8 The Forest Demons

I waded through groves of trees, got stung by thorns and disconcerted at any faint noises.

Bushes moved and I attached myself to Dylan. Temporarily found him as a sanctuary. "So—something—something's over th—there—"

We stood looking tensely in that direction. My wet palm held onto his shirt. A grey skinny wolf with hungry eyes trod out of the thick of wood. Dylan straightened up and smiled.

"Dylan?" A rough voice was coming from the wolf's direction. I strained my sight trying to see the person who was walking behind that dog.

The wolf came forth, shook its shaggy bodies and threw itself on its hind legs. Very fast, its fur melted together and became one smooth piece of lighter skin. In no time, it had the torso and lower body of a human while the sharpness of the claws and fangs, the fluffy ears, and the tail remained. The guy standing in front of us spoke the same voice I heard before.

"Hello, Dylan."

Hell! It's a werewolf!

"Cody!" Dylan beamed and hugged the werewolf. They exchanged a few words of greetings before the werewolf observed me with the same hungry eyes.

"This is Leigh." said Dylan. "My contractor."

Cody bore his fangs at me, wait—is he smiling? "Cody, wolf demon, nice to meet you."

"A—wolf demon?"

"Of course! What do you think I am? Puppy demon?" Cody laughed. His strong dog smell made me took a few steps back. But I could not take my eyes off of those cute fluffy ears, I wanted to touch it so bad. No, it's too risky. "Come on, let's go in." He said. "Your wings look burnt too Dylan, let us get you some herbs."

I looked at Dylan astonishingly. So he was hurt from Jimmy's fire after all. "Are—are you alright?" I asked. It was partly my fault.

Dylan smiled. "I told you it's nothing."

Cody led way deep into the shrubs. I looked about nervously wishing someone could tell me where we were going. Taking out an iPhone, I took photos of the surroundings so I could remember the way back, like when we do at a parking lot. My attempt was in vain. All of the photo of trees and trees failed to hint me of where I was. I soon lost the tracks. If the demons were to keep me in here or eat me, this was their best chance.

We went into a thick barrier of hedge-like things and after seeing only leaves for a few minute, we came into an opening.

If I was to tell you what this place was like, it was not big, not small, but spacious enough. Although the whole place was covered with tree canopies, but there was sufficient sunlight coming through chinks. Plants were soft and inviting and their gentle green made the place looked like a fantasy land.

There were all kinds of animals, bears, rabbits, deer, birds, ravens, wolves that stood up like Cody, and--WTF!...is this real?

That guy's lower part was like a horse…what do they call?--Centaur?

And the ones beside him were…half goats?

Seriously…now that I looked carefully, there was Legolas---or maybe it was just his friend-- sitting under a big tree.

What more, they were doing something like a CSR work, planting trees. This is absurd!

I was going to disappear into the hedges again when all the weirdoes spotted us and came running at Dylan. I was pushed aside and ignored. He was popular even among creatures.

"I'm so glad you visit us!" A small Legolas boy jumped at the demon. He turned his big bulbous green eyes keenly at me next. "Hello." He said.

"He--hell--" Yeah, hell! "Hello. Are-are you an elf?" It was a stupid question. Obviously, he was an elf with those pointed ears.

"Oh," Dylan swiveled his head around. "This is Chane. He's a tree demon, or what human called elf, yes."

"Nice to meet you." Chane said and extended his tiny hands at me. I was obliged to take it.

Tree demon!? "Ni-nice to meet you. I'm Leigh." I looked about wondered if I should add my status. I didn't want to say it but would I get out alive if I didn't? "Dylan's contractor."

That drew a big smile and gleaming eyes out of Dylan and a Woo-hoo like something out of the creatures.The weirdoes were in awe. That seemed to get me more attention than I needed. They circled me and soon I was in the middle of demons. A few butterflies swarmed my head. When they were close enough, I saw human figures instead of those insects'. I screamed again. "Fairies!"

"Flower demons." One of them corrected me with tiny voice.

My head spun like a fairies--no, ferris wheel but a hundred time faster. "If…if you're flower demons, Cody's wolf demon, then--" I rotated my eyes at the half humans. "They are horse demons and goat demons, and--" I stared at Dylan. "You are a bird demon!"

"Sort of." said Dylan.

"And I'll have a dozen contracts now!"

"You can only have one contract at a time." I heard Dylan said but the other demons already came taking my hands.

"If Dylan brings you here, you must be a good human. Let's go plant trees together!" Chane said.

Later, while Dylan was taken away to cure the wings, I found myself doing the CSR work too. Chane kept passing me young plants he produced out of his hands. They were smaller comparing to those from older elves. Dirt hid in my nails as I dig the soil with my bare hands. The tip of my finger went red at the fifth tree, while Cody and other demons with claws still worked untiringly.

