Author's Note: Sorry about the late update folks! I struggled with trying to write this chapter for so long for a couple of reasons until I got a lot of inspiration from listening to the soundtrack of Netflix's "The King" this week that helped out. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, thank you for all the favorites and follows, and that Vergil is better represented in this one compared to the last chapter.
And mutual fear brings peace;
Till the selfish loves increase.
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.
-The Human Abstract, Stanza 2, William Blake
He simply stared at her with unmoving eyes at her comment, intrigued as to how she knew, but also annoyed at she spoke of it out loudly in such an open area. He grind his teeth silently at her topic before deciding to form a plan of action that would make him in the lead of her questioning. Her glaze continued to stare at him as she took a sip of her ice tea and her fingernails patted against the wood of the table, awaiting for him to answer her back.
"You are far to persistent in trying to get answers from me." He responded and she chuckled at this, now resting her face in her hands as she lended against the table.
"Perhaps, but what can I say? I'm a curious person." She answered and he hummed at this, knowing she would make a move if he tried to leave or do something that she believed would harm herself or others.
"And if I give you answers to your questions? What do you plan on doing with that info?" He inquired from her and she blinked at this, crossing her legs under the table.
"I have no plan on selling you out to the Order, Vergil." She spoke, more quiet and glanced around, as if she was concerned that others might make a scene, "I dislike them for many things so I'm not going to go talk with them."
"And I'm to believe you by your words?" He questioned and she frowned at this, sighing at his question but she really did not have anyway at the moment to keep his trust.
"What if I brought to the Archives myself?" She suggested and he actually blinked at this, not even thinking that the girl could do that.
"You can get into the Archives?" He said and she smirked at this, glad to have caught his attention with the fact she had permission into the building.
"Indeed, I can because of my status. I will gladly let you come with me too." She spoke and he simply observed her at this, unsure what to think of her suggestion. He remained still as he thought about how easy it would now become to access the Archives and not draw attention at night to himself entering the building repeatedly. He remained complexed at the situation and she glanced over to see that their waiter had returned, ready to take their order.
"Are two perhaps ready to order?" The waiter asked and Elena smiled up at him, hands clasped together at his appearance.
"I hope you do not mind waiting a few more minutes. We have been struggling to find something that suits both our appetites." She said and the waiter frowned at this, not thrilled at her suggestion but gave her a polite smile and walked away again. Her attention turned back to him and then placed a finger on his menu, eyes narrowed in slight annoyance.
"You need to pick something to eat or people will be suspicious. I can't keep taking the lead because the men here do not easily listen to a woman's suggestion. We can discuss more about this after eating." She in a hissed whisper and his eyebrows narrowed at this, clearly unentertained at the situation he was getting roped into to just simply get knowledge about his father and the legendary Temen-ni-gru from the island's Archives. He looked down to the menu, eyes glazing through it as he tried to find something that he would be alright with having, and she leaned crosser, short hair falling in front of her face as she looked at his menu too.
"Like I mentioned earlier, have whatever you want. I will pay for everything." She said as the waiter was again approaching them and she leaned back, a fake smile plastered over lips as she tried to her best to look delighted.
"Perhaps, you are ready to order now?" The waiter asked the two and Vergil couldn't help but give the waiter an annoyed stare at his tone towards them, which clearly startled the waiter as he seemed to back up a few steps.
"Yes, we are." Vergil hissed back at him and Elena's fake smile turned into a legitimate one, amused at how interesting the Demon who shared so many characteristics with a Human acted out, "I will have the BLT with the side of cooked vegetables."
The Demon did have an interesting taste in food too.
"And you, miss?" The waiter asked with a small stutter in his voice and she closed the menu up.
"I would like the tomato soup with a small side salad please." She said as the waiter scribbled down their order and walked away to place it. Her attention returned to him and she released a small breath of relief that he had actually ordered something in time.
"You aren't like any Demon I have ever seen before." She stated to both herself and him and he narrowed his eyes at this, still curious as how she knew of his status before even mentioning it or showing off any skills that would connect the dots.
"Still curious about how I know, huh?" She observed and looked out the window, many people passing by without any say or notice to them. Her cloudy gray eyes narrowed and looked sad at something the people outside seemed to hold before she smiled at him, one that held coy in it.
"The eyes are the window to the soul. And my eyes can see far past into the soul." She stated and he paid more note to her eyes now, noting how her iris seemed to swirl around in a mixture of different colored tones of gray.
She could see past his Human form.
"Indeed, your eyes are far superior than to a normal Human's." He spoke and she nodded at this, amused at that he had found out and was seemingly giving her a compliment.
"That is true. My sight is much improved to others." She said and glared at the knights who from the Order who passed by, "Similar to how you are not like a normal Demon."
