The Spirits' Guide

Iris watched as Owen finally entered his house. He was too careless. After she had told him to steer clear of those he did not know, what did he do? He waltzed right to two strangers.

He even went as far as to take one out on a date in what Iris could only assume was an act of moronic male bravado. The boy was an idiot.

She sighed as she got up from her perch on the roof of a neighboring house. Stretching, she could hear her joints pop.

That was her job. Wait and watch. Any demon that decided to come for the boy will have to get through her. Iris leaned back and watched the street.

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She jolted awake when she heard a man scream. When did she fall asleep? Looking around, she found the source of the scream.

A homeless man, no doubt in his early thirties was being ripped open by a furred beast that was twice his size. Iris continued to watch as the creature dropped what was left of the man on the ground and shamble to Owen's house.

She ducked low as she watched the demon get closer to the home and onto the porch. She considered killing it before it busted down.

"Surely, they didn't want just one puny human boy as a slave?" Iris asked herself silently.

The demon, however, did not tear through the door. Iris watched in awe as the demon burst into brilliant purple flames the moment it came into contact with the door.

Hopping off the roof, she pulled out a dagger from her belt. Using her magic would be too obvious. She was foolish to have used it in the school the night before. Aneria had magic sensors everywhere.

"Sensors are not completely accurate, though," Iris attempted to calm herself.

Fortunately, there was more than one way to kill a demon.

Iris crouched as she crept closer to the writhing creature. It was a Bifrons, a lower class demon who's power was just to transform between beast and man. Not something anyone would fear nor put a barrier against.

Standing straight, Iris spoke, "What do you want with the boy, Bifrons?"

The demon grunted and growled in pain as the purple embers died out. Still on the ground beneath Iris, the beast groaned, "Spare me, witch, and I will tell you everything."

Iris kicked the beast, its pained growl echoed down the street. She had no fear of onlookers, they would just assume the pained creature was a dog and just continue to sleep.

"No can do. I have to keep that boy safe until I figure out what the hell it is you demons want with him. If you answer my questions, I'll send you to the Spirit-Realm quickly," Iris said.

Bifrons considered this before he glared at her. "I will not play your games, witch. We all know your kind are born liars."

Iris shrugged. "If you don't want to play, I'm just going to have some fun dismembering you piece by piece." The demon whined as Iris made her point by digging the dagger into the demon's left limb's finger. She twisted the knife so she had trouble disconnecting the bone.

The demon laughed at her. "I come from Hell. Is that the best you got?" Iris grunted in answer as she turned her attention to the beast's eyes, the only way for them to make a contract with a human.

"Again, why do your kind want the boy? I heard that you could never get over the pain of losing an eye." Iris demanded. Bifrons just glared at her.

The demon howled as Iris stabbed into one of the black eyes. Raising her blade momentarily, Iris glared at the demon. With a raised brow, she asked again.

He refused to say. She continued to mutilate the eye and turned to the next one, not stopping even after the beast howled that he would tell her.

"Our lord wants him. None of us know why, they only said that there was a reward. If we brought the boy to him, he would give us the reward." The demon gasped as he clawed at his face. Iris lowered the dagger to one of his pointed ears.

Growling, she said, "If you are lying to me, your hearing is going to go. Now, who is your lord?"

The demon whimpered before he told her. Iris stiffened. Belial wanted Owen? Why would such a demon want a human child?

Belial was the demon of lies and was the father of Lucifer, although that was just a rumor. Belial was the first angel to be sent to Hell for the uprise against his own kin and that of gods. He was once considered to be on par with Beelzebub, however, he lost respect around the same time Iris was born.

He was a very, very powerful demon, but he was not known to be interested in the affairs of the Living-Realm. So why would he want Owen?

"Why would Belial want the boy?" Iris demanded. Bifrons gurgled as he stared past Iris.

Within a second, Iris was leaping away from the demon. She watched as the demon began to melt as though acid had been poured onto him.

"Who's there?" Iris shouted as she raised her dagger. If she was facing a demon like Belial, she was going to need a lot more than just an enchanted blade.

She glanced to her right as a light was flicked on in one of the houses. She didn't have the time to fight another demon without casualties.

"Who, you ask? Shouldn't you be asking what? A Who is a human. A What is something completely different." A woman's voice laughed at Iris. It sounded as though small bells were ringing in her ears, it was a light and feathery voice. It only made Iris want to stab her blade through the creature's heart even more.

"Fine. What's here?" Iris snapped, wanting this stranger to step out of the shadows and face her. She was quickly losing patients and time.

The woman continued to laugh. "A demon and her prey."

"Oh, how sweet of you? I see. I'm going to guess that the barrier is keeping this demon from her prey." Iris taunted, trying to buy as much time as she possibly could so another demon could show up and possibly distract the human who was making their way to the door to witness the commotion.

"I know what you're trying to do," the demon sighed in the shadows.

She continued, "Unfortunately, I can't play with you right now. I'm doing my job just as you are doing yours."

She was dealing with the demon of lies. She must be aware that his minions would follow his example. However, she found herself relaxing as the presence vanished.

Turning to the melted corpse, Iris found that it was no longer there. She wasn't dealing with Belial, yet, but she was dealing with a high ranking devil.

Iris stepped into the shadows as a door opened to reveal a young child staring into the darkness, hoping to catch a glimpse of what had just woken him.