Soft soil stabbed my thumb when a dark shadow towered me, Dylan squatted down and took my hand. It was definitely weird. He looked so happy and there was a twinkle in his eyes. We held our gazes. And I thought I was going into some kind of trouble. "Let me help." He said and scooped out the soil with such easiness. He helped me lower the young plant in the hole and we filled it. I suddenly felt like I had done a lot of good deeds.

"How do you like forest demon's job?" He asked.

"You mean planting the trees?" I said and he nodded. "Isn't that supposed to be human's job?"

"No. Your job is to destroy." I almost choked. But he said it with such a smile that it didn't feel like we were blamed at all. So I went along.

"Oh. You fix the forest. Good. Good job. So Liked!" It sounded like we human were the villain here, not the demon. WTF?

Dylan didn't seem to get my sarcasm. "I didn't help them that much. I hardly visit a forest."

I was going to ask what he meant when a scream struck somewhere in this tree globe. We turned around and saw the demons back away from something. A female centaur screamed. "Evil!"

It sounded very strange with demon talking about evil. "What else can there be except…" I pushed myself to the front, heard a rustle and a goat…no, faun, no, half a faun, was inching out of the deep wood. Half right of his body showed the background of the trees and the other half was bathing in blood. My face was frozen at the horror scene. The half faun fell down as he saw us. He had the eyes of the death.

All the forest demon went silence. A wolf nibbled at my shirt and slowly dragged me out of the front line. The hedges, which I now saw could move, parted and closed down leaving the half faun body out of the circle. Dylan got hold of me and looked tensely in that direction. The others were shivering.

"It's been going on for two weeks now." said a centaur with fear in his voice. "Something is killing demons in the forest."

"We'd better not go out of the circle anymore." said one of the wolves with rough voice.

"Leigh." Dylan called and I answered to him obediently. After seeing that half faun walking, I was willing to do anything to get me out of here fast. So when he said, "If you don't want me to move in, at least have Stix and his friends with you. They can look after you for me." I agreed without any rejection. Four ravens came flying and Dylan introduced the second one as Stix. They all looked the same to me.

Dylan thanked the forest demons. I did the same as Chane told me to take care and thanked me for being kind to Dylan. Did I? He hoped I could continue being good to the black demon. I was super confused now. Trying to run away from him means I'm being good to him?

The demon suddenly scooped up my leg. And when I got back my sight, I was already gliding above the ground in his embrace with Stix and his friends following behind. I wanted to struggle. But considering the distance between me and the ground, I'd better pass this time.

I looked up and saw Dylan's pretty face. Even from this angle, he was still so beautiful. His pearl skin was so smooth that it almost lured me to touch. Black hands that held me weren't as scary as I used to think. They were soft and glitter like starry night sky. From this point, I could see some part of his sparkling blue green eyes. I looked absent-mindedly at those jewels until my cheeks felt hot. And it wasn't long before the heat spread all over my face. It was really hard to breathe and my heart beat was getting heavy. OMG! No! I can't feel this way! He's…not human! He's nothing but a burden to my normal life!

"Are you alright?" asked the demon suddenly.

I was startled and stuttered. "W--what?"

"Your face's red. Are you having a fever?"

I looked away. "N--no! I'm fine."

I could see that Dylan wasn't totally convinced of what I'd said. I swerved my concentration at the panorama view to get rid of anymore weird thoughts. It wasn't that bad with green hills and houses dotted here and there.

This surely was troublesome. I could feel my annoyance with the demon and my desire to end the contract dwindled. A thought that Dylan and the forest demons could be my friends or that they were nice flashed through my head. It was a queer feeling. I was so confuse and not sure what to do next. Get an 'A' in the witch's lesson? Ha ha, very funny!

The journey was fast. It lasted only about one minute, right at the time when I started to fall asleep. Dylan chose the window as an entrance again.

He put me down on my bed, took off my shoes and tucked me in my blanket. I tried to get up but he pushed me down again and again.

"Hey!" I was getting miffed.

"Just lie down for now." said Dylan and placed his black hand on my forehead. "Your head is warm."

"I'm fine!" I tried to fight.

"No. you're not, I know…everything that happened today's too much for you. You just have to slowly take it in. Just take a break today."

I was about to contradict again but he'd got some point. Maybe everything's too much for me. Maybe I really am having a fever. Maybe I should rest for now.

I lay down and closed my eyes.

"Sweet dreams."

The demon crooned the spell before I lost into my slumber. I felt so relax and comfortable as if I was lying on a beautiful sandy beach. Warm sea breeze blew across my face, took away all the bad memories.