Chapter Text
"What is it now, brats?" A woman sneered at me as she sat stiffly. She was old, real old. Not necessarily old-old, she looked to be in her mid-40s. The heavy ornaments and jewels on her head looked like they could tip her over at any moment. I was surprised her neck could even hold it all, since her hair was wrapped and twisted in a way so it would fit.
I don’t think I’ve ever genuinely hated a person, but I think she may be the first. She got me some decent cash though (sometimes).
I prayed I wasn’t getting scammed out of my cool findings again. This time I almost died getting my hands on these. Those dogs are real fuckin’ annoying. "It’s not that I’m curious, I just need the money," I mumbled, "Can’t you see if it’s real?" Ado and I looked up at her with pleading puppy-eyes. Mrs- or now Ms. Ono hated kids. It was like she took a very specific dislike to my siblings and I. Anyone under the age of 18 was automatically on her bad side. Also rodents. She doesn’t like Ado. I don’t like her because of it. I don’t think she likes gay people either.
"Why should I?" Her lips curled up a bit. I placed the stone on the counter and I could see dollar signs flash in her eyes. The flickering light of Ms. Ono's little store illuminated her pale skin as she put her fingers onto it, the sleeves of her red kimono falling back to her elbows. Her thumb traced the large blue gem on the stone and she looked back up at me. "I found it at an old abandoned mansion not far from this area, could you at least see?" I practically begged.
She rolled her eyes, flipping her bangs out of her face. She’s a Kemon, so she can tell if any jewel is fake or not with her many, many eyes. She resembled a spider so Shou gave her the name "Spider-Lady". Ms. Ono glanced towards Ado, who was playing with a broken earring-gem in his small and pink-ish hands. "Get that thing out of here," She hissed, crossing her arms. I quit fidgeting with my fingers, "He’s not doing jack shit, what’s wrong?"
"It’s disgusting to even have one of those," Ms. Ono raised her nose and crinkled it, "Get it outta here or you’ll pay extra."
"You’re just mad because your husband left you for a rat!" I yelled, slamming my hands against the table. I covered my mouth with my cold hands as soon as I blurted that out.
I wasn’t exactly lying. The woman her ex-husband left her for was indeed, a Lapard. Lapards are quite humanoid, except for their heads that basically..are rats. Ms. Ono was more like a spider, I could see why her husband wasn’t into her. Most humans and monsters alike don’t like bugs, especially spiders.
I could see the rage in Ms. Ono’s face and awkwardly smiled. "I’ll let myself out," I mumbled, walking towards the exit.
For as long as I can remember, people hated me. Whether it was for my attitude, or the fact that I’m a demon, people always despised me. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been called a fucking sinner on the streets.
Ado put his hands against my face and I looked at him, "What’s up, bud- what?"
"Oh—!" She cheered. I was pulled from my small conversation with Ado and took a glance at the entrance to her little shop. Immediately, I was hit in the face with a heavy rock. "Keep it, and never come back!" Ms. Ono shouted, "Ya’ devil." She made somewhat of an attempt to mutter the last part (I think), but didn't do her much good. I flipped her off, walking away while holding my now bloody nose in pain.
Ado squeaked in worry and began pulling softly on the thick locks of my hair. "M’alright dude," I mumbled. He seemed seriously worried this time. I brushed his fur, holding him in the palm of my hand as I reached to pick up the stone. It was brightly colored, and looked pretty valuable too. Surprised Spider-Lady didn’t fuckin’ steal it from me.
I shoved the stone into the pocket of my jacket and placed Ado back on my shoulder. I huffed. "Can’t believe we’re leavin’ this place tomorrow,'' I grumbled, "I was actually starting to like it. Mama would’ve liked it too."
Ms. Ono's store wasn’t too far away from our caravan. Harsh wind hit my face as I walked down the street, talking to Ado along the way. I feel like the only reason I like this town is because of the vibe it gives me. It reminded me of some kind of scary horror movie or video game. I loved it. Autumn leaves flew across the floor. Mama would’ve loved this place, she liked horror movies. Her favorite was the Scream Series, if I remember correctly.
I did a lot of cool things here. I got some new clothes from thrift stores, I tried new foods, met and sold potions, it was great. I explored abandoned places with my siblings and Ado, plus I got awesome treasures. I’d love to live here when I’m older. So many witches, most of them were lovely.
Being a demon in a world like this isn’t fun. I always had to deal with people being complete and utter jackasses for no reason. As you saw from my encounter with Ms. Ono, people often call demons "devils". It’s not a cool word to use, at all. It’s worse than "sinner", and that one’s already pretty bad.
