The Owner slammed his fists into the table, hitting the surface so hard that the computer monitors shook violently. Of course, he didn't really need the monitors, not when he received all the information he needed from his underlings psychically.
The death of the stitch girl was painful. The Owner didn't know what Katie’s Knife was made of, but it was capable of destroying supernatural beings and essence alike. All the effort he spent on getting the essence from that child wraith...it was wasted.
But soon, it became clear that the loss of some essence was the least of his concerns.
On the second floor, the massacre continued. Again and again, Katie’s Knife found its way into the bodies of the Owner’s slaves, ending their suffering once and for all. The elite assassins the Owner deployed along with the cannon fodders did what they could, but they were hardly able to accomplish what even Mr. Isaac wasn’t able to do.
In their defense, their inability to take out Katie wasn’t their fault, but as some of these assassins turned their attention to Gadreel, they failed miserably once again.
Never underestimate the caution of someone who really didn't want to die. Gadreel might’ve bought the story that this was just a last-ditch attempt by the Owner to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, but that didn't mean he let his guard down.
At one point, the Angel decided to find his way to one of the walls on the floor. As he leaned against the wall, his eyes were trained on the ground. Some might think his attention was occupied with maintaining the four deadly needles that have slain hundreds of corpses by now. Others thought he was just busy thinking about what to do next. Either way, he looked like he was letting his mind wander.
A few assassins tried to use that opening to their advantage. A spider-like beast made its way onto the ceiling and suddenly jumped down on Gadreel from above. A corrosive net left its body and came down on the Angel, hoping to trap the unsuspecting prey.
Except that never happened. As soon as the spider made its move, the Angel who looked like he was procrastinating suddenly dodged to the side, evading the net. The spider realized it was a trap, but by then it was already too late.
The explosion was spectacular.
The servants of Crypt Entertainment pushed and pushed, dropping countless bodies every time. That by itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was when all of these bodies were from the same side of the fight. Gadreel easily kept the corpses a safe distance away. Katie didn't even try to do that. She simply tanked all of the strikes, growing stronger and faster with every hit she incurred.
Honestly, Katie was fine with having this fight go on forever. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really going to happen.
The last corpse collapsed with Katie’s Knife in its throat. As the brunette pulled the weapon back out and looked around, she saw that the second floor was practically a butcher shop by now. The blood...the smell...oh, what did she possibly do to deserve such a beautiful scene?
She turned and glanced at Gadreel, unsurprised that he survived the encounter. Without a word with the Angel, Katie headed for the stairs that presumably led to the third floor. She has had her fun. Now, it was time to fulfill her promise.
It turned out that she didn't exactly need to, because just as she reached the doorway leading to the staircase, the door was suddenly opened, and a figure stumbled into the room.
Katie frowned and took a few steps back. There was a look of disgust on her face...not because the figure was that gross or terrifying. In fact, Katie was rarely disturbed by things like gore. What really made her cringe was what the figure was wearing...an old, blue jacket! Blue! It was a little better than grey, but...oh god! In the name of fashion!
The Owner didn't know why Katie looked like she just saw something filthy. All he did was hold his hands up to tell the pair that he harbored no hostility...at least not anymore.
“Well, well...let me guess.” Katie shrugged, barely able to look at the Owner’s poor taste of style. “You’re the culprit behind this mess, right? The owner of this cinema? What should I call you? The Producer? The Director?”
The Owner frowned, not really knowing what to say. Is my name really the most important thing to figure out right now? Then again, this was the same person who decided to hand out business cards to vampires and werewolves and numerous other monsters. Nothing she did was really that surprising.
Gadreel took a step forward and stood beside Katie. Unlike Katie, however, he was a little more serious. At the same time, the fury in his voice was clear.
“Ready to meet your end, scum?”
Gadreel was an interesting character. On one hand, he was practical. He wanted to stay alive, and he was willing to be seen as a traitor to accomplish that. He did his best to stay away from trouble, especially trouble that he couldn’t handle. When he was first thrown into the movie, he lied to Katie, claiming that he was powerless when he could’ve broken out of the movie the entire time.
Why? Simple. Gadreel couldn’t say for sure that he could break out of this cinema, so he wanted to show the owner of the cinema that he was fine with making some concessions. Kill these kids if you want. Also, if you want and can, kill Katie. I don’t care. As long as you let me go, I am fine with watching the innocent get torn to pieces. Ultimately, Gadreel wanted to tell the cinema that he wasn’t here to make it pay for its crimes.
