"I am meaner than my demons"
∞
Besides the Beast chewing through my face with its razor sharp teeth, it turned towards Paris, snapping and jousting. I quickly jumped on the thrashing creature, holding it tight on my waist with my slender arms. A ten ton weight was lifted from my soul, my horrified anxiety subdued from reaching the Beast in time. It clawed and scratched at my forearms, trying to get free from my hold on him. His long tongue slithered towards Paris, trying to reach him, while Paris looked petrified. At least he didn't run, but I would bet on my soul it was because of the shock.
"Ow!" I hissed as one of the claws scratched me hard enough to break skin, "No!" I yelled at Beast, and thunked his head with my hand, not hard enough to hurt but enough to reprimand. You would need to take a cement block to his skull if you wanted the damned thing to notice.
I looked back at Paris, who looked ready to kneel over and die. Soon enough, the shock would wear out and the adrenaline would kick in.
"Do. Not.Run" I snarled at him, already noticing his green eyes flickering between me and the door. He looked ready to bolt, a complete deer in headlight, so I lied, "If you run, he will escape from my hands. You're boring him by the minute with your mundane personality. You'll only excite him more if you start running now and turn it into a hunt. Bolt and I'll release him, because I'd choose all ten fingers over you any day" I snapped at him, carefully dragging my beast to the farthest corner, struggling with his strength. His feet nearly dragged on the floor as I yanked him by the waist. He was still thrashing towards Paris as I freed one hand towards my dresser.
Paris yelled, "No!" simultaneously as the beast tried to jump from my arms towards him. Where on earth did he get the momentum for that leap? Thankfully, he didn't break free from my single arm holding him in place, although he did thrash, snapping his jaws angrily. I finally found the silver, enchanted chain in my bureau, and skillfully clipped it onto the pink collar, that had been hidden in his furry scruff. I didn't dare let him down to the ground till I had locked the chain onto the hook on wall.
"Do not let it go, Eulalia" Paris whisper shouted to me, still clutching his sword, "Hold it till I can bring this blade down on it".
I snapped my head to him at that, rage boiling through my veins. So this is how he repays me saving his life? This is how he shows gratitude for my rare compassion? By killing my Beast. What was it with this boy and killing creatures that were rightfully mine?
I swiftly dropped the beast onto the ground, in an act of pettiness, and let him run at Paris, who in turn frantically scrambled back with a shout. I let loose a cruel laugh at his frantic state. He reached my farthest wall, and fell to the ground, still crawling backwards. Beast thrashed and jumped and snapped his jaws but sadly couldn't reach him; the chain didn't reach that far.
"Eulalia, get it back!" He looked at me in absolute terror.
"Why, so you can slaughter him?" I seethed, the rage evident on my features. Paris looked at me confused and panicked. Ignoring him, I tugged at the monsters chain repeatedly. Finally, after the third tug, he looked back at me and let loose a whine; he didn't want to stop playing with his dinner. I tugged once more and he finally huffed over to me, toddling unevenly with his claws scratching the stone floors. I collapsed into my arm chair as he growled from my feet.
"He can't reach you" I said to no-one in particular, digging in my bureau till I found a pink bow. I fixed it onto Beasts head, gathering a pony tail worth of tuft.
"What- what the actual Hell, Eulalia?!" He yelled at me in a hushed tone, afraid to summon a reaction from Beast. The Beast and I were now sitting between him and the only exit in my dormitory.
"Hey! You got it right, maybe you're not as dense as you seem" I deadpanned at his expression. Paris crawled up to my armchair, trying to put as much space between as us he could while still holding out his sword defensively. He looked quite stupid, actually, even more so than usual.
"What...?" He asked, and his voice cracked in confusion. I looked up at him sharply, scrutinizing his expression. The hysterical boy looked on the verge of a panic attack, and a tang of sympathy ran through me. It's not every day you find a hellhound, one of the most vicious hunters of the underworld, in the dorm next to yours. Even less likely than that, is finding a seventeen year old girl tying pink bows into its fur. The average person would have reacted a lot worse than naive Paris here.
"He is a hellhound, and his proper name is Beastly" I gritted out almost inaudibly. I left out the "Sir" sparing myself mockery. Sir Beastly thrashed in my arms at the sound of his name, scratching at my forearms without doing any real damage.
"Oh Gods, what the Hell?" He muttered frantically. Well that was progress. At least he could make out words without hurling all over my goose-down comforter. I rolled my eyes at him and patted Beastly's tufted head.
