Nirvana

Chapter eleven

    The sun was shining through the glass windows of the school building, creating rainbows on the floor. The soft rhythm of tapping shoes stretched down the hall. 

    “Thanks for helping me Vanessa.” Nina said. “I thought I was going to have to make double trips.”

    “No problem, I’m happy to help.” Vanessa said. “I’m curious though, why didn’t you ask one of the guys to help you carry this stuff to the Chemistry room? My friends Katskai and Dylan wouldn’t have minded. They’re a lot stronger and could probably carry more stuff than me.” 

    Nina was a short girl with long curly red hair and dark brown eyes. Freckles were sprinkled across her face. She was a freshman and one of the few humans Vanessa felt comfortable around. “I don’t think Sarina would have liked me asking Katskai for help. I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. Dylan… is intimidating and scary at times. He only looks at ease when he’s around you guys.” 

    “Don’t let his demeanor get to you.” Vanessa advised. “He may look mean, but Dylan’s actually really kind.”

    “I don’t think I’d have the guts to talk to him. I’d like to, but he seems a bit out of my reach.” 

    “Do you… like Dylan or something?” 

    “Maybe a little.” Nina confessed. “He seems cool, but untouchable, at least by everyone other than his friends. He’d probably never ask me out.” her face flushing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that so bluntly. Isn’t he your boyfriend.” 

    “Don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but Dylan’s not my boyfriend.” she responded. “We’re childhood friends so we’re close, but that’s all. He’s really like a brother.” 

    "Really? So he’s available?”

    “I guess so. If he had a girlfriend he would have told me.” 

    “So you wouldn’t mind if I tried to ask him out, once I work up the nerve that is.”

    “Why would I? I’m not the guy’s mother. Do whatever you want, it’s up to Dylan anyway.” Vanessa stopped walking when she noticed something sitting a couple feet away. Waiting at the end of the hall was the dog, staring back at her. As she approached him, his tail started to wag. “What are you doing here? How did you get in here?” he tilted his head and nuzzled his nose against her leg.

    “Is he your dog?” Nina asked. 

    “Not really, I’m just watching him. Why don’t you go ahead without me, I’ll meet you in the Chemistry lab in five minutes.” Nina nodded and continued down the hall. Vanessa turned back to the dog. “You’re such a handful, you know that? If the headmaster finds out that you’re here, I’ll get in trouble. How did you even get in?”

    “I walked in.” the dog said. His sudden voice surprised her.

    “So you do talk. Why’ve you been quiet?” 

    “Well because I...was scared.”

    “Scared? Hold on, your voice sounds familiar.”

    “Well, I-m” he stopped and started to sniff at the air. “I smell something...something familiar.” The dog took off running.

    “Wait, where are you going?” Vanessa sat down the box she was carrying and chased after him. He led her outside, into the yard. He took a big whiff, standing underneath the tree farthest from the building. 

    “Up there, it smells like blood. Demonic blood.” Vanessa looked up, sprouted her wings and flew upward. Near the top, was a white playing card, one of Renei’s. It was stained with steaming red blood. She took out her phone and sent a text to her friends. “I found something in the school yard.”  

    “So, she really is a demon then.” Katskai said, examining the small tube with the blood sample they scrapped from Renei’s card. They were all heading over to Raid’s house. 

    “Figures. Wonder why she was after Crimson.” Vanessa said.  

    “I thought she’d turn out to be an alien or undercover angel. She didn’t really look like a demon”

    “You don’t have to look demonic to have demon blood. Plus, I heard she wore a hood that shielded half of her face.” Dylan said. “When I worked for Luci-” he trailed off and they looked at him. “Lucy, um when I lived with Will I’d help a friend of his. She was a retired angel soldier. She said she encountered plenty of demons who didn’t look demonic. Apparently a lot of them have human disguises.”

    “Now that I think about it, how did the dog know what demonic blood smells like?” Renei asked. The dog’s head lowered and he averted his eyes, keeping his thoughts quiet.

    “We’ve had plenty of demon attacks these past 2 years, anyone would become with the smell.” Vanessa added. “Guess we’ll figure everything out at Raid’s.”

    Suddenly, something flew through the air, missing Sarina’s face by several inches and shot through Katskai’s hand. He screeched in agony as the tube fell from his hand and rolled on the ground. Katskai cupped his injured hand, watching in terror as blood leaked from the opened wound.

