Eight

"Wait."

Valentine turned around to face the demon who had left his comfort zone beside the angel and now stood a meter away from him. Mal pulled out a dagger from where it was strapped to its sheath on his thigh and handed it to Valentine, it instantly turned to a silver bangle as soon as it touched his palm.

"You may not know how to use it but have it just in case," the demon stated, "you just need to twist it once for it to turn back into a dagger, and do it again if you want it back as a bangle."

Valentine smiled slightly, "thanks."

Mal's gaze hardened, "Do not lose it."

Valentine nodded, then he turned to Emalia who was watching the exchange silently, "if looks could kill."

"We'd all be dead," the fairy finished with a nod in agreement.

"Now, let's go," Rosario gestured towards the portal with a nod of his head.

Valentine nodded then walked into the portal, the other three following close behind. Inside the portal it was pure silence, there was no wind or chatter of birds, there was only a stone cold gateway with a sky that was hidden behind a cloud of dust and a dirt ground. It was cold, a sort of burning cold as if fire had suddenly dropped below zero degrees and burning their bones.

The second he stepped out onto the snow covered foot of the mountain he took a deep breath of air that his lungs had been craving inside the portal. Emalia burst out with a shiver while the other two didn't seem fazed by the conditions within the portal.

"How do you travel like that?" She asked.

Rosario shrugged, "You get used to it after a while."

"I'd rather not travel like that again, it felt so," Valentine paused searching for the right word, after a while he settled for, "dead."

Mal hummed, "The portals are a creation of demons, they go through the Darkworld to get to all the locations."

The mortal considered it for a second, "Fair enough." He turned around to look at what lay before them and let out a rush of breath in wonder.

The head of the mountain disappeared into the clouds that covered the skies hiding the blue that was surely behind it. It was bathed in snow like how humans covered themselves in blankets in the cold or sunscreen in the heat. Valentine spotted light beside one of the peaks and the faint outline of bridges that connected the spikes of the mountain. There were also the frozen remains of waterfalls that would come rushing down into streams in the summer.

Emalia turned to the two oldest, her wings flickering nervously behind her, "So where does our very own Fortune Teller live?"

Mal pointed into the clouds, "up there, on the highest peak."

"Well that's just fucking fantastic," Valentine grumbled.

"Don't worry yourself," Rosario chuckled, "we'll stop by the dwarf village once we get there. There you can have some warm food and rest."

The blue haired boy almost sighed in relief as he pulled his coat further over his hands.

Emalia decided to voice her gratitude, "Thank fuck." She hugged herself and began walking, the others exchanged a glance before snickering amongst themselves as they began walking.

It was halfway to the village when the sun was dangerously low on the horizon and they decided to finally stop. Valentine and Mal were tasked with gathering firewood which the demon had grumbled about. They were currently walking through the forest picking up stray branches and sticks as they went along. The mortal hummed to himself, tilting his head from side to side until the words morphed themselves out loud.

He could practically hear the eye roll as Malice sighed in irritation. Valentine crouched down to pick up a stick but something caught his eye. He put the stick down and slowly walked towards where an elk lay bleeding. It wasn't like any elk the boy had seen in his ridiculously short life, it's antlers were white like bone and branched together in a circle, the coat was also white but with a golden shine to it. He crouched down beside it and looked at the wound it had taken to the rib, as if an axe had cut into the flesh. Valentine looked around for something to bandage it with and settled on his coat which he pressed against the wound to try and stem the bleeding.

The animal brayed weakly, Valentine patted its neck in an attempt to soothe it but it felt like he was soothing himself more than the elk. Then it moved, it slowly stood and the mortal watched as the majestic animal stood before him, his mouth hung slightly open in awe as it lowered its head so they were looking eye to eye. It's eyes were blood red.

"Get away from it!!"

He felt himself being roughly shoved out of the way. An ear splitting howl caused his ears to ring, he heard a grunt and a thud. Valentine snapped his head around and stared, the elk wasn't at all beautiful; it was a skeleton with rotting flesh hanging off its bones and blood dripping from empty eye sockets, its teeth were sharp and clearly meant to shred meat. His eyes landed on Emalia who was struggling to get up. She had a hand on her side as she glared at the elk. With a final grunt she managed to push herself up into a kneeling position. She grabbed her bow and an arrow, and fired at the demonic animal.

