Demon Adventure

Matthew White

As the bell rang to indicate the start of a new day, Dunstan made secret eyes at the back of Dee’s ponytailed head and ached with unrequited longing. He was a hybrid hellfire dragon-elf. He was sent into the woods to be killed, but the monsters were making it hard. They were speaking the infernal language which Dunstan knew. They were angry at the Elves for some reason, and they were after Dunstan who, in cuffs, was trying his best to hold them off. Then somehow the cuffs melted. He pulled his hands free and attacked. He bit one of the monsters and shook it in the air then let it go so it got damaged from hitting a tree. He did this to all of them. as soon as the last one died, he asked “Going to cuff me again?” Matthew the executor did not want to kill Dunstan for he had just saved their lives. Meanwhile, Dee wanted him dead. Matthew said, “Maybe we can go back and warn the others there might be more coming.” Dee disagrees. Matthew and Dee get into an argument when the city’s warning bell rings. The argument ends and everyone rushes to the city. As soon as the gates come into sight, they can tell that the city is under attack. Matthew grabs his ax from his pack while Dee takes out her sword. Dunstan summons his demon blade and gets to work. He shouts his infernal battle cry. The monsters turn as Dunstan cut thru a monster. The monster screamed then disintegrated. About half the monsters charged them but Matthew started spinning like a tornado and Dee swung her sword with all her might. So, Dunstan cast a spell that cause massive damage to demons or those controlled by demons or allied with demons. As soon as the spell was cast, he felt weaker. With his hellfire genetics he knew that some of his energy would leave him but not all. He then charges the monsters cutting them down until none remand on the ground, however he saw that some had climbed up the wall, so he followed turning his fingers into claws. He climbed with relative ease throwing monsters off as he went till, he reached the top. There the guards were fighting monsters, so Dunstan bit the nearest one and threw it down. He then started to tear apart the monsters till none remained. Then he looked out at the city and saw that water was producing monsters. It was the sight of chaos, so he took off his shirt and grew his wings. He jumped off the wall and flew to the center of the action. He started slicing the water monsters but to no avail. Then he used more of the demon weakening magic and then attacked. The monsters became more solid, and they dissolved into puddles. Then the earth shook, Dunstan whispered “Here It comes. A tunneler.” He knew this beast’s species; he had faced one of them before on his sixteenth birthday. They were created by demons for fun and war. Suddenly the ground opened and out came a tunneler. It was bigger and nastier than the one he faced at 16 but he knew he could defeat it. He had done it before; he could do it again. They were known for being dumb, Dunstan thought. Then the beast charged directly at him. He dodged and cut the beast’s hide. The tunneler roared in pain but Dunstan stabbed the beast in the heart killing it instantly. The beast fell and breathed its last breath. Then a blue demon girl appeared and started to scream at Dunstan. Matthew walks up to her and scolds her for the attack, but the demon girl claims that she only created the water monsters to help but everyone keeps running from them. Then Matthew apologizes and say’s “This is my girlfriend Victoria, but she prefers Tori.” She apologized for her actions, but Dunstan apologized for destroys the water monsters saying, “It takes a lot of power to summon that many creatures, you should be proud.” Tori beamed with pride and said, “I have plenty of energy for being just 17.” Dunstan’s mouth drops open “Y-yyour 17” he said. Tori nods, and Dunstan know that she is the one that was taken at birth. The demon who was pronounced dead. He asked about her heritage. Tori does not know. except that she is special. So, Dunstan shows her the scroll that tells him that the taken demon has been found and he is under strict orders to return her to her family. However, Tori did not want to go without Matthew, but Matthew needed to pack for the journey. They went to Matthew’s home in the middle of the city in the inn for the city police force. They run into Dee who, seeing Matthew stuff on his back, ask were they are going. Dunstan reply’s “My home.” Dee says that they should take someone for protection. Dunstan is not happy for they were losing daylight but agrees to let Dee join them. They then leave the city by 4:00 PM. The sun went down at 6:00 PM. Dunstan stops about four miles away from their destination for camp. He goes and grabs some firewood he hid nearby and tells them of their destination. “Up this mountain there is a portal that leads to my father’s estate only known by the hellfire dragons and him… I miss him already but, before you ask, no, he is not dead it is just my first mission in this world.” They are talking when a hellhound pounces on Dunstan. Tori screams and Matthew jumps up, Dee grabs her sword and points it at the beast. Dunstan rolls over and the hellhound start to lick him to death. Dunstan shouts “OFF” the hellhound obeyed and got off but, it stared at Dee like he wanted to kill her. Dunstan told Dee to drop the sword, or his hellhound would not be nice. She puts it away and Dunstan ask Tori for a piece of her skin. She grabs a piece of her skin and hands it to him he grabs the hellhounds collar and the bag attached and placed the skin inside the bag then he whispers to the hellhound, and it runs off into the night. Then Dunstan says, “Time to go to bed.” So, they start for bed. The next morning, they begin the climb to the top of the cliff. At the top they walk a few feet into a giant cave in the cave there were treasure galore. They then see a group of golems near a large arch. Dunstan moves towards the golems. They let them thru and a golem presses a button on the arch. Suddenly the arch begins to glow and then a gateway opens. Matthew is curious so he asks, “Were does it led to?” Dunstan says, “The demon realm.”

