A prickling sensation pulsed through her skin. Her hair stood alert, eyes widened. Clenching her fist, she hid the tremble and slowly tried to ease her breath. Her eyes looked at the trio as her mind was thrown into instant turmoil.
"Red eyes... I wasn't told he had red eyes. This is bad... What have we thrown ourselves into?"
***
"Sorry, I'm late," said Cain.
Kitsune's eyes welled up with warm tears as she looked up at him. He stood amidst the smoke and dust with a certain confidence that remedied her fearful heart. Her trembling stopped, her worries vanished, and she felt at ease as she looked at the soft smile.
She knew she was going to be ok.
He knelt; his eyes scanned her injuries, then brushed her hair. He then pulled her in gently and embraced her. At first, astounded, but then I calmed down.
"Don't worry," he said, "you are safe now."
Overwhelmed, she broke down. Muffled sounds of her crying reached his ears. After a moment, she retracted, wiping her tears.
He was different from what she recalled. His long hair trimmed, a clean shave and his body, the frail body she recalled, was no more. His appearance of a twenty-two- three twenty-three-year-old. And he was very attractive.
However, the smile on his lips, that curve, she couldn't forget. It was seared into her mind like a genetic code printed in her.
Cain then turned to Akira. Her face was bruised, evidence of a recent nosebleed, and dark circles under her eyes, and her lower jaw was slightly open.
"Are you in pain? It seems your jaw is broken," Cain said.
"I'm ..." A sharp pain pierced her jaw when she tried to respond.
He reached out to the girl's amazement and felt her mouth. She winced as he did and closed her eyes, holding back her tears. There was a lingering taste of blood in her mouth and nose. Cain pulled out an immaculate handkerchief and handed it to her. She pressed it to her nose.
"Please, don't talk. It's going to hurt when you do. It's only slightly broken."
Adam looked at the man in front of him. His jaw clenched, and his nostrils flared. Something about him irritated him. His smile, perhaps? No? It was an instinctive hatred that had no cause.
Sand bled from his hand like a stream. It didn't scatter, but crystalised, hardened and morphed into a long sword (gladius). Gripping its handle tightly, he took a stance ready to charge.
"Adam, wait!" the young woman beside him screamed out loud.
Too late.
Eyes flaring, veins pulsing at his temple and neck, he charged with a wide down swing.
A loud clanking of the metal reverberated through the air. The steel blade stopped. Everyone's eyes widened with the shifting of the wind. Without turning. Without even looking back. Cain had caught the sword between two fingers.
"A preemptive attack when the enemy's head is turned. That is cowardly," said Cain.
Adam's grip on his blade tightened. His hands trembled. He struggled to push down the sword.
"It won't budge!" he thought.
Cain's pupils then turned to Adam behind him. He pushed the sword back and instantly rose. With a clenched fist. He landed a straight blow on Adam's stomach, pushing him back.
Adam dropped his gladius and stumbled back, clutching his stomach. Veins formed a meshwork on his face, and he screamed out. He couldn't breathe; he didn't remember how. An ashy taste filled his mouth, and saliva oozed out as he knelt on the ground.
The solar plexus.
Cain turned to the young lady.
"Are you this boy's master?" he asked, walking passed Adam. His voice was still soft and relaxed. If there was anger in him, he didn't show it.
She pulled back her cloak, exposing her long, straight brown hair and green eyes. Her skin looked almost pale, bringing a deep contrast between her eyes and face.
Her eyes remained fixed on his. Cain stopped, noticing she had subconsciously taken a step back. Her fingers trembled, but her face still carried an unwavering resolve.
"If I am?" she asked. Her voice was steady.
"You are just a little girl. I am impressed," he said.
"Red eyes..." she thought. "This is bad."
"You could have killed him just now. Does that mean you intend to take us alive?" she asked.
Cain chuckled as he shook his head. An amiable smile was still on his face.
"Not really, I was just curious about him. What's your name?" He asked.
"He is toying with us. I can't tell what he's thinking, still, I need to buy more time for Adam to recover. There is no way I can fight one of the twelve sons alone."
