It was the most awkward car ride ever.
The first five minutes consisted of kicking, screaming, scratching, threatening; and the demons all took it like champs. But, because of general hopelessness and exhaustion, Coco couldn't maintain the fight in her and instead started to unwillingly calm down.
When she finally did, after minutes of tirelessly huffing and breathing, Coco got a good look of the six demons around her. They all were the standard bulking red-skinned demons you have imagined as body guards, but these guys came with a distinct and similar feature. They all had some kind of yellow gash or mark of scar running across their faces, and some kind of small horn piercing on their foreheads that didn't match with their own personal horns.
'This is really weird,' Coco thought, sinking in deeply and reaching for a seat belt. Even in hell, old habits of safety mattered to her and she buckled herself in. 'Are they all in a gang or something? Do… demons even technically have gangs?'
She started to notice that her lack of understanding demon culture and hierarchy was really starting to hurt her.
What was even weirder was now none of them were talking but they were all glaring at her intensely. It made sense, since earlier she had been kicking, biting, scratching, screaming; but it was still too unnerving to be as simple as a grudge. It looked like they were expecting something.
"Um," Coco started. Her mind couldn't really tell if talking right now was a good idea, but since the book was strapped to her leg and this curse mark was apparently protecting her, it seemed like a waste if she didn't ask them questions like what the fuck were they doing. "So, this is the second time I've been kidnapped in two days. How are we? Are we uh… Uh, are we going somewhere? Or am I the only one going somewhere? Did you… You know, even mean to pick me up or was I just the first thing you saw in the alleyway?"
And maybe that third cup of coffee was kicking in and making her chatty.
One of the demons looked particularly annoyed at her, then eye balled one of the bigger demons in the middle sitting across from Coco. She picked up on the vibe that he was the boss around here, mostly from the fact he was the one who just looked the most imposing. She felt quiet ridiculous now being the only one strapped in, but was kind of looking for answers at this point.
"You can't shut your mouth, can you kid?" He growled slightly and talked without moving much of his mouth. "That's the theme at IMP, huh?"
"Well, you haven't told me anything…" Coco half-glared over. Who was this big scary demon calling a kid? She's in graduate school!
"Fuckin' bitch," one of the others said, leaning over to the boss-man. "Come on! Let me show her how to keep quiet!"
'EEEEP!' Coco mentally screamed with eyes wide opened. 'THIS IS AFFIRMING EVERY STEREOTYPE!'
"Shut your mouth!" The boss grabbed that demons face and forced it through the back seat. "Jeez! Can't get any peace around here!"
"He's new," the demon to his side explained, taking out his phone to text someone. "Can't control Miss Honey's blood lust augment."
"Whatever. Still, needs to show some class in front of the new blood." He growled again and looked back at Coco, who straightened up more and swallowed some of her spit. "What? They picked you up as soon as you feel on the ground? You still smell like human's all over you. It's drivin' my boys crazy."
"I uh, yeah, um," Coco started, looking scared and relieved at the same time. Instead of furthering this explanation, she knew she should change the subject entirely. "Wh-Where am I going?"
"Hnnn, you'll be there soon enough." He looked at the other man and got a nod, turning back to Coco just to glare and threaten her. "What? Never been out of that shit hole you call a business? What are you? Don't look like no hit-man. Don't look like no slut either like the other two…"
"Office worker!" Coco immediately lied and began looking more and more anxious as he talked. He kept making her more nervous by not answering any of her questions. "What are you gonna do with me…"
"Make an' example'," he said, taking out a match box from his pocket and pulling out a match. "That big owl family's leader, Stollas. He's been poachin' on Miss Honey's territory down near the South Pentagram. Jus' so happen's, he gets IMP to take out some o' her associates up in the living world."
'Demons can have connections with the living world?' Coco perked up at that, the information being stored as interesting for later. But then remembered something else. 'Wait. Stollas. Stollas… Wasn't that a part of the name in this book?'
She wanted to reach down and unhook the book from her leg, but couldn't risk moving a muscle because she was pretty sure one of them would bite it off if she tried anything.
Yet, strangely enough, they were all being fairly civil. Restrained is more like it, but other than that one demon, they stayed still and seemed focused on something else entirely.
