The Devil's Heir (3 Punishment)

Sorry! A few changes in the 3rd chapter- Will Evan be able to distance himself from Rihette, without hurting her... Evan a bit?

PUNISHMENT:

Rihette unlocked her door and pocketed the key. Evan was... sweet but he had become close to her a bit too fast. She liked him. He respected her maybe even protected her. Rihette latched the door from inside and dumped her bag just inside her room. Her house seemed scared. She felt the house's emotion. It was quieter than usual. She swallowed a few sips of chilled soda and played the stereo, it would drive away the eeriness. She hummed a little song as she stood under the shower and continued the same song while preparing snacks. It was almost four by the time she finished. Rihette watched the television always being uncomfortably suspecting of someone watching her.
--

"Welcome, my dear boy...." A voice echoed through the halls the moment Evan entered through the inner gates of the palace. He let out a deep breath and prepared to face his uncle. He felt his wings fold back and disappear as the cool wind blew across his face. A raven (a soldier of the devil with elite fighting and spying skills), bowed low and opened the door to the meeting hall of the devil. His uncle barely looked an inch like him; he was not in the true sense handsome but his features were somewhere near Evan's. His hair was lighter than Evan's was - signs of aging. Evan walked calmly towards him and sat down without the slightest hint of deference. His uncle said closing his record book, "So, how do you intend to keep records when you become the devil?"

"On a laptop, so that I can carry it around."

"Quite modern, I see," chimed his uncle. Evan sighed and looked around the gloomy place. There was only one question in his mind-

'No, I must not think of it now, he'll read it...' thought Evan just in the nick of time.
"What is it that troubles you? Evan?"

"Nothing, uncle, nothing at all."

"Come on! You can tell me, after all I'm your father figure..."

Evan could feel his ears turning red with anger, how dare he call himself his father figure?

"Why have the ravens' herald been following me around for the past two days?"

"Evan! You must know and understand that devils don't befriend people, vulnerable humans..."

Evan raised his voice attempting to keep his temper under control, "You were a human once! Just as I am NOW!"

The devil stood up and in a split second was at the edge of the table, holding Evan's mandible. Evan resisted but he held him there.

"Let's get straight to the point," Evan held his uncle's wrist and tried to pull it away, "I don't want to see you with her again. One more time I see you with her... and she lives not a second more. Maybe I'll even end her beautiful mother's life..." Evan had managed to shake off his uncle's tight grip. His uncle stood up, regained his normal composure, and said, "I hope you got the message Evan Doran." Evan stood up to leave and replied through gritted teeth, "Thanks for the information; I'll try to..." Before he could complete his sentence, the Devil threw him into air. Evan's eyes widened as he desperately tried to balance himself. He turned just in time to save his skull from cracking but hit his forehead. He knew once again that he had lost it, the argument and Rihette. Before slipping into a pain-induced unconsciousness, he heard the devil say, "Carry him carefully back to his house and let the darkness be with him. She is supposed to be his only companion...."
--

Rihette waited for her mother till seven and then fell asleep on the couch. She saw a thin built black ninja like person come to kill her. Her mother walked in to see her sleeping with a frown on her face.

"Ria! Wake up honey!"

Rihette jolted to wakefulness and gulped down her fear, she was sweating.

"Nightmare? Or rather day-mare?" her mother teased.

"Mum, do you feel that somebody is keeping a watch on us?"

Her mother sat back on the opposite sofa and said, "No sweetums, but yes I do feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's just the cold."

"Mum, let's just relax for the evening, I'll help you make supper and then we'll watch - The Lake House."

"Yeah! That's the spirit!"

Within an hour, mother and daughter were arranging the supper on the table next to the sofa, with the T.V. in front. Sandra Bullock came onto the screen and their movie started.
--

The ravens' herald wrapped itself around Evan's body and in a dense puff of smoke they disappeared. Evan's house was not far from Rihette's house. The raven's had done this once before, when Evan had lost an argument before. The ravens left after they saw Evan roll over and turn in his sleep. His room was heavily curtained and held an aura of distance, just distance. Evan woke up at ten, shivering badly. He looked at his hurt forehead. Angrily he stomped into his bathroom and washed the wound with an antiseptic solution. The stinging of the pain soothed his burning soul. He wanted to know how the devil could die. He would kill himself after becoming the devil and end the ravens' herald and the line of devil's heirs. His stomach was rumbling, hunger! Evan fell into his bathtub and turned on the hot water. His mind drifted to his last memory of a human-
It was a very rainy day, Evan and his brother ran across the road to reach their uncle's house. It was such a huge bungalow. Evan strained his mind to figure out his brother's face, it was a haze....

A tear fell into the hot water. Evan closed his eyes and continued to the next scene....

