OMAKE – CANONICAL: Human and coffin (2)

CANONICAL OMAKE (Continuation of the TCOAAL OMAKE) POV: Andrew Graves Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I didn’t know how to even begin thinking about

CANONICAL OMAKE (Continuation of the TCOAAL OMAKE)

POV: Andrew Graves

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

I didn’t know how to even begin thinking about a way to get Ashley and me out of this mess! I sleep in a little longer for one day and this happens?!

A demon, a fucking demon?! And not just one; our cultist neighbor made things worse and summoned a second one! This one seemed to know and be a servant of the first demon, the one with the orange eyes.

Devas could claim as many times as he wanted that he was human, but I didn’t believe any of it. A human doesn’t make a demon kneel and kiss their feet just by existing. A human doesn’t make a whole room heat up just by existing!

I pulled at the collar of my shirt and rolled up my sleeves. It was fucking hot…

“First those idiots invading Tokyo and now this? I haven’t even been in this world for two weeks and I’m already getting a headache…” I heard the orange-eyed man murmur.

In this world?… Damn, yes, I totally believe you’re human.

“Know what, I’ll deal with you later.” Devas spoke in a deadpan tone. At the same time, all the shadows around darkened further and dozens, hundreds of red eyes appeared within them.

I gripped Ashley’s hand tightly and pulled her closer to me. Our chances of escaping were non-existent, weren’t they?

The eyes around us turned to stare at me, as if mocking my thoughts. That’s what I thought… At least we’ll die together, right, Leyley?

As my thoughts turned darker, more bitter, and gloomy, Devas threw the red-eyed demon to the ground. The black hands emerging from the shadows pulled it to a place I was sure I wouldn’t want to know where…

You’ll be going there too, soon, Andy~ A childish voice playfully whispered in my mind.

… I wanted to go even less.

“I’ll interrogate that guy later. I need to see what that shit the JSDF warned me about is happening in Yomiyama too.” Devas murmured to himself, almost as if he had forgotten our existence. When his orange eyes turned in our direction, I was sure that wasn’t the case.

Devas glanced between Ashley and me a few times before sighing. All the eyes in the shadows closed, and the heat seemed to decrease until it returned to normal as well.

“Do you have anything planned for today?” He asked. Ashley’s hair hit my face with the force she shook her head.

I did the same, but more calmly. Or at least I thought so.

“That’s the answer I expected you’d give.” Devas vanished from where he was. I tensed my muscles even more when I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Well, let’s go then. I prefer to avoid police bureaucracy; dealing with the Japanese government is a pain, and I don’t want to deal with that in this country too.”

Before I could react, purple flames covered my body and Ashley’s. Part of me expected to be consumed to ashes; the saner part kicked that thought away and celebrated when I didn’t feel the fire burning my skin.

I must have blinked, or maybe I didn’t, I wasn’t sure anymore, but the next moment, we were no longer in our apartment, let alone in our building. Everything around us was just a blur spinning and twisting as if I was on some sort of psychedelic drug.

Then everything stopped and I could see normally again. I almost vomited.

The vertigo made me lose my balance and fall on my butt on the floor. Ashley must have felt the same way since she fell into my lap. I instinctively held her around the waist.

Now is not the time, now is not the time, now is not the time, now is not the time, now is not the time…

“Was that teleportation?” I asked, trying to focus on anything other than my sister’s butt. Maybe I shouldn’t be questioning the demon…

“No, just speed.” Devas answered, walking away from us. “I’m not used to carrying people around while I run, so sorry for the nausea you might be feeling. Here, take this.”

Ashley was quicker than me and reached out, grabbing whatever Devas had thrown in our direction. I didn’t have time to see what it was before she got up from my lap, though not without rubbing against me, probably unintentionally.

I hoped it was unintentional, for the sake of whatever was left of my sanity…

“Pills? What do they do?” Ashley asked. I could see she was holding two soft pills in her hand.

Before Devas could answer, she popped one into her mouth and swallowed it while tossing the other in my direction. I almost dropped the pill as I watched my sister’s idiotic actions.

“What? If he wanted to kill us, he could have done it a long time ago.” Ashley said, looking at me before turning to Devas. “Right? And my nausea is gone, so it must be medicine.”

