Among Demons : A Siren's Voice

Ch. 2 : Busy Days

*Nicolas Carnia*

I was attacked in my bed, startled awake by the unstoppable monster that invaded my home and forced me away from my sweet, cozy dreams. Said monster then waltzed freely around my room, ranting at me before leaving me to my bitter feelings, my annoyance climbing once I realized how early it was. So, to avoid another ambush, I slowly slipped out of bed, groaning as I stretched and pulled myself to my feet.

But I was moving too slow, the monster returning to glare impatiently at me.

“Seriously, Nick?” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “C’mon! You promised to come with us!”

“Fine, fine, fine…” I muttered, smiling at the growing pout on my sister's face. “Just let me shower and change, ok?” Doubt clouded her ringed eyes before she sighed and turned around, still looking thoroughly annoyed with me. “I won’t take long, Dev!” I called out to her, laughing as she scoffed at me.

I quickly showered and changed into something comfortable, knowing that I was going to spend my whole day trailing after my sister. I then joined her and our friend Nyla in my living room, not surprised to see our equally eager Fairy friend chatting away about a color scheme, patterns and music playlist. I was then rushed out of my small family home and ushered into my sister's car, sighing as I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.

“Remind me again… why did I give you guys a spare key to my place?” I asked no one, cutting into their joyful chatter about dresses and flowers.

“Because we gave you a copy of ours.” Nyla answered quickly, leaning in from her seat behind us.

“And because you worry about us just like we worry about you.” My sister added, smiling as she continued to drive.

I rolled my eyes playfully and stared out the window while the girls resumed their happy chatter. My mind wandered as I looked out at the city I had grown up in, noting the changes that had taken place since I was a kid and the much newer changes that happened just a year ago. It made so many corners of this very active city look different almost instantly, jarring the memories of those of us that have lived here our whole lives. A part of me was amazed by how much things could change in such a short time. But another part was a bit bitter about it all, my mind drifting to the changes in my own life.

A year ago, I was still married to a woman I had dated all throughout high school. My annoying and precious little sister Devin, a Succubus Demon that grew up in the same orphanage as me, was also very single and much too anxious to even think about dating. I was living in a much larger home with my wife, working for the City Hall’s office and helping my sister with her secret responsibilities whenever she needed me. Our long time friend Nyla was also hiding her relationship with a Human man while also dealing with her own worries about a possible future with him.

Our circle of friends was small and contained, with the same people that had been in our lives since my sister rose into her inherited position of power. Things were normal then, calm and pretty mundane.

But now, so many things have changed.

For starters, I was now divorced, having found out that my wife was behind my sisters k********g, torture and death. Though a young Sorceress friend managed to revive my sister, literally bringing her back from the dead, it destroyed my marriage. I also chose to give up on our shared home after my wife was arrested and moved to a smaller, three bedroom home closer to friends. Our little Fay friend Nyla had also moved past a rough patch with her Human boyfriend, getting engaged a short while after my sister came back from the dead. And we were now just under a month away from Nyla and her boyfriend Danny’s wedding day. My sister also kicked off her relationship with her Human Match Marcus who, we learned, had known my sister since she was a baby. The two of them, so loved up and all over each other, got engaged two months after Nyla and Danny. Which also means that my sister's wedding was two months AFTER Nyla’s, piling on so much planning and celebration real close together.

This explains why both girls were happily talking about their big days and conferring with each other on their different themes, flower choice and dress style. It also explains why I was being woken up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday and dragged around to different shops by these excited Demons; I was playing a part in their wedding. Though the importance of my presence wasn’t really needed for Nyla’s big day, since she had plenty of family to play the part. She still wanted my opinion on things since her wedding was getting closer.

My sister, on the other hand, needed me with her during every step of the planning process since neither she nor I had any biological family to speak of. So I was set to walk my sister down the aisle, dance with her after her first dance with Marcus and stand by her side throughout the entire reception as her ‘Groom-of-Honor’.

