The Smell of a Maniac

Everyone still had fifteen minutes before the start of work hours, but someone was already rushing to get to his floor. Seeing that it was just him helping out someone else, Montana didn't think much when he held his hand out to prevent the doors from closing.

"Thank you so much!" The man flashed a wide smile at him before standing and smoothing his sleeves. He then smiled at Montana again before pressing the button for the top floor.

If Montana was paying attention, he would have noticed that the man did something very strange. However, his eyes were stuck on the man's face as if they were magnets and the face was pure metal.

His five features were flawless, and it would be impossible for no one to fall in love with him. Montana was an idiot when it came to infatuation, and he knew that as much as everyone else did. That was why he kept to himself more often than not.

"What's so good about him? He smells like a homicidal maniac…" Mephisto whispered from the side, trying to get in between Montana and the unknown man. Perhaps he was a little offended that Montana didn't stare at him like that when they first met.

"…" Montana didn't answer Mephisto, but he turned away. That was the only time he noticed that the button to the top floor was on. He frowned, but the elevator opened for his floor already. He just had to walk out and leave the mysterious man.

"Don't pretend that you can't hear me…" Mephisto chuckled as they all three did a double-take at the man. "Is that your type? That kind of man?"

"Please be quiet. I don't want to be gossiped to be a bigger weirdo than I already am." Montana sighed and only petted Caliga. At least the hellhound wasn't noisy like Mephisto.

The demon only raised both eyebrows and chuckled as he followed the man inside his office. The whole place was chaotic based on the readings Mephisto got from the people inside. Everyone was intoxicated with stress, and most of them had unhealthy habits and stress releases. It didn't shock him that Montana was even strange enough to care for a hellhound.

One woman then walked to Montana and gave him a folder. "The boss said you needed to revise this. Give it back to him before lunch."

"But I—" Before Montana could even finish, she had already left to deal with her own work. He then looked at the folder. It wasn't even his report.

When he opened it, he immediately found a note where it told him to answer his messages on a certain social media account… one that Montana had already stopped using.

"You can order Caliga to eat him, and we could be done with it." Mephisto chuckled as he shook his head. Ah, this office was a piece of paradise for him. So much stinking aura and negativity in just one small workplace.

'Caliga ate six men last night. I won't do it anymore.' Montana wrote down and placed on his divider. Mephisto took that as his answer, causing a shocked expression to show on his face.

"You ate six humans?" Mephisto looked at the black dog that only curled underneath the table.

"…"

The demon just shrugged his shoulder and chuckled as he wasn't answered by Caliga. He then draped his arms around Montana before whispering on his ear. "I'm going to see what that terrorist is up to, okay? Be sure to be extra sensitive to explosives."

Montana froze for a few seconds before looking around him. Mephisto had already left, and yet his words started to haunt him.

"What terrorist?" Montana shuddered before he started typing for his report and preparations for his presentation.

…

He was in the middle of his presentation when he noticed Caliga had run to his side. Montana was a master of discreet faces in front of human beings so no one knew that he was already scared shitless. It seemed that anytime now, he would be experiencing something not bound to happen on an ordinary day.

Since he was facing the glass walls of the conference room, it was so easy for him to see that a figure paraglided away from their building. Someone was daring enough to paraglide at broad daylight?

Before he could continue to his next slide—

Kaboom!

The whole building shook, and Montana didn't even bother keeping his balance. Caliga caught him from hitting his head somewhere after all. The people started screaming, and everyone tried to stabilize themselves and wondered what just happened. As for Montana, however, he just had a feeling that Mephisto knew it was going to happen.

Two hours earlier, he told him to brace for an explosion. Was this what he meant? Moreover… that man in the elevator…

"Everyone! Get out of the building! Don't push!" The boss called off the presentation and went to grab Montana's arm and get him to his feet. "Come on, don't be frozen now."

"What's happening?" Montana took his laptop from the stand and walked with his coworkers out of the conference room. Even if he was keeping his calm, he still couldn't keep his heart from racing with what he saw next.

The whole hallway was glaring with red lights as the emergency lights were triggered by the explosion. The siren calling the employees to leave was also heard as everyone practically raced out. Only those in higher floors were forcing themselves to leave orderly as they would be causing mass stampede if one decided to run like a maniac.

Montana was walking with Caliga the entire time. It was as if his hellhound had become a service dog that would give courage to a Montana that was on the verge of a panic attack. He hated panic and pandemonium; he hated earthquakes as well. Right now, two things were almost merging in Montana's morning.

Luckily, he got out of the building peacefully. However, the sight of their building from outside was nothing compared to where he came from. A third of the entire building was on fire, and the three highest floors were wrecked open.

It did seem like a bomb went off without anyone noticing until it was too late.

"The CEO…" Montana whispered as he wondered what could have happened to the CEO. Wasn't the beautiful man headed to the top floor where the CEO's office was?

Then, he remembered the man that paraglided from somewhere. Could it be the culprit escaping? He wore a white suit by then, and it seemed that he was only visible to Montana because his vision was affected by his contract with Belphegor.

"The smell of a homicidal maniac…" Montana repeated the description Mephisto gave the man in the elevator. Then again, how could he actually quantify that?

In the end, the workday came to a close after an hour. Everyone was advised to head home and hope for a good news. It seemed that an investigation was underway, but everyone knew that the CEO must have been heavily implicated as he wasn't there when they evacuated.

Montana got home early, but he only returned with Caliga. Mephisto was nowhere to be seen anymore, but it didn't calm Montana down. The human only ended up squishing Caliga's fur like he was a fatty as Montana thought of everything that happened.

He was supposed to be having lunch, but he kept on spacing out.

If they found out that he was in the elevator with the terrorist, would he be questioned? Wouldn't that paint another bad picture of him in the office? Gosh, he shouldn't have left that door open from the terrorist.

"Don't blame yourself."

Montana shuddered as he felt Mephisto's breath at the back of his neck and his voice echoing near his ear. He then glared at the demon. "Stop appearing out of nowhere, please."

"What? Am I not the voice of your conscience?" Mephisto giggled before sitting on the chair opposite Montana. "I'm right. That man isn't your typical boy-next-door."

"What happens next?" Montana drank his soup, which was his only lunch for the day. Just thinking about how those six people died made his appetite for meat diminish for the next few days.

"Hm? Is there something that should happen?" Mephisto hummed as he glanced at Caliga who was also licking his food bowl with the same soup Montana had.

The human stared at his food before shaking his head. "I wouldn't be a suspect, would I?"

Mephisto raised his brows. "No. You were just a helpful employee. Trust me, you're all good." He then reached out to caress Montana's head. "The only thing you should be thinking of right now is… Belphegor's deal. What exactly did you ask from him? Do you remember?"

"I didn't even remember meeting him. Was there really a deal? Shouldn't I be reminded of it at least?" Montana only hummed before sipping his soup.

"What? You didn't know what you got in exchange of your soul?" Mephisto was stunned. Such a careless and yet insolent being existed? Why was he not aware of it? He could've gotten a very nice deal out of it, and he could manipulate all terms of their contract.

However, Caliga perked his head up by now and stared at Mephisto. As this demon had a sliver of his master's power, he seemed to have a connection sturdy enough to communicate. He relayed the contract to Mephisto…

Yet, that didn't make Mephisto's expression any better.

"I can't believe this. Belphegor risked being punished by the King over a termless contract? What exactly is he expecting from you?!"

Montana, fortunately, knew of this… as this was the only thing he was sure of. He actually smiled at Mephisto. "Easy, I take care of Caliga."