Chapter 1

It's about a Demon

       Shaze was a Demon, who had died when he was very young. His name meant fire in Hellion language. He was one of the Winged Warrior Demons, who brought back escaped souls. There were ten types of Demons and out of them, his group ranked seven.

Shaze woke up from a sound sleep with his silver locks a mess, one shake and they were perfectly in place. He hit the alarm with his pale white hand and threw the blankets off of him. He climbed out of bed and grabbed his clothes off a chain. He placed on his feathered black jacket up over his black jagged wings, sliding them through the slits in the back that he made himself. He laced it up in the front and placed his father's necklace on. It was a pendant shaped like a rose, there were thorns around the rose. It was the only thing Shaze had from Human his life. Then, he quickly threw on a pair of black jeans and bucked them up with a silver belt, that had a rose on it as well. He then began walking toward the bathroom to sharpen his horns. He caught a glance at himself in the mirror, when he walked in. He smiled and his light blue eyes lit up, as to say to himself that the openness of his top showed how sexy his body was.

"Oh, yeah... I look good!" Shaze said as he put one hand through his hair.

He stretched his arms up over his head and walked back into his bedroom. He picked up his sword, which was white with a blood red tip, and swung it over his shoulder by the strap. Then, he walked out the door. Outside of his dorm room, the place all the Demons stayed, the air was heavy with heat from the fire pits in the cave not too far down the hall. The Demons stayed in dorms to keep their ranks organized. That's how the Devil of the time liked it.

"All the other Winged Warriors seemed to be rising too. Good, I'm not up late again; which I normally am." Shaze whispered to himself and began walking down the long hall in the direction of the cave instead of the Gate to the Underworld, which was on the other end of the hall.

As he walked down the well lit hall he came to the Warrior Demon's dorms, which the Winged Warriors had to share because they did the same job as each other, and he heard a bit of angry grumbling. The Warrior Demons were the weaker counter parts to the Winged Warriors. Just like Shaze's type they also brought back souls, but the easier ones to catch. All they did was grumble or growl; killing machines I'd say. They were the eighth rank for the Demons.

"Oh, shut up you half wits!" Shaze shouted.

The grumbling stopped as Shaze knew it would. He put his hands in his pockets half way and continued strutting down the hall. No one was going to mess with him, no one dared. He came to the end of the hall and walked into the deep cave. The cave contained the dorms of the Fire Demons and the Reaper Demons. The Reaper Demons, who ranked fourth, were sent out to kill impure souls or people and hunt down fallen Angels, as well as any Angels who got in the way. To Shaze they had a pretty awesome job. It made his blood pump with an undying flame.

They resided up in the ceiling of the cave and the Fire Demons resided down in the walls. The Fire Demons, who ranked fifth, were in charge of keeping Hell hot enough, as many Demons would say. But really, they just made sure Hell didn't kill everyone inside of it. There were four entrances into the cave, including the one that led to the hall that led to his dorm room. There were fire pits strewn across the floor, one which he barely missed as the fire burst up from the ground.

"Keep your fire under control, dang!" Shaze shouted at the Fire Demons as he stumbling over another hole.

"Those darn Fire Demons never knew how to be serious, always pulling pranks or test on me every time I walked through." Shaze thought to himself, as he began gracefully dodged hole after hole of burning fire.

Some of the holes shot red, while others shot blue, and the one in the center was a huge burst of white. It was the most difficult to get through, but Shaze already knew the trick.

"Stay to the center, just walk right through and you wouldn't be burned as bad, if at all." Shaze thought as he had many times before.

He walked through the burst of fire. It was hot and unbearable, but the quicker he walked the closer to the end he was. When Shaze reached the other side, sweat dripping from his head, Frank laughed and said with a pat on Shaze's back.

"Good job, that was ten seconds faster than last time. You're the champ!"

"Oh, shut up! I could have done it faster if I wanted." Shaze boasted.

Frank glanced Shaze up and down. Frank was the commander of the Winged Demons. He was in charge of giving all the task to the groups. He never made the task, but he always put the orders out there. He was a short, troll looking Demon with golden eyes and bright orange hair.

"So you ready for your next task?" Frank chuckled.

"What do you got for me this time?" Shaze said nonchalantly.

"Nothing special, just need ya to go get an escaped soul for me. It's a pedophile. Just bring him on back here for me to deal with." Frank said calmly.

"Again! Why do I always get the boring task?" Shaze complained.

"You'll get a good job one of these days, boy. Now go round him up for me!" Frank said with a whistle, the kind that shoots through the teeth.

