Chapter 5: I Wasn't Staring, I Swear!

Time seemed to have stop, as the two stared deep into each other's eyes. This however, was not due to enticement, but out of fear. Each passing second made it almost impossible for them to even speak, yet Zack knew one thing. If he didn't explain himself, he would be branded a pervert for the rest of his life! With a clear of his throat he waved his hand, blushing slightly and growing much more embarrassed as the seconds went on.

"U-Um, hello."

Her eyes widened further, as her mouth opened. Zack's skin with white, she was getting ready to scream. If she screamed, Stolas would hear, and if he does, it's curtains! With a swift jump forward and without thinking, he covered her mouth with his hand, kicking the door closed behind him. The owl girl did her best to claw at him, but to no avail. Zack sighed. He was already in deep, so he had to see this through.

"Shh, keep it down, I'm not gonna hurt you. Look, this is just a big misunderstanding; let me explain it to you before you scream, please." he blurted out. She stare at him, as she slowly nodded her head. Slowly, Zack released her and backed up , his hands held up in surrender. The owl woman brushed her feathers, as she raised an eyebrow.

"Well? Start explaining." she ordered, an almost British accent seeping with her words. Zack sighed softly, as he explained everything to her. Well, everything that she needed to know, mostly about Stolas and his "penta-portal" patch that he put in the clothes he wore. After 10 minutes, the woman groaned, as she pinched the bridge of her beak.

"Ugh, that explains it... I'm very sorry that you had to deal with that. My father is simply incorrigible when it comes to that imp..."

"It's no big deal, no harm no foul," he cleared his throat, as he introduced himself to her, "Either way, I'm Zack Trevle. It's nice to meet you."

The owl woman nodded her head, a small smile appearing on her white face.

"My name is Octavia. Charmed to meet you as well. So then, what exactly were you doing peeking into my room? You don't exactly seem like a pervert, though most humans are good at hiding that." she asked, causing Zack to blush slightly. He scratched the back of his head, as he huffed in embarrassment.

"Well, I heard some music coming from your room, so I went to investigate. I was just about to leave, but I ended up tripping and, well you know the rest." he explained, the embarrassment keeping him from making eye-contact. Her eyebrow raised, as she walked closer to him. One look at her instantly told him that she wasn't buying his story.

"Heard music? That's impossible, I had my earbuds in. For you to have heard that you would hav-" she stopped halfway through her words, her eyes widening slightly. Zack looked up at her, confused at her loss of words. Without any warning, she stepped closer to him and held his face, staring deep into his eyes. Zack squeaked in surprise. Was she, going to kiss him?! Zack tensed, his body freezing in place.

"What is she doing?! Is she about to kiss me?! No, nonono! If Stolas found out, he'd surely-"

"Is something wrong with your eye? It's all red..." she asked, her hand gently brushing his hair from his eyes. Zack blinked in confusion. Was his eye red? He didn't hurt it or anything, did he? Noticing his confusion, she quickly grabbed a pocket mirror and opened it, before showing him his face. He stared at his reflection intensively. She was right, it was red. His right eye had a slight reddish hue, almost as if it was poked or scratched.

"The hell...how did this happen? I know I didn't scratch it. How could it have-?"

"Via dear! I made us some lunch! Why not come and eat with me?!"

The two's skin and feathers respectively went a pale white, as they both stared at the door, the sound of footsteps coming closer. They're minds both instantly thought the same thing! If Stolas were to see them together, things wouldn't go well for them. Not only that, but Octavia was almost half naked! Zack needed to leave, and fast!

"Shit, it's Stolas! How do I get out of here?!" he silently shouted. She pointed to the back window. Within seconds, he opened it up and jumped out without looking. Now that, is the choice of a dumb person. The window was at least three stories high, and Zack was falling fast!

"Oh shit!"

