The town was quiet and tranquil as everyone slept safely in their beds. I lurked in the forest that crested over the town and even though it was night, I was able to see everything clearly. The crescent moon lingered in the sky and a misty fog was starting to form. My figure was hidden within the shadows. I had been staking out this village for a few days learning about the townsfolk such as their routines and who I had to worry about.

My stomach growled demanding food, disrupting the silence around me. I placed a hand on my stomach as a reassurance of “yes, you’ll get food tonight. Now shut up”.

I crept out of the forest and I made my way into the slumbering town. From my observations, I knew this town was pretty open and they tended not to lock their doors or windows. To prove that point, a few windows were open to let in the cool night air.

The first house I went into was that of an older couple and the house was quaint and homey. The smell of lavender was lingering in the air thanks to the lavender flowers that were hanging from the ceiling in little wicker baskets. I quickly found their cupboards and took the food that would last long on trips and wouldn’t be too sorely missed. I put some fruits and rice bags into my sack of stolen goods.

I made a quick walk around the first floor of the house and I snatched some helpful tools that I could use in my survival like discarded pins that could be used as lockpicks, a map of the kingdom since my last one has been ripped apart, and a few coins that were lost on the floor.

I exited the house and quietly closed the door behind me. Moving onto the next house, I tried to open the front door but I found it unexpectedly locked. I saw an open window I could slip through. Quietly, I padded through the house and went straight for the kitchen. As I was rummaging through the foodstuffs, I heard the sound of a young girl asking me, “Are you one of the Goddess’ helpers? It’s almost her sacred holiday!”

She kept going on about how I was super pretty and must be one of the Goddess’ special helpers who spread light and joy into Her followers. By the way the girl was talking, she did not notice how my eyes were not white. But in the darkness of the night with limited light, it would be hard to see that my eyes clearly showed me as being one of the unholy or ‘tainted’ ones.

To get her to shut up, I agreed with her and said, “Yes, I’m one of Her helpers”. With that, she was so excited, bouncing in place with a twinkle in her eyes. She started to ask me many questions such as “What is the Mother Goddess like? What does She look like? What is Her favorite color?”. Her tirade of questions only ended when my stomach decided to remind me that I was starving.

Hearing my stomach’s need for sustenance, the girl was more than happy to give me some food. She shoved a loaf of bread into my hands and told me to eat it. With her eyes shining with excitement, I was forced to eat the bread then and there. I made sure to eat quickly as a way of preventing her from seeing my fangs which would let her know I was lying about who I was.

Once she saw that I was finished eating the loaf of bread, she pointed to my sack and asked what it was for. I told her truthfully that I was collecting food for my journey. I was generic with my explanation and didn’t give her the true reason I was on the run.

Hearing that, she smiled and talked about how the Festival of Light was going to be amazing as she grabbed some food and handed them to me to put in my sack. I felt really bad about this whole thing because she was giving me an unholy amount of food. As she was pouring herself a glass of water, I reached into one of the pockets in my shorts and carefully held her hands in mine.

“This is a special gem that the Goddess herself gave me. It’ll ward you against evil. Take this as a sign of my thanks for your kindness and generosity,” I said as I pulled my hands away while leaving the shiny gem in her cupped hands.

Now, I wasn’t entirely lying to her, the gem was supposed to ward you against evil. According to their religion, I was the sort of evil that they wanted to be warded against and I had planned on selling it on the black market to earn some easy money. It wasn’t originally mine, I had nicked it off a religious couple in the last town I stumbled across. Honestly, it was probably for the best since the gem obviously didn’t work.

The little girl was ecstatic about the gift I gave her and was happily bouncing around while examining the gem. I held my finger against my lips and whispered to her, “You can show it to your parents in the morning. But for now, you should go back to bed, alright?”

The girl just nodded and before she left to go back to bed, she gave me a hug which I was not expecting in the least. With a happy wave, she left the kitchen and went upstairs. I could hear her light footsteps as they trailed upstairs. I faintly heard a door close and I assumed she was in her room.

I checked my bag of stolen goods and evaluated how much food I had and how long it would last me. Seeing as the girl had given me a good portion, I would be fine for a while. I wouldn’t need to ‘borrow’ any more food from the villagers for now.

I exited the house the same way I got in: through the window. I carefully pushed the bag out of the window first and then I pulled myself through it next. Once I had secured my bag and my stolen foodstuffs, I quietly ran out of the village into the forest on the opposite side of where I entered.

After I ran for a few miles, I found a nice large wide tree that would be good to rest in. Carefully, I climbed up the tree and found a high branch that was still thick and strong enough to hold both my weight and the weight of the stolen food.

Making myself comfortable on the tree branch, I opened my bag and grabbed an apple to munch on. Crunching into the apple, the sweetness filled my mouth immediately and it was wonderful. There was a commotion that caught my attention due to how loud it was and that the party in question was bearing torches and pitchforks.

There was a young man who was fleeing the pitchfork-wielding mob who seemed to be around the same age I was. The guy had blonde hair that was swept up to the side and he wore green clothing. He looked to be wielding a small dagger knife thing and when any of the mobsters got too close to him, the boy would lash out with his weapon. Red streaks appeared on the slashed body parts whenever he lashed out with his sharp dagger.

It wasn’t any of my business about why this guy was being pursued so I continued to munch away on my stolen apple. He had gotten closer to the tree I was sitting in and I watched as he seemed to be tired of running away. He turned around and faced his pursuers with his weapons ready.

As I watched the fight, I noticed something interesting about the knife-wielding guy. In the brief flashes of his face I got, I saw that his eyes were like mine. Sure he had green irises, but the rest of his eyes were black like mine.

He was a part-demon like me.

No wonder he was being chased by an angry mob. It was a mob that wanted to kill this “hellspawn” as they would call him.

Should I help him? I mean, it wasn’t any of my business and his fate wasn’t my problem. But another thought entered my mind: shouldn’t I help him since he was like me? Shunned and hated by the entire world because of his birth?

By the time I had made my decision to help him out, he released his anger and transformed into his demon form. Two horns protruded from his forehead and curved backward. Emerald scales emerged from his hands up to his shoulders. A sleek dragon-like tail swished behind him. He was slashing away happily at the religious zealots and blood gleamed on his blade.

I sighed in resignation and leaped from my perch from above. Mid-fall I let myself be consumed in anger and hate and I felt my demonic blood respond to my call for power. My red scales appeared on my hands and forearms and with my outstretched hand, I immediately grabbed one of the men in the face while I used the person right next to them as a convenient cushion for my landing. A sickening crunch was heard as I landed and broke the unfortunate man’s ribs while the other man I had clawed in the face was reeling back in pain. I noticed that one of my claws had nicked his eye and he was screaming bloody murder and going on about how he couldn’t see.

The guy glanced at me and didn’t question why I was helping him. It was pretty damn obvious.

We quickly cut through the entire mob and all that was left were bloody remains, stomped out torches, and rusty pitchforks.

The guy looked at me and observed my demon form, “Thanks for the help. I probably would have been a goner if you hadn’t shown up and helped me out. I’m Oda, by the way. And you are?” He put his hand out for me to shake but I just stared at his hand.

Without shaking his outstretched arm I replied, “I’m Nocturne”.