Nameless set the small girl down on the floor, examining the vines tangled around her small body.
"How did these get here, Aspen?"
"I was climbing a tree in my backyard, and I fell. When I was falling I opened my hands to grab onto the branch, but vines came out instead. They created a bed of moss underneath me, and I landed on them. But when I landed on them I got tangled."
"Oh, has this ever happened before?"
Nameless starts to untangle the knots of vines.
"No...but..."
Nameless pauses, looking down at her.
"But what, dear?"
"I can talk to animals...is that normal, Nameless?"
"For you, yes. For others, no."
"Is there something happening to me? Am I going to turn into a bush?"
Nameless laughs, tugging off a couple of vines.
"You're not going to turn into a bush, Aspen. You're going through a transitioning phase."
The little girl stares up at Nameless with large, unblinking brown eyes.
"Trans-shishoning?"
"Transitioning, sweetie."
"Ohhh...okay."
"Your mother, Gaia?"
"Yes...? Where is she?"
"She's safe with your father at the moment."
In the pits of hell, Nameless doesn't add on.
"Your mother, Gaia, is part of the supernatural."
"Supernatural?"
"Beings of little understanding. Ghosts, demons, angels. Things like that."
"Okay..."
"Your father is mortal, and your mother is supernatural. That makes you a Half Blood."
"What's that?"
"A half blood is the hybrid of a human being and a supernatural being."
"What is my mommy?"
"She is a nature spirit. She can control vines, animals, and anything living, basically."
"I can control vines...and talk to animals...?"
"Yes. You, my dear, are a nature spirit too. Well, part nature spirit and part demon."
Her eyes widen.
"D-Demon?!"
"It's not awake yet, it will not harm you if you learn how to control it."
"Okay..."
"A transitioning phase is when Half Blood's first start to get control over their powers. Where they have to start to learn how to use them, otherwise will be taken over by their inner demon. Every Half Blood has a demon in them somewhere."
"Are you a half blood, Nameless?"
"No. Not in the slightest."
"Are you—human?"
"No. I never was fully human."
"Why past tense?!"
"I'm dead, sweetie. Not to scare you, but I'm dead. I'm gone. I was for the past two centuries. I got cursed to be stuck as a wandering death spirit, or demon. I'm very powerful though, almost as much as my brother."
"You have a brother?"
"Yes. Apollyon. I died from a fatal car crash, and from all the horrible sins I committed, I was sent to the depths of hell. Except I got a special treatment, because I didn't know then, but I do know now, that the devil is my brother. I was always part demon, I had a nagging part of me that always lead to chaos. That's because I couldn't control it. I couldn't control the demon or its power, or even my own powers."
"You have powers?"
"Yes. I can control electricity, storms, and other things."
"That's cool, and I control nature?"
"Yes, Aspen. You are a descendant of one of the elements, earth. You are very powerful. There are others like you, water, fire, and air. And then there's more, much, much more."
"If you were alive once, you couldn't have been named Nameless, could you?"
"I changed it. Once I got to hell I changed it to Nameless."
"What was it before?"
Nameless's eyes flicker, and she knows time is almost up.
"That's a story for another day, dear."
Nameless gets off the rest of the vines, picking the girl up.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm dropping you off somewhere."
"Where?"
"The place I went to when I was alive. The safe haven of Children of Evil."
"But they're evil!!"
"Not necessarily. The name's just for the sound of it. But you know, Aspen. We all have an evil in us somewhere."
Nameless teleports them to the front, and Nameless knocks on the door.
"Hello? Acheron? Draven? Any of you in there?"
Someone opens the door, and it's a tall man with dark swarthy skin and bright blue eyes.
He narrows his eyes at Nameless, then his eyes switch to the small girl and it softens.
"Who's this?"
"Aspen. She's a nature spirit and she needs to stay here."
Aspen looks absolutely terrified, and Acheron comes up next to Draven.
"Nameless, who are they?!"
Nameless smiles down at the girl, handing her over to Draven.
