The Demon War

E

EquinoxSol

Guest
Original poster
"Everybody, get down!" Uri shouted, picking up Ariel, the youngest of the group, into his arms. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest, the fear that everyone was feeling encompassed by a single tiny girl's heartbeat. As he ran for the safe house, he could hear the sounds of a car behind him, a sound that filled even the man with fear. It seemed that only the Church had cars anymore, as well as good weapons and resources, but Uri had made due these past ten years, and he would make due now.

As the demons he was housing followed him towards his house through the large peach orchard that surrounded his house, he made sure that no one fell behind, not fancying losing another to the Church. Hearing a gunshot, everyone instinctively hit the ground, ducking into the underbrush of peach trees. The bullets were almost certainly made of silver and blessed by a high priest of the Church, which would create a living hell for demons if they touched it.

Shivering in the early spring air of the nighttime forest, the demons waited for the sounds of pursuit. After a few minutes of this, Uri had them running for his house again, soon catching sight of it. "There," he said, pointing, still holding the red-headed half-demon in his arms. As they circled towards the back entrance, he unlocked the door before making sure everyone got into the house.

It was a rather large house, for being in the middle of nowhere. It was painted white on the outside, with two wraparound porches and several large balconies on the third floor. It was perfect for shooting at demons who would much rather eat a human than get to safety, and Uri had it built like a fort. The inside was considered lavishly decorated, by cities' standards. Each room looked as it had hundreds of years ago, when it had been a hiding place for African slaves and not demons.

"Everyone, there's a room beneath the stairs. It should fit all of you. I'll deal with the Church bastards." Locking the door behind him, he bustled around his house, locking windows and finding one of his only weapons, a nice shotgun he had gotten from a Church official. He still had a few shots for it, though he used it more for a threatening look than to actually shoot someone. The Church also gave him a monthly bullet ration, thinking him simply a model citizen who deserved some protection. He did have a registered shotgun, but the blessed bullets the Church gave him were much more suited for their shotguns, so he used that instead.

As soon as he saw all five of the demons get into the room beneath his stairs, which was rather large considering where it was placed, he unrolled the curtain that hung over the stairway. If asked, he would pass it off as a decoration, and not something to allow the door to remain hidden.

Heart beating fast, he looked out of the curtains of the front windows, seeing the lights of a car coming up the long dirt driveway leading up to his house. Turning on a few lights, he made it look like he had been in the sitting room reading a book. When he heard the inevitable ding-dong of the doorbell, he couldn't help but jump, though he knew who it was.

Standing up, he set down the book on the coffee table, and walked to the door. Unlocking it, he forced a smile as he saw who it was, four Army officials, though he would have wished he could take a knife right to their guts. "Hello, sirs. Can I help you?"

"You are Uri Belyakov?" asked the one with the highest rank, a sergeant in the Church's army.

"Yes, sir. I have my identification right here." He dug in his pockets for his wallet, glad to find he hadn't dropped it while he had been in the orchards. Opening it, he took out his ID, showing the official it. "Is there a problem?"

As a lower-ranking soldier used an ocular testing device to make sure he wasn't a demon posing as Uri Belyakov, the sergeant said, "We saw a group of demons heading this way. The orchard is your property, is it not, Mr. Belyakov? I'll have you know that they were in it. I cannot say if they harmed the orchard in any way, and my condolences if they did."

"Oh..." Uri said, trying to appear like he had no idea what the official was talking about. "Well, I heard some weird noises coming from Mr. Whittaker's home, which is about a mile north of mine. He might have seen something." Uri offers a helpful smile, glad when the ocular testing device was taken away from his right eye, knowing that it read out positive. "That's all I can help with."

He was lucky this time. Fortunately for Uri, the officials didn't search his house, and he was able to let them leave on good terms, even offering them coffee for their trouble. However, as soon as he shut the door when they left, he was grumbling to himself, his mood darkened by their presence.

Returning to the curtain on the stairs, he opened the door to the room under the stairs, letting everyone out. "The second and third floors are bedrooms. Take whichever ones you want." He smiled at them, glad that he had kept the demons safe. There was a human among them, Ariel's mother, but she was sickly, and didn't blend with the demons well at all.

After making sure his group all found beds easily enough, he went to the attic, lighting a candle in the window there, letting anyone who needed it that it was safe to appear on his doorstep. Returning to the sitting room, he continued reading once more, deciding to stay up all night and keep watch.
 