"Can't believe a pompous asshole like Stollas would actually hang around with a bunch of imps," the big man snorted, making a sound that was like some kind of disgusted gurgle. "Well, that fruit's pretty fucked up. It's all yous' imps flyin' around like you got some place to be where you don't belong."
"… huh?" Coco was incredibly confused by this man's lack of proper grammar. But, from what she could string together, it was meant to be offensive. "You mean… like… on Earth?"
"Fuckin' moron," he said staring right at Coco. "You some kind of retard?"
"We're not supposed to use that word anymore," one of the other demons pointed out.
"Shut the fuck up!" The boss shouted, turning back to Coco. "What kind of imp don' know the basic rules? You stay in your fuckin' territory! You stay with your fuckin' kind! And you stay out of the way of the big leagues…"
Coco backed up even more in her seat. The horror this guy was pushing was obvious, along with the… demon racism? That's what it sounded like.
"Isn't everywhere in Hell the same?" Coco asked carefully. "I mean… We-We all got here for the same reasons…"
"You think you're in the same league as us?" The big man laughed.
"Stupid new blood," one of the other demons chuckled.
"Must have signed on to the first group she could find," another sneered. "Looks like IMP ain't too picky either. Must pick up after whatever it can get."
Now Coco blushed and glared. Why were they saying all of this? Sure, she's not a big fan of Blitzo and the others, but they haven't really gone out of their way to kill her in the last few hours. In fact, they've been civil so far! This kind of insulting was, well, uncalled for!
"Anyone working for Stollas means they make an enemy of us." The boss began again, not exactly explaining his position but now explaining why he apparently hated her guts. "You IMP fuckers and-"
"I'm not an imp!" Coco shouted, finally getting angry about being misconstrued for a demon. Just a start of all the annoying things that have been happening.
"… Ha?" He said, getting more angry as she was now "mouthing off" to him in his own car in front of his men. "Then what the fuck are you?"
"I'm a- No wait." Coco remembered why she was pretending to be a demon again and immediately tried to take back everything she just said. "I am an imp."
"That's what I said!"
"No!" She tried to correct again with more conflicting information. "You said IMP like they IMP but um I'm an imp."
"What the fuck are you talkin' about?" Another demon piped in, confused by the fact he can't see the capital letters. "You're all imps!"
"Well, you see, it's uh, simpler than that but you're making it complicated." Coco attempted to explain again, now holding out her hands and going full on into English teacher mode. "Well, I'm an imp but I didn't mean to IMPLY that I'm also an IMP like-"
"Shut the fuck up before I eat your imp ass!" The boss said, completely tired and shutting down the whole thing.
"Yes sir…" Coco said, placing her hands on her knees and looking down at her shoes she borrowed from Milly.
It was a nice, tense, car ride after that.
-At IMP-
Moxxy was currently cleaning up the room while Milly was taking care of the body. About ten minutes ago, a small group of obviously strung up, half mind controlled demons came in threatening all around the place. One of them tried to hit Luna, she bit off his arm and Blitzo shot both of them. One was currently dead and the other, well, was holding his severed arm with one hand while Luna kept watch of him.
"I thought we had some kind of cleaning service for this?" Moxxy said obstantly as he scrubbed the carpet floors. Obviously annoyed his job right now was the most uncomfortable.
"Well, she said she wouldn't come on Saturdays anymore," Blitzo said, walking out of the bathroom where he finished washing his hands and now stood and looked at the office carpet. Between the blood stains and summoning circle fire rings, he couldn't tell which ones looked more unprofessional. "And I just had these floors steamed…"
"Hey, shouldn't we be interrogating this fucker for trying to bust this place?" Luna said, gesturing with her thumb at the demon currently half whimpering and half foaming at the mouth.
"Don't you see the mind augmentation horn?" Blitzo said, walking up and pointing at the small metal horn that had been shot at and busted up. "That thing completely fucked with his mind! You'd be lucky to teach how to wipe his own ass after that!"
"So why did he come here again?" Moxxy asked, looking back and forth between the hit man and Blitzo with a quirked brow. "I know I heard something about territory, but we're not in any terf war."
