Demon in the Snow, Heather Fledderus [rainbow fish read aloud .TXT] 📗

words, like a king cobra.

The being went on, “We are what you beings call demons. And we are in your Cache, having been absorbed by you.”

“What are you talking about? The only demons I've seen were the ones that Hannah and the others took out.”

Hissing filled the void at his words. “Speak not of those three to us. It was they who have sent you to us in such bad condition. Even now, they try to unravel the harm they have caused, but to what end? One of them is a traitor, and the others are fools. You will heal, but not through their efforts.

“You have only recently begun to see us, yet we have been around your entire life. Your energy was too enticing to stay away. But as soon as we came close to devouring you, you absorbed us. Be grateful that along the way, you absorbed a Regenerator.”

“Why?” This was turning surreal, more than the whole 'ginormous-demons-that-no-one-else-can-see' deal. Nate couldn't wrap his mind around it all.

“It really is dense,” the being sneered.

“Patience,” the regal voice said again, “He has much to learn. And how can he learn without a teacher?”

The being reluctantly answered Nate's question. “You are like a Summoner,” the last word was stated in contempt, “Except that you do not require physical contact. You absorb us into your Cache, and are then supposed to be able to summon us upon command and bend us to your will.

“Except, that is not what has happened. Instead of releasing us, you draw upon our powers and use them as if they were your own.”

“I do?”

“Moron, where did you think you got your acute senses from, eh? You're one of them, at least a little.”

“One of who?”

It snorted with derision, “If you couldn't figure it out by this point on your own, then you never will.

“You're Akuna. Demon-slayer.”

10. Headaches

“Is he awake yet?”  A door slowly slid shut, but to Nate it still sounded like the person had slammed it full-force.

“No, but he's stable, so that's something.” Nate didn't recognize the voice, but it came from whoever was sitting beside him. “Anyways, I need to head back. The Nephron isn't going to run itself.”

Nate counted the number of people he could hear breathing. Four. The door slammed shut. Three.

“I don't think she was too happy that we called her out to the field.” Sora. Had to be.

“Yeah, well, what were we supposed to do? Rush him to the hospital? What would we say?” Hannah. She sounded worried.

If it were the two of them, then the third had to be Chad. One thing about him, he didn't seem to like to talk too often.

“Wonder what was the bigger risk, though,” Chad mumbled. He was in the far corner of the room, Nate could hear, sitting in a chair. A page of a magazine turned, “Considering that Mark on his back.”

“Maybe it's just a coincidence. I mean, it has to be some sort of tattoo, right?” Hannah suggested. It took Nate a moment to realize that they were talking about his Mark, planted right between his shoulder blades.

“Yeah,” Sora snorted derisively, “In other words, he saw the Mark somewhere and decided to get a tat of it? Let's be real here, Hannah.”

“And the other option? That he's a demon?”

“Let's not forget that it's probably reformed.”

“Oh, so just drop Nathan down to an 'it' now, is that what's going on here? Is that what you think?”

There was silence in the room for a moment.

“I think that your emotions are clouding your judgment,” Chad started slowly, “I think we should wait until he wakes up before we make decisions. There is a chance that he's reformed, if he's even a demon. Maybe he's part demon-slayer, and his dad had that mark tattooed on him when he was little. It wouldn't be the first time. Any answer we think of is just as impossible as any other. We wait until he comes to. That's what's going on.”

“Too late,” Nate said at last, fed up with being left out. His eyes snapped open, immediately adjusting to the brightness of the room. Groggily, he sat up, using his hands to steady himself. Pain lanced through his skull, but in a flash was gone. So he did have one of those regenerating demons in him. That was convenient. He wondered when he had picked that one up.

His eyes locked with Hannah's right away. “Spill.”

“Spill what?” Sora asked.

Nate shot him a glare, annoyed, “How about everything? What happened on that roof, what's a reformed demon, and how the hell is some sort of demonic mark on my back?”

Hannah swallowed. “A reformed demon is a demon that has turned on it's own kind.”

“Seriously? And you guys think that I'm one of … those. Come on.” Nate tried to laugh it off.

Hannah took a step away from him, a movement Nate wasn't slow to interpret, “Come on, Hannah, you know me. I can't be some sort of demon. You said that no demon could touch your sword and live.

“Well, here I am.”

That was when he saw her eyes, the way that they stared at him with horror. Silence filled the room. Nate's heart pounded in his chest. “Alright, let's play this out. What happens if I'm a demon?”

