~~**~~
Claris sat bounded and gagged to the chair, as tears avalanched down the tips of her tear ducks. Ana's screams from the room upstairs chilled her bones drastically, because they never seemed to end. What had she done? They should have never hidden in plain sight.
This was all their fault, but she couldn't keep feeling this way. That was in the past and now they're in the present. She needed to think of a way to save them both before it was too late. No sooner had she thought that than Ana's screams ceased, and the floorboards of the stairs started creaking.
Her blue eyes flicked to the stairs to find the demon walking downstairs with a limp Ana over his shoulder. Claris struggled within her restraints as her heart beat faster. Her eyes remained steady and sweat slid down her face as she examined the chest of her daughter for signs of breathing. Ana was placed callously on a chair facing Claris and the tension in the air skyrocketed. No one spoke and the only thing heard was their breathing.
After ten seconds, Ana's eyelids fluttered but never opened; her chest rising and falling but nothing too major. Claris breathed a sigh of relief seeing that her daughter was still alive. That was enough for her.
With unpredictability, Simion ran through the door breaking its hinges. He landed on his right shoulder, like a fallen angel in snow splinters except-he wasn't having fun.
"Simion!"
She cried in relief tinted with confusion, afraid that it was just her imagination. He was grasping his shoulder blade, wheezing, as Claris spotted a pool of blood. Worry etched her features as she softly whispered, "Oh lawd! Wha' happen nah?"
"Mom," he breathed out as he laid eyes on her. A small grimace tugged at his lips but only for a split second. His eyes scanned the room and there were three huge guys with dull red wings and scorpion tails; a letter on each of their foreheads. His sister sat facing their mother, naked, battered and exhausted. He slowly stood to his feet stumbling a few times.
'S' sat down in the kitchen, watching his companions: 'M' with a knife in his hand standing next to Claris and 'H' the Demon who ripped off Ana's clothes to shreds. Simion sniffed the air and his eyes trailed towards the kitchen. S happened to be savoring a spoonful of chicken pot pie which Simion clearly remembered that he'd left in the fridge.
"S, M...H," he muttered as his eyebrows slowly scrunched. "Like seriously? S, M, H? Like...who names themselves by letters in the alphabet? It's ridiculous-anyways..."
Simion shook his head and laughed but the pain he was feeling as he laughed caused him to wince. Remembering it was a life and death situation, he snapped out of it and raised his head facing them head on.
"You three... seem to be having... the time of your lives... aren't you?" he questioned as he tried to shoulder the pain of breathing and talking. His eyes again snapped to S, "Especially you there.... e-eating my chicken pot... p-pie."
"I see you've come to join the fun," S replied as he shoved a spoonful of chicken and potatoes in his mouth again. "You must be the man-whore Lacy was telling us about."
Simion's nose flared and his free hand balled into a fist.
"Did you try it with her? In her human form I mean, ha. She's a real ...Sméagol in demon form but-she is freaky," he sighed whiles day dreaming as he swiped the spoon in the air as if he were conducting an orchestra. Seconds later, he turned to Simion with a smirk across his face, "You know what I mean, right?"
Simion opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by 'H', "You know...your sister is quite a bull. Riding her was like riding a wild animal. An exotic wild animal-yet exhilarating..." H walked towards Ana standing behind her. Their eyes held each other, until H's hand grabbed Ana's breast and smacked her-
"Get your filthy hands off of her! "Rage was an absolute understatement to what Simion was feeling at the moment.
"S-Simion," she whispered as her eyes shot open and 'H' held her by her hair, pulling it down so her chin was facing the ceiling. He looked at Simion and trailed his hand from the nape of Ana's neck to her color bone and down between her breasts. His colleagues laughed.
"Get your f-"
"Or what," H challenged as he tread lower, "You're going to kill me?" A smirk played across the demon's lips.
Simion wasted no time in replying, "Yes. I will."
"Simion..." Claris began but trailed off.
All three demons laughed again and a tear slid down Ana's cheek as she sniffled. Simion's nose flared as they ridiculed him. His blood boiled past the brim of his skin as he felt heat radiating off of him. "You think I'm joking?"
They stopped laughing and stared at him whiles Claris pleaded.
"Yeah Simion, why not listen to mother dearest?"