"Stollas kind of is, I think," Blitzo said, turning to ponder the situation a bit. Then he looked down some more at the other demon and tried to remember if he'd seen anything like him. "Uh, he looks like some underling of one of those demons who are trying to make it big near the south of the Pentagram. I don't know. Guess they wanted to mess with us 'cause we're on Stollas' payroll."
"Didn't they say they wanted the book?" Milly asked, popping her head out of the butcher-room door while holding a bloody handsaw.
"I thought he said he wanted the amulet?" Moxxy said, looking just as confused.
"He didn't know what he wanted!" Blitzo cleared up, shrugging his shoulders and holding his hands in the air. "These guys are all brainwashed! It'd be a miracle if they remembered their own names. It was all just for show anyway! If they wanted anything they would have just snuck in here and taken it."
"They had a car waiting," Luna said, gesturing to the window. "It took off as soon as you fired the shot gun."
"Oh, God dammit!" Blitzo yelled, looking throughly annoyed. "Now we've got to deal with even more of a mess! Ugh! Guess this means I should call Stollas later…"
It took only a few moments for them to notice something was missing.
"Where's the human?" Moxxy asked, looking from side to side and seeing no one. "Doesn't she have the book with her?"
"I took her outside," Blitzo said, now smiling as he turned to go bring Coco back inside. "Good thing to! The kid would have had a heart attack if she'd seen… No wait. Now I WISH I had kept her in here."
Slightly regretting the chance to cause a natural death, Blitzo walked over to the back door to let Coco back in. He was reluctant to state that he no intention of killing her anymore, but he also didn't want to rule out death being a possible advantage.
When he opened the door and blinked several times, seeing Coco wasn't there, he tried to see if she had magically started flying. Or became invisible. But with no furtive results, he found that she had instead not followed his instructions and had actually moved from the place he put her.
"Goddamit," Blitzo muttered, facepalming and groaning in aggravation. "Could this morning get any worse?"
"What's happening?" Moxxy asked, walking up from behind Blitzo and standing next to him.
"Looks like the human's gone," Luna said, looking over Blitzo's shoulder and then going back to monitor the mentally challenged demon.
"Again?" Milly said, popping her head out of the doorway to look and confirm this.
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Moxxy shouted, turning to look at Blitzo. "Why'd you let her go outside alone!?"
"Because I thought she was smart enough to understand I don't care about it if she get's killed out here!" Blitzo snapped back, letting down the emergency ladder on the fire escape and stepping down. "What I DO care about is she has the book with her. Now let's go find her rotting corpse and take it back."
"Such a pleasant idea," Moxxy mocked half heartidly as he followed Blitzo down along with Milly.
They got down to the alleyway and looked around but saw no blood nor summoning mark or anything particularly out of the ordinary. They did see the dumpster top had some kind of imprint like someone had fallen on it and that there were tired marks on the street, but they didn't know if they could connect them.
"I don't see anything wrong here," Milly said, looking down the alleyway carefully.
"Maybe she didn't run away," Moxxy said, bending down and looking at the tire marks critically. "These things are new, smells like they stopped and started again real quick."
"What? You think she hailed a taxi or something?" Blitzo asked, looking at the marks beside Moxxy. "Great. Now we're looking all over the city for the book again!"
"She doesn't seem like she'd just run away like that," Milly said, pondering what could have happened. "I don't think she's just leave for no reason too…"
"So maybe she didn't want to leave?" Moxxy suggested, standing up and looking at Milly. "Maybe something happened and she got pulled away into a car when she didn't want to!"
"That's absurd!" Blitzo said, putting his hands on his hips. "Why would anyone want to take a tiny, stupid looking not-imp for no reason! I mean, who would legit want to take her if they don't know she has the book with her?"
At that, they heard someone coughing and looked down to see the usual homeless demon sitting up on his cardboard and looking awkward.
"Hey!" Blitzo called over from where he was standing. "You seen a small, stupid looking girl imp around here?"
"Got pulled into a car," the homeless demon said.
"What!" Moxxy shouted, then ran up and grabbed the demon by his tattered remains and held him up with such a strong intense look. "You saw it happen!? Who was it? Where did they go? When did it happen!"
