Nakoma

The demon leaps to their feet and bolts out the door, leaving a mess of food behind.

“Sati, who’s Sati?” I ask, watching them flee from sight.

“Sati’s Gluttony,” Colt informs me with a cheerful smile on his face. My heart sinks immediately. We found Gluttony and now they were getting away! I glare at Dica as he casually strolls back towards our table wearing a shit eating grin. I begin to panic, wondering how I was going to catch a running sin. Suddenly, I recall that Colt was capable of teleporting. I’ve been able to order them to do things before, so why would now be different?

“Colty,” I call to him, closing my eyes. I transfer a bit of his power over to him, hopefully enough for him to be able to teleport. “Go get ‘em.” I order. Colt’s eyes unfocus for a moment and he nods. I blink and he’s suddenly gone.

“Dica,” I turn my attention towards him, my eyes burning with rage. “Why the Hell would you warn them?!”

He glares back at me. “I don’t plan on being made into a sword, Noki.”

I groan and rise to my feet and hurry out of the door to try and find Colt. I run as fast I can, hoping to find the two demons. Gluttony… I thought we were looking for Lust… I shake the thought away as I spot a glimpse of white hair among the trees nearby. I skid to a stop and find Colt hugging his right arm close to his body.

“Colt, where’s-,” I start to ask, but I fall silent as I notice the crimson red hue dripping down Colt’s arm.

“Sati bit me,” he whines, holding up his bloodied arm for me to see that a large chunk of the flesh on his arm had been torn away. I feel woozy looking at it so I turn my gaze to his tear stained face. “Ow…” he whimpers.

I begin to go into panic mode..

“Oh my God, we need to get you to hospital!” I rush over to him, swallow back bile, and examine the wound on his arm; which already looked smaller…

“No need to worry, Noki, it’ll grow back soon. It just hurts a lot,” he reassures me with a smile. But the smile fades quickly as he looks down to check himself out. “I got blood all over this outfit… And it was really pretty too…” I then notice his blouse and white skirt are dyed with blood.

“Did Gluttony get away?” I ask. He nods feebly then winces in agony. “We can’t take you back like this…” I mutter. “Think you can teleport to the bathroom and I’ll have Dica bring you fresh clothes?”

He nods and vanishes once again. I sigh and begin the short walk to the fast food joint. I curse mentally, devastated that Gluttony got away from us. If only Dica hadn’t warned them! I stomp the ground with each step until I reach the doors. I exhale sharply and suck in a deep breath. I would have to be calm to figure out how to track down Gluttony. Right now wasn’t the time to get upset. As I enter, I notice Puella and Dica hadn’t moved and were eating as if nothing had happened. This ticks me off.

“Dica,” I nearly snap his name. “I need you to take Colt and his change of clothes from the suitcase to the bathroom. He’s in there.” I pop open one of our suitcases and fish around for Colt’s change of clothes. I hand a bundle of fabric over to Dica. Once he heads out, I touch my collar gingerly and imagine the power I gave to Colt flowing back into me. A warm tingle shoots through me and a small sigh of relief escapes my lips. Puella gives me a funny look, but doesn’t say anything as she eats.

The two boys return not much later, Colt cradling a bundle of bloody fabric. Before anyone else could see, I shove the clothes into the suitcase hoping they won’t stain anything else.

“How’s your arm?” I ask.

“It healed up pretty nice,” Colt pulls up his sleeve to reveal that his arm was fully healed, all that remained of the injury was a pale white line around the edge of where the wound would have been.

“Alright,” I lean in close to the three of them. “What can you tell me about Gluttony?”

“Nothing, I hardly know the kid,” Puella shrugs. I don’t take her for a liar so I nod in acknowledgement. Colt fidgets, but doesn’t say anything.

“We’ll they’re a Glutton,” Dica smirks. I roll my eyes. I notice that they keep referring to Gluttony as “they”. Perhaps they identified as gender neutral. I make a mental note to ask once we found them.

“Okay,” I command, “I want serious information.” I was hesitant to use the collar to command them to give up info, but they were leaving me with no choice. I touch the collar then repeat myself. “What can you tell me about Gluttony?”

“Not much,” Colt says, his voice devoid of emotion. “I don’t talk to them often, but they’re part Wendigo.”

“Wendigo? What’s that?” I ask.

“It’s what happens when a human eats another human, goes crazy, and becomes a monster,” Dica explains, in the same emotionless tone as Colt. “They have an insatiable appetite, and I can’t believe Lord Lucifer put his dick in one.”

“That’s fair…” I shudder at the thought of Lucifer procreating. It never ceased to weird me out. “How should we go about catching one?”

Dica and Colt shrug in unison.

“We won’t find one in the city, we’ll have to go into the woods.” Dica instructs. “And we’ll need fire. Wendigo’s hate fire.”

“Thank you.” I smile and cease the use of the collar’s power. Dica fixes me in a glare, emotion returning to both his face and Colt’s.

“What the fuck, Noki?” He growls, obviously not pleased with the collar’s power over him. Colt looks guilty at the ground.

I ignore him. “I should call George or Martha.” I turn to Puella, holding out my hand for her phone. She huffs and pulls it out of her pocket, handing it over to me. I smile my thanks and quickly dial the number.

“Martha, speaking,” she greets me. “Nakoma, is this you?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” I respond. “We found Gluttony, but they got away.”

“That’s a bummer,” Martha sighs. “Did you completely lose its tail?”

“Well, yeah, kind of. But we know that they’re part Wendigo.”

“Wendigo?” She asks. “I’m surprised Lucifer was intimate with one of those…”

“We all are,” I say, thinking back to Dica’s reaction. “Anyway, we wanted to know if we could go camping to try and seek them out.”

