The Fine Line of Heaven and Hell

Update: Again, the awesome Gaia has beta'd this chapter as well. Much love for her. Honestly, she's already beta'd up to chapter 15, I'm just too slow to keep up. >.> Anyway, I'm just procrastinating working on the next chapter. O.o I'll go now.

A/N: I’m not really sure if my last chapter showed up. *chuckle* I’ll figure out what happened if I can. Hopefully it will get fixed by the time I post this chapter. I thought up some changes to this chapter, in case you wondered why it took longer to post chapter three. Honestly, I’ve tried my best not to go back and change chapter two. As I typed it out I kept thinking, “Man, this is boring.” I let it be though, so that at least other people can compare it when and if I do actually change the damn thing. Haha.

This chapter will answer some of the questions I’m sure you all have, so have no fear! As far as review responses go, that was me celebrating the fact that I actually got reviews. Sadly enough, I was that ecstatic about them. ^.^ Anyway, onward to the purpose of posting.

Anyway, this is the last chapter I pre-wrote, so the others my take longer to post. ^.^ Just so you know ahead of time. I do have a lot of spare time, though. It shouldn't take but a few days or so to write each chapter. I'm pretty sure that's about how long it took with the other chapters. Who knows.

Chapter 3: Learning New Things
==========================
Sunlight crept into the tiny window of Shuey’s room. She’d been sleeping just a few
moments prior and was once again awoken by someone pounding at her door.

Thankfully this time her tired brain had remembered to place her beloved dagger on the
stand nearby. Ignoring the impatient knocking, she picked up the book she had been
given. Why didn’t the book say anything about gold eyes? It had referenced all the colors
she’d seen in the bar, even a detailed thing about how grey eyes were rare in lower
demons, but common in demons with special abilities.

It explained a lot that she didn’t know about both races, but none of the words had told
her anything about herself. It was rather frustrating. She’d been hoping to ask Cordon
about a demon with gold eyes, but seeing his face had irritated her for absolutely no
reason. He’d been right; he hadn’t deserved the treatment she’d given him, but she just
couldn’t bring herself to care.

When the borderline rhythmic knocking became constant, she lifted herself up with a
small southward twitch of the lips. “Coming,” she uttered lowly, half sure she’d been
heard. The rapping ended as she shuffled groggily to the embodiment of her irritation.
Once the cover the door provided had vanished, the nervous day clerk stood before her in
some twisted reiteration of the day before. With a small rise of one eyebrow, the man
bowed at her lowly.

“Mr. Cordon is calling for you, Miss. If you would make your way to his office
immediately, please.” He didn’t seem as fidgety as the previous day; his eyes didn’t move
from spot to spot around them, but deciding to stare blankly at one point on the floor as if
he were reciting a memorized speech. Remembering the woman who acted as the night
clerk, she sighed lightly, causing the day clerk the jump a little. Brown hair bounced as
he straightened up and turned heel to walk down the hallway at a surprisingly brisk pace.

Without much thought, Shuey turned back inside, searching out her boots before sitting
softly on her bed to tug them on her feet. She dragged on some semblance of an outfit
before she had sprawled out to sleep. Long shorts reached just below her knees, the
darkened indigo of the cargos making her skin look all the more pale between the end of
her shorts and the tops of her black boots. A grey t-shirt covered her chest, and her coat
emitted a strange smell that just screamed ‘wash me,’ so she left it off in favor of not
smelling of sweat. All that completed, she straightened her bangs in front of her bizarre
eye and grabbed her recently cleaned and polished dagger, placing it in the
bracelet/sheath on her wrist and leaving it plain sight. He knew it was there, she knew it
was there, so why bother hiding it?

Keys in hand, she left for a meeting that was sure to be something unpleasant. He’d
called it a review. What kind of review had he had in mind? Would he ask questions he
had no right to ask, or would he merely ask those he required for her employment? The
office door neared quicker than she would have liked, but she supposed that the sooner
she dealt with this irritation, the better. Once again, before she even had the chance to
knock on the mahogany wood, that silky baritone voice called out, “Enter.” With a roll of
her eyes, she went on in. Silky was not a word she would describe his voice as. That was
just ridiculous.

