The Victim

Simon always knew that his life would take an interesting turn. Perhaps he would become rich and famous. Maybe set up his own brand. Hell, maybe even he could find himself a fine woman. Though getting abducted and held hostage by demons surely was not on the list.

Returning to his home far from the center of Znena, he felt something hard hitting him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Once he woke up, he saw that he was in one of the many vacant buildings that Znena had. Empty, nearly crumbling, ugly concrete old storage. He could feel himself becoming sick after breathing in all of the dust that had gathered here for years. Dazed, he tried to find his way out, and that was when he met his abductors. There were three of them, to be exact. The one who was the so-called leader of that whole group was a vile hybrid between a man and a crow. His head, legs, and arms that had been turned into wings were those of a crow, while his naked, snow-white body belonged to a man.

Another one, who, despite being only a right-hand man to the crow, seemed to be the brain of the trio, was tall. At least three meters, if not more. His oval-shaped black head has been covered by tens of light green eyes that gave the impression of always having their sight on the younger man. He wore a black and dark green robe that covered his entire body, showing only his two black hands with way too long fingers and four spider-like legs protruding from his back. The third one was the most vile demon Simon had set his sights on. While he was the smallest of the group, somewhere around his size, and he wasn’t a big man, his monkey-like body with sandy fur, two massive bat wings, and a long tail that almost could have been mistaken for a snake if not for the stinger at the end filled him with disgust. The sheer stench that came from the chimera nearly knocked him out.

He would rather quickly learn about the plans that his abductors had for him. Apparently, those three were aspiring to take control over Znena. It was to show Tetra that they can’t hold demons in fear forever, as they stated, whoever that Tetra was. Simon didn’t want to ask them to not make his situation worse and simply agreed with everything they said. In order for their plan to come to fruition, they needed powerful allies on their side. The problem was that no one really wanted to join them. Hence, they came up with the brilliant idea to abduct a summoner and have him summon a demon. And luck wanted it to be him. He summoned a demon once in his youth, and it seemed like the world wouldn’t let him forget about it.

They stood right before a grand seal. It had two stars, one with four arms and one with seven, intertwined with each other and encompassed by a circle that was made to look like a snake eating its own tail. Each arm had a lit candle at its very top, and in the hearts of the stars were puddles of blood. The young man kept on mumbling and drawing letters of an unknown alphabet under the seal, his hand entirely covered by blood, both freshly leaking and already dried. The chimera was right beside him, its hand on his head, and it smiled with rows of shark-like teeth. Teeth that would go on his neck if he tried to do anything that wasn’t what they wanted.

"Why is it taking so long?" The voice of the crow was like a nail scratching a plate. The fact that others had to put up with it was admirable in itself. Though he really didn’t like how it seemed to be irritated. Previously, it sounded like he was simply impatient. He didn’t want to be here long enough to hear it become angry.

"Now, now, Corax. Summoning a demon is a delicate art that cannot allow for even a single mistake to happen. We shouldn’t put additional stress on Simon. And having Chupa right next to his face surely doesn’t help." The tallest and most reasonable one spoke. At least someone took him into consideration. Of the group, this one seemed to actually give a damn about their oh-so-precious summoner. Now if only the monkey stopped baring its teeth, he could be done with this and maybe return home.

"So what? I have no need for a summoner who can’t summon a demon without failing. Hurry it up; we don’t have an entire day. There is still work to do." As if in response, the seal started glowing with a light purple glow. The floor around it began to turn charred, and the candles melted rapidly as the blood in the stars evaporated. The glow became blinding, and everyone had to shield their eyes in order not to go blind. After a few seconds, the blinding light was gone, and in the middle of the seal stood a new creature.

Its silver body stood out on the beige walls of the room, the only well kept part of the storage. While nowhere near as muscular, it towered over both of the demons standing next to the young summoner. In fact, its body was rather skinny. Almost sickly, even. Despite being somewhat human at first glance, its satyr-like legs, black and hairless, ending with four sharp claws each, along with slightly too long arms, black from the elbows to the hands, and with long blade-like fins protruding from the elbows, quickly got rid of any doubts that the being was anything other than a demon. Though the reason as to why everyone gathered had disgust painted on their faces were red, vein-like markings going through the entire body, as if the demon had its nervous system outside instead of inside.

Dazed, the demon kept throwing nervous glances from one corner of the room to another. Its one, rather huge yellow eye slowly taking in its surroundings. It didn’t know where it was. It didn’t even know how it got here. There was a flash, and it suddenly appeared here. Could they have summoned him here? Wondering, the demon took a glance at the kneeling man. While he didn’t look like someone well accustomed to occultism, the stench of sulfur was the strongest one emanating from him.

"Truly a peculiar one, wouldn’t you say, Corax?" The crow didn’t answer; he just kept on staring at the new demon. "Now, young one, could you tell us your name?"

The demon looked at them in confusion. A name. He tried to recall it, but he found himself unable to do so. But why was that? Everyone had a name, and it wasn’t something that one could forget easily. Perhaps he didn’t have a name in the first place. It had to be the case; otherwise, he would have remembered. As others waited for an answer, he simply shook his head.

"No name, you say... Then perhaps we might give you one, Corax. Do you have any propositions?"

"Of course, Null, he will be a Victim, as he will be making lots of those." The demon couldn’t say that he didn’t like that name, but something seemed off about it. It almost didn’t seem like a name. But then again, he didn’t know much about names, and he was glad to finally get one. Before the Victim could get used to his new name, sirens blasted through the air, startling everyone and making Simon smile.

