Moxxie isn't the only one keeping secrets.
Hellwalkers
Chapter 17— Secrets
Moxxie wasn't sure how, but he was somehow able to jump into a house next to the ditch, and from there to an unguarded part of the wall without drawing unwanted attention. It helped that he could now hear the armored guards' metallic footsteps from afar and tell where they were coming from.
Moxxie sniffed the air. Thankfully, Blitzo didn't seem to be around here, but he did see his trail snaking around the streets. He probably must have been looking for him all over.
His body was right where he left it, fast asleep and in bed. Admittedly, it was rather bizarre to see himself like this.
He noticed a small burn mark on his cheek, right where Blitzo's bullet had whizzed by. Right, Striker said that his Imp body will reflect whatever happens to his hellbeast form. Now he had to think of how to explain the new mark to Millie.
Realization sank in as he realized that he hadn't asked Striker how he's supposed to 'return' to his body.
Oh, crumbs.
While walking around his side of the bed, trying to figure the trick out, his trail brushed against his arm; it briefly became ethereal. Startled, Moxxie pulled it back. It turned solid again.
So if he touches his Imp body, his hellbeast form fades...
To his bad luck, the golden light made Millie stir in bed. Panicking, Moxxie hurriedly tapped his front paws on his own chest. The light expanded up his shoulders, down his spine and tail until his hellbeast form vanished into his smaller body.
Moxxie—now an Imp again—awoke with a loud gasp.
The thespian ran his hands all over his body just to make sure he was still in one piece. Once he realized he was back to being an Imp, he sighed in relief.
He realized that he didn't feel... tired despite running through the forest not long ago. Rather, he felt fresh as a lettuce on the cold, rainy orchard of a fresh April shower.
Right, Striker said that his Imp body rests while he's out as a hellbeast.
And his hellbeast form is resting now that he's back in his body.
"Mox?" he heard Millie's concerned voice next to him. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine! I just had a very strange dream, but I'm fine!" Moxxie lied, laughing nervously.
"What's this?" her hand touched the mildly burnt spot on his cheek. "Moxxie, did you get hurt? You have a burn here!"
Oh, crumbs.
"I-It's nothing, love. Some random kid tried to shoot a firework at my face and missed by a few inches."
"Are you sure? It doesn't look like that kind of burn to me."
Thankfully, his phone rang at that moment. Moxxie tentatively picked it up.
"Who is it, Mox?"
"It's an unknown number." Moxxie tentatively accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mox, It's Blitz calling!"
"Blitz? Why are you calling from an unknown number?"
"You know, these motherfucking guards take all of your things away when you're arrested."
"Arrested? Wait, are you in jail?"
"Moxxie, I don't have much time, my minute to use the phone is almost up. I'm in a tight spot here and I need you to bail me out."
"Blitz, how did you get arrested?" Millie asked.
"The jerks said I was 'altering order', can you believe it? All I was trying to do was kill a hellbeast that had snuck into town!"
Moxxie's heart skipped a beat.
"A hellbeast inside Lamian? Are you sure, Blitz?"
"Not you too, Mills! Think you could come tell these guys that I'm not on a bad trip or anything like that?"
Under normal circumstances, Moxxie would have refused. But he felt he owed it to Blitzo because it'd been him he had seen, so in a way this was his fault.
Not that he'd tell Blitzo this.
"We'll be there in a while, Blitz. Just try not to do anything stupid meanwhile, okay?"
"Don't worry, Mox, they call me Mr. Prudency— Hey, wait a minute, I still have five seconds—"
The call was cut.
Moxxie sighed. "Looks like we'll have to bail Blitz out of jail again."
Half an hour later, Moxxie and Millie were carrying their friend out of town's local sheriff station. Moxxie was actually glad he hadn't been taken to the castle dungeons, though he was quite sore about having to spend a hundred bucks off his hard-earned salary on Blitzo.
As he'd half-suspected, Blitzo was still in a deep-intoxication state. He continued to blabber and call names to the guards who'd arrested him on their way back home; Millie had insisted that they couldn't just leave him alone in this condition, and Moxxie reluctantly agreed to let him spend the night at their place.