There was a fire, a huge fire. It was another house, a small apartment... No, it was a room, with royal curtains and cushions. Everything was on fire, nothing was spared. He could see his brother wailing in fear in a corner. Before he could reach him, Evan died.

Evan folded his bare legs hugged his knees and cried silently, in memory of the boy who had died there. For the boy he could not save...

"So, you finally left your body?" it was his uncle talking, he heard the voice.

Evan said something but he couldn't remember what. His uncle once again said, "Your brother's soul is still hanging on to his body... Want him to live? Want your parents to have at least one son left?" He didn't remember what he had said, it was probably a yes because after that he felt all the smell of burning and all the pain leave. "Your brother has reached home... your parents are happy now..." Evan tried to say something but his uncle silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. "Evan, your name is all you shall retain... let me lessen your pain..."

Evan felt weak he was hungry and tired. He knew the worst part came next. Though he did not remember what had happened exactly, his uncle, the devil had explained what he had done to 'lessen' his pain...

"You don't remember the face or the personality of anyone who you knew. You know what's the best part... they don't either!" His uncle had laughed in that high-pitched voice of his. Evan had been recovering then; recovering to become a devil with human traits. Evan used to leave his uncles palace on a whim. Until finally his uncle made a bungalow for him in the city, to keep him under supervision.

Evan cried himself to sleep that night. He had cup - noodles for dinner that day. It felt good to have something hot after such a tiring day. He would have to talk to Rihette the first thing In the morning. It would seem so obtuse to tell someone you had started talking to just a day before- I won't be able to talk to you or even be in your vicinity from now on. Maybe he could just tell her that he was leaving town. And then he could ask his uncle to shift him to yet another place. Disgusted at the thought, Evan called upon the darkness- 'Carry my message to the devil of curses; I have to change my residence... in a matter of three days....'

The devil found himself sneering at Evan. Things were turning out to be better than expected. He knew just where to shift Evan now, it was high time too, for the heir to start getting accustomed to the palace....
--

Rihette snuggled closer to her mother and said, "Mum, thanks for coming over to my room today. I wasn't exactly comfortable..."

"Yeah, neither was I. I'll have to leave for office as soon as you go..."

"Uh, mum...?"

"Yeah honey?"

"There's this guy...Evan-"

Her mother sniggered and said, "So finally a guy has come into your life...."

Rihette blushed in the darkness and said, "It's not that mum! He is also interested in Animax..."

"And I thought I was the only one to have an Animax crazed daughter!"

"Listen to me mum, he stays two lanes away and we both take the same path home. He's really caring you know..."

"Oh yeah? How does he look?" Her mother asked holding an imaginary mike in front of her.

She giggled and said, "I'll ask him to come tomorrow evening..."

Her mother said, "I'm taking a half day tomorrow. I've some work on the net, and I'll do that at home. So I'll probably be able to see him."

"He's really tall you know, and he has bluish black hair..."

Her mother froze and said in halting tones, "Did you see his eyes? What color were they?"

Rihette said without a second thought, "Black, an impossible black."

Her mother drew her closer and said, "You should be more careful Rihette. I read an article on the net... that" her voice dropped to a very low pitch and she continued as if somebody could listen to them, "the devil exists and he even has soldiers and ministers. He hands out curses to people. These people die unnaturally or are left with a very traumatic past that ruins the rest of their lives..."

"What are you talking about mum?"

"The color black cannot be naturally seen in someone's eyes. Blue hair, black eyes- it doesn't fit into the category of human traits. I've read this on one site alone but still."

Rihette said very quietly, "I recall him telling me not to see much of him when I asked about his scars, because he did not belong to the human race..."

Rihette contemplated whether she should tell her mother about what happened near the lockers. She decided to keep quiet lest her mother would get worried. They talked late into the night and fell asleep not noticing an abnormally disfigured shadow of a tree. A raven who was asked to keep watch by the devil.
--

Rihette rubbed her palm over her arm. The morning breeze was cool, but the fact that Evan was a devil made it even colder.

"I'm leaving town, because my uncle is not well."

Rihette asked Evan who was walking next to her, "Are you doing this so that your predecessor won't come to know about us?"

Evan felt his muscles become stiff she was so damn vulnerable. Why did she have to know everything bad?

"Evan, answer me..."

"I have no choice. I don't want to see you getting hurt."

Rihette breathed deeply and walked close to him. He wanted to hug her there, on the streets. Clobbering his desire, he placed a hand around her lightly. She let him rest his hand on her shoulder.

He heard an emotion choked voice say, "Won't today evening be our last?"

"That should be alright considering that we've been friends for two days..."

