Devil of the Streets
Chapter 7
There I was, standing outside a small apartment door, double checking the address and making sure I was at the right place. I sat on top of a railing outside the apartment, trying to keep myself from dropping the few feet to the courtyard below. I leaned back a bit to gaze up at the beautiful starry, moonlit sky above me. The cool night air blew my hair to the side as I leaned back over the railing. It was simply blissful.
The club meeting was pretty uneventful, well aside from the girls giving me dirty looks. I'm still pretty clueless as to what's going on. I'm just happy to finally get out of there and be on my own for a bit. Rias decided it was best if I did a contract tonight and I honestly couldn't agree with her more.
"Whelp, I may as well get this out of the way." I muttered before jumping off the railing and knocking softly on the door. "Anyone home? Devils come to pay his dues." I called; kind of hopping no one was home.
But, my hopes were shot down when I heard a huge racket from behind the door. I listened closer and heard loud footsteps approaching the door. Wonder what this guy wanted…
"Thank you so much for coming!" I heard a man's voice shout from behind the door as it swung open. Standing before me in the entryway was a young man, about twenty or so, wearing a regular grey t-shirt and jeans. He had a scraggly beard and short, trimmed brown hair.
"Hello there. I've been sent here on a mission for the Gremory household. How may I help you sir?" I asked cheerfully. The man in front of me simply grabbed my hand and pulled me into his home.
"Please come in. I really need your advice on something!" The man said as he released me and hurried into his living room. I sighed and stepped forward into his small apartment. And I mean this place was tiny! Like minimum wage tiny!
It was a single small room with an old TV set sitting on a table in the corner. Across the room from the TV was a single twin sized bed running along the opposite wall. On the same wall as the TV was an entryway into a tiny kitchen. The guy had a single mini fridge!
"So, sir, why did you request a devil?" I asked as I took a seat on his bed with him still standing in front of me. At least he's smart enough to respect the devil power.
"Well this may sound foolish to you but…" He started and trailed off. I smirked before standing up and patting him gently on the shoulder.
"You need money?" I asked and he shook his head fiercely. He doesn't want money? I don't understand!
"Why would I need money? I have everything I could ever want right here." He stated firmly. I was completely caught off guard and I felt like a huge jerk on top of it.
"Oh I'm sorry sir. I must say, I think it's admirable that you're content with such a humble living environment. I would have been to if I had this much." I told him, saying the last part more to myself than him.
"What do you mean? Aren't you a servant of a rich devil family?" He asked, puzzled. How could a devil not be rich and happy? Oh boy, you have no idea.
"I use to be lonely, homeless, and poor. I only just joined my new Master's household a few days ago." I said. Honestly, it already felt like I'd been in this for forever. So much drama, so little time.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that devil. AH! I'm being rude, my name is Terif. What's yours mighty devil?" Terif asked me.
"James, James Thanatos. A proud servant of the beautiful devil Rias Gremory, the heiress to the house of Gremory." I stated proudly. Why couldn't she have walked in when I said that? She might have actually been proud.
"That's quite the title." Terif said chuckling. "Would you like a drink James?" He asked as he began to walk towards his kitchen.
"I'd love one. Got any beer?" I asked and the man froze.
"Sorry kid, all I got is Sake. And aren't you too young to drink anyway?" He asked and I smiled.
"We devils look younger than we really are." I lied, I look exactly my age. "I've been drinking since before you were born friend." I said jokingly. The man just shrugged and grabbed a full bottle out of the mini fridge.
"So, what is this special request you needed help with?" I asked as Terif handed me a small glass full of the beverage. I took a big swig of it and smiled as the sting set in inside my throat. "Oh yeah! That's so nice." I said happily.
"Well, I assume you have a lot of life experience, being a devil and all, so I was wondering if you could help with something." The human asked timidly.
"Go on." I said, still smiling cheerfully.
"Well, you see…there's this girl…" Terif started as he took a drink from his glass as well, his eyes were darting back and forth in anxiety. A girl…how original.
"Well Terif, what's this girl's name? How do you feel about her? Have you two talked recently? Ever been on a date?" I asked. I've got to get a handle on the situation before I can give any advice.
"Well her name is Sena and no, we've never gone out. We use to be best friends when we were in high school and a while after until she started to get, well distant." Terif explained and I smiled. Awh young love. Such dumb love.
"Well does she live nearby? Do you want me to see if I can charm her or something?" I asked. He man, I'll do anything to get paid. Well…not anything. Nothing illegal. Ha, says the guy who used to sell drugs. Oh the irony.