“If you think it’s a good idea, we won’t stop you,” Martha explains. “Getting a tent is probably cheaper than a hotel too. I’ll talk to George and we’ll take care of everything,” she promises. She adds on in a motherly tone, “Just be sure to be careful.”

“We will, thanks,” I smile.

“Happy hunting, Nakoma,” with this she hangs up. I look over to the demons, a smile still on my face. “Looks like we’re going camping.”

***

A camping supplies trip later, we managed to catch a ride to a nearby camping ground which had a few reports of animal attacks, which very well could be Wendigo attacks. As we set up the two small tents, I notice that Colt doesn’t seem too enthusiastic.

“What’s wrong, Colty? Don’t like camping?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Not really…”

“Why not?” I raise an eyebrow.

“It’s just,” he fumbles for the words. “I don’t like bugs or sleeping on the ground…” I guess that was a spoiled prince of Hell for you. The other two didn’t seem to particularly mind camping, Dica even seemed a bit excited for it.

“Have you ever gone camping before?” I ask Dica.

“I’ve set up a camp before, but that was on a mission. But this kind of camping is fun. I’ve never done this before,” he smiles at me brightly.

“Well I hope you have a fun time,” I return his innocent grin. Even though he was a major asshole, he was pretty cute at times.

Once we finish setting up camp, I start putting together a fire, with the wood we brought and whatever twigs I could find. The forest was beautiful here, thick and teaming with life. As I walk, the leaves crackle beneath my feet with each step. Once I return with dried leaves and sticks, we sit around the fire.

“So… got any scary stories?” I question once the night begins to grow.

“Only of the fiery pit of damnation that awaits all people who misbehave,” Dica says in an ominous voice. I flinch, but I grow curious.

“What’s Hell like?”

Colt responds to my question first. “Oh, Hell’s great! Um… for some people that is. I don’t think humans have a lot of fun there.”

“Hell’s broken up into circles,” Dica informs me. “Different circles for different crimes. Then there’s the capital at the center where all the demons live. Social classes though… think of Revolutionary France.”

“What do you mean Revolutionary France?” I ask.

“The aristocrats have everything and lower level demons and newbies have nothing, we basically fight over scraps.” He explains. “Slavery’s still a thing, which a lot of people turn to because it’s sometimes the only way to get a place to live… And if the king didn’t like you, you were fucked. Well, until now,” he puffs out his chest with pride. “Once I return to Hell, everything’s going to change.”

“We?” I question.

“I’m was never a prince,” he says matter of factly. “I started off like everyone else.”

“But you’re a son of Lucifer,” I argue, wouldn’t most princes and princesses be treated like royalty. Dica was no different, right?

“I already told you, Lucifer wasn’t my father.” He says.

So his father never treated him like a son, not even letting him be considered a prince? I could only imagine what he must have felt. But he was a passionate leader. I can understand why he wanted to be king so badly. It looked like Hell needs change and Dica was the person who could bring that about. I look to Colt who is tossing twigs into the fire.

“You okay, Colt?” I ask. He nods, but remains silent. I look up to the sky to see the sea of stars spilled out overhead. I smile into the sky and lean back to get a better view. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Yeah,” Colt says warmly. “You don’t see stars in Hell.”

“There are no stars in Hell?” I ask, wondering how people live without them.

“The sky’s just illuminated by falling souls,” Colt sighs. “They’re pretty too, but the stars are prettier in my opinion.”

“Yeah…” I hear Puella agree beside me. I jump at the sound of her voice, I had forgotten she was there. For Wrath she really was quiet.

We spend a few moments in silence, staring up at the constellations above before I realize that I have to pee. I get up and announce this to the demons before trekking off into the woods, far enough away that I’m confident no one would see me. After finishing my business I begin to head back.

I jump as I hear a twig snap beside me. As I turn to look over, I’m met with red eyes glowing among the dark like two coals. A low, guttural growl emerges from the darkness and fear freezes me in place. After a moment of staring into the red abyss, I bolt through the woods, opposite from where I came. I hear a long howl from behind me then the chase begins. Whatever is following me is fast and there’s more than one of them. I struggle for breath as I run, catching myself on brambles and bushes. I glance over my shoulder to see that they’re just on my tail.

I try to run faster, but one lunges at me, snapping at my leg with what I can only assume are razor sharp teeth which barely miss their mark. I want to scream, but my lungs are preoccupied with breathing as I make my way through the forest.

Suddenly a root catches hold of my foot and I tumble to the ground, right into a thorny bush. I pull myself up only to face six hungry creatures with dripping white fangs. They look sort of like dogs, but they are more muscular and appear to be covered in scales. My heart thumps loudly in my chest as one, the largest one, steps forwards and sniffs the air.

It fixes me in its glowing gaze before it crouches down, ready to pounce. I’m going to die…

It lunges at me and I hold up my arms to shield my face. It’s teeth dig into my arm, ripping through my flesh with ease. I scream as loud as I can in agony, which only seems to excite the dogs more. My arms feels like it’s been set on fire with pain, it hurts more than words could possibly describe. I gnash my teeth to hold back another scream. The one that bit me jumps down and tears apart the flesh in its mouth. I can only assume this one is the alpha. As it crouches down again, I brace myself for more pain. It jumps towards me, teeth ready to tear into me. I squeeze my shut, my life flashing before me.

I think of my father. I think of my demons. Once I’m gone, they’ll be free to return home and continue with their normal lives as if I never existed. Dica would get to be the king he wants to be. I only hope that he ends up becoming a good king. As I wish this world goodbye, there’s a sudden flash of light.

“Here puppy!”