“Save yourself, Kayra!”
Drakor screams out while pulling the knives back, the silver blades were forged in an abandoned church and blessed by a priest. They would make an impact, maybe even a dent, but not nearly enough to survive this encounter. He kicks up plaster and broken glass with his boot as he runs towards the oncoming wave.
Kayra spreads her wings and jumps up into the air, her opportunity was present. A clear opening past the group made the pathway to the exit visible. The exit wasn’t what she was aiming for though, she twirls around and glides down the hallway, looking left and right as fast as she could. Finally she comes to a halt and flies into a room. Drakor swings with carelessness, despite his ability to hunt these creatures, he was merely a man. No special skills or powers, just a hate filled penchant to wipe out their existence.
He jumps forward plunging the knives into two separate sockets, two demons fall back under his weight as he hits his knees on the ground between them. Claws grip onto his shirt from the left side, he rears back slicing open someone’s face. Hot blood spikes out and onto his shoulder. One creature runs towards him, it looks like a decaying corpse, while tearing off its skin. It tosses clumps his direction sizzling anything underneath it like acid. He swipes his head right as a clump slops onto his shoulder. He screams and slides it off with his knife, a deep layer of tissue follows it as raw meat shows through.
The decaying corpse tackles him and screams into his face, saliva drips down onto his forehead. It bubbles and begins to boil like fire. Gritting his teeth he grabs the corpse by his throat, his hand swallowing the acid touch, and pushes it off. A black hole with jagged teeth awaits his new vision, already spiraling like a vortex of fangs, at the heel of his boot. He jerks backwards and crawls away, his heart was drowning in a pool of fear. He braces for the bite as his foot gets caught into the drooling mouth.
“Drakor!”
He looks up as Kayra swoops down next to him, tossing the gun into his chest. It hits him and a grunt escapes his mouth, but the throbbing heat building upon his chest was the last thing on his mind. Gripping his hands onto the weapon, he spreads his feet and presses down. An array of bullets tear through the mouth, cracking teeth apart and blistering holes into the throat. The creature roars coughing up bouts of blood. He rushes to his feet and aims the spiraling barrel into another direction. Kayra presses her back against his and says, “We’re in this together!”
Drakor begins to respond, but more still were piling in. He fires in random directions, screaming as the flashes of light in the dark room exposed a different demon, all of them full of rage. Kayra runs into a group and drops to her knees, sliding across the ground. Her wings tear through legs and knees, lopping off body parts and causing piles of bodies to fall down. The floor begins to flood with blood, and yet more still came. “There’s too many of them! Kayra, go!”
Kayra yells, “I’m not leaving your side!” She flicks her wings and feathers slide upwards into the cradle of the wing and back out, locking in glistening blades. She jumps up off a table and into the air above a crowd of greedy claws and hands, she spirals into a whirlwind going straight into the center. Blood flies onto Drakor’s face and open mouth as he holds the now glowing gun. His hands capture the heat and begin to singe, the last bullet exits and only a wisp of smoke lets out of the tip. He drops the gun and makes a fist punching one creature in its eyes. His knuckle cracks the glass orb which contained its pupil, causing it to spill. It grips Drakor by the waist and tosses him across the room. His back slams into the concrete wall shooting sheets of pain through his already over worked nerves.
Kayra comes to a halt, completely drenched in blood. She sees him on the ground, reaching one hand out still gripped in a shaky fist. She’s suddenly thrust to the ground, her jaw cracks upon the pressure. Claws dig into her back, others grab her wings. She looks up to Drakor with tears in her eyes, just before her wings are torn away. Pain ripples down intensely between the torn slits in her back.
“Kayra!” Drakor begins to crawl towards her. Every ounce of his life fading in light bursts, he begins to feel dizzy. With his last breath, he was going to make it to her. A row of razor claws slide down from his neck to his lower back. Drakor screams and continues to crawl with one arm. His other was throbbing hot, and angled in an unnatural position. Kayra looks to him, tears streaming down her face.