"Mox, chill out!" Milly said, running over and standing beside Moxxy. "This guy is constantly drugged up! Who knows what he remembers!"
"Wait wait wait," Blitzo said, sliding over and looking eye to eye with the demon while Moxxy still held him straight up in the air. He was strangely a lot calmer than the rest of them as he came up to interrogate the demon, obviously playing good-cop to Moxxy's insane and panicked-hit man."You said you saw it? You see who did it?"
"J-J-Jus' that they all ki-kind of looked alike," he sputtered out.
"Big, red and ugly?" Blitzo asked, describing the two men who had come in the office earlier. "Big yellow scar across the face? Small metal horn?"
"Y-Yeah. Said he' was with sum demon called "Miss Honey"…."
"Oh my god…"
Blitzo turned and sighed, walking a few steps away and muttering to himself. Moxxy and Milly looked at each other confused before dropping the homeless demon and walking up to Blitzo.
"Sir?" Moxxy began, walking up and seeing Blitzo trying to work something out in his head. "What's happening? Who are those people?"
"And who's Miss Honey?" Milly asked, looking up interested. "Some kind of rich demonese?"
"Worse," Blitzo said, turning around to look at the other two a tense and structured look. "She's a real WASP."
"…. Uh, okay?" Moxxy said, taking that in and thinking on it. "You mean, like the acronym or the bug?"
"Well, both technically," Blitzo didn't fully explain. He sighed before shaking his head and going into it. "She's an old kind of heiress to this South pentagram family that controls the Hell concrete monopoly. They've been gaining a lot of power lately, trying to shake up old rivalries and break alliances since she's taken over some of the businesses. But she doesn't have any of the actual power the other groups and families have got. All she's got are a bunch of annoying foot soldiers she uses to push around the smaller territory leaders in to listening to her."
"So she's like, some kind of higher authority?" Milly asked looking confused. "Is she the one who tried to break in here and steal from us?"
"Why go to all the trouble of trying to shoot us up or kidnap a kid?" Moxxy asked, looking confused at why this would happen. "Most higher authority demons stay out of this kind of thing! Why's she trying to expand territory?"
"She's been trying to shake up the balance of established power for awhile now," Blitzo sighed, now looking down at the tire tracks and going down a list of places this could go to. "She's one of those 'business rich' demons, and she's not even the one who started it. She inherited it second hand from her ex. Now, she's trying to gain the power and backing to start taking territory from demons like Stollas to get her rep up. But all she's got is some personal magic to brainwash demons into loyal soldiers. But not the very smart ones it seems."
"So… What do we do now?" Moxxy asked, looking at Blitzo concerned.
Moxxy and Milly looked at each other with tense and anxious looks. This sort of situation was really above them, they weren't involved with territory fights and often stayed out of the higher up politics as it was dangerous for most small imps to get involved. But they both were clearly worried about Coco. She had their book and, although it was still a confusing situation, they did care about her enough to want to make sure she's safe.
Blitzo stared and thought about what this meant. Miss Honey was known as a construction baroness, one of the few controlling things like cement and hell fire resistant materials. She was also known as someone who was fairly weak and was looking to add new powerful allies to her team. She'd more likely want IMP on her good side instead of making a backwards enemy of Stollas. So kidnapping a kid made no sense…
'She wouldn't know that Coco's a human,' Blitzo thought, remembering how Coco was dressed. Her human smell still strong but she was mostly passable if they didn't put her in front of any strong lights. 'And there's no way she'd know about the book and the deal without seeing the curse mark. But, if she did see it, she'd either want to kill Coco and take the book.. Or, if she's smart enough to see the curse mark, she'd probably try to go ahead and turn her over like the others…'
The thought of that little metal horn digging into her forehead, her pretty green eyes getting a slashed scar. Her voice screaming out instead of singing…
"Get Luna," Blitzo said darkly, turning around to look down the alleyway with a furrowed brow. "And tell her to bring the one armed idiot. We'll need him to get our foot in door…"
-Meanwhile-
The car stopped about twenty minutes later and Coco was pulled and dragged out of the car as unnecessarily rough as possible.
