章 3: Different Man
"My father, may the almighty bless him, was a paranoid fool." Jimmy began to speak before he swiped away the transparent screen showing Belva his profile. She didn't even get to look at his other stats, such as the amount of strength, charisma or his dexterity to some degree.
"People are troublesome, even in one's family I have to admit." He added. "I had to learn that the hard way."
"Is that why you keep those snakes?" Belva pointed at Fayre who was slithering up to Jimmy's shoulder, then the snakes that slithered out from the small building they were placed in.
"Some of them were a pain to extract their venom out at first but they've warmed up to me more with company. All I want is some peace and damn quiet, but I can't know because of you."
"Jimmy, I promise you, I am nothing compared to threats out there."
"Then seek adventurers then, seek people who actually are bothered to go through stuff like that. Heck, there's a reason why dragon slaying doesn't exist nowadays. It's not just that they're extinct, idiots die from that! And for what? Fame? Useless when you're dead and you go up to the afterlife. Fortune? There's more reasonable ways of making money."
"Cerrits have more power compared to the standard adventurer. Strength is admirable, but an individual infused with magic is even superior. Besides, did you go there? To the School of the Cerrit?"
"What do you want?"
"My kind and I, we're-" Belva started to speak, but Fayre the snake's gaze continued to disturb her. "Excuse me but does that snake have to be on your shoulder every time?"
"Fayre is a she." Jimmy corrected. "And we can talk inside."
***
Xalt will flip if he caught wind of her. Jimmy thought as she brought Belva into the cottage. He had instructed Fayre and the others to keep inside.
The snakes still slithered through the open window of the cottage, and were now resting on the frame, some of them were even resting on the kitchen counter. All of their eyes now on Belva. Gone was her ivory dress, now replaced with a coat of purple. Her shoulders were more visible as well as her arms.
Her hands were on her thighs, her eyes looking at the glaring Jimmy taking his seat.
"I should have figured you weren't like most people based on your behaviour, and your pet snakes."
"You're one to talk, succubus! And I'm surprised we're talking until now."
"I can't risk allow a Cerrit to go away without recruiting one. Yes there are many others and not just you, but you're included into this as well."
"I'm going to say this one more time." Jimmy spoke before he pointed his finger violently at her. Gray smoke appeared from his hand, and his pupils turned back again. "Do not refer to me as a Cerrit."
"Okay…" Belva took a deep breath. She wasn't as professional as the other succubus, nor was she the most experienced in facing living creatures like Jimmy here, but she was trying. He genuinely appeared as just another human to her, but the gray smoke he had said otherwise.
Even without the smoke his overall personality was overwhelming for her.
"What should I refer to you then?" she asked.
"Jimmy, just Jimmy." he said with a sudden smile. Perhaps he was easy to persuade in this case? "Or Jim. Whichever makes you feel easier to say."
"Good, now tell me why the hell you visited me."
Belva maintained her posture and took a deep breath. "One of the succubi, my superior to some degree. She has watched you for the longest time, since you were brought into this world."
Jimmy raised his eyebrow. "She told me that you became, uh...different, due to the fact that your father, Baron Eastwick, was...worried about demonic influence getting to his newborn son."
She paused. He was surprisingly quiet, his hands on his chin, giving her a nod of his head.
Continuing, she spoke. "In the underworld I wasn't exactly the most respected succubus. I could seduce humans to do bad, but these last few years it's more been toward tempting them to lie and steal, as opposed to something beyond that. I'm not sure whether my disguises are convincing enough."
"Any simple minded fool of a man would do anything for you straight away probably." Jimmy leaned back into his chair, his feet resting onto the table. "An idiot if you ask me, but let's cut the cheese, why are you here again?."
"I said I'm here to recruit….someone like you."
"Recruit for what? And who's your superior? Give me a name."
"Zavina." Belva spoke.
"Zavina.." Jimmy took his feet off the table and proceeded to sit upright again, boots on the floor. He pondered on the name.
It was unique to his ears, very...divine like. Seems like a powerful name for such a succubus. He looked down at the table, his hands resting against each other together and his elbows on the table. A wide grin formed on his face.
"Hello? Different man?" Belva avoided using the term Cerrit. Though she was prepared with her own set of magic, she had no idea how a Cerrit like Jimmy might fare. He might be a thousand times different then the next Cerrit.
"Shush." Jimmy pulled out his index finger then pulled it back.
I think I might be dealing with an insane Cerrit, Belva thought. She had learned about the Cerritulus only recently compared to other succubi. Her kind had known the Cerritulus long before, but there was barely any record of them seducing the Cerrit, and for good reason.
It wasn't just the succubi, she recalled, even incubi had trouble dealing with female Cerrits. Afterall, Cerritulus wasn't the result of the Underworld by any means.
I'm guessing his Cerrit abilities are related with snakes, Belva thought about the snakes that were still watching her. It was unlikely that Jimmy was some sort of snake whisperer. Jimmy also did mentioned that he had to take out venom from some of them, but was he really telling the truth?
Not to mention which one of them did he take the venom out of if it was true, she saw Fayre, the green emerald snake. Next to Fayre was a red snake with black spirals hovering around its body from head to tail.
Another snake, drenched in blue, had blood red eyes as well as navy blue tear-like stripes on its neck.
"Jimmy." Belva spoke, rolling her eyes. "Are you done daydreaming?"
"Tell me, what's Zavina's form?" that question came out from him rather quickly.
"Uh...why?"
"Well I'm not a fool unfortunately, toward anyone that can talk like you." Jimmy stood up from his seat, approaching Belva. "Your superior brought you into this, so it makes more than total sense that I should talk to her, get a better understanding of what I'm dealing with."
This human was talking back to her! Belva felt her mind racing, but he wasn't a human, not anymore according to the profile he had on his system.
Jimmy's hand went onto the table, he leaned toward her face. "Now, all I'm asking is to meet your boss, maybe she can talk more sense compared to you." he paused as he took a deep breath, before exhaling.
"Are you listening to yourself?" Belva stammered. The Cerrit abilities he has must be affecting his brain and his soul, without a doubt. Even with that scruff of his, he had a clean cut structure of a face, his normal green eye felt striking. She gulped, shaking her head.
"I will try my absolute best to talk to Zaniva." Belva spoke. "What-"
"HMM?" Jimmy hummed.
"What happened to you back then? What did your father do?" Belva felt like slapping herself. Why was she asking these questions? She was a succubus! A demon! She shouldn't talk like this even in a calm manner toward a human!
She slapped herself again deep in mind.
Note to self, she pondered, Jimmy Stark is not human, even though his exterior says otherwise.
That doesn't explain how he managed to keep a low profile, her mind continued on. This may be the first instance of her meeting him, but perhaps Zavina might know how to handle him better.
"Okay then Jimmy." Belva rose up from her seat. I don't know the extent of his Cerrit abilities, can't risk my safety over this. "I'll try talking to Zavina, to get here to come to you. In the meantime, you do...whatever human beings do."
She added. "But bear in mind, she won't go easy on you once you meet her."
"Fan-tastic." Jimmy's deep black eyes emerged again, his voice becoming distorted. Belva soon backed away again, before disappearing in thin air. Jimmy's black eyes soon slowly turned back to his original green eyes. Shaking his head, he looked at Fayre and the other snakes.
"Already eaten." he slapped his full stomach. "I sure could use a drink now." he then looked at his hand, omitting gray smoke. In addition to the gray, he saw hues of red. He took another series of deep breaths.
"Father, you had good intentions, but so help me, you screwed up." Jimmy stammered. There were things about being a Cerrit that he has yet to discover.
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