Preying Mantis

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world, demons have infested the city of Sejin and feed on humans to survive. Follow the life of Cheran Doher, a slayer amongst others, who has his own way of dealing with them.

Author’s Notes: This is a story that has been brewing inside my fucked-up mind for a bit too long – maybe a year and a half. I’ve planned events for roughly 20-25 chapters, but just like my previous original fic, Take me Away, it could be dragged on forever. I won’t be able to fit all the warnings and the summary in the fic summary itself, but M/M, language, bloodshed, violence and character death will be recurring themes. Diverse sexual fetishes will be used, and the chapters will be tagged as such to avoid people going mad at me. I intend this to explore what goes through a sex addict’s mind, someone who’s ready to do anything to keep his world safe and his loved one close to him.

Preying Mantis
Chapter 1 – The Mantis’s Lair

A putrid smell rose from whatever Cheran Doher had hit with his feet. He didn’t know what it was, but his guesses were a baby’s body, a large rat or another dead animal. Whatever it was, its stench was horrible. It made his stomach churn, wanting to expulse its contents on the ground. The man covered his mouth with his right hand and continued to walk, his steps echoing in the poorly lit backstreet.

Everywhere he looked, there was garbage, dead bodies and animals. No wonder why the smell was so strong – it was a dumpster. Most of the bodies around would never be identified or reclaimed. They would stay there until the scavengers and carrion beasts would eat them up.

Any normal human would have run away from this place, screaming and crying until they fell to their knees, asking to be taken as well. But Cheran was far from being normal. He was born in Sejin City, home of murderers, kidnappings, prostitution and drug-dealing.

Sejin, home of demons.

Cheran, like most of the seven millions habitants of the condemned city, had never seen the sun other than on television. Factories, coal-using power plants and other types of industries had created, over the years, a dark and thick smog which prevented the sunrays from reaching the city. Grey, grey, grey everywhere. Buildings, sky, ground, everything was of a dull shade of grey. Streetlights, lit in permanence, were of an orange or neon-white color, adding to the monotony.

A lone figure stood at the other end of the backstreet, immobile. The woman triggered a short flashback of a photograph in the red-haired man’s head. ‘Target located’ he stated mentally, walking carelessly to her, hands in his trench-coat’s pockets. He assessed her; she was small yet not much smaller than he was, black hair, big pink eyes, very pale, wearing a plaid skirt and a white shirt – definitely a rare student of the city’s only college. Her “parents” must have been extremely rich to afford their daughter’s education. But that didn’t matter… what mattered was her true nature. A demon.

Her eyes flashed red when she screeched and wings spouted on her back as she lunged at him, her claws tearing his trench-coat off. Hints of leather and skin could be seen through the gashes in the fabric, but Cheran didn’t do anything to cover himself. Instead, he reached for a single dagger in his coat and drew it out, slashing in the girl’s direction. “Come here, bitch...” he spat, taunting her. He wanted her to lunge again, then he’d hit her right in the face with the weapon. “Or are you gonna suck your daddy’s cock again tonight?”

The verbal assault seemed to be effective. The demon jumped toward him, ready to tear his flesh apart for another meal with her fangs and claws. The man had to jump out of her way not to be tackled down. She stopped right in time to avoid crashing in the grey wall, using her wings to stabilize her lean body, then screeched again before going back to the rather feminine frame. His fist connected with her jaw, making her hiss like a cat and flap her black, fleshy wings. She barely felt it, but she saw that the slayer wanted to kill her.

She rushed closer to him and raised her left leg in a heel drop, not caring about her skirt flying upwards and revealing white panties. Cheran blocked the move easily and retaliated with a kick to distract her before stepping up and slashing the small weapon again, hitting her on the chest. This time, there was a screech and the female demon threw a punch, not missing her target.

The red-haired slayer backed off, holding his jaw. ‘Pretty damn good for a girl’ he thought, tilting his head. If he could hit her eyes, it would be easy to kill her. “Come on whore, I know you can hit me harder. I can take a hit, y’know?”

Like a magnet, she turned around and lashed out at him. She managed another hit, but completely forgot about her defense. Cheran’s tactic had worked. He quickly stabbed her in the eye with the dagger. She was now in pain, and had the bad idea to take a short break for the pain to pass, as she received another hit, this time in her right eye. Blinded, she had no idea what she was doing. Based on the sounds the slayer made, she almost grasped him a few times, but he escaped every time. Finally, he moved to her back and jumped on her. Before she hit the ground, her throat had been cut.

Cheran slashed his blade in the warm, putrid air to take most of the blood off it and then put it back inside the trench-coat. “With the money I’m gonna make off your head, I’ll be able to afford a new coat. Thanks!” An excited grin, almost childish, lit his face for a second before being replaced by a mad frown. “Bitch.”

