Knights of Hell

Chapter 13

Azure watched Mint grab Church, and the two men were out of the apartment faster than he could blink. With his fresh cup of coffee with an obscene amount of alcohol inside, he walked into the lounge room and stared at the demons while he sipped his drink. Why couldn’t they remain in their human forms at his place? That was his only rule, but of course, they just had to be difficult. The only one who looked remotely human was Cedar, which may have been due to his issues rather than following Azure’s rule.

Nether was in the corner, floating, arms and legs crossed with his eyes closed. His deep red skin, appeared to glow, contrasting his bright white walls. Azure would never understand the need for the man to remain floating, as Lucifer had given him legs. He really should have used them more often.

Cedar was curled up on the armchair; someone had thrown a blanket over him, and he stirred a little in his sleep, muttering something intelligible as he held the wine bottle closer and shifted a little. Someone needed to talk about the fact that despite his gentle appearance, the demon was bordering on an alcoholic, but where would they even send him? Demon rehab didn’t exist.

Nether was on his precious white couch, which he now regretted getting in white because Feather was the last person he expected to care about the cleanliness of his couch. He was half dangling off the couch as it was too small for him, his arm and leg hanging off, touching the ground. Yua was sitting near his feet, as he had been since he ran into him and Mint. And the realisation dawned on Azure: why had Mint suddenly asked him about the demon? Was there something wrong?

“Yua?” Azure asked gently. He was trying his hardest not to wake any of them. They were all nightmares after having been awake for five hours, them waking up less than five minutes ago. Let’s just say he would have to worry more about himself than his apartment.

The demon looked over at him slowly, and Azure watched as he fiddled with his black-stained hands, and he thought back to the other demon with a similar design. Ugh. “What did you say to Mint?”

Yua shook his head and then just waved. Azure didn’t believe him. But he decided not to push the topic, and as he took a seat in the breakfast nook, after finishing his coffee, he went to the back of the house, where he changed into a new outfit and nodded. Okay. He walked into the lounge room and looked at all of the demons.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and clapped his hands. He took extreme measures when that didn’t work, and none of them even stirred. He threw a pillow at every single one of them repeatedly until they were all scowling and groaning, staring at him through bleary eyes. Azure grinned. “I am leaving for a bit, and you see this stuff. It should be here when I get back, and you all should not be.”

Feather was going to open his mouth to say something, but Cedar waved his hand, and whatever the demon was going to say was silenced. “No,” he groaned. “I'm too hungover to listen to you btich and whine about this.”

Azure nodded, and he walked out of the apartment and made his way over to where he thought he wouldn’t be welcomed, but it had to be done, so he had to power through the feelings and emotions and get this over and done with. Just as he expected, Azure turned onto the street, and Kai’s apartment complex appeared. The man walked out and looked down at his watch. Azure smiled a little. He knew Kai like he knew the back of his hand, and at nine fifteen, every single day, he would go to the church. Azure watched as Kai got to his car, and when he got in, he would check his little notebook and use that opportunity to get into the car.

Just as he predicted, Kai got into the car and pulled out his notebook; while distracted with his plans for today, Azure slid into the passenger seat. Kai looked at him with wide eyes, and the two stared at one another.

“Azure,” Kai said, blanket. “What are you doing.”

“We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to the man who lied to me for the past decade.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Azure replied as he stared out the large window. It was a lovely Saturday. It was quiet as it was still early in the morning, but the sun was high in the sky, and the heat was a little unbearable. “It was little white lie.”

“It was not a little white lie!” Kai snapped as he slammed his notebook shut to glare at him. “A little white lie is me saying i’m not tired, or you saying you enjoyed the abysmal movie we just watched. You hoididng the factr that you’re a demon from me is not a little white lie.”

“I’m sorry,” Azure replied gently. He was. He was honestly sorry, not that he had hidden the fact that he was a demon from Kai. No, he would never apologise for that. He was sad that this was how he found out; if it had been up to him, he would have never found any of it.

Kai was silent momentarily before exhaling and looking out the window to stare at the couple walking their dog. “You never told me,” he whispered.

“I was going to.”

“Don’t lie to me anymore,” he whispered. Azure went forward a little, and Kai sounded exhausted. Had his insomnia been playing up again? When did he get to bed? Did he get enough sleep?

Azure cleared his throat, focusing on the bright blue sky. It was a clear day, and on the horizon, where it was lighter, the sun was slowly rising, promising a warm day. “You're right, but I was never going to tell you. I knew this would hurt you, so I wanted to keep it away from you for as long as possible. But what about you?” He asked, finally peeking his eyes away from the vast sky to stare at the tiny man beside him. “You never told me.”

“What about me?” Kai muttered, “What didn’t I tell you?”

Azure ran a hand through his hair. This was it. The big moment. When he revealed this information, whether their relationship would change for the better or the worse was yet to be determined. “You never told me your role in the church was to kill demons.”

~*~