Chapter Eight: We Live
Vicki's scarred and bloody hand sifted through Damien's raven-black hair as she gradually realized that he wasn't moving.
"Damien," She whispered again as tears began to well up in her eyes. No… no, this couldn't be, this couldn't be – Damien could fight off death itself, there was no way he could die… she barely knew him, but she loved him so much…
Her face twisted into hopeless misery and quickly became wet with salty black tears. Damien's face was expressionless and cold, and his neck, hands, chest and left arm was splattered with dried blood. A wide, deep gash ran along his throat.
Something must have gotten to him – Damien was too smart and self-willed to do this to himself. Something… Vicki was too tired to piece it together, but this didn't seem right. Why was his body still here? If a demon had gotten to him, his body parts would be all over the place right now… demons weren't that clean.
Vicki tried desperately to stay conscious, but even the corpse of the one she loved couldn't keep her from slowly slipping away.
She woke up in intervals. She couldn't hear anything as soon as she woke up, and her eyelids were stuck together by the anaconda's thick saliva. Her hearing quickly returned as she realized that something was going on – light, muffled footsteps could be heard. Was it only one creature? Yes – the footsteps were slow and evenly paced, and didn't seem to be going anywhere.
Vicki despised surprises, and worked hard to shoot open her eyes – no use, they were glued shut. 'What am I dealing with and how can I kill it' was the first thing that popped into her head. This was nothing like the authority and power she once had. She had to be on her toes and fight an unknown enemy alone – not something she was used to doing. And on top of that, she was blind.
She rose to her feet, wide awake now, attempting to assume a ready stance and slightly stumbling on her broken foot. Her katana was unsheathed and in her hand, right where she had left it before she passed out. The broken arm had healed slightly; it was no longer a useless and floppy bag of meat – it was rigid and stuck in one place, and the nerves were responsive again, allowing Vicki to feel. In other words, a nuisance.
The footsteps were increasing in volume; the situation brought her back to when she first met Damien. Damien, the unmoving and bloodstained body now lying at her feet.
She was getting scared now. Her eyes still wouldn't open, and she only had one arm to fight with. What would happen if she couldn't get out of here? This room was not like any other place in Hell – if you died here, it's not your body that dies – it's your soul. You breathe your last breath in this room and you're gone for good.
She shivered, and began reciting the poem that had comforted her all those years ago. But she didn't get far.
"I am infinite, that lonely - ack!"
Something had grabbed her around the neck and was wringing it with a relentless passion. Her body was jerked off of the ground and her feet were left dangling in midair. Vicki raised her good arm and thrashed it around, trying to slash away with her katana. She struggled to keep her throat tight and straight, all the while thinking 'Oh God no, please don't break my neck'.
Another quick slash hit her attacker fatally – it let go and stumbled off in an unknown direction, screaming and bleeding badly by the sound of it. She could tell that the Chaos metal in her sword was getting old, for it didn't slice though things like butter as it used to (though powerful, it ages within a matter of years after being removed from the deepest pits of Hell). It didn't have much left, but it was enough for her to finish what she wanted to do.
Now that she was virtually alone (she could hear the creature dying somewhere in a corner) she began to work on her eyes. She plopped down on her butt and scratched her eyelids. Rubbing them didn't work well, and blinking had absolutely no effect. She eventually thought about using her blade.
After seeing Rocky as a child, Vicki had always had a subconscious fear of sharp objects around her eyes. She was more than okay with knives – her only weapon was the katana – but she was always careful to keep the edge away from her face. She had had nightmares about both of her eyes getting gorged out and fed to hungry, waiting crows. She shivered as her hands slowly rose the blade higher and higher. This is what had to be done.
Clutching the flat side of the Chaos Blade and daintily sliding it into her left lower eyelid, Vicki gnashed her teeth together and sighed away the pain. Black blood trickled down her face as the eyelid split open and she was finally able to see again. And she was a mess.
