Hellv7 - Chapter 2

“You’re late,” Etna chanted from the kitchen. Deceit blew her off, just like she did any other day; she was never on time for dinner. Though this time would make the record of days late, seven days to be exact. ‘Oops.’

It had taken James and her four days to find their way to an establishment run by something other than Humans. Deceit made a mental note to encourage increased settlement of Greece as a whole.

“Why does it smell like Human and dead people…?” Etna’s eyes widened as she saw one of the sources of the smell: James. “Deceit, you know it’s against the Rules to get involved with Humans.”

“I’m not involved with him,” Deceit shot back. “And how do you know he’s not a Magi?” Etna gave her a don’t-try-to-bullshit-me look and Deceit sighed. “The Sireanian government is employing Harpies now. He was caught in the crossfire and saw Mou, so he’s kind of stuck in the middle now. Set an extra plate.”

“You’re going to get caught one of these days, ‘Ciet.” Etna warned with, a shake of her head. She then disappeared back into the kitchen to fix something for them to eat.

“I’m sure,” Deceit muttered, sighing. She never did get caught because she was too useful to the High Councils to be rotting in jail. James was wide eyed when Deceit turned around and she sighed again. ‘You would have thought he would have been surprised out.’ He must not see people with blue tinted skin and green hair every day, she mused. “Don’t look like that; she’s only a Chaos Demon.” James gave her the same look a deer would give headlights.

“…Only?!” He was horrified to the point it was almost comical.

“Get used to it. Now come on, we both smell like rotting flesh and I’d rather not attract anything,” ‘Like Vera,’ She dragged him down a dimly lit hall that smelled of lingering strawberries.

[…]

After depositing him beside a door painted in an eye-cancerous shade of blue and informing him to “Stay.”, she weaved her way up to another brightly painted door, this time pink, located two halls over.

‘Please let the Familiars be out and about,’ She prayed silently to whatever entity was listening. Of course it was one that did not like her, and her luck took a turn for the worse.

“Ohhello Deceit- Ewww. Why do you smell like decaying people?” Joy asked, covering her nose and trying to bar the way into the room at the same time. She had never been good at multitasking.

“A run-in with a particularly nasty Undead,” She answered, thankful that the smell of decomposing bodies covered the sticky-sweet smell of Humans. Explaining James would not exactly be a walk in the park. Deceit pushed past Joy with ease and disappeared into the maze of clothing racks.

Joy cursed. Alice would be particularly unhappy when she returned to a bad smelling room.

[…]

James was fidgeting. He hated to be in strange places, let alone dark ones inhabited by strange creatures. He did not remember how exactly he got in or out of that underground cavern and this Deceit-girl had not explained a thing like she had told him before. At least, he thought that’s what she said. He was not so sure anymore.

He looked himself over for a moment, finally having the chance to. His shirt was nearly nonexistent, only held together by a handful of threads at most. So much for his only nice black dress shirt. James found his jeans in a similar state of disrepair, only with many more blood and God-only-knew stains. He hurt all over, and no longer was he graced with the pleasant numbness that had calmed him, when she was around.

Deceit. What an odd name. It must have been a nickname or something; surely her parents had not named her in such a way. Surely-

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Come on, you’ve got to get yourself cleaned up before those wounds get infected.” Deceit seemed to materialize from thin air, with two stacks of cloths. ‘How…?’

“R-right,” He hated feeling unsure, but perhaps it was the lack of sleep and excessive blood loss that was making him this way. That was making him trust a complete stranger. He let Deceit lead him into what he assumed was a single bathroom. Wait a second…

“Shouldn’t you get cleaned up?” He stated in a rush, frozen to the spot. Deceit smirked and shook her head, guessing his thought process effortlessly. She opened the door to reveal what he would call a bathroom suite, though the title did not even scratch the surface. It was as if the public baths of times past had met modern day styles on a private sector.

“You’re going to catch flies,” Deceit informed him while leading him over to a bath and running the water. He snapped his open mouth shut as she vanished again for a moment before returning with two over-sized towels and a box with a bright blue cross on the front of it.

“What’s that?” James could not help his curiosity; it always seemed to get the better of him- at least in the past few hours.

