As the sun began to rise, I groaned, not wanting to get up, or to pretend to be a human, but knew what the other option was, my soul held in Bael's hands, quite literally. I got up, and sighed, cracking my neck, then walked to the closet, searching through the mountain of black and grey clothing, none of it really my style. "Didn't this woman own anything other than turtlenecks and jeans? This is beyond depressing." I pulled her blood soaked phone out of my pocket, unlocking it, and scrolled through her bank account, even more annoyed. "I'm broke?! You would think a Detective would be rolling in won, but this one clearly isn't. Oh, well, it can't be helped... I'll just make do with it." I peeled off the blood stained clothes, using my powers to incinerate them, just in case someone saw them somehow, and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower, then stepped under the cascading hot water. I closed my eyes, the feeling of warm water something I hadn't felt since the day I had been created, the river in The Garden warmed by the sun. I shook my head, clearing those memories, as I felt my heart clench.
Desperate to escape the emotions I still clung to, even as a demon, and to ignore the memories of my haunted past, I scrubbed my skin vigorously with vanilla body wash and a sponge, until it was red and tender, tracing my fingers along curves, and slender muscle, this body clearly used to working out and fighting. "Well, well, maybe this body is a good fit, after all. I can use the extra muscle, not that I need it." I washed my hair with apple scented shampoo, then turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower, toweling myself dry, before tugging a dark grey turtleneck over my head, the nicest one in the closet, and pulled on some jeans, grimacing a bit at the feeling, more interested in dress pants and the like, but I ignored it. As my phone rang, I ignored it, and stared into the bathroom mirror, using my hand to brush away dirt and dust, then used the limited amount of makeup I found in a dresser drawer, smirking in the mirror as I finally looked a bit like myself, glancing at my phone as it buzzed.
I read the text message from the contact named "Daon", asking where I was, and if I was safe, or, the person I was living in, to be precise. I ignored it, and pulled on my shoes, cleaning the blood off my phone, before exiting the apartment. I pulled on sunglasses as I descended the stairs, too many crosses lying around where the landlady liked to spend her time, their light blinding to us demons, and ignored her as she told me good morning, trying to give me some boiled eggs for some reason. After I exited the villa, I sighed, realizing I had no car or the money for a means of transportation, which meant walking to the place I needed to go. "This human had to do this every day? No wonder she died- If she hadn't died from being stabbed, exhaustion and sore feet would have done it." I muttered complaints, exhausted and a bit sweaty by the time I reached the courthouse that Daon had constantly been texting me about not being late to all the way there, and I plopped into a seat with other witnesses, as the trial proceeded, the courtroom falling silent, as all eyes turned to me. "Ah, damn it, what are you looking at? If you're that bothered by me, maybe one of you idiots should give me your car. I nearly died on the way here, and what's the deal with your traffic here? If you own a car, surely you should know how to drive one properly, and not try to hit a beautiful woman like me.."
I heard snickers around me, the humans clearly finding my dialogue amusing, the man in the police uniform in the defendant's seat turning to stare at me in surprise. The girl's memories told me that was the Daon who had been pestering me all morning, and I flashed him a sarcastic smile, before glancing at the judge, waving my hand at her. "Continue with whatever it was you were saying. But please hurry it up, I have better things to do." A scoff left her lips, as well as a few swear words, and she replied, "Keep it down, or I'll have you removed. How annoying." I froze, blinking, the way she said those words, the annoyed look on her face, the job position, and her tone of voice all too familiar to me, and I felt my face heat up as I realized I was staring at her, quickly looking away, as she got a suspicious look on her face. After that, I lowered my eyes, and focused on listening to the trial. Daon had apprehended a suspect who had abused their girlfriend during a chase, but had supposedly injured the idiot's hand by kicking a knife out of it, and he apparently couldn't eat properly because of his injury. "Good for Han Daon. That punk would've been torn to pieces if I got ahold of him." I once again got the attention of everyone around me, but the judge I now knew to be Justitia ignored it, and kept going. "He should've just starved to death. Why sue?"
I snorted, trying not to laugh, covering my mouth with one hand, and the prosecution seemed to be annoyed by both my reaction and her response, as he said, "Your Honor, you've gone too far." Justitia looked at him, and gave him a wry smile, before replying, "You're the one who's gone too far. The police can't just stand there. He came at him with a knife. What was he supposed to do? Say, "Please, sir, give me the knife"? Or should he have gotten stabbed, and buried with honors?" The spectators around me whispered and gasped, but the prosecution continued fighting back with, "An arrest could have been made without excessive use of force." I clenched my fists, not enjoying the way he spoke to her, and stood up. "Do you want to see excessive use of force? Keep speaking to the judge that way, and you'll get to see it, then." Justitia and Daon both turned to me, Justitia's eyebrow raised as she looked at me, and told me, "Sit down. I won't ask you again." She didn't put much energy into that statement though, and I doubted she cared enough to toss me out, not knowing who I was.