"Say, Null, how about we test a newbie?" Even without seeing them, Simon could well imagine the sinister grins arising on both demons' faces. The victim didn’t need to be told anything more. He remembered that he was quite a good fighter. That was the only thing that he could rather vividly remember. But why would he engage in combat in the first place? He never wanted to hurt anyone.

Opening the grand doors of the vacant building, he noticed two black vehicles and four men who held shining objects in their hands, pointing them right at him. If only they could turn off those blinding lights. His eye was rather sensitive, and he had to shield it with his arms. And even then, it only slightly mitigated the pain. They were shouting something at him, yet he paid no mind to them. The pain in his eye was becoming worse. He should do something about it.

He slowly extended his arm. Tongues of fire danced around his fingers, taking the form of snakes that coiled around his hand. A bunch of sharp objects pierced his body. They stung, but it was nothing compared to those annoying lights. Two fiery snakes crossed each other right under the vehicles. In the blink of an eye, an explosion destroyed both of them, and a pillar of flame burned whatever remained and illuminated the night sky. The fires turned crimson and, like starved hounds, devoured the men that attacked him. Weirdly, it almost felt natural to him, as if he had done this a lot in the past.

Corax was more than impressed by the powers that the Victim possessed. No one from his crew, not even himself, could measure up to him. Oh, the plans he had for the newbie! Now they will truly become unstoppable. Znena might as well now belong to them. The crow-demon noticed a movement coming from behind him.

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked as he stepped on the crawling Simon, his talons digging into his leg. There was no way he could let the summoner get away. Someone had to take care of the newbie. Especially since they will have lots of busy nights as of tonight. And they might start by burning down a bunch of vermin now...

The Victim stood at the entrance, his hand still pointing at where the two cars once were. His yellow eye focused on his palm. He did that again. He once again took someone's life. That was all he was good for—at least that was what he could recall. And yet, it never felt good. He wondered why. If he was good at it, shouldn’t he be overjoyed that he got to do it again?

"Come on, boy, we can’t let someone notice you just yet." The tall demon approached the Victim. It didn’t take him long to figure out what the demon was deliberating about. "Mind telling me what’s bothering you?"

"They were bad, right? They attacked me first….I was just defending myself. So why do I feel guilty? I had the right to do that to them, didn't I?" Null only shook his head after hearing the demon pour his heart out. They had quite some work to do with him.

"Of course you had; they were in the wrong. But I see that you have trouble accepting that. You see, for demons like us, there is no place in this world. That’s why we have to make one by force. And that’s also why other demons and people want us dead. In order for us to have peace, we will have to kill quite a lot, and you better get used to it. You are a demon; you should be anyway."

"I… I do not know if I can."

"Don’t you worry, we are your friends; we can help you with that." And with that, Null dragged the Victim back into their hideout.

A few days have passed since Captain Sanderson and his crew had to make an emergency pit stop at Znena. Their freighter was nearly repaired; they were now waiting for a few parts for the engine room to come, and soon they should be ready to set sail. In the meantime, both he and his crew were helping around the harbor. Whenever Beatrice wasn’t working in Force, she was supervising Sanderson alongside the Siren, who also tried her best to help. Lilim kept calling her visits ‘official paid dates’, no matter how many times Beatrice would deny anything forming between her and the captain. Today was yet another day when she was supervising them.

Due to the early hours, Alice and Lilim were still at home, sitting on the couch and watching television. The news channel reported on another arson that took place in the past few days. Normally, they were scarce, mostly a few times per year as a result of some demon causing havoc. Those also seemed to be caused by such, as fires appeared from nowhere, as stated by an eyewitness. Though at first glance random, it had a pattern of burning mostly old and no longer-used buildings. Well, not officially, anyway. At this point, it was common knowledge that vacant properties were used by criminal groups to do their shady business. The worst part of it all was the fact that their radars simply couldn’t pick up any aura that would lead them to the suspect. Any demon they have found had no fire powers.

With no better idea, Ezekiel ordered them to stay put until another incident happened. While Alice was opposed to letting the demon do as it pleases, they had no clues, and running around empty-handed would get them nowhere. There was only one potential suspect, or rather, a group of them, although no one spoke about them out loud. The possibility was that it was an act of terrorism by Tetra. It wouldn’t be past them to use a random demon or demons to cause havoc in the town. Chairman Tvardovsky was quick to put that idea to rest, saying that their radars would pick up their auras.

"Al, you’ve mentioned gangs. You think it might just be their doing?" Lilim asked, observing as Alice finished the second tablet of chocolate this week. And it was only Tuesday. Her half-angel had quite a sweet tooth, it would seem.

"Well, it is a possibility, but proper demon summoners are hard to come by; most of them are already in the Holy See’s funded prisons. As for smugglers, they don’t engage in stuff like that."

"I take that our little witch isn’t a proper one, eh?" Lilim smirked as she snuggled up closer to Alice. She was thankful that they had the opportunity to just stay at home. At least she could enjoy her time alone with the ginger. "Hey, you ate the chocolate already?" Succubus added, seeing the last bar enter Alice’s mouth. She was munching on one pip, and the remaining three were pointing at the demon, tempting her to take a bite like some sort of oversized pocky stick. The blue-eyed demon got the message and snagged two pips for herself. Having Lilim’s face so close to her own got the green-eyed girl a little flustered. Succubus’s beauty was still something she was slowly getting used to.

