'There is someone who might help us..' Maevé said in a low voice, and I snapped my head toward her.
She cringed under both mine and Kieran's stares but kept her cool, saying, 'Beelzebub.'
I raised my eyebrows in thought, 'He was the demon master's assistant..'
'But will he share it with us willingly?' Kieran voiced out.
I snorted, 'No, of course not.'
My eyes met Maevè's, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing when she said, 'A feast.'
'A feast?' Kieran said from somewhere behind us but we were already rushing out of the room.
'You get the meat, I'll get the wine,' We nodded and went our separate ways.
A glimpse behind me showed Kieran's confused expression so I sighed and told him, 'Get the fruit and meet us back there,' I pointed to the old building we had just emerged from, '-in an hour.'
With that, I headed toward the woods. Our idea was to give him a grant feast, considering Beelzebub was the sin of gluttony.
As per the agreement between Hell and Heaven, demons weren't allowed to interfere in human lives. Azrael, and I, were exempted from this rule to some extent since we were responsible for collecting their souls.
Everyone within Hell knew that humans were delicious. This was because, previously, when the rule didn't exist, demons had fed on humans all the time.
Beelzebub- specifically, was known for his liking for human meat and blood. Earlier, when Maevè had mentioned wine, it had been code for human blood. She was going to rob blood bags from hospitals, or maybe even drain fresh blood from one or two humans.
We'll have to be careful, though. So as not to alert the demons or the angels that we were breaking the rules. This is why I was rushing through the forest right now, in search of some hunters or a nature-loving freak.
I had to create a diversion that would conceal the human's death.
A pair of two hunters standing a few feet away flashed in my vision. I stopped and turned, my feet light and steady so as not to alert them to my presence.
I noticed that they were holding rifles and squatting behind a huge tree trunk. In the distance, I could see a deer peacefully eating leaves.
One deer wouldn't conceal the death of two humans, I would need at least four animals to hide their essence completely.
My eyes analyzed the area, far and wide. There were a lot of monkeys and snakes, but I needed something bigger.
Finally, I closed in on an elephant. It was a grown-up and more than enough to compensate for an entire human being.
I picked out three random knives, holding each of them in the right direction. One for the two humans, one for the deer and one for the elephant.
I let it soar through the air, using my telekinesis to help guide the knives through the air.
There was a whoosh and four bodies dropped dead to the floor. I walked over to the humans to find them convulsing on the forest floor, clutching their bloody throats.
Finally, when their bodies went slack, I squatted on the floor and used my shadows to conceal them.
The shadows spilt out and covered the bodies from head to toe, lifting them in the air. Luckily, the shadows were only visible to the supernatural creatures so humans won't be able to see the bodies.
I walked over to the deer, contemplating if I should take a piece of it as well. I think Beelzebub would like the elephant more since it's considered a delicacy everywhere.
I let one of the bodies drop to the floor near the deer before walking toward the elephant. I wasn't sure how I was going to hide the elephant because that would require a lot of shadows.
So I decided to use one of my knives to slice the elephant in half. Demon knives were a lot more precise and sharp than the ones humans used. They could slice through bone as if it was made of wax.
We kept it that way because demons and angels were hard to kill and we had to be ready for a fight.
I let my shadows conceal half of the elephant, the one with the head attached. Beelzebub had a thing for eyes.
Now I had to find a chef. It would be hard to get a human chef to cook one of their fellow humans, but I could hypnotise them. Although, personally, demons were better chefs because they would know how to cook a human better.
But I didn't trust any other demons to keep this a secret. I analyzed a few restaurants nearby, trying to detect which one radiated negative energy the most.
Those will be much easier to manipulate without having to use my powers. I was still on edge from killing the humans so I didn't want to raise any more suspicions per se.
There was one restaurant, in particular, that was giving off a really negative energy. It was about five minutes away and called Plins'.
The restaurant, itself, was tiny and built like a large brick oven. I rolled my eyes at the typical design most humans go for, it was so cliche.
I wanted to turn around and hopefully beg the demon chefs to cook the humans but I couldn't risk it. So I swallowed my pride and walked inside.
It was empty, which was to be expected. The dining room was filled with wooden chairs and tables. Opposite me was the cash register, but no one was present there.
I could hear a few sounds from the room that was hidden by curtains, it was directly behind the cash register.
A few moments later, a large egg-shaped person stammered outside, saying, 'Welcome, welcome.'
I was seriously considering if I should simply cook him for Beelzebub. There was so much meat and fat on his bones.
I winced as he came over to me, scrutinizing him from head to toe to see if my detector had made a mistake.
As soon as he was near me, I bent down to his level and stared into his eyes. I let one tiny shadow absorb into his body. He jerked and blinked.
