A/N: Not very good, but oh well. It explains why Cassie hasn't left yet or stayed in America during the visit.
Now recovered, I joined in the 'celebration' halfheartedly, still bone-tired. I heard a branch snap, and I froze. Beside me, Drake muttered, "I thought we killed all her familiars."
So did I. If I let out the other side and went through all that pain when I didn't have to only to discover I didn't finish the job, I would be seriously pissed. More branches snapped. This thing must be massive.
Leon (the son of Satan) murmured "What is it? It sounds huge." His question was answered when I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared. My hand automatically went to the kitchen knife in my jacket. It wasn't much, but I'd take what I could get. More eyes opened, and now twelve pairs of eyes were staring at us. It was a stalemate, and the only question was who would move first. Out of the forest crawled a giant orange spider with three heads. Blood drained from my face when I saw massive mandibles snapping and dripping in front of us.
A feminine voice called, "Um, hello?" I looked around for the source (surely it couldn't be on top of that great brute). But there she was, astride the beast. She had long blond hair tied back with a red ribbon, yellow eyes that you couldn't look away from, and wore a blue dress that stood out against skin as pale as mine. Well, she knew how to make an entrance. "Are you the demon princess Astarte?"
"I am. Though I am understandably confused as to how you know my name when I do not know yours little one." The demoness inched towards the (rightfully) suspicious spider.
"My name is Jenny Heartwood, but I prefer Jen. And I know about you princess from growing up in Gehenna. I remember clearly how great the realm was and is whilst under your rule. I recall how peaceful your reign as made our home. How your flames brought light to the darkness." Jen smiled and let out a small giggle. "But actually, I came here because I grew sick of the darkness that remained despite your flames Princess and I actually came to offer you my services."
"How so?"
"Well, I noticed that you have your two sons with you and I thought that maintaining an eye on them whilst performing your other duties would be difficult. Therefore, I propose to you Princess that I serve as the boy's babysitter for you, to ease the workload you already have." Did she know what she was getting into? I had only seen them a few times, but the one whom I assumed was the elder was a real troublemaker.
"You mean you are willing to work as their nanny?" Astarte asked. Jen nodded. "Well then I hold no issue with it. And I'm sure the boys will enjoy your company. However, I'm afraid that by joining us, you will now have to leave this forest and return to Japan with us." That reminded me that I was on my way back out of the sweet English-speaking homeland.
"I have no issue with that princess. I am honored that you accepted my offer." Jen bowed and the spider did as well. Astarte nodded and turned before leading the mismatched bunch away from the forest.
On the way back, Drake started, "You looking forward to the party?"
I shrugged. "Kind of. The real problem is that none of you guys probably know how to break some rules. Loosen up. Have a drink; take a smoke, that sort of thing. Well, I guess it's not really rulebreaking if I'm 18 and I smoke anymore."
Back at the American branch, Astarte conversed with the head briefly as I leafed through a copy of Dante's Inferno. I wondered which circle I'd be sentenced to when I'm gone. Violence, probably, or maybe Heresy.
When we boarded the plane (how rich was this clown douche, anyway?), I immediately blacked out, no dreams or anything, which wasn't surprising since I just changed a little while ago. My sleep was only interrupted when I felt a poking at my arm.
"Cass… Cassie… Hothead… Marti…"
That last one woke me up. "Marti? What the hell?!" I looked at the unapologetic Drake in front of me.
"Your last name is Martin. I just dropped the 'N'."
I shook my head drowsily. "Just… don't, okay? And why did you wake me up? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good sleep?" Still somewhat drowsy, I felt the wrongdoings of those around me, except for Drake, who for some reason, I drew a blank from.
"Sorry. I was just saying we're about to land. And what do you mean you can't sleep?"
"None of your business," I grumbled as we prepared to get off. I felt a slight burning coming from the amulet I was wearing. I wondered if it was normal. When we got off, we were introduced to two boys, one was feminine-looking with blue eyes and hair and introduced as Nao Mare, son of Egyn; the other was black-haired with blue eyes and two tails and introduced as Hikaru Dasai, son of a nightmare. Astarte led us away, muttering that she promised us the day off. When we walked through the door, we were suddenly back in True Cross Academy. Thank God for wormholes.
