Demon Hunters: Book 1 Faith [editing]

Chapter 24

Ren unlocked the door to a small house located at the end of the block, near a wooden area. A set of shrubs in the front lawn and a tall wooden fence surrounding the meager backyard provided a much appreciated measure of privacy. He stepped inside, placed his jacket on the back of the sofa and picked up his sword. He prepared himself for the encounter he was about to face.

Down a narrow flight of stairs, Ren walked into a dark, basement bedroom. He stopped and listened for the man's breathing and then smiled. He's hiding. He held up his blade and whispered a chant. Soon it erupted into flames of demonic energy. The flames illuminated the darkness below him. Is he hiding under the bed?

"Ahhh!!!" The man attacked, swinging the base of a lamp.

Ren stepped back and waited for the heavy chain locked around the man's ankle to interrupt his forward motion. Nonetheless, the man hurled the weapon at him. Ren easily batted it away with his sword.

"Akuma!" The man yelled this and other obscenities—all in Japanese.

"Yes, yes. We have been through this before." Ren also spoke in Japanese. "I'm not really that important of a demon." He moved close to the man. "Some think the fallen aren't even demons at all, actually. Who knows?"

The man flinched as the flaming blade came closer. "Let me go, you beast from hell!"

"I'm not really from hell. I've never been there either. Just the underworld, but that's still on the Earth plane. Look, why don't you sit down?" Ren pointed to the bed with his sword.

The man backed up, but still cursed.

Ren reached out to the side of the wall and flipped on the light switch. Mr. Osaka cowered back onto the bed, shielding his eyes. "I don't know why you turned off the lights. Were you sleeping?"

"You have no honor! Just kill me now! Why force me to wait! You coward!"

Ren rotated his blade in the air, considering what the man said. "You would find this hard to believe, Mr. Osaka, but I've never killed a human being before."

"Liar."

Ren laughed. "By now, you should know that I don't like to lie."

"Your identity is a lie. Thief!"

He shrugged. "I prefer to think of it as borrowing." It took three days to manifest a new body after being killed, but Ren only needed one day to create a life-like mask which fit perfectly over his own skin. And he didn't even need to die to generate it.

"Help! Help! Akuma!"

"Oh, please, Mr. Osaka. We both know that this basement is insulated and no one can hear you."

Osaka frowned.

Ren sat down on a wooden chair by a small desk, setting his sword down. "Here." He tossed a brown bag in his direction. "Have I been cruel to you? Have I hurt you in any way? No, my friend, there are far worse human beings in this world. Some of these men are more akuma than I have ever been."

Mr. Osaka peeked into the bag.

"It's a burger and fries. I know it's not what you normally eat. And it's cold. Sorry. I had something important to take care of."

"Why me?"

"Dumb luck, I guess." He leaned back against the chair. "I have a mission at your school. I needed a disguise that would give me access to everything in the building."

Osaka reluctantly brought a French fry to his lips and cringed when he bit down on it.

"I'll make you a good breakfast tomorrow. Maybe some tamagoyaki and okayu?"

Osaka's looked at Ren, wonder in his eyes.

"I've been around a while. I can cook. So don't worry."

"Why are you here?" Osaka's peered at him.

Ren sighed. "Sometimes I ask myself that same question." It was supposed to be to find and recruit scions and take them to the underworld. For what? They were building some kind of army. He never understood the details nor asked how they were doing it and what they wanted this army of scions with elemental powers to do exactly. None of that had been important to him.

"Why are you here?" Osaka yelled out.

Ren stared at him. "I have my reasons," he replied calmly. "Unfortunately, I'll need another week."

"Let me go. I'll hide somewhere else. I'll stay out of the way."

"I can't. It's complicated. This scion hasn't shown himself yet."

"Scion?" Ren mentally scolded himself for letting it slip out.

"It's not important."

"Now, you lie," he replied. "It's Nephilim you are hunting." This wasn't a question.

"Yes. A very clever one." But Ren knew he had other reasons. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chunk of wood, with one side covered in white plastic. It took while to find it at the bottom of the river. He felt so stupid doing that, but he couldn't let it go.

"There's something else," Osaka said.

"Yes," Ren whispered. He'd never seen her laugh like that before. And, what she did for that human family... It reminded him of a woman he once knew several millennia ago.

"You," Osaka persisted. "You are Grigori."

"Very perceptive, Mr. Osaka." Ren stood up and picked up his sword, which had extinguished when he set it down. "Unfortunately, I have a meeting to attend at this hour."

He ignited his sword once again, flames coursing along its blade. He placed its tip against the wall and soon a flaming doorway appeared. "One more thing before I go." He gestured to the bathroom adjacent to the bed. "I know you are using that nail file. By my calculations, it'll take at least three more days for you to free yourself if you work non-stop. You could go faster if you try to cut off your foot. Either way, I wouldn't advise it. What's another week in the big picture? You'll live through this."

"I don't trust you."

Ren shrugged. "Perhaps you shouldn't." He spread his dark wings and vanished into the portal.