17. A monster and a hero

Caeli, lying on the ground and frightened, shuddered at the sight of that beast. Without being able to help it, she found herself trembling, that amber gaze was fixed on her, and what really made her tremble was how those cold and empty eyes seemed to look beyond her simple body. That bright colour was seeping into her bones, into her soul. Tearing the breath from her with mere whispers of that voice from beyond the grave.

“G-Get away,” whispered the girl, trying to kick the creature away -since she had nothing nearby to defend herself-, and the great animal dodged with a sovereign and unhealthy ease those blows, which surely would do absolutely nothing to it.

The female's heart was beating erratically, she was so afraid, her heartbeat was pounding in her ears, over and over again, at an insane speed.

The air would not enter her lungs, she was having a panic attack. She barely had enough strength to push away the beast that stalked her like the predator it was.

“And why should I stay away?” The creature whispered mockingly, catching the girl's leg with one of its claws, digging them into the tanned skin of the brunette, who screamed out loud, without asking for help, because... she didn't want it to harm her mother, she didn't want that beast to attack her. “Do you know what's funny?” It asked her, but since the younger girl hadn't answered it, the creature had dug its claws harder into the bleeding wound. “That I can hurt you all I want and no one will be able to hear you, and no one will be able to come to your aid~.”

It began to laugh like a macabre hyena, enjoying the torture of the poor girl who was totally helpless in its presence, watching as the blood began to fall from the girl's wound, enjoying her pain.

The shadows emerged from the footprints marked on the floor of the room, the darkness slowly began to make its way through the light, the darkness began to overshadow everything.

The creature chirped happily, slowly approaching the younger girl, who listened to her heart continue to gallop at the sensation of fear that ran through every particle of her body.

The big fox, for its part, wagged its tail gracefully and the black hid everything.

The brunette was not able to see, she could not feel anything but the deep pain in her leg. She only heard the soft whispers of voices that made the hair on her body tingle and made her swallow thickly, looking around and seeing nothing, and then her heart stopped abruptly at the sight of those amber eyes, glowing in the dark, twinkling and sharpening in her direction.

“Look, I don't like to devour the souls of my victims as if it were nothing,” it whispered and laughed quietly and gutturally. “I'd like to play a game~.”

“I-I don't want to play,” Caeli whispered in a trembling voice, as she placed a hand on her chest, squeezing her clothes tightly, scratching her skin superficially.

Her surroundings were silent for a moment, she wasn't able to hear anything. Everything was too quiet, the only thing she could hear was her irregular breathing that she could not control now.

Then, she felt how a snort had tousled her hair and how a long, disgusting tongue ran from her upper back to the nape of her neck, making her jump in place and turn around in fright. Seeing that look and a malevolent smile with sharp fangs that made her recoil at the sight of that dark, purplish tongue rubbing away, leaving a semi-transparent slime the same colour as the fox's eyes.

“You can't refuse,” it purred, cocking its head to one side as it laughed at that. “Let's play hide and seek, that way, it'll be more delightful to find you and devour you~.”

The girl at that moment gasped as she saw those eyes darken and stain crimson, reflecting in hers and showing her in a clear image what she would do to her if it caught her.

The blood in that scene gushed out, staining the entire floor of the room where she had been hiding. The creature, a hybrid at the time, held in its arms the limp body of Caeli, who had lost the gleam in her eye. She lay dead, blood and tears mingling on her face, while pained moans escaped from her, still begging for the beast to let go and leave her alone.

But to no avail, for the fox continued to dig its sharp claws into the girl's insides, searching and searching, until it got what it wanted, and pulling the object out of the girl's body, it tore out the bright blue soul.

And after getting what it had wanted, without any delicacy, it had thrown the inert body of the brunette on the huge blood puddle, the delicious colour of her skin was gone, all her vital essence was gone too.

Her eyes were empty and colourless, slowly beginning to remain mere empty sockets, from which a dark tar began to ooze out - along with the area of her mouth and nose-. Letting that liquid cover her body and make her scream, momentarily reviving her to feel the pain she was suffering.

A few moments later, the female came back from the shock she had gone into to gasp in fright and raise her gaze to the fox who continued to stare at her with that bright, dangerous gaze.

