Ch 9: Teenage Awkwardness

Kel was furious. He was furious at being lied to. Just when he thought his friend was back, just when he was made to believe that Sunny wasn't dead, he finds out that it was just a monster puppeteering Sunny's corpse around like some sort of sick flesh puppet.

It truly made him angry.

No, beyond that. It made him furious!

And then, to make matters worse, his mother goes ahead and grounds him for attacking the monster! Then she has the gall to call him a horrible son for doing that! He was just trying to protect them! Why couldn't they see that?! Why couldn't they see that "Sunny" was a monster?!

"Stupid idiotas! That thing was a monstruo, nothing more, nothing less! Esa perra estupida, she has no idea what she's talking about!" Kel thought. The frown that had been on his face since he woke up this morning tightened as he gritted his teeth. His fingers scraped against the hard leather of the basketball he had in his hands.

When they got back home from Church, his parents, anyway, he was going to lay into them. He was going to curse them out. He was going to tell them just how wrong they were, he was going to—

"Excuse me, young man, may I have a word with you?"

Kel turned to where the voice came from and was face to face with a… masked adult. They were tall, around the same height as his Dad. The person wore an orange suit and black tie. The mask the person was wearing was a blank, white mask with no defining details, other than two small eye holes. They wore an orange hat, with a black ribbon around the bulb of the hat, along with a pair of white gloves.

There was this sense of… Kel couldn't describe it properly. But it felt like wherever this person went, death was sure to follow. It was like he was staring at the embodiment of death itself, and… it terrified him.

A bead of sweat travelled down Kel's face, as he took two steps back, ready to book it in case something strange was about to go down. "Uh… hola, sir… uh… what can I do for you?" Kel asked as the man…? Kel couldn't tell, as there was a slight indent in the person's suit where their chest was.

Was this person a woman? Kel couldn't tell, namely due to the mask. It didn't help that if they had hair, it was covered by their hat. Though, he could make out that whatever hair the person did have, was pitch black.

The person, man, woman, whatever placed a hand on Kel's shoulder. His instinct to run doubled when the person did that. "Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" Kel loudly proclaimed in his head, as the person innocently tilted their head.

But the words that came out of their mouth were far from innocent.

"You'll come with me to a place in the woods… otherwise… your family will perish. Do we understand each other, Kelsey Desoto?"

All the colour in Kel's face drained. In a fight or flight response, Kel decked the person in the face, hard enough to knock off their mask.

And when he did…

His whole world came grinding to a halt.

"Y-You're—!"

Those were the only words that he could utter before he was knocked unconscious by being chopped in the back of the neck. The last thing he saw was her shoes before his vision went dark.

[The Mayor's POV]

"I see…." Mayor Jeraldson hummed, his eyes closed, head bowed, and hands clasped together. Sunny Suzuki, the boy who was the victim of The Suicide Devil, and now a contractor with The Grief Devil, was sitting in front of him, and telling him about everything that had happened today at the park. Needless to say, he found everything to be… innately interesting.

The Shadow Devil, a Devil that had been tormenting the town for four years, recently contracted with a human, and, coincidently, one of her friends, too. The Wolf Devil had also attacked one of her friends as well.

Once was a coincidence.

Twice was a pattern.

And if he was right to assume that The Drowning Devil, the next one he wanted gone, was anything to scoff at, then things were about to get way, way worse.

"So, Aubrey Williams is now a Hybrid Devil with The Shadow Devil, and you believe that she can be of use to this town as a Devil Hunter?" Mayor Jeraldson asked as Sunny nodded silently. "Hmm… and when do you think she will wake up?"

"Two days, minimum," Sunny replied bluntly, as Mayor Jeraldson nodded.

"I see… well, then when she awakes, I wish to speak with her," the mayor said, before opening his eyes and looking at Sunny. "If that is everything, please vacate my office. I have some thinking I want to do. But, remember what I spoke about. Please consider it… you might be our town's last hope…."

Without another word, Sunny left the office, but not before bowing out of respect. After that, the boy left, leaving Jeraldson to his lonesome. He motioned for his secretary to leave as well. She bowed, before leaving, now truly leaving him by himself.

Reaching for his phone, he hesitated to dial that number. There was something that he wanted to tell her. Something that he deemed important to risk it all. Then again, he didn't want to get her involved, because of just how dangerous she was.

But, at the same time, this involved the Gun Devil.

"Save that for later. She is a last resort," the Mayor thought as he placed his hand on his lap, forgoing his idea of calling her. Due to his contract with her, if he were to call in help… then that would mean that he would be trading his life for his town.

Instead, now he had a dilemma on his hands. Two Devil Hybrids were in his grasp. Two extremely powerful Devil Hybrids. Well, one moreso than the other, but he'd take what he could get. Him from 16 years ago could call him a fool for trusting Devils, unaware of the contract he made with that devil a few months away from the current month current day him was in.