Her armored skirt was filthy and shattered and her torso was covered in random burn marks. The stomach acid had eaten away at her flesh and armor and had left ugly disintegration wounds all over. She came across as ghastly, and in a sense, she truly looked demonic now. Vicki really looked as if she had finally endured the trials of hell and she knew it – it gave her a corrupted sense of pride, and she believed herself to be stronger because of it.
She carefully slit her other eye, then spun the aged blade in her bruised hand a few times before sliding it into the sheath on her back. With Damien's corpse slung over her right shoulder, she carefully rose to her feet and treaded from the anaconda's lair.
Vicki let her purple and ravaged eyes close themselves and sighed deeply. After all of this torture and nightmarish chaos, she still had a world of work ahead of her.
"I wish I wasn't a part of thi-"
Before she could finish her thought, a bat-winged, golden-haired, glowing little angel landed in front of Vicki on her powerful legs like a bolt of lightning, crumbling the red earth within a ten foot radius and knocking Vicki into the dirt. Vicki quickly regained her stance and… Wait… what's an angel doing here?! She must be causing chaos to the entire Heaven and Hell relationship! Honestly, if she's caught by something powerful, there's no telling what could happen…
The angel fell into a kneel, then shook off the debris and rose to face Vicki. She seemed enraged, but she was so cute that Vicki couldn't really take her seriously. Her voice was silky as she yelled, strutting over to Vicki and shoving her pointy little finger into her chest.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Er…"
"That demon is mine! He fell to my blade!"
"What…"
"He is my property, wretch! Place him down or suffer my chaos!" The angel aimed her menacingly sharp nails at Vicki's throat.
And suddenly she understood.
"YOU WHAT?!"
Vicki was so infuriated so quickly that she let Damien drop to the dusty ground with a lifeless, heavy thud. She found herself moving forward and cocking her fist, ready to knock the living virtue out of this creature.
'No Vicki,' she thought, remembering something that Damien had told her. 'Fight with anger, not with stupidity.' Helpful words now.
She lowered her fist, but not her guard. The two women gazed hatefully into each other's black eyes, and Vicki's brain told her something. Black eyes? Why would an angel…
"Why are your eyes black?" Vicki asked in a monotone.
The angel let out an annoyed and childish sigh. "Helloooo? I'm a Hybrid."
"I… don't…"
"The bat wings didn't give it away, huh?"
"Well, I…" The bat wings were blatantly out-of-place on an angel.
"… exactly how long have you been a demon?"
"Um… four years?"
"W-whoa. Er…" The angel finally seemed uneasy, but noticed that Vicki was still staring. The girl made herself seem calm. "Oh, a big shot, eh? Think you can defend yourself? You of all people should know that… wait… four Satanic years or four mortal years?"
"…Sata-"
The young woman burst into tearful laughter. "Jesus fucking Christ! No wonder you're so… reckless! True demons would have run in fear!"
Vicki uneasily shifted her weight as the girl continued her hysterical laughter. She was terrified, but Vicki's natural curiosity kicked in. "How, um… how long would a… true demon have to-?"
"Oh don't even think about that now," the angel managed to get out through a burst of laughter. "God, I hate new fish like you! You think you're a badass because you're a General and have the power over pitiful lost souls! Am I right? Or have you even made it that far?"
Vicki's face was hot, and she finally averted her eyes form this obviously experienced creature. "Yeah, I'm a General."
"That position is less than nothing. You realize that, don't you? Ah… and I'll bet you thought you had achieved something significant, didn't you?"
Vicki was silent as she stared at the cracked ground.
The girl let out an even louder groan, then tiptoed over to Vicki and whispered into her ear: "Sweetheart, I am a fusion of demon and angel, far beyond your comprehension of power and lust. I am one of the elite: a vile symbol of sex, torture and deception; I contain attributes of good and evil; I am an outcast in both Heaven and Hell, and some of the most powerful demons cower in fear at my presence. In other words, I… am… invincible. So hand over your little boyfriend and surrender his soul to me…"
The young Hybrid paused, and without missing a beat, she softly licked Vicki's unflinching cheek. "I'm a hungry little girl. I need my strength, babe."
