Noctem Voluerunt

That morning he had woken up with a weight off his shoulders, everything seemed brighter and happier; it was as if everything suddenly made sense to him. He smiled for the first time in years, everyone told him that he looked especially nice today, calm and collected, as if he was someone else, and he felt as someone else, someone with no worries or fears. It was a great day, which was why when it was just a couple more hours before the sunset he marched his way to the forest, humming a cheerful song. It had been easier to cross to the human realm than he thought. The forest on this side was just like the one on his side, just a little colder. He was really careful not to step on any fairy rings; there were a lot of them growing between the dead leaves and roots. It would be really problematic if he did. Helian could still feel the loud screech that the moon had done in his head as he smiled at it while crossing the funny looking arch that the old intertwined branches made in the middle of the forgotten forest. The likes of him had long stopped using the portals since the blood trade had been established. Humans of eighteen and up would be obligated to donate blood every fifty seven days in something called the blood fees, so the creatures of the night that live in the “demon” realm don’t cross and hunt them, of course, there’s no way all demons just follow the rules, the thrill of the hunt was too great to give it up just like that, that’s what the fairy rings were for, to alert the human hunters about demons crossing illegally, once you broke the rules, you were on your own. He didn’t intent to be caught by them; he had come to this world to end his life on his own terms. He felt sick and tired of his endless life, always the same, he had tried to end it before, but the moon would not let one of its children die, no matter how much he plead. So he had to take a decision. The sun on the demon realm didn’t hurt him, but the sun on the human realm was different, it was poisonous, and would kill him without hesitation, as soon as its warm light covered his body. Walking around, exploring a little before his imminent death, memories of a very distant past made their way into his head, the last time he was in the human realm it was really different, he could smell all sorts of new things in the air that weren’t there thousands of years when he had last visited as a kid, he could only recognize the smell of the forest and some others like fire and… A smell very distinct, a warm smell very familiar, but it wasn’t possible, was it? He started to follow the source of the smell, it smelled like magic, but it wasn’t possible, not in this side of the portal, not this intense, it was like, a magic user, but they were all dead. Humans had killed them all long ago, they were extinct. Lost in his own mind he kept moving closer, until he sensed the buzz of magic in the air, between the trees there was a cloaked figure casting green spells around what looked like a small cottage, the spells, as far as he know, were protection ones, why would the spell caster need protection? From what? His people thought there were no more of them, so it couldn’t be creatures of the night. Following it looked like the best option; he still had some more hours until sunrise, what better thing to do before sensing to exist than being witness to something he believed did not exited anymore? The figure moved with incredible speed, if Helian had been a human, he wouldn’t have been able to follow it as he did. The magic started whispering things to him, mostly the word curre, and he couldn’t remember what that meant, until he heard twigs breaking somewhere south, the figure must’ve heard it too, because it ran inside the cottage and came out of it with a small cloth bag, dripping magic, so he assumed that it contained some sort of magic stuff. The figure casted a spell, it was boy, or a man, he wasn’t sure of how old he was, but he knew it was a male. The guy started walking fast, it looked like he was dancing, then he noticed, the guy was stepping in some glowing stones, that’s why he couldn’t hear the crunching of the floor, but the other set of steps reached him soon, it was not one, but multiple, probably ten to fifteen humans, he could smell them, but not really see them. The guy started casting spells left and right, while Helian hid in the bushes, there was no way that he didn’t notice that he was watching him, but clearly he had bigger things to worry about. A big glowing pentagram on the air spit a spiral of fire that illuminated everything around the caster, and Helian could have a glimpse of his face, he looked young, but he didn’t know how young, humans were a mystery to him, let alone magical ones. The air smelled like fire, it also smelled like magic, but above all, it smelled like fear and anger, it smelled like blood. He didn’t even had time to move before