"My friends Draven and Acheron. Remember what I said about the elements?"
Aspen nods eagerly.
Nameless points to Acheron.
"He's one of them."
Aspen looks at Acheron with wonder, and he smiles at her, making a small orb of fire in his hand.
"Ooh, cool."
She then turns her small body to look at Nameless, holding out her hand.
"Aren't you going to come inside?"
"I can't. I have to go."
Aspen frowns.
"When will I see you again?"
"Soon, dear, soon. You'll make a bunch of friends here, I promise."
Aspen nods, and Nameless turns, walking back towards the entrance.
"Wait!"
Nameless turns back to Aspen, and she cocks her head to the side.
"What is it?"
"Why did you choose the name Nameless?"
Nameless frowns, but then clears it off her face.
"Because Nameless was the name of my demon."
***************
I wake up to a faint dripping sound.
Where is it coming from?
My eyelids are heavy, and I feel extremely languid.
Where am I?
Goosebumps are spread across my open skin, and the frigid temperature hits me like a brick.
My arms ache, especially my wrists.
I look down, seeing them in tight cuffs at my sides.
I have bruises everywhere, and I realize wherever I am I didn't go down without a fight.
As my eyes land on a key chain necklace laced around my neck, a wave of memories come back to me.
************
"Stop! Please! Why are you doing this?! Let me go! Let him go!"
"You're coming with us whether you like it or not, girl. We need to know what we're dealing with and how to get rid of you."
I squirm in the cuffs, and the man handling me holds out his hand.
"Esperanza, give me the necklace."
"The key one?"
"Yes."
As soon as he gets the darn thing around my neck, I go stiff as a board, unmoving.
The only thing I can move is my eyes, and when I move them down towards the necklace, it emits black energy.
Black magic.
Supernatural magic.
No human could wield this on their own...unless they had a witch or warlock captive.
I feel something insert into my neck, and I see the jet black liquid deep into my skin, spreading like a wildfire up my neck.
My eyes start to get droopy, and they fall shut.
They didn't open again.
***************
They used black magic on me...
That's right. You should've let me keep control.
Maybe I should've that time, Nameless.
See? I'm not stupid. I've been around for centuries, I know what I'm doing.
Whatever.
Need help getting out?
We're paralyzed you dumb shit.
Rude ass bitch.
Dense dipstick.
Okay, motherfucker quit insulting me and let me take control again. I know what to do.
How many times do I have to tell you no to understand, Nameless?
I won't take no for an answer. Let me or I'll make sure you never come back again.
You're bluffing. Never.
Fine.
Everything goes silent again for a while, until a searing pain starts in my head.
It's like knives stabbing the back of my head over and over again.
The pain reverberates through my body, until it gets so bad that I pass out.
*************
I wake up in a dark, dark room.
This isn't a room, is it?!
"No. It's your mind."
I jump, realizing I can move.
"What the—"
I recognize that voice.
I recognize it all too well.
"Nameless?!"
"Hello, Celia."
A woman appears, with pure white eyes, silver hair, and pale skin.
I realize I've never actually seen her before.
"Where the hell are we?! How are you even here?!"
"This is your mind, dipshit."
"Rude. Why are we here?!"
"Well, this is where you're going to stay for a while."
"What?! That's never going to happen. I'll never allow you to do such a thing."
"But the thing is you don't have control here. I do. And you know what I'm going to do?!"
"What?!"
"I'm going to trap you here. With your darkest fears and memories because I'm so nice. I could always just kill you to get what I want but no, I'm such a great inner demon to have."
"You can't do that to me?!"
"But I will. And I'll take form of you to make it even better. Have fun stuck in here! Bye bye!"
"Nameless! Don't you leave! Get back here! I swear, Nameless, when I see you next I'm going to slaughter you!"
"Silly psycho, I'm already dead! You can't do a thing to me. Have fun!"
She disappears, and leaves me stuck in the darkness.
No, no, no.
I did not just get trapped in my own mind by a demon!
She's going to ruin everything!
I hear a faint female sobbing.
