Mad As A Hatter (Completed 2015) [WATTY AWARD WINNER *Featured Story*]

chapter five ◊ evif retpahc

Dedicated to the cover artist Hannah-Hall and my favourite pretentious asshole @WhoElseWouldItBe [Follow that lovely carrot whore] 

(I think I used that word in the right context while writing this chapter...I meant the word 'pretentious' not 'carrot whore')

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"Tell me what," I replied darkly. 

Grim handed me the gin and I took a long sip before staring back into his eyes.  "You weren't always the Purge." 

A crack ran down the bottle.  "What?"

"The previous Purge died three years ago.  The demons were searching for a soul to sacrifice and use as their Purge.  They usually captured a dark soul who could withstand their anger, wrath and need for revenge.  However, the demons, specifically Lord Death, were attracted to something running through your blood.  It drove them mad, they went crazy and hysterical just at the scent.  Instantly you were given their powers and the title.  They've never tasted a blood so sweet; they were high, Hat."

My voice was hoarse.  "What do you mean?"

His finger tapped my nose. "Your blood was their drug."

A jagged crack strikes down the bottle again.  "My blood...is a demon drug." 

He then tapped my wrist, my blood pulsing through my veins.  "Why do you think Lord Death likes you more than the other demons?  You have blood no one has seen before."

My head ached, failing to wrap around this ludicrous concept.  "Why," my weakened voice asked. 

"I don't have all the answers," Grim said.  "I just know each of us who aren't full demons, you and I, weren't always like this.  We were once human.  Our lives were stolen by a demon and we've been manipulated into their system ever since.  The memories from our human life are erased.  Flashbacks can occur but we are not meant to fulfill our human lives.  We pursue the ones given to us by Hell."

I hardly noticed my tone become strained.  "Why'd they take you?  Is your blood like mine?" 

He grinned.  "Unlike you, Hat, I've been in Hell's system for over a hundred years.  My human life is long gone now, everyone I once knew dead.  They took me in because I was always fascinated by death as a child.  It's a long story, but in the end, a demon saved my life.  At the age of nineteen, on a cold January night I was drowning in the river, and the demons rescued me, taking my human body and making me immortal."

I gave a cautious look.  "And I'm not immortal because..."

He burst into a short laugh.  "Hat, you know how much power, how much dark energy Hell would need to make you immortal?"  He poked my chest.  "Remember you have all of Hell's anger, wrath and revenge inside of you.  Your job is to release it through killing, respectively and intelligently, on the mainland.  That means all of Hell would need something stronger than themselves to make you immortal."

I placed the bottle on the table and rested my elbows on my knees, circulating my forehead.  "Why tell me this now?  I've only been the Purge for three years?  So if I'm not immortal, then I'm aging!  Who was I when I was sixteen?  What happened—how did I obtain this blood type?" 

Grim shrugged.  "Only one man holds that information.  He stores and records the files of any demon's previous human state." 

I glanced up.  "Who?"

"He's a loyal human.  Owns a gang within the deep Sierra forest of California.  He can tell you about your human form."  

"Let's go then."  Getting up, Grim quickly forced me back down.