"Come on guys!" the young demoness yelled back towards the two demons chasing her. She knew these woods, having hunted them for years and therefore traveled at speeds that that luxury afforded her.
"How 'bout you slow down?" Kuronue yelled to her while still trying to navigate the tree branches. So far the crow demon had been doing poorly. The kitsune was fairing much better.
"Maybe you should watch where you're going." the kitsune snickered.
"Bite me Youko." Kuronue snarled back. Youko returned the snarl with a smirk and gently touched any vines along his path.
"Meliko, perhaps you should have chose a different way home." The two demons smiled warmly to her and before she could blink vines had her tied to a tree.
"YOU, you, ASSHOLES!" Meliko yelled as she tried to escape from the bindings.
"We'll see you at home, k? Just don't hang out here too long. The wolf demon pack has been hunting in this area lately." Youko laughed as he turned and started walking the direction they had been running in the first place.
"Gods, I hate it when you do that Youko!" I yelled at him for like the tenth time today. "Just because I wasn't hurt doesn't make it funny."
"Of course it makes it funny, M." Youko smirks innocently at me, the bastard.
"You're a man whore, you know that right?"
"If I had a quarter..." he mused. I then squeaked because Kuronue had snuck up on me and slapped my ass. That sent Youko into peals of laughter; sometimes I hated living with two men.
"Hey Meliko, do you guys have a gig tonight, or are you working here?" Bob asked. The three of us weren't musicians by any means at all but have been stealing whatever we could and reselling it since I first moved into Bob's bar. We worked hard, stole at every opportunity and have finally gotten to a point in our lives that we are recognized at sight by most of demon world. This was the best outcome for three demons whose families were all killed in the more brutal days of their childhood.
"Yes, we've found a camp of bandits and they've been pushing into our territory so we're all going to teach them a lesson."
"You know that they're most likely kicked out of their home, right?" The look on my face made Bob laugh. "Well I figured as much, you guys show them whose boss." Bob had taken the three of us in when there was no where else for us three young demons to go. Times have been hard for Youko and Kuronue before they had found Bob's bar/hotel and started to steal to help Bob out. About three years after they had moved into Bob's they had found me in the middle of wolf demon territory half dead, thankfully Kuronue had a crush on me and convinced Youko to bring me back to Bob's. I've been here ever since. Youko had been less than happy with my joining but after a fist fight we settled our differences and have even become great friends. I think the fact that I wasn't willing to back down helped Youko overcome his adversity to me.
"Will do!" I smiled at the memories of my arrival. "Guys, let's move out!" Quickly the three of us headed to a more southern area of our territory. The bandits that had been pushing more and more into the territory and had, last week, finally made a move to get further into the heart of our territory. We really didn't need to attack the group; we could have had Yomi lead this incursion. He liked this kind of work more than the quick ins and outs that Youko, Kuronue and I usually did, but Youko and Kuronue needed to be able to just let it out and kick some ass. I couldn't say that I wasn't itching for the fight, too.
We quickly sped to the last camp site that we knew the bandits had been using, without a sound we made our way into the heart of it, knowing that if anyone would hear us they would sound an alarm and we'd have no almost no advantage. As fun as that sounds, having the advantage of stealth is a lot more. I found the leaders tent first, and with a large grin perched on my face I stole into his sleeping quarters. I unsheathed my katana with an urgency I really didn't need; the demon was asleep. With practiced grace I slit his neck, covering myself with his blood. Oops, I forgot that that happened. I smiled at Youko and Kuronue as I lifted the leaders door to exit. Makai could be a shitty place to live, but it sure had its moments.
Bob's face when we entered the bar was priceless; all the blood on me must have lead him to think that one of us was injured. I could see him readying himself for a nice lecture and then stop himself before he started; he must of realized that none of the blood was ours. Laughter glinting in his eyes he walked out from behind the bar with three drinks in hand; one drink for each of us. The tradition has started out as a joke and now is something we do every time we come back from any sort of heist, robbery, and territorial fights; you know normal Saturday stuff. It was something that we needed to help confirm that we were still alive and that even though we may had gotten our asses handed to us we would still live to see another day.
"I'm going to take a shower and then head to bed." I could hear whispered words between Youko and Kuronue, but ignored them. I needed sleep in a bad way. This has been the routine since I moved into Bob's. We'd go out, kill, come home and I'd end up in a dead sleep for ten hours. We weren't assassins by any measure but there had been an influx of other bandits in our territory and we had to take action. One territory can only support so many demons stealing whatever they need, and I think that on some level it bothered me that I was the best at taking care of these demons in the most quiet and efficient manor.
Slinking up the stairs to the living quarters to shower and finally sleep, I heard the bar go from normal bar noise to complete silence; I hoped it was just another stupid demon that pissed off Youko and got slaughtered. I look up towards my comfy bed and sighing, turn on my heel.
"Youko, did you kill someone again? Geeze we just got done with a tuff, did ya' have to do it here?" At the last words of my sentence I saw what had made the bar quiet, and it wasn't a what but a who; we had a slayer in our mists. Of course, it couldn't be just some dumb slayer kid out looking to make a name for himself but the worst one out there; Slayer. Yep, that was his name. No one knows his real name so we all just adopted that for him. Slayers were made years ago by the rulers of Reikai to handle the growing demon population and to kill off some of them that were getting too strong. Now the Slayer population was dwindling as the rulers of the Reikai realized that they had created a lose cannon and let all the demons that could kill off all the females of the species. No slayer would have sex with a demon and thought that humans were disgusting; personally I didn't give a rat's ass, this was all before I was born.
"Oh, that makes sense." I looked at Slayer. "We don't serve your kind here." Youko and I had run into this freak when we were but wee kids, apparently safe due to our age. "The door is to your back, make use of it."
"Ahh, you've grown, half-breed. Last time I saw you, you were but a child. I could kill you now, if I so desired." Slayer's voice was almost pleasant in an awful way. "I doubt that would make Bob happy, though, and we need to keep Bob happy." That sentence was sarcastic in a painfully obvious way.
"Slayer, go home. You are making my customers nervous. Leave now." Bob's words were so hate filled I could almost taste it. We'd all lost friends to the Slayer.
"But Bob, I'm just here for one of your famous drinks. Would you really turn away business so callously?" He asked innocently, if a man that's killed hundreds of thousands of demons could be innocent.
"Yes, I would now get out before I make you leave. YOU are not welcome here." The simple fact the Bob was standing up to this slayer was a sign that he was pissed. Slayer had come to this bar before and Bob let him drink for free as long as Slayer didn't kill anyone. Maybe the fact that Youko, Kuronue and I were all of the age where most demons are trying to stake out their claims and find their own piece of land to keep for themselves had him this way. Since we three had already done that, Bob might think that I'd be stupid enough to try to protect said territory from a Slayer. I'm not that stupid. It'd be a suicide mission to try to do anything against Slayer. Surprisingly, without another word Slayer turned and started to leave the bar; most likely in some show of testosterone, Slayer took out one of his infamous knives and killed the panther demon standing by the door before finally leaving for good.
A sigh seemed to emanate from the building as everyone realized that Slayer wouldn't be back for a little while at the very least. The normal bar chatter filled the room again and I let out a tension that I didn't know I had. Slayer always put me on edge. I would have no problem sleeping tonight.