The Demon's Pa

Was it so wrong that my first reaction was to want to run right into his arms?

I took a step towards him in anticipation of the feel of his skin on mine.

He still looked just as I remembered him. His longish brown hair a bit wilder maybe, and his eyes a darker shade of yellow, but all in all he was still just Alexander. He still had that little freckle under his right eye and that way of looking at me that made me want to rip his clothes off. Without meaning to I took in a breath of air, just to smell him, just to assure myself that it really was him. The moment shivers erupted across my entire body and my limbs became heavy I was sure.

This was without a doubt my Alexander.

He was still stalking towards me with a devilish grin on his face and murder in his eyes. He stopped walking towards me and looked at me enquiringly, “Since you are the only one that reacted to the name… I take it that you are the famous Ash Carson?” He questioned in his silky voice.

“Uh…I-I… uh…I…” What an absolutely brilliant response.

He tilted his head to the side, “Is that a yes,” then to the other side, “Or a no, little vampire?”

Oh sweet potatoes how I’d missed his voice. A sigh was all that escaped my lips when I tried to form words again. How could I even think of speaking when he was standing right in front of me. He was back, just like Oberon had said he would be. I wanted to run to him and sob like an infant while he held me close.

“Are you mute?” He hissed at me with a terrifying snarl, his eyes gleaming dangerously, “Answer the question.”

“What?” I asked. I couldn’t help it, my mind was in shreds. Between trying to understand the words that were coming out of his mouth- that looked very kissable- and trying not to stare at his toned body there wasn’t much room for any logical thoughts.

“Are you Ash Carson?”

“Uh…” I said again hesitantly when most of my mind had come back to me and my thoughts were less like that of a drunkard. Didn’t he say something about killing me?

I took a step backwards. Would he actually kill me?

Alexander wouldn’t- then it hit me. He didn’t know who I was- which should I should have realised sooner since he was asking me who I was.

He was calling me Ash and he’d never called me Ash before. He’d always called me by my full name. Always.

So that had to mean that Alexander really was a demon, a demon loyal to Clades, the creature that had killed him and he couldn’t remember anything about his past life. A demon who looked like he was about to attack me if I didn’t answer his question in the next millisecond.

I swallowed, “No, I’m not.” It was better to lie to him than have that heap of muscle come after me with such murderous eyes.

A wild grin broke out across his face, “What a lying little vampire you are. I can see the deceit in your eyes.”

I took another step backwards, “I’m not lying.”

He sounded most amused, “Yes you are.”

“I’m not.” I stated bravely. This was just like our first meeting all over again, I was taunting him, testing his patience. Was he going to kiss me?

I almost hit myself in the face at how absurd my thoughts were.

He raised a brow, “Will you challenge a demon, little vampire?” His feral eyes suddenly flicked over to something else.

“Uh… I-” there wasn’t time to say anything else because the next thing I knew he was holding a human girl by her head.

I stared at him disbelievingly and swallowed hard. He was faster than he’d been when he’d been a vampire. A lot faster.

“What about this girl?” He questioned with an evil smirk, “Is this Ash Carson?” The girl struggled to get free and screamed. Alexander shot her a glare, “If you don’t shut up I will crush your head right now.”

Her screams turned into sobs or horror and I edged forward. Alexander looked like he was very capable of crushing her scull with his one hand like it was nothing more than an egg shell. “Let her go.” I demanded.

He might have looked like Alexander, but he was nothing, nothing like him. Alexander wouldn’t ever have done this, he was kind.

“Are you Ash Carson?” He demanded again, his face void of any emotion. “If you tell the truth I’ll let her go.”

“Yes.” I answered without hesitating, I wasn’t going to let this girl die because of me, “Yes, I am Ash now let her go dammit!”

He smirked in my direction, “Good to know.” Then he slammed the human girl’s head into the ground so hard I didn’t even need my vampire hearing to hear the sickening crunch that came with the splattering blood. Her screams and cries immediately went silent upon impact.

I was frozen in shock and horror. He’d killed her.

Alexander’s expression was extremely bored and he casually wiped his bloody hand on the dead girl’s shirt before he set his sights on me again. “Now, where were we?”

I took another step backwards. What was I supposed to do? He’d just killed an innocent girl right in front of me!

Alexander was suddenly standing right in front of me and if it wasn’t for what I’d just witnessed I would have passed out at his proximity. “Tell me, little vampire,” he bent down so we were the same height and his eyes bore into mine, “Why has my father taken such an interest in you?”

I was too terrified to answer or to move. He really was going to kill me. Clades truly was a sick man. He’d sent out Alexander to kill the one person he never would have hurt if he could still remember. This was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

And I couldn’t help but think that maybe it would have been better if he’d never come back to life.