Sir Beast didn't look like a monster. Well...not really. Maybe his jaw was too big, with his oversized teeth jutting out from his maw. And it's not his fault that his pink tongue hung limply from his ajar mouth. How could he possibly keep it locked In, if his teeth wouldn't let him close his muzzle properly? Other then that, he was perfectly adorable.
He was the size of a huge dog, maybe a wolf, and was endearingly fuzzy with black fur. His face was a bit flat, like he got done in with a frying fan, but his big, yellow eyes were the epitome of innocent! And his nose! His nose was pink and shiny. How could one claim he's evil when he has a cute, little, pink, button nose?! They just don't give adorable noses like those to evil creatures. I tried adding the pink bow to draw the eye away from the lethal claws and razor sharp teeth, but I doubt it worked, seeing Paris' reaction.
"Where did it come from?" Paris hissed, eyeing Sir Beastly roll over on his back. Someone obviously didn't see Paris as a threat. I agreed with Beastly wholeheartedly.
"No clue" I replied tightly, rubbing his stomach. I was on edge from showing affection to Beast infront of Paris. He was invading on an intimate moment for me. It made me beyond uncomfortable, but it was either calm down Beast with belly rubs, or let him maul Paris. I personally was fine with the latter, but the school would get involved, and that would be the end of my fun.
"What do you mean, no clue??" He pried. I scowled at the insolent boy. Paris somehow believed barging into my room and ruining my hard work, gave him a free pass into my life, much less a right to interrogate me.
"What I mean is I have a 200 pound hellhound in my lap right now. Remember who you're speaking to with that tone" I snapped at him, leveling a frigid glare, "And I don't know where he came from. I accidentally summoned him into my room and simply decided to keep him"
Paris was silent for a moment, and I couldn't decipher what the stony expression on his chiseled face meant, "You mean to say, that you accidentally summoned a hell hound to your room, and decided to keep it as a familiar?" He was sitting with such an unnatural stillness that you could mistake him for an alabaster statue of a Greek God. Apollo maybe, looking at his warm color palette.
"I didn't mean to keep him. He just ate my own familiar, so I had an opening for the position" I said innocently while observing my cuticles, hoping he would ignore the latter phrase. Yes, I had a familiar before Sir Beast- a frigid cat that had I had gotten a week prior to his appearance. Beast had gotten to him before I could do anything about it; Hellhounds proved to be fast when hungry.
"He what?! You sacrificed your familiar?!" The current look that he was giving, I could decipher- disgust. He glared at me as If I had mauled a baby.
"No. I wasn't trying to summon Beastly. He just showed up in my summoning circle and was hungry! He turned on my cat besides me! Which is wonderful progress for a wild hellhound! He knows who not to eat people!"
"He still tried to eat me, Eula!" He whisper-shouted in desperation.
"Okay, so he only knows not to eat me. Which is all that technically matters at the current moment, seeing nobody is moronic enough to enter my room without invitation" I shot him an accusatory glare. He was quiet for a second, visibly breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. After a few seconds of leveled breathing, he began,
"Eula, you can't keep him here. You have to give him up to Headmistress Rowena. Or Beldame Clawvd. I- I have to tell them about this"
"No, you don't, you brown-nose suck-up! You will do no such thing!" I seethed, jumping up from my spot.
"Yes. I will. I'm going to tell her" He declared, gripping his ridiculous sword again. He resembled a toddler playing dress up with his fathers armor. Obviously that little jump-scare wasn't enough to knock him off his moral high-horse. He was so stupid. So, so stupid. Why? Why was he so stupid? At the thought, a shrill, blood cooling laugh bubbled out of my throat before I could stop it. The hysterically sinister sound continued to rip itself out my vocal cords and into the tense atmosphere. He was so stupid. Whoever said blondes were dumb had obviously met Paris. Why was he so thick?
"Paris" I choked out, still laughing, "Darling-" I began again, but had to stop for air because I was still gasping and reeling in laughter. Instead I turned to Sir Beast.
"Beastly," I cooed to him, petting his boulder-shaped head, "Don't you think that boy over there looks delectable? A truly glorified rotisserie chicken, with his golden skin and tender abundance of muscles. And dense too. You could easily catch him on his way out "
I continued laughing, and Beastly perked his head up at the sound. His pink tongue rolled out completely as he opened his mouth in excitement. The last thing I needed was stimulating him again, but I couldn't help myself. Tears pooled in my eyes from my giggling, though it was more hysterical than comical. I probably sounded like a wretch.
