Jarod's sixteenth birthday did not start very well. First off, he woke up to his bed being frozen solid right to the core, but the strangest part of that whole scenario wasn't that his bed became a popsicle overnight, but that he had slept through it and didn't have any pain in any of his joints from sleeping on the rock-hard ice.
Then, his appearance. His hair changed from a light gray to a snowy white. His once light grey eyes and shifted into a darker grey that could see in the dark, something he discovered while inspecting under his bed. He also noted that he had grown an inch or so taller than he was before. He had changed.
Finally, he was welcomed to the drunken rage of his stepfather, who had put an entire hole in his room's door, the hole being about five inches in diameter. Maybe he wanted to give him his own version of a 'Happy Birthday'.
Maybe that woman and her little friend were right? Maybe he was the son of Satan? Or maybe they were Satanists and cursed him with something. Shaking his head, Jarod dismissed the thought before leaving through the window of his room, not trusting to walk through the house with John running amuck.
Jarod looked up at the grey-covered sky and watched as snowflakes descended from the clouds above and gently find themselves hitting the ground. A small frown appeared on Jarod's face before he quickly walked to school, not wanting to risk the chance of staying home and getting the notification that school was canceled.
Arriving at Brookeville, Jarod quickly got to his locker where he suddenly felt a rough hand grab his shoulder. Turning around, Jarod's somber expression turned to one of surprise as he saw Ryan towering over him angrily.
"Dude, what the hell?" Ryan yelled, shaking Jarod a little. "You disappear from school on the day I'm gone, you don't show up for the rest of the week, don't respond to my messages, what the hell happened to you and why wasn't I informed?" Jarod smiled awkwardly at his obviously worried friend.
"Sorry, Ryan. I was sick all of last week and my asshat of a stepdad stole my charger and I didn't wanna risk getting it back." He lied. How could he tell the person he was closest to that he was possibly the son of Satan and that he was kidnapped a week ago and told he would cause destruction?
Ryan's eyes widened momentarily at the mention of Jarod's stepdad, but he quickly flashed him a small smile. "Heh, sorry about that, I didn't know." He got out. "But you should send a messenger pigeon or something next time I was really worried!"
"It's fine, and I'll try my best but don't expect anything too awesome." Ryan grinned before plucking Jarod in the ear.
"So I heard that you beat that Jamal guy in a fight Monday," Jarod nodded, a proud smile on his face, even though he knew that he didn't deserve it. Ryan clapped his hand on Jarod's shoulder tightly. "Congrats dude! I told you it would take one swing!" He exclaimed. Jarod turned red from embarrassment as they walked into the classroom.
"I just got lucky." Was his honest response as they sat down at their respective desk.
Class went on as normal with Jarod staring out of the window with his chin laying on his hand, watching as the snow slowly fell onto the sidewalks and grass of the small campus.
Then, a big bang was heard and was followed by the intercom speaker turning on, tuning in to the principal's voice. "Students and teachers! This is not a drill! We are in a lockdown! There are several armed men in the building, lock your doors, and-" A loud bang was heard as it echoed in the classroom from the overhead speaker.
Jarod heard the frightened screams come from the hallways and felt his heart drop in his chest as the teacher quickly turned the lock on the door and covered the small windowpane with a piece of paper and tape as he shut off the lights.
He turned to the students and in a hushed whisper, began speaking. "Alright everyone, we've done this as a drill but this is real. Do not speak a single word. Let's put your desk against the door to stall them and then go hide in the corner!" To the teacher's credit, he was able to hide his fear from the students well enough that they all agreed and began moving slowly and quietly.
It suddenly got quiet, no more screams were heard in the halls and the loud bangs of what was probably gunshots have ceased completely. Just silence.
"Is, is that it?" A girl named Harvest asked in a small voice. The teacher, who kept his eye on the door the whole time, was about to answer when someone kicked the door open, causing all of the piled-up desk to fall simultaneously, crashing onto the teacher.
The students could only watch in horror as they saw one of the desk legs fell on top of their teacher and impale their eye and going straight into their brain, killing them instantly.
Shrieks from both boys and girls alike came from the class as the door fully opened.
A large man with a black leather jacket walked into the room, a pistol in his right hand, and a knife strapped to his waist. He was eyeing the students, one after another before his eyes landed on Jarod.
"So, you're him, aren't ya?" Jarod became confused, but the warning from the old woman rang in his ears.
"Because, in two days, Monday, January twenty-ninth, your sixteenth birthday, you will start to awaken your powers. And when that happens, you won't be able to control it and you'll kill many humans in the process, causing many demon hunters to come after you, and sooner than later, you will be killed. Therefore, destroying the only legacy of Satan."
The signs were showing, all the changes, he had hoped to ignore them. But now, there was no ignoring. Only the cruel twisted humor God seemed to have, giving him this destiny.
The destiny of being the son of the King of Demons, Satan.
And this man was a demon hunter.
