Somewhere between torturing the demons together, to finishing them off, to chopping them in pieces—I decided I no longer want to kill Zade.
That’s never happened before, but deep down, I felt relieved. I had decided to kill Zade because I knew he was dangerous. But he didn’t smell like rot—not like the true demons do. The hint of burnt roses told me that while he’s dangerous, he’s not dangerous towards the innocent.
Just like me. I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize that I was going to kill someone who has the same mission as me. I would’ve never forgiven myself.
Zade was nice enough to help me clean up the mess. He insisted on taking care of the bodies, so all I had to do was help him carry the numerous body parts to his car.
I sit on the hood of his Mustang, staring at the lifeless buildings and rides scattered across the open field. It’s fascinating to see how haunting and desolate the fair looks when the occupants leave, and the lights extinguish. The same buildings and rides that are lit up with an array of colors now look as if they’ve been sitting on the muddy earth for centuries, devoid of life.
“How old are you, kid?” Zade asks from behind me. I turn to see him coming around the hood, having put the last of the human remains in his car. He said he didn’t trust me to get rid of the bodies properly. And when I told him my henchmen would take care of it, he said the only henchman he trusts is himself.
It made me giddy. As if he was including himself in my little family. But sadly, he’s given no indication he plans on ever seeing me again.
I shrug my shoulders, swinging my legs back and forth. I shiver as a cold breeze picks up, blowing tendrils of brown locks across my face.
“I don’t know,” I answer quietly, swiping the hair from my face and tucking it behind my ear. “I’m sure that I’m in my twenties.”
He cocks a brow. Despite my best efforts, I shiver. I’ve never seen anyone cock their brow quite like he does. “How do you not know?”
I giggle, amused by that question. “How would I, silly?”
His raised brow plunges low. One end of his face to the other. I giggle again.
“Do you… not celebrate a birthday?”
I cant my head to the side, confused. “Why would I do that?”
He sighs and leans against the shiny black metal beside me. “The date you were born. What date was that?”
I shrug my shoulders again. “I have no idea. Daddy and Mommy never told me,” I say. I’ve heard of birthday celebrations in my time outside of the cult. I made it a point to learn a lot of things, mostly by reading newspapers. Birthday celebrations are something I still don’t quite grasp the point of.
“I grew up in a cult,” I state tightly. “I wasn’t born in a hospital, I was born in my parent’s home. They never told me when that was.”
He swallows. “No celebrations?”
This time, my laugh comes out bitter. “Daddy was the only one allowed to partake in any type of celebration, and it certainly wasn’t because I was born.”
The second the words leave my mouth, I realize how sad that sounds.
“I know that normal people usually know the dates they were born, but I was never taught to celebrate a birthday, so I never thought to ask when it was,” I explain quietly.
“Normal people… yeah.” He says that as if he’s not included in that category. “Every year, they celebrate another year on this hellhole of a planet, as if it’s something to be happy about,” he muses quietly, his voice deepening.
Sounds like he’s never celebrated a birthday either.
“You’re not normal?” I ask, my curiosity piquing.
“The interesting people never are, demon slayer.”
He straightens and walks around to his driver’s side door. When he opens it, I take that as my cue to leave.
“Will I see you again?”
The question makes me feel vulnerable. I’m not even sure why I asked when it’s my last day in Seattle. It’s well past midnight and my time in this city is coming to an end soon. But we will be back next year. Maybe he’ll remember me and come visit.
He stares at me hard, his face blank and unreadable.
“I think so, kid.” He gets in his car and slams the door shut without another word. The car rumbles to life, the vibrations skittering up my spine. I hop off the car, trying to decide if I want to watch him drive away or not.
I feel an attachment to Zade now. I don’t want to let him go, but I know I have to.
I’ve never killed with anyone else besides my henchmen before. It’s indescribable, but I feel a bond with Zade now. I don’t let go of bonds very easily. Even though he smells of fire and brimstone, he called me a friend. Most importantly, he helped me kill demons. And from the sounds of it, he plans on saving those girls too.
Maybe people with dark souls aren’t all bad. Just because they’re dark, that doesn’t mean they’re not redeemable. That doesn’t mean there isn’t good in there.
I groan. Now I’m going to question myself every time I cast my judgements!
With a smile on my face, I begin to walk towards my dollhouse, letting Zade go as I do. Despite how much I’d like him to be, he’s not a henchman. He’s a loner, and I get the feeling he likes it that way.
Besides, my henchmen love to play with me, and I don’t think Zade has any interest in me that way. Based off the way he arrived at my dollhouse tonight, I think it’s safe to assume he already has a special someone.
