Open Captivity

A short story that I wrote for my English class in my freshman year. Critique please?

"Well this sucks," Kura snarled, her black wolf tail flicking in irritation. "I've been stealing for so long and now I get caught? How the hell much sense does that make?!"

"Hey, thief, quiet down in there!"

"Hey, moronic guards, lemme out of here!"

The tip of a spear poked through the bars and Kura snarled, fire shooting out towards the weapon.

"Sorry, a******s!" Kura yelled her ears flat upon her raven-black hair. "I prefer a blade to a spear! If you would be so kind as to get my sword, then I--hey!"

The Hybrid leaped back quickly as a jet of water shot through the bars, aimed at her chest. As part Fire Demon, it was in Kura's nature to hate water with a passion (drinking water was okay of course). How could she have forgotten? She'd been in this crappy hole for two years and had been attacked more than a few times by a few of the guards who were - ironically enough - Demons themselves.

Hypocritical, racist b******s.

Kura growled in a very wolf-like manner, her fangs glinting. The guard who had attacked Kura looked at her, a grin spread over his partially hidden face. "Careful, Hybrid, next time you might not be able to jump away in time."

Kura flipped him off and retreated to a corner of her cell, huffing in annoyance. She sat against the wall, leaning her head back. Kura's cell was small, and when she had been thrown in two years ago, the walls had been mostly smooth. Naturally the cell had not been clean. What . . . you think there's room service here? No. But there had been blood on the walls. Now, since Kura had been in it, there were actually welts in the stone, showing that Kura had clawed the walls long and hard enough. She seemed to be - well she was - level-headed during the day. But the night. . . . That was a different story.

When she first came to the prison, it had been hard to fall asleep, which was understandable. There was no way for Kura to see any of the other prisoners, but she could hear their conversations. Apparently there was a ghost or something that would induce horrible nightmares to certain occupants. There had even been some deaths, and the cause was this apparition. Kura's sleep had been at least relatively peaceful for the first two weeks. But then the peace was shattered.

Nightmares had begun to take hold of the Hybrid. Dreams filled with blood and screams. Three days after the nightmares had started, Kura heard some of the prisoners saying that the nightmares had stopped going around the inmates.

Kura's hands massaged her temples which had begun to pound mercilessly in time with her heartbeat. A dark voice sounded through Kura's mind and the young Hybrid hissed softly.

You know, Kura Mayaki, your resistance to me is really quite remarkable. All the other Demons here are way to wussy.

Should I take that as something good? This, of course, was sarcasm.

Yes. Yes it's very good. It allows me to feed.

What are you. . . . Some kind of screwed up Vampire?

A dark laugh rang through her head and along with it came pain. Kura stifled a gasp, her dark crimson eyes widening before clenching shut in pain. It felt like fingers were sifting through her mind, prying certain memories out and to the forefront.

Red fire tinged with black began to creep over her skin without harming her. The fire was only half hers. The red fire - more natural - was Kura's. The black fire belonged to the creature that seemed to have taken residence in her mind, wreaking havoc on her mind, heart, and soul. A half-formed curse left Kura's trembling lips, and her breath left her in a shaky exhale.

Y-You want o-out, right? Kura managed. Even thoughts were hard to form through the pain. The Hybrid was actually genuinely surprised that she was able to form that thought at all.

The silence was almost audible inside Kura's mind and the immortal realized that if the . . . creature inside refused her idea, Kura would most likely be trapped in this infernal place for the rest of her unlimited days. The silence lasted for about two minutes and the Hybrid's hope began to dwindle like a candle's flame. The only sounds to be heard were the crackling of the torches that hung on the wall in between the cells.

Gah! How Kura just wanted to burn the being that seemed to have taken a permanent residence in the depths of her mind. Then again, Kura had been abandoned at a young age by her mother and had to teach herself how to manipulate the element of fire. And even though she was still young, Kura had managed at least a basic grasp of her natural element. However, the pyromaniac Demon could not burn a presence from her mind. She wasn't quite that good.

When the eerie voice spoke again, Kura literally jumped in surprise.

She had been having too much fun entertaining the thought of obliterating the foreign apparition from her consciousness.

Yes. I do wish to escape past the walls of this prison. But I cannot do it on my own.

