A World of Darkness

It was while deadpanning toward the vast, rayless expanse of the massive cave structure around him that a figure again reviewed his orders, clicking his tongue as his violet eyes reached the end of a sheet. He stood reasonably tall, but toned with his dark hair falling past his ears, its color contrasting his white skin, pale as the moon. While he technically wore a uniform betraying his role as a public servant, he wore the black jacket half on with a dark tank top underneath and dark, belted pants. A reversed cross lay on a necklace across his chest to complete the antithetical look. Perhaps either way, it served its goal; his appearance was intimidating with his cool demeanor giving a sense of control.

His vision shifted back towards the visages of his apparent cohorts on the tops of their respective sheets and couldn’t keep his view from narrowing a bit. It was true, with what he had found on this case, there was likely no way he’d be doing it on his own, skilled as he might be. Yet these two not only seemed weaker than him, but troublemakers at that. They weren’t unlike the characters he’d often find himself hunting.

    The first was some incubus who looked the type to rob one blind the moment they looked away. The rather… unsightly mugshot of him with his reddish hair and strange tiny hat making an akanbe expression said immediately that not only was he a bother, but also persisted enough that the cameraman gave up and allowed such a photo to pass. He supposed that doggedness could be something to be admired in the right scenario, but considering this fool was simply a criminal that the department deemed useful enough to allow to work off some jail time, he didn’t expect greatness. He seemed good for little but a headache and an adequate tracker given his species, so long as he took things remotely seriously. By the looks of that and the rest of his file though, such a sentiment might be asking for more than he could give. 

    The man took a moment to massage his temples with a hand before running his palm across his face and looking to the next file. The pipsqueak on this next file confused him. With a bemusing sort of look and a scrunching of her lips that made him wonder if she sassed at the photographer immediately after the picture flashed, she came off to him as childish and bratty, if admittedly attractive. Josabelle, her name was. Apparently she was a demon hunter of all things, though it was hard to picture this thin, little girl as a warrior of any sort. This was before even mentioning that she was an imp. An imp that… focused on lightning magic? Her capture record looked good, but being newer she had a partner on every mission. With recent directives in politics pushing for a lower racial disparity, he could only imagine who’d actually done the work on those missions. What a joke.

    He shuffled the files back into his suitcase and crossed his arms. Even if he’d probably be babysitting for this next assignment, in the long run he was doing a job that could really help people. If somebody had to help keep the peace, it may as well be him. Satan knows with these two buffoons around that there had to be at least one person that knew what they were doing to get things done. Besides, while it was a bit low profile, this case seemed unsettling. That grisly scene he came across the other day- 

    From behind there was a flapping sound, as if from a leathery wing. He turned and looked up to face the noise only to be greeted by many leathery wings rushing through the air above. As the last few flew over, a “present” fell across his face and onto his shirt. He stood still a moment and sighed, muttering “lovely” before hearing a muffled snicker in the distance. His eyes became trained to the rooftop of his department building, but unable to catch sight of the culprit as the sound fell to silence. After a moment he shook his head before walking forward, turning his head only to see the very girl he’d been reading about just now right in front of him. She stood before him in her reddish purple dress, leaning forward with her hands behind her back as she folded her wings and her tail wagged gracefully behind her with that same, sassy expression. He had to admit, she was rather stunning in person.

    “So you’re the officer on this quest then, aren’t you?” asked the girl, tilting her head ever so slightly and letting her long, fiery hair fall to one side. His expression became puzzled, though there was a noted attempt at remaining stoic.

    “Er, yes. Officer Amun at your service.” Despite himself, he couldn’t seem to quite keep his composure. 

    “Hmmmmmm~? Weeeell officer Guano, I’d almost say you’re pretty cute, but as you are now, I’d have to say that’s shit taste.” she teased as her expression morphed into a smirk as his head turned to the side, unintentionally accentuating a bit of a blush which had formed. Amun shook his head after a moment before clearing his throat, attempting and failing to keep up his facade. 

 “Weren’t we supposed to meet tomorrow?” he said, still unable to return his eyes to hers as a bit of sweat seemed to become visible on his face. 

“Aww, how flattering~ You read my file, didn’t you? I’m Josabelle, the demon huntress. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” She stuck out her hand for a shake, her face betraying her amusement.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Amun spotted her hand. With mild hesitation, he reached out to take hold with his own, as she pulled hers back.

    “My, my, you were going to touch me covered in scat like that? And here I thought you were a proud, powerful vampire~...” she said, letting out a slight laugh before relaxing her expression. “Anyways, you seem competent enough. Just don’t hold me back, cutey~” said the imp as she winked and flew off.

    As Amun watched her soar, he couldn’t help but feel nervousness and something else. He gave a glance down before bringing his eyes back up and scratching his head as he began to walk off himself, mild blush and sweat in tow. ‘Well, day 0 and I’m already getting surprises…’ he thought to himself as he tread back to his apartment. Fate must have had a hearty laugh at that thought.