‡ Promise 10: Something Familiar ‡

-As told by Keith-

lone in my fortress, on my throne of bones and soft flesh, I am in my demon form. My true image, which I am most comfortable in, but am unable to freely be in the mortal world. I feast on the entrails of an lesser demon, another delicacy, calmly watching the waves of blood that cover my palace floor as an unholy red carpet. I notice my reflection, of gray tight skin, twisting horns, and claw-like hands, ripple in a pool near my clawed feet. Someone was approaching.
The entrance of the room slams open and Dore, my trusted guard and adviser, marches in. His movements swirl up the smells of fresh blood with the old, as he heads for my throne. "The gate has been breached, my lord." he breaths, bowing slightly. "Intruders?" I say in my true dark voice, "But how?" "May I take care of it?" Dore insists, still bowing. I give a wary wave of my claw, giving him the "go". A look of delight covers his face, as he begins calling on his undead army. A little bit of an overkill, in my opinion, for a few humans.
A thought hits me like a bolt, causing me to drop the entrails, as I sat up stiff as board. Humans? Could it be...? No... my mind race. No, it couldn't be her. She wouldn't... But my instincts stabbed at me, something was telling me that the intruders weren't just a couple of random humans, who had happened to get lost in the woods. That it might be a school girl and her nosy little friends! I walked out into my balcony, which over-looked the ruins of a massive city of the undead, the gate is a speck in the distance. Unleashing my giant black wings, I soar in top speeds towards the gate, hoping to reach it before Dore does.
My suspicions are right, as I swoop over the crowd of confused undead warriors and a very eager Dore. Lily and her friends are terrified, as Dore raises his dagger. I command him to halt and send the teens backwards through the gate. More confusion on the rotting faces of my kingdom's warriors. "But, my lord." pleads Dore, disappointed that he would not get a chance to slaughter humans after all. "I will handle this." I growl, "These are mine!"
The teens landed on their backs, on the other side of the gate, as I landed swiftly on my feet. I was back in my human form, but the rage was building. As I sputtered my bewilderment and angry words, the girl in question just gave me an stupefied look. This pissed me off more, to the point I grab her chin, ready to puck her eyes from her skull! But, the feeble pleas from her friend, broke me back to my senses. How could she do this? To her friends? To me? Did she not understand that I had a duty to protect my kingdom, my people, and that meant her death if necessary?
I sent them all away. Something I wouldn't have done in the past. Something that would have been unthinkable before. She reminds me so much of the other girl. I am weak, I know. But I can't afford to be weak forever. Doesn't she realize that if she keeps pushing, she's going to get hurt? I tell myself that I've afforded all I could to her, explained too many times, that next time I will have to do what needs to be done. I let out a long sigh and head back through the gate, trying to find someway to explain my weakness to Dore.
The next night, I didn't have the heart to face my loyal subjects. I just sat in my backyard, my drink in one hand and petting Talon with the other, staring towards the woods. Things were much easier, before she showed up. And I can say the same, about the girl before... the small girl in France... many lifetimes before. How I still miss her. And the guilt begins to stir again.
Talon lifts his head, hearing the soft patter of footsteps approaching, her scent is in the air. Without turning to see, I respond coldly, "What do want, Miss Lily?" A hesitant step, beyond the hedges that separate our yards, and a small gasp. I wait for a few seconds for her answer. "I-" she swallows, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. Please don't be angry with me." "But I am." I said, giving Talon a few calming pats, "And I will be for a while." She began to sob quietly. I don't like the cries of young girls, something about it disturbs the human part in me, but my face stays hard and unforgiving as I turn slightly towards her.
"Everyone's angry with me." she chokes, "And I know they have a right to be. And I am sorry! I don't know what else to do. Tommy and Jody won't speak with me anymore. And you're angry and... I just feel so bad." "And you should." I nod, "What you have to do is realize the enormity of your selfish ways. Of dragging your friends into a dangerous situation, just for your lust for something twisted and dark. They had no clue of what they were signing up for, and neither did you, but you did have an inkling. That's more than what they had."
