Because Your Instincts are there to Protect You
A tiny light green glow appeared in the middle of the purple-eyed man’s upright palm. It fluxed around a bit before forming a dense orb which grew in size and brightness until it was a little larger than his head. At this point he tossed it to the middle of the small break of trees which the group now inhabited. It stopped at a point slightly above their heads and bounced into position, as if caught in an invisible spider’s web.
Now that there was proper lighting Myra was able to distinguish more than just the features of the three men, who were standing in a semicircle in front of her. She noted that their clothes were all strange in fashion, almost otherworldly. Either they were out there LARPing, or they were from very different neck of the woods. They were all taller than herself, with the fanged guy being the tallest, and the fox guy not being much taller than she was if she stood on her toes. Each one of them were strikingly handsome in their own way, but their strange hair and eye colors were still their most noticeable features. Well, that and the one guy’s fox ears.
“How about we introduce ourselves to her first!” the fanged man spat out rather suddenly.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Can we Sam?” at this point both of them turned to the purple-eyed man, who closed his eyes, gave a slight nod then opened his mouth.
“My name is Sammett,” he stated while still keeping his eyes closed. “I was once a Higher-Demon but we have been so long stranded here, that my position may be annulled by now.”
“Aw, don’t say that, Sam,” The fox-guy said with an encouraging pat to his back. “I’m sure you’re still the most powerful demon there is.”
Sam opened his eyes just enough to glare at him through the slits. “If I was ever the most powerful demon, Dru, we would not be in this situation right now.”
“Hmm,” the fox-man tapped his chin. “Good point.”
Myra was backpedaling a bit. “Woah, wait. Demons?” The question was out loud before she could stop herself. “You mean, like, spirits from hell?” Myra realised that the situation had suddenly become very dangerous.
“No no no!” The fox guy said quickly, “not like that. It’s just the English word we use as a translation. In our language we call ourselves Dannan, and since our kind is often mistaken as demons, the name kind of stuck. We aren’t really from this realm. We...” He stopped speaking when Sam put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, humans in general aren’t really supposed to know about us.”
Myra was still thoroughly confused, but relaxed a little when she realized that she wasn’t dealing with spawns of the devil.
Seeing this, Sam continued. “This,” he said, gesturing to Dru, “is Nadrumis. You may have noticed that he has a few rather distinctive features.”
Yea, I would call fox ears, yellow eyes, and the fact that he glows rather distinctive.
“Precisely.”
Hey, did he just…
“And before you ask, no, I did not just read your mind.”
Sure.
“The reason for his looks…”
“Is because he got his head stuck in a blender.” Fang-boy burst out, followed by a fit of giggles. Yes, the fang-boy giggled.
Sam just continued as if nothing was said. “…is that he is (what would be translated as) an animal-spirit-demon. His type of demon is usually classified as one of the lowest ranking, and weakest of all demon races.”
“Hey!” whined Dru, who was turning red.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Dru, however, is very powerful in his own right, and should not be underestimated.”
“That’s right,” boasted the fox-eared demon while puffing out his chest. “Not even the great Sammett can beat me when it comes to speed.”
The look on Sam’s face was just screaming “No comment.”
“And Meristu over there,” Sam pointed to fang-boy, “is your ever friendly, neighborhood vampire.”
Myra gulped audibly. The fanged-man got really nervous and started scratching the back of his head. “W-well,” he stuttered, “I’m not all vampire, just…mostly.”
Huh? This was a bit confusing to Myra. “What do you mean ‘just mostly’?”
Clearing his throat, Sam went into ‘explanation mode.’ “Vampires, as a general rule amongst themselves, do not feed on demons. The reason for this is because demons have a much higher chance of surviving a highly venom laced bite and thus ‘turning’ into a vampire themselves. Demonic-vampires are among the most powerful, cruel, and fearsome creatures imaginable. No self loving vampire (and that’s all of them) would ever want to create a being more powerful than themselves.”
“So…” despite how much she didn’t want to know the answer, Myra had to ask. “He’s a demonic-vampire?”
“Not quite,” Sam continued, “this is where the ‘just mostly’ comes into play. The vampire who attacked Meris was heavily intoxicated at the time. He failed to recognize that Meris was half demon, but luckily I was in the vicinity, and able to stop the transformation before it was complete.”