At the same time, Gadreel was an Angel, not a psychopath. He wasn’t compassionate enough to run around, fighting the evil and giving up his own life protecting the innocent. That being said, having been inside a human body for so long, he was still capable of making friends or showing emotions.
In the movie, Gadreel found himself growing rather fond of Aaron, much like how Katie grew fond of James. He respected Aaron for his bravery in the face of adversity, and he also sympathized with the young man for his approach to faith.
The young man taught him a lesson, and Gadreel felt like he should protect Aaron in return.
But all of that was no more than a facade. A joke. Gadreel suspected the cinema wanted the group on that grass field, just so the two boys had the opportunity to tell their stories and get close to Katie and Gadreel. This way, when the truth was finally revealed, the pair would be hurt.
This plan worked perfectly. When it was revealed that the boys have been wraiths all along, that whatever words came out of their mouths were no more than scripts, Gadreel was hurt. He felt cheated and betrayed. Most importantly, he felt insulted. He already tried to be nice and polite with the cinema, but instead of returning this concession with respect, this cinema decided to insult him further.
Well, now he was confronting the Owner of the cinema, and it was time to make the man pay for his arrogant insults.
The Owner waved his hand at the threat. He was terrified, truly terrified. Honestly, he didn't want to come down from the third floor in the first place, but the fact was that he was cornered. The only way out was down. Plus, he was the owner of Crypt Entertainment, and his fate was linked with that of the cinema.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
All the pair had to do was destroy the cinema, and he would be done.
“My apologies, Angel.” He first spoke to Gadreel. As far as he could see, the Angel was the most threatening member of the pair. Without him, Katie might be a nuisance, but she would be far from fatal. After all, wasn't Gadreel responsible for breaking out of his movie? “It was a foolish decision.”
“Appreciate the apology, but I’m afraid it’s too late.”
Gadreel had no intention of letting this go. No...he didn't carve his way through a horde of undead and exhaust a large portion of his power just to hear a ‘sorry’. Without another word, his needles appeared between him and the Owner, ready to strike.
A look of fear flashed across the Owner’s face, but he still had one more card to play.
“You hate me, Angel. I understand that. However, how much is that hatred worth?” The Owner tilted his head as he stared into Gadreel’s eyes. The Angel hated him. He wanted to tear his guts out before burning this place to the ground, but this didn't mean the Owner was hopeless.
The Angel was angry, but the Owner? He was rich.
On the side, Katie, who had uncharacteristically been a brilliant audience, found herself coughing. Really? Your answer to someone who wants your head is by paying them? That’s like someone going onto the street, punching a large thug with tattoos on his face, and then paying him ten thousand dollars not to punch back.
“What?”
Gadreel couldn’t believe his ears as well. You want to bribe me?
The Owner continued as if he didn't see the look on the pair’s face. He waved his hand, and a few objects floated into place between the three of them.
“The essence of a Vampire Count.” He pointed at a glass bottle floating in the air. There was something red inside. “It can transform someone into a Vampire, and I’m not talking about the losers that get lit up under the sun. Real Vampires that have few fatal weaknesses. The sun will only make them mildly uncomfortable.”
“Let me go, and this is yours. You can use it however you like.” He suddenly winked at the Angel. “I know a lot of girls who will be more than happy to give themselves to you for a path into the supernatural world...I have personally been with a few Vampire girls. Gotta say...it was quite the ride!”
Gadreel’s expression didn't change. Katie, on the other side, did look a little tempted…
But for the Angel, the offer only made him more furious. He took another step forward as the Owner quickly presented a few more items in an attempt to strike a bargin.
“Ok...how about this? A cursed item from a haunted house? It has been moved across four houses already. All of the owners of the house died not long after receiving the item. No?”
“Fine! How about this? See this trinket? A Demon is sealed inside this trinket. You’re an Angel, right...aren’t you people enemies of Demons? I know things have been a little different lately but...it’ll still be one less Demon on this planet!”
Gadreel wasn’t moved. Katie supposed he was either really determined to go for the kill, or maybe he knew if he killed the Owner, he could still keep these things.
The Owner kept on backing off. He looked like he was being forced into a corner, both figuratively and literally. Katie sighed. She wanted to go in for the kill, but it seemed like Gadreel would receive the honor.
Then again, as someone who had always been the best and only fighter in the groups, Katie was glad to have someone else do the killing blow for once. As for her...she was fine with sitting back and observing the man’s demise. If only she had some popcorn with her...
