Uncle Raven

I giggled as Uncle Raven picked me up and spun me around.

" I’ve missed you so much, Sapphire “.

" Me too Uncle Raven why were you gone for so long,” I asked after he set me down.

He sighed “It’s best if you don’t know ok “.

I opened my mouth to protest but before I could Uncle Raven crouched down and said.

" Happy birthday Sapphire “.

He was holding a that has five charms on it a dagger, a star, a shield, a sun, and a moon in the middle of each charm was a different symbol though you could barely see it.

" What do the symbols mean “?

He grinned at me ” you’ll find out when you’re older, you can't know now “.

I pouted ” why not now “?

He was about to answer me when mom yelled out.

" Time for dinner ou two, wash up before you sit down to eat “.

Uncle Raven grinned at me ” race you back to the house, last one there is a rotten egg “.

I beamed at him “ you’re on I'm no rotten egg “.

We both got into place before Uncle Raven started the count down.

" One, two, three GO GO GO“!

We both took off running towards the house which was not even twenty feet away. I made it there first like I always did and then ran inside and to the table. But my mom stopped me from sitting down at the table.

" Oh no, you don’t you need to wash your hands before you eat, I told you this already remember “.

I nodded before rushing to the kitchen sink and washing my hands. Uncle Raven washed his right after me and we all sat down at the table and ate dinner.

" So Raven how long are you going to be staying, Sapphire really misses you and so do I “?

Uncle Raven sighed ” not long unfortunately I have stuff I need to do “.

I frowned ” but why don’t you stay here while you do the stuff you need to do “?

My parents and Uncle Raven exchanged a glance before Uncle Raven changed the subject.

" Why don’t you show me some of your drawings after dinner “.

Sapphire beamed at me " really I hope you like them ".

He chuckled " I'm sure I will ".

Later in the day.

I laugh as I run around the backyard playing with my imaginary friend Pink. She laughed with me her pink hair was all over the place, blue eyes sparkling with happiness and a huge smile. Pink came into my life when I almost died when I was four years old though no one else has ever seen her.

So even though she feels like a real person to me no one else can hear, see, or feel her so she has to be made up, right? We were playing a game we made up called freeze tag though we changed it up a little. One person was the tagger and they have to tag the person within one minute.

If they are able to tag the other person then that person has to freeze and the tagger asks the truth or dare. If they aren’t able to tag them in that amount of time then the tagger freezes and they are asked truth or dare. We were having fun as we ran around but that soon ended when a mist started to surround me causing me to cry out as it surrounded me.

I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see the mist and when I opened them again I saw my body laying on the floor unconscious. I watched as my Mother took my body inside the house and then came back out. Then I watched as these creatures came and talked to my parents.

Even though I couldn’t hear anything that they were saying I could feel the hostility in the air between them. I then watched as those creatures surged forward and literally ripped them apart. When they were done they all towards the house but they couldn’t get within ten feet of it.

I watched as they fought against some kind of invisible barrier that always stopped them from coming. They were still there a week later and I was still hovering in the same place I was a week ago. It was like that for another week until the police came and then I felt myself being pulled back into my body.

The day before the nurse sees her awake.

I wake up screaming and crying as I keep replaying what happened to my parents in my head over and over again. I felt arms wrap around me and someone starting rocking me as they sang in my ear.

Don’t cry little one

Dry your tears

Don’t let the pain

Consume you

Don’t let it

Control you

I know it

Must hurt

But it will be ok

Just be strong

Whoever was holding me was able to get me to calm down. Soon I was able to pull away from them to see the familiar face of my Uncle Raven. He gave me a sad smile as he put me down and asked.

" Do you feel better now “?

I glared at him but decided not to answer.

He sighed ” yeah I knew that was a wrong question to ask even before I asked it but I thought I might as well ask “.

We were quiet for a moment or two before Uncle Raven said.

" I’m giving you a choice Sapphire, you can keep your memories or I can erase them, I will erase all the bad memories but you will still have the good memories “.

I frowned at him ” you can erase memories how is that possible “?

" We do not have that much longer Sapphire please choose, I will have to leave soon “.

I stared at him for a second before I said the two words the sealed my faith.

" Erase them “.