He ignored his mother and the snide comment from H and challenged them with his eyes. The silence grew intoxicatingly until-
"Very well then," S said before he licked the bowl. He stood up and walked towards Simion slowly as he flung the bowl across the room breaking an ancient vase.
"That was very expensive you fu-"
Clearing his throat and shoving his hands in his pockets, completely dismissing Claris' comment he said, "Where do you wish to have this duel...boy?"
"Outside," he replied.
M, being the closest to the door, laughed and stepped outside mumbling a string of incoherent words, as H and S followed closely behind. Simion's eyes followed them as he turned to watch them walk out the door.
"Simion, please don't do this," she watched her son pull something sharp from his boot.
"I have to ma," he said and walked towards Ana. He bent in her ear and whispered something whiles holding the knife in front of her, "this should buy you time."
"Simion, you really shouldn't be doing this...they're too dangerous!"
"Hurry up boy!" one of them outside called.
"Simion-" Ana said hoarsely.
He placed a gentle kiss on his sister's head and walked out. Ana wasted no time in using whatever strength she had left to get to her mother. Immediately seeing the three of them were now focused on Simion, Ana fabricated a plan.
~~Outside~~
"It seems Lacy did a terrible job at not ripping your heart out," S said as he walked towards Simion slowly and so did H. "She has a fetish for that."
"Sorry that you're disappointed guys. I'm a pretty tough guy to kill," Simion replied with a smug look. "Took a good chunk outta her eye-you should've seen it. It's a great asset to her...beautiful features."
"I admire your courage boy and you're...sarcasm? Is that what you 'Humans ' call it?" S laughed and looked at his companions who immediately began circling Simion. "We could use a few hundred men with fire like yours, but I'm afraid that someone with such a bright flame as you won't be spared tonight."
"Awe shucks. Well that's a bummer. I was hoping to get out of this Scott-free. You know...if I die, the ladies will miss me."
"I thought you were done whoring around?" H said as his scorpion tail spiked up.
"Well I am sad to say that something's will never change."
"Enough talk. You have a smart mouth. I wonder whether your bark is as good as your bite."
"Why don't we find out?"
All three of them lunged towards Simion.
~~Inside~~
Ana and Claris were in an upstairs room and blades were laid out before them. Ana's heart was beating erratically as she watched her mother move swiftly across the room. Everything was happening so fast. She finally got answers to the questions she sought but...was she ready to accept the reason behind her father leaving, her mother's secrets and her brother's girlfriend and the demons?
Immediately her mind drifted off to the moment 'they' had alone in the room, and she found it hard to breathe again. What he did to her...how he did it...his expressions. In that moment she was reassured of what they were and nothing would change her mind. They were heartless creatures, not to be trusted. He'd tortured her. Manhandled her in so many ways no girl deserved to be.
Her eyes started to burn and that's when her mother came into view. Ana was starring right at her but she could not hear the words coming out of her mouth. All she could focus on was the feeling of his hands roaming her body, the feel of his breath and lips on her ear, neck and other forbidden places. She felt so disgusted: unclean. She wanted so badly to scrub him off of her but; their current situation didn't call for that.
They needed to get out of here.
She felt her mother's hands grasp her shoulders and she retaliated. Ana screamed and scratched and felt the chill of a blade beneath her fingertips. She held onto it and pointed it in her mother's direction. At this moment all she saw was the room and the demon and she felt the need to protect
her.
Ana lunged forward with the blade in hand, but Claris grabbed her hand and pinned her to the floor, her grip firm but not rough. "Ana...Ana you need to cool down it's me...its mommy."
"No let me go, get the hell off of me. Don't please don't-please don't make me do it again," she sobbed and three seconds later she started gasping for air. "I swear. I swear I won't do it again just...please..."
Claris let go of Ana slowly and held her in her arms. She felt the tension in her daughter's body, but it gradually seeped away with time as she rocked her back and forth, trying to console her. A few seconds later she broke off the embrace and held Ana at arms-length, her blue eyes boring into Ana's emerald green ones.
"Listen to me, I know that you're scared and you feel hopeless, but right now we need to get out of here okay? I'm here for you; I will protect you at any cost. I'd die before anything happens to you again, you hear me?"
