The Demon's Pa

I sighed deeply, shocking myself. I couldn’t believe I was still doing human things like that. I should have stopped acting like a human ages ago. “So what are we going to do?” I questioned the brothers. “I mean I know you’ve all here stayed here for me all this time, but the demon has been destroying cities and we can’t just let him do as he pleases. We need to act now, to protect our people and to protect the humans.”

I was thinking of seven humans in particular. We needed to act before they got hurt. Three of the humans were my family who didn’t know what I was yet and the other four were my best friends who hated me for killing someone. Just because they hated me didn’t mean I didn’t still care for them though, I didn’t want them to die as well.

I clenched my fists, fury building in my heart just thinking about the bastard who killed my love, “And I want to beat that demon to a pulp because of what he did to Alexander.” I determinedly looked at Oberon, “I want to kill him.”

For the first time since I’d come to know Oberon he grinned wickedly and his eyes flashed black, “Of course, we all want to see him burn and die, for good this time. The fact that two Promise angels have appeared in such a short time might mean we can finally find the rest of you and really kill him.”

A moment passed where my brain did nothing to even try to comprehend what he’d said before I finally managed to get a word out, “What?” How absolutely smart of me.

“You know what we are right?” Cherise asked me.

“Yeah, we’re humans who love so purely we can love demons; that’s why we’re called ‘angels’.” I answered without hesitation, it was something Alexander had told me. My eagerness dropped a little, everything just seemed so empty without him.

“That’s only half of the truth.” She said, “But the real reason we’re called angels is because we can kill demons.”

“No way.” I said, “I thought demons couldn’t die.”

Cherise smiled proudly, “They can’t, but if all seven of us are together we can vanquish them.” Her smile faltered a little, “That’s what legend says at least.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and then shifted them to Oberon who was curling a strand of her hair around his index finger, “What does it matter if two of us appeared in such a short time?”

For a moment I thought he hadn’t heard me because he just continued to play with Cherise’s hair, but before I could repeat my question he said, “Promise angels only appear when they are needed, meaning that when the demon started to regenerate you turned up and then Lucy of course.”

Something fell into place for me then, “So that’s why such a long time passed before…” I swallowed hard, saying his name was like torture, “before Alexander found me, because there was no threat.”

“Exactly.” Cherise said happily, “Back then there was no time to wait for the rest of us to show up because the demon was wreaking havoc on a daily basis and he needed to be stopped immediately since his shenanigans were getting worse and worse.” She pursed her lips unhappily.

“So how will we vanquish him?” I asked.

“I have no idea.” Cherise admitted, “But I’m hopping our visions will help us.”

I did a double take, “Our visions?”

“Yes, when you dream.” She frowned, “I usually have the same vision over and over again until I realise what t means. It’s like seeing the future.”

I swallowed hard, “And how exactly do I tell these so called visions from normal dreams?”

“Trust me,” She grinned, “if you had one, you’ll know. But getting back to the demon…He’s the reason vampires got the bad reputation of killing people.”

“But he doesn’t actually look like a human, right?” I questioned curiously my mind still half hung up on the fact that I had had a vision before. When they’d spoken of the demon before now I’d just assumed that he looked like all the drawings I’d seen. I’d imagined that he was red and had a pointy tail.

“He looks like a human when he takes on his human form, but he doesn’t look quite… right… he looks like he isn’t supposed to be here.” Heskel said, “Of course he can shed his human skin and be in complete demon mode, but I’ve only seen it once and I never want to see it again.” He shivered, “It’s really sick to think that that thing is our father.”

I swallowed, “So I could have passed him on the street already and I never would have known?”

Norabo shook his head, “No you definitely would have known, his aura is so powerful it will make even you, a vampire, fear for your life. Why the sudden interest?”

I grinned wickedly, flashing my fangs, “Well if I’m going to kill the stupid bastard I want to know all I can about him.”

Norabo shrugged, “I guess that makes sense.”

A moment of silence passed before I asked, “So, when are the rest of you going to find your Promise angels so we can kill him?”

“We will have to go search for them on our home continents, they aren’t all just suddenly going to pop up here in Africa you know.” Jagger said with a little eye roll, “I mean Lucy only turned up here because the demon kidnapped her from Dublin, which is in what? Ireland?”

“It’s the capital of Ireland actually.” Lucy told us helpfully.

I gave her a small smile of thanks, if not anything else she had a good heart.

“Exactly.” Jagger said, “She didn’t even come from Viktor’s continent. Finding our Promise angels is going to be hard, that’s why I think it’ll be best for us to go back to our continents to get our nobles and send them across the world. Because we turned them they will be very attracted to each of our Promise angels individually. It will make finding them a lot easier. That’s probably why Zaiden chose you back in New York, because he was attracted to you because you were Alex’s PA.”

I nodded, trying to forget the sound of his name, “Good thinking Jagger.” He always was the smartest one in their family. I turned to look at Lucy, “You’re one of us, will you help us kill the demon?” I questioned. “I mean, when we find everyone we’re going to have to convince them to join us and I don’t think two vampires will be the best for that job description.”