“And i-if I play, do I have a chance to be free?” She asked stammering while clenching her fists tightly, trying not to shake like jelly, although it was almost impossible, since this being was too imposing and fear overshadowed any other feeling.

“Of course~” It nodded to start creating a house around her, so it had left the youngest inside it while the beast turned around. “One, two...”

As soon as the creature's count began, the girl felt once again how her vital organ had begun to beat uncontrollably. On the contrary, her legs seemed to have become paralysed.

“Five, six...” the creature continued to count outside the house, at which the girl forced herself to react and without further ado, she turned around to start running as far as her legs would allow her -especially because of the serious injury to her leg- and as far as the tiny house would allow her to run.

One after another she began to search for an open door, finding none in the downstairs hall, she had to run up the stairs, stumbling and falling to the floor, staining it with her blood. Hitting her knee squarely, but, stifling the cry of pain, with all the speed she could muster, she continued up the stairs.

When she reached the first floor, she found a very long corridor, completely full of doors, with no way out and no possible escape.

“No, no, no. Think, Caeli, think!” She shouted in whispers trying to concentrate and failing to do so she simply ran down the corridor, stumbling again as she felt a cramp run up and down her leg. A grunt escaped her mouth, she forced herself to bite her lower lip to keep from screaming out in pain and fear.

When she looked down, she saw that it was not a reaction of her body, but she had a horrible mark on her leg, or rather, three horrible marks. They were deeply embedded in her skin, she could see the muscles, strained and gushing blood. At that moment she tensed up even more noticeably. It was going to find her one way or another, no matter what she did, there was no escape.

“Come on, come on little one, make me have fun,” it gutturally laughed in that creepy voice that made her more scared.

She began to look around, seeing thousands of doors, but she didn't have time to check that all of them were open, the torture didn't end there, she was bleeding to death and she had to think of something very quickly or she would be dead.

Scared and not having much else in mind, choking a scream, she stained her hands with blood, tore part of her bloodstained trousers, and as best she could, she began to crawl around the place, trying to confuse the beast's sense of smell, leaving traces wherever and however she could.

She felt weaker and weaker, but she had to hold on as long as she could. For the countdown had come to an end.

“Ready or not. Here I cooome,” the creature whispered with a grin as it entered the house and Caeli, not having the time she needed, slipped into a room at random, with the greatest stealth she had ever had in her life, and then, hiding as best she could in that immense room.

She treated her wound with several bandages she had made from her own shirt and gasped in fright as she heard the beast come up the stairs. The creaking of the wood made her heart pump her blood faster and faster, if that was even possible.

And it was, as the bandages became more stained with her blood from her nerves.

She had to control herself, she had to calm down.

She heard the footsteps echoing in the hallway, the way that beast sniffed the scent of her blood for her. She placed both hands over her lips, not caring about getting blood on them, only wanting to silence the sobs that tried to escape her.

At that moment, tears tried to make their way out her eyes, certain that it was going to be her fateful end, she didn't want it, she didn't want it to end everything. It couldn't be like this!

«How can I get out of this?» She thought, swallowing thickly, trying to calm her thoughts, noticing how the creature walked heavily, as she breathed in the surrounding scent echoing its gestures throughout the place. Her skin was all goose bumps, she felt that breath on the back of her neck, even if it wasn't close.

She tried to relax, she tried to close her eyes and imagine something that would relax her.

«Calm down, find something to make you forget you're here, anything!» She shouted to herself and at that very moment, a relaxed smile crossed her mind, which as well as her body calmed down when she felt warm arms around her, the brightness made her open her eyelids in surprise and when she saw what was hugging her, her eyes, unable to help it, started to let slip a tear. “Dad?”

The girl whispered almost voicelessly, when she saw that green gaze that gave off warmth and paternal love. One that she had not felt for a long time.

The words didn't seem to leave her lips, and the only thing that fell were the salty drops of water from the two pairs of eyes that stared at each other in silence.

Warmth smeared her heart, she was overwhelmed, happy, euphoric I might say. That feeling was what she had been needing for a long time, trust, affection... That embrace that her father always offered her and that, although she thanked her mother for everything she did for her day after day, it was not the same, because he was no longer with them.

