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So yeah...i'm bored and i want to post something...
Chapter One
It was never simple, and never will be. My life is a constant war between good and evil and it isn’t something you can get time off for; it’s a twenty-four hour a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year job that I’ve been doing since I was thirteen and I’ll never get used to it. It’s a twisted business, demon slaying, they try every method in the book to trick you to gain an advantage and kill you; you have to be smart, thinking more than just one step ahead of the game.
My name is Sky Shepherd, and I’m a demon slayer.
It wasn’t by choice, believe it or not, they came looking for me and I did all I could to protect myself; eventually you learn the tricks of the trade, plus the internet helps a little; it’s amazing what you can find on there, and a young priest named Raphael. Now, five years on, I’m trying to make a decent life with the time I have by going to college and doing art. That’s right, art, I’ve always had a knack for it and those demons, the bastards they are, give me a lot of inspiration; it scares my tutor.
I suppose this is where my story starts out, in art class, I sit in the back corner out of the way and sketch to my hearts content; a claw here, a crack in the ground there and I have a demon squeezing through a crack from Hell into our world, the one I killed just hours ago. He was huge with claws as long as my arm and as thick as a tree trunk; but I got him without having any injuries inflicted onto me, I was lucky. I finish shading in the last of the demon and stop to stare out of the window, it’s bright out but cold, winter has set in and it’s usually the busiest time for me since demons escape from Hell to the cooler earth; they love the snow. I blow a strand of black hair from my face and scribble my signature on the bottom of my sketch before standing and heading to the front of the class to show my tutor; he studies it with dull brown eyes, his wrinkled, greying brow creasing. He shakes his head and looks up at me.
“Why is it always demons, Sky? What will you achieve from this?” His voice is hoarse because he has a cold and I shrug.
“Design book covers for horror stories?” I think for a second. “Open up my own horror gallery?”
“Where do you get your inspiration for this? It’s good, don’t get me wrong.” He pauses to clear his throat. “But I’ve never had a student who drew such things; yours can be quite graphic sometimes.”
“Films.” I lie. “I watched Constantine last night.” His brow furrows again, I don’t think he’s seen the film, and he hands me my sketch; I roll my sky blue eyes as I head back to my seat, there was only a few more minutes until class ended so I just stared out of the window; I tuck my sketch pad under my arm when we’re finally allowed to leave and then headed down the halls to a café. I grab a coffee from a coffee machine and sit down to flick through my sketch pad, my tutor was right they were graphic but they were always unique.
“That’s really cool.” A voice behind me says as a shadow looms over my shoulder. “You’re really good.”
“Thanks.” I mutter and close the pad, taking a sip of coffee. “Rick, right?”
“Yeah I sit on the other side of the room at the back.” He takes the empty seat next to me. He’s got short dark brown hair and lighter brown eyes; I think he’s the same age as me, round about, and failing. Rick smiles and his whole face seems to light up. “You’re going to pass for sure; you’ve got straight A’s.”
“No I haven’t, I’ve had an F before.” We were told to draw something political, so I drew Bush and Blair shaking hands as demons; they were scaly with long claws, red eyes and over sized horns, the class found it funny but my tutor didn’t.
“He’s biased.” Rick shrugs. “Are you up to much later?”
“Just going home, why?”
“I was thinking we could hang out of something.” He shrugs again, his eyes not meeting mine. Rick, I’ve noticed, is a bit of a loner; he sits on his own but usually tries to strike up a conversation with someone, like now.
“Sorry, I’ve got stuff to do.” Like demon slaying. I down my coffee that has gone cold and stand. “C’ya later.” I head out and a cold breeze clutches my body, I shiver and jog down the street; I don’t live far from the college so it’s just a short run through an abandoned park and down the street before I reach home. It a white, semi-detached house with a mahogany door; the house next to us is empty and boarded up. Nobody is home when I open the door so I head upstairs to my room, tossing my pad onto my bed and kneeling down to pull a box out from under it; it contains everything I need for slaying, Holy water, books on demons that I study religiously and a blessed dagger. I’ve always wanted something bigger but if I get caught with it by the police I’m done for, so I have to make do. I pull out my long trench coat from the wardrobe and stuff the holy water in the inside pocket, and clip the dagger around my belt before heading back out. I walk past the park and glance inside to see Rick sitting on the swings with a girl, she has long, shiny blonde locks, sparking blue eyes and the figure of a model with long smooth legs, slightly tanned, long delicate fingers with the nails painted red and wearing a strapless black dress, high heeled shoes and a thick brown parker that is unzipped; I find it strange that in this weather a girl like her is wearing something like that and as I take a single step to continue on a thought struck me. I turn on my heel and strolled along the moist grass towards the pair, my eyes set on the girl, I call out to Rick and he smiles as he turns to me.
“Hey Sky, this is Heather.” He gestures to the girl and mouths ‘hot’ at me with a wink. I nod to the girl and study her closely.
“Bit cold isn’t it?” I ask; her red lips pull into a smirk and she rocks the swing, her voice is smooth like silk.
“I don’t mind the cold.” She suddenly stands and I take a step back from her out if instinct. “What’s the matter Sky? Are you afraid of me?”
“Just weary.” I say and the smirk suddenly turns into a wicked grin before she launches her fist at me, I dodge the fist and duck under her foot as that swings around and swing my own foot under hers but she back flips out of the way.
“What the fuck!?” Rick is standing and staring at us like we’re crazy. “What’s gotten into you Heather?” Before ‘Heather’ can answer him I’ve grabbed his wrist and bolting into a run, dragging him with me. “Sky what’s going on?” His tone is a pleading one. I open my mouth to answer but a huge gust of wind throws us off our feet and rolling along the grass.
“Going somewhere Sky?” ‘Heather’ mocks as she strolls towards us, her voice becoming deeper but no less silkier, the long blonde hair shortening and changing to black, the blue eyes turning angry red; the body becomes more muscular and the clothes change into a tight black sleeveless shirt, long baggy pants and black army boots. Rick stares up at the guy in pure horror and shuffles backwards away from him.
“Care to introduce yourself?” I slowly stand and face him, one hand behind my back.
“You should know me Sky; I’m in one of those little books of yours.” He mocks again and I search those mental files for him. “You seem to be struggling let me give you a clue.” He throws one arm forward and I fly back, rolling backwards along the grass once more; such a powerful gust could only come from one demon.
“Leave him alone!” I hear Rick shout and sit up fast enough to see him grab the demon’s arm. The demon just glares down at him and shoves him aside, by then I’m on my feet and charging towards him, just managing to dodge another gust before throwing the holy water I had in my hand. The blessed water splashes across his face and he howls in pain, throwing his hand up to the area but stopping in fear of hurting himself further.
“Damn you Sky! This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me!” He growls and is suddenly gone with the breeze.
“You alright Rick?” I help him to his feet and he stares at me for a moment then stutters.
“Who was that?” He manages to get out.
“Asmodeus.” I reply flatly.
“Asmodeus?” He gives me a questioning look and I sigh, not wanting to give him any more details.
“You’ll know him better as Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
