Four

A loud beeping woke him up. Valentine groaned as he turned over in his bed, he slammed his hand against the alarm just as the door opened and the light patter of footsteps entered his ears. He sat up just in time to see a small pink bundle jump onto his bed and effectively land on him.

The breath was knocked out of him, he fell back as his little sister wrapped her arms around his neck. He returned the gesture with a lot more tenderness than the five year old clinging to him.

Valentine chuckled, "Iz, get off, you heavy little leprechaun!"

"Okie!" His little sister chirped and sat up. Her black hair was tied into pigtails, a sign that their mother was already awake, "Moma said breakfast is ready!"

"Tell her I'll be down in a minute," he grinned at her. She chuckled before leaving the room with a skip in her step.

With a sigh Valentine kicked his legs over the edge of the bed. He rubbed his face as he walked to the bathroom, he stared at his reflection for a second before ducking and washing his face. When he looked back up it was Mal staring at him with an unimpressed eyebrow.

“What?”

Mal crossed his arms again and gestured towards the bathroom door with a tilt of his head, “food’s getting cold.”

Valentine rolled his eyes then left leaving the demon staring after him. The boy jogged down the stairs, he kissed his mother, Clarissa, on the forehead and mumbled a quick good morning to his stepfather who was reading the local news. His eyes drifted to the front cover where the burned carcass of a faun was displayed beside the dying flames of a fire. He swallowed thickly before sitting down. His mother came and joined them after putting the frying pan of Pigs In A Blanket in the middle, Valentine took two first, seeming as everyone was still fussing about but he was patient enough to wait. He watched as his mother helped his baby sister into the chair and put some food on her plate, then he turned to John who closed the paper with a slow crinkle and put it down before serving himself, the lively chatter of Mickey Mouse in the background that caused Isabelle to giggle. A soft smile spread on his lips as he watched them, he tucked into his breakfast with that same smile lasting on his face the whole of the morning.

By midday, the calm and euphoria of the morning was gone, replaced by frantic hurried movements and packing. Valentine found himself rummaging through his closet looking for something nice to wear while Mal stood in place of his reflection, he was fiddling with a brass bracelet while watching Valentine run around the room and throw things onto the bed with barely hidden amusement. The human made a noise of triumph and pulled out a denim shirt and black jeans, he quickly threw them on and turned to Mal with his arms spread. The demon took a visible step back.

Valentine rolled his eyes playfully and dropped his arms to the side, “don’t worry, I’m not going to hug you. How do I look?”

Mal glanced at him before looking back down at his bracelet and proceeding to fiddle with it, “Nice.”

“Nice? Really?” Valentine raised his eyebrows in question, “am I only ever gonna get one word answers?”

Mal sighed and dropped his arms into his pockets, “What else do you want me to say?” The demon paused for a second before continuing in a higher pitched voice and an arm over his forehead, sarcasm dripped from every word, “‘Oh, Valentine, you’re so handsome all the girls are going to swoon over you!’”

The blue haired teen snorted and walked away to finish packing, “Actually, yes, that is what I wanted to hear.”

“Where are you going anyway?”

“A cabin in the woods my grandfather left for us. Apparently he was pretty wealthy and he managed to afford a place where you can go out at night.”

“How long ago was that?”

Valentine walked back to the mirror where the demon was patiently waiting for his answer, “a good 10 years ago, why?”

Mal shrugged but his face remained stone still, like a statue forever destined to spend their life wearing a frown as if it was designed to look like it had never felt any other emotion apart from sadness, when he spoke it was cold and still like a blanket of snow, “Things change.”

Before Valentine could retort, he was staring at himself again and only one thought occurred to him: damn he looked fine.

Soon, his mother was calling for him to hurry to the car. He sat in the back beside his sister who was messing with a teddy bear. She made it wave at him and have a conversation with him, it was undeniably adorable and innocent. Valentine’s dark eyes glinted with joy as the bear began to dance to a song on the radio, then it suddenly stopped and his sister turned to him with furrowed brows.

“Will you ever get a girlfriend?” she asked in that small high pitched voice of hers, innocent curiosity colouring her tone.

John snorted and Clarissa gasped as if she had just heard the most scandalous thing in history. She opened her mouth to scold the little girl but Isabelle spoke again, “I don’t want my brother to die lonely.”

