Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (29 page)

“So how do we decide where we’re all going to patrol today?” asked Aura. “I have no trouble covering the ladies swimsuit competition in East Hell.”

“That’s a
thing
?” Ash asked.

“
Oh yeah
,” Aura said with a pleased grin and a far-off look.

“Unfortunately,” said Shiva, in response to Ash’s question. She took a piece of paper out of her armor and tore it in thirds. She then handed each of them a strip of the paper. “
I
was up for a while last night too, and managed to come up with this.”

Ash stared at his paper. It was a list of several of the festival games that were scheduled for the day. There didn’t seem to be a common theme to the lists. Before Ash or Aura could raise a question, Shiva explained.

“These game lists are organized by what section of the Kingdom they’re held in,” she explained. “I figured each of us could take a slice. I’ll start with North Hell.”

“I got East Hell, then,” Aura said with a pleased snort of excitement.

“Looks like I got West Hell,” said Ash.

“We can all meet up here for lunch, providing we’re still
alive
at that point,” said Shiva. “If we haven’t encountered the demons by that time, we can all search South Hell together. For now, just stick to checking out the games on your list. Watch for anything suspicious, and remember: the enemy could be
anyone
!”

“Don’t worry,” said Aura. “I’ll be using soul sight to watch for anything demonic. No way a demon’s gonna sneak up on me.”

Ash and Aura stuck their hands together and stared at Shiva expectantly. When they’d first attempted to start this team tradition, Shiva was adamantly against it. She thought it was below her as their leader. Over time they wore her down, and eventually she gave in. Now, she didn’t even question it anymore.

The girl put her hand down on top of Ash’s. Before anyone could feel awkward about it, their hands all dropped and then shot back up as they cheered.

“
Go KISS
!”

Chapter Twenty-Two: Aura’s Bizarre Adventure

Aura Draxler took to the sky in an eager effort to get to East Hell as fast as possible. Never before had he tackled a mission with such enthusiasm, such gusto. The young man had been waiting for this day since the beginning of the festival. His trip across the kingdom took no more than fifteen minutes, the boy flying at top speed. He set down in East Hell and tucked away his wings. He’d want to be on the ground for this one, up close and personal.

The young death toucher found himself on a stretch of sandy beach. All around him people scurried about. Some were still setting up their merchant booths, pedaling various products like food and beach supplies. There were festival officials still setting up their game areas. Aura saw signs for games like
Crab-Shoe Toss, Sand-Net Ball, Competitive Sand Sculpting,
and
Battle Boats
.

He pulled out the list of games Shiva gave him and checked to make sure he was in the right area. He was. All of those games and a few more events were on his list.
Not
on his list was the only event that Aura truly cared about for that day. Shiva left it out on purpose, knowing the death toucher could not be trusted in that particular situation. Unfortunately for her, Aura already knew about the event and had planned on sneaking off to see it somehow. Now he wouldn’t have to.

The boy walked down the beach until he came to a large stage constructed right on the sand. People,
men
in particular, were already showing up in droves to get as close as possible to the stage. Aura’s heart beat faster with every step. He read the sign above the stage, written in much larger text than any of the other event signs on the beach.

Swimsuit Competition
, the boy read.
I’m finally here. I will remember this day for the rest of my life.

The swimsuit competition was a shining beacon of utmost importance to the young death toucher. The reason why was simple. Aura had never seen such a large public display of bare female skin before in his life. With Hell’s usual cold climate, how could he? No one ever walked around in bikinis in Hell, not even on one of East Hell’s beaches. But that was before this game-changing hot weather rolled in. Now, for the first time in his young life, the death toucher would get to experience his first beach outing, complete with a bikini-clad competition.

The boy was practically salivating as he approached the crowd of like-minded men gathering around the stage area. Aura had to distract himself with reminders that he was there to look for demons. He tried to think about how much danger he and his friends were in. He occasionally glanced at the people around him, wondering if they could be a demon in disguise. He couldn’t spot any odd behavior, since most of the crowd stood still in anticipation for the swimsuit competition to begin. Just like he was.

