and Mr. Burns turned and took a few steps toward me, pulling something from behind his back. When he was closer I realized what he was holding: a hammer.
I struggled against the ropes again, scratching at the ropes on my wrists. Then he was right in front of me and the hammer came down on my left hand. I felt the snapping of bones and let out a cry. The pain was excruciating.
"Why are you doing this." I yelled.
"Because," she exclaimed, racing over, gripping my arms in her claw-like hands."Those hunters took everything from me! Everything! And now they're going to pay. They're going to feel the pain that i felt. The loss that i felt. They're going to pay. And it's all going to start with you." She said wildly, her eyes turning black with rage. I stared back with wide eyes.
"What do you mean? You're a demon. What could they take from you?" I asked incredulously.
"All you hunters are the same. Think that demons can't have feelings. Can't have families. But we do- did. I did, once," she said sadly, her eyes turning back to the normal green color. I never would have thought that demons existed, let alone that i would feel bad for them. Especially after they had my hand broken, but i was starting to think that maybe demons weren't so different from us.
"What happened to them?" I asked tentatively.
"We were at a conference when it happened. My parents and I, we weren't like the other demons, you see. We wanted peace. We were trying to convince the other demons to go back to our home dimension, to leave the humans alone. Then they came. They didn't even ask questions. They just saw our true forms and-" she broke off. There were tears in her eyes. They were blood red, but tears still.
"What did they do?" I asked quietly, careful not to upset her.
"They did what hunters do best," she continued, regaining her composure, and wiped away the tears. "They burned it to the ground. I alone survived. From that day on, I vowed that the hunters would pay. Even if I have to kill every last one myself, they will pay," she finished.
"I don't understand. What does this have to do with me?" I asked gently.
"You're a hunter. You have information about hunters. And once you have exhausted your purposes, you too, will die," she explained manically.
"Die? But why? I had nothing to do with your parents death!" I exclaimed.
"Perhaps not, but you're a hunter, nonetheless. And all hunters do is destroy. Whether it's today, or tomorrow, you will destroy. And I cannot allow that to happen." She finished, resuming her spot across the dimly lit room.
"But I'm not a hunter!" I tried to explain. "I don't know anything about hunters! I only found out about demons today! I swear, I don't know anything!"
"Even if you are telling the truth, you will die anyway. You have seen me in my true form and know what I am. So I will ask you one last time: what do you know about Derek Hunter? Some one had to tell you about demons." She said, sounding bored.
"I told you, I don't know anything. Please, just let me go." I looked at Ms. Piper, silently pleading. It was no use, though. Whatever vulnerability, whatever sympathy, she had before was gone. Replaced by a wall of cold stone.
She made a clicking sound with her mouth and shook her head. "That's a pity," she said with mock sympathy. She looked over at Mr. Burns then and I knew what was going to happen. "Mr. Burns," he looked over at the sound of his name. "It seems that Miss Ariadne is no longer useful. Take care of that," she said coldly, walking out the door. "Oh," she paused, looking back. "And try not to make a mess." Then she left.
A cruel smile spread across Mr. Burns face that sent a shiver down my spine. Done in by a man that preached against homicide and violence in America. Despite everything, I smiled at the irony. It vanished quickly, though, as he slowly approached me, hammer raised above his head. My heart was racing, my palms slippery with sweat. I struggled one last time, trying to slide my hands through: ignoring the pain in my broken one.
I closed my eyes and hoped and prayed. Praying to be rescued, hoping I would go quickly if I wasn't. I heard a grunt and a loud clank sound, followed by a whoosh. I opened one eye to see that Mr. Burns had hit a water pipe next to me, which was gushing water. He dropped the large hammer and I felt a rush of relief. I closed my eyes, happy to be alive. He didn't kill me. He was still in there, still had a little self control.
"Thank you-" I was cut off by the sound of the door closing. I looked up to see Mr. Burns face framed in the small window in the door. Heard a loud click as he locked the door.