Why? Kura queried venom obvious in her voice. Would the messed up vampy lady get homesick? In hindsight, Kura realized that she shouldn't have spoken because the pain (which thankfully had vanished) returned with double the force.

Wench! You try and leave a place like this when you have no physical body!

Resisting the temptation to massage her temples, Kura settled with letting out an aggravated sigh.

And so they talked. Faint echoes of screams rang through the silence, shredding it.

A week went by and as one of the guards (he was new) went about his rounds, he noticed that the Demon Hybrid was lying on her side, her fanged mouth slightly agape. The guard began to chew on his bottom lip, wondering what he should do. The prisoner wasn't supposed to be dead. His boss would most likely kill him on sight if he figured out that their captive had died. With his heart pounding in his chest, the guard took a ring of keys off of his belt, jingling them together slightly as he tried to find the right key to open Kura's cell. He roughly pushed the door open and stepped into the cell, approaching the Hybrid carefully.

Unfortunately, it wasn't careful enough.

Within an instant, the 'dead' half-breed leaped up with a very wolf-like growl and bared her fangs in a menacing snarl.

"I thought guards were supposed to be smart; that was just pathetic!" Kura's voice was still at the low-alto level, but it had a hint of darkness. It would be hard for a human to hear the difference, but the unlucky guard happened to be a Demon who should have kept his guard up.

His loss.

Kura pushed the man back hard against the wall, grimacing slightly as the armor clanked against the stone wall. Within an instant, fire was shooting through Kura's veins. Kura couldn't help but shudder in slight revulsion. That wasn't her magic. That was the creatures. Kura would have to be the one to run out of the prison, but the creature would assist where it was needed. Kura's black wolf ears lay flat upon her black hair as the man let out a cry of pain, and she growled, debating whether or not to steal his armor.

I have a better idea. The voice teased through the Hybrid's mind and Kura got a bad feeling.

Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to detest you even more than I already do . . .?

Because I'm just a very detestable person.

Kura wanted to argue that the being in her mind was anything but a person, but she didn't want to push her already terrible luck. She was still surprised that the being had even agreed to help her in the first place.

Just let yourself go. Give into the magic, and the next thing you know, you will be out of this place.

Kura frowned, her blood-red eyes narrowing in suspicion, but she complied. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, relaxing her body almost to the point of collapsing upon the ground. Just when she thought that the apparition was playing her, a sudden burst of energy shot through her, causing her to cry out in surprise and a small amount of pain. The pain wasn't really that bad, it was just so sudden that Kura couldn't help but cry out.

Black fire shot out of Kura's body, heading directly towards the wall.

Tch. Yeah right. There's no way that could work. I've tried to destroy the wall. Besides, how can you destroy stone with fire?!

But magic can do miraculous things when one least expects it. The black flames seemed to stick to the wall, crackling. It wasn't the joyful crackling that one hears when they're sitting next to a campfire. If it was even possible, it felt angry. It didn't like to be trapped. Confined. Caged. The fire, Kura thought, must be a part of the apparition's will. It burns with its need to escape.

Suddenly, the walls began to crumble. The stone began to actually melt, causing a putrid stench to fill Kura's over-sensitive nostrils. Being half Wolf Demon did have its perks, but whenever something began to stink " no matter what it was " Kura would be able to smell it. She covered her nose and wrinkled it, but found that that did nothing to alleviate the stench. She gagged and wished that the apparition did have a physical body so that she could strangle it.

Kura's eyes opened slowly as a bright light began to filter in between her closed eyelids. She thought she'd never be able to see the light of day ever again. Over two years, Kura had almost forgotten what it looked like. All she had had was the dim lights of the torches between the cells.

A hole just large enough for a wolf was in the stone. The black flames still had not finished their job for they continued to eat away at the stone like it was the best wood.

As half Wolf-Demon, Kura was able to take the form of a wolf, but she found that she didn't have to really take the form of a wolf while in prison. Her body began to shrink in size, getting longer and shorter. Black fur began to sprout along her spine, giving the impression of a werewolf. No. Just a wolf. A wolf with black fur all along her body, but with some red streaks that ran along her spine. A satisfied growl left Kura's muzzle; she hadn't taken this form in what seemed like ages. Which was most likely true. She'd only taken the form of the wolf about two times since she'd been imprisoned, and it felt really good.

