Dark Twisted Fate: Story and Giveaway Part 4

Kiran grabbed Va and raced for the door. He sensed nothing following them. The door was closer. Still nothing pursued them. Why was the entrance hall so large? Would they make it? Va pulled ahead. She reached the door first and threw it open. Nothing happened. They ran outside. The door clicked closed behind them. Va stopped. Kiran ran into her back.

She stared at him. Kiran wouldn’t back down.

“Most demons believe we still have some power. We can’t access it anymore. When Lyalls took over the human and demon worlds, that unused part of ourselves, the power inside us, stored the hatred we couldn’t properly express. It’s believed that unused part finds freedom in death. It becomes a Nechtan, an entity who’s only purpose is to make others feel as it does. It’s unstoppable. It gets inside the mind and takes away who you are.”

They were the essence of dead demons? Why were they shaped like humans? Va said they were supposed to be a myth.

Inside sounded like a more attractive option. He was not going to die here because thoughtless humans picked a rotten place to have a party.

Humming reached through the door. Not that damn song again. Kiran braced himself. The humming didn’t sound like Mom. It was sweet but wrong like a stuffed animal missing an eye. The shadows shivered. The song grew louder. Invisible cold claws raked up and down Kiran’s back. The song reached an ear assaulting shriek. A presence rushed toward Kiran’s back. He dragged Va away from the door. It burst open. The thalig Va was after raced out. It stopped in the yard. The shadows collapsed. Darkness moved, but the Nechtans seemed unable to take their human-like form again.

Kiran forgot how large thaligs were. Its teeth were taller than Va. Those hungry gold eyes killed all thoughts, stopped all movement. Just one of those tree-trunk legs could crushed Kiran. That beast was cursed with six of them. Kiran needed to do something. But what?

“Stop staring and let us leave before they wake up.”

Vikramma and the children sat on the beast’s back.

Was he saving them? His kind were savages. They destroyed worlds. They killed his family. They tortured for fun.

Why would he save them?

Va’s arms hooked around Kiran. She jumped on the thalig’s back. She released Kiran as they sat behind the children. The beast lunged forward, nearly throwing Kiran off. He adjusted himself and turned to Va.

“Are you insane? Why are we accepting help from a Lyall? They will kill us.”

“We did not destroy the worlds nor did we enslave human and demon kind. We experiment. We don’t run worlds.” Vikramma said. “They did it.” He pointed to the shadows as they regained their nearly sold form. “Them and the Chetens, the hooded creature.”

“Why would be believe you?” Kiran demanded. Nechtans were the essence of dead demons. Weren’t they? Why wasn’t Va saying anything. Why did she merely frown at Vikramma? Why did she go with this Lyall without a fight?

“You have other problems, demon. That Cheten wasn’t here for us or the dead humans.”

Kiran’s blood ran hot then cold.

“Are you saying it’s after us?” Va finally said.

Why didn’t she sound frightened or surprised? Vikramma aimed a frown at Va.

“You know what it wants.”

She looked down at Kiran. “I might.”

Vikramma faced forward. “I’ll finally learn why we were ordered to let the last Neeal live.”

Kiran stiffened. “What does my family have to do with this?”

“Demons are stupid,” the little girl said.

“They make better toys. We must play with them,” the boys said.

“Not those two. We need them. You have this thalig to play with, now.”

The children cheered.

“Need us? Vas asked.

“You’re going to save us,” Vikramma said. 

Va snorted. ” I doubt that.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

Va clicked her tongue. She slipped her arm around Kiran’s waist, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“Not at the moment.”

“I’m serious.”

Kiran sighed. “Yes.”

He always sensed something odd about Va’s family. He attached himself to Va because she felt the most honest. The Ka treated him as family. He never felt like an outsider. A thought in the back of his head always nagged at him. Kiran’s family never dealt with the Kas before they died. Why did the Kas take him in?

“My family loves you, but they didn’t adopt you out of kindness,” Va said.

Kiran leaned again Va. She didn’t throw him off. The night didn’t turn out so bad.