"Fine!" Shaze said with a shrug.

"Red roof!" Shouted Frank, as Shaze walked off.

Shaze waved his hand in the air and walked through the opening on the side of the cave away from the fire pits. Stepping up to the edge of a ledge, Shaze let his jagged black wings spread out wide. He let himself tip forward into a free fall down the cliff's face. Midway through his free fall, he pulled up, gliding against the sunset. His eyes scanned the land while he passed over trees. The trees were an indefinable molten blue and stood out under the setting sun. His dark wings held a slight shimmer as he flew towards the quite and now sleeping town.

"Such a tedious task! I want the real action. Darn Reaper Demons, they get all the fun and glory! Oh, to kill the Humans..." Shaze thought to himself, his core burning from the longing to do what he knew he was capable of.

A hate burned in his blood as his thoughts began to turn over and over in his head.

"And chase those damned Angels back to where they belong! Into their sunshine, love filled lives. But I suppose that it might be better than this, my life filled with such darkness." He said losing control of his thoughts.

Then he came to a realization and snapped back in control.

"What am I talking about? Being a Demon is great, right?" He thought confused.

"Stop this, stop judging yourself! Why am I getting myself so worked up? I need to get back on the task at hand. I need to go get this pedophile's soul and drag him back to his home." He thought determined to keep himself in line.

Now if he could just remember what house his target lived at.

"The one with the red topped roof that was what Frank said." Shaze said to himself, gazing down at the little town.

As his thoughts began to crumble, his wings split the sky and it began to rumble from his power. The sun took its last peak of the world and fell into darkness. The dark night was easiest to hunt in without being seen, since the Humans rarely felt his presence.

"The time is here, now if I could just find this place." Shaze said, speaking to thin air.

He circled the town, dipping down every so often to determine where in the town he was. He passed fields and over the hill, he saw a small cottage nestled within the forest. It was topped with a red roof. He nested himself in a nearby tree waiting on his prey. The evil soul was lurking inside the house inside a body of an old man. The escaped souls needed a body to be able to consume other souls for their power usage.

Again Shaze's anger arose, "How my talents are wasted..." He thought.

Knowing that he would have to bait this soul he circled the house. Pulling a stone that held an innocent soul from his sack on the strap of his sword, he dropped it just ouside the gate.

"This outta get him out here." Shaze said with a smirk.

Pulling into tighter circles he landed silently on the red roof. Perched in a veil of shadows he waited, knowing that it was just a matter of time. Shaze hated waiting as it left him alone with his thoughts.

He wondered, "Maybe they held me back because of my power. Maybe they were afraid of it."

Thinking about how he could rise among the ranks of the Demons, he heard a sound. The old man immerged from the house, cane in hand. He walked rather slowly for someone about fifty-three. Shaze guessed it's because the soul was nearly two-hundred years old. You couldn't trust the appearance of any body with an escaped soul in it. They could twist Human bodies however they wanted to. Shaze smiled and made his move as the old man was about to reach the decoy soul.

He swooped down in front of the old hoot and said. "You thought you had dinner, did ya?"

"I guess not, what do you want?" questioned the old soul.

"I want you to come back with me. So are you gonna come quietly or fight me?" Shaze said mockingly.

"You think I'd just come with you freely?" The old soul howled with laughter.

"I thought we could just do this easily." Shaze said, placing his hand on his sword.

"Not a chance!" Said the old man, moving faster than expected.

He jumped over the back fence and the chase was on.

Shaze smiled and said, "Good this will be fun." and took off after the escaped soul.

He easily glided over the fence and caught up with the soul. The soul threw a fireball at Shaze, but he dodged it gracefully, just like back in the cave. It was typical for soul to throw fire at the hunter.

Shaze laughed, "You think that old trick will work on me, try again."

When the soul was distracted with trying to come up with a comeback, Shaze sped up in front of the soul shouting,

"Ah ha! I have you now, you stupid old fart."

He went to swipe his sword but he decided instead to dip it low to the ground in attempt to catch his prey off guard. It worked; the old soul looked a bit confused and as he was about to jump another fence, he had tripped over Shaze's sword.

The winds blazed around the sword as a vaccum like pull pulled the soul into the tip of his sword. A pulling sensation filled his hand as the soul was finally within. A tingling feeling was left in his hand.

"Well this was no fun." Shaze said

The soul's face reflected in the white part of the blade. Shaze shrugged and began heading back to the home base.