Moxxie looked for some pills for hangovers in the medical kit in anticipation to the hangover Blitzo would definitely have the next day. He placed them in a tray alongside a cup of tea and a glass of water, then took them to the living room.
"So you're saying there was a hellbeast in town?" Millie asked curiously.
"That's what I've been saying this whole time!" Blitzo protested in-between hiccups on the couch. "It fell right in front of me! Christ on a stick, how could I fucking miss?! It was like... three meters away!"
Moxxie swallowed hard, but thankfully neither Blitzo nor Millie noticed.
"Blitz, are you sure you-?"
"Moxxie, I swear, if the words 'hallucination' come out of you, I'm gonna fuck you!"
"Sorry, but I find it hard to believe that a hellbeast would manage to sneak into town with nobody noticing."
"Duuh, I did! But those dick-sucking guards didn't believe me and instead threw me in jail!"
"Blitz, Moxxie has a point. How would a hellbeast enter town? The gates are closed and there's Ars Goetia guards patrolling all around town at night."
"Well, that's...!" Blitzo paused. "...Maybe..."
"Now that we're on it, why did you drink this much?"
"Oh, that's actually Moxxie's fault."
"Wha— My fault?" Moxxie repeated, incensed. "How is that my fault?!"
"You and your silly talk about Hellwalkers and hellbeasts opened up an old wound and I was trying to forget it..." Blitzo snuggled up on the couch and hugged one of the cushions. "So I hope you're happy, bitch boy...!"
That was the last thing Blitzo said before passing out, tongue sticking out.
"Don't worry, Mox, he won't remember any of that in the morning." Millie reassured him with a small smile. "How about we go back to bed?"
"Y-Yeah, that's probably for the best."
And so, they returned to bed. Or at least, Millie did.
Moxxie fetched a glass of warm milk—a small trick for when he couldn't sleep properly—before going back upstairs to join his wife. Millie was already asleep, she must be exhausted from today's hunting expedition.
Moxxie lay down and closed his eyes. But as a light sleep began to kick in, his spirit snaked out of his body in the shape of a hellbeast. Thankfully, Moxxie was still aware enough to notice.
The thespian hurriedly opened his eyes, and the gold light returned to his body.
Oh, shit. Striker was serious when he said that he'd become a hellbeast every time he falls asleep.
So, for the rest of the night, Moxxie just lay in bed wide awake.
Octavia couldn't sleep.
She didn't know why, but she just couldn't stop thinking about the door, the trail, and the voice she'd heard earlier. She didn't tell her parents about it, figuring they'd make a big mess about it.
So the Goetia princess stirred in bed for a good while, eyes wide open. She checked the time in her phone. 2:25 A.M.
With nothing better to do, Octavia went all the way down to the kitchen for a post-midnight snack. It took her a while, though. She hasn't been here for a long time, so she'd kind of forgotten the way. She did remember being afraid of the castle at nighttime; her five-year-old self found the place grim and scary, like the haunted house dad once took her to during a festival.
Octavia glanced out the window on the way back to her room. Now that she thought of it, dad has never told her why they stopped coming to this castle. He had to come to Wrath every year for the Harvest Moon Festival amongst other things, but he never let her come along until recently.
Did something happen? She couldn't remember...
Girl...
The half-bitten mice on a skewer dropped to the ground.
There it is again! She wasn't imagining, after all!
The itching on her arm returned.
Girl...
Come 'ere, girl...
Octavia followed the trail towards the west wing once more. This time, she made sure there was no one around before heading to the door of her old room.
The door opened with a loud creak, making Octavia flinch.
The room was very dark. The only light source was the moonlight dimly filtering through the thick curtains that covered the windows. Good thing she could more-or-less see in the dark, courtesy of being an Owl demon.
Over here, girl...
Just a little further...
The voice came from a square-shaped structure at the bottom of the room. Octavia squinted her eyes in the dark. It was a cage, half-covered in a thick black sheet of cloth. There were empty trays all around it—so this is where they were brought the other day.
"Hello?" she called out quietly.
Come closer, girl...
Tentatively, Octavia did as told and moved toward the covered cage. Why is this cage inside the castle? What are they keeping in it?
