New Recruit

One Shots — Soul Exchange Series

Disclaimer: NSFW, Paranormal Romance, Erotica. Contains Mature Content. READER DISCRETION IS HIGHLY ADVISED

New Recruit

John, John, John.

His voice echoed in my head as I tried to feel my way out of the dark. There was something different about this place. The Darkness felt alive and its cold, damp, and inky presence caressed my skin and assaulted my senses, leaving me disarrayed and confused.

“Let me out!” I screamed as I stumbled and fell deeper into Nothingness. Memories faded in and out. Memories that I couldn’t tell if they belonged to me or to the Darkness. Everything felt endless―a nightmare on a loop.

John Constance.

Then a small beam of light pierced through the belly of the Void, flooding it, blinding me, and searing me as I took my first breaths out of the Abyss.

The air burned my lungs as I choked, tears ran down the corner of my eyes as bile burned its way up my throat.

When my senses finally came back, I saw dark, polished, boots in front of me. My gaze made its way up and saw a woman, with dark pixie-cut hair, glaring at me.

Her eyes were as black as the Abyss and dark shadows hung around them as if she only survived on three hours of sleep and caffeine abuse. She wore black garments as well and the right sleeve of her coat had a silver insignia sewn into it―a snake wrapped around a sword.

House of Trials, I recognized. The rumoured house that Archangel Uriel organized, was led by the Celestial Council’s Director, the one who was chosen to keep the balance and secrecy of the Underworld, Eliza Villa Guerra.

Camila’s long lost half-sister.

“I finally found you.” I coughed out a phlegm.

“You got my attention.” Eliza pocketed her hands. “State your intentions, Newborn Lycan, before I pass judgment on whether you are worth keeping.”

“That is just cold.” I squeezed my left chest, as I felt a sharp pang sliced from within. My eyes widened as I realized that she inflicted that pain with just a look.

I vomited again.

“I don’t have all day, John Constance.” She reminded, almost bored. “Why, an honest pastor like yourself with a wonderful future ahead with the love of his life, throw that life away, and become an uncontrollable beast just to find me?”

“Because I am running out of time.”

“Oh?” She raised her brow. “You have one chance to summarize it, John. Delight me.”

My nails dug into the soil. “Camila’s father was not human. A Devil like yourself. In exchange for his freedom, he sold Camila’s soul. Camila doesn’t know all this. She doesn’t know she’s a Nephil. It’s not her fault! She can’t go to Tartarus for someone else!”

“How does that concern me?”

“She’s your half-sister!”

She laughed. Genuine laughter as if I was the most idiotic thing she had met in her very long Immortal life.

“Oh, John. You poor human. It’s not often I meet such stupidity.” She wiped her tears as she calmed herself. “If I concern myself with who my siblings were, I would fail to carry on my responsibilities. Whether or not my Vessel is related to her, does not affect me. I have better things to do.”

Blind fury enveloped me as I lunged at her throat, but she immediately sidestepped, tripped me, and had me sending face first to eat dirt.

Her heel dug into my spine, keeping me down. For someone as small as she was, her strength was beyond comprehension, even compared to my Lycan abilities.

For once in my old human life and new life as an Immortal, I felt terrified. Terrified of a woman smaller than me, who could make my existence blink out of existence if she so desired.

“It’s your job to keep the justice, right?” I desperately yelled, trying to get through to her. “Your job to keep the balance? So, how is it fair for Camila to go to Tartarus when she had done nothing wrong?!”

“She won’t.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “She won’t as long as she doesn’t violate any of the Underworld laws, so you just wasted your life, John. You threw it out for nothing. You became a beast for nothing. You are an idiot.”

“Then let me go back to her!”

“No can do, John.” She took out a silver blade with runes engraved on it. “You are a liability now. You are a young pup and still out of control.”

I struggled but her heel dug deeper into my spine, paralyzing me.

“Your stupidity cost you your human life. You must live with the consequences of your actions, John. Such is the way of the Multiverse.”

