At The End Of Their Tunnel Vision

Chapter VI

Elliot laid the succubus’ small frame onto the couch they occupied. Convenient when the woman was a deep sleeper. He didn’t need to worry about her waking up when he left her here for a moment. He grabbed his suit jacket, placing it on top of the woman’s body. His hands rested on top of her cheeks, caressing it before he grimaced again.

After a grunt, he stood up, pulling on his leather maroon gloves. While his eyes trained on the hovering misty dark face beside him. Glaring at the maniac faces that continued pestering him and nagged him until he subsequently gave in to the foul voices wishes.

“They saw her!” The voices repeatedly hissed. They grew more impatient as he fasten his gloves. The faces crowded closer into him while they continued chanting, as if he was deaf. He only rolled his eyes as the faces deformed into more nightmarish visage.

When done, the petulant hovering faces hazed upon him, passing through the disfigured mist that his corruption manifested. He went out of the small room next to the actual office. Again he went out from the door of his office, passing the multiple shelves of server hardware. Dim light of green accumulated from the devices, whirring sounds showing the continuous function of the hardware. His steady strode continued, heading the path towards the elevator. While a whistle re-vibrated through the silence of the whole place. For the purpose of antagonizing the voices even more. He grabbed a small pill bottle in his pocket. Upon opening the small container, the voices panicked. Pushing the button on the elevator, he closed the container again, shaking the container made the grunting and grumbles stop.

He wasn’t in the mood to entertain the voices, since they tended to be so overwhelmingly noisy for the level of his tolerance he could handle. And if left unchecked he would always ended up in a fit of rage, which he didn't want to happen. Especially right now. He didn’t need their power when the tasked was just having a civil conversation as possible. But he doubted the nosy colleague would even listen.

The elevator finally opened, and he entered the lift. He pushed the uppermost floor, knowing his target must be above with the others already tattled on about what they saw earlier.

“For the last time. I can not kill that nosy bastard. As much as I wanted to. So shut up.” he said while gritting his teeth. The urged from popping the pill tempted him. But he always hated the effects of it. Just like the voices hated it.

He groaned when one whispered a suggestion about torturing that eventually lead into killing. Unfortunately, this was his hell. Hearing voices and seeing faces that weren’t even there.

The elevator stopped and the metal door slid open, synchronized with the ding indicator that he ascended to his destination.

Elliot stepped out of the elevator, sauntering into the corridor decorated with a black marble tile glittered with gold lining. The reflective shine of the floors and walls glinted his eyes, making him grimaced even more. His been working here for decades, but the appeal of sophistication never tickled his fancy. After traversing the corridors, he stopped at the room he knew were the others very much likely to hangout.

One of the faces hovered near his ears, whispering he shouldn’t touch the door handle. “Agreed. I do not wish on catching anything they have.” His lips twitched from the grin spread on his lips while raising his feet and kicked the door.

The door opened with a loud bang and proceeded walking inside the room. Ignoring the loud creaking of the door, from slowly swinging upon its closing behind him. He tucked both of his hands behind him. A habit he never remembered when did he even developed.

The chattering paused when two of his colleague noticed him. While the one occupying the love seat, snoozing like a hibernating bear. So they were all here. What a great timing. Ash, a cursed one, gave him a condescending wink. While Christian a Dullahan gaped before he nudge the arm of his target that was busy laughing. Elliot knew the reason why the i***t was laughing this hard.

Chase, a well-known assassin and a Vampire stopped from laughing, glaring at the Dullahan, before he followed where his fellow’s eyes were staring.

The Vampire looked at him for a while before smirking at him. “Speaking of the dark entity, here you are. What can we do for you, oh darken one?” Chase jeered at him.

Elliot stopped a meter apart from the group that casually occupied the couch. “Spare me with your shitty pleasantries, leech. Why are you creeping around in my quarters?” he said. Keeping in his standoffish demeanor.

Chase's smirk went into a mischievous grin. Changing his position, the vampire leaned even further on the couch, outstretching his arms, and laid his arms on the ridges of the backrest. “What are you talking about, angel? Are you accusing me right now?” Chase said in feigned ignorance as he continued giving him a sly leer. While Christian giving the Vampire a warning look which Chase blatantly ignored.

