1Demons of Night

Chapter II: The Guild of Mercenaries

My dream of that night confused me and I really couldn’t understand what it meant at the time, though now it seems a little obvious. I was walking around my old school and I noticed that no one had a face. I saw a girl that I use to have a small crush on getting beaten by her boyfriend. I ran over to the man and ran him to the ground. He was one of the people that among the others didn’t have a face. I grabbed the girls hand and began to run down the halls of the school towards the exit. I turned around and I saw the man chasing us and catching up slowly. He was in a feral rage and he pulled out a knife from his pocket.

We continued to run down the halls that seemed to get longer no matter how hard we ran. A black steel door that read do not open on the sign appeared in the halls as I ran with the girl. I tried to open it but the door wouldn’t budge and I panicked as the faceless man got closer. I ripped furiously at the door as he got closer. The lock finally ripped off and the door opened slowly. I fell back to the ground and the girl was knelling on the ground next to me. I starred into the door and saw nothing but blackness as the man jumped at me with the knife in his hands. No one appeared to see anything as they just walked around my body and moved on. I begged for there help but they wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence.

The knife was about a few inches from my face when the man was stopped and I was scarred my body shaking uncontrollably. I looked at the man and saw something black around his neck. It began to pull and he dropped the knife and fought back. The black essence pulled and he fell on his back as he was pulled into the blackness of the door. The essence pulled him completely inside the door that was labeled do not open then, closed. Outside I heard screams of pain as well as the sounds of bones cracking. I backed up the nearby wall in fright and starred at the black door that devoured the boy that tried to kill me.

The door opened once more and the black essence slowly headed towards my direction. Blood began to flow out from the bottom of the door and some of it was on the essence. I stood up, my back completely against the wall and my heart pounding. A hideous laughter came from the door as I heard another crunching sound. An arm fell out of the door that looked like it was ripped from the man’s body. I looked at it and the black essence took hold of me, I screamed

I woke up and jumped off the couch onto the floor. My body was soaked in sweat and I put my hands on my head and thought what the hell just happened. I looked around the one room apartment and saw Sirus in her demon from standing over me. “You okay?” she asked and I nodded. Sirus walked over to a small table in the corner of the room and sat down. Her three foot long tail swayed back and forth as she moved. I stood and began to walk towards the door. “Where are you going?” Sirus asked.

“Out... I need to ah... get some fresh air”

“Okay but be careful and don’t talk to anyone... I don’t know if anybody saw us last night.”

“Fine I will” I said turning to the blue fox demon. I walked out the door and closed it quietly. I went down several flights of stairs and out towards the door. I walked several blocks around the city, trying to clear my head of the dream I had. While walking I recognized several people from the inquisitorial department. I tried my best to avoid them all but one of them saw me and ran up. He was someone who was in my weapons training class I have become good friends with.

“Hey Mark, where were you this morning. You missed an important lesson today!”

“Sorry I was uh... ill” I responded not bothering to turn my head to face him.

“Well your going to have to make up the lesson... common lets go.”

“Sorry I can’t I... still don’t feel well.”

“I’m sure that the father can cure you now lets go.”

“Please I don’t want the father’s treatment I’m just going to go back to bed and rest” I let out a fake cough and he seemed to get the idea and began to walk away. I started to walk then a changed to a sprint and ran away. My katana dangled at my side and the sheath hit my leg several times as I ran. I bumped into people along the way and knocked others down as I ran. My sprint took me back to the bar that I was at last night and all that remained was a pile of ashes. I looked at the remains of the place where my eyes were opened and the truth was revealed to me. No one noticed me standing there, just starring at the black ashes.

I began to feel a little better and started to jog back to the apartment. It took me about an hour to find my way back and when I turned around the corner and saw that several transports were there. Slowed my jog to a walk and proceeded to the complex. One of them stopped me and I identified myself as a cleric. He let me through the barricade and I entered the building and walked quickly up the stairs. The soldiers were already at work and questioned everyone that was there. I came up the stairs and saw the room that I was looking for 207. Luckily I arrived just in time since they just got to room 197. I told them that I would check this room and entered it shutting the door behind me.

“Sirus are you here?” I said quietly “We need to get out of here” I found Sirus asleep in her demon form resting on the bed. I quickly locked the door and walked over to her and nudged Sirus. She stirred and woke up in a daze. “Common we have to get out of here now.” I said calmly. She was about to speak when a knock came at the door.