“It’s a Hybrid medic kit. I don’t have one distinctly for Humans; I rarely deal with them. We’ll have to make do with this and I’ll pick one up the next time I go shopping. For now just relax and I’ll be back soon enough to see to those wounds… if Etna hasn’t beaten me to it.”

“Etna…?”

“The Chaos Demon from before,” Deceit reminded, laying down the towels on top of a stack of clothes. “If those don’t fit,” She gestured toward the clothes. “Let me know, I had to guess your sizes. I’ll be in the next room if you need anything.”

“Okay, thank you.” Deceit nodded and drifted into the next room. Soon enough steam began to permeate the room with the smell of the ocean, and James decided that she was not, in fact, intending to kill him. ‘At least not yet…’ He settled into a warm bath and was soon lulled to sleep by the sound of running water.

[…]

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’ Deceit could not believe she was doing this. It was one thing to save a Human, and then follow standard practice by wiping their memory and dropping them in the first safe place found. But to not only bring them back to a mixed Race establishment, and agree to explain their world… it risked everything she was supposed to enforce. ‘I’m definitely losing it…’

Or maybe she wasn’t. Gods and Goddesses worked in strange ways, and many of them had a score to settle with Deceit. She was useful to most of them- not that they would ever admit it. Even the high Chaos Goddess, Eris, had found her to be an amusing toy.

Deceit sighed, and turned the water up hotter. She was sore all over and tenser that she had been in a long time. Sure, losing innocent and worry- free moments were a part of being a Guardian, but it was indefinitely more painful to be a full time Guardian to Races that could not easily fit into Human society for even the shortest periods of time, and a Peace Keeper at the same time.

‘It was entirely Riven and Michael’s fault.’ Riven, the High Council Representative for the Northern Coven of Naga and Michael, the Rep. for the Angels, were the two that had informed her that she would become a part of the Council. There had been no asking involved. Deceit gritted her teeth. She had never wanted to serve the position in the first place, but she couldn’t refuse because it was a great honor to serve in the highest government body. They could take the position and-

“Are you mentally wandering again?” Etna asked, kicking the door shut behind her with a grin.

“I’m planning out the best way to kill off Riven. Luciano might become angry if I off Michael, so Riven will have to do.” Luciano was still quite useful to Deceit, and as such she couldn’t anger him. Yet.

“You could always ask Merc, she’s probably already got a plan or eight to spare for him; but your plotting will have to wait until you’ve eaten. Normally I’m against eating while in the bath, but to be honest Deceit- you look worse than Hell.”

“Well thanks,” Deceit replied bitterly, ‘Like I need to be reminded.’

“Not a problem.” Deceit wanted to face-palm at Etna’s obliviousness, but resisted the urge. “Want to know what’s for dinner?”

“Why not? You’re going to tell me anyway.”

“You ruin all my fun.” Etna set a tray beside the tub. “Oh, and your little chew toy is passed out in his bath, would you like me to wake him up and make sure he eats?”

“Yes and make sure none of his wounds are infected- but be aware of his limits. He’s skittish enough as it is, I don’t need him having heart failure or something like that.”

“Fine…” Etna huffed and skirted out the door. Deceit shut off the water and grabbed a towel before turning to her meal. Fish, rice, vegetables, and something that vaguely reminded her of stuffed peppers with food coloring. At this point she didn’t care and began to eat.

[…]

Something smelled good, James’s subconscious informed him. He could not remember the last things he had eaten, only that they had been burnt beyond the ability to recognize and made him sick for days afterward. This smell was completely different, though. It smelled sweet and slightly salty and… like the ocean? James opened his eyes slowly, only to see a sparsely clad blue skinned woman with green hair. She looked familiar…

Etna ignored the Human’s roaming eyes and surveyed the damage. Besides puncture wounds, lacerations caused by Gaia-only-knows, and rope abrasions, she could see signs of both malnutrition and neglect. ‘No wonder Deceit brought it home, even she can’t resist bringing home such a beaten kid.’ He was not much older than Deceit after all, just barely out of his teens at most.

“Get out and cover up the important stuff, and you get food. Leave as many wounds uncovered as you possibly can- they need to be tended to properly.” She set the food down just out of his reach, and within moments he had followed her directions to the letter. Etna sighed; Humans could be so easily manipulated in their weakest moments. She kept her word, however, and began seeing to his wounds. It was always best to stay on Deceit's good side, after all.