Paint the Town Red

The air was crisp with the scent of baked goods as Eevi and Rai approached the pretzel stand, the warm aroma of freshly made pretzels wafting through the cool evening. Eevi’s mouth watered at the thought of indulging her sweet tooth, the lingering taste of bile from earlier all but forgotten in the presence of sugary delights. She could still feel the remnants of her intoxication, a light-headedness that made the world around her feel slightly surreal, but it only added to the sense of mischief bubbling up inside her.

“Bracelle, huh?” Eevi said with a grin, leaning into Rai’s excited energy. “Sounds fancy. But trust me, you’re in for a treat.” She stepped up to the stand, her eyes scanning the display with greedy anticipation. Every sweet pretzel, from the ones drizzled with chocolate to those coated in cinnamon sugar, called out to her. It was impossible to choose just one.

“I’ll take one of each,” Eevi said with a decisive nod, her voice a little too loud, her words slurring just slightly. The vendor raised an eyebrow, but quickly began assembling her order, placing the assorted pretzels into a large paper bag. As the vendor handed it over, Eevi nearly snatched it, the weight of the bag a satisfying promise of indulgence.

With their spoils in hand, Eevi led Rai to a nearby table in the mall, plopping down with a carefree lack of grace. She opened the bag and pulled out a chocolate-drizzled pretzel, taking a huge bite, her eyes rolling back in bliss as the sweet, soft dough melted in her mouth.

“You have no idea what you’ve been missing, Rai,” she said between bites, her voice playful and teasing. She handed Rai one of the pretzels, cinnamon sugar this time, and waited for her companion to try the delicacy.

As they ate, Eevi’s mischievous gaze lingered on Rai. The demon hunter’s innocent curiosity about the world had been a constant source of amusement throughout the night. The lies she had fed her, the little half-truths and tall tales, had all been in good fun, but now, with their night winding down and the sugary treats fueling her "playful" mood, Eevi wanted to push just a little further.

“So, Rai,” Eevi said, leaning in like they were planning some grand conspiracy, her tone light and filled with a teasing edge, “what’s the one thing you’ve always wanted to do? You know, that one thing that’s been on your mind forever but you never got the chance?” She flashed a grin, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Come on, don’t be shy. We’ve got all night, and who knows? Maybe tonight’s the night to cross it off your list.”

Rai’s attentions quickly follow Eevi and part off her was still surprised she was allowed a ‘Bracille” Or that Eevi had gotten her one that was all hers. The coating was an interesting feeling between the reaver’s fingers. She’d come to know this smell as sugar and it was laced with the same smell of cinnamon Cebra had used to make her like coffee. She took the first bite and was immediately filled with the joy of a child trying something amazing for the first time. Within minutes Rai had eaten all of her pretzel, her tail waving behind her in joy.

“They are wonderful! They are even better than the Dis ones smell. The ones at home are just folded bread that’s more toasted than normal.” In Dis’s defense, there was no sugar available either. Any sweetness added had to come from honey or seasonal fruit.

Then the question that had Rai stumbling over her own thoughts. If she could do anything, what would it be? Usually there were lots of things Rai could think of that she dreamed of doing, but when actually asked it was like all those thoughts fled her mind and left her blank. Her eyes seem to be searching the air for an answer. She supposed she wanted to be human and to have a soul, but she didn’t suppose Eevi would be capable of doing that with her. Some of the other things humans do also began to seem achievable too as all the plant growing, animal rearing and house building she wanted would take more than a night of mischief. The home life of a house, three kids and the wattle fence around the yard in the countryside also wasn’t necessarily an option. In a life of war, death and demon slaying the killer of devils wanted nothing more than to just be human.


“I’d like to go to church.” Rai hums. “In Dis it’s where all the people go. It’s the one time everyone matters the same in the same building. The clergy and the peasants are all listening to the same mass. Everyone God loves in the same building, yet I was never allowed inside. I was told it was because my only job was to die so that the people who can go to church may live, but I am beginning to think that I should have been allowed in.” Rai pushes her second pretzel around on the paper bag for a second lost in thought. “People in Dis went to church to save their souls. I do not have one so I am probably beyond saving. But maybe they’d be willing to try here? Or maybe the churches here can give me a soul?” She was rambling at this point as bloody tears welled at the corner of the Reavers eyes.

A life stolen from a naive child, and the child desperately wanting nothing more than a life.

“If you do not wish to go, I understand. We can probably find something fun to do. I just do not know what.”

Eevi listened, her mischievous grin fading as Rai spoke. The carefree teasing she’d intended melted away as she saw the raw vulnerability in Rai’s eyes—the quiet desperation of someone who had lived so long without something as fundamental as a soul. It was as though the little demon hunter had always been on the outside, looking in, barred from the one thing that could give her the sense of belonging she craved.

Church, of all things. It wasn’t exactly what Eevi had expected, but it wasn’t something she could dismiss. Rai’s words held a gravity that Eevi felt deeply, though she wasn’t used to being the one to offer any kind of comfort. Usually, it was all sarcasm, lies, and distractions to keep herself from the pain buried deep inside. But looking at Rai, Eevi couldn’t bring herself to brush it off with her usual wit.

She reached over, putting her hand gently on Rai’s, the remnants of the sugar from their pretzels sticking slightly to their fingers. “Rai…” she began, her voice softer, a little more serious than usual. “I’m not going to pretend to know much about souls, or churches, or… whatever it is that happens in them. But I do know that you’re not beyond saving. Not in the way you think.”

Eevi’s mind briefly flicked to the things she’d done, the lives she’d taken, the person she had been before meeting Rai and others who had somehow managed to chip away at the icy barrier she kept around her heart. She wasn’t one for deep, philosophical musings, but she understood loss. And longing. The ache of wanting something that seemed forever out of reach.

