in the shape of a big cat. She didn't seem hurt.
"Sister," I greeted her when she had transformed back. I briefly hugged her, then she slipped on to her son, who fell into her arms.
"How many times have I told you to take care of yourself !?" she scolded him through tears. "It was my fault Leilan. I shouldn't have let him go home alone"
She didn't seem to pay any attention to me. Soul lay blissfully in her arms, mumbled an "excuse me" and left it at that.“You told Dante about my situation, didn't you, Ian?” She was now at my side. Soul at your hand.
I just nodded briefly. "We have to kill everyone. If one of them should escape back through the portal and spread the secret among the vampires, we have to drastically reduce the excursions into the human world. Which, exactly, would mean our slow, agonizing death."
"It's just vampires. Bastards, Ian. You won't win. You haven't won in the last thousand years, and neither have this time"
"The tide can turn suddenly, Leilan," I mumbled softly.
I could smell them. My sister's body seemed to freeze, too, at that disgustingly sweet scent that came from the other creatures of the night. Soul hid behind his mother's back.
"Don't you think you should take him away?" I said, hissing softly, glancing at the young demon. "He will be easy prey"
Leilan tried to relax. "What if Dante doesn't show up in time and you have to fight alone? You know we don't want to lose you."
I looked at my sister. Stroke on her cheek.
"I'll always be your little brother, Leilan, but I'm an adult now and I can take care of myself. You, on the other hand, have a son who needs you. Now go on."
She looked at me doubtfully for a moment, kissed my cheek. "Take care of yourself"
She transformed again and Soul climbed onto her back. She gave me another worried look, then ran up the river.
And then 12 vampires stood in front of me in a formation of arrows.
"Only one," came a hissing sound from the leader of the troop.
I transformed and took up my fighting stance. I bared my pointy teeth. "I have been waiting for you longingly, my friends"
The vampires put on a sneering grin. "It's pretty here, demon!Where did you leave your companions? Are they afraid that we have invaded your extremely beautiful realm through a traitor in your ranks? "
"He's not alone!" Came the mighty voice of my brother.
The demons - 18 in number - came closer from the side.
Angry hissing among the vampires. They stared at me and then again at Dante and his followers. They were probably confused by how alike we looked in the demonic animal form. We were also very similar in our human form. But Dante was a year older than me, my sister even two.
We demons could age like humans, but our lifespan was several centuries. We weren't like vampires who stayed forever.

I could only imagine too well how the vampires colonized hell. They didn't have to hide in the human world and only go there to get food. The rivers would dry up as these bastards drank their victims' blood and still left them alive! With the best will in the world, I couldn't imagine that vampires would just hit their tusks in the victims, drink and then disappear without the victim being able to remember what happened. Didn't these beings ever have the urge to kill?
Of course they did, but apart from demons for now.
Could vampires drink animal blood?
What the hell!? I shouldn't worry so much about these bloodsuckers - our enemies. But it would still be interesting to learn more about their way of life. We were taught about our enemies in the early years of our black birth, but I sometimes doubted whether that was the truth.

