What Following Brings (27 page)

****

The mirrors aligned so they faced each other and refracted one another. It had taken Eden and Yuri some time to do this, and
during
the entire procedure, Asag had not appeared. But she now knew the feeling
she had in her heart
, the feeling t
hat
somebody
was
watching her, wa
s accurate. She had sensed Yuri
and she had sensed Yanmei. Asag was here, spying from his throne like
the
coward he was. She had come to learn something about demons
—
they truly were cowards. They attacked only when they thought they had the upper hand and when their enemy
'
s back was turned.

“
Okay,
”
Yuri said, grasping holy water in his palm.
“
I think we
'
re all set, Eden.
”

“
Yes, I think we are,
”
she said.

And she couldn
'
t believe she stood with the intention of
making
a demon come to her.

“
Are you sure he
'
s with us?
”
Yuri asked.

“
I know he is.
”

She was so sure she stepped into the middle of the mirrors
,
her left arm extended
with
the picture facedown against her leg. In every mirror, she could see herself.
She examined her
thin, tall frame, her
T
-shirt
which
advertised soda, and a pair of denim pants with a black belt. As she
turned
around, surveying that every mirror reflected her, she nodded and then gritted her teeth. The time was now.

“
Asag, come out,
”
she said.
“
You want me,
so
here I am.
”

Nothing. There was just silence.

“
Eden, I don
'
t know if this will work,
”
Yuri said, sounding nervous. She ignored him.

“
So you aren
'
t coming out, h
uh?
”
She paused.
“
Oh, I get
it
. Y
ou
'
re
scared
of me, aren
'
t you? I, a human soul, am stronger than you. I should have known. I bet I
'
m going to hear roars when Satan finds out you were too much of a coward to face me.
”

In the mirror in front of her, Eden saw Asag
'
s disgusting, putrid face. His tongue
lolled
out and his eyeballs bulged. All of his many fists balled and a low, deep growl filled the room. It was
inhuman but also
like no animal
'
s
growl
she
'
d ever heard
, and she had to admit she was scared. More scared of Asag than she was of any zombies or
any other creatures
.
This was true fear.

“
Finally decided to show yourself, have you?
”
she said.
“
You big, ugly, weak coward. It
'
s a wonder Satan managed to get the gates closed at all, with followers like you.
”

“
Eden,
”
Yuri
said
in warning then took a step forward. She held up her hand
to him
, and he stopped.

The room around her began to shake and rumble with Asag
'
s rage, but she ignored it. All of Asag
'
s
fists
unclenched at once and
his arms
extended toward the sky. He opened his disgusting mouth wide until she could see the slimy back of his throat and tilted his head back and upward, toward the ceiling. He let out an inhuman roar far louder than the last. It was so loud she screamed and almost dropped the picture on the ground.

Asag continued to
howl
and the necklace around
Eden
'
s
neck began to glow white. She knew it was protecting her from the worst of the attack then. As the pain grew and throbbed with
Asag
'
s
voice, she suddenly felt somebody standing behind her, wrapping
their
arms around her waist.
It was Yuri.
She could tell he was in pain because
he tugged at his clothes
, but yet, he still managed to steady her.

Finally, Asag stopped growling and glared at her, his pupil-less eyes rolling in
their
sockets.

“
I?
Weak
?
”
His voice sounded even deeper and more menacing
than
before.
“
How dare you? Before I bring you to my lord, I am going to torture
your little
friend
right in front of you.
I will dig my fingers into his eyes, and when he reincarnates, I wil
l
do it to him all over again
. You do not know what kind of powers I have.
”

“
Then why don
'
t you come here and show me just what you can do,
”
Eden said, fear filling her. If she failed, then she would attempt to stall and get Yuri to run. She couldn
'
t let him get hurt because of her.

There was the sound of thudding upon the ground, and Asag took one step toward her and the ground below her shook. He took another step and then hastened his movements, all of his arms extended toward her at the same time. His fangs were also bared and dripping with saliva and something red, though she did not know what bled in this world
that
he could have eaten.
His breath came out in hungry, desperate hisses.