He closed his eyes, as he braced for the impact of the ground. Three, two, one...nothing? Zack opened an eye, as he looked down below him. He was...on the ground? But how, did something stop him, or maybe cushioned his fall? He shook his head, now wasn't the time for worrying about that! With a swift leap forward, he sped out of the yard and made his way down the path from the castle-like home and down the street, not even bothering to wonder which was to go. Back at the window, Octavia's eyes were widened with shock. He seriously jumped out of the window, without hesitation, and what's weirder was...

"Did...did he just land perfectly...?"

*"

"Well damn it...Now where am I...?" Zack said with a sigh. After minutes of running and more spent walking, he had made himself more lost than he was before. "I should have asked Stolas for direction back to Loona's house. Hell, I could have asked Octavia, but one issue after the next and a lot of embarrassment had to fuck me over... Damn it all..." he kicked at a nearby rock, as he slipped his hands into his pants pockets. It seemed as if things were just hopeless. Not only was he a human in hell, but he was a LOST human in hell. No cellphone, no map, no directions, not even a way to defend himself. It was almost as if he was left in the hands of fate, but fate was squeezing him half to death!

"Well...there's gotta be something I can do! Gotta think..." he tapped his chin, as he closed his eyes, letting his mind do all the talking and thinking that was necessary.

"Should I ask someone where Loona's house is? No, there's no telling if they even know who she is. Maybe ask for directions to IMP? Probably not, Blitzo and the other two would probably kill me on sight just for the fun of it. However, maybe if I hide out for a while and stake out the place then-"

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Zack's thoughts were cut short, his ears invaded by a sinister voice coming from behind him. He slowly turned around, his face white, and his lips curling into an awkward smile. As he slowly looked up, he saw not just one, but 3 large, muscular, and evil-looking demons. They looked as if they could be triplets, each housing a dark blue skin tone and a pair of devil horns on their heads. Their clothes consisted of black jeans, and a a tank-top, one wearing yellow, one wearing black, and the other wearing brown. The demon in the middle seemed to be twirling a knife in his hand.

"H-Hey, fellas. Um, d-don't suppose you could point me to the Immediate Murder Professionals, could you? H-hehe..."

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!" Zack exclaimed, as he quickly bolted down the streets, the three demon thugs hanging on his coattails.

"Don't run pal, we just wanna talk to yah! Why do you smell so appetizing?!" one of the shouted, sending a shiver up Zack's spine. There was no way he was gonna stick around to figure out what he meant by that! His legs grew tired and sore from the consistent speed he was sprinting with, but he couldn't stop now. He had to find a way to lose him! As he turned a corner, he started to think quickly.

"What do I do?! Those guys are gonna catch me soon if I don't think of something! Okay, calm down, let's think about this, those guys are way bigger than me, so it'd be impossible for them to keep up with me forever. All I gotta do is keep running, then I can-"

His heart stopped, as the world around him seemed to turn and swirl around him. His foot missed the sweet-spot that was the ground. He tripped, and to make matters worse, he was about to fall and tumble down a hill!

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, as his body slammed against the ground and rolled down the hill. "This couldn't get any worse!"

His eyes widened, as his ears perked from the sound of a loud train whistle directly bellow him. He wasn't just rolling, he was rolling straight into a moving train!

"Son of bit-!" his body crashed through one of the wooden cars, his head throbbing and his body screaming from the pain. His eyes grew blurred and his consciousness was fading fast. The adrenaline was quickly fading, and soon, his ability to stay awake faded with it, causing him to pass out. The last thing he heard, was the sound of the train moving, taking him away to it's next stop.

*

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE JUST LEFT?!" Loona screamed, he fangs barred at the owl prince of hell.

"I mean he just left. Not too long ago actually. I'd say about 10 minutes ago. After that, slight miscalculation, I ended up sending him on his way." Stolas explained, as he sat at the table in his kitchen. Loona's anger seemed to only grow, as she stared straight at him.

"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO GIVE HIM A MAP OF DIRECTIONS?!"

