Chapter 9
Imogael
“Elise,” Scott said as he walked up to me. I turned around. Something seemed off about him, some kind of shadiness, but even looking into his mind all I could capture was anxiety and anger. Purpose, I guess. But still that shadiness, that unwillingness to tell me… something.
Humans were complex. That much I had already known. I just didn't realize how complex and infuriating they could be when they were left to their own devices, without restraints or torture holding them back. They were intelligent, but also duplicitous.
“Hm?” I hummed at him. I would let him do the talking, rather than asking too many questions. I wanted to trust in him, trust in whatever he had chosen to do, where he was directing that purpose.
“We're going to Saejima's to do a job.” He said. There it was again. A shift in his eye, a catch in his breath. There was something he was trying to avoid telling me, but this game was fun. I would let it play out, for now.
While we rode to Saejima's little neighborhood, I held onto Scott tighter than normal. He felt relaxed, which was strange considering all that had happened. It seemed dangerous for him to be relaxed. It reminded me of people that are suicidal, how they're happier in the days or hours just before they end their lives.
I would have to keep a close eye on him, or else he could get himself into trouble.
It was dark, the moon was out, and stars twinkled above us. Hell didn't have stars, just the twinkling of obsidian and black diamonds above and the shining flame below. I wondered when the last time Lucifer had experienced the stars. When had he been able to escape last?
Saejima's neighborhood was quiet, aside from the nearby bar. It seemed an unnatural quiet. That was when I saw it: black motorcycles, shining in the dark. Rows and rows of them, empty for now, but surely they would be roaring to life.
Upon seeing Saejima, my sight went black and then a vision came before me. It was a vision of blood. A lot of blood. Blood dripping from a gaping chest, but I couldn't see who it belonged to. It could have been Saejima, or Scott, or anyone else.
I grabbed Scott's hand as we walked up to Saejima. He gave me a surprised glance as I held his fingers tight. “What are you doing?” I asked. “What are you two planning, Scott?”
“We're going to catch the bastard that killed my son, and Starr,” Saejima answered. There were dark, dark circles under his eyes. A woman in a red dress was behind him, looking just as miserable as he was. “Elise, this is my wife. You'll be staying with her while we're gone.”
“Absolutely not,” I say, squeezing Scott's hand. “And you're not going, either.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Saejima demanded. He stepped closer, but Scott stopped him with a hand.
“What's wrong?” Scott asked. His eyebrows were stitched together, but he otherwise hid his worry. He was worried, about me? The idea of it was almost enough to make me laugh, a human worrying about a demon. A damned soul.
I loved him.
Realizing it was painful. A demon was in love with a human. It had happened before, I knew, and it never ended well. Either the human died, was corrupted, and spent eternity in Hell punished for their love… or the demon was sent to oblivion, true death, eternal darkness. Neither outcome was acceptable.
I shivered, remembering the vision. “I have a bad feeling. A really, really bad feeling.”
Scott seemed as if he wanted to listen to me, as if he believed me. Saejima, on the other hand, was only angry and growing more angry by the second. “If you try to stop us again, I will make you regret it. Do you understand?” His voice was low, a growl, a warning.
I nodded. “I do. But I'm still not staying behind. If I can't stop you from going, then I want to be there.”
“You'll be safer here,” Scott said with a sensitive tone. “Please don't come with us, Elise.”
“I'll be safer here? You don't understand, Scott. I'm coming with you, to keep you safe.”
Again, belief was in his eyes. I was worried for a moment that he was suspecting what I was, that I wasn't normal, but he said nothing about it. I realized, then, that I might have to reveal everything to him one day. How would he react? It seemed obvious that he would probably want me gone, and I could not blame him for it. Demons weren't meant to mix with humans. Humans weren't meant to like demons.
He only nodded. “Then you ride with me.”
“You have to be kidding,” Saejima groaned. “Whatever. If she dies, that's on you.” He walked over to his bike. Men suddenly appeared out of buildings, dressed all in black with their faces as grim as if they were riding off to war.
Scott kept his hand in mind as we went back to his bike. I didn't let go until the very last second. “What's the plan when we get there?” I asked him. Scott looked back at me, his eyes unsure.
“We kill anyone alive, and then we look for clues. Evidence of whoever was behind the killings.” He looked up at the sky for a moment, as if he was meditating. His mind went blank, dark. With the roar of another engine, his eyes opened and he got onto his bike, waiting for me to get on behind him.
