“I don’t like to be involved with heavenly-beings. Anyone could report me, and every goddamn hunter and their mom would come here to kill me.”
Amony gave me a skeptical look. “Sin, you have a friend that’s wanted by every god in the universe? Why didn’t you tell me you knew someone this sexy?”
I shot her a blank glare. Sin stood between the two of us.
“Look, there’s no time for you to be horny, Amony. Or piss him off. And Epex, a part of our offer is to keep you protected from the gods. I admire you for following the old saying to never trust a devil. Keep following that because I’m not a devil. If we’re going to be partners in this job, then we’re going to have to set aside our differences.”
“Partners?”
“It’s for the job, but I’ll explain that to you tomorrow. Let’s go.”
I reluctantly followed. Amelia would kill me if she found out that I had decided to participate in something this reckless. Still, if Sin claimed he could help keep me shielded from the gods, then curiosity would let me find out what he’s got in mind. If he was full of shit, I’d end him. Or, should I say, Amelia would end him.
We followed the misthangers down a few blocks and into an alley way. Humans didn’t seem to notice us. When I had found the demon, no one was at the park—but still, somebody should’ve questioned their sanity. The only explanation is that the hidden instinct that signaled danger kept them away. Lucky bastards.
My eyes widened when the misthangers stopped in front of a man dressed in a business suit,with a smug look on his face. I didn’t need to feel his presence to immediately know that he was a devil. He stood too confidently before a dozen misthangers, arms folded. Black hair, red eyes, shaved face with high cheekbones and what not—this guy looked like he meant business. Literally.
“I know this guy. His name’s Jow,” Sin whispered to me.
The misthanger lead stepped forward. “We can do this the easy way, Jow, and you tell us what we need or the hard way.”
Jow laughed. “Am I really hearing this? Me getting threatened by misthangers?”
The misthanger lead shook its head. “You should fear us. Allow me to restore that in which you’ve lost.”
The misthanger raised a pale finger high. I could see its delicateness, like a woman who just had a manicure. Jow suddenly fell to his knees, holding his ears, yelling in agony. Sin and I immediately took a few steps back. Note to self: do not fuck with that misthanger.
Jow jumped up and took off running around the corner. The misthanger turned to me. I gulped.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Chase him, if you want me to keep quiet about you living here.”
I didn’t challenge it—no need to make it do to us whatever it had done to that devil. I nodded at Sin. He nodded back and followed me as we chased the devil.
The blood trail led us over a few fences, through some yards, and right to him. He cursed and swore to himself as he wiped his ears with a cloth. I manifested a gun, preparing to end it right then and there, but a cold hand shoved my weapon downward.
“That won’t be needed.”
Jow’s eyes widened as he saw us. He turned to run, but the other misthangers appeared right behind him.
“You saved us the trouble,” the misthanger lead said to me. “We’ll take it from here. If you steal our kill, we’ll kill you.”
“You think you’ll kill me easily?” Jow snarled. “A bunch of misthangers!”
“We asked you for the information, yet you declined.”
Just then, Jow punched the ground. That sent out a wave of force and power with enough kick to smack us all to the ground. Except the misthanger’s leader: it just casually walked…no…floated over to the devil. Jow must’ve seen that fighting the heavenly-beings was useless. He tried to run. The leader knocked him down with force of its own. While it still pointed at the devil, a ball of fire shot from that finger and engulfed him in flames. The devil screamed in agony. In seconds, he was ashes.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered. The misthangers that Yulese sent on us were nothing like this. Were they newbies at their jobs? If only I knew—but this group was powerful.
“Let’s go,” Sin said. “There’s nothing for us here. We saw nothing.”
“I like that thinking,” the misthanger lead said, “but I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you.”
My eyes widened and my blood began to boil.
“I don’t know if you’re kidding or not, misthanger, but I’m not going down with a fight,” I said.
