The Tumultuous World of A Demi-Demon

Chapter Nine

"No," I plainly stated. "No, I fucken don't."

"How about I let you in on two secrets..."

Taking a step back, my hand hovered over the scalpel in my back pocket. "And what are those exactly?"

"Firstly, my name is Sharq. My sister, who you saw back there, is the big boss over here."

"And the second?"

She leered my every move like a python to its prey. " I know what you are," she confessed, making my heart stop for a second.

"Are you a dev—"

"A devil? Yes, I am." She clapped like an excited toddler. "Well done, kitty, and by that guess, you probably know I can tell who you are merely by your scent. But here's my question for you, kitten: Do you know exactly what we are smelling?" 

"My blood? My vis?" I questioned more than answered.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner, folks." Her childish demeanor dissolved in split seconds into a terrifying sinister one as her voice deepened, "And do you know why we smell them?"

I suppressed my fear as much as I could, but my knees began to wobble. Swallowing my saliva, I admitted, "I d-don't know." Something deep down told me I wouldn't like the answer.

Her grin intensified. "To find our next meal for the night."

I froze. Why was she telling me all of this?

"You're probably wondering why I'm informing you all of this. Did you really believe your dear prince in there didn't eat those before him?"

"What?" I flinched as anxiety eclipsed my thoughts.

"Think about it. He's been in there for almost a year. Most devils burn out in just six months before their body goes rabid and needs to recharge. So, wouldn't it be better to leave him there and make your way out?"

An alarm went off in my head. My entire body stiffened. "You're lying."

"Don't believe me? Then go ask your dear prince in there." 

She took a step towards me, and I took a step back. She cackled some more, and sang, "Don't be so tense, my little kitty. I won't hurt you... not in the near future, that is."

She walked past me to the keypad and dialed some numbers onto it. It pinged then the two doors slid open to reveal a baffled-looking Devlin. However, the moment his bewildered silver eyes settled on my brown ones, a wave of incredulity struck him. I shushed him before he could make a sound and gestured to the cameras in the room then pointed at the gurney. It took a second or two, but once it clicked, he sat down.

I turned to look for the girl with green, but she had vanished. Looking above and below me as well, my eyes darted from one side of the passage to the next, and it was completely empty. Only I stood in the hallway.

Without giving it another thought, I pushed the gurney into the simulation room. Once inside, I laid down the very sickly-looking Devlin onto it. Buckling him down, I kept glancing at the doors, making sure it didn't close.

"How did you get out?" he whispered, completely dumbfounded by the idea I was really in front of him in one piece. "Did anyone follow you? Aren't you still wounded?"

"Wow, for a non-human you sure do ask a lot of freaking questions," I loud-whispered, and he apologized. "I'll tell you everything when we get out of here and into the operating room."

He nodded and complied as I rolled him out. However, as we maneuvered through the multitude of halls before we got to our headquarters, I couldn't help but glance down at him every few seconds and recall what Sharq had said.

'Did you really believe your dear prince in there really didn't eat those before him?'

One of the times, I looked at him for too long, and he picked up on it and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

I stared at him for one last time and just bleated, "You're just remarkably revolting to look at, that's all."

"Bitch." He frowned.

XXX

We made it to the operating room without another encounter. Honestly, the halls were quieter than usual, but I paid no attention to it. Devlin got off the gurney and witnessed the few bodies on the floor. He then turned to me and mouthed, "Nice work, you're a natural."

"Whatever," I replied with a roll of my eyes before walking up to the mirror and lifting my shirt to reveal a bloodied bandage. I caught Devlin staring but all it took was just giving him one dirty look, and he looked the other way. As he found a pair of scrubs to put on, I busied myself with some rebandaging with some fresh gauze and bandages I found in one of the drawers. Upon closer inspection, my wound didn't look as deep and seemed to be clotting nicely, which was a good thing. However, with my anemic self, I needed to be careful from here on out not to wear myself out too quickly.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Devlin as he slipped on his green scrub shirt while turning my way. "Huh, Miss Jules?"

"Are you sure you want me planning? Last time you looked at me like I was crazy," I reminded him.

"Well," he started, kicking one of the bloodied scalpels on the floor, "we've made it this far alive, so I trust you enough with a second plan."

Trust? I laughed internally. That was the last word I would associate with our relationship, especially if what that Sharq lady said was true.

Regardless, I just played along with it and stated, "I don't know. I didn't think this far through."

I was being honest. I was dead lucky that only demons and trolls had been all I had encountered along the way, and the one devil, who I thought was going to annihilate my ass, decided to let me go for some unknown reason. God was on my side for once, but I wondered for how long. 

"Fair enough," he said, leaning on the basin next to my mirror. We sat there for a few more minutes before he snapped his fingers and announced, "I've got it!"

I scanned his face. "Got what?"

"An idea," he specified. "But for it to work, I'm going to need something?"

"And what is that?" I ask while putting the bandages away.

He tensed a little before blurting out, "Your blood."