Ria
The spirit begun changing in front of my eyes. His ghostly pale hands became more tangible, his eyes shone as his body begun to shine. A second later a man was standing were the spirit had been, looking at me with his unnerving eyes, no longer a spirit.
He wasn't any different from a handsome man. When he approached me I could feel the hatred in his furrowed eyebrows.
The man looked all around, his eyes darting all over the place.
He took his hand to his hip, looking confused when he didn't find whatever he had been looking for.
Well, I'd done enough. Time to get going before he turned to look at me.
" Thank you for saving me back then but I have to go"
I started moving, taking my hand away from the tree. As soon as I took a step away from the tree the man snapped his head my way.
My whole body became paralyzed, my eyes trailing every movement from the man, unable to move or think. What had I just done?
His eyes shone with bloodlust as he looked at me. He didn't stop the eye contact as he came closer.
The moment I saw him coming closer my body suddenly became able to move. While he was looking down at the snow slowing down his pace I took the chance and run.
My chest no longer hurt when I walked. I thanked the gods for that and kept moving, not stopping to look back even when my whole body screamed at me to stop.
By the time I run away from the clear I was out of breath, my every muscle hurting from exhaustion.
The cold that I hadn't noticed all this time came back, harsher and more cruel than ever. I shivered from the cold, moving my body as fast as I could.
Not even ten minutes had passed by when I heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind me.
Fear gripped me and I stopped. The whole air had become solid. I couldn't move a single strand of my hair.
I tried to push against the invisible barrier, trying to run before the demon I had freed caught up to me. I didn't know why but something told me I didn't want to get involved with him. Who could've told me raising back a spirit was a bad idea?
All I could do was scream silently as I waited for the demon taking a stroll to reach me. The demon's gait was unhurried as he walked my way, as if he had all the time in the world.
" Where do you think you're going?"
All my hair stood on edge. Even his voice was beautiful. The deep and dark cadence of his voice made me want to do some things I should never do with a stranger, much less with an enemy.
I composed myself and glared at him.
" I gave you what you wanted. Now let me go"
" Why? What do you want to do? Will you betray your own kind and go to those pesky angels with the tale?"
I quivered in fear when I saw his expression. He was smiling, but there wasn't amusement in his eyes. What I could see hidden deep inside of them was hatred, deep hatred.
I tried to move my head away, but all I managed to do was make the demon look at me as one would a broken doll.
" Who are you?"
'That's what I want to ask you' I wanted to utter the words, but the same pressure that made me unable to move was keeping my mouth shut. With much effort all I managed to do was flutter my eyelids close.
" Fine, keep you secrets. I'll keep mine"
The demon snapped his fingers and the air went back to being air.
I tried twisting my head and discovered that I could. Whatever had kept me there was gone now.
I took a deep breath, relieved.
" Let's go"
The demon beckoned me to go to him as if I was nothing more than a pet. Anger rose in my stomach. I wasn't an animal, I was an angel. I glared at his back and did nothing. Attacking a demon was paramount to commiting suicide, so I just clenched my fist and gritted my teeth.
Instead of hitting him like I wanted to do all I did was shake my head and take a step further away from him.
" What are you doing?" The demon's face twisted with rage as he looked at me.
Fuck. It seemed like the demon still wanted me for something. I was stuck with him.
" I freed you. You're free to go wherever you want. Get lost!" My little outburst didn't impress the demon. He just raised an eyebrow and smiled.
" But you're one of us"
" One of you? As if. I've never been a demon. I'm an angel"
The demon scoffed, his eyes focused on my black hair.
" If you're not a demon then what are you?" The demon's tone was clearly mocking as he spoke.
" Im an angel" I stood my ground, looking at the monster straight into the eyes.
I knew I was different from the other angels. I didn't have light hair and blue or green eyes. I was exactly like how the old demons were described. Still I knew one thing for sure. I was no demon. Demons were awful creatures that were exterminated in the great war. I wasn't one of them. If I was I wouldn't have lived to my age.
" Sure" The demon seemed mocking as he spoke.
I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. I couldn't anger a demon right now. He was way more powerful than me. Even though the fear had gone away after I had seen that he wasn't going to kill me teasing a demon wasn't the best idea.
" Goodbye"
I turned away from him and took a step forward.
A step was all I could do before he appeared in front of me, his smirk infuriating.
" Where are you going?"
" I thought we had talked about this. I'm going back to my home" There was no home to go back to, but he didn't know that. There was no need for him to know anything about my life. I was going to get rid of him soon enough. If murdering three officials wasn't enough I didn't want to add demon helper to my charges. They'd execute me for sure.
" Home?" The demon leaned in closer. " Do you even have that?"
Auch!
His words hit me right where it hurt the most, on the bleeding wound from the dagger that had stabbed me in the back.
I tried to keep my tears inside, not showing my emotions.
" More than you" Two could play that game.
The demon's eyes twitched. That was all his reaction.
I wanted him to break down, but he didn't even seem bothered by my words except for that light twitch in his eye.
" Come on" The demon turned around and begun walking.
