Chapter 62: An angel's mercy

Sympathy was something Izaya could both mimic as well as feel in today's condition. The monastery was a safe haven. An opportunity. Even Izaya realized as much despite the bitter aftertaste having to hide themselves away left.

Picking up a stone himself he tossed it towards a couple bundles of basil growing from moist soil.

"You are giving the priest's daughter quite the hard time."

Roy's stone quickly followed the one Izaya had thrown only to bring back both.

"It's not like I want to offend her. But this place-" Roy sighed, while catching the debris midair.

Setting them aside he stopped his motion and his eyes narrowed.

"I feel like kettle, kept for slaughter."

Humming softly, Izaya glanced towards the statue. This place was old and its residents even older. How long had the priest been staying here?

His whole life?

The same had to account for Maria, but to her it was probably simply natural. Being the daughter of the priest she had seen nothing else but these monastery's walls all her life.

It was her home. A place she belonged to.

But looking at Roy Izaya figured it had been different for him.

"Telekinesis?" Izaya threw the term into the air and Roy blinked for a short confused second.

He was talking about Roy's ability of course. Seeing how he moved the stone back and forth it was the most obvious choice.

That or mending of atoms.

Izaya could imagine some sort of skill that would allow Roy to move the air in a way that carried the stone back to his hand.

But no matter whether he had been right or wrong, he was going to get his answer right about now. Because if there was one thing humanity had in common no matter their genes or families, then it was the urge to correct someone's obvious mistakes.

"Nah, fancier," Roy spoke and tossed the stone towards the basil plants once more. "Reverting time." The object had hit the plant with a bit too much force, breaking the stalk in two. It was only due to Roy's explanation that Izaya understood what was happening the second that stalk fixed itself and the stone moved back to Roy. Circling the stone in his palm Roy sighed. "Although it only works on subjects other than me."

So that's how he had healed them.

Izaya's palm mindlessly grazed across his upper arm. It had been shot by Vincent using his disgusting blood. Its effects had already started to spread, but the second Roy treated him it was as though nothing had ever happened at all.

Which made sense.

Because if Roy reverted the time of Izaya's body then there was really nothing that had happened to him.

"How does that work?" Izaya asked as his curiosity and imagination spiked. Lifting his palm to eye level Roy dropped the stone.

"See this? I can rewind the few seconds it took to move away from me. But the area of effect is quite small," he announced, while the pebble moved back up as though gravitation or laws of nature didn't exist.

Fascination laid in Izaya's eyes and Roy seemed to have caught it as he broke in a soft snort.

"You have a similar one right?" A few birds having sat close by took off at that exact moment and Izaya used the ability he had earned.

Frozen like a picture he looked at the animals' wings, folded, yet hovering midair.

A single glance towards Roy was enough to notice that only Shizuo remained unaffected by his power as even he had frozen in time.

Letting go of the effect, the birds continued their action and Izaya spoke.

"Stopping time."

Roy hummed, "Handy." And for a second he seemed to wait for a demonstration, but either he was really smart and had concluded he wasn't going to see anything, or he simply didn't care as he went on. "How long can you go?"

"Ten seconds when I'm alone. Infinitely with him." Roy laughed.

"Same. Gotta need our batteries, right?"

Batteries, huh?

There had been a time when Izaya described Shizuo as a charger. A time where he thought of him as nothing more. Roy's phrasing somehow reminded him of that time- and the differences compared to now.

Izaya should feel devastated, for the way his life was scattered into broken shards. And yet, knowing that Shizuo was going to turn up any second because of his sheer worry over him somehow kept those feelings at bay.

Mairu and Kururi were safe. Shizuo loved him. Namie was even there, willing to support him- right now he was blessed in a really odd way despite the curse of his genes.

"Like your natural dispenser?" he quickly moved on, not wanting to deepen the topic onto a direction to private on his own part and Roy snorted.

"He is having a good time, really. He fell in love and proved compatible, I think he doesn't mind the extra fucking he has to partake in."

So the guy was simply handing out the energy given. No name had been mentioned yet, but Izaya could already guess why.

This whole monastery and its incubi inhabitants could only live here as peacefully as they did because of him.

Revealing his exact identity to the strangers that Izaya and Shizuo were would be beyond stupid. And yet it was a topic concerning Izaya more than he liked.

"And the transmission?"

Mairu and Kururi were still young. Too young to have to endure the fate Izaya had. His body stiffened involuntarily and Roy seemed to notice.

Lips curling into a smile he assured Izaya quickly.

"Body contact. A hug, a pat on the head, holding someone's hand, all of that works."

So no actual sex.

Feeling his body relax Izaya sighed with relief.

