The night was young.
Under the ocean of twinkling stars, terror grew in the mellow atmosphere. Police sirens overtook the people's cries of pain, screams of shock. The grand soirée had turned into something horrific. The mansion had burned down to ashes, leaving no signs of life inside. The raging fire was put to rest soon, but not the fire that grew within Zane Adriel.
Countless of innocent humans were massacred...just because of one ridiculous cult. Furthermore, he couldn't do anything to prevent it. He sat wrapped in a blanket in a corner with Sierra by his side.
"Why is it that I can't save anyone? Why do I feel so venerable?" Zane's face was unnaturally pale with a mix of sadness.
"But you did. All these people we're seeing now, you got them out." Sierra put a reassuring hand on his shoulder to cheer him up.
"My parents, our friends...all of them died in a fire like this one. I couldn't save them either."
The tears in Zane's soul become tears in his eyes. He buried himself under the blanket and sobbed bitterly for those he couldn't save. Sierra tried her hardest to comfort him, but how could she when she herself was in pain?
That's an Angel's soul for you. They cry not for themselves, but others. The purity in their hearts were supposedly incomparable.
His thoughts drifted off to his associate who was nowhere to be seen. Despite what she said, he couldn't help but wonder if she was alright. His worries turned into relief once she saw her.
Alexandra was seen to be rescued by a firefighter; it a miserable state. She limped weakly to an ambulance, now ready to explain the situation. Zane wasted not another minute and approached her curiously.
"A relief you're safe! I don't know how I would've faced his Highness if anything happened to you!" Zane sighed with relief.
Instead of replying, Alexandra could only nod. Zane knew it didn't go well inside- her face was covered with ash, bloody wounds covered her arms.
"Oh dear, you look terrible. Why did you have to risk your life?!" He cried while examining Alexandra as she sat to rest.
"Does not matter since I couldn't catch Erido. It seems Tralenus and Maddox disappeared without a trace."
"What do y-"
James Willows of the crime department intervened their conversation, looking extremely concerned himself. After several questions of Alexandra's state, he'd resume to question her.
"How're you guys holding up? This scene is not at all pretty." James asked, the polite fellow he was.
"It's a lot to take in, bu-"
"That is not important. Did you find them?" Alexandra tried to sound desperate while interrupting Zane.
"Not yet. Can you tell me what happened in there, Alexandra?"
"Well, I tried to distract Erido's leader and his accomplice while Mr Adriel helped everyone evacuate. However, they proved to be too strong and I ended up wounded."
"Did you see what happened to them?" Zane jumped in.
"By the time I got up, they vanished. The fire had grown profusely, therefore I had no choice but to escape."
"Do you have any evidence about them being one of Erido?"
Not actually expecting anything, James was caught off guard when he saw Alexandra take out a pen out of her pocket.
"This pen recorded our conversation with them. This should be enough."
James pressed the button and their entire conversation played. Erido really did this. This horrifying massacre were their doing.
"I see, thank you. Now, take care of yourself. It must have been shocking for you." James glanced at Alexandra pitifully after the recording ended.
Alexandra cried out to James before he joined the rest of the officers. With the most genuine expression possible, she looked up at him.
"I apologize I could not fulfill my duty." She spoke coldly though her expression said otherwise.
"Please don't blame yourself, I know you did all you would. I'm glad you're safe." James gave her a soft smile before leaving her and Zane alone.
Lies.
Quite a professional at it, Alexandra. Not that she was proud of it, but she knew she was a great pretender. She knew exactly how to grasp one's empathy when she needed to. A Demon like her faced no difficulty when it came to manipulating.
However, in Zane's perspective, he thought otherwise.
Her emotions were easily hidden on her pale face- if she had any that is. Though, grief was evident in the crease of her brow and the down-curve of her full lips. And her eyes, nothing but emptiness within. Out of all things, Zane could only think why she was like this. What her backstory could be for her to be so emotionless. Probably not the best time to ask.
