Human Stupidity

Miriam almost gasped in surprise when she got to the hall, seeing the two devil traps. No wonder the one in the door way had failed, there was red blood splattered over it, completely ruining the trap. Looking at it, it looked as if something had scared or surprised him, and when she thought back to it, she was certain she knew what exactly, and couldn't help but blush, even if she shook it off quickly.
She looked down at her own trap, wondering why that had failed when it had worked so perfectly the day before.
She soon got her answer when she saw the scratches on it, and pointed at it for Thomas to see. There was no longer any doubt.
"Demon alright," she said flatly, having her suspicions confirmed. What had they been thinking?
She sighed as she looked at both of the traps. She could no longer fix her own, it had been broken and fixed too many times already, she was certain it would all just turn into a huge, ineffective mess if she kept it up. They needed to begin again.
"We need to clean it up and start again," she sighed, tired of all the hard work, but someone had to do it.

Thomas came out in time to see Miriam point to her trap and turn to him.
He was about to ask what made her say that but decided to get a closer look instead.
He had shown enough stupidity for one day.
Keeping quiet was probably best around this woman.
When he spotted the scratches, he sighed. He had been fooled. Again.
"I'm sorry."
He didn't know what else to say and he didn't really want to see another one of those You're an idiot looks from her so he head back to the bathroom for some cleaning supplies before she could say another word.

Miriam didn't say a word either before or after he had left. She just waited for him to come back.
Bowing down to get a closer look at the broken trap she sighed, not even the rectory was safe anymore.
She kept looking to the stairs as well, scared she might return before they could finish. Either way, Thomas said she was hurt. And defenseless. Which meant if Miriam played her cards right she could handle her well with her salt, holy water and multiple iron weapons. She almost allowed herself to feel powerful, but didn't let it get to her head. If it did she could get over-confident.
And over-confidence could kill her.

Within no time, Thomas returned with a bleach cleaner and a roll of paper towels.
He climbed up the ladder and sprayed the ceiling and then handed the spray to Miriam.
An awkward silence filled the room as they proceeded to clean up their (well Thomas's) mess.

When they finally finished she stood up, stretching her back from the hard work and finally, once again, looked back at Thomas who was climbing down the latter. She felt sorry for him having already cut himself once, but she had cut herself twice, and far deeper than he had. The cuts Rin had given her didn't exactly help either, and she figured it was better him than her.
She quickly fished up her long, iron knife before he had time to pull away from her, and grabbed his wrist as she cut his lower arm.
The cut was shallow, and shouldn't even hurt too much, but the kid didn't seem too strong to her, so she could never know.

Having finally cleared the ceiling, Thomas sighed.
He was feeling confused.
Demons hate humans.
So why encourage me to become a hunter?
Lost in thought, he climbed down the ladder and was immediately grabbed and slit.
He gasped, not because of the cut but more of surprise at what she did.
"Hey, I had blood stored, geez."
He watched with narrowed eyes as she began to draw a new trap.

"Good, then you can use those next time," she muttered, not really being bothered. If he couldn't handle a single cut, then he would have a really hard time the upcoming days. Miriam had already suffered more cuts than she could count.
"Just pay attention," she sighed as she drew another devil trap right inside the door. She hoped this would teach him how to do it for future referances. He needed to learn sooner or later, and as long as he could just do this one thing he might come in handy.

Thomas rolled his eyes at her.
And he thought school bullies were obnoxious.
"Yes ma'am."
I'll be glad not to hang around you anymore.
He thought bitterly, watching carefully as she drew the entire trap.
When she had finished, he nodded to himself, taking a mental picture in his head as he climbed the ladder to make another on the ceiling.
"There." He finished, studied the two and smiled. An exact replica.

She didn't understand the point in waisting blood just to draw another one in the doorway, but she shrugged it off thinking it could be good practise for him. She had to admit, it wasn't that bad, it looked decent now that he didn't have any.. distractions.
"Looks good," she laughed, not seeing the harm in praising him just once when he did good.
"What's your name kid?" she asked, her voice loosing it's sharp edge now that they were done and they didn't have anything more to worry about. Of course, she was still mad he had let in a demon, but that was all in the past. All that mattered now was to get her out again.

Thomas was surprised by her compliment and it put a small smile on his face.
"Thank you," he replied, dabbing at his cut with a paper towel.
"My name is Thomas, ma'am."
He didn't know why he kept calling her that.
But for some odd reason, she did come across as a strict headmistress.
He wondered if he should ask her name but figured she would tell him if she wanted.
And well, he was hoping there wouldn't be too many more encounters between them.

"Stop calling me that," she frowned, what century did the kid live in? Who said ma'am anymore?
"My name is Miriam," she said, not sure why she wanted him to know, but anything he called her would be better than ma'am.
She grabbed her blade and opened the door carefully. They were already inside the rectory, she needed to stop them. She didn't know how many they were, but she knew if she could just take one of them out, just one... then she would make a difference.
"You.. Thomas," she said, correcting herself as she turned her head to face him from the door.
"Take care of that demon, ok?" she asked before she moved outside. It wasn't her mess to clean up.

Secretly enjoying the annoyance he sent her by using polite titles.
Most young women didn't like it so he was glad it finally got to her.
Miriam? Like Moses's sister from the bible?
He gazed at her, watching as she walked out the rectory.
When she gave the orders for him to take care of the demon, he nodded quickly, but inside his head he screamed,
HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!
"Damnit..." He mumbled as he stared blankly at the traps before him.

Kaiani barely made it out of the rectory stepping into the hall with a gentle sigh as she was re bandaging her hand. All good in a days work, her eyes changed into that of a normal human as she turned her gaze up to spot Thomas. She just smiled finishing tieing up her hand so that the cut would heal quicker, last thing she needed was something not to work properly.

"Thomas.... you fixed the circle? both of them? what was wrong with the one on the floor?" tilting her heading with curiosity, in the back of her head little warning lights going off.

Thomas spun around and stared at the demon posing as a hunter.
A flash of fear crossed his face but he laughed it off almost immediately, replying,
"O hey Falcon. I just decided to clean up and redo the traps.
How did it go with Father Frollo? Any chances we might survive this fight?"
He frowned, true concern registered on his face and voice as he asked the last question.

"He was pleasant enough, threw Holy Water into my face to see if I was a demon... I passed or else he would have exercised me on the spot. A clever man... seems your under good leader ship" nodding her head to him "Smart move kiddo... look since you want to become a hunter, I wanted to show you a few things. How about we head up there" pointing to the spire ".... I believe it comes down near the demons home yes? a perfect place to spy on what they are doing"

Thomas listened to her as she explained what happened.
He wondered if Father Frollo would tell the others sooner or later that a demon got in the rectory.
When Kaiani suggested they go out through the spire, he nodded, frowning even more.
He now knew she really was a demon and she was leading him right into the den of more demons.
He really hoped he would have Azazel's word of protection.
He gulped and followed Kaiani slowly up to the spire.