Chapter 19: Demon’s Cry for Help
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: PlumSauce
Phosphor didn’t open until after ten o’clock at night and was busiest around midnight. The next night, Coraci and John were on their way to Phosphor when Liz called to say that Carolyn couldn’t help.
“I just found out that Carolyn has been blacklisted by Phosphor,” Liz said, sounding helpless. “She used to cause so much damage that the owner’s wife reportedly cried a whole day… Now Phosphor forbids Carolyn from going near, let alone going in.”
“What about you?” Coraci asked.
“I’m on my way… I can go in with you… Your partner… he’s bloodkin, he should have a way to get in.”
John’s heart shuddered just now, and he couldn’t tell if he was glad or disappointed when he learned that he didn’t have to kiss Coraci.
“Why is that club only for couples?” he asked.
“To prevent pregnancy,” Coraci said bluntly. “There are a lot of dark creatures and supernatural species that patronize Phosphor, and some humans go there to have fun. The owner doesn’t want to facilitate too many flings there and create weird hybrids or something. By admitting only couples, to some extent, it will keep out people who use it as a hunting ground.”
“But even kissing before entering cannot guarantee safety. It’s possible that many people are pretending.”
“Agreed. It’s like a gentleman’s agreement.”
Not far from Phosphor’s entrance, Coraci and John waited for Liz. She wore a black leather jacket and a tight dress instead of a professional suit, didn’t wear glasses, and her hair was down — she was like a completely different person.
“Meet us when you get inside.” After Coraci finished speaking to John, he put his arm around Liz’s shoulder and walked toward the club entrance.
John went around to a deserted area and jumped on the wall and rooftop of the storefront to observe the structure of Phosphor. Eventually he found the bathroom transom window and floated in as mist. He thought this kind of place might have magical protection or something. Who knew it was just an ordinary bathroom. Any dark creature with even a little ability could find a way to enter. Looks like “only couples” or whatever was really just a gentleman’s agreement.
He first confirmed that this was a men’s restroom, then floated into the toilet to regain his form and straighten his clothes. Suddenly he was curious about Coraci and Liz… They certainly weren’t a couple. John was mostly curious about what Coraci looked like when he kissed.
Technically speaking, the last time John had kissed Coraci was when he was assisting in casting a spell. That spell required bloodkin’s blood and a kiss with the blood representing power and the kiss representing permission. John was so frazzled that he knew he definitely couldn’t kiss the mouth, and kissing the cheek seemed too childish. He originally wanted to kiss the forehead, but was too nervous and kissed Coraci’s brow.
Now that he thought about it, kissing someone on the forehead and on the brow might have different meanings. John wasn’t sure what Coraci thought, whether he thought he did it on purpose…
John pulled his attention back to the present, pushed the thoughts from his mind, and walked out of the bathroom. John rubbed his brow at the clamor of lively music and noisy chatter. His bloodkin hearing made him more sensitive to the noise than humans.
There were two girls on the small stage dancing close to each other. Their bare arms and thighs faintly glimmered with scale-like things, he didn’t know if they were real or not. At the bar, a middle-aged hunter was spouting off about how great he used to be, how many terrible things he had taken down. The weird thing was that the person smiling and listening to him boast was a witch, and she made no secret of it. She had runes that enhanced blood magic tattooed on her forehead and hands.
The bartender at the bar was a refined young man with brown hair combed into a rather retro side-parted style, and he was pouring a drink for a lady.
When the lady thanked him, his eyes were looking in another direction.
It was dark in the seating area with upholstered sofas, so humans shouldn’t be able to see what was happening there. But John could see it — and maybe that bartender could too.
The bartender was looking at a red-headed man. The man was also looking at the bar, gently turning the glass in his hand. From time to time, he would squint his eyes and lick his lips.
John thought there was something strange about the way the man was sitting; he looked like he was relaxing against the couch cushions, but his back was an arm’s length away from the upholstery, like he was leaning on something unseen.
