My Demonic Ghost #3: Hunters and Creators (28 page)

Chapter Fifty-One:

We walked for a while through halls that appeared identical in every aspect; the others were easily ten steps ahead of me for I elected to stay at the back. There was no way Miira was going to help me, the further I walked into the halls the more apparent it became. Why should she help me when I came as her executioner?  We exited a set of doors no different to the rest, when a sudden force scooped me up from below. As fast as the ground disappeared beneath me, I was slammed against the back wall. The entity so strong that I was held suspended above the ground, my tail and arms all locked against the walls like a butterfly with a pin in my centre. Even with my newfound strength, I couldn’t manage to move a single muscle, which meant there was definitely no chance of me raising a mask to my face. 

“Rachael?” Jordon called out just and a voice pulled them back. Damage stood at the end of the hall, her arms crossed and her eyes as sharp as claws.

“Nice to see you again, brother.” She hissed towards Gargoyle. Beside her Nathan appeared, both of them wearing the identical uniform white cloak with a blue X marked through it. 

“There is a black sheep in every family,” Nathan tilted his head, wearing a menacing grin. “Clever move, demons… I thought our Royal had destroyed the beast, but no matter.” He motioned towards me with a careless shrug, “You never should have brought it here. Mother’s strength and darkness is at its weakest within our Royal’s presence. We knew you’d fight dirty, so we brought back up.” He motioned behind him to a Creator frog that waited on the doorknob, its blue coat and matching dark eyes focused on me. 

“Our Royal? I never saw you as a religious man.”  Jordon mocked.

“You never knew anything about me. You were always too busy being perfect; too busy ensuring you were always the favourite son. Did you know what our
caring
father would say to me? He would say, ‘I wish you were never born, Nathan, you were a mistake to bring into this family. If only you would be more like your brother, if only you were worth something.’ Tsk!” He snorted and walked forward, opening his arms. “You were lucky, Evan, at least he only saw you as a house pet and not as a real son to belittle.” 

Evan clenched his teeth and I hissed angrily.

“Don’t do this Damage…” Chaos pled. “Do you remember how Miira betrayed us? How she tried to get us killed?”

“She never wanted us to die.” Damage calmly explained.

“Did she tell you that?”

“Enough…” Jordon interfered, “We don’t have to do this. Nathan, Damage, we’re not your enemy. We’re your family, whatever unresolved issues you have with us isn’t worth being destroyed over. Please, brother…” Jordon opened up his palms, stepping forward. “We can work through this…”

Nathan lashed outwards, summoning up a thin whip of golden energy that caught Jordon across his torso. Immediately, Raix leapt from the shadows barking and howling, snapping his jaws.  Evan attempted to run forward as well, but Jordon held his hand out to both of them.

“No, I’ll deal with him alone.” He dabbed sourly across the wound and lifted up his fingertips smeared with blood, "This is your last chance, Nathan.”

Nathan curled his finger forward, beckoning him. Bright white flashes explosively mixed with the darkness. Colours and smoke intertwined like two plastic bags caught in the same updraft, whirling around each other colliding intermittently. The brawl moved into the centre hallway, the sound of punches thrown and grunts of pain echoing down the corridors. Raix paced uneasily behind them, his eyes dilated in feverish excitement, eager to join the battle. Evan strung as tight as a guitar string; his entire body taut with anxiety. Eventually, Jordon managed to pin Nathan underneath him and put his head into a headlock. Nathan, flailed, unable to wriggle free.

“It’s over, Nathan! Stop trying to make me your enemy. Everything that happened in your life is because of your actions and choices. I never took anything away from you. You are my brother; and I know we never saw eye to eye, but I never wanted to harm you.”

“I… urgh…” Nathan choked, “I guess… you’re still better than I am.” 

From behind us, Raix yelped painfully. Jordon turned his head, just in time to see the Banished spirit Betrayal lasso a long, electronic leash around Raix’s throat. She heaved the leash forward, strangling Raix. He wheezed and collapsed. With Raix down, Jordon’s body weakened enough that Nathan was able to elbow himself free.

“B-Betrayal?” Evan stuttered while Gargoyle shook his head.

