• Chapter 1

    Miko jumped from tree to tree without hesitating. Her heart pounded with fear and excitement. Crunching tree branches and a roar that made the very ground tremble followed her. Miko looked behind her and then jumped to the ground. She was hoping to somehow throw off the demon following her. But as it seemed, the demon would not leave. She turned and faced the creature.

    “So you finally decided to stand and fight.” He said in a menacing growl. He looked human but had silver wings sprouting from his back and sharp talons on his hands. His eyes were a piercing amber.

    Miko silently looked at him. She was a half-demon, other than her fox tail, ears, claws, and fangs she looked fairly human.

    The bid demon looked at her in disgust. “Filthy half-breed!” He spat. “You really have no use for living anymore. Who would really wonder where you went?” he questioned. Miko looked at the blood on his talons. The blood of her mother. She swallowed hard and looked away from the monster. Hatred boiled inside her, she would get the revenge she wanted.

    She jumped at him, claws extended, screaming hatred at him. He was surprised she even had the guts to attack so quickly. He spreaded his wings and shot razor sharp feathers at her. They all missed but one which cut completely through her stomach. She fell to the ground in pain, clutching her bleeding wound. She rose to her feet trembling and glaring at the demon.

    “You shouldn’t have attacked till you knew my name.” He scolded shaking one of his lethal talons at her.

    “I know your name, Casio.” She spat at him. He chuckled and looked at her.

    “A feisty one aren’t we?” He laughed. “Then this will be fun.” He lifted his wings and let the razor feathers find their mark. Miko jumped out of the way and dodged most of them. One of the feathers caught her on her right arm.

    She stumbled backwards. Breathing heavily she ran towards him. Clawing the air she cut deep into his skin. Bright red blood dripped from his torso. He shrieked and flew towards her, talons extended. She jumped and met him in mid-air. A series of clawing and scratching erupted from them both.

    Locked in fierce combat neither demon noticed the young man aiming at Casio. Miko’s ears flattened against her head as she heard the twang of a bow and the whistling sound of arrow. Quickly she jumped away from the winged demon, just as an arrow lodged itself in Casio’s chest. She backed away as he fell to the ground grasping the arrow. Quickly she turned and looked for the man that shot the arrow. He had wild black hair that fell into his golden brown eyes, and silver ears that were perched high, listening for any movement. His face began to blur, then she couldn’t see anything but darkness.