"She actually lives in this apartment complex. We both moved her together so we could stay friends…and I don't exactly know what happened." He started and I sighed as I smiled at him.
"Did you ever tell her how you felt in high school?" I asked and he shook his head.
"No. I was way too scared back then." He explained and I just frowned.
"So what makes you think this time will be different?" I asked sternly. If you weren't brave enough with all that testosterone in you, what could make you any braver than that?
"Well, I feel like I'm ready!" He said firmly and I smiled again.
"That's what I like to hear." I said before standing up and walking to the door. "Let's go have a look at your girl my friend." I told him reassuringly and he jumped up and sprinted after me.
"You don't spy on her everyday do you?" I asked. If he's that much of a creep I may have to rethink this.
"No never! I just kinda look at her when she walks by that's all. Like when I go to get my mail and I see her…" He trailed off and looked at the sky with a blush on his face. Stupid kids!
"Earth to Terif! Come in man!" I said and waved my hand in front of him. He immediately snapped out of his day dream and looked back at me.
"That's her." He whispered and pointed over the railing at a girl standing in front of a door across the courtyard from us. Luckily she was on the same level so I could get a good look at her.
She had medium length blonde hair and was about average height. Nothing really all that impressive about her, uh, more sexual features. Then again, I'm comparing her to Akeno and Rias so that's not exactly fair. All in all thought, she just looked like a normal, relatively pretty, blonde girl.
"Alright then. Are you ready to nut up and get your girl?" I asked and Terif nodded at me. If I just give him a little push he should be able to do all the work.
"Hey Sena!" I yelled and immediately ran back into Terif's apartment. Have fun kido.
"Wait…what no! James dude come on!" He yelled at me but I just chuckled and shut his door and locked it. I leaned my ear to the door and heard him sigh before walking off towards the girl. I could hear him faintly talking across the courtyard and I decided to give him some time to put the moves on her. I walked back into his living room and saw something I completely missed the first time!
"Dude is that guitar!" I screamed in excitement before picking up the small acoustic guitar. It was absolutely perfect! It was slightly worn from age, but it still played amazingly.
"All those years of being a street performer have prepared me for this." I told myself with a smile as I sat on Terif's bed and started to strum slowly.
After about ten minutes of setting on my contractor's bed playing his guitar I decided to go and see how things were going. He hasn't pounded on the door yet so that's a good sigh. I got up and walked out onto the walkway, the guitar still in my hands.
I looked towards the girl's door but didn't see either of the young kids. After further inspection of the area around me, I saw the two love birds sitting together on a bench in the center courtyard. The young blonde was lying against the young man and his arms were wrapped tightly around her. Should I tell him I did a little mind trick and made him more confident? Nah, I'll let him have this one.
"And that Terif is how you get a girl." I called out from the balcony above the two. Before either of them looked up at me, I'd climbed onto the railing and had started playing a soft guitar rhythm. Setting the mood…like a boss.
"James! Thank you so much for giving me the courage to talk to the girl that I love!" Terif yelled up at me and turned to gaze into the eyes of his new lady friend. Well hey; most of the work was already done! They were friends in high school, duh!
"Anytime friend. Now let's discuss my payment." I said as I ended my short song and leaped off the balcony. Sena screeched a bit as I fell through the air, only to watch me land on my feet, unharmed.
"Now, since I have completed a request for you, you must give me something of equal value to complete the contract." I stated and Terif looked at Sena, wondering why I was saying all this in front of her. Sena just looked around confused. "Oh don't worry about her, I'll wipe her memory before I leave." I assured Terif and he seemed to loosen up a bit. Sena, however, flipped out.
"Terif what is going on?!" She yelled and the young man just smiled at her before pressing their lips together. Smooth move. When the two broke, the girl tilted back and fainted. Jezz, cliché much?
"Smooth moves my friend. Anyway, all I want is this guitar? Sound fair to you?" I asked and Terif looked a little shocked.
"Is that all you want? You're not going to take my soul or anything?" He asked in disbelief. Wow…dude I'm not the frickin Grim Reaper, chill.
"That would complete the contract. So I'll just take this guitar and let you have some fun with your new lady friend." I said and winked at the young man. He nodded and a magic seal appeared on the ground in front of us. Wow that was pretty easy.
"Be seeing you around Terif." I finished and pulled a card out of my sleeve.
"Wait James…I wanted to thank…" he tried to call out to me but I'd already summoned my ice magic and taken off on an ice rail, the guitar strapped to my back. I looked over my shoulder to see Terif holding his new girl friend in his arms and whispering something.
"You're welcome kido." I said and smiled as I jumped off the railing and dived down through the night sky. Re-summoning another ice rail, I continued grinding and jumping through the night sky until I reached the clubhouse.
