Demonic Dunnigan sat on the bed as the newest neighbors passed by his room. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard them all talking in the living room. His owners were always nice to him with company, then again, when there was company, he was the butler.
He wasn't accepted like his adopted younger brother, who was a normal kid. But Demonic had supposedly earned his name. He was a manimal and with that came certain abilities such as, his ability to heal, his power over time, his increasingly growing strength, and his cat-like agility. He got this from his catty side of the family. His Raven side didn't give him anything but his big feathery wings.
However, since he was a manimal, the governments don't trust him as a person. Once Vigil became a manimal, he was taken from his parents and put in an auction house as a pet for rich people. It was better than the zoo, in some ways.
His brother knew about the wings, and the maid knew about his healing, but no one knew about his other abilities. Plus, he had sworn the two to secrecy, so they only knew about one power each.
If he ever got out of here, which he was planning to, he would change his name to Vigil Borane. Vigil, the name he had before he was adopted by the messed-up family. Borane, his true parents' surname, so that maybe he could find them somehow. Maybe this family wouldn't care that he left and finally leave him alone to his silence. Except for his brother, the poor kid had such horrible role models as parents, yet he turned out as such a sweet person. Speaking of the poor kid, he entered the room in his usual attire.
"They need a butler out there."
Demonic sighed and changed clothes, a butler outfit, everything that was white before is now a deep red, as if it was dried blood. No, it was dried blood, some of it was still wet…
He would get out of here if it was the last thing he did.
Especially since he had already told his brother about his alias when he got out, years ago. This way he would be able to find him later.
He served them and the guests, absorbing the info to use when he finally left. Then when the guests left he was beaten for everything he supposedly did wrong.
He limped dejectedly towards his room and took off the outfit, he checked for all of the injuries. When he was sure his parents weren't outside his door, he took a deep breath and focused on healing. His eyes glowed yellow, and his cuts closed up, the bruises faded. There was nothing but scars and a bit more blood on his uniform. He put on his normal clothes and flopped onto the bed. The door opened, it was the 'maid' she's actually a slave but it seemed extra cruel to remind her of how she got here.
"How are you doing?"
"Good, you?"
"Just fine, just a little… accident."
She came into the room to reveal gashes on her arms and small bruises on her neck.
"Do you want help with that?"
"Please…"
"Close the door…"
She did as he asked and he came over to her, he sighed and put his hands over the wounds. His eyes glowed yellow, soon there was nothing but scars.
"Thanks, I owe you one."
She gave him a hug and left. Such a small gesture, yet it left him overwhelmed. Affection was scarce for him here, any of it left him reeling but, happy.
Why is it so scarce, you ask?
His owners hate him, to them he was just a slave to be ordered around. But that didn't matter, they weren't even family, his brother was his true family. As long as they took care of Travis, everything would be fine. He heard the front door close, Miss was going to a meeting. Mister's footsteps approached his room, he opened the door. He held up a remote with four buttons on it; on, off, higher intensity, lower intensity. Demonic put his hand to his neck, where the collar was.
"Please, no.." he whispered pleadingly.
He always felt as if he would die from this one day…
Mister pressed the on button, Demonic grabbed his throat and collapsed. He twitched on the floor, Mister kept turning up the intensity, until he started to spasm and claw at the collar. His father turned down the setting and switched it off. Once Mister was gone, Demonic healed himself and got up slowly.
Now, I bet you're wondering why he didn't leave earlier if it's so horrible here. There is one explanation only… the collar. If he leaves the property, not only will it send his masters his location, but they will still be able to shock him. In order to leave, he needs to get it off. But it has a mechanism where only one of his masters can open it, so it's very hard to open. Plus, if he tries to get it off without permission, it will shock him.
He tried to get off the collar one more time, since it was starting to wear down. It was a painful shock, he started getting used to it but every time, it got worse. After a long while of tugging and zapping, it snapped. He grinned, broke the collar, and put his pocket knife into the duffel bag with everything in it.
He checked to see if anyone was outside, then he went to the money safe by his room and opened it up. He took half a million, they could do without it since they had almost a billion in the bank. He also took one of the wines from the wine closet, just for fun. He went on the nearest windowsill and took off his sweater, revealing his pair of deep purple wings. For the first time, he spread his wings and flew.
He flew over land and sea and when he was tired, he would glide and let the air carry him. Much, much later, he was flying above buildings, he landed on top of a skyscraper and gave his wings a rest. After a while he folded his wings into his back as he put on his sweater and walked toward the door. He opened it and started going down the stairs until he saw an elevator that he took the rest of the way down. He walked out of the building and started to wander around. Soon he saw a crowd of people and put on his black mask.
