Chapter 1: Lost

It was just like any other day. I went to school, stopped by the library to look for new books to read, and went home. 

But somehow, it was different, and I felt a sense of dread on my way home. At first, I thought it was nothing. I did my best to ignore it, but when I reached my front door, the feeling became overwhelming, like I would die if I opened it. 

I was about to turn around and walk around until I calmed down. I heard the sound of something breaking in the house and the scream that I knew was my mother's voice.

Ignoring that feeling of dread, I opened the door and walked into my apartment. My worry became worse when I saw our furniture broken and blood leading from the door to my mother's room.

Calling the cops, I quickly told them my location before following the blood trail. Reaching the end of the trail, I was met with a sight that would haunt my dreams for years to come. 

My mother was pinned on the wall, bleeding from her stomach and mouth, as a large skinny monster had its long, jagged claws in her chest. When I made eye contact with the monster's glowing blue eyes, I felt as if it was looking into my soul. The fear I felt at the moment froze me in place.

With a large grin on its face, the monster threw my mother's body to the side and jumped out the window.

Finally able to move my body, I ran to my mother's side. I did everything I could; I tried to stop the bleeding, but I could see that the holes in her chest went all the way through. 

"M-mom, don't worry, you will be fine; the police are on their way," I spoke to her with false hope.

"..Virgil…my time is up…but before I go, I have one more thing to ask of you,"

"Anything, just name it," I spoke, whipping the tears from my eyes.

"Don't look for it," 

"What do you mean?" 

"I know how you are, my boy; promise me you won't look for trouble, just live a peaceful life," she said with a small smile. Before she closed her eyes for the last time 

Those were the last words my mother spoke to me before she was killed. Even though she was a kind person who did nothing but help the people she could, she died in such a way. In the hands of the damned monster. Even though it was her dying wish for me not to look for that monster. I knew I would be able to keep it.

As long as the monster lived, I would hunt it down and kill it with my own hands. So, where did this lead me? Down a rabbit hole of the internet, folktale books, and the deep web. For the next three years, I took every lead I could find on this monster. Soon, I was able to find out what it was. It was called the living damned; they are creatures that aren't allowed into heaven or hell, so they go around taking the remaining life force of the living to stay alive. It's said that when they aren't hunting, they can be found sleeping in the cemetery where they were buried.

After learning that it was easy enough to link up deaths in my town to when the murders started, it took me a few months to find out the creature's human name. 

Finding the cemetery he was buried in, I spent time finding out how to kill them. All answers led to stabbing steel in all three of their hearts. So, with three knives and nothing else to lose, I stood outside of the cemetery where the monster should reside. 

"...I'm sorry, mother; after this, I promise to live the life you wanted me to live," 

Walking into the cemetery, I looked for the monster's grave. After a few minutes, I found Donevon Kast's grave. It looked covered, but it was the only grave with no grass over it. 

Taking out the liter fluid, I covered the grave and the surrounding area in it. Taking out a lighter, I threw it on the lighter fluid. The next moment, the fluid was lit ablaze, causing a large fire. 

As the fire spread, the dirt over the grave began to move, and soon, the same creature that killed my mother three years ago stood before me. Before it could react, I took one of my knives and stabbed it in the chest, causing it to let out a blood-curdling scream. 

With glowing blue eyes, the creature swung its long arms, hitting my chest and launching me into through a headstone. Before I could get up, another fit hit me in the stomach, causing me to throw up. Looking up at the monster, I could see the anger on its face. Lifting its hand up, it was about to swing down when I moved out of the way at the last second. 

Holding both knives, I stabbed the monster's hand, cutting off two of its long fingers. With the blade still in its hand, I ran it up its forearm, leaving a long gash. Taking a step back, I looked at the monster, which was holding its bleeding arm. Making eye contact with me, the monster narrowed its glowing eyes before it turned around and began to run away.

"Oh, no, WE ARE NOT FINISHED HERE!" I yelled, throwing a knife into its back, causing it to stumble 

Rushing to the lighter, I picked it up and lit the gasoline I placed around the graveyard before the fight. 

Seeing the ring of large ring around it, the monster looked back at me and growled before charging at me.

POV change…

"I don't know why they are sending both of us on this low-rank mission," a boy with white hair, two black horns, and red glowing eyes said with a sigh.

"Look, fin, stop complaining. You just started hunting, and we still don't have our last member, so they won't send us on any better mission," spoke a girl with teal-colored hair and purple eyes replied 

"You have to agree, Lilian, this is a waste of time; the living dammed are like warm-up demons," Fin said 

"Let's just hurry up and finish this before anyone gets here," Lilian said 

After a ten-minute walk, they both finally arrived near the graveyard, where the demon was said to have been spotted. Before taking another step, they both saw something that caused them to worry.

"You see the fire, too, right?" Fin asked 

"Yeah, living dammed aren't elementals, so why is there a fire," Lilian said, taking out her katana

"Maybe it's a flame born," Fin said with a grin as his right arm slowly turned demonic.

"Then we need to call the captain; flame born are at least B-rank," Lilian replied

"Yeah, but if we take it down, they should raise our ranks to B-rank," Fin said before charging toward the graveyard

"FIN WAIT," Lilian said, chasing behind him.

Reaching the graveyard entrance, they were met with a shocking scene. A boy in his teens standing over the living dammed they were hunting. 

Looking at each other, they were about to say something when the boy fell to the ground. Rushing toward the bodies, they saw that the demon had three steel blades in its chest with burn marks and cuts all over its body, and the boy was in worse condition; both of his arms were broken. He had three long claw marks on his chest, and he was bleeding all over his body.

"What the hell happened here," Fin said, rubbing his head.

"Do you really think this guy killed the demon?" Fin asked

"I don't know, but we won't find out if he dies. Take him and the demon corpse back to base," Lilian said, walking up to the boy.

Before she picked him up, a black mist left the boy's body and covered the demon corpses. When the corpse was covered, it began to glow red, and the demons corpses began to break apart. Once nothing was felt, the mist returned to the boy's body, and he began to glow red. 

"What the fuck," Fin said, taking a step back.

"I have never seen anything like this before," Lilian said, clutching her katana.

As the boy's body glowed, his wounds began to heal. All his blood returned to his body, and his bruised skin returned to normal.

"Call the captain and tell him we have a problem," Lilian said to fin