Chapter One

 

Olivia Hart couldn’t believe that her human form with elegant green eyes and reddish blonde hair helped cover the demon inside her slim curvy body for all those centuries. She sat there dumbfounded in front of her computer, staring at the oncoming messages from her friend Chantah Li, which were in red and hers in blue. She could suddenly feel Danny looking over her shoulder and quickly disintegrated all her inner thoughts. She smiled upward at him and gave him a peck on his lip, gentle as silky smooth as they touched.

Danny Pavadon grinned, staring back at her with those green-purple eyes that betrayed his true identity as a demon hunter, but to normal humans could only see them as normal colored brown. To her, it was the color of a true hero can be. Since she’s a high-level demon, she has the ability to see their true form whenever she likes. His jet black hair combed into a neat Mohawk, her mouth slowly frown into a warm smile.

“What are you up to, babe”, he asked, his masculine voice made her stomach flying with butterflies. He pointed his chin at the monitor, his muscular hands rested tenderly on her shoulders.

“Don’t you remember it’s our Guardian Witch’s username?” she asked with one eyebrow raised. The long silence and his expression told her that he had no clue who she was referring. Unlike her, who knows only one witch friend, Danny Padovan as a Guardian Demon Hunter might know more than one. “It’s our dearest witch friend, Chantah Li.”

He laughed, “How could I remember? She frequently changes it practically every month.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right, she does that a lot.”

“Why does she have to create a new username so often anyway” he began to ask, curiosity in his voice as he rubbed his chin with his thumb. “It makes sense if she’s a hacker. But she’s not.”

“Maybe she just doesn’t want guys like you snooping around…like you are now.” She started chuckling again as she playfully rubbed his nose with a finger, taking away the smudge of cake that they had earlier off his handsome face, smiling.

“Fine,” he sighed with a slight smile. “I’ll leave you girls alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He implanted one last kiss on the cheek before leaving. “Sleep tight, sweetie.”

He missed the joke. He must be getting tired and worn out, which told her that he didn’t get enough sleep last night and probably didn’t have a chance to sleep at all in class today either..and he’s draining out. She grabbed his cheeks and kissed Danny on the lip. He took it in as a surprise at first. Then, he slowly endured the seductive sensation in his mouth with his eyes closed. The minutes passed them by without seconds. She closed her eyes and continued playing with his tongue inside his mouth. It tasted good, so good that even she couldn’t let go of his tongue and kept her eyes closed. She never wanted to let him go. It felt so good, so right and yet so wrong.

She jerked her eyes opened and stepped back a little to the point that they still could feel each other’s breaths. “You should go home and rest, baby. You had a long day.”

“But we just got started,” he breathed her in.

She shook her head. “Sorry, darling. I think Chan wants to talk to me about…you know girls stuff right now. And you are starting to look worn out.”

“Oh, right,” he pecked her on her forehead and rubbed his thumb against her hairline. “Say hi for me okay?”

“I will…and don’t do any more slaying without my vigilant eyes on you!” scolding him with her finger, she smiled before giving him a good night kiss.

“Yeah, yeah”, he waved his hand, pretending as if it can wave off her words as well, headed for the door before she perceives his tone of triviality, but before he could even get out through the front door, he was stopped by Olivia’s angelic voice. His fingers wrapped around the doorknob, he was staring at her.

She observed him as he leaves, “You better not, Danny Padovan! Or I would…would…”

Danny raised an eyebrow with curiosity, halted, “or you would what, Olivia Hart?”

He waited for a few seconds before he continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t, okay? I promise I’ll go straight to bed when I’m home.”

She grinned, relieved. “No more slaying?”

The muscular, green purple eyed teenager assured her, “yes, no more slaying.”

“Good, because tomorrow I don’t want to see a sleeping beauty next to me in class, snoring!”

He laughed it off, “Good night, honey bunny.”

“Good night, donkey.” She watched him leave, leaving behind a bag of guilt on her shoulders. She never told him who she really is underneath her human shell.

He couldn’t stop himself from smiling as it crept across his face. His reminiscence went back to the day he first saw her. Olivia Hart, the dazzlingly and beautiful mind that he had ever met, the one that kept him alive when he was an amateur demon hunter, barely knowing the basics and slowly getting used to his new role, and she was the one to get rid of his normal day boredom. The one who could make him stay awake even after no sleep at all. He will always continue to protect her and stay by her side.

In a way, he felt guilty that he invited her into this world of demons and the black magic, the danger that it poses on her every time he has to demon hunt since she is merely a human with no specific power like the rest of Guardians. But she was attached to them wherever they go and have a strong interest in the demonic world. Her shelves were covered with demonology books and drawings and to his amazement, a majority of the books and drawings were accurate like God himself.

He silently closes the door before him, leaving her to her privacy with Chantah, the Guardian Witch in Training. Chantah was the new member of the Havens Guild. Young and beautiful with Asian brown eyes and jet black hair that she styled like a long bob the last time he saw her.