It reared with a howl as the wooden end of the arrow embedded itself in-between two ribs and in the stomach that could clearly be seen from behind the bones and peeling flesh. A golden arrow embedded itself in its neck and it collapsed to the ground in a gasping and bleeding heap. Valentine stared at the unmoving demon, a cold hand on his arm brought him back to the present he looked at Mal who pulled him up by the arm.

"What did I tell you about running off?" The demon asked, "or were you not listening?"

Valentine swallowed thickly, this was his fault, "Em- Emalia, will she be alright?"

Mal sighed, but nodded, "She will, Rosario is healing her as we speak. She's in good hands."

Valentine nodded, he moved to look away but his eyes caught on the corpse-like Elk that was standing again, an arrow in its neck and another in its stomach blood dripping from the bones and flesh. It suddenly charged.

"WATCH OUT!" He yelled before he could move. Valentine was shoved out of the way again, pain exploded in his side causing him to yelp. He heard the crack of a whip and then a high pitched howl like a woman's scream.

Valentine watched as Malice's whip wrapped itself around the elk's ribcage and tightened as it struggled and kicked against the flickering red rope. It reared as a current of electricity roared through it, the elk collapsed into a pile of dust and the older man sighed as he rolled the whip up again then walked over to the mortal and helped him up.

"Thanks."

Mal rolled his eyes, "we really need to teach you how to identify demons."

"Would 'they seem unnaturally beautiful and ethereal' be a good start?" Valentine asked, listing one of his very few observations as an example.

The demon in front of him seemed to consider it before nodding, "now let's get you to that blasted Angel."

Valentine chuckled, "You love him really."

"Do I?"

The mortal rolled his eyes before putting a hand to his throbbing side. He frowned at the warm stickiness he felt, he pulled his hand away and his eyes widened. Red blood decorated his skin. Mal sighed again before leading a now horrified Valentine away to where the tents were. It was at this moment that the mortal realized just how dangerous this quest was going to be, and how much he still had to learn.

It was when Valentine could see the clearing where they had set the tents and the fire that he began to feel light headed and his vision started to become splattered with black and blur. Malice grunted as all of the mortal's weight fell on him.

"Stay awake, alright?"

Valentine hummed sluggishly, his mind hazed and stuffy as if someone had decided to replace his brain with cotton. He cast a glance at Mal and giggled like a high school girl, when he spoke it came out as a drunken slur, "you're prettyyyyyyy."

The demon rolled his eyes but remained silent. As they neared the camp, he spotted the angel standing up from where he was bandaging the fairy girl's head, the girl nodded at something Rosario said before bowing in thanks and leaving. The angel chuckled, then turned around and froze. The black haired man jogged towards them and threw the mortal's arm around his shoulder, he helped Mal carry Valentine to the tent they put up for the boy. Rosario pulled the stained shirt up and grimaced at the wound, it was thin and deep and oozing blood.

"What happened?"

"He fell."

"He fell?" Rosario clearly didn't believe the demon, Valentine couldn't tell what it was but Mal gave the angel a look, and that seemed to be all the answer he needed. The angel quickly snapped his fingers and warmth spread through the wound, and suddenly, Valentine felt better than ever but drained completely. Rosario stood then turned to him, "rest. We have a long trek tomorrow."

The angel put his hand on the small of the demon's back and led him out of the tent, the two conversing in hushed voices that slowly faded into silence as exhaustion took over Valentine's bones and sent him into darkness.

The next morning they woke with the sun and set off early, everyone seemed ready to face whatever was going to happen today. Valentine sure as hell didn't feel ready to face anything, he'd much rather be in his house scrolling through Instagram instead of out here hunting demons and looking for a fortune teller so they could find some sort of crown that apparently could cause the end of the world if used wrong, just your average Sunday. It took them all day, but by the time the last of the light left the world, they were standing in the doorway of an inn that seemed like the only thing with a human sized door, though to be honest Valentine thought it was a bit big for a human, and when they entered the establishment he understood why.

The Bronze Horseshoe was a traveler's inn for all kinds of beings. Valentine spotted a group of giants in the far corner, there was also a group of centaurs laying on hay beds, a group of fairies, fauns and so on and so forth. They sat in a corner shrouded in shadow, trying to ignore the eyes that stared at them and followed their movement.

