​​​​​​​warning: this chapter contains depictions of violence/r*pe that may make some uncomfortable.

In, out. In, out. In, out. In, out.

He drove the blade into the soft flesh of the body again and again, stabbing the corpse into a bloody mess. The victim's face was unrecognisable—who were they again? He didn't have a clue. They were just another meal to him, a fucked up heap of blood and tissue; just another name in the long list of fatalities he had caused. There was no malice behind the savagery. Well, not towards the poor victim in any case.

Arms aching, he plunged the weapon into the person's throat, fingers loosening their grip on the handle. The blade slipped, penetrating the flesh just to the right of the larynx.

He sat back, chest heaving as he gazed upon his work. When was the last time he made such a mess of things? Glancing down at his clothes, he scoffed in disgust at the amount of blood that covered them. It was even in his hair, for Pete's sake!

He got to his feet, stretching. His back stung from being hunched over for so long, but he couldn't be bothered to crack it. He just wanted rest. And clean clothes. And clean hair. Yeah, he wanted a lot of things, and had no idea where they ranked on the list of importance in his mind. Rest was probably the most important, but would definitely be the last thing he did.

A cough from behind him brought him out of his thoughts. Whirling around, the murderer came face to face with someone he knew well. He groaned in despair.

'What the hell are you doing here?' he spat.

The newcomer tutted in disapproval. 'How rude. I thought you would've been happy to see me. However—' he walked over to the mangled corpse and stared at it—'it appears you're a bit...wound up.'

'Don't start,' snapped the first man, switching to Japanese (which is what the newcomer spoke). 'I'm not in the mood to deal with anything right now.'

'I can see that,' the second man said, 'and I brought you something.' He pulled a small bag from his pocket and tossed them to the first man. 'The metal was easy to remove; I don't know why you didn't just rip it open.'

He recognised the bag easily. 'Where did you get this from?'

'A lovely little cabin in the woods. Though, they prefer to call it a "cottage in the forest", don't they?'

'You don't mean—'

'Yes, I do mean. Your new little plaything.'

'They are not my plaything, Kagekao! And they aren't mine, either!'

They aren't mine yet, whispered a little voice in the first man's head.

The smile on Kagekao's mask widened. 'Judging by your reaction, you've grown quite fond of them, haven't you?'

'No I haven't. Piss off and leave me alone.'

'Ouch, someone's still a bit fraught, isn't he? Want something else to use to relieve the stress?'

'I thought I just told you to piss off?'

'You did, you did. I'm merely choosing to selectively ignore you.'

The first man tutted. 'Typical.'

Kagekao selectively ignored him again. He dragged something out from behind a tree. Another body.

'Here you go,' he said, letting go of the person's feet. 'A present for my favourite eyeless demon to use as he pleases.'

EJ took a step towards the body, his hand hovering over their mouth and nose. 'They're still alive,' he noted. 'Look, I'm not into somnophilia—'

'Damnit.'

'—and I can take my anger out on whoever I want to take my anger out on.' And right now, I wanna sock you in the face.

'If it bothers you that much, just kill them.'

'...I'm not into necrophilia either.'

Kagekao let out a frustrated groan. 'Jesus Christ, you're a hard demon to please!'

'Not all demons are into non-con, idiot. You're not into it, so why should I?'

'I don't know. The only thing you seem to be into is pining after that random human we can't hurt.'

'For the last time, I do not pine after them!'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.' With one swift movement, Kagekao bent down and snapped the unconscious person's neck. 'Well, that was easy.'

'There's a river nearby that you can dump them in,' EJ told him.

'The one with the car in?'

Averting his gaze, he replied, 'Yeah, that one.' Please don't say anything about the car.

'Great, we can make it look like this dipshit stole it and crashed into the river.' Kagekao clapped his hands together in glee. 'Come on, help me carry them, would you?'

With a sigh, EJ held the dead person's legs while Kagekao wrapped his hands under their arms. Together, they moved the body to the river where the borrowed car had been submerged.

'I wonder why it got left here,' Kagekao mused, gesturing for EJ to let go of the legs. 'I mean, I'm assuming it's stolen, but even so, why abandon it in the river?'

EJ shrugged. 'Maybe they didn't like it.'

'Then why steal it? It makes no sense.'

'Humans don't make sense.'

'You can say that again.' He snorted in laughter as he stepped into the cold water, the body slung over his shoulders. 'Ah! Shit, it's cold!'

EJ shook his head, watching as the monochrome demon carefully placed the body in the driver's seat and made it look like they were the original driver when the car crashed into the river. If only he knew why the car was really there.

An idea popped into EJ's head. He took off his bloodstained hoodie, crouched down and soaked it in the water, scrubbing the bloody fabric together. It stained the water red as it detached itself from the fibres, leaving the hoodie clean—but soggy. Once all the blood was gone, he twisted it, squeezing as much water out as he possibly could. It wouldn't be completely dry, but it wasn't that cold at night; he would be fine in just his tee shirt.

Cupping some water in his hands, he splashed his hair and ruffled it. In a fit of sudden annoyance, he dumped the top of his head into the river, watching the red stains vanish from his dark brown locks.

'You know, I could've washed your hair for you if it bothered you that much.'

EJ frowned. 'I'm not a child; I can do it myself.'

'I know, I know, but I've always wanted to touch your hair. It looks so soft.'

'Kage?'

'Yes?'

'You sound creepy as fuck, man.'

'Whoopsie.'

He chuckled, using his hoodie as a towel to dry his hair. As sadistic as Kagekao was, conversations with him usually took a intellectual or playful turn, providing a short relief from the stresses of life.

It was at times like this when he forgot they were both demonic entities.

'So, any plans for tomorrow?' Kagekao questioned, exiting the river and collapsing down onto the dirt.

'Not really. You?'

'None here. Might sleep all day. Once I get all the water out of my clothes, that is.' He lifted his scarf up in disgust, watching droplets of water drip off. 'Actually, I might go and introduce myself to your new friend.'

'Don't even think about it,' EJ seethed, glaring daggers at him.

Kagekao laughed, sitting up. 'I won't cause harm, don't worry.'

'I'm not worried.'

'Liar. C'mon, be honest with me: what makes them so special that you dumped a car in the river for them? Don't deny that that wasn't you—your reaction said it all.'

He hesitated, and then said, 'They're...interesting, I guess.'

'You guess?!'

'Yeah.' He wasn't going to say anything about your research. 'They're pretty persistent, too. Threatened me with a baseball and everything.'

'God, they've got some balls, haven't they? Now I really want to meet them. I do have one question, though, about the car. Why?'

'I stole a car for them to use to drive to some uni. I didn't want the owner to turn it over to the police and have it tested for DNA. If they got arrested, it would suck.'

'So...you drove it into a river?'

'Pretty much.'

'You'd do a lot for this human, wouldn't you?'

'Yeah,' EJ said quietly, 'I would.'