Chapter 31 THE DARK ONE.

The clouds up above were clearing from the moon. Its light shun upon my brothers scared face. I took what he said into consideration, it was indeed true that none of my colleagues had ever fallen. We were the best of the best and had slayed over a hundred if these creatures over the past two years of our tenure in service for the church.
I had never seen Syberus this scared before, and there was a point to his argument. We heard gun fire and then another. I turned sharply and looked at the building. I need to help them, who knows how many may be in there.
"We need to help them—I need to help them," I said, "stay here, and if I don't come back in ten minutes, alert the reinforcements from the church."
I didn't even give him a chance to argue, I took one last look at his face and then I ran off towards the building. I had to look brave, bold, and strong, it was the only way he'd have hope and the courage he needed. If a leader showed strength even in the toughest situations, the strength will pass along to his army.
I reached the large doors of the mill, it was slightly open. I slipped into the area. I saw several torches hung by the walls; they must have kept them here, my squad. I crept to a large wooden pillar and hid behind it. There a barrier that divided this place in two, and stairs to a higher up platform, that was where I saw the glint of the silver sword. I was about to leave the spot I was when I heard a low whistle.
I turned sharply and spotted Ann. She was carefully hidden behind a hay stack and from the distance I was I couldn't see her clearly. I kept low and crept over to her, she was lying of the ground, missing an arm.
"Oh my—"
She shushed my quietly, I wondered how one could still even take in a situation like this.
"Oh no, Ann... What happened?" I didn't want to stress her but I needed to get information about this particular creature as Ann was a very skilled demon killer and for one of the creatures to be able to put her in such a condition it could only mean that this one was stronger than the others.
"All the rest... Dead... Sybil may still be alive but—"
"Save your strength," I told her, but that wasn't the reason I wanted her to stop talking, I couldn't face the fact that what she could be true. She was in shock, so I prayed on that fact.
I grabbed her in my arms and took her outside. Once we got out I saw the look of horror on Syberus' face as he rushed to us.
"Take her," I told him.
He carried her and I untied both our horses. We got on, he carried her on his horse.
"The nearest hospital is still quite far from her, she needs medical support quickly," I said, "we need to now!" I told him. He made sure that she was leaning well on his chest before he beat his reins and kicked the side of his horse.
I watched him ride off, ride off to safety. He looked back over his shoulders and saw me as I jumped off my horse and ran off to the mill. As I got in I found an unlit torch lying on the ground. I picked it and rushed to the second partition. Kicking the door open in rage, I stepped into the larger area. There were no equipment here, this is were the newly harvesting plants were supposed to be kept before processing.
It was quiet, dark, no torches. I pulled a handy match pack from the inner pocket of my jacket and lit the torch I had found. The light did a good job in illuminating the area and I spotted the reflection of light from a sword a distance in front of me.
"No." And I rushed over to Sybil, placing a finger on her cold neck, no pulse. I saw two red dots on her neck, the were wounds. I backed away in shock. I raised the torch higher, looking around the area.
"Ugh, turn off that light, it makes me uncomfortable..." The voice was cold and had an edge to it, if voice could be dead then that would be the perfect description.
I looked around, fear creeping its way into me.
'Show yourself demon," I bellowed.
"I'm right here," the voice sounded even more cold.
I heard a slight ruffling behind me and I turned quickly. I raised the torch higher into the air, the yellow light casting into the creature. I looked at it in fear, he was composed—unlike the others that acted more like mindless animals. He was tall and very slender and was actually wearing tearless clothes—a long red robe
From where I was I couldn't see it clearly, only a shadowy figure with a red glint to its eyes. It took a step closer and I took one back. I dropped the torch, throwing it a distance from me to the dirt ground, and steadied my grip on the sword.
"Oh, please... You are not gonna kill me, even if you tried you couldn't."
It stepped closer to me. I put one foot back, my heart galloping. I heard a sudden loud crack, like the sound of an egg smashing against a wall. It wasn't in front of me anymore, he was behind me. I turned around. "How?"
It licked its long finger nail.
"Mmm, I've tasted blood like this..." It said. I felt a sharp pain Lance through my forearm and as I spotted a slim cut from which a trickle of blood rolled out.
"Wait, no. This is a combination of both..."
It stepped closer to me again and just then, I realized that this one was dark skinned. I all our years of fighting and killing these creatures, we had never encountered one that was dark skinned. It must have been from the other countries.
"I knew I recognized your scent, son of mill man..."
And it dawned on me, this creature was talking about my father.
"No..."
"Oh yes, yes indeed. Your father put up a great fight though, even injured me. As for your mother... Well let's just say it was an unfair fight."
"It's not possible," I said.
"But you have already realized it, you're just left to accept it."
I was filled with rage, and the urge to rip it apart.
"How dare you talk about my parents—"
"It was nothing personal though, just got a little hungry and I decided to have a snack, after my snack there came desert... Who was I to refuse—"
"HOW DARE YOU?!" I bellowed.
I ran towards it, slashing my sword through the air. It moved do fast, grabbing me by the ruff and tossing me to the ground. I hit hard but got to my feet in no time.
I lunged for it again, this tile waving my sword as a distraction while I extracted three phial bottles and flung them at it. The creature easily turned to the side, dodging the bottles and they shattered as they hit the ground.
"You are so slow," It said, but it didn't attack back.
"Why? Why did you do it?"
"As I said—I was hungry."
I jumped at it raising my sword in the air. It grabbed the sword, seizing it by the blade and pushed me back. I fell but got up again, it held the sword by the blade and broke it in two.
"It can't be..."
"Oh silver still hurts." And it took its palm to the light, the skin there was badly burnt but was healing up fast.
"I don't want to kill you, but if you keep on trying I might just have to."
"No..."
I had failed, there was no way I could defeat it, at least not without a sword.
"I leave tomorrow, this town is highly unwelcoming and my plans to form an army are not going as I planned—"
"You have to pay, you have to die..."
"Oh no I don't—"
"You are an unholy creature, you belong in hell."
"You can call me what ever you like," It said with a grin.
"I will kill you—I WILL KILL YOU!" I ran towards it, withdrawing my small silver sword from my other side and slashing at it.
"You have been killing all my other children."
A crack again, and it hit me. I tumbled back. I got to my feet and tried at another attack, but it merely seized the sword, throwing it away and hitting me back again. Th knife landed a distance away, I was down to the holy water phials.
I grabbed a few, throwing them at it. It caught them and threw them away.
In an instance it was in front of me, seizing me by the throat and lifting me up effortlessly.
"You can't kill me."
I looked right into its demonic red glint.
" I am not like the others you have killed, I am something more powerful, more special, more connected to a greater force, I was given this power by the great count himself and I would never be defeated by a weak, useless human."
I heard the whizzing of an arrow through the air, the demon shrieked and, released me so I dropped to the ground and gasped for breath.
I looked around the room, trying to find my saviour. I spotted Syberus standing at the entrance of the partition, a bow in his hand and looking as brave as e