"Annabel Bale," she said.
"Cain Philip," he said, "Annabel, if I may, what do you want with me that prompted you to go to such lengths?"
"Isn't it condescending to have a weak human master? I could offer you a better alternative."
Her eyes turned to Kitsune. She and Akira had earlier taken steps back to escape the unfolding conflict. A feeling of unease crept in.
"Tempting offer, a young, bold and powerful Witch, with a promising future or a flimsy human girl in passing?" he said, his hand on his temple.
Kitsune's eyebrows shot up. Her jaws tightened as she recoiled back. She felt Akira's grip tighten.
"Cain, you wouldn't, would you?" she asked nervously.
A soft smile with no tension escaped Annabel's lips.
"I pass, I prefer my current master," said Cain.
To Annabel, it was as if a jolt of current struck her. Meanwhile, Kitsune's face eased.
"I was attempting sarcasm, it seems I failed," said Cain, "aw well. I suppose that was enough time for the boy to recover?" He asked, his eyes glancing at Adam, who now stood behind him.
"So he knew and still played along,"
Annabel too chuckled, and a grin formed on her lips. She bit her thumbnail hard down to the root. On the cracked tiled floor, she spat it out.
With a flick of her arm, the blood splashed on the ground. Then her lips moved, and she mumbled something. Her words seemed to be an amalgamation of whispers and echoes, pleasant yet piercing to the ears.
The ground shook in shivers. The blood rolled into balls and formed concentric circles with runes and symbols.
"All men were created equal," she finished her chant with a shriek.
With that, she turned to Cain's indifferent face. Here eyes were now black like the night, red vessels around them.
On the ground, black smoke cascaded upwards, shaking in the roar of the wind. The candles flickered and then went out. The single luminous bulb burst, ushering in an unsettling darkness; the only source of light was the moon.
White light bled through the ground, the cracks and crevices of the broken tilled floor.
Cain looked around in awe of the anomaly. It prompted him to step back as he watched the light and smoke flood the room,
Kitsune and Akira also looked around, their heads turning frantically. Their bodies alerted them that they could taste the adrenaline in their tongues. Then, wailing shrieks filled the air, like the cemetery outside had turned to life.
Then, Kitsune's eyes landed on the three in front of them. She stepped back, her heart racing. Her eyes landed on Akira, who had a similar expression written on her. As if they were witnessing something wrong, something their eyes were never meant to see.
Adam. His face glitched like a faulty screen. It was momentarily replaced by something. Pale? No white? No eyes and mouth, just hollow openings.
"The dead stir in their graves," Cain spoke, "what have you done?"
Just then, his body felt heavy. Muscles clenched and tight as if bound by a rope and squeezed. Then, black rune marks appeared on his skin.
"I admit, I cannot kill you alone, after all, you have the blood of a true demon. But with the power of my ancestors and their hate for your kind, I have sealed your nature. You are in my domain, and here you are now human."
Schlop!! Crack!!
A loud sound reverberated through the air. Cain, eyes wide, looked down at his belly. A bloody blade stuck out, behind him, Adam leaned in pressing it deeper. Cain coughed, spitting out blood.
"I wanted to cut you down the moment I saw you. Now burn in hell, scum," said Adam.
He pulled the blade out and swung it wide.
Slash!!
The sword went clean through his neck. Blood splashed up like a fountain. The head fell heavily on the ground, and then the body knelt and fell to its side.
Kitsune's eyes widened. She felt her stomach curl as the head rolled and stared at her. Holding back the choking, noxious feeling, she looks away. In that second, Akira screamed out suddenly as her knees caved.
***
The candles lit ominously on their own. The black smoke seeped back into the ground, and the light waned.
Kitsune held Akira tightly, covering her face from the scene. Her mind raced, and her nose caught a whiff of the blood in the air.
"He's dead... I can't believe... And... we are next, we need to run now."
They had to run, but her body failed her, and Akira was too fragile to be moved at that second.
Annabel coughed as she noted the blood on her hands. In her body, it felt like a thousand needles ruptured her, and her flesh was being eaten alive from the inside. Adam rushed to her, catching her just in time.