Vicki couldn't move. Damien's killer was right in front of her and there was nothing she could do about it. This creature had experience – she was a mercenary, devoid of pride and looking for nothing less than an unending supply of corrupt souls to devour. So Vicki stepped aside.
"Thanks babe." She strode past Vicki, but not before giving her a two-second kiss on the cheek. The little minx then sucked her bladed finger and snatched Damien up by his bloody throat, placing him in her forearms like a new bride.
"I owe you one," she called out to the unmoving Vicki as she flew off. "Just one."
"The only one I need is Damien," she whispered back. It sounded stupid, but it was true.
The Hybrid giggled and shook her head, then flapped over and kissed Vicki, on the mouth this time. Both of their eyes were closed tight, and Vicki's fingers edged slowly up her back, reaching for her katana…
Her fingers were rubbing up against her sword as the Hybrid began to get more intimate. Normally Vicki would have pulled away in disgust, but she was so cute you couldn't really stay mad at her…
She floated in midair as she shoved her black tongue down Vicki's throat, leeching her of all her innocence, her inner light, her human faults, her mortal memories… she knew Vicki, was deep within her, and Vicki felt the same about the Hybrid. For a split second, their souls were meshed together, and Vicki's hand fell from her lethal sword.
"I…love…you…" Vicki tried to mutter past the Hybrid's lips, consumed by the demonic spell cast upon her. Vicki was back at home, in her nightmares, in her dreams, with her father, hugging him after all the times she worried him. With Damien again. Was she kissing Damien? Yes… her rough, scarred tongue against his smooth unused one. Damien dropped his Chaos Knife and clutched Vicki's shoulders, becoming more and more personal with every passing moment. He ran his powerful, scarred fingers along her neck and body, and Vicki buckled under his influence. Held up by his soft embrace, she melted into him, consumed by love. She slowly opened her eyelids, wanting to stare into Damien's red and blue eyes, to try and put her unending obsession into words. But she was kissing nothingness.
The angel… demon… Hybrid was gone, and so was Damien's corpse. Vicki was alone in the rotten pits of Hell once again, and... She couldn't remember anything. Only the memories of the events leading up to this moment were imprinted in her mind. She couldn't recall her childhood, or who she had been before death overcame her. Finally… her first true step into demonism. Her human life had been sucked from her soul by the vile Hybrid, and Vicki felt both emptiness and a raging empowerment because of it. Damien's soul was doomed, and there was only one way to see him again before oblivion. Purgatory awaited her.
…eight-hundred and sixty years seemed to pass in a heartbeat. In a moment's notice, Vicki seemed to realize that she'd been away from Damien's bloodsoaked dead body for the better part of a millennium.
Eight-hundred and sixty more years in that Hell made her stronger, wiser, better. She grew wings. Filled out. A mouth full of razorblades; three fingers per hand; hair red as sin; body of a deadly vixen. Her eyes were blood-red now, no longer the amateur black color. Her skin had a light red tint to it as well, and she had stopped constantly bleeding black from her mouth. (She had learned that new demons had to bleed all of their benevolence away before actually evolving into something more powerful, which explained the black drool.) She was tall now, 7'1"; a beautiful and destructive demonic creation. She only looked nineteen, but Vicki was done, ready to take on the war going on out there on the surface. Her malice for the Hybrid girl that stole Damien was never as passionate as it was now.
Really, only about four mortal days had passed since she and Damien had met. Since Mrs. Cunningham attacked and Vicki's whole life went to shit.
Hell of a comeback.
