Lost in the Black
Part I
It started as a dream. No. A nightmare. Then worse, it became my reality.
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I know I should have run. The look in his blood stained onyx eyes should have given me all the clues in the world to get the hell out of there. But, for some reason I just stood there, staring at him. When he started moving toward me, ever so slowly, I couldn’t run. Big mistake. He went from slowly creeping toward me to full on sprinting in my direction, snarling. That’s what it took for my feet to unfreeze and take off in the opposite direction.
Of course, I knew I wouldn’t be fast enough to outrun him and the thought was petrifying. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him gaining on me. I swallowed hard and prayed my feet could get me to the portal in time. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I tripped over a loose rock in the cobblestone street. I hit the ground, hard, my hands not getting out in front of me fast enough to brace my fall.
I could feel the blood start to streak down my face from what was probably a good size gash on my forehead. Suddenly, I was flipped onto my back and he was on top of me. He was frothing at the mouth, looking completely rabid. His now sharpened teeth were gnashing at me as I flailed against him. It was useless and I knew this. I barely heard the snap of the whip as I tried to fend him off. Then, all I heard was the sound of my own scream as he bit down on my arm, shredding my flesh.
I barely felt myself being dropped back down on the cold cobblestone and being dragged away before my world went entirely black.
Lost in the Black
Part II
A fiery hot rush of pain searing through my body brought me back to reality.
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Screaming, I thrashed around trying to throw whatever was causing the pain off me. I felt hands on my shoulders and I clawed at them. Then I heard her voice.
“Shh, Ember, it’s me. You’re safe now. Shh.”
At the sound of my name coming from my best friend, I slowly stopped thrashing around, the pain now centered on my arm instead of my whole body. I blinked my eyes open. The light in the room was blinding forcing me to blink several times before I could focus. Alyssa had removed her hands from my shoulder and was now holding my hand in hers as she sat on the corner of the bed I was lying on. I scrunched my face in pain and reached my free hand to my opposite arm where the pain was radiating from. Just above my wrist there was a blood stained gauze wrap. I bolted up in bed. the memory of him biting me coming back quickly and clearly.
“Fuck,” I said. Alyssa nodded.
I knew what this meant and I knew what it meant for Alyssa. Eventually, sooner rather than later, either I was going to have to kill myself or she was going to have to do it for me. I would be a demon soon, blood thirsty and crazed. I wanted to cry, but hunters didn’t cry, no matter how terrible the situation.
“I didn’t think Greyson was that far gone.”
“I know,” Alyssa said, stroking my hair.
“I thought I could save him. I didn’t have it in me to kill him.”
“You couldn’t have anyway. I barely got him to release you and I had an absinth soaked whip on me.” Absinthe was one of things hunters had discovered years ago that could wound a demon. But, to put an end to them, you needed a dagger through their poisoned heart.
Greyson had been one of the best of us. In fact, he had been our leader, protecting the humans from demons they never knew were there. As hunters, we had the honor of being able to see demons and see the havoc they wanted and did wreak on the human world. As hunters, some demon blood flowed through our veins, but years of training had led us to be able to control our darker sides. We used the power of our demon blood to kill full-fledged demons before they infected the entire population, which seemed to be their goal of late, with Greyson being their latest victim. We had been out hunting in a shady part of town that was known to host demons of all kinds, when we had been surrounded. We battled for our lives and had been able to kill most of them before they scattered into the wind. Greyson had been wiping down his blade when I noticed the bite on the back of his neck. Sure we were both scraped and bloody but this was a definite bite mark.
“Greyson!” I shouted and as if instinctively knowing what I was worried about, he reached behind his head and pulled away a bloody hand. I ran to him, not knowing what I was going to do when I got to him, but once I was within arm’s reach of him, he put out his hand and forcefully pushed against my chest.
“Don’t come any closer, Ember,” he said, the look in his eyes so pain stricken that it broke my heart just looking at him. He looked at me, like he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, then before I could say anything he spoke to me one last time.
“I love you,” he said and then turn and ran.
Lost in the Black
Part III
I looked at Alyssa. “What are we going to do?” I asked stupidly. There was nothing we could do. I was destined to turn. Destined to die.
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“Kendrick wants me to do it, before you turn,” she said quietly, not looking at me. Kendrick had been Greyson’s second in command and had taken over the moment I came back from hunting with Greyson.
I squeezed her hand. “It’s okay.” I told her and took a deep breath. “I will do it myself.”
I glanced down at the wound on my arm and saw the black spider-webbing start to spread up my arm. As soon as it reached my heart, I was done, destined to become the thing I had hunted all my life. There was no way that was happening. I was not letting myself become a monster. I wouldn’t let Alyssa live with the pain of killing her best friend.
