Hell on Earth

“Kana Ishikawa,” Rinsuke demanded as he stood almost nervously outside the mausoleum door. “Who are you, and why do you wish to see her?” a blonde woman he had never seen before demanded, jumping down from the top of the structure and standing a few feet from him. “Oh, uhm… my name is Rinsuke Akai, I work as a criminal investigator for the Company. I only came to speak with her about some things… I’m sorry, I should have asked your name, Miss,” he answered. “Aimée. No surname, only Aimée.” She nodded, “I don’t know what business you have with Kana, she is no criminal.”

“Oh no, not that. I actually just came to visit. I brought something to help with her burns as well.”

“Already taken care of, Akai. I can heal, or decay others. It’s my main power as a Demon.”

“Oh, well that’s good news then.” He smiled, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Kana will be back soon, she took her sister out for a nice breakfast to make up for last night.” She smiled calmly as another ghoul crawled up to stand beside her. “Kouki?” Rinsuke asked, surprised to see the ghoul with its jaw. “No,” Aimée laughed lightly, “This is Jean-Marie, a ghoul from my home.”

“Ah, uhm, hello Jean-Marie,”

The ghoul greeted him entirely in French, making the investigator even more awkward. “He says hello, and apologizes for the intrusion. It seems there has been a disturbance in my home, Ravagers are causing quite a stir.” She frowned, “Please, wait here for Kana to return and explain to her my absence; I don’t want her to worry. I’m sorry Akai, I must leave now and tend to this issue before it grows further.” She announced, and disappeared as Jean-Marie crawled back into the ground.

Akai sat on the step of the small stone structure for at least an hour, and was about to leave when Mei and Kana walked around from behind it. “Hi Mister Akai!” Mei beamed. “Hello, Mei, how are you?” he smiled.

“Good! We eated rice, and fruit, and ice cream!”

“Ate, Mei. We ate, we didn’t ‘eated’.” Kana smiled warmly. “Oh… we ate rice! And fruit, and ice cream!” the little girl corrected herself before bouncing excitedly.

“Where’s Aimée?” Kana asked. “She said Ravagers were causing trouble in her home, and went to handle it.” He answered.

“Oh, I hope everything’s… get in the mausoleum, now. Both of you, go!” she quickly pushed them into the small building, closing the door and sending them both into darkness. “Hide in the boxes!” Mei hissed after giving Rinsuke a dagger. “What?” he gasped, disgusted by the thought of hiding in the coffins. “They are empty! There are bad things coming, Kana can tell and I know because she gave the signal. We need to hide or else they will find us and we will be killed dead!” she explained seriously, pushing him into an open coffin and closing the lid. “Wait, hide in here with me so I can make sure you’re all right!” he protested. She didn’t argue, since she was deep down terrified of being alone in there, and buried her face deep in his chest, clutching his jacket as he closed the lid once more.

“When the door opens, don’t breathe. They can hear breathing and smell alive. That’s why we hide in here, dead covers alive.”

“Is that what that smell is? This coffin has been used?”

“By a big fat priest. Kana buried him in a nicer one, and beside his wife instead of behind the church. The other one had Shadow hiding in it for a long, long time and Kana says it smells like dark and bad dreams.”

Rinsuke’s stomach churned at the knowledge, but had to force himself to be silent as the mausoleum’s heavy door creaked open. Mei instantly tightened her grip on her dagger while holding her breath and pressing her face harder against his chest as he felt his heart begin to race while he too held his breath.

There was a loud crash as something hit their coffin, knocking it over and flipping it upside down, putting Rinsuke on top of Mei who didn’t change her position, even with the pain that was caused to both of them. Their coffin shook as if someone were trying to move it before an ear-shattering screech sounded around them.

Rinsuke gasped as Mei screamed with everything she that had, knowing that sound all too well. “It’s all right, Mei, we’ll be all right.” He assured; thinking her fear was from the sudden noise. “No it won’t! We won’t! Open the box we have to run now! OPEN THE BOX!” she screamed while pushing against him to make him open the coffin.
“What is it, what’s wrong?”

“The bad things! Bad Dreams and Shadows! They scream to make us scream to find us then they hurt us bad! I screamed now they know where we are now!” she sobbed, knowing that they were going to die because of her.

“Aimée, get Eri out of here and fix him!” Kana bellowed while slicing through a Ravager, and firing an automatic riffle loaded with Eri’s Living Essence bullets into a horde of Plague Givers. “We have Nightmares!” a man with apple-red hair tied back with a ribbon announced while fighting off several female-looking creatures, with gray hair, long nails, and deathly voices. “Keep them away from the mausoleum, Fred!” she ordered. “Frederick! And I shall try,” he responded, continuing to slay demons while skillfully avoiding getting any ‘residue’ on his Victorian attire, since “no one is able to make new ones properly anymore” as he often complained.

“They’re too many, Ishikawa, they’ve gotten past me!”

The moment his announcement reached her ears, her undead body went cold. “MEI!” She screamed, hearing her sister’s shrill cry ring out. With a hard roar from the dark headed woman, any living thing within five yards of Kana Ishikawa was thrown into torture from the inside out, feeling pain beyond words as their blood began feel as though it were boiling, the skin tearing apart. Bones shattering, muscles being stabbed over and over with unseen knives, organs aching beyond anything any living creature should feel, and their brains swelling against their skulls. Although they felt these things, none of it was real, however with enough time her spell would overwork the hearts, resulting in death.