"I know." she sobs, giving a sad little bob of her head, "I'm sorry." "And you've placed me in a difficult position," I frown, "For as King, it is my duty to kill all threats to my kingdom and it's undead. And I keep telling you to move on, instead of killing, and you keep coming back ! Why? Do you really want to die so badly?" "I don't want to die." she squeaks. It reminded me so much of her friend, who cried and wanted to go home that night. "So," I continue, "The answer is easy. Stop chasing trouble and leave me the hell alone!" Her arms fell to her side, defeated.
Guilt began to well up inside of me. Maybe I was being too hard on her? After all, she is just a child... But my demon-self was saying otherwise, I was being too nice! I let out a long sigh, as Talon decided to trot back inside the house, obviously bored with this scene. "Listen," I said, softly, "Just give your friends a few days. They'll come back around. Let the initial shock wear off." "Yeah." she said, solemnly. "And it shouldn't matter if I'm angry or not." I add, "We're just neighbors, after all."
"I..." she said, in a small voice, "I was hoping we could be friends." I gave a huge laugh, at the ridiculous idea. "I don't make friends with mortals." I grin, "Let alone with children. It's true that I make my living, in this world, by entertaining mortals. But my material isn't meant for children and never will be." "I'm not a child." she frowns, "I'm seventeen!" "Hardly the legal age." I waved, "And besides, I've just told you, I don't make friends with mortals." "Why?" she said, her hand on her hip, "Do you think you're better or something?"
"Honestly," I thought, "Yes. I do. Mortals break easily, succumb to emotions too quickly, and bleed an awful lot. They're soft, in other words. And I know the hypocrisy in that, because I am half human. But, it's because I am human that I know the frailty of my other half. And of the hindering flaws too." "So, half of you is better than the other?" she asks, coolly. "Pretty much." I nod. "That sounds insane." she says. "A little." I grin. "Whatever." she rolls her eyes, annoyed.
I take a sip of my drink. She looks down at her black fuzzy slippers. "I'm sorry, anyway." she says again. "I know you are." I respond, "But apologizing doesn't fix everything. For the last time, go home and just forget. It will be better, if you did." She looks so lonely and lost, just then. I feel sorry for her. But, as she turned to head back in, I knew it was better this way. I can't afford to make the same mistake twice. I finished my drink and headed for bed.
The next day, I began to start on my next book, or so that were my intentions. But all I could do was stare at the blank document file. No ideas were flying my way. Writers block... some say it's worse than death. I don't know about being worse, but the two were similar. I decide to do some yard work, in a effort to clear my head and let the ideas in. It's the end of September, so the leaves are just starting to fall. Talon sits in the lawn chair, as I make an uneducated guess on how to use a rake. I've seen humans use them before, but never took much interest in the details, I've always had hired help to do the laboring jobs for me.
"Hello, Mr. Rolmir." says a familiar voice. Lily peeks at me, from over the hedge, crouching on her knees on the other side as if she was an thief. "Miss Lily." I respond, not giving her any hint of a invite. "You're doing it wrong." she says. "Excuse me?" I frown. "The rake." she says, "It's upside down. The claw part touches the ground, not the other side of it. You're just swishing the leaves around." I look at the rake and then turn the head of it over. Sure enough, now I was now pulling dead leaves together. "Right," I mutter, "I knew that."
"I thought for a demon," she said, "You would figure that out. The claw part down to catch the prey?" "Demon?" I ask, one brow up. "Yeah," she said, as if it was nothing, "It's not hard to figure out. Humans don't have huge wings and red eyes." "Hmm," I said, now annoyed, "Miss Lily, you're suppose to forget that night." "Well," she shrug, "I can't." She corrected herself, remembering our last conversation, "I won't." I gave a wary sigh, ignoring her and continuing with my yard work. But she wasn't taking the hint.
"Why are you doing you own yard work?" she asks, "Don't you have people that do that?" "I did." I answer, not looking up or stopping, "In the city. When I moved here, I left all of that behind. But, if I had any idea there would be nosy people here too, I wouldn't have bothered moving." She had an guilty expression on her face. I was satisfied to see it. "So," I ask, "Haven't heard from your friends yet?" "No." she said, sadly. "Just give them time." I said.