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I stood on the edge of the balcony of our lake house aware of the demonic swirls beneath the water. I anticipated that these demons might have ventured towards the harbor considering the holiday season, but rather cocky considering how close to our estate.
I watched over the children that played and laughed as they jumped off piers and into the water on either side of the mansion. I looked up at the sunny day wondering how many more thousands of days I would see the same thing, trapped in this residency and city. I was confined to my post within the city of Shabeah and revered as a celebrity of the underworld. That title was not where I saw myself a year ago.
Tahmeed and Destiny’s laughter echoed behind me, cutting my loose thoughts short. They were reading over the tabloids that recently came out scrutinizing that they were romantically involved. It wasn’t true but they definitely acted on it teasing the media. They were more famous now than what they were in their human life. Destiny had been an upcoming actress of age twenty-six only having landed a few gigs. Tahmeed had been a professional tennis player, titled champion two years in a row before she was ‘reborn’. And they were my roommates so to speak, much more adapted to the way of life, riches and fame than I could ever desire to be.
We all handled the same dark contract and one that could not be reversed but only in the most indescribable and tortuous death would we be freed–well if you could even call it that. We were contracted to the Underworld, more specifically, a demon lord called Haymen Davolch, who had carried his notorious reputation, power and riches for thousands of years. He was revered in the media as the lord of demons, some even called him a god in his own right, the God of Demons. Some titled him as the King of Kings and the titles continued endlessly depending on what dimension and world you lived on. No one defied Haymen and if you were so lucky as to be socially introduced to him, you also had a name in the underworld and media, where reputation and power was all that mattered. But to be contracted and bound by blood to him was to be his slave as he saw fit. Some called it an honor. I personally thought he was a giant dick but I would be fed my own tongue before I had the chance to say it so loudly. Many died an excruciating death for simply looking at him wrong. I personally at times was the one to execute them.
In a world where angels and demons were renowned and even celebrated; we were the hounds who would convict the stray demons and send them back to where they would never resurface. It’s not a gig I chose for myself, at first, I had spited my role and task, the other two having already adapted.
But alas apparently, I was chosen. It wasn’t the day that I feared, in fact killing demons was something I did exceptionally well. It was when night came and it was time to sleep that truly jeopardized our safety and life. There were once five of us in this district. Now down to only four in recent months. There were demons more powerful and became very real in our dreams. An internal war that came to life against demons that could possess us if we weren’t effectively able to fight off the intrusion. We were vulnerable and weak and what they sought out most was to possess our body to use as host. Not all entities had a form and not all could be contained by a living body for a long duration before rotting themselves. It left these demons vulnerable and their power leaked, they were once again forced to the shadows until they acquired a new host.
There were things that could not be explained. Things I didn’t want to relive or see. But as per our contract and protocol, we had to journalize these dreams and attacks so we could seek them out in the physical realm, to ultimately kill those who challenged Haymen’s territory and power. We were both the bait and the soldiers. Not all came out alive and numerous generations had been wiped out. There were numerous warriors who had the same respective role in other cities similar to ours but we were publicized and considered as the ‘elite’. We were the guardians of Haymen and the door to the Underworld, or so what the media was told and all that they knew.
A treaty was created between the world of humans, demons, and angels, for a balanced living space after the last Great War between demons and angels. Naturally, there were rebels from all races and species who did not agree with such madness of structure. That was originally the reasoning as to why Haymen’s guardians were created, it was more of a poetic title than anything considering he could wipe out an entire civilization with the brush of his hand if he wanted to. I had been told stories of Haymen doing exactly that in a different world when he reacted poorly to a business negotiation. To say the least, it didn’t end well for the other party.
The term ‘guardian’ was more so structured for ease of the transition into the human world. Tell them it was a ‘lethal force’ to kill demons who rebelled and continued to feast off humans, they would’ve screamed–tell them it’s a guarding force of beautiful women and somehow it’s understated and less threatened... go figure. Since the humans had seen us take down many demons, intercept catastrophic incidences and public tortures, we were now idolized. Humans loved to idolize what they both feared and did not understand. The same for the angels, who we had mutual agreement but begrudged. It was inevitable. Light and darkness couldn’t too often stay on the edges to make grey, but hey, sometimes we were allured to one another while off duty. I mean power seeks power, and no one can match that of an angel lover. That passionate hate, war and rivalry really does create something rough in the bedroom, or so I’ve been told.
The treaty had now been in place for little more than four hundred years and now in the time of 2,986 we were watched and our duty revered to take the ‘monsters’ away. Little did the humans know of the true intent and purpose of the Guardians. The monsters they saw and were attacked by were not the ones that would devour them whole and take their earth. We fought them simply for the riches in return, well simply we were told to do so, so Haymen could gain further his power. We fought for the land of the living, but it was in the world that was dark, sleeping, and corrupt that would truly break all. I understood that now. Not being human any longer and walking through the darkness every night... the humans had no idea of what terrors truly sought for their blood.
I searched absentmindedly into the water disregarding those thoughts. I was here now, this was my new life. I stared into the surface of the water still tracking the beat of the demons under the dark water. They haven’t yet made their move, they were simply circling–waiting. Maybe not so dumb.
