The Devil Will Care

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1Azrail Crow crouched low and pressed his back against the dented metal of the wall. His lungs were screaming for air, but he didn’t dare breathe. Around the corner was a creature. He didn’t know what kind. Despite having spent eight months in the bowels of Nix, a moon turned into an intergalactic prison camp, he had no idea what those around him were. Aliens, obviously, but where had they come from?

Everyone knew there were aliens. There were even humans on colonies in space since Earth was becoming a dangerous place to be—not as dangerous as to be in space, but people on Earth were insane. Yet Azrail had always deemed it best to stay put. You never knew where you’d end up once you boarded a space vessel. There were terminals, big floating cities in space where people of different species interacted and traded, but Azrail had never believed he’d be up close and personal with an alien. Earth was a nice place—at least, parts of Earth, and he’d never voluntarily leave. But things didn’t always go as you planned.

“Hey, death bringer, get a move on.”

Azrail jumped at Dot’s hiss. She looked like a goth chick, but he suspected she was a demon—not really. She’d arrived from Earth with him, and they’d managed to snag a cell they shared, only the two of them. Some cells were crowded, and some scary creatures lived alone. Prison hierarchy and all that. He did his best to keep quiet and not be noticed.

He shook his head at her and held his forefinger to his lips.

“It’s a squid.”

Some tension bled out of him and he breathed. The ones Dot called squids had some weird tentacle thing going on in their faces, and Azrail believed they were deaf. They never reacted to the sirens, and he’d seen other creatures call them more than once without getting any kind of response.

“They might have an excellent sense of smell.”

“They might.” Dot curled into a ball next to him. “But then we’d been screwed already.” She straightened and tried to look around the corner, but Azrail pushed her back.

“Stop it.”

“We don’t have much time.” She tried to crawl forward.

He nodded. Their section of the prison was let out of the cages for some time every day. Some were never let out, some were let out once a week, but they were let out every day. The difference between being locked in a cell and locked in the building wasn’t huge, but they had a bigger area to move around in, and—and this was important—they could walk right up to the kitchen.

It was always guarded, and they weren’t allowed to be there, but today he was crouching against the wall inside the kitchen. He hoped they wouldn’t cook him if they found him here.

The lock siren would sound soon, and if they weren’t in their cell then, they’d be in deep s**t. “Maybe we should head back.”

“No. I watched them unpack yesterday.”

He glared at her. “If they catch us, I’m stealing your life essence to save myself.”

She grinned. He’d told Dot he was a life stealer the moment they stepped off the spaceship, but while she called him a lot of creative names connected with life and death, she didn’t believe him. He didn’t want to steal someone’s life to prove a point, and most people avoided life stealers at all cost, so it might be for the best if she believed he was joking.

“You could try it, death cheater, but you know they’d behead you.”

He nodded. They would try, but he was pretty sure they didn’t have a clue what he was. If they had, he’d be in solitary confinement. He’d never understood why he wasn’t. He’d been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in isolation. They must have messed up the paperwork. Maybe some poor chap was locked up in a tiny cage instead of him.

While it would suck for the poor soul, he wasn’t complaining. They might be surrounded by aliens, but he’d rather watch bug-like creatures shuffle around than spend the rest of his life in a windowless room.

“I don’t know, Dot.” He glanced around the corner and spotted the squid on the other side of the room. “Maybe we should head back and try again tomorrow.”

“Human food, Azrail. Nutella. There were two boxes of Nutella, and if I don’t get something chocolaty soon, I’ll turn you into a toad.”

She might be able to. While he’d tried to be clear about what he was, she’d never told him about herself in return. Considering her make-up and clothes changed every day—and they weren’t allowed any personal possessions—he was sure she was a magic user of some kind. He didn’t care what she was. She was human enough, and she was his partner in this hellhole. A hellhole they’d be trapped in forever.

Melancholy pressed down on him. Life stealers could live forever if they wanted to. All he had to do was to steal life from someone else. Easy-peasy. He’d done it before, though not for the purpose of prolonging his life. Nope, he only wanted to kill the bastard, and there was no one else around to give it to, so he’d consumed it.

He’d been buzzing with life energy for days after.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on the squid again. “Are you sure you saw Nutella? We’ve never been given Nutella before.” They were almost never served anything from Earth.

“I know what I saw. It was two boxes, so not enough for the prisoners.”

Azrail narrowed his eyes. “The guards are getting Nutella?”

She shrugged. “I wonder what else they’re getting.”

The squid turned the corner. Azrail didn’t know what was around the corner. More cells were his guess, but he’d never gone there. “Now.”

They ran in a crouch. Azrail’s legs were protesting and he feared he’d stumble, but he pushed on. The door to the storage or whatever it was came closer and closer.

He reached for the door handle and tried to open it, but it was locked. “Fuck.”

“Step back.” Dot’s eyes had an unnatural glow, and soon smoke was wafting from the lock.

“Dammit, Dot, don’t set off the fire alarm.” Though it was pretty cool that she could get metal to fume.

Tiny droplets of sweat formed on her upper lip right as the deadbolt melted, and she heaved a sigh. “I hate doing that.” She opened the door, and they stepped into a large storage room with shelves from top to bottom. There were boxes and bottles. Azrail had no idea what they were. Probably alien food.