Vicki sneaked away from the inferno. Her own little rebellion from the fire, away from the torture and burning heartlessness and into the cold genocide of humanity. She was a rebel from Hell itself, ready to take on anything that stopped her from seeing Damien again, even if it meant destroying her own kind.
Out in the open now. Stretching her wings (not bat wings, they were sturdier than that, and they had scales) and glancing to the dark red sky, she saw the gaping hole that all the zombies were pouring out of, way in the distance. This was her final run, the only chance anyone ever had of escaping from the underworld. Judgment Day. She took off.
The burning wind didn't bother her like it used to. She felt like a black dove, just floating along the cool currents of her home. A brand new Chaos Blade was sheathed safely on her back, the engraving "We Live" sliced in cursive Latin on the side. This one was much more powerful, dug from deeper, more treacherous pits of Hell than her original sword. It signified her dominant quest for Damien, wherever he was. He was all she lived for anymore.
The black veins that ran along her forearms pulsed with the adrenaline of the upcoming kill. Her soul was that of a warrior now, a sharpened, demonic minion of Hell. The exit was getting closer as she cut through the air with breathtaking speed. She was getting nearer and nearer to the colossal hole in the red sky. It led to the surface world, and trillions upon trillions of zombified demons poured through it in an utterly unholy tidal wave, scratching and clawing their way into the genocide going on in the outside world. Vicki would be one of them.
John Shoran hopelessly waded through the unending mountain of paperwork and forms that were sent from Houston. He sighed and rubbed his temple, calmly taking off his glasses and undoing his bright red tie. It was over for him – for everyone. The president had made an announcement that the entire state of Texas was in an urgent State of Emergency. Immense riots had broken out. This terrorist attack or whatever it was was tearing the citizens apart. He was alone in his office, in the building. Not a single person was left in the enormous news building. Once that the reports from Houston had been confirmed, the staff went absolutely mental. They tried to kill Shoran for waving away the news story as fake. His desk was upturned, windows were shattered, and someone even pulled out a gun – a huge one, a damn hand-cannon. Seven dead bodies lay cold and unmoving in this building.
And slowly but surely, they reached him. Hours ago, the creatures had showed up in Shoran's neck of the woods. They weren't terrorists; he didn't care what the damn government said. This was an inhuman, unbeatable enemy. They spilled form the very cracks of the ground like a black flood, and consumed the city in a matter of minutes. These… things, these slithering, clawed, evil monstrosities… they were tearing the very human race apart.
Shoran ambled over to the window to helplessly stare at the reddened sky and the demolished cityscape. His eyes danced painfully over the crumbling metropolis and everything it no longer represented. Mobs of the creatures devoured the land, slaughtering any human they saw in every unholy way possible. And even from many miles away, far in the distance… he could see the citadel, shrouded in thin scarlet mist. The massive dark fortress towered hundreds of miles towards the heavens, a black, bloodsoaked castle of darkness with a gargantuan blade stabbed right through the middle. Shoran shivered. Everything around him was crumbling to the ground, and it would only go downhill from here. There was no telling what would happen to the known world after this was over, but he honestly didn't plan on living long enough to find out. Staying in this building was a sure-fire suicide move, and Shoran knew it. A flask of whiskey, tucked snugly into his jacket pocket, was whipped out by his trembling hand. This was it. It's over.
He took a deep swig, then stumbled backward and fell to his knees, still staring at the ruins of modern civilization, at the beings that the Earth was vomiting onto the sidewalk. And then he saw her.
About one hundred feet from Shoran, the most gorgeous and lethal-looking creature of them all melted upwards from the cracks and skyrocketed into the rancid heavens. Even at this distance he could hardly behold her dark power and palpable, vile sagacity. She glided downwards, held aloft by her thick and powerful wings. Upon landing, other demons immediately noticed her and submissively backed away.
"Christ… this is the end…"
Shoran took another swig.
