Weapon of Choice

Chapter 2

Hazu's hands are rough and callused. His knuckles are bruised and split open like he gets into fights often. Maybe I don't know much about demons, but I assumed they regenerated quickly. Looking at Hazu's scars made me think otherwise. I also assumed that demons were evil, supernatural creatures that haunted dreams and tortured souls. Looking at Exodus and Hazu proved me wrong.

I don't know much about myself. What I've figured out is that I'm a nervous wreck, I'm definitely not straight, and I don't think I've ever been in a fight. Something that occurred to me as Hazu lead me to Exodus' backyard is that I don't even know what I look like. Hazu said I was hot, but I don't even know if it was a joke or if he was being genuine.

"Hazu?" I murmured, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. If I looked directly at him, the butterflies and sweaty palms would come back.

"Meer?" Hazu hummed as he smirked at me.

"Uh, what do I look like?"

As soon as I asked that question, Hazu froze and slipped his hand away. It made my hand feel emptier than ever like his hand was supposed to be in mine. We hadn't made it outside yet, and Hazu stopped us just inside the back door. "You don't know what you look like?" He gradually turned his head to look back at me, his eyes filled with sympathy. I gave a little shrug and rubbed my bicep awkwardly. Without another word, Hazu pulled me into the room on my right and spun me around, facing me toward a shower curtain; it was black with little cartoon demons on it. Fitting, so fitting that I giggled under my breath and covered my mouth. Hazu cleared his throat behind me, reaching over and tilting my chin up to look at him. Heat swarmed my face when our eyes met and I realized how close he was. "There's a mirror behind us, but I want you to be prepared for what you're going to see."

"Uh," I gulped, losing myself in Hazu's golden, shining eyes. "Okay." Should I have been afraid of staring at my reflection?

Hazu interrupted my anxious thoughts immediately, using that deep, scratchy voice of his to pull me back to reality. "You're going to see an extremely handsome demon, with eyes as gray as the sky on a cloudy day. You'll see hair like snow and a perfect face, flawless and full of life."

"But I'm technically dead, right?"

"Sh." Hazu chuckled, shaking his head and continuing with his little speech. "You're a little short, but I like that."

"I can tell I'm short because you're tall."

Hazu sighed with a smirk and spun me around, placing himself directly behind me. For some reason, as soon as I looked at myself, I knew that I'd look exactly how he'd described all along. Although, I didn't think I was extremely hot, especially not while I stood next to Hazu. My hair was quite fluffy, my eyes were like silver coins, and my lips were a little on the thin side. I was wearing a tan robe with a black sash tied around my waist and tan shorts to match, which I already knew.

When I stopped staring at myself, I glanced up and noticed that Hazu was smirking at me. It's like he was saying 'I told you so' with his eyes.

I really like Hazu. Even if he wants to fight me for some reason.

"You ready to find out what kind of demon you are?"

I blinked twice, keeping eye contact with him in the mirror. "Is that why you want to fight me? Because I don't think I've ever fought someone before if I'm being honest." Grasping my hands together, I bit my lip slightly and tilted my head to the left. "You don't seem like the kind of person that would fight someone without reason."

Hazu paused for a moment, tapping his pointer finger on his chin. "I do fight people... but in a ring. With rules," he raised his hand and ruffled my hair gently. "But I'd never fight you for the reason I fight others. I want you to know more about what and who you are." He bit his lip back at me in what I thought was a more flirty manner. It made me blush. "I want to know more about you just as much as you do, Meer." He shuffled out from behind me and out the bathroom door, motioning for me to follow him.

Once we made our way into the clearing that was the backyard, I took a moment to really take in the environment that was Hell. As I explained before, everything was tinted red. That tint made the tops of tall trees look black and looming, especially because there were no leaves on them. It also made the dead grass look more orange than the yellow it typically was. I knew Exodus' house was white because I'd seen fancy white houses before I fell, but Hell made it look pinkish-red. The sky didn't have any clouds, and it didn't have a sun or moon. Who's to say it was the sky at all? Hell really could just be underground.

There were no animals in Hell either. No birds chirping, dogs barking, or squirrels skittering around on the ground. It wasn't hellishly hot like people described, but perfectly warm, like the end of summer moving into fall. I'd only been down here for two hours, but I was sure the seasons didn't change due to the lack of leaves on the trees and the ground.

Hazu cleared his throat from about twenty feet away, bringing me back from my thoughts again. He had a nice and subtle way of making my brain quiet. "So, what's gonna happen here is I'm gonna try to scare you. If that doesn't work, then I'm gonna have to try to knock the wind out of you." He sighed, seemingly sure that the first plan would work. "If those don't work, we'll have to figure out a new strategy, okay?"

"Okay." I smiled softly. I didn't think there was any possible way Hazu could scare me. I already trusted him too much.

For a moment, everything was silent. I thought Hazu had changed his mind since he seemed unsure about trying to scare me. Then it happened.

Hazu's scars on his face opened up to reveal a ghostly black mist and large fangs. The whites of his eyes turned black, but the gold remained, making it pop more. Before I knew it, his entire body was a large black cloud of darkness with arms that had claws at his fingertips. Then he was charging me with a roar that would frighten the life out of any man.

But I wasn't afraid in the slightest. In fact, I'd noticed that he'd closed his eyes when he charged like he was wincing away. He hadn't wanted to scare me in the first place making it okay for me to feel safe.

I adjusted my body to react swiftly when Hazu got close enough, dodging his claws with ease and standing behind him. Maybe I'd tease him just a little. I let my body weight move to behind me, rest my back on his, and put my hands behind my head. "I really, really like your demonic form, Hazu. It'd scare any normal person for sure... or demon."

Hazu froze from underneath me, immediately returning to his normal form. For a second I thought I'd irritated him, but then his body started to shake. He erupted in laughter, collapsing to his knees and bringing me down with him.

"Wow, Meer." He cackled, voice cracking when he said my name he was laughing so hard. "Who knew you'd be so lucky?"

I tilted my head, allowing myself to slide off of his back and onto the ground so that I could look up at him when he spoke. "What do you mean?"

Hazu laughed harder, holding his stomach and rolling onto his back so he was laying next to me. He turned his head to meet my eyes. "That's the fastest I've ever seen any demon move before. Almost as fast as Exodus. Plus, I didn't hear your footsteps at all, and it was such a smooth motion."

"What does that mean?"

"I think it means he's the new agility demon." Exodus called out, strolling out from the back door. "I was watching the whole thing from the window." She pointed behind her after joining us in the middle of the field.

I glanced up at her then allowed my gaze to return to Hazu's. "Agility demon?"

"Congratulations, kid." Exodus said, the both of them smirking at me. "You're overpowered."