As a wolf, she wriggled through the barely big enough hole and bounded out into the flat land that lay beyond the prison. She didn't stop running until she reached the edge of a nearby forest, where she turned and looked back at the prison that had stolen more than a few years of her life. Not that that was any big deal; she was immortal after all.

To her shock, the prison looked just the same. It didn't even seem any smaller in all the distance she had run. Within seconds, Kura had returned to her Demon form, her head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Why is it the same size? It should have gotten smaller, not stayed the same!" Confusion surged through the young Hybrid and she was answered by that eerie voice in her mind.

It's because it was never really there in the first place. It was all an illusion, prisoner.

Disbelief went on a rampage through Kura's mind, and she couldn't help but take a step back in shock.

"N-No. That's not possible. A place like that couldn't be an illusion! It just couldn't be! It was real! It was real!" Her temper " which had basically remained unchanged through the years " began to flair dangerously, causing fire to spread from the soles of her boots to the surrounding grass. The green blades began to shrivel and turn brown as they died. "What happened in the past two years could not have been an illusion! It was real! IT WAS REAL, GODDAMMIT!!"

"My, my. Calm down, my dear, will you? You'll disturb the birds. You don't want that, now do you?" A cheery voice pierced Kura's sensitive hearing and she whirled around to face a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties. Although instantly Kura was able to sense that this man was anything but human. His hair was almost pure white and his eyes remained closed. He wore a smile upon his face and a dark blue scarf around his neck. His clothing consisted of a dark blue tunic and dark brown pants with combat boots that laced up. He seemed pleasant enough, but Kura could tell that he could be incredibly dangerous if he wished to be.

The fine hairs on the back of Kura's neck rose and she let out a wolfish growl, her hand automatically going to her waist, trying to find her sword. She then realized that in her haste to leave the prison that she had left her trusted blade within the walls. Instead, Kura decided to use her mother element. She extended a hand, a ball of fire forming in the middle of her palm, crackling. She tensed, ready to spring at the young man in front of her, but he only smiled pleasantly. His hands went behind his back, and then came to his front a moment later, a cup of tea cradled in his hands.

"Hmm. Tea?" He offered, his eyes never opening.

"Wha"Who the hell are you?!" Kura demanded, ignoring the increasing pounding in her temples.

Away! Get away! Evil! Death! Destruction!

For the apparition in her mind to be crying these things out when the creature itself was evil enough, the man in front of her had to be pretty tough stuff.

"You must be Kura Mayaki, right?" The man chirped, causing Kura's eyebrows to raise then lower as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"That depends, who's asking?" The fire in her palm didn't go out, but merely grew a few centimeters more before hovering in her palm.

"I'm Raziel," the man chirped.

"Raziel . . . You aren't a human, obviously. You're far too chipper for that. Not to mention I'm sure you didn't just have a cup of tea down your pants. If so, that's highly disturbing and makes me wonder if I haven't gone insane. You aren't a Demon; your aura instantly crosses that out. If you were a Demon, I'd instantly be able to tell what kind you are. You aren't a Vampire. If you were, you'd already be lying on the ground in a bloody heap."

The man " Raziel " hummed, sipping his tea, seeming to look at Kura even though his eyes never opened. The surrounding trees began to shift in a wind that hadn't been blowing a moment before, and Kura couldn't help but look up before looking back at the young man.

"So you must be an Angel." She almost hissed at him, which would have been a very un-wolf-like thing to do.

"Very astute," Raziel chirped yet again, the tea cup vanishing as he took a step towards the confused Hybrid.

Kura couldn't help but take a step back. She wasn't intimidated of this sissy-looking Angel.

Okay . . . maybe just a little.

Yeah. His aura terrified her.

And the being in her mind would not shut up. It continued to scream that Raziel was 'evil incarnate', or 'devil spawn'.

"Your mind is troubled, is it not, Kura? By an apparition who has lied to you?"

Kura instantly went on guard against the Angel who seemed to know everything about her.

"How did you know me, Angel scum?" Kura growled, her deep-rooted hatred rising to the surface.

"I believe you know of the ex-Ice Princess Yuki?"

The name was certainly familiar. Yuki. Yuki? Ah-ha! Yuki!