Rihette said hiding her tears, "It certainly doesn't seem like it. I wish we had more time together. I wish we could sit with each other at a burger joint and talk about Animax, I wish you could meet my mum, I told her about you," she choked back a tear and after a pause said, "I wish we could fall in love with each other...."

Evan held her closer; she dried her tears as they neared the college. She looked at him with those fawn eyes of hers and walked away from him. He stood there unable to let go of his emotions, which had just become a hundred times stronger. The emotions were mutual; the setting was good, with three years of college more to go; only his kind was not proper. 'To hell with the Devil!' Evan thought as he filled up his leaving certificate.

Rihette had lost her appetite and was in the girls' bathroom with Hikari for most of the time; never really explaining the reason why she was crying. Evan was in the library, a history book in front of him and sadness in his mind and heart (of course). He didn't mind leaving the college, anyway it wouldn't affect his functions as a devil but still....

Hours went by. Rihette wondered whether Evan would be there at their bend. She did not want to see him but for some reason she ran towards him when she saw him standing with his back supported on her locker.

"Rihette... I was-"

Rihette broke into tears in the empty hallway and ran towards him, running because there was going to be no other chance, because after a few minutes she would never see him again. He sighed and scooped her up in a hug. She cried and he patted her back; forcing the tears in his eyes to stay back. But tears are reckless things. They fancy the freedom to flow and so the two of them stood there in the empty hallway crying for their loss, each other's loss.

"It was nice to spend time with you; I know we would have been excellent friends if we could have had more time together. There was always so much I had to tell you, about myself, about all that I like about you.... My empty past wouldn't matter much if I had a future with you to think about. I made a mistake perhaps or maybe not by becoming the damnation that I am but I'll never know for sure. I was fond of Animax, in love with it actually. It was my only distraction, my dream world. I thought we could share it, because you too knew about it. I was happy to meet you. I promise I'll never ever forget you. You are one of the sunny spots of my life. Thank you Rihette, thank you so much.

Love,
Evan Doran.

P.S.- it would be great to fall in love with a beauty like you... "

Rihette smiled as she read this and Evan walked next to her, whistling. Rihette said softly, "Whistling on the road doesn't exactly suit you..."

He laughed, sadness in his ringing laugh, "Yeah, it's new to me..."

Rihette tried to be normal with him. For the first time she thought she could see what was love like. She was seeing it's downside. It was alright. Someone else would come along, not like she could think of anybody better than Evan, still. Evan walked unconsciously with Rihette into her lane and was standing on her gate when she said, "My mum's inside, will you please meet her once?" He nodded as they walked towards the door. Rihette's mother opened the door, her face shining with tears. She trembled as she smiled at Evan.

"What's wrong mum?" Rihette rushed to her side, Evan was standing just outside the door. She said with tears streaming down her face, "The punishment for falling in love with the devil's heir- they say..." so saying she pointed to five ravens inside the living room. Evan pulled out his dagger and began running towards them. Black smoke engulfed him, "LET ME GO! LEAVE ME!"

Evan heard a deafening noise, it was definitely his uncle's ammunition which was commonly used by his ravens to abolish evidence.

He could feel himself hurtling through the air and strike the wall opposite. His eyes closed. Death.

Finally he would be united with Rihette, at least after death. Finally, he would die, his long cherished dream of dying. He knew Rihette and her mother, or any mortal for that matter could not survive an abolishment by the ravens. A reddish light teased at his periphery for some time and then everything was gone.

Evan punched the wall, his knuckles cracked, bled, again and again. He stood up with some support and looked around. He had been lying on the ground opposite Rihette's house. He steadied himself and looked at Rihette's house it looked like it had caught fire and burnt down. Before the police and the others could come, he used all his effort to sprout his wings and become invisible. He stepped carefully around the ruins and reached to where the front door had been. The smell of burning flesh nauseated him. He fell to his knees, next to Rihette's burnt frame. She looked dignified even in death her hair was signed at the ends, clothes all black and an expression of absolute pain was there on both her and her mother's face. He knelt by her side and cried, wailed. He would finish the devil, no matter what. No one heard him, his cries of desperation, and his cries for Rihette to come back. It was evening by the time he stood up and left but only after they had taken away the bodies, pieces of evidence. He flew across the two lanes and reached his house. All the pain, the emotions and the tiredness took over him as he collapsed on the floor in his kitchen. Not knowing, not caring that he too had been hurt badly by the blast, not willing to get it all treated he let himself starve for all the time through which he slept. The only thing he kept repeating in his mind even in sleep - KILL THE DEVIL.

It was nearly two days later that he went to place red roses for Rihette and tulips for her mother at their grave. He stood there for a very long time, drawing encouragement from the fact that his uncle had killed the one girl he had loved. He stood near her mother's grave and swore, "I promise to avenge two innocent lives I would have loved to know...."