Erravi

Bright light explodes from behind my closed eyes, my lids staining a bright, fiery crimson. I cringe back into the thick carpet, like the fluffy material could absorb my body and take me somewhere safe, anywhere but this burning room. The crackle from the fire raging in the room around me - my room - roars incessantly in my ears, making it hard to think straight. Or maybe it's the pain from the wound on my forehead where that coward hit me? I can't be sure. Nothing makes sense anymore.

“Achori!” I hear my name being called from somewhere in the house, beyond the fire, beyond the bodies laying outside my door. My parents bodies. At the mention of the two who’ll never again hold me, a lump forms in my throat. I cough raggedly, struggling to breathe now that the smoke and my closing throat are blocking oxygen from my lungs. A dull ache throbs in my chest, deep inside. “Ever!” Again, the same voice calls - and this time I recognize it. Where has he been? The fire’s been raging for at least an hour by now - and why didn't he come when he heard our screams?

“I'm here!” I cry out, trying and praying my voice reaches the guy, my friend. The door bursts open, splinters of blackened wood go flying across the room and the fire around me roars with renewed life - until the guy walks in. Large silvery-grey wings frame his form, stormy grey eyes burning bright and reflecting the red from the fire, his platinum blonde hair has been cut short, but I’d recognize him anywhere.

“Jason,” I call to him, crawling out from under the bed as the fire around the room begins to act strangely, dying down in his presence instead of continuing its crusade. He sees me, and rushes to my side, concern in his warm grey eyes.

“Hey, I'm here.” He murmurs, helping me up from the sooty carpet that was on fire just a moment ago. His hands brace my shoulders, warm and rough, but gentle all at once. “Are you okay?” He looks me over, one of his hands brushing the blood from my eyes and tracing it back to the wound in my matted curls.

“He killed them.” I breathe, the words gushing out before I can stop them. By now the fire’s been put out and we’re standing in the half-burned wreckage of my room. I look around, my eyes lingering over the steaming pile just outside the door.

“Who?” Jason releases me, his eyes widening as the truth begins to dawn on him. “Where are your parents?” I stumble away from him, walking over the the still hot pile of flesh and charred bones. My father’s hand is wrapped around the hilt of a black-bladed sword. The only sign that either of them put up a fight. Tears begin to leak from my eyes, pain lancing through my chest as I study the corpses. They're almost unrecognizable, roughly the right size to have once been my parents, laying beside each other, as if going to sleep. But they’ll never wake, they'll never take another breath again, never say they love me or tuck me in at night. They're gone.

“Where were you?” I ask quietly, my grief slowly beginning to twist in my chest. Jason’s been gone for weeks now, he's been living with us for the last few years, since his own family cast him out. We trusted him to be here, with us. Why wasn't he here?

“I-” Jason begins, but I turn to face him, sensing the lie before he tries to voice it. I glare at him, study his black uniform, a singular red stripe crossing his chest. Black tattoos have been inked on his neck, just beneath the collar, like tendrils of black fire, they lick up to his jaw. Cold grips my heart, the broken, shattered thing in my chest becomes still and lifeless.

“When did they recruit you?” I ask, my voice as broken as I feel.

“Achori-” he begins, guilt flashing in his eyes as he takes a step towards me. I stand, my skin prickling, not from the fire, but from a sudden surge of Power. My spine aches, the skin around the area burning as it rips, releasing the Power and jet black wings explode from behind me. My wings.

“Don't call me that.” I spit at him. Achori is the name my parents gave me as a demon, before they switched sides, before they renamed me Evergreen - as an angel. To call me that name now, right after they were murdered by a demon - it's not right. “You Bloomed, didn't you?” I accuse him, my wings flaring out behind me in anger, knocking the wall out behind me. He's a full-fledged demon now, and by the looks of his tattoos and outfit - he's part of the Demon Guard.

“Ev-” he raises his hands in surrender, but I'm not listening anymore. I turn back to the bodies of my parents and see a flash of silver on my mom’s neck. Leaning down, I gently remove the necklace from her skin. It's the only piece of her left intact. A bright green emerald hangs from the end of the silver chain, the same color as her eyes - my eyes as well. I swallow, clasping the pendant to my own chest - as if that will bring her back, and close my eyes, making one last promise to them. Their death’s will be avenged. “Ever, please-” I pick up the blade by my father, sheathe it, and pull the worn strap over my shoulder.

“Shut up.” I hiss at Jason, not bothering to look at him as I leave the room, walking purposefully down the hall - ignoring him as he runs after me, trying to catch up with me. The winding hall is still intact, soft white walls stained in sprays of red - the only indication of the fight that took place.

“I didn't have a choice-”

“They can't force you to do anything, Jason.” I growl back, picking up the pace as I get closer and closer to my destination. The balcony doors are opened, the glass’ been knocked out and I can see the black ichor from the man who murdered my parents on the rails just beyond. I stop right in front of the stuff, lean down to smell it and wrinkle my nose as the rancid scent confirms what I already know to be true. The man who did this was a demon, a high ranking demon, just like Jason is now. I take an experimental lick of the demon blood, doing my best not to spit out the sour stuff as I let the demon inside me do its work.

“Ever-” Jason tries again, placing a hand on my shoulder. I whirl around and slap him, catching him off guard. His eyes go wide, shock clearly visible on his normally emotionless face as he stares at me. The right side of his face has the bright red imprint of the back of my right hand. I've never hit him before - hell, I've never hit anyone before now, not even when I was bullied at school. And I never wanted to until now.

“Don't talk to me like you know me. You've lost any right you had to talk to me.” I growl at him, my voice changing as the demonic side of me writhes inside, bringing black to the surface of my skin - painting my veins in a spiderweb-like pattern along my exposed skin. My wings thread with blood-red feathers and it's all I can do to keep myself from hitting him again as I ball my hands into fists. “We're not family anymore. We're not friends.” I intone, my voice echoing with multiple octaves and becoming sickly fluid and rhythmic. And with that final sentence, I whirl back to the rail and jump up onto the metal bar. The cold air whips at my half-burned clothes, lashing at my hair and I have to take a deep breath to steady myself.

“Where will you go? You don't have any family, Ev-Stryder.” Jason calls behind me, using my last name. I don't reply at first, just let the demon blood I just tasted flow through my system and like a GPS system, my demon senses come alive. My eyes burn as the bright white trail of smoke leading from the rail beneath me comes alive, swaying in the wind. His scent. The man I need to kill. “You need me, I can help you-”

“I don't need anyone.” I finally say back to Jason, the demonic side of me quieting after a moment. I take one last deep breath and dive off the balcony.