Chapter 2
J
Before I knew it I was standing in a large Hall; it was lit with candles and looked pretty ominous. Riley and I looked at each other confused as to what was to happen next. Then another girl with jet black shoulder length hair and blue eyes walked in and stood next to the both of us. She was pale and wore black and wore a necklace with odd symbols on it.
"Hello there, I'm Riley and what is your name?" Riley put out a hand to shake and she scowled at him. No matter, I wasn't here for friends either, but to expand my knowledge.
"How long do you think we will be in here?"
"Not much longer, see that clock? I believe it should be in a minute or two."
"Whaa? How can you even read that, it's got weird symbols and things on it, half of them aren't even numbers."
"Idiot; that is a Prague Astronomical Clock, it was built in the 1400s by Czech Clock master Mikulas of Kadan. This clock not only tells you what time it is but also what day of the week, and month as you can see the positions of the Zodiac." The goth looking girl pointed and glared at us like we were imbeciles and it infuriated me.
"Did you also know that there is a legend behind a particular clock of this nature? Over time the statues were added along to it, you can see the twelve apostles come out as death tolls the bell on every hour. And on the sides you can see Vanity admiring himself, lust loving of earthly things and greed counting their money. As the bell tolls the apostles come out and the three shake their heads in their unwillingness to go as the time has commanded."
"You know your stuff Red."
"My name is Jetèa, I am from Japan."
"I am Elizaveta, I'm from Russia."
"Wow you girls are smart…I'm just a simple Aussie bloke ha! It is sort of ironic though that that such a clock would be in a world of demons."
"That clock in particular was a gift." He walked with sure and confident steps through the hall; he had black hair parted to the right and dark eyes He was tall, maybe six feet at least and wore a very pristine uniform. His eyes fell on all of us for a moment and I felt my heart quicken; there was a powerful aura coming from him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, we are currently in the assembly hall; this is where the student council holds their meetings and conducts business. You will be briefed on the expectations we have of you and you will receive your syllabi and uniforms. You will also be assigned a room in which you will be staying in for the length of your stay. I will also explain the rules and consequences of breaking them. We are an esteemed Academy though you are our guests, I would trust that you show the same respect that RAD deserves."
"Excuse me?" I raised my hand and he gave me a look of disapproval.
"You would not need to ask questions if you kindly waited for me to be finished speaking."
"Yes, however you have yet to introduce yourself, and I do not know how to address you if such opportunity does arise." He looked at me with a mixture of surprise, embarrassment and anger. I hadn't meant to call him out; it was simply essential in any orientation to give an introduction.
"…Yes…forgive me. My name is Lucifer; I am the vice president of the student council and the second in command to Diavolo. Now may I please continue?"
"Yes, forgive my impoliteness." I bowed humbly; but deep down I was elated at my win. I love to find mistakes and correct them; it made me feel intelligent and useful and he had to have seen that I had shown that right? We were given the breakdown of the rules, of what was expected of us and how our classes were scheduled. We were then handed our uniforms and syllabi and next step would be to find our rooms.
"On behalf of the Students of RAD I give you my most heartfelt welcome. Elizaveta Morozov, and Riley Brown will be staying in Purgatory Hall. And…Jetèa Minamino…" he looked up at me the same look of disdain.
"You will be staying in the House of lamentation with my brothers and I, I have a feeling you will need to be watched a little more closely. Each of you will have a guide to help you attend classes and know your way for the first few weeks. They will be giving me reports so I expect you to all be on your best behavior. I trust that each of you will not let Diavolo down." He then stepped away to gather more things for us to take along. I had sat and analyzed him as he spoke the entire time and I found him to be arrogant, prideful and unbending. I was completely uninterested in having anything to do with him; yet I would be living with him it seemed and he was second in command so I had to make a positive impression, and I wondered just how I could do that when he already seemed to show disapproval of me.
"Wow Red, not here five minutes and you're in trouble; do you correct the teachers at your old school too?"
"er…well…yes, when they are incorrect. It isn't about them being wrong but simply having the correct information. History can and has been written on incorrect information and if we are not careful will be doomed to repeat errors that were not recorded to learn from." She was hardly listening she was staring at him.
"Hmm he is pretty gorgeous; tall dark and handsome… most definitely my type but he seems too strict. Even still…You may very well consider yourself lucky to be around him." Hardly, he was a jerk I could tell from the way he walked how much he thought of himself, like a gilded peacock. I watched her as she watched him and noticed that out of the many charms on her necklace, Elizaveta liked to put the pentagram in her mouth then she was thinking deeply. A thought jolted my mind and I stood again with my hand raised.
"Lucifer, may I ask a question?" he turned slowly.
"Yes."
"We are from very different countries, how are we speaking to one another?" the other two had looked at each other; they had been unaware of it as well until this point.