Soon the car was parked and I followed the Bridal duo into a floral shop. They walked through the extensive aisles of hundreds of colors and types of flowers that all gave of a different scent. Each option they looked at was assessed and priced out before they moved on to the next, joyfully talking about their bouquets and the decor they had chosen. Nyla had already bought her flowers and was only here to look over the nearly finished decoration pieces she had requested, but my sister was still deciding what she wanted to have in her hands while walking down the aisles.

After the floral shop, I was taken to a shoe store, a jewelry store, a wood engraving shop and a few other, smaller stores across the city. And at each one my opinion was asked and my sister would then talk things out with Nyla who had most of all her final wedding decisions already picked out and paid for. I smiled and nodded along as a few tiny changes were made for my sister's big day and helped Nyla look over the finished products that would make their next appearance at her wedding.

Soon we noticed how late it was, having skipped lunch to get to certain places before they became too busy. So, with a few places listed as future visit sites for another day, the girls and I jumped into the car again and headed off to eat.

Thankfully, we were also able to plan out a nice gathering with all our friends at a local Italian place in the middle of the shopping district. We parked in the first place we could find and walked the rest of the way, taking back paths that most people avoided since they weren't well lit. And as we neared the front of the restaurant, we caught sight of our friends waiting for us.

"Danny!" Nyla chirped, skipping up to her fiancé who caught her in a hug. I groaned and chuckled when, a second later, they were making out as if they hadn't seen each other in months.

"Hey, love." Marcus, my sister's fiancé, reached out to her and pulled her in close after she calmly walked up to him, her face buried in his chest while they squeezed each other tight.

"What's up Nick?" I turned and greeted our other friends, Samantha and her husband Izaak, grateful that I wasn't going to get stuck between two couples still in the honeymoon phase.

“Where are the little ones?” I asked as I hugged them in turn, smiling before we made our way into the restaurant.

“Having a sleepover with Grandma.” Sam said, smiling happily.

Izaak and Sam have two little kids who they discovered weren’t born Human. It was a rare occurrence, but sometimes, when a Demon and Human marry and have children, the Human genetics overpower the Demonic ones, making it so they have nothing but Human children. This also means that the Demon DNA that was suppressed ends up getting passed down through the passing generations until the right conditions are met. And in this case both Izaak and Sam's families learned that they had had Elves in their ancestry many, many years ago. So now their little six-year-old, Marianna, and their almost one-year-old, Darren, were proudly and happily playing and befriending other Demon children now that their family knows that they’re Elves.

Soon we were all seated and ordering food, laughing and talking about our day. The weddings were brought up and the girls excitedly talked about it, bringing up minor details while Marcus and Danny looked on with smiles. Some past memories and work-talk closed our evening and we ended our night with a final drink before paying and leaving the restaurant.

All the couples were hugging and kissing and murmurmering to each other as we left and I picked up the pace a little bit, giving them all their space.

I was feeling a bit tired thanks to my early start to the day and lost in thought as I approached the corner of an intersection. My sister had parked her car on the other side of the street so I had to wait for the light to clear the path for pedestrians. But as I stood there, staring at the light and waiting, something came barreling down into my side, knocking me to the ground.

Groaning as I moved to get up, the person that had crashed into me rolled off and stayed stiffly on the rough concrete. I asked if they were alright but got no answer, my brows knitting together once I noticed the panic in the woman's ringed eyes.

She was a stunning honey blonde Demon woman, even beneath the sweat and dirt that coated her. The rings of gray and molten amber that stared past me looked like jewels to me and I felt strangely bashful when I reached out to help her stand. But instead of acknowledging my hand, she mouthed something and rapidly shook her head, stumbling to her feet and bolting down the darkened path to my right.

