“Touch me and I will explode your insides like an over-ripe tomato.”
I glanced up from the worn book in my lap, my finger automatically slipping under the page, ready to turn it in a moment. I’d been here most of the day, waiting for someone I had never met before. Lucifer rarely asked for favours, and this one seemed more important than usual. Not that he ever asked for trivial things, but it was obvious that this girl he wanted me to look after was dear to him. Which made it even more unusual that he wouldn’t tell me her name or what she looked like. “You’ll know her when you see her,” was all he’d say.
“We weren’t going to hurt you, honey,” a high schooler crooned to a demi girl with vibrant orange hair. His shirt was only half tucked in, and the jacket was left open. The pants were too large and wrinkled. His friend on the young lady’s other side looked no better. Ch, damn punks. No doubt they were hoping this demi had money or they could talk her into leaving with them. If she survived the night, she’d wish she hadn’t. I closed my book, keeping my place with a finger, and stood up to help her out of this situation.
“Yeah, sweetheart, we just thought you might like to come hang out with us. We’ll show you a real good time,” the second boy said. He reached out to touch her back. Her orange eyes narrowed and locked onto his hand as a frown hardened her face. The boy gave a startled cry and tried to pull his hand back, but it was as if someone had a tight grip on his wrist. “Ow! God! Let go!”
“Jun? What’s wrong, man?” the first boy asked.
“My hand! Something’s got it! It’s crushing my hand!” He started trying to yank it away, desperate to free himself from the unseen grip. It would seem it is not the girl I was meant to save.
“Excuse me,” I said softly. The high schoolers didn’t notice me, but the girl turned to look at me. Her eyes seemed to see through me, and I think she judged me in that moment.
“Are you Soma?”
I blinked, taken aback. “I am.”
She nodded. “Lucifer said you’d be here.”
I nodded, feeling a little lost in my surprise but unwilling to let it show. “Shall we go?” I motioned past me to the exit of the platform. The train that had been boarding behind this small struggle closed its doors and began its journey to the next stop. The girl smiled brightly, tipping her head to the side innocently.
“Yes, of course! Thank you so much for waiting for me!” As she stepped away from the boys, whatever power had held the second one in place released him and he landed unceremoniously on his backside. Both of them blinked in shock for a few moments before they ran off, one holding his wrist, the other screaming profanities and threats which the girl ignored.
We walked side by side to the exit, neither of us speaking. Once through the doors, the girl turned her face up to the sun and smiled for real. The bright light only intensified the orange colour of her hair and made her white horns seem to glow. I hadn’t been expecting a demi. Lucifer was from Kounoshuu, the empire of angels. What was going on that he had openly sent a surface-dweller to me in his name?
“It’s so different everywhere you go down here,” she said softly, a touch of awe in her voice. “It’s so wonderful to see how different people live different lives. Not at all like home.”
“Wait, are you...from Kounoshuu?” I asked, keeping my voice low. Koujin were very unwelcome on the surface. One did not just admit they were Koujin unless they were trying for a fight.
“Hmm.” She closed her eyes and gave me a wry smile. “That depends on your definition of what makes a Koujin. Let’s just say, I’ve lived there ninety-nine point nine percent of my life.”
“You’re an odd one. Even down here, that question is a black and white, yes or no answer. Either you’re Koujin or you’re not.” I stepped out to the curb and hailed a taxi. The girl had only one carry-on bag, so we didn’t have to worry about luggage. When we were in the back seat, the driver closed our door and hurried around to the other side. Before he got there, I asked, “Do you have a name?”
“Demogar.” She calmly looked out the car’s front window, acting like nothing was wrong, but the blood drained out of my face and I could feel my hands start to shake in my lap. Demogar was the name of the empress’s right-hand. The one who likely had more say over what happened in Kounoshuu than any other individual save the empress herself. Why? Why would Lucifer, my trusted friend for over a thousand years, send this girl to me? Her government, her army was the nightmare that kept me awake at night. It was for her empress’s dynasty that I had secreted myself and my family away for longer than I could remember.
The taxi started moving, and I suddenly felt trapped. I wanted to get out. Now. I turned and reached for door handle, ready to jump out before I disappeared with this girl. Her hand touched mine gently. Inside, I screamed. Outside, I turned wild eyes to her. Would she hold me here like she had that high school boy? Could I win if I had to fight her?
“I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to be protected by you. Calm down, and we’ll talk openly when we have some privacy.” Her voice was soft, willing me to trust her. I was going to kill Lucifer the next time I saw him. I brought my hand back from the door handle and straightened myself in the seat. She smiled and patted my hand before turning her face to the window, watching with an amused smile all the people outside.
I was sure after that I had made the right choice to take her to an onsen instead of my home. I had briefly entertained the idea of a guest in my house when Lucifer had first asked, but anyone who needed my kind of protection was too dangerous to let near my boys. And now I didn’t want her to know where they were or even that they existed, if I could help it. She had too much power at her disposal, and we were public enemy number one as far as her kind were concerned.
“Where to?” the driver asked over his shoulder as we approached the main streets outside the train station.
“Arima Grand,” I said after clearing my throat to find my voice.
“Sounds like a hotel,” Demogar said off-handedly. She still watched out the window, her hands folded in her lap.
“It is.” She nodded. I wondered if it was just something she did or if she was really indicating that she understood why I was taking her someplace public rather than my home. Suddenly, her lips curved up slightly, and she turned her face down, inspecting her nails. They were painted red with white swirl patterns and had accent rhinestones. Or maybe, being the second most powerful person in Kounoshuu, they were real diamonds.
“I hope it doesn’t bother you to be away from home,” she murmured. I could barely shake my head.
“I am not home often. It will not bother me.” She nodded again. I was starting to believe it was just a habitual reaction. It was strange to see her in the taxi with me. I had seen her on the television before and in the newspaper. Despite the hatred between the sky-dwellers and the surface-dwellers, we managed to keep tabs on what each other was doing. I had a Koujin newscaster in my dining room. They were hard to come by, but I had my ways of getting such things. This lonely-looking girl next to me was known by most of us as the Empress’s Shadow. In any picture or news-feed of the Empress, Demogar was there. I should have recognized her the moment I saw her, but she was dressed in clothes that no Koujin would normally be caught dead wearing and the very idea of her being here was not something that would normally have crossed my mind.
Truth be told, I thought she was nothing but your garden-variety demi, part human and part something a little more exotic. Besides, had she always had those horns? I couldn’t recall now what she had looked like my last time seeing her standing behind the Empress, whispering in her ear. If I survived this encounter, it would prove most interesting.