The misthanger lead laughed. “I’m kidding. You’ll make a perfect pawn, my dear Epex, demigod, son of Conus.” The mist vanished, revealing a pale woman with ridiculously long black hair. The thick mist covered her body in a way that implied the pure nakedness underneath. Her eyes were red and piercing. “You can call me…Misty.”
“Is that a part of your misthanger humor, too?” I said, eyes still gawking.
Misty laughed. “Lazy parents. But never mind that. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’m allowing you to live here in Middleburg, my territory. You’re free to come and go as you wish but while you’re here, you’ll obey my rules. It’s simple, being my pawn. If I call upon you, you’ll come. Or die.” The mist engulfed her again. “I’ll be off now. And don’t any cause trouble in my beautiful city. I don’t want to have to kill you.”
The misthangers disappeared, just like that, leaving me with relief. Sin looked at me, his color returning.
“Did that really just happen?”
I chuckled. “Fuck, yeah, it did. And we’re alive.”
“To think we’d actually encounter a misthanger queen,” Amony said. “Damn.”
“They have queens now?” I said.
“That’s nothing new,” Sin said. “Much like bees and ants, misthangers follow one powerful female.”
I laughed. “Did you really compare to her to bees and ants? What are you going to tell me next, they have some hive, workers, and drones that mate with her to have thousands of babies.”
“I’m not sure if it’s like that. Fuck, Epex. They have a queen. End of story.” Sin shook his head, glaring.
I smiled.
“What?” Sin said.
“You said fuck.” I held out a hand. “I’ll accept this partnership for the job.”
Sin sighed and accepted the handshake. “You’re a piece of work, son of Conus.”
“The same goes for you,” I said.
End of part one…
Interlude 1
Aether internally questioned a lot of things: from the beginnings of the universe, to the right of royalty, to the purpose of humans and other beings, and even his place in the grand scheme of the impossible.
He felt left out of the fairness, stuck with a life of strict rules, and his mother’s murderers. What had happened to mercy and love? The others completely ignored the King of gods’ most basic teachings. Are angels exempt from fair trials?
He sighed. Many years had passed since Paradise Realm made his mother fall. Yet, what was time to him? It still felt recent. He still felt the disapproving eyes of everyone around him. No one approved of the being born between an angel and a god. This angered Aether.
He had once disliked the other demigod, Epex—the boy born between a stupid human and a god and placed as the next ruler of the universe. Not anymore, not after peeking in on his life.
And then watching the poor guy get tossed into Hell by his own father. Aether concluded that demigods were viewed as less than angels, even less than humans. They were nothing, only fodder to the bloody hands of greater gods.
With Epex dead, that made him the only target demigod in Paradise Realm, but he’d be damned if he let them do away with his life. He would continue to distance himself from the others and wait for the opportunity to escape. Then he’d do something about the law of this place. For his mother, father, and even Epex.
Aether knew he shouldn’t be so pained by the old death, but with his father bare
ly talking since that tragic day, he couldn’t help it. A falling is like a permanent death sentence to any angel, cut off from Paradise Realm, forced to fall through dimensions.
Some land on earth, resorting to suicide, unable to take the pain of never being able to see loved ones again.
Others become distorted, taking on traits of Hell, roaming the earth confused.
Aether didn’t blame his father for secretly consuming many bottles of wine in his room. Time is meaningless. The god may feel like falling himself but doesn’t because his former lover would disapprove the cowardly action of leaving behind their son. Aether sighed as he glanced at his father who stared at the wall, into the nothingness that is decaying memories.
Though he lived in a house of his own these days, Aether stopped by to keep his father company. The last thing he wanted was to let the man think he’s alone. Some days his father would be lucid, and they’d have a real conversation. His father would often speak of the old days, how he missed Aether’s mother, don’t make the same mistakes he did, and then Aether’s future. He wanted Aether to follow his dreams without breaking taboo.
Aether cursed Paradise Realm under his breath. He gave his father a handshake and a hug before leaving for the day.