"W-what do you want from me?" He stuttered, trying to play dumb, but he didn't have to play scared, he was nearly pissing his own pants, and the fact that Ryan, his best friend, the one he looked up to, seemed no better, made him even more scared.
"Isn't it obvious? We want to kill you." The man said with a smirk as two more men entered the room on either side of him, causing Jarod to get even more nervous.
"But why? I've never done anything wrong!" Jarod shouted, anger filling his system, papers seemed to fly from the sheer intensity of his shout, and his eyes turned a bright blue with a single black slit going vertically down them.
"Ah, it's not what you did, it's about what you're going to do. As you can see, we can't let you get powerful enough, it'll end to the extinction of the human race. You probably have enough power to wipe out an entire state!"
"But I'm half-human, you gotta-" Jarod was saying before all of a sudden, the wind was knocked out of his stomach by a kick from one of leather jacket's men.
"You dare try to compare yourself to us! You're just any other stain on this planet." The man who kicked him yelled. He was about to continue, but he couldn't as he flew backward, courtesy of one of Ryan's famous punches.
"No one hurts him, but me!" He shouted before charging the man again and began wrestling on the ground. Jarod saw the other man of the leather jacket's gang run forward to engage Ryan but was met with Jarod instead.
"Your fight is with me!" Jarod said, before charging him, adrenaline running through his veins. The man tried to throw a punch at Jarod, but in Jarod's eyes, he was too slow. Jarod caught his outstretched hand and watched in amazement as ice crawled alongside the man's arm, and soon covered his entire body, encasing him in ice, reminding him of Captain America.
Then, time seemingly resumed as a boom was heard in the classroom. Jarod then heard Ryan shout. "No!"
The next thing Jarod knew, was Ryan's body lying in front of him, his white shirt quickly spreading with red, a bullet hole right where his heart was located. Jarod's eyes widened as he fell to his knees.
"Ryan?" Jarod croaked out. Ryan had a line of blood coming out of his mouth and down his chin, a small smile on his face masking the immense pain he felt.
"Heh, not the way I thought I'd go out, eh?" He joked but winced at the pain it took to talk. Jarod looked into Ryan's eyes and the redhead saw nothing but fear in those dark grey eyes. "I never asked why you dyed your hair white. . ."
"Why, why did you do it?" Jarod asked frantically, applying pressure to the bullet wound.
"Because you're my only friend. I can't stand by idly and watch you die, you were my best friend. No, you were my only true friend. I lied to you about having a ton of friends on the football team, I just acted tough." Jarod had tears streaming freely down his face as his tears hit Ryan's bloodstained shirt.
"I'm not worth saving," Jarod whispered. "You have so much going on for you while here I am doing absolutely nothing." Ryan turned his eyes to the man frozen solid and a small grin appeared on his face.
"You're a magic man, Jarod. I always knew you were special, maybe that's why we became friends?" His voice was getting lower by the second, causing Jarod to begin panicking.
"No! I have to save you, you're going to live so stop talking like an idiot!" Suddenly, Ryan grabbed Jarod by the collar of his shirt and brought him closer, his lips right next to Jarod's ear.
"Don't you dare die, ya hear? If you die then my life was pointless. Just. . . live." With that, Ryan's grip on his shirt loosened as he went limp.
Jarod sat there in shock, before being interrupted by a laugh.
"He dies for a damn demon!" The man in the leather jacket yelled angrily before regaining his composure. "I guess if he wanted to protect the spawn of the devil, then he deserved to die." Jarod slowly stood up, gaining his attention.
"Shut the hell up." He whispered, barely able to contain the rage lacing his voice. The man continued laughing.
"You, telling me to shut up? How about you worry about yourself, I mean, ginger over here cared for you enough to die for-"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Jarod screamed, looking up, his eyes were a lighter, icier blue, with white slits crossing the black slits horizontally.
Ice automatically began spreading from off of Jarod's body at a fast rate as it quickly enveloped the bystanders around him, killing them from the sub-zero temperatures. The man in the leather jacket tried to shoot Jarod one last time, but found himself frozen solid, and shattering along with every other body devoured by the ice.
Jarod looked back at Ryan and his eyes widened as he saw the lifeless eyes of his only friend, of his only true family member. The boy who he had looked to like an older brother was now lying dead at his feet and it was his fault.
He should've listened to that demon about everything. They were right. Ice began forming around Jarod as he gripped his white hair before letting out a scream of pure agony as ice suddenly shot out in every direction.
"Damn, we were too late." The older woman said as she and her apprentice walked into the classroom that didn't have a single inch that wasn't covered in ice with several students hovered in the corner of the room frozen solid. Her yellow eyes trailed down to Jarod, who was unconscious next to his dead friend, who remained untouched by the ice.
"It was like you said, Master. Nothing good was to come of it." The older woman sighed loudly.
"The amount of power he contains on the first day," The woman said breathlessly as she scooped Jarod into her arms. "It's more than we could've ever hoped." With that, the two demons disappeared in bright yellow light.