3. The Luminaris

Author’s pov

“Hey girl, what’s your beauty name?”

The girl turned and smiled charmingly. The faint light that was in the storage room spilled down through high barred windows that was smeared with dirt. Piles of broken chandeliers, electric cables, along with shattered bits of light bulbs and discarded paint cans littered on the floor.

“Xyrelle.”

“That’s quite a unique name,” he walked towards her, stepping carefully among the wires in case any of them were naked. In the faint light, she looked ethereal, wrapped in red like a rose. It would be a pleasure to have her on his bed tonight.

“I haven’t seen you here before.”

“Are you asking me if I come here often?” She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand in a ladylike manner.

He loved her accent. He trailed his eyes from her lips down to her cleavage. Sumptuous. He thought.

His eyes swept greeedily, looking at his prize for the night. There was some sort of bracelet around her wrist, just under the cuff of her dress.

That made him curious. He neared Xyrelle, his eyes widened.

That wasn’t a bracelet at all but a pattern inked into her skin, a matrics of swirling lines that was popular on the Luminaris.

He froze when realization dawned on him. “You..you—“

He didn’t finish. Xyrelle moved with lightening swiftness, striking out at him with her open hand. Before he could comprehend what was going on, a blow landed on his chest. This would’ve sent him down gasping for air if he had been a human being.

He staggered back, his eyes zeroed on her wrist. Something glinted silver—a coiling whip, curled around her ankle like a snake. She brought it down to the floor with a force that jerked him off his feet. He hit the ground, writhing and cursing as the whip landed on his skin, biting in deep.

The girl laughed. She stood over him in all her glory which made him bit his lips at how stupid he had been, and dizzily he thought that he should have known better than to fall into her trap. No human girl would wear a dress like the one Xyrelle wore and walked with that kind of grace.

Xyrelle yanked hard on the whip, securing it. Her smile glittered like poisonous wine. “He’s all yours, boys.”

A low laugh sounded behind him, and now there were hands on him, hauling him upright and before he knew what was happening, he was flung against one of the concrete pillars. He could feel the damp stone under his back. His hands were pulled behind him, his wrists bound with wire.

As he tried to struggled his hands out, someone walked around the side of the pillar into his view: a man, as young as Xyrelle. The colour of his glassy eyes were incomprehensible. The glittered like chips of sapphire.

“Are there any more of you?” The man asked with a bored expression.

The blue-haired boy could feel blood welling up under the too-tight wire, making his wrists slippery.

“You are a neonate demon. That’s why you can’t break out of the wire she bound your hands too.” The man smiled. It was so scary that shivers ran through the blue haired boy’s spine.

“Neonate demon?” The boy looked confused.

“Oh, come on.” The other guy spoke and the boy turned to him. “Don't tell me you were just turned and left to fend for yourself. You caused so much havoc here and there, mate.”

“I haven’t seen anyone like me. And who… who are you people?”

The other guy rolled his eyes and yawned afterwards, pushing the hood of his cloak. He held up his hands, and his dark sleeves slipped down, showing the runes inked all over his wrists, the backs of his hands, his palms. “You know what we are. Stop joking around."

Far back inside his skull, the bound boy’s canines and second sets of teeth’s began to grind.

"The Luminaris."

“Oh, you see, you do know.” The other guy grinned all over his face, his ginger hair covering his eyes. “Our faces will be the last thing you see.”