That’s okay. I still had fun.
I’ve only made it a few steps when bright lights blind my vision. I raise a hand, confused by the sudden bright lights.
“Stop where you are!” A shout rings out from behind the glare. I can’t see who is shouting at me, but they sound incredibly angry.
I pause, lift my chin to the air and sniff.
There’s a mix of dirtiness and cleanliness in the air.
“Sibby! Get in the car!” Zade shouts from behind me. He’s hanging halfway out of his car, eyes cast low in anger.
I glance back towards the lights, and this time I’m able to make out three cop cars parked haphazardly in the field. A total of five police officers are standing behind their respective doors, guns raised and aimed right at me and Zade.
Sadness and anger consume me all at once. My anger is shooting off in so many directions, I’m not exactly sure who to aim it at.
Zade? Or the demons we killed? Which of them alerted the police?
Plenty of anger is directed towards the police officers. They’re trying to ruin my mission! The entire reason I was put on this planet, and police officers think they have a right to intervene.
“Sibby,” Zade growls. “Now.”
I sigh and turn back towards Zade.
“I can’t leave my henchmen,” I say sadly, offering a small smile.
“Sibby, they are—”
“I said freeze!” A police officer cuts in.
I snarl, whipping my head towards the officer.
“Go away! I work here.”
The police officer shouts something back, but it becomes background noise when I see Mortis and Jackal peeking through the windows. I won’t leave my henchmen. They’ve done everything for me. And I will do anything for them.
“Sibby,” Zade starts again. “Please get in the car. They will arrest you if you don’t.”
I stomp my foot, feeling like I’m getting whiplash with all the orders being shouted at me from different directions.
“Zade, I’m not leaving them! Go, while you still can. I promise me and my henchmen will be okay.”
He roughly wipes a hand down his face, muttering a guttural, “Fuck.”
I see the decision the moment he makes it. He’s going to leave me. Just like I’d asked. There’s a twinge of sadness with that realization, but I don’t let it settle. Zade and I may have extinguished evil together today, but we owe each other nothing.
And I think we’ve established an unspoken agreement that we won’t rat each other out.
“Be safe, demon slayer.”
Zade slams the door and the car lurches forward. Tires kick up mounds of dirt as he takes off at a breakneck speed.
“Fuck!” one of the officers shout. Two officers scramble back in one of the cruisers, slamming the doors shut a moment before the car speeds off after Zade, tires spinning and sending more mud flying.
I laugh loudly.
They’ll never catch him. I know that in my bones.
Noticing the last three cops are distracted by the car chase, I take off towards the house.
“Hey! Stop right there or I’ll shoot!”
I ignore him, already knowing they won’t shoot. Not when they think they still have a chance of catching me.
“Hide, henchmen!” I scream as soon as I barrel through the door. Immediately, I see my men scrambling deeper in the house. I quickly crawl through one of my hidden doors, shutting the door quietly behind me just as the remaining three officers come stomping through the door.
That was close.
Quietly, I slinker through the hallways, and towards the staircase. There, I find my men waiting for me.
Mortis rushes towards me with wide eyes.
“What the fuck is going on, Sibby?” he whisper-shouts. His red eyes look terrifying in the low light.
“I don’t know! They just showed up,” I answer, my eyes wide with innocence. I knew my men weren’t happy about being excluded from this execution, and this only cements their anger. I’ve never excluded them from a kill ever, but I just knew that Zade wouldn’t have wanted them in the room.
And technically, he was after those demons first. If it wasn’t for my intrusion, he would’ve taken care of them himself. Easily.
And neither of us would’ve gotten caught. Though I’m still baffled how that even happened.
Deep down, I know it wasn’t Zade. He wouldn’t have chopped four bodies into pieces, just to tell on himself and be chased with a car full of those body parts. Which means either one of those men managed to get some type of distress signal out to someone, or Mark’s wife tattled. I’m not sure if I’ll ever know.
“Where is she?” I hear one of the officers ask, urgency and confusion in his muffled voice.
The strobe lights and mechanical mannequins are still on in the rest of the house. Every few seconds, I’ll hear expletives burst from their mouths or sharp yelps. I giggle every time, despite the gravity of this situation.
I’m going to have to leave Satan’s Affair for good.
It doesn’t matter if I kill them. There are officers that now know my face and know that I work in Satan’s Affair. If they don’t shut this place down for good, they sure as hell are going to be taking precautions from now on to make sure a little dolly isn’t sneaking around inside the walls.
