part 8

"The bastard is gone now." Esper looked at me with a full smile as she said this. I was confused. Here I had done what would normally freak someone out and send them running for the hills and this puzzling creature was sitting there with a gleeful expression thankful for what I did. My claws retracted as I began to relax and I slumped against the wall next to her. "Shouldn't you be running off screaming with terror that there was a murder?" She laughed as if I had said a joke and replied, "No one would really care. In this area this stuff happens all the time, but my father is a lot tougher than a lot of folks in this neighborhood so he hasn't gotten himself killed yet until now." I blinked as I digested what she told me. "Your father... so, the one who was strangling you just now is your dad?" She looked at the open door in front of us where her father had burst out of then to the bloody remains of his body then then to me. She shrugged her shoulders. "Even if he was my father, he never acted like one. He was always out screwing some bitch out in the brothels. He was never around and whenever he got home he was always drunk. I couldn't take it anymore and thought it would be better off to be alone." A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she continued. "I moved out and got my own room in this place, but he wouldn't let me leave in peace. He started to calculate when I got back home and when I did he would do to me what you just saw. It's been like that for five years now." I slowly got up as I didn't want to hear anymore of her story. She took the hint and picked herself off the ground as well. "Well, enough of this sob story. What's your name?" I shoved my bloody hands into my pockets letting the fabric of my black jeans soak up more of the blood that had not dried up yet. "Chrono." She raised a brow "Strange name." I smirked "You're one to talk Esper." She huffed and gave a triumphant grin as she pointed at me. "At least I don't have nails that can rip people up like that. It must be a pain having to use a nail clipper on them." I smiled at her joke and applauded her. "Very funny." We laughed for a while then I decided to change the topic. "Can we go somewhere where I can clean myself up? I don't want to be walking around like this." A coy smile played upon her lips as she replied in a half-mocking tone. "I think that look suits you." I gritted my teeth in irritation at this and gave her a warning glare. "Keep up the wise cracks and you might end up like that moron." I was surprised by her reaction. Maybe there was something wrong with her because her answer was, "Mmmmm sounds like fun." I shook my head as she continued. "Let's head over to my apartment then. We could use his place, but it would only bring back hateful memories." So, together we strolled down the hall towards her place, a demon and a whimsical human girl.