XXVI ‖ devil slayer

CHIDDINGFOLD
February
Location: Godalming, Lillian Myerscough's Mansion

━━━━━━━━━━

Time Elapsed: 18:25:33 | 05:00:27 AM

When my eyes finally made out Lillian Myerscough's true form as a hugeass tarantula, Jax had already registered a plan in his mind. The next second, he sprinted forward and shot through the air with wild intensity and pure force. 

Combat knife in hand, he managed to climb up her leg and land on her body in a speed so fast that it was almost impossible. Retreating to a dark corner, I lowered myself and aligned my sight close to the scope. I fired with accuracy in an attempt to divert the diabolo's attention but they are intelligent enough to not succumb to distractions in the same way that cacs would easily fall for.  

Even if my shots were simply a tickle to her skin, its annoying enough to buy some time for Jax. He pierced his knife into the back of her head and an ear-piercing screech splintered through the air as the diabolo whipped her body around forcefully and threw him off her. 

Jax somersaulted in mid-air and landed in a rough skid, piercing his combat knife deep into the ground to steady himself. The shadows around Myerscough grew as she spat a puddle of venom towards his direction and he avoided it rapidly. Leaping up from his knees, he swung his body with grace as he danced out every sweep that the diabolo attacked with her shadowy legs. In that brief moment, I caught him nodding slightly towards me and I emerged from the shadow and ran into Myercough's field of sight. 

I whistled and shouted, "Here, Spidey!" 

Jax rolled his eyes at my attempt of assist but hey, I tried. And gods above, it hecking worked. Myerscough was immediately provoked and swung one of her legs towards me in total annoyance. When I managed to successfully avoid that strike, it only infuriated her further as she had her whole attention on me and released out a splash of venom that melted the wooden furniture right beside me into nothingness. My eyes widened in surprise as I jerked my head around to face Myerscough. Holy hell. 

While I fight death with the diabolo's whole attention on me, Jax ran under her body, sprinting along her legs as he bounded them with an almost invisible thread that glowed slightly in red. When I shot at her this time, her body wobbled a little. Attempting again, I positioned the rifle firmly and aimed from her anterior lateral eye. Pulling the trigger, she swayed upon being shot and it took her longer to recover. Relieved that I finally discovered a weakness, I continued to stall her for Jax as he ran across the last leg and formed a web of thread right underneath her body. 

One pull of the string, the diabolo faltered and he immediately drove his knife right in the middle of her body. A moment of deep red flashed blindingly and when I reopened my eyes again, all the shadows dissipated. Lillian Myerscough turned back to her humanly form once again, but this time, with a knife drove right into her abdomen. 

Her entire body slumped against Jax as crimson dripped and drenched her pale-coloured dress. Honestly, I hadn't expected them to also bleed red. Jax pushed her towards an armchair not far from them and it was obvious that this diabolo no longer had strength in her to fight us. Her life was hanging on the thread and her soul was just a close step away from being cast into the fiery damnation in the world underneath. 

Looking towards me, Jax stared right at me and mentioned, "Turn around if it's too much." 

"What are you going to do?" I asked, suddenly wary. 

However, he had his attention back to Myerscough as he demanded in a dangerously low voice, "Where is your mother?" 

"What makes you think I would tell you?" The diabolo scoffed. 

Jax held onto the hilt of his knife and twisted it, forcing out a disgruntled groan from the diabolo as blood spilled and she struggled through the pain. I froze at the sight, never expecting to see this side of him. The gaze in his eyes were exactly as cold as the shade of his irises — merciless and unfeeling. He continued to twist and push the knife deeper into her body, not stopping even when the scream had rose into an uncomfortable level to bear. He forced, "Say it!" 

"I won't say it!" she screeched ear-piercingly and filled with hate. 

On the other hand, Jax made no attempt to release his grip over her. Tracing a different apotropaic symbol, his knife now glowed in white while he dragged the knife down, slicing her body open and I nearly gagged at the overwhelming stench of blood and the sight of blood that gushed from the gruesome torture. I knew that these beings wouldn't die even if you gutted them in whole because they heal incredibly fast. But the macabre sound of her scream that pierced through the air was spine-chilling and almost trauma-inducing. Myerscough finally caved in and shouted, "STOP!" 

"Then, say it!" Jax demanded. 