'I'm cooperating!' Coco complained as two demons dragged her by her shoulders to keep her feet to keep up with them. 'Why would I stop being scared out of my mind now? It's not like we stopped to get fried chicken or anything…'
She saw she had been taken to some sort of old style construction factory with thick outside walls and tall cylinder shaped towers with black smoke pouring into the red sky.
'And there's pollution here,' Coco sarcastically thought as she looked up, the scene making her wish she had a face mask. She was now a pro at repressing her inner most fears and insecurities by pointing out environmental issues. 'Am I gonna die of cancer before we figure this all out or am I just gonna get killed here today?'
They walked her in and she looked around as they pushed her through. From what she saw, there were more and more of these demons with strange yellow scars slashed across their faces and one or two different metals horns sticking out of their foreheads or some other part of their face. They all seemed to be working with blank looks on their faces and moving like they were on some kind of old computer program.
They took her deeper and deeper into the factory without telling her where she was going and with her asking fewer and fewer questions as they went on. Thing like: "Where are we going?" "Where are we?" "How did we get here?" "Why are we here?" "Why is that guy carrying a fire extinguisher?" "How come there're no windows?" "Where's the bathroom?" "How come you guys aren't blinking?".
The questions stopped as soon as it started getting even hotter, they were getting even closer to the center of the factory and probably even closer to the center of all the dangerous stuff. Coco started to sweat, this was getting unbearable. The heat was already suffocating enough, but now the mystery and tenseness was getting to an unbearable point. Would somebody just start talking now!
"You came back?" A deep yet feminine voice called out. "I hope you brought something worth my interest…"
They pushed through a set of heavy doors into what looked like the inside of one of those fireplace/towers. It was all dark with only a bright red light coming from the floor. The heat was intense but managed by some kind of internal cooling on the concrete ledges and floors surrounding the place. When they walked forward, Coco noticed that the concrete floors were all being held up above something that looked like churning magma, it was glowing hot red and made a noise like the ground was crushing underneath.
'And I regret everything ever…' Coco concluded, looking up and swallowing the last bit of moister in her mouth. It was strange how Coco kept finding herself in this similarly hopeless situation and how she still was able to be surprised. 'How am I gonna get out of here alive this time…'
When they finally stopped, Coco saw there was a tall woman wearing a pencil skirt business suit standing across from the group. She had long black hair that stopped at a point down to her waist which was cut into a perfect hour glass figure. But instead of a body like a model, her entire body was cut into points and angles like there were no soft parts about her. Even her face was slightly pointed, although it had a slightly haunting beauty with pale-pale skin and eye lashes that swooped like wings.
As Coco looked on, she began seeing even more details that made the woman less and less human looking than at first glance. Her eyes had no white in them, the entire area was filled in black with only a bit of red color to make it look like a regular eye. Aside from her dark black hair, she had a stripe of yellow hair falling across her face like bangs that gave her a more intense look. And along with her dramatic waist line, Coco noticed something even more dramatic about it: She had a second set of arms right under the first pair!
'Ooooookay, sexy nightmare fuel.' Coco started sweating more as some insecurities started surfacing with this. 'I'm now scared and feel stupid because my shoes aren't fancy enough for this kidnapping…'
"What's this?" The woman asked, narrowing her eyes like Coco with a confused and almost annoyed glance. Both of her arms crossed and she gave the boss man a look. "I told you to bring the boss with you. Why'd you bring me a child?"
"I'm 27…" Coco said under her breath, feeling more and more pain as her age was still being mistaken and it was starting to make her self conscious.
"They opened fire on two of our men," he said, putting his hand on Coco and pushing her forward closer to the woman. "This one was near the back. Our men saw her going in with the other two imps last night. Looks like she works for them."
"A hostage?" The woman sneered, not yet looking at Coco directly. "I told you I don't want attention for this! I wanted a product! How are we going to keep Stollas from knowing if we have a hostage!"
Coco stood still and straightened up stiff. She saw there were no direct exists in here or really any way out other then up and out the chimney. There were different ledge-like floors above them that had fire escapes connecting them, but she couldn't see how she'd be able to escape by them or even reach one to get away. So she was left here alone…
"What's your name?" The woman had walked up to Coco and began examining her closely. Her eyes makes quick work of the girl as she searched for any threat or advantage here. "You don't look like an imp."
