text: The first thing I noticed, was the cool breeze that engulfed my body suddenly. I could smell pine and taste the coolness of the air in my mouth. Then, the brightness of the large full moon in the sky shone on me. It shone on us all. We were here once more. I took a deep breath, enjoying all the aromas and feelings of my surroundings. It has been a while since I stretched my legs. I squatted briefly to stretch my hamstrings and quads. “Ladies and Gents,” began a familiar voice, “Satan has sent us here once more, awaiting another human sacrifice,” This was Shin, the leader of our sect. I opened my eyes to see that the other members and I were all standing in a circle, surrounding a large cauldron as we stood in an open space in the wood, surrounded by pine trees in the dark. We had torches lit to see our path. Years ago, a social movement was created within a community in the Philippines. It began as a group of friends and family who shared the same beliefs and virtues of peace and gratitude , bringing everyone closer together. Once this group had realized how successful they were becoming in teaching their ways, they began reaching out and recruiting members globally which, ultimately, was the downfall of this social institution. They were named Lims. Lim Lowe was the original founder of this cult. His last name, Lim, means ‘forest’ or ‘woods’ . This cult spent most of their time embracing the beauty of nature, performing a lot of their rituals and ceremonies outside in the wood or even by the lake on certain nights. When Lowe decided to open the gates to recruit new members, an adversary of Lims sent in a demon child, undetected. Lims believed in the importance of Peace for all and gratitude in everyday life. But when Shin became part of this cult and took notice of the numbers, and realized the opportunity for growth, to become a powerful leader, he outvoted Lowe, kicking him from his own organization. Shin convinced the other members that Lowe was a descendant of the devil and sacrificed him at a fire in the wood that night. None of the members were expecting Shin to be one himself. That was the first full moon of sacrifice. Now, it has become a ritual. Every full moon about once a month, or every thirty days. These are the only days that I exist. On these full moon nights, we are to sacrifice a human and feed their blood to the Devil. Then, and only then, would we return to our compressed dark room that we stay in for thirty days. Seems like a pretty lousy deal to me. There are still humans within our cult, but very few, and they are the ones who bring us our sacrifices while we are in isolation. The majority of the cult is composed of demons like myself. I’d like to learn more than just the human language and how they speak. I want to learn their emotions and try to understand why they do certain things. I would prefer to live amongst the human race and blend with their world, for this way of life is exhausting and quite cruel. Though this is something you could never admit to the face of Shin or his goons. This Particular night, there was a human that lay face down in the middle of our circle, he was next to the cauldron. He was the next human sacrifice that we would be feeding the demon. We chanted a loud prayer of sorts to the Devil and it went as so: “ We take pride in the sins we commit. Oh, dear Satan, we are grateful that you provide us with life this night. We are grateful that you create the large bright moon which ultimately helps in the process of sacrificing an innocent. We pray you to accept this sacrifice as a token of our gratitude and admiration for all you’ve brought for our lives and all sinners within The Lims.” We hear a groan from the human on the ground. “Didn’t anyone think to kill this man before we take all his blood? Come on people, we aren’t cruel!” Shin yelled. Everyone remained quiet except for the groaning man on the ground. “Now, the ceremony has been ruined because of one of you!” He accused the humans of our group. There were about ten of them that remained. “Well, who was in charge of this one?” He demanded, frustrated. He was quite scary when upset, he was a direct descendant of the devil. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Shin was pointing at another member who stood across from me in our circle. With all of our members there, our circle had a diameter of one hundred feet or so going both vertically and horizontally. This human member was an old recruit. He was an older member than I was, but of course, I was of demon blood, and humans will always die before one of us. It’s in Shin’s nature to kill off the humans first. Shin grabbed the man by the hood of his cloak, and yanked him in the air, cutting off the oxygen for the old man. As the man struggled to free himself from the grasp, Shin merely tossed him in the cauldron effortlessly as if throwing a pair of socks into his laundry basket. All that could be heard now was the screaming of the old man as his flesh burnt, and those horrid fumes filled the air. It was unfortunate to watch him go. And sad to hear him wail in pain. “Listen up, the sacrifice is over!” Shin shouted to everyone but sounded very disappointed. “Let us enjoy our ceremonies before we return to darkness”. All the members cheered and split up to mingle with others, and Shin turned to another human in our group and said “Figure out something to do with this one, eh?” nodding to the innocent on the ground. The human member nodded, frightened and headed for the intended sacrifice right away. Shin walked away. I was curious. Of the man who lay face-down on the dirt. “Hey!” I shouted to the purple-cloaked mortal who bent over the sacrifice. He still