Chapter Text
It was many hours past the time when it normally started to turn dark at night. Anti had been wandering the city for a long time now. He had decided to change his usual ways for once and go through one of the more creepy looking alleyways instead of the abandoned streets he normally walked on.
Abandoned streets where only the forgotten souls passed, not drunken or violent ones who you would find in one of those creepy alleyways Anti just moved into. That’s why they were his favorite, a place with lots of space but no people in sight.
With years of experience and practice Anti moved in and out of the shadows; like a snake moving between bushes lurking for its prey, always keeping itself hidden and ready to strike.
He had left his apartment located in the poor part of the city as soon as he felt the unbearing but still thrilling bloodlust coming to him.
Last time when he lived in a more proper and not so poor place he hadn’t made it out in time and not accidentally but quite inconveniently killed his neighbor who had just gotten home from a night out.
She was the annoying kind of drunk, so when he had opened the door to take a walk and escape before he did anything stupid he had stumbled into her by mistake.
She had then started to yell at him and saying nonsense about how much of a freak he was and commenting on his appearance and behavior whenever she saw him.
The encounter made what little self control Anti had left disappear in an instant.
He attacked the woman by first of all slapping the bad tasting beer out of her hand as hard as he could muster getting his anger out. He then used her confused state as an opportunity to push her against the wall right behind her only a meter away from her front door so he had her cornered making it impossible for her to even try escaping.
Anti was torn between wanting to bite her face off and wanting to grib his long black claws around her tiny throat, dragging her death out as much as he could.
He decided to choke her, it took a long time but it was late at night so he didn’t fear for someone to appear and start screaming or calling the police.
He placed his right hand on her throat, squeezing, while his left hand held both of her greasy hands above her head in a tight and painful grib, his claws digging into the sensitive skin in the process.
She screamed and begged for mercy but Anti just leaned in closer. So close that they were sharing the same breath, the image of his all black eyes and happy smile sent raw fear through all of her body making her shut up instantly.
She was so afraid she would have fainted if it weren’t for the unbearable pain she was feeling at the moment from her hands where his black creature-like claws digged into her sensitive skin and from her back where splinters from the wall scratched through her thin clothes.
As the minutes passed she took her final breath with a look full of despair on her face.
Anti not feeling even a little bit of sympathy for the drunk woman dropped her now dead body down to the ground, making the wooden floor produce a thumping sound, unfortunately high enough for the other neighbors to hear.
Not wanting any more trouble Anti picked the bottle he had previously smacked out of the woman’s hand up and placed it close to her left hand, making it look like she drank herself to death.
Later when paramedics checked her they would find out that her death was from choking and not the supposed alcohol. She had no familiy so a search for the murder never happened. The police declared her case too unimportant to use time on.
Opening his front door taking a look around for the last time at the white walls and minimum decoration in his apartment, Anti sighed. He would have to move.
If the paramedics discovered the claw marks on the woman’s wrist the demon hunters would quickly find out about it and make him their target for the month and no matter how much he hated humans and their doctors and their stupid law enformetns he had to admit they were effectful enough. He didn’t doubt for a second they would notice the claw marks and he knew that when they did he would be discovered, they had over the years become annoyingly good at tracking.
Anti grabbed a big black bag stuffed under his small but very comfortable bed in the corner of his bedroom. Walking through the small yet modest 2 person apartment Anti started packing all of the most important items in his bag like the money not in his bank account he had hid in an old vase , his electronics, his beloved knife collection and of course food for the unavoidable long journey he was going on.
When he had packed everything he headed out the door. Making sure to double check no one was around he then locked the door and teleported away to an abandoned building he knew no one was currently in. He had used the building as a sort of hide out and second apartment over the years and all the countless times he's been there he hasn’t seen any trace of anyone else using the abandoned mansion.
He had decorated the place nicely over the years he had visited and the time when he occasionally thought about bringing something like furniture for an example to the house when he had the time.
It used to be a mansion for a very happy couple. It wasn’t as big as you would have expected for a mansion but when you knew it was only for two people to live in, it seemed enormous.
When Anti first had teleported to the place it was by accident; he had needed to get away from his own thoughts and because of his distress he had lost control of his powers teleporting him to the closest place his powers felt was the safest and furthest away from possible problems.