"I-I'm new here," Coco sputtered out, trying to lean away and hold her own breath. She was glad now that it was so hot in here, the air might hide how much like a human she sells. "I um, just started with the others at IMP…"
"I see," she straightened up and looked down at Coco, unimpressed and mostly uninterested. Now Coco could see how the woman towered above her. She was at least six and a half feet tall! "Useless then. You probably don't know anything about us? Do you?"
"N-No, ma'am." Coco said, going to being completely polite. "S-S-Sorry…"
"Hmm~" She smirked at that, enjoying the fear and respect she pulled out of intimidating Coco. It was like she was craving this kind of feeling. "Of course not~ Well, I'm Miss. Honey. And this" gesturing to the entire factory. "Is my estate. Everything in Hell, every road and building, is made from MY product. Which means… Everything in Hell SHOULD be mine~"
There was a quick hold for silent, dramatic effect that Coco got the feeling Miss Honey was implying. And it served to be the second weirdest thing about today.
'That's a Biiiiiiiiiig ego you've got there,' Coco mentally sweated. It was one thing to have a demon towering above you, but one with an ego problem? Well, it looks like she found something that could distract her long enough to at least by time and make a plan with. 'If she doesn't want anything then I might be able to sneak out and-'
Miss Honey took one of Cocos' wrists and held it up to see. She pulled Coco's arm so hard that it stretched uncomfortably, but luckily she had only grabbed her left wrist instead of her right.
"Hm," Miss Honey looked at the wristband with an X and rolled her eyes, letting go of Coco. "A suicide? Really now, is that something a Lady would do?"
"I uh, um," Coco stuttered, backing up a little from the woman and holding her arm.
'What is up with people and grabbing me!?' She internally cried and wished she could make that strange fire circle on command. 'I wanna go.. back to the other place where they're mostly not trying to kill me again…'
It was then apparent that even though she didn't directly want anything from her now, it didn't mean getting out would be any easier.
"Do you actually know how to speak?" She continued, stepping forward and moving like her lower half had a mind of its own. She enjoyed the sense of power she got from someone being too shocked to answer back. It was fun to play with. Fun to taunt. "Suicide, guh. Just awful. Pathetic really. Can't imagine how they took a new blood just… because they…"
She stopped when her eyes landed on Cocos' left leg. Coco was rubbing her left wrist, the woman had quiet a grip, and looked up and saw what Miss Honey was staring at.
'The book!' Coco mentally panicked and stood straight back up and covered the book with both hands. Useless now that Miss Honey had already seen it. 'Shit! What's she even thinking about now…'
Coco waited a moment before she looked back up again and felt her stomach drop another level. Miss Honey had completely turned around and was staring intensely at Coco's leg. And around her, Coco could feel the other demons become more interested as well.
"Maybe you aren't such a waste of time after all?" Miss Honey said, the darkest kind of smirk starting to appear on her face, the angles of her body becoming even sharper than before. "Do you know what kind of book you have there… dear?"
"Uuuh, y-yeah," Coco said, carefully pressing the book to her leg. She was sure this woman wasn't interested in answering some important questions that Coco had.
"I don't think you do." She brought up one set of her hands and let her finger nails tap against themselves aggressively. Her long nails were jet black and made light 'cling's against each other like metal (visual: Coraline's Other Mother). "Oh~ What a treat~! You have something I've wanted, something of Stollas', that I've wanted for so~ Long~~!"
Her eyes went wider, the black becoming deeper with a feeling like she was going to eat Coco up. And it was obvious because Coco felt a primal instinct of fight or flight and she wanted to fly!
Coco immediately turned around, knowing her body was making her move and wanted to leave because this was DANGEROUS. But it took three steps and she crashed directly into one of the big red demons. Who then grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her directly around to face Miss Honey again.
'Oh fuck,' Coco's mind played. Every image that showed the worst possible situation started to come up and her heart began to beat harder and harder like it was playing the drums. 'No no no! I don't want to be here! I didn't want to be here! If some magic stuff could happen now, please start!'
But luck doesn't quiet work like that; and apparently, neither do demonic possession curses.