"Luckily for us, she does it more for fun. And even then, having normal people pull off magic is rather unheard of."

"On the other hand, accidental demon summoning is her bread and butter. Hey, Al, how about we go somewhere? The weather’s nice, and anything is better than sitting here and doing nothing."

"Sure, why not? Maybe we could even stumble upon a clue about our arsonist." Alice added playfully.

"Thinking about your job when going out with your girl, Beatrice’s workaholism really seeps into you."

"Come on, it’s not that bad." Half-angel pouted upon hearing Lilim add 'yet'. "How about the park then? It should still be rather peaceful at such an early hour."

"So park it is then." Having everything set, both girls went to change into something more proper for outside. Alice’s pink pajamas, which Lilim thought were cute, weren't really suited for even going on the balcony as mornings were growing chillier with each passing day. Even her own nightgown, which was almost identical to her casual dress, made occasional sneak-outs for some fresh air in the middle of the night that much harder to bear. At least now she had the occasion to finally wear the clothes that Alice bought for her. While the green-eyed girl was changing in her room, succubus quickly put on her black skirt and claret shirt. She gave the black jacket more thought, as it wasn’t that cold for it yet, but ultimately decided to wear it. At last came the claret beret, which she was now trying to make look good on her head, placing it once on the right side, then putting it on the left to have it sit more in the middle, only to repeat the whole process again.

It wasn’t until Alice came out of her room that the demon decided to have the beret slightly shifted towards the left, right where her bangs started. The half-angel herself wore new clothes that she bought recently. Gone were the yellows and greens that she usually had, now replaced with beige and some pink. A beige knee-length pleated circle skirt with one notch ending in pink and the second one ending in white wasn't something that succubus expected, but it was a rather interesting change. Though she didn't know how to feel about the black knee socks. Just like the orange hair, they stood out. The beige button-up shirt with one sleeve being white and the other being gently pink didn’t help out either. Of course, everything was covered up, just to keep all of the scars unseen. Alice even combed her hair in a way to hide the one scar going through her face unless one was facing her directly. For someone who kept repeating that they didn’t bother her, she sure paid a lot of attention to hiding them.

"So, how do I look?" Lilim closed her eyes and scratched her chin. Then she massaged her temple, only to scratch her head. Quite intense thinking, in which succubus got lost, lasted a whole minute.

"Ice roulade." That wasn’t what Alice expected. At first, she thought that she had misheard the demon's answer. But no, here she was, looking at the half-angel with full confidence after calling her an ice roulade.

"Scuse me?"

"You know, those chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ones?"

"I’m not sure if you are calling me sweet or making fun of me." Seeing a sinister grin grow on the blue-eyed girl's face, Alice knew that she would regret getting her answer.

"I’m saying I want to eat you." And here it was, complete with a wink. Honestly, she should have expected that. Lilim hasn’t teased her in quite some time. The change that seemed to last for good turned out to be a mere occasion to gather ammunition and strike at the right moment. Truly a demonic tactic.

"You are lucky that you make quite a pretty French girl, and I can’t be mad at you."

"Je peux être ta fille française." That took the half-angel by surprise.

"Since when can you speak French?"

"Honey, I am a succubus. Speaking in Tongues is our bread and butter. Chcesz coś po Polsku? Vielleicht etwas auf Deutsch?"

"Lilim, please stop. You are scaring me." Seeing the ginger duck behind the couch in an attempt to hide herself from foreign languages resulted in a succubus bursting with laughter. She might have chosen some of the harsher languages on purpose, but she didn’t expect that. Though when she was still young, other people used to have similar reactions. Especially when she went with something more ancient.

" ‘kay, ‘kay, I’ll stop. Come on out; we have a date to go to." With no more encouragement needed, the half-angel momentarily found her place right next to Lilim, holding her hand and, with a smile on her face, making their way towards the park.

The park, still green, was enjoying the last few days of August. Soon, all of the oaks will cover it with their colorful leaves and be left barren until snow comes and turns them white. In the early morning hours, there were quite a lot of people taking a stroll. Some were walking their dogs; others were jogging. A bunch of pairs who also decided to enjoy their time together and people who just needed to rest from their everyday worries. Alice and Lilim, hand in hand, were slowly walking towards a medium-sized pond in the very middle of the park. Not only was it quite a beautiful area, with a little rose garden on the left side of the pond and forget-me-nots on the right, but that was also a place where Siren, who journeyed with Captain Sanderson, took a momentary shelter and helped with cleaning it.

"Ah, miss Lilim, miss Alice. What brings you here?" Siren emerged to the surface, her light blue body barely visible in the near-clear water. She had not expected to see them here; usually it was Miss Beatrice who was tasked with checking if everything was fine with her. Perhaps she was busy meeting with Captain Sanderson and had to send both younger girls? "I assume that Miss Beatrice wasn’t able to come today."

“She is probably busy smooching the captain." That earned her a light smack on the shoulder from the half-angel. "Sheesh, fine, I won’t bring that up. But no, we aren’t here in her name. You know, just on a simple date."

"Date? Like those meetings that Beatrice is attending together with Captain Sanderson?"

"See? See? Even she knows something is up!" If Alice didn’t know the succubus any better, she would have thought her now-straight-up obsession with Beatrice’s love life rather concerning. Though she was probably only preparing to tease her about it to no end. Or until Beatrice would lose her patience and pull out her bow.

