Demon Blood

Chapter III

He wasn't sure how or when, but Panic knew that in no time he'll find Pain, at least he hoped. He began to wonder, what if he never found Pain. After all, he had absolutely no idea where he was, or how far away he was from Athens, and what about Pain? Was he as worried about Panic as he was of him? Is he looking for him right now? Of course he was, he's been partners with Pain long enough to know that, obviously, he never leave him behind.

Although, there was something in the back of Panic's mind that something was wrong. He wasn't sure if it was about Pain, or even Dante, but it was there, in his mind, trying to tell him something important. And randomly, he thought, maybe, it was about Dante. But it couldn't be, but it is possible. After all, he barely knew him, he had only spent less than two days with the demon. Even if he did sound honest, why would he lie to him in the first place? Was there something he was keeping from Panic? Was that it?

As he was trying to figure things out, feeling a faint summer breeze against his body, cooling off from the warm sun, the dark demon once again approached him from a short distance, both of his hands behind his back. He must not have noticed Dante watching him.

"Lovely day, don't you think?" Dante commented, without anything in mind he could say.

"It sure is," Panic replied. "How long were you standing there?"

Dante just smiled, and giggled. "Long enough to see just how cute you are when you're day dreaming." Panic lightly blushed. No one ever really told him anything like that, he felt very admired by Dante's comment. But in a second turned his head, looking the other way.

Dante came up to him, resting a hand on Panic's right shoulder, hiding the knife with his left hand behind his back. "What's wrong Panic?" Dante asked, then switching over to Panic's left side, still keeping the knife hidden. "Is it me? It's me, isn't it?"

"No," Panic said, gesturing a little. "No, not at all. It's just... I miss Pain. A lot. I can't stay here forever, even if I wanted to. Im too tied to my work in the underworld, anyway. Please try to understand, Dante. It's not you, it's me."

Dante didn't reply, instead stood there with an understanding look on his face. He smiled, nodding. "Sure," He put his left arm around Panic, the other responded, hugging him as well. Since this was going to be the last they'll see each other, or at least Panic thought so, he might as well have given him one last hug before saying goodbye.

Raising the knife in his right hand, he brought up his arm, preparing himself, before taking the last action, he whispered to where Panic's ears would've been.

"Im sorry..."

Then, quickly, he struck the knife hard into Panic's back, in response to the sharp pain in his back, and from the surprise of this, Panic gave out a loud shriek in pain, his back arched forward, he tried to push himself against Dante, hoping it'll loosen Dante's tight grip on his body. Small tears were coming out of Panic's eyes, as he attempted to free himself.

Finally, the black grinning demon let go of Panic, letting the teal demon to fall backwards, he began to roll down the hill uncontrollably, until he slowed down at the bottom. Whimpering from the unbearable ache in his back, he tried putting both hands on his back where he had been impaled by the knife. He turned to his left side, still lying on the the grass, noticing some of the blood stained grass in shock, it was all happening too fast for him. What's going on? Panic asked to himself, frightened. This can't be happening... It CAN'T be! What's going on!

Hearing a sinister, psychotic laughter, he looked up to see Dante, holding a blood stained knife in his left hand, walking down the hill, towards Panic. His eyes grew bigger as he saw Dante's expression, that big grin, revealing those razor sharp, not to mention the horrifying look in his eyes. Truly a look of complete insanity, it was a frightening sight for Panic, he couldn't believe this, any of it! Panic scooted on the ground, trying whatever he could just to get away from this psycho.

He knew it was doing no good, then he got over on his front side, and began to try and drag himself away with his arms, but sadly, no avail, for Dante came closer and closer to Panic. Just as Panic got to his feet, he felt a hand gripping at his right arm, tight. "Your not going anywhere!" Dante spoke to his, his voice low and deep, like a lion's roar. He tugged Panic closer to him, now he was looking straight into Panic's eyes. Then he smirked. "Im not letting you leave just yet. You mean a lot more to me than you think, honey."

The dark demon, approached the well, still holding onto Panic, as the other struggled to free himself, which did no good, Dante was much stronger than he looked. Then he stopped right in front of it, and flew up to the top rim of it, looking down into the dark well, then back to Panic.

"What do you want from me!" Panic demanded. Dante didn't answer, he only giggled, rather madly than friendly, and continued speaking.

