Undume sat on her bed, her face covered in the same tears she had tasted for a year. She was alone and locked away inside the safety of her apartment. She made sure her front door was locked every night, with the curtains hiding the world on the other side of them. Oh how she loathed this world. She longed for excitement. She longed for an adventure. She longed for love. Yet in the end she came home to her empty house, locked tight for her own security. Tonight was no different than the one before.
Undume stood up to turn out the lights. The clock on her nightstand read midnight, and she knew she would have to sleep if she wanted to try for that job at the bakery.
Once her room was pitch black, Undume stumbled to her bed. She dodged the junk she knew was on the floor, but fell down when she tripped over a large lump.
"Fuck!" she yelled, in no mood to be played with. She felt around the floor on her hands and knees, trying to discover what had caused her night to turn for the worse. (She was like this now, you see. Her bitter depression would make sure everything hurt, no matter how big or small the incident was.) "What’s this?" she mumbled to herself, feeling the guilty object. "I don’t remember this." She stood up and moved back toward the light fixture. Try as she might, the lights would not turn on. Her heart raced and the hair on her arms stood on end. This had to be one of the worst feelings. If anything creeped her out, it was her lights not working at night. She turned back to stare at the object on the floor, only to find it was a lot larger than what she thought it had been. It was tall, and she figured she must have tripped over a small portion of it. But she did not fear it, nor question it. She had fallen into her own abyss of depression. Nothing mattered.
The light from her clock illuminated the room enough for her to tell the figure was humanoid. "W-what do you want?" she spoke softly.
"To talk," it responded, in a voice she’d love to wrap around her beating heart. It was deep, and for some reason it was intriguing.
"Let me turn on my light," she said in an unsure but demanding voice. She felt for the switch, and sure enough (and to her relief) the lights flickered back on. She looked at him while her eyes adjusted to the penetrating waves. She studied him from head to toe. His face was handsome, but his eyes drew her in like a spider’s web. His eyes- that stared back at her intently- were a deep blue, with hints of red (or so it seemed.) Once she broke away from his eyes, she noticed the markings on his face. A blue mark ran across his left cheek. Two similar marks came from the corners of his right eye. Odd tattoos, she figured, but the oddity that caught her eyes was his hair. It was long and flowed to his lower back. But what was odd- and amazing at the same time- was the fact that his bangs and the length of his hair that went down to his shoulders was black, but then it faded into blue for the rest of his hair. It was beautiful. And so pure it looked natural. The next thing Undume saw was his cloak that draped over him with a collar fit for a vampire. The black cloak flowed down to the floor. Underneath she saw what could easily have been an outfit for a Visual Kei band; filled with straps and plenty of black.
Undume was too intrigued to fear her intruder.
"Sorry about the lights," he spoke with a voice that could catch a falling egg.
"What did you do to them?" she asked.
"Not me, exactly. But I will get to that. First, we must speak."
Undume opened her bedroom door and walked into the living area of her apartment. It was a large but bare room, with a couch, a few posters, a TV, and a bookshelf decorating it. He followed her, his boots making no sound on her wooden floor. She motioned for him to sit on the couch, but he decided to keep standing. "Want a drink?" she asked, her habits of being hostess surfacing. Why didn’t she fear him? Why didn’t she call the police? Because he had caught her in his web. And she liked it.
"No. We need to talk."
"As you told me."
"I’m from Crosse, the demon world-" Undume tried to not laugh. "-and I’m here on assignment."
"If you want my soul, it’s rather busy."
"No no, nothing like that. But we’ve heard your wish. Or rather, our seers have been hearing them since you first spoke a word of it." Undume sat down on the couch, figuring this guy had lost pieces to his puzzle anyway.
"And?"
He said no more. But something happened to her than would change her world forever. Undume’s upper back began to sting, and her left cheek felt like it was burning off. She fell to her knees on the floor in front of her, and gripped her stomach. Her mouth let go some of the sushi she had enjoyed for dinner as her back felt like it was ripping open.
It was.
On each side of her spine Undume felt two objects pushing their way into the world. It hurt like nothing else, and she screamed as the process took place. Fifteen seconds later, two mechanical looking wings were sticking out of her. Her left cheek had been marked with three red triangles. Undume’s tear-filled eyes stared up at the demon with uncertainty and fear.
"Wh-what did you do to me?!"
"I’ve made you into a Xanadu: a human who has become a demon."
"A demon?!"
"I told you, I was sent here from the demon realm to respond to your wish."
"But.. Why did you give me these?!" She stayed on her knees, the pain finally subsiding.
"Because you wished for them, Undume." Undume stayed silent. Her world was changing and now she feared what she had wished for. Yet somehow, through the pain, a part of her she thought was lost smiled. And then she smiled. But it blew away quickly as her wings moved awkwardly in her back.
"Look," he said, grabbing her arm and lifting her up gently. He guided her to a broken mirror she had on the wall. "This is you now. This is your answered wish."
Undume stared at herself, then looked at the figure that held her close to prevent her legs from giving in. (Of which she was sure would happen. She could feel that her body was still in shock from the unnatural occurrence. If "feel" was the right word. She couldn't really feel a thing, aside from the pain that lingered.) "What do I do now?"
His eyes stared into hers with hints of pride for her, and a smile flashed across his face. "Come with me."
"To Crosse?"
"Yes."
Undume looked at herself again, her looks shocking her every time. She nodded, and the cloud that inhabited her eyes seemed to drift away, leaving her happy feelings shown. But why was she happy? The pain of her wings bursting through her back and her cheek being marked had been unbearable. But this is what she had wanted.
"What is your name?" she asked him finally.
"Rassyu. I am your sire."