Days with the demon queen
Chapter 37: An unwelcome development

Chapter 37: An unwelcome development

The terrain was mostly white with snow. The wind howled, and the trees hardly moved.

Ronnie shivered, rubbing his hands against each other to provide warmth. He wore a simple black T-shirt and jeans.

The cold didn’t seem to bother Josh who wore a heavy sweater, gloves and a beanie.

"Why— why is it so cold? I’m fre—ezing" Ronnie stuttered.

"You’re freezing because you don’t listen, Ron. You never do" Josh remarked.

"You should have listened to Joshua" Lily stated, observing the surroundings from the mountain side outside the town where they stood.

"How are you not cold?" Ronnie asked, staring at Lily who wore a T-shirt and jeans like him.

"I do not know, I must be resistant to the temperature. Advantages of being a demon" Lily replied,

"I looked it up. Russia gets cold yes, but it’s not supposed to be this cold" Ronnie spoke, his teeth clattered.

"Are you saying the innatent is wrong?" Lily asked. Josh snickered.

"Internet, Lily" Ronnie responded, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Ronald is right. It’s not supposed to be this cold" Jay said, walking up to them.

"You have returned. Did you find anything?" Lily asked.

"I don’t think they have good food here, this trip was a bust" Zeke said, walking behind Jay. He was ignored by everyone.

"The town looks deserted, like a waste land. Some of the residents must have fled while they could. The rest are locked in their houses and won’t come out for any reason." Jay explained.

"We spotted an open motel, just a few blocks into the town. Zeke will take you three there. I’ll join you later" Jay instructed.

"Where are you going, can I come along?" Josh said.

"I’d take you but you appear too— innocent. I’m heading to the sheriff of the town to introduce myself." Jay said.

"Aren’t we supposed to be a shadow op?" Ronnie asked.

"says who? To every country or town we go to, we’re government agents" Jay gave a sly smile and walked away.

They checked into the motel and after a while, Jay met up with them. He had gotten all the information they needed on the town and the attacks. The sheriff had told him that the attacks mostly happened to victims who roamed the town at night. There were no house attacks, just maulings on the streets or in the woods.

They all prepared and by night fall, they were ready to leave for their mission. The gang had gone back to the mountain top, waiting for Jay and Zeke to finish making sure all the residents were in their houses and their doors were locked.

"They’re here" Josh said, pointing in the direction Jay and Zeke were coming from.

"I should give you a briefing on how this goes. You newbies are not allowed to get involved if things go south. Don’t get yourself killed" Jay said.

"Why did you bring us out to this cold then?" Ronnie questioned in an irritated tone.

"To observe. To learn survival. These objectives are the aims of your first field mission. With that said—" Jay paused. He threw a talisman on the snow and several weapons manifested.

"Pick. The silver weapons would be preferable. They were made for missions like these" Jay said.

"As for you, Joshua. Take this" Jay handed him a small pocket notebook.

"a book?" Josh asked.

"It’s a basic grimoire. Translated from demon tongue to English and Latin. You should be able to use this for basic offensive and defensive spells if need me" He explained.

"A grimoire? I’ve never used one? how does this work" Josh questioned with confused brows as he flipped through the pages.

"Each spell is broken into syllables and they have three configurations. You just have to chant a spell repeatedly and visualize it. It’ll manifest." He replied.

Josh stared at a page on the notebook for a couple of seconds and closed to notebook.

"I’ll try" Josh voiced.

He held out his hand and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Any moment now, you actually have to say—" Jay was interrupted mid sentence by Josh setting of a small explosion spell.

"Like—that?" Josh stuttered.

Zeke and Jay stared in silence. They both looked appalled.

"Did I do it wrong?" He asked nervously.

"He said you had to chant the spell, Josh." Ronnie said.

"I did, in my mind. Did I mess it up?" Josh asked.

"You didn’t" Lily, who was also surprised said.

"He did a spell without a chant. How? Only elite level mages can pull that off" Zeke spoke.

"A demon, a human—angel hybrid, and beginner mage who does not chant. The commander has a thing for recruiting monsters" Jay stated, he looked amazed.

"We’ll fawn over this some other time. We have work to do. Grab a weapon, Ronald" Jay regained his composure.

"What are those?" Ronnie asked, putting at a pair of fingerless black leather gloves.

"Aura gloves. They amplify your physical strength. They won’t be much help on this mission" Jay said.

"I’ll take them, and the silver chain" Ronnie said.

"No sword?" Jay asked.

"No. I wouldn’t want to visualize a sword and risking pulling out the other one" He replied.

"I hear something" Lily said.

Ronnie hurriedly grabbed the gloves and the chain, Jay picked up the talisman.

"I don’t hear anything" Zeke said.

"You, you said the townspeople were all in their houses, did you not?" Lily asked Jay.

"We made sure of it" Jay replied.

"In the distance, I see a group of people coming up the mountain" Lily said. Her eyes glowed crimson as she stared into the distance.

"Are they trying to get killed?!" Zeke yelled.

"They are— already dead" Lily declared.

"Ronald, I’ll share my sight with you. There’s something I want you to confirm" Lily spoke. Ronnie nodded, closing his eyes and opening them again, they glowed ruby. He stared into the distance, at the foot of the mountain.

"I see them but, something is off. Aren’t all living creatures supposed to have aura? I don’t see any" Ronnie voiced.

"Demons?" Josh whispered.

Jay took a deep sigh. "Vampires" both him and Zeke chorused.

"Vamp—" Josh said.

"They’re coming!" Ronnie alerted.

"Brace!! They’re fast!" Jay yelled.

Just then, a young man with pale white skin showed up behind them. Before they were able to react, he had kicked Ronnie off the mountain and sent him crashing into the trees at the mountain foot.