Disclaimer: All the standard warnings for violence, blood and general
icky- ness apply. This will also tie in with one of my other series,
Blood, Sex and Magic.
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Thunder rattled the windows around them as Andrea looked down
at her pale blood stained hands, the now soulless body that had once
belonged to her falling limply to the ground at her bare feet. The
driving rain washed all of the blood clean from her claws, but it
couldn't begin to clean her conscience of the evils she had allowed
the demon kind to do.
'I opened up the gates to hell for the promise of increased
mystic power,' Andrea thought to herself grimly, 'and I didn't even
care about what was happening out in the world. All those murders
happening when I opened up the gate, why didn't I let myself see that
I was the cause?' She looked down at the demon body, a tall,
physically strong woman, black haired and bearing razor sharp claws, a
body that was now her own.
Andrea closed her eyes, 'They used me to free this thing, the
perfect killing machine." Rain washed away a few tears, 'And the only
way to stop it was to sacrifice myself.'
Each full moon Andrea had done it, being granted a portion of
mystic power in return for one hour of freedom for her seductively
handsome patron demon. Finally the demons were strong enough to
unleash this, a servant meant to carry out a series of sacrifices
intended to open up the gates of Hell wide, to allow them to return to
the Earth in force.
The noises brought her back to the hear and now, the nervous
crowd, and a few police officers breaking through the mob to nervously
point their weapons at her. 'Can bullets even harm this body?' Andrea
found herself wondering.
Without any conscious thought great, leathery wings unfurled
from her bare back, sweeping up before the downward sweep threw her up
into the air. Each beat of her wings took her higher even as shots
rang out, the police recovering from their surprise enough to act.
For just a moment part of her enjoyed this suddenly discovered
power of flight, then Andrea clamped down on it savagely. The roof she
chose was deserted, hidden in the warren of buildings in that part of
town. The wings folded away with a wish, disappearing almost as if she
never had them. She stumbled forward a few steps, falling to the rough
gravel. She curled up into a ball, hot tears streaming down her face.
The events of that final great summoning ran through her mind,
no matter how hard she tried to resist the images. Her chanting the
ancient, guttural words, the opening of the gate, hearing the black
haired demon lord's mocking laugh as he emerged, and finally seeing
his servant coming out from the shadows just behind him. She would
have been beautiful, if not for the cold, killing madness that shone
from those golden eyes.
"She will walk the streets this time," the demon lord had
smiled at her coldly, showing those even, perfectly formed white
teeth. Only his eyes, glowing a sullen blood red, marked him as the
monster that he truly was.
Andrea had stammered out weakly, "But that's not the bargain
we made!"
A cold glance, "Little fool, it matters not. The lives that I
took in our earlier encounters have strengthened me, I no longer need
your assistance." He saw the look of shock on her face and smiled,
"You truly did not know? You are a greater fool than I believed!"
"Oh, no," Andrea whimpered softly, tears streaking her face.
"What.. what's she here for?" she asked weakly.
The demoness gestured, her fingers extending, becoming razor
sharp claws. "She will finish what I began," the demon lord laughed,
"she will kill to open wide the last and greatest gate, and our kind
will rule over your world."
The demoness easily stepped out of the protective circle that
meant to hold only the demon lord himself and then she paced out of
the darkness of the basement like a cat. Andrea gazed after it in
shock, then pulled herself from her crouch on the floor, swaying a bit
as she regained her feet.
Andrea gazed after it before softly muttering to herself,
"No."
"And what will you do about it, pitiful little mage?" the
demon mocked her before laughing aloud at the sight she presented, a
ragged figure preparing to go to war.
"Stop her," Andrea said coldly as she met his eyes levelly,
and the laughter died.
Stumbling up from the basement, through her townhouse and then
outside, a gust of wind nearly blowing her over. It was beginning to
storm outside as Andrea opened her senses wide, seeking the foul taint
of the creature. In only moments she found her, and ran as fast as her
legs would carry her. A force bolt drove the demon back, the beautiful
creature scowling at her.
They stood there a moment, assessing each other. The demoness
could have been a model, her body and face were so perfect. Only the
gleam of fangs, pale skin, claws and those unholy, pitiless eyes
marked her as inhuman. Andrea knew what she looked like, a thin,
gangly woman, her face scarred on one side, walking with a slight
limp.
