Keeping Demons Chapter 1

Keeping Demons
Tales from an Angelic Demon

Chapter 1: The Pet Shop

Wispear was an interesting sort of demon. Most demons you see in the pet shops looked like, well, demons. But no, this young, frail little demon looked very much like an angel. His skin so pale it was almost completely white; his hair a soft white color that beautifully framed his face; his wings large with snow white feathers so long they nearly dragged across the floor as he walked. But, the most peculiar thing about Wispear was his strange pinkish-red eyes.

In truth, Wispear was actually a member of the Crow Demon family. But, he had been hit with a rare occurring albinism that made it so he looked like an angel. Wispear's species had the tendency of traveling in the night so not to be caught by the human raiders; the black color of their crow feathers helped to hide them. Unfortunately, due to Wispear's snow white wings, he stood out against the shadowy night like the moon in the sky. Six years of his life he had been able to hide from sight by riding on the backs of the adults, but by the time he was seven, his wings were to large to hide, and to carry.

When the snowy demon was caught, the adults tried hard to save him. It was no use. The humans had a brutal way of catching demons; they had a spear gun that they would aim at a demon's wing that would hook in to the delicate flesh and bone before pulling the unfortunate demon down to it's doom. The adults had tried to pull Wispear off the spear until the humans began to shoot more spear guns up at them, causing them to flee and leave the poor young demon alone. They watched from higher up as the small snow white demon was yanked down, red blood splashing over his soft wings as he let out a scream of pain; crying and reaching to the sky where his family was.

That was four months ago. It had taken the kidnappers (as Wispear liked to call them) four whole months to completely rid of all the blood that had stained Wispear's perfect wings. Throughout that time, they had been keeping Wispear in a closed off cell beneath the large pet store. He had been fed often enough that he didn't die, but not often enough to not be hungry.

When the kidnappers came for him one day, they had a metal collar in their hands and a pair of black shorts; no shirt. They told him he would have to change from his traditional clothes he had manage to keep, into the pair of black shorts. He had made a guess of what happened to demons in black shorts since he saw them leave with the kidnappers and never come back, so he was terrified. His guess had been that the demons were taken off to die; that had been what his mother told him when he was younger that happened to captured demons.

As the humans advanced on the young demon, he scuttered back against the wall and brought his wings around him as a form of protection. But the humans, with their grabby hands, tore Wispear's wings apart from each other and held them there. No matter how hard he struggled, Wispear couldn't steal his wings back from the hands that held them so he gave a long, loud whimper. One of the humans lifted their hands and it looked to Wispear as if the man was going to strike him, so he closed his eyes tight in fear. The next thing he knew, he felt cold on his neck and heard a sharp CLICK! ring through the air. His eyes opened quickly and he grabbed at his throat, finding the metal collar in place.

One of the men chuckled. "Little guy thought I was gonna hit him." He said with a grin, cruel laughter sparkling in his hazel eyes.

"Yeah." Said another with long red hair tied back in a loose ponytail. "He'll probably go quick; but then again, they may put a big price for him because of his looks."

"Come now." This man was big. HUGE. He was tan in skin with soft looking blue eyes and short black hair atop his head. He had an odd look about him; intimidating, yet kind. He handed Wispear the shorts, which Wispear hesitantly accepted. "Change into these. We'll be back in five minutes to bring you up." He said gently in a very non-intimidating voice; he was trying to not terrify the poor, young demon.

With that, the large man pushed the two smaller men out to give Wispear some privacy; knowing from the people who hired him that the demon wouldn't say much. Wispear was refusing to speak to his captors. The only time he spoke to them was to tell them his name, age, whether or not he was hungry, or if he needed to use the bathroom. Other than that, he was silent. It wasn't like his captors cared or not though, they were just looking for a profit in selling him.

Wispear sighed sadly and looked at the shorts before setting them on the make-shift bed he'd been given; it was merely a pile of torn cloths piled together in one place. Woefully, the Angelic demon took off the traditional clothes of the crow people and replaced them with the black shorts he had been given. He shivered slightly, the cold air of the underground now affecting him due to his lack of warm clothing.