His pupils dilated until all I could see was the white of his eyes. He bowed, almost toppling over as he said, 'At your service, madam.'
I swept past him and straight toward the curtain-covered room. But I came to a halt as soon as I saw the blood-splattered walls.
'Oh, madam, I apologize for the mess,' He rushed past me, and I quickly moved to the side to avoid touching the nasty human.
He grabbed a few rabbit heads that were covered almost the entire counter, throwing them all into the bin.
Then, he went over to a huge boiling pot. I could only vaguely make out a few legs popping out from the top. But I wasn't sure if they were chicken feet or rabbit legs.
'You see,' He said, as he stirred the pot with a large spatula,' I was experimenting with some rabbits, trying to see if I could mix them with chicken.'
I decided to humour him as I walked around the kitchen. There were blood splatters all over the walls and floors which made me wonder if he had brought in live rabbits and chickens. It looked like a slaughterhouse.
'Any success?' I asked as I let my human drop on one of the counters with a thud. The shadows rushed back to me, and I felt a rush of energy surge through me.
The chef was so busy with his animals that he didn't even notice the body behind him. Instead, he said while tasting the soup, 'Hmm, the soup tastes alright. Too salty, I think.'
He turned, probably to get some lemons but screamed when he saw the body.
Unfortunately, the shadows had devoured his clothes and there were slight black marks covering his body.
This was one of the problems of using shadows, they were always too eager to feed. I couldn't leave them with a body for too long without worrying about them eating it up.
The chef was having a panic attack so I let another tiny shadow fly toward him. He jerked again but went back to his normal, ecstatic state.
'Oh, madam, what a delicious find!' He clapped his hands as he surveyed the human from top to bottom.
'Make it presentable,' I ordered the chef as he let his chubby hands skim the surface in anticipation.
'Yes, yes, madam. You need worry not,' With that, he rushed over to his knives and grabbed two of the largest out of the pair.
He was slicing through the abdomen when Maevé's call came through. I didn't want the chef to hear our conversation but I wasn't ready to leave him alone with the body.
Just to be safe, I let another shadow swim toward him. The more I kept him in control, the fewer chances of him creating problems for me.
I let Maevé's call through, asking as soon as her face appeared, 'How's it going?'
'Pretty good, actually,' I noticed that she was slurping something and frowned because it was impossible to make out colours in these calls.
Although I suspected it was blood, I still asked, 'Are you drinking blood?'
'Mhm, it's really good. No wonder Beelzebub loves it,' She moved the camera a bit behind her so I was able to see a nurse placing small bags into a crate.
'How do you plan on carrying that?' I questioned, as my eyes kept going back and forth between Maevé and the chef.
'No, no, I won't be carrying that. I just got a manicure,' I gave her a 'what the hell are you talking about, you don't even have a body' look, but she simply ignored me and pointed at the tiny human, 'She will.'
I chuckled and turned my camera toward the chef, who was now stuffing the insides of the human with seasoning. Maevé squealed, saying, 'Now that's a finger-licking human.'
I laughed, 'There's another body in the forest if you're so eager.'
I let my sentence hang in the air, as Maeve's eyes were filled with mischievousness.
'Tonight, we feast on human flesh,' She rubbed her hands while grinning evilly.
I laughed, saying, 'I'll see you later.'
The call ended, and I redirected my attention to the chef. But I panicked when neither he nor the body was there.
My eyes searched the room but it was empty. I quickly scanned the area with my mind as my feet rushed out of the kitchen into the dining room.
I could detect his presence but it was fading fast. I sprinted out of the restaurant, following his energy like a made wolf rushing after his newest target.
But I was angry at the chef. That pesky little human, this is exactly why none of them deserved to live.
I reached a park with barely any people. But the chubby chef was there, dragging the human body across the ground.
Well, I guess that cleared my name for murder. I marched over to him as he threw the body into the fountain.
I opened my mouth to give him a good scolding, when he interrupted, 'Oh good, madam, you're here. I didn't want to interrupt but I also had to boil the body.'
I frowned, 'Boil the body?' I wasn't a cook by any means, so I had no idea what he was doing.
He glanced at me in surprise,' Yes, of course. How else are you supposed to eat it, madam?'
Uh..' I didn't know what to say so I simply glanced at the body and the sun shining atop our heads. 'So you just need to warm it up right?'
'Mm, you could say that, but not exa-'
I let my fire cover the body entirely as the little chef beside me screamed once again. He backed away as the body cooked, or maybe it was burning, I had no idea.
I vanquished my flames when the smell of burning flesh reached me. The skin had turned golden brown and looked scaly. There was no hair left on his head or any other part of his body.
'Wow..' The chef murmured from beside me.