“I will change things,” he said as he closed the door. He would. Even if it meant breaking apart the current system with his bare hands. For that, he needed power.
Part II
Chapter Eighteen
You know what sucks about mission-critical jobs? It’s when you’re in a goddamn hurry. And Sin and I raced against time. Why, you may ask? It’s all in the tasking, assigned by my new boss, Amony. Who knew that she was super rich, had Sin employed under her, and now me. And I’ve been working for her behind Amelia’s back for weeks now.
Or at least I think Amelia is clueless. Women tend to know more than you think. It’s virtually impossible to hide things from them for long.
I forced open another Middleburg University dorm only to pop in on yet another couple having two-in-the-morning sex. They didn’t even look at me—not because of our guise as special agents or whatever the hell Amony called us —but due to a spell. A spell from a troublesome demon known as a succubus.
“I hope you’re using protection,” I said as I slammed the door shut. Never mind the STDS some humans carried. If he seeded her, he’s done. Fucked for life. I opened the last door in this hall. The master key card Amony gave to me was cool at first but after witnessing more than five hundred different sex positions, some I doubt are safe at all, I just wanted to kill myself. It’s going to take days to “un-see” some of the strange shit.
Luckily there was no sex happening in this room. Just a confused ginger girl in a nightgown.
“Uhm, hi?” she said.
“Yeah, sorry about this,” I said. “Just doing the job—you know, security check.”
“Normally, security won’t burst into a girl’s room unless someone reporter her dead,” she said, suspiciously.
“There was a report,” I lied. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Oh my god, is it even safe to be on campus?”
“Everything will be fine, but we have to conduct the sweep,” I said
I glanced at the flat-screen TV on the wall. A brown-haired woman wisecracked on stage, laughter from an unseen audience sounding in response. “Have a great night,” I said, but before I could retreat, the girl grabbed my arm.
“Wait,” she said, eyes glazing over. Her breathing changed. “A really hot guy breaking into my room—it’s a big fantasy of mine. Humor me, please.”
For the love of…To be honest, I considered it, just for a second, before shaking the fuzz of temptation from my thoughts. If I let myself get absorbed into the succubus’s spell, she’d get away.
“I’m sort of in a hurry,” I said, not lying. I wanted to get paid for this job.
“Please,” she said gripping my arm tightly. I could’ve sworn the woman on the TV beamed at me before cracking another joke to her audience.
“Look, I don’t—”
The girl kissed me. I froze, feeling a noticeable difference between her kiss and Amelia’s kiss. A tiny twinge of guilt nudged within me. I tried to pull away from the girl but she grabbed my shirt, attempting to uproot it off me.
“You’re provoking my wild side,” she whispered. I’m not going to lie, it was amusing to watch this human make a fool of herself. The falsely horny but innocent girl couldn’t help it, the succubus’s call too strong.
But something about this setup and her behavior tipped me off to the location of our target. Why this room? Why make this girl aware of me? I added up the possibilities, drawing a conclusion.
Time to try out a new trick of mine. Well, I learned a little of it from Amelia and just practiced until boom, perfection.
I charged emotion, placed my hand on the girl’s forehead, and flooded her with shame. She blushed hard as she pulled away.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t what came over me.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re probably just tired from being up this late. So turn off the TV and get some rest.” The ginger nodded, face flushed. The woman on the TV looked pissed, cursing at her audience. The TV did not shut off when the girl hit the power button.
“That’s odd.” She tried the remote but that didn’t work either. I chuckled. Target confirmed.
“The campus administrator is in the office. Can you tell him that agent Epex called?”
The girl slipped into a pair of flip-flops and trotted off innocently. I glanced at the shield-shaped badge Amony had pinned to my shirt before sending me on this chase. Human symbols of authority were too damn abusable. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my silver-coated smartphone. I hit the fancy speed-dial button which put Sin on the line in seconds. “Found her.”
I swear I could hear him grin on the other line.
“I’m honing onto your location.”