"I'm back!" I called as I stepped through the double doors of the clubhouse, a smug grin on my face. King of the world…right here. I scanned the room and saw that Rias, Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno were all hanging out around the center coffee table.
"Nice to see you've returned James. Did you complete a contract?" Rias asked and I pulled out my guitar.
"Of course I did!" I sang and strummed the guitar wildly. Rias and Akeno giggled as I approached the group of fellow devils. "So where did Issei go?" I asked, looking around for my young apprentice.
"He's currently out on a contract. Hopefully he will be able to bring back something this time." Rias said coldly. Jezz, little harsh.
"What did you just say?" The red head shot a glare at me and I nearly peed myself.
"Nothing!" I screamed and dropped my guitar before I dived behind the arm rest of the couch she was sitting on. Unknown to me, there was another beautiful senior devil hovering over me. I was curled up in a ball; snuggled against the couch, until I felt a hand pat me on the head. I looked up and saw Akeno's pretty face looking down at me.
"Congratulations on completing your first contract James. I'm proud of you." The black haired sadist said and I smiled. It feels really nice when she completes me. I smiled up at her like an idiot until something forced me to break my eye contact with her.
"Master! I'm so glad you're back! We can finally go to bed!" Ahri screamed as she jumped on my back and tackled me to the ground. Man, when I left she was curled up and asleep on the couch…she looked really cute all curled up like that…no stop thinking like that!
"Ahri, could you please get off me?" I asked and was promptly smacked across the face by her tail. Oh I forgot to mention, she has a super long, snow white, fox tail sticking out of her back. It's actually…kind of cute…and really super soft.
"But Master, I want to go to bed already." She whined and I sighed.
"Why exactly do you have to wait for me then?" I asked, already half fed up with the clingy fox lady.
"Because I wanted to be awake so I could cuddle up to you and thank you for saving me." She said sweetly and nuzzled her head against my chest. And I am no longer as fed up with her. The fox girl has redeemed herself.
"James…get up and have a seat on the couch now." Rias commanded and I panicked. I don't want her to be any angrier!
I grabbed Ahri by the shoulders and tried my hardest to pull her off me but she just wouldn't budge. After a few attempts the girl even extended some claws and dug her nails into my back.
"OW! Uh Lady Rias…is it okay if I just stay here?" I asked; hopeful. The two women on the couch just frowned at me and I started to cry. It's not my fault. "Kiba help me out here." I begged my fellow bro to help and he just chuckled at me.
"Sorry man. Not my fight." He said before standing up and stepping over me, towards the bathroom. Okay, I may just kill him! If only Issei were here! Then I felt it…
"Rias did you feel…" I started but then I saw the red head nod slightly.
"Akeno?" Rias said and the black haired girl stood up and started to summon a magic circle that would teleport us to where ever this disturbance was. Ahri sat up and looked at me with her adorable confused eyes. When she isn't being clingy and annoying…I fall for her instantly.
"Don't worry about it Ahri. We just have to go take care of something real fast alright?" I asked and the fox girl nodded, she still looked slightly confused. I patted her head gently and was able to push her off me.
"I sense a disturbance in the force." I said as I pulled a couple of cards out of my pocket and slung my guitar on back. Hey, it may come in handy.
"James, get in here. We're getting ready to jump." Rias commanded. I smiled confidently and stepped into the magic circle with the other girls and Kiba. "Alright Akeno." Rias told her Queen and all of a sudden I felt my entire body falling through space.
We landed in a small room that I didn't recognize. I fell out of the portal and landed on my face on the ground. Picking my head up, I looked around and studied my surroundings. In front of me was Issei, lying on the ground clutching a wound in his leg. Across the room from him was an insane looking, white haired priest with a light sword and a pistol. He had on a long blue, white, and gold lined rode. His crazy red eyes sent shivers down my spine.
But the worst part was the small blonde girl on the ground in front of the priest. It was that Asia girl I'd meet that morning and she looked like she was in pain. Why would she be with a crazy rouge priest? Wait…didn't she say something about going to the church? How could I be so stupid?
While I was trying to come to a conclusion, my fellow servants had already sprung into action. I saw something flash by me and a second later Kiba was clashing swords with the priest. Yep, that's one fast night. I watched the sword fight with interest until Kiba jumped back for like no reason. What?
"What's wrong devil? Scared?" The priest taunted and licked his sword. Oh great, he's a crazy exorcist. Awesome…
"I think you should be the scared one." Kiba answered and a huge dresser landed right next to the priest, sending him flying a few feet back. He corrected himself in midair and landed on a couch across the room.