He walked into the crowd to see what they were looking at, it was a dance competition.
"Pretty cool huh?"
"I guess, what are they fighting about, other than who's a better dancer?"
"The one with light blue tips in his hair, wants to go to a pet shop to see some cute dogs, his name is Patoran. The other one with dark blue tips in his hair, wants to go to a nearby bookstore, his name is Lolan."
"What's your name?"
"Rownan"
"those two your friends?"
"Yeah, why are you wearing a mask?"
"For cosmetic reasons."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah… you didn't dye your hair, I'm guessing."
"Nope."
"Ya got a tan though"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"I've seen a lot of redheads and not a lot of them are tan like you. Your friends are getting tired, Lolan is about to quit."
"Oh yeah?"
A few seconds later they heard,
"I give up!"
From Lolan, as he collapsed.
"You win…"
"yay! Time for puppies!"
Said Patoran, also collapsing and out of breath.
"How did you know?Asked Rownan
"Me and my brother liked to dance together, sometimes we argue and resolve it through a competition. Dancing or otherwise. I could always tell when one of us was about to give up. It was usually me though, since I had more chores."
"Cool.."
Suddenly, Rownan seemed to be drifting off, even though he was staring into Vigil's eyes.
"Rownan?"
"Sorry, you have such strange eyes, I was… observing them."
"Alright. I'll see you around."
"It was a pleasure meeting you."
They shook hands, but Rownan shocked his hand. Vigil chalked it up to static and they walked their separate ways.
Vigil kept wandering, he went to a bank and converted the money, $555,273 in US cash. He started a bank account there and got a debit card, then kept wandering until he found a hotel.
He rented a small room for a few weeks and went upstairs. He went to his room and flopped down on the bed, he immediately went to sleep. He woke up a day later, and started to look for jobs. He didn't want to work in a hotel, it would be crowded and he wouldn't be able to keep up. Maybe stocking shelves for a small store would work. It's not a big operation, a small store means small staff means less confusion. And he wouldn't have to do so much that he'd be exhausted by the time he got back. He set out for the day and stopped by stores with a help wanted sign, until he got a job at a small craft store, stocking shelves.
He started immediately and got his first paycheck the week after. He had gotten tired of wearing the same few outfits, he donated the clothes that were too small and didn't have holes in them to the veterans. He threw out the ones with holes and were too small. He went to the bank and deposited the check from work. He went to the mall, bought a bag to put the clothes in and went clothes shopping. Once he was done, he stopped by Auntie Annies for a soft pretzel, where he bumped into Patoran.
"Hello sir! Do I know you?"
"I was talking to your friend Rownan while you and Lolan were having a friendly competition… a while back. Patoran right?"
"Yeah! Anyways.."
"cinnamon pretzel."
"Got it, is that it?"
"Strawberry Frozen Lemonade".
"Ok!"
Vigil paid, while he waited for his order he was on his phone looking at cheap places to stay and found one with roommates already there, he would split the space, as well as the rent with them.
"Oh! Are you thinking of joining our tenant house?"
"You and who else?"
"Rownan and Lolan!"
"On a scale of one to ten, how loud is it?"
"I'd say a five."
"I think you'll see me there in a few weeks maybe."
"Awesome! Here's your order!"
He smirked as he took his order and walked away. He thought about it more, and liked the idea. They were all close, so chances were they would exclude him from a lot of activities. This would keep them safe if his owners did come for him, and it would be a good excuse to avoid them on his more catty days. He was deep in thought while sipping his drink, so he didn't notice Lolan with his nose in a book. He bumped into him, but 'luckily' no one dropped anything.
"Sorry 'bout that."
"No problem, I would have bumped into someone eventually"
" See you around?"
"Yes, I will see you around."
They went their separate ways and continued what they were doing. The few weeks came and went, he went to the house and was greeted at the door by Patoran.
"Hello! Come in! Is it ok if I call you Kiddo?"
"Call me whatever you want."
"Great! Lolan is Lo, and Rownan is Ro, I'm Pat."
"Ok, so Pat, where do I sleep?"
"In here, we got you a bed and a desk!"
"How much do I owe you guys?"
"Oh no, you don't have to pay us back!"
"You sure? 'Cause, I will if want me to."
"I'm sure."
"Alright then, thanks."
"It's fine."
That night, Vigil's wings got bigger, while the top was a vibrant purple, as you went down the wing the color faded to a pitch black. His eyes glowed different colors, as he summoned fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark, and lightning to his fingertips. This is how his other powers came to as well, before he ran away. He collapsed from exhaustion as he whispered,
"not… again…"