Lurking in the Shadows

«Chapter Two»

I read over each of the three pages of what Raven gave me about twenty times now, and each time it just infuriates me more and more. I so badly want to just destroy the file, but still, that little voice inside me tells me not to, so I leave it alone.

I decide to pace around my room and be left with my thoughts so I don't give in to what my brain tells me to do, and I decide to trust my gut with the file. Not that I really see what saving the minuscule amount of information will do me.

Severin gave me the contract, why? There are plenty of other demons in this place that could probably do a much better job at catching this guy then I could, and that could even make sense of any of that garbage now laying on the foot of my bed.

Severin also isn't allowed to make these kinds of decisions without the consent of the Council, who, altogether, keep this place secure, in order, and running. The A.O.A isn't really anything without them. So that means that they all believed that I was good for this job? Why?

I decide to get out of my room, and clear my head a little more. Raven said that I would probably die trying to kill, whoever my target is, and I probably will given that I don't know anything about him. He could even be a she for all I know!

I leave my room, closing the iron door behind me somewhat calmly. Lunch is probably over by now, but I head over to the cafeteria anyway. There, I find an empty table near the back and take a seat, thinking over what in hell I'm going to do with my contract. I could possibly go talk to Severin about it, but then again, he is the one that gave Raven the contract to give to me in the first place, so he probably won't have anything new for me. This is so frustrating.

Just as I start to get completely submerged in my own thoughts, I'm yanked back out of them by a body crashing into my table and sending it a few inches to the same direction. I gasp and jump back, catching my leg on the seat and falling to the floor hard. Thankfully, I don't hit my head on anything, though it was close since the nearest wall is about two inches away.

"What the hell?" I shout, looking at the other demon who had moved the table.

"Sorry, bro!" The demon replies, turning to look at my slightly damaged body on the floor. His eyes are electric blue and glow somewhat, his hair is platinum blonde, but also a bit brown in some places, and has a large streak of a darker blue down the side. His skin is a ghostly pale, but yet again, so is practically everyone else's down here unless they bathe in the lava pools, which isn't ideal for a lot of us.

"DIE!" Another demon shouts, and the light demon smiling at me quickly whips his head around and just barely has enough time to dodge a ball of sparks, that lands on the table and explodes into the air, sending blue bolts to the ceiling.

"Virus, lets talk about this!"

"NO! Do you realize what you've done, Die? What you've cost me?" The electric demon screams, his eyes glowing. His words help me realize that he wasn't shouting at the light demon to die, but his name is Die.

"I'm sorry!"

"Sorry isn't going to fix shit!" Another ball of lightning is shot from the electric demons hands, aiming for the others head. Just like before, he just barely misses it.

This time, the other demon goes running, earning two more, smaller orbs flying his way. I stand back up, a bit embarrassed that I just sat there on the floor the entire time through that, and look at the table. There is a large circle of ash extending from the centre of the shape, but somehow, my contract papers seem mostly unharmed other than one crisped corner, just pushed over from the force. I grab them and decide that I'm done here.

Die and Virus, that was their names? I've seen them around before, but I never interacted with them since I never needed to. Along with pretty much every other demon in this facility, I know who they are, and I know most of their names, but anything other than that is unknown to me except for obvious information, like their races and the kinds of demons they hunt and kill.

All of the thoughts in my head make me glitch like crazy, and I don't even notice it until I spot my reflection in a puddle of water. I sigh and back away from the spill, gripping my hair with one hand, and clenching the papers in my other hand.

"Stressed?" A voice says next to me.

I look over to see the only demon of her kind, a water demon. I've never directly interacted with her, not that I can remember anyway, but I know her name to be Azura.

I exhale sharply. "What gave it away?"

"Something between your white knuckles, and the fact that you, an electric demon, are standing next to a water puddle, especially while you're already fizzing out like that." She raises a blonde brow with a soft smile. I grimace and growl, looking away from her and releasing my hair.

I look back at the puddle, but its floating off toward Azura, and I look back at her to see her waving her hands slowly, gracefully, and the water obeys her gentle motions and flies toward her palms. Carefully, she mends the liquid into an orb, holding it floating between her hands.

"I'll go find a fire demon to evaporate this so no one gets hurt. Or a frost demon to freeze it, whoever comes along." Azura grins kindly. It makes me wonder how she's so respected here, she's nice and shows affection to the others here. I guess maybe she does things that I'm unaware of that cause the other demons to have no choice but to have respect for her.

"I'm strong, and good at my job. That's why other demons here respect me." Azura says, breaking me out of my thoughts. I blink and look at her, feeling my body glitch once.

"Wha-? Did I say that out loud?"

Azura's smile doesn't fade, and she chuckles softly, looking at the ball of water in her hands. "No."

"Then... how did you...?"

Azura doesn't say another word. She just tilts her head, her grey eyes shining. Then, she turns around and walks away, dismissing me and leaving me with more questions then I initially had.