Asag reached the mirror and inserted his hand inside.
It
became like a layer of fine gel
and
he broke through easily and passed through
to
the other side.
His
body began to change. She saw his ugly, fanged face become smaller and attractive. His pupil-less eyes became dark brown and he grew brown hair on his head. In his naked human form, he was thin enough to pass through the mirror. He then drew his hips out and then his legs. With a snarl and a still inhuman growl, he climbed to his feet and then leered at her. His eyes changed from dark brown to black, and then he let out another inhuman shriek
which
caused th
e
shack to shiver.

Then his body began to extend upward, toward the sky. Arms ripped through his sides, though no blood splattered, and he began to grow again, larger and larger until his head brushed the top of the ceiling
. His face and skin became ugly and his pupils disappeared. Yellowing f
angs popped out of his gums, replacing his perfect teeth that had been there before.

He
spun
toward her and somehow, even without pupils, he gazed straight into her eyes.

“
Who
'
s weak now?
”
Asag
asked
his voice deep and booming.

“
Why don
'
t we ask
God
?
”
she said, and then she showed Asag the picture.

She expected a reaction, but she did not expect
one
as big as she got
. With a screech of despair, Asag reached up, grabbed at his pupil-less eyeballs, and began to claw at them with all eight of his hands. It was hands upon hands upon hands. Once more, the sounds he made caused shivers of fear to fill her.

With a growl of rage, Asag
moved
to head toward the mirror
.
Eden bent down and positioned the picture so there would be a distant but distinct view of it
in every mirror in
the room. If Asag wanted to take the cowardly way out, then he was going to have to do it while climbing through the face of the divine being
that
caused him
the most fear
.

“
Stop it,
”
Asag
said
, continuing to hold onto his face.

He smacked the picture in her arms out of her grip, causing it to hit the
floor
.
Surprisingly, it did not break
as she
had
expected it would, but it was far beyond her reach now.
Uh-oh.
Wit
h a growl and a snarl,
Asag uncovered his eyes.
Asag grabbed her around her waist and hurled her to the ground where she yelped and skidded. Pain filled her soul as she rolled.

“
Yuri, run,
”
she said.
“
Get out of here.
”

But Yuri stayed, holy water clenched in his fists. Asag began to thunder toward her, arms extended and shaking with rage
.
Yuri
uncapped the holy water and
glared
at Asag threateningly.

“
You get away from her,
”
Yuri said.

Asag
whirled
around and gave a deep
evil laugh
.
Yuri sprayed him with the holy water
;
Yuri
then
turned
and seized the picture of God, shoving it straight into
Asag
'
s
face. With
in
moments, Asag
'
s screams
filled
up the room as
the holy water caused his skin
to melt like putty.
She, unable to bear the scene, turned her face away.
With a screech, Asag panted and began to stumble around the room, feeling around with his many arms.
His eyes were gone.

When he attempted to climb through a mirror, he shattered
it
instead, unable to fit inside of it. He let out another shriek
and charged in Eden
'
s general direction, breaking two more mirrors when they fell due to his thundering feet. She stood up
with her back against the wall,
more afraid of his accidental wrath than his intended one. In his pain,
his eight arms flayed wildly, his claws as dangerous as knives.

“
Where are you?
”
Asag said
, throwing his hands up in the air as spit flew from his mouth
.
“
Where are you
?
”

He
let out a
scream
of frustration.

To her surprise, Yuri came up behind him and kicked him square in the back. The demon
turned
and
flailed his arms
again
, but Yuri was too quick and scampered away.

“
You cannot kill me,
”
Asag said.
“
I am a demon. I am far more powerful than you.
”

“
We don
'
t need to kill you,
”
Yuri said.

Once again, Asag charged, but this time he went after Yuri instead. Yuri stepped away easily and both of them let out cries of shock
as Asag
leapt
through the wall and into the city. The moment the citizens outside spotted a demon, screams began as people ran away.
Until recently, Demon cities belonged only to the evil souls and not true demons, so the sight frightened even them.
Asag whirled around, charged back toward the house, and only managed to destroy another wall. Eden
looked
up, heard the house groan, and saw it was in deep danger of falling. She spied the picture on the floor, grabbed it, and then
s
he and Yuri left the house just as Asag crashed through another
part of the
wall, causing wood to splinter and then collapse.