Devas looked at her as if he were seeing an exotic animal. I had to restrain myself from growling.

“Your mind must be a curious place.” Was his response. “But to answer the other question, the pills are made of Purification Powder, a powder that normalizes everything it touches. It will help with nausea among… other things.”

I really hoped he was talking about the ‘Mark on my soul’ and not about my erection. That would be embarrassing.

With the answer, I mimicked Ashley’s actions and popped the pill in my mouth. The nausea disappeared in an instant, my body relaxed as well, and the headache I had started to fade, along with… other things.

Fuck Ashley…

I placed my hand on the ground and stood up while looking around.

“Where are we?… Are we still on Earth?” I asked. The walls of the place were metallic, the doors I could see were technological too, the kind of door I saw in sci-fi movies.

Please not a lab, please not a lab… I chanted mentally.

“On Earth, the planet, yes. On the ground? No.” Devas answered and started walking. Ashley followed him, and I followed Ashley. When I looked out the nearest window, I saw what he meant.

How many thousand meters in the air are we?… Was that the ocean?

“We’re five thousand meters in the air, west of the Pacific Ocean, to be more specific.” Devas answered. Had I said that out loud or could he read my mind?

Oh God… Actually, by the Devil, I hoped it wasn’t the latter.

“You said it out loud.” Devas said in a good-humored tone before continuing to walk. I pulled Ashley away from the window and we followed him again.

He didn’t say he couldn’t read your mind, Andy~ Be careful what you think…

I ignored the childish whisper in my head. We stopped walking when we reached what I could only call a control room. The amount of computers was immense.

I couldn’t understand a word on the screens…

Devas gestured to the nearest desk and sat down. Ashley sat on the opposite side from him, and I sat next to her.

Was this where our fate would be decided?

[...]

POV: Devas Asura

(“They’re into each other.”)

(“I know, I noticed that within the first ten seconds of meeting them.”) I replied to Jinn.

(“You seem okay with it.”)

(“As long as it doesn’t involve or bother me, it’s none of my business. They can do whatever they want behind closed doors; I don’t care.”)

I had too many problems on my hands to care whether a pair of really weird siblings were into each other. In fact, their apparent predisposition for murder interested me more.

Ashley had a dark and rotten soul; Andrew had a gray soul, but marked by a pact. They smelled of death and sulfur too. That demon had also appeared next to their apartment.

I wasn’t believing for a second that the shitty summoning circle had been what called him. He wanted something there; the question was: what?…

I cast my gaze to where he was confined, within my Spiritual Realm, bound and restrained by Shadowflame. He, or at least I thought it was a he, didn’t seem to be trying anything, just waiting in silence.

I’ll interrogate that thing later, but first…

“I’ll be brief. You two have killed someone, haven’t you?” I could see it in them, their sin. Both tensed up. Andrew, especially; he felt guilty, even if just a little.

Ashley didn’t care at all. Her tension was due to my presence and nothing more.

“Are you going to punish us?…” Ashley was the first to recover and asked hesitantly. “Kill us?… Are we going to hell?”

“No, no, and probably.” I still had to see if this world had a hell, but there were good chances it did, given the demon and everything. Just another thing I had to check…

Even if Shadowflame wanted to punish them, I had other plans…

“So what then? What do you want from us?” Andrew spoke this time.

“What I want from you is a deal…” I smiled as I interlaced my fingers. “A job, basically; that’s what I’m proposing. You work for me, nothing too dangerous. What I want is information. You’d be my informants, what do you think?”

I didn’t wait for them to think and continued.

“I’ll even burn that pact mark on your soul as a bonus. What do you think?…” I smiled wider and extended my hand toward them.

“Do you accept?”

Andrew didn’t want to; I could feel it from him. He wouldn’t shake my hand, after all, he thought I was a demon; you could see it on his face…

“Don’t separate us and I’ll give you any information you want and kill whoever you want.”

… Ashley didn’t hesitate.

I shook the woman’s hand while commanding the Nightmares to enter their shadows. The eyes stared at them, as did I.

“Accepted!”

Maybe I was having a bit too much fun pretending to be the Devil.