Chapter 22

Ahri’s eyes widened in panic at Nate’s sudden motion. But before she knew it he was standing before her and hundreds of mental threads were assaulting her mind, forcing its way in through any weaknesses. She raised her own defenses, but it was too late. Nate had received a random part of her memories…

“On your feet, prisoner!”

Ahri didn’t respond to her jailor’s instruction. Instead, she took deep breaths and stared at the wall in front of her. It was a dark gray wall filled with clusters of tally marks. She had to prepare herself, for she would be recording another tally mark on that wall today.

The sound of approaching footsteps made her flinch. A key was slipped into the lock on her door and the small amount of light she usually got was blocked by the jailor’s large build when he stood at the doorway.

“On your feet.” He growled.

Ahri ignored the command knowing it would only end up hurting her in the end, but she didn’t care. Her heart beat furiously in anticipation as she stared at the wall of tally marks, waiting for something to happen. A heavy club smashed into the back of her head, sending her face-first to the floor.

The pain didn’t affect her as much as it used to. She found the only escape from pain was to seek the dark void her jailors had created within her. Ahri felt like an observer as the jailor stomped on her body and punched her several times.

“Think very carefully, girl.” The jailor’s sour breath filled her nostrils. He then grabbed the chain between the two shackles on her hands, and hauled her to her feet.

She stood on her feet swaying. She was completely naked and her body was covered in feces, blood, and countless other repugnant fluids.

The jailor said something in a language she didn’t understand. Then hands were upon her as two people came in and wrenched her forward. The jailor walked on ahead as his two lackeys escorted Ahri behind him. They had to drag her along as Ahri was unwilling to participate in the least.

They reached the hall of screams. Ahri called it that because there was always people screaming. Sometimes it was one person, but more often than not it was several people. Today there were many.

The jailor rapped twice on a door at the end of the hall. There was a pause before the door swung open revealing a room she had grown so accustomed to. It was filled with blood-stained tools spread out on old wooden tables.

There was a chair with several locks used to hold the prisoner. Ahri was shoved into that seat and the lackeys began locking her in. The one who opened the door had moved back towards the wall of tools turning his back on her.

Once they were done locking her in the chair they left the room. The jailor exchanged a few words with the man then left the room as well, leaving her alone with him. All she knew about this man was his name; Raki.

“What sort of fun should we get into today?” Raki spoke in nasally tone as if his nose was broken. “I was thinking physical torture. But then again, your tolerance for pain has reached a whole new threshold. I don’t have the creativity within me today to devise something that would get you to scream… what do you think?”

Raki turned around and looked at her. Ahri sat there with an emotionless expression on her face. “Aw, come on.” Raki said mocking disappointment. “It’s no fun if you don’t respond.”

Raki sighed.. “It doesn’t have to be this way, you know? You can still choose to save yourself and tell us where your father is. Think of all the lives you’d save. It’s the right thing to do.”

Ahri’s eyes narrowed and her nose flared in barely suppressed anger. She forced herself to remain calm. She felt a whole slew of emotions threatening to overwhelm her so she clung to that darkness within and distanced herself from it.

But Raki had noticed her reaction. “Oh? You think I’m lying?” When she didn’t respond he continued. “It’s understandable really. The demon blood within you is preventing you from seeing reason. But luckily you don’t have to think for yourself. You have me.”

Raki’s eyes glowed a golden color. “What is an angel’s purpose if not to bring order to you savage heathens?”

He tried to bait her, but she was clearly not responding. He rolled his eyes. “Well if we can’t do physical torture, let’s go for emotional. No matter what I’ll break that will of yours and have you call me master. You will learn your place, demon.”

Several hours later Ahri was thrown back into her cell where she collapsed on the ground. Her legs were too weak to hold her up. Fresh blood and white liquid covered her thighs and leaked out of her nether regions.

There was a bucket of water and a tray of food in the corner of her cell that weren’t there before. She pulled the bucket of water close to her and ignored the tray of food. As she looked down, she could see a reflection of her face in the water.

She could see the blisters on her face, her heavily bruised eyes, her matted hair that clung together from all the fluids that dried in it. If she could cry, she would. But that ability had been lost for a long time.

Slowly she crawled her way over to the wall filled with tally marks. She took one of the small pieces of rock that littered the floor and began to etch one more tally on there.

Nate snapped back to the real world. Ahri was standing in front of him with a stormy look on her face. “What did you see?!” She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him a foot in the air.

“WHAT. DID. YOU. SEE?!” Her voice turned guttural and her eyes began to elongate like the eyes of a cat.

“Nothing!” Nate tried to remove her hand but she had a surprisingly firm grip on his throat. “I swear, it was nothing important!”

