Fourteen

The train ride, all things considered, was relaxing, it moved so fast that you couldn’t feel the train move. But alas, things did go wrong.

It happened around 2 hours into the train journey, when they had gone on the railway tracks under the dark ocean, halfway to their destination that was the land of Envy. The train came to a screeching halt, the wheels making a high pitched sound as the conductor pulled on the brakes then the glass began to crack, slowly at first, nothing but small white veins that began to stretch across the clear thick glass of the golden accented cart. Everyone had gone silent at the sound, then the lights began to flicker on and off as if struggling against some unseen force to stay awake and bathe the otherwise dark, blue light stained carriage in the dull light it could provide. Valentine watched as all the nobles and the three Sins present slowly stood up and summoned their weapons with a crackle that sounded like lightning except quieter. The few people who could perform magic that resided in the carriage slowly began to wave their hands in motions, then snapped their fingers and the cracks ceased to exist. Then the screams began, people begging to be left alone, to be left to go free, home to their family, but their pleas were answered by the sound of a gunshot.

They remained in silence in their cart, nothing to be heard except their breathing and nothing seen except the clouds their breath sent into the cold air of the sea. A dull thud echoed through their carriage as something landed on the roof of the cart, the passengers tensed and Gideon beside Valentine whimpered and was silenced by Emalia slapping her hand over the mouth of the visibly shaking Satyr. It was like the calm before the storm, everyone still and anticipating the thunder that came after the lightning cracked the sky in the distance, anticipating the rain and the cry of nature after the wind blew and tore at the trees, except it was Greyworldians waiting for their hunter to make itself known.

Everyone snapped their heads towards the window that broke with a loud shatter and a rush of water as if the cart was a vacuum and not some place people travelled in, it quickly filled to everyone’s knees before a warlock acted, she waved her hand and sealed the hole allowing everyone a clear view of their attacker: it was a woman. Her face was covered in shadow sourced from the hood of her cloak, she wielded a staff that sparked purple energy.

Purple light passed over the passengers faces, they all raised their weapons and jumped into a fighting stance. The lady did nothing but simply smirk and a wave of purple caused everyone to stumble to the floor except the three sins, a look of recognition passing over their faces as the magic seeped into their skin. Mal’s whip wrapped around her neck causing the satisfied smirk on her pale face to vanish, he yanked her forward causing her to fall forward onto her knees. Mal coiled the rope in as he walked closer until he was an arms reach away from her. He kneeled down and forced her to look up.

He glared down at her, “Where did you get that power?”

The woman spat at his feet causing the viewers to grimace at the blatant show of disrespect, “I do not have to answer to you.”

Malice yanked her closer, she squirmed as it burnt her skin, “what were you sent here to do?”

“To kill you demon scum!” she cackled.

His glowing red eyes burned into her shadowed ones, “who sent you?”

She simply smirked before she paled completely and slumped forward black blood spilling from her lips. Mal narrowed his eyes before untying the rope and watching as the woman, the assassin, fell limply onto the ground.

“Is she dead?”

All eyes turned to Valentine who shrunk back slightly. Rosario walked forward and pressed two fingers to her neck and nodded a frown settling onto his face.

“At least we got something,” Emalia murmured, “whoever she worked for wanted all of you dead.”

“No shit,” Mal sat down and ran his hands over his face and through his hair.

“I’m going to go talk to the conductor,” the blonde who sat with Zerta stated, she gave a squeeze to Glutton’s shoulder then left.

A druid waved his hand and the body disintegrated into water that joined the rest on the floor that quickly dried up taking the metallic smell of blood and death out of the room. Valentine put his hand on his chin in thought, he turned to Emalia, “she must’ve been truly desperate to keep it a secret if she killed herself for it.”

“It's no secret that the sins can read into your memories and find who you may be looking for, or if they can’t then they get an enchantress to do it,” the fairy explained, “but for that you have to be alive, this isn’t the first time someone came to assassinate them but was caught, the assassin proceeded to hang himself in his cell. They say his ghost still haunts the place and sends messages promising death to the sins.”

Valentine paled at the thought of being haunted by a ghost that wanted to kill you every step of the way, not knowing if it could succeed or not. He shuddered, he looked up as Mal stormed past him pacing up and down the isle, “where did she get her powers from?”

The demon didn’t stop pacing as he answered, “the crown.”