"Oh~ No, no, no!" Miss Honey sang, walking up to Coco with long quick steps like she was going to unwrap a present. Her voice consolingly and sweet sounding but with the undertone of a malicious man-eater. "Dear, don't go! We haven't talked enough! Oh~ I heard about how IMP had been managing a business in the Living World, so close to some… friends of mine~ And I had been wondering; how does IMP, run by such little idiots, manage something like that?"
Miss Honey stopped and let a long finger from one of her lower arms reach over and brushed Coco lightly on the cheek. Her heart panicked, she imagined the burning sensation under the nail like fire on her skin. But the pain felt real and like it left a mark even after she pulled it away.
"Now I know~" Miss Honey sang, enjoying this coy threatening play even more than the taunting from before. "Oh~ What a nice present you've brought me, my dear! You seem so much smarter now! I'm sure you'll understand how easy it is to work here in Hell after you've switched sides around and-"
"I'm not giving it to you." Coco said firmly. Her sense and reason coming up along with her panic as she felt sweat hit the back of her neck and she started to shake under the different demons' grips. "The book is mine and IMPs! You can't have it!"
'I don't know why I'm saying this.' But Coco's mind had flashed to what the woman could do, what this woman WOULD do! She had already had so many demons who looked washed out and dead working here, imagine the kind of torture she'd spread around Hell AND the Living World with this book in her hands. 'But I'm not letting anyone who'd do something like this ever touch this book!'
Coco's out burst had cut Miss Honey off and made the other demons eye her with new rage. She felt the two demons' hands dig into her shoulders sharply like they meant to break the bones and she had to gulp air down into her stop to stifle the scream that wanted to pierce out. But Miss Honey raised a hand and stopped them, the pain not melting away but serving as the warning she wanted.
And then Miss Honey smiled.
"Do you know how I got to where I am?" Miss Honey asked but didn't ask. She looked off to the side with an excited grin, like she loved telling this story. Loved telling it to herself more and more, especially now that she believed she was getting something she wanted. "Yes, yes yes. Clever marriages, a clever divorce and lots of clever little deals here and there. But! The most important thing you need in any hostile take over…"
Her lower left hand snapped and suddenly, Coco saw the four demons move away from her and surround Miss Honey on either side. The looks on their faces were so strange, it was like they were only half awake and partially thinking while their bodies were moving on computer program. Her eyes smirked at Coco, two demons at either side of her who kept their hands on either shoulder and now also grabbed either of her wrists.
Now, it went from 100% scary to FUCK THIS IS HELL AND CAN'T GET ANY SCARIER THAN THIS EVER IN WORLD OF EVER!
"Are loyal, thoughtless, foot soldiers~." Miss Honey sang out. She reached behind her ear and pulled out something small and sharp looking, holding it in-between her eyes. "Something great about this body, it produces a nice little chemical cocktail that melts out parts of the pre-frontal cortex and fills it in with just some nice loyalty filled jelly produce~ And I can even make the little needles myself!"
Now, the big boss stepped up in front of Coco, staring down at her with the same half-lidded expression as everyone else. Coco shivered more, his look telling her she was even in less control of what was about to happen then he was.
"Maybe you just need some convincing then~~" Miss Honey said, so excited to have something this fun to do.
Coco didn't need another reason to feel hopeless. It already felt like her heart had stopped, like whatever pain they would inflict, she had imagined and already experienced. But just this, this pressure and sense of expectation, was enough to starting chocking her on the inside and flood her with fear…
The damn protection circle really liked pulling on her chain.
The boss only had to take one swipe at her, tearing down the sleeve of her right arm before touching her skin and the fire exploded all around her! The circles' hot air fired through and tour through the arms and bones of these demons, forcing them back and completely throwing the other two behind her over the railing and down the to the bottom.
Coco couldn't see what happened to them but she heard what sounded like some kind of swallowing sound at the bottom and sizzling followed after. But Coco was more focused on getting her bearings again. Once the fire settled back down and she was left alone, Coco started breathing again and her higher senses came back again. Her breathing was hard and deep, like she was getting punched inside of her chest with her deep breathes. Sweat soaked the back of her shirt and her hair stuck to her shoulders. But she finally had space and felt a bit safer since when she first got here.