The closer she got, the more intense the itching on her arm became.
"Is anyone in there?"
A pair of pale, yellow eyes opened in the darkness. Dark green rings around the pupils gave them a snake-like air.
"Well, well, now I have seen everythin'."
Octavia gasped, tripping unto her rear in fright as she realized that the creature inside the cage was a giant hellbeast.
But that wasn't what scared her.
"You...Did you just...? Are you talking?!"
The hellbeast snorted. "I don't talk. Ye can understand me, that's different."
"W-What? Understand you? I don't...!" Octavia swallowed hard. "What are you?"
Suddenly, the hellbeast raised its head in alarm. "Damn, someone's comin'. Ye better hide, girl."
Octavia didn't react until she heard the echo of hurried footsteps in the corridor. Panicking, she quickly ran behind the cage just as the door opened.
"Damn it, why does the Prince keep this animal in here? Wouldn't it be easier to just kill it!"
"We're not paid to care, we're just supposed to bring it food."
"I'm tellin' ya, one of these days we will be its food!"
Octavia waited in silence. Something was placed on the ground, probably another tray of food. She jumped when the cage shook as the hellbeast snarled, sending the two servant imps scattering away with frightened squeals.
"The coast is clear, girl."
Warily, Octavia returned to the front of the cage. There was a tray of raw meat right in front of it, but the hellbeast made no attempt at grabbing it.
"What are you?" she found herself asking.
"Haven't ye heard the stories, girl? The imps that were cursed by Lucifer to walk as demons by day and roam as hellbeasts by night?"
"The... Hellwalkers? I've heard it a few times, but nobody really believes it anymore... Why? Are you a Hellwalker or what?"
"Bingo."
Octavia glanced up at the hellbeast. It did kind of look different to the illustrations she's seen in books. This one has pale skin, white mane, a ringed tail and those jagged horns— on closer inspection, she noticed that one of its horns was broken.
And those eyes... She's never seen a hellbeast with such eyes before.
"What's yer name, girl?"
"Octavia. Why did you call me here?"
"Let me see yer arm."
"Why?"
"I wanna check somethin' out. I just need ya to hold it out for me."
Octavia narrowed her eyes. "How do I know you're not going to chomp my arm off?"
"Girl, I'm a Hellwalker, not a savage. Just let me take a look!" Reluctantly, Octavia did as told and held out her right arm. The hellbeast sniffed it. "Nop, not that one. Now the other one, if you'd be so kind."
As soon as her left arm came into proximity with the hellbeast, golden light snaked around some little dots shaped in a semi-circular manner, like teeth marks.
Suddenly, another light—a purple one—devoured the golden and made it disappear.
"What in Lucifer's name...?!"
"Girl, did a hellbeast bite you? Have ye had any strange dreams as of late?"
"Wha? No, of course not! I've never seen this before!"
"Are you sure? This is important, I need ya to speak truthfully!"
"I am telling you the truth, I don't know what the hell just happened!" Octavia insisted. The hellbeast snorted, disappointed. "Why are you asking me all of this?! Do you know what this is?!"
"Listen carefully, girl. That only happens when yer bitten by a Hellwalker in hellbeast form. If the bite is not healed by the one who bit ya, Lucifer's curse passes on to ya as well. In other words, ye become Hellwalker as well."
Octavia blinked once. "Are you saying that I...?"
"...are a Hellwalker? Technically, you should be one, but it seems that somethin's keepin' yer magic inside yer body. Ye... Ye say ye don't remember havin' been bitten, right? And ye've never dreamed of hellbeasts."
"No, I haven't. Why? Should I?"
"I don't..." the hellbeast shook. "I've never seen somethin' like this before."
Octavia looked down at her left arm. "Right."
The hellbeast raised his head in alarm before relaxing. "Ye should probably go back to yer room, girl. I don't know what might happen if yer father finds ya here."
"You know my father?"
"Look, girl, I'll explain everythin' to ya when I have the chance, but for now you really should go back to yer room."
Despite her urge to get some answers out of the Hellwalker, Octavia went towards the door. She turned back one last time.
"Could you at least tell me your name?"
The hellbeast smirked. "Ye may call me Brash."