Jenna POV

The alarms blare and I can hear the screams of the security guards behind me, jumping over the crowd congregating near the entrance I watch their shocked faces as I travel through the air.

“Stop!” the guard posted outside screams after noticing me land.

“Persistent bastards! It’s just a few odds and ends. Just let it go already!” Taking off again I shout back as he tries to follow. Running through alleys and taking a few dangerous shortcuts lost them easily enough but the fact that I can outrun an Olympic athlete probably played a huge part as well.

Checking my bags I can confirm that everything made it out in one piece and I start making my way back to the RV. I stay off the main roads and populated streets as much as possible as I make my way but stop dead in my tracks when something in an alley near the hospital catches my attention.

A pair of three toed, red scaled demonic feet are sticking out from behind a dumpster, I watch frozen in fear for a few seconds but see no movement. I should probably just turn around right now and not bother with this but my curiosity got the better of me, slowly inching my way forward I can see that the scales stop just under the knees of a white haired little girl wearing a dirty grey dress and hugging a katana of some sort. “Cute.” The words just slipped out of my mouth and she let out a soft groan as if in response. “Yup. I’ve decided. I’m taking her back with me and there’s nothing the others can say about it.”

I pick her up, rest her head on my shoulder and wedge the sword between her body and mine, in response she unconsciously grips my clothing and covers her face by snuggling into the side of my neck, the heat coming off her forehead is enough to make my neck get uncomfortably hot to spite the cold weather, her demonic blood must have flared up recently, it happens to us frequently enough that I know the symptoms at a glance. While I walk I can feel something slither up my arm, looking down I can see a triangular tipped tail curling around my arm and couldn’t help but smile at what I saw. “Rest easy kiddo, ill make sure you stay safe.”

“No.” I hadn’t even reached the door of the RV yet when Lucian kicked it open and yelled at me from the entrance. “We can barely take care of ourselves, we can’t afford to add another mouth to feed.”

“No problem boss. I’ll just go and dump her back in the trash where I found her, or are you going to do it yourself?” Seeing the uncomfortable look on his face I nod in response, “Thought so.” I make my way past him and into the back of the RV. “One? Two? Anyone here besides Lucian?”

“Hrmmph!” Following the sound of a muffled grunt I can see movement within the messy pile of blankets on the bottom of the double bunk. I put down the supplies and use my now free hand to sift through the mass until i find a head, I move my hand around the face until I feel long strands of hair, “Two? Get up and help me.”

“What is it?” Two climbs out of the lower bunk while rubbing her eyes as I put the girl on the top bunk, as soon as she leaves the warmth of my arms she curls up, hugging the katana again and I can see the pained expression on her face.

“I found her while I was out on a supply run,” Looking down I can see Two holding her arms out, I lift her up so she can see our new guest.

“Pretty.” Two mutters while I hold her, using my other hand I feel the girl’s forehead and it’s still like a furnace, at the same time I can hear Lucian creeping up behind us to get a better look.

“You know, when I brought her back Lucian told me to throw her in the trash.” Two’s head snaps back in response and she shoots a glare at Lucian that makes his uncomfortable face morph into more of a guilty one. “Her bloods flaring up, remember when it happened to you and One?” Two winces slightly recalling the experience then puts on a serious face and nods in response, I put her down and continue, “there’s ice cream in the bags I brought back, go find it for me.”

A few seconds later Two returns holding 4 tubs of ice cream, “Did you really have to get that much ice cream?” Lucian chimes in from behind me. Ignoring him I spread out the tubs so they have multiple points of contact with her body, I wedge the last one into the tiny gap between her arms and her sword and she ends up hugging that as well, as a result the pained expression on her face eases a little.

“Are you just going to lurk or do you plan on helping?” I was just about ready to punch Lucian in the face when I felt the RV’s weight shift. Poking my head out of the window I can see Marco holding a massive container and filling the water tank through the valve on the roof while standing on the ladder attached to the side of the RV. “Hi Marco, Is One with you?”

