‹ Prequel: Eyes of the Devil

The Angel of Death

Chapter Two

I tried not to be scared when I finally landed, but it was really dark everywhere and I could barely see anything. The ground was uneven and rocky, with a thin layer of gray mist floating over it. I tripped a couple of times, and one time I even fell and got a big scrape on my arm. Stuff started coming out of it, and it really hurt.

I wandered around, running every time I heard something hiss or growl at me. I was starting to get tired, and I had no idea where I was or how long I had been there. Maybe Mom was right…I should’ve stayed with her. I sat down near a wall and looked down at the ground, sniffling a little, and started crying before I could stop myself.

“Mommy…I’m s-scared…”

A low growl caught my attention. Instead of looking up, I put my arms over my head and tried to be as small as I could, hoping it wouldn’t eat me. It laughed darkly; whatever it was, it was a lot closer than I thought. Right in front of me.

“…I smell blood…something’s bleeding…oh, what do we have here?” it asked, laughing again and breathing hot air into my face. “Just a snack, but I’m starving.”

“Please don’t eat m-me,” I tried to say. I started crying more, which only made it laugh.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

“I’m looking for my dad.” I sniffled a few times and wiped my tears away as much as I could. Maybe if I could keep it talking long enough, it would forget about trying to eat me. “His name’s…uh…Ge…Ger…something.”

“What is it, kid?” it snapped. I trembled. Talking to it was really scary.

“It’s Gerard, okay?” I said nervously. “Gerard.”

It snarled at me angrily, making me wonder what I had done to make it mad. “How do you know my name, kid?”

I couldn’t think of anything to say. There was no way he could be my dad…he had claws and all his teeth were sharp. His hair was almost down to his shoulders, and it was all messed up.

He suddenly jumped forward at me, growling. “Well? Answer me!”

“I’m just trying to find my dad!” I cried. “Please don’t hurt me, I’m sorry I came here…”

“…I am your dad.”

“You…you are?” I asked in confusion. It still didn’t make any sense.

“That’s right,” he said with a small, dark laugh. “Hope you’re not too disappointed.”

I was a little surprised. “…n-no…I just didn’t think you would be so…”

“What? Scary?” he asked. “Oh, please.” He smiled widely, licking some dark red stuff away from one of the separations between his sharp teeth. My eyes got really big.

“O…okay…I’m sorry…I…I’m not scared.” I knew my mommy told me lying was bad, but I hoped he would believe me and stop scaring me so much.

“Oh, you’re not scared?” He leaned forward until he was right in my face. “Then I haven’t been doing my job.”

I felt like I was going to cry again. “P-please don’t hurt me, daddy!”

Something moved off to my left side. It looked kinda like my dad, only it was completely red and had weird-shaped ears and horns. It started crawling over to me and opened its mouth, growling. Before I could try to run away or anything, my dad jumped at it and started clawing at its head until it stopped moving. I covered my eyes because it was really scary, but it sounded really gross.

He laughed again, but it was even scarier than before. “They should know what belongs to me by now.”

I was shaking because I was so scared by then. He kind of crawled back over to where I was, with more of that stuff dripping off of his teeth. “D-daddy…you won’t do that to me…will you?” I asked. He smirked.

“It depends on how your brain tastes.”

“Daddy, please don’t! I don’t taste good, I promise!” I cried. I wanted to run away from him, but I knew he would catch me because he was so big and scary. I didn’t want to make him mad, either.

He tilted his head to one side and sniffed the air like a dog. “…You’re bleeding.”

I started backing away from him a little bit. “What’s that mean?” He pointed to the big scrape on my arm from when I fell. I stared at it. “That never happened before…”

He suddenly turned away. “Get out of here, kid,” he said with a sigh. “You don’t belong here.” He started walking, only he was walking on his hands and feet instead of just on his feet. I looked down at the ground.

“But…I don’t know how.”

He stopped walking for a second. “How did you get here?”

“I…I just kinda…I don’t know!” I said, frowning. I wasn’t really sure how to explain it. “I fell.”

“You can’t fly?” he asked, scowling at me. I shook my head. “Why not?”

“I don’t know…I never tried before.”

“Do you even have wings?”

I shook my head slowly. Before I could even see him move, he hit me in the head and made me fall over. I started crying because it hurt really bad, but then I felt something even worse on my back. It felt like something was scratching me, only it hurt more.

“Daddy! Stop, please!” I screamed, crying more. I turned a little and looked up at him. He just narrowed his eyes and walked away. I couldn’t believe he would do something like that to me. He was my dad; wasn’t he supposed to be nice to me and love me, not hurt me?

“Mommy…help…”