--Eden POV Continued.--
Eira proceeds to walk in the direction of the table where the so-called "Abraxas Demon" is seated.
The Abraxas Demon sits at the table laughing loudly, “Hahaha! Then after that, we took red-hot iron bars and made him wear them like shoes for weeks!
“Wow, that’s hilarious. Were they hot the whole time?” Someone at the same table asks.
"Well, no, but they were only hot for the first day, but still… it was funny okay?” the Abraxas Demon says.
The Abraxas Demon has a long nose that bends down toward his lower lip. His ears are fat, too big for his face, and they come back to make a point while his eyes are sunken in like someone who hasn’t slept in weeks. The demon’s skin is gray, and he has a long tail that looks like something that came from a komodo dragon. Despite all that, the thing that sticks out the most is his extremely large potbelly with an exposed belly button, which would most definitely be categorized as an “outie.” If it were a female demon, I’d assume it was pregnant... well maybe it is female, or they could be like seahorses where the males give birth? I wouldn’t know, to be honest, I’d say my knowledge of real demons is less than zero as thus far none of them have looked anything like I would have imagined.
‘Come to think of it I think I heard Eira call it the “Hell Dimension” rather than just Hell? Dimensions are generally pretty large, are they not? How big is Hell, or does a place called Hell even exist?’
To the Abraxas Demon’s left sits a worm-like creature. It looks like the man from earlier except without the human body. Anyway, I guess it’s a demon of the opposite sex? It speaks with a feminine voice. To his right sits what seems to be a regular human woman, that is, if it wasn’t eating something via a mouth at the back of its head.
Eira approaches the table with a scowl and a look of disgust.
‘This whole scene is rather bizarre and disgusting.’
“And then what? And then what?” The back of the female’s head asks.
The demons completely ignore Eira’s presence, which seems to annoy her greatly. Eira raises her hand and slaps the table with a loud bang. The three demons flinch and then look toward Eira.
“Abraxas Demon, are you the one in charge of this place?” Eira asks.
“That’s right, whoever you are, and before you ask. I’m not interested. I’ve already got these two fine specimens.” The Abraxas Demons looks at the other two with a toothy smile exposing his black teeth.
“That’s right, child.” the two mouthed woman says.
“That’s right, brat. This is what a real woman looks like!” the worm says wiggling her body.
“I don’t want to hear anything from a tapeworm and a big-mouthed floozy,” Eira says with anger. “I’m here to talk to the fat one alone.”
“Tapeworm!”
“Big mouthed! I’ll have you know I’m…”
“Quiet you two. Listen, brat, if you’re here in my establishment, that means you either came here to have a good time, or someone wanted to meet with you in private. Either way, we have no business.”
Suddenly, I hear footsteps and glance around to find six of the masked “employees” standing around Eira and I. They all just stare at Eira without saying a word. The Abraxas Demon makes a motion, and one of the employee’s steps forward and reaches for Eira. Just before touching her, Eira reaches back and yanks the employee forward. She bends its arm behind its back and slams their head down onto the table.
Eira tears the mask from the employee’s face and shouts at the Abraxas Demon, “Where did these Blood Race Husks come from?! Where did you find them!? Did you do this to them?!”
In confusion, I look down at the now exposed face of the employee. The face is a mix of green and ash, what’s left of it anyway. The eyes are gone, and the sockets are burnt. There are burn marks that run from the insides of the mouth, and holes are placed sporadically throughout the face. I’m not sure why, but after Eira removes the mask, a putrid smell fills the air forcing me to suppress the urge to vomit.
I swallow the bile in my throat and look at the Abraxas Demon, who seems unfazed.
“Careful brat, those things are antiques.”
He motions for the two girls to leave and they frown, well, I think they frown before finally leaving.
“So brat, you wanting to buy one or something? Why you so interested in the help?”
Waiting for the two girls to leave, Eira moves closer, “Stop acting as if they belong to you. Where did they come from?”
The Abraxas Demon seems to be getting annoyed by Eira’s behavior, “Brat, do you know who you’re talking to? You’ve already ruined my evening. The only reason I’m even humoring you is that I assume you have something to offer me if you’re making all these demands. In fact, I can see something I’m very interested in owning right behind you.”
The demon points at me, and I glance behind me to make sure no one else is there.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Yes, I’m talking about your little bird. Angels always have that smell about them.” The demon takes a big whiff of the air. “That intolerably stuck up, holier-than-thou smell. Yours has the faint scent of blood mixed in, but that’s okay, I can still work with that.”
I hold up my arm and sniff it, ‘I-I don’t smell anything.’
“I’m interested.” I hear Eira say emotionlessly.
I swallow my saliva, but don’t say anything, ‘I’m smart enough to know she wouldn’t trade me away… please don’t trade me away’ I look at Eira with pleading eyes.
“But I want to know where you got these husks from first… I’m interested in trading for them.” Eira continues.
The Abraxas Demon looks suspicious, “Do you not know anything about husks? Husks are generally only put where they were before their souls were burned away in the pit, well, usually. Sometimes they’ll place them somewhere else if they had a special talent or skill. Anyway they basically just run on permanent autopilot.”
“Yes, I know. I’m still willing to trade for them, so tell me what’s their story?”
The demon grabs one of the employees nearby and starts slapping it on its cheeks like someone selling a used car. “These creatures were running this place for a few generations before they were found out.”
