Devil Hunter: Alteration of Eminence

Burned to the Ground

"You were warned this might happen. Why didn't you just listen to me?" The big man stated as he quietly drove through the intersection, his face carefully blank as he kept his eyes on the road before him. "You were told not to push it too far."

His pint-sized passenger groaned in response, eyes narrowing against the glare of the early morning sun that blazed through the windshield. Her face glowed softly with a faint sheen of perspiration as she fished up her wrists for a hairband, pulling her disheveled hair up off her neck before turning to her companion.

"I-I was up late last night!" She finally exclaimed. "I had a lot of homework to do and I overslept!"

Dark eyes cut towards her; a fractionally darker brow lifted in a pointed gesture of indignation before turning back towards the road.

"How was I supposed to know it would die? It's not like I did it on purpose!" The girl huffed at the man behind the wheel, her tone defensive as she crossed her arms across her bosom.

"Aylen Begay, it's hot enough that you actually managed to get a tan. The poor thing overheated and died." His jaw flexed for a few moments, his cheek ticking and seeming to betray the agitation of the man, as if he were in mourning over her senseless murder.

Aylen's face crumpled in guilt. She hadn't meant to kill it. She'd honestly believed that it was indestructible – her loyal partner who had finally given up on her in the face of overwhelming odds. She pushed her luck too far and was rewarded with groans of protest before the poor thing died flamboyantly on the side of the road. She'd tried to revive it, but it had resisted her efforts and she finally resorted to calling the cavalry to help her plan for its possible famous last words.

Now, she was running late for school and barely sure if they were going to make it in time for second period. Luckily, her driver had an uncomfortable fondness for speed whenever she road shotgun. One that was backed up happily by the engine of his big black F350. Her dark eyes narrowed at his silence, though a part of her was inwardly cringing at the thought that he was actually mad at her.

Having been unable to revive her monster of a truck, despite the fact that he seemed to know exactly what was wrong; he had simply shaken his head in resignation before steering her in the direction of his waiting truck. She could still remember the billowing smoke that pillared up from her hood and was definitely sure that it was not a good thing. It had taken him a while to get close enough to pop the hood for a closer look. He had warned her that the truck was going to give up on her one of these days, but she refused to let him get her a new car – just as she did her father. Her pensive stare was just a cover up to hide her awkward sense of impending doom.

He managed to keep his cool façade for all of twelve seconds before a smile big and white enough to shame a Colgate commercial crossed his darkly hued face just as a small finger poked him sharply in the rib.

"Don't you laugh at me, Maso Begay!" Aylen whined at her uncle who roared with laughter from his seated position.

Her lower lip jutted out as Maso wrapped a heavy arm around her, yanking her to his side and holding her there until she simply couldn't help but join in, her lips tipping up into a smile that matched his own. And in his book, that made all of this worth it.

It was seven months ago when Maso found her lying at the edge of a cliff, deep within the mountain during one of his daily jogs. Calling out to her, she was unresponsive and he'd felt nothing other than pure panic. She had been crouched over on a fallen tree; her shivering form planted to the trunk of the tree as though she was rooted – rain pelted down on her bare arms and she didn't so much as flinch.