the man started moving again, in circles, it looked as if he was waiting for the danger to get closer, and it did. The sound of something cutting the air with incredible speed manifest itself as an arrow, way too close to the young man’s face, landing on a tree. Helian wanted to jump to action, but a sudden dizziness overcame his body and he couldn’t move, the sunrise, it was coming. The sky started to lose its darkness and a pinkish color took its place, he knew that he had little time, so he didn’t actually had time to think. His body started to move in its own, and started to run towards the spell caster, he had lost him, and the smell of death was way too strong for him to find the smell of magic, he was driven by pure instinct, the human blood calling him, and he just wished it was the one he was looking for. The young sorcerer was throwing spells and dumb jinxes left and right, he really didn’t intend to kill any hunters, he knew that the ones that survived will use their deaths as an excuse to go after his head with even more passion that now. The only dangerous spell he threw was the fire one, just tiny flames that didn’t burn nature, just humans with killing intents, and even then the flames would not kill them, maybe injured them very badly, yes, but not kill them. Time to time he would circle around, make some weird turns and look over his shoulder to see if he had lost them, most of the time, the answer was no, the arrows zoomed in his ears, and he felt more than one cut his face when he turned around. Normally they would stop as soon as the sun threatened with coming out, but this ones were stubborn as hell, probably newbies wanting to prove themselves to the older ones. A big pink fireball appeared in his hand, and he remembered to smile to the bastards before making it explode in their faces, this wasn’t a game, but if he started to take it too seriously, the forest could end up in flames, and he really didn’t want a wildfire on his home, though he would have to leave right now and find a new one. Way too deep in his own thoughts he didn’t notice the man in front of him until it was too late, he crashed on him at full speed, but the man didn’t even flinch, a chilling sensation covered his senses entirely and then he knew, it was a vampire. A sharp pain in his arm followed by a warm sensation took him back to reality; he was running from witch hunters, he was going to keep running, but the vampire pulled him from the wrist and started running, the hood of his cloak fell from his head, and his feet could barely keep up with the running, he was tired and bleeding, and before he knew the darkness swallowed him and all he could see were shadows. Helian pushed, or rather threw the guy trough the portal just as the sun light started to pour all over the forest, and without even thinking he crossed it with him.  Cursing under his breath he noticed what he had done. The portal to the human realm only opens once a year, and only for a human night, he looked at the dark sky, it was night in the demon realm maybe he could hide him before others smelled the blood. He looked at the human, curled up on the floor and felt incredibly bad for just taking him like that. What was he thinking? What about the guy’s family? He didn’t even know his name, damn it. “What is this place?” the soft pained voice of the human made Helian stop, panicking, he crouch down and help him sit. “This is the demon realm, I- I’m sorry, I didn’t think, I- You were being attacked, and I just drag you here, and now you’re stuck here, and I’m sorry” He spoke fast and nervously, trying to choose the right words, he even tried to soften his voice to sound less threatening. The human looked dizzy and sick; it took him a moment before he could speak again in one of the tiniest voices Helian had ever heard. “Are you going to eat me?” “Oh my, f**k, no I would never, I don’t drink from living being, that’s… I get why, but, oh my moon, no.” He noticed that the panic in his voice wouldn’t go away, he wasn’t lying, he had never in his life drank from an actually living creature, all he always ate were blood bags and some bloody, or rather raw meet that he could buy at the market, mostly animals. The young man looked at the nervous vampire and found it very funny, how human he acted, how human he looked. His head was throbbing and he felt like puking but he held it in. He knew this wasn’t the human world, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to die, not soon at least. “My name is Vita” He said as his eyes were out of focus, it felt like his heart was jumping out of his chest and his whole body felt suddenly cold. His hands reached for the other’s arms to give himself some balance. “I’m Helian” Said the vampire, holding him as tightly as he could, they were sitting on the floor, but it looked like Vita would fall if he didn’t. “I’m losing it… please… Helian, help me” His voice