'Start dragging,' I glared at the little peasant for making me stand under the heat for so long. Stupid humans think they know everything.
We reached his good-for-nothing restaurant a few minutes later. I helped lift the body onto the counter once more, and he added a few finishing touches.
He asked me to hold the body's legs in a way so it resembled a turkey. The legs were placed in a praying position. The rest of his body was splayed in a zigzag motion, with his head tucked toward his genitals.
Then he squeezed some lemon on it, and some green stuff that I didn't know the name of. Lastly, placed some loaves of bread around the tray.
As soon as was done, I let the concealed, elephant drop on of the other counters. The chef's eyes snapped to it and he stammered out with glistening eyes, 'An elephant..'
In this one, he separated the head and legs. He took out a huge cooker, filled it up with water and let the two drop into it. He set it aside to cook on one of the stoves as he worked on the elephant's torso.
I kept drifting in and out of sleep as he did the same thing with the elephant that he did with the human.
He asked me to use my fire to cook the torso, while he changed the water for the elephant's head and legs. He added some seasoning and let it cook for a while.
Then, 'Madam..' He started, and I immediately tensed, 'May I ask who this grand feast is for?'
'No!' I snapped at him as I glared at the elephant. Stupid humans are always so nosy.
I let my fire fade and noticed that the chef worked meekly. He splayed the head and the legs on another day, and the torso on another.
I thought he was done when he grabbed something from the refrigerator. A spicy scent filled the room and my eyes watered.
'What is that?' I coughed, trying to get rid of the smell.
'Salsa. You should try some, madam,' He lifted the jar toward me, and I backed away with my hands in the air.
He added the weird-smelling sauce to both the human and the elephant, splaying a generous amount on each.
Then, he brought over some red stuff and sprinkled some, saying, 'Sundried tomatoes, great for eating with meat.'
He backed away, raised his arms in the air and exclaimed, 'Bon appetit!'
I simply rolled my eyes, and let my shadows come back to me. The chef fainted as soon as the three shadows left his body.
It gave me enough time to conceal the three trays and leave. I walked back to the abandoned building and saw Kieran already standing there with a truckload of fruits.
He whistled, pretending not to see me as I glared at him, 'What the hell are you trying to do?'
'Who? Me?' He gave me a wide-eyed, innocent look.
I huffed in annoyance, looking around for Maevé as I said distractedly, 'Don't play dumb with me, pretty boy..'
But as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I noticed a glimpse of something shiny in the distance.
My knife was already out and flying toward the mysterious creature before Kieran even realized that we were surrounded by lost souls.
So I told Kieran as I got out my daggers, 'I'll take care of them, you take care of the food.'
Then, I held a dagger around his throat and he winced, 'You'll protect it with your life, or I will kill you.'
'Yes, ma'am,' He stammered out in a meek voice, sounding like a deer caught in headlights.
'Oh, and call Maevé,' I didn't bother standing around to hear what he said but rushed for the lost souls at full speed.
My knives were swiping out in every which way in a blur of colours. I had no idea if any knife caught onto one of the souls, and I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
I was surrounded by black. The darkness was all around me that I could barely see past it to what was happening outside. But I really hoped that my attack had drawn all the lost souls toward me so they wouldn't rush for Kieran.
I really don't think I could afford another human body so soon. Plus, that chef was annoying. One more minute in the same room as him, and I would end up killing myself.
The cold feel of the souls was like fire on my skin. I knew it would bruise but I didn't care right now.
With this many lost souls around me, I figured it was time to get rid of them in one collective sweep of fire.
It would be exhausting, sure. Considering I was already using my shadows to conceal the three trays, but I had to do it.
So, I let out a burst of power toward the darkness. White and orange flashed in my vision as smoke filled my nostrils. The screams of lost souls was all that I could hear for a while until they faded, and I was able to see the blue sky clearly.
I sank to my knees in exhaustion as dust floated around me, leftovers from the lost souls.
I didn't realise I was breathing heavily until someone placed something sweet-smelling near my lips. I didn't bother looking up, knowing it was some weird fruit out of the hundreds Kieran had stolen.
I took a bite, moaning as the sweet juice energized me, 'You know what would be even better?'
I looked up, taking the fruit from Kieran's hand and using him to lift myself up from the floor. I gave him a sly grin and he groaned. I whispered in his ear, 'Human blood.'
I laughed at his expression but quieted down when I noticed that Maevé wasn't around. I was just about to ask when Kieran started in a hesitant voice, 'Náli..'
I turned toward him, a frown etched onto my face as I stared at his worrisome expression, 'Where is she?'
Kieran sighed and looked up, 'She won't pick up. I tried thrice but every time it said unreachable. It's possible.. that..'
'That?' I prodded him on to continue.