His unconscious mind had chosen the mansion so it was obvious Anti felt a strong connection to it and didn’t end up abandoning it like the previous owners but actually use time and effort to make the building look good again.
When Anti had teleported it took him quite some time to find out where he was.
He had firsted started with checking that no one else was around and that the place and area around the mansion was free for any living being; first after that, he decided to explore.
There was a lot of old furniture, all looked like it was from around the 1870-1900s.
Anti couldn’t tell clearly because he didn’t actually have that much knowledge on furniture in general but his best guess would definitely be 1870-1900s.
Inside the library room he had found out that almost half of all the books supposed to be there and filling the big bookshelves were removed. The last half of the books left in the building was still an impressive amount so he had been very happy about that; even though he didn’t enjoy reading much, he still appreciated books as much as any other booklover out there.
Placed beside the books were a bunch of old boxes. Anti walked over to them, opening them with his claws so he could check if there was anything exciting inside.
In the first couple of boxes there had been pretty tablecloths in all kinds of colors and patterns, nothing exciting there. In the last more bigger boxes were sheets and pillows to all the sofas and beds still in the mansion.
Deciding he had seen them all Anti stood up to walk away trying to look for something more exciting than simple pillowcases but in the process of standing up his eyes caught sight of a small wooden box; hidden under all the tableclothes he had thrown away without a second thought, decorated with a detailed pattern of wines burned into the wood on it’s side and front, making the simple box look elegant and captivating.
Walking over to the wooden box Anti noticed it needed a key to be opened up. Not wanting to risk something inside to break he used his magic as a key instead of just breaking the damn thing even if it took a lot of concentration to do so.
Looking inside the wooden box all Anti could see was a bunch of letters stacked upon each other bound tightly by a thin but strong string.
A little disappointed but still curious Anti unwrapped the string and took the letter at the top into his hands, using his sharp claws to open it carefully.
Dear Mr Anderson
As you may know by now. Me and your lovely daughter have become well acquainted while I was visiting you and your wonderful wife’s household in summer. And in those few days I was there I learned what a beautiful woman she is.
I must visit her as soon as possible, my heart breaks little by little by the mere thought of not being by her side hearing her laugh and see her smile, please take the words of my love seriously Mr Anderson, I will beg if that is what it takes for you to understand how serious i am for a chance to see her.
Anthony James Robert
Anti read the whole letter twice. He was stunned about the whole situation, just the simple yet awfully romantic thought of someone yearning so deeply for another, causing them to get so desperate to see their beloved again that they would literally beg for a chance to do so made Anti’s hard break.
He immediately opened the next letter on top of the pile, he was tense, there was still the possibility that this man Anthony couldn’t meet his beloved or something worse could have happened, Anti thoughts were racing with curiosity and worry.
To Anthony James Robert
Thank you for your kind letter, it is out of respect that I write back. You behaved well enough when near me and my wife in summer when visiting but behind closed doors you talked behind our backs, complaining about the property we had given you a chance to uphold yourself in.
I had expected better from a man raised by the likes of your father. I cannot trust your ability to behave or your job and it’s stability.
It isn’t proper to be this honest with your feelings in a mere letter anyone could open and you should know that.
Rosemary is my most beloved treasure and you seem to wild for a fragile woman as her, but i have seen the way her eyes look at you when your back is turned and now that even if i don’t approve of you i will give you the chance to demonstrate and prove you are worthy for her hand in marriage.
-Karl William Andersen
While reading the letter Anti’s heart was a rollercoaster, he wasn’t an emotional demon at all but love was a sour subject for him, he was almost 27 and still haven’t found his soulmate.
All demons had a soulmate.
Because of how rare they were, all demons had an “assigned” soulmate when created. The two destined demons would, as time went on, unconsciously get physically closer to each other improving the chance for them to sense each other by either moving across countries suddenly without reasons or joining friend groups they didn’t even like. A demon would do everything to get closer to their soulmate.
When the demons meet their soulmates, they will then slowly be able to feel each other's emotions and whereabouts over time when getting to know each other and when bonding, it will become permanent.