fainted until it ended in a whisper. Helian waited a few minutes after the body had become heavy, he knew that he had fainted but he was too scared to move. He bit his lower lip, thinking, what now? Helian the crazy had done it again, he wasn’t thinking he never did, and now he had an injured human, unconscious and bleeding in his arms. He couldn’t even take the arrow out. After two or maybe five little mental breakdowns he carried the human, as carefully as he could on his back and started walking to his little home, not so far from the forest since he hated everyone and live as far from town as he could. As soon as he arrived home, he knew he was going to have to explain everything to Morttymer, his housemate and best friend, he hadn’t even told him that he was going to the human realm, how was he supposed to explain this? He shyly knocked on the door and soon as his friend opened it he smiled shrugging his shoulders. “What’s going on? Who’s that? Why are they bleeding? What have you done? No, wait, I don’t wanna know, put them in your bed” Mortty talked fast but calm, as if this was another of Helian’s shenanigans,  which was not. “I need you to take out that arrow” Helian was taller and more of a chicken than Mortty was, he didn’t even took care of his own wounds, he was a vampire, yes, but he was kind of scared of blood. “Sure, I’ll clean up your mess, sir” The shorter of the two rolled his eyes, and was ready to strike with a snappy comment until he saw the concern face on his friend. “Ok, Hellie, I need you out of the room. It’s going to be kind of gory, they’re lucky it’s not a wooden one, which would’ve been a pain in the ass.”  Helian stepped out the room and let his body fall on the couch. Just now it was sinking in what had happened. He turned up his hands so he could see them, the tip of his fingers on his right hand were gray, just like ashes, they didn’t feel different, but they had definitely been touched by the sunlight just before he crossed the portal, and the sudden realization hit him. He was alive, he had gone there to die and now he had to wait an entire year for an opportunity like that again. He was drowning in his own sorrow and self-pity for a good hour when Mortty appeared from the other side of the door. “Hellie, your friend is all good, aside from some fever and a damn hole in their arm that’s going to hurt like a b***h when they wake up, if they wake up any time soon.” He said in his nagging tone, not that he was nagging, but it was the standard when speaking to Helian, so now he did it without realizing. “Also I noticed something very weird with them, like their blood is not red, it’s golden and it smells like sin” he paused for second and looked at is friend, sitting there without saying a word “Hellie, you have to tell me where did you find a human.” “His name is Vita, I found him in the human side” Helian didn’t took his eyes off his shoes, he didn’t need to, the change in the temperature around him was enough to know how his friend felt, he knew what was the question Morttymer wanted to ask and also knew he was to scared of the answer. “I went there to die, Mortty, my plan was to wait until sunrise” he paused a second to let his friend process his words. “I saw him there, he was… doing magic. Then some witch hunter came and before I knew, I had taken him with me.” The temperature of the room was really cold, Helian could see his breath, every time Morttymer was feeling like right now, betrayed and sad, he would lose his cool and make everything cold and icy, it had something to do with the type of demon he was, but Helian wasn’t sure, he never actually pay attention at school on demonology class. “And are going to say that like it’s nothing? Without even looking at me?” The pain in his voice weighted in Helian conscience. He knew no one but Mortty would miss him. He wanted to say sorry, but he didn’t really felt sorry so he didn’t say anything. His eyes finally left his shoes to land in his friend’s face. Morttymer’s pastel pink hair looked opaque, and his horns look more pointy and twisty than normal, also his nails looked longer and thicker, almost like claws, he was covering his face, so he didn’t know if his eyes had changed, probably, his friend’s eyes were normally hidden by his thick glasses but it was the most telling part Mortty had, his irises were shaped as flowers, blossoms to be precise, even his pupils were dark yellow, like the tiny pink flowers, but when he was feeling like right now, the pink wore off and instead you find white blossoms in his eyes. Helian opened his mouth to say something, but a loud beeping noise made him stop. His friend practically flew inside the room again, but he couldn’t move, he was actually scared of what he would find there. The screams of his friend calling his name made him snap out of it and he ran inside the room too. What he saw would haunt him in his sleep for ever.