Long fuze
Human apartments are pathetic. They all try to mimic the apartment that Power owns. Wait, the apartment, shit. She didn’t tell anyone she left, now she has to introduce them to her girlfriend. Will she live there? How do you take care of a girlfriend? Why did she write herself into this stupid contract?! She’s gonna have to uproot her whole life for a puny human.
Speaking of, that puny human just climbed in through a large air duct in the corner of the bedroom. “Devil hunters are here. We need to move. I estimate we’ve got about five minutes before they start checking door to door. They don’t have guns, so we have a tactical advantage. But we’ll need to hide your hair, and your horns. They’re too distinctive.” Reze briefed the still sleepy Power.
“Excuse me? Since when were you the ruler of this contract? And why would I flee devil hunters, they know not to fight me.” Power huffed.
“Wait, shit your clothes, are you a devil hunter?” Reze’s arm reached for her choker.
“Of course! I am Power, the best devil hunter in recorded history! Why are you surprised? Do they not chant my name in the street?” She asserted triumphantly.
“Great, I bet she put you up to this, didn’t she?” Responded Reze.
“Who? Angel? Because he’s a boy.” Power was confused, she didn’t like the feeling.
“No! The red haired one, with the rats.” Said the increasingly frustrated Reze.
“Rats? Is there a rat devil? I haven’t met them.” Great, her new girlfriend was a fool.
“We don’t have time for this, we need to go.” Reze ordered, grabbing Power’s hand.
“No, the great Power demands five more minutes in bed!” The deceptively strong fiend pulled the other woman down on the bed.
“The blood letting really took the fight out of you, huh?” She said smugly.
“No! I am more powerful than any other creature! I am just… Sleepy.” Yawned Power.
“Well could “the great Power” please sleep later? Because if we don’t leave they’ll kill us.” Implored the fugitive girl.
“Fear not, Power shall answer the door, tell the hunters to leave, and they shall. They are low level fools who will answer to me.” Power asserts, dragging herself from the bed and steadying herself on the bedroom door frame.
“And what about me? The fugitive who is supposed to be dead.” Reze was whispering now, she heard footsteps getting closer.
“Disguise yourself. Let me handle this. I am the greatest liar in the world, they’ll believe me.” She half-truthed.
A quiet yet authoritative knock at the door resounded off the bare walls and through the empty rooms. Propping herself up on the wall, she prepared to answer the door. Staying out of sight, Reze still saw Power’s shaking legs, she was gonna collapse soon, she needed blood. Opening the door, Power was greeted with a familiar scent.
“Power what the hell are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?” A deep male voice rang out. Aki Hayakawa, sword in hand, stood at the door.
“I could ask you the same question! What are you doing in my apartment?!” Power yelled back.
“Power cut the crap, what are you doing?” Aki repeated.
“I am resting, I went looking for Denji and I got tired.” Said Power, not entirely untruthful for once. Suppressing a gasp, Reze leaned a little closer to the door, this girl knew Denji too, did they have the same mission?
“Power, come with me. There’s apparently a dangerous devil somewhere around here. Makima San wants us to find it.” Bemoaned Aki.
“Well “Makima San” can…”
“I can what?” Makima practically materialised out of nowhere. Aki did a hasty half bow, Power’s eyes widened in fear. Clamping her hand over her mouth Reze felt a sinking horror as she realised she recognised that voice.
“Makima San, I haven’t found the devil yet, Power clearly got here before us and decided she wanted to play house in this unused apartment.” Aki desperately tried to explain this situation.
“Power, you look weaker than usual. The draining didn’t affect you that much, did it?” Makima asked, feigning compassion.
“It did! The draining people were rude and took too much. I am resting in my new apartment until I have the strength to recover.” She lied.
“You and your new friend?” Makima asked, trying to make Power think she’d had a slip of the tongue. “I know there’s another person inside that apartment, Power. Who are they?”.
“They are… They’re…” Power stammered, her knees were shaking, she felt faint.