As she opened the doors, Cordon looked up to see her face, his smile tilting up slightly on
one side. After a few seconds of staring at him, she realized that he was smirking at her,
and that was irritating. “Welcome Shuey.” Glare. “Ms. Shuey. Please have a seat.”
Disliking striking similarities to previous two days, she sat down on the edge of a chair to
the left of the one she sat in before. It was irrational, but she did it anyway. He
straightened, seeming to find a notebook that was right in front of him already. He
opened it with a flip, opening up a pen and poising it at the top of the notebook.

Jerrick could almost feel the smoldering gaze on his hands as he set himself up for the
interview. He’d subtly flirt and make her tense later; he really did have to do his job now.
This wasn’t a serious job for him; more of a chore like putting on make up was to a
woman. He looked up at her, that alluring blue eye staring back at him, and began said
job. “I need to ask you a few obligatory questions. Nothing big, just a few facts about you
that we need for our records. For instance, your address; do you have a place of
residence?” At the slow shake of her head, he merely jotted down the address of the
establishment.

Shuey narrowed her eyes; she didn’t want him knowing that much about her. That was
dangerous on many levels. What irked her the most, however, was how he always
seemed to just be around. Didn’t he have work to do? At the first question, she
noticed his tone of voice was slightly different. This tone was just a bit more stiff, giving
the receiver of the tone the impression that he meant business. In itself, that made her
relax just a little. “Your mother’s name?” At that point, the meeting didn’t seem relaxing
anymore.

“I don’t know,” she said dully, and she didn’t know, had never known. Her mother had
written that she couldn’t share both of their names, for her safety. Apparently she had
wanted Shuey to know who her father was more than who her mother was. It was rather
baffling, but there was really nothing she could do about it, so she hadn’t tried to pry
information from the greasy man who claimed guardianship.

“Father’s name?” Jerrick asked quietly. She seemed to become more uncomfortable with
that question, as she had with the last one. “Orphan?” That magnificent cerulean eye
narrowed in an eerie way, and he couldn’t help but wonder what was running through
that sharp mind. He’d only known her briefly, but her intelligence seemed to radiate from
her, intimidating many who lacked the type of knowledge she may retain. Her eyes spoke
of endless knowledge; the type of eyes that saw and knew everything. The type of eyes
you couldn’t hide anything from. The stare she was giving him sent exotic tingles down
his spine. He was sure if he had a tail, it’d be waving side to side with excitement.

Telling Cordon about her father might be a bad idea, considering he was a demon
himself. “I can’t tell you,” she offered instead, hoping it’d be enough. Dark eyebrows
shot up into his hairline for some reason that she could not understand, and she found that
it unnerved her not to know what that look meant. “I’m sorry,” she ventured, wondering
if maybe she’d offended him in some way. Watching as his brow creased in slight
confusion, he cracked another one of those smiles in realization.

“No need to apologize, Shuey,” Jerrick said, for once not receiving a corrective glare.
Shuey had apologized to him. He was under the impression that she didn’t apologize
often, and that made him feel rather smug. His happiness was dampened when a new
kind of glare was directed at him. This one was fairly scary and made him want to hide
under his desk just a little bit. Regardless of what he wanted to do, he was a demon of the
upper class. He did not do such things as slink underneath a hotel office desk in front of a
woman... even if said girl was terrifyingly magnetic. “Furthermore... have you had any
prior jobs?”

Shuey paused; was this what normal people went through? Working, interacting, and all
that social rubbish wasn’t something she was used to. This man was trying to be pleasant
to her, right? Yet here she was, instantly assuming he had some twisted ulterior motive
for him being so pleasant to her. There was no reason for his kindness, so why would he
be kind? She really didn’t understand these things, but she took advantage of what she
could to survive. She didn’t belong in this world, any world, but here she was, already
struggling to grasp a hold of life at the mere age of seventeen. She had grown up without
ever being a child, and often hated her parents for that.