A laugh rang in Valentine’s head, it reminded him of bells but it sounded melancholic instead of lighthearted, like the ringing of church bells at a funeral. The chuckling subsided, replaced only by an eerie silence, the boy was forced to listen in to the conversation that would lead to his demise once more by a tug on his shirt. He locked eyes with his sister who was watching him in anticipation, with a sigh he relented, “I just haven’t found the right girl yet.”

Isabelle tilted her head before breaking out into a cheeky grin, “You’re waiting for your princess to come and save you!”

Valentine spluttered in surprise while Mal cackled, the bone chilling laugh echoing in his head driving him crazy. John and Clarisse were also chuckling now. A red flush decorated his cheeks, he crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath while everyone laughed and the radio played in the background. They spent the rest of the ride singing along to songs they knew and chatting excitedly plotting what they would do once they got to the beach all the while Mal stayed blissfully silent though sometimes he saw the demon instead of his reflection when he looked out the window, Mal looked somewhat peaceful a barely noticeable smile on his face as he watched the band of mortals.

“Now for a news break,” spoke the man on the radio cutting the song, Dynamite, off, “the weather in the following weeks looks like it will be all over the place, later tonight the temperature is expected to drop to -7 degrees with an expected thunder storm, tomorrow it is expected to be up there in the 10s with cloudy skies.”

“You packed warm clothes, right sweety?” Clarisse asked, turning to her son. Valentine nodded.

“In the past week, 4 teenagers have been found dead around Lun-” The news reporter was abruptly shut up by the radio cutting off.

“That’s enough of that,” John stated, he ran a hand through his greying blond hair and glanced back at the two children in the back using the rear view mirror, his gaze softened at the wide eyed look the little girl was giving him, “No need to worry Iz. The police will catch the culprit.”

The rest of the road was in silence. His mother began to look apprehensive when the sun was at its lowest only centimeters away from disappearing and leaving the world in complete darkness. Her eyes kept scanning the road and the treeline on either side, she had a white-knuckled grip on the arm of her seat. Valentine glanced at his little sister who was holding the teddy-bear in a death grip, she was choking the poor stuffed animal, even John was tense and seemed ready to pass the speed limit if he needed to. Only Valentine felt remotely calm though he figured that probably had something to do with the fact that he was sharing his body with a demon. Everyone seemed to become more on edge as the blackness deepened until you could hardly see past the light the car gave off, fog was beginning to settle as well and the blue haired boy caught sight of the white cracks in the looming darkness and heard the angered scream of nature.

Humans have natural fears and darkness was one of them. They were afraid of what was hidden in the deep black that came with turning the lights off, afraid of the unknown that could potentially end their life, afraid of the monsters hiding in the shadows of their closet or under their bed. They evolved to be afraid of darkness, like how rabbits ran the second they heard the snarl of a wolf, humans evolved to fear the unknown, but what caused them to fear it might very well be the danger unseen to man that hid in the darkest of corners watching and waiting for the kill.

Isabelle let out a shrill scream as lightning struck a distance behind them casting white light and eerie shadows on the adults’ faces making them almost corpse-like. Thunder boomed behind them, Valentine swore he could feel the vibrations it sent through the earth. He looked out the window only to see Mal staring back at him. The demon’s eyes glowed a dull red like freshly spilt blood, he stared at him, expression deadly still. The boy jumped back in his seat as something collided with the window causing black blood to smear the glass. He heard his mother order John to speed up over the screams of the earth and the cries of his sister. He pulled Isabelle into a hug and shushed her telling her everything was going to be okay, only he didn't know who he was trying to convince: himself or his sister.

The glass shattered and Valentine moved out of the way pressing himself up against the seat where his sister had sat. A slimy pale grey bug-like hand reached in through the smashed window, it reached to where his head would’ve been. It clawed against the leather seat causing the stuffing inside to spill out like blood.

“STEP ON IT!” He yelled at the blond man who was beginning to sweat from the pressure. He glanced at his mother who ducked under another clawed hand with a screech.

John swerved the car against the brick wall of the tunnel. The metal screamed and demon blood covered the seat and the side of the car. Valentine grimaced as the monster’s arm fell at his feet still bubbling black blood and twitching. He covered his sister’s eyes and turned her head away, Isabelle buried her face in his shoulder. Suddenly, there was a thud and a dent surfaced in the roof of the car.