Matthew is scared but walk’s thru anyway with Tori holding his hand. Then Dee follows with Dunstan right behind. As Dunstan walked into his dad’s treasure room, he was tackled by his pet demon Spinosaurus. Dunstan petted the Spinosaurus and told the others to follow him. The Spinosaurus walked right next to Dunstan as he walked to his father’s room where his father was waiting for him. The hellhound, Doom had followed orders and had made it home safely. His father had sent Doom to the castle to tell the demon king and queen. He walked into the room his father’s giant head turning in his direction letting out a puff of hellfire smoke which smelled like bug cotton candy. He brings the others out and his father is taken aback by the elves in his home he yells at Dunstan but, Spine the Spinosaurus growls at Dunstan’s father. So, Dunstan’s father lets them go under the concision that Dunstan return by the end of the party and give a full report of his adventure to the other side. Before they could leave Dunstan’s mother appeared and tried to convince them to stay but Dunstan insist, they keep moving so they say goodbye and walk away when Dunstan loses sight of Matthew. He goes looking for him and finds him wielding a new ax called Deathbringer. Dunstan gasp as only the true demon king could weald it. Matthew must have a demon heritage. Matthew turned and his eyes were as red as blood. he lifted the ax and tried to kill Dunstan, but Tori yelled at Matthew witch free’s him from the weapons spell. Matthew drops the weapon and ask what it just did. Dunstan explains that the weapon would only be used by the true demon king, but no one had been able to pick it up which led to the theory that the first demon king had a second family with an elf or other, but everyone was thinking it was an elf. He now suspects that the rumors were true. He bowed before Matthew and pledged his service to him. Dunstan now tells them they must move to when Dee says she wishes to return home. So, Dunstan walked to the portal and opened it to let her thru the gateway. Then Dunstan led them to the mouth of the giant cave where they go there first look at the demon realm. The sound of churning magma and screams of birds fill the air. The castle was at the bottom of the mountain in the demon’s largest city. Dunstan brushed his hair back with his hand and started to walk the trail. The others followed. At the bottom of the mountain Spine was waiting for them. Spine led them to the city were the guards opened the gates when he told them in infernal language that he had the king’s daughter but as soon as they entered the city when a giant demon bird grabbed Tori in its talons and flew to the east side of the city. Matthew yells at Dunstan for not doing anything but Dunstan told him that that bird belonged to the demon lord named Doomsday. Dunstan goes to a nearby stand and pay for a pill that he gives to Matthew. He then leads Matthew to Doomsday’s castle were Dunstan melts the gate with his hellfire breath weapon. The guards rush at him and Matthew but Dunstan cut off their heads and Matthew cut others in half with Deathbringer. Soon they reach the main hall Dunstan kicks down the door breaking it off its hinges. He sees that Doomsday is about to kill Tori, so he rushes in with his blade ready to kill. He blocks the blow to Tori and attacks but soon finds himself losing he can’t even land a blow then he feels cold metal pierce his heart. he gasps. then Matthew’s powers awaken. the pill Dunstan had given him had finally kicked in. Matthew decapitated Doomsday with Deathbringer and ran to wake Tori. He wakes her and then realizes Dunstan is gravely injured. He rushes over and pulls out the blade, but he was too late. Dunstan was dead, but Matthew felt something happening inside him. He sends some of his energy into Dunstan. The wounds heal and Dunstan wakes up. Matthew hugs him and tells him he is okay. Dunstan gets up and walks over to Tori and says, “Ready to meet your parents?” She nods as Matthew picks her up in his arms and walk’s out of Doomsdays castle just to be found by the royal guard’s who accompany them to the royal castle were, or as Dunstan knew, the royal family waited. As soon as they entered the throne room Dunstan was tackled on by a girl in fancy clothes. She ask’s “What took so long Dunstan, didn’t you miss me?” Then she notices Matthew and Tori and ask who they are. Dunstan gets up and walks to the throne’s and bows and says “Your majesty’s, sorry we are late we got detoured by lord Doomsday who took Tori. I had to kill him, but I also found the second family of the true king.” They gasped as Matthew shows them Deathbringer and bows before them. Tori bows as well. The king stands up and tells Tori “There is no need to bow, daughter. You have done well Dunstan, take a rest, there will be a party after this.” Dunstan responds, “Matthew follow me to the tailor, he will get you a suit.”

