THIS ONE-SHOT IS RATED M FOR GRAPHICNESS, LANGUAGE, UAL REFERENCES.  PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

 

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Hissss.

 

I watched with unmasked fascination as my blood reacted with the symbols I had painstakingly carved into my bedroom’s wooden floor. The rune symbol for awaken glowed an eerie red as my blood, as if it had a life of its own, traveled through the crevices of my crude handiwork.  

 

Flexing my wrist tiredly, I fixed a weary eye on my cat, Tobias, who was lurking around again despite me having kicked him out of the room on multiple occasions.

 

“Don’t you dare ruin this again, Tobias.”  I glared at the completely unaware feline as he made himself comfortable on my bed.  Tobias stared back unaffectedly before tucking his head into the duvet.

 

Sighing, I flipped to the next page of the Black Magyk tome I had mysteriously found perchance in my school’s hidden, rare book section in the perpetually-empty library.  I ran a finger over the yellowed paper, marveling at the raised print that suggested the entire volume had been handwritten.

 

I balled up the foil that had been wrapped around my sandwich, aiming for the wire wastebasket in the far corner of the study.  

 

The library had sadly become my chosen area to hideout in during the times I was not expected in a classroom.  Staying in any of the classrooms during break guaranteed verbal and/or physical harassment by Dahyun’s followers, essentially the whole school.  And the last time I had dared eaten in the cafeteria, Kai, my boyfriend of a few months, had publicly humiliated me and caused a scene.  I should have known someone had put him up to this--that he had never really truly liked me.  But during those months, no one had laid a single hand on me and not a single curse hurled at me.

 

He had called me a freak in front of the whole school--a word I was no stranger to.  He had amusedly told everyone about my obsessive interest in the occult, detailing gruesome rituals I had allegedly forced him into, all completely fabricated.  My dabbling into darker things wasn’t news really since everyone had always referred to me as the weird, goth-girl that liked practicing witchcraft. Ever since the rumor had been started during my freshman year, my social life had been pretty much damned.

 

The rumor was only partly true.  I was no goth.

 

But the worst of it was when he spread personal videos of us throughout the whole school, his face conveniently not once shown.  We had been two consenting teens and I had trusted him.  Obviously, I was a fool.

 

And lo and behold, who else but my eternal tormentor, Dahyun, had stood smugly at his side.  

 

“Miss Sowon, please walk over to the trashcan and discard of your trash normally.”

 

I startled at the head librarian, Ms. Luna, that had suddenly appeared at my shoulder.

 

“Ye-yes, I’m sorry.”  I rose hurriedly from my seat, heading over to the wastebasket.

 

Ms. Luna shuffled off with her book cart, tsking.  You’d think with how empty the library was, she would appreciate my presence.

 

Somehow, the ball was nowhere near and it was only when I looked up from my crouched position did I notice a sizeable space between the bookcase behind the trash can and the wall beside it.

 

Pressing my cheek against the wall, my mouth opened in surprise as I noticed a seemingly secret area of the library.  Looking back to make sure there was no one else in sight, I slipped one leg through the small space, squeezing myself into the gap in one go.

 

Brushing down my skirt, I headed towards a cluster of black-bound leather spines with gold lettering, feeling instantly drawn to them.

 

“Wiccan Art, Immortal Energies, Black Bible..” I trailed off as I read each spine, running my finger with care along each title.  

 

“Dark… Magyk.”  Instantly, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, the feeling that I was being watched creeping into my churning belly.

 

Curious, I took a deep breath before coaxing the hefty volume from its space on the shelf, a sort of vibrating energy emanating seemingly from within the book.

 

As if wrenched from the shelf by an unseen force, the book plummeted to the ground with an audible crash.

 

Bending over with a groan to pick it up, I pulled back with a start when I realized what pages it had been opened to.

 

There on the spread was an illustration of three men, the heathen demon brothers.  I knew of them, had read about them and been fascinated by them.  According to my research, they could grant you any revenge you desired, for a price of course.  But that’s where the research ended.  Most demonology research included information on what these summoned beings ask for in return for their services--often your soul, your child, a limb or two.  

 

But it was either no one dared ask for their help, or no one lived to talk about it.

 

Feeling a new energy course through my veins, I lifted the book into my arms and hurried back out to the study area.

 

Detached laughter floated from above, causing goosebumps to erupt across my arms.  

