Hell on Earth

“Kana,” Zelman muttered softly, brushing some hair away from her face. Her eyes slowly opened and focused on his, startling him with their soulless, black appearance. “Zelman,” she blinked, looking around the room they were in before focusing her black eyes back on his red ones. He watched her carefully, ready to attack or defend if need be.

“She’s gone, forever gone,” she whispered.

“Yes,”

“Why did you bring me here?” she demanded, changing suddenly, and throwing herself to her feet, pacing the luxurious bedroom. “We were attacked again, and chose to form small groups in separate hideouts throughout the city in hopes that our smaller numbers will make us harder for them to find.” He explained.

“We’re the only two here. No other creatures are here. Why?”

“You were unconscious and unable to fight. I chose to hide you here until you awoke.”

“Why?”

Zelman was quiet for a while before deciding to admit the true reason, “So that I could protect you… so that if you awoke as the same Kana I knew, I could be the one to comfort and aid you. Or you awoke an enemy; I would be the one to destroy you and have my final farewell.”

Kana’s eyes had a flicker of humanity before shifting back to black Demon’s eyes again.

“Kana, don’t give in. I can see you fighting this, please keep fighting. Fight it for me,”

“Fight for you…” she muttered so quietly that he could barely hear her, “Fight for you,”

Her inner battle was physically painful, bringing her to her knees as she struggled to keep the Demon from consuming her. She had her humanity, even in demonic death, and she now had something new to fight for. The Reminders weren’t what kept them human after all; it was their own reasoning. She finally realized that as Zelman’s hands captured hers.

“Don’t let me fall,” she pleaded, suddenly looking up at him with glowing black irises. “I won’t.” he assured awkwardly, unsure of what she was talking about. “L-let me fight for you, don’t let me fall; don’t let them have me.” She cried as the pain inside worsened, and she heard their voices inside her own head.

“I promise you, Kana.”

Just as she gave the most determined scream he had ever heard in his life, the floor beneath her opened up, creating the same passage to hell as the energy from the night before came from. “I won’t let you fall, Kana.” He promised as he held her by the hands, keeping her from being taken down into their Pits.

“I won’t… you can’t have me. You took her but you can’t take me! You can’t have me! I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE ME!” she screamed, kicking at unseen hands as they grabbed for her ankles, “What do you have left to fight for? Kotaro is dead, Jiro is dead, Rinsuke, Aimée, Lesander, Kain, Eri, Mimiko, Frederick, … they are all gone, Orphan Maker. But why shed a tear? You murdered your family, and those innocent children. You even let your own sister’s head be ripped from her shoulders.” A voice Zelman had never heard before, echoed around them.

“Shut the hell up! I didn’t mean to!” she sobbed, shaking her head violently and clinging to Zelman for her life as the voice continued to torment her.

“Mei suffered because of you, you know that? Feeling each muscle fiber break one at a time as we pulled her head from her body, tearing the skin a fraction of an inch at a time… feeling true terror and pain just before that final tear, when her spinal-cord snapped.”

“S-stop! STOP!”

“She called your name too… pity you weren’t listening for her, you could have saved her… or at least died with her… but no. You let her scream and sob for her life, alone, as Arashi himself took her useless life. Stupid girl even begged HIM to let her live.”

Kana was breaking, and Zelman could tell by the way her grip loosened on his hands. She was letting them get to her, and wanted to die.

“Don’t give up, Kana. I gave my word I wouldn’t let you fall, and I intend to keep to that.” He spoke calmly as the voice laughed around them. “Fight them, fight for her Kana, fight for Mei.” He pushed as she screamed harder to block the voice out. The only thing she could count on was Zelman to keep from letting them take her.

Her fight returned and her grip tightened once more as she screamed and cursed the demons until he was able to pull her out of the hole, causing it to close completely. She couldn’t help herself as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling their bodies as close as possible, and crying until contentment.

“Kana,” he muttered once she had finally calmed down, leaving black stains on his shirt where her tears soaked through. Another thing she hated about being a Demon, black tears.

“What?”

“What happened just now?”

“When a Demon loses their Reminder, we lose our minds. Those are normally all we have to keep us ‘alive’. Without them, we fall apart and become angry, soulless shells, craving to torture anyone who has what we don’t. The problem is, when that time comes we’ve already forgotten what it was we try to hard to remember, and that causes more anger and makes us try even harder to torture everyone around us. Then, we become suicidal in a way, so that when the passage to the other parts of Hell is opened to us, we fall in without a fight.

“When Mie… w-when she,”

“You don’t have to say it, Kana.”

“No, I do. I have to hear myself say it… I know she’s, g-gone, but I need to make it real… is it real? Did they really do it, or are they messing with our heads?”

“I’m Sorry, Kana, it’s real.” He sighed, feeling guilty for having to cut down her sudden hope.

“It’s okay, Zelman. It isn’t your fault,” she whimpered, “It isn’t your fault sh-she’s… dead.”

That was it for the Demon Kana Ishikawa. She once again broke down in his arms, but only for a short while before an explosion shook the building. “There’s only two of us,” she reminded firmly as they stood up.

