On the same day, Miranda's father, Arnold, rushed into the third psychiatric yard where his daughter was locked. When he came, he was greeted by Samuel, one of the doctors in the facility.
"Welcome, I am sorry to say this, but your daughter is in bad condition." Samuel respectively lowered his head. He knew that Miranda was the daughter of a famous hero, Fire chaser, so he waited patiently for his arrival, despite his shift ending hours ago.
Arnold was a famous hero who managed to stop many fire-based calamities with his power, allowing him to control the heat. When he entered the room, he quickly noticed the wounds on his sleeping daughter were not that of demonic possession and became furious.
"What is the meaning of this?" he pointed at her neck, which had strangling bruises. He walked over to Samuel and grabbed him by his collar. "Explain what is going on!"
Samuel's throat went sore. He began sweating while he tried to explain. "She claims that the demon stalks her. We're not sure if another person is attacking her, or she is experiencing some new type of demonic possession."
Arnold's eyes bulged, as did his mouth. He let go of Samuel and leaned on the wall. His hand rested on his forehead as his mind struggled to take all this information in, and the worst came. He couldn't believe it. It simply seemed too unbelievable. Could this be some demon who had a grudge against Arnold? "Did Miranda mention who that demon is?"
"Yes." Samuel took out his phone from his pocket and looked up for the notes. Then he said, "Damon Richards."
When Arnold heard the name, he froze, and cold sweat started to form on his forehead. Arnold was the one who sent a demon to assassinate Damon because Arnold knew that Charles would not break the wedding arrangement between Miranda and Damon no matter what. So the only option was for Damon to disappear. However, Arnold did not expect Damon to end up possessed by the demon and attract the authorities.
"Damn it!" Arnold punched the wall, making it crack. He could not believe how unlucky it was that Damon gained such convenient powers for his revenge. Suddenly, he got a phone call. He was off duty today, so he did not expect to get any phone calls. When he looked at the number, he immediately recognized his wife's number. He answered. "Yes?"
"I am near the psychiatric hospital. I am coming to check on our daughter." She told him.
"What? No!" He quickly put the phone back to his ear. "No, don't come! I can handle this. Just wait there. Don't worry about us. I will handle it!"
"Are you sure?" "Yes. You stay there and watch her. Everything will be okay." "Very well. If you need anything, call me."
"Okay. Stay safe." They ended their conversation, leaving Arnold alone to face his problem. He gazed at Samuel and said he wanted to take his daughter home.
"Are you sure?" Samuel asked.
"Yes. Even if she was possessed, I am a demon so that I can handle her," he answered.
"Alright. Follow me." Samuel said while leaving the room.
However, Arnold stayed and kept looking around the room. He noticed that there were no surveillance cameras. When Samuel turned to see if Arnold was following, he noticed Arnold was walking around the room. Arnold turned to Samuel and asked for a few minutes of privacy.
After Samuel left and closed the doors, Arnold shouted. "Damon, if you're here, come for me! I was the one who killed your family!"
When nothing happened, he sighed, thinking that Damon was not here. He wanted to open the soundproof doors. However, they were stuck. "What?" Arnold exclaimed. Suddenly, chills went down his spine. Turning back, he noticed his daughter, Miranda, floating in the air.
"What?!" Arnold's eyes were wide open. He wanted to run toward his daughter, but with every step he took, cuts appeared on Miranda's face.
Miranda woke up and cried. "Dad, help!"
"Don't worry, honey, I am here to help you!" However, Arnold said he was not sure what was going on. "How are you doing this?!" Arnold yelled at the invisible creature. He knew that Damon was in another psychiatric ward. Suddenly, he noticed that behind her, a shadow appeared.
"Hello, uncle Arnold. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Damon said.
Damon looked like a monster, shadow covering his entire body except for fang-like teeth. He had horns on his head and fingers extended as if they were the claws of a beast. Damon pointed one of his claws near Miranda's cheek. Miranda's cheek bled after the claw touched it.
"Let her go, Damon. This is between us." Arnold frowned.
"Oh, okay!" Damon looked at Miranda and threw her into the wall. She crashed into a wall and passed out.
Damon walked toward Arnold with a smirk on his face. "I would have come to your house. However, I had no idea where you guys live." Damon licked his lips as he said. "So, I needed you to come to me!"
"You're not going to get away with this!" Arnold shouted before receiving a punch in the face. For the first time in his entire demonic existence, Arnold bled. His skin was bulletproof, and his body was sturdier than the most robust metal. So he could never receive any damage before. However, a simple punch from Damon almost knocked him out.
Arnold crashed through the doors into the hallway, hitting his head on the wall. Arnold slowly stood up from the floor, wiping the blood off his face."What?" He gasped after seeing his blood.
"Come to save your precious family member?" Damon asked with an evil grin. "You're such a good parent."
Arnold clenched his fists tightly, trying to suppress the rage inside of him. "You son of bitch! How dare you use my daughter as bait?!"
"It worked, didn't it?" Damon laughed. Suddenly, he stopped. He turned to Miranda and noticed her wide awake.
Miranda was bleeding from the back of her head and crying. If she knew that Damon would become such a powerful demon, she would have killed Damon instead of Lilith. However, now was not the time. She needed to escape.
"Arnold?!" Suddenly a woman's voice came down the hallway.
When Arnold saw the owner of the voice, his face turned pale. "Get out!" He shouted at the woman, who was running closer to help him.
Damon stuck out his head through the doors and noticed the woman.
She was Margaret, Arnold's wife. She was running at Arnold with a desperate expression on her face. When she got close, she felt something warm coming through her clothes. "What?" She exclaimed, looking down to notice a wound in her stomach.
"No!" After seeing how his wife's stomach gets cut open, Arnold shrieked in despair.
"Mom?!" Miranda yelled when she saw Damon stabbing her with his hand. "Mom!"
The blood dripped past Damon's hand as if it were not there. Suddenly,
Damon turned visible to Margaret and said. "Goodbye, Aunty Margaret." He thrust another hand into her chest, ripping her heart out.
Margaret dropped dead, with her eyes still open. Until the last moments, she did not know what was happening. Her eyes began rolling back and forth when she realized everything was over. Before she completely collapsed, her hands moved, attempting to reach her husband.
"No…no…no…."
Then it was silent as Margaret's life faded away. Miranda next saw a pool of blood spreading across the white tiled floor. "Mom!"
"Why?! She was innocent!" Miranda screamed at Damon, who smirked, enjoying Miranda's despair. "Why?!" She kept shouting at him; however, Damon disappeared from her sight.
Arnold was so shocked he couldn't even move. He stared at his wife's dead body, and her hand extended toward him. Arnold's hands were shaking, and tears fell down his cheeks. It took him a few minutes to regain his composure, but Damon was already missing by then. His grief turned to rage, and he started screaming. "Where is he?!"
"It's your fault," Miranda said while crying. "it's all your fault, dad!" She blamed her father for everything because it was he who devised the whole plan to kill Damon. Because of this, Miranda lost her mother.
Arnold quickly ran toward his daughter and hugged her. He knew that this was his fault, but he did not expect the consequences to be so severe. He never expected Damon to become a demon with powers to match his own.
"I know that!" Arnold answered. "I will fix this."
He took Miranda out of the hospital and told the police what was happening. He said that a demon named Damon Richards was on the hunt for his daughter. He made up a story that Damon has been stalking his daughter since he was a human, and now that he's a demon, Damon was taking it to new lengths.