“Don’t keep staring at him.”
The lady at the bar whispered to John, who then realized that she had two colored eyes: one red and one gold. If they weren’t tinted contact lenses, then clearly she wasn’t human either. She gestured for John to turn around and whispered, “That’s a demon. A bone-winged demon. Did you know?”
“That’s a bone-winged demon?” John was going to ask “so where are his bone wings”… On second thought, it was too stupid to ask. Apparently the wings were hidden by an illusion and were now tucked behind the demon.
The lady nodded, “His secular name is Sidov. His real name, we cannot pronounce, and should not pronounce. It’s rude of you to stare at him like that. If you know him, go say hello. If not, don’t be too curious.”
At this point her boyfriend leaned over and put his arm around her in a conversational pose, but was actually speaking to the bartender, “Mitchel, does Sidov come in every day?”
The bartender named Mitchel gave a wink in place of a nod, then silently poured the man his drink.
The lady said to her partner, “He brings some female companion every time, and the boss knows something is wrong, but he can’t say no. And how can the boss dare to refuse an Abyssal demon?”
John was curious about the race of the couple in front of him, but was afraid to ask directly for fear of appearing too rude. He wished Coraci was around right now. Coraci would definitely let him know in secret what creatures these two were.
John turned around to face the bar and asked the bartender for a stout. To him, alcohol was no different than water. He couldn’t get drunk on it any way he drank it.
“Are you the guy who asked Nate Farr for help?” John asked the bartender. After asking this question, he felt somewhat stupid again: the bartender didn’t necessarily know the Bewildering Monster’s name.
The bartender didn’t answer, and John noticed a glint of panic in his eyes… Maybe there was a little hope. The bartender used the position of wiping down the bar to give a slight nod.
“I’m from the Unthreatening Creature Protection Association.” John opened his jacket slightly to display the credentials inside. In fact, the Association’s staff rarely showed their credentials since their credentials weren’t very convincing anyway.
The bartender gave him a look and went back to pouring drinks for the couple next to him, without making any reply.
Just when John was feeling that things were strange, his acute hearing detected a voice in the area with sofas.
“Mr. Coraci! Oh my lord, Mr. Coraci!”
The red-haired bone-winged demon was shouting loudly in excitement.
John turned slightly sideways and saw that Coraci and Liz were already standing in front of the demon Sidov. The demon put down his glass and stood up with a face full of surprise. Swooping over, he wrapped his arms around Coraci, lightly pressed his face to each cheek1, and then hugged Liz in the same way.
“Sidov, what are you doing here?” Coraci asked.
“Looking for fun,” the demon’s expression was excited and didn’t seem to be faking it. “It’s not strange that I’m here, it’s strange that you’re here at Phosphor! This is Your Highness of the Blackmoon family? You guys are… together?”
The demon referred to Liz as “Your Highness”, just a habit of using honorifics. Liz smiled and shook her head, “How is that possible? We are here to investigate matters.”
John was a little surprised. How could she be so direct? Is it necessary to state their purpose directly to the demon? Soon, what Liz said changed John’s view. She moved closer to the demon Sidov and whispered a few words.
Due to too much interference, John did not hear the whole sentence. He only vaguely heard “Abyssal species succubus” and “the middleman here” and so on.
Liz cleverly used an earlier incident with two succubi to talk about it as a case currently under investigation, mixing fact with fiction.
“Is that so? Is there anything I can do to help?” Sidov said in surprise while gesturing at Liz and Coraci to sit down and tell him the details.
“Mr. Coraci, would you like something to drink? It’s on me!” The demon seemed to be really very happy, his whole facial expression came alive. The evil and sinister appearance he had just before was completely different from the one now.
John did not know why Sidov knew Coraci, and they were even on good terms. Previously, John felt that “demon” was naturally synonymous with evil and horror. He did not expect Abyssal demons to be so warmhearted toward Coraci.
John suddenly realized that he was equally fond of Coraci, and it seemed that many dark creatures were fond of him.