Wait a second. Did he think I was going to follow him willingly? Why would I ever do that?
" Okay"
The demon stopped for a second to look back at me, totally confused. A second later he shrugged and kept walking.
I moved after him, waiting for my chance. As soon as he was distracted I was leaving him and running away to the closer town. I wasn't going to stay with a demon a second longer that I needed to.
Walking behind the demon gave me the best views of his broad back. His muscles moved with every step he took. I hadn't seen him naked, but I could guess he was jacked. I wondered how those muscles would look like.
If he took off of his shirt girls would swoon and fall to the floor. If only he wasn't a demon, that was.
The only thing against him was his race. Everything else was perfect. His eyes were perfect, his chiseled jawline was perfect, his strong, big muscles were delightful.
Focus.
I was all but drooling over the demon, I couldn't do that, even if he was a really, really sexy demon.
I shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking like that. I shouldn't think he was sexy, or the most handsome man ever. I should think he was disgusting. Unfortunately both my emotions and my brain didn't get in an agreement.
In the middle of my daze I didn't realize the demon had stopped on his tracks and I ate his back, crashing against him.
What the fuck? Why had he stopped all of the sudden?
I looked around but there was nothing worth stopping over. The forest was just like how it had been all the time. The trees stood tall, their tree caps covered in snow. The ground was white from the snow from last night's blizzard. Not a single blade of grass could be seen. It was just the same landscape as before. What had caught the demon's attention?
" What's that?"
Only when the demon pointed north with his eyes wide open did I see what it was that had made him stop on his tracks.
The great glass palace stood high on the horizon, visible even from this far away.
The demon was staring at the royal palace, the pride of the angels. If you looked at the right direction you could see it from far away, even from miles away such as this abandoned forest.
" The royal palace"
The demon gritted his teeth and I laughed internally.
" Let's go" The demon pried his gaze away from the palace and begun walking again, his eyes never truly leaving the glass structure.
This was my chance.
When the demon turned to look at the palace another time I turned around and sprinted.
I put everything I had into my legs, pushing them to give their best. Despite giving it my all I barely managed to walk five feet when the demon caught up to me.
" So you're not going to behave"
My whole body screamed at me to run, to hide, to get away from this handsome demon that I had "accidentally" awakened. Fear rippled through my body as I backed away.
" Why do you need me anyway? You can just hide on your own"
" Oh, but I need you"
The demon grabbed my chin, his hold hurting me.
I stood still, my gut telling me that if I moved I could die. The gleam in the demon's eyes was diabolical as he tilted his head to speak directly into my ear.
" You are necessary for me"
Why? Why?
I wanted to scream, but the darkness at the end of his eyes made me shut up.
" Where are we going?" I asked instead.
" Good girl"
My hair stood on edge and my whole body shivered. Whether it was in fear or in arousal was a completely different matter.
The demon smirked, his diabolical smile on his face.
" To my castle"
Wait a minute, did he have a castle? What kind of demon had I woken up?
For the first time since the spirit turned human I finally asked myself the question. Just what had I woken up?
I thought he was a normal demon but normal demons didn't have castles. Just who was he?
" Who are you?"
" Arsheus"
Arsheus? I could've sworn I had heard that name before, but when?
My head spun at a thousand miles per hour as I thought, trying to remember when I had first heard or seen that cursed name.
" Your name?"
What?
In the mist of my confusion I looked up at the demon, who towered over me. I was tall, the tallest woman around, but I looked like a little doll compared to him. He was over a head taller than me.
I had to tilt my head to look at his eyes and whisper.
" Wouldn't you like to know?"
" Hahaha. Fine, you win"
I won?
I started smiling smugly when the demon twisted my head upwards and made me look at him in the eyes again.
" For now"
With those last words he dropped my chin and resumed walking.
I stared at his back, wondering what I had really woken up, utterly confused.
Just who was he and how had I been able to wake him up?
I ignored the screaming spirit on my right and kept walking, not looking back. I was never making that mistake again. If it hadn't been for the demon in front of me the spirit would've killed me. I guessed I did owe him for that. I would have to make it up to him sometime, like by not calling the officials on him.
" I won't tell anyone I saw you. Let me go"
Arsheus didn't even look back at me, he just snorted and that was answer enough.
" Why do you need me?" I was growing more frustrated by the second. Why did a powerful demon need a powerless orphan that had never gone away from her home town for?
" You brought me back"
Crap, I had completed forgotten that he knew.
" Do you remember how?"
Arsheus stopped on his tracks to look at me, suspicions in his eyes.
" No, but I plan to discover it"
So he didn't know.
" What's the last thing you remember?" I caught up to him to keep talking. If I was going to be by his side for a while longer the least I could do was get some information.
" A sword" Arsheus didn't speak to me anymore after that. He just kept to himself, following the path that only he could see.
A sword? Did that mean that he didn't remember his time as a spirit?
If that was true then I had the upper hand. I knew everything. I couldn't hide the smirk that spread across my face when I thought about it.
I might've been kidnapped by a demon, but at least now he didn't have all the cards. I was the one with the power here.