“My brother’s not dependable enough for the job,” Shiva said. “He gets bored way too easily, and he’d probably kill them in their sleep anyway.”
A shiver ran down both the boy’s spines.
“Fine, I’m in,” Shiva said. “By the way, I just wanted to mention, my room is the one upstairs with the bathroom attached.”
“Over my dead body it is!” Aura said.
Shiva responded by removing her headband with the team pin on it. “Whoever gets their belongings there first wins it,” she said.
Aura dashed out the front door at top speed and snatched his belongings. By the time he got back inside and lugged the heavy trunk up the stairs, Shiva was already standing in the room. She pointed at the little hair band lying on the floor with a smirk on her face.
“My stuff’s already here. You lose,” she said.
“You have to leave to get your stuff sometime!” Aura shot back. “And when you do, this room is mine!”
“Goddard’s getting some servants to pack up all my stuff and move it here. I can wait in here until they come,” Shiva challenged him.
“Just let her have it,” Ash said poking his head in. “Girls need their privacy, I’ve heard.”
Aura walked out grumbling, clearly very disappointed at not getting his own bathroom. Ash followed him out, leaving Shiva staring at his back as he went.
Did he just treat me like a lady… and I liked it? Shiva thought. I must be losing my mind.
Downstairs, Goddard decided it was time to bid his team adieu. He promised Shiva the servants would bring over all her belongings immediately. He told them from now on they could do their morning training at home in the spacious backyard. If he needed his team for a job or mission, he’d send for them with a messenger. As they said goodbye, Ash couldn’t help but wonder what the man’s true motivations were and if he could be trusted in the future.
Everyone split up to explore the condo further. Ash found himself in his bedroom, trying to imagine it like his bedroom back on Earth. He decided to try and make this room look as much like that room as possible. The boy hoped he could find a television and some video games somewhere, even if he couldn’t plug them in. Just having them to look at would make him feel more at home.
A short while later the servants arrived with multiple trunks belonging to Shiva. The boys watched from the living room couch as man after man brought the girl’s stuff in. Aura sniggered. “I bet those trunks are full of spare armor. She can’t possibly have any real clothes, can she?”
As the servants were finishing unpacking for the girl, Wilhelm Satan appeared in the doorway. After giving Ash a silent nod, the old man entered their home and greeted his granddaughter. “There’s my little girl, all grown up and moving away from home!” he said.
“Oh shut up gramps,” Shiva said turning red in the face. She booted out the last of the servants, who in only a few minutes transformed her bedroom into a room fit for a Princess. Ash and Aura would never see it, though. They were strictly forbidden from entering her room.
“I’m happy you’re moving in with your friends,” Wilhelm said.
“Subordinates,” Shiva corrected him.
“Either way, I think you’ll be much happier here away from your father and brother,” Wilhelm said with a weak smile. “I came to say goodbye to all of you.”
Shiva frowned. Ash and Aura had mixed feelings.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to be extremely busy with the new developments in West Hell,” Wilhelm said. That could have really been his reasoning, but Ash and Aura had a feeling it might also have to do with the rebels that were still out there. Would they plot another rebellion, or disperse and rejoin society? They had no way of knowing without joining Wilhelm.
“Wait a minute,” Shiva stopped him. “We have to have a party tonight!”
“You’re joking,” Aura said. “You want to have a party?”
“It’s a miracle, Aura!” Ash chimed in.
“Not really,” Shiva replied very business-like. “I think it’s very appropriate to have a house warming party and invite our colleagues.”
“Colleagues?” Aura repeated.
“I think she means friends,” said Ash.
“It’s a splendid idea,” Wilhelm agreed. “You can bet I’ll come.”
“Can you bring someone with you?” Ash asked.
“I can bring whomever you want!” Wilhelm said.
“I’d like to see Archen again, if you think he’d want to come…”
Wilhelm looked surprised for a moment at Ash’s request. “I think he would love to come,” the old man said with a grin. “I’ll bring him with me tonight.”