“Impossible… we destroyed her…”

“Not exactly…” Nathan laughed as he stumbled to his feet. With a swift kick to the chin, Jordon’s neck snapped in the other direction and dropped to the floor. The Reaper groaned and rolled onto his back. “You see, when you failed to keep your promise, brother, I gave the Banished exactly what she wanted. Freedom. Protection. I even gave her back her beauty …” Nathan ran his tongue along his busted lip that was healing rapidly. I wrestled in my constraints against the wall, but it was no use - I was completely pinned. Betrayal secured the leash around her wrist, but didn’t raise her head to look at either of them. As if ashamed, she kept her head bowed and her gaze lowered.

“Be-Betrayal?” Jordon groaned, “Don’t… do this.”

She trembled as she spoke, “You can’t win, Wolf Reaper, I’m sorry, but I had no other choice. I was nearly destroyed-”

“Yes, yes!” Nathan comforted as he stepped around Jordon’s body, “She made the wise choice of standing by Miira’s side. And, like all great rulers, Miira has shown her mercy as much as she’s shown her wrath.”

Gargoyle and Chaos charged at the Banished spirit, but Damage was quick to knock them down. I thrashed again; and found I was finally able to wiggle it a centimetre away from the wall. Damage stormed forward revealing the twin blades in her hands, while both Chaos and Gargoyle sprung to their feet.

“It’s not too late to join us.” Damage offered.

“There was a time…” Gargoyle brushed down his top, fixed his collar before running his hand through his black hair, “When all I could think about, or cared about, was Miira’s opinion of me. I thought that I needed to be the best Hunter there was, to prove to everyone that I was worthy of the title. But my eyes have been opened, Damage. We are not great warriors, but mere pawns at her disposal.”

“Is that the Banished part of you speaking?” Damage frowned, “Look at you. Look at what you’ve become! How much more can you disgrace yourself?”

“I may be Banished, but I am not a disgrace. I am still me. But this isn’t you, Delilah. I will not fight you.” Gargoyle held his hands up in peace. Damage clenched her teeth firmly.

Chaos then snorted, “If you won’t fight her then I will!” He jumped forward and swung a sword fashioned out of magic at Damage’s torso. She avoided it by a mere inch.  They only managed to strike at each other once, before Gargoyle threw himself in the middle, forcing them to separate.

“Chaos, stop it! This is Damage! She is one of us!”

“Get out of the way, Gargoyle; she doesn’t care about us anymore!”

Damage growled as she tightened her grip on the blade, “My brother is dead. You’re just a mockery of everything great about him.”

She raised her arms above her head to strike Gargoyle, but just as she swung downwards, Chaos shoved Gargoyle out of the way and was beneath her blade. The blow was so loud that the echoes resounded up and down the halls in a deafening roar.  Everyone froze when Chaos’s body hit the ground.

Nathan laughed so hard that he struggled to breath. “Well done Damage, you’ve proven yourself to be quite the Hunter.”

Damage’s arms shook and she stumbled backwards, unable to comprehend what she had just done. Gargoyle picked Chaos up, but his head rolled limply to the side.

“This is just too easy…”  Nathan stepped over Jordon’s body, drawing a blade from his pocket that he twisted around in his palm, “If only father could see us now. Me, the unwanted son, just bested the golden child…”

A whistling disc slammed into Nathan’s side, knocking him away from Jordon and he caught himself on the wall. I looked down at where Evan stood, enraged, fists bunched and his shoulders heaving with power. “Evan? Oh, of course, ha ha ha Evan, Evan, Evan!” Nathan started singing from the other side of the hall. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you little brother.” I felt Nathan’s cold sadistic gaze fall upon Evan. I struggled against my restraints. With this body I could stop him. I knew I could stop him, if only I could convince the Creator to let me go.

“That’s enough, Nathan!” Evan barked.

“Oh, is that so?” 

“Don’t… leave him alone!” Jordon pled; Betrayal looked over startled. He caught her gaze, “Please, Betrayal?”

“Don’t bother asking her for help. Betrayal is connected to me; whatever happens to me, happens to her. So, it’s in your best interest that you obey.” Nathan snarled wickedly.

I saw Evan’s body tremble as he took a deep breath, “All I ever heard from you are complaints about how bad your life was. How Jordon made you feel like dirt! He has been nothing short of a supportive brother to the both of us; the problem you have is with yourself, not him. You’re not the victim here!”

