The rustling in the bushes got louder.

  “Corre! Stop ignoring me! What is-”

  A wolf jumped out of the bushes, pouncing Corre. The pack was already surrounding him, growling and slowly circling him. They glared at him, their teeth showing in an aggressive grin, their eyes locked onto their prey: Corre.

  Corre caught the canine jumping at him with one hand, clacking his tongue. “That’s no way to greet a man. I would be scolding you, but you’re not really intelligent by the looks of it.”

  He threw the wolf back toward the pack, a grin slowly forming. Man, finally. A distraction. He moved his other arm through the second strap of his backpack.

  The wolves’ growl deepend. A distraction from little miss annoying.

  “Can I help you guys?” Corre asked, a small devilish smirk appearing on his face.

  A second wolf pounced. “Now to make this fun!” Corre yelled as he jumped toward it.

  Teeth met fist as Corre punched through the mouth of the predator, hitting the back of its throat.

  The whimpering wolf fell to the ground, its front teeth laying on the ground between them. It wanted to back up, but Corre had already thought ahead.

  He kicked a rock hard, smashing through the skull of the wolf that was afraid.

  Corre dusted his hands. “Who’s next?”

  Cymble looked impressed. Lucky kick, human. She thought, floating upside down, to her own frustration.

  “I’m not much of a dog person. So, don’t expect mercy.” Wolves aren’t dumb, right? I mean, they won’t attack someone who’s clearly-

  The other wolves came into motion, towards him.

  Welp. Their loss

  Corre caught the jaws of a canine with both of his hands, twirling around to prevent others from getting close. “Persistent bunch of animals, aren’t ya. Almost as hard to please as a certain demon.”

  Cymble raised her middle finger at him as he turned his head back to look at her reaction, his grin widening.

  “Come on. Aren’t you gonna help your friend?” The wolf writhed in his hands, snarling, his fury rising. The others didn’t watch on and jumped in as well.

  Corre moved the jaws further apart than the wolf could ever do himself. Cracking and snapping filled the air as blood covered his hands. With a final tug, he pulled the top half of the jaw off and threw it at a wolf getting close.

  “Time to get a little more proactive.” Corre mumbled, throwing the corpse to the ground. He cracked his knuckles, rolled his shoulders, adjusted his backpack, and moved his vision to the next wolf pouncing him.

  He jumped over the animal and grabbed its tail, dragging it along the ground with him.

  “Stop playing around, Corre!”

  Corre sighed. I guess she’s still here. “Could you shut up! I will fight how I want to, thank you very much.”

  He appeared behind one of the wolves, smashing it into the ground with the body of the one he was holding.

  “You’re no fun Cymble.”

  “I’m fun! I just don’t get why you would even care to keep these low beasts alive.”

  “Well I need some way to stop myself from going insane from listening to you.”

  “And what does that mean?!”

  Corre laughed as he roundhouse kicked a wolf into a tree, snapping both the tree as its spine in half. “Oh so the demon does have feelings.”

  “Shut up you jerk.”

  Corre laughed even harder. He grabbed two wolves by the scruff of their necks and smashed their faces into each other.

  “Just focus, you idiot. You are still fighting.”

  “Worrying? I didn’t know you cared for me that much. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you started to develop feelings for me.”

  Cymble’s face turned into a prune, her disgust at the suggestion obvious. “You’re unbearable. I just don’t want to be banished. I couldn’t care less if you died, if it wasn’t for the fact that my body dies with you. I don’t know if you heard, but the lower plane isn’t a fun place to hang out. At least you humans can just rest after death, we get banished.”

  “I’m unbearable? Look who’s talking. All you’ve been doing since your contract is complaining. I’ve just been trying to find the positives in all this. I mean, I still get your powers some of the time, even if-” Corre moved past a wolf, grasping both parts of its jaw. He pulled the two apart, showing the muscles hiding beneath the skin and twisted the upper part onto its back. “-it sacrifices my strength to use it.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What do you mean, ‘sacrifices my strength’? You’re not that much stronger than me!”

  “No?” Corre asked with a smile as he kicked the base of a tree, not too small, not too large, snapping the tree from its base. He grabbed the bark and smashed into two wolves.

  Cymble had to think about a retort for a second, but nothing came to mind.

  “Thought so.”

  “Shut up! My point still stands, stop playing.”

  “Yeah, sure. I still think you care about me.”

  “I do not! If you think for a moment I care about a secondary life form like you, think again.”

  The wolves’ attacks slowed down.

  “Secondary? I was thinking that us humans are above demons. It’s called the lower plane for a reason, you know.”

  “That’s only the name you humans gave it. If I were to name it, I’d say the upper and lower planes are the primary and secondary plane. You know which is which. The whole mortal plane was created by us beyonders anyway, so I guess I’d call it the zoo.”