She stared into his eyes for several seconds before shoving him to the floor. “Don’t you ever lay your fucking hands on me again!” She looked like she wanted to punch him, but decided to let it go.

“You’re a demon.” Nate said.

Ahri remained silent for several second before answering. “I’m a Nephilim.”

“What’s a Nephilim?”

“Half human, half demon. Like you.”

Nate finally understood why she had taken such an interest in him. She was a demon like himself. She’d been through a traumatic experience in the past, one that closed her off from others. But when she found Nate who was half-demon like her, she thought she found someone to confide in. A fellow demon.

And now he’d broken that trust. “I’m sorry…”

“No. You’re not. Not like you should be.” Ahri sighed in frustration. “But you will soon enough when you transition back to your human form. The emotion’s the demon side of you has neglected will come crashing down on you like the force of a tsunami.”

“How did you know I was a demon?” Nate asked.

Ahri turned to look at the forest then turned back to him. “We don’t really have the time to be talking about this, but I remember you from ten years ago. You were on the news and all over the internet. Many said it was fake news, but I knew. I knew it was real. That’s why I came to the Academy. I figured if you were still alive you’d be here.”

Ahri crouched down and placed a gentle hand on Nate’s cheek. He looked up at her eyes and saw there was warmth in them. Warmth she felt for him. “Nephilims like us are rare. It is our human side that allows us to be on this side of the Qiyamah. Most of us cannot turn into our demon form otherwise we’re kicked out of this realm, but you’re special. The trial you’ve gone through with the tribulation lightning has made you immune to its laws. That can be a blessing and a curse.”

Ahri stood up pulling Nate to his feet. “Now you really need to go, the instructors will be here soon.”

Nate shifted back to his human form and instantly felt a wealth of emotions rise to the surface. Emotions didn’t affect his demon side as much, but it seemed his human side was completely vulnerable to them. The doubt that had taken root was beginning to eat away at him. Did I make the right decision?

He’d decided on letting Mendell go because of the risks involved, but when his demon broke free he found himself not giving a care. He fought and killed Mendell, and although at the time he didn’t think it, now he could see it was a foolish decision. He was used, and Mendell seemed to think it was Master Andrea who was behind it.

I’m not letting that shit happen again. He swore to himself as he made his way towards the lake at the bottom of the waterfall.

Ahri watched him go. Once he was gone she slipped into the twilight zone where Andrea was still seated at the edge of the cliff above the lake.

“Why didn’t you tell him what the ring of life does?” Andrea asked.

“Nate is still getting acclimated to his demon.” She looked at Andrea. “Don’t misunderstand my intentions. If I thought it was best for Nate, I would’ve finished Mendell off before the ring of life activated.” Ahri said without hesitation. “It just so happened in this case, it wasn’t necessary.”

“What do you want from Nate? Why’re you manipulating him?”

“Manipulation implies I’m using Nate for power or personal gain. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’m guiding him so that he can reach his full potential.”

“To what end?”

“That’s up to Nate. If he wants to conquer the world or become a hermit, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as he has enough power to do what he wants.” Ahri’s eyes narrowed in resolve. “I won’t let what happened to me ever happen to him. That’s a promise.”

Andrea watched her for several moments. “What do you think will happen if he finds out you’re lying?”

“I’m not lying. I just haven’t told him the whole truth, yet.”

“You did. You told him you were just a student.”

“Currently I am ‘just a student’.”

“Bah! Semantics. The fact of the matter is you’re not telling him everything. He might see that as a betrayal in the future. What will you do then, after you’ve helped him acquire all this power and he decides to kill you for lying to him.”

Ahri went silent as she digested Andrea’s words. Andrea jumped down from the cliff and landed softly at the base. She made her way over to Ahri who was deep in thought.

Ahri suddenly felt soft lips land gently upon hers. She returned the kiss and then pulled back. She looked down into Andrea’s eyes who was looking at her with affection. “Guide him. You don’t have to tell him everything, but you can be a positive influence in his life. You just gotta be more forthcoming. Don't lurk in the shadows so much.”

"It's going to take some getting used to, but I know you can do it. I believe in you." Andrea wrapped her arms around Ahri and she melted into her warm embrace. They stayed in that intimate embrace for several minutes. Ahri finally pulled back.

“We shouldn’t be doing that.” Ahri sighed. “We promised to stop, remember?”

“That’s all you. I made no such promises.” She beamed at Ahri. “Besides, out there we might be on different sides, but in here we don’t have to be. What happens in the twilight zone, stays in the twilight zone.”

Ahri grinned. “You’re a fool.”