Chapter Text
Pillars of fire and smoke stretch it the dark sky. It usual vibrant red now more of a chaotic black. The pentagram that hovered over the city flickered with displeasure at the slaughter below.
Buildings were torn apart, and the streets were littered with bodies. Cold corpses of old and warm one of new. Didn’t matter who they were, what they were or where they came from. They were all laid to waste on the dirty streets of the Pride Ring.
The streets were filthier than usual, covered in blood, skin, bile and trash. It was more of an unpleasant sight than the residents were used to. Pentagram City, usually rife with neon and noise, now fell into a dark hush of silence and fear.
A dark, furred figure hid in the shadows of an alley. Their slender body pressed against the brick wall, trying to stay out of sight of the angels. She didn’t know if she could realistically take one in a fight. Her tail slowly moved against the brick wall in nervousness. Another year, another extermination. This was number seventy.
16 hours. She had counted 16 hours so far. Surely it would end soon. They had to get bored at some point? She prided herself on knowing information. Knowing facts. That was her job. That’s what she was good at. But this was something that Kyra didn’t know.
Kyra had spent 70 years in hell. 70 years of this torture. The fear of extermination. She was strong, stronger than before. Yet, a familiar tremor shook her hands as she watched angels scour the desolate streets. Her ears twisted, listening for any sign they noticed her, the blue fur on the inside contrasting the shows blanketing darkness.
As the angels moved closer to her hiding spot, Kyra’s fur stood on end. She would have to run. Fight. Something. What could she do? Her breaths become shorter as she began to panic. Her blue eyes flicked around the alley, they were getting closer.
As she was looking out the alley way, the buildings seemed to grow taller. The already impossible height becoming more intimidating. Her long, flowing hair disappearing along with her height. Soon, she was no more than 12 inches tall. In Kyra’s place was cat.
The cat had glossy black fur and piercing blue eyes. It’s slim frame radiated elegance whilst its eyes covey depth and knowing. This cat was Kyra. When Sinners come to hell, they often again forms that represented their human lives. These sinners are also able to again abilities the more powerful they become. Kyra was a powerful figure in the Pride Ring, as such she had some unique abilities. One of which was taking the form of a cat. A more animalistic version of her original form.
Kyra rolled her paws as she had forgotten what they felt like. Peering around the corner of the alley way, she noted that the angels were about 20 feet away from her, the perfect distance for a smooth escape. Kaito turns tail and begins running into the darkness of the alleyway. How much longer was she going to have to wait out this extermination?
Kaito wanders the blood-soaked streets. Hell wasn’t a clean place, but this was nastier than before. The extermination had ended not too long ago, and demons were starting to make their ways back on the streets. She had managed to survive another extermination but at what cost? Did anyone she know not make it?
Hell was a weird place. It had the souls of the dead and hell born; a place filled with fire and sin. Yet it somehow had signal for cell phones. Take her phone out of her pocket, Kyra dialled one of her top workers.
RING RING
RING RING
RIN-
“Boss?” A voice on the end of the line answered.
“Hello Hena. You alright?” Kyra asked her.
“Of course. Everyone else is alright as well.” Hena replied, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Kyra hummed as she slowly tapped her claws on the back of her phone, “There might be some new info we can gather. Just scout out and collect information as usual.”
“Of course. Anything else?” Henna seemed as if she was with a group of people as Kyra could hear talking in the background.
“That’s all.” Kyra told her, “Good bye.”
Kyra hung up the phone and slid it back into her pocket. Her tailed swayed side to side as she continued walking, the eyes of sinners following her form with intrigue and fear. Her piercing gaze causing many to move aside and avoid her. Her silk black fur dazzling those who looked her way.
Kyra was an information broker. She gathered information and sold it to the highest bidder. She had slowly risen to the rank of overload over the course of her 70 years in hell. She had control over 60 souls at the current moment; the number rose and dipped with the exterminations. She was infamous among the hierarchy in the Pride Ring. She was by no means the strongest or the scariest, but she was respected.
“Psst. Hey.” A voice called out to her.
Kyra sighed, she had had a peaceful walk for about thirty minutes but now she was going to have to deal with somebody. The person hadn’t even contact Hena or a couple of her other souls that were quite high in the chain of command. No, they were calling out to her from a random dark alley.
Kyra turned to the alley to find a man. He looked regular. Well, regular as in weird. Most of the souls in hell had some special thing about them. For Kyra it was looking like a humanoid cat. But this guy looked like a regular human, as in one who hadn’t died.
She squinted at him, most people wouldn’t call out to her, so she was decently intrigued, “Hello.”
“Hey, can u tell me where I am? I swear I was just asleep.” The guy asked.
Kyra’s lips perked up slightly, “Oh? You’re in hell.”
“What? Hell? As in… Hell, hell.” The guy looked panicked.
Kyra tilted her head and her pupils became slits, “Hell, a place of damned souls who have died and it seems that you have joined our ranks.”
The guy looked around frantically, “That can’t be right! I was just sleeping!”
“How about we make a deal?” Kyra slowly held out one of her paws.
“A deal? What kind of deal?” He asked, he didn’t seem quite in his right mind.
Kyra smiled, maybe it could be a chance to grow in power, “I can help you get your bearings, find you a place to stay. How does that sound?”
“Yeah, yeah. Alright.” The man said, “So what do you want?”
“You’re soul, what else?” Kyra grinned, her canines glistening in the dark.
“W-What? My soul?” The man stuttered.