 

These walls are so thin, I thought to myself.

 

 

 

The next step to the summoning ritual involved chanting.  I dreaded this as just one mispronunciation or stutter could ruin the whole process.  But I had been practicing the whole week when I could and looking up pronunciation guides on black magyk terms.

 

Rolling my shoulders back, I closed my eyes and began aloud.

 

“Kathscha dolem ipforyk matomn brother.”  Instantly, my chest began to tighten, a sign it was working, that something was happening.

 

“Valem rakim diekn fratres!”  Without cracking upon an eye, I felt the heat of the fire that I knew from experience was now  lighting up the rune symbols.  

 

I repeated these lines over and over until my mind began to numb, my limbs feeling as if they were weighted over and bound by invisible chains.

 

Then, I felt my tongue continue with a language I did not know, with words I did not recall ever learning from the book, my eyes rolling up as I momentarily seized and my voice gave out on a throaty intake of breath.

 

Then nothing.

 

A very familiar and very annoying meow rang through my haze.  

 

“Tobias!”  My eyes shot upon and sure enough, Tobias was at one of the human skulls I had procured from unsupervised gravesites for the ritual.  Too spent to throw something at the wretched feline, I settled for flopping onto my back with a frustrated huff, my hair fanning around my throbbing head.

 

Knowing full-well that I would just have to try again next week during the waning moon, I reluctantly slipped the book under my bed, coughing at the dust rising from the floor.

 

Heading to my bedroom door, I paused midstep when a rapid scratching sound seemed to come from under the bed.

 

“Tobias, stop scratching the damn-”

 

I looked disbelievingly at my cat as he continued to play with a ball of yarn on top of my dresser.  Okay, never mind,  I thought silently, slightly creeped out.  Shrugging it off, I clicked the door shut behind me.

 

The moment I stepped into my first class of the day and saw Kai whispering excitedly among his groupies and throwing a seedy smirk my way, I should have known to walk right out of that classroom.  But I chose to ignore my gut feeling and headed to my seat in the very back, making sure to conceal my bandaged palm with my long sleeves.

 

Class carried on as per usual, with the teacher’s constantly roving eyes the perfect deterrent to anyone thinking about bothering the “creepy goth in the back”.  When the bell rang, I headed to my next class without a hitch, not bothering to go to my locker.  I wasn’t even going to bother opening that deathtrap anymore. Somehow, my locker combination always managed to go public no matter how many times I had it changed and I would receive such nice presents inside it after every period--who doesn’t love a dead bird flattened and squeezed in between the pages of their history book.  Whoever it was had even added a little note that read “for your next ritual”.  

 

I went through two more classes in a daze before lunch rolled around.  Everyone left the class in a hurry, leaving me packing my notebooks into my tote bag.

 

I looked up when I heard the door click shut.

 

“I’ve missed you my little witch.”  Kai cooed, loosening his tie.

 

I hurriedly zipped my bag shut then made a beeline for the door furthest away from, but he was too fast.

 

“Where are you going, Sowon?  Not too fast.” he clucked his tongue, having the audacity to place his hands on my shoulders.  His eyes took me in my face hungrily, his gaze roving unwelcomingly down my body.

 

“Let me go.”  I said darkly, my eyes glaring daggers into him.

 

He gave a low snarl before shoving me back until my head hit concrete and I yelped.  He laughed aloud, reveling in my pain.  I felt my tote bag fall to the floor with a clunk as the contents of my lunch no doubt fell out of its box.

 

Tears sprang to my eyes when he firmly cupped the side of my neck and dug his nails into my skin.

 

“Oh don’t act like you aren’t enjoying this attention, like mother like daughter, right?”  he winked, his fingers tightening and making my vision spin ever so slightly.

 

“What are you talking about?”  I asked, my eyes slightly bulging as I began to struggle with my breathing.

 

Kai laughed before thankfully loosening his hold.

 

“Your mom was so desperate, I see that in you too.”  his eyes twinkled dangerously as he used his knee to roughly part my legs.

 

Dahyun told him about my mom.  He knows.  I thought, panicked.  I felt my mind begin to drift away, knowing what was coming as his fingers began to fumble with my top.

 

Through the protective fog in my mind, I heard the door squeak open and I felt a little glimmer of hope that someone would finally save me.

