Injured Woman
A voice of a woman said. Just as he expected, it's a female.
"I said, give me your money." She repeated in a threatening way while trying to hide the fact that she's trembling. Demian doesn't know if it's because of fear but he believes the reason is something worse.
"Are you even listening?" Her tone changed as she pressed her dagger into his neck that made him sigh.
"Look, I don't have any money. There is food in that paper bag though. You can feed that to the kids," Demian said, which made her pause. He didn't bother looking at her but it seems that she's surprised by what he said.
Yeah, the girl is with four kids that are at Demian's 6 o'clock, forty meters away. He doesn't know where they came from nor where they are headed but he knows that they are following him because of his strong sense of feeling through the ground.
She slowly removed the dagger and gently took the paper bag beside Demian.
He thought , "I can't believe I'd actually do what I said to the cafeteria girl earlier. I'm still hungry but they need it more than I do. Besides, I might be able to grab some food later when I head back to our apartment."
Demian stood up and turned around to look at the girl who stole his dinner and he wished that he's not always right with his guesses because his eyes widened when he stared at her from head to toe
"What on earth happened to her?" he pondered.
Half of her face is covered with her red hair while blood is streaming down from her head. Her uniform is ragged with blood stains and mud in it.
She's injured and has zero percent of energy to fight back.
"What are you looking at?" she said and sharply looked at him in the eye.
"Geez, what the?" Demian couldn't say anything and just stared at her
She pointed her dagger to him without flinching.
"Were you watching us all this time?" She accused him and then pressed the dagger to his neck again.
"I wasn't. You were," Demian told her and didn't move an inch.
It's true though. He didn't even glance at them earlier and it's not that he needs to do that just to know that they are following him.
"Spill the truth. Are you one of Hundrel's men?" She asked in a threatening way as if she's going to kill him anytime soon.
"Hundrel?" he asked as he didn't have any idea what she's talking about.
Anyone who will see her will definitely think she got involved in a crime or something. Her bruises are still fresh making it look so terrible as if she was beaten a lot.
"Who's Hundrel? Did he do that to you?" he asked confusedly. By the looks of her, she's just trying her best to stand up well and act tough.
Demian tried to help her stand up when he noticed that her knees were weakening but she just pushed him away.
"Don't touch me. Don't act as if you don't know! I'm not stupid. You know I'm with the kids!" She growled. "And this food." She raised the paper bag. "You can't fool me with this!"
Demian's eyes widened as fire appeared in the paper bag that grew larger in a split second, burning the entire paper bag in her hands. He gazed at her and she's still looking at him with her sharp eyes as if she's going to burn him next.
"This girl…" he muttered.
"You-" Demian couldn't finish what he was about to say when he realized that she's about to attack with the fire she formed in her left hands.
"I couldn't believe my eyes. She's what I'm looking for!" he pondered to himself.
It's as if his consciousness came back when she attacked him with her fire but it was too slow that he easily anticipated and dodge it. He grabbed and pulled her arm so he could seize her movement when she suddenly lost consciousness and he had no choice but to catch her body.
She has used all her stamina and her pulse is getting weaker. He think she will be asleep for a while before she finally regains all her energy.
Demian smiled when he realized that she's like him but at the same time he feels bad about her condition. Her injuries might get worse if she didn't rest.
He held her and realized that she had a lot more injury than he thought. There are only people he thinks could do this to someone like her and that is the men who were hunting him. Earlier she mentioned someone with the name of Hundrel. Could that be the mastermind of all these crimes? Could he be the man he is looking for?
"Stop! Don't hurt our sis!"
A young girl came running towards Demian with a wooden stick in her hands. Other kids a bit older than her followed her. They are all dirty just like their sister and it's a good thing that they are not injured or anything.
"Let go of her, you evil man!" A boy pushed Demian away and took their sister away from him so he let them do as they wished because he understood that they don't trust him.
Demian's eyes dilated when the 10-year old boy growled at him showing his growing fangs. He realized that his eyes are yellow making them look different and unnatural. His pupils are the same as the cat's making him look like a hybrid of a human and an animal. He never thought that such a person exists but thinking about his own ability makes him think that it is possible.
Just like what their sister did, he tried to attack him but he just dodged it. The young boy looks like a wild beast but he doesn't have any battle experience because he is just a kid.
"Chill kid! I'm not a bad person," Demian exclaimed and raised both his hands to surrender while dodging his continuous attacks. He doesn't want to attack a kid.
"His claws are freakin' long and I knew that if I got hit by that, it would be really bad," Demian pondered.
He saw in his peripheral vision the other kids are helping their sister get up and he noticed they are all girls except for this one boy.
"I said, I'm not a bad person!" he told him again but he wouldn't listen so he thought that he will have to stop him.
Good thing there are no people in this part of the village right now. They can't be seen like this.
Demian noticed that the other kids were crying while looking at the boy and then he realized that something's wrong. The young boy's yellow eyes turned black as if his pupil enlarged.
He have this feeling that this kid isn't conscious because all of his attacks are strong but not accurate as if he's just attacking whoever is in front of him.
All of his assumptions were proven when Demian dodged his next attack causing the kids to get the boy's attention. Without any hesitation, the boy runs towards them as if he's going to aim an attack on them.
Demian didn't waste any time and immediately leaned down to touch the ground creating a massive force that made the ground in front of them rise and form to shield them from the boy's physical attack.
Next, he controlled all the soil on the ground to grab his feet and keep him from destroying the wall he created.
He roared when Demian successfully seized him.
"Brother!" the young girls cried when they saw the boy's situation.
"I'm sorry kids. I'll have to make your brother sleep for a while," Demian told them and smiled.
***