Eventually, they could start connecting missing person’s to Satan’s Affair, which will ultimately lead to me. A girl who has been murdering evil people for the last five years, leaving a deadly trail of mutilated bodies in unmarked graves.
My time here is over, and I want to rage and scream.
I don’t like change.
Baine, Jackal, Cronus and Timothy gather in closer. Restless unease fills the air. They want to kill them—I can feel it. But two of the three cops are innocent. I don’t kill innocent people, and they know that.
“What’s the point in killing them when we’re caught anyway?” I ask quietly, meeting each of their colored eyes.
“It will make me feel better,” Mortis replies dryly, an evil smirk tipping his lips. With his devil makeup, he truly looks terrifying. I can’t help but clench my thighs at the sight, my pussy pulsing steadily. I didn’t get to come earlier when I was killing the demons. It didn’t feel right to subject Zade to that, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate it.
“It will waste time,” Baine says quietly. “The two cops that drove off after that… man have already seen your face.” He spits out the word like Zade personally wronged him. I supposed in a way, he did. “More could be on their way here now.”
I nod my head, having already come to the same conclusion.
“How are we going to get away?” I ask. Our situation is beginning to settle heavily on my shoulders. I never thought I’d have to leave.
Jackal looks to the side, as if he’s staring through the walls. “They have two cop cars out there, and it’s safe to say the engines are still running. We can split up and each take one. That way they can’t follow us.”
My eyes widen. “We can’t split up,” I protest vehemently. The possibility of us getting separated sends a dose of panic into my bloodstream. Something could happen to one of our cars and the other would never know. “No. No splitting up. Let’s just… slash the tires or something.”
Jackal grabs my hand, noting the rising panic on my face. “Okay, okay. We stick together,” he placates, his yellow eyes softening.
“I’ll distract them, cause a commotion, while the rest of you escape. One of you slash the tires,” Mortis directs.
We nod our agreement, the panic in my veins bleached out and replaced with adrenaline. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a car before. After I escaped from Daddy’s, I could only walk. I didn’t have money for public transportation, and I refused to get in a car with a stranger.
It was by sheer luck that Satan’s Affair happened to be in town when I got out of the compound.
My hand snaps out, and I grab onto Mortis’s arm before he can walk away. I pull his arm until the length of his body is pressed into mine. He wraps his other hand around the back of my neck and brings me close, until his forehead rests against mine.
“I love you,” I whisper, sliding my lips across his. He presses his mouth tightly against mine.
“I love you, too, baby girl. Be safe and kill them if you need to,” he says before stepping away and rushing off into the maze of hallways.
My lip trembles. My henchmen and I had something good going, and I screwed it all up.
“Let’s go, baby,” Jackal says quietly, ushering me off. We all crowd around the small door right at the foyer. None of the officers are within sight, but there’s no telling where exactly any of them are at the moment.
A loud crash sounds from above us, followed by a sharp yell.
“Hey! Get back here!”
I let my henchmen out first, the four of them squeezing through the door one at a time. It takes too long for them to file out, but finally I’m coming up behind them and rushing out the main door.
The brittle wind whips me in the face as I race off towards the still-running cop cars. I slip my pretty knife from the strap around my thigh and plunge it into one of the tires. Only for the knife to bounce back. These tires are way thicker than I gave them credit for. I grit my teeth and stab the knife in with all my strength, huffing in victory when it cuts through. I grind my knife against the tread, sweat breaking out across my forehead. A loud whistle pierces my ears as air escapes from the deflating tire.
“Hey!” A shout rings out from behind me. I quickly round the now useless car and head towards the other cruiser. The passenger door is already open and waiting for me, courtesy of Baine, who’s behind the wheel. I dive into the seat and barely shut the door before the car is lurching forward, fishtailing as we take off.
“GET BACK HERE!”
I’m panting hard, my chest heaving as I’m blasted with excitement and a thrill so sharp, I can’t help but let out a squeal of laughter. The car wavers as we tear through the field and onto the main road.
Urgent voices filter in from the radio on the dashboard. Panicked reports of a cop car being stolen and the other sabotaged, along with police jargon I don’t understand. I do hear them say we’ve gone eastbound and that we’re dangerous.
I giggle at the last part.
The rest of my men are piled into the backseat, cramped and uncomfortable, but with delighted smirks on their painted faces.
“You ever been in a car, baby?” Jackal asks from the back, amusement in his tone.
“No,” I breathe, a wobbly smile on my face. Based off the speedometer, we’re going almost 100mph. It’s both exciting and nerve wracking.
The car swerves again, causing me to look over at Baine.
“Have you ever driven a car before?” I question.