"I don't see any humans," Valentine murmured.

"Humans are rare," Rosario stated, "though from what I saw, there is a group of humans here, they're probably dropping stuff down upstairs in their rooms."

"Wait, do humans see giants, cyclopes and so??"

"No," Mal shook his head, "if they're clear sighted then yes, but if not then they see us as normal humans."

"It's something called glamour," Emalia elaborated, "the faerfolk make sure it stays in good quality and quantity."

"Wow, that's cool."

"Not when it fails," Rosario stated, "it happened once, long ago. Where do you think the stories came from? The glamour failed once, and humanity could see the Greyworld for what it was, and they recorded it, of course everyone called them crazy but the stories became popular, everyone thought they were only stories but-"

"But everything is true."

"The human mind can't imagine something it hasn't seen before," Emalia murmured, she turned to her best friend, "if I tell you to imagine a hainan gibbon, can you do it?"

Valentine shook his head, "I don't know what it is."

"Exactly."

They fell into comfortable silence filled by the chatter of everyone around them. A waitress suddenly came up to them. She was short and stubby, clearly a dwarf, and had faint facial hair on either side, her hair was a mess of curls, she carried a notepad.

She chirped at them, "Good evening, how can we help you?"

Rosario was the one to answer, "We'd like three rooms for the night, and we'll be having some dinner as well, but we have yet to decide what."

"Understood," the dwarf stated, "I'll be right along with the keys." She hurried away as fast as her short legs could carry her.

"I think we scare her," Valentine murmured but no one seemed to share his sentiment.

They chatted amongst themselves and discussed dinner that they ordered when the lady Dwarf came back. Their conversation was cut short by a loud booming voice that laughed loudly, Valentine turned to look at the source to see a giant buff man with a long messy red beard and hair, he had tattoos along his knuckles and arms, he had a red flush on his face from either the cold or alcohol, the mortal did not know.

"You think the great Fortune Teller is a mere myth?" He asked before laughing again, it was like hearing Santa Clause, "I, the fantastic Nicholas Golding, have seen the Fortune Teller and have even had tea with him."

Emalia scoffed, "Englishmen and their tea."

Meanwhile, the demon and angel were listening to the conversation intently causing Valentine to do the same wondering what was so interesting about a guy having seen the same guy they were coincidentally looking for, then he realized information on the whereabouts of their target.

"His fortunes are the most accurate, everyone should get a chance to meet him!"

"Where does he live?!" Asked a random woman from the crowd.

"I have vowed to keep it a secret, but I shall tell for a price," the man licked his lips, greed budding in his eyes.

Valentine grimaced and turned away, "Do you think he actually knows something?"

"Probably," Rosario shrugged, "giants are known for telling honest boastful truths."

Mal sighed and stood up, "I'm going to go see what I can get out of him."

Rosario grabbed the demon's arm, "No."

Valentine watched with interest as the two glared at each other for a second before Mal opened his mouth to speak only for Rosario to cut him off, "I said no. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Even so, we need to know where the Fortune Teller's exact location is," Mal took the hand that was grabbing his arm into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "I'll be alright."

The demon began to walk away but Rosario stood up, "you forget that you and Valentine are connected."

"I will just have to block it then, won't I?"

Valentine watched as Rosario fell down into his chair utterly defeated, he turned back to watch Mal who seemed to change as he walked, a rush of black magic washed over him. His hair looked softer than ever and his clothes changed to a simple black dress shirt and jeans, he still wore his boots and had his daggers strapped to his thighs and his whip hooked into the belt hoops of the jeans except he wasn't trying to hide them. He turned around and gave a small flirtatious wink, Valentine gaped, the demon's scars were gone and the light eyeshadow around his eyes made the mint pop.

"What is he planning?" The mortal asked, barely looking over his shoulder, his eyes locked on the figure of Mal who was now talking to a human sized Nicholas who seemed utterly fixated by every move the demon made.

"He's getting us information."

Valentine couldn't miss the despair in Rosario's tone no matter how hard he tried. He turned around to look at the Angel only to see him eating, his eyes flickering to where Mal was every few seconds until it stopped. Valentine turned around and frowned, "they're gone."