Alexis Matsuki stayed hidden in the trees. She watched as the commotion of the soliders and the shot guns and the demons scattered about. Being a shapeshifter, she was a demon that was able to get away with anything she damn near wanted to. Only down side was her pure violet hues that stuck with her with every trasnformation, so she just had to hope no one would notice. Watching in the trees was a sight, almost like a movie but more excited. Once she got a hold of what was going on, a sly grin appeared on her face, from cheek to cheek. "A human housing demons? How intriguing..." She gave a faint laugh. Her voice sounded like an old time witch from England. Very elegant. Though she was not. Alexis's long, black hair fell in front of her face as she leaned forward, trying to get a look in the window of the house where she saw the human reading. "Hes awake...no bed time?" she tilted her head and jumped from the tree, landing on her feet. "Might as well ask if he has room for one more...though I'll just go in. No sense in knocking.." She chuckled darkly and shifted into a black mist, in which she made her way through his house walls and into the room in which he resided. There, she shifted back into her human-like form and appeared in front of him, her arms crossed. "Got room for another?"
 
Uri was startled by the sudden appearance of a demon. Dropping his book, he quickly ascertained where his shotgun was, in case he needed to protect himself, and looked up at the demon. "Of course," he said levelly, pushing up his black-rimmed reading glasses and fixing his pale grey eyes on her violet ones. "I'll just need you to answer a question. You are not working for the Church in any way and you are not intending on harming or killing me and the other demons in the house?" Uri knew from experience that an honorable demon wouldn't lie, no matter what the question was, and those that worked for the Church were hit or misses. Sometimes they still held some semblance of honor, but more often than not they were all honorless fiends. He just knew that those who said no to either of the questions deserved to be shot.

Brushing his dark brown hair out of his eyes, he looked up at the demoness curiously. "How is it you came to find me?" he asked. Normally, those who requested a place to stay for the night or help to the next safehouse were those who are with other demons, in groups. Very rarely did they find him by themselves.

Standing up as he listened to her answer, he began leading her up the creaky wooden stairs that led up to the second floor, knowing that there probably wouldn't be any empty rooms there. Still, he checked the rooms, looking into each one or knocking where he saw lights on. After ascertaining that there were no empty rooms, he whispered, "There's some rooms upstairs."

The top two floors were arranged in a circular fashion, with eight rooms on both floors surrounding a large, nice commons room. The middle of the third floor had no floor, and instead had a railing preventing people from falling, with a nice view of the commons room, as well as some comfy seats between doorways. There were two bathrooms on both floors, with showers in each of them, so that when morning came, practically everyone would be able to take one. In the middle of the commons room was a nice carpet as well as one of the softest couches Uri had ever sat on. There were a few bookshelves as well, but Uri kept his favorite books in his bedroom or the sitting room.

Taking her up to the third floor, he checked the rooms and made sure everyone was fine before saying to the female demon, "You can have any of the other rooms. Just don't try to eat Rachel. She's sick enough as it is, and I don't want to have to clean up bloodstains again."
 
She glared at him, her eyes looking as if they were looking into his soul. "The Church? Oh hell no. And why would I harm my own kind? Unless they want to cause harm to me, I'll keep my distance." She said, following him up the stairs. This man must be rich! She thought, seeing all the rooms, and everything. The house was huge in itself, let alone all the funiture that went along with it, expensive furniture at that. She liked what she saw. "I promise I will stay away from everyone if you would like me to." She promised, looking around at the rooms on the third floor, deciding to take the one in the corner. She was serious about staying away, she wasnt a people person. Staying confided with knowing she had somewhere to sleep was good enough for her.

"Answer me this though." She turned around, her hand on the doorknob of her new room. "Why do you do this? I have watched you for a while. Humans don't associate with Demons. Why do you? Why do you trust everyone so much?" She asked, her deep purple eyes staring him down. "Though you can trust me....I just...Curious is all." She said, taking her hand off the doorknob and leaning her back against the door, waiting for answers of her own.
 
Uri watched her carefully for a moment, not sure how to answer her. Finally, he said, "My father started doing it as soon as he saw that not all the demons were bad. That was right after I was born, a year after the demons came. We were in Russia, then, where they say the demons first came from. You'd think it'd be the demons that we were afraid of, that we hated because we all lost people we knew to them, but when the first soldiers of the Church came in, we saw that they were killing indiscriminately, not caring if their bullets hit demons or humans. When a demon tried to save my mother, who'd gotten hit by a stray bullet, my father decided that not all demons were bad. I sort of grew up learning that demons were better than humans." He frowned slightly at the memories of growing up in a demon compound in northern Canada for most of his childhood, growing up with the other demon children. "Besides," he added, "if I don't trust the demons I take in, then I wouldn't be able to lie as well to the soldiers." Leaving it at that, he said, "There's a group of demons heading to Canada coming around breakfast tomorrow. You can go with them, if you want. I'm pretty sure everyone else will be leaving with them." Turning he made for the stairs.
 