A waitress came over and said a few words about work to Mitchel, the bartender. Mitchel nodded calmly and walked out of the bar to explain the “Flaming Amber” drink to some customers, while another bartender stayed at the bar to polish the ice buckets — everything was neat and orderly.
John noticed that Mitchel did not go back to the bar immediately, but walked towards the security exit. He was not very tall and was inconspicuously hidden by the crowd.
John stood up and followed him, and found that Mitchel entered a security door and then came back out after a few seconds. He said a few words to the manager on duty, and walked in the other direction with a box in his arms.
It seemed all work-related, nothing unusual. But John continued to follow.
John followed him into the fire escape, where Mitchel suddenly turned back when he reached the corner.
John knew he had been spotted, but his status as an “Association worker” gave him the confidence and courage to stand his ground. Mitchel looked back at him, and instead of questioning him, gave him a look of relief.
“Great. Please come over here!”
With that, Mitchel began to unbuckle the belt on his pants.
“What are you doing?” John didn’t move any closer, and even took a few steps back.
Mitchel removed his pants and even his underwear and turned around to John’s shock.
There was a crimson circular rune in the center of his back, surrounded by some kind of ancient writing. The writing started from the bottom of the rune pattern and extended downward, shaped like a thin tail. It didn’t go into the butt crack but came out from between his legs, coiling over his left thigh, back around the knee, and all the way to his calf.
John guessed that the pattern might spread all the way to his feet. He stood there dumbfounded, not understanding what Mitchel was up to.
“Are you an exorcist? Please help me undo it?” Mitchel’s expression was eager.
“I’m not an exorcist…” John said awkwardly, “Uh, although I’m really a staff member of the Association, I don’t know much about this. What is this thing?”
“You don’t know?” Mitchel looked at him anxiously. “It’s…a control seal made in Abyss language. You use something made of pure silver to help make me a freestanding runic seal, the most basic kind, and that will release it! Or you can directly use a pen with silver powder… You can make an isolated detection boundary, and then use them to burn this runic seal, and after burning, just put me in the Prison Cart and take me away. I’m not afraid of pain, hurry!”
John wanted to growl at him, Sorry! I don’t understand what you’re talking about! And would you please put your pants on! He said dryly, “I can’t. Uh, Mr. Mitchel, can’t you see? I’m a bloodkin…”
Mitchel covered his eyes as if John’s statement had brought him great pain. John was tempted to comfort him and tell him that he had companions who understood these things. The conversation that took place above was so puzzling that John wasn’t even quite sure what was being talked about.
Discouraged, Mitchel was about to lift up his pants when suddenly he was startled as if he thought of something. His eyes sternly looked at John.
John did not react to the situation. Mitchel suddenly lunged at him fiercely and punched him in the stomach. John dodged slightly but was still knocked into a somersault. His head was full of questions, but Mitchel did not intend to explain to him.
Now John was sure of Mitchel’s race: a demon of the mortal-born species, more powerful than most dark creatures, but not particularly powerful. Without stopping, Mitchel lunged and tried to choke John, only to be flipped to the ground when John clutched his wrists.
Next, John easily overpowered Mitchel, pinned him face down on the ground, and twisted his hands backwards. The inexplicable scuffle lasted only a few seconds, when suddenly the fire escape door was pushed open.
“My dear Mitchel,” said a slightly familiar sticky voice, “if you are really particularly lonely, I always welcome you to leave work early and come home with me… May I ask why you are here flirting with a vampire?”
Bone-winged demon Sidov stood there with a malicious expression, the power flowing through his red hair was almost almost visible to the naked eye. His tone and demeanor had returned to that of an Abyssal demon, it no longer had the bright enthusiasm of his conversation with Coraci.
John suddenly realized that he and Mitchel’s posture was now very unpleasant to see. The most horrible thing was that Mitchel’s pants were still not properly put on, they were hanging around his knees.
John’s mind was confused and he cried out silently… Who can explain to me what caused this mess?
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