Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Gama's Blood Crystal ❯ The Blood Demon ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Gama's Blood Crystal

Chapter 3: The Blood Demon

They ran as fast as they could. That scream sounded too familiar and when it cut off so abruptly, it only scared them more. They turned a corner, but only a long hallway like all the others stretched before them. Where was he? What had happened to him? Suddenly, they sensed a fading ki. They rushed towards it as fast as they could, but without their powers, they just weren't going fast enough.

Just then, they saw an empty doorway up ahead, to their left. They rushed in and gasped in shock. There was the source of the scream and the cause of what had cut it off. A creature with dark-red skin coloring and eyes the color of deep, thick blood was staring at them. It looked like a cross between a spider and a scorpion, yet it's face resembled a lizard's. On the floor beneath the thing lay Krillen, his throat torn wide open and his blood spilling onto the sand and trickling down the side of the creature's mouth. It was obvious that they had disturbed the creature as it hissed at them menacingly with teeth that looked like nails and knifes all at once. Then, in one swift move, the creature uses 2 of its front legs to grab Krillen and then disappear right into the sand. Goku screamed Krillen's name, but he didn't even get a chance to move before it was gone. After that no one could see any movement at all in the sand. Krillen's ki had even disappeared. And, oddly enough, the creature did not give off any ki in the first place.

They were so shocked by what they just saw, that all they could do was stand there and stare at the small puddle of blood being absorbed into the sand. Saria just stared. "What. The fuck. Was that."

Vegeta immediately demanded something, but no one answered. Clearly, he was wondering the same thing too. Finally, they all looked at each other. Except for Saria, who was wondering why it looked vaguely familiar. The others started talking about Krillen and the blood demon, she could tell by the use of his name, but she didn't bother paying attention - …Blood Demon…? …Why do I know that's what that thing is called? …… …I know this thing, don't I? But how?

She was so absorbed in her thoughts and trying to figure the blood demon out, that she hadn't realized that Gohan had been talking to her until he lightly touched her shoulder. She suddenly snapped out of it and abruptly looked at him. "Wha…?"

"Are you alright? I know something like that can be pretty upsetting."

She looked at him, not understanding why he was asking her that. Then she suddenly came to life and responded with "oh, yeah. I'm fine…" But she immediately looked back. They looked at her oddly. She didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. In fact, she looked like she was just confused. This girl, whose name they didn't even know, looked like she didn't even care that their friend had just been killed by that… creature.

"umm…Miss? …" Gohan was unsure of what to say or do. She just kept staring at that same spot where Krillen had disappeared. They all looked at each other, then at her.

Then Trunks walked over to her. "Do you know what that thing was?"

She suddenly looked up, startled. "What?" She then noticed who was talking and did a double take. "Who else here can speak English?"

Trunks looked at her. Maybe she just had been thru too much to really absorb what was going on. "Well, I think that it's only me and Gohan over there." He nodded his head towards Gohan. "Who are you? How come you don't seem to care about what just happened?"

She looked at him. They think I'm heartless. Just like everyone else back home" She shook her head slightly. She noticed vaguely that she wasn't in as much pain as she had been before. "It's not that." She looked around at everyone, then back to Trunks. "I'm just used to death, is all."

He and Gohan instantly look shocked and stare at her. "Used to death?!" Trunks had spoken that last line quietly.

She couldn't stand them staring at her like that anymore, and looked back to the same spot she had been staring at. She could hear Gohan telling the others what she had just said. And she could feel Trunks staring at her back. She tried to ignore both. "I'm not going to talk anymore. It was more fun when they didn't know what the hell I was saying. Now they all are going to treat me like I'm nothing." The thought really hurt her. Her favorite T.V. show was DBZ, and now her favorite characters were all going to hate her.

Trunks spoke again to her. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. Believe it or not, I understand."

Understand? How the hell can you possibly under- Oh. Yeah. Future trunks. Saria thought. But she barely acknowledges it. Then she suddenly thought of something. Wait a second. Why didn't they blast that damn creature? Now that I think about it, they wererunning pretty slow. Ah, fuck. They can't use their powers.

Saria looks over to them. "Do you know how we get out of here?" Neither Gohan nor Trunks would look at her. Great. Just fucking great. No powers. No way out. And a creature that looks too damn familiar is chasing us all. How the hell did they get down here in the first place?!

Then she says out loud "Do you remember how you got here in the first place? Or how I got here?"

"Well, umm… we're not really sure. You just, sort of, appeared. Do you remember anything?"

She sighed. "No."

They both just shook their heads. They're completely lost. And they don't even have their powers. Now we're all going to die down here because of that thing and they know it. They must feel terrible about that actually… Not being able to use their powers and then being hunted…

Trunks looks at her. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find a way out of here."