Before I could get another word, her blade swept across my throat. Blood flooded my airways as I gurgled and choked. My vision blinked and the last thing I saw was the Abyss in the form of a giant hound approaching us. He had a white spot on his forehead and he happily whined at the sight of Eliza. His tongue lolled out and licked her face.

I was a fucking idiot.

I couldn’t believe that after years of obsessing over how to save the love of my life, I wound up like this.

Useless as always.

—

The job was supposed to be easy.

Find the Succubus that had been devouring humans. Kill the Succubus. Report to Eliza.

Spot, a gigantic Hell Hound that was an embodiment of the Abyss, whom Eliza treated like a golden retriever, had been assigned as my reporting Supervisor.

He couldn’t speak. I tried. I thought that being a half-wolf would grant me the ability to speak dog, but Spot was not a dog although he looked like it. He was an Entity from the Otherworld that Eliza somehow tamed.

His reddish-brown eyes gave me a side-eye as if he heard my thoughts, and sneezed disapprovingly.

“Never mind. You’re still a dog like me,” I scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “Why do you still supervise me? Isn’t my years of loyal service to you guys enough proof that I won’t stray?”

He scratched the back of his ear as I drank from my tenth pint of Stout. The other patrons of this Underworld Rave Club gave me a look since no one else could see Spot but me and the other Immortals.

The Vampyres gave me a disgusted look as they scrunched their nose. To them, I smelled like a wet dog. To me, they smelled like rotting corpses. If there was one thing that Mythology got right, our kind did not mix up fine. Well, Myths were all Supervised by Eliza, so it only made sense that there was some truth to it.

The lasers bothered my eyes and the loud music shook my bones. How Spot could stand this scene, especially with his sharp ears, I had no clue. I was ready to go home but our target frequented this club, so I needed to stay put.

Years ago, I lived a morally bound life. Never in my previous human years as a Pastor could I imagine the life I was leading now. A drunkard and an errand dog for the Celestial Council. Years of unyielding faith I had in this so-called Creator, only to be betrayed over and over again.

What a joke.

“Well, aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes?”

I looked up from my finished pint and saw one of the most beautiful beings I’ve ever seen in my life. She had long raven hair like Camila did, dark skin, and wore golden eye shadow that made her auburn eyes pop.

She wore a crimson dress that was two sizes too small, and my gaze feasted at the sight of her cleavage. Her dress only covered her nipples, and even then, they left significant imprints through the fabric.

“I am guessing that you also like what you see,” she said as her fingers traced the veins of my hand and forearm, avoiding the silver band around my wrist. I nearly choked on my beer and made an absolute fool of myself. “I’m Roza. You?”

“Jo-John!” I squirmed as I fixed myself when blood rushed through a body part I didn’t want to just yet.

“Well, John, I am looking for a good time. My boyfriend just ditched me and broke up with me, you see.” She purred and I could not help but stare at her red full lips. “Would you like to dance with me?”

She leaned toward me so she could nibble on my earlobe. Her sweet and intoxicating perfume clouded my thoughts as I let her playfully bite and suck on my neck.

“Yes. Let’s dance.” I muttered as my thoughts filled with her. I wanted nothing more than to bend her over on this table and fuck her senselessly in front of everyone.

With an inviting smile, she led me to the dancefloor, and I left Spot who glared at me disapprovingly.

She led me right in the middle of gyrating bodies, then rubbed her ass against me. Heedy with the thought of her and the heat of the crowd, I responded accordingly. My hands roamed and squeezed every inch of her as she moaned pleasantly.

Leaning in and tilting her face to me, I crashed my mouth into hers. I explored her mouth as she did with mine and my hand roamed underneath her dress only to find her exposed, bare, and soaked. I pulled away to stare at her eyes. It was filled with mischief and invitation.

An invitation I willingly accepted.

She unzipped my pants, grabbed me, and shoved me inside her. A growl escaped from my throat as she adjusted to my length, and dampened my pants. With a hand tightly around her throat and another to rub her, I fucked her as if there was no one else around us―just her body against mine.