 

“You teenagers really need to stop doing-” the classroom teacher abruptly stopped as he took in the scene before him--the bright red handprint ringing around my neck, my tear-stricken face, Kai’s hands on my chest.

 

I whimpered, afraid to say anything in fear that I would just outright bawl.

 

Mr. Thatcher took one look at my face, concern quickly flashing in his eyes as he shot me an apologetic, tight-lipped smile.

 

“My parents look forward to that research project they’ve sponsored you on, Mr. Thatcher.”  Kai suddenly said, before popping my bra strap with amusement.  He his lips lewdly as he took in my bare midriff.

 

After a few tense moments with no sign that Mr. Thatcher was going to help me at all, I closed my eyes, not surprised in the least.  No one’s ever going to save me.

 

“Make us proud today, star quarterback.”  Mr. Thatcher finally said, before shuffling with unsure steps towards the door as if he just really wanted to leave.

 

“Will do!”  Kai replied, not once looking back as he tugged on the waistband of my skirt.

 

Mr. Thatcher left hurriedly without a word.

 

That day, I walked home in a haze, my hair in disarray and the corner of my mouth sporting a bruise after Dahyun had found us in the classroom and abruptly halted Kai from his assault.  So in a crazy way, I had my tormentor to thank.

 

I dabbed at the tender spot with a soggy, balled up paper towel, hissing when at its contact with the bloody abrasions I had also managed to obtain.

 

When I arrived home, Tobias stayed out of the way, lazing in the window seat of my small apartment living room, as if he knew nothing was going to stop me from completing the ritual today.

 

I made deeper grooves into the carvings, tears blurring my eyes and trickling into the crevices of the rune symbols.  I carved not with careful craftsmanship, but with the sloppiness of someone forsaken for too long.  Unseeingly, I sliced a shallow line across my unbandaged palm, haphazardly dripping dark, red blood across the floor.  When the blood loss was beginning to leave me light-headed, I collapsed onto my side, mumbling the chant under my breath and waiting for something anything, to happen.  

 

“There’s no need for anymore of that.”

 

I sat up with a start, momentarily forgetting to staunch the blood still slowly trickling from my hand.

 

Three men were standing before me, three beings that matched the illustration in the Dark Magyk book.

 

They stared at me expectantly but I found that I couldn’t form a single coherent sentence.  I hadn’t actually expected this to work.  I thought it might eventually kill me because of all the blood loss involved, but this, this I did not expect.

 

“But I-I didn’t finish-”

 

“It worked the first time, we just needed to make sure you were serious about summoning us and that you weren’t just some goth mortal playing around.”  the man in the middle offered.  “I’m Baekhyun by the way.”  

 

When I continued to gawk at their solidified forms, the tallest brother sighed in frustration, rolling his eyes.

 

“You know what we are, don’t you?” the tall one asked, clearly irritated and if I wasn’t mistaken clearly hungry if the feral look in his eyes was any indication.

 

“You’re the heathens.  I summoned you.”  I said, matter-of-factly, gesturing towards the opened tome.

 

“Stupid human.  You may think you summoned us but you will do well to remember this, we work for no one and we sure as hell don’t work for free.”  the tall one said scathingly, unconsciously fidgeting with his white gloved fingers, his movements erratic.  

 

“You must forgive our brother Sehun.  He’s just quite… famished.”  Baekhyun said, toeing the edge of one of my crude rune carvings with distaste.

 

The third brother remained silent, his cobalt blue eyes trained unsettlingly on me.  

 

“What’s your name?”  I asked, cocking my head to the side.

 

“He’s Xiumin.  He’s horribly insecure about his mouth so don’t expect him to talk much.”  Baekhyun cut in hastily.

 

Xiumin’s lips parted ever so slightly, revealing a top row of gleaming, pointed teeth with a few askew like a shark’s might look.

 

I shivered involuntarily, taken aback by how inhuman he seemed in comparison to his brothers.  

 

“But we’re not here for introductions, why did you summon us?”

 

“I want revenge.”

 

“Ah yes, a very common request.”  Baekhyun eyed me with interest, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

 

“And who are you trying to get revenge on?  How do you want this person to be killed?  Do you mind if the death is traced back to you?  Get to the damn point!”  Sehun asked in one quick, jittery sentence, his eyes flashing red.

 

“Sehun, calm.”  Baekhyun shook his head as if chastising a child.  

