Rey walked quietly with a mostly happy group. Well, Filomena and Ajay were delighted to be out hunting together. Their feelings had shifted from a look here and there to open teasing and giddy laughter. It was progressing at a good pace, if not a little faster than last time. That was the case with everything. Everything was progressing a little faster. It was as if someone had hit the fast-forward button this time.

  He figured it was most likely him who had done it. After all, he had made so many changes this time around, he didn't know how things would resolve and how much fate would course correct. The thing that he feared the most was how Phil would come to fuck them in the tushie. After all, he was the one who would get the castle doors opened.

  Kassandra sidled beside him. She nudged his shoulder. "You're uncharacteristically quiet."

  He paid her no mind and continued staring off into the distance. "It's nothing."

  "With you, there's always something."

  How is it that even after all this pushing away, you still know me so well?

  It was almost as if fate was pushing her toward Rey so it could enjoy their tragic ending. Fate truly was a vindictive dick who probably enjoyed watching such tragedies as it sat eating caramelized popcorn.

  Rey hated caramelized popcorn; who eats sweet popcorn? Popcorn was only meant to be salty and layered with butter. That's it.

  His mouth watered thinking about that. Another thing he would never get to eat because Hell was running short on corn, and the only corn fields here were made of the testicles of rapists. And even as a demon, Rey never tried that out, and he ate pretty much everything.

  "So, which direction should we be heading in?" Kassandra asked.

  After their conversation in his room—after which Rey almost died of embarrassment—he had tried to distance himself even more from her. But she was like a magnet that kept getting pulled toward him, and no matter how much he wanted to push her away, a part of him yearned to get close to her. Rey would have to continue to kill that part.

  "Let's head through the trees over there." He pointed with his scythe. "Hopefully, we'll find some demons."

  They headed towards the dead trees that circled their castle. Filomena and Ajay, who had been giggling and talking, grew somewhat quiet. Their talking quieted down to a whisper, which was good, as the treeline Rey had pointed to was the thickest of the forest. Any demon could jump them if they weren't careful.

  Kassandra gave him another look, but Rey didn't meet her eyes. Keeping it focused on the treeline as if he didn't know what was going to happen. He could say that everyone who was here wouldn't meet their end today, but then the future could be altered in many ways.

  Next thing, he knew, a pair of Luthrols could descend on them and kill the star-crossed lovers, and Rey could do nothing about that.

  They crossed the trees that had severed, rotting limbs as branches. It was a gruesome sight for anyone who wasn't used to this already. Rey had spent more than two months surveying this forest, so he was, but for the others, like Kassandra and Filomena, it was their first foray into the forest.

  Rey tried to put them at ease by distracting them. "Say, Kassi, where were you from in Greece?"

  "Huh?" She frowned. "Don't you know already?"

  I do.

  "How would I know that?"

  She just shrugged. "I figured you would've seen it by now. Besides, why do you want to know?"

  "I'm just making conversation," Rey replied. And that you look so jumpy that if I farted, you would stick with me so many arrows that it'll look like I'm cosplaying as Sonic the Hedgehog.

  "Now, you want to make conversation," she huffed, and the other two visibly cringed.

  "I'm from Palermo in Sicily," Filomena said, trying to break the tension.

  "And I'm from Delhi," Ajay added. "Which is in India, if you didn't know."

  "Oh wow, I wouldn't have guessed that at all," Rey said sarcastically.

  Finally, Kassandra sighed and decided to share. "I'm from Sparta. Yes, that Sparta."

  Everyone's eyes widened, while Rey just smiled. He did it to get precisely that reaction from them. It was so cool to have an actual Spartan among them.

  "Does your family tree include Leonidas?" Rey asked. "Was he like a great-great-great-great times a hundred grandfather?"

  "Oh yes, he was," she replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm sure you all have family trees going back more than two thousand years."

  "Can you please 'This is Sparta' some demons?" Rey begged.

  "Oh, that would be so cool," Ajay added.

  Filomena shared a glance with Kassi, and they both shook their head in a move that said, 'Boys.'

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Where are you from?" Kassi asked Rey. "Spit it out."

  "I was born and grew up in Brampton, Canada, but my family is from Pun—"

  He was cut short as something shrieked to their right. It wasn't the shrieking that was far off in the distance. It sounded so close that a lover might have been moaning in his ear. The lover showed itself a moment later as it stepped out from behind the trees.

  It was a grotesque monstrosity with a pair of axe-like appendages sticking out of its chest. They swung up and down on this reddish arm-like structure. That's not to say it didn't have its own arms, which ended in clawed hands.

  [Demon – E+2]

  "Who wants it?" Rey asked.

  "I'll take it," Kassandra said.

  She was the best candidate for it, as she was the only one among them who was still at Rank 2. It would be best if they let her take out all the Rank 2 demons.

  Kassandra drew her bow and shot a glowing arrow through the demon's eyes. The demon fell dead right then and there. Her Element was terrific. However, if she died and turned into a demon, all those Talent points would be wasted.

  But considering her future, it was the best thing for her…

  Rey mentally slapped himself. Stop thinking like that, dumbass.

  He could give up on everyone, but he couldn't give up on her. She was the only person whose fate he was going to change, no matter what.

  Kassandra retrieved her arrow, which was mostly fine. "That was easy."

