"Hey, Scarlet, come here," called Jungkook from the living room. I groaned and peeled myself off the bed before approaching him. He was seated on the couch, scrolling through is pitch black phone.
"Yes?"
"I need you to do something," he said. "It's a little... different."
I crossed my arms. "What's that?" I asked warily. Jungkook seemed slightly uncomfortable, and that set me on edge. What was he going to ask me to do? Terrifying images swirled around in my head, but I managed to keep the lid on my anxiety.
"I need you to bring food to the... prisoners of war," Jungkook mustered out.
Cough. What?
"Prisoners of war?" I made a strangled noise. "Like the war with the angels?"
Jungkook nodded solemnly. He had to be kidding. LOL.
"You want me... to bring food to my father's people?" I squeaked. "Who are being held captive?"
"Yes. I trust that you won't free them. They are prisoners of war, and they did commit crimes to my people."
I swallowed. "Why me? Why not Yousun?"
"Oh my God!" screamed Yousun from the next room. I sucked in a breath quickly. I took that back.My cheeks became inflamed, and so did Jungkook's.
"That's why." He was looking over my head, as if he didn't want to make eye contact with me. "There have been spies in the Underworld, so Hades sent everyone to deal with that problem. There's no one to feed the captives now."
"Will they know that I'm half?" My hands were suddenly really clammy.
"Not if you don't let them see your wings." Jungkook referenced the now almost solidified white wings on my back. They were still ghostly, but they were becoming more opaque as time passed. At the moment, they were closed, but sometimes they spread involuntarily, since I hadn't yet gotten the hang of controlling them subconsciously.
"I won't have to be in there long, will I?"
"It depends on how fast you get the food to the prisoners," he replied.
"How many are there?" I asked.
"There's only three in the prison that you're going to," Jungkook answered. "Hades doesn't take many prisoners," he added gravely. Nope. I suppressed the chills that were threatening to run down my spine.
"Then why are they prisoners?" Truthfully, I was only stalling. I didn't want to see my father's people in prison. I would feel like a traitor.
"They're royalty or something." Jungkook shrugged. "Bargaining chips."
"O-Oh."
"Well, let's get going." He took my hand and led me out the door. "We wouldn't want those angels starving, would we?"
As soon as we stepped out the door, Jungkook spread his wings and hoisted me into the air. The gloomy black ground grew smaller as we soared through the muggy sky. The prison was between the palace and the Fields of Punishment, and it was a glassy obsidian rectangle. There were no windows, and the yard was fenced off with burning barbed wire that glowed white with heat.
The inside of the prison was depressing and slightly creepy. Okay, extremely. It looked like a setting of Amnesia. Only black lights ignited the interior, and jail cells lined the walls. Jungkook waited at the entrance as I went to the kitchen to get food. On three trays sat bread, water, and cheese. As I lifted the trays, new ones popped up with new food. The kitchen was enchanted, apparently. I managed to carry all three trays and made my way to the cells.
It was obvious which cells were occupied. There were three that glowed with white light. Inside sat one angel per jail cell. When they saw me approach, they all sat up. As I neared them, they eyed me suspiciously.
"I didn't know such pretty girls were forced to feed the prisoners," said one as I walked towards them. I clenched my teeth and tried to not look at them. I didn't want to see other angels on the opposite side.
"You look like an angel," cooed another, who was exceptionally good looking. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. He radiated more light than the others, as if his beauty shed light as well. "Are you sure you're a demon?"
"Hey, Jimin, Jin, doesn't she look like that one guy?" asked the third. My stomach turned. That one guy?
Suddenly, all three of the angels stared at me in awe. I felt sweat bead on my forehead. Why were they staring at me?
"You never mentioned that you were one of us, beautiful," remarked the first one, Jimin. "What's an angel like you doing here?"
I turned my head to see that my ghost wings had came open, glimmering in the darkness as they pumped nervously. After cursing silently, I quickly slid the food into each of their cells without saying a word.
"Say, J-Hope, Jin," said Jimin as I went to his cell, "she does look like Sooyoung. Is he your father?"
I gritted my teeth and froze, too afraid to move.
"Y-Yes," I stammered at last, finding my nerves. I stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "Know him?"
"Oh, man, we haven't seen him since we were kids!" exclaimed J-Hope. "Where is he? Is he in South Korea still?"
"He's dead," I snapped. "He died here."
All three of them fell silent, and I suspected that they were communicating telepathically. I was standing in front of Jimin's cell, and he cocked his head to the side. A warm smile grew on his face.
"Do you want to come back home with us?" he asked. "You can live in Heaven in your father's mansion."
"Wh-What?" I felt myself calm down, and my body felt numb. All the doubts I had before were gone. It felt like honey was oozing through my veins, not blood.
"We can take you home," Jimin said. "Or even back to Earth, if that's what you want. Just unlock the door."