Wilhelm left them alone once again. Shiva confined herself to her bedroom while the boys unpacked their clothes and got their closets situated. Eager to start filling their rooms up with personal belongings, the boys first had to purchase some belongings. They got all geared up to go out shopping when another knocking came on their front door.
Ash opened the door to find Amos Draxler carrying a large sack that looked pretty heavy. “Hi Ash, nice place you got here,” he said stepping into the entryway. “I have a gift for you, if you’re interested.” Amos reached into his bag and what he pulled out almost gave Ash a heart attack.
It was a brand new shiny sword. Amos handed it to the boy, who felt like a child on Christmas morning. Ash inspected the broadsword, which had a very special custom-made hilt guard that looked like their flame-wing symbol. It was a beautiful sword, and knowing that Amos made is specifically for him made it even more special.
“Thank you so much Amos, I love it!” Ash said.
“Is Shiva here? I have something for her too.”
Ash called upstairs for Shiva and informed her of their guest. Aura popped his head out of his room curiously.
“I have something for you too Aura,” he told his son.
“Goodies? For me? You shouldn’t have!” Aura said, waltzing in to see his gift.
“I just thought it was time for an upgrade,” Amos said as he dug into his bag again. This time he pulled out a shiny new metal gauntlet and tossed it to his son.
“Whoa,” Aura said as he admired the masterful craftsmanship that went into the gauntlet. His father’s work always managed to impress the boy, and this time Amos had really outdone himself by even carving the flame-wing symbol into the back of the gauntlet. There was a small hole along the bottom of the wrist area that confused Aura.
“That’s so you can clip it to your belt loop whenever you take it off,” Amos informed him. “Since there’s no point in trying to stop you from taking it off anymore, I thought I’d try to make it easier. Now you don’t have to hold it when you’re fighting.”
“That’s so awesome it’s brilliant,” Aura said. “I would have never thought of that. Thanks dad.”
“Did you bring what I asked you to?” Shiva called down to Amos from upstairs as she treaded down to join them.
“Here you go,” Amos said tossing the entire bag at Shiva. She reached in and pulled out the last item, the same weapon that Leona once used against her. Shiva whipped the ball and chain bolas around a few times like a pair of nunchuks with a satisfied smile.
“Perfect,” she said.
“You asked him to make that for you?” Ash said. “What about my sword and Aura’s new gauntlet?”
“I just thought if I made something for her, I might as well make some things for you boys as well,” Amos lied. Shiva shot him a grateful look quickly.
“So when are we going to get back to our weapons training sessions?” Amos asked.
“Soon,” Shiva replied. “We’ll be having them here from now on. Too many bad memories in that private courtyard…”
“Well, you know where to find me when you need me,” Amos said. “Enjoy the gifts.” He turned to leave, but Aura called out to him.
“Hey dad, why don’t you come to our housewarming party tonight?”
“I’d love to,” A
mos replied, feeling touched.
“Bring Nora,” Aura said. “It’s time I made things right with her.”
* * * *
That night, the house warming party was held at their new place. First to arrive were Gio and Yazma, as the boys bumped into them when they were out shopping and invited them. Shortly after them came Sars, Vadnais, and Fry; Aura’s former gang. After their previous spat and fight(s), the groups had at least reconciled enough to party together.
Wilhelm managed to bring Archen along, to Ash and Aura’s delight. The two old fogies entertained the room with stories of their youthful days, including many epic tales about the great devil hero Aster. Once they got a couple drinks in themselves, it was hard to get them to shut up.
Amos and Nora showed up. The father led his blind daughter with a sturdy arm, as Ash welcomed them into his new home. Amos introduced the two, and after hearing so much about Ash from her father, Nora requested to ‘see’ Ash’s face. The boy absent-mindedly agreed without knowing what he was getting himself into. Nora fondled his face for some time only to declare the boy “might be her type.”
