The group of corres across the bar cheers as a skinny corre finishes another pitcher of beer, his third. Drinking and partying after a mission is just common practice. I’m not a fan of the drinking or partying, but I never miss a chance for large amounts of free food. I’ve lost weight, and gained muscle since becoming a corre, but I’m still a fat kid at heart. The days where I risk my life to complete a mission are the days I feel comfortable eating until I’m on the verge of popping like a balloon.

  “Zayir,” a drunken corre calls my name. I turn to spot TK waving to me from across the restaurant. He’s not the smartest corre or the strongest, or the fastest. He’s not really built to be a corre. But, he’s a nice person and I haven’t met too many of those in my life. He takes a seat across from me with a plate featuring some kind of slop. We can get the best food in this place, and he chooses something that looks like it might wake up and slide away at any second.

  “What is that,” I ask pointing as his plate.

  “Oh this? It’s great it’s lutefisk. It’s from where my family was originally from. This is the only place in town that serves it. It’s really hard to get it here.”

  “It looks disgusting,” I laugh.

  “Give it a try, you might like it,” he slides the plate towards me.

  “I’ll settle for steak.”

  “That’s boring. One of these days you’re going to have to stop doing everything by the book. You’re going to have to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.”

  “Like that time a farmer rigged a bucket of animal turds to fall on you when you were trying to collect taxes?”

  “He paid his taxes didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, after you two rolled around in crap trying to hit each other for half an hour.”

  “And nothing embarrassing ever happened to you,” TK asks with a smirk.

  “Nothing.”

  “Remember that time you got sword stuck in a tree because you tried to throw it,” TK laughs.

  “That doesn’t count, we were training back then.”

  “But it happened.”

  Dishes clang against the ground as shouting increases. They say this place used to have glass dishes but they switched to metal because corres kept fighting and tonight is no different. I finish the last bite of my steak and walk towards the commotion. I gently push my way to through the crowd to spot two corres getting ready to fight. I don’t recognize either of them, but they’re young. This is probably their first mission, meaning their first taste of beer, and it might be too much for them to handle.

  “Hey,” I shout at the two as I step between them. “I don’t know what this is about, but it’s done. You represent The Oba when we’re in public and this is not how you represent The Oba.”

  “He started it,” one of the boys shouts.

  “I don’t care,” I respond. “You two shake hands now, and go back to the barracks.”

  One of the boys puts his hand on his sword as if he intends to draw it. The crowd starts to laugh but the boy doesn’t realize they’re laughing at him. Everyone in this place knows I could kick him through a wall if I wanted to, except for him and his buddy.

  “If you’re going to draw your sword, do it,” I shrug. “The way I see it, if you draw that sword I get the opportunity to make sure you never embarrass The Oba in public again.”

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  “I’d apologize and do what he says,” TK whispers in the kid’s ear.

  The kid thinks for a minute before offering his hand to the other. The two shake hands and everyone knows they’re not going to see a fight tonight. With everyone calmed down I pay for my food and step outside. The air is unusually cold for summer tonight, but after sitting inside for a few hours, it feels good.

  “Demon,” someone shouts as I’ve barely made it up the street. “Demon, I know you hear me.”

  Demon is a name I’ve been given and as much as some of the other corres love it, I hate it. Sometimes I black out; I never remember it, but when I wake up there’s nothing but signs of violence. They call me the demon because apparently when it happens, I’m demonic. I don’t care about friend or foe and I take damage that would ordinarily kill others. Some say I’ve got super human strength. Others say that I move faster than a human body. I don’t believe all of that. Most of it is just rumors made up to make the name carry further.

  “You, demon,” Azad shouts, catching up to me.

  Just the sound of his voice makes me wish I could drop a car on him. He’s got all the talent to be a chief one day. His father was one and trained him from birth to follow in his footsteps. Instead of blazing his own trail or trying to step out of his father’s footsteps he spends all his time cursing the ground I walk on.

  “You think you’re better than us,” Azad asks.

  I turn to see he’s tied his hair up into a ponytail for a fight and his blue eyes stare directly into mine. We’re the perfect contrast in every way. An orphan, someone born into wealth, long hair, no hair, blue eyes, brown eyes. It makes sense we’d hate each other. That’s just the way the world works.

  “I’m not doing this with you tonight, Azad.”

  “Why? You’re too good to fight me?”

  “No, I’d love to fight you. Maybe even to the death, just not tonight. I was actually trying to set an example for the younger corres back there. Wouldn’t make sense to just kill you in the street.”

  “You think you can kill me.”

  “You think you can kill a demon?”

  “You’re the demon now? I thought you hated the name.”

  “Yeah, but I hate you even more.”

  Neither of us is going to make a move here. We’re just talking and sizing each other up. We both know there would be an angry chief waiting on both of us if we were fighting each other in the street. Neither of us wants that, but neither of us can back down either.

  A woman’s shout cuts through the night. The two of us share a quick glance before taking off at full speed. It doesn’t take long before we leave the part of the city with street lights and make it to the are where people hang candles outside to light the road. Portions of the city that keep remnants of the old world right next to those with one room houses and single level buildings made of wood so close to each other. It’s a crazy thing to see. I never came this far into the region until I met Alston.

  Another shout, and the two of cut around the corner. We’re firmly in the red light district. A third scream as we round a corner, a woman is being assaulted by two men, attempting to carry her away.

  “Right,” Azad shouts at me. He’s bold to think he’s the leader here, but a woman’s life is in danger. The palm of my hand lands on the right attackers jaw slamming his mouth closed and surely cracking a few teeth. I glance to my left, and Azad’s victim holds his hand over a knife wound. As we help the woman from the ground the two men attempt to get away.

  “Go get them, I’ll get her home,” I say to Azad.

  “Don’t give me orders.”

  “I’m just saying, you can get the credit for the arrests.”

  That’s all Azad needs to hear. If there’s one thing he loves as much as he hates me it’s getting applauded for his work.

  “You alright,” I ask the woman.

  “Yes, you and your friend were right on time,” she dusts herself off.

  “Are attacks around here becoming common,” we’re supposed to protect the people, not The Oba. If this is common we may need to do a sweep.

  “No, not at all. Those two just looked like really bad addicts. That drug, charge, is running rampant on the folks,” she looks up and is shocked. “I know who you are.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you.”

  “If I had my hair tied up you’d recognize me,” she wipes the hair bang away from her forehead and smiles.

  “Oh, you work at the brothel,” I shout.

  “Yes,” she jumps in excitement. “We thought you died.”

  “Thought I died?”

  “We know corres die all the time and we hadn’t seen you in a few weeks. Angel has been moping around all the time.”

  “We just had an argument,” and Alston called me out for visiting the brothel too much.

  “Well, you better come and apologize, even if you’re right. You know Angel is sensitive, and just crazy about you.”

  “I’ll be around next time I get a day off, I promise.”

  “You better come around. Angel is going to be so happy I saw you,” she takes off running the opposite direction as Azad.

  “Do you want me to walk you back,” I call after her.

  “Nope,” she shouts without looking back.