Chapter 1 - A Peculiar Rain

Lastreau - Belgium

It’s even worse than last summer. She thought, trying to dissipate a bit of the early summer heat by slightly shaking her crop top, for once with no one paying attention, the crowd too dense for anyone to look at her leecherously. Well, the crowd was also one reason the heat was so unbearable, but you couldn’t do a music festival without a crowd like that. Maybe I should have stayed home, it’s really too hot out there. But she didn’t really mean it, since for nothing in the world she would have missed the opportunity to hear the bands she liked the most. Her voice and violin alone are nearly enough to be here with ten more degrees. She smiled and let herself be swept once again by the music, starting to dance like the others around her, even smiling at a girl that had tried to apologize to have roughly pushed her, her word however lost, drowned in the sounds. That one, I wouldn’t mind her pushing me more. She blushed a bit at her own boldness, even if only in thought, but soon enough the music took everything away, again.

High in the sky, thunder rang, not nearly powerful enough to outshine the band, no one paying attention to it. Nearly no one. She raised her head, surprised by the sound, and put her hand over her eyes, protecting them from the sun. The sky, however, was still the same dark-blue color of deep summer. Another one exploded through the vast expense of blue, without any lightning coming along, and still another one, each of them more powerful than its predecessor. What the fuck is that? A dot had now appeared in her field of view, slowly becoming bigger. A drop of rain fell on her hand and, when she looked at it, the small stain was red and began burning her. Something twisted a bit inside her, and she felt fear creep on her neck, turning her stomach into acid. Starting elbowing without a second thought, she tried to distance herself from the growing falling dot. She didn’t pay attention to the groans she created in her wake, even less when a second drop touched her head and started burning. Now the people were looking uneasily towards the sky, the thunder enough to totally overshadow the show, men and women rasing hands pointing at the dot, the most clever already starting to flee as the rain of red drops started intensifying until it was a downpour.

Already far from it, she gave a look back, just to close her eyes shut. “CRACK!” An overwhelming noise drowned the groud. A heartbeat later, when she opened her eyelids again, devastation laid to be seen. People had been blown away everywhere, with blood covering fallen ones, and in the middle of what had been a crowd just moments ago stood a deep pit, tiling as destroyed as people. Screams and yells filled the square, people asking for help or just vocalizing their suffering. Most of them were also covered in the red liquid that had now stopped falling.

W-what? But she couldn’t even finish her thought that things rushed once more over her. A big hand emerged from the hole, taking support on the destroyed ground, and a monster nearly ten meters high exited from it at once. Was it only half out of it that a projectile made of pure light hit it right from above, making it kneel and spraying blood, because the red liquid was indeed blood, out of it. Some tens of meters over it hovered a shiny thing, a humanoid with a long spear in one hand, and wings of light spread behind it. Energy crept along the strange spear and a shockwave surrounded it as it fired another light ball, thunder ringing not long after. This time, however, the monster moved quickly, so quickly it became a blur for her and, with one hand, deflected the shot that went crashing in one of the high building surrounding the square. Concrete spilled out over the road as even more people were injured or killed. MOVE! Her feet started moving again, fear making her fly as she put as much distance between her and the two monsters as she could. She dashed between deserted food or trinket kiosks, pushed around by others that had the same will to live.

finally she reached the end of the stall, the part of the square that the music festival hadn’t covered. Something flew over her, Missiles?!, multiple somethings that crashed on buildings, adding even more chaos and destruction. She managed a look back, saving her life when she dodged something coming towards her. “BOOM!” Did the shiny humanoid after it finished rolling on the ground, embeded in a storefront of the square. A long trail of blood extended towards it, not three feet away from her. My god! She shivered, realizing she only escaped death by a strand of hair. She looked around her, hopelessly searching for a way out of the square, but all the roads she could see were cluttered by wreckage of fallen buildings. There! Her gaze had fallen over a peculiarity, a building unscathered amidst destruction. Cats and dogs could be seen rushing over there and disappearing when they reached the tables of the bar. In the distance she could now hear fire sirens coming this way, but she didn’t pay attention to them, not when steps like earthquakes came from behind her.