The prolong stretch of his patience threading him into the edge of snapping. Adding the aggravated scream of the voices only worsened the raising temper. Not a delightful combination when the leech specialized in tormenting people by saying whatever popped into their head until they got the appropriate reaction. He was like the class clown in elementary school, just constantly needling with people’s business until they snapped and gave him the reaction he wanted.

Why did he bother being here in the first place?

The throbbing inside his skull only intensified knowing the nuisance of his present situation. “What? Can you not read the f*****g sign? Or you simply lack the capability comprehending a simple rules.” The hold behind his arms tightened.

Ash whistled after his statement. Clearly impressed, since this was the first time he directly confronted them.

Unphased Chase only shrugged. “If I remember correctly, we,” he used his index finger as he started pointing, beginning from him, and ending to the still sleeping sloth on the love seat. “Are all employee here. Under a one boss.” Chase sneered at him before he relaxed back into his recent position. Only different this time. He crossed his legs.

Making a point from civil conversation never worked with these bastards. It was like talking to a brick wall. Worse, they like getting out a raise out of the people’s misery. Which Victor warned him.

Elliot finally released the hold of his hands. Left hand shoved inside the pocket of his slacks, pulling out his cigarette and lighter. It was apparent having a conversation with the Vampire would always end with either backing down, which would boost his ego or bit the bait. Which would also boost his ego in finally making him react the way the leech wanted. But he could beat him into pulp at least.

Either way, he wasn’t going out in this room without being a bat s**t crazy.

The idea made him chuckle while he lit his cigarette. And the voices laugh with him. “Have you ever heard of the phrase ask and you shall receive?” The phrase never gotten old hearing the words passed his lips.

Chase only scoffed at him. “Not familiar with your scriptures, angel. Are you trying to preach us? With the words of your god?”

The vampire was purposely goading him. Thinking he was one of those lowly angel that got corrupted. His grin widened at the mere thought of him being mistaken by something weak. He blew the cloud of gray smoke. Hazing the ugly visions in front of him. For them, he was nothing but a husk, until it was too late for them to realize he was more than a skeleton controlled by the corruption.

“Why, yes? If that is what you ask. After all, they said god was always listening to us.”

He watched the Vampire laugh at him. But the cursed one noticeably glaring at him. Ah, he might be familiar with his past endeavors. When the Vampire didn’t stop from laughing while continued mocking him. Elliot averted his attention towards the cursed one. The Dullahan spotted his shift of focus, then stared at him again.

“Hey, dude. You’re seriously not planning on attacking us just because Chase entered your break room, right?” The inquiry of the Dullahan halted the Vampire from laughing.

Elliot only tilted his head as he dragged a long puff from the cigarette. Savouring the smoke stream around the hollowness of his chest. The voices were no longer screaming out when they were too preoccupied filling his thoughts instead.

Ash hauled into laughter and stood up. His two companions stared at the cursed one as if the mortal grew a horn. “Heh. This is interesting. Hey, ashtray mind if I only watch you slaughtering that piece of s**t?”

He took his last drag, letting the cigarette butt dropped into the ground before stumping the diminished stick. “Sure, I got tunnel vision anyway. And he is at the end of the line.”

“Good luck dipshit.” Ash said while walking towards the love chair.

Christian also stood up. “Are you f*****g serious? You’re letting them fight?”

Chase looked baffled from the sudden evasions of one of his companion.

“Yeah, bud. I admit about me being dense some times but my intuition never failed me. My killer senses are tingling. So if you don’t want to get another piece of you getting lose or detach, better get out of his way.” Ash wore a knowing grin while he sat on the armrest of the love seat. As he warned the conflicted Dullahan.

Chase only sniggered. “You’re still dense, Ash. And you based his danger level on the chills you got in your spine.”

Ash shrugged at the insults. “That’s what spine chill does dummy.”

“Tch, that just you being a pussy.” Chase retorted.

“Ugh! Both of you. Just shut up. Victor will be f*****g pissed again when he saw the whole place wreaked! It took me weeks before this whole place remodeled!”

All of them stared at the fuming Dullahan. Including the sleeping sloth before he had fallen back asleep into the love seat.

