Chapter Text
Cody drew the sword from the demon's body and huffed. Another bounty accomplished.
He headed back towards the place where he had left his horse, Boga, and untied the reins from the tree while caressing its neck. He climbed into the saddle and clicked his tongue once to signal Boga to move; he trotted through the forest where he had faced the demon, feeling the cold wind chill his bones despite the heavy clothing and armor he wore until he arrived into the town a couple of hours later, the sun already getting lower and the air growing chillier.
He didn't waste any time, immediately starting to look for the farmer who had hired him to kill the demon to reddeem his bounty. He had another job to do.
He finally spotted the man sitting on a bench holding his head in his hands, probably resting after a day of work in the fields. Cody didn't envy him at all, for that year the harvest had proved rather poor and that little the farmers gathered they gave to the demons who passed by to be spared. The farmer who had hired him had been in a similiar situation, until he didn't manage to give the demon the amount of crop he had requested and so the monster had killed his daughters.
Cody heard stories like this one everyday. They all were tragedy, but he always felt more sorry for them, the ones who got left behind and lived mourning for their losses than for those who had died. Maybe it was because he knew how hard it was to survive while your loved ones didn't.
He dismissed the thought and finally approached the farmer.
“Hey. That demon's dead. You can go tell your wife that your daughters have finally been avenged.”
He watched as the man slowly lifted his head, looking at him with a wretched expression. “Thank you, Demon Hunter.” He reached in the bag lying on the floor next to him and took a small sachet and offered it to the man in front of him. Cody hesitated a moment to accept it: the farmer was obviously poor and those he was offering to him had to be all of his savings. In the end he took it, the small bag dingling in his hand and opened it, taking a handful of golden coins and giving it back to the farmer. “I don't need this much anyway. Keep them for you and your wife.”
The man bowed, his hands closing around the coins “Thank you, great Kote, thank you! Me and my wife will pray for you.”
He gave him a nod and walked away, not really knowing how to react. He had never been good at relating with other people, or take compliments; not that a lot of people talked to him, after all he was Kote, the Demon Hunter, people talked to him only if they needed something, not to chat. But even when he used to be simply Cody, he could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who actually were interested in talking to him. He had never been good at expressing his emotions and had always been more of a listener than a talker, often being concise in his answers and never too expansive in his displays of affection; so people just-- lost interest in talking to him or even staying with him. He was always too “anaffective” or “clearly not interested in whatever” for them.
He lost track of his surroundings for some moments, lost in thought, until he found himself in front of the place his new target was supposed to be. At first sight the place would have passed for a simple tavern with its simple wooden tables and chairs and the loud noise of people chatting over dinner, but it was enough to go down the stairs in the left corner of the room, slightly hidden by the wall, to realize that this was not the case.
The real cantina was, in fact, protected by a spell which made it indistinguishable from the surrounding environment and hid it from those who did not pass the border: the last step, so that if someone was not aware of its existence it was unlikely that he would be able to find it.
As he stepped through the border Cody was suddenly hit by the loud music coming from beyond the entry of the local where two guards were standing. The first time he got a job in one of those places and saw the two warrior-demons guarding the entry he had thought they wouldn't let him in, for he was considered dangerous for most demond, but now he knew that in the place everyone was welcome, even him.
Everyone, except angels. They were the only reasons why the guards were there.
As usual he passed the two demons with no trouble at all.
Once inside the loud music and the flashing lights stunned him for a second, but he recovered immediately. He couldn't risk to be distracted in such a place.
He quickly headed to the bartender table, the only place where he could actually have a complete view of the place. As he made his way to the spot he had chosen to occupy, he deliberately made eye contact with various creatures, studying their reaction at his arrival. It was a tactic he had come up with after some not-so-nice surprises he got during this kind of missions to know if he was expected and if he should get ready to fight or to chase his target.
He looked at the blond female succubus sitting at a table by herself, who widened her eyes when she saw him, but then grinned and winked at him projecting in Cody's head images of the two of them busy in-- heated activities. Unluckily for her, she was not the first succubus to try to lure him into their bed and, honestly, Cody had never even thought about it, he had never felt attracted to any of them, even though he had studied that the Succubi knew everyone's deepest desires and what everyone liked and felt attracted to and that they could easily seduce anyone. There were even potions to protect oneself from their powerful charm, but Cody had never needed them, resisting their attempts to seduce him without difficulties. So he moved on, ignoring the intrusive thoughts she had sent his way like he always did, knowing they'd disappear by themselves.