“Hrm,” I receive a grunt and curt nod in reply, looking around I can see One’s feet disappear as he makes his way around the RV to the door on the other side. A few seconds later he opens the door and makes his way toward us.

The first thing One does is run up to Two and give her a hug, “back,” he says, almost at a whisper and releases his grip before following his sisters glare to Lucian, “What Happened?”

“Check your bunk,” he climbs up the ladder in response to my words and sees the sleeping girl. “Lucian wanted me to chuck her in the trash instead of help her.” Seeing One copy his sisters glare I couldn’t help but give Lucian a smug little smile, by my count that’s 3 votes and Marco’s a big softie so his is basically guaranteed as soon as he sees her.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” He looks at me with a frown and looks like he wants to say something else.

“I know.” I cut him off before he can continue, “Then what are we supposed to do with her? Know of any good places willing to take care of half-blood demon children? Because if you do then why the hell are we living in a van.” That seems to have shut him up because he just scoffed and walked back to the driver’s seat, picked up a comic and started reading in silence.

A few minutes later Marco got in the RV, He walks past us surrounding the bunk and takes a peek without breaking stride, collapsing into the large bed in the back I can hear him ask, “She ok?”

“She needs help, we were just waiting for you so we could vot-.” As soon as I reply Lucian cuts in.

“No need. The outcome is obvious, and I’m not that much of a bastard to not admit when I’m wrong.” I can’t help but flash him a smile when I hear Lucian say that.

“Then it’s decided.” Looking around I see nods from everyone other than the face down Marco who shoots me a thumbs up instead. “did you guys see any places we could crash while you were out? Preferably somewhere that might have a bathtub.”

“Edge of town. Close to a playground. One can show you.” Still face down Marco replies from the bed, his legs transforming back into hooves and a pair of bull horns grow out of his head as he drifts into sleep.

I look at One and get a nod in response, “I’m gonna take a shower in the meantime, once we get there ill make another run for some ice.” One moves to the passenger seat while Two climbs on to the top bunk and sits next to the little girl as I get ready to shower.

By the time I’m done the RV had come to a stop, it’s not exactly a good idea to shower in a moving vehicle but I’m used to it at this point and for me its necessary if I don’t want to get mobbed the moment I enter a public place. Getting out of the RV I look around and can see that we’re behind a large house, not quite big enough to be called a mansion but halfway there and it certainly had the look of one.  The paint was faded, the greenery overgrown and most of the windows where either cracked or entirely broken, we were parked between the house and a cliff face so the RV was completely out of sight to anyone passing by.

I can see Marco holding open a cellar door and letting off the occasional yawn as he does so, he hadn’t bothered changing his legs or horns and he was just standing there, all 8.4 glorious feet of him. As I was gawking at Marco a shirtless, sweating Lucian climbed out of the open cellar and carefully dabbed the sweat off his forehead with the cap of his hoodie, taking care not to get his poor excuse for horns caught on the fabric before waving me over, “We might be hidden but its broad daylight, what the hell are you two doing!?” I yell as I approach.

“Too tired to care.” Marco lets off another yawn and shrugs his shoulders.

Lucian gives me an awkward smile and I can hear a familiar scraping sound as he scratches the scales on the back of his neck, “It might be cold out here but it’s hot as hell down there and wearing a shirt would be insanity, most of this stuff is in working order but I have no idea where it’s drawing power from. No connections to a mainline and not even a sewage system.”

“And? What exactly does that mean?” I question with a raised eyebrow and instantly regret doing so.

“It means that this house was probably built before the city itself, but to spite that there’s electricity being drawn from who knows where, water coming directly from a source underground and there isn’t even the slightest sound of machinery operating.” Holding the side of his head toward the open cellar he snaps his head back to look at me and continues with a crazy look in his eyes, “Don’t you understand!? The technology to build this house didn’t exist back when it was constructed, as a matter of fact I suspect there to be a way to go even deeper into this place, I just have to fin-” Lucian tried to continue his rant before Marco clapped a hand over his mouth.

“I don’t feel like having this headache today, Long story short the house is weird. Already sent the twins to take out any light bulbs they find in the place and ill set up a bed for the little one once we get everything working.”

