She did her best to hide her hand as she carved something in her palm with a small concealed blade, keeping the snake demon distracted, “What do you mean?”
The snake hissed a laugh as he slithered from the ceiling to loom over her. She calmly folded her arms closer together to keep her hands hidden as he spoke.
“Why, Shiraga has shown a great interest in you. I wish to know why. Although,” he leaned closer sniffing her neck. She jerked back this time hissing at him in disgust as she kept her hands hidden, “from the smell of things, I can see he has taken a great interest in you.”
Her lips curled back as she snarled at him, “What the fuck is that to you? It was meaningless.”
Luckily he stepped back away from her, giving her more space to continue her carving, forcing herself not to show the pain as she sliced her palm. The demon waved a hand as if it was nothing, “Yes for all I know that’s true,” he then smiled a sickly look at her, “but then for all you know it was something else. You see,” the snake sat on the toilet lid, getting all comfortable as he told his tale still oblivious to what she was doing, “he’s much like his father, that demon. And now he’s finally shown his true colors by raping you.”
She wanted to scream it wasn’t rape, but she had to bite her tongue drawing blood in her mouth as well to keep the snake oblivious, hoping he keeps monologuing so she could finish. The snake tapped his chin thoughtfully as he continued, “Though he had many chances before, so why did he choose you?”
Again he leaned forward sniffing her neck to which she hissed back. He only chuckled as he took a big whiff then stopped, startled. His eyes grew serious as he glared at her, “You-“
She slammed her bleeding palm down on the floor shocking the demon. He screamed as the spell worked, throwing him out of this dimension. She stayed there panting, his screams dying in the air as the pain in her hand numbed and throbbed in her arm. Suddenly the bathroom door wrenched opened behind her causing her to panic, thinking the demon’s somehow come back. Turning she stilled, staring at Shiraga as the panic washed away.
The tall demon held the door open leisurely, rising an eyebrow at her, “What are you doing on the floor?” Suddenly he sniffed the air and smelled her blood. Crouching down, he pulled at her bleeding hand glaring at it, “What the fuck were you doing to yourself?”
She jerked her hand away before he could touch it, “Stop, you’ll get hurt.”
They stared at each other for a minute, him glaring at her as his anger rose, “What the fuck is it then?”
Holding her bleeding hand close to her, staining her clean shirt she whispered, “An ancient spell of my family, a demon ward. It repels any demon within the room out of this dimension into a random one.”
He continued to glare at her as he thought. She was wondering just what he was thinking of when he got up and yanked the towels off the counter. Crouching back on the ground he grabbed her hand again, holding it tighter as she tried to jerk it away again.
“Stop you’ll-“
The gentle touch of his hands holding the towel nursing her hand stopped her voice. She stared as he worked, cleaning her blood without touching the symbol, wondering at the gentleness and warmth she felt. She was caught off guard, not expecting to feel such tenderness as he dressed her hand with the towel.
“There.”
The simple word broke the spell on her. Cradling her arm to her chest she whispered, “Thanks.”
His eyes locked on hers, still glaring as his mind rocked, “What made you carve your own hand to such degree?”
She opened her mouth to answer but stopped. The snake demon had such a dangerous obsession with Shiraga, even she could tell and did not want to put him in danger. So instead she distracted him, “What are you doing here? How’d you even find where I was?”
His eyes narrowed as his patience grew thin, “I followed your scent. Now answer my question.”
She mildly shook her head at him, “Why’d you do that? What do you want from me?”
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut, trying to think of an answer. When he couldn’t think of a viable one he snapped back at her, “Answer me! What the hell happened?!”
“Hmph,” she jumped up to her feet ignoring her weak knees, not giving herself a chance to wonder if it was from small blood loss or from the sight of seeing him, she went to find her pack she placed somewhere in the small room, “What else? A demon appeared and I left my shit out here, had to improvise.”
He followed her out skeptical, “Improvise? A demon hunter like you?”
Jerking her pack open with her uninjured hand she began to rummage through it looking for some medicine for the pain, “Yeah well, not all of us can be on guard 24/7. Some of us can be caught off guard, you know.”
He stood there watching, not moving to help her, not believing her story either. She jerked out a bottle of aspirin and did her best to open it one handed. As she struggled he sighed. Walking up to her he grabbed to bottle from her jerking off the top, grabbing her two pills out and handed them to her. She stared at the pills in his hand for a moment, feeling some battle of will inside her. Finally giving up she sighed and took the pills, dry swallowing them hoping they start working soon as the small throb of her hand became a dull ache. Suddenly exhausted she sat on the bed wishing for a drink. Glasses clinked and she looked up, seeing Shiraga holding two small glasses with what looked liked water.
“Drink,” he pushed the glass in her hand and not wondering what it was she downed it, just thankful it was something to drink.
She coughed and sputtered as it burned her throat, “This is fucking whiskey.”
Shiraga shrugged sipping his own as she watched, “You looked as if you needed a drink.”
Still coughing softly she did her best to glare at him through teary eyes, “You’re not suppose to mix alcohol and medicine.”
He shrugged again, grabbing a chair, making himself at home, “Oops.” She continued to glare at him as he sipped his drink; finally he nodded to her bandaged hand, “What family is that? I’ve never seen a symbol such as that in all my years.”
“Hmph,” she slowly sipped at her drink, no sense in letting good tasting whiskey go to waste, “it’s an old family symbol. My ancestors were worshipers of an ancient goddess of the sun. She gave them her blessing and knowledge of holy protections and wards from demons.”
“Blessings of a goddess, huh?”
Staring down into his drink he swirled it around. Taking a sip he asked, “Does that astute to your…unusual appearance?” She looked at him quizzingly to which he only shrugged his shoulders, “Normal humans may not see but in my eyes,” he locked said eyes to hers causing her breathe to hitch, “you glow.”
She watched him silently as she tried to calm her heart. Filling her lungs slowly with air she nodded, “Yes, those of the blood are blessed with light and protection of fire.”
They watched each other silently, the night giving way to early sunlight. Soon her head started to bob at the effects of the medicine and alcohol began to mix. She nearly rolled off the bed when he caught her, gently taking the glass from her limp hands. Setting the glasses aside she rolled to him in her sleepiness, muttering under her breathe. Without thinking he gathered her in his arms and then began to think of what to do with her next. As he stood there pondering she snuggled against his chest, cradling her head in the crook of his neck. Against his skin she muttered a soft word.
“Shiraga…”
The soft word may as well have been a knife slicing through him. Without thinking he brought them back to his lair, walking to the bed they shared moments before. Feeling unlike himself he laid her down gently on the bed. He sat on the edge watching her, studying the peaceful look on her face as she hugged his pillow.
Through the window behind him the sun came up, its rays hitting her sleeping face causing her hair and skin to glow even brighter than before. Staring at this transformation his hand reached up, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Shocking himself he stopped, pulling his hand back he felt shaken.
Just what was he doing?
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