She turned back to her own monitor. Knowing that he left the room, she started typing something back to Chantah. It chimed as she pressed enter. In an instant, it chimed back, indicating Chantah’s very, very quick response, as if she was racing against time with herself.

Her mind wandered back to the past as she rested her fingers on top of the keyboard, staring at it. Like a dream, the visions in her mind came forward vividly through the spectacles of her eyes, not realizing that she had been deluded by a delusionist because his words slowly entered her mind like a needle.

The delusionist needed the energy to fulfill his hunger. He found his prey as he selected her as his victim, and he used his invisibility to hide from the girl’s eye. He watched from behind as he used his words to open the gates of hell, for her, through her own pair of pupils before her.

Everything around her began to disappear, replaced by the memories of the past. The sound of demons cheering for their queen and that evil look on her face, Olivia remembered it all way too well.

***

Three thousand years ago, in ancient China, they were hosted in a deserted forest, inside a dark looking fortress, with fine greenery. Dark but lit with torch lights that didn’t help at all hung on the walls around them. The two demons on both sides held onto Olivia’s biceps so tightly that it was impossible for her true form to escape. With the black veil covered her entire face, she couldn’t see a single thing clearly but blurry figures. In front of her, by several inches, stood a figure with a long robe and three-foot train skirt behind her. She must be the Demon Queen who captured her from her kin back in Japan, her back was all she could make out.

She was obtained.

Now, she would be announcing a new Darkener to be auctioned to these scary looking creatures with no heart and soul beneath the stage. Some make themselves look like humans and one was actually a human. She can smell it. The blood…so rich…

The queen was ready now. She raised her hand high as to notion them to silence, and with no surprise there, they obeyed instantly like good humble minions they are.

Olivia watched and could only watch as the delusionist continued deluding her of her secret harden past.

The queen moved her eyes around the room as if looking for suspicious intruders. The others followed along. Only a few had taken notice of the new Darkener, started to point fingers at her with inquisitiveness. Feeling ill at ease, she lowered her head, but jerked up as soon as she heard the queen’s alarming voice, so loud it could’ve broken her eardrums.

“Silence you imbeciles!” the queen shouted so loud that it vibrated the ground underneath them. “Why are you guys so noisy! Just shut up you ungrateful imbeciles!” She seemed to be looking around searching for a specific demon or Darkener. “And now where the hell did Kosuke go? Did he relocate his Darkener and bring her back yet? Goddamn you, where are they!”

It wasn’t long before they appeared before her as if her screams had reached them miles away, and the girl with the black mask knelt before the queen in anticipating dread. Her sword raised in front of her like her two hands were the holder. The sheath in place. She bowed her head down.

“I apologize, my queen…” the girl with the mask stuttered. Her voice sounded like a nightingale’s voice, innocent and gentle so soft that even Olivia could barely hear her, but still it echoed sympathetically across the area without intricacy. The mask, if not mistaken, she wears that of the yin, the symbol of bad. It covered half of her face, neatly as if it was deliberately meant for her. Since she wore the mask, it was no way that she could figure out who or what she is…or if she’s even a girl. The yin mask, a same as the yang, possess the power to disguise the wearer. There was no way of knowing what or who that person is, not even with the most powerful creature, not even the Gods above. That was how powerful that mask was. It was as powerful as the sword she holds in front of her, the Cherry Blossom. The girl continued to be knelt down in front of the queen and her master, who stood close by her, watched attentively at the queen as if in fear of what she might do to her.

The queen, the Darkener, and her master…their tension began to grow deeper like they were lost at sea, in their own little world or dimension. There was definitely something going on, Olivia felt it.

Olivia remembered, remembered that deep strong tension among the three as she sat there in front of her computer, within her memories.

The queen flapped her flare sleeves and continued her roaring, “Where have you been, Xin Yi? Did I not inform you about tonight? I deliberately told everyone not to be late and here you are late as hell!”

Olivia’s vision abruptly turned its attention towards the other demon that stood beside Xin Yi, tightened his grip against his sword handle and stared at his Darkener, worried. At some point, the Darkener, Xin Yi, had lowered her sword but remained with her head down.

“I’m sorry…your highness,” she apologized again, still stuttering as she spoke, eyeing her queen slowly descending down the stage towards her.

“Sorry is not enough,” the queen flamed her nasty eyes downwardly at her as she stood in front of the kneeling girl now. She used her forefinger and lifted her chin. “Sorry…is that all you could say? Report to me about your missions.”

The girl, Xin Yi’s heart, began to plunge rapidly with fear. She dared not to show her fear in front of the queen, because if the queen knew, she would do something, anything to keep her away from her master.

“Now tell me,” the queen bellowed, glowering at her. Again, the girl didn’t speak, looked down, ashamed or with fear, Olivia couldn’t tell.

Olivia could see…no, feel, the queen getting irritated as the seconds past and descry instead a surprising smile on her face. She detected the wicked queen removed her finger off the poor kneeling girl’s chin, still holding onto that covered up smile across her face. She raised her hand above her head, ready…ready for what?

