Crow

Ch. 2

Then, the railing broke.

He would have fallen with her, too, if he hadn't changed back into a crow in time. As he circled back upwards to the roof, he could have sworn he saw a flash of a scaly white tail disappear behind some crates. He wanted to go after it, but the crow knew he couln't sustain much more damage in his current state. For the moment, he decided to let the other demon go.

He realized that mistake later when Inahkt, as the snake was apparently called, followed Echo home. The crow managed to get there in time to save her, calling on his flock to intercept the snake's path.

He'd even caught the girl when she fell, almost chuckling at her bewildered expression when she saw the birds. For the first time in a while, he actually didn't mind exerting himself this much.

After all, entire reason for involving himself with these two demons in the first place, was that girl. He felt guilty for Echo, wishing he hadn't made her witness the other girl's 'death' earlier. If the bird had known of their 'freindship', he would have tried to make his killing a little more subtle.

He'd learned recently that 'Luna' was the nickname Lunette had decided to use to enroll with at the school. Along with this information, he also found that the fox demon was planning on hurting Echo.

Hopping down from the tree, the crow felt the full weight of the injuries he'd sustained from his fights with Lunette and Inahkt. Though he hadn't intended on taking that many hits, the bird had acquired a grand total of a dislocated shoulder, one broken rib, and several deep gashes to the face and wings.

Flying was certainly out of the question, and he had consumed far too much energy to shift into a human, so he found a sheltered spot in Echo's small backyard garden to rest for the day. As he closed his heavy eyelids, he recalled how 'Luna' had decided to rename herself. Times were changing, and an old-fashioned name such as his own would stand out far too much.

So the crow demon had chosen a nickname for himself as well; which, rather suitingly, happened to be Crow.

***

Echo stirred from where she lay on the couch, realizing that she had dozed off. She sat up slowly, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and onto the floor. She must have tried to stand too quickly, because a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her.

Her knees buckled and black dots danced momentarily across her vision, but she managed to catch herself on the wooden coffee table that sat in the middle of the room.

Raising a hand to her forehead, she couldn't feel any fever. She straightened up, cautiously this time, and glanced around the living room. Her mother wasn't there.

Echo sighed, knowing she'd probably gone out to the market while her daughter was sleeping. Out of the need for comfort, she fingered her father's favorite ring. She always wore it on a silver chain around her neck, since the gigantic size of it was too big for even her thumb.

The ring was nothing too flashy; just a thick band made out of some unknown metal, with an eye catching blue gem centered on it's top. Depending on how the light hit the stone, the jewel would almost seem to light up in an impossible shade of blue-violet. It's shade of midnight color somewhat reminded her of her father's eyes...

Echo felt a twinge of sadness as she recalled the incident from eleven years ago.

Her father had been driving her home from a piano recital, letting her sit in the front passenger seat as treat for playing so well. She'd been so happy at that moment, pleased with her new position in the 'big-girl-seat'. She hadn't even noticed the huge, dark object speeding towards their small van.

Echo saw a flash, and then saw nothing at all. She couldn't remember what happened after the impact, but when the police had found her, she was lying ten feet away from the burning vehicle with a long gash in her back and her father's ring clutched tightly in her fist.

Once she arrived at the hospital, she remained in a coma for six days. When she woke up, she was hounded by a group of police who wanted to know what happened; though the little girl herself wasn't even sure what happened. Much less that her father had been killed.

They explained that the van looked like it had been hit by something much larger, but there were no signs of any other vehicle found at the scene of the accident. They also claimed that the entire front half of the cabin had burst into flames shortly after the crash, which was why they were baffled as to how Echo had managed to get out without a single burn.

Her mother had chased them out of the room then, shouting that her daughter had already been through enough without them barraging her with confusing questions. That was when she was told about her father.

Echo didn't speak a single word for a year after that; dedicating her time to only playing piano. When she allowed herself to finally start talking again, she found that she enjoyed singing. From that point, she began to warm back up to people and start socializing more; which was how she met Wren and Aria.

Echo closed her eyes, feeling calmer now with the cool metal of her father's ring pressed against the pad of her thumb. She headed silently up the stairs, having only one destination in mind for the next few hours; her music room.

What she needed now, more than anything else, was a familiar melody. So she played, and she played, and she played until she could almost forget the entire day's ordeal.

Keyword: almost.

The ivory keys of her piano felt smooth and kind under her practiced touch, thrumming softly with the sounds of their cords. It was then that she started to play her father's favorite piece; Moonlight Sonata. She began to play so passionately that she could feel the walls the small room vibrating.

Echo could have sworn, that in that moment, the gem of her father's ring had been glowing. Though she knew it was probably just the way the light was glinting off of it, she had to stop playing to inspect it and be sure. Holding it by the chain, she turned it over and over in the light. It was normal now.

She smirked at herself. Of course it would look completely normal; it was just a ring.

Suddenly, she heard a faint scuffling sound coming front somewhere outside. It sounded almost like... wings?

Echo quickly descended the stairs and headed for the back door. Swinging it open, she stepped out in curiosity. The scuffling was louder now, only this time it sounded more like struggling.

She took a step towards the garden, and that was when she saw it; a ginormous crow battling an equally as large white snake. The bird was putting up quite a fight, but it looked like it was losing. It already seemed to be injured, and the snake was steadily keeping up on it's attack.

Then the ghastly white snake sunk it's teeth into the birds chest.

Echo didn't know what came over her, but a wave of fury washed violently over her at that moment. With a newfound courage fueled by anger, she found herself suddenly standing directly over them and gripping the snake by it's neck.

She exerted as much pressure as she could onto it's jaw, forcing it to release. Winding back her arm with all her strength, she flung the snake an admirable distance into the trees.

As gently as she was able, she picked up wounded crow and held it securely against her chest. Echo rushed back into the house, clearing their round living room table to use as a work space. Since her father's old animal clinic was practically a second home to her, she had this kind of thing down to a science.

Now armed with a medical kit and a handful of clean towels, determination gleamed in her midnight colored eyes. She smoothed it's feathers away from the main wounds with steady hands, murmuring a firm promise to the bloodied bird.

"Don't you worry, crow; I'm not going to let you die here!"

-------------------------------------

Happy valentine's day my minions!!! C: (er... Forever Available day?)

PS: to those who were wondering, Inahkt's name is pronounced as 'Ee-nahk-t' c:

-SpyCy