“Good, and do one of you have cash? Ice is cheap and I’d prefer to walk back this time.” I ask and pinch two of my fingers together.

Digging into the pocket of his shorts Marco pulls out a handful of crumpled cash and hands it to me, “there’s a corner store down the street, they should have plenty.”

The trip to the store and back was uneventful, the only thing of note was a man who looked close to 50 years old wearing glasses and a white lab coat in the graveyard that I passed, he was standing over a grave that looked relatively newer than the rest and it looked like he was having a very animated conversation with the person buried there. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but everyone grieves in their own way and who am I to judge.

Walking up to the house I can see from the street that the front door is slightly open, what are these idiots thinking, the whole idea is to make it look like no one is here and leaving the front door open is just asking for trouble. Looking around for anyone who can see me I make sure no one is watching before I make my way inside and shut the door, looking ahead I can see Marco sitting on the stairs waiting for me with a serious look on his face that sent my incoming complaints back down my throat.

He takes the bags out of my hands and starts leading me further into the house while explaining, “Her fever won’t go down and nothing we do is working, I have the twins on rotation replacing wet rags for her forehead but it just keeps rising.” As we enter the room I can see what he’s talking about, her entire body is drenched in sweat and her skin is a bright shade of red as she lay on the right side of a queen sized bed in the center of the room. I go to the bedside and get on my knees next to her, putting my forehead to hers it feels like she might just burst into flames at this rate. I can hear the slosh of water coming from a connected bathroom and turn my head to see Marco making his way out, “I prepared the ice bath.” Putting One under his arm he makes his way out of the room and closes the door behind him.

I pick her up and carry her into the bathroom, “help me get this dress off.” I tell Two as I try to get the sword out of her hands, “Let go kid, don’t want to let such a pretty sword get rusted do you?” it takes some trying due to the death grip she has on it but eventually I pry it out of her hands and let it rest on the side of the tub. We manage to get her out of her clothes and I slowly lower her into the ice cold water, keeping most of her body submerged and only her face above the water while I wait for her eyes to open, “C’mon kid, wake up.” I sat there for what felt like hours with Two standing at my side wearing a worried expression on her face, My knees where numb at this point and I would have given up if not for the steady rise and fall of the little girls chest telling me that she was still breathing.

 

Beatrice POV

“Back here again?” Looking around I can see that I’m back in my mindscape, off in the distance I can see the back of the curled up dragon but I can’t spot the tiger anywhere. My body flies toward the dragon and as I approach I think about wanting to see its head, in response my body zooms around it and comes to a stop in front of its giant maw. I really missed this, controlling my body and messing around in my mindscape was one of the few joys I had in my old life and probably the only thing that kept me slightly sane throughout the entire experience, as I take a closer look at the dragon i can see its front claw shift slightly and a significantly smaller tiger walk out from underneath it. On all fours the tiger now only came up until around my head, unlike before its fur was now a vibrant shade of black and her stripes are a dark red that matched the color of her eyes. She was also significantly less fierce looking, almost bordering on downright cute but the predatory demeanor she held herself with shot that idea down almost instantly. “Musashi?”

"Thank you for the name master, so you managed to remember us this time?” The same voice that was eerily similar to mine echoed in my mind, but this time the underlying growl was almost completely gone and closer to mine than ever.

“How could I not? A Deva Tiger and an elder dragon aren’t exactly easy to forget.” I reply with a raised eyebrow, “and why are you so small this time around?”

“What you saw before was just a creature I borrowed from your memory, after you gave me a name my image solidified into something that more reflects what I truly am.” She states as she proudly puffs out her chest and raises her chin. “See how beautiful my fur looks now?”

“Hn,” I nod, “your fur does look gorgeo- Wait. did you say you looked through my memories!? What the Hell!!” I yell at her as the realization hits me.

“We were stuck in here for 6 years with nothing to do! And you expect us to not poke around?” She replies in a huff, before raising an eyebrow and continuing, “besides you can’t call that existence much of a life now can you? And besides I couldn’t tell anyone about it even if I wanted to.”

