Not What It Seems

Once Zeriah went to sleep, I stepped out of home and made my way towards the forest. I followed Ripper’s presence and made my way to where it was strongest. I stopped and looked around. He was there somewhere.

“Ripper!” I called. “I know you’re out there.”

“Good to see you,” his voice caused me to turn around. “Little brother.”

There was malice in his voice. I let out a sigh. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t come visit my brother after he was finally freed from his mirror prison.” He asked as she walked over to me with a taunt.

“We both know that isn’t true. Demons lie, a lot.” I said while crossing my arms. “Why are you really here?”

He let out a laugh. “Fine, fine. I’m here because a little bat told me that you got free and possibly found our next pure soul. I came to see if it was true.”

I glared at him. “What does it matter to you?”

“Oh, you know why it matters to me.” He circled me. “And it should matter to you, because it’s your job.”

Ripper continued to circle me with a smile on his lips. In the dark of the night his eyes glowed red with demonic power. He stopped in front of me and clasped his hands behind his back.

“It is my job.” I explained. “But I’m still trying to find out if this is the pure soul. Don’t you trust me to finish the job?”

“No.” He was blunt. “You see, I’ve been watching you for a little while, and you are quite close to these humans. I thought you were becoming soft.”

“That is none of your business.” I countered.

“But it is.” He stepped closer to me. “It is my business because if you don’t bring in your little Firefly to Xegon. It will be my pleasure to drag her there by her hair. And if you don’t it will also be my job to eliminate you.”

“You won’t touch her.” I said through gritted teeth.

“No,” he said. “I won’t. Not yet. I’ll be staying around for a while. I want to get a good look at the situation before I do anything. Who knows, maybe she isn’t the pure soul we are looking for and we can both move on and continue our jobs. You’ll see me about, little brother.”

He let out a laugh and backed up into the forest, letting the darkness swallow him to the point that only his red eyes glowed in the dark before they too disappeared. I let out a breath. There was a deep fear that I had of Ripper. He caused a lot of problems in the past and never let me feel welcomed. I didn’t know why he hated me, but that was the truth and I had to work through it.

I let out another sigh and made my way back to Zeriah. It was a long slow walk home and I was emotionally exhausted. I entered the home and let out a sigh. I sank down into the chair and fell backwards. I let out another sigh and closed my eyes. The silence filled the room for a while, and I was able to relax for a moment.

“Vudu?” A voice caused my head to pop up from the chair.

A tired Zeriah entered the room rubbing her eyes. She held a blanket around her shoulders and walked towards me.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” I stated while leaning forward. “Go back to bed.”

She looked over me and could tell something was on my mind. Walking over, she sat down next to me on the arm of the chair and placed a hand on my knee. She gave me a reassuring look, letting me know that she was willing to listen.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to talk about it right then. All I wanted was just to spend a bit of time with her. There was something about her that caused me to want to do something different. I wanted to be honest with her. I wanted something more than what I currently had.

Instinctively, I leaned over and rested my head on her shoulder. She looked at me and gave me a small smile. I looked over her and her eyes met mine. There was a small change to them, the color gaining a different hue that I hadn’t seen before. I hadn’t seen any human with that color of eye. What emotion was connected to that?

Her eyes started to droop, and she leaned back. “I’m guessing you went and talked to your brother.”

“Yes,” I admitted. “And by the sounds of it, he plans to take a look around here to see if there is a pure soul here. If there isn’t, he will leave. If there is, that’s when we need to worry. He won’t stop if there is.”

“He said something to upset you.” She said as she slowly sank into the chair next to me. Her head shifted to lean against my shoulder, and I moved my head to rest against hers.

“Yes.” I admitted. “He made a threat against me using someone I’m close to. And I’m scared of what could happen.”

“Never thought I would hear you scared.” She said in a mumble.

“Ripper terrifies me.” I said with a chuckle. “He never liked me for some reason, so he constantly targeted me. I’ve always fought him alone.”

She let out a hum. “Not this time. You’re not alone. You have me.”

An unfamiliar feeling came to my chest. One that was warm and inviting. I liked it. Zeriah’s breathing began to even out as she lulled back to sleep. I shifted us a bit so my arm could wrap around her back and pull her closer. Her head moved to my chest and a small smile came to her face.

“I know, Zeriah.” I as I gazed down at her. “Thank you.”

She let out a small hum of welcome and fell back asleep. Her breathing slowed and evened as she entered a dream like state. I held her warmth close and welcomed the new feeling that seemed to fill my entire body. I was okay with it. And I was glad that I had someone like Zeriah by my side.

As I thought about it, my mind strangely went to Romos and how everyone claimed he had a plan for them. I had often wondered if that included demons. I knew that we constantly fought against him, but we were once his children too. Did that mean he still loved us and cared for us despite our fall? I wanted to think so.

I laughed at myself quietly to not wake Zeriah. I was a demon who was hoping that Romos, the one who banished Xegon, my master, from Paradise, still cared for an insignificant demon like myself. Maybe I was different from all the other demons. I was fairly certain that no other demons had thoughts like mine.

My eyes went back down to Zeriah. But no other demon has ever had feelings like this either.

I was trapped in a pool of questions that occupied my mind for the remainder of the night. I was glad that I didn’t technically need to sleep.