"He never asked, hmhmhm~"

Loona growled, as she clenched her fists. She always found Stolas to be annoying, even from just how he would constantly call the office to get in touch with Blitzo. To her, he was an annoying prick who couldn't take a hint, though in a way, she had to blame Blitzo too, for getting himself involved with the guy.

Stolas soon grew a more serious look, as he rubbed his feathered chin in thought.

"Speaking of Zack, he told me quite a lot about what happened when he was here. He said that you saved him from death and patched him up. Is this true?" he asked, causing Loona to look at him with confusion. Why was he asking her such a question out of nowhere? What was it to him anyway?

"Yeah, I did. So what? It's none of your fucking business." She spat back at him. Stolas merely nodded, as he took a sip from the teacup in front of him.

"Was that all you did; Patch him up? You know what happens to a human when-"

"Oh fuck off, and go back to whatever horny jail you belong in! I told you, all I did was patch him up, that's all! I'm outta here, I gotta find Zack...!" and with that, she stormed out of the kitchen and back towards the entrance, her face fixed in a look of pure anger. Stolas, on the other hand, was more intrigued than angered. Whatever was going on had Loona at the center of it, and Zack was merely a bystander pulled in by the choices of a certain imp and his team. He chuckled softly, as he poured himself another cup of tea, before standing to his feet. It was funny to him, but mostly, it was quite the show.

*

"Nngh... ugh... head...my head..."

Grass brushed against Zack's face and body, as he pulled his consciousness back to it's awakened state. His body pained and ached all over, as he slowly pushed himself up to his knees. His eyes opened slowly, the color around him returning, as he stood on to his wobble feet.

"Where am I...? I was, on a train at one point after I crashed into one of the cars... Am I, somewhere in Imp City?"

He looked around the area, as he brushed his clothes off. Tracks laid behind him around the ditch he laid in. His eyes soon looked towards the hill before him, as if taunting and beckoning him to climb up to view what lied ahead. With a shrug of his shoulders, he trudged up the hill, his legs still sore from his tumble.

"At least those guys are off my tail... Minor setback, but I'm sure I can ask for directions and get to the IMP building. Then I can keep going from there." he thought, as he soon got to the top of the ditch. As he got closer, the sounds of voices, cars, and even music could be heard, as if it were a normal day in New York. However, one look would tell him that it was nowhere near normal. Throughout the streets, demons of different shapes and sizes walked from place to place, some with groups and others by themselves. Zack's eyebrow raised, as he picked up on something awfully strange. None of them were imps. Instead, they were all different classes of demons, some large and menacing, while some looked small and still menacing.

"What the hell. This isn't right. Where are the imps? I thought it was called Imp City for a reason..."

He rubbed his head, as he looked up at the sky. It was the same, dark sky as before, yet something was glowing in the middle of it. A giant, pinkish pentagram floated in the sky with a glow that gave the dreary sky an eerie feeling, one that sent a shiver down his spine.

"A pentagram? That wasn't there before. Did I get sent to another city...? But the only other city I know of is..." Zack's body froze and the world around him grew deathly quiet to him. It couldn't possibly be. But it had to, it was the only thing that made sense. The train, the change of demons that were around him, the pentagram in the sky. There was no mistaking it, none whatsoever. He was...

"I've just landed myself in Pentagram City!!"

To Be Continued...

Hello! To all of those who are reading, sorry about that long hiatus. Life has a way of causing roadblocks in hobbies, and I'd rather not write when I'm feeling exhausted or not into it. My work significantly suffers from it and no one wants a half-assed chapter or story.

Anyways, I was thinking and I decided to do something fun for the artists who are tuning in to my story. If anyone has any fan art of the story, or creates any art based off the story, I will add it and your handle to the end of each chapter from here on out. Just send it to me through the messenger through Fanfiction DMs, or send it to my email, . This story will be quite the long journey for our heroes, so you all have plenty of time! With that, have a good evening, day, or afternoon, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!