“They were running this place? How long ago?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe 6,000 years ago? I heard many were surprised that such foul and traitorous creatures such as Night Demons were able to hide away for so long. Turns out, they were being supported by some Shadow Demons in the background. Not too surprising considering Night Demons are just the blood race version of Shadow Demons after all. Anyway it caused quite the ruckus back in the day.”
I look at Eira and can sense a fire burning in her eyes. Eira is extremely angry.
“Well, now that I told you that I’m curious, how did you manage to snag an angel? They are incredibly rare outside Heaven unless there is some type of conflict between them and the Blackbirds.”
Eira smiles, "Of course, Mister, but I’ll need to come closer. You never know who might be listening in” Eira purposefully looks back at the Shadow Demon from earlier.
“Ugh, yes, you’re right. I don’t know how trash like that even affords to come in here. Oh, and please don’t call me Mister for some reason it makes me uncomfortable.”
Eira nods and hops into the booth moving closer to the Abraxas Demon. I notice her shadow shudder slightly as she moves close to the demon. Eira leans toward his fat ear as if about to whisper something, and the demon who seems to feel safe in his own home leans closer.
I can just faintly hear Eira whisper, “I’d say go to hell, but y’know you’re a demon and all, so maybe go to heaven?”
Suddenly black hands shoot out from behind the Demon and yank the demon head back covering his mouth. The demon tries to stand, but more hands shoot out, grabbing his arms and legs. Eira’s nails grow long, and she swings them faster than I can make out. The front of the demon’s belly slides off and lands on the ground with a plop. Little insects crawl out of the demon’s wound, but Eira ignores them. Instead, a ball begins to form in the air from the blood of the demon and slowly starts compressing. Finally, the ball flies with obvious force into the belly of the demon and embeds itself there.
The employees begin to storm forward, removing their masks, and pouncing on Eira. Eira doesn’t move as they open their mouths wide and use their fangs to bite into her flesh. In fact, her look is more akin to sadness.
The Abraxas Demon looks at Eira with eyes full of hate as dark blue fireballs begin forming all around Eira putting off an intense heat. I look away as my eyes feel like they may boil in my own head. However, Eira’s bomb goes off first.
**Boom!**
I look back to find the Abraxas Demon’s belly blown open, and orange-colored viscera everywhere on the table and surrounding area. Something that looks like crystallized blood fragments embedded all over the table and in the bodies of the employees, but Eira’s own body is unaffected with a faint red shimmer covering her skin. Along with the demon, the employees have stopped moving. Eira rips her arm from one of the employee’s mouths and places her hand upon its head. She stares at them a moment before forming a knife and stabbing it into the top of its head, leaving only the handle sticking out.
She looks at me with an empty expression and throws the knife to the table, “Help me put your brothers and sisters out of their long torment.”
I’m not sure what to say, but I look around the room. Some “people” are staring at us, and others act like nothing even happened.
“This kind of thing is normal here, Eden. A place like this usually has a magic cast on them that makes it impossible to truly die within the magic’s effect. Unless…”
Eira removes the rest of the employee’s fangs and walks to the demon’s body. She sticks her arm through its chest, yanking out the heart.
“Unless you take something major out of the field.”
The heart disappears into her storage ring. She walks to the husks and does the same, but also removes their fangs. By this point, some of the demons have realized something different is going on, but most keep minding their own business. Some have run off immediately, but regardless of everyone else Eira continues going from husk to husk.
I follow suit. I raise the knife high in the air at one of the short husks. I hesitate, but like I’ve told Eira in the past I want to help carry some of her burdens.
I bring the knife down with a cracking noise. I feel myself go dizzy for a moment. The sensation and feelings are much different than when I killed the Crawlers. Maybe it’s because they are much more humanoid in nature, or perhaps it’s because they would have once been a part of the same race as I am now a part of. Either way, I move onto the next one slamming the knife into the skulls of each and every one as Eira comes behind and removes the fangs and what’s left of a heart. She stops for a moment and doubles back, also removing the masks and stores those away also.
This goes on for a while until we’ve killed every employee we can find. We walk outside to kill the last employee, the bouncer. Finally, I turn to see some huge demons walking toward us. The heat coming off their bodies is intense even from a distance. One of the demons is particularly massive with a lower-body that looks like that of a crab’s. Other than that, it bears many similarities to that of the Abraxas Demon from earlier, just much larger and, well, a different lower-body.
I feel Eira tug my arm, and she holds up some type of earring and presses it into her palm. The earring visibly begins to change in color until an odd noise rings out, and a red aura spreads from the earring. I grow light-headed as the aromas and stimulants of the calm, cold night air and the violent, hot air of the nightclub mix. I see the scene around us begin to shimmer and fade as the large crab demon launches a massive fireball at the two of us. Eira pushes the earring further into her hand causing blood to fill her palm and drip upon the ground. I turn my head up to see the sky filled with fire and an unbearably strong heat causes the exposed skin on my face to throb. Just as I feel like I might spontaneously combust, we are suddenly standing just outside the doorway of the building from earlier.
I collapse instantly as the cold night air brushes against my cheek. My body relaxes and I take a deep breath enjoying the sensations. I glance to my right to see Eira staring at the last set of fangs we took from the bouncer.
Eira looks at me with an empty expression, “Let’s go back.”