Putting his cursed hand to his face, Aura activated his soul sight ability and scanned the crowd. He had worried this might happen, but with so many devils around it was difficult to make out one person’s soul from another. Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by an array of colorful blobs. Telling which ones were the demons would not be easy. He kept his power activated for as long as he could before it started to be a drain on him, but eventually had to give it a rest.

Aura felt confident that the demons would not spring a surprise attack on him if he kept to the crowd. He was relying on Ash’s theory that their enemies wanted to keep a low profile for now. The boy moved closer to the crowd, actually stepping in front of a few of the men. From his position he had a full view of the stage and most of the beach around him. In the water he could see people participating in what must be the Battle Boats game.

Two wooden boats raced over the waves. Each boat held only one man, powering the boat forward by rowing two long oars. Their racecourse wrapped around a stretch of several giant boulders that stuck out of the water. Most of the rocks stood meters above the water, their bases eroded to thin stems over the years. Who knew how much longer they’d still be there for. The rowboats circled around the stones, the more daring racer deciding to try and cut through the grouping of rocks. The unfortunate soul’s boat slammed into one of the rocks and bounced, crippling the bow.

In the time it took for his boat to sink, the other racer had rounded the rocks and returned to the starting point, winning the race. Aura scoffed at the idiot who tried to take a shortcut and found himself stuck on top of a rock watching his boat sink. The death toucher redirected his focus to the stage once more. A female staffer wearing a white tee shirt, her bikini-top barely visible underneath, took to the stage.

The staffer bellowed into a megaphone addressing the crowd. “
How y’all doing out there
!” she said, more of a statement and less of a question. The crowd reacted with a thunderous cheer, erupting into hoots and hollers. Aura provided much of the noise himself, losing himself in the moment of hormone-fueled excitement.

“
We’ll be starting the swimsuit competition real soon, y’all
!
Who’s excited to see some beautiful people in skimpy bathing suits
?” Again, everyone went berserk with elation. “
We have a band providing music for us today, they’ll be taking the stage soon to keep y’all company while we finish up the preparations for the competition. We promise a festival for your eyes, so be patient and stay put
!”

The lady staffer climbed down off the stage as a few men took her place. The guys carried instruments, which they unpacked and set up off to the side of the stage. A guitarist was the first to start playing, adding a funky beat to the air. The others joined him in time, adding steel drums, xylophones, and several horns.

As Aura stood there swaying to the beat with the rest of the crowd he felt a tapping on his shoulder. The boy went into surprise alert mode expecting a demon attack. He jumped aside, knocking another guy to the ground in the process. When Aura lifted his right hand and spun to face his attacker, he saw a man standing in a nonthreatening pose. His hand was raised, waving to the boy. A warm smile adorned his rough face.

“Well, if it isn’t death toucher Aura Draxler!” the man said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “Long time, no see!”

Aura did not recognize the man. He studied him head to toe and could not place his face or features. The man was tall, muscular, and older than Aura. His lower face was peppered with stubble, his hair short and curly. The guy stood staring at Aura with a dopey smile on his face while Aura tried placing him, but came up with nothing. Eventually Aura felt bad for forgetting the man and tried to hide this fact by playing friendly. He hoped a conversation with the man would reveal his identity.

“Hey,
you
,” Aura replied, revealing his teeth with a false smile. “It really has been a long time. I
barely
remember you. What have you been up to lately, you old so-and-so?”

“Still working the same old shifts,” the man replied with a smile. “Don’t see you around as much. I guess you’re busy with your little group now, huh?”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Aura replied, wracking his brains to discover any clues that might be hidden in the man’s words. He was starting to think the guy worked in South Hell, Aura’s old stomping grounds. He could have been a shop owner or bartender in one of the many establishments Aura and his gang used to frequent.

The two continued making small talk as the band played on.

“So what are you doing here?” the death toucher asked. “Come to see the show, too?”