"You two actually arrived at a food time. You see, today as a reward for the group managing to hold their own against a high level demon the group gets to have a party. Which now, seeing as you are part of the group, you two will join as well." She turned to us. "You see the big mansion on top of the academy? Well, we'll have the party there. I will send my familiars to guide you to it when we're ready. I want you all wearing your best outfits." Best outfit. Yeah, that would be a little difficult for me—I've only had the clothes on my back for the last two years. She stopped me from heading back to the dorm by putting her arm around my shoulder. I saw brief flashes, suddenly—violet flames, blood everywhere. "But first things first, Cassandra, I'm taking you to get new outfits."
Wait, what? "Why?"
She shrugged. "As thanks. You managed to convince me to let you all rely on me for this battle as I was expecting too much of you too soon. Also, if I'm really honest, that outfit is starting to smell a little."
"You also made me change," I muttered under my breath. "And what do you expect? I haven't stayed anywhere more than a few days in two years." Aside from the monastery, I added silently.
Astarte stated. She stood to her full height and turned to Mephisto. She sidled up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ne, Aniue? You know how you adore me, well...can I borrow some money?" she smiled up at him, a manipulative grin I've seen too many times, even worn.
"No," the clown muttered shortly
She frowned and pressed herself closer to him. "Please Aniue? I'll give you a reward if you do." She purred at him, nuzzling the curve where his neck met his shoulder. Okay. I did not need to see that. Now I had the feeling I needed to wash my eyes to get rid of the image, and my ears while I'm at it.
"...Damn you. Fine." He said. She let out a soft chuckle as he handed over the money.
She turned back to me. "Okay, let's go."
"Alright, was the prefix to porn really necessary? I could've taken some money."
"You're too young to be speaking of such things," she scolded, taking on a somewhat maternal tone. I found it amusing that another teenager was giving me a lecture.
"You obviously don't know how I grew up," I said with a small smile, remembering the good old days when I was human.
"I honestly don't know much about you lot," she admitted, "but you don't know much about me either."
"I wouldn't be so sure. I can sometimes read peoples' souls and see the wrongs they did while I'm human. I can safely say that you could be headed for any of the nine circles of hell if you were mortal, except for maybe gluttony."
"How do you know about the circles of hell?"
"Dante Aligheri's Inferno. There are nine circles to hell—Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Violence, Heresy, Fraud, and Betrayal. I read it on my travels."
I bumped into one of the strangers in the street, hand finding the wallet he kept in his pocket. I held it up. "See? I told you we didn't need to worry about money."
The scolding look reappeared. "I may be a demon, but I know it's wrong to take what's not yours. Return it."
"Whatever." I got the stranger's attention. "Sir? You dropped your wallet."
"What? Oh my, it seems I'm getting even more scatterbrained. I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached." He took the wallet gratefully. "Thank you, Miss."
"You're a little too good at that thievery," she said disapprovingly.
"You do what you have to to survive. I'm only here for one thing, anyway, then I'm back to traveling."
"What's that?"
"Samael." A sour look appeared on my face. "The scumbag tricked Zarathos into coming to the worst parts of Earth and was driven insane, ultimately turning an angel into a demon, his slave. My moral compass may be out of whack, but I know that was wrong. He was the Spirit of Justice. Who knows? Maybe all the wars could've been stopped. Maybe the Holocaust wouldn't happen. So I'm going to meet him one day and hand his ass to him and make him lift my curse."
A look briefly crossed her face—shock, maybe, or fear—before she put it under control again. "No matter what, you can't go back to human. He could lift the curse on the Johnny fellow he's been making his host, but not you, since yours is genetic. When your father impregnated your mother, he passed on both sides, the human and the demon. So technically, the other side is the daughter of Zarathos, while you are the daughter of John. You'll never be human again, so there's no use in pestering Samael. And if he had never made Zarathos fall, you wouldn't have been born."