“Cleric Mark is everything okay in there?” it was one of the soldiers and Sirus reached for her bow and arrow. I put a hand on here shoulder and held Sirus back.

“Yes, everything is fine please move on to the next room” I called back.

“Sorry sir but I have orders from the father to investigate every room myself, now please open the door.” Sirus ripped her shoulder from my arm and grabbed her bow and aimed it at the door. I put my hand gently but firmly on her hand and lowered it. I pointed towards the side of the bed and she got the idea. She climbed next to it, out of sight as I unlocked the door for the soldier. “Thank you sir” he said as he walked in. I quietly shut the door behind me and locked it. He stood in the center of the room and looked around for a bit before proceeding to investigate. He searched the place and slowly walked towards the bed not noticing that the door was locked.

I drew my katana from its sheath as the man inspected the bed. He looked over it and saw Sirus in her demon from “Demon!” he shouted which was then followed by a yelp of pain as I stuck my blade through his heart. His blood sprayed on the wall and his body fell dead on the bed soaking the sheets in red.

“Common lets go,” I said as I removed the blade. Sirus nodded and opened a window.

“Sir what’s going on in there!” another soldier said as he rammed his shoulder against the door. Sirus climbed out of the window and I followed here down fire escape stairs that looked old and about to collapse. The soldier busted down the old door and saw the Sirus’s tail as I jumped out the window.

“There she is and she has cleric Mark! They’re going down the fire escape!” he shouted to the others before giving chase. We ran down the old iron stairs as the man chased us as he unsheathed his katana. We were about halfway down when he caught up to us and swung his blade at the demon’s head. I jumped in front of the blade and blocked it with my sheath before I whipped out my own katana and cut his neck open. Blood oozed out and he gurgled trying to scream as I pushed him over the edge, he fell the rest of the way down.

We made the rest of the way down the bottom of my black boots were metal and clacked against the old iron. At the bottom the rest of the squad was waiting for us, a total of twenty soldiers. At around the third floor we jumped the rest of the way down and landed in the middle of the street. We stood up against the wall as they closed in on us, slowly walking with there weapons present. They revealed there rifles, took aim, and fired sending a rain of bullets down upon us.

“Raeelldoor (Ra-E-l-door)!” Sirus shouted as she raised her right hand. The bullets stopped in place and fell to the ground harmlessly. Everyone looked at them as they dropped surprised at the magic this demon possessed. One of them charged at her with his katana but I got in his way and put my blade through his neck. He let out a short yelp and then stopped moving as blood dripped down my blade. I removed it from his throat and his body fell onto the ground and laid still.

The other soldiers were shocked at this as I grabbed the golden cross from around my neck. This was a symbol that I was apart of the church and I gladly removed it. Ripping the cross off my neck I dropped it on the body that lay in front of me. I don’t remember anything from the rest of the night other than just passing out on the ground into unconsciousness. I woke up the next day in a small bed. I got up and looked around at my surroundings.

The room was small and had black walls. The floor was hardwood and I noticed that I wasn’t alone inside the room as I stood up. There was another demon, he was a dragon though he was smaller than I expected. He was around eight feet tall and wore loose fitting, black jeans with a hole in the back for his tail. His talons were nicely curved and very sharp as he stood up from the stool. His chest was bare and he let out a low growl that shook the inside of my chest. The dragon demon walked over to me, his towering figure covered my six foot body in its shadow. The black scales on him let off an eerie glow as the covered the light coming from the window. His ice blue eyes starred into mine as he approached me. Suddenly I felt a large amount of pain in my right arm and I grabbed it with my left cringing from the pain, but I did not remove my eyes from his.

“Take it easy, you’ve been through a lot,” the dragon said as he put his talons on my shoulder. They did not cut me, instead they were somewhat gentle. His voice was deep but he spoke softly, as though not to raise my troubles. “So you’re the half-demon everyone’s talking about. Hmm, I expected more of an older and wiser one rather than yourself but that cannot be helped.” I took the obvious insult as a compliment as the pain in my arm continued to grow. I shook my head and cleared my mind as I looked up to the towering dragon.

“Where am I?” the dragon let out a huff as he walked over to the window and starred at it.