“Her girlfriend! I’m her girlfriend!” Reze shouted. Power’s eyes had never been wider. Reze grabbed Power’s waist, holding her up as she opened the door wider, revealing herself to Makima. “Sweetie, I know you said we couldn’t tell your co-workers, but I can’t help it!” She put on a lovey-dovey voice and spun Power around by her waist so they were face to face. “I can’t hide how I feel for you forever, I can’t hide what we have, it’s too special for that.” She continued, ignoring how much it felt like Makima was actually boring a hole in her skull with vision alone. It was a gamble and Reze knew it, but she knew she couldn’t fight Makima with a whole platoon of devil hunters nearby, she just had to hope Makima wouldn’t start a fight with Bomb Devil in a densely populated urban centre.
“Well Power I must say I’m surprised. Given how you’ve previously reacted to humans I didn’t think you’d ever fall for one. I suppose love works in mysterious ways.” Said Makima with a chuckle. A chuckle so hideously manufactured and sweet you could feel it on your teeth. Power wanted to grimace, but she couldn’t look away from this human.
She let her legs give out fully, and Reze held her with no effort. She was completely captivated, it was like the air was laced with fine perfume and she just couldn’t move her eyes away from the girl in front of her. Hypnotised, frozen, she couldn’t offer any rebuttal. As much as she would have liked to hit Makima in the face, she was utterly transfixed.
“Well, no reason to disturb the happy couple. Just be on the lookout for a murderous devil. Hayakawa, I don’t think we’ll find what we’re looking for here, recall all teams and we’ll move the search to the next building.” Makima turned away, her coat whipping slightly in the wind. Aki followed in completely stunned silence.
The door closed slowly, as soon as the heavy latch clicked back into place Reze lowered Power down to the floor, resting on the hallway wall. “Well, if nothing else that bought us some time. You really sold those goo-goo eyes though. Good job. But we need to go now.” Ordered Reze, but Power didn’t move an inch.
“Hold… me…” Power slurred.
“Excuse me?” Questioned Reze, she can’t have heard her correctly.
“Hold me, n…now. I liked it, so do it again.” She really tried to demand it, but she was weak.
“Really, right now?” Responded the indignant woman.
“Yes. Now. We have a contract, you are my girlfriend. Hold me!” Now Power was demanding. But then she felt… bad. Like she was being too cruel. A thought she had never once had in her life. And so quietly, almost attempting to muffle herself, she let out the word “Please.”. She half expected it to burn her throat on the way out.
Reze huffed, but then she crouched down next to the slumped over girl and placed her arms around her waist again. Power moved into the embrace, so hard it pushed Reze off of her feet and down into a seated position. Power fell with her, stopping on Reze’s chest, wrapping her arms around the other woman. As it started, Reze was passive, she held the girl’s waist and tried not to smell her too much. But then she felt something, like a heavy raindrop hitting her clothes. Was this devil, this unempathetic, overconfident pathological liar crying? Then she heard a sniffle. She had to ask, she had to know “Are you… crying?”.
“No, fool, of course not. There’s just water coming out of my eyes because I’m feeling things and I don’t like it and I wanna feel normal!” Power was now very openly crying.
“Oh, umm. There there.” Reze said, Moving a hand off of Power’s waist to pat her on the head, and also take off that stupid detective’s hat she was wearing. Reze had never had to deal with this before, the only times someone had ever cried in front of her before was when she was trying to kill them, and the solution to that problem was not going to work here. So lacking any other options, Reze began to hum. It was an old lullaby they sang to quiet her during her training. She didn’t remember the words, it had been almost twenty years since she last heard them, and she really tried not to remember her training if she didn’t need to. That and she knew they were about being taken by wolves, so they wouldn’t have helped. But she knew that a lullaby soothed children crying, so it was worth a try.
Slowly, Power’s sobbing was quieted by the dulcet humming. Still hiding in the fabric of the stolen jumper Reze was wearing, she asked “As girlfriends, do we get to do this a lot? I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”.
Reze laughed, “If you want to do this more, you need to start bathing.” she said. Power was going to say something to communicate her outrage, but something about the way Reze laughed through her words made Power never want to speak again, and just hear that happy voice over and over.
It was settled. No matter the adversity. No matter how hard it was going to be. Even at risk to her own health.
Power was going to take a bath.