Thirteen

Rosario shot up and opened the door. A shadow scrambled in hiding behind the angel who reflexively summoned his bow, nocked an arrow and shot at the Skreacser that was now in its true form: a horse that had three legs all which had dragon like feet instead of hooves, it had a bug's eyes and antenna and its back half was nothing but blue wisp that dripped like acid. Without a second thought, the angel was about to let the arrow loose only for a kitchen knife to hit the demon in the center of its head, the knife sunk in until the hilt and the Skreacser crumbled into a dust pile on the floor.

Rosario turned back around and stared at Valentine who was still standing in the stance that he was left in when throwing the knife. Everyone was staring at him wide eyed even the newcomer who was a black boy around Valentine’s age, he wore a green beanie that covered his ears, the mark of the Faerfolk peeked out from behind his shirt and there was golden glitter on his cheeks. He also wore a green poncho jacket, he wasn’t wearing any pants but the fur that covered his legs was enough to guess why.

Valentine stood up normally, “Why is everyone staring at me?”

“You should become a hunter,” Rosario complimented, clapped the satyr standing in front of him on the shoulder and dragged him forward, “you would make a great addition to the team.”

“I was considering it, you know ‘make the world a better place’ and the usual hero stuff,” Valentine chuckled and decided it was an amazing accomplishment when he saw the way pride glittered in the demon’s eyes and transferred onto his face.

“Now as for who happened to be at the doorstep,” Mal walked forward and glared at the satyr who shrunk back only to bump into Rosario’s chest, “who are you?”

“Please don’t hurt me, I don’t mean any harm,” the boy bleated in his worry, causing Valentine to cringe back.

“Answer the question,” Mal gripped the collar of his shirt, “who are you?”

“G-Gideon Rune.”

Emalia pushed the demon out of the way causing the demon to snarl at her in surprise or anger, it could’ve been both.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She seethed through gritted teeth.

Rosario raised an eyebrow at her then raised the satyr slightly by the collar and pointed at him, “you know him?”

“Yes,” Emalia pinched the bridge of her nose, “put him down.”

Rosario did as told then stood back allowing Gideon to answer without a worry of death, “T-the Queen sent me. She wanted me to accompany you,” he quickly pulled something out of the bag that hung at his side: a letter, “if you don’t believe me, she even wrote it in written form.”

Emalia opened it and all three men crowded around her. The writing was in dark green ink, the handwriting impossibly cursive and undoubtedly royal. The fairy sighed, “Alright. He’s in.”

“Can we finish eating?” Valentine asked, rubbing his stomach, “I’m starving.”

Rosario glanced at the clock on the wall, “that is going to have to wait, I'm afraid. We have a train to catch.”

Mal raised one of his elegantly shaped eyebrows, "Have you packed?"

“Yeah,” Valentine nodded, “It’s in my room.”

Mal gestured to the stairs with his head. The mortal ran up and grabbed his bag then proceeded to stuff a picture of his family into the bag as well. When he got back downstairs, Gideon and Emalia were arguing like an old married couple.

"Enough," Rosario sighed, he pinched the bridge of his nose, "let's just go."

The two straightened and nodded. The angel began to lead them to the familiar alleyway where the whole thing had started, Valentine swallowed nervously at the dark gap in houses, there was a clear portal at the dead end, it swirled and whistled like a hurricane, there was a busy street on the other side of the portal, the pedestrians not even glancing when the four stepped through and onto the other side. They were standing a way away from the entrance to a city.

The sky was an orangey red color, like the sunrise. There was a ball of bright light in the middle, clearly the sun, and buildings (some nearly as tall as the sky) glared down at them. The lights in the windows were off, the glass walls of some buildings reflected the red making them look like they were painted in blood. Valentine shivered at the thought. Before the entrance to the city, there seemed to be some sort of ticket collecting. The people at the booths were skeletons or they were stitched together all with the same dark wine red and black uniform. The people entering the city looked human but at the same time they didn't. There were people with horns, with scaly tails, with cat or dog-like tails, with leather or feather wings. There were people with horse's or goat's legs instead of humans, with butterfly wings or glitter on their cheeks instead of freckles, there were people whose skin was a colour the human had never seen in his life: there was pink, green, yellow, red, grey. There were people who seemed to be made of smoke, there were also some who were animals walking on two feet.

Valentine couldn't help but ask the obvious question, "Where are we?"

"The Land of Wrath," Rosario stated, his eyes landed at the people behind the counters, he held his arm out for Mal who gave him a deadpanned look, "shall we go?"