Speaking of the devil, he showed himself. “And what made you so worked up this time that you’re screaming like a banshee?” Victor sauntered towards them in his regal arrogance. Upon Victor turned his head towards him, the demon instantly pinch the bridge of his nose. “Why are you here, Elliot?” Victor asked with a firm, authoritative voice. After removing his hands away from his face, the demon gave him a stern stare.

Elliot glanced at Victor before his attention went back from the vampire that still settled on the couch. With no clue what kind of fate awaited him. He responded with a giddy grin. “To dispose of that pest.” Raising his finger, he pointed it towards Chase.

Chase scoffed at his declaration. “Don’t get so full of yourself, angel. You think a corrupted like you could dispose me. Even you went feral, you can’t kill me.”

“Yes, he could, you moron.” Victor interjected. Giving his lackey a side glare. When Chase was about to speak again. “Not another word, Chase.” The reluctance on Chase’s face became clear when the demon looked threateningly dangerous. “What you’re requesting is out of the question, Elliot.”

“Victor, what makes you think I care? You already can not do s**t to stop me.”

Victor knew nothing would appease him at this point. But he also knew the demon wouldn’t back down like that. As much as the demon deny he didn’t care about any of his lackeys, it was only an upfront for keeping up with the image the demon was portraying so badly.

The demon released a resigned sigh. “I know you won’t. So how about we made a deal.”

The grin on Elliot’s lips hitched up. Yet, some of the voices began lashing when their demands got turned down. The disagreement almost sounded like an angry buzz of the wasps; irritating his ears. He giggled before he shook his head when the voices became rampant from their snarling, swearing specters of death. “Tempting as it sounds, Victor. But I will pass,” he stared at the demon that Victor began looking unnerved by his silence. It did not show in Victor’s face the defeat but in his mind's eyes the interpretation of Victor’s visage was enough sign he succeeded from his quest. “Besides, I doubt that leech will even listen to anything. If even a simple rule he failed to abide.”

Chase was about to stand up when Victor stopped him by pressing his cane on top of the Vampire’s chest. “We will have a talk later.” Victor turned his head back again to Elliot. “If I manage to salvage your life first.” Chase's already pale complexion went even paler after realizing the terrible mistake he had done.

While the others remained silent, yet cautious about the recent development of their situation.

Victor pulled his cane away from Chase. He walked few steps forward, blocking Elliot’s sight from the Vampire. Which only made him heave a heavy sigh. It was an obvious point Victor wouldn’t hand the leech over without a fight.

Elliot knew Victor’s crew were a competent fighter. They made their name unforgettable from the impossible feat they had overcome. And he admitted the crew could easily abolish him. If the one they were fighting was his neutral state. But Victor got a little too late that he already succumb to his deranged disposition.

“If my deduction is right. You forgot taking the medication again. Irene won’t be pleased if she found out you’re skipping again.” Victor said.

The voices stopped. He glared at the demon, startled by the sudden mention of his medication and his sister.

Victor smirked at him when he finally expressed an emotion, rather than showing a sign of mania from his own madness. “I admit you got me into a tight pinch. But I also know your game as much as you know mine, Elliot.”

A splitting headache began drilling the side of his skull that had visible damage. His right hands reached towards the side of his head. When the tugging sensation became unbearable, as if the side of his head were yanking open.

“I’m gonna asked again, Ezikiel why are you here?”

The scraping inside his skull got to the point his fingers dug into the edge of his gaping wound. From the second time of the night, he heard that forsaken name. He dropped to his knees with a loud thud upon hitting the hard floor.

Elliot growl when his good left eye focused on the demon. “That angel! That f*****g angel was no longer here!” Pain, excruciating pain, overwhelmed his senses.

The sound of muffled footsteps went louder. The voices panicked again, urging him to fight back. To stand up and let them lead.

“Denial won’t get you anywhere, Elliot. You didn’t even notice but you are succumbing back into that monster.”

Elliot gritted his teeth. No s**t. He wanted that monster back. If that would help him get rid of the pest, infuriating him these past years.

Between his clenched teeth, he grunted his response. “You are poking at the wrong wound, Victor.”