Oh. Normally, that would've been stupid, to just put out your intentions right there on the table, but for some reason, I felt slow and influenceable.
"Open the door?" I asked, staring at the handle.
"Wait-no," I protested, my senses going on red alert. "You're prisoners here."
"But we're your people," he insisted. "You'll be accepted in Heaven by everyone, while here, you're what, a slave?"
"But..." I felt drowsy, but in a pleasant way, as if I was lying down in a clear meadow for a nap in the sunshine. "I can't..."
"We care about you," pressed Jimin, smiling. "We'll take you home."
Home.
I reached for the door, in a daze. Before I could unlock it, though, I felt a cold hand wrap around mine and pull me into the darkness before I could scream.
For a few seconds, I was immersed in pure darkness. Chills ran up and down my body, and I couldn't stop them. I was shadow traveling. It was a form of teleportation for demons, but darkness was needed, and there were plenty of shadows in the prison. The second I realized what it was, I knew that I hated shadow traveling. It was unreasonably cold, and I heard screaming in my ears as I moved faster than light. My face felt like it was peeling off, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Help me, I thought to no one in particular, my mental health threatening to crack. This is a nightmare.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in my apartment. Jungkook clenched my hand in his fist, and his expression was dark. Really dark.
The adrenaline of shadow traveling was gone, and I felt weak and utterly human. "I can't believe I forgot to warn you about their charm."
I stared at him, eyes wide. Charm? I motioned for him to elaborate.
"Angels have charm," Jungkook explained. "Since they have control over the light, they can also manipulate people into thinking that there is light. They can persuade you that there is a silver lining when there isn't."
"Oh..."
"Now that you know about it, don't let yourself be charmed again," he snapped suddenly, his eyes swirling vortexes of dark fury. I could feel his gaze burning straight through my body, and I wanted to run. This expression of his was terrifying. I had never seen it before, but it made my hair stand on end.
"Are you mad that I didn't know?" I asked, unsure of the reason of his terribly masked anger. It was understandable that he was mad that I almost freed the captives, but he was beyond upset. He was the one who told me, anyways. It seemed unreasonable that he would be that pissed off about it.
"No," muttered Jungkook, curling his hands into a fist. "I'm mad that they tried charming you."
"Well, I can't blame them for wanting to escape..."
"No," Jungkook repeated. "I could see it in Jimin's eyes. He wanted you."
I almost choked. Was he being possessive of me? It was hot in steamy romance novels, but it was scary in real life. "M-Maybe I just reminded him of my dad," I explained quickly, trying to diminish the fire in his eyes. "They said that they were close. Jungkook, please don't be this upset. It's not that big of a deal."
I noticed that Jungkook hadn't let go of my hand. My hand was still trapped in his vise-like grip, and his knuckles were white against mine. I looked up in alarm, and Jungkook had his eyes trained on the floor.
"It's a big deal to me," he murmured, almost inaudible. "No one moves in on my girl."
I stifled a shudder. His girl? I was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable.
"Y-Your girl?" I stuttered. "I thought..."
"What, you thought that I didn't care about you?" Jungkook spat, his demon eyes piercing into my soul as he looked up. "If I didn't care about you, then why would you still be here? If I didn't care about you, you would've been living a less than happy life in Korea, or I would've used you and broken you already like a toy. I care about you, okay? Is it really that hard to understand?"
I didn't know that demons could be angsty.
"Uh..." I took a step back, but not that far, since my hand was still held captive. I found it hard to control my breathing, and my entire body was burning. Jungkook's grip seemed to have tightened. "I... I..."
The rage in Jungkook's eyes dimmed, and he sighed before dropping my hand. It fell, limp, back to my side. He shook his head as I continued to stare.
"I know that I can't force you to care about me, though," he admitted. "That's the one thing different from my brothers and I. I might be the youngest, but I know humans the best."
"I just... never thought that you gave a single shit about me," I said at last, letting a swear word slip in. What the hell, I was in hell! It didn't really matter anymore, did it?
We both stood there in silence, staring at each other. It wasn't uncomfortable though, since I was busy trying to sort out my thoughts. I assumed that Jungkook was doing the same.
"So..." I said, breaking the awkward thirty second silence, "if angels can charm, what can demons do?"
Jungkook's signature smirk slowly crept upon his lips. His dark eyes glinted, and he took a step towards me.
"We control darkness," he stated, coming uncomfortably close to me. "We can also shade your mind. We're masters of seduction and muddling minds."
"Should've known," I sighed, not breaking eye contact. "I can't ever think straight around you."
Jungkook chuckled and suddenly moved. Before I could blink, I was up against the wall, Jungkook pinning me to it with his muscular arms. His body was pressed to mine, and I gasped involuntarily as he moved so quickly. His face was centimeters from mine, and I stifled a scream. Holy mother of God. Things were going down.
"What's wrong, angel?" Jungkook asked innocently, his smirk growing. "Scared of the dark?"