She turned back to the prosecutor, and said, "If that's excessive use of force, this is excessive indictment. Why bring such a small matter to court and make me busier? This is so annoying." He replied, "Your Honor, we are in court. Let's show some respect." She scoffed, and said, "Is this church or something? Respect?" She crushed the cola can in her hands, and continued, "His mother is the President of PTL Group. And the prosecutor's father-in-law went to school with her." The crowd gasped again, and I couldn't help laughing, not having seen her go after someone in court for a very long time, even if both of us were now in human bodies on Earth. "Now, am I the one disrespecting the law in court? Or is it you, Prosecutor?" She suddenly looked at her watch, and I heard her mutter, "I'll be late", before she turned to Daon, and said, "Defendant. Your final statement. Hurry." Daon cleared his throat, and stood up, before saying, "Every night, before I go to bed, I regret that day. If I'd known I would be tried, I'd have done it differently. I would've kicked his hand, pretending to aim for the knife. And when I cuffed him, I should have twisted his arm harder. That's what I regret." That caught both me and Justitia off guard, it seemed, as she blinked in surprise a few times, looking at him.
She leaned forward, and asked, "You're not remorseful?", to which he replied, "There's no need to be. I didn't do anything wrong." Justina chuckled dryly, and I raised an eyebrow, as she said, "I have made my decision." Moments later, she let Daon off the hook, much to the annoyance of the prosecution, and as everyone began filing out of the courtroom, I went to follow suit. I felt a hand grab my arm, and spun, gripping the person's wrist tightly, and twisted it behind their back, slamming them against the wall, before seeing that it was Daon. I awkwardly cleared my throat, and let him go, as he rubbed his arm, and glanced at me with concern. "Hey, Eun-Kyung, why did you ignore my messages? I was surprised to see you show up here. I thought you wouldn't come.. I was worried about you. So-Young was, too. She told me that she just got the report this morning that you were attacked in an alleyway last night, and that you ran off when the paramedics arrived. Are you okay?" I flinched, tensing up, as he hugged me suddenly, the feeling alien and uncomfortable to me, as I awkwardly shoved him off.
I chuckled awkwardly, not sure what to do in that situation, and replied, "I'm perfectly fine, as you can see. I'm not a child, Han Daon. I don't need your protection, and I'm capable of taking care of myself." I felt a slight twinge of guilt as I saw a bit of hurt in his eyes, and he nodded, smiling a bit sadly. "Right. You were acting strange there for a moment in the courtroom, but you aren't so different now. Back to your old self.. We were raised as siblings, and even though we aren't blood, or related to the ones who raised us, I still want to protect you. No matter how many times you tell me to go away, or work along on your cases, don't forget that I'm one call or text away if you need it. I'll get going now.. See you at the station." I went to open my mouth to say something, caught by surprise by all his words, and scoffed, as he was already walking away. "Unbelievable. Who does he think he is?" I stormed off after him, but stopped, as I caught him watching Justitia, who was telling a group of children on a field trip that she was a demon, and they responded by telling her no demon was that pretty.
I scowled a bit, slightly hurt, and walked over to Justitia, dragging her away as she told the children about the statue in front of them, and how it was a statue of Justitia, The Goddess of Justice, making them chant, "Justice is dead!" along with her, making me roll my eyes. Daon followed after us, which made it hard to do anything, as she struggled in my grip. "What do you think you're doing? I just had these robes dry cleaned, and dragging me like this will ruin my shoes! Do you know how much these cost?" I muttered to her, "If you keep going around telling humans your identity, you're going to get a more severe punishment, and then I'll be punished, because I'm supposed to keep an eye on you. And those children clearly have never seen a pretty demon before, or they'd know I exist." She yanked her arm out of my grip, and blinked in surprise, before shoving her face in mine, locking eyes with me, and I groaned, letting my eyes glow dark blue for an instant, before looking away. "Lilith?! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in that disgusting cell, where you're supposed to rot away for eternity and all that, blah blah blah?" Before I could reply, Daon came up to us, and I took that as my cue to leave, shooting him a dirty look. "I'll see you again later.. Your Honor." With that, I walked away, leaving both of them to talk, ignoring Justitia's gaze following me as I left..