She ran as fast as her sandals let her on a slippery floor, seeing glims of the battle at her left. The bleeding monster had tried to charge the shiny one but a burst of light balls had stopped it in its tracks, giving time to the shiny thing to take off and put some distance between them. Fuck! She had slipped over the blood covering and was now falling. Suddenly, she felt as if she had fallen into cold water. Time seemed to stretch and sounds dulled. The sensation disappeared as suddenly as it had come, like a prickled bubble. She tried to stay upright but she tripped over something that groaned, and fell over furry things. ...Dogs? Indeed, what she had fell upon were dogs, and cats, and she could even see a fox amidst the rest. Not one of them moved, even the one she was spread over right now, the animals frozen by fear. That’s what happens when you don’t look ahead, dumbass! She stood up and froze like the pets at her feet. Unbeknown to her, she had reached the tables of the bar and, on the table right in front of her, two men were seated, looking at her with obvious curiosity. Each one of them had a cup of tea and some biscuits spread around their saucer, but the similarities stopped there.

The one at her right was… elegant. Clad in a black old suit, he had a monocle over his right eye and the chain of a pocket watch could be seen from one of his pockets. He was tall, even sitted, and his eyes reflected some kind of hardness, like steel. A peculiar wristband could also be seen, in shades of blue and white, out of place on him, just like the tiny pouch at his waist. The left one was not elegant. He had his heavy leather boots on the table, his long hair let loose behind his back, spilling all over his leather jacket. WAR KILLER was sewn on its right side, APOCALYPSE LATER on the left, and a bath could have done great good to him. Trinkets were strangely arranged all over him, things that could have been garbage, but he wore them proudly.

“Well well, what do we have there?” finally asked the elegant one

“A cute tiny lost birdy, I would say, heh!” Answered the leathery one.

She couldn’t even start talking before something crashed on them. Well, tried to crash on them, and was stopped by the transluscent dome covering the table. The shiny thing had been crushed on it by the big monster, one time, two times, three times, before finally the shiny thing’s headgear cracked open, revealing a scared human face. One last time, the big monster crushed the head of the shiny thing on the shield-dome, making it explode in a rain of blood and brain. Still with the corpse in its hand, the monster raised its head and roared victoriously towards the sky. Then, slowly, it disappeared like mist under the sun, the corpse of the shiny thing falling on the ground.

“You’ve won.” Said the leathery man, pouting, a strange sight on a grown man.

“Stop sulking like that, my friend, I’m as surprised as you. I really thought my angel would win but it seems I underestimated your champion.” The elegant one answered.

They looked at one another for one or two second before the one in need of a bath smiled broadly.

“Bah, a bet is a bet. You can come and take your prize anytime. Only, I’ve recently changed the food of my dog, he is a bit hyperactive since then, so pay attention.”

“Huhum?” made the girl, clearing her throat in an attempt to focus them back to her. They turned their heads towards her at once, surprised to hear the sound.

“Oh, sorry my dear, I forgot you were there.” Said the elegant one apologeticaly.

Stunned by the event, she didn’t utter a sound.

“Girl, you wanted our attention, now talk!” Said the second one after a long silence. It jolted her out of her stupor and her brain started thinking like lightning.

“W-what happened?” She asked, pointing towards the festival and the corpse of the shiny thing.

“You didn’t hear?” Said the rude one. “We had a bet going on, one of my demons against one of his angels. We wanted to see who would win. Quite simple, no?” He answered.

“Oh, Luca, please. Make an effort, she’s clearly lost, a totally mundane human, can’t you be a bit more exhaustive?” Intervened the elegant one.

“Take a chair, my dear.” He pointed towards a chair that wasn’t there one second ago, but she didn’t even raise the fact, already happy to sit, her legs burning from the sprint she made to flee the battle.

“Good good, some tea?” The teapot was in his hand.

“Y-yes, please?” She answered, seeing that the leathery one was bored by all of this.

He poured her some of the hot brew, putting her cup over a saucer with two of the biscuits from the box at the center of the table.

“Good, good. Now drink a bit and eat if you’re hungry, we’ve all the time we need.” He added to sooth her. She took a sip of the tea, delighted at its taste, and realized that she couldn’t feel the summer heat anymore. The air under the dome was cool, the atmosphere peaceful.

“There, are you better now?” Asked the elegant one, to which she answered with a nod.

“Perfect. So, you want to know what happened on the square, right?” Another nod to answer.

“Alright, but I’ll need to put some basis before explaining it to you. Pay attention, I dislike having to repeat myself. Ready?” A third nod.

“I’m Alielle, an Angel, and he is Luca, a demon.” Started explaining Alielle.

“We’re friends since a long time ago and, when we’re bored, we make angels and demons fight for our entertainment. That’s what happened right there. You were caught in a battle that we instigated. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? She’s human, why the fuck are you sorry?” Intervened Luca.