I haven’t had many friends because of these things poking out of my head and this stinger at the end of my tail. I never really used my stinger, I don’t know why. I’m a magic-born and on top of that I have claws, why would I need to use my tail in a fight? If anything it’s a bad thing to have. I’ve even stepped on it before! Not fun! Zero stars!
Angels’ and Demons’ physical features are incredibly different. Teruki, my twin brother, has a bunch of eyes littering his skin, mimicking a seraphim from the olden times and the Old Testament. He also has two sets of wings, one on his back and the other on his lower back. We look the exact same, but we really don’t at the same time.
I reached into my pocket for my phone. It was 10:00 PM on a very hot and tiring saturday. I just wanted to fall asleep in our caravan and never awaken. Though, that’s called death. I should not have walked as far as I did today. My feet felt swollen in my black sneakers, and my right hadn’t healed all the way from when that “dog” cut it. Dad said I shouldn’t run around too much on it or it’ll get infected. I just can’t help myself ya’ know?
As I inched closer to where I remembered our caravan being, I could hear my not-father’s voice. I could see him in the dark night due to my eyes. The man’s hair was golden in the bright light of the flame he sat in front of. He was dressed simply in sturdy breeches and a shirt, worn but well-cared for. He had a faded green cloak, the type worn by Apothecaries. Across his body was a large leather satchel. I could see my siblings’ silhouettes fighting inside of our trailer and snickered to myself.
Reigen is an apothecary. He sells medicine and other potion-based products, gives life advice (which is what he’s likely doing at the moment), even takes quests from his clients. Some will call it shady—I definitely did— but after watching a woman’s hair grow in under seconds, there wasn’t much of a reason for me to doubt.
While a vampire, that doesn’t mean he’s not good with potions. Well.. he isn’t that good but my point still stands. Anyone can be good with potions, you don’t have to be a warlock to do so. Though I do see Dad looking through Tome’s Family Book of Spells and Potions every once in a while. Unlike Papa, Dad isn’t a magic-born creature, nor was he born a vampire.
He and Serizawa were talking to an elderly couple, a Levo and his Yasin wife. Levo and Yasin are basically like lions but humanoid. They’re seen as natural predators but most of them are actually vegan. Almost, if not all Yasin can usually heal according to a book I read on the different creatures of Utopia.
The Yasin chuckled, “Oh you!” She flicked her hand forward at Dad. I raised an eyebrow and listened in on the conversation. Dad always told me it was rude, but we all know he does it too. I should’ve gotten home earlier, sometimes I scare off clients with my horns.
“So, are we all in agreement?” Dad asked, keeping his friendly business grin. The Levo looked towards his wife who nodded, she too kept a friendly grin toward my parents.
“Forty-Two Hundred if you can bring it to me alive,” He declared, “Thirty-Two if it’s dead.”
What exactly is “it” though? Nobody would actually say what it was, and I was getting tired of just standing here and listening to their stupid ass adult talk. I looked towards Ado, “Do you know what ‘it’ is?”
He shook his head, holding his tiny red backpack straps with his tiny rat hands. I put my hand against my jawline and contemplated whether or not I should try to make a run for the caravan. Judging by the tone of Dad’s voice and the fact that there are clients here after 10:00, this was really important. And forty-two hundred is a hell of a lot of money. I think.
Ado squeaked and I immediately looked towards him. “What? I know that you know that this might be super important,” I explained, “I don’t wanna ruin this like I ruin everything else.”
I wasn’t exaggerating either. We’ve had deals with rich folks before and I’ve ruined them because of my horns. It’s just like me being myself is a bad thing to people. I furrowed my brows and continued to stare at the two. Dad and The Levo shook hands. Dad began to speak, “It’s a deal, I’ll bring you your family recipe and you bring us the money.”
“What did you say your name was?” The Levo asked.
“Reigen Arataka, and your’s?—”
He was cut off by a gasp. Shit, they saw me. Serizawa looked towards where I was standing and sighed. I peeked from behind the tree and waved, “Hi.”
The Levo looked towards my two guardians with a skeptical expression. “You two never said you had a demon accompanying you,” His glare was sharp and scary. I swallowed in worry for the two men when Yasin laughed loudly. “You scared me for a second,” She giggled, swatting her hand forward in amusement. “Will they be helping you on our quest for the..uhm, are they allowed to hear this? Nevermind, you two may be the first I’ve seen to have a demonic companion working for you. Might I ask, are you satanists?”
“Isn’t Satan like my second cou-”
“We aren’t, believe it or not,” Reigen cut me off before I could scare the clients away. “This demon used to be a powerful king of all demonic beings, but we managed to convince them to give up their evil ways.”