“What do you mean even if you wanted to?” I don’t like the way she phrased that.

“I’m what’s known as a devil arm, for you to use me I had to submit to your will, so any order you give I have to follow, even if you want me to never speak again I’d have no choice but to comply.” She answers as she walks forward and rubs against my side.

“I don’t like that, Sounds too much like a control collar.” I reply as my hands absentmindedly move to her back and I start running my hands through her soft fur.

“You could always release me, but then you’d have a possibly mindless raging Demon on your hands and you’d also be without a weapon.” She leans her head in to my hands and moves it so that my fingers are behind her ear, “I’m guessing that isn’t a desirable outcome.”

“Then how about a magic contract? If you looked through my memories you should have seen something like that right?” I reply and start scratching behind her ears, giving me a gentle shove I take the hint and sit down, soon after she rests her head on my lap.

“I think I remember something like that.” Her voice echoes in my mind and I can hear barely audible chuffing noises coming from her mouth, matching the rhythm of my scratching.  “Hm?” her head snaps up and I feel the muscles in her neck tense for an instant as she lifts her head and gazes off into the distance.

“What’s Wrong?” still running my hands through her fur I question.

“Someone’s trying to take me out of your hands.” She pauses for a moment before lowering her head on to my lap again. “Hmph! At least she knows what she’s talking about.” I swear I can see her smile in response to something.

“What do you mean someone’s trying to take you!? Is my body in danger!?” I ask in a panic and attempt to get up, only to be kept in place by a heavy tiger head.

“Relax. They’re helping you, and if it wasn’t for this young lady your fever would have killed you a while ago, she’s done nothing but help since she found you and besides, there’s nothing you can do from here anyway. You just have to wait until your body recovers enough for you to wake up.” She wiggles her head slightly and closes her eyes in content as I start scratching again, “So we might as well get comfortable while we wait, and I can answer any questions you might have.”

“Back to what I was saying before, the contract?”

“Yes, I remember. But how do we cast the spell in this world? And do gods even exist to govern such an agreement?” she replies.

“Ugh, I forgot about dealing with gods, maybe there’s another method that exists somewhere in this world? I don’t like the idea of having this much control over another living being, It makes me uncomfortable.” I feel a bit nauseous as I think about becoming one of the people who enjoy that type of control.

“I knew you would be a good choice. And I don’t mind submitting to you, just the fact that you care about my will is enough for me. It’s in a demons nature to submit to the strong and in truth, something was screaming at me to attack you the first time you were in the mindscape.” My hands stop moving when I hear that.

“What? And why didn’t you?” I cut in.

She shakes her head slightly and I continue scratching as she talks, “at the same time something was telling me to test if you were worthy, the details became fuzzy after you gave me a name but I don’t think that instinct was demonic in nature.”

“Where exactly did you come from? Weapons don’t normally just grow out of your hands, and from the sound of it you’ve been in here since I was reborn.”

“my first memories are of waking up in here with my brother while some kind of energy was being absorbed into us, at the time we weren’t sentient, the more of that energy we absorbed the smarter we got, and by the time there was nothing left we were able to communicate with each other and move around in this place. As for how we got here or anything before that? No idea.” She replies.

“Some kind of energy?” I question.

“Yup, it felt horrible but there was something telling us to just keep absorbing it, and as much as I wanted to stop I couldn’t. Soon after that we were able to change our forms though, so it wasn’t all bad.” 

“By changing forms do you mean in here or outside? And can you still do it?”

“In here? Not since I got my name, but as a weapon I have a few tricks up my sleeve, my brother was always better at transforming than me but I can do a few. I will need you to give me some demonic energy to do it though.”

“We can test all of that once I wake up, for now just keep telling me about you and your brother.” As I say that I lie on my back and start relaxing, she moves and rests her head on one of my outstretched arms as she continues talking.

About an hour later she lets out a huff, “You’ll be waking up soon.”

 

A/N: So that’s the first Arc done and dusted, I’ll start updating again in about 2ish months. Constructive criticism does make me work faster though so leave a review if you want that to happen.