As these few minutes went by, Wispear thought of his family and what they may be doing out and free in the world. He sighed, knowing that would never be him again. He'd just become some kidnapper's pet. As he thought, he remembered something important in one of his pockets and quickly went searching for it. What he found was a chain necklace with an un-tampered small quartz crystal attached. It had been a gift from his mother on his fourth birthday; She said it symbolized his soul and his whole being. He still didn't quite understand what that meant yet.

Just moments after he grabbed the necklace, the men returned to the room, causing the demon to hop back in surprise and shrink; trying to make himself look much smaller than he was.

The cruel man grinned when he saw the necklace in the demon's hand. "What's this? A precious item?" He asked and went to reach for the necklace. Wispear pulled his hand behind his back, not wanting to give the necklace over.

"I-It's mine." He said in a shaky voice. That seemed to only make the man laugh.

"Yours? Nothing is yours. You aren't even yours." The cruel man stated with a grin and grabbed Wispear's wrist, yanking it forward and making the demon give a yelp of surprised pain. The man then grabbed the necklace from Wispear and grinned. "Now, this is probably worth a lot to you, isn't it?" He asked in a teasing voice, making the red head chuckle and grin.

Wispear nodded desperately. "Yes! Now please! Give it back!" He demanded desperately; he didn't want to lose all that he had left connecting him to his family. The cruel man dangled the necklace above Wispear's head, only to ruthlessly tear it away from the demon when he touched it.

After a few minutes of torturing the demon, the large man stepped in on The cruel man and the red head's fun. "Enough. Give the necklace back now, with it you'll probably fetch a higher price." He explained, though it caused both smaller men to pout slightly.

"Fine!" The cruel man said and threw the necklace as Wispear, who quickly grabbed it after it bounced off his head. Though his head throbbed lightly, he happily slipped the necklace over his head. The cruel man glared at him. "Get up." He said rudely, to which the young demon quickly complied; knowing not to mess with the cruel human.

The red head attached a chain to the metal collar around Wispear's neck and began to lead him out of the cell and up the stairs. Wispear had never been in the actual pet shop, having been brought through the back door while bleeding. He was quite surprised at what he saw.

The interior of the shop seemed friendly and warm. There were aisles upon aisles of pet supplies and cages. There were places sectioned off for cats and dogs, fish and birds, snakes and lizards, rabbits and gerbils. And then there was the section for demons. It was the largest section of all due to the size of most demons. The demons were kept behind a type of glass with holes in it so the demon could speak with a customer if the customer wanted to.

The demons were sectioned off by age. Wispear was led to a farther forward 'cage' due to the shop's want for customers to by the younger and more expensive demons. The reason the younger demons were more expensive was because they were much easier to train than the older demons. Older demons were almost impossible to tame because they already had a life before being caught, and they did not want to stay a "pet" since they were at one point free. People didn't want to deal with a pet that would always try to escape.

Once the men reached Wispear's cage, they opened the glass door and pushed him in before taking the chain off. Wispear ended up falling over due to the suddenness and thought he was going to hit hard ground. Instead, he hit a soft pet bed and gasped. The cruel man laughed as the red head locked the cage. Soon, those two left.

The large man stared into Wispear's cage sadly. "Good luck young one, I hope you find a good master." He said with a light smile before going and following the two smaller men. Wispear frowned; that man was very peculiar.

Wispear soon discovered the shop hadn't even opened yet, so he busied himself in looking around. The walls surrounding his cage were a clear glass, so he could see the young demons around him. On his left their was a young demon girl with blue skin and black hair. She had small wings that were tucked tightly to her back and a tail the wrapped itself around her legs, just beneath the same type of black shorts that Wispear had on; but the shorts were accompanied by a backless shirt for her wings. She also had a pair of small horns that curled back behind her head.

To Wispear's right was an older looking boy with pitch black skin and gray stripes leaned against the back of his cage. He, too, wore the black shorts that had been bestowed upon Wispear. The stomach regain of this demon was a gray color that matched his stripes. His wings were large, but very thin and his horns were large as well and looked like those of an antelope's. He had piercing yellow eyes and he looked very, very angry.

At the back of his own cage, Wispear could see through to the adults. They seemed to be scowling at him; they knew, oh they knew that Wispear would be going somewhere good. That Wispear would be treated delicately because of his angelic looks. They resented him for it.