Two completely burned bodies were retrieved from the mansion after a while- so burned their faces couldn't be recognised. Zane and Alexandra glanced at each other before racing towards the officers and James scrutinizing the bodies. A disturbing smell of burnt meat diffused in the air to make Zane feel nauseous.
"We retrieved these bodies near the basement trapped under broken concrete. We believe they were trying to protect themselves but before they could reach the basement, part of the ceiling fell on them." James answered their curious face.
Alexandra's eyes pretended to notice a gold ring on one of the bodies' fingers.
"That man, he is Maddox, a member of Erido. He had that same ring on his left ring finger." She announced unenthusiastically.
"Are you saying these two bodies belong to the killers?" Zane paled.
"Yes, that other male is Tralenus, leader of Erido. Mr Adriel and I were introduced to them in the basement where they attacked us. I can confirm that the knife and watch belonged to Tralenus."
"But I never noticed anything as such-"
"That is because you did pay attention. If you are unsure, do conduct a DNA test."
The Scotland Yard froze with terror. It explained everything. They were the murderers- no doubt. Erido's leader was dead.
Did that mean the murders came to a end too? Who knows.
Zane Adriel and Alexandra Allura were asked to stay back with Sierra Adams while the Yard investigated further. They sat quietly while the medical team attended to their wounds. Nobody dared to speak of what happened.
Their silence was broken by a loud individual running towards Alexandra dramatically. He embraced Alexandra as tightly as possible and refused to let go.
"Thank goodness you're alright, Alexandra! I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you!" He wailed as he buried his face on her shoulder.
"Get off me, Noah." Alexandra said with the straightest vexated face.
"Who let you put your life at risk, idiot?! I should have never let you go!" His exaggeration started to go overboard.
The atmosphere suddenly became more awkward. Zane and Sierra looked away shyly as Noah clung to Alexandra like a child until she had to punch him to get away.
"Where were you all this time?" Zane finally spoke to Noah.
Noah felt a light squeeze on his wrist. Turned out Alexandra was trying to alert him. Noah knew what he was doing.
"I was drinking with some ladies in one of the chambers, when I heard people screaming. We saw a fire and some people getting killed. Terrified, we ran away as fast as we could. Oh, what a horrid scene it was!" Noah began to overreact too much to Alexandra's liking.
It would be hard to believe all of it was staged. Without communicating, the two Demons understood each other's thoughts and the cover-up of their eradication was successful. Their synchronisation was indeed remarkable.
Nobody would ever know what really happened in this night of terror.
"It's a relief we all are safe. The murders have ended too." Sierra beamed enthusiastically.
"Yeah, Erido is now nothing without its leader." Zane concluded.
Realising that was the end of it, Noah grinned at Alexandra to which she only nodded.
This time, the Demons won.
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The scene of crime was heavily crowded by cops, commoners, reporters and whatnot. Everyone fought to get an idea of what was going on to shock themselves. The chilliness in the weather came kicking in as the night darkened.
There was one car parked nearby the mansion, its driver, Stephen Homer, observing everything revolving around it. He witnessed everything out of order as he lighted the cigarette hanging from his lips.
Once again, his landed in a pit of disappointed. He felt more suspicious towards earl Allura than anyone. Her disappearance while everyone escaped the mansion, the fact Tralenus and Maddox were found dead after, it all must have had some connection. He could swear they wouldn't have died so easily. Then what exactly happened in there?
He drowned in an ocean of thoughts when someone sat in the passenger seat beside him. Tension built up among them instantly as they stared straight ahead.
"They were killed." Stephen began suddenly.
The man beside him said nothing. His pretty face was partially hidden under a bucket hat and a loose shirt covering he body...like he was hiding.
"I find that woman somewhat strange, but-"
Laughter filled the car without warning- a laughter that hid several emotions. Discombobulation overtook Stephen as he goggled at he who giggled ferociously.
"Ralph Landers? What is it that you find so funny?" Stephen's nose crinkle with vexation.
"I understand everything now...it's all lining up!"
"W-What is? Answer me!"
"That earl we suspected, turns out we were right!"