 

Sehun threw his hands in the air, throwing me one scathing look before simply vanishing from sight in a wisp of black smoke.  

 

I felt my heart beat erratically in my chest at what I had just witnessed.  Right, these men weren’t humans, they were otherwordly, demons.  They could probably kill me right now if they wanted.

 

A sold thump startled me out of my momentary paralysis and I whipped my head around to see Xiumin trying but unable to reach my bed.  Ah yes, I had hung a strand of special incense around the perimeter of my mattress as a precaution, just in case something in my occult practices ever went awry and I needed a safe place.

 

Xiumin growled in frustration, holding his hands out in front of him as if barred by an invisible wall.

 

“Interesting…” Baekhyun murmured, giving me an appraising look.

 

Xiumin slinked back to his spot next to Baekhyun, looking thoroughly miffed at me.  He whispered hotly into Baekhyun’s ear, his hand cupped tightly in front of his mouth.

 

Baekhyun nodded in amusement, before fixing his eyes on me.

 

“Xiumin says you’re smart for a human.  Annoyingly smart.  He wants to eat you.”

 

I choked at how nonchalantly he said this.

 

“Relax, it was a compliment.”  Baekhyun threw his head back in laughter, obviously relishing in my fear.

 

“What do you ask for, in return?” I asked cautiously.

 

“That you see your true form.”

 

“What does that even mean?”  

 

“As simple as it sounds.  Look at yourself at the end of this.  Tell us what you see.”

 

I furrowed my brow in confusion, unsure if he was just tricking me like one would expect demons to do or if I was just misinterpreting his words.

 

“So I’ll be the same?”

 

“If you are human, yes.”  Baekhyun smiled gently.

 

“I am human.” I said resolutely.

 

“Then you have no need to worry.”

 

 

That night, I made a deal with the heathens.

 

It was time for justice.  

 

I finished up my last class, my heart hammering in my chest but my resolve firm.  The heathens had been with me the whole day, hovering around, unseen by the hecklers that picked on me and Kai’s friends who made sure to make inappropriate and humiliating passes at me every opportunity they got.

 

Once I made it out of the classroom, I went against every gut feeling and alarm in my mind telling me to turn around, to not go anywhere near Dahyun’s hangout spot.

 

But with a little push from Xiumin, I propelled forward, my breaths coming in short.

 

I found Dahyun at her usual staircase leading to the rooftop, cigarette in hand as she swiftly hid the bottle of booze she and her friend had been no doubt passing back and forth.

 

“Look’s like you’ve finally got yourself some friends, Sowon,” Dahyun cackled, eyeing the guys who had made themselves visible earlier on, “looks about right.  A big lot of freaks.”

 

Mina, her friend with obnoxiously pink hair, snorted, throwing me a disgusted look.  “Such ing trash.” she said, eyeing me with disdain.  

 

“Run along and do your little voodoo .”  Dahyun cooed mockingly.  “Or do you want me to go down there and give you a proper beat-down?”  

 

“Actually, I want to talk to you, alone.”

 

Mina stared at me in disbelief, and I didn’t blame her.  I was practically asking for it.

 

Dahyun slipped off her basketball captain bomber jacket, tying it around her waist.  She then proceeded to tie her hair up into a ponytail, all the while sharing knowing looks with her friend.  To my clueless tormentor, this was just an opportunity for her to break me down even more.

 

If only she knew.

 

I gulped down my remaining nerves, instantly comforted by the presence of the demons beside me.  Funny how the inhuman made me feel safer and the humans made me terror.

 

I took a few steps up tentatively, sure at least one of them would attempt to assault me here and now.  But to my relief, they made a pathway for me to the door to the roof.

 

“After the circus troupe.”  Dahyun sneered, holding the heavy door open for me and the trailing demons.  After shutting the door behind herself, she fixed me with a predatory glare.

 

The heathens were relatively silent, the only indication they were still with me when Sehun began to noisily fidget and mumble incoherently under his breath.

 

He was becoming impatient.

 

“Before I beat the living crap out of you for wasting my time, to what do I owe this displeasure?”  Dahyun asked, slipping on a nasty looking knuckle ring with spikes all across its length.  This only fueled my courage, my desperate desire to seek justice--to do to her what’s she done to me for most of my life.

 

“I want you to apologize to me and leave me alone.”  I managed through gritted teeth.