She smiled, “Of course I’ll help, but that doesn’t mean I want to be anywhere near…” she trailed off and her eyes wandered off in Viktor’s direction who suddenly looked very crest fallen as he realised she was talking about him, “Viktor.” She finished her sentence

I couldn’t help but see how his eyes lit up when she said his name, like it was the one thing keeping him on earth. “Alright,” I agreed to her terms, “But a fair warning, you won’t be able to resist him for very long. Trust me, I know.”

Lucy looked at me sceptically, “We’ll see.”

I grinned, she hadn’t denied it. She was falling for him already. Not that I was sure why she could like him, I mean Viktor was a-

“When do we leave?” Norabo questioned, “Because I for one do not really have anything that I have to do here and I would like to start the search as soon as possible.”

Oberon looked around, “I agree, the faster you all start the search the faster we can defeat the demon.”

A moment of silence passed, “The demon,” Lucy said, “He won’t be the only one we’re facing, will he? He probably has a ton of other demon friends to back him up.”

“That is very likely,” Heskel answered, “But not really ‘friends’ per say. Demons don’t have things like that. They only have masters and underlings and since our father is one of the most powerful demons in existence at the moment, he’s bound to have a lot of underlings at his disposal. They will be willing to lay down their lives at a moment’s notice if he orders them.”

“Can we beat them?” I asked without missing a beat, because truly that was the only question that was worth asking.

Hesitation reflected in Heskel’s eyes, “Yes, the weakest ones are about as strong as common vampires, but the stronger ones… I’m not so sure we can defeat them.”

“Ash, you need to understand that our father is about four times stronger than us, the reason for that being that he is a pure blood demon. All his underlings are also pure bloods, they are just weaker than he is. Because we’re half human we could never be as strong as them.” Jagger explained.

“But they can be killed, right?” Lucy asked with a shaking voice and I could see Viktor edge forward with the urge to comfort her. I could see the fight in his eyes, his need to be next to her and it broke my heart because Alexander had once looked at me like that. “We’re not going to be just sitting ducks, right?”

“Demons can’t be killed by anyone, Lucy,” Viktor said, “Only by you seven and it would take a massive amount of energy to kill one of them.”

Oberon sighed, “It’s hard to tell just what exactly the demon is planning to do. If he were to call upon all his underlings to stand with him against us… with all our vampires with us we’d still be outnumbered one to five at the very least.”

“But it is possible to immobilise the weaker demons.” Cherise pointed out, “They can’t regenerate as fast as the ones with more power. With our strength we could pull their limbs apart and they should unable to move for at least half an hour.”

Neculai grimaced, “The only problem is that if they outnumber us that much getting the upper hand like that would be next to impossible.”

I cleared my throat, “What if we had humans to help us?”

All the heads in the room turned to me with surprised looks on their faces and Oberon narrowed his eyes questioningly, “What do you mean? If we turned the humans they might be of some help but in the end they might just cause more trouble than good if they aren’t really on our side. They won’t be able to control their bloodlust.”

I shook my head, “No, I don’t want to turn them; that would be the worst possible thing to do. I mean… you said the weakest demons are about as strong as the common vampires right? So that means that they have the same weaknesses as any other vampire.”

Oberon hesitated, “I suppose…”

I grinned, “I know a human who will gladly assist us in this war and already has a weapon that can harm even a noble.”

Norabo raised a questioning eyebrow and tilted his head to the side enquiringly, “A human who can take down a noble?”

“Well, maybe not all by himself,” I admitted, “but if he had vampires to hold the demon in place he would be able to sever their limbs from the rest of their body.”

“A human?” Heskel repeated doubtfully.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, “Yes, a human.”

Hesitation passed over Oberon’s face again, “And you’re sure he’ll help us?”

I shrugged, “Well it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

“I guess.”

“You all seem to be forgetting that one little human is definitely not going to help us win this entire war.” Viktor pointed out.

“But he might have friends.” I said, “I mean, I think he’ll be able to inspire a lot of humans to join him.”

“You think so?” Heskel asked with a grin, “Well, you definitely can’t inspire us with wording like that.”

I scowled, “Do you guys want me to go and ask him to help us or not?”

“If you can manage to convince him to help us and gather a few thousand humans, go for it.” Norabo asked, “But you have to be sure they can be trusted.”

I nodded, “Very well, I’ll see what I can do.”

Cherise smiled grimly, “I guess that only leaves one question. Where will the battlefield be?”

Everyone frowned and Oberon said, “That’s a very good question.”

“Yeah,” Neculai agreed “The demon could gather his forces anywhere, but I suppose if he wants to use his underlings he’ll gather them at the place with the most spiritual energy, there where he can bring them to this world using the minimum amount of energy needed from him.”

“Which is where exactly?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

Depression hit me like two tons of bricks, “Oh. Well, that sucks. So how do we determine where the location is?”

