Devil hunting chronicles of the impossible city.

Interlude III: The forgotten bride file 1

It was a rather uneventful day for Abram. He has been on standby for at least a week. The next hunt will be carried out by Mr. Cao, so Aurora will remain on the base. He rather appreciated the lack of work lately, at least, especially since it gave him an excuse to finally meet with the other workers of the labyrinth.

'"If you are going to complain about having nothing to do, there are lots of bags of potatoes outside that need to be carried." Aisha was on her break as well. She has been working in the camp kitchen lately, among other things. They were a bit short-handed, so the non-combat workers had to take care of dozens of different tasks. Abram was looking at Aisha, leaning against the wall behind the kitchen. Since the rescue, she had tried her best to be friendly towards him, but since she knew he was a demon summoner, it was clear that she was trying to keep her distance. He did as well. Due to how awkward even trying to speak to her was, he had to accept that the ten years they had spent together had simply returned to nothing. Now they are just a pair of awkward coworkers.

"Sure thing, I have never been good at standing around. " It was strange to Abram that, after so many years of hiding it, she knew everything about his secret, and yet, now that they were strangers, none of his fears became reality. Still, he couldn't completely detach himself from it all and ended up nagging her again.

"Are you still concerned about me or something?" "It was strange because I thought you were just there to hunt... well, to kill that demon. "

"Hardly, I wasn't even a hunter back then, I just heard someone was in danger and I ended up getting involved like a moron. " Abram followed his hands in his pockets, to one of the storages. She didn't seem bothered by his presence, and Abram could only hope that she had as much distance as she had from the devil summoners; she wouldn't mind an extra pair of hands to carry some stuff.

''I still can't believe what Nicholas tried to do, I was unconscious all that time, so when I was awake again, he was already gone, but I knew he kidnapped me... it was the last memory of him I had.''She suddenly spoke of a very heavy subject just as they had entered the storehouse.

"He still made sure to not kill you, but there is no lie that he did something terrible. " Aisha sat down. It seemed she was far more tired than she looked. She may have all of her needs paid for by the hunters now, but having to live underground was taking a toll. She hadn't seen the sun in months. It was clear from how pale she had gotten. '

"He must have been controlled by a demon. He was not in his right mind." "Abram fixed his cap. He knew that was hardly the case, but he couldn't see any reason to interject.

"We have lived together since we were children. The two of us had it rough, but we survived all the same... but he was always angry. He wanted to join one of those gangs. "

"The gang that gave him that demon is no more. We have taken care of them already. Two demons no longer exist now and the slavers are breaking apart due to infighting. " Her expression remained sour as she opened one of the supply crates.

"I don't believe any of you people are what you claim to be... I don't know what the hunters want, but it is not just to get rid of demons. Are you all preparing for some kind of war?

''Beats me, nobody tells me nothing, I just hunt whatever demon they want to be hunted.''She didn't take his bitter answer that well, so he stood in silence for a moment, feeling he was only going to make her dislike him more.

"They forced you to join them, right? I'm sorry, but if you think we are going to get along, at least you need to tell me what stupid reason you had to sell your soul to a demon. " She stood up and walked towards him. He almost felt like he had been taken into a trap. There was no one around, just the two of them. He breathed slowly.

"A long time ago, I was taken by slavers, just like you guys, but someone tried to rescue me." Abram spoke, feeling his throat dry up.

''Someone?''

"There was a woman who attacked the snakes that day. She had rescued me before I was about to be sacrificed... but she ended up taking a bullet for me and died. "

"Who was she? "

"I have no clue, I don't even know if I knew her, I can barely remember what she looked like now... but she was not alone. She had a demon with her, the same demon I have at my side. The truth is that I never made a ritual. How could a mere child ever do that? " She was quiet now, looking very concerned.

"The demon said that the woman gave her life for me and that if I didn't wish to make her sacrifice in vain.... to make a contract with her, and that is what I did, and took care of escape alone... with some friends. Honestly, she only died because I did something dumb and got her killed. She could have saved everyone, I'm sure of it. "

"Something similar happened to us... I wonder if maybe we were in the same place... " She seemed to be in pain from a sudden headache, but after a few minutes, she returned to normal. Abram no longer believed any of her memories could return, so he refused to be disappointed. He helped her quietly and they both went their own ways once more.