That was when the Owner made one final offer.
“Tell me, Angel…” As Gadreel’s needles were almost inside of him, the Owner spoke up once again. “Have you ever wondered something? Most of the supernatural beings out there in the city...they are mindless, bloodthirsty beasts who will attack anything in their territory, let it be defenseless humans or fellow monsters. They don’t even have minds of their own, being no more than slaves to their instincts. So how did I get them to sit in the same halls as hundreds of others and watch the movies?”
“And are the movies really so appealing? Is entertainment alone enough to warrant entities to give up their essence for? How does trading with them even work if they can’t think in the first place?”
The needles came to a stop. The fury on Gadreel’s face was still there, but Katie could see the Angel was pausing. He was thinking.
“Here is why.” The Owner continued, satisfied to see the thoughtful look on Gadreel’s face. “Crypt Entertainment has this...ability. I don’t know how it happened, but wild supernatural entities will be attracted to this cinema. Inside the cinema, the natural beast-like instincts of these beasts will be suppressed, and their minds, their logic, will take over for the moment.”
“This effect will disappear if these entities leave the cinema without watching any films, but every time these entities watch movies, they will be able to retain their true selves for a period of time out there in the wild.”
He pointed at Katie.
“And that’s not it. One of my pets that she killed...she had the essence of a ten-year-old girl tortured and murdered. In order to get that essence, I made a movie around what happened to that wraith. This was able to permanently give the wraith her true self back. Whereas in the past she was a wild beast, now...she is a human once again.”
“Well, humans with supernatural powers...and a lot of hate. But a human nonetheless.”
Gadreel was slightly taken back. Unlike Katie, whose knowledge of the supernatural world was still rather limited, he knew how significant this was. Just like what he told Katie in front of the cinema, most of the entities in this city, as powerful as they were, didn't really have minds of their own. This meant they could never band together into a single faction like the Angels or the Dark Pantheon. This also meant they could never be bargained with.
But if this cinema could truly give these beasts their thoughts back...there were so many possibilities with this! A power like this was priceless!
“The monsters out there are...interesting. Once their thoughts return to them in the cinema, they can no longer accept the possibility of becoming animals once again. They will do anything to avoid that fate, which means they will pay whatever price I ask.”
This time, the Owner took a step forward. This time, it was the deadly needles that retreated.
“You are an Angel. I know about your people’s struggle against all the new factions. The Dark Pantheon. Section U. These factions have been hunting down your people by the thousands, pushing your kind out of city after city.” The man in the filthy blue jacket made one final push. “Forge an alliance with me, and you will essentially have command over an army of supernatural monsters that will fight for you against any foe you want dead. You can use them to save your people and maybe one day take back your planet.”
The man shrugged.
"Of course, they will never fight to the death...otherwise they would've stood in your way when you started this rampage. Nonetheless, think about it! All the feral supernatural entities in this city, under your command!"
That was the final straw. Gadreel wasn’t the loyal Angel the Owner thought he was, but that didn't mean he didn't need the army. If anything, this meant he needed the army even more. With an army, he had a better chance of surviving the pursuit of the Angels. Maybe he could even force the Angels to the negotiation table and remove that threat altogether!
And if he had even more ambition, maybe he could even build a faction on his own?
As for avenging Aaron...Gadreel was a practical person. When the moment of fury passed, logic returned. After the fall of Heaven, he could no longer afford to use his celestial powers forever. Sooner or later, he would need to refrain from using it altogether, likely rendering him powerless. By that time, having an army protecting him would greatly increase his chances of survival.
Killing the Owner wouldn’t accomplish anything aside from giving him some satisfaction. Letting him alive...it could mean so much more.
In the end, the Angel turned his back on Aaron in an act of betrayal. He took the bribe.
“Fine.” His needles disappeared into thin air, showing his change in attitude. “That’s a deal.”
The Owner grinned, a mocking look on his face. Just as he was about to do something, Katie suddenly walked up from the side. Her Knife was in her hand.
Gadreel suddenly had a terrible feeling about this, especially since he realized Katie had no reason to spare the Owner. An army? The thought of an army following her around and fighting her fights would make Katie sick!
“Katie…” He warned, but Katie ignored him.
“Nice speech, producer, but you forgot one thing.” She headed right for the Owner. “That Angel isn’t the only one you pissed off, and unlike him, my mercy can’t be bought. You pissed me off, and now, nothing's gonna stop me from making you pay the price.”
“So tell me...how would you like to die?”