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The small pup stumbled in the dark. Her silver fur was heavily matted against her skin from the rain that still fell. Was it safe yet? She was so tired. She needed to sleep…
A flap of wings above her reminded her of the reason she was running. She needed to get away. The black bird was going to kill her. It was going to murder her, as it had done to her parents. She needed to find safety. She needed to run!
Her tiny paws stumbled and slid in the fresh mud and wet grass. She had never had to run like this before…
She saw it: a castle-like structure, though smaller than her home, with gray bricks and colored glass windows. To her, it promised warmth, protection, rest, light against the bleak, black sky.
The wolf pup ran to the door and pleaded with it to open. She scratched and whimpered and grew more desperate as the flapping wings drew closer.
Finally, the doors opened, and she ran inside. The door closed again, and weariness overtook the young pup. She could feel warm, protecting arms wrap around her. The pup curled up in the arms and closed her eyes.
---
Light poured over the small girl, causing her to stir and awaken. She yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She found herself on a long, cushioned wooden seat. There were more seats like the one she was on, in equal rows. In front of her was a table with empty gold trays. Behind the table were two tall, wooden boards, one attached to the other, that appear to her like a giant "t".
"Are you awake, young one?"
The girl turned and found a man dressed in a sober black robe walking toward her. In his hands was a round loaf of bread.
She nodded timidly.
"Here, eat this," he said with a kind smile. As he handed the bread to her, it felt warm in her cold hands.
She took a bite of the bread, and the man asked her, "What is your name?"
The girl swallowed and answered, "Amaris Tiwele, sir…"
"Tiwele?" the man asked, blinking in surprise. "Ah…is your mother named Artemis? I knew her, many years ago. She used to visit this very church. You do look like her… Tell me, how is she?"
"Mother?" Amaris replied, stuttering. Tears began to well up in her eyes as the memories of the past night came back to her. "Mother…i-is dead…"
The man was silent for a moment. "Oh. I am sorry. I am sure she is in Heaven with our Lord."
The statement didn't seem to help Amaris much. "L-Leo…Big brother…he killed Mother and Father…" She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
The man sighed. "Quiet, child. You are safe here. Eat, rest…"
Amaris continued sobbing. "Why? Why did he kill them? A-And he attacked me… But I love Leo…he's my brother… I thought we were friends…"
"Amaris, calm down… Can you tell me what happened?"
"I-I don't know…" she answered with another sob. "Leopold…disappeared for a long time…then he came back, and Mother and Father went to check on him. He said…they didn't love him, and he hated them, and Father said he let a demon in…th-then Leo killed them…"
"A demon…" The man thought for a moment. "Did your brother follow you here?"
Amaris nodded shakily. "H-He's going to kill me…"
"He won't kill you, if you stay in here. Your brother may be possessed by a demon, Amaris. If so, then he is no longer the brother you remember. Stay here and you will be safe. A demon cannot enter a house of God."
"God…?" Amaris asked, looking up at the man again.
He smiled and nodded. "He is the one who created and loves this world, including you and me. I am sure he is the one who led you to this place. He is the one who protected you."
Amaris finally began to settle down. The man smiled at her again. "Eat. I'll be back soon with some dry clothes you can change into."
The silver-haired girl nodded and quietly nibbled at her bread. It was not as warm as when he had given it to her, nor was it as dry, for some of her tears had landed on the bread when she had cried, but she ate it anyways to fill her empty stomach.
A few moments passed, and the man returned, carrying some simple blue robes. He handed them to her and walked outside to allow her privacy as she changed.
The robes were too big for small Amaris, but she didn't care. They were warm and dry. She hugged herself, trying to smother it against her skin. It was then she heard voices outside.
"You are not welcome here. Leave."
"Aw, don't be like that, preacher. I just came to look for my little sister. She ran away from home yesterday, and I'm worried she might be hurt."
Amaris gasped and rushed to the window. In front of the kind man was a teenager with waves of black hair, surrounded by an almost smothering darkness. Large, black wings protruded from his back, folding around him as perched in a branch above the preacher's head.
Amaris whimpered.
"Demon!" the preacher said, holding out a leather-bound book Amaris had barely noticed him carrying earlier. "In the name of our Lord God and his son, Jesus Christ, be gone from this man!"
Leopold's wings disappeared, and the darkness surrounding him grew only slightly less suffocating.
"I was just beginning to like those, too," Leopold said, looking at his back.
The preacher did not back down, even when it became apparent that the male opposite him was more than just simply possessed. "Leave the child alone," he said.
"Sorry, can't do that. She deserves death just as much as her pathetic parents did."
"We all deserve death, but Jesus Christ has offered us eternal life-"
"You're annoying. Can I shut you up now?" Leopold raised one of his hands. Before the preacher's eyes, the raised hand changed into a feathered claw. Leopold grinned wickedly and lunged forward.
Amaris let out a muffled cry and hid underneath the window sill. However, she did not hear the sound of the kind man getting killed, but instead heard snarling. Curiosity overcoming her fear, she peeked through the window again and saw the preacher holding up his leather book once again. Leopold was trying to claw at the book now, instead of the preacher, and he was unable to. Something was holding him back; Leopold was clashing with an invisible force. Leopold took a step back and charged at the invisible wall, only to be sent flying back from it on impact, crashing into the tree he'd previously been perched on.
Leopold grunted as he pulled himself off the ground. "You're pretty strong, preacher, but you can't protect that runt forever, and neither can that God of yours. He'll fall to Lord Lucifer soon enough… You'll be begging for his mercy, but he'll turn you over to me instead, Leopold Theodore Bosco, general of demons!"
Wings sprouted from his back once again, and Leopold took off into the sky, leaving behind black feathers to fall to the ground below.
Weary and out of strength, the preacher slumped to the ground. "Great and loving God, please take the souls of Artemis and her husband into your kingdom, and spare them the horror of their son…" he said, his face turned toward the sky. "Only you can protect young Amaris from that man. Give her the strength she needs to continue on, and use me as you wish to help her. Amen…"
Amaris bit her lip carefully and began to walk toward the door. Leopold had left… It was safe to go outside again, right? She opened the door and quietly walked over to the preacher. "Are…a-are you okay…?" she asked in a whisper.
The preacher looked at her and nodded. "Just tired… Your brother won't be back, at least not for a while. Go back inside now."
Amaris hesitated to walk away, but instead took the preacher's hand and helped him off the ground. "I'll be safe here?" she asked him.
The preacher smiled at her and nodded. "You may stay here for as long as you wish. I'll prepare a room for you."
"U-Um, thank you!" Amaris curtsied quickly to the preacher before running back into the church.
His smile wavered as he watched her. She would need all the strength she could gather if she was going to survive with a demon after her. Silently, he wondered how this could happen to someone as young as her.
Even more, he wondered just what could have happened to cause her brother to sell his soul to the devil.
 JediNikinaK · Fri Nov 13, 2009 @ 09:16pm · 0 Comments |
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