“ISHIKAWA!” Frederick roared, his original English accent returning full force as he collapsed to the ground, but she didn’t hear him as every one of her followers from the underworld responded to her cry.

Suddenly a wall of flames surrounded her, forcing her to stop until she ended the spell, collapsing from exhaustion. At once an army of shadow-like creatures who resembled the corpses of the starved swarmed the redheaded vampire, forcing him to stop his spell. “Leave him and fight the others!” Kana ordered, sighing as her wraiths left Zelman alone and fought the small army of undead once more.

“Do you stand with us, or against us?” Frederick demanded as he helped Kana to her feet. “Mei, where is she? Where is Mei?” Kana asked frantically after seeing that their mausoleum had collapsed. “She’s safe, never mind that. We have to fight the rest of these creatures back.” Zelman answered, ignoring the agitated demon that was still demanding to know which side the Vampire was on. “Good, thank you.” She breathed before letting her eyes go black again, and casting another torturous wave to destroy any of the attacking demons, now being specific to which creature is affected.

“How can you tell which demon is on our side?” Zelman asked, being unsure how to help when he could easily destroy forces he would later depend on for survival if Kana’s predictions were accurate. “Kind knows kind, Zelman Clock.” A fourth humanistic demon stated after appearing in a cloud of darkness. He had dark skin and hair, and dressed in all black. Before Zelman could say another word, a thick black shadow crossed the cemetery, taking any of the few remaining attacking demons with it.

“What made you change your mind, Lesander?” she asked with a smile. “Irony.” He huffed before turning to her. “A Living World of death and shadows, and Underworld of shadows and death … there would be no hope for the few demons of heart, nor for the Living who wouldn’t deserve that fate even for the worst of crimes.”

“And your irony is?” Zelman questioned.

“He is a Demon of Darkness, and fears an eternity in the dark.” Kana explained, receiving a nod from Lesander.

“So the war has begun, has it?” Frederick panted as he too joined them. “Not yet, this was a scouting skirmish, nothing more. They wanted to see what our forces are. Now that they have seen what little we have, they will plan their first real attack. Any humans within the city should be evacuated; they’re no more than bait now.” Lesander explained coldly. “They won’t evacuate. All we can do is fight to protect, and hope for the best.” Aimée sighed as she too joined them.

“Where are the Hunters?” Frederick questioned urgently. “Seven are dead, the others are in a hotel fully healed.” She answered calmly, placing a hand on Kana’s shoulder after noticing the change in her friend.

“We need to get her to her sister.” Frederick announced, also catching on to what Aimée was feeling. “She is with the other Leaders of the Special Zone, in the same room you met with them in, Kana. She is just fine.” Zelman assured.

“You don’t understand, Vampire. The human side of Kana’s soul is tied to her sister. Demons like us deserve our time in hell, but not as much as the others. Innocent Crimes they are called. Crimes committed accidentally, or without means of that outcome. For Aimée, a blind and heartbroken rage that ended in the death of her husband. For me, it was sorrow-filled murder and suicide, killing my infant son before taking my own life after losing my wife to a fire. We each have something to fight for, and hold onto after that. Reminders of our human lives, and what we have done. Something to drive us to make it right by any means necessary. For Kana, that thing is Mei.” Frederick explained.

“If she is too far from Mei for too long, she can no longer feel her. Demons have a lot of pain, anger, and sorrow inside of them naturally. Without that thing to bring us joy, or encourage us to right our past sins those emotions overwhelm us and leave us to take it out on anything we can. You often believe Demons are heartless creatures, who deserve endless suffering and no sympathy, and in a way you would be right, but we are all lost and forsaken souls. Tortured and in pain for eternity, only looking for a way to ease that pain, if only for a moment.” Aimée continued.

Zelman didn’t seem to understand, and watched for them to continue as his curiosity was sparked.

“Have you ever been so angry with something, or someone, that you wanted to hit something? Or in your case, incinerate it?” Lesander questioned, receiving a nod from the vampire. “That is why these creatures do what they do. They’re acting out to ease their pain. However this time, it is pure envy and frustration. They hate that this world has so much joy when they have none. They’ve forgotten what joy feels like. In their twisted logic, if they turn this world into theirs, they too can feel those things that make the Living World so wonderful, even with its shortcomings.” He explained.

“Kouki!” Kana shouted suddenly, bringing everyone’s attention to her once more as the requested ghoul crawled out of the ground. “My Lady,” he greeted respectfully.

“Where is Arashi? I summoned him during the battle to protect Mei and Rinsuke. He gave no response.”

“He is no longer within our Pits, Master Kana.”

“What do you mean he’s no longer in our Pits? Where is Arashi?!”

“He is with the others of his kind. There are no Ravagers on our side. He leads his own army against us, My Lady.” He answered, cowering in fear of the punishment he knew she would inflict. Instead of on him, however, she sent her torture to a nearby squirrel, letting it cry and wriggle until its death. “Go back, and announce to any creature within my Pits that if they plan to cross me, they had better do so before I return or I will show them the true meaning of Hell! Give them no chance to escape, destroy any that even hint that they are no longer following us!” she ordered with icy venom to her voice.

“M-Master Kana,”

“Now!” she bellowed, sending a short spell of torture through him before he quickly crawled into the earth.

“Take me to my sister,” she ordered, turning to face Zelman, who huffed and announced that he didn’t take orders from her before she sent him to his knees in torture.

“Kana, Enough!” Frederick barked, drawing his sword and holding it to her throat. Before she could torture him as well, he nearly beheaded her, watching with no remorse as her body fell to the ground.