Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Of Fire ❯ Old Scratch ( Chapter 1 )

A young man jumped from building to building in the large city of New York. It was a dark night and the moon was full. A cold chill was looming over the city, like a read carpet rolled out for the darkest of evil ones. The youth's black trench coat flapped in the wind, as did his black hair that reached down to his chin. His evergreen irises were a dark forest in the center of his eyes.

The young man enjoyed taking the nights up trying to keep people in his section of the city safe, even if they didn't know who he was. He got to one of the buildings, and looked at the streets below. A woman's scream disturbed his quiet vigil and he immediately shot his sights in the direction of the cry. A woman was being attacked by a lone thug. The youth jumped down and landed silently behind them, out of sight from the attacker.

"I suggest you let the woman go"

"Why should I?" the assailant said without looking

"Because I said so"

"And who do you think you are?" the mugger said while turning his head towards his adversary, but as soon as his head was in the direction that the voice came from his face met a fist that threw him backwards fifteen feet.

"I think I'm Zet"

The woman thanked Zet for saving her, and she went on her way. Just then he heard footsteps behind him. This was the first time that he had noticed a great thick fog beginning about forty feet behind him. Out walked an old man, about sixty years of age, but looked to be in good health. The man had a cane, but he didn't use it to walk, he just spun it around rapidly with his right hand. His other hand was pushed into his pocket. The cigar in his mouth let smoke follow him around. A bushy gray goatee rested on his face, along with an old cap and a big smile. His thin eyes shot right towards Zet as the old man chuckled a bit under his breath.

"Hello there!" The old man called. "You've grown quite a bit there!"

"What do you mean?" Zet asked

"Why…last time I saw you, you were just a bouncing baby boy!"

"Who are you?"

"Just call me old scratch for now. Now I'd like to go over a bit of a business deal I had with your father" he said as he pulled a pocket book out of his jacket

"You knew my father?" Zet asked

"Yes, yes, yes! But I'll talk about that later, I made this promise to your father…" Scratch said as he flipped through his book "And as you probably know, the devil never goes back on a deal"

"The what?" Zet exclaimed

"The devil, just read…" he said smiling as he pushed the old piece of paper to Zet's hand

Zet read the paper out loud "I, Odium…" Zet started "That's me" Scratch said

"…Hereby promise to keep the demon lord Youkai's sword of power from his first son Abaddon, and when his second son, Zettes, reaches the age of 20, I shall hold to my promise and give him Youkai's sword of power. I also promise to inform Zettes of his heritage and what happened to his father mother and will let Zet decide what he wants to do from there."

"And there's your father and my signatures to prove that it's all fair and legal"

"But what does it all mean?"

"Ah, my boy, it means, that I have to give you a present from your father and tell you what happened to him and why you were orphaned off! You see, back about 100 years ago, your father was the Demon lord of the northern planes of hell …"

"Demon lord?" Zet interrupted

"Yes, well, I suppose I should explain. You see, underneath my ruling of the plane called Hell, there are four demon lords, Deacon, Youkai, Valum, and Allivon. Each was given a weapon of power. Each weapon gave its user power enough to tower over the other demons, setting them on a higher level than normal demons so that they could rule over their kingdoms with ease. Now, back to my story. Your father was Youkai, the Demon lord controlling the northern planes of hell. He was married to a Demoness named Eva. Well, things went bye and bye and soon they had a child, by the name of Abaddon. Eva, during the birth, put all of her essence into Abaddon, which gave him double the strength of what he should have. Youkai mourned over Eva's death for a while, but during this time, Eva's undead sprit was teaching her son to despise humans. She obviously was trying to train him to do exactly what he's doing right now! But I'll get back to that. Anyways, the years passed and Youkai fell in love once again, but this time, it was a mortal woman…your mother Cassandra. Well, they both fell in love and got married, and had themselves a child, which was you. But the mere love that Youkai had for this mortal enraged Abaddon and the child being born infuriated him! So he set out to kill you three. Well, Youkai knew about this and told Cassandra to hide on Earth somewhere with you. Then Youkai made this contract with me, and went off to fight his first born child. The excessive power that Abaddon was given helped him greatly in the fight, and he soon killed your father. He tracked down Cassandra and killed her also. He didn't find her, although he could have, but I had a promise to keep, and if you died, well…let's just say I could keep my promise. Now as for your father's sword of power…here it is, as promised"

A stunning sword appeared in the hands of Scratch in its scabbard and he handed it to Zet.

Zet threw the strap over his neck and adjusted the scabbard at his side. Old Scratch could see the anger burning in his eyes.

"Now I could do away with this by myself. But I wouldn't get anything out of it. Abaddon has already taken over three fourths of Hell, Deacon is the only one left, either way I'll end up with only one leader of hell. Yet, if you could beat your brother with the help of your father's sword of power, maybe I could have two leaders?"

"I'll do it" Zet said in a cold gruff voice…not looking at the old man, but just strait forward. "But I want something from you"

"What is it my dear boy?"

"I want you to grant me one favor later on. If I ask you for a favor, I want you to grant me that wish."

"Within reason, yes, yes, I shall promise this"

"And the devil can't go back on his word right?"

Scratch smiled "Indeed this is true"

"Then, where do I start?"