    “S-s**t!” he cursed, choking on his words. Sarina held him for support. “I-It’s okay. I’m f-fine.” he said through gritted teeth. Vanessa looked up, following the trajectory of the shot. Standing on a nearby rooftop, holding a gun was the woman in black. This time, she wore a mask over her eyes. A smile was seen stretching across her face.

    “I heard from the grape vine that you’ve been looking for me,” she teased. “Never thought I’d be so popular.” Sarina’s eyes bored at the woman in fury. She jumped into the air, summoning a giant hammer and slammed it down onto the roof. The woman dodged the blow, bricks flying in every direction. She pulled the trigger on her gun and shot at them. They scattered, taking cover behind cars. Sarina took another swing at the woman, it missed her, but hit the gun out of her hand. “Well, aren’t you a feisty one.” Sarina swung again and missed, leaving the rest of her body vulnerable. The woman kicked her hard in the back, sending her crashing to the ground. She rose from the rubble, holding her left arm.

    “Now I’m ready to kill a b***h!” Sarina growled.

    Dylan began to summon a weapon, but stopped after seeing how close Vanessa was. If he gave himself away now, it’d be a problem.

    “Last time, you guys caught me off guard.” she admitted. “Now, I’m ready.” When she landed on the ground, Vanessa stepped in front of Dylan, drawing her blade. 

    “Stay behind me.” she told him. To her surprise, she heard the woman chuckle. 

    “You’re protecting him? That’s rich, you still don’t know, do you?” Before Vanessa could question her, Dylan sped past her with incredible speed and threw a punch that sent her flying down the road. 

    “I don’t need protection. I’m not as weak as you think I am.” he stated. 

    Vanessa stared at him in awe. She’d seen him fight before, but he seemed different, stronger, faster, more inhuman. What had happened to him over the last few years? He looked the same, but it was obvious he wasn’t the same as before. Something about his glare almost frightened her. The woman rose from the pavement, wiping blood from her chin. 

    “Lucky shot.” she sneered before jerking her arms to send a wave of rocks toward them. Vanessa used her powers to create a shield. Renei threw several balls. They sank into the ground and came back up as spikes. The woman jumped back before they could pierce her and stretched her arms upward. The ground beneath her feet shot up and knocked Renei into the air. 

    “Renei!” Vanessa called. Renei crashed into a roof two blocks away. Sarina came up from behind and swung her hammer down hard. Again she missed, but the weight of the hammer caused a pop in her left shoulder. She screamed. The woman grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back. This only made her scream louder. The woman kicked at Sarina’s back and the pain sent her into shock. She went limp and fell to the ground. 

    “Sarina!” Katskai called, running toward her as she lay still. Before he could reach her, a giant rock knocked into him, pinning him against a brick wall. The boulder held him in place and his head fell, resting on the rock. Vanessa gasped when she saw a trickle of blood run down the side of his face. The woman turned to her and Dylan, smiling brightly. 

    “What do you want from us?” Vanessa asked.

    “I don’t want you,” she glanced over at Dylan and smirked. “But you’re in my way. That makes you an obstacle.” she began walking slowly toward them. “Obstacles should be eliminated.” 

    Dylan felt the heat rising in his chest. This was getting entirely out of hand. He couldn’t sit back while Vanessa’s life was in danger. Fighting ever urge he had to blow up, he grabbed onto Vanessa’s hand. “RUN!” he demanded, pulling her along. The woman smirked and with a flick of her finger, the ground shot up aiming to pierce Dylan’s heart. Before he could act, Vanessa jumped in front of him, causing the spike to pierce through her. “NO!!” he bellowed. Vanessa stumbled to the ground, blood leaking out of her. He cradled her in his arms, listening to her shallow breaths. Suddenly nothing mattered. His body grew so hot he felt he’d burst into flames with her in his arms. Rage filled him and all he could do was whisper, “I’m sorry” before he let the anger consume him. He layed Vanessa gently on the ground and when he glared back at the woman, his eyes were a bloodshot red. 

    “Finally showing your true colors?” she said. Before she knew it, a hand was wrapped around her throat. He’d moved so fast, she didn’t even see him. 