 

She laughed drily, taking one menacing step forward and pulling out her phone.  She aimed the camera towards me and the heathens, no doubt an interesting group.  The LED light flashed red, indicating it was recording.

 

“As long as we’re in the same country, your life will be hell, Sowon.”

 

Something truly hateful was laced in the look she was giving me, a deep unrelenting dislike that went past mere teenage cattiness.

 

I remembered Baekhyun’s words to me from earlier.  Just say the word and we’ll take care of her.  She won’t be a problem any longer.

 

But still, some naive part of me where the light still shone wanted to believe that maybe Dahyun see the wrong in her ways, would drop down on her knees and beg for forgiveness for ruining my life and making me miserable.  But maybe I was actually enjoying this stalling of time, knowing that I had the upper hand in this predatory circle, I could end her life at any moment now.

 

I clenched my jaw and forged ahead.

 

“Was my apology not enough when you told everyone that I was sleeping around with the faculty?”  I asked, voice slightly wavering as I recalled the day I became the target for harassment and unwanted ual advances all because of her claim.

 

She merely took another step forward, flexing her wrist menacingly and keeping eerily calm.

 

“What about when your father publicly humiliated my mother after she rejected his advances?  He ruined her life, Dahyun.  You just watched while he ruined our lives.  And you watched while my mom slowly lost it because of that incident.”

 

Dahyun scoffed at this, her eyes further hardening.

 

“We all know it was proven that your mom was lying and that she just wanted money out of this, you stupid, money-grubbing .”  she spat, laughing bitterly.

 

No… NO!  Her dad had been harassing his secretary, my mom, for years.  She had the bruises to prove it.  The many sleepless, tear-filled nights to show how much of a living hell he had made her life.  Because of him, that monster, my mom has been confined in an institute for years now.  

 

Because of him, she missed out on my middle school graduation.  And now, she would be missing my high school graduation.  And maybe even the rest of my life.

 

Dahyun’s father might as well have killed her.

 

Dahyun’s eyes took on a fiery gleam.

 

“And don’t talk like you’re not at fault, Sowon.  When you told my mom about what he allegedly did after I begged you not to, you ruined my family.  My parents divorced because your mom was a dirty thief!  And because of your family, mu mom left me and never came back!” A flicker of pure misery flashed across Dahyun’s face. “And when that wasn’t enough, you got your dad to attack my father!  And now he’s in jail, so I guess now you have no one, like you deserve.  Isn’t that right?”  

 

I shook my head, red flashing across my vision.

 

“Were my tears and anguish not enough when I tried jumping off the roof? Did the fact that we used to be best friends mean nothing?”  

 

I was rambling now, pulling at every reason she should feel like absolute .

 

But now I wasn’t so sure.

 

I doubled over onto my knees, clutching my head in my hands.

 

Memories assaulted me, cutting through the haze my mind was usually in.  My mom refusing to tell me where the purple marks came from.  My dad throwing plates around and demanding she do as he say.  Dahyun and her dad coming over for family game night.   Dahyun and I laughing.  My dad choking my mom and slamming her head repeatedly onto the wall.

 

My mom telling me Dahyun’s dad had the money we needed.

 

What was the truth?  

 

I cried out in mental agony.  I didn’t know what was real anymore, I didn’t know if I was right anymore.

 

“Keep on going Sowon, show everyone just what a -up you are!”

 

When she only continued to laugh and record, I felt something inside of me snap.

 

“Why don’t you just die and leave me alone.”  I kept my head bowed as I heard the words leave my mouth.

 

For a moment it was silent on that rooftop.  I could hear Xiumin silently grinding his teeth together, Sehun laughing fanatically, and Baekhyun chuckling darkly by my side.  

 

Dahyun only sneered, finally ending her phone recording.  

 

“I could say the same to you, Sowon.”

 

Before she could get any closer to me, she suddenly froze up, as if her limbs were completely paralyzed.  Her hateful mask morphed into one of confusion, then panic.  

 

“What-what’s happening?” she managed to say before her lips seemed to seal up, her words swallowed up.

 

I allowed myself to watch silently as her eyes bulged.  I watched as Baekhyun held out an outstretched arm towards her wrist and made a twisting motion with his fingers before closing his hand into a tight fist.  