Pain, fear, everything seemed to have disappeared.

She couldn't say anything, she didn't know what to say, she just stared at him, and he stared at her. When her body was able to react, the brunette threw herself at her father.

Just as she did so, the image faded and she fell to the ground, where she felt sharp glass piercing mercilessly through the layers of her skin, opening painful wounds that made her cry out loudly.

With difficulty, she tried to get up, but she was losing more and more blood, and the more she moved, the deeper the glass went in like sharp blades.

“W-where did they come from? Agh!” The girl screamed, pressing her palms against the ground to force herself upright as best she could until she could sit up, seeing how the whole place around her was filled with the glass. “W-when?”

A bloodcurdling cackle once again disrupted her senses, alerting her of the danger, her senses returned to their highest peak and she searched for the owner of that horrifying voice. When she found it, it bared sharp teeth that made her try to retreat, but to no avail, as she could not move in the position she was in and with the sharp objects surrounding her.

“What an idiot you are, my dear, to be fooled by a simple illusion,” laughed the big fox, who began to laugh like a hyena.

The brunette's legs and arms did not respond, her eyes now watering harder as she watched the creature approach her with those razor-like fangs, glaring mockingly at her with those amber eyes that flashed dangerously, staring at her with a hunger that horrified her.

She was lost, that would be her tragic end. Nothing and no one could save her now.

«There were still many things I wanted to do,» she thought, looking at the creature that licked its sharp teeth. She felt her heart stop as she watched the large animal loom menacingly towards her figure. «So much to experience. So much to live... And now, I won't be able to. I will die here, in the jaws of this beast that watches me in detail.»

Her eyes, watering again, Caeli was quiet. Such was the horror that had taken root in her chest that she could no longer react to anything.

Before that situation, thousands of images had begun to reflect in her head, hundreds of smiles and glances, memories that she thought she had forgotten, everything had begun to cross in front of her.

“I found you, and now, I want my reward,” it said mockingly, but the girl no longer listened to anything, half kneeling, she felt the crystals continue to pierce her skin. In her mind, her memories kept surfacing at an alarming speed, her arms dropping with dead weight on both sides of her body.

Those beautiful blue eyes were dead in life. They had no lustre.

She watched the fox approach slowly, it was in no hurry, it enjoyed watching that girl break body and soul before her fateful end. It was a sublime spectacle before its eyes.

The artist had lost hope, she knew that nothing and no one could save her. For a moment, everything around her seemed to stop, and in her mind, a mocking smile and sharp, toxic eyes flashed, dragging her back to those moments she had had with the raven-haired boy: tense, happy, angry, exciting and even... romantic moments.

“Thomirchotch...” Caeli murmured, almost voicelessly, a quiet murmur, echoing through the walls of the room.

The animal, at the name just whispered by the girl, reacted like a spring, having to pull away when the mark on the girl's body glowed a deep green that blinded it momentarily.

In that moment of weakness, it felt its jaw hit with tremendous force, almost breaking its neck as it was slammed against one of the walls of the room.

The instant it looked up, a guttural growl escaped from within it. Marking its magnificence as he rose to its feet.

Caeli, for her part was completely lost, she could no longer react to anything, she had only been able to fall on her side, once again stabbing more glass into her skin, which continued to bleed slowly.

She could only see how an imposing shadow rose right next to her, everything was blurred, the only thing she could make out with real clarity, were the colours of the vibrant gazes of both animals.

Muffled noises and loud thuds echoed in the room, she felt something warm and wet fall on her face, small drops that stained her bloodied skin a little more. Whispers, which became unintelligible to her and she could only understand a few things.

“Why are you saving her?” she was confused, and deep down, hope prevailed, hoping that whoever had just arrived would come to her rescue.

The banging continued, the colours intermingled, it seemed that the speed of these beings was superior to her limited visual capacity.

“My human,” roared a voice she had been able to recognise, even with that huskier tone from beyond the grave, a faint smile formed on the younger girl's lips and before she could say anything else, she had lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, the fight between the two creatures had continued. Each blow, more brutal than the last, both beasts were completely covered in blood, and they didn't really care. Their breaths were heavy, their movements surprisingly faster and faster. The magic was overflowing, the imposing presences were making the atmosphere heavier and heavier.

