Shazi and the Demons of the First Order (Book 1)

Sari

This was crazy. 

Surely she didn't expect me to actually talk to a demon? 

I mean, sure. How hard can it be? 

Just go up and ask it a few questions and that'll be it... right? 

Those thoughts ran through my head as I walked down the hallway to get to the elevator that would bring me downstairs to the main floor, where I would then exit the building to get on the bus that would take me to the police station.

 I wasn't so sure if I wanted to go with my boss' plan in order to gain the information she needed about the demon, but in the end, she was my boss, and I had to do what she told me to. 

When I arrived at the elevator doors, I pressed the button and kept my arms at my sides as I waited. The doors binged open and I stepped inside, the metal doors closing behind me. I exhaled the breath I had been holding. 

If anyone knew what I was going to be doing, they would've stopped me right then and told me to turn back before it was too late.

 "Are you alright, dear?" a voice asked. 

I glanced over my shoulder to see an elderly woman standing with a basket hanging under her arm. 

She was smiling at me really widely, as if that would be enough to make me smile before I did what had to be done next. 

I quickly gave her a smile then turned back to the doors on the opposite side of the elevator. 

Damn her. I wanted to stand alone before- 

"Oh, this is me. So terribly sorry. I hope you get to where you want to go. Ciao!" she said, giddily, and passed me on her way out of the elevator.

When the doors closed and the old lady was gone, I exhaled with relief. Now I just have to make my way through the rest of the building and get on the bus. 

Easier said than done, though. 

The moment the elevator doors opened I stepped into the main floor of the building, and walked towards the entrance at the end of the long hallway. 

I passed a few colleagues of mine, who gave me a smile that I humbly returned with haste. I made my way quickly down the hall, and when I had finally reached the doors, I exhaled the third time today and stepped outside. 

The early morning air filled my lungs and my ears popped open. I breathed in the air and then let it out all the same, smiling as I did so. 

My smile faded when I noticed a bus driving away from the bus stop right around the corner of the building. I groaned. 

"Oh, not again!" I cried, and ran after the bus.

)~(

Once again, I embarrassed myself by catching up to the bus and asking the driver to please stop so that I could get on. 

He was a nice driver; he even told me to not worry about swiping my card, seeing how my arms were weak and tired from all the slapping I had been doing to get his attention on the vehicle's windows. 

When I had sat in the back of the bus, I leaned into the seat as much as I could and fell asleep just as quickly. 

About five or ten minutes later, I was woken up by a bump that the bus went over.

 "Oh!" I cried, and held onto the small hat I had put on my head before I left the building. 

Could my days get any worse than they already are?

)~(

I got off the bus when it had arrived in front of the police station and thanked the driver for everything. He smiled and wished me a good day, to which I responded with a meek smile. 

I sincerely hope he didn't take it for a fake one; I was just really worried about interviewing a demon, that's all. I walked through the automatic doors and entered the lobby where the secretary sat at the front desk. 

Seeming to have heard me enter, she looked up from her computer and sighed to herself. 

"Another one? They just keep on coming." she mumbled under her breath. 

I came up to the desk and lightly tapped the ringer set in front of me. "Hello. I'm here to interview someone. A demon, if that makes sense. It was brought in a few years ago, called in by a priest it so happens, and apprehended by the police. Would you happen to know where I could find it? Speaking of which... where are the police anyway?" 

The lady looked up from her computer to meet my gaze with a stare that could rattle your insides. She sniffed, and her face screwed into that of disgust. 

"A journalist." she said, spitefully. 

I gulped. She didn't seem to like my kind very much, it would seem.

 "Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'm just here to interview it. I'm not here to help it escape or anything." I told her, then gave a friendly smile to show her that I meant no harm. 

She eyed me up and down, then pushed her glasses up her nose. 

"Fine. Downstairs, cell thirty-seven. You'll find an albino girl there with red eyes. I suggest you keep your hands to yourself." she said, then looked back down at her computer, obviously showing that this was the end of the conversation.

I nodded and thanked her quietly, looking left and right before going down the hallway to find another elevator at the end. I huffed inwardly. 

These elevators just have to keep on showing up, don't they? 

Summoning my courage, I stepped forward and pressed the down button, to which the elevator simply replied with a simple opening of its doors. I got into the elevator and pressed the button that would lead me to the prison level underground. 

I looked up and saw that the ceiling of the small compartment was a mirror, and in the dim lightness of the space, I saw my brown hair unkept and messy, and my dark brown eyes tired from all of the lack of sleep I've been having lately. 

My dreams have been getting more serious and violent each night. I'd dream that I'd be in an underground prison, much like the one I was going down to at this moment, and that I would be standing face-to-face with a demon with red eyes and white hair. 

Now that I think about it, that secretary must be a messenger in disguise, or some kind of psychic. 

Because obviously she wouldn't know that my dreams have been filled with that albino demon for a while. 

Would she? 

I gulped, and shifted my feet's position. I just hope that whatever is waiting for me in the underground prison isn't what the rest of my dream has shown me. I looked up as the elevator doors pinged open, and I stepped out with a heavy weight in my chest.

 If this is my dream happening in real life, then I just hope I have what it takes to avoid the consequences. 

After all, I don't want to die.