Matthew follows Dunstan out the throne room. As they make their way down the hall Dunstan heard angry stomping he smirked as a hand grabbed the back of his shirt. “Why did you not tell me about this! This is huge! You leave for about 3 days and return telling me that I have an older sister! You better make I up to me tonight with a slow dance!” She turns and walk’s in the other direction as Matthew ask “Who the heck is that girl! She thinks she can just walk all over you like that its disrespectful!” Dunstan responds “She can walk all over me because I let her. She is my girlfriend so do not talk bad about her or she will freak out. Her name is Sophie.” Dunstan opens the door to the tailor’s workshop where the tailor is finishing a red suit with a black tie.

Matthew steps in and the tailor stops to look at them. The tailor looks at Dunstan and says “Your suit is ready. Do not pop out those wings at all or I will stop making your traveling clothes.”

Dunstan laughs and responds, “You know the king loves when I cause fireworks and fly, but if you insist I will not use them but, I brought a new body to be suited up for the party.” The tailor looked at Matthew and smiled and waved him over. Matthew walks over and the tailor gets his size and then ask for color to which Matthew responds “Green.” Pretty soon the tailor takes out a suit of full green and hands it to him saying “This will fit. Hopefully, you like the color.”

Matthew thanks him as Dunstan grabs the red and black suit and thanks the tailor

(3 hours later)

Matthew and Dunstan walk into the ballroom to hear laughter and cheer. They walk to the food table were Dunstan picks up a plate of green goo and starts to eat it when he sees Sophie and Tori come into the ballroom. Dunstan grabs Matthew and points to Tori as the walk over to where they are. They reach them and they both bow and ask the girls if they would like to dance. They start to dance and Dunstan whispers to Sophie “You look amazing as always.”

(5 hours later)

The party had just ended, and Dunstan was leading Matthew to their shared room where they would spend the night. It was the perfect end to his quest as he laid down for sleep. He thought of what the future could hold for him and Matthew and slowly he drifted to sleep.

Nikomi by Alex Bushnell

Nikomi peered down at his mother’s lifeless body, the overwhelming scent of blood enveloping his senses.

He brought his hands over his nose, mucus slipping past his sniffling, dirtying his hands further. Salty tears crept down the young boy’s face, everything quickly becoming too much.

Collapsing onto the cold basement floor, bruising on impact. His thoughts scrambled, any sensible idea he had, lost to grief.

“Mama, mama, wake up,” the young boy cried to unforgiving truth, pleading towards empty fate.

“She’s not waking up and you know it,” a chilling voice echoed through the space.

Nikomi knew him as Javier, he had unknowingly separated him from the title father the moment he heard of the affair, a refusal of acknowledgment only subconsciously.

“But-but she has to live.” The small boy cried, not to anyone. He knew Javier wouldn’t bring her back even if he could.

Footsteps came closer, the boy hadn’t moved, couldn’t move from his spot on the floor.

“Nikomi. she isn’t waking up”

“Mama please”

“Stop begging. It won’t bring her back, she’s dead.”

“Mama, please wake up.” The small boys voice cracking as he spoke, tears breaking through glossy eyes, dripping onto his blood-stained shirt.

“Cut it out Nikomi, you’re the monster who killed her.” The man spoke, looking downon him. Discontent settled itself among his features.

The boy wiped his face, turning his sleeve wet, Nikomi stood. He looked down to the body of his mother before the heartless shell of Javier.

“You’re the real monster here.” Nikomi snapped, venom lacing his words.

“Don’t accuse your father of such heinous things, you’d think your mother would have taught you better. She truly was useless.”

“Don’t talk about her like that. Or I’ll, well I’ll…”

“What, you’ll what.”

“I’ll kill you.”

Echoing laughter quickly proceeded the threat. Javier wiped his eyes before looking at the cold body, Nikomi’ s eyes followed.

The mother he had known wore a flowery dress, dark brown hair surrounding her head.

