The Incubus System Chapter 111. Living Bait
I perched on the wall near the exit, making sure I could escape quickly if I got caught. My eyes locked on them.
"How long do you want to make him pretend to be Alan? It's been 10 years since your son and husband's death. It's time for you to accept it," Ruby said in a displeased tone. Her eyes looked at Alan, who perched comfortably on Mrs Clea's arm.
Mrs Clea glanced at Ruby briefly before returning her gaze to Alan. Her other hand stroked the bird's head slowly. "I've accepted their deaths for a long time ago," she said in a calm tone.
"What about the other death?" asked Ruby with a serious gaze at Mrs Clea.
Mrs Clea's hand stopped. Her face turned sour. "Stop beating around the bush. Tell me why did you come?" she asked curtly.
Ruby smirked as she gave Mrs Clea 'I know it' look, but she didn't want to discuss it. "I just met a great demon at Cretunt bridge today. That demon has wings and is very strong. He is different from the other demons."
Mrs Clea turned to Ruby in disbelief. "How do you know he's a great demon?"
"I know this sounds crazy. But there was a strange force pressing on my chest when I got there. And after he left, the pressure disappeared and everything around me returned to normal. Well, not completely back to normal but at least better than before, "said Ruby in a serious tone. "And from our conversation, I know he has higher intelligence compared to the other demons," she continued.
"Did you talk to him?" asked Mrs Clea curiously.
"Yes. He told me about a lot of things. He said there are some cracks between the demon world and the human world and the demons who escaped had to eat humans to maintain their existence. He also said that he and several other demons are trying to fix this problem and closing the crack. "
Mrs Clea frowned in disbelief. "Is he trying to say he's helping us?"
A breath came out of Ruby's mouth. "More or less," she shrugged.
"And you believe it?" Mrs Clea added.
"I don't know about that ..." Ruby replied in doubt. "But he helped me and closed the crack on the bridge."
"What ?!" In an instant, her forehead creased. From her expression and tone, Mrs Clea couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"Yea, I know this sounds crazy but I'm not lying about this. Besides, he only countered my attacks but didn't attack me back," said Ruby in a serious tone. "But his arrogance is on another level. It really pissed me off," she added in an annoyed tone.
Mrs Clea paused to think for a moment and tapped her finger under her lips repeatedly. "We can't trust a demon. Maybe he wants to mislead us and weaken our guard."
"I also thought that way. But he warned me that more demons will come to the human world and they will be more powerful than before. Also asked us to be careful and recruit more hunters to fight them." This time there was a trace of confusion in Ruby's voice.
A breath of confusion escaped Mrs Clea's mouth accompanied by another frown. "So he's a good demon? That's nonsense, " she said in a cynical tone.
"I know. It sounds like bullshit, but I'm telling you the truth," Ruby said.
After that, they fell silent. It seems they were confused by all of this.
'Well, at least Ruby conveyed my warning, ' I thought. I knew making other people believe I was a 'good' demon was impossible.
A few seconds later, Ruby's voice broke the silence. "I think you should return to the headquarters immediately. How long do you want to keep protecting your dead lover's children? After all, the senate request ended a week ago and Renart's children are fine, right?" she said in a calmer tone.
Mrs Clea's face turned sour, while I ... My heart started pounding after hearing Ruby mention my father's name.
"I still want to find Renart's killer. Besides ... I still feel guilty about what I did to them." Her guilt was clear from Mrs Clea's tone.
"Making them as the demon's baits was the senate's decision not yours. Besides, you already tried your best to oppose it. You don't need to feel guilty about that."
My heart was beating faster after hearing Ruby's words. My anger, sadness and disappointment mixed in me. I couldn't believe what I heard. 'Father sacrificed himself but the association made me and Celia as the demon's baits?' Even though I was so angry, I couldn't act rashly since the Demon Hunter Association was the only association that could face the demons. Also, the senate members were the heads of state and kings.
"Ruby ... You won't understand their plight. How they struggle through their days with the little money they have. How Et--" Mrs Clea pressed her lips since she didn't want to say my name because of the association rules.
Ruby plopped her back onto the sofa. "I don't know who Renart's children are, but I have heard everything. They transferred the compensation money to his ex-wife and said that his children were not old enough to receive it. And as expected, that woman used the money to buy a new house and moved to another city. Leaving her children as easy targets to lure the demons who killed Renart. "
My chest felt tight holding my emotions, I really wanted to scream but my voice got stuck in my throat. I didn't expect all of this was the association's plan. They treated me and Celia like nothing.
"But you know the reason why the senate -"
Before Ruby finished her sentence, Mrs Clea interrupted her. "Sacrificing two people's lives for public sake is foolish! Don't they deserve to live?" snapped Mrs Clea. Then she looked at Ruby with sorrow. "Renart has sacrificed his life but the senate still wants to sacrifice his children's lives. I didn't even dare to visit Renart's grave before all of this ended a week ago. After the senate decided to return his children's rights and treat them as ordinary citizens."
That explained why even though they made me and Celia as bait but not a single demon hunter helped me when I died as the demons' meal a week ago. Also explained why Mrs Clea wore a mourning dress that day.
Ruby sighed. "I know. But I think you should stop torturing yourself. Now they are fine and the demons didn't attack them. It could be that Renart had killed them all."
Mrs Clea's face slowly turned brighter as a slight smile began to appear on her lips. Her eyes were fixed on the ring on her finger. "You're right ... Renart is a strong man. He wouldn't let those demons roam around."
Ruby's gaze shifted to the ring on Mrs Clea's finger. "Does his children know that Renart has proposed to you?"
"Not yet. At that time… his son had just failed his registration exam and was very depressed about it. So he decided to say it after his son had calmed down. But unfortunately ..." Mrs Clea's words stopped but I already knew what was going on.
The memory when father called me and insisted on picking me up at Diamond College replayed in my mind. 'Ethan, where are you? Why aren't you home yet? '
'I'm sorry, dad. I'll be home late today. It's raining heavily here and I didn't bring my umbrella. '
'Just wait there, I'll pick you up.'
'It's okay. I'll break through it after the rain subsides. '
'You just recovered from illness. Just wait there or I'm gonna get mad at you. Besides, I want to talk about something important. '
It never occurred to me that what father wanted to talk about was he wanted to ask our permission to marry Mrs Clea.
Ruby cleared her throat. "Well, at least your position isn't too complicated now. I mean, if they find out about this one day, you can put yourself in the villain's role."
Mrs Clea lowered her hand, her gaze returned to Ruby and gave her a bitter smile. "I know. Things would be easier if they hated me. Besides, I didn't deserve to be their new mother from the start."
Seeing Mrs Clea's sadness, Ruby tried to find a way to comfort her and she got it. "Ah, I almost forgot! I just found a cute boy this morning!" she said excitedly as she pulled out her cellphone. Ruby swiped her cellphone screen several times before giving it to Mrs Clea.
As Mrs Clea picked up and looked at it, her eyes widened in shock.
"He's cute, right? His name is Ethan Strongheart," Ruby said in the same tone.
Comments