Being a demon was hard and sure Anti loved it but he knew that if he didn’t find his soulmate soon he would end up becoming one of the wild. Even though the thought scared Anti he knew it was true. His heart ached every day and his body felt too heavy for just one person to bear.
A wild as demons call them are demons whose soulmate died or never discovered their soulmate. It’s super rare for soulmates to not find each other so it’s more likely for the first scenario that a demon's soulmate died they would become wild but sometimes it still happened that the two soulmates never would meet.
Wild demons are the ones churches write about, they’re hell’s worst creatures. They kill everything in their way and the only purpose of living is destroying for them.
Some of the more well known wild’s are by humans called the four horsemen.
Death, War, Famine and Conquest, all except Death; who never found their soulmate, had a dead soulmate.
When faced with the heartbreaking scenario of your soulmate dying it was normal for the demon left alive to kill themself and join their beloved in an eternal afterlife but in a wild’s case the demon would choose not to kill themself and keep on living but with that choice came harsh consequences.
You’ll lose your mind slowly when your soulmate is dead but some demons; in this case Faminine and War didn’t believe in the fact and claimed it to be one big lie.
As time went on they both lost themself and became one of the most dangerous demons in the whole world.
Anti, now getting a little scared of his own thoughts, decided to continue reading. Happy and jealous thoughts filled him again when he read the first line of Anthony’s letter.
-Dear Mr Anderson
Thank you for the second visit. It was a pleasure to see you and your beautiful daughter this weekend. I hope i have improved my behavior for you likening, I wouldn’t do wise to provoke the man i shall soon be family of.
I have brought the ring I want to put on her hand in a marriage with your blessings and as Mrs Anderson requested approved of the mansion you and her bought me and Rosemary, as our new future home.
Me and Rosemary are going to hold the wedding in summer by your request. I'm sure she already told you all about it. She was utterly excited to tell you the news when I asked her who should give you the information according the upcoming wedding.
-Best regards Anthony James Robert
The rest of the letters on the top of the pile were about practical information regarding the wedding and arrangements that had to be made concerning money, property and Rosemary herself. a thin wooden plank had been placed between the letters about the weeding and the rest that was left.
Most of the letters under the thin wooden plank left in the box were between Rosemary and Anthony which Anti only read a little of to confirm that they were in fact happy and not just pretending to be in love for the sake of money or something like that, and by his reading of their letters it sure looked like it.
The letters were so private and filled with love and deep passion it almost felt like spying on someone and crossing the lines they sat carefully up around them.
To open up more of the letters felt shameful but at the same time like a joy to share these passionate feelings with someone from the future who could read them and enjoy them like Rosemary and Anthony had when they once a long time ago had lived.
Anti looked around the room he was in and with small tears in his eyes decided in that moment that this was to be his home.
It would take a lot of work and many months but Anti knew deep down in his broken heart that he couldn’t let Anthony and Rosemary’s happy memories get whisked away along with the building that once was theirs which was slowly breaking apart suffering the consequences of time.
He just hoped his soulmate would like it.
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It had taken many months of hard work for Anti to make the mansion look more like it did back in it’s glory days. It still wasn’t finished yet but Anti found that he was very proud of what he had accomplished in the short time after his discovery of the place.
Anti had painted all the walls in the building including the outside. He had built new floors all around.
The bathroom and Library were the only rooms fully completed (it was also the rooms he had started on first), all the others still needed major touches but none of the roomes needed something so big he had to get help from the outside like he had in the first couple of months when he installed electricity and got the water and warmth checked and fixed.
Anti had in the meantime after the accident and the building of the mansion bought an apartment in the poorest area of town to sleep in. Anti didn’t want to sleep in the mansion before he had found his soulmate and the house was fully completed.
No matter how cliché it sounded Anti had made the promise to himself long ago when he was new to the house and had just finished one of Rosemary’s letters talking about the excitement of moving in together with her beloved and have eachother both in their hearts and home.
After that Anti was determined to accomplish his promise to himself even if he still had the ever growing doubt that he would never find his soulmate.
Those events lead to where Anti is currently at right now.
He had been stuck home in his apartment trying to sleep but couldn’t shake his depressing thoughts and thirsty bloodlust out of his head and get them to fly away, out from his brain and off to a deep black hole never to be seen again like he had wished so many others time they would.