Now the unpleasant dark red blood covered her stomach, her hand laying over the patch, the other against the floor. Nikomi had been there a moment ago, holding onto it, pleading.

A swift grab at the knife, charging Javier.

Nikomi woke, a bitter taste of tequila from the night before soured his mouth. Headache pounding through his skull, darting his hands up to rub the ache.

He felt as the man beside him shifted, feeling his awakening imminent he took his que to go make breakfast.

A quick step out of the gothic decorated bedroom, one that Nikomi had not chosen and had been dismissed when he asked for a change. And into the homey kitchen, this one Nikomi had decorated.

Headache still pounding, he settled for something simple, something his mother had made for him several times before her passing.

Thoughts drifted through his mind as he cooked, a cumin aroma enveloping the air around him. His mind began to drift, questions he never had answered, the absence of a story before bed, the overwhelming feeling of losing everything. All cut off as arms wrapped around his torso.

“You’re over thinking again.” A statement, it was never a question with how dazed he was. He knew how he was when he drifted into his past, how Zaki could call his names many times as he wished and receive no response.

There was no real need for confirmation, yet he still nodded. A comfortable quiet passed through. Plating food for both, soon sitting at the counter, hands brushing against each other.

The morning passed by easily, Nikomi spent most of his time watching whichever drama would come on TV while his lover had left the house.

As the clock ticked on, a thumping sound came from the door. Nikomi perked up on the couch, eyes darting to the door as the noise repeated.

His thoughtshad soon taken over. Had he ordered something? No, he didn’t have enough money. Had Zaki ordered anything? He never would have left the house if he had, never trusting people not to rob. He failed to think of any reason someone would be at the house.

Nikomi’ s hesitant hand wrapped around the door handle, creating a crack between the outside and comfortability of indoors.

“Son, it’s been a while.” A voice immediately recognizable, a voice he feared,he avoided at every given opportunity. Avoiding his homeland of Mexico, skipping every event. His ears rung with the voice. Knuckles white from holding the handle.

It only took a blink for the door to be pushed forwards, cold steel hitting his forehead, sharp searing pain returning in a flash. He stumbled backwards, cold stone quickly making contact, memories of that dreaded day flowed through his brain without warning.

“Quite the cabin you have here son, though this living room really isn’t your style. You have someone here withyou, don’t you boy.” The man had stepped into the house now, scanning the surroundings as his native tongue passed through his lips. A language Nikomi had seldom heard but knew word for word.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” The younger man had returned in English, the confident tone betrayed by the shaking coursing through his limbs.

The man had crossed his arms, blatantly disappointed with the fear from Nikomi. If only he cared, something he would think but would never say.

“I would, but that’s not what’s important right now. Right now, I have a contract for you.”

Frozen. The only way Nikomi could describe everything he felt right now was frozen. All he had been dreading, avoiding, repressing, had come back.

He shook his head, his hair came loose from the ponytail he had set earlier in the day, cries coursed through his body. Nails driving up, digging into his scalp. Position uncomfortably against the floor.

“Pathetic, I’d think you were over this behavior. Twenty-two is too old for this you know.” It sounded the same, the same voice he’d only heard in his nightmares for fourteen years, only now it was real. It was in his house, above him, digging into the life he’d tried so hard to mend. Now in English, something he had learned, something Nikomi had helped teach him. “Now onto the contract.”

Minutes too soon turned to hours, which Nikomi knew would briskly become days. Chained to the backseat of Javier’s car was as much fun as anyone could predict.

His head leaned against the back. The handcuffs digging into his wrist with every unpredictably rough turn Javier chose to make, only to torture him more for his escape from hell.

He knew he shouldn’t have stayed still, ran, call someone maybe, but no. His legs unable to move, sitting still the inability to move himself tohis feet,to escape the fate he hated so much. But it was too late, Javier had already taken that chance to press a chloroform rag to his face.

“You know it’s wonderful,” Great he was talking, again. Nikomi thought theyhad settled for a silent brooding ride. “How you’ve picked up such a rare gene-,”

“Curse.”

“Gift, Nikomi, what you have is a gift.”

“For you.”

“I think it’s important for you as well. They cold unrelenting desire to kill? Isn’t that just powerful?” Javier praised this ‘gift.’ The curse of contracts, something he’d only seen in his family, something he had wished he could remove since the day he found out about it. “You can’t possibly think it isn’t at least a little helpful”

“This inability of choice? That seems like a good thing to you. You made me kill my own mother, using this curse-,”

“Gift.”

“Curse, using this curse to get exactly what you want. Killing my mother, your life partner. And for what? So, you could marry someone else?”

