CHAPTER SEVEN

As to be expected, Tyler lectured me the entire way home, but I didn't care. I'm excited! I get to join Star-ranked hits! Of course, Tyler made sure I was put onto his team.

That night, I lay awake on my bed in my bath robe and stared at the ceiling, too excited to sleep. Then I felt it, the dark, ominous aura. The feeling of being watched.

"Congrats, princess, on your promotion. It seems like we will be seeing more of each other now." A voice came from across my room. I recognized it.

I sat up quickly to see that I was correct. The Devil was leaning against the far bedroom wall. His eyes glinted in the moonlight as we made eye contact, and they seemed to hold amusement and excitement in them.

"What do you want?" I snarled as I stood up from my bed.

"Just to congratulate you. I see you live up to your name, although the demon I sent to you was fairly weak." He said. He then began walking towards me, "But that aura, that excitement that you had as you slashed through his flesh and shed his blood. That intrigued me very much."

"That is why they call me the Red Demon. I spill lots of blood and I enjoy it." I said simply as I stood my ground, but he only kept coming closer.

"Oh I can tell you enjoy it. It awakens something dark inside you and I like that." He now stood in front of me, only a few inches away from my body.

"There is nothing dark inside me. I merely have been deemed psychotic." I retorted, not breaking eye contact.

"Hmm. You may not notice it, but I do." He whispered softly, "Its powerful, and it's attracting not only myself but other demons as well."

"What are you talking about? Get the hell out of my room!" I snapped at him. What did he mean by all of this?

Asmodeus looked downward, as if scanning my body. My face began to feel hot, I'm still only in my bath robe!

"Why would I want to leave when I'm being tempted with such a wonderful sight." He licked his lips as he lifted his gaze back up to meet mine. I felt disgusted and angry. How dare he!

"You're disgusting. Get out!" I shouted now and stomped my foot.

"Nyx? Are you alright in there? Who are you talking to?" Tyler knocked on my door and began to open it. As he did this, Asmodeus vanished.

"Uhh, yeah it's fine. It's... it's nothing." I shook my head and tried to play it off. Tyler just shrugged and told me to start getting ready since my first Star-level hit is tonight.

I was really going to promote my name tonight. I put on a red silk robe, similar to my black one. I wore my usual gear of forearm guards, knee pads, boots, mask, and my red cloak. I slid all my weapons into my waistband and tied my hair into pigtails.

I took a deep breath as I looked at myself in the mirror. I can do this.

Tyler was waiting for me on the balcony. Once I stepped outside, we began running across rooftops. As we travelled, the rest of the team joined us. Colt and Kai appeared to my side, and Tyler was at my left along with Ryan and a girl I had not seen before. As she joined, Tyler explained that his other teammate had been injured badly and that this girl, Rain, would be taking his place for a while. I said hello to her but she seemed to ignore me on purpose. Huh, noted.

We began making our way through the forest on the outskirts of town when we heard loud screeches from behind us. Demon screeches. We all landed to the ground and within moments three of the creatures appeared. These ones seemed different. They were smaller than the other demons I had seen and their figures were more human-like, but they had huge, ugly horns protruding from their forehead. Their mouths hung open with their long tongues sticking out. Saliva ran down their chins and tongues like a waterfall.

"How did they find us? They never can." Kai whimpered from beside me.

"And there was only supposed to be two for this hit, not three!" Tyler seemed just as confused, and maybe even a little scared.

"We found her." Snarled one of the demons.

"Yes. Grab her and kill the others." A second one shouted.

Who were they talking about? There were only two females on this team and either of us had been a part of it before...

Suddenly, the demons charged toward us. They were incredibly fast. Tyler ordered two people per demon so Colt and Kai took the one on the left, Rain and Ryan took the one on the right, so that left me and Tyler with the center one.

But instead, Tyler turned to me and said, "You stay here, I can handle it. Just be there for back-up." Then he bolted towards the oncoming beast.

What? Stand still and do nothing? Bullshit!

My blood boiled. There is no way I'm being benched on my first Star-level hit. I decided I would attack when there was an opening, whether Tyler wanted me to or not.