Present time

I stood there frozen as memories from the past come flooding back to me and before I could stop myself I took off running. It didn’t take me long to find the front door to this place it was so huge but we were actually quite close to the front entrance. I didn’t know exactly where I was so I slowly walked around trying to find anything that looked familiar.

I finally spotted my school and was able to make it back to my Foster home. I didn’t know where my stuff was but I really wasn’t in the right mind to worry about that. I knocked on the door because I didn’t have my bookbag with my key in it and the door was opened by my Foster Mom.

She opened her mouth to ask me a question but before she could I just pushed by her and headed up to my room in the attic. When I got there I threw myself on the bed and started to cry. I ended up crying myself to sleep hoping that no one came into my room.

Unknown

I breathe in a sigh of relief as I feel the healing power flow through me. It flowed through me chasing away the illness that has been trying to seep in for a couple of hours.

" Thank you I really needed that, ” I said while looking over Carnithis’s shadow form.

He just grunted in annoyance ” I don’t see why we can’t just kill the girl and get it over with, it would be easier than your plan “.

" Because even if we destroy the Hunters we still have the courts and without the girl, I doubt they would let your kind take over the human world, they need her just as much as the Demon Hunters need her “.

I could feel the irritation come off of him in waves but before he could say anything there was a knock on my door. I gestured for Carnithis to disappear before I cleared my throat and called out.

" Yes “?

" Hey, Dad can I come in “?

" Of course Zane your always welcomed in my office “.

He opened the door before coming and sitting down in the chair in front of my desk. I could feel Carnithis’s presence even though neither me nor Zane could see him. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t feel him because I can always feel him.

Zane looked around my office taking in the grayish-black wallpaper. The shelves are filled with all kinds of books that are about the history of the demon hunters to specific objects. Books and paper cover nearly every surface in my office.

It was so bad that you could barely see the top of the desk.

Zane grinned at me ” so are we going to go after the girl “?

I nodded ” of course we will go after her in the morning “.

" Alright, but how do we know if she’s the girl from the prophecy “?

I looked at him amused ” have you ever seen another girl with natural silver hair “?

" Not that I know of “.

I nodded ” if that’s all you wanted to talk about you should go train “.

He nodded back to me before leaving, I felt Carnithis’s presence strengthened behind me as he said.

" I will be back in a week and I expect there to be a lot more progress, you don’t want to make me mad Falthen “.

I frowned at him ” I have to keep up a front here Carnithis if not they could figure out I’m not who I say I am “.

He chuckled a sound that caused a shiver of fear to run up my spine.

" Do you really think I care about that Falthen if it was up to me I would have just slathered them all “?

Before I could say anything else he finally left and even though I can still feel a part of him in the back of my mind. It’s something I will always feel reminding me of the mistake I should have never made.

******

I doubled over in pain as the sickness I was born with tried to consume me. Of course, that wasn’t the only pain I was feeling no I was also feeling the pain of betrayal. You see the sickness I was born with happens in all twins that are born as Demon Hunters.

One of the twins is born the way a Demon Hunter is traditionally born with one drop of demon blood in their human blood. The other twin is born with only one drop of human blood and the rest demon. Of course, none of that was known to my parents until recently.

They actually spent almost every second of their lives after I was born but once they figured out the cure they threw me out. You see the reason one of the twins was sickly was because of that one drop f human blood. It’s the one thing stopping us from being fully demon it’s the only thing that cures us fully.

So my parents threw me out because they couldn’t kill me themselves, they’re hoping the sickness would do it for them. Finally, the pain was too much for me to be able to stand so I closed my eyes and slid down the wall. I willed myself to go to sleep so I could die peacefully in my sleep.

I was just about to fall asleep when I heard a terrifying chuckle.

" You don’t look too good kid “.

I nodded in agreement with what the voice said but didn’t have enough strength to speak much less be worried about the voice. I thought whoever was there had left because it went completely quiet. That is until I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was starting to fill with strength, more than I have ever had.

I slowly got up being careful just in case I go rushing back to my death bed. When I realized I wasn’t about to the brink of death I jumped up and looked around to see who saved me. Once my eyes found the shadowy figure standing next to me I jumped back.

" S**t your a demon “!

He growled in annoyance ” of course I am kid who else could have saved you “?

