Chapter 7 - Demons

 "You do realize who I am, don't you?"
 

As with the archangels, a hierarchy of demons exists. The Morning Star sits atop of them all, with his faithful lieutenant Bayne on his right side. His mistress, Lilith—one of Hell’s first demons—stands on his left side. The archdemons lay just under them; they take charge of the lesser demons, and so on and so forth. The half-breeds (vampires and werewolves) are in the lowest tier. Partial demons are not taken into consideration. The hierarchy works as any hierarchy does, though the punishments for treason and betrayal are higher than most. It is one of the only commodities between Heaven and Hell—those who do not follow the Law are doomed.

-Raphael

~~~~

“Damn, I could go for a kill right now.” Disguised as Tablo—one of the members of the well-known hip hop group, Epik High—Cerberus quietly loped across the street with Griever at his side (who had taken on the form of Lee Junho, a member of the popular 2PM). He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “Come on, just one neck,” he almost begged Junho, who had stooped to retie a shoelace. “The girl won’t even feel it. I’ll snap her neck and make it quick.”

Junho raised an eyebrow at him. “Must I always be the one to tug on your leash? Lord Lucifer gave his orders. Here, we are not hellhounds. We are humans. We walk among humans. Therefore, act as human as possible.” When his brother gave a low growl, he grabbed him by the throat and forced him to look into his eyes. “Do not screw this up for us, Tablo. The stakes are high. Master Bayne must complete his mission and gather the prophetess. We are simply acting as sentinels for him. We were ordered to patrol the area and make sure no one gets in our way.”

Tablo wrenched away from his brother’s grasp. “And you tell me to act human!” he hissed. “Don’t grab me like that! Jeez…” He stalked off, mumbling under his breath. When they finally reached the outside of the recording studio Lucifer had assigned them to, he almost laughed. “You mean to tell me that we’re on guard duty here? What the hell? Why?”

“It is not our place to question our Lord,” Junho said quietly.

“Pft.” Tablo crossed his arms and leaned against the glass window. “Whatever.”

“From what I gathered, there is something of great interest here.” Junho turned to look up at the high skyscraper. “Our Lord would not send us here for no reason.”

“That’s what you think, brother,” the angry rapper murmured. “I wouldn’t put it past him to just randomly station us somewhere.”

“I see that, despite being in a human form, your intelligence is still sadly lacking.” He examined his fingernails. “I heard from the demon bitch that he thinks a few angels are in town.”

When Tablo swore quietly, Junho looked up. A dozen school children passed by, all of them gaping at the two tall men. Most of the girls looked ready to faint or scream. Their teacher seemed to be too absorbed in the building surrounding them to pay attention to her students. When one girl boldly stepped forward, Tablo reacted almost instantly. His upper lip curled back, and he let loose a guttural, doglike snarl. Its effect was immediate—the children screamed and ran towards their teacher, who had heard the snarl. She stared in shock at the rapper, taking in who he was.

Suddenly, a hand forced him inside the building. Junho looked ready to murder him. “I cannot go anywhere with you, can I?!”

~~~~

Tiffany stretched her arms above her head as the other members of Girls’ Generation rearranged themselves in the practice room. “Yah, let’s do that one more time!” some of the girls exclaimed, bouncing in place.

Hyoyeon counted off. “Five, six, seven, eight!” They restarted the dance routine, perfectly executing every step. For several minutes, they huffed and puffed away, dancing to their heart’s content. Hoot was not a hard dance to learn, and the lyrics repeated themselves mostly, but the fact that they were perfectionists meant the dance would be performed four, five, six times before any of them were satisfied. Arms and legs twisting elegantly, correctly timed lyrics were added in after the second go, and the girls worked through the song and dance.

Finally, their leader Taeyeon waved her hands in the air. “All right, I think that’s enough!”

The girls let out a cheer and slapped high-fives with each other.

“Wonder if anyone’s up for dinner tonight?” Sooyoung asked Tiffany as they changed back into their casual wear.

She shrugged. “I was actually planning on visiting the Dong Bang boys later, but if you can gather the troops, I will definitely go out to eat with you…” She glanced over her friend’s shoulder.

In the opposite corner of the room, three of the girls spoke quietly to one another. From the way they had their backs turned to the others, it became obvious that the conversation was a private one. Yoona, Jessica, and Taeyeon…those three have gotten a lot more reclusive in the past few days…I wonder what’s up with them…

~~~~

“I don’t suppose this one has told you the proposition,” Yoona whispered to Taeyeon, jerking her head to Jessica. The kid leader shook her head. “She’s come up with a brilliant plan to get to the angel that Lord Lucifer told that woman about.” She sniffed in distaste; the entirety of Hell knew of the sorceress’ apparent envy of their demon king’s mistress, who now ran a charade as the queen of Korean pop. “Jessica is easily the prettiest out of these bitches. We send her in, ask one of the Yoochun fellow out on a date…”

“Hang on a minute,” Taeyeon interrupted. “A seasoned archangel such as Rafael will recognize Jezebel’s aura immediately. It has to be someone else. Someone indirect.”

Jessica pondered for a few seconds. “How about that cute Changmin guy? He seems to like us enough…and he hasn’t sensed anything. I was just around him the other day.”

“Perfect…” Yoona clasped her hands together. “The plan is set.”

“Uh-oh.” Taeyeon straightened up just as someone came around the corner. “Tiffany! I thought you had left.”

The other girl shrugged. “Nah, not yet. Listen, Sooyoung and I were wondering—”

“Oh, look at the time,” Jessica yawned, not even staring at a watch or clock or anything that could tell them what time of the day it was. “Must be off. Catch you later, Tiff.” She led the way out, closely followed by the other two girls.

Tiffany stared after them unsmiling. Well, gee. Thanks, guys. There goes hanging out tonight…maybe I’ll hit up the boys then…