The angelic demon frowned and sat against the edge of his cage and glanced at the demon beside him. "H-hi... I'm Wispear." He spoke nervously.

The demon focused his glare on Wispear. "I don' care." He growled, narrowing his eyes  at the other. This demon already had anger issues before he was caught; and now they were only being intensified.

"No need to be harsh..." Wispear muttered, looking away from the striped demon. He looked out into the store as the humans began to open up the shop. It was nerve-wracking for the angelic demon to watch them seemingly slowly turn the closed sign to open; thus inviting potential customers and owners to come in and swipe him away to who knows where.

As he watched the store nervously, Wispear noticed a black cat wandering around. It was an odd sight to the Albino demon; while he was locked up, some cat was able to wander around on it's own free will. As he thought these thoughts, that cat locked it's sharp, green eyes on Wispear's pinkish-red ones. The cat trotted over to Wispear's cage, it short, pitch-black fur appearing to shine in the bright light of the lighting fixtures above them.

That cat sat down in front of Wispear's cage and tilted his head. "You are an interesting sort of demon." it seemed to say, "All fluffy and snow white." Wispear stared at the cat, knowing it was not actually speaking, but it seemed so true. As he was about to speak back to the cat (possibly to tell it that it should not be speaking to him, since it was a cat and he was not), a man came over and picked up the cat; causing it to meow unhappily.

"Shannon, you know better then to mess with the animals." The man chastised the cat. "They could try and grab you and eat you." The cat seemed to mewl at that, then hop out of the man's arms before walking away in what seemed to be a huff. The man shook his head a sighed before glancing at Wispear.

"You must be the new demon. Quite the pretty one." The man spoke, mostly to himself. "You'll fetch a high price, that's for sure." He chuckled, then walked off before the small demon could say a thing.

A shrill bell rung and the creek of an old wood door resounded throughout the shop. Wispear looked towards the door, curious as to who or what could be coming in. What he saw was a tall, gangly looking woman who was wearing a much to large fur coat and a much to large feathered hat. Holding on to one of her hands was a small, young girl dolled up in a puffy looking pink dress with frills and white lace lining it all over. She had blond ringlets that framed her face, and she would have been the picture of child perfection if not for the three missing front teeth when she smiled.

The manager of the store briskly greeted the two customers, pointing to the demon cages when asked where they were. Wispear had a sinking feeling and did his best to shrink back into the corner of his cage. Sure, the woman might not buy him, but he didn't want to take the chance that he may look interesting; though he should have known it was completely useless trying to look less interesting since he already looked angelic.

The patter of excited little feet came rushing towards the Demon cages and suddenly a little, pale face was pressed up against the Angelic one's cage. Her nose was all pressed up and made her look pig like.

"Mama! Mama! I want this one! Can I have this one?!" She asked, jumping up and down and pointing at Wispear once the gangly woman arrived.

The woman frowned, her short black hair framing her face in a way that made all the lines of sternness pop out everywhere. She leaned up close and checked the price on the angel's cage before shaking her head at the small girl. "No, he's much to expensive. Besides, you wouldn't be able to play dress up if you bought him." She said, then looked into the cage next to Wispear's; staring at the poor, unfortunate young demon girl. "This one on the other hand, is more in our price range."

The young girl pouted, but then took a closer look at the small blue demon. "Oh! She has pretty skin! Mama! I want her!" She demanded. It was quite obvious this girl was rather spoiled. The blue demon seemed to cower against the back of her glass cage, afraid of the humans.

Nodding, the gangly woman looked towards the store clerk. "Excuse me! We're ready to buy." She spoke in a snooty voice, her black dress swooshing beneath her too big jacket as she turned to face towards the clerk.

Lazy footfalls were heard and soon heavy, nasally breathing could be heard as the clerk came around the corner. The first thing that stuck out about him was his raggedy red hair; then his small beady eyes that squinted with the need for glasses. He was covered in freckles that nearly covered all of his overly pale white skin, which was then covered by a disgusting yellow t-shirt and matching shorts. And worst of all, he was surrounded by a foul stench of rotting things and body odor.

Wispear grimaced at the sight of this man and felt his feathers ruffle at the smell. And when the clerk spoke, Wispear winced at the shrill, nasally voice.

