Temptation of the Fallen

Chapter 11: A Taste of Power

It was already ten at night the next day and poor Tarin was still trying to wrap her head around this whole Heaven and demons and angels thing. I mean, I have seen some crazy religious people in my time, but Tarin didn't care or believe in religion to begin with. Seeing this was like. super scary. She honestly has no idea what to do with herself and I feLt kind of bad.

On more than one occasion Luca and I had seriously considered admitting her to the nearest asylum. (Or wherever they house crazies around here). Honestly neither of us had any experience with anyone in this level. We were at a loss as to what to do.

Luca and I were debating with each other on the couch. We had about enough of the amazed looks and questions from Tarin. "Go to the corner." Luca instructed. She complied and did as she was told.

"Uh uh. Blair Witch style." I corrected. We ended up watching that movie my second night here. Let me tell you, humans are messed up, like their psyche needs some serious help. She huffed and slowly turned around.

Suddenly, there was a loud shatter that emanated from the window facing the front. All three of us snapped our heads towards the noise. There in the window sill stood creature, hunching over and holding the top of the frame. It was foaming at the mouth and it's face was all mangled up. The skin was turning black and it had no eyes. My eyes widened as I realized what that creature was.

I shot up from my spot of the couch and shouted, "Savage!" I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the largest, sharpest knife that I could find. I ran back and held the knife, ready to kill that thing. Yeah sure, there are rumors of savage demons, but that is just what they were. No one has really seen one and lived to tell the tale. Even if they did, the angels who have been infected had been forced to live in solitary.

Anyway, I was ready to fight to the death. At this point, people in the middle level need a hero, and as far as I'm concerned, that role belongs to me. I needed to go home of course, but I couldn't do that while I let people lay victims to the savage's rampage. I was ready to lay down my life if that's what this situation came to.

Suddenly, I saw a blur out of the corner of my eye, and then Luca was in between me and the savage. He held out one arm in front of me in a protective fashion with his left hand and in his right, he held out a broad edged sword. The sunlight that streamed past the savage, almost glowing against the sword and made the jewels that matched his eyes on the hilt seem to glitter. He glared menacingly at the savage and his eyes narrowed.

Luca sprinted toward the savage and he pulled back his sword. With lightning like speed, he thrusters the sword in between the savage's eyes. The savage dodged it, but the sword managed to make a cut on its nose. It howled in both anger and pain, the sound made me almost fearful. Almost. It charged at Luca and sliced with its long black claws. They managed to catch Luca and got his side. Luca let out a pained cry as he collapsed to the ground.

Rage began boiling inside of me as the savage went for the killing blow. I let out an angry cry and ran to protect Luca. I slid in front of him and held up my arms to take the brunt of the savage's blow. Suddenly, there was a clanging noise that emanated throughout the apartment and cut through Tarin's screams of horror. I slowly opened one eye to see my tonfas blocking the savage's dripping claws as it tried to desperately grab at me. I smirked and slowly stood up. I un-crossed my tonfas with such a force that it sent it flying. My eyes began glowing so bright that their natural color almost looked white and I seemed to almost be glowing.

My instincts from all those years of battling took over as I essentially went on auto pilot. I flung myself at the savage and it barely managed to dodge me by stepping backwards. I looked up at its eyes and smirked as I saw fear. I sliced upwards and my tonfa went straight through its jugular. I pulled it out violently and black blood coated my body. I started walking away and began walking towards Tarin who had Luca's head in her lap.

I thought that the fight was all over. Little did I know how wrong I could have been. "Luci! Behind you!" Tarin shrieked at the top her lungs.

I turned around to see any light that whatever self control this creature had was now gone from its eyes. Suddenly, a long, dark worm peeked out of its left eye before shooting back in. My eyes widened in realization. I now knew why those were only rumors and why so many of our people had died. (Honestly this was turning out to be a B rated horror movie).

You're probably confused, so let me break this all down for you. When demons die, their body becomes the breeding and feeding ground for many creatures, much like humans. Though, demonic parasites are very much different. Apparently, theses demonic parasites have the ability to turn a demon into its personal host. When demons are dying, they almost become animalistic and they lose control of themselves. So instead of the parasite finding the body, it must already be inside. So that means that when the demon dies, the smell brings parasites who have not found the body yet. They wait patiently inside of the claws or the mouth, infecting it and making the claws and teeth drip. When the demon attacks someone, it passes on the parasites and then they take over their new hosts or die all together.

"So that's why they seem to be winning the war at times." I thought as I clenched my hands around the tonfas' handles.

I twirled my tonfas and walked towards the savage, swallowing all of my fear. "Third times the charm... Right?" I thought hopefully. I swept my leg and made the savage fall to its knees in front of me. I placed my tonfas in a crisscross pattern and quickly sliced. I caught the head as it flew in the air and threw it as far as I could out the window. The body fell to the floor and laid in a black puddle of its own infected blood.

I started walking back over to Luca and Tarin. My hands began glowing but it died when my ears perked at a high pitched, loud noise.

Off in the distance, I could hear the howling of more savages.