"Why'd he have to go and trip?" Shaze thought out loud.

"That was so stupid. What the hell kind of soul goes and trips over your enemy’s blade if you wanna play "cat and mouse"?" He said with a sigh while he walked down the empty streets.

Sometimes Shaze liked to walk instead of fly, because it was different.

"And where are all the people in this town?" He thought.

"Oh! That's right. It's night time." Shaze laughed.

He spread his wings and took off into the air.

"That took too short of a time. Dang, I wish I'd had a challenge." Shaze began to think as he headed home.

He was very annoyed and felt like all the fun had been sucked out of him. He walked throught the Gate to the Underworld this time, instead of the cave cliffs. As he did, one of the Gate Guardian Demons, the sixth rank, greated him. Gate Guardians were in charge of guarding the Gate to the Underworld. They were supposed to keep bad souls from leaving Hell and good souls from getting in, but they failed to do this. That's why Shaze's group had come to be needed for the task of bringing back souls.

"Good morning, sir. How was your trip?" The Gate Guardian said.

"Yeah, Yeah." Shaze mummbled, anger boiling up in him.

He walked through the gate and into the Demon Women's dorms, which they shared with some of the Gate Guardian to keep them in line. Demon Women, the third rank, were few in numbers and were only meant for the Devil and his Keepers. The Keepers, the second rank, guarded the Devil and worked as commanders. They lived in a giant castle in the third entrance to the cave. Once Shaze walked out of this dorm area, he was back in the long hall where his dorm was. He walked down the hall and back in the cave, where Frank met him at the entrance.

"Successful, I take it by the look on your face and that face in the blade of your sword?" Frank said.

"What do you take me for? My missions are always successful. So, don't you treat me like those other weaklings!" Shaze scolded, quick to jump someone's throat for no real reason.

"Sheeze, take a chill pill, you angry Satin child. Who lit your tail on fire? Cause it sure wasn't me." Frank said defensively.

"Just take your dang soul and leave me the hell alone, and next time make sure you give me a task in which I'm not the first man back!" Shaze snapped and stomped off to his room.

Not even the Fire Demons were going to mess with him when he got fumed like this. He walked down the hall pushing past the Warrior Demons, who seemed to have no task today. One grumbled at Shaze, but when he turned on full blast power and the Demon shut his mouth. It was a dominance thing. If you were more powerful, you were top dog.

Shaze reached his door, popped in the key, and walked in. After he walked in he slammed the door. It was an echo you could hear throughout the hall and even into the cave. All the sounds outside were blocked off once you were inside Shaze's room. That's the unique thing about his room. He was so mad at how easy that mission was. The other Demons always underestimated him.

"Why, why, why, why?!!" Shaze screamed in his room, banging his hand up against his wall to the left of the bed; which was in the middle of the room.

"Dang it, dang it, dang it." he cursed.

He grabbed his horns and jabbed his fingers down on them. Blood trickled down his hands and he cursed once more.

"Gosh, freaking crap! Why did I sharpen these things so much!? Now I've hurt myself."

He kicked at the ground and then begun walking the room, trying to calm himself down. That was hard for him to do. He walked over to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. It helped him think with a clear mind. He stripped his clothes off and placed them over the top of the shower. He turned on the cold water, because it was too hot in Hell for a hot shower. The cool water fell down his body smoothly. He placed his head against the wall of the shower.

He thought to himself. "Why do I let myself get so hot headed? I just let things get under my skin all too easily."

He pushed his newly wet hair back. It was a slick black color now. He took a deep breath and turned the water off and shook his hair inside a towel as he put back on his attire. He walked out of the bathroom, throwing the towel aside and into an empty basket. Then, he walked out to the open balcony of his room. He stepped on up to the railing and grabbed the edges of it. He pulled himself up to sit upon the railing and let his wings unferrel. It always felt good to let them open all the way, in a sort of stretching motion.

"It feels so much better, with the wind going through my body." Shaze whispered.

He jumped off the balcony and into the wind. As he jumped off the railing, letting his feet gaze the rail, he flapped his wings almost motionlessly. Shaze felt free and calm, rather brainless. He didn't know where he was going, but he was glad to get away. He was numb all over, but his body still moved. Soon he began to see a small town, memories flashed back as his lifeless body took to instinct.

The memories were from his Human soul. All Demons were once Humans. When they went to hell they became one of two things based on their sins. They either became a Condemned Demon or a Winged Warrior Demon. Condemned Demons, ranked ten, which weren't really Demons but rather souls. Souls of all kinds, from the simple sin of lying to the worst sin of betrayal of one's self.