'It probably thinks I'm easy prey,' Andrea mused, right before
the demoness lunged, her claws fully extended.
Across the city they fought, Andrea focusing on containing the
creature, the demon striving to break free to kill innocents. Back and
forth they went, her powerful shields holding the claws back, while
using her powers to try to hurt the demoness.
But her spells seems unable to hurt the creature, and her
mystical talents could only hold the killing machine back for so long.
'It's because my magics were granted by the demon lord,' she realized,
'they can't hurt one of his servants!'
Distracted, Andrea was hammered against the wall, so hard she
could feel her ribs breaking. The smiling face was just in front of
her, the thing's breath oddly sweet as it gazed into her eyes, a hand
cupped around her throat. "Walk away," it could barely form the words
past the gleaming fangs, "and you can live."
A bit of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth, and
Andrea realized she had bit right through her lower lip. "Maybe," she
managed, "but I couldn't live with myself afterward."
It shrugged, almost as if it didn't really care.
Andrea racked her mind, trying to recall a magic that dated
before her first encounter between her and the demon lord. An old
magic, one as old as mankind itself, one that might still be effective
against a demon spawn like this.
Andrea's hands were shaking as she reached for the demoness'
free hand, pulling a bit at the fist that firmly pinned her by the
throat against the cold stone wall. The razor like nails cut at her
bare fingers as she grasped at it, then in one smooth gesture she
yanked the demoness forward and rammed the claws into her own chest.
"Augh," Andrea gasped out, spitting blood that splattered the
demoness' face. Her life pulsed out even as Andrea's lips formed the
words, starting at a whisper and then rising. Realizing it's danger
the demon struggled to break free, but her death grip held it fast.
She managed the final word even as her heard stopped, a sudden flash
of light blinding in the near darkness.
And then Andrea's mind and spirit was contained within the
demoness' body, her now soulless bloody corpse falling bonelessly to
the ground.
Unable to cry any longer she reluctantly unrolled from her
place on the rough material of the rooftop, sitting up then pulling
herself to her feet. Her long black hair hung wetly behind her, her
pale body glistening in the rain. She tilted her head back as
lightning flashed.
"There's something I have to finish," she murmured.
The old Victorian home wasn't too hard to get into, not from
above anyway. She walked down from the cluttered attic, her eyes dark
with memories both good and bad. She knew she wouldn't be returning
here, not after today. The basement was cool as she stepped through
the door, seeing the demon lord confined still in the mystic circle.
"The servant should have finished by now," he was muttering
before she came through the door. "Why is the ultimate gate not open?'
he demanded angrily.
Andrea didn't answer, just walked on towards him. She felt an
odd calm, almost like a pool she could dip into. He grew agitated,
demanding, but she ignored his words. Once she was near enough, she
coiled her body and struck swiftly.
Black ooze showered her as she struck, her claws tearing the
creatures head right from his shoulders all in one motion. The severed
head seemed aware for a few moments as she smiled at it coldly.
"Things didn't go as planned," she said coldly.
The portal was collapsing with the death of the demon lord,
and she casually tossed the head in after it. With the portal gone the
room was pitch dark, but her eyes let her see like it was daylight.
Scrolls, books, artifacts, her basement was filled with dangerous
magics, things that could call something like the demon lord once
again.
It took some doing to start the fire on the cement floor, but
the books soon burned briskly, flashes of light and odd scents rising
from the flames. The scrolls, artifacts, her plans and work, all were
consigned to the cleansing flames. For a moment she was tempted to
step into the fire herself, but something stopped her.
'All those people,' she thought, 'that were killed because I
wanted magical power without working at it. The innocents who's lives
were cut short, all because of me.' A deep breath, 'Those scales need
to be balanced.'
The entire building caught fire not long afterwards, but she
was safely perched on another building watching it all go up in
flames. A old trenchcoat was wrapped around her body, and the rains
continued to drive down on the city.
'There goes what ever is left of my old life,' she grimly
mused. 'I guess I'm not really Andrea anymore,' she thought, 'that
name died with my human body. I've been falling a long time, forever
it seems, and now I've finally hit rock bottom.'
"Descent," she murmured to herself softly, and turning away
from the burning building she disappeared into the darkness.
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