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‘I’ll be out of town for the weekend. Make sure the Makimura’s feed you well. Steal the food if you have to. I’ll text you when I’m on my way back.
Ryo.’
Akira stared at the message on his phone and sighed, his stomach growling. He dropped his phone on the bed beside where he laid, staring up at his ceiling in the dark.
The whole house was quiet, his family already asleep, as it was well into the night. It had been hours since they finished dinner — a spread of carbs and vegetables to hold everyone over until the morning — yet Akira’s stomach continued to growl, burning with a deep and empty feeling. He had eaten all he could at the table, even enjoyed a large dessert, much to the disapproval of his god parents. Even still, one of his hands grabbed at his shirt in a fist, ignoring the temptation of hunger.
‘Steal if you have to,’ the words echoed in his head. But Akira couldn’t steal from his own family, not when they took him in and already provide for him. He’d probably get lectured and need to listen to verses from the Bible about how God disapproved of such sins if he were to get caught.
God truly was the enemy of all demons, no matter how human they were.
His stomach growled again, his insides burning as nausea seeped into his existence. Akira swallowed hard, the desire to consume becoming impossible to ignore. He wanted to sink his claws into a warm body, to shred it open like a fruit and tear out the freshest meat he could acquire. It’d be so easy to grab any one of his siblings and rip their heads off before they could scream, could even wake up.
Akira’s eyes shot open as the thought crossed his mind, sitting up with a start. Something inside him purred at the idea but a larger part recoiled in disgust and fear. He quickly stood up, doffing his clothes before changing his form into the devil that hid beneath his skin. Akira opened the large window that took up the larger portion of his ceiling and lifted himself out, his wings emerging from his back and carrying him off of the roof in a swift beat.
He carried himself into the air above the city he lived in, going higher and higher until he appeared no larger than a bird from the ground, and took off. Akira flew across the sky, his body itching for a fight and eager to intake anything he came across. He craved meat with every fiber of his being; the smell, the taste, the texture, even dripping in blood and fats — preferably dripping in blood and fats.
He soared past the city limits, lowering himself to scan the forest below. Even in the darkest of night, the ability to see clearly never evaded him after his merging. It was as clear as day yet without the glare of the sun. Actually, he preferred seeing this way. Akira dipped down and clutched onto the top of a particularly large tree. His wings beat carefully, his huge talons grasping onto the branches as he flared his nostrils, taking in the fresh scent of the forest. The bat wing-like crest on the sides of his head lifted, meticulously twisting and turning to hopefully pick up on some movement.
The wings enhanced his hearing like a sonar dish, funneling sound into his ears. It was this ability that allowed him to hear the heavy rustling of leaves and twigs in the forest beneath him.
“A demon..!” Akira excitedly gasped. Something he could down in a fight and in a feeding frenzy if he desired. If demons were this easy to stumble upon, he wondered why it takes Ryo so long to find them. He makes it seem like a complicated art, pinning down the location of the next target, yet here one was.
Akira leapt from his perch, quickly descending to the ground. As soon as his dark talons hit the earth, he took off with a start, his inhuman strength carrying him across a large distance at breakneck speed towards his victim. Wind whipped past him as he plunged one of his clawed hands into the body before him, his actions halting as he raised his kill in the air. His smile of victory quickly dropped into horror as he lowered the body to get a better look at his trophy; a large doe that kicked a few times in the throes of death before succumbing to the wound and going limp.
The herd surrounding Akira took off as fast as they could, bleating fearfully and disappearing behind foliage. He watched in silence until they were gone before casting his gaze towards his prey. She dangled loosely, Akira’s claws still latched inside, feeling the heat of the once living creature leave its body slowly. He squatted down, removing the deer from his claws carefully as if she were still breathing. The large wound was a clean shot through its heart and gushed upon being opened.
The devilman looked at his hands, soaked in crimson and coated in ichor. The thick red liquid felt heavier than the sulfur colored blood of demons. It felt stickier too as if the sin of the act had slowly begun to sink in through his skin and permeate his entire being.
‘Like honey,’ he briefly thought as he bought his hand close to his face. The coppery scent filled his lungs as his stomach began burning, hunger radiating through him. He opened his mouth with a shaky breath and dragged his tongue up his arm, lapping up a large stripe of the blood and letting it sit on his pallet. Tears began welling in his eyes as he repeated the action, licking at the blood that had stained his blue fur with more vigor.
‘Like honey,’ his insides echoed and rejoiced. ‘Honey!’
Akira turned his attention to the carcass and plunged his hands into its body cavity, cleaving the animal down the center as the ribcage and muscles split with a deafening crack. Organs began to slip out from its host, membranes snapping as they slid out from the wound. He dove his head down, quickly grabbing the innards with his large teeth and swallowing them down in one bite. They went down without protest and as his stomach finally received meat, his mind became hazy and seemingly satiated.
‘More!’ His instincts egged him on. ‘More! More! More!’
And Akira obeyed, rushing in with his hands as he shoveled blindly into his mouth. He grabbed at masses he couldn’t even recognize, crushing them between his fingers and lapping up the mess like a starved dog.
The flavor was strong and sweet, a metallic aftertaste dancing off his tongue. With a smooth motion, Akira ripped half of the ribs from the animals spine, pushing it to the back of his mouth as he ground his teeth down on bones. They were no match for demon strength, immediately giving way and snapping under the immense pressure. He chewed them up and swallowed as tears rolled down his filled cheeks. Akira consumed and consumed, losing himself in a frenzy — a desperation for his hunger to be quelled.
‘More!’
Akira ripped its legs from its body and devoured them one by one.
‘More!’
He tore the neck of the doe asunder, grinding up her trachea and swallowing.
‘More!’
The devilman licked his chops, cleaning them of the guts and fats that stuck to him. He grabbed the head of the deer — the last remaining piece of the animal — and held it before him. His mouth pooled with saliva, eager to digest the creature in full.
Before he took his final mouthful, he froze, caught in the absent gaze of the doe. She looked past him without judgement or hatred — a warm look that told him of her struggles, her life, her death. Another creature born unto this world to struggle, survive and ultimately die.
To die by his hands.
The tears Akira shed ran faster down his cheeks readily, a whimper sneaking past his trembling lips as his arms brought the head closer to him, embracing the decapitated doe. He cried loudly as he dipped his face down in mourning, his forehead pressed to the tawny fur.
“… sorry,” Akira wept. “I’m so sorry.”
After his tears slowed, Akira dug a hole beneath a tree with his claws, pulling up cool soil until he deemed it deep enough. He looked at the head, into the soft brown eyes that were vacant of life, and carefully slid her eyelids closed with reverence. He lowered her into her makeshift grave and covered the head firmly. Here she would feed the tree and provide nourishment for life to continue, as nature intended. After a moment of silence, Akira’s wings stretched and propelled him off the ground in a few beats, becoming airborne in a matter of seconds.
It wasn’t long at all until he arrived back at the Makimura’s. He lowered himself onto the roof and sat, gazing up at the stars. He wondered when Ryo would be back, when he could spend the day at that far too excessive penthouse and eat all the meat he desired and craved without worry. He wondered what Ryo’s expression would say if he told him what happened.
‘Good for you’ he’d say. ‘Venison is a nice, lean meat. I have no doubt it’ll be put to use in that body of yours.’
No, he wouldn’t care about the deer. He’d only care about the sudden lack of control Akira found himself in.
He sighed, pulling his wings back under his skin where they hid, and allowed himself to lean back. The night was cool and silent, the starts scintillating above him and thankfully, his stomach was finally quiet.