"Barbatos had instilled a spell onto you when you entered the limousine; it will leave you when you return home in one year. You have the ability to speak to anyone here regardless of your mother tongue. "
"Very interesting; thank you for the information."
"Now if the three of you will follow me." we followed Lucifer out of the assembly hall and on to what was happening next.
L
So this was the girl who had such esteemed credentials; Jetèa Minamino. On paper she was a genius, in person she was lovely but the moment she opened her mouth I regretted opening her envelope. She was pompous, snarky and a know it all; she even had the very nerve to correct me in front of the other students, me second in command to the next lord of Devildom! Even now she gives me looks of contempt like she is thinking of my next flaw I know thus far that she is too outspoken to simply be shy, so does she take me for a fool, is she judging me?
It seemed it wasn't just me; she appeared to have an incessant need to correct and give information to others even when it wasn't solicited. She takes pride in her intelligence and meticulousness; I can appreciate that in the very least, for the most part she will be a great asset to the program. I simply had to put my impression of her aside; no one can be that intelligent and have good people skills at the same time.
Dropping the other two students off at Purgatory Hall with their guides was simple enough but once I was alone with her she seemed to study everything around her as we walked but would not look in my direction.
"Lucifer?"
"Yes?" she stopped walking outside of the house which I found irritating to say the least; there is a schedule I had to maintain.
"I want this year to run as productively and smoothly as it possibly can; I hope to bring this program to new highs and in turn learn what this culture has to offer. However…"
"Yes?" her hazel green eyes looked up at me as she tucked her wine red hair behind her ear and I detected the slightest bit of insecurity before going stony again. So she must be a very guarded girl…I see.
"I cannot help but feel that you have hostile feelings towards me; I am offended that feel such emotion when I take you to be a very arrogant and proud individual yourself. And to lay the truth right on the ground I don't like you one bit for it. Instead of accepting constructive criticism and improving your performance, you bristle at the thought of it and become distant; this makes you cold, ignorant, intensely callous and might I say very unapproachable! If this program is to run smoothly we are to work together as colleagues but I can feel that you are looking at me like a lower being!" She stepped closer her face flushed and angry.
"I simply wanted you to know that I do not appreciate your tone or your manner of speaking to me as I am an equal not a lower being! I want you to know first and foremost that during this year I do not expect or wish to become companions for that reason, but I will bestow you the upmost respect your position and title requires." She surprised me with that; I had thought she would yell at me in the road all day at this rate. She bowed low in respect which put me further at awe.
"I apologize for my rudeness during orientation; and my abrasive attitude towards you. In my own quest for intellectual greatness I forget that though I am equal, I am still a guest and must remember my place." She stood again and strode past me toward the house without missing a beat.
"I know you have a schedule to abide by, I just wanted to say my peace before entering the house. I figure you wouldn't want me to ream you out in front of your brothers." Just who the hell was this girl?!
J
It felt so good to get that off of my chest; it was at that moment I wish my mother were her to talk to about it. He had the nerve to think those things about me; even if I did act out of place didn't give him the right to be so rude, like I was some sort of sniveling little know it all! Reading his mind was wrong… Mother always said we should respect others privacy, unless they were blatant enemies and I didn't have to read my old classmates in order to know what they thought, they were outright. Even so, I told Lucifer that I would give him respect and that I shall, even if he was a pretentious jerk I vowed to not read his thoughts again.
"Your guide will be my brother Mammon; he is to make sure you learn the route to your classes and see to any needs you may have as well as assuring your safety."
"My safety?"
"Not all demons have a human free diet."
"Ah, I understand; I have however been trained in martial arts and can take care of myself."
"I'm sure you are quite the black belt in your junior league however we are talking about demons who want to devour you, not flimsy wooden boards." I bit my cheek so hard that it bled; I had to remember that according to them I was an ordinary human discussing too much of myself would set off red flags.
"Where is he? I told him to be here specifically at this time! Mammon!" There was a crash and a yell. Another man with white hair and tan skin ran out of one of the rooms and to our location much to Lucifer's displeasure.
"Hey there, ha, I see you have the human ready! So are we going to cook her up now or fatten her up first?" He tried to look scary, obviously he was trying to joke his way out of the awkward situation, but the both of us simply stared at him in disbelief.
"Punctuality is a key component to making any pleasant first impression; the lack of which creating an opposite effect. If anyone is to take you seriously you are to keep your appointments and conduct yourself in a presentable manner. Your imprudent choice to joke your way out of the situation by changing the subject only proves that you not only know you are in the wrong but that you have been in similar situations in past." Mammon looked at me dumbfounded before putting his hands on his hips irritated.
"Anything else you want to lecture me on human?!"