This day just kept getting better and better.

The train ended up 2 hours late and Valentine was starving. He put a hand on his complaining stomach and huffed under his breath. He watched as three members of their group walked on ahead as if they had no care in the world or stomachs to take care of.



“Are you hungry?”



With a shriek and a violent flinch, Valentine moved away from the warm hand that had landed on his shoulder. The angel stared at him dumbfounded, his hand still in the air from where he tapped the mortal’s shoulder. Valentine took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m famished,” he chuckled.



Rosario hummed in understanding, “I’ll make sure we stop somewhere to eat, and rest before the train leaves at dawn.”



“Why so early?”



Rosario shrugged, his gaze became trained on the demon walking in front of them, “Mal, do you think we could stop for a meal?”



Mal turned and cast a brief look onto Valentine who shrunk back under the dark glare that softened as soon as the demon looked at the angel, “sure.”



That was how they ended up in front of the Weeping Pig, apparently the best tavern in the land of Envy. It was a large building, two houses were stacked on top of each other and a crying pig head was painted onto the wooden door that looked like it was about to fall off the hinges. The windows were in all sorts of shapes and sizes and so were the railings of balconies: some were made of stone and looked like they belonged in a mansion and others were made of wood and looked like a commoners fence. Some rooms had doors, while the doorway of some was covered by a patched curtain. They could hear the yelling and cheering coming from inside, the music was muffled by the walls but it still sounded like someone was playing it right beside them.



Valentine looked at the two oldest who seemed to be second guessing their decisions. They exchanged a glance between each other and Mal took a deep breath before opening the door that revealed a heavy curtain behind it. The demon rolled his eyes before moving the curtain out of the way and looking over the others with a swift once over. He stepped through into the loud tavern.



Valentine was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol, sweat and cigarette smoke. He could see the smoke from the white rolled cylinders floating in the air, the drunken laughs and shouts nearly overpowered the music that drew his attention towards the front stage where a group of women were dancing to another’s singing. He felt an arm on his, he snapped his head to the side, he sighed in relief at the sight of Emalia standing close to him. Gideon was also not far behind causing him to groan. The satyr’s goat-like eyes were darting around the room, they were wide in terror and the boy was shaking. He let out an embarrassing shriek as Mal brushed past him. The demon raised a hand to cover the ear that the satyr had yelled in, he shot a glare at the young goat: the boy shrunk back with a whimper.



Rosario stepped out from behind the demon, he looked around the room before his dark eyes landed on the counter, “follow me.”

He put a hand on the small of Mal’s back and guided him forward, the three youngest followed them silently trying not to lose them in the crowd.



Valentine scanned the crowd of demons and fae. He stared at a large man with dark blue skin that walked past, he had horns and a tail swished behind him. He towered over the others, an axe resting against his shoulder as he trudged forward. The mortal stared at him, the man turned and red locked with brown, he grunted like a bull then looked away and continued on his way. Emalia tugged Valentine to the side then continued leading him forward only to pause in a small circle people were clearly avoiding.



She paused and looked around, "it appears we have lost each other."



"What?!" Valentine exclaimed, he stood on the tip of his toes and began to look around searching for the tall black haired man and his companion, he stood back onto solid ground and stared into his friend's eyes, "it appears we have."



"Where could they be?"



Valentine groaned, he turned around and looked at the stuttering satyr who was wringing his hands, still looking around as if expecting a wolf to come and eat him.



"Are you dearies lost?"



The trio froze. Slowly, they turned around. A woman stood in front of them, her hair fell down her shoulder in ebony waves of ink, she had small black horns protruding from her forehead and her skin was blood red. She wore a black dress that only stretched till mid thigh. A tail swung behind her, it curled around her thigh before uncoiling and stilling behind her hanging like a limp rope. She had a hand on her hip watching them expectantly with her black eyes.



Behind them, Gideon shrieked. He clung onto Emalia's shoulders and hid nothing more than a quivering mess that bleated nervously every few seconds. Amusement gleamed in the woman's eyes. She crossed her arms and leaned back, her eyes scanned the silent trio, her ruby pupils turned into slits. The woman snapped her fingers and two big burly men appeared behind her, both with red skin and wearing black and white suits.



“Bring them.”



Valentine didn’t have time to protest before his world was sent into darkness.