Before he could respond or think of something to their waiter returned with their food, carrying both plates with his hands, a smile on his face as he approached the table. He could finally feel the tension between the two again as he placed the food down. Vergil stared at him as the waiter tried his best to remain calm and he glared between the two.
"I hope everything is to your liking. Please let me know if you need anything else." The waiter said and Elena smiled at him, which the waiter knew she wanted something from him.
"We would like the check now." She said and the waiter blinked at this, opening his mouth to comment at this, "We are in a rush and we would like to pay now if that is alright with you."
The waiter stared at her before he stumbled a little to get out their small sheet which listed their orders and total.
"Thank you." She said as he placed the bill down and walked away from them but still looked at them in both confusion and slight worry. Her attention turned to the food and placed her napkin down on her lap, picking up her spoon to start enjoying her tomato soup.
"We can continue this conversation once we are done with our food if that is alright with you." She suggested and he looked at her, eyes narrowed and intrigue continued to be on his head but his grumbling stomach suggested he should focus on food on the meantime.
He released an annoyed sigh before responding back to her, "Fine."
It did not take them very long to finish their food and once they did, she quietly and sneakily pulled out some money that was in her bag. She hide the money tight in her hands, hiding it from others before looking him straight in the eyes.
"You need to pay for the meal. They will not let me if I go up to pay." She said and casually slide her hand towards his, only centimeters away while he looked at it before sighing in annoyance. She remained still before he raised his open hand out and she quickly dropped the money in his palm, snatching the receipt also and stood up. She followed his actions while he grabbed his sword and made his way to the cashier at the front of the restaurant, a small like already ahead of them. She stood side by side to him and her own hood clung close tho her features, trying to hide herself from the public eye.
"What exactly are you?"
The question that had escaped her lips caused him to glare down at her yet, she could not tell from her vision being occupied by his form as a Demon. Before he could even say something, the cashier announced the change and held out the money to him. His glaze moved over to him and snatched it out of the cashier's hand, clearly annoyed and wanting to leave admittedly. He shrugged right past her and she sighed at this, realizing her word choice definitely ticked him off. She followed behind him, ignoring the worry in her stomach, and he seemed to moving faster than what she could catch up with.
"Slow down!" She hissed at him yet he ignored her, continuing to move forward while she was behind. She scowled at this and clutched her hands at her side at this, ready to remark back but a small chill ran up her spine when she bumped into someone. Her gaze looked up towards them and she paled slightly at the sight of a man's whose eyes were dead and blackened. A twisted smile was placed upon his lips as he looked down at her and her vision snapped to the Demon's true form hidden beneath the skin of the human it was possessing.
Its skin was an ugly green that pulsated on the surface and bubbled with an oozing black blood. It held many eyes on its face, overcrowding the mouth, which held a shelf of razor sharp teeth, and it had thin bony arms yet a pair of long black pinchers were its fingers, which snapped at her. Its thin torso hugged what could be its ribs tight to its body and its legs were like spikes and made it stand far taller than what its possessed human form stood at.
Dismay flashed across her features as it then spoke to her, "Your eyes, we want your eyes."
She then narrowed her eyes at its claim and she tried to run past it but it grabbed her, its grip tight on her wrist and pulled her back. She looked ahead in hopes that someone, anyone was willing to notice that something was wrong yet no one seemed to care.
"You're not going to have my eyes, asshole." She snarked at it in an attempt to make herself more fearful yet it merely chuckled at this, its face closing in on her own.
"You are wrong, human wretch. Your eyes are to be ours." It spoke again and she scowled, trying and pulling herself away from it but its grip was like iron and melded onto her skin.
"Let go of me!" She yelled and a few people did actually turn in her direction, before the Demon's human body scowled at this. And within a few seconds, it shedded its Human skin and bore its true form to the public, which no one knew what to make of it besides screaming and running away from them. Panic began to erupt around them and she whipped her head around in every direction in hopes that someone from the Order was around to save her but it looked like they were not there at the moment.
Shit, she thought and before she could respond to its movement, its pinchers grabbed the side of her head, forcing her to look up at it. Its many eyes looked at her in glee as it forced her to remain still as she tried to come up with some form of an idea to escape.
"Your eyes will be very useful to us, human." It said yet once it spoke, something flashed between herself and it, a swift movement that her eyes could not identify. But once the flash had disappeared in her line of vision, its pinchers fell off her face and blood arched upward, splashing her clothes and parts of her face. She blinked and quickly moved back, nearly tripping over her own feet once the Demon let out a horrific scream once it realized that its arms had been cut.
"WHO?! WHO DARE CUT ME?!" It screeched out and she stared at the figure before her. He bore a brown cloak that covered his entire body yet strake marks of blue clothing, like its blue coat with three separated coattails while some serpentine patterns were marked on the coat, a dark blue vest and dark pants with brown knee high boots, was seen out from the cloak. A sword was grasped in its hand and small marks of blood dripped down from the blade, staining the ground with black blood. A smirk was placed across the man's face, sharp cheekbones struck out with fair yet pale skin and dark blue eyes glistened from under the hood of his cloak but the most staring thing about the man was his ghost white hair swiped back away from his face,
"Fool." The man spoke and she blinked at realizing that the man before her was the Demon that she had spoken to, named Vergil, "You will perish."