“You killed her Nikomi.”

“I couldn’t help it, you know what the curse does- you know I can’t possibly reject a contract; you know I can’t resist it, how it infects my thoughts, how all I can think is how I have to kill.”

“If you were that determined you could have stopped it.” Javier’s voice rattled through his ears. Blame, he’d tried to rid himself of the unwavering guilt for years, the fault of killing his mother had never left him.

Nikomi shook his head, he knew the man driving wouldn’t be able to see he wouldn’t care. He had little remorse for placing the blame on him, no, on the terrified eight-year-old him. Who hadn’t realized what he had done until it was over.

“Your mother didn’t even try to stop you, you know that? She let you kill her.” The continuation of guilt, everything Nikomi had tried to fix, all falling apart at the seams. “We’re stopping.”

Nikomi had slept horribly, ropes wrapped around his arms and legs, preventing any fraction of movement, the man had tried to make.

He slowly blinked his eyes open, sunshine passing through the poorly covering blinds of the motel room. A faint snoring from the other bed, Javier was still asleep. An opportunity.

The roped man shifted into sitting, quietly propping himself off the bed wobbling as he stabilized himself on the carpeted floor.

Moving into the bathroom he scavenged around for any sharp object, just something that would snap the ropes.

Nikomi cursed under his breath, nothing, of course this crappy motel wouldn’t have anything of use. He shifted towards the door, turning around to grab at the round handle.

A grumble from the sleeping man quickly diverted the attention of the attempting escapee, a sign of waking up only causing panic to course through his body. He carelessly grabbed at the cold handle, a rattling sound flowing through the stuffy room.

The bed shook on impact, Javier now sitting up staring at Nikomi’ s failed attempt.

“Did you really think you’d be able to get out? Do you lack common sense, son?”

Javier’s baseless questions elicited a shrug from the tied-up man.

“Thought I’d at least try.”

“Good one.”

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The last words he heard before he was shoved back into the unwelcoming car. The handcuffs promptly clicked back onto him before more painful hours ensued. Which, if he was lucky, would be filled with nothing but road silence.

But he wasn’t lucky, not in his twenty-two years of life had he ever been lucky, and it certainly wasn’t going to start now.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Javier broke the welcoming silence with his grating voice.

“No, had you told me I might have,” the sarcastic tone emitted from the brown-haired man.

“Snarky.”

“You know me so well.” Scoffing, he knew he was being too tame; there was a lack of fight in his tone. He hated himself for giving up so easily.

“Despite your attitude I’ll tell you We’re going to see your brother. Aliko.” As the words left Javier’s lips, Nikomi’ s world stopped, and even that was an understatement.

Aliko was his youngest brother, the only pure piece left of his beyond-messed-up family, and he knew the reason he was being sent there, he knew his purpose the moment he reached his front door.

“Why? What did he do? He hasn’t hurt you; he hasn’t hurt a damn fly! Why are you killing him?”

Javier tutted at his words, nonchalantly shaking his head as if he hadn’t just said a soulshocking truth.

“My dear boy Nikomi, I won’t be killing him; you will.” A snide smile spread across his greedy, hateful face.

Nikomi prayed; for the first time in fourteen years, he prayed for this all to be over.

The doorstep to Aliko’s house looks exactly as he thought. White lacy columns adorned the patio of his well-polished house. The contrast to his darkly colored cabin reminded him of the distance he’d traveled.

As the car door opened Washington air nipped at his skin, causing the man to shiver and scoot closer to the heat of the car.

“Now for the part we’ve all been waiting for Your contract.” He smiled as a pen exited his pocket, accompanied by a contract, the gold lacing shining in the sun.

Nikomi could hear the scribbling from the roof of the car, the sound he could never avoid, and the situation he had tried to. But to no avail. This is what he was meant for; this is what he was born for. Killing others was his job.

“I’m signing it now, have fun, son.” With the last line of the contract filled, Nikomi’ s head became madness.

The distance sound of the unbounding of handcuffs couldn’t be heard over the overwhelming sound of murder currently pounding in his ears.

His head becoming clouded, the only new thoughts emerging carried the prospect of killing his youngest brother, the only thing Nikomi had ever wanted to protect.

He stepped out of the car, Javier pressing the handle of a knife into his palm, Nikomi watched his mouth moving, unable to register what he had actually said.

He turned; the house that had once looked so nice and proper had only shifted under the eyes of the killer. A fast-paced walk towards the house and a thumping at the door hadn’t been acknowledged in his thoughts, only the opening of the door and a knife into his closest family.