• Prologue

    Blood on a Rose

    Kai was walking down the dark road towards the cemetery. It wasn’t quite night, but sunset had already past and the air was beginning to cool. It was winter again. Another year had gone by since the death of his parents. As usual on this day, December 6, he would walk to the cemetery and place a rose down upon each of his parents’ graves.

    It’s going to be a cold winter. I said to myself as I quickened my pace. I looked up and saw the bright moon surrounded by stars, with not a cloud to be seen. I sighed. How many times was it now? Nine? Nine years since my parents passed. I can’t even imagine living with them anymore. They’re such a blur now, like a distant memory. I don’t know why I bring a rose for each Mother and Father every year. At first it helped with the depression. I would talk to them standing near their graves. I would imagine their replies and the look on their faces when I brought them a beautiful red rose. I guess now I just do this for routine. I lowered my head back down to look at the old cracked sidewalk that I walked upon. Some grass stems grew up from the tiny ravines and brushed along my shoes as I walked, their dew in glistening streaks along the sides of my shoes. I looked now to the gates of the cemetery. The old black metal gates always seem to send a chill up my spine. They creaked at any motion, no matter how small, and had rust in most spots which made it worse. Some people say that going out into a cemetery at night is bad luck, but I was running late today and had to do a lot of chores around the house before I could come down here.

    I pushed through the gates and wandered the dirt trail to the spot where my parents were buried. I leaned down and placed a rose on Mother’s grave, then on Father’s. When I got up from my crouched position I felt a chill, like something really fast ran by behind me. Before I had the chance to turn my head and see if anything was there, a sharp pain jolted through my right shoulder. I fell to my knees and looked to my right. A long metal sword had pierced my shoulder and was enveloped in blood. My arm went numb. Thick blood ran down my long-sleeved shirt, making it cling to my skin. I screamed in pain. Before I could stop myself I reached over with my left arm and pulled the sword from my flesh. It was a stab from behind, making this even more difficult. But as soon as the sword was freed the blood poured faster. Clutching my shoulder with my good arm, I found the strength to stand and face who had done this to me. A familiar dark blue demon with piercing yellow topaz eyes was towering over me, grinning wickedly. In a blink of an eye he thrust his arm out at me, putting a strangle hold on my neck. He lifted me into the air with ease as he laughed.

    “Out for a stroll?” He snickered as he lifted me over a foot off the ground, “Why don’t you accompany me so I can make sure you’re not in harms way.” I tried to struggle, but with the loss of blood the strangling had a quick effect. Not to mention his claws dug into my neck every time I moved. I began to gasp for air. But this was it. I was doomed. Doomed to die the way my parents had, by the hands of this demon. Doomed to have my last sight his face, twisted, in a wicked smile. He ran his tongue across the top row of teeth and threw me aside. I flew into a tree, smashing through the trunk and flailing in the air. In an instant he was hovering over me, while I was still in mid-air. “Ready to join your parents in the afterlife?” He walloped my stomach so hard that when I hit the ground a small crater formed around me. I inclined my head and gasped for air. The wound in my shoulder was nothing now compared to the broken ribs I most surely had. He raised his left arm up into the starry sky wielding the sword. In a flash it came down upon me. I flinched and closed my eyes, waiting for death to come. But it didn’t. I looked over to see the sword inches away from my head, struck into the ground. “Scared?” He taunted. He was toying with me, as a cat would with a mouse. Adrenaline pumped through me. The pain was gone, the only thing I felt was the will to survive. Before the demon had time to blink I took the sword and thrust it into his open crooked mouth. I left it there, his eyes fading from laughter to shock. As soon as the sword had hit his black blood showered out upon me. Spattering my face and mixing into my shoulder wound. It fell into my shoulder burning like wildfire as it seeped into my muscles and opened veins. I let out another scream and decided to run before the creature had time to recover. I clutched my shoulder as I hobbled away in fear. I knew that if too much one’s blood was mixed with a demons’, then he/she would become one too. I ran out of the gates and down the sidewalk. I ran beyond several buildings and houses, trying to put as much distance from him as possible without leading him to my home.

    How had this happened? I’ve been taking precautions to avoid demons since the death of my parents. I even paid an elder to put a seal on my room to prevent any kind of demon from entering, not even messenger imps could enter. Someone must have told him about how I go to the cemetery every year. But, only one other person knew about that…Noi. My best friend. Could he have betrayed me? I stumbled and fell to the ground, unable to run anymore. Worry struck across my face. I could feel sharp pain emitting from my bones as they shifted. No! Enough blood mixed with mine! My whole being shifted into my first change.