I frowned at him before I asked one word ” why “?

He chuckled that terrifying chuckle ” well kid I need a favor from you I need you to bound me to you “.

I shook my head and was about to protest when he asked.

" Don’t you want revenge on your parents for leaving you out here to die “?

I frowned yes that was something I wanted but if I bound him to me I’ll lose my freedom and I’m not sure it’s worth it. But when you were as hurt and betrayed as I was you start thinking. The more I thought of it though the more appealing it sounded to me.

Until I said the three words that I regretted the most later in my life.

" I’ll do it “.

******

I’ll spare you what happened during the ritual but let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. Of course, I didn’t learn until after we were already bound that Carnithis needs to heal me once a week. If he doesn’t my sickness will take over once again and kill me.

You’re probably wondering if I regret getting with Carnithis why I am still doing this. Well since I am already bound to Carnithis he can just take over my body and do everything himself. If that happens though he will probably just kill everyone in sight.

I could of course try to warn my nephew but Carnithis will kill me before I can and then he will kill everyone else in this building.

I can only hope that the girl can figure out how to stop the demons. I really don't care what happens to me as long as I don't end up having to betray my family.I I'm way over my head, aren't I?

Zane

I nodded at my father before leaving his office, some of the new recruits were rushing through the hallway so I pulled one over to me.

" Hey recruit I want you to go to the alley I found the silver-haired girl and look for her stuff and bring it up to my room ok "?

He nodded before rushing off to the front room probably excited to get out of here. Most recruits usually spend their first couple of months of training before they are allowed out. This is why me and Andrew were surprised when my dad said Keys would be coming with us.

I mean she didn't even have a day of training and my dad was making us take her out on missions. He has been acting kinda weird recently but I put that up to stress on the coming war. Of course, it also could be because my mom's birthday is coming up neither of us knows what to do during that day since she died.

We have kinda just been avoiding it and when I say kinda I mean full-blown amnesia avoiding. I know that one day we are going to need to face it but that's after we fight the war. Huh never thought I would be afraid to talk about mom more than going and fighting a demon war.

Stupid I know but that's how all Demon Hunters work, we'd rather fight than talking about our emotions. Which is why I'm going to stop talking about this sappy stuff and go spar with someone. I made my way to the front room looking for anyone that would want to spar with me when the door burst open.

In walked Key's and Andrew and for the first time ever Andrew looked furious. Key's had her head down and was fiddling with her necklace of keys. She walked by me without a word while Andrew stalked right up to me.

" We followed the demon to a demon feeding house ".

I stared at him in surprise " what "!

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair " The rumors are true Zane ".

I shook my head " It can't be ".

His expression was grave " I wouldn't believe t if I hadn't seen it myself, there were at least ten demons mixed in with the humans ".

Sapphire

I woke up with a groan as I heard my phone ringing, it was the only thing I still had besides my clothes because I can’t take it to school. I reached over and grabbed my phone pressing the green button accepting the call.

" SAPPHIRE GET YOU LAZY BUT UP AND DOWN TO THIS CAFE " Kitty screamed in my ear.

Before I could say anything she had already hung up I sighed before I got up and started to get dressed. As I was getting dressed my phone rang again and I thought it was Kitty again so I answered.

" I'm getting dressed Kitty and then I'll be there in ten minutes ".

" Oh, so you can keep your appointments with your friends but not me "?

I wince when I hear the voice of my counselor on my phone " I'm so sorry Ms. Lalic I was attacked by someone yesterday and brought home by someone who saw the attack ".

Not my greatest explanation but I couldn't tell her that I was attacked by a demon and I also might be the one who is going to stop demons from taking over the world.

She gasped " Oh my are you alright "?

" Yeah the people that found me patched me up, it doesn't even hurt so whatever medicine they used is working ".

I heard her let out a sigh of relief " that's good I would hate for you to get extremely hurt ".

" Yeah me too, " I told her.

" So I heard you haven't been to see your therapist at all ".

I let out a groan of annoyance " that's because as I said many times before I don't need a therapist ".

She sighed " Sapphire the courts ordered for you to go to a therapist so you have to go ".

" Hmm let me think about it, how about no "?

Before she could say anything else I hung up the phone before I finished getting dressed and took off to the cafe.