I felt the fear go through like a cold chill through my whole body, along with the heat of adrenaline, leaving me numb. I willed my brain to work, to think of a way out, what could I use around me? How would I get free? What were my escape options? But along with them came the doubts, the questions I couldn't answer. What if I can't get free? What if no one comes for me? How long can I hold my breath? What if I die? I shoved back the thoughts and pulled on my broken hand, crying out as the pain cleared my head.
The water was rising quickly in the, what I assumed, small room. It was mid-calf already. I pulled on my broken hand once more, yelling against the pain. I felt my hand slip through a little, my broken bones allowing my hand to slip through where it couldn't before. I tried to ignore the agony as i pulled my hand free. Holding my hand to my chest, I used my free arm to push the ropes up my chest, up past my shoulders, and over my head. Now what? I thought.
My hand was much too broken to unbind my other hand or feet. I could bite it off, but I doubted that I would have time for that. The water was too my knee now, rising faster than before. At the door, I heard a soft click. I looked over and froze. Was it Mr. Burns, coming back to make sure that I didn't escape?
The door opened to reveal a guy my age with a shock of dark hair in a t-shirt and jeans. Derek. I breathed a sigh of relief as he waded over to me, the water lower from when he opened the door. I was rescued. I would live. There was a flash as silver as he took out a knife and cut the ropes that bound me. He looked up at me with concern.
"Are you alright?" He asked in his english accent. I thought of my broken hand, still throbbing with pain.
"I'll be fine," I answered. "Let's go." We waded over to the door, Derek a step ahead of me, fighting against the knee high water. He got to the door first, pulling on it, but unable to open it.
"Help me open the door!" He said hurriedly. I grabbed the handle with my free hand and pulled, pushing against the wall with my leg when it didn't budge. "Use both hands!" He yelled, clearly afraid now.
"I can't!" I shouted over the sound of the rushing water. "Its broken!" He looked at me with a mixture of frustration for not telling him and thinly veiled terror.
"Why can't we open the door?" He asked.
"It must have locked itself after you came in." The explanation sounded lame to my own ears. "Even if it wasn't locked we wouldn't be able to open it with all this water, not now." He looked at the door grimly and nodded.
We turned around, looking for other exits, but there was none. I turned to him, an idea blossoming in my mind, and shouted in his ear.
"There has to be some kind of ventilation in here!" I pointed at the ceiling. He followed it to a grate, large enough for us to fit through. The Catch? I was ten feet off the floor and the water was almost to our hips. He turned to me and nodded, his blue eyes bright in the light reflecting off the water.
He leaned in to talk in my ear, pointing towards the small, wooden chair, which was now floating. "I'll give you a boost!"
I grabbed his arm before he could walk away. "Hold on!" He gave me a puzzled look, but didn't object. Turning back to the door, I leaned down and grabbed the hammer Mr. Burns had left behind. I turned back to him. "Let's go!"
He got there a half a second before I did, grabbing the chair and standing on it to keep it down. Hammer in one hand and broken hand against my chest, I joined him on the chair. He hoisted me up, and using the hammer, I knocked the grate off and climbed into the vents above. Once inside, I helped Derek up. Once both of us were up and we were facing the same direction, we army crawled to the next room.
The vents themselves were smaller than they're usually depicted in movies, barely big enough for us to army crawl in. we had just gotten into the next room when there was a loud noise coming from the next room. Derek peeked his head out the door in the direction of the water filled room. When he came back in he locked the door and closed the shades on the window.
"The power went out in the next room." His face was grim, but relieved. I was relieved too. If we had been there when the water took out the electricity, we would have been electrocuted. We looked at each other with amazement. We had made it out. We were alive.
Before I knew what was happening, I was in his arms, in an embrace. I relaxed against him so that we weren't so much as hugging as we were leaning against each other.

Authors Note:
Any predictions? Any ships? What do you think is going to happen to the characters? Any suspicions? This is just to make sure that my story isn't too predictable!