Elena's realization caused annoyance to boil over and she was ready to snark at him but he took on a battle stance, balance his weapon in his hands as he easily sliced through the Demon and instantly cut through it like it was paper. It screamed in agony and in mere seconds, its once opposing form was reduced to a bloody mess.
"What the hell?" She said in a mutter and its body then began to turn to dust whisking away and disappearing from their sight. The man then carefully put the blade back in its sheath before turning to her.
"That was for lunch." He said and she stared at him before scowling, eyebrows pinched together that he claimed he only saved her because it was a debt that he felt like he owed her.
But even a Demon would not risk itself or claim to pay her back by saving her.
Perhaps he was not a full Demon but a Hybrid.
"You're a Hybrid." She announced out loud at her findings and his gaze narrowed at this, looking at her as if he was ready to now strike at her, "That makes far more sense than now."
"That is untrue." He lied to her as he did not need her to be digging more into his past or history. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at this, seemingly challenging him at this accusation.
"I highly doubt that. Any true Pure-Blooded Demon would not have done what you just did. It would have regarded the mere act of saving me as idiotic and foolish. Even if you were trying to act like a Human, you would regarded the meal as a small debt to repay not the full blown account of saving me, especially since we barely know each other. Plus with your previous actions, you are clearly not a full on Human either." She said and then noticed that more people were moving back towards the scene, trying to figure out what happened, "We need to leave now also. The Order will appear soon to investigate what happened her and gather statements. And I am sure that you do not want to run into them."
He glared at her as he did not that some people were beginning to reappear at the scene before he stomped in the direction of an alleyway while she followed him.
She was far smarter than what he originally accounted for.
She continued to observe him in his Human form, fasciated with his striking features, mostly his hair, as they moved further into the alleyway, getting away from the scene. Water dripped from the rooftop of buildings and echoed as it hit the ground, their feet splashing against the puddles. She remained silent as her interest continued grow at what she had discovered about him and that once seeing his Human form, she wanted to capture it as a remarkable piece in her sketchbook.
Suddenly he stopped and turned to face her, eyes narrowed as he stared down at her his eyebrows were pinched together.
"How can I trust you?" He questioned her and she looked at him like he had five heads, before sighing.
"Well, clearly you can easily kill me. I have no chance of standing against you. The only thing I can really provide for you like earlier is being able to access the Archives with no issue." She said and he looked her strangely at the comment, slight surprisement at her statement.
"You have no issue with me killing you?" He asked her and she frowned at this, looking down towards the ground.
"…It's not like that was first time being held hostage to a Demon and thinking that I would die." She replied in a slight mumble but he continued to stare at her as his own interest in her started to form more.
She clearly had little regard to her own life and she was alright with him killing her if she did something untrustworthy.
He glanced away as his own thoughts continued to strike among his head and Elena continued to observe him, her thought racing as her desire to sketch him were overtaking her own mind.
He would be a brilliant subject to capture in any form.
"…Guide me to the Archives." He said and she blinked, her thoughts going away as he spoke up. She crossed her arms against her chest before sighing and turned to regain her footing as to where exactly they were in comparison to the locations of the Archives. She closed her eyes for a second, gathering where the best route would be to get there.
Then suddenly she noticed a familiar figure heading in their direction and a pit dropped in her stomach. Her eyes snapped open and she gripped her bag tight to the side of her body, a small amount of terror lodging its way into her system.
"I need to go." She said and he raised an eyebrow at this, while anger made its way into his system.
"What?" He hissed and she looked behind her, her breath hitched in her throat as she knew he was making his way to find her. She sighed before pulling out her sketchbook along with a pencil and flipped through a couple of pages before landing on an empty page. She started to scribble down her name and an address on it before ripping it out. She approached him closely and her hood highlighted her cloudy gray eyes as she gazed up at him.
"Listen, I have to go but meet me at this address tomorrow morning and then I will bring you to Archives. I'm sorry that I have to leave but I need to go." She said and grabbed his hand, his cold fingers touching the base of her skin as she placed the note in his hand. Her expression was sad and also slightly terrified, yet not at him, but at the notice that she needed to go. She pulled her hood down and her black hair was noticeably stained with the Demon blood as it glistened in the dark shadows.
"I'm sorry, Vergil." She whispered as she started dashing out of the alleyway, getting as much distance between herself and him in order for him to not know about what exactly happened.
He stared at her fading figure before he glanced down at the note, seeing what she wrote to him with even more interest gaining at the information she provided him.