Xin Yi’s master grabbed the queen’s wrist, stopping the fate the queen wanted to set across his Darkener’s face. He glared with his black blue eyes at her, not saying a word. Slurring angry words wouldn’t help the situation but only would make it worse, especially for his Darkener.

The girl opened her eyes and looked up but only to see the hand just a hair away. She saw that her master had stopped the queen’s punishment intended upon her.

The glare softened, he released his grip around the queen’s wrist and straightened up. Exaggerated a heavy sigh, “Please Mother, would you stop trying to go against my Darkener and try to punish her for every little thing she did.”

“Really,” she disagreed. “My dear son, I believe the rightful punishment for her tardiness should be endured. She was also hesitant to report about her duties at hand yet you dare to tell me I shouldn’t punish her. I know she’s not muted for one. Then why didn’t she give me an answer, my dearest son?”

It was his turn to befall into silence. He doesn’t want the situation to worsen. If he said the wrong word, he blanched what his mother would do to his Darkener.

“If you cannot give me a good explanation for your Darkener’s misbehavior, Kosuke, I would severely punish her for her late and failure as a Darkener, even if you try to protect her.”

He frowned, and as if deciding, took a silent breath. “I asked her to neglect all your missions and concentrate her mission on the Golden Dragon instead…since you always wanted him dead anyway. Xin Yi is the only who has the slightest chance of even touching a scale of his more than the rest of the demons you had sent out in the past…who had come back broken or missing in one thousand pieces…”

Olivia watched, involuntarily through the whole scene like a dream that she cannot control.

The prince’s Darkener Xin Yi looked up at her master with eyes that said, “He’s lying —for me!”

“Did she,” the queen asked bitterly, eyes on her son, didn’t notice the look on Xin Yi’s expression that almost gave it away.

Lucky, Olivia felt. That girl’s fate is actually saved by her master.

Mocking the pretense of elegance and godly like figure, the queen poses her hand neatly behind her back. A demon with a devilish heart could never be elegant or godly, regardlessly. She watched her son became speechless again and smiled proudly as if she had won the battle against her son. “Well then, it’s more the reason for me to discipline her…”

Kosuke, the demon prince, stepped in between the queen and his Darkener. “She’s my Darkener, mother. At least save me some pride in letting me discipline her…alone.”

She sharply eyes one last time at his Darkener. “Xin Yi, you imbecile, your punishment is saved for the next time, ten folds worth if I ever catch you making a mistake again! And I’ll make sure that you wouldn’t get away with it that easily. Now, stand back to your position!”

“Yes, my queen, Xin Yi understands.” She bowed down lower as a sign of understanding. She, then, lifted her knees off the ground and positioned herself behind her master, Prince Kosuke.

To describe the Darkener girl, it was hard as paper against the rock as her mask had helped covered her face. Another issue was the black veil that covered Olivia’s, which made her vision blurrier than normal, but the Darkener’s master, Prince Kosuke, has aspiring black bluish eyes, when he’s not glaring, that reflected love that he has for his Darkener Xin Yi, who’s eyes mimicked his the same way as they sneakily caught each other’s eyes, and she began to wonder if the queen noticed it as well.

For a reason that she couldn’t describe at that moment, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Xin Yi, like the many other demons around the room that seemed to be drawn to her like a magnet. Does she have a special ability that attracts people without revealing her beauty?

The queen, at that moment, grabbed suddenly onto the chain around Olivia’s neck and it made the sounds of a chain being pulled. She was forced to walk with her further towards the front of the stage like a dog. The demons clenched tighter around her biceps as the many pairs of eyes, even the Darkener Xin Yi and her master settled their eyes upon her now.

The Queen of Demons, Mirage, roared in laughter, “I went to Japan earlier today and…Don’t say I don’t treat you imbeciles well. I obtained a new darkener for you. She’s a demon as powerful with rarity as Xin Yi the Legendary Assassin, but the power of this demon lies within her mind instead…This is getting so interesting that I myself began to ponder who would be the lucky bastard to obtain such a magnificent creature of minds for their evil deeds? Shall we get started…or do you all want to delay the auction furthermore?”

The crowd exiled all their worries and fears, too excited to even remember who’s their ruler, began to rejoice, “Yes, my queen! Start it now, start it now!”

Olivia quivered to the chilly wind blowing against the thin fabric she was wearing as she heard the audience seemed to revive to live again, but feared, fear of what evil deeds she must accomplish for her new master and what punishments would be granted upon her if she failed. Would it be like that of Xin Yi’s or worse?

Her fear clogged her in place and couldn’t bear the thought any further.

***

She blinked several times adjusting her ears and eyes to her changing environment. She was back to where she was a minute ago, in her own room, staring at her computer screen and realized that she had missed seven of Chantah’s messages, which were bold and highlighted, indicating that they were new and unread. How long has she been dozing off?

She doesn’t recall the moment or thing that brought her back to her past and suspected foul play. She turned around and nobody was there. She got up and walked to her window. No one in sight. She closed her eyes and used her senses, but sensed no presence of anyone. And it did not lessen her worries and trembling fear inside her.

(To Be Continued….)