I suppressed my laughter, playing it off as me scratching my face. The Yasin seemed surprised by this. “How interesting,”
“Lliona,” The Levo called for his wife before she got off track. She cleared her throat, “I am in agreement to the deal, we shall meet again in three weeks.”
“We accept, goodbye now,” Dad waved towards the elderly couple as they inched to their old-timey car.
Now, I know Reigen is definitely one for lying, but this may be his most hilarious one yet. And to think she believed him! Hah, if I was her I would’ve gone to someone else to complete this quest.
“Kid, the hell happened to your face?” Reigen snapped me out of my thoughts and turned my head towards his. He placed his fingers on the bruise right on top of the middle of my face. I winced, but gave in to the pain. “Father, I will not be a slave to pain of all things,” I told him as he examined my face.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” He grumbled, “Katsuya, could you get one of my healing elixirs? Our kid did something stupid again.”
“I didn’t do anything! She just kinda..threw this stone at me and my jaw fell off.”
“Who the hell threw something at you?!”
“That spider lady down on Fortwart Lane,” I shrugged. Serizawa appeared behind Reigen, and he moved to show the taller man my face.
“What happened to their face?” He shared a similar reaction to Reigen’s, concerned and worried; only he didn’t start touching the bruises on my face. “They got hit in the face while they were out,” He huffed, taking the golden elixir from Serizawa’s grasp.
I inhaled, preparing myself for the pain that was greater than even the strongest rubbing alcohol. In fact, this probably was the strongest rubbing alcohol in the universe. I’ve been hit with sticks and stones, but only this elixir could truly hurt me.
It felt like he was pouring a mixture of salt, lemon, and alcohol into my wounds. My fingers curled instead of my toes and I let out a whine. Ado crawled onto Serizawa’s sleeve and sat on his shoulder. Reigen let go of my face and I pat salt on my wounds. “I hate that stuff,” I mumbled, messing my nose. “It fucks with my brain.”
“Hey,” Reigen swatted me on the head.
“I meant mess, spare me.”
I remember the first encounter with Reigen like it was five minutes ago. I called him an A-Hole after he called me a “Little Lady” and punched him in his leg. Tome once said he’s got the knees of a 70 year-old woman, and she’s not exactly wrong.
“What exactly did you do now?” Serizawa asked, making me turn my head in his direction.“I didn’t do anything, I’m just stupid,” I explained to him.
Ado jumped back between my horns and lay rested there. "You tried to sell me out!" I said, brows furrowing. Ado squeaked and I huffed. "You’re lucky you’re so cute, loser."
“You can’t run away like that,” Serizawa chided me, placing his hand on my elbow. “She could’ve badly hurt you.”
“She’s a Kemon, she doesn’t wield magic like you and I,” I muttered, placing Ado on my shoulder as Reigen wrapped the bandage around my head. “Besides, I doubt a jerk like her has ever used a spell or curse on anyone. If she had mage-magic, I would’ve known.”
“She might not have been able to but you should have handled it differently,” Serizawa sighed, beginning to clean up the remains of their meeting with the client. “She could’ve gotten you sent to some kind of weird purgatory thing,” Reigen added.
“Gross,” I stuck out my tongue. Reigen let go of my arm and I let it fall to my side. I figured Serizawa was far too tired to argue about something about this anymore because he huffed in exhaustion.
“You should head inside anyways,” Reigen said, patting a spot between my horns that Ado once laid between. “Tell the others to calm it down in there while you’re at it,” He pointed his thumb towards the window where I could see silhouettes of teenagers battling and heard them screaming at each other. I chuckled at the chaotic sight. His hands weren’t cold but they definitely weren’t warm either. “Are you dead?” I asked, “Your hands are as cold as an old lady’s corpse.“
“Persephone.”
“Sorry,” I fake-apologized, shoving my hands into the pockets of my black hoodie and bouncing on the heels of my feet. I think a lot of Reigen’s personality is starting to rub off on me. I’ve been getting a lot more conman-y than usual, and that’s far from a good thing. Maybe I’ll learn something from it.
As I skipped towards the door of our caravan, something caught my eye. A crow.
Crows are considered bad luck by humans, but I don’t believe junk like that. Most animals are quite kind, at least my experience with them has been. It squeaked when I stood and stared at it.
I waved and grinned brightly at it. It looked at me, but I couldn’t explain it’s expression or read what it wanted. It was..scary in a way. I’m not scared of many things, yet this bird could potentially make it up to that list. It squaked once more, this time flapping its jet-black wings and flying off into the darkness of our surroundings.
I shrugged. “Hm,” I said, “Weird bird.”