He spotted a male Cambion charming a human woman, who quickly looked away from him, probably in fear. Most Cambions were not really strong in combat due to their nature: half demons beings who usually avoided troubles with creatures they considered stronger than them, focusing instead on simple humans who could be easily fooled.
Next he saw a Familiar offering a contract to a boy. The creature payed Cody no mind at all, scanning the crowd with his bright little eyes and then focusing back on his new apprentice. Cody hoped for the boy' sake that the Familiar was benevolent one, but judging by the feral grin on the creature's face as the young man in front of him lifted the pen from the paper sheet he doubted that was the case.
Even the vampire sitting on a sofa with lots of girls around him and drinking blood from one of them met his eyes just for a moment and payed him no mind too, choosing to address his attention back to his meal.
A male red headed succubus moving through the crowd caught his eyes then. He looked-- unusual for a succubus, almost shy in his movements , even though a part of Cody's mind suggested that he had absolutely no reason to be, with dark brown horns crowning his head and his upper body covered (Cody could count on the fingers of one hand the number of succubus he had seen who actually covered their bodies with some clothes) by a simple tight black shirt that left little to the imagination and a pair of long dark pants that hugged the muscles in his legs so well and his tail swinging side to side in an almost nervous pattern and--
The succubus looked at him, stopping his hurried walk for a moment and this time it was Cody who quickly looked away from those bright blue eyes that seemed to call out for him, doing his best to avoid looking at the redhead's body again as he moved his gaze. Part of him half expected some images of them tangled together in intimate positions to appear in his mind, like all succubus projected in his mind to seduce him , but none came. That was definitely unusual, and Cody found himself actively fighting the impulse to look at the demon again.
He shook his head, focusing back on his mission, judging that there was nothing out of the ordinary and that his target probably wasn't waiting for him, which made things far easier and finally took a sit at the bartender table.
Now he just had to spot the demon he was looking for.
°°°
Obi-Wan's pov
He risked taking a glance behind him as he made his way through the crowd. He could see them, looking for him with hungry, lust-filled eyes. He moved further still, hoping that they'd be unable to find him among all those people. Even if they could smell him, the chances that they could track him following his scent were dismal considering how many other succubi were in the club that evening.
“Hey, there he is!”
Shit.
He headed towards the dance floor, moving swiftly through the people until he couldn't hear them anymore, but he didn't stop moving, eyes darting around looking for a place to hide or an escape and--
His eyes locked with golden ones, a stranger's.
Wait no. Not a stranger. He squinted his eyes a bit to see more clearly. Yes, he knew that man.
He stopped.
That was him. The demon hunter everyone was so afraid of. Kote.
The human moved his eyes away and looked back at the bartender, who was standing at a safety distance, asking him something.
Obi-Wan had seen the human already. Many times and always from afar. U nbeknownst to the human, in fact, they lived in the same city. And Obi-Wan would be lying if he said he had never felt attracted by the man, with his deep golden eyes and dark short hair and his strong muscles. But he always admired him from afar, knowing how easily the demon hunter could kill him for Obi-Wan had seen him come back victorious from confrontations with far stronger demons than he was.
Regardless of how dangerous he was Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel curious about him. Kote looked so-- mysterious and he had heard so many contradictory things about him, for example the fact that the hard features of his face never showed any of his emotion to the point people started to think that he didn't feel any, n evertheless Obi-Wan had heard from many of the villagers about his generosity towards them when it came to paying the price for his services.
He stared at the man's back for a good minute, lost in thought, appreciating the way his black jacket hugged his broad shoulders and--
“Can you see him?”
“No. Where has that whore hidden this time?”
Obi-Wan felt a shiver run down his back. He couldn't just stand there, he needed to move. To find somewhere safe, hide and hope that they wouldn't find him and leave him alone--
He glanced at Kote once again. He was lucky, no one dared to come closer to him, everyone was too scared of him.
An idea flashed in his mind. It was crazy but-- it couldn't be worse than staying with them.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and made his choice, making his way through the crowd towards the bartender table.