ZONI
"Get that thing away from me!"
In a flash, Adin was right in front of me. He didn't move; he just was there. He grabbed my shoulders, holding me firmly in place. "Hey, breathe. It's not going to harm you. You're just reacting to the power it holds. You'll get used to it."
I was now hyperventilating, the fear turning into psychosis. "What the hell is that?! It's evil! I can't breathe!"
"Relax, Zoni! It'll fade!" Adin's voice was commanding. He forced me to look at the cross, his fingers glowing faintly as he muttered a string of low incantations. And slowly, just like he said, I started coming back to my senses.
The ice in my veins began to thaw. The suffocating dread receded, replaced by a dull, manageable ache. My breathing evened out.
"Fun part huh???" I was pissed. "For the hundredth time, what the fuck was that?! I thought I was dying again!"
Adin chuckled, tucking the cross into his belt. "Yeah, well, that's what it's for. Dying. You use it to condemn a sinner. It's a powerful relic."
I glared at the wooden object, still wary. "How does it work? I just whack them with it?"
"Not quite. When you are near a sinner who is 'ripe' for harvesting, the cross will emit blood. It won't be seen by humans, and it won't drip. It'll just revolve around the cross in a sphere, defying gravity. Think of it as a sinner-meter. The more blood, the greater their sins are."
"Hm..."
He leaned in closer. "Once you've identified a target, you have to confront them. You need to get them to confess their sins."
"How you do that? I'm no magician."
"That's the 'creative' part of the job. Use your head, Zoni. Can't help ya with that."
"Damn. This is harder than I thought." I confessed, chewing the inside of my cheek.
"It can be daunting, but I believe you're capable." Adin gave me a jaunty thumbs up.
I rolled my eyes. "Spare me the pep talk."
"Once you have the confession, the blood will vanish, and the cross will turn white-hot. That's your cue. You must stamp it onto their skin. Any part will do."
"Isn't that a bit... traumatic?" I winced.
"They're hardcore sinners, Zoni. Nothing is too traumatic for them. Besides, the moment the deed is done, they'll forget the encounter, and you."
"Oh, like a memory wipe? Convenient."
"Exactly. After that, your job is technically done. The soul is marked. They'll meet their end soon enough—unless, of course, you want to speed things up and send them to us... uh, personally." He gave me a dark smirk.
"Not really my style," I said, a solemn thought crossing my mind. "Though... there are one or two people I wouldn't mind personally killing."
Adin cackled and glanced down at the frozen figure of Jack in the window below. "What an unlucky man," he mused.
He turned back to the box, and I shifted back, my eyes narrowing. "What other catastrophic torture device are you pulling out now?"
He laughed and produced two items: a sleek black credit card and a pink, beaded bracelet.
He held up the bracelet first. "This, is a teleportation device. Just think of the place you want to go, and you're there. Instant travel."
My eyes widened. "No way..."
He immediately raised a warning finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You only have two uses per month. Use them only for emergencies. Not cause you're too lazy to take the bus to the grocery store."
My excitement shriveled. "Got it."
He then held up the card. "This is a credit card with a monthly limit of $20,000. Every successful kill adds a bonus of $2,000 to it."
A slow, genuine smile spread across my face. "Wait. So I don't have to worry about rent or bills while also ridding the world of bad people? Wow. I really should have died sooner."
Adin shook his head at my lack of filter. "Don't get cocky. Can you withdraw from it? Yes. But don't exceed the limit, or the card disappears forever."
"No worries. I'm a very frugal person." I said, already imagining the wardrobe upgrades. "What if I only use half? Does the rest roll over? Like can I stack up thirty grand for next month?"
"No. It resets. You get your base twenty plus bonuses. No stacking wealth."
I deadpanned. "So I can't be a billionaire soul-collector?"
"You're dead, Zoni. What do you need wealth for?" He sighed.
That saddened me for some... weird reason.
"You really are a citizen of Hell," I muttered.
"A proud one," he grinned. "That concludes the orientation. Any questions?"
"None yet. My brain is currently a smoothie," I admitted. "Still processing the whole thing."
"Take your time. If you need me for anything, just blow this." He handed me a small, carved wooden whistle. "As usual, only you can see or hear it. Blow it, and I'll appear."
I took the whistle, nodding. "Thanks. I guess."
"Just doing my job." He offered a surprisingly warm smile. "One more thing: be very careful how you interact with humans."
"How do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"You are no longer human, Zoni. Your biological make-up has been... changed. You can pretty much regenerate a cut-off arm, ingest poison... You are, for all intents and purposes, a biological weapon now." He scratched his neck. "So, say, If you were to give a human a blood transfusion, or perhaps, an organ? It would kill them instantly."
A slow, mischievous glint entered my eyes. I stepped closer, making sure I'd heard him correctly.
"Hold up, did you just imply that I can regenerate any part of my body?"
He smirked "That's exactly what I said."
"And I could potentially kill someone if they got my blood... or an organ?" The excitement was tripling with every word.
Adin laughed mischievously, and gave me a knowing wink. Then he disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, I was on the ground, and the world was unfrozen. Right across from me was Jack, looking through the cafe window from across the street.
I smirked. Now this was getting much funner.