Before I could say anything else, the sound of terror and panic echoed through the room. The screams were coming from just outside my door. Alyssa jumped to her feet and grabbed her whip from the bed. I followed suit as my blade had been stupidly left on the stand beside the bed. The thought crossed my mind that Alyssa had brought it for me to use on myself, but the thought quickly vanished when the door was flung open and there stood Greyson, caked in dried blood and dripping with fresh. Alyssa jumped in front of me and thrashed her whip at him, which he snatched with ease and tossed her to the ground, hard. She didn’t get back up. He started in on me. I grabbed my blade and jumped to my feet.
“Greyson,” I pleaded with him, trying to get through the demonic possession and to some sort of humanity, if there was any left. “Please, you don’t want to hurt me. I love you.”
He stopped just out of arm’s reach from me, so I couldn’t easily skewer him with the blade. I held the blade between us as I stepped between him and Alyssa’s lifeless form. He followed my movement but stayed out of reach, breathing heavily. I shook, knowing what I had to do. I had to use my blade. I pleaded with my arm to strike out, to just not think about it. But, the whole not thinking thing didn’t work, through all the blood and behind the black eyes, he still looked like Greyson. Just do it, I thought.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I plunged my blade toward his chest.
He was quicker than me. He always had been. He grabbed my blade by the hilt, grasping my wrist in the process. He spun me around so my back was against his chest. He squeezed me tightly, then picked me up off my feet and cradled me in his arms. instinctively I wrapped my arms around his neck and as I did I saw the infection from his bite had spread almost to my collar bone. I looked up into his eyes, wondering what the hell he was doing. He looked down at me and I could swear I saw a little of his piercing blue eyes hiding behind the black. The world was silent around us. I reached my hand to his cheek.
“Greyson?” I asked quietly.
Lost in the Black
Part IV
I don’t know what I expected, but before anything could happen three hunters burst into the room and ran toward us, wielding their blades, shouting something I couldn’t understand.
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The next thing I knew Greyson bent down and I grasped tightly around his neck as he jumped through the skylight and bounded across rooftops. I buried my head in his shoulder, the movement making me nauseous. I don’t know how long he ran before he laid me down on cold rock and I looked around finding myself in a cave. Greyson was pacing the small space, which he took up most of. He was muttering to himself, something I had never seen a demon do before.
“Greyson?” he turned at the sound of his name. Again, something no demon I had ever seen do before. Usually they forgot their given names. He ran his hands through his tangled hair and kept pacing, but this time keeping his focus on me. I watched dumbfounded as his eyes cleared and I was looking at the Greyson I had fallen in love with. His whole demeanor changed with his eyes. His shoulders straightened and he stood tall and stronger than I remembered. He walked toward me and instinctively I scooted backward. He stopped.
“Ember,” he spoke my name quietly.
I felt myself gapping at him. “Greyson? Is that really you?”
He gave me a weak smile. “It’s me, darling.”
I shook my head, more confused than anything. “How is this possible?”
It was his turn to shake his head. “I have no idea, but something changed when I bit you. I started being able to control the urges and I was able to control the transformation. It’s painful but I can control it.”
“Control it?”
He nodded. “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but right now I should be wanting to rip your throat out and all I want to do is hold you.”
I let out a small sob and rushed into his arms. “It really is you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “It’s me.”
Then, I remembered that he had bit me and soon I would turn as well. “It doesn’t matter. You need to get out of here before I hurt you,” I said pointing to the black spiderweb that was now sitting over my heart. But instead of running he reached out and placed his hand on my chest.
“Look,” he said. I glanced down and saw what he was looking at. The infection was starting to clear, the black strands pulling back toward the wound on my arm. When they reached the wound, I took a step back from Greyson and unwrapped the bandage. The bite mark was gone.
“What in the hell just happened?”
“You’re immune.” I had heard of it happening, but no one had had immunity to a demon bite in a millennia. But I touched my arm and there no longer was any pain. “You too?” I asked looking into his clear eyes.
“No darling, but you must have passed something to me through your blood.”
I was stunned for a moment but then, “If they find out I’ll be a lab rat.”
“Yes,” was all he said, but his face was easy to read.
“We’re going to run, aren’t we?” If the hunters or the demons found out about me, I was either dead or a science experiment, neither of which sounded like a good future.
“Yes darling, we are going to run.” In the distance I heard the cries of demons coming out for the night, which meant the hunters weren’t far behind them.
I grabbed his hand and said,
“Then run…”