His sisters had been on his mind for longer than he could think. He had always worried about their fate once they started needing that cursed energy.

But wasn't this problem solved now?

And so easy too-

Glancing at Roy, Izaya hummed.

"How did you know that I have a similar ability?" After all he had not said a word and seeing how everyone was equally affected by his ability they couldn't have witnessed it first hand either.

Roy shrugged.

"Most pure blood Incubi develop some sort of time manipulation. Maria's mother could see a few seconds of the future for example."

Ah.

So after seeing Shizuo's demonstration of what appeared to be some kind of berserker skill they concluded Izaya had to be the pure blood.

"And Shizuo?"

Roy shrugged, "The lesser Incubi are kind of a lottery, really. They are vastly less in number. Just finding one is already pure luck, I guess you know what I'm talking about."

Hachiro.

Just thinking about that bastard made Izaya's guts churn.

Yeah. He knew perfectly well just how rare these lesser incubi were.

"As for powers, I don't know a lot myself, but from what I can tell it's really random. One could get things to explode. Maria's camouflage objects as you saw and yours-" Roy paused for a second, unsure how to phrase his description of Shizuo. "He is the prime example of the lottery, really. I don't even know what he can do."

It was right then that said former blond entered the garden scenery. A soft frown settled on his forehead and only dissipated once his eyes found Izaya.

"We got some sort of room. To sleep," he announced briefly, but not any less annoyed.

Izaya snorted, "You look displeased."

"Of course I am, what is this bullshit?" Standing next to the tree Shizuo leisurely leant against it. A branch protested quietly while pouring a heap of leaves upon the uninvited guest.

It was funny, all three of them seemed to be fairly bummed by their prognosed future.

"Care if I ask a few more questions?"

Roy grimaced with a fair share of discontent. He didn't trust Izaya's motives which only proved his intelligence further.

"Depends on the content," he added cautiously, but Izaya had no ill intentions.

"Why did you go out of your way to save me?" Roy seemed a bit lost at the wild topic- after all it had been the priest who just saved them and Izaya quickly picked up on the misunderstanding. "I mean, all courtesy and god's will aside, you had no reason to tell me about Vincent's drug back at the cell," he clarified and Roy's face lit up.

"Ah, that," hesitating shortly, the young man let the back of his head thud against the stem. "Honestly? It's just a survival warrant. The less incubi run around unsupervised the better our chances at gaining freedom I guess."

Izaya snorted.

"So we are prisoners?"

Roy's reaction was funnier than expected as he immediately jerked into tension. "Hell no, don't say that crap, your guy is already side-eyeing me more than I like."

He was talking about Shizuo of course. Showing an expression that didn't invite for tea and cookies his glare only deepened as he huffed.

"You act like I'm unreasonable."

Izaya laughed, "Well, your strength is so you can't blame him."

Certainly.

That was the only perk of today's events. Shizuo's strength, his recovery speed- his encounter with Vincent had explained it all.

He was no freak of nature, he was just an incubus.

"Where did this bullshit come from anyway?" he groaned softly and the wind picked up, rustling the tree for more leaves to cover his head.

"The church?" Roy asked whilst watching how Shizuo slapped the leaves out of his newly dyed hair.

"The Incubi," Izaya answered in his stead and Roy blinked.

To be honest Izaya didn't really expect an answer to this question- it was too abstract and probably rooted in a former century, but despite all that it seemed he had struck gold as Roy merely nodded.

"Right. You wouldn't know."

"Wait, you know?" An array of possibilities, plans and actions unfolded in Izaya's mind at the possibility of finally finding out why he had had to suffer for years.

A simple nod was given and Roy rose from the ground. Curling his palm he waved the two of them over as he walked to the opposite side of the garden.

Izaya was quick to follow, and so was Shizuo as their new friend descended a small flight of stairs leading to a rusty door.

Copper or rusted iron made up the majority of the two winged entrance sealed by a lock.

A key was pulled from Roy's pants and the object unhinged as the door pressed open with a gruesome screech.

Izaya had known they were inside a monastery, and he knew people living in such a place usually owned a small chapel of some sorts to pray, but he hadn't quite expected such a pretty sight.

Rows of seats aligned left and right on a marble floor and paintings of various nature decorated not only the ceiling but also the side of the walls.

An altar throning at the front was the heart of the chapel and poured with gold and other expensive materials. The smell of incense lingered in the air when Izaya entered the chapel.

He had never been a fan of religion, but he could appreciate artistic work and gorgeous figures when he saw them.

"We don't know the details of course since it's been a few centuries at least since then," Roy started before moving to the very left of the room. The paintings that had seemed like mere decorations proved to show a story instead as Roy pointed towards the first. "But from what we could decipher, our dear father from the past was the one to set this stone rolling."