As I watched her, confused by her reaction, my eyes noticed a large bright red stain on the side of her shirt. With widened eyes I started to follow after her, slowing slightly when a man picked up the pace in the same direction. My mind soon started putting the pieces together just as my sister and the others rejoined me.

"Nick?" My sister called out to me, curiosity tinting her voice. "Something wrong?"

I quickly recapped what I had noticed to her and the others before we all broke off into a run. My mind wandered to the few possibilities of why that Demon woman was bleeding so badly and why she looked so panicked. My sister's eyes were filled with the same thoughts as mine and we soon found the woman facing off the man I had seen following after her.

It was obvious that he was a Hunter just by looking at him. The way he was moving towards her, the familiar yet aggressive grip on the gun in his hand and the way he looked at her were all clear indicators to what that man was. And when I caught him tightening his finger over the trigger, I reacted without a second thought.

My body slammed into his hard, knocking us both to the ground and making him fling the gun away from his eager hands. I could hear the running sounds of the others approaching as well and managed to get several punches in, even slamming my heel onto the bastard's leg, making him cry out before our fight was cut off. Not a moment later my friends and I all formed a protective wall between the still panicked Demon woman and the Hunter, making sure he couldn’t reach her at all. I could see in his eyes that he was extremely determined to get to her, his gaze moving to her wounded, huffing form a few times before he backed off and walked away.

Once the threat was gone and a few silent seconds passed, we all turned and looked over the terrified woman.

She was holding her side tightly, her fingers drenched in blood, and her whole body swaying slightly. I slowly approached her, worried about her very pale complexion, only to stop after seeing her flinch away from me.

“Are you alright?” I asked softly, looking her over as I tried once more to approach her.

But she shook her head hard and started to stumble as she swayed, her whole body starting to tremble violently as she held up her free hand to fend me off.

“Is she going into shock?” Danny muttered behind me, giving me just a slight warning before her body kipped to the side with her eyes fluttering closed.

I cursed as I caught her, my legs tripping on themselves to move fast enough before she hit the ground. Thankfully I was able to get to her without falling to the ground myself and gathered her up in my arms, cursing some more when I felt her blood begin to soak through my shirt.

“She needs treatment. NOW.” I stated firmly, turning and rushing back to my sister's car with everyone else trailing after me.

I couldn’t really remember the drive to the woodland office we all worked in, having been focused on looking her over and noting any other injuries she needed to get treated. I also kept track of her heartbeat and her shallow breathing that sounded strained, even while unconscious. And when we finally parked I bolted out and practically ran into the now empty building, refusing to wait for the elevator and racing up the stairs to the third floor. This was a private area that only my sister and I, as well as those in our immediate group of trusted friends had access to. And I barely paused long enough for Devin, who had run up behind me, to input her finger print and unlock the door. I thanked her absently, too focused on the woman in my arms as I ran inside and made my way deeper into our private space, making my way into a small spare room we sometimes used.

I then laid the woman gingerly on the empty bed and my mind then began to work on autopilot as my sister and the others soon gathered in the room to help. Dev and Nyla cut the woman’s clothes while the guys and Sam gathered the many different potion bottles we had all over this floor. I was then ushered out of the room by my sister and Sam so the girls could treat her, and once the door closed behind me, my legs gave out.

“f**k man.” Danny huffed, catching me just as I dropped to my knees. “You need to relax and let yourself recover.” Marcus helped from my other side and they both moved me onto a lounge chair in the massive common room we used.

“You got pretty worked up.” Marcus stated, seeming concerned as he stepped back from me. “You good now?” He asked, eyeing me while Izaak and Danny sat back across the room. “It looked like you had massive tunnel vision…” He glanced at the door where the woman was being treated and my mind started to question why I was reacting so violently to her situation. “She’s going to be alright.” I nodded, trying to get rid of my strange emotions and allowing my body to relax into the cushioned seat.

I soon found myself passing out as the weight of chaotic emotions along with the tension in my body left me, waking only slightly when my sister draped a light blanket over my body.