A War for the Soul (The Demon War Series, Book 1)

Rebirth

 Emma, Crelasa, and Reisel were incredibly bored. It had been weeks since they had gone to the outside world. Occasionally one of them would go to get food but they felt it was safer to lay low for a little bit. They were all getting restless. There was plenty to do, an arcade, clothing stores with beautiful dresses and snazzy suits, a gaming store and tech store that they had looted for TVs and video games, a tattoo parlor, and what used to be an antique store.

Emma had been told not to go to the antique store. After Reisel talked with Crelasa out of earshot of Emma, they had both made sure to drill into Emma that it was absolutely off limits. This only made Emma want to go into the store more but she obeyed their order for a while. It had been weeks and every day seemed to be the same though so she waited until they were busy, fighting each other in a violent fighting game they loved.

She walked over to the antique store and looked around to make sure Crelasa and Reisel hadn't followed her. Once she was felt she was clear, she walked in. There were scuff marks on the floor, remnants of black burn marks on the walls and broken glass and objects scattered throughout. Emma walked through, doing her best to avoid all the glass, disappointed that she didn't see any objects that were intact.

At the very back, she noticed that there was one thing that had not been destroyed. It was a gorgeous charcoal black ring with a beautiful diamond that glowed back at Emma. The ring lay there on the ground but Emma felt as though it was calling to her, pulling her in. Her legs seemed to move toward the ring, acting separately from her.

Emma bent down and grabbed the ring. She thought she could hear voices coming from it, begging her to put it on. The diamond reflected her but something was different. She looked stronger, sexier. It excited her. Without thinking about this strange occurrence she slipped the ring onto her finger. It grew and formed perfectly around her ring finger. She raised her finger and looked at her new jewelry. A giant smile formed on her face.

"Emma!" Reisel rushed to Emma and grabbed her hand.

"What?" Emma asked. "This place isn't so bad."

"You don't know what you've done," Reisel said, he looked scared like he was seeing a ghost.

"Emma," Crelasa interjected, "Take that damn thing off. Now!"

"Fine," Emma said, she tried to take the ring off but it wouldn't budge. She looked confused, she continued to try to take it off but it wouldn't move even an inch. Her eyes widened and she started getting scared.

"Don't panic," Crelasa said, advice for both Emma and Reisel as Reisel's face had gone gaunt and Emma was starting to breath fast and panic.

"Please help me," Emma begged, pleading with Crelasa and Reisel to do something, anything. Crelasa and Reisel both looked rough. Crelasa was pacing, trying to think of some solution and Reisel just stood there, averting his eyes to anything else he could find when his eyes met Emma's. Emma stood there, frozen, bursting into tears.

Suddenly Emma screamed in agony. Reisel and Crelasa snapped their head over to Emma and looked at horror in her hand which was now covered in blood, stemming from the spot where the ring resided.

"It stabbed me!" Emma yelled out. Spiked had jutted out of the ring and plunged into her finger. She could feel her blood being sucked out of her at an alarming rate. She looked at the ring, seeing the diamond glistening with her blood. A voice rose from the ring to her ear telling her to sleep. Her eyes started getting heavy and she obeyed the ring, collapsing to the floor. As she fell she saw Crelasa and Reisel rush to catch her. She smiled before fading into unconsciousness.

...

Emma opened her eyes and sat up. She looked at her hand which, to her surprise, was clean and the ring was nowhere to be seen, even her natural blemishes were gone. Looking around, Emma noticed she was in a crowded metropolitan area with busy traffic and large groups of people walking, all ignoring her, some even walking through her.