“Does it really matter?” I asked plainly. He shrugged and roughly took hold of my chin. Suddenly with the fire that had spread across my body I found it within myself to move again. I slapped his hand away, “Don’t touch me.” I hissed at him.

His eyes darkened and he let out a low threatening growl, “You don’t get to order me around, vampire.” His intense gaze let up and he looked at the havoc his demons minions were creating around us, “You should be like one of them.” He said, “Obedient.”

I bit back my snarky sarcastic answer.

Alexander’s eyes suddenly dropped far lower than my face and zoned in on my side where the blood from my wound had dried. His eyes narrowed and he frowned, taking a whiff of me. His eyes turned black and he took a threatening step towards me, firmly taking hold of my arm, “What are you?”

I turned my head away from him, surely if I looked at him I would start crying. His grip on my arm was painful but the pain was numbed by the feel of his skin against mine. I would never get used to his touch, even if those same hands had only minutes before killed an innocent girl.

He didn’t know what he was doing, this wasn’t Alexander.

“Answer me, Ash Carson.” He growled, “What are you?”

“Nothing to you.” I said softly, “Not anymore. I am just the royal of Africa and I’m the one who is going to help kill Clades.”

His eyes narrowed even more and I took that as my chance to observe the battle scene around me. Fabian and Samael worked together splendidly to rip the weaker demons apart and Faith and Zaiden looked like they were competing to see who could tear out the most demon hearts. I suddenly felt a sense of pride while looking at what good fighters they were.

Too bad Alexander was going to kill me.

Viktor moved like a python, ripping through any creature that came too close to Lucy, who had her knees pulled up to her torso, and was looking around with wide eyes. Her eyes met mine and she whispered, “Run. He looks like he’s about to kill you.”

My eyes flashed back towards Alexander who had a slightly confused look on his face. Suddenly it vanished and was replaced with recognition and he fearlessly addressed Viktor. “Well, if it isn’t my traitorous brother who has yet to be saved.”

With a glance in Alexander’s direction Viktor sunk his fist into the nearest demon’s face and sent him flying through the air. He snarled at Alexander, “I’m not the traitor here.”

“No?” Alexander asked playfully, “And yet you are the one going against the man who is the only reason you exist.”

Viktor laughed humourlessly, “Oh don’t even get me started on his vile reasons for bringing the seven of us into existence. That… thing didn’t even tell you the reason he wanted you to kill Ash! Just think about it. He didn’t need to send someone as powerful as you; she isn’t that strong, she could easily have been killed by one of his minions.” His eyes briefly met mine, “No offence or anything.”

I muttered a string of curses under my breath. It was true though.

“He’s using you Alex.” Viktor continued.

Alexander snarled, “You don’t know anything.”

An amused look appeared on Viktor’s face and after his eyes met mine for a brief second before flashing back to Alexander he said, “And neither do you.”

With a monstrous, loud and vicious snarl Alexander launched himself at Viktor. He threw me away from and I landed flat on my behind. “I’ll kill you! You have no idea what Clades has done for me!” He had Viktor by his throat in milliseconds of the fight starting. “He rescued me from my previous life.”

To say that Viktor was getting blue in the face would be impossible since he didn’t need oxygen, yet it seemed like that was what was happening. He let out a harsh bark of laughter, “You don’t even remember your previous life, who ever said you needed rescuing from it?”

Alexander snarled again and squeezed his brother’s neck tighter, “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t even know who she is.” Viktor mocked and he nodded his head in my direction as much as he could. Lucy was shaking terribly behind him and she looked around with fearful eyes.

Alexander turned to look at me but his grip on Viktor didn’t waver, “Who is she?”

“She used to be a human, you turned her,” Viktor said, “Because you were afraid that she was going to die.”

“That’s absurd!” Alexander snapped.

“You turned her because you loved her.” Viktor continued.

Alexander froze as he looked between me and Viktor carefully, “I had no idea vampires were such unbelievably deceitful creatures.” He stated plainly. “I don’t love her and I never will.”

My heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest and repeatedly smashed against the ground at the sound of his emotionless voice saying those words.

I wanted to punch him. I really, really just wanted to punch him in his face as hard as I could and cry.

My emotions must have been plain on my face because Lucy whispered my name pityingly, “Oh, Ash.”

Alexander was also giving me a measuring look, but his eyes held no pity, just uncertainty and deadly curiosity.

“Don’t you feel anything?” Viktor screamed at Alexander. “Good hell Alexander! This isn’t you! You hate Clades! Don’t you remember your mother?”

“Vaguely, father told me that she was a useless half human. It was right of him to kill her.”

Viktor’s eyes turned feral in rage, “And what about your sister and her daughter?”

Alexander gave him a wicked grin, “Your mother?” he asked amusedly, “I care for her even less.”