Saria shook her head, almost amused at his attempt at optimism. "Sure, we just need to find the stairs."

Trunks almost smiled at that, but instead he turned around to the others. They talked for a moment and then Goku sighs and something else. They agree and, after taking one last look at where Krillen disappeared, walk out of the room. On their way out however, Saria is barely heard to quietly say "Why are you so familiar, blood demon?" But nobody really hears her aside from Trunks and Vegeta.

~~~~~~~

Blood Demon, blood demon… What is so familiar about you? Saria had spent the last several hours trying to place the memory of the blood demon. The z-gang had talked off and on about how to get out of there, what the hell had happened to Krillen, and if they would find anyone else down there. At least the room with all the bones in it now made sense. But what about the inscriptions on the walls? Did they actually mean anything, or were they just decoration? Altho, even if they did mean something, maybe it didn't matter, since they had no way of reading it.

As for Saria, she just couldn't stop thinking about the blood demon. A scorpion/spider hybrid thing that drinks blood. Blood demon is an obvious name for it. So why does it sound so familiar? It's just like one of mom's stories before - And then it hit like a ton of bricks. Mom's stories! Of course! I remember when she used to tell me that story when I was really young!

"The demon of blood who was neither scorpion nor spider, but lizard as well. Power over sand, is not all that is capable of this blood-drinker from hell." Without realizing it, she had repeated her mother's story out loud. Everyone immediately stops and Gohan and Trunks stare at her in disbelief.

"What did you say?" Gohan asked.

Saria looks up at him and immediately realizes what she just did. Shit! …Oh well. Might as well tell them. She sighs and says out loud to them: "It was an old story my mother used to tell me when I was little. I had always thought that it was just a nursery rhyme, tho."

"A nursery rhyme?" Trunks asked incredulously.

Saria shrugged. "When it came to stories, my mom was pretty demented." Moving on, Saria continued, trying to ignore the weird looks that Gohan and Trunks were giving her. "It's not that I forgot any of her stories tho. It's just that it's been awhile since I heard them. That's why I didn't pick up on it sooner. But I only know the first half of the story and that only describes the creature."

"Well, maybe it could still help us. What was that part about 'power of the sands'?" Trunks wondered.

Saria shrugged again. "I'll have to repeat the rhyme. I think it went like this:

The Demon of Blood, who was neither scorpion nor spider, but lizard as well.

Power over sand, is not all that is capable of this blood-drinker from hell.

Part blood, part sand, your life-force is its demand,

Leave it to die in the labyrinth, or your soul is forsaken.

Death it brings in rampant abundance,

It can disappear into the sand in a moment.

If allowed to live, it will grow in strength,

And then, even a god's life it will be able to take.

Its power is of the sand,

Spells of this kind are at its command,

Its food is of your blood,

Nothing else could be enough.

That's basically it. There was an entire second verse to it, but I never learned it."

"I don't think that makes any sense at all. Why can't she just come right out and tell us what this thing is?" Trunks asked annoyed.

Saria smiled at that. "Because when you're little, the best way to remember anything is with a rhyme. Hard to be blunt and obvious when you just want the kid to remember. Besides, you can always figure it out later."

"She wanted you to remember this?" Now it was Gohan's turn to be surprised.

Saria looked at him like he was being incredibly stupid. "Of course. There were a ton of weird rhymes like this one that she taught me. This one was just her last one. "

"Her last? Why did she stop teaching you?" Trunks asked.

Saria merely replied "She had more important things on her agenda." Ignoring the puzzled looks the 2 were giving her, she asked them "So what do you think?"

"I'm still lost!" Trunks responded in exasperation.

Saria couldn't keep herself from smiling again. "Fine, I'll translate. Basically, this thing drinks your blood because that's the only thing it can eat. It can also control the sand and disappear into it. As well as anything else related to having power over the sand. It's probably very strong by now because this story is at least 10 years old. Most likely longer, knowing my mom. So that means that this blood demon may very well have several tricks up its sleeve that we need to be wary of. That said, there are also at least 2 ways to kill it, tho the only way we know of obviously doesn't work because it's having no trouble in finding victims."

The 2 boys look at her. Gohan sighs. "So maybe instead of trying to kill this thing, we should try to just escape."

Saria thinks for a moment. "Well, that may be a problem. The rhyme mentions a labyrinth. And the only labyrinth I know of may as well have no exit."

Gohan stares at her in shock, whereas Trunks starts swearing in Japanese and going on about how they all were going to die.

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Nothing to translate in this chappie. Now onto the next.

O yeah. Come back tomorrow or Thursday to read the rest of the re-written stories since I'm taking down the un-rewritten ones. It should all be done by then and I may even have chapter 11 as well. Later and sleep well…