"Wait, looks kind of like me, but with blue eyes and white--" The Hybrid was cut off when the faint pounding in her head began to rise and rise, causing her heart to speed up. Her clawed hands rose to her temples and clutched at her head, a moan leaving her lips unintentionally.

"It looks like you shouldn't question the one who can purge your mind of that creature," Raziel tittered, hopping from foot to foot almost eagerly.

The birds seem to have gone quiet. Wait . . . were there any birds to begin with? Kura didn't know. Nor did she care. Oh, if only her head would. Stop. Pounding! Her body doubled over and pain shot through her skull as if something was trying to rip something out of her head by force. A cry left her pale lips and she finally fell to her knees, the pain becoming far too great for her to handle.

"If you're done calling me 'Angel scum', I'd like to help you. Of course, that's only at darling Yuki's request. Hee, hee! I really couldn't care less!" With a flick of his pale and thin wrist, Raziel's face split into an even wider grin.

Kura screamed.

A black mist began to take a form about five feet away from Kura. It stood at her height - 5'3 - and had almost her exact stature and weight. The mist formed finally into an almost exact copy of Kura. Figures the creature in Kura's mind had been a female. Who would have known? She looked almost identical to Kura, except the apparition's eyes had switched.

While Kura's pupils were black and her irises were blood-red, the other's pupils were blood-red and her irises were pitch black. Not to mention the aura surrounding this Demon was purely evil.

From her position on her hands and knees, Kura weakly looked up at the other girl in front of her with wide eyes. The extraction of this Demon had taken nearly all of her strength, and she didn't even know how she managed to stay conscious.

"Your name is Kita, is it not, lovely Demon?"

The Demon - Kita - snarled, her eyes flaring and she flung her arm out towards Kura, a dark shadow erupting from her arm, shooting towards the Hybrid. Kura was too weak to fight. Her ears were limp on her black hair, and her breaths came in harsh pants. The eerie shadow began to envelope Kura's body and as soon as the mist touched her skin, pain unrivaled to any she had ever felt tore through her body, sending nerve endings on fire.

How could a shadow do this?! A shadow!

Her vision began to dim and a few mumbled words left her trembling lips just before her already trembling arms collapsed, sending her tumbling down to the earth. When she landed, her head turned to the side, the shadows continued to move over her, seeming to want to consume her.

Raziel 'tsked' at Kita, wagging a finger back and forth. "Now, now, Kitty." he had just met the Demon, but he had already given her a nickname. If Kura had been conscious, she would have ridiculed him for his acting while facing a Demon like Kita. "My wife would really have my head if I let you do as you please to young Kur-Kur here."

"Well sucks for your wife!" Kita growled, seemingly intent on Kura's death. "My father wants her dead, so dead she will be!" She was poised for yet another blow to Kura when her body was lifted off the ground and a shriek was torn from her lips. Slowly, her body began to vanish into thin air and Raziel seemed to do no more than slowly walk over to Kura and turn her over. A small trickle of blood ran from a corner of Kura's mouth, and Raziel cocked his head, his smile never leaving. At a pained scream from Kita, he turned his attention back to her.

"Not now, Kitty, I'm busy." He stood up and tilted his head the other way at Kura, watching as she vanished before he turned back to Kita. "Now that she's gone, why don't we have some fun?"

The aura of evil that had surrounded Raziel began to become more potent as he slowly began to open his eyes. They were a rusty golden color, and as soon as a small sliver of that color was seen by Kita, she let out a blood-curdling scream as if she was being put through the greatest of tortures.

"Let's just make sure you don't do anymore harm to any of my wife's friends anymore, shall we?" he asked in a sing-song voice that was tinted with a slight bit of sadism.

As soon as Kura's body had vanished, Raziel's amiable features turned dangerous. The smile was still playing around his lips, but it was dark, now. Dark, twisted, and just a tad insane.

"I don't appreciate you harming my loved one's friends, Kitty." The scarf around Raziel's neck started to blow in the breeze that had suddenly picked up violently.

Kita's face turned dark as the shadows began to move around her, slithering towards the still motionless Angel.

Raziel did nothing more than fling his arm out to his side, the encroaching shadows dissipating. Raziel's eyes, which had been only half open, finally opened the rest of the way. The wind suddenly became cold and biting, and the Shadow Demon was forced to bring a hand up to shield her face.