“Look, I don’t know if they can give you a soul,” she said, her tone awkwardly trying to balance the gravity of Rai’s emotions with her own discomfort at diving into anything too deep. “But maybe it’s not about being given one. Maybe it’s about what you’ve already got. You’ve been fighting for these people, for this 'Cebra'. What about for yourself ever I wonder?” She let out a small, almost embarrassed laugh. “If that doesn’t mean you’ve got something inside worth saving, I don’t know what does.”

Eevi shifted in her seat, suddenly realizing how serious the moment had become. She wasn’t used to this—being the one offering support. But she meant every word.

“If you want to go to church, we’ll go. I’ll even help you find the biggest, fanciest one around, if that’s what you want.” She squeezed Rai’s hand lightly before letting go. “And who knows? Maybe you’ll walk out of there with a shiny new soul, or maybe…” Eevi smiled, this time a little softer, a little less forced. “Maybe you’ll realize you’ve had one all along.”

The world around them seemed quieter now, the city sounds muffled as Eevi and Rai sat together, their little bubble of conversation untouched by the chaos beyond. Eevi, who had spent so long deflecting and distancing herself from others, found herself wanting, for once, to offer something real.

And if that meant going to a church? Well, hell. She could do that. For Rai.

The idea of a reaver having a soul, or even the semblance of sentience was laughable to the populace of Dis. However, the idea that Eevi could come to the conclusion that she was even deserving of one just went to show the extreme difference between Dis and this world. “I do not know what happens to us when we die either. My existence is a little bit of a um..” Rai searches for words, English failing her momentarily. “What is a word for something that isn’t as it should be? Like doesn’t follow the rules.” It was yet another thing she hoped a non-violent version of the church could clear up. Reavers were babies and babies got a free pass to heaven because they committed no sin, yet reavers were created from babies and were sinful creatures dredged up from hell and forced into humanity’s service by God’s will. It was all confusing and she still had no idea who to ask or even what to ask.

Her skin beneath Eevi’s hand was cold to the touch like a dead woman, her skin lacking the give living tissue did and instead felt more like stone covered in a somewhat skin-like veneer. Most humans had a little sway when they drew breath or involuntary twitches but Rai was still as a marble statue lending more to her unintentionally unsettling nature. A natural killer who couldn’t think of a single thing she’d ever done solely for her own want and not some instinctual drive to protect or attack. Her tail lashes as a soft smile approaches the reaver’s face. She knew she didn’t have a soul, Reavers see souls and she’d never seen a reaver with a soul nor had any mentioned seeing hers. But if Eevi thought she did, she’d let her continue thinking so.

“Yes, to find the biggest fanciest church!” Rai hops off her chair before digging into her pockets. “I, however, would not like to drive again.”

The reaver produces a glass figurine from her pocket before letting it fall from her fingers and shatter against the tile floors. A hellish squeal silences the mall as the smell of sulfur and hellfire radiates as the simmering smoke takes solid form. The stallion stood with his back at eye level, his palaid gray pelt clings to his muscle as sickly green smoke seeped from small gaps in his skin were exposed bone jutted out. His face was particularly bare of skin and flesh, skull and jagged glass-like teeth gnashing out as glaring eye sockets survey the surroundings. Grimmorah raises his head high, snorting a deep breath as Rai grabs the reins.

Rai lifts one foot into the stirrup before hauling herself into the saddle with ease and settling herself into a comfortable position before urging Grimmorah to stand broadside to Eevi. He slicks his ears in protest, however the reaver urges harder with her left spur as he complies. She offers a hand to help Eevi into the space behind the saddle.

“Come, once you’re on he’ll settle. But I need directions.”

“I don’t know what the word is either,” Eevi murmured, her brow furrowing as she kept her hand on Rai’s unnervingly cold shoulder. The sensation was strange but oddly comforting, as if it grounded her. It was a stark reminder of how different Rai was, how alien her existence seemed compared to everyone else, and yet, there was something familiar in that disconnection from the world. Eevi understood that feeling all too well.

The snow-covered night outside the mall was still biting and oppressive, but the heat from their previous conversation lingered in Eevi’s chest. A fanciful church—well, if that was what Rai wanted to chase, Eevi would humor her. If only to get them out of this bizarre shopping trip and back on track. She glanced down at the shattered glass, the remnants of the figurine, and then up at the monstrous form of Grimmorah, who now stood before them like some terrible warden pulled straight from Hell itself.

The smell of sulfur clawed at her senses, but she barely flinched. Eevi had smelled worse—seen worse. Her amber eyes flicked up to the stallion, taking in its skeletal features and hellish demeanor with an air of detachment. Fear wasn’t something she had room for in her life anymore. But there was something about this whole situation that nagged at her in the back of her mind, the absurdity of it mixing with the cold reality she lived in now.

“You’re not driving? Can’t say I’m disappointed,” she remarked dryly, staring at Grimmorah with faint distaste. “But directions, yeah, I can do that.”

She took Rai’s outstretched hand, feeling the stiffness in the reaver’s stone-like grip as she hoisted herself up behind the saddle. The horse shifted under her weight, its exposed bone and unnatural structure unsettling, but Eevi settled in, finding a rhythm. Her muscles protested as she straddled the beast, but she barely acknowledged the ache. There were worse things in life than discomfort.

Once seated, Eevi wrapped one arm loosely around Rai’s waist, leaning into her a little as she adjusted. The smell of sulfur was pungent up close, and the chill from Rai’s skin seeped into her despite the layers of clothing. “Alright,” she muttered. “We’ll head toward Saint Patrick’s Cathedral… It’s the closest thing to a proper church around here, and it’ll have the look you’re going for. Just don’t make a scene when we get there.”