Because I am so focused on writing my book, I have put other projects on hold. Sometimes I will find old writings of mine and wish I could find the time to finish. I got struck with inspiration one day and wrote feverishly for hours until this idea came into form. Here is a snippet of what I was working on. Hopefully I can make some progress with this!
The demon looked at the mortal female and wondered why he hasn’t killed her yet. One swipe to the throat from his lethal claws could have her on the ground, luscious red spluttering from her neck like a geyser. The fear in her eyes would soon fade to the blankness of death and the demon would lick the blood clean from his claws and move on.
But the demon did not have any choice. His wings were damaged, the membrane shredded and the remaining feathers were wilted and black with poison and grime. The demon had been always known for holding such pride for his wings. Meticulous with its care, the demon made sure that all of his brethren would look up him as a god, fearless, beautiful, and strong.
But the demon did not feel fearless nor beautiful and especially not strong as darkness clouded his vision and he succumbed to pain.
Topaz knows she should have run away when she saw the demons fighting. The two tall and deadly forms did not hold back as they stabbed and swiped with steel swords and scratched with deadly-looking claws.
She had hid in the bushes, too scared and amazed to do anything else but idly watch by. Instinctively, it was smart not to run or alert the predators of her attention, she would be their prey, she thought, a lone hare fending off two ravenous wolves.
She should have not felt pity for the loser of the fight, but she did. The victor cheated, she realized. He had taken something from his pocket, something she was very familiar with. It was a poison that her village made to fend of the demons with. A demon using that type of poison was illogical and the other demon definitely did not expect that. The Cheater threw the poison on his foes wings and Topaz will never forget the screams that were uttered. It was the sound of animal being tortured as he tried to wipe the liquid off of his precious wings, the smell nauseating to her, horrifying for him. Topaz never had wings before but if she were ever blessed to have them, she would have never wished this type of horror on anyone.
The Cheater knew his opponent was finished, he smiled that villainous smile that made Topaz want to take her bow and arrow and shot that smug look off.
Raising his foot to deliver the final blow, Topaz could not believe how fast the other demon got up and punched his claws into the Cheater’s neck. Topaz blinked as did the Cheater, neither expecting the other demon to recover from the poison’s devastating hold. The Cheater sputtered as the other demon released him, his blood spraying and his hands reaching for his neck, as if to his lifeblood from leaving him. But as a trained healer, Topaz knew that it was to late from him.
The Cheater died, then the other demon swayed on his feet and fell into a dead heap onto the floor, curving at the last minute, so he would land on his side and not on his damaged wings.
It was silent in the forest.
Topaz mind was not still. Options flew in her mind. Should she run like hell or stay?
Stay? A mortal saving a demon that probably has killed hundreds of her people? But she had heard her screams, seen his pain, and the healer in her could not see race, but only the need to save any life.
Topaz got up slowly from the dirt and her decision changed her life inexorably.
Slowing approaching the bloody form, Topaz leaned over and stared into the black eyes of the demon.
Looking into his eyes, she could only see hate. A boundless black, depthless and his hatred towards humanity glowed with an evil glare.
She should have run. Any person with an ounce of sense would have. But Topaz remembers the dog she saved a few years ago. He snarled and barked at her, almost tearing her arm off when she tried to pet him. People told her to shoot the dog, but she remembers finding him changed to a fence, body emaciated, and open wounds oozing and long ago white scars from years of fights.
After months of meticulous care and food and water, Benny became the sweetest and most reliable dog she had ever had.
Thinking about the canine, Topaz remembers him dozing off on the porch when she left him, his paws miming swimming while he dreamed.
So Topaz ignores any common sense she once had and help the demon. Crouching down, she takes a closer look at the unconscious demon, her eyes fastening on his strong features covered in scars and drying blood. Topaz had never been up close to a living demon before, especially the one who resemble humans. The demons who are grotesque and completely other completely fit the bill to what a demon should look like but if someone were to come across this demon and not notice his wings, he could pass for a very handsome man, which is terrifying thought.
Deciding the best way to get him anywhere was to carefully lift him from his shoulders and drag him like a dead body. Slowly walking behind him, Topaz tentatively touched the demon, afraid that he would shoot up and attack her. But when he remained still, she took a deep breath and hooked her arms underneath his arms.
Surprisingly, he was lighter than he looked. A human man this size would have made it impossible for Topaz to even make him budge without help. But as Topaz accidently brushed against the demon’s mangled wings, she realized he was like a bird, where that his bone would have to be lighter to be able to take flight.
Topaz started to drag the demon, carefully stepping over and rocks and debris, not realizing that she will have to hide him somewhere. Options run through her mind until she hears a shout in the distance. Freezing stock still, Topaz thoughts are sluggish with panic. Where to hide him?
She cannot bring him back at home, as soon as someone spots those wings, he will be a goner.
The shouts become louder and Topaz hears the crunch of boots and Topaz quickly makes her decision. Dragging the demon’s body as fast as she can, she heads to the abandoned hunter’s shack that had been raided by demons a few years ago. Topaz imagines the run down shack now, blood crusted on the walls, the doors and window busted in but it had a roof and it would hide the demon for sure.
Topaz’s breath was laboring by the time she reached the shack, the sun starting descend and the air cooling, Topaz slowly dropped the demon’s body on the ground, resting her back on a nearby tree as she caught her breath.
Going over to haul the demon inside, Topaz thought of any supplies she would need to run back and get. Because it had been a hunter’s lodge, there would be a medical kit with the most basic essentials like bandages and hopefully salves. Resting her hands on her knees, her mind spun as she thinks of possibilities of whether the demon would wake up and kill her any moment. It was foolish to bring him hear and it was foolish to think of helping him.
But as Topaz remembers his anguished yell as the poison ate him, she forgot he was a separate species but any other of her patients––––
Mecca-Amirah Jackson 