Ghost Chasers

39

"Well, who's going to be so aggressive? We were all friends once," the man claimed with a smile and I looked at him with irritation. I certainly didn't know him, I would remember that. Hongjoong behind me also seemed confused by this sentence. But he either hadn't noticed my growl or had decided that he didn't need to be afraid of me.

"I have no idea who you are, but don't come any closer," I threatened and he laughed mockingly and even took two steps in our direction.

"Or else what happens?" he wanted to know and looked at me with a raised eyebrow before taking another step closer. I took a step back and bumped into Hongjoong, who fell down. Apologizing, I turned around to help him up, but the moment I turned my attention to the smaller man, he grabbed me by the collar and pushed me against the wall.

"And what are you going to do now? You have no idea, do you? You're barely a shadow of yourself, not even capable of protecting yourself... let alone your lover... You're easy for me to play with." he said threateningly but slightly amused at the same time, too sure of himself, which I intended to use to my advantage. I didn't know where I got the sudden courage from, but thinking that Hongjoong could end up just like Kai gave me the will to fight again and so I raised my knee and rammed it into his soft parts with force, causing him to stagger back in surprise as he gasped in pain. The surprise in his eyes grew even more when a ball of flame suddenly hit him and set his suit on fire.

Confused, I looked in the direction from which the fire had come and saw Hongjoong holding out his palm threateningly towards the stranger.

"Hands off, Asmodaeus. Get out of here or I'll make a barbecue sausage out of you." Hongjoong now threatened, his eyes suddenly red... Fuck, he looked hot... even though I didn't know where that suddenly came from, I couldn't say I wasn't turned on by how he had changed. But this Asmodaeus wasn't as impressed as I was. After recovering from the shock, he laughed so spitefully again.

"How dare you? You're not even a guardian... you're a cute little fire demon, what can you do to me? Burn my clothes? Uhhh, I'm scared." With a wave of his hand, Hongjoong floated into the air, as if held by invisible chains, writhing in pain and fidgeting with his legs while holding his neck, as he was probably having trouble breathing.

"Hoseok... you have to remember... help me. Two of us are strong enough..." he said choppily. My head ached slightly and the confusion inside me grew as that growl left my throat again. I felt nauseous and dizzy, threatening to fall, while this Asmodaeus laughed maliciously at Hongjoong, then suddenly threw him against the wall. My thinking stopped and a fiery pain ran through my body, but after a few seconds it subsided and my vision cleared... I had never seen so clearly before and everything was back. I saw how Asmodaeus had placed my soulmate in chains of hellfire, which had not been visible to me earlier, but were now radiant and coldly burning around Hongjoong's body. What the supreme demon hadn't considered was that the chains bound Hongjoong, but precisely because he was a fire demon, he was drawing energy into himself and it didn't harm him. However, because the chains were so tight, his air became increasingly scarce and the constant hurling against the walls also looked painful.

An irrepressible rage grew inside me and I was not so easy for Asmodaeus to subdue... I reached him in a few steps and swung my fist at him before letting it thunder into his face. The force of the impact was so strong that his features slipped from his face before he was thrown backwards 7 meters and lay there, knocked out. Hongjoong sank to the ground and the door to the boiler room opened. Ravn and Kai had stayed inside because of the commotion and had watched everything through the small pane of glass in the door.

"Oh man... that was fucking rad... and your eyes... did I inhale too much smoke or are they real?" Kai asked excitedly, but Ravn pulled him out by the arm.

"They're demons, Kai. That's obvious... But that one back there, we don't want to be here when he wakes up, so come on." he said quickly and he was right, which is why we quickly retreated from the basement to look for the others.