“Fucking hurry!” Valentine screamed glaring daggers into his stepfather.

“Language!” his mother gasped out of habit.

John turned to her to say something only for a dark red arm to reach in through the window that smashed loudly. Clarisse screamed as the blond was pulled out through the window and thrown far away. Valentine could hear the crack of bone from the car, his mouth opened in horror as a goat’s head came into view. It had a snake-like tongue that hung out of its mouth dripping saliva that when it landed on metal caused a low hiss to sound in the tense silence filled by his mother’s heavy erratic breathing and his sister’s small sniffles. Clarisse kicked the wheel with her leg, the car made a sharp turn towards the other wall, the demon’s eyes widened just as it was smashed against the wall. The brunette woman proceeded to sit in the driver’s seat having a hard time ignoring the feeling of sticky blood covering her palms.

They exited the tunnel into silence that was broken by the sound of thunder and the crack of lightning as it whipped the lands. Valentine flinched as a tree was hit behind them causing it to fall over with a low crack as the stem snapped.

Then he heard insane laughter as if a pack of hyenas were following after them except it held a more gravely and human quality to it. He turned and glanced out the back window. He instantly wished he hadn’t. It was an army of small goblin like things, they had no skin on their head which revealed their skull and eyeballs some of which were rolled all the way to the back of their head, their skin was pulled taught on their bodies but some of the flesh was rotting revealing the bones and muscles that were corroding. He swallowed thickly and turned to look at his mother who had also glanced back at the monsters pursuing them. She had paled considerably, she was as white as a sheet, her eyes blown wide and her mouth hanging open. Blood was dripping from a wound just below her hairline, it stained her eyebrow. There was a cut on her arm where some glass got her earlier. Valentine was thrown back as they sped forward, his sister wailed and sniffled begging for them to explain what was going on. The car was soaked by both water and blood, both demon and human

“Mom…” he called as demons started running towards them from the front and the woman showed no signs of stopping, “Mom!”

There were multiple screeches and wails as they sped through the crowd of demons. A thud came from the side of the car and a demon reached in, its clawed hand pierced his mother’s chest with a sickening squelch. Tears filled his eyes and he froze, unable to move, his hold on his sister tightening, she covered her ears and went silent. Clarisse turned back, blood trickling from her lips as she gave him a tight lipped reassuring smile before getting yanked against the hole in the window. Her head smacked against the frame and glass stabbed into her back. Two more slams and a sickening crack sounded before she was pulled out of the window, her lifeless eyes meeting Valentine’s wide ones for the last time. The demons screeched with a sense of euphoria as the car swerved uncontrollably and the dead body of the woman fell out.

He stared ahead and once again his eyes were drawn to the reflection in the rear view mirror. Mal stared back at him, his face cold and still, irises back to their cold mint colour. He looked like he’d been through hell and back with his numerous scars and messy hair that was being blown around him in the wind taking the car by storm. He raised his head slightly in an action similar to a nod. Outside, lightning struck again highlighting the demon’s high cheekbones and casting shadows over him making his pale skin even more like that of the dead. The world screamed, the demon’s irises glowed a dull blood red that cast the same glow onto his face.

‘Let me make it better.’

Oh, and what a tempting offer it was.

He nodded before he could think twice about it.

Then it was as if Valentine had been pushed into the back seat of his own mind. He watched as he placed Isabelle down onto the floor hidden between the two seats. She looked at him in confusion, then tensed, her eyes filled with tears and her pupils wide and mouth hanging open. In her dark eyes, Valentine could see his reflection, it was still him except his eyes were glowing red.

Malice placed a finger to his lips. The little girl whimpered. He jumped into the front seat and grabbed the wheel turning it away from the tree it was about to collide into.

“How the fuck do you drive this thing?!” The demon yelled.

He took a sharp turn right away from the hoard of demons that were running towards them angry that their free meal was still functioning like a normal human being. In a split second decision he drove towards the woods, the barrier broke and they were driving in the forest the chatter of demons falling silent. Mal glanced behind them and sighed in relief at the sight of the demons not daring to step into the woods that the Angels protected. He couldn’t even get a word of reassurance out before crashing into an inconveniently placed tree. The airbag hit him in the face sending him into the land of darkness that had become so acquainted with in the past decade.