“We’ll have to wait and see where the demons turn up.” Oberon said, “If one of us finds out we’ll send messengers to the rest and we can all meet up there in five weeks.”

“Why five?” I asked, “Won’t it just be better to be there as soon as possible?”

“You forget that we still need to get to our own continents to send our nobles to help us find our promise angels.” Neculai said, “Without them we might as well just be eagerly going to our own deaths.”

“And in five weeks…. Alex will definitely have completed his regeneration.” Cherise added.

“If he hasn’t done so already.” Jagger muttered, “But then we’ll definitely know what will happen and whose side he will be on.”

My voice was soft, “Will he really side with the demon?” I couldn’t believe that he would really do that, he hated the demon.

“When we were young-” Oberon stopped talking abruptly when he seemed to realise that his term for young and mine would be worlds apart. He cleared his throat, “I obeyed the demon up until the year that I turned one hundred and twenty six, it was the year Heskel turned eighteen. Up until that time we’d never even thought of going against our father. We’d worked for him Ash.” Oberon stated, “We hadn’t seen him as such a bad… creature. I mean, I’d though he was evil but I never…” Oberon sighed and Cherise caringly put a hand on his shoulder.

“What Oberon is trying to say,” Jagger said, “Is that for some time all of us worked for the demon and Alex might be brainwashed enough after becoming a complete demon to do so again. All his humanity will be gone so he won’t see our father as an evil creature.”

“I really hate your father.” I stated without thinking and then slapped my hand over my mouth, “Sorry, but it’s true. Come to think of it… does he have a name? Because I don’t like referring to him as your father or ‘the demon’ since Alexander…” my throat became dry, “since Alexander will also be a demon.”

“Oh, we’ve never told you his name?” Heskel sounded almost amused, “He is called Clades, but he doesn’t really have a name.”

“Clades?” I questioned and all six of the brothers nodded, “That’s strange…”

Neculai grinned at me pointedly, “You’re one to talk.”

I looked down and scoffed, “Whatever.” I frowned, “Come to think of it… won’t the demon- I mean Clades try to kill all of you when we’re apart. That would make it so much easier for him to completely take control.”

“He’s not a very practical person, Ash.” Cherise said, “He likes to play games and he doesn’t think he can lose.”

“So actually his arrogance works in our favour.” Norabo said, “He won’t try to kill us because that would make the game so much shorter, but that gives us a chance to win.”

Norabo smirked, “As long as he thinks he’s winning he won’t try to kill one of us because he has Alex who he’ll probably send to try and kill us just for the fun of it.”

“But that could also work in our favour if we can Alex him and make him see reason again.” Oberon said, “I think our chance of success in killing the demon is rather high.”

I nodded thoughtfully, trying not to let my horror of how they were speaking of Alexander show, “Let’s go over the plan one last time.”

“Cherise and I will go to Asia to gather our nobles and vampires and see if there are any humans who will be willing to join the fight. Then we will search for the place with the most spiritual energy on our continent and if we don’t find it we’ll wait for one of you to send a messenger.” Oberon said.

“I will stay here and find the human I was talking about,” I said, “If possible I will gather other humans to help and wait for the messenger.”

“I will go to Australia and do the same.” Norabo said.

“I will go to South America and do the same.” Jagger said.

“I will go to Antarctica and do the same.” Heskel added.

I hesitated, “Do you even have any vampires or humans on your continent? Because I’d think they’re all frozen by now.”

Heskel frowned and looked at me disapprovingly, “Is that what you’ve thought all this time? You disappoint me, Ash. Before we relocated humans there I had my vampires built a fortress where the humans could live. The vampires however live wherever they please since the cold doesn’t bother them.”

“But what about food for the humans?” Lucy asked, “Even if you have farms in the building the plants won’t grow very well since there is no sunlight.”

“Importing, my dear, is the very base of our civilisation.” Heskel said happily.

Viktor snarled, “Don’t call her that.”

Heskel rolled his eyes, “My brothers are kind enough to take turns to send the humans food.”

“Oh.” Lucy said looking a bit deflated.

I looked around, “Well, that explains a lot.”

Heskel nodded, “It does, doesn’t it? But anyway we’re getting off the topic. Viktor, you’re the only one who still need to tell us your part of the plan.”

Viktor grumbled something that sounded quite nasty under his breath before he clearly said, “I will go to North America and gather my vampires and the humans that are willing and wait for the messenger.”

I nodded, “Good, I think we all know what we are supposed to do.”

Lucy cleared her throat, “Where will I be?”

I opened my mouth to tell her that she could stay with me since it seemed she was most at ease when she was with me, but Viktor beat me to it. “You’ll be coming with me of course.”

Lucy paled at the devilish grin he was giving her, but her determination didn’t falter. “I refuse to go with you.” She stated very bluntly.

Viktor stood up suddenly and marched over to her, looking like he was about to kill someone and I sighed.

Again.

Things could get very nasty very suddenly in our little family of vampires.