~~~~

Jaejoong furiously shook his head as he settled down on the slightly damp bench. I have lost my mind over some stupid broad. What has become of me? He glared up at the daunting glass windows of the giant mall in front of him. But that…aura! I’ve never wanted to take something more than that power behind her. I’ve never felt anything like it inside another human. And her purity is just another plus. “You’re panting after a stupid little girl,” he scolded himself. “Look at what you’ve turned into—nothing short of a hormonal man.” His eyes nearly glazed over as he brought back the memory of her in a tight-fitting black dress that accentuated every curve on her body. Her dark hair falling over her shoulders…her pale skin, smooth and delicate…

“Kim Jaejoong,” he growled. “Control yourself.”

A pretty young woman ran past him then, wearing a thin blue t-shirt, extremely tiny workout shorts, and black Nikes. With her hair up in a haphazard ponytail and a sweatband around her forehead, it took him a while to register that he was staring directly at the object of his new obsession. “HEY, WAIT!”

She did not pause; she continued to jog away at a steady pace, forcing him to get up and run after her.

“YAH! BLACK DRESS GIRL!”

That stopped her dead in her tracks. She whipped around, nose flaring. “You!”

He was taken aback at her angry expression but ventured forward anyway. “No need to look so pissed off.”

“I am pissed off!” She started forward, looking ready to strangle him if necessary. “You tried to make a move on me yesterday, and I am not that kind of girl!”

“…well, if it means anything to you, I formally apologize for my rude behavior.” He bowed slightly. Women never change. They absolutely love gentlemanly gestures. Unsurprisingly, when he straightened up, her face had softened considerably and she even looked pleasantly shocked. “I don’t usually act that way in front of a lady, but…well, pardon me for saying so, but you’re quite beautiful.” And that is the truth. Ulterior motives aside.

A cute blush lit up her cheeks. “I-it’s okay. I was rude, too. You didn’t bump into me on purpose.”

Oh, sweet innocent girl. You would have been mine for the taking if I had done it on purpose. He inclined his head further. “My sincerest apologies.”

~~~~

Those warm brown eyes of his are sucking me in. Look away, Yuri, just look away…walk away…and despite the warnings her inner voice kept throwing at her, she sighed reluctantly. He was being too nice and apologetic for her to stay angry. “Then I’m sorry for being so…uh…unladylike.”

His answering smile killed her insides completely. “If there’s anything at all I can do for you…” And he reached for her hand, lifting it to his mouth. Her heart nearly stopped when his lips brushed her knuckles.

“N-not necessary…” She casually drew her hand back, laughing nervously. “Just a simple apology works, and you already did that, so it’s all good. Really!” Instinct. It’s your human vessel reacting to this man instinctually. Don’t think anything of it. He’s just turning on his charm as all men do around…relatively attractive-looking women. “You don’t owe me anything!”

“Hmm…” Jaejoong examined her face thoroughly. “Well, I would feel so terrible if I didn’t make up for my inexcusable behavior towards you.”  A mischievous glint entered his eyes. “What do you say to coffee? Simple and platonic,” he added when she turned red again. “The other members will be with us, so that will give you the opportunity to meet them.” When she blinked confusedly, he laughed. “You do realize who I am, don’t you?”

Ah…ah. Oh, right. Yunho and the others. “Dong Bang Shin Ki’s Hero.”

Something flickered in his face before he responded, “I like to be called Jaejoong. Kim Jaejoong.”

“Oh. Jaejoong, then.”

“And may I ask what your lovely name is…?”

Yuri hesitated. What’s my last name again? “Ha Yuri,” she answered politely.

“It is indeed a pleasure to meet you, Yuri.” He bowed again before straightening to his full height. “Well…I shall see you for coffee on Friday, then.”

Coffee…? COFFEE. Oh, god. I’ll be on a coffee date in front of the archangels. They’ll never let me hear the end of this. She very nearly groaned in exasperation, but instead held it back as Jaejoong waved goodbye to her and walked off. She watched his retreating back. Broad shoulders…a V-shaped body…muscles in his arms…he is all kinds of trouble looking me in the face, and yet…why am I so drawn to him? She stared at the hand he kissed; somehow his soft, plump lips had left a light pink mark on the back of her hand.  His mouth touching my skin…almost set me on fire. What is going on with me?