Stepping between the two, Aura gripped his sister’s arm and led her into the living room. “Hello, Nora,” said Aura.
“Hello, Aura,” said Nora. “How’s Frank the reporter doing these days?” When Aura failed to come up with a comeback, Nora cracked a playful smile and the two laughed. Aura left her with Shiva to go fetch drinks. The girl instantly struck up a friendly conversation with Shiva, whom she admired deeply for her bravery and strength. The girl listened intently to Shiva describing her favorite battles, drinking up all the action she could never experience herself.
Aura and his old gang obsessed over the beautiful Yazma. Amos, Wilhelm, and Archen traded old war stories. Ash and Gio sipped martinis. Shiva grew jealous of all the attention Yazma was getting in her dress and rushed upstairs to change. Aura pulled Ash aside for a moment to talk about a ‘business’ proposal from Sars.
Shiva came back downstairs to the party. Gone was her usual armor. Instead she wore a simple red dress and some more feminine footwear. She even literally let her hair down. No one except Wilhelm had ever seen her dressed so casual, and that was back when she was a toddler. Her change in outfit changed the mood of the party, and soon Shiva the femme fatale was even catching curious gawks from Sars and his gang.
Aura thought this the perfect moment to take his sister by the arm and lead her to his bedroom. He had a surprise planned that would hopefully blow her mind. The boy winked at Ash, pointing him to Shiva, then disappeared into his room with Nora. Ash and Shiva, who found themselves sitting next to each other on the couch, turned red and looked away from each other.
Up in Aura’s domain, the boy walked his sister to the middle of the room. He stood her before a large easel and canvas. The boy took his sister’s hand and placed something in her palm. Nora felt the tip of the wooden stick and knew it was a paintbrush.
“What is this for, Aura?” she asked, her hands trembling with excitement.
“You’re standing in front of a huge canvas I bought,” said Aura. “You just tell me what color you want, and I’ll dip your brush in it for you.”
“That’s a nice thought bro, but…” Nora stroked the tip of the brush with her thumb in contemplation. “I’m no good at painting anymore. I don’t want to waste any of your time, or your money.”
“Nora, please. It’s a gift.”
“You don’t need to give me any gifts, bro. All I wanted was you back in my life.”
The siblings hugged. When they broke apart, Nora handed the paintbrush back to her brother. Aura pulled his hands away, declining to take it back from her.
“I haven’t given you your last gift yet,” said Aura. “I think you’re going to want to hang on to that brush when you see what I got planned.”
Nora bit her lip. She tried to shrug it off with a light chuckle. “You accidentally said the S-word again, bro.”
“No, sister, that time I meant it,” Aura said with a sly grin. “Soul sight!”
With his gauntlet removed, Aura placed the palm of his right hand on his sister’s face. The electric blue current came alive, jumping from Aura’s hand straight into Nora’s empty eye sockets. The girl jumped with fright, letting out a startled shriek but stifled herself at once. A tingling sensation filled the girl’s head. When she opened her hollow eyelids a radiant blue light shone out.
“What is this?” Nora asked.
“Did it work? Can you see?”
“No,” Nora said. “Everything’s still black.”
Aura hung his head in failure.
“Wait a minute,” Nora said, tilting her head around the room. “I see something! It’s a big orange blob! I can see the color! Oh, I can really see it! And there’s more of them, all in different colors! It’s so beautiful!”
Nora’s head was pointed down at the floor, where below them the party was still going on. She was seeing the houseguest’s souls, all in various brilliant shining colors. Though they were merely colorful blobs, the girl leaked tears of joy to finally be seeing anything at all after nearly twenty years of darkness.
Beyond their party, Nora could even see the faint glowing souls of the Kingdom’s citizens all around her. Everywhere she turned, it looked like she was surrounded by starlight. After twenty years of feeling like she’d been left alone in the dark, finally Nora could see that was never the case at all.
“Aura, how did you know you could do this?”
“It’s kind of a funny story…” The boy chuckled, thinking back.