  Corre’s hands punched a wolf in the stomach, sending it writhing in pain on the ground. He stomped its skull flat, looking up at the demon, who was ranting something about how demons were better than celestials.

  “Zoo huh?” Corre interrupted. “Well I guess that makes sense, seeing how many of you Demons and Celestials are around nowadays. I would like to see the price lowered though, looking at you is hard enough as it is. We humans need some better attractions in this zoo.”

  Cymble groaned. “You’re the worst.”

  Corre slowed down, realising there were no attacks anymore. He saw a single wolf still standing, growling.

  “Hey there little guy.” He came closer, the wolf was frozen in place, like it knew what was about to happen.

  Corre put his left red hand on top of its head. His fingers moved through the thick hairs, painting them red. “That wasn’t so hard now was it.”

  Corre squatted down beside it. He put his other hand around its neck. He started petting it like a young dog. “You seem to know what’s going on. I like you.”

  The wolf slowly returned to motion, its sights back on Corre. It snapped its jaw at him, but before it could close, his right hand turned its neck in a full circle.

  “What a shame.” He stood back up, looking at the motionless canine, before looking up at the field now red. “See, nothing to worry about.”

  Cymble was a little stunned, not having realised the fight had gone by so quickly. Is that guy even a human? Now I’m really curious. “H-how did you… I’m impressed.”

  Corre gave her a playful look. “Did I just fluster you? You are in love with me.”

  Cymble’s fascination made way for frustration and anger. “I am not, you stupid human! Why don’t you just go back to the monkeys you come from!”

  Corre smirked. “Is that a blush? How quaint.”

  “It is not!”

  Corre laughed. “I was just kidding. The only red cheeks here are mine. Do you think wolf is tasty?”

  Cymble turned her back to him. “What kind of a human are you anyway? I mean, I haven’t seen any mortal doing what you just did, nevermind a human.”

  “I asked you a question.”

  “So did I.”

  “I was first.”

  “I mean, how would I know? I’d never eat such a disgusting lowly creature. And even if I did, I don’t care enough to tell you, seeing how I wouldn’t get to taste it.”

  “Touché.”

  “That’s it? Wait, don’t just-Ew.”

  Corre had his knife drawn, his backpack never having left his back, almost touching the skin of the wolf. “What?”

  “I told you not to eat it!”

  “No you didn’t.”

  “Well, I’m telling you now!”

  “What do you suppose I eat then?”

  “There’s a tavern closeby.”

  “Really?” Corre turned to look at her.

  “Yes. They only serve beyonders, though.”

  “Good thing I can use your body.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Nah, I like you being annoyed too much.”

  “I said shut up!”

  “And I said no. What are you gonna do? Turn me into a girl?”

  “I just might.”

  “Scary.”

  Corre looked around. “Man, bummer. Where the hell am I gonna clean up?”

  “There’s a stream over there.” Cymble said dryly, pointing one finger to behind some trees. “Pretty hard to miss from up here. Turning as a ghost is still a chore though.”

  “You’ll figure it out.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m going to like it.”

  “Sounds to me like you already do. Besides, what’s so different about turning? You’re moving fine, right?”

  “Describe fine. I can move around and turn like a normal person, but when it comes to going upside down and stuff, that’s confusing.”

  “So, not my problem.” Corre said, walking toward the direction Cymble pointed to.

  She dropped down in front of him, still upside down, causing him to walk straight through her. She took her moment and opened the energy gate.

  Corre’s breath hitched for a second as his mind was catching up to what was happening. His hair found its way to his shoulders, which were now closer together. His uniform bagged around him as he found himself back to being a girl.

  He almost fell on his back as his bag fell on his shoulder, the gold chunk much heavier.

  “Cymble! What the hell?!” Corre yelled out in a much more high pitched voice.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t play coy, demon.”

  “Don’t worry, I will.”

  Corre groaned, annoyed even more by the pitch of it all. “Such a bother,” he muttered under his breath as he arrived at the stream.

  He sighed and lowered his hands into the cold water. The red on his hands partially mixed with the water, making a cloud expanding through the river, flowing down the stream.

  He rubbed his hands against each other, weirded out by the touch. He was used to his own calloused hands, but these were weirdly soft. Like she never held a weapon. Probably not necessary when you can use lightning. Although from what I saw, she wasn’t very good with it. It was weak at the very least.

  He let out another sigh, content with the cleanliness of his hands, moving to the rest of his arms. Lucky I wear black clothes. Blood blends in so well. Means I don’t need to clean it as often.

  “You done yet?” Cymble asked from above, returned to an upright position.

  “No.”

  “Hurry up.”

  “If I want to clean myself, I’m doing that. I’m not rushing things. No need for that anyway.”

  Cymble paused for a moment, then realised, “you never answered my question!”

  “Wha?”

  “What are you!”

  “I’m an Orphan.”