"Azrakar."
The King's voice echoed through the burning halls of Hell.
From within a swirling inferno, a figure stepped forward tall, slender, and unnaturally composed. His presence didn't shake the room…
It silenced it.
"My lord," Azrakar said, bowing his head slightly.
"I have a task for you," the King said, leaning forward on his throne. Flames coiled around him like living things. "You will go to Mississippi… and bring me the one called Tay Tay."
Azrakar's eyes flickered faintly.
"Alive," the King added. "We will use him to draw the boy back to me."
A small pause.
Then
"I understand, my lord. Your will is absolute."
"Do not fail me."
Azrakar smiled faintly.
"I won't."
The portal tore open with a violent crack of heat and light.
Azrakar stepped through.
Mississippi greeted him with silence, warm air, and the scent of pine. A sharp contrast to the suffocating fire he came from.
He stood in a lush green field just beyond Tay Tay's home.
Peaceful.
Fragile.
Temporary.
Azrakar began walking.
He didn't knock.
The door opened with a quiet creak as he stepped inside like he belonged there.
The house was empty.
For now.
He moved slowly, scanning each room not searching in a hurry, but observing. Memorizing. Understanding.
Then he found them.
Pre-rolls. Blunts. Joints.
A faint smirk crossed his face.
"How… human."
He took them to the living room, sat down on the couch, and with a small flick of his finger, conjured a flame. Calm. Effortless.
He lit one.
Then another.
By the time the third burned low, the front door handle twisted.
Tay Tay stepped inside.
Azrakar exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.
"This some good shit…" he muttered, coughing slightly. Then he casually held the blunt out. "You want a hit?"
Tay Tay froze.
Then everything dropped from his hands.
In one motion, he drew his pistol and aimed it straight at Azrakar.
"Who the hell are you," he said, voice sharp, "and why are you in my house?"
Azrakar didn't move.
Didn't flinch.
"Me?" he said calmly. "I'm here for you."
And then
He vanished.
Tay Tay's eyes widened.
Before he could react
A voice behind him.
"You know someone I'm looking for."
Tay Tay spun, stumbling forward as Azrakar appeared behind him like he had always been there.
"How the hell did you"
"You're going to help me bring him in," Azrakar continued, ignoring the question. "Whether you want to… or not."
On the Road
"I still don't understand it," Betty said, staring out the window as trees blurred past. "The way you talk to each other… you sound like enemies."
Taurine kept his eyes on the road.
"That's just how we are."
"It makes no sense."
He shrugged.
"If someone else talked to him like that, we'd have a problem. But me?" He smirked slightly. "I'd do anything for him. And he'd do the same for me."
Betty studied him quietly.
"…That's how you show loyalty?"
"That's how we show love."
She looked away again, still unconvinced.
"…Strange."
A moment of silence passed.
Then her tone shifted.
"You need to focus," she said. "Training starts now."
Taurine glanced at her.
"You saw what happened back there. That wasn't your limit."
"No," he said quietly. "It wasn't."
Her expression hardened.
"And there will be more. Stronger than the last."
A pause.
"And next time… I may not be able to protect you."
Taurine's grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
"Then don't."
She blinked.
"What?"
"Don't protect me," he said, voice low. "Teach me how to make sure I don't need it."
For the first time
Betty smiled.
Back at the House
Tay Tay's finger tightened on the trigger.
"You picked the wrong house, man."
Azrakar tilted his head slightly.
"No," he said softly.
"I picked the right one."
The air shifted.
Pressure dropped.
Something unseen wrapped around the room like a tightening grip.
Tay Tay pulled the trigger
but the bullet never reached him.
It stopped midair.
Floating.
Then dropped harmlessly to the floor.
Azrakar stepped forward.
"Now," he said, voice colder than before, "we're going to have a conversation."