Chapter 384: 384 - Start of a Nightmare

Chapter 384: 384 - Start of a Nightmare

Noah took a deep breath, running his hands over his hair, while muttering, "Look..." he looked up to Carlos, biting his lip, bothered by Carlos' out of the ordinary behavior. "I know you are angry because this happened, but this isn't the kind of thing we can deal with rashly like this," Noah told him, Carlos clicking his tongue.

"Is it related to one of the Nine Families?" he asked, a frown proeminent on his forehead.

"Not exactly," Noah once again tried to play it slow, but by now, Lilith would have none of it.

"Oh, come on! They are not one of the Nine Families, but are a very influential family nonetheless. The problem for Noah to man up is that it's the parents of the girls upstairs," Lilith blurted it all out, Carlos standing up, his hatred now directed towards Noah.

"Lilith!" he exclaimed, before facing Carlos, "It's not what you think. I never expected them to attack this place, but they have been trying to get rid of two of them for a while now!" He raised both hands in resignation, Carlos immediately sitting back down, rubbing his forehead with his fingers while calming himself down.

"I see... You thought they would never try to lay hands on this place, and brought them here to decide what to do next," he told Noah, before downing his entire glass of whisky.

"There's no way I would have expected them to do that. Also, there's the fact they wanted to get rid of people working inside the house here, so it's not out of the picture that they are working together or under the Hyu or another one of the Nine Families," Noah said, making Carlos go into deep thinking.

"It would be good if we can financially suffocate them, but it's not like they have no backing either," Lilith spoke, making Noah think of something.

"We can. Carlos, would you like to join another venture with me?" Noah asked, Carlos' eyes burning with desire.

"Tell me all about it."

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Despite not having been told so from the get-go, Noah knew a fair bit about the girls' family. And also, how their money was made. Explaining how the underworld of Eyrin worked was a piece of cake for him, and so, soon Carlos knew exactly what to do to deal a heavy blow to them.

"Ahem, but on another note." Noah straightened himself as he faced Carlos, clearing his throat. "Didn't I tell you to keep Imps to improve the security here at all times?" he asked Carlos, who smiled while sweating.

"You did, but I thought if anything happened we could just—"

"The people who broke in here, except for two, were not even Blessed. If you had as little as three imps around, none of the people inside the house would have died, since none of their Blessed got inside." Noah's words made Carlo's eyes go wide, before guilt overcame his anger.

"So it was my fault she died, wasn't it?" he muttered loud enough that Noah could hear, but it was clear he was talking to himself.

"Not your fault, but if you had taken the precautions, you could have avoided it," Lilith told him, making Carlos' eyes widen slightly.

"I see..." he muttered, letting himself rest against the chair and looking up. "I see." He stayed there for a minute, nobody saying anything, before he talked again, "Now I understand what you meant by always taking more care than necessary, Noah." He stood up, walking towards a white rack full of bottles, and picking a new bottle of whisky.

"Are you gonna drink more?" Noah asked, still not finished with his first cup. Drinking for him was something to have fun over, and not something to drown his regrets into.

"Yeah... I need to deal with some things while thinking. Do you want to sleep?" he asked, drinking another cup on a single swig, not bothering to even replenish the ice.

"I'm tired, so I'll take that offer," Noah said, standing up. "I'll keep 10 imps around to take care of the whole place. They should be enough to deal with it," Noah told him, standing up and walking towards his room. "Also, please check everyone who works here in the morning. A large portion of the security staff could've been injured or killed."

"Will do," Carlos muttered, drinking yet another cup. "Tomorrow, that is," he murmured, as Noah left for his room, with Lilith coiled around his arm.

'Do you think he'll be alright?' Lilith asked, as they got into the corridor leading to his room, leaving Carlos drinking alone behind.

'I can't know for sure, but I think he will. It's just that it was the first time he faced this kind of thing,' Noah told her in thought, as he headed straight to the bathroom.