lay there groaning. “I’ll deal with him,” I said. He made no arguments or any judgements, he simply stood up and backed away. I approached the one on the floor. I turned him over and noticed his face was all bruised and bloodied. He had been beaten pretty badly before being taken here, it seems. But even with the black eye, broken nose and swollen lip, he still had so much life in his face. I longed for that. He attempted to open his left eye, the one that wasn’t bruised or swollen, and looked at me in mine. He raised an arm shakily and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. He smiled partially, still dazed and woozy from his beating, then passed out instantaneously. I let his head drop and hit the ground with a THUD. I backed up quickly, feeling squeamish. Not so much sick as I felt, nervous? This was not a feeling I was taught, this was never a feeling I experienced before. I think I was feeling... Human. I carried the man away from my group and dropped him off near a human village. I believed he would be in good hands there. It would be about a month before I would return, anyways. Though as I walked away from the village that night, I was feeling that same nervousness from before, coiling in my stomach rapidly. I found myself foolishly hoping the Human would be alright. During the next full moon, I had a sense of relief wash over me when I opened my eyes to see that the corps which lay on the dirt was not that of the man who I carried to the village. We sang our chant and sacrificed the human, and during our mingling time at the ceremony, I snuck to the village in hopes that I would spot that man. It seemed unlikely that I would, but there he sat on a park bench in the middle of the night, staring in my direction. When he spotted me, he stood up slowly. “It’s you,” he remarked. I debated on replying to him or saying anything at all. “And who am I?” I asked him. We were in shouting range and I was approaching him slowly. “You’re the angel who saved me,” He put it simply. I stopped in my tracks. I almost laughed for a moment, but that was not something that came naturally to me, so it sounded like phlegm was stuck in my throat and I was trying to get it out. “I am quite the opposite of an angel,” I assured him. He came closer to me. He stepped into the moonlight and I was able to get a better view of his face. His eye was still bruised but not black or swollen as it had been a month ago, and he had minimal bandages covering what I think were stitches that had been recently removed. His face was so appealing to look at. It wasn’t pale or sickly, he was tan and I could hear his heartbeat and his pulse. He was so lively and I wanted it so badly. “I don’t believe that,” he began, coming so close I could smell his human scent. “You saved my life. You brought me here to find shelter from the enemies. I was wondering when I would see you again.” I was still in my purple cloak, my long brown hair curled and falling onto my shoulders. He stared me in the eyes and smiled. He held my hands and said, “Thank you”. I smiled unknowingly, and he remarked how beautiful I looked. “What do they call you?” I asked, curiously. “My name is Tommy”. The handsome man replied. “And who are you?” he asked. “I am Marribelle,” I said. He leaned close and kissed me once on my lips, sending butterflies throughout. I think I was beginning to fall for a human. I had to return to my sect shortly after that but assured Tommy that I would return to see him in due time. The next full moon was the last one I experienced. The cool breeze was there but, different, it tingled, it stung, the aromas, the smells, it was a very strong awakening for someone who has been locked up for a month. This time I could smell smoke and felt the sensation of burning. I opened my eyes and shrieked in agony. I was tied to a post in the cauldron, my legs were in the boiling water, and flames from the fire were so large that they engulfed the cauldron and were burning me from all around. My hair was starting to sizzle. I had trouble seeing through the smoke, but I could just make out all the other cult members standing around the cauldron. So it seemed as though I was the one being sacrificed. “Ah, so you’ve come to,” said Shin, walking with his arms behind his back. “Let me out, Shin!” I demanded, squirming desperately to free myself from this burning agony. “I’m afraid I received terrible news, one of our members has betrayed us by befriending a human,” He said. “Oh yeah? And who told you that? A human member of Lims? Come on, Shin, I’m of demon blood!” I argued, trying to prove that if having human members in the cult is okay, then why wouldn’t I be able to socialize with one outside of it? “That doesn’t matter to me now. Demon blood or not, if you betray me, you will get burnt like the rest of them,” He said. “So, what? I’m your sacrifice then?” I asked, trying to hold in my screams of pain. My legs were completely numb now. I didn’t want to look down because I knew my skin had melted away. I was on the verge of passing out. “No, of course not. You’re not human,” he pointed out. He was smiling maliciously. “I’ve chosen someone better for the job, someone I think you know quite, well,” he said and pointed to another cauldron that was next to mine and therefore difficult to see from my point of view. I strained to turn my head to see what had been in it. I could tell it was a body, and it took me a moment to realize, but my view wasn’t obstructed enough for me to know that the shrivelled-up, crisp and burnt body was Tommy’s. I felt a stab of pain in my heart, even though no physical damage had been inflicted upon it. The light from the full moon went dark after that.