"Master... We did it," he said, not holding back the smile and tears welling up in him.
"Yeah, we did..." she said, her hand cupping his cheek.
"MY— MY —MY..." a voice cut through the air.
Like a jolt of electricity. Their nerves were alerted. All their eyes turned, a mixture of fear, panic and relief circulating in the room.
The decapitated corpse rose slowly. The white bone of the skull and the red muscles were forming. Then a pair of eyes, before the skin and hair.
The head on the ground rolled like a ball. Like gravity, it was drawn to the body. On reaching his hand, it turned to a ball of flesh meshing, like a liquid solid and vanishing in his hand. The blood was pulled and disappeared as it touched his heel.
"That was a powerful spell," he said.
Adam's hand twitched. Frantically, he raised his gladius in his hand, and he clenched his jaw as he watched him approach. Annabel, unable to stand, watched her head jacking backwards.
"How are you alive?" asked Adam. "I killed you with a holy blade.
"I admit, if that attack had landed on anyone else... Demon, Angel or even a Deity, it would have killed them. But unfortunately, it landed on me."
Kitsune and Akira watched in confusion, uncertain whether what they had just seen was real or an illusion.
"I felt your life wane," Annabel said, standing up, "you died."
"I did..."
Woosh!
No one so how he moved. Yet, he stood in front of Annabel, towering over her.
"...Yet here I am."
Her mouth falling open, she stumbled back. Adam, surprised, as the others turned with a wide swing. Cain caught it by the blade. Then...
Smack!
His hand turned, a blow to the jaw. Blood and saliva flew in the air. Adam stumbled back and fell.
He was about to stand when the weight of a foot pushed him down.
Boom! Crack!
The sound of his sternum and ground being crushed reached the ears of the others. Unable to hold it in, he screamed out in pain.
"Most curious. Your body is quite sturdy," said Cain. "I had intended to kill you instantly."
Adam struggled to breathe as he raised his hand, a flick of a flame barely forming. Cain interlocked their hands and instantly crushed his hand, breaking it.
"Release him..." Annabel's trembling voice shot from the far back.
Cain turned. Annabel held a dagger across Kitsune's neck. Her hand, pinned to her back.
"...or else,"
Cain removed and stepped back. And raised his hands. However, he instantly kicked a pew kneeler in front of him, sending it flying.
The shock was enough, and Annabel thought of evading. Cain moved. He was faster than the flying furniture. Instantly, he was standing, in his grip, a struggling Annabel. The furniture crashed just behind them.
"The problem with Witches, " said Cain, "is that they were not meant for close combat."
For the first time that evening, Cain's face turned, a murderous look written all over it as he watched her kick around, hitting his hand, struggling all the while choking as his hands squeezed her fragile neck.
His eyes were still, devoid of sympathy.
"Leave her alone," said Adam, who was staggering.
"Wow, you two are not making this light. I seriously want to kill you quickly. I didn't intend to make you suffer."
Adam's eyes had lost the will to fight. Cain sighed, moved, stepped on his chest again, and let Annabel drop. This time, he coughed up blood. The sound of his sternum breaking and his screams filled the room.
Kitsune and Akira, with horrendous looks, could only watch. They were strangers to such violence.
"Spare him," Annabel said as she clutched her dress tightly. "Kill me instead."
Cain looked down at her. No trace of pity in his eyes, and then he stepped down even harder.
"Cain, stop! Please," Kitsune yelled, unable to bear it any longer.
"It's not smart to leave your enemies alive."
"I don't want people to die... please."
Cain sighed, retracted his foot, and Adam gasped in the air. Annabel held him in her arms.
"This is a warning. Whoever your benefactor is, they forgot to tell you. This is not a game."
He turned to Adam, who lay unconscious, and smiled slightly, then walked to Kitsune and Akira.
"You two must be tired. Let me take you home."
He said, picking up Akira.
"Um . . . Ok?"
Annabel looked at him as he walked away. She then sighed with relief as they had just narrowly escaped certain death. It was her first time experiencing such an overwhelming presence. He was ruthless, a true Demon.