Chapter 5. The Devil

Iris quickly turned to Tommy when she heard that Eva's best friend had just died. No wonder she saw everyone in the house wearing black clothes. Iris thought it was their organization's dress code. 

"I'm sorry, Tommy. I didn't know about that." Tommy smiled a little as he saw Iris looking down with a guilty expression. 

"Relax, we all understand," Tommy said to lighten the mood. Iris would try not to say anything reckless now. 

"Did something happen?" She asked, tilting her body slightly so she could face Tommy. 

Tommy's expression turned sad. Iris felt like Miles was a very influential person in the organization. Even Tommy, whom she saw was very quiet, could express such open sadness. 

"Miles... Our leader. Now the position of chairman has fallen to Eva. That's why she is very depressed at this time. Both us and Eva, we both lost a friend, family, and chairman. This is the most painful blow for us while working as The Hunter." 

And Iris automatically fell silent again. She had been gloomy since Eva told the dark story. Exactly how dangerous is this demon? Does he have superpowers like Superman? 

But from the story, she heard if the devil can stay alive even though his body is destroyed. She doesn't know what madness happened against them. She couldn't imagine it. 

"I'm sorry to say this, Tommy. But I-" 

"You won't believe it until you see what they look like." Tommy immediately cut off her words before she said it herself. Iris couldn't reply, "I know. It's a common thing." He continued to relax.

"Yeah. Maybe after seeing it, I can change my mind and break all the logic in my head." 

Tommy chuckled lightly at how annoying a woman like Iris is when talking about logic. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. 

"Give me your cell phone number. If anything happens, you can call me. After returning to base, I'll tell the other members to keep your cell phone number." 

Iris shook her head while shrugging her shoulders. Her hand gently refused when Tommy handed her his cell phone. 

"I don't have a cell phone, Tommy." Her honest words didn't make Tommy believe it at all. "But I can give you my apartment's phone number." 

Tommy was speechless, and it turns out that there are still people who do not have cell phones in this civilization. She pocketed his cell phone back and didn't need the number for her apartment. 

"I'll ask Eva to prepare the phone for you." He said and immediately started the car engine. 

Iris was, of course, surprised to hear that Tommy would ask Eva to buy a cell phone. They don't know each other if Tommy suddenly has amnesia at this time. 

"What? No, no. I don't want a cell phone. I'm a little anti-social with strangers. You can reach me on my apartment phone. Really! You can talk to me directly." Iris said, trying to convince Tommy. 

An annoyed Tommy rolled his eyes lazily. "Don't worry. Eva won't put that cell phone charge on your credit card. It's hard to give you information if we can't message you." 

"Ah! ... Message, yes." She smiled awkwardly while scratching her head. She felt so embarrassed after saying that to Tommy. 

Tommy went back on his way to take Iris home. After a long journey, they finally arrived at the Los Angeles border, where she lived. 

A white Ferrari Portofino stopped right in front of a small apartment that was a bit worn. Iris, who got out of the car, seemed to be in the spotlight of the people passing by around the apartment. 

"Do you live here?" Tommy asked to pay attention to the structure of the surrounding buildings. 

The apartment was painted a faded brick red and was slightly mossy at the top. On the right and left are also apartments but have different paint colors.

Iris pointed at the balcony on the third floor where she lived. "You see the balcony with lots of pots on the third floor? I live there with my mom and dad, three of our." She said, which made Tommy nod. 

"I've already messaged Eva. Some of our members will come tonight to deliver your cell phone. Make sure you're at home at night." Tommy put his phone back in. Iris shook her head in surprise. 

"Are you guys a bunch of billionaires? It sounds like a phone, like a piece of hotdog to you. I don't want it. I can raise my own money and buy one at a price I can afford." Iris crossed her arms and looked at him with an annoyed expression. 

Tommy deliberately looked the other way and made a gesture as if he didn't care what she said. But suddenly, they were startled by the barking of one of the pedestrians' dogs. 

She, of course, looked at the dog carefully because the dog barked straight at them. Iris scratched her forehead lightly while looking at him. 

"Well, I do hate animals." Without realizing it, his expression changed drastically. "Then I'll go inside. Bye Tommy, thank you for taking me." 

Iris walked into her apartment after she thanked Tommy. She had mixed feelings as she waited for the elevator doors to open. She couldn't stop thinking about all the stories Eva had told her. 

They started from the Devil Hunter organization, The Devil, and The Hunter. All these stories entered her mind until she unconsciously got carried away. 

After arriving at her apartment door, as usual, she arranged her shoes on a small shelf near the door 

"Mom? Dad? I'm home." Iris looked around her dark living room. 

She thought it was unusual for the living room to be dark because her mother didn't like it. Her eyes then caught the image of her father watching television. 

"Dad, have you eaten? I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I stopped by a friend's house for a while." Said Iris, who immediately grabbed the apron and opened the refrigerator. But her father didn't answer when she spoke. 

She took off her apron again and walked over to her father. It seemed that her father had fallen asleep again while watching television. Her hand immediately grabbed the small remote next to her father. 

Iris stood behind her father, then pulled the folded blanket into the basket near the closet and walked around the sofa. But in the blink of an eye, her eyes widened in shock when she saw her father.

"Oh my god! Dad? Dad! Oh my god! MOM! MOM!" Iris immediately screamed in fright. 

The blanket she had picked up just fell to the floor, covered in blood. Her knees suddenly went weak, and she sat on the floor, inching backward. 

"MOM! DAD!" She shouted. 

With her own eyes, she saw her father covered in blood with the contents of his stomach spilling out. She was so frightened that she couldn't take her eyes off her father's pale face. 

While crying, Iris crawled towards her mother's bedroom door. When she opened the door to the room, she immediately ran over and saw her mother sleeping under the blanket. Iris hastily pulled up the blanket and woke her mother. 

"MOM! MOM! WAKE UP, MOM! Oh my god! Thank goodness you're okay, Mom!" Iris screamed hysterically as she grabbed her mother's arm. 

"Iris? What's wrong?" Her mother woke up and immediately panicked. Iris kept pulling her mother's arm to get off the bed and out of the apartment quickly. 

"Dad... Dad's dead! I don't know what's going on here. We have to get out of this apartment, Mom!" Iris repeatedly walks toward the door and peeks into the living room. 

"We'll stay here, Iris." 

Her heart seemed to stop beating when a deep voice said her name. She slowly turned around with her whole body frozen. 

She looked at her mother, who was slowly getting taller, and her body was also slowly turning into a man's figure with glowing amber eyes. Iris froze with her body trembling in fear. 

"...Devil."