“Shuey?” Jerrick questioned, the barest hint of concern in those blank grey orbs. Not
even bothering to correct the man, she just shook her head, the hair in front of her face
moving a bit to show the closed golden eye. Seeing it reminded Jerrick of the book he
had; a copy of which he’d given to Shuey. “Did you have questions?” he asked
immediately, before he’d thought not to. When she gave him a look that said she didn’t
understand, he began wondering what went on in that mind of hers, not for the first time
since they’d met. As if in explanation, he held up his book, “Questions about this… or
about your job.”

Questions? Did people usually have questions about such simple jobs? She mixed drinks,
cleaned cups, and kept the bar tidy. It wasn’t a hard concept to understand. Was it normal
for the interviewee to ask questions about books during the interview? It sounded rather
unprofessional to her, so she supposed they didn’t. Then again, looking around the place,
she wondered what was really normal here in the first place. She really hadn’t seen
enough to grasp the norm or the odd. She did have questions regarding the book, but was
unsure how to phrase them. Was it usually this difficult to converse with people?

Resisting the urge to strum his fingers against the desk, Jerrick waited very patiently for
the stoic creature before him to announce her thoughts to him in some way. He wondered
what she would do if he asked her blunt opinion on something. Would she answer him, or
ignore him completely? This girl was a mystery…and not really a fun one, either. She
had a golden eye, though, which he couldn’t just ignore. Did she even know how rare
those were? The whole point of the book was to see if she knew anything about what she
was. By her silence and lack of curiosity, he was leaning towards her fully knowing
about her origins. Of course, leave it up to someone like this to surprise him.

“Gold eyes,” he heard her murmur softly before she looked at him directly with that
thrilling blue eye. “There are demons with gold eyes?” It sounded like some bizarre
combination of a question, answer, and demand. He would’ve laughed if it hadn’t been
for the look on her face.

That look said that this was important to her. The question told him that she really knew
nothing about herself. The daughter of a demon with golden eyes should have been
worshipped. Any parent with a child like that would flaunt them. Of course, one eye
might mean some sort of disorder or flaw, and that would be shameful to a demon. A
demon with eyes like that who had a child with the same eyes would never leave that
child. This meant that the parent probably did not know of their child’s existence… or
said offspring was tainted in some unforgivable manner. The only thing unforgivable
among demons was recreation with an inferior species…. Glancing at her brilliant blue
eye, he murmured, “or angel,” lowly underneath his breath. “Yes, there are.
Unfortunately, they are a type so rarely seen that only one exists known today. Zeke
Brethmel would be that demon. In the past two thousand years, there have only been
three demons with gold eyes. The previous two were killed in the battle for this planet, by
a woman angel who’s name is Lady Atellia.”

Lady Atellia couldn’t be her mother, could it? She couldn’t believe that it was because
she had no proof. She couldn’t simply assume things on her own. Had this Lady known
her mother? “What does it mean?” The words had slipped from her lips before she’d even
thought to say them, making her wonder if her mind was getting hazy because of the
shock. Her father was the only golden-eyed demon on the planet? Why?!

Cordon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk and nearly propping his chin in the
pianist hands that were clasped in the air. “Power. Demons with eyes of gold often hold
immense power that can’t be controlled by other demons. These demons usually rank
very highly in the society. Zeke, for example, is the top General of the demonic army.
Demons are not from 'Hell' and angels live in a place remarkable close to what the
humans call 'Heaven', but it is not what they think. Angels are merely another race, not
the beings of purity that humans seem to think. The humans…” He seemed to trail off, as
if he’d lost himself inside of his thoughts. It made her wonder.

“I am not a demon,” Shuey said suddenly, making Jerrick look up in surprise. He hadn’t
expected her to say something like that. Looking at the questioning look she had, he
began to understand something new about her. Shuey did not express herself with words,
but actual facial expressions. The phrase, ‘I am not a demon’ roughly translated into,
‘Why are you telling me this?’ It did make him smile that time; he couldn’t help it. It
wasn’t that she was rude, she just didn’t know what she should say or how she should.
Something must have made her completely anti-social, right? He was getting rather
curious to find out what it was.

“Are you sure?” Jerrick asked slowly, wondering where that eye came from if it hadn’t
come from a demon. Maybe she was just a really strange human. “What can you tell me
about your parents?” He seemed to think about this more often than he should, but he
couldn’t help but be curious about a girl so eerie as this one. “Anything?”