"Can we stop talking about her love life, please? Oh, that reminds me, Siren; you wouldn’t have happened to notice any demon had anything to do with fire, would you?"

"Nay, in fact, save for the gray one, I haven't seen a single demon in this area." Alice sighed. She should have expected that. Well, it was worth giving it a shot. Lilim sat on a bench closest to the pond and, with a reassuring smile, patted an empty seat near her, signaling the half-angel to sit next to her. They spent some time chatting with the demon when Alice’s phone buzzed. A demon appeared. At the southern entrance to the park. Wasting no time, she and Lilim rushed to the site.

Their eyes were met with not one, but two demons fighting with each other. But how could this be? Unless one of them had powerful concealing magic, its aura would have been noticed by their radar. They could think about that later; now they had to stop them from killing each other. The more humanoid gray and black one seemed to be on the defense, protecting himself from the red lizardman. The gray one had many open wounds, each spilling light and almost glowing red blood. The lizardman, on the other hand, seemed to have his arms covered in what looked like burns. In some places, his charred skin came off and showed pure white bone.

Lizardman grabbed the taller one by his head and flung him across the park. He stopped at a tree, nearly breaking it in the process. Before he could lunge at his opponent, Lilim created a wall of blue flame. The red demon stopped in his tracks and turned his green eyes in the direction of the succubus. Hissing, he charged at her, but after taking just a few steps, a fiery X appeared underneath him. It quickly exploded with fire, and the lizardman became nothing more than a charred corpse. Alice quickly went to put out all of the remaining fire, using her own ice arrows, while Lilim went to the gray and black demons. He was breathing heavily, his hands over one nasty wound on his stomach.

"Alright, buddy, mind telling me what this is all about?" His one eye was focused on Lilim. It was almost strange. He could have sworn that he had seen those black hair and blue eyes before. But he had met no one like this in the past few days.

"He attacked me... I was just protecting myself. I was…" The demon’s gaze kept shifting from where the lizard demon once was. In her own judgment, he even seemed to avoid that very place.

"Sure, now another question. How is it that we can’t find your aura?"

"I do not know. Maybe Simon will know." Simon? Who the hell was the demon talking about? Succubus swore that if it was yet another summoner who decided to summon a demon just for fun, the doctors would have to surgically remove her foot from his ass.

"Could you tell us more about that, Simon? And maybe tell us your name?" Alice asked, having dealt with the fire. For a fight, the demon seemed to be wary of his surroundings. No other wildfires were set, and even the one that the demon cast was on a walkway. Yes, some grass got scorched, but compared to what other fiends with fire could do, it was pretty much nothing.

"I am Victim, and Simon is... pretty nice. He gives me food and room to sleep." Lilim groaned. That would get them nowhere. At least she hoped that the demon was as innocent as he seemed to be. Though he had a rather weird name, even for a demon. Calling himself a Victim "Miss, do I know you? Simon taught me not to talk to strangers, but you... have I seen you somewhere?" It was an obvious question for the Victim, but the confused look on the black-haired demon’s face made him think that maybe it wasn’t so obvious for her. He could have sworn that he had seen her before. And that lady with the orange hair. Though he was sure that she was taller.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

At this point, Lilim could say for sure that this demon wasn’t a treat. He was pretty much a kid. But now that she has thought about it, maybe she saw him somewhere around before she joined the Force. Being a vagabond had the perk of meeting various people and demons alike. Alice went closer to the Victim and helped him stand up. Other wounds have started to close, but the one on the stomach still shows no signs of recovery. Perhaps they could take him to Force in order to patch him up? She could come up with a good excuse. After all, he didn't look dangerous. And since he was probably concealing his aura, he might have been in a similar situation to Lilim’s. If Tetra had her eyes set on him, then maybe she could finally get her answers...

"Victim! There you are! How many times have I told you to never leave the house without saying? Dear God, what has happened to you?" A rather skinny man quickly approached the trio. His face was red and covered in sweat. It was clear that he had close to no form. He looked like he was about to faint at any moment. And if Lilim were a betting demon, she would say that it probably was that whole Simon.

"Really? But Simon-"

"Now, now, we will talk about it once we get home. Ah, forgive me for my manners. My name is Simon Crowley, and this is Victim. I hope he didn’t cause you trouble." The man took out a handkerchief and wiped his face along with his glasses.

"The Victim here has been attacked by another demon." Simon’s face paled after hearing that. Could it be that ‘competition’ had already taken notice of him? Perhaps it was just a stray one? It had to be, and they made sure that the Victim was as anonymous as he could be. Corax would have ripped his head off if any of his enemies had learned about the demon and tried to kill him or beg him to come on their side. "Allow me to ask, who are you exactly?" The ginger-haired girl handed over the demon to the black-haired one and came closer to him. Simon gulped. If he hadn’t mistaken her for someone else, it had to be the half-angel working for the Force. And that would mean that the black-haired one was the mysterious demon about whom other fiends were gossiping around the town. From what he heard, the whole Tetra, or however the demons have called them, had their eyes on her. He had to come up with a good lie. Corax might have been a somewhat feared demon in the underground now, but even he had no means of going against the Force.

"I am his caretaker." It wasn’t exactly a lie. He did, in fact, take care of the demon. "Now, I know this doesn’t sound convincing, but when I saw him wounded on my doorstep, I had to take him in. I was wary, yes, but he is pretty much a kid." The victim tilted his head. That wasn’t how they met. Nothing about it was true. Why was Simon lying? Wasn’t it he who taught him to never lie, especially towards the boss? He had a hard time wrapping his head around it. The smaller girl, on the other hand, seemed to be pleased with his answer, beaming at it. If there was even just one more person willing to accept and help demons, then there might be a chance for coexistence between them.