"What do you mean-"
That was when realisation came kicking in. Stephen's face whitened with astonishment. His jaw dropped to the floor.
"Are you saying earl Allura...
"Indeed, she's a Demon. I knew it. They were always among us. They never left."
Ralph and Stephen were in solidarity for a long time now. Their motives held its similarities, hence leading them to collaborate. They were in search of actual Demons living among humans, with which Erido helped them which. While Erido killed, they put up with the main plans.
After sacrificing two of their assets, they were one step ahead to victory. Finally, they found Demons.
"How did you see it? The whole was burning hot!"
"Only briefly, when peeking out from the window. I heard Tralenus call her a Demon, then her eyes glowed scarlet. Her nails grew into claws...it was atrocious. However, that was all I could see until the fire raged to block the view. I had to get out. But that was all I needed to see to confirm my suspicions. We have our beast."
"Splendid! All we need to do now is..."
"...Get evidence."
Sinister giggles of two filled the car again. This time, holding twice the insanity. Now that they knew, everything was going to get unstable for the Demons.
Including the battle of retention.
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Into the black heavens, upon this clear night, came the grace of white-gold moon. The silhouettes of two reapers with their death scythes stood on top of an apartment near the burnt down mansion. They watched people suffer in silence as the bodies of the victims were taken out one by one. A reaper could only collect and list their souls. The rescuing and killing did not involve them. Yet sometimes, it was painful to see some dying so unfairly. This night's mass number was no exception.
In addition hours of unpaid overtime.
Most reapers skipped the overtime, leaving two the senior reapers Blake and Delilah to finish it all.
"Ugh, I'm so f**king exhausted! Those little brats deserve a beating." Blake stretched his arms as he complained incessantly.
"Like hell, it is. This is gonna take a huge toll on my beauty sleep." Delilah sighed while she brushed her outfit.
"F**k your beauty sleep, I ditched my date for this!" Blake snapped suddenly.
"Why do I always end up with a weirdo like you?!"
"I wonder."
Their Tom and Jerry quarrel continued until they came back to their senses. Their work would only pile up if they wasted their time in useless debates.
They noted down names of those in eternal sleep in their notebook as soon as they could. Aside the diligence in their job, there seemed to be a problem in the souls being collected.
"Hey, there are 47 dead bodies in total, right? How come we collected souls of 46?" Delilah frowned, flipping through through the pages of her notebook.
"Strange, I'm pretty sure we noted all of them correctly..."
Then their eyes went to Alexandra.
They exchanged nervouse glances with bewildered chuckled. The unthinkable might have happened.
"Do you think she did it?" Blake gulped nervously.
"Devouring a soul to prevent it from reaching the afterlife? I'm having mixed feelings about this."
"If you think about it, she is a Demon. It's in her blood."
"It is, but why would she-"
"Maybe she's reverting back to being evil? I know it's been years since Tobias died. Maybe acting good wasn't her thing?"
Delilah was not pleased.
She was Tobias' friend. He was the one who introduced her to Alexandra. When Tobias was decapitated after the Angels found out he was acquainted with a Demon, Delilah cried for another creature for the first time ever. Delilah witnessed Alexandra lose all her emotions gradually. The cold became colder, her losing her mind, and being crowned as the queen without her consent- all too much to takebin. Alexandra forced herself to lead the Demons aside her father to a legendary battle against Angels no-one would ever forget.
After the war, the Demon lost her father as well her interest to devour souls. Once the world recovered from the battle, she hid in London identifying herself as an Allura.
A reaper had no right to go any further than speaking to a Demon. But Delilah, she was friends with one-or she thought she was. Even after years of coldness towards everyone, Delilah and Blake both had hope she grew better. They were grateful she kept them in her life. Besides, having a Demon friend who is also an earl had its perks.
"Shouldn't we ask her about it, though?" Blake pointed out all of a sudden.
"Yeah, let's to that. We shouldn't jump into conclusions without hearing her side of the story..." Delilah agreed immediately.
Assuming things could cause serious damage. They knew that.