"Well for starters you show very poor tastes in your appearance, you represent a very prestigious School and yet you choose to wear your uniform in such a sloppy and distasteful manner marring the reputation of the very academy you represent. Your posture is slouched yet you fidget, showing that you are restless; yet I can gather from your haphazard appearance and obscure attempt to relieve yourself from distress that this is a normal circumstance for you. You seek some type of passion, however you lack the motivation, couth and organization skills to obtain which you desire. In layman's terms you will not amount to the academy you represent or anywhere in life with your current attitude and demeanor." Lucifer stood silent and stoic as Mammon looked as he was about to cry.
"You picked this one didn't ya Lucifer!" he Jabbed a finger in my direction audible hurt in his voice.
"This is Jetèa Minamino, you will be her guide for the next couple of months."
"Are they all like this?!" Like what?
"No, only her."
"Who has the others then?"
"That is not your concern, she is yours to handle, and it was not a request." Lucifer turned to walk away making mammon even more agitated.
"Oh no…no nope, nuh-uh, don't think so! I want a trade; bring me a new human, I want to know who has the other two and I am swapping! She can sit right here in this hallway all year for all I give a damn, I ain't doing it!" Lucifer was so quick that I hadn't seen him close the distance and punch his brother right in the face sending him flying.
"I tolerate a lot out of you Mammon but you will not use such foul language in front of a lady! And you will perform your duties as a student council officer; because if Diavolo is disappointed in the year to come I will see to it that you know the full extent of my frustration!"
"Why you gotta hit me for?! She outright insulted me!"
"She has said simply what you needed to hear and nothing more, otherwise I would have interjected. If you had simply heeded my guidance the many times I have told you then she wouldn't have pointed out your flaws so flawlessly. You are to be her guardian and that is that!" I felt a chill as he turned to me; his eyes had a red glow to them. I could feel the power within him and knew that this wasn't even a fraction of his strength. I know I let my terror show on my face because he smirked in satisfaction at my fear…like a sadist.
"I trust that he will be of assistance to you; I had in fact picked the two of you for this very purpose."
"Why?"
"You're meticulous and you don't hold your tongue; you can watch over mammon when I cannot, in return he can ensure your safety and show you around." So he thought I was competent after all? But then wasn't I just put into the position of being his brother's babysitter, how competent must you be for that?
"Mammon I will expect your first report at the end of the week." I looked to my guardian and he was still on the floor his nose bleeding. I offered a hand to help him up and he smacked it away.
"I hadn't meant any disrespect-"
"I'm sure you didn't; look I ain't trying to have some snooty little know it all follow me around and pointing out everything I do wrong okay! I got important things to do, the Great Mammon is in high demand and I don't got time for the likes of you!" There it was again; know it all, used so many times by others to describe me and always in insult. Was it a crime to simply want to know it all?! Was I wrong for simply giving Mammon the information he needed to improve? I had been here but an hour or so and I had already thoroughly irritated two student council officers and roommates.
"No, I didn't want to point out your flaws I just want to help you improve yourself, it was constructive criticism; I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
"Well let me give you some constructive criticism: no one likes a stuck up girl who thinks she knows everything about a guy the moment she walks into a room! No one wants to be friends with someone who has a list of faults and demands ready to be listed off like they're some type of scummy defect for you to repair!" He grabbed the suitcase and grumbled as we walked down the hall, unlocked a room and tossed it inside.
"That's your room; is there anything else that Kia demands? Any more faults you would like to point out? Am I not bowing low enough for you?!" I had no intention of making friends during my stay here so why did his words cut me so? I said nothing as I clutched my flower pot and stepped inside silently.
"M-my name isn't-"
"It is now! Know-it-all!" he slammed it shut behind me, of course….a new school and a new name to tease me with. I looked around the simple room and had absolutely no motivation to put my things away as of yet. I placed Vivi in the window showcasing the beginning of the setting sun with trembling hands.
"Vivi…I thought coming to a world full of demons at such an esteemed school would surround me with people who were of similar interests. I thought I would be appreciated here; but it seems that everyone I meet gets angry at me as soon as I speak." She sprouted from the dirt eager to hear my words, she was a Venus fly trap I had raised since I was a little girl, and she was my best friend. However I knew I had to keep her hidden to an extent because she is sentient and grows in accordance to the energy I fed her. Vivi caressed my cheek as I began to cry, hating myself for my weakness and yet so angry that once again I have made myself alone.
"What if…it's me? What if I deserve this treatment because of how I am? I have exceled at every subject I sought, I go farther to achieve than most; and yet I cannot get a single person to like me. maybe Lucifer is right I can't be this intelligent and have good people skills at the same time. I shouldn't care that I wouldn't have friends Vivi, I was prepared to not make friends; but I didn't think I would make enemies…"