Among Demons : A Siren's Voice

Ch. 29 : Interesting Kid

*Nick Carnia*

Fuck!

This whole situation was just one big, scrambled up f**k with a sprinkling of crap all around.

I groan as I start trying to move the second I woke up, blinking hard against the irritation of something sticking to my eyes, blocking my view. With a partial blur still sticking to my eyes, I move and thrash a bit, rolling onto my side and off my hands that are bound behind my back. I can tell by the lack of weight and pressure that my guns have been removed from my holsters and my pockets were turned inside out too. My shoes were even missing as I wiggled against the rope that held my ankles together. My movements were calculated as I rolled again, landing on my stomach and tugging on my restraints.

My sister and I had practiced how to get out of different types of bindings over the years, thanks to the constant threat that loomed over Dev for being what she is. The forms of binding that we learned about the most were zip ties, ropes, and flex cuffs since they’re the most common types that Hunters and kidnappers use. So, quickly realizing that I was bound by a coarse thick rope, I started moving and tugging against it, finding its weak points with strained fingers as I ignored the biting burn as it rubbed painfully against my wrists.

Patience was always the main key to getting out of situations like this, so as I moved about like a worm in the dirt, my mind drifted back to the reason why I ended up here in the first place.

We had managed to surprise the Hunters and advance well into their protected space before a full on fight broke out. I had been among those leading the push, shooting and running and shouting at our people as we carefully moved from cover to cover, inching ever closer to the building we believed held all the children. Everything just seemed to be going our way and we succeeded in finding the children within the first three hours after setting foot in those woods.

But s**t hit the fan when a sudden wave of endless Hunters ran out of that building, completely taking us by surprise.

Soon, my mind was overwhelmed with the constant chatter of our people calling out for help or simply retreating, using the mental connection of the telepathy potion we all drank before leaving our cars. And it was while those many voices were shouting back and forth in my head that one person's words cut into me, clear as a bell.

“They’re dragging the children towards a large van!” Arima shouted, sounding angry and in pain.

I quickly shot out from cover and moved to a better position so I could see what she saw. And there, not more than a yard in front of me, were a small group of Demon children with a familiar face standing over them, violently shouting at them all to do as he said, or he’d shoot at them.

Rage filled me as I watched those children flinch away from him, some moving to cover their faces with their bound arms, flinching and waiting to be struck.

I didn’t take any time that I should have to think it over, I simply knew that things weren’t going to end well if someone didn’t do something. So I bolted straight for them, using the momentary silence that everyone gave to reload their weapons. I could hear my sister shouting at me to wait, telling me that we needed to think about this carefully. But my eyes were locked on a small blond head with pale brown streaks that sat in the back behind the older kids.

The Hunter that had been chasing Lora the night we found her soon noticed me and, as if he was reading my mind, he raced through the children cowering beside him, stepping on a few before he grabbed Alder by his shirt. With the angry thrashing boy in his hands, the bastard retreated into the badly shot up building just as a few others joined me. With their help we were able to quickly gather the remaining children and move them through cover away from the Hunters.

But I didn’t follow them.

I stepped into the building that was filled with floating dust specks and instantly blocked out the daylight, surrounding me in near complete darkness. Marcus was soon ringing in my mind to retreat and return to the cars as I stepped deeper in the creaking building. Then Nyla shouted about needing help to carry Danny who took a bullet to the leg. I couldn’t focus on them anymore as a few others spoke through our temporary connection, my eyes bouncing around while the final shots echoed outside.

Muffled noises soon reached me once I stood before a set of completely shattered stairs, exposing a half hanging door to what looked like a basement of some kind. I hesitated for a second, questioning if I should check the rest of the building first before going down, but the faint cry of a child coming from the other side of that door stopped me from moving. Listening for another moment longer, I caught the sound again and carefully moved the door out of my way, trying my best to move as quietly as possible in such an old and broken down building.

“Nick?” Devin called out to me as I reached the last step, her voice too loud in the overwhelming quiet that settled all around me.

“Not now Dev.” I answered back, clearing the closest corner like Marcus had shown me before moving forward.

The silence took over once more even though I knew my sister was still reaching out to me as I moved. It was when I found myself facing four separate dirt paths leading deeper underground that she spoke for the last time.

“Just take care of yourself Nick… and that little boy too.”

I smiled as I heard this, knowing that my sister understood what it was that I was doing and was giving me the encouragement I needed to push on.

After a few seconds, I made up my mind and took the far left path, hoping I was making the right choice. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long to find out if I did, because as soon as I stepped out into another large space, someone jumped me from the side, striking my head with the butt of their gun and knocking me unconscious.

Now, here I am, thrashing around like drunk on the ground, grunting and hissing against the pain of the rope digging into my skin.