'

'This kind of thing?' Lilith asked, Noah talking a little more cryptically than usual.

"Death," he said out loud, closing the door to the room behind him.

'Ah...' Lilith acknowledged it, sliding down Noah's arms onto the floor, as he started taking off the soiled up clothes and heading into the bathroom. "Mind if I accompany you?" she asked, sliding behind him onto the floor towards the bath.

"You never bothered asking," he said, keeping the door open for the snake to come in, not waiting for an answer.

'... Because I didn't see you the way I see now,' but a mutter caught his attention, and he rushed to hide he'd heard it, as he guessed it was the snake thinking to herself, and inadvertently relaying it to him once again.

While he filled the tub with hot water, Noah went towards the sink, washing his face. He saw his reflection on the mirror, and stared at his own eyes. 'Death, huh...' he thought, as he looked at his hands, thinking of the countless lives he had already taken ever since gaining Lucifer's powers.

'Is there something wrong?' the snake asked, waiting for him while coiled over the counter, staring and taking in Noah's unsteady emotions right now.

"Not really... I was just wondering, see... What would it feel like? To have a perfect life, a perfect family, to not have to worry about debt, death, or any of that," he told himself, watching Lilith's reflection in the mirror, and taking a long pause while closing the sink. "Wouldn't that be nice?" he asked the snake, who sighed.

"You're asking the wrong person," she said, laying on the counter. "I've killed and lost too many to ever consider what you are asking. But I know one thing," she told him, making Noah turn towards her directly for the first time, as he saw the reflection of her in the mirror, staring at him, and waited for the rest of her sentence. "You know one person who should've been that person, yet her life was always miserable," she said, reminding Noah of Sha's hardships, mas making him reflect on the current state of things around him.

"Guess you're right," he said, turning around and dropping into the bath, the snake making her way by herself, and increasing in size as she got in, in order to easily relax on the hot waters. He leaned back, submerging himself to his shoulders, as the stiffness in his muscles seemed to melt away from the soapy water, and he slowly closed his eyes to rest them a little.

Lilith did the same, submerging most of her body into the water, only her head poking through the surface. In a moment, she dove in, letting the warmth embrace her entirely, and slowly emerged once again. "Taking abath like this is very relaxing, right Noah?" she asked, but had no response, and opened her eyes. "Noah?" she asked again, but saw something that made her smile inwardly. "Oh... Damn... I guess you were really tired," she said, watching his asleed face, as she slithered around his neck, giving it more support, and laid her head over the front of his shoulder, slowly closing her own eyes.

'Where... am I?' Noah opened his eyes to an ebony colored room, made out of basaltic rock. He was sat on a throne, and six people were kneeling in front of him.

"With this, our duels have been concluded, and our Hierarchy has been guaranteed once again," his voice came out from his mouth, although it was not him speaking once again, and he instead focused on the people in front of him. One was the small boy whose white hairs he recognized easily, Bel. He was knelt at the center, beside a woman. She was aged about the same as him, but everything about her was the complete opposite of Bel. Her hair was black, her skin was a light olive and her eyes shone in a red that bordered pink. She was wearing a black cape that reminded him of a bat's wings. A little behind, at his diagonal, another woman was kneeling while wobbling, her clothes were white and yellow, and looked like a comfortable blanket. And to her side, a man whose eyes glowed yellow and stared at Noah—Lucifer—waiting for his next assignment, full of greed. To the right of the woman next to Bel, was another woman, her face was hidden by a veil, while small horns protruded to its side, Noah could feel her gaze pierce through the veil, but it was not directed towards him, but instead, to his side.

It was then that he felt the soft hand on his right shoulder, a delicate hand with short nails painted a deep purple. A single right was on her ring finger, a delicate one made of gold with a small dark opal that emanated dark energy. Noah wondered why he had looked at that hand, when he felt his body move on his own, and his hand touched hers.

"Thank you for the arrangements, Lilith."