Lilim, though, wasn’t really buying it. While she didn’t doubt Simon's good heart, it was kind of too good. Taking on a demon, let alone one with fire powers, wasn't something that many people would do. Even just giving demons a shelter was something that they were reluctant to do. She experienced it firsthand. Despite being a succubus and looking much more human, she still had to sleep in empty warehouses and other places like that.

"Victim, will you be able to walk back home?" The demon in question put his hand back on the wound. The blood has already dried, and it has slowly started to close. He should be able to go. Though a little more time to rest would be nice.

"Yes, I’ve been through worse. Or so I think?" The uncertainty in the demon’s voice got the attention of both girls. At first, he asked Lilim if he knew her; now that. Something was off about that demon. Yet another demon that seemed to know her, or think so, from somewhere.

"Ah, another thing about Victim. It seems like he suffered from memory loss before I found him. Poor thing; I couldn’t imagine what he had to go through."

"Mister Simon, if there is a need, we might take the Victim to the Extermination Force’s hospital ward. I’m sure they would help him close the wound and maybe even try to find the reason for the memory loss." Simon’s face paled momentarily. There was no way he could go to the Force. For sure, they would question him in such a way as to gather as much information as possible. And he would end up spilling out everything. Was he being paranoid? Of course, but that was certain to happen. Besides, the Victim was a big boy. Wounds like that should be nothing for a demon like him.

"I appreciate your help, but I would feel bad for burdening you like this. Come Victim, we have to go." The gray-black demon, without any complaints, came to his caretaker, thanked both girls for their help, and together with Simon left the park. Alice waited until they both vanished from sight. She reached for her phone and texted Beatrice.

"Did it seem fishy to you too?" Lilim asked as the half-angel put her phone back. She grabbed Lilim by the hand and slowly started to make their way back home. If their suspicions are correct, they might have a job to do tonight.

"Yeah, you think Victim might be our mysterious arsonist?"

"He does have fire powers, so that’s one match. And that apparent amnesia of his. Could there be a possibility of him using it to gain shelter from Simon?"

"Perhaps, though I texted Beatrice, she could look into that Simon guy in the first place. I swear that Crowley rings a bell."

"And there goes our date. Next time, we are letting Beatrice take care of things and have the entire day for ourselves." Alice didn’t answer; instead, she was already mentally preparing herself for the potential upcoming job. Having to deal with a demon that had fire powers would require caution. They absolutely cannot allow for any collateral damage.

Once Simon made sure that they got far enough away that no one was following them, both he and the victim slowed down, not wanting to attract any meaningless attention. Finding their way into an alleyway that acted as a rather handy shortcut to their ‘base’, the summoner banged his head against the wall. It wasn’t until now that it got to him just how fatal telling them his name could be. He should have used an alias or anything but that!

"Simon, is everything alright?"

"No, no, it’s not. I should have kept my mouth shut." Seeing confusion arise on the demon’s face, Simon took a while to regain his composure and explain everything to him. "Listen, no mention of this to the boss. We will act like nothing happened and stay inside for the rest of the day. We can’t risk Force catching our trail."

"Why? Are they bad?"

"Yes, very, very bad. They kill demons like you and people like me." So they were the same as the demons and people boss Corax ordered him to take care of. Though something seemed off to him. If that was true, then why did those two girls help him? Weren’t they also a part of this whole Force? Maybe they were lying. It didn’t matter now; he had to do as Simon told him.

Evening came early today, as both girls were already resting in the house. It didn’t take Beatrice long to get the information that Alice wanted. Surprisingly, Simon Crowley had already been registered at the age of fifteen. He was caught in the act of summoning a demon and trying to use it for his own revenge, as he later stated, but due to being a minor, he spent only a year in reformatory before getting released. Afterwards, he seemed to be a law-abiding citizen. Now, it didn’t mean that he was their mysterious arsonist, but he had a history of using demons for his own gains. Perhaps Victim was a tool he got to take revenge on years ago. With this as their only clue, they had to wait until something would arise.

"Al, come on, take a break." Lilim tried to persuade Alice, as the half-angel spent a good hour checking every single news outlet about the last few arsons, along with constantly re-reading mail from Beatrice and checking their demon database in order to find anything about the Victim. That demon wasn’t anywhere in their data, which meant that either it remained out of sight and caused no problems or was just recently summoned. News outlets gave her little to no hints, save for one. It was from one of those less-respected sites that always outdoes even the smallest things. An interview with one eyewitness stated that the fire apparently came from the ground. Just like victims It might have been a coincidence, but it just rubbed her off.

"Say ah." The succubus held a sandwich that she tried to make for dinner right in front of her face. Not complaining, the half-angel took a bite of it. Despite the blue-eyed demon stating that she never cooked much in her life, she at least knew what ingredients went well together. Turkey meat with ice salad, radish, and cherry tomatoes tasted rather well. Maybe add some sauce to it, and you have a really good sandwich.

"You don’t have to spoon-feed me, you know?"

"But you don’t mind?"

"I don’t."

"So, what’s the plan for tonight?"

"I thought that maybe we could patrol the city. Perhaps split and take a part each. If any of us would spot our arsonist, we would call the other and take care of it."