 

As he did this, Dahyun let out a muffled shriek as her wrist started to morph of its own accord, with only the sound of bone cracking and the misshapen form of her wrist an indication that something was actually happening to her.  Tears fell profusely down her cheeks, her face turning increasingly pale and ashen.  Baekhyun dropped his hand before lifting his other arm and aiming this time towards her ankles.  

 

This time, I turned away, unwilling to see my desires come to fruition, to see the demon’s work in front of me, because of me.

 

I listened as she fell to the ground with a loud thump as her brutalized ankles gave out.  This time, she merely whimpered at every crunch her ribs gave as they broke inside of her, one by one.

 

This was the demon Baekhyun’s work, the heathen with the ability to hurt people from the inside--to twist and bend bones, to boil and burn organs.

 

When it became fairly quiet, I allowed myself to peek through the curtain of my hair.  What I saw was not a human body, but a nightmare of twisted limbs and jagged bones peeking through paper skin--and a soulless face.

 

Dahyun’s unseeing eyes remained trained on me and I looked on as a droplet of blood managed to squeeze out the corner of .

 

“Was that to your liking?”  Baekhyun asked, wiping his hands against his trousers.

 

I nodded silently, numb to my senses.

 

“You crazy I’m going to the police!”  Mina’s voice rang out in the silence.  I startled at her voice, not expecting anyone to have seen what had transpired.  She stumbled as she struggled to pry the heavy door open again.

 

Sehun suddenly shot forward with a delighted whoop, and Mina’s screams began to pierce the air.  I heard the unmistakable sound of her scratching and pounding helplessly onto the door.  But there was no use.

 

He stepped back after a few moments of deafening silence and seemed to admire his work, his long, spindly fingers devoid of the carnage he had just wrought.  He had completely cut away her face and cleanly gouged out her eyes.  

 

When he turned around, we saw where Mina’s face had gone.

 

“Like my new look?”  Sehun broke into a fit of laughter, the red gleam of his eyes showing through the flesh mask that used to be Mina.  He gingerly slipped his immaculate white gloves on before proceeding to skip along the roof’s perimeter in a sick sort of celebration.

 

This was the capability of the demon Sehun, razor-sharp fingers that could cut through anything like it was the most brittle insect’s wing.

 

I forced myself to look at what remained of Dahyun and Mina.

 

I felt no remorse.

 

Xiumin came into my line of vision as he crouched before me and bore his shark-like teeth into a smile.

 

I smiled back.

 

I took slow steps outside the school entrance, head still reeling from what had just happened on the roof.

 

In my stupor, I nearly stumbled into a bench.  Then I realized we didn’t have any benches on the grounds of the front entrance.  

 

I found myself staring blankly at a pile of dead humans--dead classmates to be exact.  Their limbs were contorted and wrapped and twisted around each other in a complicated knot, like they were holding each other together.

 

How nice it must be to have people to lean on.

 

But then a panic began to bubble up through my protective haze and I looked up at the school flag waving in the breeze, and screamed.

 

I screamed.

 

And screamed.

 

Then I stopped because my throat was too raw and my shaking too uncontrollable.

 

“You wanted to hurt everyone who hurt you.  So we did.”  Baekhyun silently appeared at my side.

 

“Look at him, Sowon, take one good look at the bastard who violated you.”  He placed a hand none-too-gently behind my head, forcing me to look at what had shaken me up so bad despite what horrors had just transpired on the roof.

 

Sure enough, Kai’s decapitated body lay on the grass, his head skewered onto the flagpole.

 

“Wha-what did you do?” I took a few steps back, my whole body pulsing with fear.

 

“No Sowon, what did you do.”  Sehun said uncharacteristically calm, preventing me from moving back any further.

 

“What?  I didn’t do any of this, I didn’t ask you to do any of this.”  I gestured widely at the carnage across the school grounds, at the horrified, dead faces that had nothing to do with anything. “I-I asked for revenge for my family. Revenge on Dahyun.”

 

“You don’t remember, Sowon?”  Baekhyun asked, eyes glittering wildly.  There was something cruel in his smile, that I hadn’t noticed before.

 

“After Baekhyun killed Dahyun on the roof you went down to look for someone, Kai I think.”  Sehun continued.  “When you returned you collapsed.”

 

Suddenly, it all came rushing back to me.

 

I was in a haze again.  I had seen the demon’s powers and I wanted more, more, more death, more destruction and pain because that was all I knew.