Oh no.
***********
(NAMELESS'S POV)
I open my eyes, looking down at my hands.
Hmm...hunters are so stupid.
They think a flimsy pair of handcuffs are going to stop me?
And please, I can rip this necklace off with my teeth.
Celia is weak.
I am strong.
Thank goodness I figured out how to permanently take over her.
Who knew I just had to trap her in her own mind?
I really hope that bitch doesn't start nagging me because then I'm seriously going to have to reconsider letting her live.
I focus on the handcuffs, watching as little white lines travel up my arms, coming out of my fingertips as mini white lightning bolts that wrap around the cuffs, disintegrating them.
I then watch as they travel back up my arms, snaking up my neck and curling around the necklace and snapping it to small pieces.
All movement in my—no—Celia's body is restored, and I smirk.
Time to escape.
Fun stuff.
I walk over to the cell door, simply crushing it between my hands and throwing it off to the side.
The closer I get to him, and the closer it gets to that day, makes me stronger and stronger.
He knows he can't hide from me for long.
But, I need my body back for this to work.
And I have the perfect plan.
But first we might as well have some fun while pretending to be Celia.
Too bad my powers are white and not violet. Hopefully people are stupid enough not to notice.
I step over the broken cell door, looking around.
I have no clue where I am, so I might as well just teleport myself the fuck outta here.
I teleport back to the base, and I know it's gonna be suspicious if I just show up...I'll just do a little snooping.
I teleport inside, turning myself invisible.
Easy peasy.
As I walk past Acheron's room, I hear voices.
Angry voices.
"What do you mean we should stop looking for her, Lauriel?!"
"It's been 6 days, Acheron! The bitch is gone!"
"Bitch?!"
"Yes, bitch! All she has is anger management issues and a crazy inner demon that goes by Nameless! Lame!"
Oh that bimbo's gonna get it.
But wait a minute...
Six days?!
We've been out for six days?
Talk about terrible.
I guess I'm that crazy inner demon...
The bitch and the crazy demon. Perfect match.
"Just because she's been gone for six days doesn't mean we give up now, Lauriel!"
"All she's done is cause us trouble and get us caught by the people we despise the most! Just let her go!"
"Just get out."
"What?"
"I said get out!"
"She'll pay for making you like this."
Very invective towards me and my other half...
I hear her footsteps coming towards the door, and back away a few steps before she slams that door into my face.
Lauriel bursts through the door with a face fuming with anger, I can feel the jealousy, the sadness, and the anger coming off of this girl at once.
Who names their kid after a hair care brand? I'm pretty sure there's one called L'Oréal...so weird.
Maybe I should just pretend I'm Celia and pretend I escaped?
Perfect plan.
I teleport back outside, making myself visible again.
Here we go.
I knock on the door, hearing someone walking down the stairs.
They open the door, and I'm met with a familiar face.
Aspen...
She grew up a lot since the last time I saw her. Because the last time I did she was just a little nugget.
Her eyes widen.
"Nameless?"
What?
But I look like Celia?! How does she know that I'm not?!
"What do you mean, Nameless...? Isn't that the demon in my head?"
"Well yes, you told me when you were alive your inner demon was Nameless. But I haven't seen you in four years?! Where did you go?"
"Wait a minute...we need to talk about something."
"What?"
I take her hand, teleporting us away.
Just as I do, I hear footsteps coming down the hall.
"Aspen? Who's there? I heard you open the—"
Gale stops mid sentence, looking at the wide open door with nobody standing there.
"Door."
He bends down, picking up Aspen's glasses that fell from her hands and onto the floor.
"Weird...someone was here with her. Detective Gale on the job! Except I'm a spirit. Not a detective. Am I really talking to myself?"
You have me...
"Shut up, demon! Acheron! I think Aspen's gone!"
Gale frowns, taking the glasses and shutting the door behind him.
I'm holding Aspen by the arm on the other side of the house, eyes wide.
"Okay. I need you to not tell people I'm Nameless, okay? I don't know how you can tell, because I'm currently disguising myself as Celia at the moment and it would completely blow my cover."
