Ridley

Vandel quickly yanked his hood back over his head, making his way over to me in a way that can best be described only as an ‘angry march’.

“Okay, this is getting fucking ridiculous,” he muttered. “Is it seriously impossible for us to avoid each other whenever we break into one another’s territories?”

“What are you doing here?” I whispered through gritted teeth.

Vandel shrugged. “The same as you, I’m guessing.”

I glanced around us to make sure no one was listening. “You mean you’re looking for the...you know what?”

Vandel rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

I supposed Vandel was the one sent to get it due to the fact that he was one of the only demons I had ever seen that could change his appearance to make himself look almost human.

“You realize you’re the one who’s been caught in my territory this time, right? There is nothing stopping me from capturing you right here and now.”

Vandel scowled at me. “We both know you don’t have time for that. We need to find the…” he lowered his voice, “Corisathium before anyone gets their hands on it. It has to be destroyed.”

“Yeah, it has to…” I suddenly realized what he had just said. “Wait...we? You want it destroyed too?”

“Obviously. That’s what I just said.”

My eyes narrowed. “I thought the demons would use if for themselves.”

Vandel shook his head. “Never. Do you really think of demons so lowly, Sir Ridley? Do you think we just run around all day with no rules or roles or morals? Corisathium nearly tore our kingdom apart when it was still around. We want every trace of it destroyed.”

“How can I believe you?” I asked slowly.

Vandel simply shrugged. “You can’t.”

After a moment of contemplating everything, I let out a heavy sigh. “Well...if we both want the same objective….”

“We could work together,” Vandel said suddenly.

I blinked. “What?”

“Think about it, we both want to find it. We both want to destroy it. Two heads are better than one. We’ll find it together.”

I shook my head. “I don’t trust the demons to destroy it.”

“Well, I don’t trust the humans to really do it either.” We glared at each other. “How about this,” Vandel said slowly. “We find it together, then flip a coin to see who gets to bring it back to our kingdom.”

I thought for a moment. “Alright, fine.”

We both fell silent.

“So?”

“So, what?”

“So, what do we do now?” Vandel hissed, glancing around. “This thing could be anywhere.”

“I thought maybe we could look under some chickens.”

Vandel stared at me a moment.

I stared back.

Finally he spoke. “Are you fucking joking?”

“Nope.”

“Ridley...why the actual fuck would it be under a chicken?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought maybe they would hide the Corisathium under them like they’re eggs.”

“That has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Vandel sneered.

I glared at him. “Fine then, genius, let me in on your master plan.”

Vandel thought for a beat. “Well, we could look over the merchants' tables first and see if there’s anyone suspicious looking.”

I shook my head. “They wouldn’t put such valuable cargo in the hands of someone that looked obviously suspicious. What would even be the point of hiding it then?”

“I don’t know,” Vandel snapped. “You have a better idea?”

“Yes! The chicken!”

“For the last time, we are not looking under fucking chickens!”

-------

We made our way through the village looking anywhere we possible could. We looked under the docs, besides the taverns, in ale buckets, and Vandel even convinced me to shovel through some horse poo to see if it was hidden under there. That experience was...slightly degrading, to say the least.

As we made our way through the main market place again, Vandel suddenly walked over to a booth.

I perked up, following him. “Did you find something?”

Vandel didn’t respond, continuing to push his way through the crowd towards a merchant selling candied nuts.

“Is this who you think is selling it?” I whispered. 

“What...? Oh, fuck no. I just really wanted some candied nuts.” Vandel wrinkled his nose. “And try not to stand so close to me. You kind of smell like shit.”

“Because you made me look through poop!” A few people turned to stare at us. I flushed, realizing perhaps I may have said that a little too loudly. I frowned at him now. “And how can you want candy nuts? We have a mission to accomplish.”

“I know, I know,” Vandel snapped. “But I’m hardly ever in Alteria for obvious reasons, and they don’t have these in the demon kingdom.” He suddenly realized something. “Can I borrow some gold? I don’t have any human money.”

“Are you serious?” I hissed. “You want to borrow money...from me?”

“I can pay you back in demon money right here and now,” Vandel said, narrowing his eyes.

“Why the hell would I ever need demon money?”

“I don’t know, you could buy some moon worms.” I was met with a horrible memory of those disgusting worms I had seen the demons eating the second time I broke into the castle.

“I think I’ll pass.” We had reached the front of the line now. Vandel stared at me with his large eyes. Wait...were his eyes always that big? I stared at him with an expression of disbelief most likely plastered to my face. “Did you just...make your eyes bigger in an attempt to make yourself cuter so I would buy you nuts?”

“Is it working?”

“No, you just look like a weird looking bird that’s been given too much sugar.”

The vendor cleared his throat. “Are you little buggers going to buy something or not? You’re holding up the line.” His beady eyes narrowed. “And by the way...one of you smells terrible. You need a bath as soon as possible.”

I sighed heavily, digging through my bag to retrieve a coin before handing it to the vendor. In return, he slid me back a bag full of candied nuts.

I tossed it to Vandel. “Here you go.” 

Vandel easily caught it. “Thanks. I owe you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t trust demons to pay debts. Just think of it as a gift.”

As we continued to walk, we passed a line of livestock. My gaze fell to some chickens sitting on their nests.

Vandel glared at me. “Don’t even think about it.”

I tugged on his sleeve. “Come on, Vandel...just one...one chicken…”

“That is literally the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.” Vandel marched over to one especially fat one. “What fucking dumbass would hide something so important under a chicken?” He yanked the chicken up. We both froze. Vandel’s enlarged eyes grew even larger. “Holy shit….you have got to be FUCKING kidding me.”

I was too stunned to even speak. Beneath the chicken lay a large bottle filled with a blue liquid. It was exactly how the Corisathium had been described by Stefan. Vandel quickly pocketed the bottle while I checked under the other chickens to make sure there was no more of it. We made eye contact, silently agreeing it was time to leave before we took off running.

We made our way to the outskirts of the village where only a few stragglers from the festivities were.

Breathing heavily, Vandel pulled out the bottle. “Okay…” he said, digging into his pocket to retrieve a coin. “Let’s see who’s taking this back to their kingdom.”

I shook my head. “Not so fast. We’re not using your coin this time. Let’s use mine.”

Vandel carefully placed the Corisathium down, his eyes narrowed. “Fine.”

“Heads or tails?”

“Heads.”

I gave him a quick nod and flipped it. The coin came down tails.

Vandel glared at me. “Two out of three.”

“We’re not doing two out of three. Stop being a sore loser.”

“Come on…please…”

“Holy mother of...did you just make your eyes even bigger? Stop pouting and just take it like a man.”

Vandel smirked at me, dragging a finger slowly down the line of my chest. “You know...there’s bigger things I rather take…”

I flushed a brighter color than I would have cared to admit it. “Would you stop? Fine. You wore me down. Two out of three.”

I flipped the coin again. It came down heads. We both took a deep breath as we prepared for the final flip.

I tossed it.

It came down tails.

A grin spread across my face. “Ha! I win! Bye, Vandel, hopefully we won’t be seeing each other…” I turned to grab the Corisathium and then froze.

Vandel turned to look at where I was staring and nearly gagged. “Where is it?”

Normally I would have accused Vandel of stealing it, but I had seen him lie many times. This was far too honest a reaction. My stomach twisted to knots. 

“Could it have fallen?” I asked, my heart thundering in my ears as I scanned our surroundings. 

“We would have heard it!”  Vandel had begun to desperately glance around as well. “Shit...shit...shit...what are we going to do?”

That’s when we heard a scream from the village.