He would do absolutely anything to protect what held dear to him. Other town mayors would call him a fool for trusting people with Devil Contracts, because 9 times out of 10, it failed.

But he had been extremely lucky. In fact, it was safe to say he had been lucky for the majority of his life, no thanks in part due to his very astute nature. He had a business sense unlike anything seen before in his family. He had won re-election after re-election within this town for the last two decades.

For most of that time, he had managed to keep Faraway in a Devil-Free environment, up until her "passing".

He knew the truth.

Her father knew the truth.

And most importantly…

She knew the truth.

But to break it to that little boy… to tell him what had truly happened… would sabotage everything. His plans, and what he intended to use the boy for. All of it was a calculated plan to make sure that another travesty like the one from last year would never happen again. He was one of the few people who wanted The Gun Devil dead and knew what to do to kill them.

He had found 2% of the Gun Devil's missing 36%... which he kept locked in a vault. He was willing to give that boy a few pieces of it to eat to increase his strength, just so that he could defeat her. Not that he knew who she was.

But, that was beside the point. What was the point… was the danger she represented for this town….

That day had been an important one. One that allowed the town of Faraway to remain in peace for the last four years. He closed his eyes again, his fingers digging into his knees. Jeraldson frowned, knowing damn well what was to come.

The contract was almost up…

Two weeks.

He had two weeks to complete it, even though the last four years he still hadn't been able to find her… if he didn't kill her in two weeks, be it by proxy or by his own hands….

Faraway would be destroyed by The Gun Devil.

And Mayor Jeraldson could not allow that to happen.

Not a chance in hell.

[Aubrey's POV]

Darkness… it was dark, and everything hurt. Her body, her mind, and her soul ached with pains that she had never experienced before, and they all sucked. She was surrounded by an endless void, of endless darkness, floating about as if she were gliding across the water.

And… for some reason, she was nude. But, everything about her that made her, well, her, was, for a lack of a better word, gone. It was like her body was a blank slate, with the only things really there being the small lumps on her chest that she called breasts.

Aside from that, there was nothing to indicate that she was Aubrey Williams.

She was, for the lack of a better word, a husk.

Aubrey looked at her own reflection in the murky darkness, her dyed hair flopping over to one side as she moved her head. Her eyes were dull, devoid of life. Like she was dead.

Which, made sense. She was dead.

Then, a hand appeared from the darkness and grabbed her waist. She recoiled, as another hand grabbed the other side of her waist. Two more grabbed her ankles, another pair grabbed her wrists, and another grabbed her throat. What followed next was something straight out of a horror movie, as several tendrils of solid darkness slithered and wrapped around her legs, arms, her torso, and eventually, lifted her upward away from the ocean of darkness around her.

Aubrey tried to scream, but nothing came, just like what happened when her throat burst open. Eyes appeared everywhere, as did mouths, all of which smiled at her.

"Aubrey Williams…" A voice spoke to her, as Aubrey froze in place. The voice… it sounded familiar, and it unnerved her. It was only when she blinked that the face of the voice appeared, which jumpstarted her memory. It was The Shadow Devil.

A simple question came to her mind.

Why was it here?

"You must be so confused. You must think that you've died, correct? I mean, any human would believe that especially considering what happened to your body. But, I'm here to tell you that that is not the case! Now, I only have a short amount of time to fill you in, so allow me to do so." As The Shadow Devil said that, the hands retracted, and she began to float in the air, stationary as she might've been.

She felt exposed to a degree that she was not comfortable with. Instinctfully, she covered what she could, as The Shadow Devil scoffed. "Please, do you think I care about that? Besides, this is your natural state. Your natural soul. The thing that makes you, you. Or at least, what you perceive yourself to be, at least. This is your mind, after all. Your… inner space. Your… blank canvas. You White Space, you could say."

"But if it's my White Space, then why the hell is it black?!" Aubrey thought as The Shadow Devil laughed.

"Well, that's partially my doing. You see, Sunny and I made a contract. And this contract stipulated that I was to bring you back to life via Hybridization. Meaning, I am a part of you, and you are a part of me. If you wish to activate my powers, all you must do is, ironically considering how you died, cut open your throat with any weapon available to you. Shouldn't be too hard, right? It is where I am located."

Aubrey blinked, eyes wide with shock. There was no way this thing was serious! None at all! She had to do what!? Just to activate its powers!?! That was bullshit!

"A-Are you kidding me!?" Aubrey shouted, now able to speak in this dream-like world as The Shadow Devil smirked.