“Yeah, that’s the currency of trade here.” Kyra’s shadow spread up the wall next to her, “You’re dead. You don’t need it anymore. You’ll die without my help you know.”
“D-die? I thought I was already dead?” He gripped his hair in anguish and stress, “But I- “
Kyra put her paw further forward, “Do we have a deal?”
The guy slowly stuck his hand out and Kyra grasped it, her blue eyes glowing abnormally bright. Her pupils more of a line than actual pupils. Glowing veins spread up her arm before she let go of the man.
“It was pleasure making a deal with you.” Kyra ginned and turned around. Now she could get back to what she was doing. But first… Kyra looked up to the roof of a nearby building. Stood on the roof was a woman. Long, lightly curled fiery hair with red eyes and pale skin. Small wings built from flame havered behind her as she looked down at Kyra. The woman bowed to her slightly as she descended from the roof.
“He’s all yours, Sera.” Kyra told her.
Sera walked past, “Of course.”
Kyra continued walking onwards. She had places to be. People to see. Her favourite should be waiting for her nearby.
Kyra thought about her life or lack of it, in hell. She had become in info broker after five years of suffering in filth and exterminations. Year after year, her power grew and so did the number of her allies. Well, if they could really be called that. The people she was associated with were either under contract with her or were customers.
She didn’t have friends; she didn’t need them. There were instances that resembled friendships, but she knew it was all transactional. Every greeting or shared conversation. Everyone was looking to get something from her. It was understandable really. She was in Hell after all.
A warehouse sat at the end of the street. Dusty and worn on the outside covered the truth deeper within. Large metal doors sat on the front wall, rusted with age. But surprisingly lightweight. Light enough that Kyra could open them with little effort. They creaked and scaped as they opened but what they lead to was nothing ad dirty as the shell of the place.
Inside was her home. The only place that resembled peace for Kyra. The concrete floor was swept clean of debris. The walls were exposed brick that gave the place an air of elegance. It was similar to apartments back on earth that people would purposefully keep one wall as exposed brick.
The middle of the warehouse were a few sofas, chairs and pillows in a ‘C’ shape. In the empty part of the circle was a table with a television sat on top of it. Nothing fancy but enough to watch the news. Kyra flicked on the television as she sat down on the biggest sofa. It was comfortable, large and quiet. The warehouse didn’t squeak or groan. And no one was interested in an old, dust covered warehouse enough to break in.
Kyra took a deep breath and released it, unwinding after the extermination was always quite hard for her. A small metal clang came from behind her, and she smiled to herself. He had finally arrived. Kyra had installed the exact pole she turned to look at for one specific person. It connected to a skylight in the roof which only few people could reach.
“It’s party time bitches!” An excitable voice announced as they twirled down the pole with ease.
Kyra tracked his movements down the pole, “Hello to you too Lusty.”
Lusty landed gracefully on the concrete floor, his blonde hair styled into a low ponytail and his slender frame leaning against the pole, “What’s up my feline friend.” He teased. “Managed to survive the extermination I see.”
Kyra turned back to face the television, the news just background noise, “I’ve just took a look around. It’s carnage out there.”
Lusty shrugged as he around the sofa and took a seat on one of the chairs, “Anyone die?” It seemed as if he was trying to haver an air of detachment to his question but the lit in his tone portrayed his worry.
Kyra shook her head, “None of ours.” Kyra then smirked, “How’d you survive anyway?”
“I hid of course,” He motioned to his outfit which consisted of a red, cropped blazer with a gold button keeping it closed; Black, leather, skintight trousers with heart cut outs near the top of his thighs on either side. On his feet was a pair of black high heels with pink on the bottom of them. “This outfit is expensive. Can’t let it get ruined already.”
“Right…” Kyra slowly looked away from Lusty and back to the television as she heard a lot of mocking laughter.
On screen was the regular new anchors that she saw day in and day out. They were nothing special and she didn’t particularly like the woman. Their news station had reached out to her a couple of times after she became an overlord, but Kyra refused each time. They just wanted flashy guests to show off. On the television was a girl Kyra knew quite well, Charlie Morningstar, Princess of Hell.
The woman was ripping into her and the crowd in the studio were eating it up and chiming in occasionally. It seemed particularly unpleasant as she watched Charlie slowly sink lower into her seat. In simple word Kyra would call it a disaster.
“Poor girl’s getting mauled out there.” Lusty commented sympathetically as they lounged about on his chair.
“Hmm…” Kyra replied as she read the text that was passing by at the bottom of the screen.
PRINCESS OF HELL ATTEMPTING TO REHABILITATE SINNERS IN HER NEW HOTEL!!
Kyra felt Lusty’s eyes on her before she looked over to him. She raised an eyebrow at his staring.
“Do you know her?” He asked.
“Of course. That’s the Princess of Hell. It’s hard not to know her.” Kyra leaned back and crossed her arms. Her tail swished back and forth with interest, and he lisps perked up.
Lusty admired his pink nails, “You seem particularly interested in her is all.”
“I’ve made a few business deals with her girlfriend.” Kyra drummed her fingers against her fur before standing up, “I’m actually due a trip.”
Lusty turned so his head was hanging off the chair upside down and frowned, “You’re leaving already? Not even going to say by to me?”
Kyra rolled her eyes, “Bye Lusty.”
“Bye Bye Sugar.” Lusty blew her a kiss.
Kyra walked out of the warehouse, not sparing the flirty man another glance. She was going to visit this new hotel. There something new and exciting in town.