  "You can handle all these Rank 2 demons," Rey said. "You need to rank up to come up to our level, Miss Archer."

  She squinted her eyes. "Were you calling me weak?"

  "What? I would never. I was just saying that you're just at Rank 2 while we're at Rank 3, and you need to come up to our level and fast."

  "Yes, he's calling you weak," Filomena stated.

  Kassandra drew her bow.

  Rey held out his hands. "What are you—it's the last time, I'm bringing you along, Filomena. Ajay, a little help here for your fellow man."

  The arrowhead started to glow with a silvery glow, and Rey backed up a few paces.

  "Kassi, just so you know, if you shoot me then—"

  She didn't let him finish and let the arrow loose. Rey let out a scream that he was not proud of and ducked, expecting pain. But there was no pain. He patted himself down, and there was no arrow sticking out of him either. But what he did notice was that there was a shadow hovering over him.

  He looked up to see a demon that looked like a cross between a monkey and a bear with claws that were greater than Rey's hands. The demon was about to pounce on Rey, and Kassandra's arrow was sticking out of its forehead.

  The demon fell with a loud thud, blowing up dust.

  Rey stood, chuckling nervously. "Thanks, Kassi. I knew you would never shoot me."

  She walked up to him until she was face-to-face with him. Her face was so close that Rey had to control himself from kissing her.

  "Next time you call me weak, I will stick that arrow in your head," she said.

  "Noted." Rey made a motion of writing in an invisible book.

  Then something roared. Well, it was a cross between a roar and a metallic shriek. Like metal and against metal were being dragged against each other. Everyone jumped, even Rey. He had a feeling; he had heard this kind of roar before, but he didn't remember where or from what demon. But he knew one thing—it was not going to be pretty.

  The demon showed itself, a moment later, and Rey was correct. It was not pretty. If the succubus was the epitome of beauty in Hell, this thing was at the bottom. Well, at least on the lower rungs, for sure.

  It had a dark, leathery skin, if one could call it that. Kind of like a burnt cockroach, and had a face like one too, just blown up to the size of a bear's. It had two long feelers protruding from its head, positioned right above its snapping mouth, which was lined with many dark, jagged teeth. Not to mention, it had four tails and a swollen belly. It was like someone had taken a cockroach, fed it enough steroids that it was the size of a bear, and given it four extra-long tails.

  Rey stilled. He remembered where he had seen this demon before, and it was not a pretty memory.

  Please don't be a Nestoriel.

  [Nestoriel (Exiled) - ?]

  "Fuck!" Rey exclaimed. "Not these things."

  It was a testament to the horror on their faces that they didn't even register what Rey had said. They drew their weapons and got ready to face the monstrosity.

  Kassandra drew another arrow from her quiver, moving ever so slightly, so that the demon wouldn't know what she was doing. The elemental pair tightened their grips on their swords. Rey did the same, though he didn't move his scythe from his shoulder.

  No one moved. Not even the demon. It was most likely assessing who would be the best incubator. Rey would smooch a Luthrol before he would let himself be taken by this thing. It was perhaps the worst way to die, right along with getting stabbed in the back by someone you thought you could trust.

  Ajay made the first move. He thrust his hand out and shot flames at the thing. The Nestoriel turned to the side, and the carapace on its back protected it from the flames. If Rey was remembering right, this demon was immune to fire and…

  Thunder rumbled, and lightning lit up the forest as Filomena shot a mighty bolt at the demon.

  And it did nothing.

  The Nestoriel was also immune to lightning. He would know, after all, he had tried to shoot so many of them into one of its kind. The good thing was that this one was only at the E-Tier; the one he had faced was at the C-Tier. The result was even less spectacular than this, but the resulting anger from the demon was the same.

  The Nestoriel turned, its feelers swinging about in the air, trying to sense something. At the same time, its horrid mouth moved like it could already savor their flesh.

  Kassandra shot her arrow, but her arrow never connected as the demon flicked its tail and snapped the arrow in half, mid-air.

  "Aim for the head, everyone," Rey shouted. "And do not get caught by its tail."

  He had just said this when the Nestoriel made its move. It dashed forward on its centipede-like legs at a speed that it had no right to have. It targeted the one closest to him, who just happened to be Ajay.

  Ajay washed him with flames, but it had no effect. One of its tails slithered around Ajay's midsection and lifted him clean off the ground. Another pinned his arms to his sides. The third was around his neck, suffocating him.

  With its target in hand, the Nestoriel picked him up, held him behind it like a shield, knowing that they wouldn't shoot one of their own, and ran away.

  "No!" Filomena screamed. She was so stunned by the whole thing that she just stood still, trembling.

  Rey and Kassandra ran to her, while she put her arms around the trembling girl.

  "Rey, we must go after him," Kassandra said.

  Rey drew a deep breath, remembering the victims of Nestroriels and what this demon did to those it abducted.

  "Rey!" She shook him.

  "I'm sorry, but Ajay might as well be dead."

  That shook Filomena out of her daze.

  "I don't accept that." Her eyes blazed. "He's not dead yet. I'm going after him."

  Rey shared a glance with Kassandra. "Just so you know, it has taken Ajay to lay its eggs inside him. Once the eggs are inside him, he won't last long."

  "How long does he have?" Kassandra asked.

  "Not long."