TWENTY-SEVEN

Everything inside of me wanted to struggle against the chains. I already knew that was pointless. If there was a way to break the chains I would have done that hours ago when Ban first started touching me.

I couldn't just give up though. He was going to kill Soji. I couldn't allow that. Soji . . . He loved me even though I'm a demon and he's not. Soji was always talking about my soul as if I still had one. He believed that I had one. He believed in me. I couldn't let Soji down. I couldn't let Mother Fate down. Or even Soji's real mom. I promised to protect him. I had to do that.

Opening the third eye, it was a long shot. I didn't know if it would work. Images shifted quickly pass me. None of them mattered or even made sense at the speed they moved. Then I saw him. Soji was sitting on a bed. His ankle was chained to this bed.

He had his fingers folded together. His head was bowed he was praying. At a time like this he was trying to pray. I wanted to tell him that the Gods weren't going to save him. I didn't know what could save Soji at this moment. Me, I needed to be the one that got to him.

I didn't want Soji to die. I wanted to hold him one more time. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to connect with him. Just as Ban knew the planes of my body, I wanted to learn Soji's. The few times we came together wasn't enough. There had to be more. I wanted so much more with him.

The door to Soji's room opened. I frowned when a fully dressed Ban walked into the room. He didn't have his lap dog Kenji with him this time. He probably sent him to get things ready for what was to come. Soji looked up at Ban, even I could see the defiance in his eyes.

"So you're Soji." Ban walked over to him. He grabbed his chin turning Soji's head from left to right. "I see why Natsu is so taken in by you. You're enchanting." Soji yanked his head away and Ban's nail opened a cut on his neck.

I watched the red liquid roll down Soji's pale skin. Ban reached out his finger tracing the trail as he cleaned the blood away. Ban licked the blood from his finger before spitting it out. He looked down at Soji again. I watched as the white mage touched his neck healing himself.

"You're not like most humans. You're nothing like normal white mages." I frowned, what did Ban mean he wasn't like normal white mages.

"I don't know why you would think that," Soji replied. Maybe the fact that he wasn't quaking with fear in front of Ban was a testament to how normal Soji really was. Even demons feared the great demon and yet Soji looked him in the eyes and defied him.

"Most white mages can't sleep with a demon and remind pure." Ban reached down grabbing Soji behind the legs. I didn't know if this was something I wanted to watch or end. Two people who I found beautiful touching each other.

It was the kind of porn people paid good money for. The kind that was passed around and download a million times. A white mage and Lord Ban. It would sell out as soon as it hit the shelves. Of course, this was for my eyes only. Two people who claimed they loved me. Wrapped in the sheets together. Was that really something worth seeing.

"Maybe Zero just isn't a normal demon." Soji countered and Ban laughed.

"My Natsu is anything but normal." I rolled my eyes at that statement. Maybe Natsu wasn't but my name was Zero. "In a few short hours you will be dead. Then Natsu will be mine and mine alone. Oh yeah, and hell will be brought to earth. Minor detail I think."

"Zero will stop you. It's his destiny to stop this." Ban looked down at Soji his head tilted to the side for a moment. I couldn't read the expression on his face. Walked closer to Soji as the door opened again and two A-Class Demons walked in.

"Natsu destiny. You have no idea what his destiny is. You're just a child obeying orders. Natsu . . . The power inside of him . . ." Ban shook his head leaning in and whispering something so low to Soji that I couldn't hear it. When he pulled away Ban was smiling and Soji looked horrified. What was it? What did he say to him?

Soji was unchained from the bed. His hands were put in chains before they led him out the way. When he left the room the room whatever magic was outside the door didn't allow my third eye to see Soji anymore. It was annoying. I was trapped in this bed and Soji was out there. He was being led to his death and I couldn't see him.

Struggling against the chains would just waste energy that I was going to need when I was free. I couldn't use my magic either. Ban had prepared well for this moment. Soji seemed to have blind faith in me. He looked Ban in the eyes and told him that I was going to stop him. I couldn't let him down. I didn't want to fail another person I cared about.

"What will you do?" A voice asked and I turned to the left to see a woman sitting at the table that Ban had been sitting at hours ago. She had the glass of wine he abandoned sipping from it slowly as she looked at me.

It was Soji's mother. She was here. How had she gotten here? Why was she wasting her time with me? She needed to go save Soji. I didn't care if I locked away if it meant that someone could stop this madness from happening. I wasn't like Soji. I didn't believe in destiny and all of that nonsense.

"Look at you." I could feel her eyes running over me. I wanted to reach down and cover the exposed parts of my body. I, of course, couldn't. She walked towards the bed sitting down on the edge. Her fingers reached out brushing my hair out of my face. "What will you do, Zero?" She asked me and I took in a breath.

"I would save him. I just . . . I can't do anything like this." Couldn't she see that. That I was useless if I was trapped in this bed. I wanted to save Soji but how could I if I couldn't save myself at the moment. How sad was I?

"Do you love him?" My eyes shifted to her. Which he was she speaking of. Ban or Soji. Did I love either one of them? Maybe I loved both of them. I wasn't so sure I was capable of love. If Ban could love didn't that I mean could as well. Ban's love was about possession. Soji's love was about souls linking. I didn't know about either of those loves. I didn't think I could love in either of those ways.