“Take a hold of yourself. Her being human doesn’t imply she is dumb or can’t feel anything, you know that.”

“Bah, she will die in some decades at most, like all the others would have if they didn’t die today. Not a big loss.”

“...Y-you’re a dick!” The girl said while looking at Luca, surprising even herself by her boldness. Oh fuck, me and my mouth! She tought as the demon, Fuck-fuck-fuck it’s a demon your dumbass, looked at her. She clamped her jaw, fearing what would come.

“Hahaha!” Luca’s laugh echoed under the shield-dome. “At least she can bite when she want! Ok, ok, stop looking at me that way Lili, I’ll behave, I’ll behave.” He said towards Alielle, backing under the murderous gaze of the angel.

“Thanks. Now, girl, the way Luca behaves isn’t that uncommon. To most demons and angels, humans are…” He stopped, searching the word.

“Cattle.” Finished Luca

Alielle’s mouth twisted digustingly. “Cattle, indeed. Not a lot of them are like me, talking to you as an intelligent being.”

They looked at her, watching her reactions as she took another sip of tea, her gaze on the horizon. Demons and Angels. What the fuck happened to me.

“Am I dreaming?” She suddenly asked them, eyes foggy.

Alielle looked at Luca. “I fear you’re not, little bird. This is reality.”

“T-then, what happens to me now?” Confusion oozing from her voice.

“I don’t know. Go back to your home? You seem quite young, surely you’ve parents that are waiting for you, no?” Answered the angel in a surprisingly down-to-earth fashion.

“B-but you just said that angels and demons were real! What about that, will I stand again between two of your fighters? I just can’t forget that!”

“Bah, it will not be a concern for long, girl. In one month, two at most, you’ll be dead whatsoever.” answered Luca, Alielle casting a withering glare towards him.

“What? You’re the one treating her as an intelligent being, she ought to know, right?” The demon said, outraged.

“D-dead?” She asked, not letting the angel answer his friend.

“Yes, dead, girl. You’ve been touched by some blood of the demon, no? I can feel it.” He answered, pointing at her head and hand.

A burn mark could indeed be seen at the back of her hand, red and already slowly spreading like a swirl.

“That will kill you. You’ve only been exposed to two drops of it, so you’ve a lot of time still to live, one or two months. At one point, you’ll start losing your hair, you’ll become paler and paler and blood will start leaking from under your skin. Then your internal organs will fail one after another as you lose your teeth and sight, your hearing and your taste. then you’ll slowly turn into a puddle of rotten flesh, and you’ll die. That’s the fate of anyone infected by demon blood.” He explained, horror spreading more and more on her face as he went on.

“N-no. No, it’s impossible! I’ll not die, not like that!” She screamed at him, forgetting her fear of him. “I’ll not die this young! I d-don’t want to!” Rage, fear and sorrow were mixed in her voice as she kept screaming.

Finally, hugging her hands, she started crying, all of this too much for her. Time passed and, at the end, she dried her tears. When she looked at them again, Alielle’s furious gaze was on a pouting Luca, but they both looked at her when they felt she had put herself together.

“I’m sorry to say it, but Luca told the unaltered truth, for once. I wouldn’t have announced it to you like that, but it’s true.”

A sort of numbness had replaced her emotions, numbness towards her death, towards all the things that started making no sense around her, towards angels and demons.

“I’ll die.” She said in a flat voice, feeling her burns slowly, so slowly spreading.

“Maybe… not.” She jerked her head up, surprised, looking at Luca who just talked.

Alielle frowned at him again, but said nothing.

“Keep quiet girl.” He said before looking at his friend

“What about another wager?”

“Now? You’re thinking of that now?” Answered the angel, anger visibly creeping in his voice.

“Yes, now. So you thinking she will survive two months, eh?”

“You said it yourself, yes.” Aswered Alielle, reining himself.

“Then I wager she will survive at least six months. You accept?”

Alielle’s brows were so far down they nearly touched his cheeks.

“You want to wager on that? You’re sure?”

“Of course, my friend. I just lost a bet, I need to amend that. So?”

“...Yes, I accept. What do you bet?”

“My 3-millenium from the grapevines of the sixth circle, against what you just won from me.”

“Deal.” Answered Alielle, as lost as the girl.

“Good, good. But now, we should help her a bit, no? To even the odds? Since she’s doomed to die in one or two months without help.” The demon said mischievously, a broad grin on his face.

“...You’re a sick fuck sometimes you know?” The angel finally answered, a light of understanding in his eyes.

“You bet, hahaha!”