“Oh, you bet!” the man said. “I love these events.”

The female staffer from before climbed back onto the stage, gripping the megaphone to her mouth. “
Ladies and, mostly, gentlemen
!
Today’s swimsuit competition is about to begin
!”

Aura’s undivided attention was on the stage. The band picked up their tempo and some staffers standing behind the stage conjured some cheap flame effects for show. After the dramatic display the music swelled to a climax as the contestants walked onto the stage. It was indeed more skin than Aura had ever seen in his life gathered in one place. His jaw dropped, along with the rest of the crowd’s.

Instead of bikini-clad cuties there was a line of twenty men. Each man’s ‘bathing suit’, if it could even be called that, covered only the necessary parts. Many of the men were tall, muscular, and tan. Some of the less popular entries weren’t as good looking or fit. The lineup of men took over the stage, shaking and dancing to the band’s tropical music. The men gyrated and twisted and twerked until the crowd could bare no more.

“
What is this
?” someone asked.

“
Where are the women
?” someone else shouted.

“I didn’t come here to see men!” Aura found himself adding to the complaints of disapproval.

“
The ladies competition is tomorrow, fellas
!” the megaphone lady boomed. Her announcement was followed by a roar of frustration from the many male members of the mob. The gathering lost mass quickly as the disillusioned men abandoned the stage.

Welp, there’s nothing for me here,
thought Aura.
I guess I’ll be moving on
.

Before taking his leave, Aura glanced at the mysterious man again. He was looking at the stage watching the men dance. The expression on his face was one of intrigued curiosity.

“I’m taking off,” Aura said to the man. “It was nice seeing you again.” The death toucher turned to go. After taking a few steps he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him. He turned around to find the familiar, yet somehow unfamiliar face of the mysterious man once again.

“Hold up Aura,” the man said. Aura expected his next words to be
I have you now, devil
! But the man’s smile did not fade. He simply pointed out to the ocean. “What do you say? Feel like playing a game of Battle Boats?”

Aura breathed a sigh of relief. The guy didn’t want to kill him. He only wanted to play a game. Challenging people to random games was part of the festival, after all. Aura almost chuckled to himself, turned the man down, and walked away. But then the man said something that bothered the death toucher.

“Come on, let’s settle the old score once and for all,” he said with a slight wink.

The old score
? thought Aura.
We had an old score
?
Just who is this guy
!
I can’t believe I would forget an unsettled score. I usually make a point of settling all my scores. Except for those that I’m sure to lose. I wonder if this guy is someone I wanted to avoid
at one point or another
.

“The… old score?” Aura asked. “Refresh my memory.”

“
You know
,” the guy said. “You, Sars, Vadnais and Fry used to tangle with me and my team back in the day. Sometimes you guys would win; sometimes my guys would win. It was good times. That’s why I think we need to have a game of Battle Boats, for old times sake. Really determine the winner of all those years of rivalry between us.”

Aura began to think that he was a more important figure in the man’s life than the man had been in his. If he was indeed someone that Aura and his gang used to fight, Aura didn’t have a clue as to who he was or which gang he was with. He’d beaten up
a lot
of rival gangs in the past, so the list of possible suspects was a long one.

Guilt amassed in Aura’s conscience. The enthusiasm and excitement in the man’s eyes and his friendly demeanor got the better of the death toucher. He bargained with himself that he could use the time he was going to spend at the swimsuit competition partaking in a game of Battle Boats instead. He felt confident that if he couldn’t even remember who the dude was, he must not have been a very threatening opponent.

“You’re on!” the death toucher replied.

Aura and his mysterious acquaintance stood at the end of a pier. They hopped down to a smaller dock right on top of the water where the boats for the race were kept. Aura stepped into his small wooden rowboat and started to regret his decision. He’d forgotten just how much he disliked being in and around water. Especially the
ocean
. He looked over to see his mysterious new friend climbing into his own rowboat. He looked especially comfortable with his arms crossed, confident and calm.