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Vain as Zain, now ash.
The demon barked steam, then centered its golden eyes on me.
What did my animal science textbook say?
Don’t look a dog in the eyes. It was a sign of aggression. At least, for a normal dog, if you hadn’t already stabbed it. How did you de-escalate a fire-breathing demon?
Its large nostrils flared, my fear scented.
The hound approached slowly, growling faintly.
“Just do it,” I said. “I’m sure I’ll see you again on the other side.” I laughed to myself. The clock struck twelve, echoing through campus. I’d lost my mind.
Drone flashes lit up the sky, closing in a circle around me. Great. Everyone could see my death, too. I hoped I went viral.
The Bulgae may have rescued me from my tormentors, but I was still too weak to save myself.
A bang resonated from my right. “Stay away from her!”
Cordelia.
In her cartoon seashell pajamas, unarmed and untrained, Cordelia came back for me, the deadbeat accepting defeat on the floor.
“If you die now, you’ll be stuck with that hideous outfit on forever,” Aubrey added next to her, arms crossed. She was covered in black and red blood from hair to toe, white hair nearly as scarlet as Cordelia’s.
I was so tired of this. Tired of being rescued.
Tired of needing to be saved because I refused to use the weapons at my disposal.
Screw this.
My shadows lashed up and out, knocking drones out of the sky.
I teleported sideways, landing between the Bulgae and Cordelia. If I had to become a demon to protect the innocent, so be it.
Darkness called my ego, and I let it, succumbing to the eclipse of energy in my soul, spirit, and self. I was the absence of light, the night where the moon rose.
My black eyes opened.
Bands of power wrapped around my arms, holding my wounds closed.
Limbs of smoke and shadow extended in arching, hungry claws around the beast.
The Bulgae fell back, but I advanced.
I was the unbreakable, unwavering night, and it was a fool for crossing me.
“Demons feast on negative energy, don’t they?”
My shadow claws stabbed into hard muscle. The Bulgae arched in pain and roared, flames lighting the sky. I didn’t care. Pain delighted me.
My mother cautioned me that once the shadows were let in, there was no going back.
Good.
How many times had I wondered whether I would ever be enough? How many times had I let myself doubt?
I turned my shadows into invisible shackles, rooting around the Bulgae until he was immobilized. Then I curled smokey, near-invisible strings around the fallen drones, moving them back to witness my glory.
