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Day # 16
Theme: Falling leaves

Day # 18
Theme: Witchsona

Day # 20
Theme: Demon

Koel's face paled, and I watched as a fresh onslaught of tears filled his eyes and washed down his cheeks. He shook in the man's grasp, pushing his head backward away from the point of the knife.

"D-don't," he said.

"Shut up," the man snapped, pressing the edge of the blade to Koel's throat before turning his attention to me. "I thought you came here to rescue your servant. Why are you telling us this? What's your game?"

I smiled. "I simply desire my freedom above all else."

"No, wait!" Koel said, his hands scrabbling against the man's grip on him. "You don't have to do this. Please! I...I..." His words cut off with a sob.

The man with the knife grinned and pressed the blade harder against my master's neck. Koel, in turn, flailed against him, screaming and crying as he realized the end for him was coming.

"Wait," the man with the bow said. "Devon, you don't actually mean to kill the kid, do you? We don't even know if this guy's telling the truth."

My gaze flicked to him, and I glared.

"But if it is true," the woman said. "Then we would control a demon. We could have whatever we wanted." She turned to the other man. "Do it, Devon. Kill him."

"No, don't!"

"Do it!"

Devon grinned widely, and I could plainly see the decision in his eyes. He was going to kill my master. His hand pressed down and blood beaded from the cut, dribbling down Koel's skin.

And then I felt it. The stirrings of the curse inside me as Koel's desperation for his life forced him to make use of the contract. Power welled up inside me.

Before Devon could do any more damage, I shot forward, faster than he could possibly react. His knife went flying across the room, and as I pulled my master forward until he tumbled to the floor in a sobbing mess, I grabbed Devon's throat and lifted him off the floor. He choked and kicked at me, and I simply laughed, squeezing harder.

"Drop him!"

I glanced to the side to see the man with the bow pointing an arrow at me again. I released my hold on Devon's throat and he dropped to the ground fast, his head making a sickening cracking noise when it connected with the floor.

"Don't move," the man said, but his voice was shaking, his fear evident.

I turned so that I was facing him and spread my arms wide. "Go ahead," I told him. "Shoot me. Kill me. Because if you don't, I promise I will slaughter all of you."

He released the arrow. This time, though, when the arrow hit me, the head shattered and the shaft splintered before clattering to the floor. The man stared at the broken arrow with a look of absolute horror before slowly looking back at me.

"You're the demon?" he said, his voice strained.

I ignored him and knelt down on the floor to retrieve the knife Devon had tried to kill my master with. I grinned vindictively as I held it above my head and brought it down into the man's chest. As I yanked the blade free, blood spurted from the wound, droplets flying from the knife. I stabbed him again. And again. And again, laughing all the while.

When my anger had finally waned a little, I let the knife fall to the floor and turned my attention to Koel. He was seated on the ground, his eyes wide as he stared at the mutilated corpse before me. His face and the front of his body were splattered with blood. I reached forward and tipped his head up until he was looking at me, his expression awash with terror.

I sighed, realizing my mistake. My master was far too weak to be able to handle such things. I pulled him forward and held him as he trembled against my chest.

"There, there," I said. "I didn't mean to scare you." Honestly, I hadn't given a single thought to Koel, let alone with the intention to scare him.

I gripped his shoulders and pushed him back a little bit. His head hung low and his hands lay limply beside him.

"Master," I said, and he lifted his head. I pushed his hair from his face. "There's no need to be afraid. I wouldn't hurt you; we're a team, right?" I gently took his hand and held it up so the rune faced him. "We're connected."

He stared at the mark for a moment and then back at me. "You told them to kill me."

I ground my teeth in annoyance. What a daft child!

"Not so." I wiped my hand across his cheek, smearing the blood to one side. "I told them that killing you would give them ownership of me because your fear of death was the only way I knew you would use the curse."

He continued to stare at me, and I had to stop myself from snapping at him. His timidity was starting to wear thin.

"Master," I said, moving my hand to the back of his head and pulling him closer to me until his head was against my shoulder. "I won't let anyone hurt you as long as it is within my power, but--"

I pushed Koel away and turned, holding my hand up to catch the blade aimed for my head. While I'd been busy trying to coax my master, the woman must have gotten over her shock and decided to attack while I was distracted.

I locked eyes with her and grinned. She tried to pull her sword back, but I held on. As long as Koel wanted to be rescued from these humans, he would fuel my power through the curse and her mortal weapon could do no damage to me. I tightened my grip.

Blood sprayed across my hand and arm and on the floor and the blade slid free from my hand. I stared at the deep cut that had been gouged into my palm and fingers and then swung my furious gaze back to Koel.

"What are you doing?" I snarled.

He flinched and then his expression hardened and he sat up straighter.

"There's no need to kill anyone else," he said. "We can just run away!"

The woman swung the sword again, the blade whistling through the air toward my legs. I leaped backward, dragging Koel with me.

"You stupid child!" I snapped as I pushed him behind me and dodged another attack.

The woman's movements were fast and precise, and it was taking everything I had to keep both Koel and myself safe from the blade, let alone come up with a counterattack that would get me and my master out unscathed.

I could hear Koel's breaths shuddering as I pushed him behind me. Even without looking, I was positive there were tears in his eyes. These types of things always seemed to make him cry. I ground my teeth at the thought, deciding that my master would need to be forcefully toughened up before he was going to be of much use to me.

The woman's sword whistled through the air, and I twisted to the side, the blade narrowly missing my face. But as it swung by, I moved forward, keeping low, and grabbed at her throat. My fingers brushed skin before she was skidding backwards, her sword hacking through my shoulder. Blood splashed over my front and onto the floor, and I stumbled, unable to dodge her next attack, which sliced through my stomach--a killing blow. For a human, at least, which I'm sure was all this woman had fought before, though it might not make a difference. While I would not die, no matter how many times she cut me, I wouldn't be able to move forever. At some point, my body would just give out and I would need time to heal, and that outcome didn't seem so far off.

I dropped to my knees, a rattling cough splattering blood against the floor.

The woman's sword dropped forward, the blade against my neck. Her breathing had grown a little harsher, but for the most part she remained composed.

"I expected a demon to put up more of a fight," she said. She sounded disappointed. "But it's over for you now. This is for Devon.

She lifted her sword back up and to the side, preparing to cleave my head from my body.

"Don't!" Koel shouted, but given the look in the woman's eyes, his plea fell on deaf ears. She was drunk on the idea of vengeance for her dead comrade.

Her face twisted into something ugly, something monstrous and maybe even demonic, and she swung the sword hard. I barely even felt the blade as it sliced cleanly through my neck.

Day # 22
Theme: Something is wrong with the moon

Day # 24
Theme: Hero

Heroes are much more
than tight spandex and red capes
in mass production.

Comments: Got caught up playing a game with my sister, which is a shame because I would have loved to do something for insanity. XD

Day # 26
Theme: Poison



Comments: Super simple cover today because I spent most of the day working on a website that I agreed to make for someone before realizing I've pretty much forgotten everything about HTML and CSS, so now I'm trying to relearn it all. emotion_0A0

Day # 28
Theme: Songbird