The trees faded into the background as a car drove down the desolate road leading into Angel Creek.
"Did you really have to burn her?" a man named Sebastian asked, glancing at his nephew through the rearview mirror.
He remained quiet. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt to reveal a red rash that traveled all the way down to his waist. "Look at what she did," was all he could manage.
"Why would you let her touch you?" he asked.
Hardin's jaw tightened at his words. "Do you really think I would've let her touch me knowing damn well that this is what happens?!"
Sebastian sighed. "Well, this wouldn't be a problem if you'd let me take you to some witch doctor."
Hardin buttoned his shirt and his frown deepened. "We've seen so many. They can't figure out what the hell is wrong with me."
Sebastian studied his expression. First day back and he's already agitated, he mused as he pressed his foot harder on the accelerator.
He flipped the headlights on.
A group of teenagers were huddled by the side of the road, digging a grave with their bare hands.
"Hardin, are you seeing this?" Sebastian asked.
Hardin followed his uncle's gaze and his eyes slightly widened when he witnessed the rowdy teens.
Two caught his attention.
A girl with ankle-length blonde hair, scarlet red eyes that resembled a sea of blood, and her unusual attire. She was wearing white billowy pants that barely hung onto her waist, a white cropped top shaped like a heart, and golden rings encircled around her upper arms.
The other was a girl with a black wild afro and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had ever seen. He was breathless. Her skin was the color of caramel, radiant and young.
"And you said nothing ever happens in Angel Creek," Sebastian snickered as they drove past them.
Hardin ignored his comment as he recalled the blonde-haired demon.
Could she be the royal I smelt earlier? he wondered.
"I think the hole is big enough," Blue said, standing over it. "The people that just passed by probably alerted the cops about five strangers digging a grave by the side of the road."
"This is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever done," Ethan whined.
Raphael shot him an unconvinced look and he groaned in defeat. "Okay, it's not," he admitted.
Ethan and Raphael grabbed the bottom part of the phantom and tossed it inside. It landed with a loud thud.
They wandered off into the woods.
Blue picked the top half and she stared curiously into the dark circles where its eyes should've been.
"First time seeing a phantom dead?" the unfamiliar demon asked, intrigued by the look in her eyes.
Blue nodded her head as she dumped the half inside the grave. "Yes," she replied. "But I'm glad I wasn't the one that killed it."
Aria knitted her eyebrows in confusion. "Killing a phantom is like a big thing for you humans. It's how you hunters make money."
"It is," she agreed. A lightbulb appeared over her head and her face lit up. "Aria, do you have a place to stay?" she asked.
"No, not really. Why?"
"You can come crash at my place," she offered. "My brother isn't going to be home for a few days, which means his room is vacant."
"Okay." It's not like she had anywhere else to go that night.
---
Ethan parked his yellow off-road car in the driveway of a modern-style house. "We're here!" he announced to the two girls in the backseat.
"Humans are so weird," Aria commented as she leaped out of the car with no roof. "Why does your car not have a roof?"
Blue giggled at her words. "It's so he can load a bunch of girls in here," she hopped out of the car.
"As long as the ladies dig it, I got it," Ethan winked playfully at the two, and Blue grimaced at his behavior as she pushed the door open.
"Dude, she just got here. You can't be seriously trying to hit on her," Blue said, disappointed.
Her bird soared inside and landed on a framed photo — a photo of Blue and her family.
Aria explored the house and she was internally judging everything — down to their choice of furniture and decoration.
"Relax, I'm just playing," Ethan replied coolly.
"Okay, I'm going to take a shower. Stay down here with her," Blue notified as she disappeared upstairs.
The two glanced at each other awkwardly.
"So what do you humans do for fun?"
They played video games for the past thirty minutes.
Blue returned back downstairs, in her lavender pajamas. "Raphael called. He said they returned the kid and got the reward."
"That's cool," Ethan replied, aggressively pressing the buttons on the controller. His eyebrows were pulled into a deep frown.
While Aria was grinning from ear to ear.
Blue went to the kitchen and brought a bag of potato chips, some soda cans, and marshmallows.
"Woah, Aria is demolishing you," Blue cackled. Her best friend was getting his ass whooped by some demon he had just met at a game he considered himself the best at.
"No I'm not," he huffed. "I'm just letting her win."
Aria finished the match and won.
"I'm going to take a leak, but when I come back, I want a proper rematch!" he rushed upstairs.
Blue moved closer to Aria. "Can I ask you something?"
Aria nodded her head.
Blue inhaled nervously as she felt her intestines tangle up. "So, I haven't really told anyone this, but I figured you might have an answer to it because, you know, you're from Hell. You see, it's something that's been bothering me since my first successful phantom kill—"
"Get to the point," Aria cut her short before she could go on and ramble about some irrelevant things.
Blue dropped her gaze to the coffee table. "When I kill phantoms, sometimes I get these weird memories flooding through my head, and those memories are never mine, you know?"
Aria cocked up her eyebrows.
"And I don't know who or what to do with this information. So tell me, what do you think could be the problem? Are these memories fabricated by my brain to make me feel guilty, or am I just delusional?"
She finally looked up, and Aria was staring at her with dotted eyes.
"I really don't know what to say," Aria admitted awkwardly. "But your core tells me you are human."
Blue ran her hand across her body, horrified. Did I get hurt somewhere? How can she see it?
"My eyes allow me to see cores," Aria explained. She chowed some potato chips. "That is how I'm able to identify demons. The only reason you were all able to see that one earlier is because I was holding it."
"Huh?" Blue blinked, confused.
"The second I grabbed that core, I made it reveal itself to you. Under other circumstances, you wouldn't have been able to see it."
"Why would you do that?" Blue probed.
"Because you need to know. These cases are going to become more frequent here in Angel Creek, and I need to know I can trust you."
Aria spoke with a seriousness that frightened Blue. Her crimson eyes glowed with an intensity Blue had never seen.
Blue's eyes enlarged. A tight knot tied in her stomach.
"Why?"
"Well, I don't know why this is happening, but that is why I need your help."
"Consider the Occult Club members as your little minions."
Blue flashed her a toothy grin, which Aria mirrored. "I look forward to working with you."
"What did I miss?" Ethan chimed in.
---
Later that night, Aria sat on the edge of the roof after Ethan and Blue had fallen asleep. Felo floated onto her shoulder and sang angrily into her ear.
"Relax," Aria swatted away the creature. "I would never consider them as my partners."
It flapped its wings and landed on her head.
"They're my bait. A group of idiotic wannabe hunters is the perfect way to draw out the people behind this."
She swung her feet back and forth. An empty smile curled onto her plump, rosy lips.
"Felo, I think my time here is actually going to be somewhat entertaining."