But the demon ignored his warning. Raising the cane, Victor poked his forehead near the wound. “Seems right to me, Elliot.” After pressing a few more times, Victor eventually stopped. He didn’t like being a pushover, but Victor was right. His losing it. “Are you right in the head now?”

He stared at the demon in front of him with a grimaced. “What do you think, asshole?” he spat. While clumsily reaching towards his pocket and taking the small pill bottle. He grumbled before popping the pills. “Talk to that f*****g leech of yours. He was creeping into my quarters lately. It did not like getting uninvited guest.” Elliot stood up.

“See, that’s the problem. You are one of my subordinates, too. You had to interact with them, eventually.”

“A hard pass. Did you forget the last time I did some socializing? I ended up giving someone a closed casket burial.”

“Tsk. The inclusion of social stimuli in your treatment is necessary if you want an absolute control over your compulsive bloodlust.

Elliot continued, rubbing the side of his head. “Torment is the right term. Interacting, just one of the assholes already ticked me off. Throwing all of them at once is like asking for a literal genocide.” His sight deliberately reverted back to its normal perspective.

“Wait? What’s with the sudden talk about treatment, meds and all that shazam. Oh, Victor, please don’t tell me he is a bonker, just like Ash.” Chase said, still perched on the couch. Ash glared at the vampire with tame annoyance.

Victor perfectly bonked his cane on top of Chase’s head when he got near enough from the couch after he took a step away from Elliot. “Shut your mouth if you don’t want me plucking every tooth inside your maw.”

Chase casually rubbed the place that got hit, shrugging. “Oh, goodie. I just got a discount card from a dentist I befriend recently. That can be a good use when I got my dentures there.”

“You impertinent little–”

“s**t. See what I mean.” Elliot interjected. “Seriously, you wanted me to cooperate with them when you know how unstable I got. If you are too keen upon keeping them alive, keep them away from me.” He turned around and about to retreat, but the demon refused to let the issue go.

“I know what you’re keeping inside that secret room of yours. Or whose been living with you for two years. And if you’re so intent on keeping the creature to yourself. I won’t intervene.”

Elliot turned around, facing Victor with a menacing look. “I believe you will not. But not them. I do not trust them, Victor.” He scowled even further when Victor only gave him a smirk. Victor could be overbearing sometimes. In few cases it slipped through his mind how conceited the demon could be.

“I’m not asking you to trust them. Nevermind. As long as you don’t kill any of my subordinates, no harm will fall into that little pet of yours.”

“I will keep that in my skull, Victor. But no promises.” And he exited the room, teleporting back into the small room. The voices reduced into a whiny mumble of gibberish chants. They never shut up anyway. Not even in his sleep. The voices haunt him. The main reason he didn’t sleep anymore. And the only rest he could have was if he disassociated for a while or the time they got stumped and surprise. The voices only gave him relief if he cooperate with them under one goal. A common goal that would bind him and the corruption together, which was to kill and protect. So the voices hated when he had to lessen the murder spree for the past century. When his sister finally pulled him out of the depths of his madness.

Now here he was going under the treatment his sister invested even half of her life, just to save what little sanity remained in his broken skull.

When Elliot appeared in the small room. He sat down on the floor, leaning his back on the edge of the couch. Turning his head a little to his right to take a glimpse of the succubus, the voices possessively wanted to protect. For some reason, he never understood the corruption’s uncharacteristically spared the little demon when he saw her. The voices never went soft before. Nor the faces looked enthralled upon seeing the succubus. That was why he spared and decided to keep her. He didn’t intend to get attached to the succubus. It just happened that he took a day off for a change of scenery, away from the four corners of his office. And she was there, laughing in front of the tv as if she owned the place. But complimenting the silence of his bleak apartment.

In that moment, he saw her like a small twinkle of light in the darkness. The voices went calm in her presence. For the first time, in his condemning existence he felt serenity. A rest in his never ending torment. He was pulled. Soon the light grew brighter. It became radiant from their nurtured bond. Elliot inevitably got attached to the woman.

Two years of living with her made his hell more bearable. And he wouldn’t mind getting greedy by any means necessary, as long as he could keep her radiance at the end of his tunnel vision.