Her screams were drowned out by the music and the cheers around us. Lust enveloped the crowd as different moans synchronized with the heavy bass. Then someone must have turned on the sprinklers since water showered onto us. Yet, it only riled up the crowd as all our bodies slid off easily against each other. With a final thrust, she squirmed in my tight embrace and came. I followed shortly after and my knees nearly buckled. I carefully pulled it out and put it away without my mouth leaving hers. Then she turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“You are a good time, John Constance,” she whispered in my ear, my necktie was wound up around her hand. “And I bet that you would taste great and fill my belly up too.”

I blinked away the sweat and the water from my eyes only to find a wrinkly giant bat with its sharp rows of teeth bared at me.

Son of a bi―

With great force, she lifted me with one hand and catapulted me across the club. My back crashed into the speakers and the tables, glass shattering and showering me with shards. I shook my head as the heavy glamour lifted.

The other patrons transformed into hideous giant bats like her, and the sprinklers did not shower us with water…it was blood.

“Find the succubus, John,” I groaned as I dusted off myself. “Well, fuck you, Eliza! I didn’t just find one. I FOUND THE FUCKING DEN!”

I looked around and found drained corpses of humans on the floor, their eyeballs were already clouded―a sign that they had been dead for far too long.

The old bat pointed at me with its sharp claws. The other demons hissed and prepared to lunge an attack at me.

I cursed under my breath as the halo around my left wrist glowed and scorched me, preventing me from transforming. I have never cursed Eliza’s entire being until this moment. Doing the quick math, there must be 50 of them. I was also being generous to myself.

If I became ground meat tonight, it would be because of that tiny, power-freak, Filipina. God, how much I despised her right now!

Grabbing a broom from the corner, I broke it in half and shoved the sharp end into my attackers. I didn’t have time to pull out my makeshift weapon before the two of them grabbed my ankles and dragged me across the floor.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I yelled. On tonight’s favourite word as I tried to survive this hell: Fuck. The most versatile word in the English Language’s rich vocabulary! Another demon tried to jump me and rip out my insides until a large, dark shadow lunged at its neck, and within seconds, had the demon into shreds. Then he attacked the other two that was making a ragdoll out of me.

“Spot!” I exclaimed with a wide grin on my face. Maybe Eliza was right to have him supervise me. I would have been minced meat without him. Spot was now in his full size, towering over me, as he growled at the demons that surrounded us. “Okay, don’t be mad. I fucked up.”

He hit me with his tail and I was sure that it left a goose egg. “I’m sorry! Jeez. Grumpy old dog.”

“A Hell Hound!” The old bat gnarled as her pupils dilated into narrow slits at me. “How dare you, John? I thought we had a connection?”

I shrugged as I drew out my claws. “Honestly, not my proudest moment. Don’t embarrass me more in front of my boss though. I’m sure a write-up is already waiting for me after this.”

“Shut up!” She screeched and I winced as her high-pitch voice disoriented me and nearly left me blind. Spot recoiled and the few seconds of distractions were enough for the demons to find an opening to attack him and me.

I was back on my ass again, rolling on the floor, as I tried to dodge, and keep my limbs intact. I have lost them once, I was not going through the regrowing process again. Then I grabbed the leg of the chair and threw it at my attackers.

Scampering up, I received a blow underneath my jaw and I stepped back. Instinctively, I threw back a punch and kept attacking even if I was half-blind. I tried to make use of the environment and hopped on tables, and chairs, to dodge the attacks coming from all corners. I grabbed whatever I could and used them as weapons.

When I found a shard, I shoved it into their eyeballs and broke a bottle on their heads. I was shoved into the bar and I immediately grabbed the hose and wrapped it around their neck until I squeezed the consciousness out of them. I staggered as the old bat’s high-pitched screeching disoriented my balance. Sick of her terrible acapella, I grabbed a pencil and darted it toward her throat.

Bull’s Eye! The screeching stopped as she fell to the ground when she pulled out the pencil from her throat. Too busy choking in her blood, she did not see Spot sprinting her way to pop her head off from her torso.

I huffed as I examined the mess Spot and I made. A job well done.