Myra wanted to ask how he stopped the transformation, but judging from the look on Sam's face, she determined that it was not the right time for that question. She decided that the best thing to do would be to change the subject.
“Right, so what can I do for you fine, young…demons? What exactly is it you need me for anyway?”
“Do you remember releasing us from that boulder?” Sam pointed toward her. Then she realized that he was pointing to something behind her. Myra turned around and was face-to-face with a huge, very round, rock with three distinct cracks in it stemming from the center.
From the image before her, Myra was struck with a sudden flashback. Several years earlier, when she was still a child, she would always play on or around this rock. It was her secret and most precious of places. Then one night, when she was upset at her mother for… something she couldn’t remember now, she ran out of her house into the darkness and ended up at this spot.
So upset was she, that in a fit of rage and emotions, she punched the boulder. In a short moment throbbing of her fist was deemed unimportant because the rock started to crack and unearthly noises seemed to permeate from it.
In retrospect, the vow I had made while scrambling out of the woods that night (as fast as my little legs could carry me) was extremely wise. It would have been nice if I had remembered it fifteen minutes ago, and never entered the forest after dark.
Unfortunately, Myra had not heeded her bout of childhood foreshadowing. And here she was, facing three very intent looking demons. Ok, so only two of them were intent looking, the other one was indifferent/annoyed.
So, what am I supposed to say to these guys? I mean, what if it was their sacred rock and I broke it, now inferring the wrath of the entire demon species? Well, I suppose that scenario is not very likely being as I allegedly ‘released’ them from it. But maybe they were sleeping in it and I woke them up too early or something? Sam's attitude is reminiscent of a bear that hasn’t gotten to finish his winter hibernation.
Oooh! How I hate his attitude. It just makes me want to be rude right back to him and say something like, “So? What of it?” in a condescending manner.
As it turns out, she did exactly that.
Sam was obviously not impressed with her attitude. But reverting to a very diplomatic demeanor he said, “we were sealed in that boulder for over 300 years, and are eternally grateful to you for releasing us,” and finished with a bow. A bow? Wow, I would have never expected, and he’s seemed pretty sincere in his thanks.
Any normal girl would probably be melting at this point. Not many men nowadays bow and say things like ‘eternally grateful.’ But Myra was not at all normal. Her (twisted) brain was thinking of how to use this new found allegiance to her advantage. And she was thinking pretty hard, too. That is, until Sam decided to interrupt her thoughts, as always.
“However, the release was incomplete. We are still partially bound to this boulder. During the day our spirits are allowed to roam, and at night our bodies can escape...but so far the extent our bodies or spirits have been able to travel is in the surrounding area (mostly just the woods).” At this point Sam's eyebrow started twitching and he looked more annoyed than usual. But glancing at his companions, he continued. “Dru and Meris are under the impression that you can complete the unsealing.”
“I’m positive she can!”
“Will you please try, darling?”
Whatever... seems I got myself into this mess anyway. “Sure.”
“Hooray!” yelled Meris while running over to her. Then he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and started spinning. A lot. Very fast.
“Hey!” Dru yelled with a pout. “I was going to do that!”
Meris just stuck out his tongue as he (finally) stopped spinning and gently set Myra down. Good thing too, I was feeling pretty sick and was almost about to… well, we’ll stop that train of thought right there, ok?
While regaining her balance Myra decided to quickly ‘get the ball rolling’ per say, and ask the inevitable question. “What do I need to do in order to complete the releasing?”
Without missing a beat, Dru confidently grinned, held out his arms, and exclaimed, “Kiss me!”
Eh? Myra was not sure exactly what her face looked like at that particular moment. But she was positive that it was probably anything but attractive.
“Shut up!” shouted Sam and Meris in unison. Actually, with Meris it was more of an angry cry. His voice even cracked.
“We don’t know,” said Sam with a sigh. “And the fact that you don’t either isn’t really surprising…” His voice trailed off into a mumble, but to Myra, it sounded like he was insulting her again.
Meris held her hands and gazed into her eyes. “We were hoping that you could just try whatever felt right to you.”
