Chapter 12
Third POV
"Why must you deprive me of my prey?" It asked Matt in an annoyed tone. Emma suddenly forgot her pain and held on tighter to Matt, as she heard its voice. Unaware of being under its spell for a few seconds, Matt looked at the creature and shrugged. "I would rather not see a kid get eaten alive. I don't think I would be able to watch or leave, as my conscience would make sure the decision haunts me for the rest of my life."
"What life? Exactly? This pitiful one, where you devour or be devoured? Humans always speak like they are the good ones, never realizing how their self-righteousness is normally their own downfall, just like yours." It mocked him without a care, before glancing at the scared Emma with its cruel smile gracing its face once more. "So, you are the pedophilic version of a monster?" Matt asked it in an unbothered tone, hoping to ease Emma as he could practically feel her fear in the air, as her heart was beating extremely fast. 'She is too young to suffer from anything like a heart attack yet.' He thought.
"That's quite an insult, considering I don't have paws, claws or fangs like those low lives." It scoffed at Matt's question. "So, you aren't denying the pedophilic comment, then?" He asked it.
"You are awfully chatty for a human that is near a demon. I am no monster that you can simply devour after you kill me, that is if you can kill me or actually land a scratch on me." It responded in a proud tone, before it dug its root into the ground, as dark glowing strawberries formed around the forest with ease. 'Dang, what have you gotten us into, kid?' He thought with a worried look, carrying her up as he leaped from tree to tree quickly, he wasn't going to be idle and wait for the strawberries to catch him off guard. He didn't know what they did, and he wasn't ready to find out anytime soon.
'I should have just eaten the monster meat.' Emma thought to herself with a scared look on her face, feeling the wind in her face as Matt moved around. Unfortunately, luck was clearly not on their side as one of the trees moved on its own and wrapped itself around them and threw them back to the unknown entity. Matt managed to land on his feet, even with Emma's weight slowing him down a bit. "Just give me the girl, and you walk out of this with nothing more than a few scratches that will obviously heal up faster than normal." It spoke with a tinge of annoyance and intrigue, looking at Matt carefully, glancing back at the trees before looking back at it.
"Congratulations on being the first of your kind and all but give me the child." It spoke once more, which was starting to worry Matt.
"Demon?" He mumbled, Emma looking at him as he spoke under his breath. "You are a demon, aren't you? It explains a lot, the ability to speak and reason, not resembling that of any animal either, which is a common characteristic that monsters share, no matter how different they look or act like." He realized it.
"You finally figured it out, no matter. Not like it was going to stop me from getting her blood in the first place." It sighed, quickly extending its roots as it tried to grab Emma from Matt's arms. The latter quickly jumped up and did a backflip. He wanted to attack it, but he had no idea how to kill demons. He knew about monsters for sure, because it was something every human survivor should be aware of. He looked at the sky, it was starting to look lighter in color, meaning the night was almost over, but he didn't know if the rule about monsters applied to demons. He tried placing his leg forward but felt something small under his foot.
Damn it.
He could tell it was one of the strawberries, before it sprouted dozens of vines from it, which quickly wrapped him around the tree, restricting his movements and grabbing Emma out of his arms. She screamed, struggled, doing everything to get out of the vines as she could tell that she couldn't convince the demon to not eat her. It seemed very determined to try and eat her already. "Would you look at that? My food has two hair colors. Is this what the humans like to call heterochromia? Pretty fascinating, isn't it? What's the matter? Can I no longer admire my own food before I eat it?" The demon continued to taunt Matt repeatedly, who struggled to free himself from the vines with Emma being delivered to the demon by the vines made by the strawberries.
"Emma, do you have anything you want to say to me?" Matt asked her. She nodded furiously. "What is it, then?" He inquired. The demon seemed interested in the conversation, allowing Matt to take out his pocketknife and cut through the vines slowly, not wanting to give himself out and be pierced by the vines. He felt like the demon would clearly do it, and he wasn't wrong about it, he just knew. "I am sorry for trying to eat suspicious food." Emma admitted to him, as she was closer to the demon as it slowly opened its mouth. "What nonsense? You did the right thing in my eyes, as everyone else would have abandoned me and given me nothing to eat. But you, my dear? You practically served me a whole buffet, which is what human's call it after all. I am still learning about your strange customs and phrases from that boy's memories. What a glutton." The demon said, spitting a pile of bones from its mouth, which Matt found disturbing, and Emma was ready to faint from the scene.
Emma closed her eyes, as she was practically face to face with the demon, which pressed its sharp teeth into her shoulder before a knife was thrown at it, making it stumble and lose control of the vines, as Emma fell down but was caught by Matt, who looked at the fresh wound in her neck. The demon started to growl, looking ready to attack Matt, but a flaming arrow was shot from out of nowhere and aimed at its body, which quickly spread fast and burnt it completely. The glowing strawberries had faded away. Matt was more focused on an injured Emma, tearing the edge of his shirt and pressing it on her shoulder to prevent her from losing too much blood.
"Just come along with me." A voice was said from behind them. Matt didn't respond, as he watched Emma's eyes go shut, which made his heart drop, but he sighed when he heard her heartbeat and looked at the person who saved them from certain death.