"This is great! No one told me more devils were coming. Now I get to kill all you monsters all by myself." The priest taunted. At this point, I decided to make myself known.
"How exactly is a single weak mortal like you suppose to beat any of us?" I questioned. There is no way he's actually dangerous. I've had my fair share of run-ins with the church. Nothing to scary.
"Why don't you come over here and find out you shitty little devil?" The priest taunted and pointed his sword at me. Alright then.
"That's a pretty vulgar mouth for a man of God. OW! Come on, I'm trying to intimidate him!" I screamed at the sky. "Ugh, whatever." I sighed before shooting a few cards at the priest.
"Playing cards? Man devils really do have stupid powers these days." The priest teased as he ran forward to cut one of my cards in half.
"Yeah, I don't think so." I countered before flexing my hand out and making the card explode right in front of him. A fireball shot out of the card and exploded when it connected with the priest's chest.
"Gah! What devil trick is this?" He questioned as he gripped at his chest. I held my hand in front of my head and allowed the cards to cover up the lower half of my face.
"These are the elemental deck priest. You scared yet?" I asked and the priest smirked before reaching behind his back…
"Nope." He answered and shot his pistol. Thinking fast, I absorbed one of the Spades cards and smashed my fist into the ground. A huge rock wall appeared in front of me and the shot bounced of it.
"You dare make fun of me when I'm trying to intimidate you?!" I screamed and burst through the rock wall. Running at full speed, I charged the priest.
"Oh crap!" He yelled and started shooting at me. I brought my hands in front of me and turned them to rock, allowing me to block every single shot.
"Kiba, distract him for me!" I yelled and the blonde knight nodded behind me. Kiba disappeared from view and rushed the priest from the right side. The two clashed swords and the priest turned from me just giving me enough time to knock him across the room.
"No one touches my apprentice!" I screamed and smashed my fist into the priests face. His head snapped to the left and he went flying farther across the room. He landed in a heap on the far side of the room, pressed against the wall.
"Kiba, James, keep him busy while we get Issei out of here." Rias commanded and I turned to see her, Akeno, and Koneko picking up and healing Issei as best they could.
"Alright Master." Kiba called back and we nodded at each other. That's when I had an idea…
"Kiba, would you mind distracting him for a minute?" I asked and pulled the guitar off my back.
"Not a problem, but what are you planning?" Kiba asked and I smirked at him, pulling out a ten of Clubs.
"Let's light this party up." I said and placed the card on the guitar neck, behind the strings. I looked up to see Kiba running at the priest, who was able to rise once more, and they were currently holding each other in a power struggle.
"Alright, I hope this works." I said and started to channel magic into the card. My face lit up when I watched the card sink into the guitar neck and the instrument exploded with light.
When the light finally died down, I was holding a black rock and roll guitar with yellow lines running all over it. Sparks of electricity flickered across the neck and body and they stung a bit when I grabbed a hold of them. Also to my surprise, there was now a cord sticking out of the guitar. This was the cord you were suppose to plug into the amp, but instead of something that would go into an amp it was a spike.
"Oh this is too sick." I said and pulled the now black and yellow pick out of the strings and started to play. I strummed all the strings and a wave of lighting shot out of the center, heading straight for Kiba and the priest.
"Kiba jump back!" I yelled, not giving the Knight much of a warning. He was still able to escape using his Knight speed, leaving the priest to take a full blast of electricity.
"Let's see if we can turn this up a notch." I smirked and grabbed the cord. I spun it around like a whip before I threw it and watched it impale into the priests shocked body.
"Kiba, do you have a favorite song?" I asked the Knight and he looked at me with a smile. Wait why am I asking him? How would I know any songs that he knows?
"Why don't you play the opening to Sweet Child of Mine?" He asked and my jaw dropped. How does he know about Guns and Roses?
"Kiba, you just made my day." I sang before starting to play the song. The first few strums did nothing, but after a while the priest was clutching at the cord and jumping around from the electricity.
"You devils…will never…never…get away with this. My…friends should be here…any minute." The priest said as he jolted around from the electricity. Friends?
"James look out!" Kiba yelled and tackled me just as I finished playing. The spike ripped out of the priest's chest and he fell to his knees, unconscious. I looked over Kiba to see a light spear embed in the ground where I was just standing.
"Damn I missed!" A female voice said from above us and we turned to see two women flying above us.
One had dark blue hair and a dark purple pea coat. Her hair covered half her face and she looked a little like a slutty business woman, well aside from the fallen angel wings jutting out from her back. The other girl looked really young and had blonde hair in two ponytails on the sides of her head. She was wearing a cute maid outfit and she was pretty cute I had to say.