I would have assumed so. I never got the opportunity to learn how to drive, but I would’ve thought my men had.
“Yes, but I’ve never been in a fucking car chase before so excuse me if I’m a little nervous.”
I open my mouth to snap back but realize fighting with him will only worsen his driving. So, I close my mouth and let him focus.
The blare of sirens that reverberates from behind us has us all tensing in our seats. Several more sirens follow suit, until it sounds like a stampede of angry cop cars.
“Shit, fucking shit,” Baine curses under his breath.
Blue and red lights flash in the review mirror, drawing closer by the second. Baine stomps on the gas hard, the car dangerously swerving side to side.
“Baine!” I shout. “Keep the fucking car straight!”
“I’m fucking trying!” Sweat pours down his face, his bone white knuckles tightening his grip on the wheel until they turn red.
The cop cars draw closer. I whip around in the seat, growling when my vision is obscured by the barrier and Cronus’s fat head.
“Cronus, bend your head down!”
The car jerks and I’m forced to turn around and watch the car nearly careen off the side of the road and into a ditch.
Just barely is Baine able to right the car.
“How many cars are behind us?” I shout, no longer trusting to take my eyes off the road.
I stick my face into the review mirror, counting the cars just as Mortis announces, “Six.”
Six?!
“Fuck,” Baine mutters, leaning his body further in towards the wheel in concentration.
It takes all of two minutes before the cops are right on our tail. They’re forced to keep a straight line as other cars are passing by on the other side of the road.
The car jerks again, and I just know it.
We’re going to crash.
Baine’s nerves are causing him to lose control of the car.
We careen to the left. Baine overcompensates and spins the wheel to the right, attempting to get us back on track. But he fails. The car jerks too quickly, and the car lifts up on one side. We turn completely sideways, the car losing control and bucking wildly as Baine keeps attempting to turn the wheel.
“Baine!” I screech just as the car is jerked violently. The sound of metal crunching follows a second later.
One of them hit us!
My head snaps to the side, hitting hard against the window right before the car is lifted. My entire body goes weightless, hitting against the roof of the car a second before my world spins tumultuously. It happens in slow motion, and too quickly all at once.
The car rolls four or five times, my body carelessly tossed around the car before we finally hit the ground in a violent jolt. My ears ring, a loud wailing reverberating in my skull. It takes several moments before I realize the wailing is coming from my own mouth.
The car landed upright, but my body is twisted oddly in the seat, my head by the passenger side’s floor. Baine’s limbs are sprawled across mine, our bodies tangled in a mess of aching limbs. Groans of pain penetrate my ears, coming from Baine and in the backseat.
My men!
I try to sit up, but a piercing pain in my ribs forces me back down.
Oh my god, I hurt. I’ve never felt this type of pain in my entire life. Not even from Daddy’s punishments.
My head pounds, blood dripping into my eyes.
“Baine?” I gasp, forcing myself up. My head spins and my vision darkens. The pain is literally blinding. I can’t see or hear anything past it. I clutch my head in my bloodied hands, willing the pounding to cease so I can check on my men.
Before I can get ahold of myself, my body goes weightless again as I fall to the side. I was leaning heavily against the car door before it was jerked open. Hands grip my arms, firmly but not roughly. Shouting and voices filter through as I’m gently pulled out of the car.
Reality hits and I panic beneath their touches.
“Let me go!” I shout, wriggling against the hold. Blinding lights paint the world in reds and blues, but I can hardly get my vision to focus.
“Ma’am! Ma’am, please calm down!” a woman’s voice shouts at me.
“My men! Where are my men?” I wail, continuing to wriggle. I can’t see them, but I think I hear Mortis’s voice and a panicked cry from Timothy.
Another pair of hands grab me, holding me still as I’m settled onto a stretcher. Its then I realize the woman is a paramedic.
“We’re going to need to sedate her,” the woman speaks above me, her voice getting lost in the turmoil inside my head. Binds are strapped across my chest and arms, holding me immobile. A brace is put around my neck, preventing me from turning my head.
They get the contraptions on me within seconds. Before I get a chance to look for my henchmen.
“Where are they?!” I scream, ignoring the blinding pain and continue to thrash as much as the binds will allow.
“She’s going into shock,” I hear another voice say. There’s a small prick of a needle, there and gone before I can register what it was.
I continue to scream for my henchmen, but I can’t move. I need to move!
“Everything is going to be okay, just calm down,” the woman says. Dizziness consumes me, and then blackness bleeds into my sight. I try to blink away the impending darkness, but I can’t fight it.
The last thing I hear is Mortis calling my name before I’m completely pulled under.