“We'd kill you.” Chad stated it so matter-of-factly that Nate had to blink twice before he understood what Chad had said.

“You're kidding, right?”

Sora shook his head, “No, we're not.”

“What if I was a... reformed demon?”

Hannah looked down as she answered, “The law would still require that we kill you. Reformed demons have a tendency to be ruthless, traitors the moments they make a solid alliance with any sort of being.”

“Good thing I'm not a demon then.”

“Do you live with your family?” Sora spoke up suddenly.

Nate blinked. “Uh... no. My dad disappeared a few years back. Why?”

His question seemed to be ignored though. “What are you thinking?” Hannah asked Sora.

He shrugged, “It's just that, I was just thinking of that trial, the one against the scientist that the Stealth Force had found. You know, the one who was found guilty of messing with demonic DNA.

“The Test-tube Demon trial?” Chad suggested.

Hannah stole a glance at Nate, “Shit, you don't think that...”

“It makes the most sense. Why we got the energy readings we did, why he blacked out after using your sword, even why he has the Mark on his back. It explains it all.”

“Pray, do tell,” Nathan interjected icily.

Sora and Hannah jumped. Chad just sat in his chair. “What explains it all?” Nate demanded.

Sora swallowed, but it was Hannah who answered.

“You're a demon hybrid.”

11. Goodnight, My Sweet World

Nate's head slammed into the hard wood of the floor. Quickly, he rolled to one side, narrowly missing the gleaming blue blade that shattered the boards where his head had just been. His instincts were screaming at him, a million different ways to escape the battle alive.

Energy from six o'clock.

Nate stuck his hand out, palm facing outwards, as the pulsing ball of power from Chad's hands rocketed towards him. The energy struck his hand- and was absorbed into it. Nate could feel the power racing through him, giving him new strength in a rush like brain-freeze.

“Shit,” he heard Chad curse.

The world suddenly swam before Nate's eyes. He turned to see a dozen Soras charging at him, each carrying two sharp knives that were dipped in a special poison that caused a quick death with the slightest nick. Nate knew that because Sora had managed to scratch him, making him incredibly vulnerable for an instant while he regenerated

Nate closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and summoned power from within him. His eyes opened, blazing with new purpose. The corners of his vision faded into red. He ducked as Hannah attacked him from behind, launching himself up into the air, where her attacks couldn't reach. His eyes blazed, searching through the Soras for the original. The fakes withered out of existence as his gaze swept over them.

Spying one in the corner that didn't fit the pattern, Nate swooped down, dodging several blasts of energy and absorbing another that Chad shot at him, trying to distract him. It was becoming apparent that none of them really knew how to fight. They had been lucky up until now. Nate prayed that their luck had just run out.

Hannah was muttering something. Probably trying to get the others to regroup, think up a new strategy on the fly. He smirked. This was too easy.

“Incantation of the Moon: Seven Pillar Prison!”

A rumble above Nate's head drew his attention, enabling him to see for a split-second the blue columns bearing down on him before they caught him and dragged him to the floor. Boards shattered and splinters of wood exploded outwards as Nate and the pillars smashed into them.

Nate tried to struggle, but couldn't move at all, the effect of the spell instantaneous. 

Hannah walked over calmly as the red faded from the corners of his vision. Nate could actually feel the energy being peeled away from him, absorbed into the spell that Hannah had cast.

The glowing tip of Hannah's sword leveled with his head, touching his hair. “Game over.”

Chad peeled himself up from the floor. Nate blinked in surprise, trying to remember when exactly Chad had been knocked to the floor, and flinched at remembering how forcefully he had shoved that last energy blast back. “You alright?”

Chad grinned, “Nothing a little Pyros won't fix.”

Pyros were the medics of the team, Hannah had explained, but they were only trained for basic first aid. So when Cresta, their team's Summoner had gotten on the wrong side of some powerful demon, she had had to go back to Ko-ha for treatment. And that was the same reason for why they had called in someone else to stitch Nate up after his brush with death.

That had been a couple months ago, Nathan realized, amazed at how fast time had gone by. Shortly after the demon had shown up and the others had concluded that he was part demon (who was he to correct them?), Nate had dropped school and work completely, moving in with the gang at their special “compound”. Hannah had been going to school for kicks, trying to understand why something essential was subject to such controversy.

The compound was something else. From the street, it looked like any one of the many sprawling mansions along the row, if not a little larger than the rest. Thick iron gates stretching over ten feet high deterred any interlopers from trespassing.