At this point Sam's eyes shifted away with a look of disgust on his face, but Dru and Meris were staring at her with big (sparkly) hopeful eyes. Something Myra realized they do quite often.
‘Ok’, Myra thought, while mentally rolling up her sleeves. ‘Whatever feels right.’ Now all I have to do is figure out what that is.
Now is not the time to freak out, she told herself when she started to feel so nervous she could hyperventilate. Yes, the freaky guys do have you trapped, and yes, you will most likely never make it home if you don’t figure something out, but it’s not the end of the world. Remember that one time when you got pulled over by a cop and managed to talk the officer out of giving you a ticket? This is just like that.
Actually, this situation was not ‘just like that.’ And Myra’s brain had completely skewed the facts about what had happened in that particular situation. In reality the officer was the best friend of her father’s cousin and had recognized her last name. This led him to reminiscing about adventures in his youth with her relatives. Ten minutes later he gave her a half-hearted warning about obeying speed signs before the man quickly retreated back to his cruiser to listen to an announcement coming over the scanner. But that did not stop Myra from using the event to boost her courage.
You can get through this. Just calm down and think about what elements were involved last time that could have possibly had an effect on a magic rock, maybe you can recreate some of them. After replaying her previous experience with ‘releasing,’ Myra decided that the determining factor of the whole situation would have been either hitting the rock, or the fact that when she did, her fist was covered in the tears she had wiped from her eyes. Well, I’m not about to go bruising my fist again if it isn’t absolutely necessary, so we’ll first try just the tears.
She knew that she could probably produce some herself, if given enough time, but she was starting to get cold from standing in the rain for so long. She needed some help, and she had a pretty good idea who would be the best of the three demons to ask.
“Um, Mr. Cranky? I mean, Summit...”
“Sam,” he corrected her. “Are you giving up now?”
“No,” she said defiantly. “But I do need your assistance in something.” He did not respond, but raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Can you make me cry? I mean, without really hurting me?” she added the last part as an afterthought. She didn’t want him to get out of hand.
Without so much as a twitch, Sam was suddenly behind her and twisting her arm into a very uncomfortable position.
“I thought I said withou--ow, ow, ow,” Myra yelped as Sam twisted her arm even more.
“This will leave no lasting damage,” Sam replied calmly.
Myra peeked through her pain clinched eyes and looked at the other two demons standing in front of her. Although they looked concerned, Meris and Dru did not attempt to help her.
Maybe I’m scaring them with my pain contorted face. But they should still help a girl in need. Jerks.
Warm tears started streaming down her cold cheeks and Myra once again wished that she had never entered the woods that night. Then, as soon as the pain had started, Sam let go of her arm and moved around to face her. “Is that enough?” he asked.
Myra rubbed her sore arm. “It had better be. Because I’m not asking you to help me again.”
Slowly, she reached up and brushed her fallen tears off her cheeks with her fingers. Then, she turned around once again facing the giant rock. With deliberate precision, she placed her hand on the exact center of the three-way crack in the rock and waited for something to happen...anything.
The light came so quick and blinding that Myra was unsure if she was still standing, or had been knocked back by its brilliance. The white brightness enveloped her and she attempted to regain her bearings. It was too bright to open her eyes, but her hand still rested on the bolder. With her fingers she was able to trace the three cracks.
The rock began to tremble and shudder and strange unearthly sounds began to emanate from inside it. The noise was almost exactly as she had remembered from before, only this time it sounded more like wailing cats.
When the sound died down, Myra lifted her hand from the surface of the rock. The cracks had widened and little bits of rubble stuck to her sweaty hand. Turning around, she saw the three demons groggily shaking their heads and rising to their feet. Unable to recall how or when they ended up on the ground, Myra suddenly realized that she could not recall much at all of what had just happened. It’s as if a white haze was shrouded over her memory. This troubled her for a moment. But what happened next quickly made her forget her concerns.
A smile slowly crept its way onto Sam's stoic face. Meris made a bee-line toward Myra. It was obvious he was going to hug her again because his arms were extended open as wide as he could stretch. However he was quickly passed by the much faster Dru, who cupped his hands around her face and planted a huge kiss directly on her mouth.