"Demon."
The old man croaked causing the young girl to take a step back. Her back met with the mirror, black hair pressing against the glass, causing white and black strands of hair to intermingle with nothing but a glass barrier between them. Her single visible grey eye widened unsure as to how the man knew of the demon presence within her. He got dangerously close, enough so that the frail girl grew uncomfortable. An old fumbling hand reached out to try and grasp at her but with a small squeak of fright the tiny almost mouse like girl dashed about him. Ducking beneath his out stretched arm and putting a wooden table between them, Kuro finally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, a passing glance of white.
"Don't tell me he can see that too?" She hadn't had the demon in her body for long, so she wasn't aware of just how much it had changed her not just mentally but physically.
"DEMON!"
The man repeated once more but it was much louder now. Kuro looked almost hurt at the accusation, despite it being true, she resented the fact that she harbored such a being inside of her.
"Please! Don't be afraid of me!" Her voice but a quiet whisper, cracked slightly as she raised her hands trying to calm the older man.
"He's just a little eccentric is all." She tried to tell herself. Mentally she reached out to her two alter psrsona's but alas they were out cold.
"Noooooo..." She groaned, grey eye flickering up to the old man who was approaching her once more. Stumbling backwards Kuro's back met with the door and she did not hesitate to fumble at the knob, to slip outside just as the man shouted out at her once more,
"DEMON!"
The air was brisk against her pale skin. Her boots made little taps against the cobblestone outside but her single eye remained focused on the old man pointing an accusing finger at her. It was then that she noticed others, emerging from nearby homes and shops eyeing her over. Then came the whispers, faint little voices that she could hear from the growing crowd of people.
Demon, Outsider, Temptress, Devil
"No!" She shook her head,
"You've got it all wrong..." Well, they didn't really but it wasn't as if
she was the bad one. No, Shiro and Kiro were bad but Kuro?
"I'll leave..." She took another step back only to feel a warm body, a feeling that sent shivers down her spine. Hands, larger and stronger than her own, grasped at her forearms. With a vice like grip and brute like strength the man lifted the flailing Kuro off of her feet, displaying her to the crowd of onlookers that had gathered.
"The foul temptress that has plagued this village hath finally shown herself! Once she is purged all shall return as it once was."
She wanted to scream to yell at him, tell him that she had just got there but the only thing that escaped her lips was,
"I'm human!" It was a lie but wasn't really a lie. On one hand Kuro was indeed human but with slight anomalies, most of them being invisible, things that
regular humans couldn't notice except for the mirror and-
"Her eye!"
The same old man from the shop, the one who had seen her strange reflection. A reflection that showed a being with white hair, a curvaceous body, and most importantly a single grey and crimson eye. It was at this accusation that a sudden fury came over the crowd, various people pushing and shoving in an attempt to reach the terrified girl. Hands grasped whatever they could grab, a startled shout escaped her lips, it felt as if they were trying to pull her apart, until someone grabbed a hold of her eye patch. With a harsh yank it snapped right off.
Crimson
The crowd fell silent for a moment as they observed the peculiar crimson iris. Compared to her cloudy grey eye it was incredibly bright, the color of freshly spilled blood. Within the iris there seemed to be a curious looking magic circle, one that screamed dark magic to the villagers. Already, Kuro's eyes were welling up with tears of fear and embarrassment. She kept the eye hidden for good reason and she rarely was ever in such large groups of people let alone having all of them touching her.
"Please don't do this...." she whispered, the man restraining her grinned and like that everything fell into a chaotic blur.
~*~
The next thing she knew hers arms and legs were bound, tied to something, a wooden stake, no a cross? Suddenly it was raised, her feet no longer touching the ground. It had briefly occurred to her to use her magic, but Kuro wasn't built for combat and neither Kiro nor Shiro were coming to her rescue. Instead Kuro was quite literally, living through her worst nightmare.
“Crowds of people hating me for what I am, for what I hold in me. I didn’t ask for this.” Her gaze shifted downwards looking at the ground some distance below her. She could only imagine what they had in store for her next.
“The only way this could get worse is if they try to kill me or set a slayer loose on me.” She shuddered at the thought, but the shuddering wouldn't stop. Fear had set itself in her bones,
something was coming for her, whether it be death or worse the young girl could feel it all the way down to her soul.
They had set the bound Kuro up in the town square where numerous villagers and fanatics had gathered. In front of it all stood a man, the same man who had initially restrained her. From what she had gathered he was a preacher of sorts but he felt all wrong. His words scared her to say the least, half of them going above her head. She did manage to catch a few one of them being
Succubus and the other was
fire. This got the girls heart pounding in her head, her breathing coming out in short gasps.
“He must be the real deal if he knows what I am no wait, what Kiro is. Maybe he’s just guessing...No...I don’t know! Kiro didn’t prepare me for this!” She eyed over the back of the man who belittled her with every sentence, calling her numerous foul things accusing her of everything one might think a succubus would be guilty for.
“I just eat mana….” She was shaking, the rope digging into her skin making red marks appear only to disappear soon afterwards. Another curious effect of harboring a succubus in her body, increased regen. However, no matter how quickly Kuro could heal, it would not help her in this crucible.
A tiny match fell upon the gasoline soaked ground. The flames burst into life, licking their way up the various piece of wood that was the foundation of Kuro’s stake. She could feel the heat of the flames as they came closer and closer to her, the embers dancing up into her face, the smoke beginning to fill her lungs.
“Please….”She begged feeling a tear roll down her cheek,
“I didn’t ask for this…” For having a demon in her or for being burned at the stake it was hard to say what she ment.