With a sigh but undoubtedly a fond smile, Malice took Rosario's arm and the two led the others past the queues and past the border without so much as someone stopping them.

Valentine glanced back at the border guards, "didn't we need to….?"

"Not if you are accompanied by the ruler of this whole place," Gideon whispered.

"Who's the-" Valentine's eyes widened and landed on Mal who was smirking at him, the demon's eyes flashed red before settling down to mint, the man turned around and continued leading them to god knows where.

The mortal jogged up to the two who had unlinked their arms and were now walking side by side but still sticking close to one another, "where are we going?"

"The train," Rosario looked at him over his shoulder, "but we need to hurry, it's leaving soon."

Emalia now seemed worried, "How soon is 'soon'?"

The angel rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Around 5 minutes?"

The three teens startled, "WHAT?!"

Before they could say anything they were stepping through a black portal that had appeared out of nowhere. The train station was surprisingly dark compared to the outside. The roof was supported by beams of black metal formed in a dome, the gaps were covered by yellow glass that looked like it hadn’t been washed in centuries. The train itself was made of a white material that looked like bone and black metal, its head was the skull of what could only have been a giant dragon, the eyes glowing an eerie yellow. Each cart was made of a rib cage planted onto the black metal that formed it. An ocean of creatures was slowly flowing into the carts except the one at the front that had golden accents on it. A scream suddenly cut through the air and fire blew out of the train’s chimney, it screamed again and Valentine covered his ears out of reflex.

They cast a glance at Mal who was rubbing his temple in irritation, "trust us, okay?"

The trio nodded and followed the adults onto the train like little ducklings. They sat down in the back of the golden accented cart and watched as others hurried on. There were very few people, a lady with rainbow hair beside a blonde, and a dull red haired lady sleeping curled up against the wall, being the most notable. The other 5 looked only a little important, while the four mentioned looked like royalty despite minding their own business.

The rainbow haired lady looked back at them after her blonde companion pointed to them, Valentine furrowed his eyebrows at the way her orange eyes lit up, he turned to Mal and Rosario who had only just noticed the woman. The demon looked down at the ground and cursed, Rosario blinked, his mind clearly going blank, Valentine turned to Emalia who seemed like she was trying not to combust on the spot.

"Who's that?"

"That's Gluttony," Emalia whispered in her fangirling voice, "she's like the coolest person in the whole Greyworld!"

Valentine scowled at the sight of the look of fondness that crossed over Gideon’s face at the sight of the excited fairy. Jealousy was a bitter thing.

"You got that right missy!" An unfamiliar voice with a thick country accent cheered.

Emalia squealed like a dying pig.

Valentine covered his mouth to hide a snort and turned to the owner of the voice who was none other than Gluttony. Her hair was more crazy up close, her face was caked in makeup that resembled a clown but more stylish, she wore a teal coloured velvet blazer that had green trimming on the lapels, a purple checkered vest and black pants that had a patch on either knee, her boots were orangey brown like autumn leaves, she also had a top hat that had two cards (a joker and an ace) pinned to it secured by an extra piece of orange fabric that wound around the hat, her hands were covered in fingerless gloves and were well manicured, her nails long and painted red. She was quite chubby but that was probably the whole glutton thing. Valentine actually thought she was quite attractive.

Beside him, Malice sighed and hit his head against the back of the seat in front, "what do you want Zerta?"

Zerta put a hand to her chest in mock shock, "How rude! That is no way to greet yar aunt, Mallie!"

Valentine choked out a laugh at the nickname only to be unable to stop it. Zerta seemed proud of herself at the accomplishment, "See! I can even make a moody human laugh! But I never succeed with ya."

"Hey!" Valentine protested his laughing abruptly ending, "I am not moody!"

The woman put a finger to his lips, "shhhh, darlin'. Ya're moody, learn to accept it."

Valentine proceeded to pout as the adults talked and his best friend stared in awe at Gluttony.

Zerta suddenly became serious, "Now, what might ye be doin here? Last time I checked, ya were still banished into a body."

Mal frowned, he jabbed his thumb in the mortal’s direction, "I am still connected to him until the red moon, but now we need to get the old man's crown back."

"Is that why he called this meetin'?" Zerta put a finger to her chin as she thought.

Rosario nodded, "It's most likely."

"Do ya have any idea as to who might've stolen it?"

"Lucifer."

"That slimy cockroach!" Zerta hit the back of the chair, "Jairus never shoulda trusted 'im!"

"We'll see during the meeting," Mal sighed, "the road is long, let us just hope nothing goes wrong."

Rosario cast a look at the shorter man, "Let's just hope you didn't jinx it."

Zerta nodded, "That too."