"And you promise to keep your words and not rush in blindly to stop them?"

"You can be sure about that. Scars are one thing, but burns are something I don’t want to deal with ever again." Lilim sighed. Just what did they make her do? Well, at least she promised, so now the best they could do is wait until nightfall and go on a patrol. And if the mysterious arsonist would cease his activities for tonight, then it would be a giveaway that either Simon or Victim might have something to do with it.

The night couldn’t come sooner, and both girls put the plan into action. Alice took over the entire west side, while Lilim took over the eastern sky. From up there, all of the lights coming from the skyscrapers made for quite a sight to behold. Though she made sure to stay a good distance above them to not cause any unnecessary panic. She only lowered her altitude when buildings were also much smaller. For the time being, she saw no demon and hasn't felt a single aura. Maybe Alice had better luck.

The half-angel was making her way from the center of Znena towards all of the vacant buildings that she knew of. Most of them were storages, some old bunkers hidden here and there, and a bunch of old houses that the town decided not to bother with as taking them down would cost more than just letting them crumble by themselves. Most of them were on the outskirts, but there was one bunker on the northern side, built just before Znena decided to have an artificial lake that was supposed to be a tourist attraction. It never lived up to its expectations, and soon after, it was mostly forgotten about, becoming quite a popular place for teenagers to meet. Nowadays, even that is mostly from the tales of older folks, as demons loved to make the old bunker their home. And that’s where she's going now.

It didn’t take her long to reach her destination. An old, now covered in moss, rather small bunker stood between the trees, observing the calm lake. Alice didn’t feel any aura yet, but maybe if there was anything inside, it used concealing magic. Making her way inside, she didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. The walls were completely covered in graffiti, and a bunch of empty bottles alongside cans didn’t make for a pleasant view, but so far, there was no demon in sight.

As she was about to leave, she saw a tongue of flame appear right under her legs. Swiftly summoning her armor, she jumped out of the bunker as the flame turned into an explosion, further destroying the building and setting it ablaze. Still dazed, she hasn’t noticed a chimera-like demon diving straight at her. Alice dodged its claws at the very last second, rolling through the glass right onto the sand. Looking up, she saw her attackers. And two of them she already knew.

"What a shame; I wanted you to die in flames." The one with a crow's head lamented. The Victim was standing next to him with a raised hand, already preparing another spell. She dodged yet another fiery explosion. Even despite all of the sand that obscured her vision, she managed to block an upcoming strike from the snake-like tail with a rosary.

"I take it that you lot are responsible for the last few arsons?" The half-angel shot out two ghostly spears at the chimera that was ready to lunge at her, but they were stopped by a translucent green barrier. Afterwards, came another fiery explosion.

"It is indeed our doing. Although, should you want to get technical, it is all thanks to our summoner Simon and Victim." The tall one finally spoke. He held Simon tightly in his hand. No matter how much the younger man tried to thrash, he couldn’t even think of escaping his steel grip. So that's how it was. A bunch of demons using them for their own gain.

"Yeah, and we will burn down the entire town if it doesn't bow down on its knees." The crow screeched. Why did she always have to deal with psychos? As if one group of demons wasn’t enough of a problem already. The chimera took off into the air and started circling around. The Victim, in the meantime, decided to take care of the girl himself. He couldn’t let her hurt his friends. He was throwing flaming snakes left and right at the half-angel, who either dodged them or blocked them with a rosary.

The chimera used the distraction to descend upon the now-occupied angel. It dived down. Before it could reach the girl, another black and white shape descended from the sky. Chimera’s head rolled on the sand while its body plummeted down with a thud. A demon clad in white pointed her black sword at the Victim.

"Four against one, really? That’s how you want to play?" Chimera’s body slowly stood up and started crawling towards its head. Lilim noticed that and sent a wave of blue flame that scorched both the body and head. "And you, what was with playing innocent earlier? Didn't have the balls to attack us without your crew?" The Victim didn’t understand what he was accused of. He was innocent. He didn’t kill anyone who didn’t deserve it. And they, too, were deserving if they were killing demons.

"Lilim, I think they’ve been using him for their own gain."

"Don’t excuse setting stuff on fire." Lilim? The victim was more than sure that he had heard that name somewhere. Lilim, with her black hair and blue flame, was weirdly familiar. Yes, he remembered her. But if that truly was Lilim, then that would have meant that this ginger-haired girl must have been...

"Lilim, how is Alicia still alive?" It was just a simple question. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet it was more than enough to completely freeze the succubus. Her eyes widened as she kept staring at the demon. In the blink of an eye, she struck the demon, making him fall onto the sand, and held the black blade right by his neck.

"How the hell do you know about Alicia?! Answer me!" The blade slowly started to cover itself with a blue flame. The victim didn’t know how to answer that. He couldn’t. He didn’t know how he knew about her. She seemed to linger somewhere in his memories, just like the black-haired demon. His single eye simply stared at the succubus, as her hand slowly started to tremble.

"I do not know. Yet I am more than sure that she shouldn’t be here." Hoping to calm down the livid succubus, he achieved the opposite result. She gritted her teeth, and the blue flames grew more vibrant.