Vicki stood at her full height, and boastingly stretched her thick wings to their 21-foot span. She glanced around her, at the retreating demons. She spotted a desecrated human carcass being dragged along the reddened concrete, and the dusty, smoky air caressed her perfect features. Fires drenched the ground, and half-eaten human bodies were scattered around. Ravaged buildings and cars filled Vicki's vision. Her murky red eyes darted around and stopped on the last standing structure in the city. It was massive – undoubtedly the largest building in this desolated metropolis. She was still for a moment, and then slinked towards it, unsheathing her new katana. Her arrogance told her that the lesser demons had left this structure for her to destroy and conquer, and she immediately stormed forward. Vicki put Damien out of her mind and focused everything on ravenous annihilation.
She jetted through the filthy sky, scowling hysterically and gathering her demonic energy. Vicki rammed into the side of the building, burning open a gaping hole in the windows. She sensed seventeen living humans in this structure, and greedily anticipated their slaughter at the end of her blade. Time to take in the bloodshed and bask in the suffering of–
An unidentifiable creature abruptly soared in through the window and head-butted Vicki in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of her and slamming her out of the opposite side of the building. The two plummeted downwards, blasting into the pavement in a fiery torrent; Vicki was unhurt, but speechless that anything would defy her power.
The explosion could be seen from miles away, and a colossal cloud of smoke and dirt rose from the impact. As they stumbled from the enormous smoldering crater, Vicki raised her katana and struck down on the creature; but her attack was blocked by a glowing fist. Her sword was blown away from her hand by a small burst of golden electricity, and as she gaped after it, her adversary grabbed her by the throat. Vicki wriggled around in its grip, and finally used her bladelike claws to stab the creature deep in its face. It screamed an oddly… beautiful scream, and Vicki pulled herself away, flying from the crater in the ground.
She flew towards the scarred heavens, her eyes darting back and forth across the wreckage, searching for her unknown enemy. Damn it – she was unarmed now, and would have to fight tooth-and-nail. Cautiously floating hundreds of feet in the air, she tried to ascertain exactly what it was she was fighting. She hadn't gotten a good look at it through all of the smoke, but this thing seemed different than what she was used to…
In an instant, the creature lashed out at Vicki, an elongated golden blade clutched in its perfect five-fingered hand. The sword blazed with a white-hot soulless power, and Vicki noticed it as a weapon touched by the very fingers of God. This… thing was no demon. She shot her hands up, and her palms repelled the sword like a magnet. The monster raised the weapon yet again and struck down on Vicki over and over, but finally noticed that its sword had no effect on her. It sheathed the glowing weapon and raised its fist; Vicki did the same. The two surged forward until their eyes met, and both creatures stopped their attack, stunned.
Vicki's opponent had one blue eye, and one red.
"…Vicki?"
"Damien!"
Without another word, Vicki broke down and embraced her lost love, overwhelmed by his new appearance and powers. His hair was a rich blonde, and the hundreds of scars that ravaged his face had disappeared. His teeth were like hers – razorblades, and his tongue was two-pronged and black. But she didn't mind nor care – she slipped her blood-red tongue into his blackened and vile mouth, shoving it down his throat and choking on the ebony bloodflow that followed. Damien's two tongues waltzed with her solitary one, and a few moments later he pulled back and hugged her. He was muscular and tall, and his eyes blazed in a glowing inferno of red-and-blue benevolence. His armor was black, and smoldered with white-hot divinity; Vicki had to painfully step back after a few seconds of holding Damien close to her. He was… repelling her somehow. But she ignored it for the moment – Damien was alive, and that was all that mattered. She lovingly beheld his form and power, but was awe-stricken by his… mixed appendages.
Damien had grown wings as Vicki had, but his were remarkably different. His wings were feathery, golden and soft, and would be utterly Godly on Damien's back… if not for the thick black scales scattered throughout the blonde fluff. Vicki was almost repulsed by the sight – her lover, the only one that could comfort and soothe her… had become the very creature that she loathed.
Damien was a Hybrid.