"WILANÓW!"

"With who?"

"PELLEAS, FUCK! FUCKING RELEASE THIS FROM ME!" Myerscough pleaded out of sheer desperation. 

Pelleas? My senses jumped at the familiar name and wondered who this diabolo was as he seemed to be appearing in every corner possible. This interrogation was outright revolting but I couldn't seem to turn away and I couldn't erase Jax's cold-blooded expression from my mind. 

The glow from his knife finally disappeared and Myerscough was huffing weakly through the blood and gore that spilled from her humanly body. She glared towards Jax with hatred in her eyes and the next thing she said rushed through my head in a blur. She spat distastefully, "Funny how you still get to roam the surface when you belonged exactly where—" 

My eyes widened in surprise at the words which my brain refused to process but Jax urgently fired a shot right into the diabolo's heart before she could finish her sentence. Every single inch of her being pulverized into black, unholy dust against the first daylight that shone through the windows. 

The whole room was left with the both of us now and my heart slowed nervously while my hands trembled against my sides when my gaze met with his. He looked at me fixedly with the cold, impassive expression that I couldn't decipher whether he's feeling infuriated, annoyed or nothing at all. Beads of sweat started prickling along the length of my spine when he took steps towards me and I was undeniably sure that it was not the sweat from all the fighting but pure fear that pumped right through my veins. My breath quickeed as he closed the distance between us. When he almost caressed my cheek with the back of his blood-stained hand, he asked, "Why are you all tensed, sweetness?" 

"She—"

"You wondered about her words?" Jax asked, his tone still indiscernible. 

"I—"

"Don't remember what I taught you?" he raised a brow questioningly at me. "Never trust any being that belonged to the underside, latreía mou."

◩

Time Elapsed: 21:54:26 | 08:29:20 AM

We still stood in the middle of the wrecked receiving room while I stared apprehensively towards him when my brace vibrated against my wrist. Wholeheartedly, I never felt so relieved that something had place an abrupt stop to this eerie tension. I looked down and confirmed the line of texts which showed.

Looking up to face Jax once again, his expression had returned to normal and he smiled at me, "Congratulations on your first elite mission, you did well."

The fear was lifted but not erased, though I made sure to never step on that landmine ever again because what I felt a moment ago was unnatural. No doubt that Jax's a human. After all these years of training, the ability to figure a cac or diabolo out was almost ingrained in me. I quickly shook the unease off and he said to me, "I'll take you home." 

"Don't we have to clean this place up?"

"That's not our job," he laughed with his usual deep, smooth voice. "A team from Elysium would be on their way to help cover tracks." 

◩

I sat in his car, in the usual comfortable silence as he drove away from the mansion. Utterly worn out from being up the entire night, I decided to rest my eyes a little. As I slowly drift away, I felt the car slowed down into a comfortable pace and the ride felt smoother than before. A second just before I could fall into deep sleep, the car system suddenly sounded, "You have a call from—"

Like the other time, he doesn't allow the car system to finish the announcement and he picked the call up immediately. I turned my head slightly and watched him from the side, noticing that his brows pinched into a frown and he asked softly, "You're alone? Where's Marianne?" 

A reply must've came from the other side of the call when he inhaled sharply and mouthed, "Fuck." 

A wry smile tipped from a corner of my lip as I registered how much he doted on the person on the receiving end of the call so much that he couldn't even bear for his harsh words to be heard. Then, I caught him looking towards me and I raised my brows curiously at him but he turned to face the road ahead and said tenderly, "I'll be right there, ángelé."

When he pulled the earpiece off his ear and threw it into the storage space on the armrest beside him, I spoke through an ache in my chest, "You can drop me off. I can make it home myself." 

"I'm sorry, I'm going to speed up," he mentioned simply. 

He doesn't even give me a chance to reply before he rammed hard on the accelerator and my body was thrown back a little from the sudden force of the car going at an insanely fast speed. 

"Let me out," I frowned, annoyed by the sudden clenching in my chest. When he didn't respond to me, I shouted, "Jax!" 

"I don't have time, Iva," he exhaled, slightly impatient. "You're coming with me." 

Hell, why would I do that? 

◩

jax and all his secrets. hmm?
(i know there's some gore in this chapter. please let me know if it was too much, i'll make sure to tone it down.)