"Okay...but why did you never come back?"
Aspen frowns at me.
Darn it and this cute little girl! Why do I have to have a soft spot for kids!?
"You see, as we all have our inner demon, I am Celia's inner demon. Meaning, I don't have my actual body and when you see me it's because I take control of her body and make her look like myself. So I could never go back to visit you because our friend Celia was in juvenile prison. And anyways, I had to lie to you. You were ten years old and I didn't want to ruin your whole entire childhood by saying I was actually enemies with the people I was leaving you with."
"I understand. But I can feel bad vibes coming from you...is something wrong? Are you hiding something from us?"
"No."
Aspen looks at me uneasily.
"Okay..."
"Aspen?! Are you out here?"
I hear Acheron's voice, I put my finger over my lip, turning invisible.
"Acheron?"
"Aspen?"
He rounds the corner, his eyes landing on Aspen with a warm smile.
"Where were you?"
"I wanted some fresh air."
"Alright. We got nervous because you left the front door wide open and your glasses were laying on the floor."
He hands them over to her, and Aspen smiles weakly.
"Thank you."
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Not at all. You can go back inside...I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Okay, Aspen."
He smiles at her, teleporting back into the house.
I appear in front of her again, placing my hands on her shoulders and spinning her in the direction of the house.
"Go back inside. I'll be at the front door in a few minutes. And remember, play it off."
Aspen nods, hurrying back towards the house.
Such a gullible and stupid little girl.
Doesn't even know I'm using her.
Maybe it's true that I have a soft spot for kids, and I won't hurt them, but who ever said I won't deceive them?
I snicker darkly as I head back towards the house, knocking on the door.
This time Acheron opens it, and when his eyes find mine he looks extremely surprised.
"Celia?! You're alive?!"
He pulls me into a small hug, and I resist the urge to barf in my mouth.
Of course, if this was actual Celia, I bet it would be all lovey dovey.
That just makes me sick to my stomach. Makes me want to rip my organs out one by one.
"I found my way out and escaped...it was really hard."
Who's gonna believe that? It was absolutely terrible.
"I can't believe it...oh my god...come inside."
Okay...? Acheron believed it. I knew he was stupid.
He ushers me inside, and I fight the urge to not be myself.
Am I even doing this right?
I don't know how to act like an innocent little teenager.
"Guys! Celia's back!"
I hear a bunch of gasps, some claps, and whispers.
Everyone runs over, Aquamarine approaching me first.
"Celia, girl, you had us worried sick!"
"I bet...I'm so glad you guys are okay!"
"We're so glad that you are okay!"
Not the hair care brand girl...she looks like she's going to bite my head off.
Ugly bitch.
I make eye contact with her across the room, and smile.
She and I both know that shit is fake.
"How did you do it?"
I look at Gale, cocking my head to the side.
"Escaping?"
"Yeah! It must've been really hard, considering the fact that they make things especially for us."
Great. Now I have to concoct an elaborate lie for their stupid asses.
"Oh, so it was very difficult. I tricked one of the guards into taking off my necklace so I wasn't paralyzed anymore, then I blasted them with my powers and teleported back!"
I equivocate, knowing damn well that was dog shit.
Gale shrugs, and I smile at them all.
"I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to go to bed."
"Of course! Rest as long as you'd like."
They all smile at me, and I go up the stairs.
That was embarrassing.
Extremely embarrassing.
Ugh...
Whatever.
I slide in the bed, shutting my eyes.
I don't need sleep, considering I'm a demon, but I might as well get some useless shut eye and visit our favorite loser who's stuck in her own brain at the moment.
Hilarious.
*************
When I open my eyes I'm inside a dark space, and I know I made it to Celia's mind.
"Hey, hey, hey."
I see her huddled in the corner, her head in her lap.
"Look at you. Your fading away."
"Why are you doing this, Nameless?"
"Don't worry. You'll be out soon enough. I just have to get my body back so then you can have yours."