Gargoyle went to jump up to Evan’s aid, but Evan held his arm out to stop him. Nathan noticed the noble gesture and only laughed harder. “This is becoming more and more interesting. And what are you going to do? Hmm? I have always been bigger than you, Evan. I will always be stronger and there is nothing you can do to stop me!”

“All you ever did was make me miserable in a pathetic attempt to make yourself feel worth something,” Evan’s demeanour was…different. I saw it in the way he carried himself, how his spine seemed to straighten and he held his chin higher. Nathan, obviously noting the body language, only quickened his steps.

Evan continued on, his voice growing louder with his burgeoning courage and confidence, “I used to be like you. I blamed others for all the things that happened to me. I blamed mum and dad for their abandonment; I blamed you for making me miserable, and my teachers for never caring that I was struggling. But, looking at you now has taught me one thing. You taught me what I am not. I’m not scared of you anymore; you can hit me and hurt me, but you will never break me. I am stronger than you now because, at the end of the day, you’ll always feel worthless. You’ll never get your credibility because you can only get it from yourself. I am worthy. I am strong. I am better than what you say I am!”

“Shut up!” Nathan bellowed and sprinted headlong at him. Evan raised his arms back, his face scrunched in rage. I couldn’t stand to watch. Evan took every one of his blows without cowering. Above the loud punches, Jordon could be heard pleading with Betrayal, begging her to let Raix go. She covered her eyes, unable to watch.

I wrestled harder than before, doing everything in my power to free myself, but it was useless. I heard myself scream,
Stop it! Stop it! Help him, Betrayal! Help Evan!
Inch by inch her grip on the leash was easing, her disgust with Nathan outweighing her fear of him. Finally, Nathan landed the last punch dropping Evan to the floor, one clout away from being beaten unconscious. Nathan was panting hard, wiping his bruised knuckles against his chin to clean the blood. Then he stood over Evan and knelt astride Evan. “Let me show you a trick, Damage, that Hunters can do to filth like Banished. This is how she destroys them and takes their power for her own.”

He wrapped his hands around Evan’s throat and started to squeeze. Evan convulsed underneath him as strains of ash lifted upwards from his pores. As the smoke lifted, Nathan inhaled it with a long breaths. Evan’s fighting quickly stopped. As the smoke rose and disappeared into Nathan’s body Evan’s younger self appeared in flickers. His colour was fading and his body became transparent, like he was disappearing. Nathan then eased up, “Go on! It’s easy Damage! Try it!”

Damage looked down at Gargoyle. His eyes were bright with tears, but his face strong. He didn’t try to fight her. He didn’t raise his fist or even scowl. Gargoyle only bowed his head. Then he whispered, “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t strong enough to help you when you needed me. That man, our father, had no right to take from you what he did. Even as a Banished I will never stop hunting him, I’ll never stop making sure you can live without fear. I just wanted to make sure you knew that before I’m gone forever.”

Damage stepped forward, lifted her hand to his neck then froze. I can’t say for sure what thoughts were running through her mind, but I could see how, layer by layer, the armour she had built around herself broke apart. “I won’t…”

“What?” Nathan snapped.

“I won’t… you’re wrong about them, Nathan. Gargoyle… no, Simon, is still my brother! Banished or Hunter, he is still my brother.”

Frustrated, Nathan tightened his grip. I looked frantically over towards Jordon; he looked back at me as if trying to tell me something urgently. Evan’s soul was barely there, Nathan had nearly stripped the last part of him. “You’re weak! You’re pathetic! Miira will destroy you too. She will destroy all of you!”

“Let go of him, Nathan!” Damage demanded, rising with Gargoyle. 

Betrayal’s eyes peered upwards; bright and flashing with rage and he let her fingers slip free. Raix kicked free of the leash. Instead of going for Nathan, the giant wolf ran straight towards the Creator. The Creator has to focus on Raix to avoid its attack. The moment I felt the pressure drop and my body crash to the ground, I lurched away from the wall.  In a matter of seconds, faster than I could comprehend, I knocked Nathan off of Evan’s body and trapped him in the coil of my tail. With two of my arms, I forced his face to look at me, and with another arm I lifted the mask to my face. I felt Mother’s presence as strong as ever. She was here, sitting next to me, whispering her clicks into my ears. With one long breath, I inhaled through the mask and took Nathan into the Realm of Wrath. He didn’t even have a chance to scream before his body vanished.