"Oh Panic, sweet, naive, little Panic, I shouldn't have to explain this to you, but if your really curious, let's just say... I really wouldn't want to waste a single drop of your precious blood." He shook his head. Panic didn't really catch onto what Dante meant.

"What are you talking about?" He asked Dante. "Wait, are you going to kill me? Well, you can't. Im not really mortal. Remember?"

"True," Dante agreed. "But your not really immortal, now are you? Because, I know a way to kill a demon." Dante laughed again, Panic shuddered. Then he brought up the knife once again, plunged it into Panic's back for the second time, just between where his wings were. Panic screamed again, he choked out a sob from the agony.

"Hush," Dante shushed Panic, putting a finger over his mouth, who was still whining from the wounds. "It'll all be over soon, my love."

Due to all the physical and emotional pain, Panic could only gasp out his next question. "Why?.."

"That, you don't really need to know, hon," Was Dante's only answer. "What does it matter anyway?" He positioned Panic in front of him, just about to shove him down the well, saying one last thing to him.

"Don't worry Panic, I still love you, and I always will!"

With that, he shoved him straight down the well, kicking him hard just before doing so. When Panic hit the rocky hard ground, he looked up to see a bit of sunshine blocked by Dante's silhouette. Then slowly, the entrance began to close up from Dante placing a very large circular rock over the opening. Panic flew up before it could close all the way, but it was too late, for it was completely blocked just when he was so close.

The skinny demon tried pushing it, hoping it would budge, unfortunately, it didn't do any good, he could only push it off through the other side. Nothing did any good, for it all seemed hopeless, he trusted Dante and got betrayed and back-stabbed, literally. He slowly landed on the hard ground, sitting there, on his knees, in his own self torment. How could he? Panic asked himself. His vision became blurred by the tears in his eyes, blinking the tears away, while they ran down his face, he scanned the cave he was in. It wasn't clammy, at least, but it was very dim, and hard to see as well. When he turned around behind him, he screamed, jerking back a little, at the sight of a large crucifix, with a corpse so decomposed, it was left into bare bones. Obviously, Dante was hiding much more from Panic than he thought.

There wasn't much time, he said to himself in his mind. He knew that Dante would be back anytime soon, so he might as well explore the cave a little more before that bastard arrives. He noticed, near the corner, a few jars, and a large dark brown book, when he picked it up to look at some of the pages, it was so old, it was seemed ready to fall apart. Panic scanned through most of the pages to realize it was full of all kinds of spells and such, then another smaller book, close to the wall,caught his attention. Picking it up, he read through the pages to find out some of the awful secrets Dante had kept from him. Some of the words were hard to make out since it was written in blocky letters, plus he could tell this book was very old. The first page of it read:

Entry I

All my life, I had been powerful, strong, feared by many, I had spread catastrophe nearly everywhere, I was a demonic beast, and I was unstoppable. But that was before one day, when I came to this island, Eikcaj, where I encountered the very asshole who put this damn curse on me, just to 'save mankind'. Bullshit. Because of him, Im stuck here, alone and isolated, and the key to my freedom is out of my reach, in order to get rid of the curse, I need the blood of another demon. Worse yet, is that half the page with the spell that'll set me free is torn out. I should've known. Well, at least I took care of that asshole for good... Now he is the least of my problems.

Panic's eyes widened just when he had found out about Dante's true colors (or so to speak). He looked over at the crucifix with the skeleton on it. That must've been the guy, Panic thought. Panic continued flipping through the umber brown pages, most of them were about how Dante began to go insane, and were full of rants, then he stopped at what appeared to be a recent and last entry.

The final entry

I can't believe it, Im finally going to be free in no time, after all these years, but I can't harm the one I love. Sure, I only met him for a day, but I've gotten to know him, and I just can't harm him. But I can't stand it anymore, I've been going insane since I came here, I've cried nearly every night from the isolation in this fucking hell hole! besides Im going to have to tell him sooner or later, and even if I didn't, he'd figure it out eventually. But I promised myself I would find a way out. Maybe... Maybe I'll earn his trust and spend a day or two with him before I have to kill him. After all, I need another demon's blood, and he's just what Im looking for. Oh god, my first love and only love I've ever had, and I'll have to kill him or never see him again! But I love him, I don't to lose him just yet. No matter, I finally got the key to my freedom and power I've been waiting for decades. I will always love him, no matter what... Nothing will ever change that.

This will be my last entry here, whether I succeed or not.

