Chapter 7

Yuri

I exhaled, returning to the human world, and threw my head slightly back. What is this sudden feeling within me? The sound of a sudden crash coming from the house startled me. What in all of hells? Without a second to spare, I ran towards it. The front door was slightly opened. A loud clang came from the nearby room. I rushed in and stopped at the sight before me. The human girl swung her hand, holding a rolling pin, in a vigorous force, shrieking ‘die’. The pin made a cracking impact on the stranger’s face and he fell heavily with a groan to the floor. She looked at me with wide eyes in a panic and what seemed to be embarrassment. Her lips were ever so softly trembling. I felt her heartbeat strongly within the walls of the room. Her thoughts were tangled. She wondered what I was thinking. What was I thinking?

“Master Yuri! Master Yuri! You’re back!” Tomai ran towards me, breaking my thoughts. “You should have seen her! She was as cool as you but with a frying pan!”

“Uh,” she nervously mumbled, dropping the pin to the floor and taking a shaky breath.

Was she alright? The creature looked exhausted.

 On the floor, I noticed some blood flow from the stranger. The scent was toxic. These weren’t humans. They were hell-pawns that shifted into humans. And yet, a human girl was able to tackle them. I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Somehow this was terribly amusing. She was a curious thing. Part of me wanted to rip her little body apart and find out how she did it and yet another part of me wanted her to remove herself from this room knowing that hell-pawns usually let out a toxic stench when injured.

 “Well,” I found myself speaking with a subtle smile, “You seem to be quite a protector of my home, Miss Alois.” A sudden flush of pink spread across her cheeks as she stared at me. She shouldn’t be here any longer. “Lou, carry her to the room. We will take care of this mess.”

I could sense that the girl was beginning to lose her balance. It was best that she left. She didn’t seem to object as Lou took her up the stairs. Bryon frowned next to me. “Forgive me, my Lord. I should have been more aware. These are not human.”

Tomai coughed.

“Bring them outside,” I instructed as I began walking to the back door. “I have to burn them with hellfire back to where they belong.”

I watched as the bodies burned in a pile before me. The stench of hell-pawn demons was always atrocious. I frowned knowing fully well that these creatures did not operate on their own accord, but rather needed to be instructed. But why? Who would have done this? These sorts of demons could not enter the human world unless they were brought here by strong magic. Only a God’s magic was that powerful. And why here? Why now?

“I fear they could have been here for the girl,” Bryon spoke solemnly.

“Ana’s asleep right now,” Tomai spoke while running out of the house and towards me. “Miss Lou gave her some slumber tea. She should feel a lot better by sunrise.”

“Was she hurt?” I found myself asking.

“No.” he replied, “Thank goodness, no.”

I was about to walk away, back into the house, when Tomai called to me. “Master Yuri?” 

I stopped as I felt his small hands wrapped around my waist suddenly. “You won’t leave us and go away forever, will you?”

 I blinked down at the child who looked up at me with soulful eyes. I hadn’t realized that these hundreds of years, having him in the body of a child, meant that he felt the same emotions as these humans. It never occurred to me that human children were so needy or grew attached in such a manner. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like the affection he was showing towards me. The faults of humans are that they fall prisoner to their emotions. They are weak due to their emotions. I frowned. “Get back inside, it is late.”

I could not sleep. I felt quite uneasy. The night was longer than it’s usual. Just before the break of dawn, I felt the air drift a little lighter. My mind hazed. I felt my brother’s presence but ignored it. Instead, I drank a glass of the human-made wine. Quite honestly, it was the only thing in this world that wasn’t that bad. For a moment or two, I allowed my eyelids to drift tiredly as I sat at the armchair in the study.

“You should be ashamed of yourself.” A sudden voice seethed into my ears.

I opened my eyes to look at the sight of the girl standing over me in deep irritation and distraught. “I know I shouldn’t be this opinionated but he’s a child and-” I closed back my eyes. Why was she even here mumbling things about children and feelings to me?

I peeked with one eye open and she was still there, pouting, and angry. To be honest, this was quite enjoyable. I closed back my eyes to feel the sun burn through them and a cold splash of breeze wash over me. She pulled the drapes and opened the window.

“What are you doing?” I scowled in irritation at the light disturbing my sleep. “Keep it shut.”

“No.” She spat. “I will not. Not until you go up there and apologize to Tomai.”

She was a challenging little thing. I sighed in annoyance. “Your presence is making him soft.”

“Don’t blame me.”

“Now shut the blinds.”

She walked out of the room.

I groaned and shifted myself up. Curse you, brother. It was my first thought as I walked towards the window. Instead of shutting it, I left it open and drank in the chilled morning air. I contemplated going to the Otherworld today but something within me was telling me otherwise. It was the unsettling feeling, which was swirling within me, unable to rest.

I attempted to wash the feeling away with a shower and a change of clothing and yet my uneasiness never left. The human girl stood in there with Lou, who was sitting and making a list of something. She turned and stared at me for a few seconds and turned away quickly, focusing her attention back on the paper.

Was something wrong with me?

“Lou twisted her ankle so I’m running to the supermarket in town to get the items. Do you want anything?” she asked. Still, not turning back to me.

“Byron will do the necessary. There is no need for you to leave.”

“Byron is busy outside with the gardening.” She turned to me and lowered her eyes, “It’s the least I can do while I’m here.” With a small smile, she fixed her shoulder bag and began walking out.

A sudden unease rose within me. If those creatures from hell were here for her yesterday, then there’s no question that they won’t return. I didn’t like the idea of her going alone. I might have detested my brother but his words always proved to be true. And if this girl really held something of mine, they are essentially threatening me by coming after her. I frowned. She was already out the door. I couldn’t let her go. Regardless, if she was able to defend herself yesterday it was too dangerous.

“Wait.” I reached up to her and grabbed onto her wrist. She turned, shocked at my sudden contact. Her hands were surprisingly smaller than I thought them to be in mine.

“Yuri?” she breathed, looking up at me. She addressed me so informally. No one’s ever called me like that in such a long. There was a time when it was disrespectful to address me in such a manner. There was also a darker time when people feared even my name. And yet, some part of me wanted her to address me like that again.