"Oh, but it gets better~! Ah, but, you know what, I'll let Sunny fill you in on what the contract was. Oh, but don't blame him for it. I simply refused to budge on my choice. See, his choice was to bring you back to life via Hybridization, making you essentially immortal! Hooray! But, my choice… well, let's just say it benefits the two of you." As The Shadow Devil said that, everything turned a stark white…

The next thing Aubrey knew, she felt something… fluffy under her head, and something dropped overtop her body. The sounds of a TV playing reverberated around whatever room she was in, as the smell of cooking meat filled her nostrils.

Aubrey blinked, slowly sitting up, and as she did, she noticed that she had been laying down on a couch, with a starry blanket draped overtop of her. Behind her head was a fluffy blue pillow, with a picture of a sun sewn into the pillow's casing. Looking to her left, she saw the TV, and on that TV was a news broadcast about several missing persons reports being filed in one day, specifically around the lake in the woods where all of them used to hang out.

Several bloated bodies were found, their lungs filled with a viscous water-like liquid.

It didn't sound like a very pleasant way to go…

"Oh… you're awake," a familiar monotone-sounding voice drifted through Aubrey's ears, as her attention snapped to behind her. Standing in the doorway to what she had to assume was the kitchen, was Sunny, holding a plate of bacon and eggs. "There's some extra eggs and bacon if you want to eat anything, though if you don't that's fine too."

Sunny then sat down across from her in a reclining chair, before silently eating his food. The way he moved, seemed so… forced. Like he was trying to avoid something entirely. Aubrey had no idea what it was he was trying to avoid, and quite frankly didn't care. She was hungry, and she wanted food. So, she took up his offer for taking the extra eggs and bacon, before flipping the blankets off of her.

She did question mentally why she was in Sunny's house but assumed that it was because he… somehow revived her using The Shadow Devil, and wanted to keep her safe until she woke up.

When she entered the kitchen, she was assaulted by the smell of freshly cooked eggs and bacon grease. Her stomach growled, and she went on the attack, snagging a random plate, before offloading the rest of the eggs and a couple of slices of bacon. Grabbing a fork from the cutlery drawer, Aubrey then walked back to the living room, sat back down on the couch, and began to eat.

The pair sat in uncomfortable silence, as the news continued to play. The news station was talking about something called "The First Anniversary of The Gun Massacre", whatever that meant. Sunny grimaced, glaring at the TV screen.

"The Gun Devil…" The boy muttered. "The Mayor told me about what happened that day. Last year, in 1984… over 1.5 million casualties in 7 minutes across the world, all caused by one big attack done by The Gun Devil. He also told me what his plan was… and I have to admit… it kinda messes with me…." Sunny continued, as he frowned.

"What are you talking about?" Aubrey asked as Sunny blinked, before looking over his shoulder at Aubrey.

"Oh… sorry. I was thinking out loud. My bad…" Sunny said, standing up and taking his plate to the kitchen, noticeably with the plate only half empty. "Tomorrow, I'm taking you to go see the Mayor. He knows about the contract I made with the Shadow Devil, and how you're currently a Hybrid like myself."

Aubrey sighed, reclining on the couch. "Really? But I don't want to."

Sunny glanced over to Aubrey, a grimace on his face. Aubrey felt smaller than usual under his gaze. She didn't know why she did, but the aura that was radiating off of him was… different. Almost like Sunny had changed.

"You're a Devil now. Hybrid or not, you, along with me, are no longer, strictly speaking, human. Do you know what that means?" Sunny asked as Aubrey stared belligerently. She was NOT talking to the mayor. That man barely did his job anyway. Why should she care? But, she humoured Sunny.

"No, but do tell me. What does that mean?" Aubrey replied, a haughtiness in her tone of voice. Suddenly, the aura around Sunny doubled, and whatever it was he was doing to make her feel small doubled in sensation too. She no longer felt like the powerful, independent person that she typically felt like when she was alone. Now, she felt like a scared little girl. She didn't know why he had this kind of power over her—maybe it was the fact that he had killed her and done so without a second thought—but it horrified her.

And then… he spoke. And what he said chilled her to her core.

"You and I don't have rights anymore. The police won't help us if we ask. If we're murdered, no one will think twice. Anyone can do any crime against us and the police wouldn't care. The police in this town don't know it yet, but I'm sure the Mayor could release that information to the police at any given time. I'm exempt because I'm a Devil Hunter, and I work with him. So unless you want to be constantly harassed by people you once called friends, you might want to reconsider it."

He didn't elaborate further. Sunny just… left the room.

And Aubrey, for her part, did not like what that entailed.

Not even in the slightest.

Aubrey frowned, looking at her food. Sunny was a Devil Hunter. She had already been one and worked under Mr. Wright. Both times, she didn't want to be a Devil Hunter but was forced into being one. Mr. Wright threatened her life. The Mayor threatened her by having the ability to strip away her rights.

The pink-haired teen shoved some eggs into her mouth.

Her life, she decided, fucking sucked.