Hellv7 - Chapter 1

Dying was not an option. A simple enough theory- yet it never converted well into practice.

Deceit swore under her breath, trying not to attract the attention of the things that may or may not have been watching her. She gritted her teeth in frustration. If she managed to make it out of this mess alive, someone was losing their job- and quite possibly more.

What was supposed to have been a routine search and destroy mission had become a matter of international security in a matter of seconds after beginning. Hydrogen bombs were easy to deal with, even in the hands of the Sirenian Government. The Sirens targeting the Human population of Sicily may have not been unusual- there were always problems there- but the means were extremely rare. They were employing Harpy mercenaries.

Deceit opened her eyes attentively, not that it made much of a difference. She could not see much more than five feet in front of her at most, even with her enhanced night vision. There must have been two dead at least, she guessed, trying not to gag on the smell of decaying flesh. Beside her, something began to stir. Deceit tensed, bracing herself against any possible form of abuse headed her way.

A slow steady thump-thump-thumping made itself clearly known. To her left, the thing managed to drag itself into a sitting position- dangerously close to her. It was definitely male, she decided, his collar bone was definitely male.

Deceit could see bruising and an array of other wounds in various stages of healing dotting his exposed flesh from the close proximity. He had not yet opened his eyes, but the redhead had obviously been there a week at least, if not longer. She was distracted for a second, as feeling began returning to her slowly- an intense, white, hot burning starting at her bonded wrists.

‘Nylon’ Was Deceit's first thought, as she bit back another curse. She had been allergic to nylon for as long as she could remember, and her captors apparently had not come out of the Dark Ages to convert to plastic bindings.

“What do you mean there’s prisoners?” A door slammed somewhere ahead, causing both Deceit and the thing shrunk back almost instinctively. There were murmurs in reply- though in a language that Deceit was unlearned in. Sounds of movement drifted farther and farther away until disappearing completely with another echoing slam. Deceit began to struggle against her bindings, her efforts remained fruitless. Beside her, the redheaded thing groaned.

“Be quiet!” She whispered fiercely. The thing shuddered in response, as if only then realizing that he was not, in fact, alone. The steady thump-thump-thump rhythm increased into a sudden frenzy. ‘A heart beat?’

Deceit froze, fear creeping its way up her spine. ‘The only race to have that steady tempo of a pulse is...is…’ She could not bring herself to finish the thought, but she already knew the answer. That thing was Human.

No, it couldn’t be. Humans were not supposed to be mixed up with creatures they fear from their bedtime stories. They were the epitome of greed, destruction. It was against the Ancient Laws of nearly all races to have any contact with Humans besides the Magi, and even they were a dying breed.

Still, Deceit's morals were against her. It was her job, as the Peace Adviser for the High Council, to remove those innocents from harm’s way regardless of their past exploits or race. She signed the contract, for Gaia’s sake. As much as everyone knew the position itself was a joke- there had never been any real peace, nor would there ever be, the principles had still managed to leave their mark, even if the Rules had not.

“W-who are you?” The Human had finally found his voice, and thankfully no more than a whisper of it.

“My name’s Deceit Star, who are you?” Why was she offering this information freely? Deceit did not know, but this thing could not have caused any amount of harm to a fly in his current state.

“I-I’m James Byrne-“

“Last names are not important,” Deceit said in a rush. “For future reference, I suggest you keep it to yourself unless asked. Now, where are we exactly?” She had not been able to figure out their location, or the time that had elapsed, only that she was nowhere near Tunis, Tunisia any longer.

“Patras, Greece,” The Human- erm, James, responded. ‘How did he know?’

“Fuck,” Deceit was not exactly popular with the Greek Councils, and this was going to cause a problem. Let alone the fact that she was now in a completely different country on a different continent. Today just was not going to end well. James sat beside her quietly, without thought.

There was silence for a while. James did not know if it was seconds or minutes that passed, but it seemed longer than necessary. Deceit had begun to inch away from James when an excessively large rat jumped into his lap. He was not quick enough to stifle a gasp, but they drew no attention. The rat had an unusually fluffy tail and-

Mou, you nearly gave me a heart attack.” Mou meowed in response. ‘Our savior is a kitten? Great, we’re dead.’ James thought bitterly. Mou bit his hand in response, causing James to bite his lip to stifle a curse.

“F-”

“It’s her way of telling you that she’s in no way a kitten.” Deceit informed him, as Mou grew to the size of an Irish Settler right before James’s eyes. She cursed Mou’s lack of ability to be subtle.

“W-what is that?!” He was beginning to panic now, and Deceit could easily see that.

“She’s a genetically enhanced lynx- panther Hybrid. Now calm down before you attract attention.” Mou had finished gnawing through Deceit's nylon bindings, and once freed, she quickly untied James without a problem. Deceit nodded to Mou, who changed back into her over-sized rat form and scurried off in response.

“W-what are we going to do now?” James was in an unfamiliar place. He was cold, tired, and definitely losing his mind.

“We are going to get out of this mess. I’ll explain everything after we do so.” Deceit informed him, dragging James to his feet. He nodded uncertainly. ‘I don’t exactly have any better options at this point…’

“Good,” Deceit nodded and lead the way toward what James hoped would be the surface. Deceit knew that if she made it home, there would be more questions than answers awaiting her.