There was no mercy on anyone's part, they wanted to annihilate their enemy. There could only be one winner...

The toxic-looking demon roared, deafening the fox, and with its razor-sharp jaws, managed to grab it by the throat the moment it got confused, tearing out its throat with a single bite and throwing it across the room.

The large animal for its part opened its eyes in surprise, its pupils constricted, and it quickly resumed a more humanised form, showing a beautiful shade of porcelain for skin and those amber eyes. Her hands were placed around her neck, blood of a dark violet hue streaked the floor of the room, further staining the feet of the beast who now stood, its clothes dripping with its opponent's blood, as did it fangs.

The kneeling woman raised her gaze and a smile appeared on those pink lips that were now dripping with her blood.

“And now... you will be her saviour, won't you?” She murmured in a distorted voice. She was using magic to speak. “But you and I know what you are. You're like me... like all demons. If she saw you in that form, do you think she'd be so calm?” She asked with that sharp smile, as her eyes flickered again. “No, because that's the way they are and always will be. You’re just” Before she could finish the sentence, the toxic looking demon had grabbed her jaw with two fingers and unhesitatingly ripped it off, making her fall round to the ground.

The beast at that moment had not said a word. It only watched as the other's body began to melt into purplish pitch and after a few seconds, it disappeared.

After that, the demon could smell the aroma of that peculiar blood, flooding its nostrils, its elliptical and vertical pupil contracted. With mad speed it turned around, taking the unconscious female in its arms.

It gazed at that luscious caramel skin, stained in that exquisite blood of deep crimson. It called to it, it desired that flesh. A long tongue emerged, softly licking the thick liquid from her lips, a quiet gasp escaped its lips.

Its teeth sharpened even more, slowly it began to open its jaw, bringing it closer to her vulnerable neck. It could not control itself, the desire to devour this innocent soul overcame it, it was blinded by its most primitive side.

A few millimetres, and it would be able to savour that exquisite delicacy.

Or so it was to be, for that sweet, mellifluous voice brought it to an abrupt halt.

“Thank you, Tom,” the girl murmured quietly and slowly. “You are my hero...”

Both their gazes met once more, silence reigned in the place. The creature could only be able to gently caress the younger girl's cheek, tenderly and softly, its heart stopped as it watched her cling to that creepy, long-clawed hand. And that charming and tender smile made it wake up from its trance, but when it tried to say something, the girl had fallen unconscious again. Reacting to this, with slowness and great pain, the bones shifted again, the rotten parts of its being fell to the ground, leaving his dark, black blood to stain the floor and melt the ground.

Seconds later, returning to his humanised form he looked back at Caeli and embraced her gently.

A quiet sigh escaped his lips and he let out a dry laugh.

“Perhaps, I am both,” he said to himself as he picked the girl up princess style and began to walk, leaving the room and heading for the exit. “A hero and a monster”.

After those words, he walked through the front door and closed it behind him, leaving everything to turn black.

[...]

Elsewhere, hurried footsteps echoed with haste and anguish, the slaves and servants stared in wonder at the hurried man who swallowed thickly as he stopped in front of a large door, carefully knocked three times and with a quiet ‘pass’, entered that chamber.

“I-Illustrious calamity,” whispered the man who was shaking like jelly, and a grunt made him jump in his place, for that alone was hurrying him to speak quickly and leave. “I-It has already begun,” he said, looking at the one who sat in the great lustrous chair, who turned and the servant jumped in fright once more.

“Are you sure?” asked the voice with a curious tone and a sharp smile.

“The… the clock has started counting down and o-our spies have confirmed it. Everything is going as you expected,” he nodded softly and soon saw that wicked grin spread.

“Finally~”

“B-But we're not going to act yet, are we?” asked the tense boy, who watched as the chair once again spun around so its occupant looked out the window.

“No, not yet. We'll stay hidden for a while longer. That fox has done what she had to do, pity she survived, the punishment she will get is worse than death,” it laughed softly and waved its hand. “For now, get out of here~.”

“Y-Yes!” nodded the erratic man who didn't take even two seconds to leave the room and close with force behind him. Leaving the mysterious figure alone, laughing quietly in the darkness of its solitude.