He reached inside his coat again, reaching for his cell-phone to speed-dial the one who had hired him to kill her. “She’s dead. That was a nasty one, strong at that. Come and get the body. I’m at Artan Street and Hubert Avenue. … Yes, the dumpster. No idea why it’s called a street, really. This place stinks.” He paused, listening to what the other man was saying.

Sounds of drunken blabber and shouts could be heard on the other side, but the man spoke clearly enough to cover it. “Head for the bar. I’ll have someone pick the body up.”

He nodded absently. “’Kay, I’m going for it. See ya.”

“See ya” the voice replied hastily.

The man hung up and sighed at his ruined trench-coat. If it wasn’t for the weapon and the cell-phone he’d have taken it off and paraded in the streets with his leather bondage gear. The fewer clothes he had on, the more comfortable he was and the more he fought efficiently. Now, the only thing left to do was to go at the bar and get his ass drunk.

-

An hour after the killing, Cheran Doher stood outside The Mater, a bar held by his best friend Nielkesheron Balaken. There were cracks in the cement wall, graffiti and blood… it surely didn’t look friendly from the outside. He pushed the metal door opened and sneaked in, avoiding the tables where all the bears had gathered, up to the counter. It was hard, but he had managed to get to the counter without having a guy grab his ass.

“Give me something strong” he said to the tall blue-haired bartender – Nielke – as he sat on a stool. He was there to get drunk, or close to. He wanted to forget about the hour-long walk to reach his buddy’s bar.

“And a vodka coming right up!” Without turning around, the man grabbed the bottle of liquor and poured three fingers of vodka in a glass, adding some ice and a lemon slice. Once done, he spun on his feet and put the glass in front of Cheran. “So, how was the little girl?”

The slayer rolled his eyes, reaching for the drink and bringing it to his thin lips. “I don’t even wanna think about it anymore. She looked so innocent and all, but gods, she was a rough one. Some are just easier to kill.”

“Like the guys” Nielke added with a wink. He knew that his best friend was far from being into girls. “Anyways, I have your money for the kill. I trust you enough to give it to you before we pick the body up.” He paused to get a few bills out of his pocket and handed them to the younger man. Given he was paid a lot to hire a slayer, he was able to pay the so-said slayer with high amounts of money everytime a demon was killed. “By the way, I have a new target for you.”

Cheran counted the money before acknowledging what the other man had said. “Go ahead. I’m just waiting for another one. I’ve got yet another trench-coat to buy. This bitch tore this one apart.”

“Here.” The bartender handed a picture of a young man with short blonde hair and grey eyes; his jaw was rather fine and his nose was long and slightly curved. “I’d say he’s rather cute. Maybe some kind of twink… well he has the face for it. Looks like a teen, but apparently he’s around your age.”

A slight pout formed over the redhead’s face. He didn’t like to top others, as he loved being a bottom. This way, he had more control over both his and his partner’s actions as well. “I don’t feel like being on top tonight… I guess I’ll wait till tomorrow to pick him up. How much do they give for his head?”

“Fifteen thousand dollars. Would that be enough for ya?”

“Of course” the redhead replied, fluffing his shoulder-length hair up a bit. Considering your average man barely made the five thousand dollars mark in a whole year, fifteen thousand was not something he was going to spit on. And that was just for –one- measly demon to finish. If he was lucky, he’d have a few more this week. That was a work he would never do every single day of his life, for it implied fighting and killing, and most of the time it didn’t even take place in the streets.

His favourite way of killing the demons was through sex. After picking them up in bars and clubs, he would invite them to his place, making them believe he would have sex with them. Once the intercourse started – or complete, most of the time – he would simply rip their heads off with swords or other weapons he had in his room. This method earned him the “Mantis” nickname, like the female praying mantis that kills her mate after intercourse.

The slayer turned on his stool, using his arms to support him as he eyed the crowd. The more he thought about sex, the more horny we was. Maybe, in the end, he’d go after the other demon tonight. “Y’know what? I think I’m gonna club some and find that dude. Is the club where he hangs out far from my place?”

Nielke shook his head and searched for a pen and a paper sheet, scribbling the address on it.. “Nah, it’s not that far. Here’s the address. Want me to tag along?”

“I’ll be okay. I’ll just head back home and go down there after. I’ll call if I run into some trouble.”

“Careful Cheran.” The blue-haired man received a wink as a reply, and watched as his friend got up from the seat. “Don’t wanna get you killed. It’s usually the ones that don’t look like it at all that can be deadly.”

“I know better than you do, trust me.” With this, Cheran gave Nielke a large tip – as usual – and left the building with a smirk on his face.

Tonight, sex and blood were on the menu.