"Don't worry Mittelt you can get them this time." The blue haired woman said and smirked at us. Uh oh…
"Kiba we gotta go now." I said and tried to help the blonde push off me. He was up in a flash and left me still trying to rise from the ground, the guitar was not helping.
"Awe where does cutie think he's going?" The blonde girl teased and I stopped. Cutie…wait why does that make me stop? I'm a weak soul!
"I hate to disappoint but my friend needs me." I said and started to book it. But, I heard the spear sailing through the air behind me. I clenched my eyes shut and sprinted across the room until an explosion sent me the rest of the way.
I opened my eyes to see that I'd landed at Akeno's feet. Wait…why am I not in pain if the spear hit me? Wait…nothing hit me! I looked up in disbelief to see Akeno standing above me with lighting flickering in her hand and her eyes glaring at the fallen ones.
"Which one of you hit on my man and then tried to kill him?" Akeno asked and I almost started to cry tears of joy. She does care!
"That would be me cow tits. Wanna fight about it?" The blonde fallen one teased and had to immediately dive down to avoid a blast of lighting.
"I'm going to murder you and I'm going to love it." Akeno said coldly as she brought her other hand to her cheek and gave the girls this look of pleasure. Man…why is that so hot to me?
"Akeno get out of the way!" I shouted as I jumped up to tackle her out of the way of another light spear.
"Forget about me?" The blue haired girl chimed as the two of us fell to the ground. I landed on top of Akeno and my head went straight into her boobs. Now this would have been amazing if not for the searing pain going through my body.
"OW!" I screamed into the girl's breast and Akeno's eyes shot up to the blue haired fallen one. Man this is worse than the whole "saying stuff about angel's thing!"
"How dare you!" Akeno yelled and shot a dozen bolts of electricity at both fallen ones. They dived out of the way and fell back to the opposite side of the room.
"Akeno we have to go now!" Rias yelled and all of a sudden Koneko had grabbed me and thrown me into the magic circle at Rias's feet. I looked up painfully and saw Akeno calmly walking back to the circle as the fallen ones tried to regroup at the other side of the room.
"Wait, President we can't leave Asia!" Issei yelled and I looked to see the young blonde girl crying against the wall. Man…this sucks.
"Issei we have no other choice." Rias answered and I sighed in agreement. "Only members of my household can travel using this portal." She finished and Issei wailed out in anger. Koneko grabbed him and knocked him out to prevent him from running at the girl.
I'm gonna get killed for this…
"Rias, get everyone out of her. And Akeno, thank you." I said as I rose to my feet and grabbed Akeno's chin. I pressed our lips together quickly before I darted out of the circle.
"James…JAMES! What are you doing?" Rias yelled as the circle finally disappeared and left me alone in the room with the fallen ones and the nun girl. My leg was on fire and I was weak, but I have to save this girl.
"Alright, you can either let me leave with this girl or I can murder both of you six ways from Sunday." I said and slung the electric guitar behind my back. I was going to have to grab the girl and go. No way was I going to fight with my leg like this.
"Awh the cutie wants to play some more." The blonde one sang, but she didn't get to me this time. I responded by throwing a couple cards at them. The first row exploded into fire balls, causing the girls to try and dive to avoid them. A couple of the attacks hit home and the fallen ones landed on the ground with burn marks on them. The clothing over the blue haired one's left breast had burnt off and I just couldn't bring myself to look away.
"Awh, Kalawarner, why is he checking you out!?" Mittelt whined and I had to avert my gaze. The blue haired one just smirked and made another light spear to throw at me.
"Like what you see devil scum?" She asked teasingly and I brought a few more cards into my hand from inside my jacket sleeve.
"I do. I love it so much that I'm going to have to freeze frame it." I said and unleashed a ton of ice magic into the floor. A blue mist sprayed out of my hands and the entire floor froze instantly, freezing the two fallen ones in place.
"And now it's time to make an escape. Ladies, it's been fun." I said and pulled my hood back so they could get a good view of me, I'm going to regret that aren't I.
"Hey you can't leave us like this! We're going to find you and make you pay for this!" Kalawarner yelled. I didn't pay any mind to it as I approached an awestruck Asia and held out my hand to her.
"Let's get you out of here." I told her and she smiled up at me as she took my hand. A nun trusting a devil…this chick is something else.
I picked her up and let her ride on my back as I made my way out of the building. The small blonde held onto my tightly and I heard her whispering "thank you" the entire time I carried her. Man Rias is going to kill me…