The Demon Inheritance

THREE

She shakes her head. "I don't understand, either. What's worse, we have to fight in our conditions."

She's talking about our pregnancies. We're both far enough along to have well-rounded bellies and tell how many we are going to have. Jupus and a man (I don't know who it is yet, she tells me it's a surprise until they decide to bond themselves through soul, also called marriage. I highly suspect the father of her children to be Gan) have twins on the way. Salt and I (Jupus is unaware my future soulmate is Salt; I want to be as mysterious as her) have one child on the way. If our numbers weren't so low in Croma, we wouldn't have to fight. Croma gave us the choice on whether or not to go into war. However, although it was dangerous, we wouldn't stand by as our home is destroyed and our people are murdered.

My land, my people, will always be more important that some child of mine. And even without a child, my people were more important than me. This was true, without a doubt.

"I know... I understand that the Dark minions are capable of love and understanding. After all, the Kalos are, and Croma did not create us. What kind of lies this they have to be told to kill this way?" I strap a helmet over my head, hiding everything but my mouth and my dark eyes from view. Then, I pick up my sword.

"Sometimes, they don't need to be told lies to do bad things," is all Jupus says. The Murondoes queen flexes her shoulders, and she sprouts a couple of gigantic white wings from small openings in her armor. They curve over easily in the room, half folded so that their size can make it through the hole and onto the canopy, and then into battle. A pearly feather drifts onto the floor. I copy her, letting out my own wings, which are dark, wrinkled, and clawed; imperfect, like a bat's wings. "I wish your child, and you, well, sister." Jupus squeezes herself onto the balcony.

I dip my head and look at the floor. I won't let her see the hot tears sliding down my face. "You too." I feel a gust of air as she pushes off the ground and enters battle. The sound of her clicking armor fades. I look up, hoping that my sister will come back from the fight as safe as before. Then, I leave the room, stand on the edge of the fifth story of the castle, and leap off.

The air swerves around the wrinkled membrane of my wings. Fighting tears, I sweep against the sky, monitoring the battle below, scouting for a spot I can break into and get the advantage in.

However, someone catches my attention. He stands on top of a broken piece of the wall that once separated the dimensions, white hair flowing from his shoulders like a pale cape. He has a hooked scythe in his hands, readying it for enemies. The thing he doesn't see, however, are the three shadowy figures creeping up behind him.

The memories of us flash before me. Our meeting, the first kiss, the kisses that followed, how he comforted me, and the day we realized we were pregnant... Although he may have been able to take care of himself, my body reacted on instinct. In a swift moment without decision, I streaked down towards him, sword braced over my breast. If anyone dared hurt my love, they were going to have a bad time.

In a burst of feathers, Jupus lands by my side in between Salt and the shades. Barely acknowledging the other's existence, the two of us dove to strike blows at the demons' throats. My blade sliced through one's black, leather-skinned throat. For a moment, it gurgles on its own blood before I pull my sword out, killing it. Jupus slices another dark thing in half. Then, I once, we turn to the last one standing, driving our swords on either side of its neck. I see the blood-streaked blade of my sister's sword prod through its flesh, then come out at the same time mine does.

"Things have been taken care of here, sister," Jupus says. "I believe Salt can take care of himself."

Salt smiles his thanks, rather than saying it. "I can. Thank you both." Jupus sweeps off, but I stay put, causing my soulmate to glare at me. "Why aren't you going?"

I'm taken aback by his sudden attitude. "Love, you need to be more careful. You could have died just then!"

The next moment is one I will never forget. My soulmate turns on me, lifting his scythe enough to where, if it landed, it would easily hack into the opening between my shoulder and neck. His black eyes are hot, burning with a sort of manic hate that I had never seen before. A flood of hurt and betrayal flood through me like poison in my bloodstream. "I did not almost die. I'm leading these demons. I broke the wall. I'm doing my duty as the Dark's son, sister. And my mission is complete! I was told to break in, cause break in the bloodlines of Croma - which I did by impregnating you and Jupus, and cause destruction from the inside! You must be truly stupid, loving so blindly like that, led by faith..."

I don't know what to do. My weapon drops from my hand as quickly as my knees. Had anyone else been in my position, I am sure they'd have snapped and killed him. They'd have gone mad from betrayal and driven the sword through him. But not me. I loved him too much for that. In that moment of utter chaos rippling through the battlefield and numbness ripping through me, I became so weak that I couldn't even cry. Imagine it, being betrayed by your soulmate. By your closest friend. By family.

That was the moment that I also decided to hate our child. If I lived long enough to squeeze the damnation out, that was. After all, Salt is already swinging his weapon through the air, so close to me, in a perfect position to behead me...

***

I woke in the middle of the night, where the light was made of ink. I was sweating, as if I'd actually had to fight through what I had just dreamed. Tears were hot on my face, covering my skin so that I no longer knew where I was crying from anymore. Flinging off the covers, my sweat-drenched body felt cool in the warm air. I clutched my pillow close, wondering what it would be like to actually be Ebony Kalos in that moment. What would it be like to be turned on by your best friend or the love of your life, family or someone you trusted? I only knew my mother and father, and they were such accepting, loyal people. Then, there was Oliver and Mary. In that moment, I pushed the white-haired boy out of my mind, clutching my pillow desperately. "I promise I'll tell you, Mary. I'll tell you at the party, where we have time to talk... Because I love you, sis... You must feel so betrayed by me when I shove you away like this..." Then, suddenly feeling lightheaded with desire for sleep, I murmured, "You'll never have to worry like Ebony did... I'll protect you until the end... no matter what happens..."

Mary Clarkson could not hear my vow, but I had the feeling she would have appreciated it.