A priest, fairly young and dressed in adequate clothing fitting the time was displayed overviewing a wedding. His expression was kept gentle and his demeanor as holy as you would expect from a priest.

"He made a deal with a demon or something alike. Maybe even an incubus, we don't know," Roy continued, crushing the innocent image of the priest at once.

"Sounds like something a priest is not supposed to do," Izaya argued and Roy nodded.

"Correct. But it wasn't like he was an indecent guy. If you believe the story handed down through the generations, he wanted to save someone and took the curse that was supposed to kill him with pleasure."

Another picture followed to the right. Demons sitting on humans' shoulders were displayed in a gruesome and awful fashion. Scythes and various tools alike laid in the hands of the common folk as they threatened the servants of the devil.

"He wanted to save someone? Who?"

Roy shrugged, "I don't know, but fact was, he was meant to die after getting what he wanted. Sadly he wasn't the only one that wanted to save someone."

A pretty image of a gorgeous woman displayed next, with rays at her back and gold in her eyes she was depicted as a savior.

"Someone delayed the curse?" Izaya figured and Roy nodded.

"We can only speculate from here but something must have happened for the priest to not die after all. The most popular theory talks about a lady of unrivaled holy energy. An angel or something. She saved the priest by what you can probably guess."

Intercourse.

The root issue of this entire energy business. It didn't take much for Izaya to arrive at the most logical conclusion.

"And theories say it caused her own self to be tainted in the process." Roy concluded loudly what Izaya already had in his mind.

An angel and a cursed priest.

"Great, does that mean we are all lowkey relatives?" Shozuo was the first to ask the most obvious question and both Izaya as well as Roy cringed at the idea.

"Honestly this is just a story, and it might as well be bullshit for all we know." Roy sighed, "If the lady had been that holy, then why did the curse affect her for example? Evil is supposed to be driven away in its entirety and not subjugated."

Izaya snorted, "Speaking like the priest?" Despite how annoyed Roy was by this place and Maria's family he had clearly taken on some of their traits.

Like phrases they commonly used.

Not willing to admit to their similarities Roy merely shrugged before moving towards the front.

A happy patchwork family. That's what the people living here were. And that's what they were trying to make them become part of.

A sweet idea overall, but not really what Izaya was looking for.

"Is there a way to break the curse?"

The hope he held out for a positive answer was fairly low to begin with and just as expected Roy shook his head.

"We are too late for that, sadly," he sighed, "The demon who set the curse is dead. And there is no other way to lift it than for the one who casted it."

Made sense.

It was a low grunt from the side that brought Izaya's attention back to Shizuo.

"Then I will just kill the curse," he announced with the annoyance Izaya felt spread across his face.

"So simple minded." Izaya hummed, whilst Roy was left to blink. He probably thought he was joking, but with Shizuo he couldn't have been more wrong.

Not a shred of insecurity layered the statement as Shizuo glared at the picture showing the demons.

A stifled laugh followed in which Roy shook his head. "You are an idiot."

Izaya was used to all nighters and even worse, but right now with everything as it was accompanied with the sweet candle light of the altar he couldn't quite keep a yawn from his lips.

"You should head to bed now if you want to catch at least a bit of sleep," Roy announced as soon as he caught it and Izaya took the chance to agree.

"You too."

The history lesson was over. With not much more to be said Roy nodded shortly before heading into his own direction, leaving the two of them behind.

For a moment Izaya expected someone else to appear and steer their intentions in favorable ways- but no one did.

They were actually alone.

Left to act as they wished of their own free will.

Roy had been right when he said they were no prisoners.

Bringing them here, saving them from Vincent and healing his wounds really proved a very generous way of living.

"We are really going to stay?" Shizuo asked after a short while of not moving at all.

A low sigh was given as Izaya's eyes scanned the paintings they had been shown.

"At least for one night. I learned more in the last hour than I was able to in the past decade." A bitter smile decorated his expression and he reached out. Izaya's palm brushed across the uneven surface of the angel's picture. "But not longer than that. This place is good and all, but I'm not a fan of hiding in shadows and neither should they be."

Gladly Shizuo seemed to agree as his own eyes circled back and forth from the altar to the pictures.

"Do you have a plan?" A funny question. But one that Izaya deserved.

Turning around he showed his best smile and something he hadn't quite held in a while. Confidence.

"Not yet, but give me 24 hours and I might."

to be continued~

C: More lore, more lore~ Oh and would you look at the next chapter? Ah, yes, there will be even more lore! xDDDDD I hope the history lesson isn't getting too boring yet haha There is one more chapter to go until you know the basics of Incubi lore that I need hahahaha xDDD