- Dante

He dropped the book out of shock, it fell to the ground, eyes wide open. He let Dante do this to him, he trusted him too early and it was all his fault he was in this situation. More tears came to his eyes, Panic couldn't help but cry. All this time Dante seemed so innocent, but looks can usually be very deceiving.

Then Panic quickly pulled himself together, now wasn't the time to break down, since there was nobody to save him now, he had to do something. He needed a plan; something that'll defeat Dante and get him out of there. So he grabbed the large book of spells, and looked carefully to find anything that would help him. And there was, for on one page had included a spell that could burn Dante alive. He got some of the necessary jars with the powders and clear liquid needed. taking one of the open jars, he poured out a trail of dull gray ashes and made it into a symbol that looked like an upside down star with an upside down cross between it, then he took some of the liquids that rank of a fowl odd odor, and sprinkled it all over the cave, following the proper arrangements for the incantation. Just when he was almost finished, he glanced over at the skeleton, that's where his second plan were to take place, he pulled the bones off the crucifix, and checked the ropes to see if they would hold, they seemed good enough.

Everything was in place, now, and he was ready. His attention quickly turned to the opening of the well, as he heard the sound of the rock move off the entrance. "It's time," Panic muttered, his expression now serious.

He dashed off to a part of the cave where it was just big enough for Panic to hide out of Dante's sight. He heard the other knave's hoofs hit the ground as he landed, but thankfully, for Panic, Dante had closed the entrance only half way. Still with the knife in his hand, he walked slowly toward the direction where Panic was, swishing his thin tail from side to side, shortly on his way, he noticed the skeleton missing from the crucifix.

"Now, c'mon Panic, baby," Dante said, smirking, as he looked for Panic, his call echoed through the hollow, dim cave. "You can't hide forever, you and I both know that. We all have to face our fates sometime in out life, I know I had to, sort of... But if you cooperate nicely, and maybe if your lucky, I might give you a little goodbye kiss." Dante had passed where Panic was hiding, not noticing him until he heard an aggravated voice behind him.

"'Kiss' this, you bastard!" Panic punched Dante, hard in the face, causing him to loose his balance, knocking him down, but not for long.

"How cute, you thought you could hurt me." Dante responded, in a teasing sort of tone. He lunged at Panic and struck the knife downward at him, making an angered sound, luckily panic dodged just in time. He grabbed a hand full of dark powder, when he felt Dante's hand catching his arm and pulling the skinny imp closer to him. "Now Panic, it's better just to get it over with!"

Just when Dante was about to stab him, Panic threw some of the powder into the dark creature's eyes. It stung his eyes very badly, he covered his eyes, almost dropping the knife, shrieking at the top of his lungs as he felt something like a thousand needles drilling into his eyes. Once he let go of Panic, the other scurried away quickly, hoping to find something that would set a fire. The beast took his hands off his eyes, which were now very bloodshot and burning with twinge, scanned the cave with an ugly sneer on his face, he just snarled in fury. A growl emerged from his throat, walking around angered, Panic wasn't anywhere in sight. His large ears pricked up as he listened quietly to his surroundings, listening very carefully... Then he heard light foot steps of hoofs against the stone ground, and whipped around to see Panic in the corner up against the wall. Dante grinned satisfied, now that he had Panic trapped, or so he thought.

"There's nowhere else to go, babe," Dante said, making of mockery of what could be Panic's defeat. Looking down, Panic noticed he had a bit of the strange liquid stained his feet. Good, he thought to himself, then he looked back up towards Dante. "As much as it pains me to do this, Panic, it's all over." He began to approach Panic, but stopped in his tracks, his eyes grew bigger, when Panic pulled out what looked like a toothpick with a little spark of fire on the tip. Looking around the cave, then to where he stood, he quickly caught onto Panic's plan, his ears stuck straight up from surprise.

Without hesitation, Panic dropped the piece of wood onto the cave ground, into the dust trail, and watched the large flames spread through nearly the whole cave, and setting a part of Dante's lower body on fire. Screaming, his mouth wide open, making his thick, long, pointed tongue, he tried escaping from the flames, but no avail. Before he could get away, Panic flew over, pinned Dante against the crucifix, used the ropes to tie his wrists against the large cross. Slowly, he backed away, and noticed the flames take on a blueish glow. It seemed a little odd, but Panic didn't pay much attention to it. Just before he left, he held the book of spells in front of Dante, then tossed it into the flames, and watched it burn away, of course the traitorous demon yelled out "NO!"

