“The hell are you even saying…? Safe? After that stunt?”

Though his voice remained composed, his hands clamored at the thoughts of starting another massacre, or getting that same type of violence done to them.

A word like ‘safety’ bore no meaning when he struggled to even think of a way to survive. The law enforcement will make their lives hell from hereon.

Killing an inquisitor is already enough to get burnt at the stake, this crime was already far beyond that.

However, the girl's eyes widened in amusement, as she smiled without a care in the world

“There shouldn’t be any trouble, not right this moment.”

The sheer confidence in her demeanor almost made him question himself. If a demon like her can remain this callous there felt little room for doubt.

Yet he couldn’t consider her completely sane either.

“Look, we need to find a place to hide.” He spoke with a deep, commanding voice, mimicking a sergeant giving out orders. “There is a hidden passageway of sorts. A trail nobody knows about-”

“No need.”

Her tone remained light, almost playful, as she mercilessly cut him off.

“We won’t escape.”

For a moment, she reminded him of his cat, Fluffy. The way he would carelessly knock things over, then purr happily as he picked up the shattered remains of whatever poor item was smashed on the floor.

Yet, in a strange way, the thought put him at ease.

“So, what’s your suggestion then? Sit here, wait for them, then die?”

“No need to wait when they won’t arrive.”

Stolen story; please report.

With every sentence he heard from her he felt as if his mind was being dragged through a swamp. Every word spoken was utter nonsense.

The Church, the most powerful, vicious and dangerous institution in this village, is out to hunt them, with an almost infinite supply of men against the two of them.

Suffice to say, terrible odds.

“See it from their perspective if you will, Yasou.”

Then, like a teacher teaching an elementary student, she put on a high pitched voice and explained with exaggerated gestures.

“In our first hour, I was being hunted by 3 men. You saved me, they trailed behind you, then died like insects.”

Holding in her laughter, she continued.

“Hour 5, I went out, took out the remaining patrol, and got rid of the bodies… So what does the church actually know? Do they know where we are? Do they know how 6 of their men mysteriously vanished off the face of the planet?”

“The gunshots, the doors being blasted to-” he cut himself off after looking at the door.

“... what the hell did you do?” He asked, baffled at it looking good as new, no bullet hole in sight.

“And lastly, even if they did know of our dangerous existence, even if they wished to hunt us down, cost what it may cost, how would they know how to attack us? 6 losses for a village this size would be quite painful, it’d be rather foolish to lose 6 more in much the same fashion.”

It sounded surprisingly reasonable, coming from her. As for rebuttals, there were some theoreticals that came to mind, but it could very well be that they have no such measures available at this time.

He heaved a deep sigh.

“So, what do you have in mind?”

Her eyes gleaming with excitement, she asked him a question in turn.

“Why don’t we take a look at the news?”

***

Bzz—bzz—...

Now and then, static noises could be heard from the small, retro antenna TV he had installed in his house. Old as it was, it had saved him from countless nights of boredom. Most of the channels were dead static or a black screen, though by a miracle the one for local news remained clear and crisp, outside of moments of radio interference.

As he listened in, he remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything. He was starving. He could only find a few dried up vegetables in the kitchen, alongside one singular egg, packaging not included. He hadn’t gone to buy groceries lately, or eaten much, for that matter. Couldn’t be arsed to.

He sat in front of the TV, drowning its noise while peeling the vegetables with his rusted switchblade. A slightly off-color potato, an extra dry carrot, and a few yellow leaves of lettuce. He could probably make a salad with that. He’d boil the egg for the girl later out of courtesy. Sadly, all he could offer to go with that was a small bottle of soy sauce, which was half empty.

The news had been going on for a while, explaining about the recent events in the country. Nothing he hadn’t heard before. The winning coalition of angels and humans, the demons being pushed back, peace being restored, all the same shit.

But then, a certain piece of news made him drop his switchblade.