I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. It felt as if we were falling into the deepest depths of the ocean, where everything was strange and mysterious, and danger lurked around every corner. All I knew was that I had to stay near Scott. I had to keep him safe. As safe as I possibly could.
Scott
Even though I wanted to keep Elise safe, the truth was that I felt safer with her near me. I don't mean that I felt like she would be safer with me. She made me feel safe. For such a thin woman, she held herself like someone who could take care of her own problems.
There was that nagging feeling that she was different, again. I wasn't superstitious, I was an atheist through and through by that point, but I still couldn't ignore that voice in the back of my mind that pointed out over and over again the very strange things that happened around her.
Saejima and his men followed behind me, the mass of their bikes swallowing up all lanes of the road. I was leading an army of men, but I had no clue what we would find when we got there. I hoped that it would be empty, and that we could search in peace.
But Elise had a bad feeling, and part of me trusted that bad feeling. One day, I would have to demand an explanation from her. Maybe she didn't have one. She could just be the kind of woman that trusted her instincts, and her instincts were just accidentally always right. That seemed unlikely to me, though.
I promised, silently, to be careful while we searched or if we got into a fight. I wouldn't be a hero, I would keep myself safe, so that I could stick around for her. Just for a while longer.
The factory was huge, and lonely on a field. It seemed to me it used to build airplanes or cars, since there were some engines laying around in the grass. There were no guards posted outside, and once all of our bikes were turned off, the whole place was silent except for the croak of crickets.
The front of the factory had large doors that could be slid open, and a smaller side door. Both were locked, until Saejima pulled out a gun and shot the lock off. When the bullet bounced off the metal, it nearly hit one of his men.
Saejima, Elise and I backed up as Saejima motioned to one of his men. “You, go in first,” he commanded. His man, like all men under Saejima, was obedient. He was obedient to his last breath.
As he opened the door, it pulled a wire no one had noticed. There was a loud bang, and then blood. The man fell to the ground with a hole shot into his chest.
Elise screamed. So did a few of the other men. The man died instantly.
“Fuck,” Saejima growled. “Alright, everyone be careful! Someone take Majima to the bikes and wrap him up. I don't want anyone else to die.”
Someone dragged the body away. No one else stepped forward to go through the door first. Saejima sighed angrily and stepped through, moving slowly and looking around as he did so.
As far as we could tell, as we all filtered in, that was the only trap. It seemed strange, to me. Why would someone only put in the effort to make one trap. Did he only want to warn us to keep out? Did he want to punish us, but not too severely? It didn't make sense.
We all split up, but I kept Elise close to me. Her high heels clicked against the cement floor as we examined all of the machines. I found the machine where Jin's pieces had been placed, cleaned of all blood. It was the only piece of machinery that wasn't covered in dust.
Near it, on the floor, was an empty pack of cigarettes. They seemed familiar…
It was the brand Joey Oregon had smoked, when he was alive. “Saejima,” I called over to him, picking up the partially crushed box. “Look at this.”
Saejima stalked over and took it. “That's impossible,” he said. I nodded, but something caught my eye. Something shiny in the light of the moon, on the ground. Bending down, I reached under a huge machine and grabbed it.
I held it out to Saejima. “Impossible or not, it has to be him.”
In my hand was Joey Oregon's lighter, engraved with a naked woman and his initials. It was plated with silver. I would have known that lighter anywhere. It was always in Joey's hand, being played with, lighting my cigarettes when I still smoked. It was there, on the ground, when I shot it.
It was probably what he used to light my house on fire. It was probably what killed Etta.
I hated that fucking lighter.
I turned to explain to Elise, but she had wandered away from me, towards the east wall. I watched her tight ass for a moment, then shook my head to snap out of her body's spell. “Hey, come back,” I said, but she just waved me off and kept walking. She was horrible at following orders. I liked my women feisty, but she was going to drive me nuts if she kept disregarding me like that.
“I'll be fine. Stop babying me.” She continued walking, and I let her. Eventually, she went through a door (carefully, checking for more traps) and disappeared from sight. Her absence left me uneasy. I wanted to stay close to her.
Although I wanted to let her explore, I still moved closer. In case she called out for me, or needed my help. Just… in case.