Anti knew it wasn’t a good mix of thoughts because of the fact that it would make him way more careless when killing.
He couldn’t have a repeat of the earlier accident at his last apartment so he decided to get out of bed and take a walk before people started coming home from their jobs.
He had wandered many hours now. It had turned night long ago, but when it still had been day he walked among the humans like any other person, distracting his thoughts by using his head to observe others and guess where they were headed was what he used his time on when it was daytime. It was a fun little mind game and helped his ability to read people’s body language and behavior while also being effective at distracting himself from more depressing thoughts.
When people started going home; leaving the streets mostly abandoned, Anti would sit at the nearest café or restaurant open at the given time.
At first Anti had thought it weird to just sit for himself at a restaurant with no company but when he had done it a couple of times he noticed that no one really cared. They looked more at his weird green hair that went in all possible directions you could imagine and his all black clothes so casual it almost seemed disrespectful to wear at restaurants then at the fact he was sitting alone at the table.
He liked to be around people so when he had the chance to do so he always grabbed it.
When the restaurant he today had eaten at closed. Anti was kindly escorted out by a young waitress who thought he was drunk.
Anti didn’t have any idea why she thought that but it helped him to keep a low profile and not seem rude when ignoring many of her intruding questions directed at him.
Now out on the streets again Anti headed towards one of the many dark streets in the city. He could feel the overcoming bloodlust creeping in at a dangerously fast speed and in his final moments of clarity he got into the alleyway away from any bypassing people going home from a night out eliminating the chance for him to attack out in the open.
Now that the bloodlust and the unbearable but delightful feeling of wanting to hunt someone had taken over his mind Anti only had to wait until the moment where he finally spotted his target for the night.
A semi old man maybe in his 40’s; hard to judge because of all the wrinkles he had from smoking, making him look older in the face then an average 40 year old.
He had sat and gotten a couple of beers with his pals at the local bar for the night and unfortunately for him he had decided to take a shortcut on his way home. The exact same shortcut Anti was in at the time.
Anti’s thoughts were one big fog so when he saw the drunk man walking his way down the alleyway Anti didn’t even bother checking if anyone was close enough to see or hear what he was about to do.
He sneaked behind the man, kicking him hard below the knee causing him to tumble down onto his stomach with a surprised yell.
Anti took a random knife of his that he had in his inner pocket, out in the open, twisting it and making it fly from hand to hand doing tricks for his own enjoyment while he walked over to the stunned and drunk man now laying on his back having turned as quickly as he could when he realized he was attacked and didn’t just fall on his own feet, looking up at Anti with pure fear shining in his wide eyes.
Not thinking about covering the man’s mouth Anti threw the knife into his stomach as deep as it could get, using all of his strength to really make it hurt.
Blood flowed out of the wound soaking the drunken man’s white and stained shirt.
Anti felt high already, he was experiencing a form of euphoria only pure happiness could make you feel like. The blood felt so incredibly good to watch flow out of the still warm body and Anti standing so close to it couldn’t wait to get a taste of it. He licked his lips in delight not thinking about how wrong it was to want to eat a living being but only about how good it would make him feel.
His favorite meal had always been blood so why not say fuck it and take a taste. He was a demon after all. Especially blood filled with alcohol in it felt like a forbidden desert for him.
Using his magic he summoned the knife back into his hand causing the man below him to yell out in pain because of the sheer brutal force and speed the weapon was pulled out of his guts.
Again and again Anti would ploy the knife deep into the man’s stomach watching the metal get more red and red.
Anti continued this until the man's white now shirt and the ground he laid upon was completely covered in blood, red like Anti’s own burning heart.
Bending down over the body Anti opened his mouth to take a bite of the man’s stomach
It was there the wounds were placed so it made sense to take a bite from the stomach where the blood was freshest.
He only succeeded in one good bite before he heard loud sirens, he had completely forgotten about the man’s scream and the attention they would get, he needed to run!
He quickly grabbed his knife; the one he used to kill the drunken man, and put it in his back pocket. He ran with all his might to the opposite direction the man had been going in when Anti first encountered him.
When Anti made it to the end of the dark alleyway he almost stumbled on one of the many loose and wet stones the alleyway was built of but luckily for him, he had taken his runner shoes on today instead of his usual black boots with a small heel he used when going out.