I took the seat next to my brother.
The vampires had crouched and were making hissing, hissing noises. We bared our pointy teeth and gave a threatening growl - some a roar - from us.They were outnumbered. You wouldn't stand a chance. Or maybe they had others hidden in the woods?
I didn't have time to think about it anymore.
They attacked and we ... countered.
A vampire and I fought bitterly. My teeth bored into the rock-hard, ice-cold skin and I could hear bones breaking.
My opponent howled, but the vampire didn't have time to dodge my next attack. I bit his head off and began carefully to sever the limbs from the body.
My companions also finished the rest soon after. Back in our human form, we burned the body parts.
Dark purple columns of smoke rose up into our gray-black "sky" - an extremely absurd name for hell. It smelled horribly sweet. I moaned softly. The smell really bothered me, although I had already brought several vampires around the corner and given them eternal rest.
Why weren't these bastards grateful to us for that?
I looked up when my brother raised his voice: "We will scour the woods and close the portal through which these bloodsuckers entered! We do not want to have uninvited guests here again!"
The troops asked no further questions, but left immediately to carry out the order. My brother turned to me now, looking at me for a moment.
"How did that happen, Ian?"
I barely told him about Soul and me.
Dante just nodded. "Hopefully nobody escaped us. We cannot afford to tell you this secret."
"You couldn't call the portal, Dante. You are not direct hell beings."
"Maybe, but they'll even better lie in wait for us to force us to open the portal for them"
He was right. We now had to be very careful, especially when it came to our children. They did not yet have the experience or the right training to face a vampire.They were easy prey. Soul had proven that.
"I'm going to have to call a meeting of the councils. We have to take precautionary measures."
"Understandable," I agreed.
"If that is not enough - and I hope that there will be no more such incidents - I will have to visit Lucifer personally. And to be honest, I have no desire to face this."
I stared at him. "The Lord of Hell?"
Dante nodded.
Nobody had ever seen Lucifer. Except for one. Dante.
Lucifer only appeared when he appointed the next leader over the demons, and that was 333 years ago.
"And you think he'll just drop by for a coffee?" I asked mockingly and punched him lightly in the side.
Dante laughed now. "I think I can get him to come and see me, brother"
"I would love to see that"
"Just stupid that he won't show himself to you"
"That makes things complicated, however"
We both grinned at each other.
Like a reflection.
But it wasn't long before we remembered the serious situation in which we were stuck.
"I want you to go back to the real world."
I sighed.
"If I trust someone I trust you, Ian. Besides, you are one of the best of our kind!"
I looked at him almost annoyed. Always the same reason. It's time they thought better of it.
"You command me to do it for the good of the people, right?"
Dante smiled. "Exactly"
For a moment I wondered if I should resist.
I did not do it.
"As far as I'm concerned" With that I turned away to carry out my guide's orders.

I didn't go back to the real world right away. I roamed through hell a little more until I opened the portal to begin my task.
I stepped through the light - if you wanted to go to hell, the portal was pitch black - and stood again in the same forest in which I had previously lingered with Soul.
I listened and tried with my well-developed sense of smell to make out that unmistakable sweet and disgusting smell of vampires who might have already discovered me.But nothing.
In this - I had to admit it with a heavy heart - beautiful world was already dawning. According to the myths and legends, that is, the time when vampires withdrew into coffins.
To be honest, I had never met a vampire in daylight, but at the same time I had never seen or found a coffin with a sleeping undead. So during the day I shouldn't have to worry about being followed or attacked.
Nice consolation.
I was already feeling annoyed and I was only here two minutes. Why did I always get these dirty jobs?
Sighing - I knew the answer to my unspoken question - I jumped up a tree and from there on to the next to get to the city where life was now awakening. I would have to suppress the lust for murder in daylight.
I would have fun again with these poor, helpless human women, lure them to a hotel and romp around in its beds. Or what a young girl once said to me that I couldn't understand at all: "To fuck"
What does mating or pleasure satisfaction have to do with birds?
The young thing had laughed at me and asked what planet I came from?
planets?
I explained to her that I come from another world, namely from hell.
She just laughed again and called me psycho - whatever that is supposed to be. Since their words and their stupid - it sounded like a chicken - laughter really got on my mind, I made short work of it.
I tore her clothes to shreds, satisfied my lust for her, drank little of her blood, and killed her with these extremely useful kitchen knives. (Not that I needed such an aid!)
Nobody would guess that it was a demon, especially since they didn't believe in something like that. They'd label it murder, spend a couple of weeks looking for the killer, and then give up.As I walked down the pedestrian path, I stopped in front of a car dealership.
It was amazing what kind of intelligent beings humans had to be. Cars were not only beautiful to look at, they were also quick and easy to reach in the city. I would think that demons can easily keep up with these vehicles, but here among people I couldn't try that out.
As for money? Didn't matter to us.
I decided to examine the cars. As soon as I had circled two cars, one of these fat car dealers squeezed into a suit was standing with me.
"Can I do something for you?"
"I'm looking for a fancy sports car," I said coolly.
I had my driver's license for a long time.
The salesman's eyes shone.
"Very much, sir"
Slime.
I wasn't an easy customer.