Geneva waited for the Elites to follow Evris down the hillside before nudging me. “That girl with copper hair? What’s her deal?”
“That’s Emmeline. She’s actually who I’m considering for my second-in-command,” I admitted to her disbelief. “She’s a bit, to herself, but I’m trying to crack her shell.”
Geneva cupped her chin, bending one arm to support the other as she studied the girl. “Huh. You always attract the weirdest people.”
“Gee, thanks!” I scoffed, shaking my head at her giggles. “Keep an eye on her for me. See if you can get any vibes from her that I can’t.”
“Will do. You should consider pulling her aside for some one-on-one time. I can distract the others for you.”
“That would be fantastic.”
Evris arranged all of my Elites from tallest in the back to shortest in the front along the wall of the Inn’s restaurant, where each demon ruler was waiting with pleasant smiles for their arrival. When I entered the room, most of them gave me a gentle wave or nod, which I returned before presenting my Elites to them. “Everyone, these are our rulers of Gehenna. Evris, as you know, is Layer One:Transistus. Decimus is Layer Two:Violentia. Phillip is Layer Three:Libidine. Arabella is Layer Four:Mendacium. Isadora is Layer Five:Desperationis. Beatrixis Layer Six:Gula. Elias is Layer Seven:Cupiditas. Aloysius is Layer Eight:Haeresis. And, finally, Peregrine is Layer Nine:Insidiae.” Each ruler raised a hand when I called upon them. “Each one has the incredibly important job of ruling these complex Layers. They may seem hard to approach, but I assure you, they’ll answer any questions you have.”
“I love fresh meat!” Elias cackled in his booming voice.
“Don’t scare them off, you pinhead,” Beatrix barked with a smack to his shoulder.
“This is where you ended up, Decimus?” Emmeline breathed in astonishment. Her tone was odd. She held true pain in her voice, true disbelief, and when Decimus realized who she was, he sank into himself in shame.
“I… yes. I did some, questionable, things in life, and would have ended up here regardless. Nick gave me a chance to still have powers and a purpose, so, here I am,” he weakly offered with a shrug.
Emmeline’s grey eyes paled to near white. She didn’t say another word, just laid her arms flat at her sides and cut her gaze away from him. I figured pretty quickly that he might have sunken his teeth into her when he was alive, and wondered if he had broken her heart, or if he had truly been good to her, and died before they got a chance to blossom. Either way, I was crushed to see her so sad.
Geneva broke the awkwardness with handing out a sheet to each Elemental. “Well, since you’re down here, I thought we could do something fun!”
“Is this… a scavenger hunt?” Mariah asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It sure is! We’re going to let you explore a little on your own and see where your curiosity takes you. There is a plethora of questions to be answered, and things/people to find. Start by interviewing each of the demon rulers. They’re ready to answeryour questions and will show you glimpses of their Layers. Then, we’ll move to the other side of the Inn and search for your scavenger hunt items.”
“I am so asking Elias first!” Kayden declared.
“Of course you’d go for the meathead,” Sarah snorted before dragging her partner across the room to the waiting ruler.
Geneva nodded to me, signaling this was my time to shine, before joining the Elites at the table. Lucky for me, Emmeline was without a partner, as she was the odd one out, and was staring at her sheet with a grimace. I laid a hand on her shoulder, which made her admittedly jump, but relax when she saw it was me. “Hey. You look like you could use a partner?”
“You already know everything about this Realm,” she replied, unamused.
“Aren’t I one of the people you need to interview?”
She squinted at the paper before smirking a little. “Guess so.”
“Then let’s go off to the side and do my interview. You seem like you need some space from the group.”
“Yeah, I do…” she moped as she followed me to a separate table.
We were far enough away that our conversation would be private, but the Elites could still see and access me when needed. I brought my legs under the table and crossed them, getting comfortable in my chair and trying to act casual to not put her off. She, on the other hand, was incredibly stiff, her movements jerky as she situated herself. “You seem tense. Is something bothering you?” I prompted to kickstart the conversation. She stayed still for a moment before nodding once. “I’d love to help you, if you’d allow me into your world?”
She tensed up further then I said this. “That’s very unprofessional,” she blurted.
I shrugged to her disbelief. “Maybe so, but I tend to be pretty unprofessional most times.”
She smiled a little at my comment before exhaling softly. “Decimus… I haven’t seen him since the day before Pandora captured him, before he went on that mission with Erasmus and Seraphine.”
“Do you two have history?” I asked curiously.
She bit her lip harshly before moving her arms up to hug herself. “We were… dating, I think. We never labeled anything, but… he meant a lot to me, yeah.”
I nodded to confirm I was listening. “I see, I see. This must be pretty tough on you, then, his passing.”
