Cobalt hadn't slept in days, not since his encounter with Karazelle. The joyous look in her eyes haunted him for some reason. That place - his hometown - was like a wonderland to her; the crucible of her people, somewhere she often heard about, but had never seen with her own two eyes. The Incubus had seen her wearing the amulet around her neck in class, occasionally holding it in both of her hands and shivering with excitement at the mere thought of finally visiting Phrodival.
But the very thoughts that filled Karazelle with such glee only served to torment him. It wasn't even the town itself that he was afraid of; all things considered, Phrodival was a lovely place. It was the fact that it was just a facade for what lay beneath. That dark, suffocating hellhole buried deep within the meteoric iron beneath the earth...
"Kid. You're up."
Cobalt blinked a few times, snapping himself out of his stupor. He was standing at the cash register of the grocery store, with a sizable queue forming behind him. The worker behind the register was giving him an annoyed glare as she cleared her throat and tapped his total on the digital display.
"Wh- What? Oh, right, sorry..." the Incubus murmured, rummaging through his pocket for his wallet.
He blearily fished a handful of brands out and handed them to her. She glanced at the pile of bank notes, selected the two that she needed and pushed the rest back.
"Your change," she sighed, opening the till.
"I... thank you."
Cheeks burning with shame, he gathered his shopping and rushed out of the shop, teetering a little with every step he took. Outside, it was a grey and miserable day, and the streets of Brimstone were covered in puddles from the previous night's rainfall. As he headed back in the direction of B.I.D., Cobalt looked down at his shopping bags and sighed.
He didn't know why he even still bothered buying food. All it did was slowly decompose in his fridge.
"You can't keep going like this, kid," Lilith sighed, clearly suffering alongside him.
"They... They might have a solution in Phrodival," he murmured, though he hardly believed that himself.
"I thought they just locked Incubi away."
"They do, but... they still feed and care for them. Surely they know something."
He turned the corner, wincing as another bout of fatigue struck him like a train.
"That's why you're going?"
"Yeah, something like that..." Cobalt lied, tightening his grip on the bags.
The handles were cutting off the blood flow to his fingers, but by now, the Incubus didn't have all that much blood left to flow in the first place.
"Huh. Maybe you could bring that human's little witch's brew to them. As far as I remember, Succubi were better with chemicals that they ought to have been."
Cobalt stopped for a second, thinking about the syringe sitting in his dresser back home. Something that could supposedly cure him... and cripple him for life.
"Maybe. Maybe, I don't know..."
One thing's for sure, he was definitely bringing that needle along with him.
"I don't get why you're bringing that Succubus girl with you, though."
"She's... always dreamed of visiting Phrodival. The opportunity just fell in my lap, so I figured it would be nice for her to finally see it."
"You don't sound convinced, kid."
He swallowed hard. She had a point.
"Let's... just get home. I've got a lesson plan to-"
A rattle echoed from somewhere to his right. Whipping around, Cobalt stared down an alleyway leading off the side street he was on. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably. He could hear growling from the shadows.
"Wh- What is that?" he asked, gripping the bags tight.
"What was what? That? Probably nothing."
The Incubus swallowed hard and took an uncertain step towards the alley. He felt on edge. Agitated. A quick sniff of the air worsened the sensation as he was alerted to a faint metallic whiff of blood emanating from within.
"Hunger's made you paranoid, kid. Come on. Let's just get home and take another crack at those supplements that human gave-"
"Someone's bleeding," Cobalt breathed, quickening his pace.
"Kid, wait! What are you doing?!"
Knocking his shopping off the walls on either side of him, Cobalt stumbled through bags of rubbish and tipped-over bins, the smell only growing stronger as he skidded around a corner and came face to face with the source.
A rat lay dead in a puddle of its own blood, torn open by claw marks that raked across its underbelly. Beside it, a group of mangy alley cats stood with their backs arched, growling and spitting at one another. Just animals fighting over food.
But that smell... why was it so...?
Cobalt took a step towards them. Immediately, the cats all flinched and faced him with narrow, slitted eyes. They all yowled in discordant unison, hissing at him as he approached.