“The nearest hideout is only a few miles from here.”

“No, we’d only lead them to the others. But… I think we can hide.” She whispered, pushing him into a small closet, and closing the door, using her new powers to block anything from noticing where they were.

“When did you acquire these abilities?” he questioned. “When I lost my humanity. I’m fully demonic now, there’s no human heart beating in my chest. I’m as much a demon as Lesander now. Now I know what happened to him; he lost his reminder and kept fighting. That’s how he became so powerful… we’re weakened by our dependency on staying human. It’s fear that binds us, not our reminder and regret.” She explained, excited by her new realization.

“So your fight is over now, then?”

“This one, yes.” She smiled, shocking him by kissing him lightly, though it didn’t stop him from kissing back.

“Is this how you protect a mourning woman, Zelman?” Jiro demanded as the closet door was thrown open, revealing Kana pinned to the wall with Zelman kissing hungrily down her neck while holding her closely.

He quickly broke away from her as she pulled her jacket around her to cover herself, since they had broken a few buttons on her shirt. “In all honestly, Silver Blade, this has nothing to do with a mourning woman seeking comfort. It has everything to do with two naturally lustful creatures hiding in a closet, accepting their attraction to one another.” Kana explained.

“What happened?” Kain asked, shocked by how different Kana was. “Well, first I kissed him lightly on the lips, just to see what would happen. Then he returned the kiss with a little more force, and I let him turn us so that he was in control. His hands slid under my shirt, fondling me for a short while before finally removing the annoying garment, and then you rudely interrupted us.”

“Not that, you. You were unconscious and mourning when we saw you last, and now you are trying to have sex with a vampire, in his closet. You could have at least taken the bed.” Lesander smirked.

“I realized that Reminders aren’t important, and that we don’t need them after all.”

“You’ve become a full Demon then,”

“Like you.” She grinned darkly before walking to the door; “I take it you cleared the way for us?”

Kain nodded and watched curiously as she and Zelman walked out of the room and to the new hideout.

“You’re not dead!” Mimiko beamed, hugging her as soon as she saw her. “Brother said that you might have become one of the bad demons.” Kotaro frowned. “I could have, but I didn’t. Now where’s Eri?” she smiled before scanning the small crowd.

“He didn’t make it with us. There’s still a chance he’s in one of the other hideouts, but they’re slim.” One of his men sighed sadly. She just nodded and let Zelman’s arm wrap around her and guide her away from the others.

“Mei was given a proper burial. Frederick had Lesander take them to your parents’ graves to lay her to rest beside them.” He informed calmly as they sat though she didn’t need to rest. “Thank you. When this is over, I will have to visit her.” She nodded calmly, and rested her hand on his leg. “It’s a shame they interrupted us,” she smirked as she ran her fingers up and down his thigh. All he could do was stare at her in mild shock; unsure that this New Kana, was someone he was still in love with.

“Well, that’s something I never expected to manifest in her.” Lesander commented to Frederick and Kain as they watched them. “What?” Kain demanded, utterly confused by Kana’s actions. This was so different than the Kana he knew that he wasn’t so sure she was still really on their side.

“It isn’t uncommon for a Demon at full power to feel physical lust during their first days with their new power. The power triggers feelings much like the ones Humans are able to feel. Love, joy, excitement, but the strangest and most difficult for a Demon to feel and resist, is sexual arousal. On average, Demons don’t feel those needs, because it just isn’t something we need anymore. However, at full power we may as well be human, and our bodies suddenly remember how it felt, even if our minds don’t.

“She was in love with him before, emotionally. Now physically she craves him. I went through it as well, but naturally it’s different for a man; we aren’t labeled whores as easily and quickly as women. Not only that, but it was easier for me because I was not in love. I could have any woman I wanted, and feel no guilt. She only wants one man… or Vampire.” Lesander explained.

“So Demons can do it after all.” One of the nearby Company soldiers smirked, clearly checking Aimée out as he commented on their conversation.

“Yes, however she wouldn’t give herself to you. Her heart belongs to her husband.” Frederick frowned.

“He’s dead, right? She killed him.”

“She’s dead as well, and hopes that one day they will reunite. Therefore, you stand no chance. And if I see you even once touch her in a way that she would not want, I will sever your hands, and leave you to fight with the stubs that remain.” He threatened firmly, causing Frederick to laugh before looking over to Kana and Zelman once more.

“What’s wrong with her?” Jiro demanded as he joined them in watching Kana and Zelman interact.

“She’s physically interested in your friend.” Frederick chuckled.

“Demons at full power can feel sexual excitement. For the first time since her Second Life began, she’s aroused. To make things better, it’s by someone who she is in love with.” Lesander elaborated.

“Hey! Where are you two going?” Aimée demanded suddenly. “To stand guard,” Kana dismissed, and kept on their way. “No you’re not, you filthy Demon! You two are going for some ‘Alone Time’ and all three of us know it. You’ve gotten him excited, and now you two are looking for a place for some… release.” Frederick shot back.

“And what if we are? We could all be dead in the next few minutes, let us live our last moments.” She laughed, and drug Zelman to the roof.