"You may hate all of us now for what happened to your people, but believe me when I tell you that there are more good humans than evil ones, little one."
The crackling sounds of wood burning in fire echoed around a greeny forest, which was now dark with a beautiful, clear starry sky above. A gorgeous full moon was the main light source the forest above had.
Sniffing with teary eyes, a young Azrael, probably at his 8 years old in human time, was seated in front of a bonfire, and a man near his forties or so was seated in front of him at the other side of the bonfire, on a piece of log. He was dressed in a Hunter attire and his black short hair had silver-whitish stripes, signs of a man that was growing old already. His light blue eyes suited well with his white skin. This man, which name was still unknown to Azrael by that time, was holding a piece of wood stick that he used to hit the burning wood of the bonfire to keep the fire alive.
Azrael was wearing some dirty and turned clothing, his short black hair all messy, and his face and most parts of his body were dirty as well. His light eyes were covered in tears, his right eye covered with a gauze. The young Azrael was covering himself with a big blanket while staring down at the bonfire with a sad and depressed expression. Occasionally, a couple of sobs and sniffs escaped his lips. The poor demon has seen better days, apparently.
Sighing, the man in front of Azrael lifted his gaze from the fire and turned his head to look at the young demon in front of him. "Look, kid, I know that you're probably traumatized after witnessing the slaughter of your parents, but you need to move on from that," he said straight out cold, blinking while observing Azrael, which slowly turned his gaze to look at him. "This may sound harsh, but you will get nothing by crying about something that happened and cannot be undone. Take this as a piece of advice from somebody that experienced the same trauma."
Widening his eyes, Azrael's sadness was quickly replaced with rage. Growling, he stared daggers at the man in front of him. "How dare you tell me to just forget what happened to my parents!?" he shouted at him, his breathing getting deeper, and faster. "They...! They were murdered by a bunch of humans for no reason! Our clan was also slaughtered! They begged for mercy! How could they hurt innocent beings! And why the hell you saved me!? You should've let them kill me as well, you idiot!"
The man simply stared down at Azrael in silence, giving him some time to discharge all that anger. When he was done, Azrael broke into tears. Blinking once, the man took a deep breath. "If I hadn't saved you, you wouldn't be able to avenge your parents, kiddo."
Confused, Azrael wiped the tears off his face with his hands before looking back at his savior, which smirked at him. Azrael wanted to ask him so many questions, but he opted to not do it as he knew perfectly what he meant.
"You're lucky that I saved you from those men, but unfortunately for us, there are a lot more out there. They call themselves the Black Cross, a group of demon hunters with no sense of mercy toward any kind of demon." The man paused for a brief moment as he lowered his head, swallowing hard while tightening his grip on the wooden stick. His expression was a serious one now. "They... They took somebody from me. Somebody I really cared for a lot. An innocent and kind demon woman. The Black Cross burned her like a witch, explaining to everyone that witness the act that creatures such as demons that weren't created by God would be purged by them. Fucking bastards." Scoffing, the man sighed deeply before shaking his head. "My point is that I want to avenge her, okay, but I can't do it alone. I will need some assistance, and a demon like you is perfect. Together, we can avenge our loved ones, and out an end to the Black Cross once and for all."
"B-But... I'm just a kid, sir," said Azrael, looking down at his open hands, feeling worthless, and helpless. "I'm just a weakling demon How I will be able to help you out when I can't even defend myself?"
"I knew you would say that, kiddo," replied the man with a chuckle, staring back at Azrael. "From now on, you will be under my care, and I will train you to become a hunter like me. I confess that it won't be easy, but this I promise: you will transform into a demon capable of defending itself from any threat, and defend those you hold dear. And one day after the training, we will be able to avenge them..."
Widening his eyes in awe, Azrael lifted his head to look at the man in silence once he began o speak. He promised him to rain him to become stronger and be able to protect those he cared in the future. He would also be able to kill those that slew his parents. Without thinking it twice, Azrael resolved himself.
"Please, teach me to become strong," he begged the man, quickly standing up from the ground as the blanket fell off him. Laughing, the man threw the wooden stick into the bonfire before slowly standing up from the tronk. He looked down at Azrael with a side smile.
Azrael woke up from his slumber by the first rays of the sunrise that traveled through the windows of his room and landed on his face. Sighing deeply while flinching, the demon leader slowly moved his body on his king-size bed before slowly opening his light brown eyes. He stared at the white ceiling for a while, the memory of his dream still latent at the back of his head. That human man, whose name was Alex... Azrael remembers him perfectly, and he will be forever grateful to him as he not only saved him from a Black Cross attack but also trained him to become the strong being he is now.
"If only I knew where you went after finally avenging our loved ones, Alex," Azrael mumbled, his hands gently falling on the sides of his body. There's when he felt some warmth coming from two bodies that somehow passed unnoticed by his smell sense. Alarmed, Azrael quickly looked to his right, spotting a familiar red-haired demon sleeping soundly. Blinking once, the black-haired demon slowly turned his head to his left to spot another sleeping female, but this one had a silver hair and a pair of fluffy wolf ears. Staying silent for a minute as his brain processed what was going on, Azrael closed his eyes and sighed deeply, kind of annoyed. "Wake the hell up both of you in this instant," he commanded with a serious tone, moving off his arms from the women invading his bed.
