Day 5
Into The Hunting Division PT II:
The Ties That Bind
Evan Stark. That's the name that was given to me by the girl I was charged with protecting ten years ago. I don't know exactly where or what gave her the idea of giving such a weird name, but the name itself had a nice ring to it so I went along with it. I don't remember much about who I was before I met Lauren. In fact my earliest memory is from when I first met her that night.
Back when I was still….. different. I may not know much about what I was like from back then but I do know that I hated my appearance. I hated looking like a monster. Back then, it was Lauren who helped me see myself as more than just a creature made for battle. She helped me realise that while I was a demon that's not all I had to be.
I will always be grateful to her for that. That's why I became her Guardian Devil in the first, it was my way of saying thanks for showing me the brighter side of things and for the past ten years Lauren has continued being a beacon of light for me. The way I described her one would think I had romantic feelings for her but trust me, our relationship is strictly platonic. I'm her Guardian Devil and she's my Guarded Child. That means that she's essentially my daughter, like how god-parents act as back up parents for their god-child. That aside, my point was that Lauren will always be special to me and nobody in this world could take her place. That being said; at this very moment I found myself enamored and speechless.
Twenty minutes ago Wednesday arrived at the CIB Headquarters for Lauren's initiation, to decide whether or not she's fit to be an agent for the CIB and which division she'll join when she's accepted. During said initiation, the proctor started a fight with me for no reason at all. I blew him away with one punch of course, poor chap didn't even stand a chance against me, but despite my flawless victory Lauren saw it fit to scold me for my victory instead of praising me.
I found her reason for pulling my ear to be completely baseless and frankly just a tad bit annoying so I fought back as gently as I could….. by being as loud as possible. Our intensely invested conversation drew the attention of an experienced veteran who was quite gorgeous if I might add. The veteran woman urged us to follow her leading us through the sweat infested halls of the HQ, that were dominated by the stench of coffee and expired donuts.
After swerving through the corridors we arrived at a spacious room lined with a desk in it's center, several art works adorned it's walls with a single long bookshelf standing against the wall.
"Please sit." Said the veteran woman as she sat down on the desk, opposite our direction.
Lauren sat down first. Her face filled with anxiety. As for myself, I was too occupied with the veteran's face to realize that I was still standing even though I was very clearly asked to sit down.
"Is he alright?" the veteran asked Lauren.
"He's fine!" Said Lauren, shooting me a look that clearly said "Sit down!"
I sat down and set my hands on the table. According to Lauren it was a show of faith, an indicator of how completely harmless I am.
"Before we begin, let me introduce myself," she began. "My name is Claire German. I'm the current chief of the CIB's Retrieval Division."
Retrieval Division?
If I remembered correctly the Retrieval Division is the division responsible for bringing in celestials that have been convicted. They're basically like glorified bounty hunters, and the woman sitting in front of me is the one in charge of them.
"Nico to meet you, I'm Lauren and this is-"
"Evan Stark, correct?" Claire said cutting off Lauren.
"Have we met before?"
If we did I'm pretty sure I'd remember. I mean it'd be hard to forget a woman like Claire.
"No this is our first time meeting. I'm fact up till three days ago I wasn't even aware of your existence."
Well that was rude.
The chief continued, "Imagine my surprise when the commander said that she was gonna bring in a human incapable of using Angel Armour or even demonic magic but instead has something that can trump both. A 'Devil Guardian' she said."
Lauren's hands flinched slightly as she rested them on her lap. I wanted to grab her hand to reassure her but I was currently occupied with maintaining my show of faith.
"Why did you call us here?" she said finally.
"One of my officers was just knocked unconscious, your Guardian is the one who knocked him out, so you tell me what you're doing here."
"Are you going to punish us?"
Claire thought for a moment. Her eyes fiddled between me and Lauren, and a few piles of papers in her drawers. She fished her drawer for a little while before bringing out a case file.
"I won't punish you. That being said, I'm not letting you walk away from this Scott free."
Scott?
"What does Scott have to do with anything?" I blurted.
"No Evan, it's just something that people say when they don't wanna let you get away with something." Lauren corrected.
"So we're not talking about an actual person?"
"Not in this case no."
"But we are gonna be talking about a celestial, a demon to be precise," Claire added. "It's name is Reztect, roughly a week ago it was charged and trailed for murder. After receiving the death penalty he broke away from his escorts and disappeared. We've been searching for him ever since."
"Let me guess, you want us to find this demon?" Lauren guessed.
"You catch on quick."
"But I don't have a badge let alone a license."
"Both of which will be granted to you once the job is done." Claire's poker face did little to hide her obvious amusement in putting us in that situation.
"How am I supposed to find this demon?" Lauren said exasperated.
"You have a Guardian Devil. Correct me if I'm wrong but demons do sense other demons right?"
"….right."
"Then that's that. Good luck."
Claire waved us out of the room then shut the door when we made our exit. It hadn't even been an hour since we got here but we were already sent to work like dogs. My gut told me that this was only the start of my worries regarding the CIB. And as for Claire German, I'd have to make sure to never forget her name