"Don’t toy with me, you asshole!" Corax decided that he had enough of that. Chupa was dead, and Null didn’t seem like he even thought about helping their newest member. His beak split open into four different parts, each barely holding on to the other. Taking as much air as he could, the crow-demon released a powerful soundwave. It didn’t even give succubus a chance to react, as it sent her flying right into Alice’s embrace. Lilim felt something wet coming from her head. Wiping it, she saw blood. Damnit, he partially deafened her, and the ringing in her working ear for sure wasn’t helping. The victim used the occasion to gain some distance and return to the remaining demons. He was clearly wary of them, as he didn’t attack. Corax, on the other hand, was preparing another soundwave. This time, both girls barely dodged it by rushing off in opposite directions.

"Null, Victim, what are you waiting for? Help me get rid of them!" Yet another soundwave pierced the air, this time accompanied by mad tongues of fire that exploded upon contact with the ground. "Null, what are you doing? Null!" Corax turned around, expecting to see the tall demon standing still, yet he saw nothing. Did he run off? With their summoner? What was he thinking?

"Victim, stop that! Can’t you see that they’ve been using you?" Alice pleaded as she countered even more fiery tongues with her ice arrows. "Come to your senses; we don’t want that to end badly for anyone."

"You say that, yet you have already killed one of my companions." The gray and black demon turned his gaze towards the ashes where the chimera once stood. "I have been warned about people like you. You kill those who do not belong to this world."

"That’s not true; who told you that?" The half-angel got the memo that further reasoning with the demon would be fruitless as a fireball flew at her face. Only because of succubus’s quick reflex did she avoid being burned.

"And I do not belong to this world. That’s why you will have to kill me."

"Al, this one is a lost cause. Let me take care of him." Lilim stood up, and Prince got covered in a blue flame. She felt half-angel grab her hand and saw her giving a pleading look. It wasn't until razor-sharp feathers flew their way that they had to move. Corax was off into the air, shooting feathers and airwaves like a madman. It was clear that he had enough of it and wanted to end it quickly. Two ghostly spears were sent his way, but only one nailed his wing, slowly bringing him down.

"Come on, Victim, finish them off; we don’t have time to waste." Corax ordered, and yet the demon stood still. He only looked upwards, and his one eye met with the furious gaze of the crow. "Are you deaf? Do you want to get killed?"

"I do not want to kill. Haven’t I done this enough?" This caught both girls by surprise. So in the end, he was doing this against his will. Now they had to save him.

"And I want to have Znena under my rule, and yet the world doesn’t care about our wishes. Stop being a jester and do what I tell you!" The Victim, much to his dismay, had to remain loyal to him. He gave him his name, and names were important. But that wasn’t the name he bore, was it? It couldn’t have been, but he had forgotten his. Lost in his thoughts, he only heard Corax’s panicked screaming as the crow barely dodged a wave of blue flame.

"Don’t listen to that bastard." The blue-eyed succubus called. The Victim stood still. He had enough of this. Enough being told what he has to do. Enough of not knowing who he is. Enough of not remembering his past. He had enough of it all. An enormous, fiery X appeared on the ground. It exploded into a massive flame pillar that startled both parties.

"I had enough of it. As I am now, I cannot belong to either world. Kill yourselves however you want; I refuse to take further part in this bloodshed. And as for you, succubus, I hope both you and I will be able to recall as to why I know Alicia." Lilim once looked shaken by the mention of the ever-so-mysterious Alicia. Wings of fire protruded from the victim's back. Each of them looked like a mad tongue of fire, crimson and forever twisting in all directions. He took off into the night sky, looking down at everyone.

"Hey, where do you think you are going? Get back here!" Corax tried to sound like he still had any sort of authority over the demon, yet his voice came out as pleading, especially when Victim vanished from his sight when the flame pillar finally extinguished itself. "H-Hey, how about we talk it out, huh?" The crow-demon tried to back off as both girls approached him.

"Listen, you do not want to kill me. I can give you something in return. Yes, yes, a bunch of intel." Corax thought of casting a spell as a means of distraction so he could get away, but another brilliant idea entered his head. Working in the underground for as long as he did, one would gather a lot of interesting gossip that might or might not have been true. And they might save his life now. "I can tell you a thing or two about Tetra." Both girls stopped in their tracks, clearly thinking over his proposition.

"So how about we strike a deal, huh? I’ll tell you what I know, and you will let me go, ‘kay?" The black-haired one came closer to him, her blade lowered. Luck was on his side, it would seem. "Do we have a deal?" As a response, he felt something hard and cold hit him right on the head. He blacked out and fell to the ground.

"Deal. Al, can you phone Beatrice? We should take this bird's brain into custody; he might spill out something interesting."

"Sure thing." It didn’t take long for Beatrice and the recovery unit to arrive. Lilim didn’t expect them to have such a unit. Honestly, she thought that they only had extermination ones. Though it made sense, after all, certain demons could be useful sources of information, and they needed someone to test and create new equipment on, as grim as that might have sounded.

"So I’m assuming that the summoned one might be impossible for us to track?" Beatrice questioned Alice after she explained everything to her. That could grow into a bigger problem, but perhaps if the demon truly stayed down, they could let him off the hook. Though just in case, they should probably imprison him; after all, he did set fires.

"Yes, and there was another one, but he escaped along with the summoner. You think the Victim could have gone to find them?"

"I can’t say for sure, but what worries me is that we couldn’t find any of their auras. It was almost as if they had something acting as a jamming device on their side. Well, anyway, we won’t get anywhere until we get him to spill everything out. I should be home somewhere around midnight if everything goes well, so stay safe until then." Beatrice gently hugged Alice and returned to the recovery unit. Both girls made their way back home. After closing the doors, the half-angel invited the succubus to her room and went to make both of them a cup of tea. Handling a demon cup of her own, she sat right next to Lilim. The blue-eyed girl sat curled up, visibly shaken by something, and Alice suspected what might have been the case.