 

I remembered me leading Kai into the janitor’s closet.  His hands running up and down my waist as his lips led feverishly on my neck.  The moment my mouth opened, impossibly wide, the skin easily splitting apart as my jaws unhinged and I bit cleanly through his pulsing neck.  I remembered the blood spurting from his jugular, his decapitated body crumpling uselessly to the floor.

 

And I remembered thinking “now who’s humiliated” as I managed to scale up the flagpole to spear my abuser’s head through.

 

I remembered Mr. Nolasco, the school’s janitor who had walked into rooms several times when I was being beaten by Dahyun’s followers, only to walk out hurriedly despite my pleas for help, as he walked into the closet, his whistling halted as he took in the gruesome scene.

 

Before he could scream, I had elongated my black, serpent’s tongue and wrapped it around his neck, effectively crushing his windpipe as he sank to the blood-stained ground.  He wouldn’t hear my cries for help, now I wouldn’t hear his.

 

I remember non-discriminately snapping necks right and left before they could run, every single person  I came across in the halls.  I remember enjoying their screams, enjoying the fear in their eyes as life escaped them.  

 

If they wanted their freak, I was here now.

 

I snapped out of my trance, feeling strangely at peace, like I had finally emerged from the haze.  Then the gravity of what I had just done bore down upon my already unstable mind.

 

“It’s time to join us, Sowon.  You’re one of us.”  Baekhyun held out a hand before him, the serpent’s tongue I hadn’t noticed before flicking out of the corner of his mouth.

 

“No… no, you-you’re monsters!  I’m not like you!”  I screeched, digging my palms into my eyes, willing them to just go away.

 

“Oh but Sowon, who was it that brought us here for your glorious revenge?  And who was it that orchestrated this great massacre?”  Sehun prodded, his eyes bright.

 

“Look at your true form, Sowon.  You’re a monster too, you’re no different from us.  That was the deal, remember?  You are a demon.”

 

“I… I don’t understand why I killed.. Why I did this.”  I shook uncontrollably, unable to process what Baekhyun had just said.  Me?  A demon?  

 

“You are transforming, changing.  Your human mind couldn’t handle it so you put yourself into a haze while you went for your prey.”

 

“Transforming? I-”  I let out a sudden cry as what appeared to be talons sprouted from where my fingers used to be.  I stared at them in abject horror, at these parts that weren’t me.

 

“The ritual to summon us is also the ritual that begins to devour your human soul.”  Baekhyun continued, his eyes showing awe at my changing form.  “you were changing from the very beginning.”

 

“I don’t know why you’re so upset, if your soul rejected the demonic essence and you remained human, Xiumin would have had to devour you.”  Sehun scoffed, taking my talons in his hand without hesitation and examining them thoughtfully at different angles.

 

So I was partially correct, the condition for their help was either death--or to become a monster myself.

 

Maybe I had always been a monster.

 

The monsters in my life had created me.  My parents were monsters.  I had created a world of lies and victimized myself.  My mind and my memories were corrupt.  Then I had killed.

 

“Sowon.”

 

There it was, the voice I had been waiting for.

 

Xiumin smiled his garish smile, then he opened his mouth wide, the skin holding his jaw together splitting easily, just like mine.  For a moment, there was nothing but darkness in the cavern of his mouth, then an eye blinked open from the back of his throat and a blinding light hit me.

 

I slowly felt my body tremors begin to subside, my talons receding back into my skin and the serpent’s tongue I hadn’t noticed reeling back into my mouth with a hiss.  

 

This was the demon Xiumin’s powers, utter destruction but also utter peace.

 

“It’s okay.”  he whispered as I nearly collapsed into his chest.

 

The last bit of humanity I felt in me crumbled into dust as I nodded and took Xiumin’s hand.

I emerged from his wardrobe in a shroud of black smoke, my slitted pupils appraising the young man who had awakened us from our slumber.

 

I hesitated at the familiar sight before me--a young human, vulnerable and hurt, seeking help in the wrongest way possible.  But a familiar hand at my back kept me grounded.

 

“Are you the heathens?”

 

Written By:  Black Swan

A/N:  Yeah, I don’t know how this story turned out the way it did.  (Possibly a combination of writing at 2 A.M. and a really crazy imagination)  A lot of demon-related fics romanticize demons and that’s totally fine but for Halloween I wanted to bring back the gruesome and terrifying elements that are usually lost.