7 Ariuk #2
Dante snorted. “So, I have a little rebel on my hands?”
Just hearing the word rebel used to describe me made my insides squirm. It felt good. Especially when he said it. Still, I wanted to correct the record. “Uriel fighting God kind of made everyone hate me.”
“So you would have been passing your lessons if everything with Uriel hadn’t happened?”
I thought about it for a minute and realized that I had been using my creator as an excuse. “Yeah, no.”
I could feel Raphael’s disappointment by my side but if Dante was going to be my new mentor, what Raphael believed didn’t matter anymore. Especially not when what Dante was saying was the truth.
“Wonderful. As I was saying, our creations have mentors as well. It’s just that mine are a little more… rambunctious than the rest. They need a different kind of push. They need a little piece of heaven. And I’m busy.”
There was that nontruth again. It wasn’t a complete lie because I’m sure the Devil had things to do but too busy to check in on his own mentees? Impossible. This meant that while Dante couldn’t lie, he could skirt the truth.
I hated the way he said that. It sounded ominous and I should have known that the price of my soul was much higher than babysitting some bratty little kids at a human daycare.
“They’re currently attending Forest Crystal Institute, well the first two are, just up the street a ways.
I’ve already alerted them that their new guide is on her way.
I’ve set up a room there for you and while I’ve told them to be on their best behavior, they are demons and they are the heirs to my throne should I choose to leave it. ”
First off, they were grown men. Well… demons.
Which was the second problem. I was babysitting demons.
Like the nightmares I had grown up believing because we had been told from day one if we didn’t obey all the goddamn rules that demons were going to come get us.
And he said that those were only two of them.
I had my suspicions about what he created, after all there were seven of them, but I decided not to push my luck.
I knew what seven demons usually meant. I was just really fucking hoping I was wrong.
Because here I was, promised to Dante, and being shoved into a task with literal nightmares as my quest. Not to mention that I would have to attend college—issue number three—and room with the fuckers—issue number four.
Dante seemed perfectly content to ignore every issue currently exploding inside my head while I tried to sort through them fast enough to keep up.
Raphael was positively furious beside me but there wasn’t much he could do. He had demanded that Dante give me some kind of path forward, and Dante had done exactly that. Unfortunately, none of us had bothered to specify that it needed to be a good one.
I stared at Dante, keen to get this over and done with.
“Should you work quickly, you might just be done within the week. And then I’ll set you free and you can mosey your ass right on back up to Heaven.”
That idea had me panicking more than babysitting demons though. “Not going back there.”
Raphael tried to cut in again but I shook my head before he could get more than one word out. “Where are the rest, Dante?”
“I’ll point you to the others when you finish with the first two. They aren’t far away.”
The fact that he created seven fucking demons that he didn’t have time to mentor is fucking irresponsible. Hell needs rules.
When Dante chuckled, I knew I had said that shit aloud.
Sighing, I gave up, realizing that if all I needed was a week to get my soul back, it couldn’t be too bad, could it? “When do I start?”
Dante smiled. “You just did, sweet girl. Everything you need is in their dorm, and if it isn’t, just ask them to get it for you. I’m sure you can follow the road, yes? Excellent. They’re waiting by the brick pillars at the entrance.”
I pushed against Raphael, not wanting to wait for any additional speeches or arguments. Dante and Raphael slid out of the booth, Raphael looking on with concern as I slipped past him, intent on making a dash for the door.
Dante caught me by the shoulder, a wild grin on his face as the entity wrapped around me seemed to disappear.
“What did you just do?” I patted my chest frantically, completely confused. It was gone but I still felt its warmth somehow.
“Just opened your chakras so you’d stop fighting your own essence.”
My brows furrowed as I glared up at him. “That’s not a thing.”
His laughter rang through the small café as he released me. “No, it’s not. But something in you has been strangled into submission for a very long time, sweet girl. I merely loosened the leash.”
I stared at him. “That sounds significantly more concerning.”
“It was meant to.”
I had a mind to ask him if he knew exactly what I was, but the desire to put as much distance between me and him was still there. I gave him a slight nod, whispered a goodbye to Raphael, and took off down the street, intent on going anywhere but the institute.
Perhaps I could just vanish. Escape all the expectations and crazy bullshit placed on me and go somewhere I wanted to go. Anywhere else really. Away from angels and demons and college and rules.
Dante had my soul and while I wouldn’t be going back to Heaven, I didn’t really want him holding onto it longer than necessary.