Ana nodded and breathed in her mother's advice. She was right, they needed to move but it was difficult at this moment. He had violated her beyond the norm. He'd broken her will, but for now, she had to pull her shit together, kill them and get the hell out of here.
Five minutes later they were armed with blades in all sorts of places. Only one thing they were missing.
~~Outside~~
"But hey," H scratched his head confused, causing everyone to halt in their tracks, "how does the nitwit know our names?" S turned to face H annoyed he asked that question.
"Our names are embedded on our heads, jackass! And now is the time you see to ask this? Fuck!" he shouted and H sulked.
"It's the same damn question you ask all the time at the wrong time. How many times do we have to fucking tell you that it's on our foreheads. Our names are too long and Master doesn't like to remember things 'cause he is too damn lazy and gave us letter names! You keep killing the flow of our damn mission! We have to kill him. Shit every time!" M concluded.
He kicked blindly at the dirt and kept repeating cussing as he ran his hands over his head and face.
Simion watched in amusement as S and M continued to argue with a sulking H. He stared at them quizzically until he wasn't able to contain the laughter which was itching to come out.
"What are you laughing at?" They demanded at the same time.
"Oh," he said between laughs, "nothing except you'll sounding like an old married couple."
Simion began walking around them hopping to get their backs to face the door but they didn't budge. Gonna have to find a different way to get them men to move.
"Enough talk," M bellowed as he grabbed a dagger from his boot and flung it at Simion.
Simion immediately ducked and by the time he stood up again, H was heading straight for him swinging punches. He tried his best to counteract them but S kicked him in the back causing him to stumble forwards. Simion began coughing blood.
"Alright...this shit is for real then," he wiped his mouth as he flicked his eyes up to look at them. "Game on."
Simion tried his best to fend them off in the name of his sister, but his strength was waning. His breaths were labored and both his offense and defense tactics consumed most of his energy. Nonetheless, if he were to die, he'd want to do so knowing that he at least fought for the one's he loved.
When Simion threw a punch with his left fist, H grabbed his arm and right shoulder, pulling Simion towards him and then sending a powerful knee kick into his abdomen. The impact left a hot warming pain in his stomach as well as the breath being forced out of him. His vision became blurry, as his back bent as if he were an old lady. He felt the taste of hot metallic blood escaping his mouth as he dropped to the floor.
With no time to waste, Ana showed up and swung the skillet hard at H, the sound resonating in the night as soon as her brother's knees hit the ground. H stumbled back in a daze like manner, until his entire body fell backwards not being able to retain his balance and the powerful ringing in his ear.
M stood shocked for a while, before challenging Ana. He walked up to her briskly and being within three feet of her, he swung a punch with so much speed that when Ana ducked, his right arm almost wrapped around him in an embrace.
No sooner had he done that than Ana swung her skillet to the left, hitting him square in the head, and with quick succession, bent her knees and swung the skillet at the base of his mandible as if she were hitting a six in cricket.
Immediately M's body fell backwards with a loud thud and her mother fighting with S came into view.
"Mom!"
Ana was about to leap to her defense but Claris stopped her when she shouted, "No, Simion."
"Bu-"
"Ana, help Simion, now!"
Ana ran for Simion and helped him up by placing his right arm around her shoulder and walking briskly to the house. Before they even set foot in they heard a bloodcurdling screech. With the halt of their steps, they turned back only to see their mother suspended in the air, H's tail piercing through her abdomen.
"Mom..."
"Mom…!" Simion rushed to save his mother, whiles Ana stood there motionless, unable to think or feel. In the process he stumbled over and groaned. His muscles shaking incessantly as his dirt stained face gazed into his mother's shocked eyes. "No," he whispered, "No!" he repeated vigorously as he tried crawling towards them.
H looked at them with a sickening smile as he thrust his hand into the right side of her back and slowly, he pushed his hand further until it appeared with Claris' lung in his hand. All during this time her cries echoed into the soundless night. Simion became stock still until his hands could no longer support him before he unleashed a cry filled with anguish.
Ana felt rage build up in her like never before. Her wings burst out bigger than her brothers own. They were the color of the sunset but darker. Black horns grew at their tips as a purple diamond appeared on her forehead. No words needed to be said.
