Palace Of Flames (Book One of the Damnata Series)

Chapter Ten: Talking In Whispers

[Seth]

Unlike any other Vampiires of my kind, I am a killer. Not one of those trivial, overrated killers, that claim they've killed over a thousand men with the same knife, although you know deep down that they are talking one load of utter shit.

I am known by hundreds as a killer, naturally. Not as a result of my being a Vampiire; that really has nothing to do with my becoming a killer. I suppose it is more the fact that I am known for genocide, serial killings, and body-possession; meaning that I can leap from body to body as I wish, so that I am untraceable within my path of killings, and those that I possess are landed with the blame. I am known as a Whirlwind: a severely dangerous spirit that can shape-shift, possess the souls of many different beings, and plant thoughts into people's heads. I can also see the names and dates of death of those around me, even if I do not know them. That is why even the Damnata are afraid of Whirlwinds. We are a liability towards the coexistence of the Immortal race, and so we must be exterminated immediately and upon detection.

Not that anyone can catch me, that is.

I am hardly a fair player, that I know, and I do not care for the life of any being, not even my own life. I know that my own life has no meaning, as well as the lives of others that I know, for I can see the future, and I have rather frequent premonitions to back up my visions.

I have never developed a soft-spot, in a sense, for anything or anyone, and I have never prepared myself for the day when I would eventually develop something such as that for another being, be it Mortal or otherwise.

But when one meets a being that is almost completely new and almost completely unreadable in the sense of thoughts and emotions such as an object of protection, or the likes of Kristy Motionless... Well, it is as though one cannot help but allow feelings to arise, unannounced and unexpectedly.

It is not as though I intended to develop feelings for someone that I have only ever seen from treetops and birds-eye-views. I had never seen her face before then...so obviously I was not to expect such a thing as absurd and unmentionable to happen.

I'm perched at the edge of a tree branch, next to Alex and Jake Illingworth, two closely-allied friends of the Nocturna assigned to help protect Kristy and track any threats nearby. As I scan the scene below, I can't help but let my narrowed gaze linger on the house that Kristy Motionless no doubt lives in.

The Twins chuckle slightly in unison, and I shake my head slowly, fixing my brass goggles over my eyes that are for much more than just eye protection, or merely as an accessory. They mask out the dates of death and the names of those around me, but they also allow me to see the Shinigami and Scissorhands demons lingering around their next target.

As I focus on Kristy's house, I can't help but notice the hordes of demons lingering around the surrounding streets, the demons and Shinigami that look like they're headed right for her.

As I push myself quickly forward, flying off the branch, the Twins chuckle as they move at either side of me, in wolf-form. I hear their thoughts as they mock me, and try to block them out; I fail, of course.

'Seems like someone's got a little soft-spot for Kristy!' Jake howls with laughter - pardon the painful pun - and Alex grins wolfishly in his twin's direction.

'Yeah, seems like he's a real sucker for a Mortal, huh!' They both laugh, and I feel like ripping their throats out and eating them.

And I would probably do that, given the chance. Not that Mikhael and Autumn would ever really forgive me for mutiny, but even so. It would shut them the hell up, yes?

"Enough!" I snarl. "I have not developed a soft-spot of any kind for the Mortal; I have no time for such trivial acts." I am totally aware that emotion is wasted on me.