"Mikal!" Ana screamed into his ear, though the young man didn't even flinch. He had been long gone, passed on to the next life albeit prematurely. Tears streamed down her rosy red cheeks like a leaky faucet as she pounded his chest, screaming at nothing in particular.
Red eyed, she jumped to her feet, circling where she stood. Looking for the demon she knew was watching silently from the safety of the forest beyond the road. "Come out, you b@$t@rd!" she cried out pathetically. She no longer sounded like her reserved, collected, cold self.
"No need to get hostile," came the demon's voice from the shadows of the trees. The moon served as the only light in the darkness of the dead of night. Stepping out, Ana recognized him straight away as one of her father's followers. His shaggy blonde locks blew in the wind and his piercing red eyes stared at her with amusement.
"You @$$hole! What have you done?" she cried out, her mouth seemed to always be flapping, and more often than not got her into loads of trouble. But, at this point in time, she didn't think she had much to lose.
The demon shrugged his broad shoulders as he walked casually towards her. Stopping in front of the dead corpse, he stared down at the lifeless form, clucking his tongue and shaking his head. "That's one dead piece of meat," he sneered up at Ana.
Ana stepped forward protectively. "Bring him back, you son of a b*tch. You did this to him, now bring him back, Jakal!" she ordered. Mikal had been been immortal. He shouldn't have died.
Jakal smirked. "You aren't in a position to demand anything. If I would even consider to bring him back, there has to be something in it for me. What do you have to offer me? What do I have to gain by helping you?"
Ana averted her eyes and stared at Mikal, whose tragic demise had been caused by a silver knife that had been thrust into his heart by the very demon in front of Ana now. She would do anything for him, as he had saved her life on numerous occasions. What could she offer this demon that would be of use to him?
"What do you want?" she asked meeting his menacing gaze.
He smiled cruelly, "Something you don't REALLY need." he shrugged as he stepped closer towards her.
Opening her eyes, Ana was face to face with the man that had saved her from the very demon she had just been fighting. The demon she had been unable to kill, and this newcomer had so easily finished off. She frowned as she studied this man's face. He looked so much like Mikal it was uncanny. But, that couldn't be. He was dead.
This kid had the same short black hair and radiant blue eyes. It was the eyes that reminded her so much of Mikal. The young man stood up and walked to the other side of the fire that was crackling with life.
Sitting up, she took in her surroundings and tried to remember what had caused her to black out. A giant migraine beat at the inside of her head as though someone was in there pounding away with a mallet. They were in a clearing deep in the woods. It was early in the morning, not even light out yet. The moon was hiding behind the trees, waiting to go down and hide behind the horizon.
"How are you feeling?" he young man asked, bringing her attention back to him.
She shrugged. "What happened?"
"After I killed that demon for you, you blacked out when I got close to you. I think it's the silver in the blade I have. You are half demon are you not?" he observed.
"So what if I am?" she replied, narrowing her eyes.
He shrugged. "That's why you fainted. The knife has so much silver in it. It even radiates the silver out in few foot radius. You just got caught in the radius when I got too close."
"Then why am I ok right now?" Ana asked looking around for the knife.
"When it is in its sheath, it doesn't pulsate like that. The sheath traps the powers of the knife," he explained as though I should know this already. He paused as he fingered the sheath in his belt. "So, what's your name, your story?"
Ana shrugged. She wasn't just going to spill her guts to a complete stranger. "Ana, and I was just on a routine mission."
"Is it routine for you to get your butt handed to you?" he smirked at her. He was only teasing, but Ana didn't get that and was highly offended.
"Look, you little cretin, I never asked for your help. I would have been able to take care of myself," Ana insisted as she folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the nearest tree trunk.
"It's Caleb, and not from where I had been standing, hence my coming to your rescue," he told her as he got up and added more firewood to the pile of smoldering wood.
She glared over at him. "See it how you may. I'm not going to argue with a kid in a cape." She turned and stared into the darkness, looking for something out of the ordinary.
"Hey, I happen to think it is a great accessory. It's helpful when I jump from high distances," he explained; it was clear that Ana had offended him with her remark.
She smirked. "Sure, whatever."
"Look, I didn't have to save you and bandage your busted ribs and leg."
Ana looked over at him, annoyance written all over her face. Standing up, she twisted her torso. The ribs had long been healed. "It wasn't necessary. You just wasted your time worrying about something that needn't be worried about. She walked over to his side. "I am more powerful than you can imagine. I was just having an off night. And I didn't have silver to bail me out of that fight. You won on a fluke. I was trying to win on my own."
"Ya, some luck you had, huh?" Caleb replied defiantly. He wasn't going to give in to her quick remarks.
"Touche," she shrugged as she sat back down.
This kid had spunk. He may serve as useful to her after all. True, she wasn't yet sure of what he was capable of, but she had a feeling she would find out soon enough. She wanted to know why this man had roused dreams of Mikal, whom she hadn't thought about in ages. What was it about him that brought about thoughts of him?
*Ya, so I finally got a chapter up. What you think of it? I got big plans for them! Yeah!*