Viktor hissed and took hold of Alexander’s forearm. With a sickening crunch he snapped it and Alexander let go of his neck to clutch his broken arm. Not a sound of pain escaped his lips.

I flinched like some idiot when Alexander’s head turned in my direction. “Stay put.” He growled out as his arm repaired itself. It was a simple order and I suddenly found myself unable to move.

I started to panic. There was no way he still had control over all the vampires he’d created, was there? No, it had to be my imagination, it just had to be.

“I’ll deal with you when I ’m done crushing this one’s scull under my foot.” He continued and his eyes lingered on me a little longer than they should have. “We are going to have a nice long chat about why the hell you seem to be so bloody important.”

Viktor snorted and Alexander turned to face him again when he spoke, “So you don’t trust Clades? Are you starting to see how much he hasn’t told you?” Viktor gave him a calculating look. “You’re acting like nothing more than his obedient little slave.”

Before Alexander could spit out the violent insults and threats of death that clearly wanted to erupt from him Zaiden and Samael tackled him to the ground from behind. I hadn’t even seen them coming. They had him pinned down, just barely, each of them holding down an arm. Viktor and Faith were there in milliseconds, helping them keep Alexander down.

He thrashed around, snapping and snarling like a wild animal as he tried to get free with whatever force was necessary, but it seemed like three nobles and a royal were enough to keep him down.

“Get up Ash!” Zaiden yelled at me and I snapped out of my daze.

I tried standing up, but my body wouldn’t allow me. I growled in frustration and relief flooded over me when I managed to get onto my knees after a while. Alexander still had control over what he’d created, but it wasn’t as powerful anymore because he wasn’t aware of it. We would be fine as long as he didn’t figure out he still had control over us. If he did figure it out however… I didn’t even want to think of that possibility.

Fabian was at my side, helping me to my feet, “Run.”

“I can’t just leave you all here. He’ll kill you.”

“No,” Fabian insisted, “He won’t. He wouldn’t dare kill pawns in Clades’s sick little game that he doesn’t have permission to kill.”

“Ash!” Zaiden screamed again, his tone urgent and desperate. “Your vision, you have to go now, he’s going to kill you!”

A growl louder than anything I’d ever heard come from any creature came from Alexander and with one mighty movement he threw those who were keeping him pinned down off of him.

Faith was the first to make impact with a dilapidated house and she crashed through it, bring down the whole structure on top of her.

Samael and Zaiden were thrown in roughly the same direction and they flew through the air before landing on the hard and dusty ground a few hundred meters away.

Viktor hit a rather large tree face first and bounced off of it like he was made of rubber before he landed on the ground, unmoving and a pool of blood forming around him. Lucy screamed and ran towards him while I could do nothing more than stare.

She crouched at his side looking like she wanted to touch him, but didn’t know what to do. “Viktor?” Her voice trembled lightly as she gently put a caring hand on his back.

He didn’t move.

“Viktor?” She tried again and after a silence he gave a soft groan.

Of course I’d known he couldn’t have been dead, his head was still attached.

Alexander smirked and gave a single heartless bark of laughter as he watched them, “How amusing.” He commented playfully as his eyes turned back to me, “Seems like we won’t be having a heart to heart after all.”

Fabian pushed me behind him protectively, “Go.” He hissed.

“But-“

“Damnit Ash just get going! Now!”

I took a step backwards, my eyes noticing what Fabian was casually holding behind his back. Was that-

Alexander advanced towards me. “Come here Ash.”

I fought against it and just barely managed to withhold myself from running towards him.

When I didn’t go to him Alexander made an irritated sound in the back of his throat and he was suddenly standing right in front of Fabian. “Step aside would you?” He asked casually.

Fabian tensed, his own vampire half begging him to obey Alexander. He paused for a moment, relaxed and then took a step to the side, revealing me behind him. His eyes were murderous as he glared at Alexander.

Alexander spared him half a glance before setting his sights on me again, “Now where was-“

Fabian tensed mere moments before he moved, striking out towards Alexander like a viper intent on killing its prey. Alexander had time to dodge the punch Fabian threw at him, but not the open plastic bottle of mors est in sancto that flew right at his face.

He screamed and dropped to his knees with his hands over his face. “What the hell! What is this!?”

My cold heart wanted nothing more than to help the man who wanted to kill me. I wanted to take his pain away.

Fabian looked at me again, lingeringly and took hold of my hand with a small, sad smile tugging at him lips, “Now go. We’ll keep him here as long as we can.”

Zaiden and Samael were slowly getting to their feet and again and I could hear Faith throwing the debris of the house off of her. “We want to save you Ash, he won’t harm us.”

And so I turned around and I ran from what Alexander had become, hoping, praying, that somehow he would someday come back to me.

Without the intent to kill.