The space around her seemed to melt and the colors around Kita began to blend in with each other. Her coal-black eyes darted around, slightly wide in panic, and her mouth opened in a snarl, her pointed canines being bared and a hiss left her.

"Angel," she hissed, pumping venom into her low-alto voice to hide the fear that was trying to make it tremble. "What are you up to?"

Raziel turned his dirty-golden eyes towards her, all semblances of man gone from him. He still looked like one, of course, but all the kindness that had been hovering around him seemed to vanish. Just like that.

"Why Kitty, the fun is figuring it out. Anyway, a magician never reveals his tricks, right? Besides," A sadistic smirk lit his pale features. "I want to hear you scream as the darkness rips into your flesh, mind, and heart. I want to hear your screams as you beg me for a mercy that will never be delivered to you. I want you to beg for your pathetic life, although you know you will never be given that reprieve. Just face it: you're my stress toy, b***h."

Kita began to tremble more violently and flung her arm out, shadows flying towards the calm Angel. The shadows struck Raziel but merely seemed to bounce off of him. A slight scoff left his lips and he smiled even broader (if that were possible), and he merely snapped his fingers and lumbering monstrosities emerged from the shadows, limping towards the now terrified Shadow Demon.

Their bodies were large,a mix of brown, red, and black. Some had horns on their heads while others had tails, and some even had both. They made groaning sounds as they lurched towards Kita, some kind of goop dripping slowly from their bodies. A putrid stench made its way into Kita's nostrils and she doubled over, covering her nose.

"Wh-What're you doing?!" Kita practically screamed, taking several steps backwards in a vain attempt to escape the dark hell she was in.

"I already told you, Kitty. And I won't be repeating myself." Raziel's golden eyes narrowed very slightly and the monstrosities let out a guttural moan, continuing their slow advance towards Kita.

The forest that had once been there was suddenly gone, being replaced by a barren wasteland. If there were any signs of life, Kita couldn't tell. The only thing she Shadow Demon was able to clearly see was Raziel and the creatures. Legs trembling, Kita attempted to take a step back away from the monsters who were now less than three feet away. The closest monster slowly reached a grubby hand towards Kita, and she found herself unable to dodge it.

The hand clasped around Kita's pale neck and the Demon found herself being raised up into the air, her own hands flying to rest on the one that was around her neck, crushing her windpipe. Her nails dug into the rotting skin of the monstrosity, but found that her sharp claws did nothing to lessen the grip the monster had on her neck. The pressure continued until Kita vaguely thought that her windpipe would be crushed.

Raziel stood just beyond the creatures, a dainty teacup with a floral pattern in his hands. The Angel actually seemed to be at home in this dark hell and that made Kita wonder briefly if he was actually an Angel at all.

Black spots began to dance in front of Kita's vision, and she began to gasp for air like a fish out of water. Just before she let unconsciousness take her, she had a small wish of a merciful death.

When her body went limp, the monstrosities threw her to the ground and descended upon her like starving animals eager for a meal. Choked screams filled the lifeless area and the fragile cup Raziel had been holding suddenly vanished and he took a few steps forward.

"Hee, hee! It looks like you've learned your lesson, Kitty. But that will not save you. You will die, and you will be reborn only to suffer more." Raziel's face broke into a grin and he closed golden eyes, promptly vanishing from the lifeless world.

---

When awareness came to Kura again, her body tensed, ready to strike. But when the faint scent of watermelon and cedar entered into her nostrils, her body instantly relaxed: she knew she was in safe hands. She'd recognize that scent anywhere. It belonged to a close friend of hers named Yuki. Apparently she had found out about Kura's plight and had sent Raziel to help her since most likely she couldn't do it herself. Her body felt heavy and sore, but she managed to heave a great sigh of relief. She didn't stir when she heard some cloth rustle around her. Yuki was one of the only ones she was comfortable with falling unconscious near. For the first time in years, Kura managed to slip into a dreamless slumber.

Author's Note

As the A/N said, this is my freshman year writing...and it's not as good as I thought it was. *sigh* This was meant to be a story just for a friend of mine who already knew the characters, but I decided to change it a bit to use it for school since I didn't have any other ideas at the time. So if there's any questions about the characters, it's probably because I didn't go into so much detail. The school-version of this did not have the swearing or the small torture scene. I added those later.