He turned to Dante, who was having half of him being burnt completely.

Then Dante gave out one last cry. "Panic, you bastard!" He cried in anger, as he struggled to free himself off the cross. "You fucking BASTARD! I swear I'll get you for this, I WILL GET YOU!" Panic flew out of the cave, a little bit out of fear of what Dante swore, squeezing through the tight space, closing the passage with the large rock, although it was very heavy, Panic managed to push it over the well, hoping that this would keep him in there. He could still hear Dante's faint cursing as he took off.

Finally, he had escaped at last.

He wasn't all too sure where to go, or how to get back to the Underworld, but he knew he had to start somewhere. He flew far out into the sea, he hoped to find Pain soon, there seemed to be an endless amount of ocean from what he could see. After a few hours, he needed a rest somewhere from flying so far, so he stopped at a small island close to him. When he landed on the shore, he signed and slumped against a large rock.

"Will this ever end?" He wondered.

"You know," Panic was surprised by what he heard, whipping around, he saw Pain standing some few inches from him. Pain continued. "I was about to ask the same thing." Pain had a relieved look on his face. He couldn't believe his eyes, Panic only stood there, his eyes widening, and his mouth hanging open, just in a few seconds, Panic ran over to his partner, bringing his arms around him, burying his head into the other's shoulder.

Panic had so much to say to him, like how me missed him so much, yet, he only sniffled and kept clinging onto him, never wanting to let his friend go; ever again.

"I know," Pain told Panic, his voice tone so soft and comforting. "I missed you, too." As he hugged his lost friend, he felt and noticed some of the blood and wounds on Panic's back, from where Dante had stabbed him. He pulled himself off of Panic to speak to him, concerned.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

Panic didn't want to remember what happened to him before. "Don't ask," He just kept staring into Pain's yellow eyes, now the two were just staring at each other happily while the sun was setting over the ocean, still holding onto to one another. Then after a long enough pause, Panic added in awkwardly, "Um, so... Do you still remember the way back to the Underworld?"

Pain only took Panic's hand and led him off the island they were on. "Yeah, I know the way back. Don't you?" They both flew off, on the way back to the Underworld, their home. Panic was so glad to be back with Pain, that a few tears of joy escaped from his eyes while they were flying, holding each other's hand. When Pain noticed, he just smiled as well. Panic knew Pain was just as glad as he was.

On the island, which Dante was still trapped on, in the well, the dark demon had managed to escape from the ropes, off the crucifix, slowly, he pushed the large rock off the well's opening. He crawled out, most of his lower body was slightly burnt, and there was ash from the fire all over his body, and his eyes still bloodshot from the powder Panic threw on him, and walked towards the sea, hoping to wash himself off, and relieve his eyes after getting the powder in them. The water may have been salty, but it was much better than nothing. He scooped up some of the water with his hands, and splashed them onto his face, then his eyes. Looking into the water, he saw what a wreck he was, then his expression changed from exhausted to furious, as he thought of Panic, and what the coward did to him.

"Panic," that name somehow escaped his lips. "You fucking little son-of-a-bitch..."

Not only had that coward ruined his plan and tried to set him on fire, but he got rid of the book, as well, the one thing that could've helped him. But no matter how angry he was at him now, he still tried to clean himself off with the salt water, as he wondered into the deeper part of shore, sinking his head. Just when he was a some yards away, he surfaced, gasping for air, turning his head around towards the land, realizing just how far he swam out from shore, the little demon flew out of the water, hoping that his theory was true. He had flown farther and farther from the island, to give out a loud "YES!" out of victory. He was free, at last. Somehow, Panic broke that curse without even intending to do so in the first place.

But he was still in his small form, not his original, that he needed to change, and soon. Though one thought was on his mind, and that was Panic. He wanted to get back to him, possibly for revenge... No, maybe not. But he never lets anyone get away with kicking him to the ground and keeping him there. They'd usually pay for it, dearly, eventually. But he still saw Panic as his friend and lover, and first thing was first, he had to return to his 'sweetie'.

"Oh baby," Dante said, grinning, just as he took off, as fast as his wings could carry him, on his way to the first place where he might find Panic: The Underworld. "Im coming home!" He let out a final menacing laugh as he soared off.

Little to Panic's knowledge, the nightmare wasn't over just yet, as he had hoped... In fact, this was only the beginning.

END.