He is a man. As much as he reminds me that he's a demon, he is more man than most men. I hated the fact that I had fallen in love with him because i knew he'd never return the feeling. I wasn't even sure he was capable of speaking the three magical words.
I sighed and closed my eyes, covering my eyes with my forearm as i fell back on my bed. At least i was almost assured of ending my days with him at my side. In exactly one year, Quinn would be freed from me. If i survived 'til then, i was guaranteed to die attempting to bind him again.
"Heather! Where's the god damned
remote!" Quinn yelled from the living room.
I sat up in bed, my arms dropping to my sides. "Should be on the living room table. And where have you been?" I asked and stood up, grabbing my barobe before i left my room and met up with him in the licing room.
"Went out to eat." Was his only reply. A cold, end of discussion answer.
-----
I leaned against the wall and observed them from a distance. It was neither rare nor frequent for demons to meet during binds. It happened at random intervals. Qeno and I had been split for a while because of the bind I was in. And from what I was seeing, he was getting a much sweeter deal from his bind.
I smiled as I tried to imagine how he felt with that girl as an owner. What was she making him do? The blue and purple, shorthaired girl reached up and cupped his cheeks, grinning at him. He stood there, staring down at her as he would anyone - cold, emotionless. She lifted herself onto the tip of her toes and pulled down on his face, forcing a kiss upon his lips.
I moved away from the wall and made my way to them as Qeno reached up and grabbed her hands, pulling them from his face and stepping back. He spun her about and she ended up with her back pressed against his chest and her arms crossed over hers. ‘’Having fun Qeno?’’ I asked once I was within human hearing distance.
‘’Go away.’’ he growled over the girl’s head without looking at me.
‘’Aww, why so hostile towards your own kind?’’ I asked him, teasingly, in the squeakiest voice I could muster.
‘’Is that another demon?’’ the little human peeped, her attention focusing on me rather than her struggle to get out of Qeno’s grasp. ‘’Oooh, you’re so pretty. Well… I mean… uh… ‘’ she stumbled on her words, her eyes shifting between myself, the ground and some angle which I assumed was an attempt to look at Qeno.
He finally let her go with a shove that made her stumble away, immediately turning on me and pinning me against a parked car door. ‘’You are trouble. We both know that. Leave.’’
‘’Oh my, Qeno does not want trouble?’’ I moved my gaze over to the human who was walking over slowly, hesitantly. ‘’What has happened to the vengeful Qeno?’’ I asked, in a sweet, honest voice and returned my eyes to Qeno’s.
In reply he simply growled at me once more, his form shifting ever so slightly to reveal the face of the demon I knew. He gave my shoulders a shake before he left me again, grabbing the human by the arm roughly as he walked past her in the opposite direction and proceeded to leave.
-----
‘’Who was that?’’ she dared to ask we’d gotten on the road. Thankfully she had remained silent on our way to the car.
‘’No one of importance for you.’’ I stated simply.
‘’She’s a demon, right?’’ she continued on with her questions.
Sadly, I knew that even if I did my most fear-inducing threatning… she’d continue with her questions. Luckily, we had since gotten used to her questions having either no answer or vague answers.
I kept quiet but observed her once in a while. Heather. Little Heather. ‘’I know you keep saying you guys have no ‘sex’ in your real forms but I think you look like a guy in your demon form. Is that lady a female-looking or male-looking demon?’’ she asked, her full attention on me.
‘’Heather, answer me this: How in the world have you survived this long? You are not right in the head for a human. You should be afraid of my potential. You shouldn’t be asking me if that was a man or woman, you should afraid of what that could have been.’’ I sighed, looking at her momentarily. What was she doing to me?
‘’I’m not afraid of you. Never was. Well, ok, maybe an itsy bitsy bit in the begining but it faded away fast. I also trust you to keep me safe if something happens with that demon.’’ she answered, leaning her head against the side window and pulling her knees up to her chest.
‘’You are expecting a demon to choose a human over his own kind.. did you see my ‘greeting’ to my own kind?’’ I asked her, unsure if she was being serious or if she was truly insane. Time after time she managed to surprised me. Again and again.
‘’You keep saying you have no emotions, but I think that was a very emotional ‘greeting’.’’ her posture when stiff as if bracing for a blow. Although I had never hit her, being abused did take its toll on her. And so, I wasn’t even sure if it was me she feared would hit her or did simple ‘habit’ cause her to brace automatically.
bla bla
-----
A month had gone by since the fateful event that left my mother a widow. A month since the man - Cassadrial - had visited me, requesting I obey the contract before it was too late. A month sinec I had decided to see where things lead and how things evolved or degraded. I loved my wife, I couldn’t abandon her just like that because of something that was primarily my own fault.
A week ago I had finally accepted to leave and help the village on a the construction of the road and bridge. Finally, I was back home. However, I came back to an empty home with only my sister sitting in the living room, reading a book.
“Where are Arya and Kassandra?” I asked, a tinge of panic starting to take over. Had the man come while I was gone and taken then? Would I ever be safe to leave home. Truly leave home?
“Arya is with mother.” Adrea answered, not even bothering to look up at me. Our relationship had grown complicated ever since then.
“Where is my wife?” my hand remained on the door knob in case her answer turned out to be the one I feared.
“The village came for her.”
I stared at her while she remained untouched by the events. Had they taken me away to the construction site only to have “free” access to my wife? “Who came for her?”
“Everyone. And they came equipped; torches, *(forks) and handcuffs.” her nose remained burried in her book and she spoke slowly as if this wasn’t a matter of life or death.
