The Demonic Society

Hide And Seek

Pitch black smoke fused with magenta twirled around me as if the wisps were dance partners. The thick fumes polluted my lungs. The lack of oxygen in my body made my brain feel like it would swell beyond the capacity of my skull. The smell of it reminded me of the cigars my foster father used to smoke daily. I could recall the stink sticking to everything in the house.

I felt as if I was drowning in the air and a swift wave of nausea added to my misery. It was like being caught in a whirlwind.

Pain radiated through my body. My chest felt like it would cave in. I bit my lip, breaking skin and drawing a few droplets of blood to the surface. They floated out in front of me close enough to touch before the raging storm spit me out.

My landing wasn't at all graceful and my kneecaps stung at the impact of pavement. I found myself in the middle of what seemed to be a town. It was clustered with what looked to be like people until I got a closer view of some of there faces and my stomach turned.

Some stared at me hungrily, others glanced at me curiously, but most carried on there way. As I launched to my feet I turn around to look at the swirling portal behind me. I backed away from the wretched thing in case it decided to suck me back up.

I scanned my surroundings and thought furiously about what I should do next. The building closest to my left looked like a restaurant so without a second thought I went in.

Directly after the door shut behind me and I turned my head, the portal flashed white. Three men appeared seconds after the flash. The feeling in my gut told me exactly who they were and what they were looking for.

My eyes landed on the creature who was held on a leash in the middle mans hand. It was something that I couldn't have dreamed up even in my worse nightmares.

It's body was ginormous and packed with muscle. Even the tail wiping through the air could pack a mighty punch. It stood on four legs and had a gigantic scar along its side. Fur layered its back but the rest of it was taut skin.

I could only identify its face by the crooked canines that looked like they could slice through flesh and bone. When I squinted I could make out it's nostrils flaring and inky eyes rounding. It roved the ground, ravenous, sniffing for its prey like a dog.

When its tail shot straight up and head pointed in my direction I froze like a deer caught in the headlights. I could see one of the men say something and then another walk in the direction of the restaurant. I turned on my heel and sprinted past the tables lining the room.

I ran smack dab into a waiter who dropped the many trays he was holding and spilled a variety of drinks all over me. A few of them must have been alcoholic beverages because the liquid stung when it landed on the wound in my chest. A helpless cry made it's why past my lips from the stinging pain.

I didn't look back as I kept moving, knowing that it had caused quite a scene. I was almost made it to what had to be the door to the restaurant's kitchen when a hand grabbed me by the hair. I cried out in agony. My scalp protesting as the man yanked me around by my roots.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" I recognized the mans voice from earlier, Levi. His hair was an ugly lime green and when he leered at me I got a full view of his yellow teeth.

"Let me go!" I shouted, spitting in his face. He did as I asked before lifting his arm in a movement that indicated he was about to slap me across the face. Before he could achieve that I ducked. Then I dove hard into his stomach with my shoulders like I'd learned to do in my self defense classes.

The momentum carried us both off our feat, and we tumbled backwards into a wine shelf. Bottles fell and shattered to pieces all around us. Red, white, and purple liquid soaked my hair and the under layers of my clothes.

I started out on top of him, straining to hold him down. Then he flipped me over onto my bruised back so damn hard my head slammed against the marble floor. My body started to tremble uncontrollably and I was hit by a wave of dizziness.

He removed his hands from the grip he held on my arms and replaced them around my throat.  I rocketed my fist up, connecting it with the side of his face. It did more harm that good because he snickers at me, tightens his grasp, but doesn't budge. I hit at him a few more times but got the same result. A reasonable part of me thought by now that someone would intervene but I was sadly mistaken.

A strangled sound rose from my throat as I tried to suck oxygen into my lungs. Menacing shadows crawled in the corner of my vision. I was on the verge of blacking out when my back ached. The sound of the skin on my back shredding made my blood sing with terror.

What's happening?

The man heard it to and his hold on me slackened in confusion. I beheld his eyes filling with horror before he pushed himself off of me. I drew in a shuddering breath before letting it out and drawing in another. My hand raised to my throat, rubbing the raw skin there. The excruciating pain in my back intensified as I raised my arm.

"What is one of you doing here?!" Levi shrieked, backing into his buddies who were standing behind him with their hell hound. I realized the reason no one had helped was because everyone had cleared the restaurant, leaving me with the three men and their beast.

What is one of me doing here? What does that even mean?

Tears stung my eyes, but I wiped them away with the inside of my wrist before they could further develop. I smiled feebly.

"What do you think?" I asked in hopes to bewilder them. I felt frail and my legs were unsteady as I stood. My chest, feet, throat, head, and back were aching. My legs throbbed from strain. I was on the brink of passing out and I refused to do it in front of men previously trying to murder me.

Although I was already dead so I guess that doesn't make any sense. Neither does feeling more pain that I've ever felt in my life considering I'm supposed to be dead. On top of that, Levi's reaction to my—-

I became painfully aware of the heavy weight on my back. With a quick turn of my head I was startled to see two massive wings attached right between my shoulder blades.

"I think that you don't know what you're doing here anymore than we do. I'll even go as far to assume you don't know what you are based on your reaction to those." The man whose voice I didn't recognize gestured to my crimson wings. He slicked his hand through his ashen hair and spit out the toothpick he'd been nawing on. When he took a step towards me I took a wobbly step back.

"Well then, you'll be disappointed to hear that you're wrong." I fibbed.

"Oh really?" The man chuckled taking another step towards me. This time when I didn't have room to take a step back a new bell of alarm went off in my head.

A scream tore from me as my wings lifted and flapped one tremendous beat.

Everything and everyone in front of me was flung across the room.