Alexis listened to his answer. A rather sweet one, but Alexis wasnt much for being sweet. Its not like she didnt have any feelings though, still, she understood his thoughts. "Ah...well...thank you." She said, opening the door to her room and shutting it behind her quietly. She had no intentions of going to Canada. Why would she? Instantly she climbed into the soft bed and snuggled her way into the warm covers. The only thing about being in the corner is that the heat didn't get very well to her room, but that was quite alright. With a small yawn, she closed her eyes, and fell asleep, pulling the covers over her face, almost unseen.
 
Leaving her, he goes back to the sitting room, lying down on it while he tried to finish his book in peace. Eventually, he fell asleep on the couch, the book falling on his face and pushing his glasses against his eyes. In the morning, he awoke to Ariel's happy face trying to shake him awake. "Mmm," he groaned, gently pushing the small red-headed child away from him. "I'm up, I'm up," he mumbled, sitting up and taking his reading glasses off, putting them in their case before saying, "I'll get breakfast started. You go take a shower or help get everyone up." He smiled, getting up. Moving to the hallway, he picked up the shotgun, feeling the inscription of whoever the gun used to belong to. Some Lewis Woods. Taking it to the closet, he set it against the far wall, figuring that they would be safe for now. In the well-stocked kitchen, he began cooking a large breakfast of eggs, bacon, and waffles, knowing that if the other demons wouldn't eat his food, surely Ariel and her mother would.
 
Alexis slept peacefully for the most part. When she awoke, the sun was shinining in her eyes and that was something she refused to tolerate. She got up, and closed the curtains and then turned on a small lamp. Lamp light was always better than sunlight. Then she made her way to the shower to get washed up. Being in a tree yesterday made her a little dirty. When she stepped in the shower she let the hot water splash her skin and trickle down her face. finding the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner she washed her large mass of hair and rinsed it. Finally she stepped out the shower and dried herself off. Putting her clothes back on and brushing her damp hair she walked out the room to smell some breakfast cooking. She wasnt much for human food, but bacon was something she couldnt resist. She sprinted down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen. "Do I smell bacon?"
 
"Yeah," Uri answered, smiling slightly. Seeing her in the same clothes she had on last night, he said, "There's clothes in the wardrobe in your room...rules are that if you take out a set of clothes, you have to put your old set in, so that whoever is in the room next has clothes. There should be something that'll fit you." Turning back to the bacon, he helped Ariel onto the counter, letting her hold the plate that he was putting the finished bacon on. After that set of bacon was finished, he said to Ariel, "Go get your mommy up. Tell her that I've made breakfast for everyone, okay?" Smiling as she happily ran to her mother's room, he asked the demon girl, "Could you set the table? I've kind of got my hands full." Pointing to where silverware and dishes were, he grinned at her briefly before mixing the pancake batter, already hungry from the smell of cooking food.
 
"Uhh...sure." She said, searching the cabinets for plates and the untinsles. She found them and grabbed a handful and set the table. Plate down, fork and knife on one side, spoon on the other. Then a napkin. "I wont be eating...I'll just steal some bacon." She chuckled a little then looked at the table she just set. Then she went back upstairs to find those clothes that were supposively in a drawer for her. She found that they were particularly girly clothes. "Ick." She said as she held up a pink t-shirt. So instead she looked in the boys side for just a plain black t-shirt and jeans. She found some and slipped them on. She didn't care if she had boys clothes on, she was comfortable.
 
After finishing the rest of breakfast, Uri set down plates of food on the table. Helping Ariel sit her mother down on the table, he told the child, "Can you wake up everyone else, please? The group you'll be going with will be here soon." While the girl ran off, he found some Tylenol to give to Rachel. "Here," he told her, "take this with water. If you and your husband want, you can stay until you get better."

Rachel answered, "Oh, no, I think it'll be best if we just got moving as soon as we can. But I think Ariel likes having you around. Thank you for having us."

"Of course," Uri answered, "it's my job. If Canada ever goes bust, just come down here, and I'll get you somewhere safe. Please," he said, gesturing towards the food, "help yourself." As the rest of the house woke up, he got everyone else sitting around the table, before calling up the stairs, "Heeey, girlie. Waiting on you."
 