“The Guild of Mercenaries,” he said as his head turned back to me, his wings stretching out just a bit.

“What’s that?” I asked dumbly.

“It is one of the few places where demons and humans live in peace. The only reason for this is because over the years people have decided that demons have a good talent for killing others. We too have come to realize this and so has the guild, so they secretly house us as long as we get are employed by customer for any job whether it be a human or demon who asks the task. Many people turn towards the guild for help and so long as the price is right we give it to them. We are more reliable than any other source you can find, even the church.” he said church with much disgust in his voice.

“How is it possible that such a place can remain undetected?” knowing that the church has agents everywhere undercover as civilians it was hard to believe that such a place like the guild could even exist.

“They know about us, but there to scared to do anything about it. Also the fact that the humans that work here have come to befriend many of the demons, not to mention that some of the human rebels come here every now and then to learn about us.” I pondered this for a minute and it did make sense. Anyway if they did attack it would be “normal procedure” as they called it. Destroy any gates to Hell and burn down the place to dispense any clues or weapons that are inside.

“How come I haven’t ever seen a demon in my life until two days ago when I got the letter from Serge?”

“It is because we’re not stupid; demons don’t go running around in broad daylight. Even if we are in are human disguises we only travel about at night.” a smirk came across his face as he finished speaking. “Also we don’t want to start panic and let another demon hunt commence like the one about six hundred years ago. We were almost wiped off the planet thanks to some idiot who thought it would be a good idea to scare the locals” as he spoke he clenched his fist in anger and I got the hint and remained quiet, the pain in my arm now subsiding. There was an eerie silence for about a minute or two before I spoke up again.

“So... what’s your name?” I asked the demon. He turned his head towards me again.

“Not that it concerns you but its Exile.” he began to walk towards me “let’s go there is someone who wants to speak to you.” then the dragon turned towards the door and started to walk out. I followed him without complaint and we passed down the halls, his massive wings blocking my view of what lay in store for me. The worn wooden floor was lined with several red rugs that had floral patterns of them. We passed a mirror and I saw what was my reflection, I starred at myself as we walked by it, though I never stopped and looked at it.

My right arm was covered in black fur up to my shoulder which then branched off and spread white fur out till it touched my neck. My right eye had changed from what it used to be, it was now red and was shaped like a snakes with the stretched pupil. I looked at my arm to see if it was just the mirror and indeed it wasn’t. What I saw in the mirror was the same as I saw in reality. I also had black claws extending from my finger tips and my palm was replaced by soft velvet pads. I looked at my arm closely as we walked down a set of stairs and into the main room of the inn.

The main room was a bar with several tables with chairs scattered about the area. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, humans and demons coexisting in peace. There were humans talking to serphants, dragons, tigers, and many more types of demons that gathered inside the guild. Surprisingly I even noticed a few of my friends talking to the demons and one was talking to Sirus. We walked behind the bar and I got some strange stares from humans and demons alike as they spotted my right arm.

Exile opened a wooden door and walked in, without question I followed him. Inside was just a small room with a desk and some filling cabinets that were filled with files and job requests. There was a human inside, he was around five foot eight and wore a black kimono. He was obviously Japanese and had a katana sheathed at his side. “So, this is his son Exile?” the man spoke with a normal toned voice that was clam but serious.

“Yes guild master, this is the son of Dragoon Black” Exile showed the human much respect as he lowered his head to speak. I was shocked by this, a powerful demon such as Exile lowering his head to a human that was old and weak with age. It was nearly unthinkable and would have been impossible for me to understand had the words guild master been mentioned. The old man walked up to me and asked for my arm. I complied and he took my wrist, he the guild master flipped over my arm and examined my claws and velvet pads that were somewhat sensitive. He then moved up my arm and felt my black fur as he moved. Then he let it go and then starred into my right eye as my black arm fell to my side.

“No doubt about it he’s the one we’ve been looking for Exile, sp what’s his name?” the man turned to the dragon.

“His name is” he was about to speak my name but I interrupted him, saving what was left of my dignity.

“My name is Axel Black!” I said this with pride and the man looked at me and so did Exile. The man then spoke to me after he told Exile to leave use and he did without complaint. Then the guild master looked at me straight in the eyes and spoke seriously to me.

“Well then Axel let’s get started.”