With soft moans and gentle yawns, the females began to move their nude bodies, slowly waking up from their sleep.
"Oi, Az-kun, it's too early in the morning to be awake," said the girl on the right, which name was Murasame, the demon queen that lived in Azrael's katana.
"Master, please, let's sleep for one more hour," begged the wolf-eared girl on the left, which name was Shadow, Azrael's most loyal companion that was a shapeshifter just like him.
Growling with annoyance, Azrael pulled himself to sit on the bed. Luckily, he decided to sleep with shorts the night before, so the scene he was facing now wasn't that awkward. Too bad Murasame and Shadow chose to sleep the natural way. They also dared to seep with Azrael, ignoring his orders of not doing that.
Clicking his tongue, Azrael looked at both of them before hopping off the bed, turning around to face the women. "That's it, from now on, y'all permanently banned from entering my room," he said while crossing his arms. gasping with shock, both girls quickly pushed themselves to sit on the bed, covering their bodies with the sheets of the bed. "M-Master, you can't do that to me!" cried out Shadow, pouting cutely. "I'm sorry, okay? I swear it was Murasame's idea to sleep naked. I wanted to wear my magical cat pajamas!"
Frowning in disbelief, Murasame bated his eyes toward Shadow, growling "Huh? As I remember, it was you that practically begged me to let you join me to sleep with Az-kun," she said with a scoff. "I didn't put a gun on your head or something. You ended up here by yourself, so stop acting so innocent. We all know you're the biggest pervert from both of us."
Scoffing with annoyance, Shadow's right eyebrow twitched while she gritted her teeth. "Murasame... You better shut the hell up before I feed you with my fists," she warmed the demon beside her. Murasame in return laughed before turning her face to look at shapeshifter. "Oh, is that a threat?" she asked her, her scarlet eyes glowing. "Heh, I'll be more than glad to teach you a lesson of respect, you stinky dog."
When Shadow and Murasame were about to crash into a ferocious fight, Azrael whistled loudly, catching their attention. "That's enough, okay?" he said and leaned forward his right arm, staring at Murasame. "You, go back to my arm and stay there until you cool down your horses. No buts. Just get in." Clicking her tongue, Murasame growled before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke that slowly drifted inside Azrael's arm. Afterward, Azrael looked down at Shadow, which looked up at him with a nervous smile, dropping the sheets of the bed to open her arms, exposing once again her nude big small bust. "Why don't you give me a big and tight morning hug, Master?"
The next thing that happened was the poor Shadow getting kicked out of Azrael's room, but before she could land on the floor, she shapeshifted as a silver wolf. Whimpering, Shadow just troated away with her tail between her legs.
Sighing, Azrael rubbed the back of his head before stretching out his whole body, his back cracking a couple of times. Soon after that, somebody knocked at his door. "Come in," said Azrael loud and clear, and a demon with chocolate skin came into the room, quickly stopping in front of Azrael. He raised his right arm, saluting. "Sir, I bring the morning report." Azrael nodded to give him the sign that he could continue speaking.
It was a brief report of the morning scouts some members of the Scarlet Jackals did to make sure nothing suspicious or dangerous was lurking the outskirts of Safe Haven. As the first line of defense of the city, it was the Scarlet Jackals' duty to stop any threats to cross the main walls of Safe Haven. Once the young demon finished giving his morning report, Azrael dismissed him, and he left the room. For now, everything was going smoothly, and save around the outskirts of the city, as it should be. With no other interruption left, Azrael proceeded to prepare himself for the busy day ahead.
As the afternoon arrived in Safe Haven, the skies about turned dark, announcing an imminent heavy rain. Azrael, which was in his office doing some paperwork, was suddenly visited by the same chocolate demon that gave him the morning report. As he announced his presence with a salute, Azrael lowered his pen on his desk before leaning his back on his spinning chair, staring at the demon in front of him with a nod.
"Just like this morning, the outskirts are clear and safe from any threats, sir," began to debrief the demon. "Oh, but we found something new, though. We spotted a luxurious carriage heading to the city gates. When we stopped them to check that they weren't any suspicious humans, one of the females of the group identified herself as Madeleine King-Draca."
Widening his eyes with awe, Azrael intertwined his hands on top of his desk, looking down at the papers, deep in thought. The only King-Draca he knew was the extremely rich, and influential family that lived in Safe Haven thousands of years ago. Sadly, it was found out later that they were attacked by the Black Cross, but none of the bodies of the mentioned family was found. Everyone in Safe Haven, including the leaders of the clans thought there were simply slaughtered by the Black Cross. Once in a while, Azrael sent a small group of his best scouts to track them down and see if the King-Draca were really dead, but no trace was ever found. It was as if they just disappeared or never existed. But now, a carriage wearing the King-Draca emblem has been spotted.