I started toward Tyler and the creature. As Tyler blocked an attack, I flew over both his and the demons heads, drew my sword, and severed the demons spinal cord. It immediately fell to the ground and Tyler looked at me in anger and disbelief.

"What did I tell you!" He shouted, but I only grinned. My thirst for the spilling of blood was growing, and Tyler had never really seen much of this side of me before.

Ignoring him, I interrupted the battle between Colt, Kai, and the second demon. "I'll take over." I said with a wide grin across my face, and they both backed down immediately but stayed close by in case I needed assistance.

The demon seemed to enjoy my interruption, though.

"Ahh so you have chosen to come with me all on your own." I drawled.

I glanced down at the blood dripping from the end of my sword. "Now why would I do that? No, I'm just about to have some fun is all." I chuckled, which turned in to hysterical laughter.

I suddenly launched myself toward the demon. It was fast in getting away, but I was faster in catching up to it. I kept slashing through its flesh each time I caught up, but I wasn't aiming to kill it. Not yet.

The demon started to hit back, striking at me with its long, sharp claws. I would block with either my sword or my forearm guards. We locked weapons for a moment, then I violently flung it backwards with it becoming weaker under the force of the slash of my sword.

I stood and caught my breath while waiting for the creature to stand back up. My sword was covered in blood, so I began to lick it off. It tasted very sweet, not how blood usually tastes.

The demon seemed to barely be able to stand on its feet. It was bleeding from several cuts. As it was struggling to get up, I sprinted and appeared behind it. I whispered, "Surprise." Into its ear before taking one of the small knives from my waistband and slowly butting through the demons spinal cord, grinning the whole time and feeling pure joy surge through my body. The creature screamed in agony until the job was completed and it slumped to the ground.

As I stared at the limp body, I noticed how deafeningly silent it was. I looked up to find the rest of my team staring at me in horror, including my own brother.

Tyler then turned to the rest of the team, "You all know what to do with the bodies. Let's take them to headquarters."

I started to lift the body closest to me when Tyler appeared beside me and took it from my hands. "Hey!" I protested, but I stopped when I saw the look on his face. He looked scared.

"I-I think you should go home, Nyx." He looked away from me as I said this. I wanted to ask him why and what was wrong, but he took off right after telling me to leave. I sighed but did as he said.

On my way towards home, I heard clumsy footsteps following me. I stopped on the rooftop of the next house and turned around. My breathing paused for a second and my heart rate sped up. Another demon was following me, but one of the bigger ones from before.

I immediately prepared myself to fight it as it continued to charge towards me. I was too exhausted to drag out this fight, so I ran towards it and then jumped above it right before we collided. I took one of my knives, stabbed it into the hindbrain area of the creatures spine and dragged the knife all the way through to the sacrum.

Tyler told them to take the body to headquarters right? I guess that's what I have to do with this guy.

I clumsily carried the large body of the demon as I ran towards the main headquarters. Questions kept running through my head: why did this demon come after me? Why and how did they find our group earlier? What did that one mean by me coming with him?

I recalled Asmoeus's words, that demons were looking for me. That I possessed something powerful. I shook my head, it's probably just my bad luck.

I finally made it to headquarters and as I walked inside and dropped the body on the floor, my team stood talking to one of the higher-ups but they turned around the moment they heard the body hit the floor and their eyes widened.

"Nyx! What did I tell you! Why-" Tyler began shouting but I cut him off.

"It's not my fault! This thing was chasing me so I had no choice!"

Tyler seemed at a loss for words, as did everyone else. Then the man that my team was talking to spoke up, "You said this demon had followed you?"

"Yes, Sir." I answered simply.

"You dealt with this level 3 demon all on your own?"

"Uh...Yes, Sir." I repeated, unsure of what he was thinking.

He nodded then turned back to my team and said something to them before they all walked in the same direction.

"Uhh.. Tyler? Are.. What..?" I wasn't sure what to ask but I also was not sure of what was going on. He stopped and talk turned toward me.

"Go home and rest, you deserve it." He said and flashed a smile, but it seemed forced.

I just shrugged it off and hurried home so I could shower and wash all the blood from my body.