He then turned to the left where a park was located making a run for it. It was risky running across the streets in such an open area but he had to take his chances.
Anti kept running and running, his feet hurt and his heart was uncomfortable right up in his throat but he could still feel the thrill of his earlier kill and that factor alone was enough for him to keep on running even if he thought he couldn’t possible anymore.
Finally after what seemed forever the sirens' loud and annoying sounds stopped. Anti had run far enough away from them and could now look for a place to rest.
When he stopped running Anti could In the near distance see an abandoned parking lot.
It had cost too much money for the city to build but when the government realized that, it was already half made and they didn’t bother to take it down again afterwards.
Teenagers and young children said it was cursed and spread rumors about it causing people to generally keep away from the place. It’s haunting looks made by broken stones and dark empty hallways that were forever stopped in the lost time of the process of building, didn’t help either to make the place look more friendly.
Dragging himself up the long stairs in the parking lot Anti sat down in the middle of the second floor where he was hidden for people on the streets but still had enough space around him to run or fight someone if he encountered them.
That preticarly scenario of fighting someone did indeed end up happening. Not even 10 minutes after he had sat down trying to calm himself from the blood lust he was currently feeling high on, he was discovered.
Anti sensed them before he heard them. His first instinct was to run but if it was who he thought it was coming for him then he knew it wouldn’t be wise to run. They would already have the whole place surrounded by people ready for his escape attempt making his chances roughly 0,00% of survival.
It was the Demon Hunters. A group of individuals who had over the years made weapons and groups to destroy and kill demons.
You would have fought it was the religious people who were the ones that long time ago started the movement against demons but in reality it had been a rather small town populated mostly by poor farmers who had discovered one of their neighbors had been killing sheep in the dead of night for no reason other than the destruction it would cause.
Claiming her a witch wasn’t enough for them after what she had done. They declared her a demon, a creature unlike anything human. They burned her in a strange ritual that still to this day was used by some but not all of the Demon Hunters when they caught a demon.
The Demon Hunters and their organization had evolved greatly along with technology over time and they had invented magic blocking devices and other annoying anti-demon things like that making it easier to catch demons then ever seen before.
The Demon Hunters were no joke and no matter how reckless a demon could be they would always try their best to avoid the Demon hunters. That was how powerful they were, so when Anti realized they found his location he very much panicked.
Anti could sense three of the Demon Hunters coming up the stairs, he could have beat one of them probably but three at once was almost impossible.
No matter how bad the odds were Anti needed to take them. Everything was better than his current chances of running away from them.
Standing up with a slight grown Anti ran to the nearest pile to hide behind. He stayed there hidden until he could sense all of the hunters had made it to the second floor.
Concentrating his magic Anti could feel where they were placed in the room, one of the guys stood only a meter away from him, heavily armed, but Anti believed he could take him down.
Jumping out from his hiding spot Anti ran to said guy closest to him going for his throat.
The guy reacted quickly but not quite quick enough. Anti’s claws made contact with his throat and bore themselfs disgustingly deep into his soft neck.
Removing his thumbs and hands away from the guy Anti could feel the blood splatter onto him and the ground below his feet, warm and red.
The two other guys reacted at the same time as Anti had jumped out from his hiding spot. One of them had a taser ready while the other spoke into a walkie talkie hastily while moving to a safe hiding spot, “code red, one man down, requesting permission to activate Confuser over”, the scratching following the message made the hunter’s stomach turn, the monster they were chasing was a sneaky one but even after his attack on Robert he couldn’t identify it’s type.
A “type” is a term used on special demon groups. Most are sorted by their powers and magic but some groups are named after what they look like, most common were the blood demons, red and tall looking creatures with powers that made them stronger than any living thing on earth. More rare types were some like lightning or shadow demons.
It was much harder to know how to proceed and take it down when he couldn’t figure out it’s type, the hunter hidden thought bitterly.
“Request confirmed, permission to activate Confuser given” the hunter’s boss’ voice sounded over the walkie talkie into the hollow room.
As soon as the words were spoken from his boss the hunter activated the confusion device he had held ready while in the process of talking to his boss prepared to activate it when the answer he wanted and expected came from the walkie talkie.
