“Well, well. What do we have here?” The vile man said in the darkness that hid his face. “A little kid trying to stand up to me? How sweet.” The faceless man pushed the child away with ease and let out a chuckle, “You want revenge?” The man laughed as the child fell into something wet and warm. Blood.

The child suddenly remembered all of the rage that was being harbored for the faceless man. “You murderer!” The child screamed. “How can you be so, so cruel?” The child tried to stand but slipped, and fell face first into the blood on the floor. The child tried to stand once more; this time with more success than the first attempt. The faceless man was still laughing. “We never even did anything to you?” the child managed to whisper right before being pushed back into the blood.

“So?” The faceless man laughed again. “I do as I please when I please.” The man started swinging his blood stained knife around in front of himself, admiring the quick little shine it gave off in the weak moonlight. “It just so happened I was in the mood to see fresh blood. Then, here I came across your little home; and I thought: Why not?” The man laughed as the child tried to stand once more.

The faceless man sighed. “You look so . . . what’s the right word . . .” The man picked up the child by the blood-soaked shirt collar. “ ‘Pitiful’, perhaps? Yes, that’s the right word for you: pitiful.” The man threw the child back into the blood. “You’re a bit too young for my liking, but . . . I can’t exactly let you live now can I. After all, a pitiful little kid eventually becomes a pitiful little adult; and I don’t want someone coming after me seeking revenge. Sorry kid,” The faceless man kicked the child in the stomach, forcing the child to slide across the blood-soaked floor and into the wall. “But you need to die right here, right now!”

“Stop!” a voice shouted through the darkness, making the faceless man stop in his tracks. “Lower your weapon.”

The man laughed. “Why would I do a thing like that?” the man asked as he lowered himself to the child and placed the knife under the child’s chin. His face was still hidden in the shadows even though he was so close. “I can kill this kid so easily right now. It will only take a second. I want to see some younger blood. The blood of the other’s is already going dry; I want to see it flow this time!”

“That’s enough!” The voice shouted in defiance and stepped into view but still only a shadow in the dark, blood-stained night. “You have committed enough sins for a thousand lives.”

“What? Are you here to take revenge?” the faceless man began to laugh and pushed the knife into the child’s throat only enough to make the blood trickle slowly down the child’s neck. The man turned his attention to the blood as he stopped laughing. “Sorry but I’m busy right now.”

“Are you saying that you regret nothing? Not a single sin?” The voice asked slowly and sadly from the darkness.

“That’s right.” The faceless man cut a deeper gash into the child’s neck and watched the blood begin to flow even faster into the outside world.

“I pity you then.” The voice said calmly and the child heard something click. “By the Laws of Heaven and the Almighty I have come to see to your execution!”

“Ha!” The faceless man laughed never looking away from the flowing blood. “The church is trying to get rid of me, how pathetic!”

“Say your final prayer.” The voice demanded from the shadows.

“Go to Hell.” The man laughed and pushed the knife even deeper into the child’s throat. The child was screaming in agony.

“Not a wise choice of words.” The voice said. Suddenly, the faceless man had a blade pushed through his own throat and pass through his neck without effort. The faceless man dropped the blade that he held in place at the child’s throat and fell into the puddle of blood. The form of the voice kneeled over the dead body and prayed.

The child gasped and wiped away most of the blood. The child walked up to the men and just stared.

The faceless man was dead. The blood of the child’s family clung to the twisted face of the faceless man. The form of the voice muttered quietly over the man.

The form suddenly turned to look at the child. The form smiled and put a hand on the child’s wound. “It doesn’t look to bad. It’ll heal just fine.”

The child tried to form words but nothing came out, the pain was too much to form words.

“It’s alright,” the man put a hand on the child’s shoulder as the man stood up. “I know what you want to say. I can’t let you follow me however; I’m sorry, you’re going to need to find somewhere else to live from now on. Don’t worry; I know that you’ll find somewhere that will take care of you.” He ran a hand through the child’s hair and turned quickly to face the door.

The man was opening the door and half way out by the time the child noticed where the rescuer was headed. The child had to run to catch up to the man but the child kept tripping and sliding in the blood. The door was closed by the time the child slid to the door.

The door was closed by the time the child reached it. The child opened the door so fast that it slammed against the frame of the house with an ear-splitting bang in the silence of the night. The child searched the land around the blood filled house madly, but the child’s eyes were quickly being clouded with tears.
The child fell to the ground in tears.

                                                       *      *      *

It pained Dedrick to watch the child cry like that; but he could not keep a child around him, it would be too hard on the child. He adjusted himself on the child’s roof as he waited for the child to go back inside or hopefully someplace better. “Please help this child find a new home where this awful experience can just become a terrible dream.” Dedrick prayed and jumped off the roof. Into the quiet, blood-stained night Dedrick flew on his pure white wings to find his next charge and send another sinful soul to the eternal prison of Hell.