Celia's eyes widen, and she looks absolutely horrified.
"You have your own body?!"
"Obviously. It's just six feet under so we'll have to do a little bit of digging. How do you like it in here?"
She shakes her head rapidly.
"You hate it? Now you know how I feel, bitch. See you soon!"
"Wait! Don't leave!"
"Why the fuck not?"
"Because, I want to get out of here and you're the only person who knows how."
"Honey, until I'm fully personified, you are staying in here."
I wave mockingly at her, disappearing.
Now she knows how it feels to be trapped inside someone's mind all day.
You kinda drive yourself insane.
As I'm dozing off, I feel a presence.
Then I feel a slash go across my left cheek.
A knife.
I suck in a breath, because that wasn't very pleasant.
"There we go. Now something a little more permanent..."
Warm blood rolls down my cheek, and I shake my head to myself, releasing a few snickers at her.
"Lauriel, you honestly thought you were going to kill me?"
My eyes shoot open, and I grab her hand, the one with the knife in it.
I take it out of her hand, examining it.
"Shiny blade, too. You're really stupid, aren't you?"
"C-Celia? I swear, it's not what it looks like!"
Wow. This is funny.
I'm tired of pretending.
"Wrong. Try again."
"N-N-N-"
"N-N-N What?! It's Nameless you fucking idiot!"
Sparks shoot up my arms, and I blast her with a paralyzing spell.
I crawl towards her with the knife, grabbing her by the hair.
"I heard you talking about me and my other half with Acheron, you know? Crazy inner demon?! Love the new title...I'll show you crazy inner demon."
Lauriel let's out a piercing scream, and I hear footsteps coming down the hall.
Four sets to be exact.
The door bursts open, and they turn the light on.
Gale, Acheron, Draven, and Aspen all stand there, their eyes moving between me laughing like a madwoman, and a slowly weakening Lauriel.
"H-Help me...s-she's draining me of my powers..."
"Celia, let her go! What're you doing?!"
"You'll be as useless as a piece of lint! I'm slowly killing her, don't you see? That's what happens when you insult me and my host."
"Host?"
Gale looks confused, when all of their faces fill with resent and realization.
Accept my little pawn Aspen.
She knows.
I smirk, raising the knife towards her throat.
"Nameless, you wouldn't dare!"
I look at Acheron, holding the blade right at her neck as her skin and eyes drain of their color.
"What is she doing to her?!"
"I'm slowly killing her, that's what. And, Acheron. I would dare. I'll do it right now even."
I see as they make to step forward, and I point the knife at them.
"Come any closer, and I'll gut you out like a fish."
Their eyes widen, and I slice a bit of the skin on her neck, watching as the blood spurts on me.
"Oops! My hand slipped!"
"Make this stop right now! You're killing her!"
"Dearie, that's the point!"
I slide the rest of the blade across her neck, and she falls limply onto the floor.
I start laughing, raising the knife towards my mouth and licking off the fresh vermillion liquid.
"Blood tastes good, did you know that?"
I look down at the blood on my hands, then back up at them.
They look absolutely terrified.
Just what I want.
"What did you just do?! And where in the world is real Celia?!"
"Long gone. She'll be back once I'm back."
"What?!"
"I'll be back soon! Don't forget to clean up this mess!"
"Nameless, you better not leave!"
"Too bad!"
I disappear, appearing in the dark, windy cemetery.
I slide my hand along the rough edges of people's gravestones, my hand stopping on one in particular.
I lied about two things.
One being the way I died.
I didn't die by a car crash...
I run my fingers over the letters on the gravestone, sitting in the dirt.
Here Lies Symphony Esmerelda Seth:
A Loving Daughter, Sister, and Host
Cause of Death:
Murdered by Ethan Soulless
May She Rest In Peace
Symphony...a name I never want to be called ever again.
I was murdered by Ethan Soulless, the leader of Soulless, the supernatural hunters.
Time to get my ultimate revenge.
But first I need to get my own body back.
"Maybe you want my help as well?"