The Confuser was a device made to confuse demons on the hunter’s and other innocent humans location. Some demons could sense the locations and sometimes health of living beings near them and judging by the quick reaction and knowledge of where to hit Mason confirmed his suspicions about the fact that they were facing one of those types.
While one hunter was hidden and trying to get the confusion device to work, the third guy, the one who had drawn the taser, quickly ran towards Anti.
Just in time did the demon jump to its right, rolling down onto the ground avoiding the taser by just a hair.
The taser guy didn’t look behind him after he registered he didn’t hit his target. He instead chose the logical solution of running to safety. Running towards some of the nearest cars he hoped he was hidden away enough for the demon to not notice him and that his teammate had activated the confuser so the demon couldn’t sense him.
“What type of demon are you facing?” the boss' voice asked through the walkie talkie to the guy who activated the Confuser, demanding an answer quick.
“I don’t know yet sir, he isn’t a lightner for sure, he can sense us but hasn't used any light powers or any other quirks seen from that type, he ain’t a common one either“ the guy answered, his voice trembling a little.
“Any other ideas?” The boss asked, now angry.
“No sir, I’ll tell ya when I have tho. These powers it possesses are not something we know of” the guy finished turning off his walkie talkie also angry now.
The Confuser was activated. The hunter who activated it had placed a fake signal of himself a little under a meter away from his hiding spot.
Now the only thing left to do was to wait for the demon to take the bait running close enough for him to taze the bastard when it got there.
Anti, now also hidden, used his magic once again to try and locate where the two guys still alive had hidden themself.
It looked like they were three but thinking that it was only because his magic was low and not because there was something fishy going on Anti decided to ignore it.
Anti stuck his head out checking no one was looking.
It looked like the other two hunters were also hidden behind cars making it hard for them to see him coming. He quickly ran over to the place the signal was strongest.
When he got there and was ready to attack the hunter Anti didn’t see anyone.
Confused Anti stopped in his tracks looking around as to try and find out where the human had gone off to. Seeing that the demon was caught off guard, one of the guys hidden between some of the cars sprinted towards Anti with a taser in his hand and before Anti could dodge it he got hit right in the arm. The buzzling pain spread from his arm and all down to his foot and up to his head made Anti yell out in anguish, his legs went weak causing him to bend down into a kneeling position moaning in pain.
Anti, still in pain, took one of his many hidden knives into his good hand and tried slashing it at the guy who had tased him.
His attempt of an attack was slower then Anti would have liked to admit, the burning pain going through his arm and head at the moment was making it hard to use much strength at the moment but in the end Anti still succeed to hit the guy in his upper leg, making him fall down onto his knees in pain, mirroring Anti’s pose.
“HahahAHAHA” Anti’s laughter rang out in the parking lot when he saw the hunter fall to his knees. The two hunters both shivered in fear, “I got ya trapped now heh?” Anti jokingly asked the guy sitting down right in front of him.
“Don’t get so cocky now” a voice behind Anti said.
The hunter standing up made a quick swing with the magic blocking handcuffs he had in hand signaling the other hunter to get up and take Anti’s hands and hold them behind his back, making him defenseless with his hands now bound.
Anti noticing the two hunters, somewhat distracted, used his right leg to kick backwards as hard as he could into the guy who had handcuffed him ball’s. The pathetic man dropped to his knees and cried out in pain like a big baby.
“You little shit!” The guy yelled in fury at Anti who’s only answer was to laugh loudly.
“Tsk ignore it dude, just keep your temper under control while i report to boss ok” the guy’s partner said to him, trying to calm him down with a forced gentle voice. “What type is the fucker anyways, i never seen anything like it before and boss demands to know” the hunter contuined on, ringing the walkie talkie in the process of asking the question.
“I think it may be a new type, let’s keep it alive and run a few tests on it. This one is way more interesting than anything we ever encountered before, I would say” the guy holding Anti answered, annoyance and a subtle tone of respect in his voice.
“Well ya sure know how to compliment a guy huh?” Anti chuckled, interrupting the two hunter’s conversation, knowing damn well he was the only one of his kind; a Glitch Demon, Anti made the name himself, but of course he wasn’t going to tell them that.