"You know as well as I do that he's the king of Magic as well as Time. He can do whatever he damn well pleases. As for not being born, that wouldn't be a bad thing." We reached the mall.
The first thing I did was went to the generic clothes store and picked up a few plain white t-shirts and pairs of jeans.
"Aren't you original?" she asked sarcastically.
"Like they say where I'm from, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. But the jacket stays."
After that, she made me head to the expensive stores (places I could never really afford to go), where everything was brightly colored. "How about this?" she asked holding up a hot pink t-shirt with a plunging neckline.
"How about no." I picked up a black t-shirt with an anime character on it—with brown spiky hair kept out of his face with a red cloth, an open coat over a perfectly sculpted chest, and brown eyes. He didn't look too bad.
A few hours later we returned with a black bikini with some fire patterns on it (I don't know why I'll need it), a black leather miniskirt (very uncomfortable and bringing back strip club memories), jean shorts, jeans, t-shirts, tank tops with different patterns, and a pair of combat boots. Fortunately, she allowed me to keep my biker ones, though.
When we returned, I changed into the miniskirt and a gray tank top with a pattern of skulls. We were standing around when I migrated over to Drake and Ron, who instantly covered his nose.
"What? I'm not that bad."
"It's not you," he said, hand pinching the nose, "I can smell fear and distrust and you really reek of it."
"Because every girl loves hearing that," I said sarcastically.
"Sorry. I guess I have issues like that."
The door rang, and the pink-haired girl ran to answer it, knocking over the girl with horns in the process.
"So, can I call you Cassie? 'Cassandra' is really long and formal."
"I don't see why not. This idiot," I elbowed Drake in the gut, "calls me every name under the sun."
"It's good to know another American who's lived a normal life."
"Tell me about it. I can't stand hearing Japanese all day. It's driving me nucking futs." He laughed.
"Hey guys! Kitsune's here! It's party time!" Everyone appeared in a variety of party clothes and gathered in front of the multi-tailed fox.
"If you would follow me." He said before turning and leading them towards the large mansion that stood atop the academy. As we got closer, we heard music faintly, only select few words in my beloved native tongue. Kitsune led them to a large door and used his tails to knock. Movement sounded on the other side and the doors creaked open to reveal Astarte in her "party outfit". They all stared. The outfit consisted of a tight, corset style top with off the shoulder sleeves that ended at her elbow then a secondary part of the sleeves hung over her wrists, extending from just below her elbow. Her skirt was short at the front but extended to the floor at the back whilst her feet were covered by what appeared to be a shoe similar to a ballet pump with ribbons extending up to her knees. Damn. Was there anything she had that wasn't slutty?
"Ah, you're all here. Great, come on in you come." She stood to one side and they entered before stopping and staring at the room. It was huge, a chandelier providing the lighting. "We weren't really sure what to do for entertainment so we thought have the music playing and we set up a games console with a dance game for you." She explained. Everyone looked at it then began to separate out, and Drake, Ron, and I moved to take a seat and four others went to the games console where Amaimon stood, setting it up.
"So how did you grow up?"
"Well, my mom was a whore, literally, she worked at a strip club since she had to drop out of high school to have me, I obviously never knew my dad, but I grew up with regular visits there and the waitresses who were on break had to watch me, so I obviously didn't have the most wholesome upbringing. What about you, Drake?"
He offered a lost look and a shrug. "I honestly don't know. Aside from about 5 years ago to the present, I can't remember anything. Ron?"
"I'm not sure what there is to say. I grew up in the bad part of town, my dad brought me up till he died, and I didn't find out till recently that he was an exorcist who allowed himself to get possessed by a fear demon to do his job better. I didn't have the perfect friends; we'd all get stoned together or smoke. I definitely didn't get the perfect grades. I was just that stoner who sat at the back of the classroom."
We watched Astarte and Amaimon do a dance to the game in the center of the room as we sat in a comfortable silence.
A/N: Please Review!