The temperature raised a few degrees and then some. H stopped in his tracks and stared at her in awe as he let go of Claris. Simion dragged himself the rest of the way to get to her, H inching backwards.
"No! It can't be!" The Demon whispered. "Must tell..."
Ana cocked her head to the side as she inched her way towards him whiles he fumbled to get away. H's feet skidded off the gravel floor. A medium came into view behind him and absentmindedly, he bumped into it and fell over and in the blink of an eye with the flash of lightening.
Ana grabbed the Demon by his neck and flew up, only to body slam him onto the ground with brutal ease after she dove down to the ground. Coming closer to him she used her long nails and scratched his face repeatedly until his blood and skin soaked her fingers and nails.
He head butted her and she faltered in her actions just enough for him to say, "Awe. Does the little kitty want revenge?" Smirking, he made a move to spit in her face but she slammed his head forcefully into the ground. His blood splashed her on her face as he spoke again. "I must ask. Is it for
your mother...or me fucking you like a-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence because Ana clamped her bloody fingers around his tongue and slowly, agonizingly began ripping it out. His gurgled screams sounded like a sweet melody in the night. She traced using that same hand from his chin, slowly down to his crotch, until she grabbed his manhood.
Eyes filled with pure fascination, one that a predator gives his prey, Ana squeezed and squeezed until H writhed in pain under her iron grasp; his blood ricocheting onto her face once again.
She kept on squeezing until she felt the organ turned to squash in her palms. Then her left hand latched onto his throat, the other she shoved into his chest to grab his beating heart and all together she raised him off the ground. Simion sat there cradling his mother in his arms as he watched his sister exact revenge.
"Ah!" In one swift, vicious motion, Ana ripped him apart, his throat and heart in her hands before dropping them callously like he did her. She turned slowly to face Simion and walked towards him slowly. Her anger began simmered down and now the emotions tumbled down.
With every step she took, her feet felt heavy and instead of walking she was dragging them. The tears welled up until they slid down her face. When she finally stood in front of them she dropped down. Her sobs became audible as she took her mother in her arms leaving Simion to slump down cross legged.
He had no more tears to shed and just sat there as he watched his sister break down further with each passing second. Claris weakly cupped Ana's cheek as she tried to force her time on this earth a bit longer. Ana and Simion, the two children she tried to protect for almost forty years from evil. The two children she would soon die for trying to protect. If she regretted something, it would be that they'd now have to fend for themselves; alone.
Silent tears slid down her cheeks and a sad smile crept unto her paling face. Claris opened her mouth to say something but Ana interrupted her.
"Mom, please...you're losing too much blood."
"Ana, I'm not going to make it--"
"Yes you are!" She insisted
"No Ana, I'm not, listen to me."
She gave Ana instructions on how to retrieve a small treasure chest hidden in her room and to burn her body along with the Demons inside. "Hurry Ana, before it's too late. I love you two and..." she started choking and shaking uncontrollably. She grabbed both of her children's hands and glanced at the star-filled sky, "m-make me proud."
The vibrant blue in her eyes dimmed, indicating that life had left her.
"Mom…? No! No, you-you can't just die on me like that! Mom, wakeup," she pounded on her mother's chest and cried. "Mom…! Mom come on, wake the fuck up!! Mom," suddenly she felt arms embrace her. She tried to fight it and pounded on Simion's chest but gave in seeing that she had no
strength left.
She felt something spiritually grab her heart slowly ripping it out. They held it in their hands before her eyes and tore it open and as she felt this, she let out a shrieking cry. And just like that, her emotions became untamable. After what seemed like thirty minutes of mourning, she did her mother's wishes as well as grabbing some supplies for the road.
She didn't know where they'd go, but she knew they weren't safe in Andarios anymore. Simion burned down the house with his mother and the Demons inside. They stood and watched their house burn into ashes taking along all he memories and the one person they loved the most with it. Zapphira and Anadron appeared moments later.
"Wha-what happened?" her father asked ignoring the fact that her dad was supposed to be dead.
She stared at him silently and walked briskly towards his children engulfing them into his arms getting the gist.
He held her tight as he watched the house he built with his wife and two hands turn to ash as it burned to ground. Tears spilled from his eyes as they watched the house burn. With each crackle,
Anadron, Simion and Ana's heart fell apart.