Spot looked at me and barked which sounded more like thunder.

“Yes, yes, yes. I’m sorry!” I put up my hands as he sneezed again. “I’ll think with a different head next time. Jeez.”

I wobbled toward him and he let out a big sigh which was followed by another eye roll. Then he steadied me and let me use him as a crutch as we walked out of this fine establishment.

As soon as we got out, Eliza was there waiting for us with her hands in her pockets. Spot already forgot about me and let me fall into a heap as he trotted toward her to get his ears scratched.

“So much for helping,” I yelled as I snapped my femur so it would heal normally.

She glared but she kept her voice even. “Good job, you two. Not only have you found the Succubus that had been terrorizing this small town but you also have found the den itself.”

“I did a good job, eh?” I grinned. “And of course, would be dead without Spot. So, thank Spot too.”

“However,” she continued, ruining the high from the fight. “I did not tell you to fuck the Succubus.”

I groaned. Here we go again. “Eliza, you would be so cute if you weren’t such a Narc all the time.”

Spot growled which had me apologizing right away. I did not feel like becoming a chew toy for a Hell Hound. “My bad.”

She approached me and reached out. I squeezed my eyes shut, prepared for a beating, but instead, I felt warmth embrace me. She was healing all my injuries with the most serene face I have ever seen. My cheeks flushed as I watched her closely. Despite her permanent RBF, Eliza was beautiful. Once she was done, she sighed and met my boring brown eyes compared to her inky void eyes.

“I hate to ask this of you, John.” She began. Her breath smelled of strawberries and chocolate despite all the coffee she consumed. I never knew how that was possible.

“Are you falling in love with me, Eliza?” I teased but she did not smile. Her brows furrowed with worry.

“John, it is Camila.” She said softly, and she gazed at my face, trying to gauge my emotions. I ought to be upset. I loved Camila and the reason why I was in this mess was because of that love. Yet, for some reason, I felt empty. She was fading along with my human memories. The love I’ve had for her felt like the type of love I had for fictional characters.

As I stared back at Eliza, even though I knew that she was emotionally unavailable to anyone and that I would have competition for her attention if she ever became interested, my heart raced. As much as I cursed her existence these past years, something inside me blossomed and clawed for a need to fulfill that desire.

I was in love with Eliza and I would kill myself if she asked me to.

“She is sentenced to Tartarus and Archangel Gabriel who was supposed to take her there, hid her instead.” She took a deep breath, most likely remembering our first encounter. I gently squeezed her hand.

“If the mission is to take her there, I will,” I proclaimed and she stared at me, shocked. “My allegiance is to you, Eliza, and to the House of Trials. I am yours.”

“John―”

I dusted myself off as I stood up. Holding out a hand to her, I continued, “Now, why don’t we go get you something to eat, like ramen, before we go on about this new mission? Maybe drag along Antonius with us because there was no way I could take down an Archangel.”

She squeezed the bridge of her nose and sighed. Deciding that there was no point stressing any further, she took my hand and smiled. “Sounds good.”

But before we left for the portal, she snapped her fingers and set the club ablaze with Hell’s fire…leaving no trace behind.

— -

Hi, I’m CyCy!

Thank you for reading! Whew. Another graphic one-shot. You will find that everything in this universe is, so that is why I took forever to release them. I was worried and I kept censoring everything.

Then I realized, I was only dampening the creativity by doing so. Anyway, here we are! From now on, you will see more of this universe, uncensored as it should be.

You will also find that everything is interconnected, and as you start reading the future work, you will find me referencing everyone 😝

Moreover, Soul Exchange was originally planned as a series of graphic novels, but since my art skills are not quite there yet, I began writing instead. I have been practicing and it is my life’s goal to get the designs out.

Anyway, check out Fallen as well! It is the previous issue and very much connected with this one.

P.S. I’m a multi-genre writer and if you like a little bit of everything, then you have found the right person!

P.P.S. For my horror readers, I will update Wake Up as well. As it turns out, I do not have to worry much since Wake Up is a creative horror and as long as I add disclaimers, it should be just fine.