'That Azrael ordered her to return to Limbo,' He finished with a steady stare, and I caught onto his meaning immediately.
'It's all my fault,' I paced around as I cursed myself internally for being so careless. Of course, Azrael would know since she's responsible for collecting human souls.
But something didn't make sense. I came to a halt as I looked up at Kieran and said, 'Azrael can't collect souls anymore, she's trapped in Limbo.'
'But we can,' Kieran said without missing a beat. I blinked for a second, unable to understand what he was implying.
Yes, Azrael's power would alert her to the collection of two souls, but her powers aren't enough to rival the barrier surrounding Limbo.
No creature- human or supernatural could get out of Limbo unless reborn as a human. Even this only applied to supernatural creatures.
'I didn't tell you this before,' Kieran began, 'But, Azrael has assigned us to the task of collecting souls.'
My eyes narrowed as the fire burst from my palms. Kieran backed away with his hands raised, 'I'm on your side. So is Maevé. We want Azrael to fall as much as you do.'
'You better explain quickly what's going on,' I raised my fire in the air as a warning.
'Yes,' He nodded, eyes going back and forth between my face and my palm as he said, 'Those lost souls that appeared a few minutes ago, it's possible that they were here to collect the human souls.'
'But the bodies are in the forest,' I raised an eyebrow.
'We can sense a supernatural presence around. Plus,' He looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, '-almost all lost souls hate demons.'
'Oh,' I said, not knowing what to say to that. None of us said anything after that. But I was turning Kieran's over in my head, thinking what if he and Maevé grow to hate demons as well?
I shook my head to get rid of such petty thoughts. We were on a mission.
'Will she be okay?' I asked Kieran after a few minutes.
He nodded, distractedly.
I turned away, letting the three trays I had been carrying drop into the truck as I said, 'You should go. I'll take care of the rest here.'
I didn't bother sticking around to see if he left or not, walking to the front of the truck.
The keys were still in place and there was no window so I jumped inside. I had just turned on the ignition when Kieran's face appeared.
'Wait here,' He disappeared before I could ask what he meant. I was considering leaving but I knew it must be something important.
I planned to get blood bags from some nearby hospital. I had no idea which one Maevé had gone to, but I was counting on a coincidence.
Then, a few minutes later, Kieran appeared and almost stumbled face-first into the truck.
'Woah, slow down,' I reached my hands out as if to catch his head before remembering that he didn't have a solid body anymore.
'Okay.. so..' He started, 'Maeve went to Slims Hospital, which is a few feet from here.'
He pointed toward the other end of the road, instead of the corner we were standing in, saying, 'Turn around the turn and follow the road to the left. Go straight ahead and the hospital should be on your left at the end of the road.'
I nodded as I prepared to turn the truck around while asking, 'Okay, thanks. How did you know?'
He didn't say anything, and I snapped my head toward him, raising an eyebrow at his distant expression. He was looking anywhere but I and it pissed me for some reason.
'What?' I spit out, a slight edge of anger in my voice as I rapped my fingers against the steering wheel.
But, Kieran disappeared just then in a whoosh of wind, leaving me to wonder what had just happened. I decided to put this at the back of my mind and focused on getting the blood bags for now.
There were no more lost souls around, as Kieran had predicted so it was easy getting to the hospital.
Inside, I could feel Maeve's negative energy and followed the thread until it led me to the blood bank. There, a woman was lying on the floor, and I figured that was probably from the powerful magic.
Aside from her in a freezer were packs upon packs of blood bags. It was so full that some had fallen to the floor and spilt. If I couldn't feel the measly human's heartbeat, I would've figured she was dead from all the blood around her.
I walked over her body to the freezer. Letting a bunch of my shadows surround me, I sent them toward the freezer.
They circled the blood bags, absorbing into them quickly. Shadows, like all evil creatures, had a liking for blood. It was no surprise as they rushed for the sweet drink, but I let only one into each bag. I had to save some from Beelzebub as well.
As soon as my shadows had taken control of enough bags, I rushed out of the room with the invisible bags following me.
My steps were hastened, so as not to let the shadows drink too much blood. Anyone who stepped in my way was quickly pushed aside.
Luckily, I was out of the hospital in a matter of minutes. I called back my shadows as the blood bags dropped into the back of the truck one by one.
When the truck was half full of plastic bags, I went over to the front of the truck. I let my blood drip down onto the road, a few feet in front of the truck.
Then, reciting a few words in the demon language, I let the portal to Hell open up.
I rushed over to the truck, letting it fly straight into the portal. The truck landed with a thud on the entrance road of Hell.
One of the demons standing guard on the gate showed up but backed away in fear when he saw my face. Immediately, he swept into a bow as I rolled my eyes and swept past the gates.