"On me?" She opened her door. Her long hair fell to the small of her back with little curls at the end. Her face was girly, but the attire she picked out not so much. "Why?" She asked, coming down stairs one step at a time with a little bounce as she did so, her hand on the railing. She smiled softly at him and sighed. "I said I wasn't going to eat much." She said as she looked around at everyone, then back to Uri. "But err...thanks anyways...sounds polite I guess." She said as she walked into the kitchen, and taking five strips of bacon, and didn't even bother sitting down with everyone else. She just leaned back on the counter top and munched.
 
Seeing her leaning on the counter, he said, "Sit, now. I don't care if you're not going to eat, but you're going to sit with everyone else while they eat."He didn't care how old fashioned he sounded, it was just how he had been raised and he felt it was right when members of a house ate together. Moving to the kitchen while he waited, he got out milk and various juices for everyone.

"You better be sitting at the table by the time I get back," he said to the girl, heading up the stairs. Blowing out the candle in the attic, he left matches by it for the night. Heading down the stairs again, he took his time walking down them, humming to himself.
 
"I am not a child." She growled. How dare he order her around. She grumbled and decided not to fight back, and sat down with a huff. If this was how it was going to be she might go with the others to Canada. She wasnt about to take orders from some human. She even pushed the bacon aside, she'd lost her appetite. Alexis was one with an attitude most of the time, so it was normal. She growled under her breath, watchign the others eat. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, waiting for Uri to get back.
 
Smiling when he saw her at the table, he took the empty seat next to the girl, eating. Halfway through his meal, he heard a knock at the door, and stood up, motioning for everyone else to remain seated. Parting the front curtains just so, he looked through the blinds to see who it was.

Once he recognized the man, a smile spread across his face, and he went to the door, unlocking it. "Chris, hey. I got them, they're eating breakfast. You wanna come in?" His friend shook his head, responding with:

"No, I can't. We gotta get to South Carolina by nighttime, so we can't do anything besides get there. Sorry....we'll be fine."

"Right," answered Uri. "I'll get them." Walking back into the house, he walked to the kitchen. "Anyone who's going has to get their things now. Christopher isn't very patient, so you better leave now." Helping everyone get their things, he made sure Rachel took his bottle of Tylenol, just in case something came up and they ended up not getting to South Carolina on time.
 
(LOL I live in South Carolina! XD)

Alexis watched as everyone was scurrying to get their things. She was deciding on wether or not to go too. But as she thought about it she got realized he'd be left all alone. That wasnt a very nice way to live, especially in this world. Not all demons were good. She sighed and leaned forward in her chair, grabbing a piece of bacon and chewed it slowly as she watched everyone. Should she help? Nah...she figured she would just be in the way.
 
((You, too? LOL What part, if I might ask xD))

After getting everyone out of the house, Uri was surprised to find that the girl had stayed. "Hey," he said, startled by her presence. Taking a pancake, he ate it quickly before running to the third floor, getting out onto a balcony, his shotgun now in his hands as he watched over the group, knowing that he might have to batten down the hatches soon. When they were out of sight, he sighed heavily and then went back downstairs to clean up.

Clearing the table, Uri didn't even ask the girl to help, figuring he was lucky not being in the house by himself again.
 
(Charleston...o3o and you?)

Alexis sat back and watched as he cleaned. She wasnt much help but she did put away her own dish that the bacon sat on. "Hey." She said back to him. He looked a little glum. She stood back up and tilted her head a little. "Surprised I stayed? Or do you want me gone?"
 
((Charleston! But more towards Ladsen O.o))

"No, it's good you stayed but..." he sighed. "I'm not used to having someone stay longer than a night. It's odd." Leaving it at that, he went to his room, which was down a hallway from the kitchen. Changing into fresh clothes, he made sure to take everything he might need and put it into his pockets. After he was dressed, he rummaged through the kitchen cabinets, taking stock of everything. He would have to go into town to buy more food soon, he realized. Running a hand through his hair, he decided he would have to check his accounts before then, in case he needed to get more money.

Frowning to himself, he looked to the girl. "I don't think I know your name...I'm Uri."
 
(So like, by summerville or North Charleston?)

Alexis looked about his kitchen, unsure of what to do. It probably was a little odd seeing as no one stayed for longer than a night. With a sigh she took a cloth and wiped down the kitchen table, just to be helpful.
"Alexis." thats all she said. She stayed as silent as she could to make it less awkward for him.