Shuey paused in her mental cursing, looking at Cordon carefully, searching for some sign
of what the man was thinking. Was he seriously asking, or just trying to pry to get
information that would damage her later? The man was completely unreadable. He
seemed to be more stressful than what he was worth; he probably couldn’t get women
because of this. Returning to her more serious thoughts, she worded and reworded her
response in her head carefully. “I don’t know you.”

Something flickered in grey eyes, nearly making her tilt her head and question it. He
didn’t say anything for a long time, but finally answered her with a, “Why don’t you try
to know me, then?” This was the most baffling response she’d ever had. What did that
actually mean? Was he so willing to wait for an answer to his questions? Why would he
do that? It was really too confusing to understand at all. Her active brain tried to wrap
around the words, searching for hidden meaning, but couldn’t find any whatsoever. Not
to mention it couldn’t comprehend the statement to begin with.

Shuey had been looking at him as though he had two heads for a full minute and a half
when she finally said, “What?” Did she pretend to be so unknowledgeable at these times,
or did she actually not understand what he meant? He shook his head and smiled at her
disarmingly. She tensed… typical reaction.

Noting their routine, he gave her an apologetic smile. “My apologies for the confusion. I
really should think before I speak sometimes. I’d like to know a bit about your
background for future reference. It would seem you have no emergency contacts, so I
need to know what you’d like me to do in case something happens to you.”

Blinking at the sudden change in topic, Shuey straightened in her chair. “I grew up in a
small town, and spoke with no one. My teacher came to my place of residence, taught me
and left. The moment I became of age, I left. That’s all there is to know.” He hadn’t
known that, she knew, but it felt as if he had asked just to make her irritated again.
Irritated was much better than confused so she decided not to complain about the issue.
“And if something should happen to you?” Jerrick asked softly, wondering if she had
even heard that part the first time he’d asked. He relaxed in his chair a bit, knowing the
conversation was nearly over. That had been his last interview question and he had a
meeting in half an hour that he had to attend. The perfectionist in him made sure to have
adequate time to primp before being seen by more than one person.

“I don’t care,” she stated dully. After a few moment’s time, Shuey straightened up even
more in her chair, then leaned forward slightly as if going to tell him a secret. “Can
angels have gold eyes, too?” It took Jerrick by surprise. There was an endearing
uncertainty in her voice. He pondered if she even knew how much her voice said to
perceptive people.

He looked at her, hoping his dusty eyes told her just how sincere he was being with her at
the moment. “In all honesty, I don’t believe so. I’ve never heard of an angel with such
eyes, but I can’t say that it’s not possible.” That pretty blue eye widened a fair margin,
but she nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Anything else, Shuey?” She gave him a
glare, and instead of correcting himself, he shrugged and gave her a smile. “Could I call
you Shuey? You can call me whatever you will, but it’d be easier for me to just call you
that.”

There was a long silence before she responded to his question, “Only off duty.” Standing,
she looked around as if something would attack her, and walked out the door without a
second glance back. As soon as he heard the click of the door, a strange grin spread
across his face. He knew he’d be smirking like that all day, but he really didn’t care.
She’d done something pleasant, regardless of how unpleasantly it was worded. Standing
up, he scribbled something down in the notebook he’d been taking notes in, and left the
room to prepare for his meeting.

Shuey was thoroughly annoyed at this point, more at herself than that man still in his
office. She’d told him only off duty, as if they’d interact much while she wasn’t working.
She planned to research and sleep during the time she was not working, and had decided
that she had absolutely no time to talk to someone so irritating throughout that time.
Somehow, she’d forgotten that and insinuated that she would enjoy his company while
not at work. This was the wrong impression.

With a resigned sigh, Shuey headed back up the stairs to her room to find the schedule
she was told she’d have by now. She found it pinned to her door as she entered the room.
She’d gone into that meeting and she could’ve sworn he was staring at her clothes when
she first stepped in. Was it strange to wear this type of clothing? She’d always found it
comfortable and functional to wear. All of her clothing was that way, and she had no
intention of changing it.

As she gathered the last day’s clothes and her trench for washing, she mentally noted that
her first day off would be three days from then.