"Are you really sure that we are talking about that famous King-Draca that lived here?" Azrael asked the demon, which nodded firmly. Smiling, the demon leader nodded. "Alright then. Tell our farmers to make some gifts with the best fruits of our patches, and tell our brewers to give you two bottles of our famous liquor. Make sure that two of our scouts await the carriage at the main gates to welcome the Draca family with the gifts. We need to make sure they feel welcomed, and realize we didn't forget about them."
With a nod, the chocolate-skinned demon turned around to left the office and as he exited through the door, another Jackal entered the office, this one a female, holding a letter in her right hand. "Sir, I bring here a letter with Black Rose's seal." Frowning lightly, when the Jackal officer stopped in front of his desk, Azrael stood up from his chair and gently took the letter, looking down at it. He noticed that the letter was cold to the touch, only meaning that Avaddon, in fact, wrote this letter. This could only mean that he was invoking the leaders of the clans to a reunion at the Sky Reach Sanctum, probably to discuss important matters like the serious situation of the Bloody Moon territory. The poor people of the clan were still in need of assistance after their civil war ended. Azrael was kind of proud that their clan was the first responder to aid the Blood Moon people, sending out some people of his clan to magically aid the wounded.
After dismissing the female officer, Azrael carefully opened the letter to read it. Once he was done, he proceeded to exit his office, announcing everyone that he would be joining an important meeting at the Sky Reach Sanctum.
Blinking a couple of times, Azrael sat still on his respective chair in the meeting, waiting patiently for somebody to speak first. The Scarlet Jackals' leader was the type of man to let somebody else speak first before saying something. As a watchdog, Azrael scanned everyone's face, the hair of his back tingling as he felt that something was off. He also noticed that the atmosphere around the meeting room was getting tense, probably because of Avaddon once he noticed that Caleb, the Second-in-Command of the Blood Moon, was now sitting on the chair of the Clan's leader. That was definitely something Avaddon, as a serious person that firmly believes in following laws and rules, wouldn't tolerate. Azrael could sniff his annoyance that slowly was turning into anger. And believe him when he thinks that a pissed off Avaddon it's not something you want to face. Not now, not ever. So, by the love of the Founders, Azrael hoped for Caleb to come up with a good explanation of why he was taking the seat of his leader.
The first person to speak was Fiazah, expressing her content for Avaddon to address why in the world Caleb was taking the seat Lanister, the supposed leader of the Blood Moon. The snake queen demanded Caleb to explain himself ASAP. Alec seconded Fiazah, trying to calm down the tension that was already felt by everyone in the room. However, after he mentioned that he would send a bill to Caleb after his clan assisted the Bloody Moon with some repairs of the territory, Azrael batted his eyes toward the Ravinca leader, frowning with discontent. Really? The Bloody Moon people barely made it alive from the civil war, now they struggle to survive in what remains of their glorious home, and this guy over here is thinking in just slapping Caleb with a bill of who knows how much.
Swallowing hard to keep his calm composure, Azrael's breathing got heavy as he slowly looked down at the table, cursing under his breath at Alec. Honestly, Azrael didn't like that idiot since the day he was named leader. He doesn't care that he was doing a good job at all. He just... Didn't like him. Period. And now that he was listening that he would send an atrocious bill to a needy clan, Azrael's dislike only grew.
Clicking his tongue, Azrael was about to say something against Alec, but was interrupted by Caleb. He finally explained to everyone what happened to Lanister, the supposed leader of the Bloody Moon. When Caleb said that he attacked a hospital filled with innocent people that only were related to the Black Cross, Azrael's eyes widened in shock. He knew Lanister was a whack man with arguable tactics, but that attack was beyond madness. It was a good thing that Caleb decided to step up and put an end to Lanister's insanity.
"By the Founders, Avaddon, what Caleb did was the right thing to do," said Azrael, finally breaking his silence. He leaned his back on his seat and glared at Avaddon, which was seated in front of him, at the other side of the table. "Yes, I understand that many innocent people died, which was tragic, but that was on Lanister. Sooner or later, he would've been punished anyway, so Caleb over here just had the decency to do it himself. However, I do think that it would've been nice if you told us that important detail sooner, Caleb." Azrael turned his head to his left, glaring at Caleb with a stern expression. "We are a team after all. There shouldn't be any secret between us... At least if it's something that involves the clans. You have the right to keep any personal information."
"So," said Azrael as he clapped once. "Now that the Lanister's issue is finally revealed, and solved, le's move on. About the Bloody Moon's currently situation, and their needy people, just know that the Scarlet Jackals while still give out support. And, no, Caleb, I won't be sending you a bill like somebody else here." There. Azrael finally said it. Even when he did his best to ignore it, but he just couldn't stand Alec. "I'm doing this because I care by everyone in Safe Haven, human, and demons alike. And as leaders, if some of us are in need, we should assist them without thinking it twice, and without expecting a repay."