All the Condemned were punished by the higher ranking Punishment Demons, rank nine. They had really nasty tempers and weren't the best conversationalist. Shaze had tried and got a story about how they had taken one guy, who was condemned for rape and let some of those condemned for bestiality, who had forever been turned into beast for their sin, eat his organs out after the Punishment Demons chopped his penis off. Shaze cringed when they told him this and hadn't talked to a single one since. Punishment and Condemned Demons lived in the second entrance into the large cave.

Shaze had been killed by his mother when he was eighteen because he told that she had stolen a person's identity. His sin was betrayal of family, one of the least sinful sins. He remembered living in this small town.

"What was it called?" Shaze begged himself to remember.

The name came in a whisper, it said "Nidia."

"That's what it was." Shaze said, coming to a shocking conclusion.

Most of the time Demons didn't remember anything from their Human past. Shaze guessed he had remembered because of the power he held. He was sure the Devil also remembered things from his past too. Shaze remembered the smell of roses, oddly enough it was more of a realization when he found out he could actually smell the sweet roses. He landed in a park that had a small playground. His body had led him here as though possessed. Terror roared through Shaze. He knew this place all too well.

"This is where it had happened." Shaze said with a shaky voice.

He stumbled back wanting to turn and run, but his numb body held him stiff. It felt like he was stuck in quick sand.

"No! No, I don't want to remember." Shaze shouted, unaware that his voice had caught itself in his throat.

"Why? Why, are you doing this to me? Why have you betrayed me, body?" Shaze thought angrily at himself.

He wanted nothing more than to run, run far away from this place. Still stuck in place, his mind began to recap what had gone down that day. His mother had taken him and his three year old brother to the park that morning. When they got to the park, it was completely empty. His mother had gently told his brother to go play while his big brother and she had a grown up talk. His little brother wondered up the slide the wrong way, like always. Shaze's mother grabbed Shaze and shook him roughly, to get his attention.

She said. "Did you tell anyone?"

"Mom, I'm...” Shaze mumbled as his mother slapped him across the face leaving a red hand print where she had hit him.

It was almost as if her hand was made of stone. It hurt so badly.

"I said, did you tell anyone." She yelled at him.

"I'm serious; if you did you endanger not only me, but your younger brother, and yourself." His mom said with a harsh tone, cold as steal.

She was serious and Shaze was a scared teenage boy. Any kid would be scared in this situation.

"Mom, I'm sorry." Shaze said with tears in his eyes.

"Why are you sorry? You mean you told? Who? Tell me!" His mother said shaking him.

Shaze remained silent.

"Who, you stupid child!? Who!?" His mother shouted louder attracting his little brother attention.

But his little brother didn't come anywhere near the two arguing adults. Because he was to scared that his mom would hit him too. He just wanted them to stop.

"The cops." Shaze said.

"It was the right thing to do." He mumbled.

"You what?! You told the police?! How could you endanger us like that?" Shaze's mom said walking over to the bench, which her purse was on.

She had to do something, this was the only thing she could think of doing. Shaze looked ashamed but he knew what he'd done was right. He knew it had to be done. His mom pulled something out of her purse. His eyes lit with horror, it was a gun. Silver and sleek, but it was a gun none the less.

"Why did she have one on her? What was she going to do with it?" Shaze thought with a look of confusion and horror on his face.

"Mom? What... What are you doing?" Shaze said scared out of his mind.

"Protecting us, protecting me." His mother replied pointing the gun right at his heart.

"Mom, please, please don’t." Shaze looked shocked.

He couldn't believe that his mom would even think about doing this. His mom moved closer to him, steady hands on the gun, finger ready at the trigger.

"I have to protect us. If you hadn't done that, I wish you hadn't done that." She said pulling the trigger.

The silver tipped bullet raced throughout the cold morning air and straight into his chest. It hit the center of his heart, blood spraying everywhere.

Shaze dropped to the ground and his little brother ran up screaming bloody murder. "Mommy, why?!"

That was the last, very last thing Shaze could remember, he had completely stopped breathing and the memory faded away. Slowly Shaze came back to his senses and began to realize that he was holding his breath, as he fell to his knees. He caught his breath and began sobbing.

"Why had this memory come up, It didn't make sense." Shaze thought a pain panged in his chest, from the exact spot where he had been hit.

Shaze touched his chest as to make sure he wasn’t bleeding.

While all this was happening, someone had been watching in the shadows.

Author's Note

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