"Do you love my son?" She asked me and hissed out a breath. I knew the right answer. I wanted her to help me so I knew what I was supposed to tell her. Was the right answer to true answer. I didn't think that it was. I just didn't know what I felt.

"Demons can't love." I gave her that answer. It was the truest answer that I could offer her.

"Ban loves you." I could feel my heart squeeze. How would she know that? It wasn't as if Ban tried to hide it. He was always yelling out that he loved me. Ban wasn't the kind of man that cared if others knew he loved someone. He wanted them to know so they didn't touch the things he claimed.

"I . . . I don't know if I love Soji. All I know is I want to be with him." I couldn't say that I loved Soji. I didn't know what love was anymore. Was it the nagging and unending bitching that my mother assaulted my father with on the day we died. Was it ignoring it all and staying with the woman you had three children by like my father? Was love the pain and pleasure that Ban gave me or the blind faith that Soji had in me.

His mother looked at me and I didn't know what she wanted. Maybe it wasn't the answer that She wanted. I didn't have another answer to give her. The woman who never gave me a name bent down. She pressed her lips to mine. I felt my fangs cut into her tongue. I could taste her blood in my mouth. It was sweet and salty. I could feel power leaking from her and entering my body.

Darkness mixed with a light I didn't know I held inside of myself. The light was strong, it threaten to kill the evil inside of my shell. What would happen to me if the evil were gone. I was a demon, if she killed the demon parts of me then I could die.

Still she held herself to me. Her fingers pressed into my hair as she held her mouth to mine. I had no choice but to drink from her. I could feel myself fading. Why? Why was she doing this to me? Maybe I should have just given her the answer she wanted. I couldn't die though. I didn't want to die. Death was still something I was very much afraid of.

The same burning desire to live was there again. It was just as strong as the night that Ban killed me. The only thought in my head was living. Was making it to the next day. Was living to the end of this one. I didn't care if I had to be a demon or something in between. Anything was better the being nothing at all.

I fought against the power that was threatening to take everything from me. I could feel the darkness gaining strength. It was becoming stronger than the light. I had to lose it, I had to release this light inside of me. I understood what she was doing now. Her light drew out the light inside of me. It gave strength to that small flicker. The light of my humanity.

Was this her way of telling me to be a demon. To let go of my humanity. I wanted it. What would I become if I lost it. Who would I be without it? I didn't want to kill people like I had in the fog. I didn't want to be another S-Class demon like Kenji and Ban. I wanted the thing that made me look at the world.

In order to kill a demon, I had to be a demon. All of these years I was a demon trying to be a human. Was that why Ban always won? Was it why I could never beat him? This was why I failed Shu, Kaleb, Amy. Would I remembered them if I no longer had the light inside of myself. I had to let it go. I had to be what I was.

Reaching for her I held the woman close. I drank my fill before pushing her away. Turing, I could see the mirror across the room. My eyes shifted as if they were cycling through colors. Soon they settled on gray. The same color my eyes had been when I was human. How could I let go of my humanity and look more human now than ever before?

Pulling on the chains at my wrist they popped away as I freed myself. I grabbed the ones around my ankle freeing my legs. Getting off the bed I walked across the room finding clothes that I could pull one. I squeezed my eyes shut before looking towards the window. It had bars on it so I doubt I was leaving that way. It was fine, I'd rather take the door.

"Night has already fallen. You still have time to make it." I looked down at my hands. I could feel the power flowing through me. I was stronger than I have ever been in the past. A full-fledged demon now. Would this new power be enough to beat Kenji and Ban? It would have to be. It was all I had.

Leaving the room, I ran through the halls. I was stopped by lesser demons blocking my path to the stairs. I knew that Ban would be on the roof. He had to do this under the light of the moon. Holding my palm out small blades of darkness started to form inside of it. Once I had a hand full, I threw the blades at the lesser demons.

They all went down and I continued up the stairs. With all of these demons around it was going to take me forever to get to the top of the tower. I didn't know how I was going to reach Soji before Ban killed him.

Before I could even have, a doubt vines shot to the left of me. They stabbed through two demons that were coming down the stairs at me. I turned around to see a hell hound behind me. He leaped over my head taking out another three demons.

"Demon," Able spoke and I rolled my eyes. I was, however, happy to see Rai and Fang. I could yell at Rai for coming to a dangerous place after we saved Soji. "Where is Soji?"

"It's past his bedtime. If he's not in his room, then I haven't a clue." I answered ad Rai giggled. Able was an idiot. If everyone was on their way to the roof then of course that was where all the action was.

"Master Soji needs us to work together. Zero, Fang, and Able go to him. Rai and I will clear a path and hold them off." Ayase said and I nodded my head. I liked her she cared about Soji. "Please, Master Soji can't die."

"He won't," I promised her and she smiled at me before the demons in front of us were engulfed in flames. Red magic, very useful. Jumping on Fang's back he knocked away the demons that were in his path as we rushed up the stairs. We were coming.