'Thank god,' Coco's heart beat like a snare drum and her shoulders started to settle back. Some kind of reassurance also began to pour over like cold water as she stood there breathing. 'Looks like that circle won't leave me alone for awhile…'
Even though she wasn't sure if it was protecting her or the book at the moment, she felt relief. Coco was protected. But she wasn't out of danger yet…
The boss demon had been pushed back and flung across the floor and landed in front of Miss Honey. A long streak of blood under him as he grabbed a bloody stump where his arm should be. She looked down at him with an unpleased face, like she was looking down at a dying race dog she had run into the ground.
"Hm." She growled lightly under her breath before looking back up at Coco with a nonchalant expression. She noticed the long curse mark tattoo shaped like a seven circle double pentagram on her upper arm and understood how this complicated things. "So, I guess you're the owner now?"
"Kind of funny what 30 bucks buys ya', huh?" Coco said, an excited smirk coming to her face from all the adrenalin being kicked into her system.
The other demons attempted to move, but Miss Honey raised up an arm to signal them to stop. Coco was already poised to jump away, bouncing a little on her feet from the sudden energy. Human survival instincts sure pack a fun extra chemical cocktail of their own!
"Well that's no good to me," Miss Honey rolled her eyes and then sharped them down on Coco. Not in the mood for fun and games when someone was now indirectly threatening her position. "So what are you? Stollas' new slut I assume."
"I'm… ew. NO." Coco stopped and stood straight up with a grossed out look. She hasn't even met this guy yet but she already knew that should be taken as an insult. "What in the hell is wrong with you people? Is it something in the water?"
"Oh! Whatever!" Miss Coco said, snapping her upper half right hand above her head. "So annoying!"
Again, the same demons surrounded her but only outside the parameter of the burnt protection circle. They seemed tense to tread closer but still angry and focused. Miss Honey started walking over, going ahead and removing the Boos man by picking him up with one lower hand and throwing him over the railing after the other two.
"Useless!" Miss Honey complained for a minute before giving a new sadistic smile to Coco. "There's nothing I hate more than useless people! I hate useless things, I hate things that get in my way or try to take down something I built!"
Her features turned up and got sharper, more bug like the closer she came to Coco. She walked in-between two of her body guards and stood in front of Coco, stepping on the line of the circle and making her sweat. Coco knew the circle wouldn't come back again so soon, and she knew it probably wouldn't protect her from just anything!
"I guess you're pretty useless if IMP doesn't care to lose you." A chuckle came from Miss Honeys' throat as she stared at Coco, making her feel like a worm facing a yellow jacket. "So! If you're not Stollas' property and IMP doesn't mind throwing you away, I guess that means your body is up for grabs~!"
She didn't need to spell out what that meant. Coco's eyes went wide and she tried turning around to dive off and take her chances with a fall! Just again, just two steps out of the circle and two demons caught her under her arms and turned her back around to face Miss Honey! Coco thrashed and tried to pull away but was stuck by pure Demon strength.
"Now now, my dear~" Her voice got higher ditched, losing it's feminine tone and becoming more taunting and artificial. She took one hand and again, pulled out a long sharp needle from the back of her head and held it up steadily like a surgeons knife. "Don't be so scared! It only hurts for a minute! And then, you forget the pain. You forget everything! You'll have your precious little book and you're precious little life and body. And me? I'll have your mind…"
"NO!" Coco twisted her head and tried to kick as she struggled. The demons pulled her arms out tighter, making it easier to see her face as Coco reverted to twisting and turning her neck from side to side. "Leave me alone! Let me go! I'm not one of your toys! You can't keep me like this!"
"Don't move now!" Miss Honey said, crouching down and grabbing Coco's face with one hand. She held her stead and let one of her lower hands rise up and coat itself with a strange yellow acid the secreted from her skin. "I'd like to keep your pretty green eyes for myself~"
Miss Honey aimed the needle right in-between Coco's eyes and smiled as she saw tears start to fall down Coco's face. Her expression scrunching up into a hopeless plea.
"What a nice expression~ I hope it gets stuck like that!" Miss Honey cheered, admiring the sense of pure terror she triggered.
'Please,' Coco's mind begged. Begged the book, the voice, one of the imps, anyone. 'Someone, please help me…'