Baring his teeth, the Incubus dropped down low and hissed right back at them, driving his nails deep into the ground as every muscle in his body clenched. Immediately they scattered, bolting away and scrambling up walls in fits of panic. Taking a deep breath, Cobalt dropped his shopping and dove for the dead rat. He could hear his own heartbeat, pounding in his head, drowning out the Devil howling for his attention.
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He picked the rodent up. It was still warm.
"Wait, don't-!"
He loosened his jaw and crammed the rat into his mouth. Its boned snapped effortlessly, its skins splitting and tearing with only a little give. Its fur tickled the roof of his mouth and got stuck between his teeth, but with every chew, Cobalt was rewarded with a deluge of blood. It was thin and bitter - nothing like the intoxicating ichor he had drank before - but it was miles better than the foul, claggy ash in his shopping bags. He drained its stringy flesh until there was nothing left before swallowing the rat whole, gasping for breath as it slipped down his throat.
The fire in his stomach blazed for a moment. Hardly satisfied by such a meagre morsel, but relieved to a degree. His veins dimly pulsed in response as the constant, persistent haze he was living in slowly abated.
Glancing up, he could see that one of the cats was still there, sitting calmly in front of him as it stared with bright green eyes. Pitch-black fur. An accusing gaze.
"Band-aid solutions, but a small step is still a step," it said.
Before Cobalt could say anything, the black cat stood up and slowly sauntered off behind a bin, disappearing when he tried to follow it.
"-the fuck were you thinking?! You've probably got all kinds of diseases now! Don't you ever think?!" Lilith was screaming, ignored in the moment by the starving Incubus.
"I- I feel better now," he responded, unsteadily getting to his feet.
"You just ate a fucking rat off the street!"
"Yeah, but... Yeah..."
"Do you have any idea how-?!"
The Devil cut herself off.
"Footsteps behind you. Someone's coming," she breathed urgently, prompting Cobalt to stumble to his feet.
He frantically wiped the blood off his face, digging his fingernails into the wall in order to support himself. Sure enough, he could hear quiet footsteps echo off the alleyway walls, like someone was trying to conceal their presence.
"Twenty brands says it's that Fallen."
Cobalt shook his head as he straightened up.
"No. Elya's actually good at staying hidden," he muttered beneath his breath.
Picking up his shopping bags, Cobalt cleared his throat as he felt his energy return.
"I know you're there. Show yourself."
HIs stalker stopped moving. He heard their breath catch. After a few moments, they stepped out from their cover.
A second-stage Golem girl stood before him, dressed in casual clothing. She held a camera in her shaking hands, and as she gawked at the Incubus, he looked down to see that she was wearing a peculiar t-shirt beneath her jacket. It looked custom-made, emblazoned with a large print of-
His eyes widened.
An artsy, complicated motif that was a little hard to make out, but there was no mistaking the shape and curvature; those were the Incubus' horns, alongside a name.
THE IRON HOUND FAITHFUL
"You've got to be kidding me," Lilith breathed, feeling his apprehension.
Hanging the camera around her neck, the Golem carefully extended a hand to Cobalt. She was grinning at him, exposed her train-track braces.
"H- Hi," she breathed, eyes wide with awe.
Cobalt blinked a few times, staring at her hand.
"We met before. At the Jump Terminal? Before the whole sabotage thing?"
The Incubus slowly shook his head, having absolutely no recollection of who this girl was.
"W- Well, my name's Olive. I have to say again, it's an honour to meet you!" she gasped excitedly, eyes wide and sparkling.
"What, uh... What's this?" Cobalt asked, pointing to her t-shirt.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, of course!"
Excitedly, Olive swung the camera around her neck and opened her jacket open wide, allowing him to see the full thing. The lettering was bordered by patterns resembling the stripes on Cobalt's tie, as well as iconography of claws and broken teeth.
"I'm a part of the Iron Hound Faithful! I joined last month!" she announced excitedly.
Cobalt swallowed hard.
"The... what?"
"We're like a collective! Or a club, I guess, but that makes it sound silly! No, we're a proper group! Followers of the Iron Hound! You!" Olive explained excitedly.
Frowning, Cobalt shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Please tell me you're joking," he sighed.