I turned my pallid, watery eyes back to Paris as he stared at me stiffly. I gazed up at him through my lashes, masquerading a look of complete innocence, with a Cheshire smile adorning my cheeks. He seemed to catch on that he would have to pass me, and better yet a hellhound, to get to my door. His defined jaw was clenching, and he observed me with a steely weariness, possibly finally understanding what a mess he was in. He was at my mercy, and mercy was definitely not what I was know for. In fact, it was the exact antithesis of my beliefs. He knew this. I knew this. Everybody in this blasted academy knew this.
"What do you want?" He finally demanded. Any sense of lightheartedness he had when he first slayed the demon was now gone. I, on the other hand, felt giddy and playful with the situation at hand, mostly because I was the one who had a two-hundred pound monstrosity at my will.
"I want you to leave my room and forget everything you saw in here. You invaded in my life, Paris Arobynn, and that is a violation that I do not often leave...unpunished" I drawled.
"And if I don't? What if I report you to the authorities like a proper mage would? What then? Are you going to murder me? Magic traces would expose you. You wouldn't be able to get away with it" He stated, but the doubt was evident in his eyes. It made my insides thrill.
"I'm quite offended that you underestimate me, Paris Arobynn" I snarked, rolling my eyes at the obviousness of his statement. Only he would annoy someone into murdering them. I casually dug out an obsidian dagger from my desk drawer- one that I used for sacrificial and summoning purposes. It lay between a pack of spearmint gum and my MP3 player, resting atop headphone cords and crumpled receipts. This drawer really needed a deep clean.
I delicately lifted up the dagger, delighting in the way the light caught on its shiny body. Having been freshly sanitized and polished for tonights ruined event, the curved, Kindjal blade was absolutely glorious In it's obsidian cut. I watched Paris' Addams apple bob, sensing the dark magic that shrouded around the item.
I began picking the nonexistent dirt under my pointed nails and gave him a savage smile.
"I'm not going to kill you...Instead, I'm going to spare you. I'll make a deal with you" I cooed at him, watching him take a subtle step back. Beastly was laying on my arm chair, lapping his tongue on his maw.
"You are going to leave this room and forget everything you saw in here. Forget all of it.."
He blinked at me, considering what I was saying. I could basically see the mental gears turning in his head. With the flicker of his green eyes to the demon, I knew he would oblige to my demands. He ultimately lost nothing with this bargain, besides a nights rest. If I were half as sadistic as I made myself out to be, I would have demanded he summon me a new Umbra demon. I withheld this information to myself- I could summon it without his help. I doubted his light magic would allow it, either way.
"You get to leave with your life, and I get a bit of...labor in return. As long as you keep silent, you technically loose nothing" I batted my eyelashes at him. He was silent for a moment, considering my offer.
"If you want my silence, you cannot release your beast from your room. Ever. You have to promise to keep it contained and away from harming the other students" Paris ground out, glancing at Beastly nervously.
"Are you haggling with me right now?" I asked with a disbelieving laugh. The absolute nerve of this entitled twat. I shouldn't have been surprised either way- he was one of those hero type's. When he didn't laugh alongside me and remained stoney faced, I rolled my eyes.
"So serious..." I pouted, mocking his solemn demeanor, "Fine. I didn't plan on it anyways". His icy stare didn't let up, and I found myself crumpling my nose at the sight. The lighthearted look appealed to him much more than this bitter anger did.
I paused ominously, before making a vague gesture to the lizard-like creature decaying on my floor, "Well go on. You promised me labor alongside your silence. Help me bury the demon"
Paris' eyes flickered to the blood-soaked floor, before ticking his clamped jaw.
"Fine" he basically spat at me. I refrained from reminding him that he was the reason we were in this mess in the first place. Rolling my eyes at his melodrama, I willfully ignored his attitude.
I unscathed the Kindjal from its black, detailed scabbard, making strides towards Paris. He impressively held his ground, especially with the look I was giving him. My grey eyes were wide and a hellish smile was situated on my lips. I looked possessed and unhinged, staring at him like he was a tart I wanted to eat, not to mention the bloodstains all over me.
Instead of gutting him with the dagger though, I strode right past him and over to my bed. I relished in the way he flinched upon my passing, before I descended upon my bed and sunk blade into my lush bedsheets. A loud rip resounded throughout the room as I cut them off my bed, being careful not to nick my mattress. Paris' gaze bore into my back as I worked, ripping the linen into a makeshift tarp. When it came off in a large square, I bunched it up in my hands and turned back around. Paris was watching me with suspicion, confused on why I was ruining my expensive bed-set. With a swift throw, I chucked the fabric at him and stormed past.
When he remained planted in his spot, I turned back around and barked, "Well come on now. We don't have all day".
He blinked for a half second, before gathering his wits and quickly getting to work.