Torn : Prologue
| Prologue |
The night drew in quickly, bringing with it a blanket of black to shroud the city of Los Angeles, as heavy clouds filtered out the moon and stars. The night brought with it not only the darkness, but other things too, things that could only be described as evil. The air was thick with the oppressive energy of something that stalked the Earth’s surface as it searched for what it desired to satisfy its ancient hunger; human souls.
Demons were very much a part of reality, though very few people became aware of their existence until it was too late. The wicked creatures existed out of phase with the rest of the world, generally going through time and space as nothing more than a shiver along a person’s spine. But sometimes, when the balance of the world shifted, they would find a way through; tears forming in the invisible barrier that separated them from us. The creature that stood in the dark, city street had found one of those tears, and it was hungry.
The demon stood and sniffed the air, the scent of every fresh soul in the city filling its nostrils. It breathed deeply and tried to focus on the strongest scent it could, the one soul that it craved to devour above all others. It wouldn’t take the demon long to find that soul. In fact, in the end, the soul sought it out.
The demon leaned forward, its body covered in a thick leathery hide. The demon’s figure curved as it stretched out its back, the gentle dips and bumps of flesh showing evidence of being female; this demon had been female once, a human female. Its eyes were bright as it rested on all fours, its hands and feet almost hoof like in how they were formed, black stripes across its dirty red-grey skin. It snorted and bared its teeth as it looked at the female human standing in front of it. The soul was strong and the demon was well aware that the human could see it clearly. It watched cautiously. This was no ordinary human, and yet the desire to split the soft body in two and tear at its insides was almost too much to bear.
The woman stood motionless, piercing blue eyes settling on the creature in front of her. She raised her hands and pulled her long dark hair back from her face, high cheek bones and full lips clearly visible as her hair fell in a delicate wave. She’d seen many demons in her thirty-two years, and she was yet to be surprised by the ugliness they brought with them into the world. Her eyes lingered on its blood covered teeth; some human had already fallen tonight.
The woman threw open her long coat and held out her arms, the material falling away and to the hard ground. She stood her ground, the demon kicking roughly against the street as it debated the ideal method to get what it wanted. The woman knew her soul was tempting the demon, perhaps driving it to a lustful obsession, as a strong energy pulsed around her body. She spread her legs a little and reaffirmed her stance, her heeled boots pressed hard to the concrete sidewalk.
The demon roared and started to run, a gruelling pace as it tore across the night and towards the soul it wished to ravage. The woman was its only focus, its jaw wide as it soared through the cool night. It pounced, heavy hoofed limbs outstretched and ready to slam into the soft flesh of the woman standing poised before it. There was a silence as the woman stepped sideways, dodging the attack as the demon landed on the sidewalk with a grunt, its body skidding forward and dropping to the ground.
The demon lay motionless, its eyes rolling in its skull as it tried to work out what had happened. There was a heat in its throat. It went to stand, blood spraying from a wound it hadn’t even known it had been given. It squealed as it turned to the woman, its eyes falling to the soft orange glow around the woman’s arm and beneath the sleeve of the pale silk shirt she was wearing. The demon whined as more blood sprayed from its throat and it collapsed to the ground.
The woman watched as the demon fell, and took slow steps as she approached the creature. It was smaller than most demons she’d faced, maybe six foot if it stood to its full height. She stood over the wounded beast, watching as it kicked out its hind legs in a struggle to get away. She held out her arm, the glow getting brighter as she raised it high above her head. “May you find peace,” she whispered in a silky tone. Her arm came down, the demon crying out as it was struck in the chest, something piercing through flesh and bone as it sought out the place its human heart had once beaten.
The beast writhed, a heat finding the caged soul inside its chest and tearing into the thick barrier. It opened its mouth wide, blood oozing from its neck as it screamed wildly. The woman stepped back, a bright, white light rising in the demon’s chest, as ribs were forced wide and flesh started to burn. A final terrible squeal, and the light ripped from the demon’s body and rose into the air.
The woman smiled and watched the light rise, a fizzing sound as the light began to vibrate. She watched as the demon’s soul danced in the air. A moment more and it eventually expanded in one last vibration, pieces of light scattering through the air as it exploded upwards into the sky. The woman closed her eyes, the soul was free. She’d returned it to the ether, and it was now in someone else’s hands to judge that soul; heaven or hell.
She opened her eyes and looked down at the demon, watching as the flesh started to decay to ash and blow away in the gentle breeze. She looked up, a frown spreading across her face too late as a searing pain spread through her body. She threw back her head, a terrible scream ripped from her throat as she was lifted from the ground. She screamed painfully, blood gurgling up through her lungs and out her mouth as she felt something tearing into her.
She dared to look down at the dark stain on her shirt. There was a flicker in the atmosphere, a crackle as two worlds collided. She raised her hands, wrapping them around the dark, metallic claws that had pierced her body. She screamed again as she was lifted higher, the claws slicing upwards through her abdomen and chest. Blood exploded from her chest as she slipped downwards over the clawed hand, her heart shredded. A final bloody breath and her head fell sideways, and then all that was left was silence.
Her limp body was discarded across the street, crumpling as it hit the side of a building, and slid as a bloody tangle of limbs to the ground. The clawed arm curled backwards, air crackling as it was forced back within the torn atmosphere. It had already spent over a hundred years trying to find a way through into the human world, the desire to tear at human souls driving the demon insane as it waited. Now wasn’t its time, but it could wait.
As the atmosphere sealed itself once more, the young woman’s body lay desiccated on the ground. Blood pooled around her, her flesh and insides torn and destroyed by the demon’s savagery. Her bright blue eyes stared straight ahead, her final image of something she held most dear; something she would have died to protect, and perhaps she did.
Her eyes were met by those of a four year old. Tears streamed down the child’s face, as he wrapped his fingers through the wooden slats of the pallet he had been hidden behind. He tried to call his momma’s name, fear catching in his throat as he made a whimpered sound. He needed her to hold him and make it all okay. The big bad monsters from his nightmares were becoming real, despite his momma having told him over and over, there are no such things as monsters.
Slowly he emerged from his hiding place, his hand slipping in the thick red puddle that surrounded his momma. He continued to cry, new tears falling over his plump, rosy cheeks as he wiped his hand down the front of his denim bib and brace overalls; his momma’s blood smearing over the new outfit. He sat beside her, quietly rocking as he wrapped his hand in hers. He whimpered, his other bloody hand stroking through long, dark hair, strands being matted together with his momma’s blood. He cried hard as he realised his momma had lied to him, and that the lie had torn her apart. He curled up against her protectively as he decided that monsters were very real.
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