Drakor gets within reaching distance and attempts to grasp her hand. She reaches out towards him, crying profusely. A horde of demons circle them.
Their fingers touch. Both close their eyes and await the cold embrace of Death. A golden ball rolls from somewhere stopping next to their hands. Drakor looks up as a blinding blast of light explodes into the room. Shoving his head into his arm, he hears roars of pain and footsteps.
“Jasper, get Kayra, I’ll grab him!”
Drakor peers once more as the floor turns into a cesspool of goopy sludge and bone. A man dressed in armor kneels down to pick him up, pulling him over his shoulder. He sees an angel with his broad wings extended, picking up Kayra. He turns to Drakor showing his muscle shirt. One eye looked unique, different. Drakor awakens to a jolt of energy coursing through his body, his broken bones rattle and relocate snapping into place. He looks at the man in armor, an angel, now that he could focus on the wings behind him.
Kayra inhales deeply, coughing out blood. New wings re-emerge sliding out in wet slits of red feathers. The angel, holding his calloused palm on her leg, stays crouched as his life force enters her body. Drakor sits up, his back popping loudly, while looking at the stranger. He realizes they’re outside the building, under the night sky.
“Wh-who the hell are you?”
The angel wearing armor extends a hand and replies, “I’m the Commander, this soldier to my right is Jasper.”
Kayra is lifted up gently by Jasper, he raises her upwards and makes sure she lands on her feet able to walk before letting go of her.
Commander lifts Drakor up and looks at him, then at Kayra. He whispers, “You haven’t told her, have you?”
“Told her what?”
“We’ve been looking for her. The way she’s reacting to this, Its telling me she’s unaware.”
Overhearing the conversation, Kayra asks, “Unaware of what?”
Drakor changes his direction towards Kayra. His throat becomes dry and his heart crumbles into an ashen pile of shame. Hiding it now was pointless. He kneels down and says, “Kayra, you aren’t a fallen angel. I know I told you that, but I was trying to protect you.”
He reaches out a hand but she pulls back. “You mean you lied to me? If I’m not a fallen angel, then what am I?”
Drakor sighs, and starts to tear up. “Me and my wife are hunters… or my wife was a hunter. We came across a woman infested with the seed of Satan. We tried to perform an exorcism, but a baby was born. We took her home, raised her, and protected her from the world. Taught her how to lock demons she thought were bad dreams. We separated at one point, and I continued to hunt. When I tried to check on her one day, I heard she had passed. Our ‘daughter’ was nowhere to be found. That is, until we got here, and I recognized the mark on the painting.”
Kayra’s eyes widen as she backs up into Jasper. “What about the painting? Are you saying it had something to do with…my mom?”
Sighing heavily, “Your mothers name is Lola, and she’s the daughter of Satan. Making her the Princess of Hell.”
Kayra drops down to her knees, her soul felt as if it exited out of her body before he could finish his sentence. Everything she believed, she thought, was a lie. “That makes me-”
An asset to this war.” Commander says.
“It’s a lot to take in, Commander. Please, be considerate she’s still a child.” Jasper bends down and wraps his comforting arms around her.
Drakor watches as she hugs Jasper, he turns to Commander and says, “What is this? Who is he, how does he hold importance to this?”
“A war is at hand, Heaven and Hell are about to collide. We need her, she can possibly stop this.”
“And him?”
Commander sneers, “Delkatov is unpredictable, meet his brother. He originally went by Abel.”
Drakor looks to Commander. “You don’t mean-”
“Delkatov has gone by many names, but his original was Cain.”
Trumpets scream through the air as the moon transitions to blood red. The sky crackles with thunder as white flashes pierce through, thousands of shadows begin to pour out of the sky. The ground quakes from afar, sulfur and Hell fire explode from the ground as claws begin to reach out. Jasper looks to Commander and says, “We’re too late, Commander. The war has begun.”
Thank you to anyone and everyone who read this.
