Shadow Knight Saga: The Shadowlands

Chapter Nine

"What happened next?" Langley eagerly asked, her overly large blue eyes sparkling with excitement, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Yeah, what happened next?" Kaelan and Teague asked in unison, on the edge of their seats in anticipation, their pizza getting cold.

Vee took a swig of his Coke to wash down his tenth slice of pizza, enjoying how easily amused these teen are. "The demonic bull slid across the ground," he said in a low voice, his eyes moving around the room to gauge the response of his audience, "his muscular shoulder plowing through the stone and concrete as he went, until finally his momentum stopped just mere inches from the edge of the Lake. I cursed under my breath. I wanted to see that big bastard drown!"

The gathered audience laughed.

"I'm serious!" Vee informed them, grabbing another piece of white garlic pizza from the box. "That was the first time I'd seen a demon so I didn't know how to kill one or what to expect. And the crazy old dude with me warned against slicing anything off of it. One demon was bad enough so I wasn't about to risk bringing its legion over, you know what I mean? So there I was, glowing purple stiletto in my hand, the beast partially covered in dancing flames...I seriously felt like I was the grand marshal in a gay pride parade."

"You'd be so lucky," Zeke scoffed, flipping his missing long hair over his shoulder.

Vee winked at him and Zeke blushed. He continued, "Patiently I waited for the beast to get to his feet...his big ass was stuck on his side, his wings trying to get him upright; it totally looked like a demonic turtle stuck on its back. I'll admit it, I laughed."

"Weren't you scared?" Corvine whispered.

"Of course I was scared," Vee scoffed. "Not for myself of course. I was prepared to die. It's always a possibility when you leave the house and step out into the darkness. I was more scared for the old man with me!"

Again everyone laughed, everyone but the young woman sitting in the hallway off of the dining room, hiding in the shadows while the young man recounts, to the best of his knowledge with many added embellishments of self grandeur, what happened with the Demon Lord.

"Finally the demon got to his feet and his wings extended away from him like a peacock in heat, each of the remaining eyes burning invisible daggers at me. 'Bring it on, bitch,' I said, waving him forward, well aware that he'd make me his bitch real fast if I wasn't careful. He pawed at the ground, smoke rolled from his nose and long tendrils of burning saliva hung from his jowl. His black lip pulled upward and he snarled...I never knew bulls had razor sharp teeth, but I do now! The bull charged, throwing dirt, broken stone and concrete behind him as he went. The ground violently shook and I struggled to stay on my feet. If I was a God fearing man I would have said a prayer, but none came to mind at that moment.

"Visible waves of heat emanated from the demon's thick, black hide and my cloak blew away from me from the sheer force of each suffocating breath that shot out towards me from his flaring nostrils. The beast was no more than ten feet from me, his massive form towered over me, nearly twice my height, and I knew that the end was in sight."

Langley and Corvine gasped. "You poor thing," they said in unison, shoving each other as they fought to be the one to reassuringly pat him on the shoulder.

Vee nodded, pouting his bottom lip out, trying to keep from laughing.

Shayne rolled her eyes from the hallway, shaking her head. How she could have ever thought he was attractive is beyond her.

 "What happened next?" everyone asked.

"Out of nowhere," Vee said ominously, "a dark shadow flew over my head and engulfed the massive bull's head. The beast cried out in surprise as a black and silver sword and purple stiletto stabbed repeatedly into his face, gouging his eyes out in the process. His wings wrapped around them, protectively cocooning the savage beast and the darkened warrior of the light, engulfing the area in absolute darkness," his words trailed off to a whisper. "It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop," he said so softly that is caused those eagerly listening to get Goosebumps. "My breathing was non-existent and my heart no longer pounded in my chest. The blood trickling from the numerous razor-fine slashes littering my battered body seemingly congealed and stopped in mid-roll. The searing coursing through my body was nothing more than a mere warm embrace that told me I was alive...for now. The silence enveloped me and for a brief moment a sense of serenity washed over me and I thought that I had indeed died and that at any moment my bright light and the open arms of the angel I was ripped away from, that are eagerly waiting to take me home, would appear and that the purgatory my life had become would finally be over and I would go home."