    “You talk too much.” he said in a deep malicious voice unlike his own. His grip tightened to the point he was cutting off circulation and air. She kicked and squirmed desperately trying to release herself from his grip. Her heart was thumping hard against her chest and she knew he could hear it. She clawed at his face, but nothing seemed to be working. 

    She peered into his gremancing glare and felt absolute fear. She knew he was intent on killing her, with the last of her strength and desperation, she flicked her finder and a spike rose from the ground and pierced right through his arm. To her relief, he released her and she fell to the ground gasping desperately for air. Her head was spinning from all the blood suddenly rushing upward. She looked up with a grin, but to her horror, the hole in his arm slowly started to close. He stared at his arm without expression. It was as if he couldn’t feel it. When his gaze returned to her, she yelped and scurred to her feet, desperate to try to get away. She dug into the pockets of her cape, searching for something. She pulled out a vail doused herself with the liquid. Before she could get far, something wrapped around her ankle and she fell. A thick chain coming from the ground was pulling her toward Dylan. His hair danced in the air like flames. Absolute terror engulfed her entire body. It was like looking at Satan himself. To make matters worse, astream of fire crawled across the chain. She screamed as she desperately clawed at the ground. Another chain wrapped around her neck, making it hard to speak.the fire neared her and with the last bit of air in her lungs she screamed, “MASTER, SAVE ME!” she screeched as the flames singed her neck and cheek. In a blue glow, her entire body disappeared. The chains fell to the ground.

    Dylan looked down at the empty chains. His entire body felt numb, he couldn’t even feel the burning sensation on his arms. He heard a gasp and turned around to see that Vanessa’s eyes were wide open.

    Vanessa and her friends awoke in the school infirmary. None of them could really remember how they got there, but they did remember how badly injured they were. Katskai and Sarina were bandaged the most. Renei only suffered a few minor scrapes and bruises. Katskai’s hand was bandaged, but thanks to the healers his wound was completely closed up. The headmaster walked in and they all grew nervous. 

    “I’m very displeased that four of my most promising students and skilled fighters have been admitted to the infirmary almost four times since the semester started.” he stated. “I don’t know what business you have all gotten yourselves into, but it must stop now. I cannot allow you to continue to get yourselves hurt. Ms. Hellon has had her arm popped out of socket for the second time already.”

    “But Headmaster Cane-” Sarina started, but he lifted his hand to silence her. 

    “I don’t want to hear it. For the time being until I am certain you four are ready to return to the field, I’m suspending your hunter’s license temporarily until this mess with this cloaked man is figured out.” 

    “But that's not fair.” Katskai argued. “She’s obviously targeting us, how will we defend ourselves if we can’t use our powers?”

    “I understand your concern which is why you four will be forbidden from leaving campus. You are to rest and heal up and await for the authorities to handle the situation. Tomorrow security will be strengthened to ensure unauthorized personnel can no longer approach the campus.”

    They began to argue again, but he gave a stern glare. His mind was made. He ensured them that if they disobeyed, they would be expelled. When he left they grimaced. Everyone except Vanessa who only stared down at her hands distantly. Shadows hung beneath her eyes. She had been having nightmares the entire time she was unconscious and they all involved Dylan. 

    You okay Ness?” Katskai asked. She said nothing. It was obvious she had been the only one who had seen what happened. 

    Moments later there was a knock at the door and Vanessa’s heart sank. Disregarding what the headmaster had said, she drew her blade and pointed right at Dylan. “Don’t take another step, Demon.” her friends looked at her startled.

    “Ness, put that away!” Sarina gasped. “You’ll get in trouble.” She wasn’t listening. Her eyes were glued to Dylan’s. “Are we missing something?”

    “I saw him…” she started, fear growing inside of her. “I was stabbed, but I stayed conscious. I saw him...change. There was fire, so much fire and blood. He’s not who he says he is.” he said nothing, only looked at her with sorrow in his eyes. “Last chance, no more lies. I swear I’ll kill you right where you stand. Who the f**k are you?” 

    Dylan’s jaw clenched. He could tell that the rest of his friends were confused. He reached behind him to close the door all the way. Their nerves spiked as they watched him unbuckle his shirt. As it fell from his shoulders they all gasped at the glowing black markings engraved on his arms. When he looked back up, his eyes had changed to a maroon color. Finally he opened his mouth and said, “My name is Dylan King and I’m a demon.”