My hair when I had been reborn from my human life after a tragic death–which was nothing short of demonic–had dulled into a light crimson instead of its once strawberry blonde. My skin seemed paler and more unearthly. It cascaded around my shoulders in its bountiful curls which had been revered as beautiful in tabloids. To stir the tabloids, I threatened to cut it off and was placed into confinement for two days by Haymen as punishment for actively attempting to defile his property. He pestered me more than anything during those two days making it seem hellish. He knew I actively avoided him even though I worked for him and surprisingly he hadn’t yet called me out on it or punished me for it. The Guardians were owned by their master. Our vanity and appearance a further tool for him to exploit in the press and for personal gain. Our tattoos appeared after our blood oath, mine being physically forced upon me–not that I could recall much from the day of my death. All of our tattoos were different. Mine charmed like vines from both shoulders and between my breasts were droplets to the core of my belly button. The exotic and beautiful markings met with the medal piercing of my belly bar. At night it would glow a dull blue. It was a tattoo that only other members of the underworld and angels could see, it marked us as property of the world beneath. I had never been there, only making it so far as the door.
I pushed back my hair and tucked it behind my ear, scraping past the four piercings of my right ear.
“Vivian,” Tahmeed yelled out to me. “Would you like help?” I continued to watch the swirls and felt the rattle of their movement beneath. I followed the sharp movement in the dark water when a woman’s scream grabbed my attention. A silken thin line of a tentacle wrapped around her little girl’s ankle and pulled her beneath the water with rapid speed.
“I’ve got this,” I said, despite knowing that the invitation was in humor. We didn’t help one another when it came to our duties and killings. The shimmer of my blue tattoos glowed brighter as I dove into the water, the black coolness over my skin rather refreshing. The sharp pain of skin stretched over my ribs and split as small gills tore open on both side of my ribs. My ears elongated and further gills broke out under my arms and legs so I could fluidly breathe beneath the water. A bit excessive, had been my first thought the first time I attacked a water demon and my form changed to adapt to my environment. But my water demon was the third to my seven to join me and my contract. This was the true power of a Guardian. Contracted to seven demons who resided within us. We could shift into and use their abilities at any time. All for the sake of being contracted to and to do Haymen’s bidding. Every Guardian was different. My nails and canines elongated and my hands and feet changed to webbed.
I shot through the water hearing the little girl gargle screams as she was being dragged with unrelenting force to the bottom. My sensitive hearing could hear the pressure begin to crush her voice. Below was one of the baby demons which had twelve black silk tentacles and an open mouth of nothing but razor fangs. Others started wrapping their tentacles around her to fight for their food. With a sharp jolt of my legs I cut through the water and sliced through all four tentacles before they tore the girl’s body apart.
They were in the dark hiding, and their screams were deafening. I grabbed the girl and propelled for the surface. When there were baby madrins there was always a mother close by leading them. As soon as I broke to the surface of the water, I placed the little girl in her mother’s arms on the deck. The sun was so bright in comparison to the darkness below. The mother looked at me wide eyed fearful of my form and slitted eyes. She took her daughter who was still not breathing but resuscitation would bring her back. I placed my finger on my throat to project my voice along the coastline of the lake.
“Get away from the edge of the harbor.” I didn’t care much for the humans but I would get a decent pay out for this one and the less carnage the better. “I repeat–” That one thick tentacle wrapped around my waist and dragged me beneath the water. I twisted my hand beneath the strangling tentacle to cut through with my nails. The baby madrins divided in size, fearful of their angered mother. I looked down on her eyeless form as her razor-sharp teeth were one which had devoured ships.
Two things ran through my mind in that moment. One; I had never actually fought a madrin before. Being programmed as I was, there was an ancestral knowledge of the demons I fought because of the demons I was contracted to. Two; That was one ugly ass demon. I split her tentacle with my razor-sharp nails releasing her grip on my waist. The scream that came from her was so echoing and impactful that I was blown to break through the surface of the water. I flipped through the air looking down on her location. I’d never had the chance to see how long my sharp spaded nails would go. I aimed my hand to the location of her membrane. One way to find out. With excruciating pain my nails elongated rapidly and shot straight through the water and hit home. Still holding on to my wrist for support I hung in the air looking like some pole vault champion with my fingernails as the beam. Although excruciating, I had to admit this must have looked epically cool and disgusting at the same time. I could feel her squirm beneath my thick nails as her body slipped and sagged around them. The baby madrins left black ink in their escape as they darted back into the thicker parts of the water and towards the ocean.
I relinquished my hold on the demon and retracted my nails slightly wincing as they retracted into the tips of my fingers. Black blood swept up over my nails and hands as I flipped and hit the deck in a crouch.
I was naked and bony, and in a form not entirely my own. I looked over my shoulder at the closeness of the camera that went ‘click’.
And that is how in the city ruled by demons, renowned as Shabeah–you made the front headline. And so looking over my shoulder with black blood running down my naked form, I smiled and licked at the blood which was not my own. Another demon down, another penny rolling in to my bank account, and this one want to be big!