I was able to free my hands from the rope after a long while, managing to find the short end that stuck out and looping my middle finger around it, tugging it until it completely loosened. Pushing off the ground and shifting into a sitting position, I untied my ankles and rubbed the tender flesh that bled slightly. It was while I sat there that I froze with my head down, feeling the weight of someone's gaze on me.

Then, from somewhere in the darkened corner, a small voice spoke up.

“How’d you do that?”

I looked around at the carved out cell I found myself in, realizing that it looked a lot like the cell that lora had shown me. A very weak light swung above me, only illuminating a small circle in the middle of the room, keeping the corners shrouded in darkness. I could also barely see the outline of a door to the left of me. But I was more focused on the corners to my right, deeper into the room where the voice came from.

“Over here.” It said, sounding a little annoyed and amused as I stared into the wrong corner.

Staying on my knees, I slowly moved towards the corner, squinting my eyes to try and see into the blackness. Sadly, I was only able to see a faint outline of a little boy leaning into the corner. I guessed that he was tied up as well, with the way his small body was sitting, kind of balled up in said corner.

“Hey.” I greeted him, hoping and trying to sound calm and friendly. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

I reached him as he shook his head, his little body wiggling closer to me as I extended my hands out to him. I nodded, trying to see if I could untie him in the dark. But my very weak Human vision wasn’t helping at all.

“Sorry buddy.” I said to him, moving my hands to scoop him up and slowly got to my feet. “My eyes aren’t working so well.”

“You’re Human.” He stated, not seeming bothered at all with me carrying him. “You smell a lot like a Demon too… why?”

I chuckled, hearing him actually sniff me as I moved towards the more lit center of the room.

“My sister is a Demon and so are a lot of my good friends.” I explained, softly dropping to my knees and setting the boy down in front of me.

Seeing him in the light, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling down at him.

He had so many of the same traits as my Lora. The same thick but delicately curved eyebrows and round cheekbones. The same button nose and chin too. Even the shade of gray in his ringed eyes was the same as Lora. And the curious yet cautious expression on his face was just like hers, making my smile grow as I worked to untie him.

“You smell like Lo-Lo.” He said suddenly, stopping my hands as they pulled the rope off his small wrists.

“What?” I asked him, feeling a little panicked as I wondered how I would explain things to the boy that didn’t even know me.

“Loralyn.” He clarified, removing the rest of the ropes from himself. “My… aunt?” Those two words sounded like a question and his brows pulled together before his eyes filled with nervousness and even a little sadness.

I nodded slowly, sitting back and watching the boy who turned his gaze back to me.

“Yeah… she’s staying with my sister and friends right now.”

“Really?” His eyes widened as he smiled back at me, looking so very relieved. “She’s ok? I-I didn’t see her when they moved us to this place… I thought…” He bowed his head slowly, pain taking over his expression as his voice became much softer. “I thought…”

“Don’t worry, little man.” I told him, hesitating for a second before patting his head. “She’s perfectly safe and waiting for you.” He looked back at me as I continued patting him. “It’s actually why my friends and I came here to fight those Hunters off. To find you.”

Silence took over for a bit as he looked at me, and I sat there, struggling to come up with anything to say to this kid. It was the longest that I had managed to hold a conversation with a child without them instantly taking a dislike to me and either hitting me or bursting into tears. So I was at a total loss right this minute, unable to think of a single thing to say to this kid.

“Alder.” He finally said, his eyes moving to my hands that sat limply on my knees while I crossed my legs, getting more comfortable.

“What?” I asked him, momentarily confused.

“My name is Alder.” He scooted a bit closer to me, still looking at my hands before he took hold of one of them with both of his. “I’m hungry.”

I had but a second to brace myself before this kid pulled my hand into his mouth, biting down on the meaty portion of my hand, just under my thumb. It hurt a lot more than it should’ve since he hadn’t gained his fangs yet, being so young. So he had to fully bite down hard with all of his teeth to make me bleed, and I was left holding my breath to keep from loudly reacting to the pain. I wondered how long he’d gone without blood and just let him take what he needed, knowing that he’d start to go feral from hunger if he went too long without sating his need for it. But the fact that he just went for it, not even bothering to ask me at all, amused me a bit.

Lora had said that he was a pretty independent kid. And that, once he took a liking to a person, he warmed up to them very quickly. Going so far as to do and say things without asking at times too. Like he did just now.

It was interesting that he apparently took a liking to me, according to what Lora said. Especially since every other kid below the age of 13 or 12 instantly hated my guts the second I stepped into a room. It was something I had long ago accepted about myself, being a child repellent. Yet this kid not only allowed me to get close to him, but seemed totally relaxed and willing to feed off me, a complete stranger, within minutes of speaking to me. Especially being a Vampire who could end up hurt drinking from the wrong person.

Yeah, this kid was definitely interesting.