"This one Ma'm?" The clerk asked, pointing at the little blue demon with a crooked, disgusting looking finger. The demon began to growl softly, not liking the gnarly finger being pointed at her.

"Yes. That one." Spoke the woman, agitated with the man's stupidity. The man simply nodded, his mouth hanging open slightly and looking blank. His movements were slow and zombie like as he grabbed a leash that would attach to the little blue girl's collar. He slowly went to open the door to the cage, but as soon as it was open and the demons girl tried to escape, sudden fast reflexes kicked in on the creepy clerk. He grabbed the girl by her wings and with a CLICK! the leash was securely attached to the leash.

As soon as the leash hung slack, the blue demon looked about to leap. She was stopped, though, when the little human girl jumped and hugged her. "My demon! My demon! I'ma dress you, and I'ma do your hair, and I'ma put make-up on you!" The human cheered happily, jumping around and making her ringlets twirl.

Looking miserable, the blue demon tried to escape from the human's crushing arms. Wispear felt bad as he watched her wiggle and squirm; wiggle her tail and flail her wings. It was no use though; the creepy clerk handed the leash to the gangly woman and began to lead the was back to the cash register.

"Natalia! Get off of that animal now! You can play with her once we home, but you have to share with your brothers." snapped the woman. Once the little girl got off with an angry pout, the woman tugged harshly on the leash and made the blue demon fall.

Suddenly, there was a harsh growl that came beside Wispear's cage; and when Wispear looked, he saw the black and gray demon snarling angrily before banging a fist against the glass. "Hey!" He shouted harshly. "Jus' 'cause she's a demon doesn' mean ya have ta be rude ta her!" He growled out, his wings raising above him in a menacing display; though the affect did nothing with him behind glass.

The woman ignored him and continued to tug and pull the poor little girl away, Natalia turned to the black and gray demon and stuck he tongue out at him rudely before before skipping after her mother and demon.

The gray and black demon cursed, then punched the glass again. He was seething. His wings fell, hanging down behind him as he began to pace. Wispear bit his bottom lip as he watched, wanting to say something, but not sure if it would be a good idea. In the end, he wanted to know why the other demon was so angry.

"Um..... E-excuse me...?" The angelic demon started. "W-why are you so upset..? I-isn't s-seeing that a normal thing?" He asked timidly, seeming to cower in his corner.

Piercing yellow eyes focused on Wispear and a cruel growl was emitted from the other demon's mouth. "You migh' not get it, but just 'cause it' something that normally happens here, doesn' make it al'ight! Before here, that li'le girl was probably brut'lly ripped from the sky and her parents! Just 'cause it's 'normal' for demons to be pulled out of here cruelly and harshly, doesn' mean it's al'ight!" He hissed out, glaring harshly at the angel. "You, on the other hand, are probably going to be taken out of here all careful because the don't want to hurt your delicate and pretty and perfect image. They'll probably put you up in some special little place and show you off all  the time." He spoke, his voice not hiding any of his hate and disgust with Wispear.

Wincing at all of what the striped demon had to say, Wispear burrowed back further into his corner. He looked down and shifted his feet awkwardly as his wings came around him. "I-I'm sorry.. I just didn't get why you were so angry...." He spoke almost silently, not wanting the other to yell at him anymore.

By now, more people had come into the pet shop and were looking around; nearly filling the entire place. They shied away from the demon area at the moment due to the sounds of yelling coming from there.

"You.. you didn't get it? You didn't understand how I could be so angry for them pulling that poor, defenseless little girl away?" The striped demon questioned with anger covering all of his features. It was easily seen he was about to yell again, but was stopped by an older demon to the right.

"Hugo! Knock it off!" He spoke in a stern, deep voice. "He's just a little kid, he doesn't understand. There's no need for you to go off on him." He stated with a glare at the two years younger demon. This new demon was tall and had dark, tan skin. His wings were large, yet thin, and he had long, dark brown hair that ended in his mid-back. On the left side of his chest was a tattoo of a dragon; which was odd since he wasn't very old and tattoos weren't to common on young demons.

The now newly named Hugo frowned, but stopped ranting at Wispear. "Whatever Mayro..." He spoke in a defeated voice. "I just hope he leaves soon..." His words hurt Wispear, since the angelic demon really hadn't done anything aside from being forced into the cage beside Hugo.