"Nope! It was started after you killed that Devil with the rifle, but after the thing in the ruins, there's been tons of new members! A few left because of what happened with that girl and her arm, but-"
"Olive, was it?"
"Y- Yeah?"
"Please leave me alone."
Pushing past her, Cobalt dragged his shopping out of the alley and back out onto the street. Olive stumbled after him, nearly tripping on a torn-open back of old cans.
"W- Wait, please! I just wanted to talk to you!"
"Please, there's nothing to discuss," the Incubus sighed.
"But we're your faithful servants, Mr. Trayer!"
Stopping, he turned to look at her.
"What the Hell are you talking about?"
Tumbling out of the alley, Olive wiped herself down and began to fumble through a beaten satchel by her side. Producing a handful of crumpled pamphlets, she picked through them and opened one up, handing it to Cobalt. The writing was sloppy and difficult to read, while emblazoned in the very centre of the page was a large image of him.
"They say there's going to be a second Rapture, from below rather than above! The Devils are gonna return in full force, and when they do, you'll be our only chance at stopping them!"
He flipped through the pamphlet. There were hand-drawn depictions of him in triumphant pseudo-religious poses, each surrounded by more unreadable drivel. It was all the ramblings of a madman.
"Who... put all this together...?" Cobalt asked, raising an eyebrow.
She beamed, thinking he had finally taken an interest.
"Our leader, Rave! She put it all together online! I never met her, but she sent me this so I could give it to you! A gift from all of your faithful!"
Reaching back into her bag, the Golem produced a murky wine bottle and handed it to him. Cobalt tentatively accepted, eyes widening at the weight.
"She holds these online sermons every week! W- We're gonna have an in-person one in a couple of days!" Olive rambled excitedly.
The Iron Hound Faithful... Cobalt had been told that he had "fans" - for want of a better word - but he never imagined that they would be anything like this. A part of him wanted to immediately put his foot down and stomp this kind of behaviour out, but the other... was simply too tired. This business had clearly been going on for months and hadn't really intruded upon his life up until now; it was harmless, no matter how much he didn't wish to be idolised.
He had bigger problems to deal with than a bunch of kids playing at secret societies.
"... right," Cobalt sighed, shouldering his bags as he inspected the bottle.
"Hey, Mr. Trayer? Next time a Devil attacks, you're gonna be there, right?" Olive asked, gazing up at him expectantly.
This girl... she wasn't even in tertiary school yet. She was just a kid meeting her personal hero, and as misguided as she was, he felt a little bad for considering stomping those aspirations out.
"I'll try my best, I suppose..." he murmured, looking away.
"Hah, Rave said you would! Hey, can I get a picture?"
"Can you get a what-?"
She raised her camera to her face and took a picture of him, nearly blinding Cobalt with the flash. As he recovered, Olive gawked at her camera screen and tittered with glee.
"Thank you, Mr. Trayer! Oh, I can't wait to show everyone else!"
Turning on her heel, the Golem took off down the street, barging past other passers-by and almost bowling straight into oncoming traffic. Blinking in an effort to clear his vision, Cobalt straightened up and began to head in the opposite direction, back towards the school.
"That... doesn't seem normal, kid. Was it smart to just let her off like that?" Lilith murmured.
He sighed and squinted at the bottle she gave him.
"I can't rightly say, but I also can't waste time worrying about it. I have a trip to plan."
"I thought you were going to sort your lesson plans out or whatever."
"Right, right... that too."
He unstopped the bottle and gave it a gentle shake. Fluid splashed about within.
"Might wanna get checked by a doctor, too," added the Devil.
"I'm fine, Lilith," Cobalt retorted, squinting down the bottle's neck.
"I'm just saying; rats are kind of famous for bearing diseases."
"I said I'm fine, now just drop it, okay?"
Shaking his head, Cobalt took an experimental swig from the bottle.
His eyes widened as soon as it graced his tongue. As quick as a flash, he slammed the cork back in.
"What's wrong?" Lilith asked urgently.
He gasped for breath.
"It's..."
The Incubus stared at the bottle's neck, where a thin trickle of blood was slowly making its way down the side. He wiped it clean with his thumb, leaving a red streak.
"... it's nothing."