“Got it,” I said, then ended the call. The TV shimmered like crazy. “Come on out and surrender. You thought that would seduce me? Pathetic. You suck at gathering sexual energy.”
I was steeled. Amelia attempted seduction nearly every morning and failed. Of course, if it wasn’t for how super-easily impregnated goddesses were and if she accepted casual rather than following the goody-goody ways of Paradise Realm, I’d have taken her some time ago, with protection.
The shimmering stopped and she appeared right in front of me, arms folded across her chest.
“I do not suck!” The succubus was a dangerously gorgeous woman with long wavy brown hair down to her waste. A super-enhanced version of the woman that ran the comedy gig on the TV moments ago. Her hotness actually matched that of a goddess: perfect rack, perfect everything. The only difference is that succubae tend to wear anything that sexualized them. So, it was no surprise to see her dressed in a miniskirt and half-shirt.
I laughed at the comment. “I don’t believe you. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Sin walked through the door, pleased look on his face. “Can’t believe you found her first. You’ve got some good luck. How was the sex?”
I shook my head. “You’re a sick bastard, my friend.”
“What’s the easy way?” the demon said, her eyes locked onto me. She probably had no idea what to make of the appearance of both a demigod and a demi-devil. I had doubts that she could fight us. My thought process changed when she knocked Sin and I to the ground with force and bolted for the door. I grabbed her ankle and yanked, causing her to fall on her face. The succubus yelped. Sin, dove on top of her, restricting the succubus with a pair of ordinary handcuffs. We waited to see what would happen. Sure enough, in a second, she went incorporeal, cuffs falling to the floor. Perfect. I pulled off my sheath and smacked her hip with the deity-trapper. It connected, forcing her back to corporeal. I felt fear flowing from her like rivers. I smiled.
“When you asked about the easy way, I was kind of hoping you were go
ing to be the first smart one of your kind.” I shook my head. “Guess not.”
The succubus simply stared. “What are you going to do to me? Two guys at once?” She gave a half-smile. I cringed.
“I don’t know about Sin here, but I’m not into the whole two dudes, one chick thing,” I said.
“Why not? I can take you one at a time, or at the same time. As rough as you want.”
Sin seemed to cringe, too.
“No. And you’re not doing a good job of masking your fear, Succubus. So, let me spell this out for you. Give us the information or die. And trust me, I can smell a lie from a mile way.”
“Succubi are demons who are not born of Hell,” I said. “You’re from the human world. But if you die, you know where you’re going.” I winked. “Conus won’t even give you two looks before bouncing you down.”
I could see a tremendous amount of fear in her eyes. No sympathy. There were two types of succubae in this world. One kind preyed off sexual energy. The other fed off men, seduced in either real life or in the dream world. Most of them preferred the real world. Fairies had already made dreaming men their territory.
“What do you want?”
“Tell us where we can find Sunset,” Sin demanded.
Her eyes widened, giving us confirmation that she knew something.
“I will know if you lie.”
“Wh…why do you want to know where to find them?” she said, nervously.
“Because the point of the stupid jobs we’ve taken is to locate their hideout,” I said. “You’re well-informed about the underground. Get us to where we need to be.”
I could see conflict in those eyes. She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of Sunset or us. I decided to remind her. “You know, when I was in Hell, thousand-degree winds scorched the shit out of my face every day. The demons were savages. They beat the shit out of me, crushed everything in my body, balls included, restored me, and repeated the process. I’m pretty sure they’d do more than just rape you. You’ll be enduring the agony of hellfire, combined with brutal torture. Probably forced into a Hell whorehouse for demons with razor-sharp spiked penises.” I held back a laugh as she was on the verge of crying. That didn’t serve as payback for anyone she pestered with her succubus mojo, but it would do for now. Sin was grinning evilly. I formed a knife-hand than thrust three times into the air. “Giant, billion-spiked, who knows?”
Hell to Pay (Blood for Soul Book 1) Page 8