“Here!” Dot hurried into the room, but it looked like each step hurt her. She motioned to a shelf with several boxes with brands he recognized.

“Oh, s**t, human food.” His mouth watered as his gaze landed on a bag of apples. There was only one bag, clearly not meant for the prisoners. They never got fresh food. They were fed three times a day, so they shouldn’t complain, but he’d kill for a salad.

Had he not lived with Dot, he wouldn’t have known for how long he’d been here, but she kept track of the days. He assumed all women did. She never asked the guards for feminine products, but he’d seen others do. She could change her clothes every day without having any, so he assumed she’d be able to provide herself with whatever she needed. Or maybe she could control her body? Magic users could do all kinds of things. He glanced at her.

“What?” She glared.

“Nothing. We need to get a move on.” How would they carry anything to their cell without getting caught? He grabbed an apple and put it in his pocket. If he only could have one thing, an apple would be what he picked.

Dot ripped open a box of Nutella and swayed. Azrail caught her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not good with melting metal. It takes too much energy.” Since she hadn’t shoved Azrail away yet, she must be wiped.

“s**t, why didn’t you say?”

“I’m good at blowing things up or burning things down, but not fine-tuned things, and metal is hard.”

He would have guessed fine-tuned things were right up her alley considering what she did with her appearance every day. “Pyrokinesis?”

She nodded. “And a few other skills, but I’m not strong.”

He’d have argued, but the lock had been hard on her, and they needed to get out of there. He grabbed a jar of Nutella and tried to push it into his pocket. It didn’t fit, so he put it in his underwear instead.

“Eww. I want to eat that.”

“It’s in a jar. If you can fit it anywhere on you, please do, because I don’t know how I’ll be able to stroll back to our room without anyone noticing this.” He motioned at his crotch where the jar and apple pushed against the fabric.

Dot giggled. “Maybe you’re happy to see me?”

He snorted.

“I’ll go first, and you go right behind me.”

Touch wasn’t allowed in the corridors, but maybe they could get away with Azrail shadowing her. “Okay, let’s go. The siren will ring any minute.”

She nodded and turned around, but right as they got moving, the door was kicked in with an earsplitting bang. Without thinking, Azrail grabbed hold of the creature’s life force, the warm glow much stronger than a human’s, but Azrail took it into himself. He was gonna explode from it. Fear rose in him. When did it end? How much life could one creature have?

Without thinking, he grabbed Dot’s shoulders and shoved the power into her. It burned and fizzled. Azrail saw white light as if he was sending lightning bolts into her. She yelped, and he tried to remove his hands, tried to prevent himself from harming her.

“Damn, that’s…something.”

She didn’t sound as if she was in pain.

“Move.” Azrail’s vision changed. Everything took a red tint, and he feared his eyes were bleeding.

Dot didn’t move. She stood frozen and stared at the devil—red skin, horns, and a tail—who’d fallen to its knees on the floor. Azrail had never seen anything like it, but it was similar to the tattoos covering most of his own body.

There was a devil in Nix.

“Dot.” The life energy was still pouring into him, and he had to stop it, but he wanted out of the storage room before he let go of the hold. “Dot!” He shook her shoulder.

“Holy s**t. You are a life stealer?” Her laugh had a hysteric ring to it.

“Get a move on or we’ll drown in it.”

“It’s glorious.”

“Dot!” The desperation in his tone yanked her back from the euphoric state she was in. She curled her fingers around his wrist and moved. As they neared the devil—what if it was The Devil for real?—she kicked him in the chest, and he tumbled into the wall with a snarl. Sharp canines, Azrail noted, both in the upper and lower jaw.

“Fuck.” Dot yanked at him, and they ran toward the door, but right as they made it past the devil, their tail wrapped around Azrail. He would have fallen to the floor if Dot hadn’t caught him. Flames erupted on the tail and the devil released the grip with a howl.

“For f**k’s sake, Dot!” He pushed her forward, hoping the fire would die out if they weren’t close to it. They made it out through the door, and luckily, the area outside was empty. The squid must not have heard the devil kick the door in. Stupid thing.

“Was that a guard?” Azrail slowed his steps as they rounded the corner back to their corridor. Before Dot could reply, the siren forcing everyone back into the cells shook the building.

“No idea. I’ve never seen anyone like them before.”

Azrail hadn’t either. Red skin and horns, for f**k’s sake. Curled horns like a…goat. “Jesus.”

“Pretty sure he wasn’t Jesus, more like his opposite. My God, Azrail, you sucked a demon dry.”

He snorted, but a sense of doom engulfed him. “I didn’t suck him dry. He had plenty left. Was it a he?”

She shrugged and headed for the door to their cell. “Keep your gaze down. Your eyes are weird.”

Shit. “Weird how?”

“Red.”

“They’re not bleeding, are they?” They didn’t hurt. Maybe he was suffering a hemorrhage in his brain but walking through it because he was buzzing with stolen life force.

“Your irises are red. Creepy as f**k, but maybe they won’t notice. They have red demons running around, so what’s a pair of red eyes?” She shrugged and stepped into their cell. It was empty, which had Azrail breathing a sigh of relief. The guards made sure nothing happened out in the open, but what went down in the cells was most often ignored. Though he suspected if he had dropped a devil to his knees, and Dot then set fire to him, the guards would come running.