* * * *
Earlier that day…
Aura was in the middle of setting up the painting easel in his bedroom just hours before the party. Ash walked in through the open door, curious.
“Are you finally going to tell me why you bought all this painting stuff?” he asked.
“I plan on helping my sister regain her talent for painting,” Aura replied.
“That’s cool. How are you gonna do that?”
“Actually, I could use your help if you don’t mind,” Aura said, stepping closer to Ash.
“Sure, what do you want me to do?” Ash asked.
“Soul sight!” Aura cried, jamming his uncovered palm in Ash’s face. The electric blue current shot into Ash’s eyes, and just like when Aura used it on himself, the boy became able to see the glowing orbs of soul power as well.
“Ahhh, my eyes!” Ash cried, rubbing his eyes furiously. “What’d you do to me? There’s all these weird blobs floating around! Make it stop!”
“Yes! It works!” Aura shouted, smiling with excitement.
* * * *
Back to the present…
“Give me blue,” Nora said, facing her brother.
“Coming up,” Aura replied, dipping her brush in the blue paint. He directed her hand once more to the canvas and let her go. Nora attacked the white paper like a skilled swordsman, tilting her head every so often to get another look at her brother.
“So is that me?” Aura asked her. “Am I blue?”
“You’re blue, bro.”
“Why am I blue?”
“You have a blue soul,” Nora said, putting the finishing touches on the blue blob that was her brother. “Red! I want red now.”
“I wonder why…” the boy said. Aura dipped the paintbrush in water to clean it off, then stuck it into the red paint and handed it back. Nora started inspecting another soul downstairs and worked on a new red blob. After a few minutes of this, Aura’s eyes gave out. The boy tried to hide his blindness from his sister, but Nora was now a master at being blind. She could sense his once confident movements were becoming slow and awkward.
“Is there something wrong?” she asked.
“To tell you the truth, sometimes when I use this technique it takes away my vision for a little while.”
Nora dropped her brush. “Stop it then. I won’t allow you to blind yourself for me. That’s not what I want.”
&n
bsp; “Calm down,” Aura said. “This is the longest I’ve been able to hold the technique without losing my eyesight. I think that with a lot of training, I could learn to do it without ever going blind again. But it’s going to take a lot of practice, so you’re actually helping me out by letting me use the technique on you. Get it?”
Nora sighed. “When did you get to be so cool?”
* * * *
The party lasted late into the early hours of the morning. Aura hugged his father and sister goodbye long before most of the guests left. With his sister’s work completed, Aura hung her first painting in years on his bedroom wall. His eyesight still darkened, the boy retired to bed to sleep away his ailment. The rest of the party guests eventually filed out as well.
Shiva hugged Wilhelm goodbye, saying she hoped to see him again real soon. There was a sadness to the Old Satan’s eyes as he left, and Ash could see it. The boy knew Wilhelm’s guilt over what he’d done to his granddaughter would eat away at him for a long time. He didn’t think she’d be seeing much of Wilhelm in the near future.
When the last of the guests were gone, Ash and Shiva muttered goodnight to each other and went to their rooms. Ash was ready to pass out as he toppled onto his bed. Staring up at his ceiling, the desire to pray to God came over him once more.
The boy put his hands together. Normally he would say something like “God, if you can hear me, I’m trapped in Hell and I need help.” He paused, thinking about it a little more. His thought process was interrupted by a gentle knocking on the door and Shiva’s voice whispering to him.
“Ash, are you still awake?”
Ash popped out of bed and opened the door for her. “Yeah.”
Shiva stood there in baggy pajama pants and an oversized sweater. Ash had to resist the urge to laugh out loud and managed to dial it back to just a smile. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Shiva said.
“What do you mean?” Ash asked, a little confused.
“You know, with Phoenix…” she trailed off.
“Oh, yeah, all that stuff,” Ash picked up for her. “No, yeah, I’m okay.”
Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) Page 43