"So about Alicia, who was she exactly?" Lilim knew that the question would come sooner or later, and yet she didn’t know how to answer it. If she could even answer that. What if, because of it, Alice hated her? No, the half-angel wasn’t like that.

"She…" Lilim tried to muster whatever courage remained inside her. There was no way out of this; Alice deserved to know at least the basics. "She was my first love, if you could call it that." She could see the green-eyed girl become more intrigued after she mentioned that.

"But I can’t say if that was the case for her... A-and it’s not like it matters anymore. She is..." Lilim, at this point, felt as if she had a lump in her throat. Why, after all these years, couldn't she still say this out loud? Why couldn’t she come to terms with that? As if to make matters worse, she started to tremble. Why was she like that? The succubus felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. Alice pulled the demon into a light embrace, allowing her head to rest on the half-angel’s shoulder.

"Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you are not ready. I am a patient angel." What did she do to deserve Alice? The green-eyed girl was giving her best to try and calm her, and here she was, a trembling mess that couldn’t even admit, or even come to terms with, that her love was dead by her own hands. She was a mess. One that shouldn’t burden that young girl who was rubbing circles on her back. Alice didn’t need to be told what happened to Alicia. And if her suspicions were right, then she didn’t want to dig into the matter more than was necessary. Opening old wounds never brought anything good.

You only realized that now? You know she will end the same way...

At this point, Lilim didn’t have enough strength to argue with her. What was there even to argue about to begin with? The best she could do now is doze off in Alice’s embrace, hoping that the half-angel wouldn’t try to bring up the matter for quite some time. Even if she deserved to know it.

As Alice was trying to calm the upset demon down, in one of the central skyscrapers of Znena, another couple had their time together interrupted by the appearance of another demon. Null didn’t want to bargain with his employers, so he waited for an allowance to enter. Once a masculine voice called him in, he made his way into the top-floor apartment. A grand red carpet covered the mahogany floor. A modern black table stood in the center of the carpet, encircled on two sides by equally grand white couches, giving a perfect view of Znena, on which both of his employees currently sat. One of them was a man in his mid-forties, though his well-kept and rather muscular physique made him look much younger. The only giveaway of his age was his gray hair, which fit all too well with his gray and elegant suit. He held a half-empty glass of wine. That would explain one already empty bottle and one just about halfway done that stood out like a sore thumb on the table.

Right next to him laid a woman in a dark purple dress that further encompassed her beauty, whom one could easily mistake for the goddess Aphrodite herself. Her pale and perfect skin created a perfect contrast to her dark red hair, which almost looked like rose petals. All curly and reaching up to her hips, they covered her eyes, but even then Null could see them glaring straight at him. She, too, held a glass, though hers was already empty.

"Ah, my dear little Null, it seems like you’ve got us a little present.” The woman pointed at the unconscious man that the demon was holding. The man said nothing and simply gestured for the demon to take a seat. Null did so gladly.

"Null, I hope that this time the summoner you brought will be worth something." The man finally spoke as the tall demon made himself comfortable on the unoccupied sofa.

"But of course, Mr. Silver. Even without proper training, this young man got to summon quite a capable demon."

"Our recent arsonist, I take it?"

"In flesh, Ma'am. Though sadly, I couldn’t bring him here as during our testing we ran into... troubles, if you will."

"And those troubles were Force’s girls. Right, and what had happened to the summoned one and those we gave you?" Here, Null hesitated to answer. He knew he couldn’t bring them good news, which could result in him not making it out of here in one piece. If ever at all.

"The summoned one luckily escaped, or so I have seen as I made my way here. As for the remaining two, I am afraid they have been taken care of."

"Null, you know times are tough. We can’t be losing our demons left and right; I hope you understand that." No matter how sweet the red-haired woman's tone of voice could have been, Null felt that he was sweating bullets.

"Of course, Ma’am. I hereby swear that no incident like this will ever happen in the future."

"He said the same thing last time, dear; what should we do with him?" The woman tugged harder on the man’s arm.

"While it is true that this is not the first such incident, if the summoner he brought is truly as promising as he sounds, I say we should let him off, just this once. What do you say, honey?"

"If he can show his worth... You can take him to the headquarters. As he is now, he is of no use."

"Of course, Ma’am. And once again, I am grateful for your benevolence." Null made a quick but grateful bow and, along with the unconscious summoner, made his way towards the doors. Once he vanished from sight, Mr. Silver slammed his hand against the table.

"Those damned brats! They have to stick their noses everywhere! I’ll make them pay for humiliating me like that." The older man clenched his hand into a fist with such force that the glass broke, spilling wine and spreading shards everywhere. Just one more thing that the staff will have to take care of.

"Now, now, dear, don’t make such grimaces. Your face will get all wrinkled. And don’t you worry; soon enough, they will all pay for all of their sins." The woman cooed as she tried to pull the man into a kiss. It was one way to calm down frayed nerves, and for sure, it was one of the fun ones. Especially if it escalated further...

"You are right; forgive me. It’s just that I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on anything if they're around. And leaving Adramelech alone, who knows how he devastated everything this time?"

"Not even on your wife?" The red-haired woman sent him a pleading look, completely ignoring the second part of his sentence. Perhaps he was in the wrong again. Perhaps there will be someone he can focus on, especially tonight.