I turned around and didn’t even bother closing the door behind me as I sprinted away and into the village. I heard Adrea screaming at me but I didn’t pay attention or stop my momentum. Only after I decided to chase after my wife did she decide to put her book aside and pay some attention to the chaos taking over our family?
“ITS YOUR OWN FAULT!” was the only thing I heard before I was out of hearing range.
I didn’t even know how long ago they had come for Kassandra or if I would arrive in the city too late. The sun was setting and casting a shady glow over the snow-covered rooftops. Once at the village, it wasn’t hard to find Kassandra. A crowd was gathered arond the village center’s main water supply well. She hung from her hands above a make-shift stage placed beside the well, her feet not touching the wooden planks. Her eyes were so swollen they appeared closed, blood trailed from her lip and right ear down her neck. I stopped dead in my tracks, staring at the spectacle they were making of her.
“Thank you all for gathering here today!” The leader’s right hand bellowed from beside her, his loud voice effectively taking everyone’s attention and silencing the crowd. “Today we shall witness the execution of a murderer. The death of a witch. A monster.” he continued on, using a stick to poke my wife in the ribs and causing her to sway ever so slightly. “This ‘woman’ has killed using the dark forces of magic. This act of treason cannot go unpunished.”
“Who did she kill?” a voice in the crowd asked.
Five men who were standing behind the stage came to the front, each dragging a small carrying-wagon which carried a human-sized form covered by a blanket. One by one they pulled off the blankets, each revealing their own nightmare to the crowd.
The first was my own father’s headless corpse. It seemed to have been *(petrified/marinated?) so that it remained in a state similar to that which I had left him. Immediately, I hated myself for not taking the corpses with me. Leaving no proof. The second was the corpse of the man she had killed previously to my father. He was in a similar conservation state but his body was clearly “empty”. Three more corpses were revealed, each looking slightly fresher than the previous. Only my father’s was apparently headless. I frowned as I watched the spectacle go on. She had transformed and killed in my absence?
“A pretty sight isn’t it?” a man whispered to my right and my head swivled to look at him. Cassadrial. “I love the feeling of recognition. However, I do also love the sight of your wife hanging there about to pay for the crimes that she commited because of you.”
I turned on the man, gripping the collar of his shift and shoving him into the crowd. I couldn’t muster any words as rage took over me and I started swinging punch after punch at him. I managed to get him to the ground before the crowd grabbed a hold of me. Attention was focused on me now, silence reigned as others in the crowd verified that the man was alright.
“Oh well, is that Mr. Quinn Kaden I see there?” the man on the stage perked up. I looked up as my name was mentioned and saw Kassandra’s eyes struggle to open and focus on me. They were filled with pain and fear and confusion. How could I have abandonned my wife under the circumstances? “Bring him to the front. Let him be a first class viewer of his wife’s execution.”
The crowd began pushing me forward, a few men only holding onto me which I could easily shake away but I knew that even if I did, the rest of the crowd would take over. Cassadrial walked beside me, dusting himself off. “You can save her, you know.” He whispered low enough so that I would hear and maybe only the closest people around.
I glared at him, giving a slight tug to the man on my left who had suddenly tightened his grip around my arm; most likely in reaction to Cassadrial’s words. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Simply shout out her name. The contract name and she will be able to free herself.”
“At what cost…?” I grumbled, for the first time, finally seeing the threats and dangers of the contract Cassadrial insisted on.
“You will never recognize your wife anymore.” he shrugged as we reache dthe front of the crowd, put a hand on my chest for a moment, stopping the men. “But then again, she is about to die. You lose her one way or another.”
I looked at him for a moment before looking up to Kassandra where she hung, swaying on the rope that held her up as the man poked her in the ribs with the stick. She looked at me with hope on her face, seeing the exchange between myself and the man but not hearing the words and not knowing who the man was. Was there really no way to save her?
As I made up my mind, my eyes slipped down to the ground and I stared at my feet as I shook the men off of me and proceeded to walk forward as if obeying of my free will to watch my wife’s execution. In reality, I was only freeing myself from the crowd to be able to run away as fast as I can once the transformation begun.
“KASHARGA!” I screamed and bolted away the moment I saw the smoke begin at her hands where the rope began to burn from the heat of her skin. I had only taken a moment to look at her after speaking the name but what I had seen on her face would remain carved in my mind forever. More pain. More fear. But instead of confusion. Bertayal.
-----
“KASHARGA!” Quinn screamed and instantly a fire began building under my skin. It burned, it hurt and yet my voice was unable or unwilling to scream and express the pain. He had sold me to his demons. I had known he was danger when I married him, but after these years I wouldn’t have expected him to betray me like this.
He bolted away with barely a last glance at me. I watched him flee the scene of the incoming bloodbath, another man following quickly behind him. As the stranger reached the end of the crowd he turned around and looked straight at me with a smile. “Welcome to us, Kasharga. Unlike before, women are no longer safe from you.” He grinned, the entire crowd turning to look at him, barely registering his words. “Enjoy the feast this village has offered you!” he chimed and proceeded to chase after Quinn.
Within moments I was on the ground under the stage, having burned a hole through the wood and set the entire stage alight with flames causing the crowd to scatter in fits of shoving and screaming.
My previous transformations had been a lot more painful, I assumed that my body was getting used to it and there was also a certain pleasure to be taken from this transformation. As I stood up through the hole to my full height, I smiled, baring my spikes that served as teeth to the crowd that hadn’t been able to flee before the desire to stay took over. I looked over the various faces and I did in fact relish in the idea of the feast that awaited me. Without further hesitation, I jumped up and took over my first victim. By the time I hit the third’s neck, the rest of the crowd was writing in unbearable orgasmic pleasure-become-pain.