A Devil's Dealings

I woke up earlier than usual this time, looking at my face in the mirror; my nose still stung a little. I freshened up, grateful that my body had healed quickly enough to hide my injuries. I took a look at my stash, frowning at the sorry sight; including the bottles that I had saved up previously, there were around twenty. I pressed my ear against the door, listening carefully. "Goodbye, Father. I'll see you later." Lucian's voice reached my ears along with the slamming of the front door.

"Are you hurt?" I asked as I walked out, heading for the kitchen, and finding my brother starting on a new book. Luckily, it looked as though he was untouched this time; this time. He ignored me, writing away as I made myself something to eat; not like I could enjoy it, though.

"It's time. I've got a job for you." Greg's message caused me to sigh, annoyedly setting down my food and grabbing a knife. "Good luck."

"I'm heading to work now," I said, getting Lucian to look up at me as I plunged the edge into my chest. I felt my breath leave me as I fell onto the floor. My voice getting weak, I raised my arm to wave him goodbye. "I'll see you when I get back," I said, bleeding out and shutting my eyes.

"Ah, this is perfect." A voice said, chuckling in a low octave as I looked around the dimly lit room. That's when I realized where I was, with the moonlight streaming in through the ceiling and showing me a disgustingly crusty bed and multiple tissues scattered on the floor. "Yes, yes..."

"What is it you desire, master?" I asked though I felt like I already know where this is going. He said nothing, just showing me a picture of a girl; she was quite the looker. Before I could even open my mouth, he started swiping through his phone to show me more pictures of girls that he managed to take; they were gross, to say the least. Shots from under their skirts, pictures taken while zoomed in on their busts, some while they were sleeping in their homes or at school. I should be used to these kinds of humans by now, but these jobs always unnerved me for some reason. "All of them?" I asked, to which he just nodded with his tongue out like a dog waiting to be fed. I sighed, sealing my contract with him with a kiss.

It took me an hour, most of which was spent trying to find a place to set up the ritual; if people like him were useful for something, it was their intense lust. I sent a mist over the entire city, forcing it into every girl that he showed me. "So?" He asked, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently.

"They're coming," I said, flicking my wrists and puppeteering all of their sleeping bodies until twenty or so women arrived at the door. "There. Go nuts." I said, disappearing into the shadows to let him do his business. He walked over to them, noticing their lifelessness and sighing.

"This is going to be boring." He said, calling me out while opening a box he had hidden under a closet. What the actual fuck...

"Is this enough?" I asked, cuffing the last girl's ankle to a post he had me make. I didn't get a reply, so I just returned to my corner to watch. He gave me a signal though, telling me to draw the magic out of their bodies. The first one to wake up was a young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen. I don't even know why I was watching it; it was disgusting.

"We're his kids, so we're demons too..." Lucian's words echoed in my mind, still fresh in my memory. Why was I disgusted? I...

"No! Stop! Don't touch me!" The first girl's shrieks woke the others up, and soon they all started to struggle against their bondage. It was hopeless for them, and I felt... conflicted. Damn you, Lucian; why'd you have to go and make my job harder for me. I sighed, watching as he ravaged them against their will, powerless to do anything at the moment. "Daddy! Mommy! Help me!" She cried again. Mommy...

What was my mother like? It had been so long that I'd forgotten many of the memories we made together. She was... she was... "I can't take this anymore! I'm leaving!" I remembered her voice, at least. "You're just like the others! Monsters, the lot of you!"

"Monsters..." I mumbled to myself as I turned my attention back to my master and his... victims. How long have I been thinking? He was sleeping on the floor away from them, his breathing was heavy from all the exercise he had just done. The girls, on the other hand, had huddled together; some were weeping, some cursing him, and some sleeping their trauma away; all of them marked by his seed. I emerged from the shadows, garnering all of the waking girls' attention as they looked at my form.

"A devil... it really is the end." One of the older women said, using her body to cover the younger ones. I continued walking toward them, my eyes turning toward my master as I bent down to speak with them. "What more do you want with us?" She asked, looking me dead in the eye. I don't know what I was feeling at the moment; if I were to make a guess, I'd say a mixture of guilt, regret, and pity. I wanted to help them... Why did I want to help them?

I pushed those thoughts away, walking over to my master as I mounted him, waking him up using his lust. "Wake up," I said, watching him slowly rouse before he grabbed me by my wrists and pulled my torso down closer to his face. He pressed his lips against mine as he moved his hands over to my hips to guide them down his shaft. "I'll be taking my payment," I whispered before he inserted his tongue into my mouth. I bit his lip as he started thrusting; gross. Second-by-second, he started slowing down as his body started withering away. I could feel the gem form in my mouth, I was paid in full; I didn't stop.

"It hurts..." I heard him blurt out as I slammed my pelvis into his crotch; I heard his bones shatter after that. "Stop." I sucked on his lip harder, draining him for everything he had until... "Haaa..." He was just a husk of a man. I then turned toward captives, the lot of them awake and terrified of me as I slowly crawled toward them with my eyes shut. Twenty human souls... I couldn't help but smile.

As they lay there, motionless, I ventured around the house in search of a way back home. I found my way into the kitchen, getting a knife as I heard the door swing open behind me; damn, I missed one. "Hello," I said, turning around and finding one of the younger ones meekly hiding behind the door, staring at me as I held a knife in my hand. "What do you want?"

"Why... why did you do this to us?" She walked in, placing a hand near her stomach. I flashed her a smile.

"Because I wanted to." With that, I stabbed myself, my body falling limp against the kitchen counter as I heard her rush to my side. It was going to be quick, the metal reaching deep into my body and puncturing my heart and lungs.

"Why did you do that? Are you okay?" She asked, carefully resting my head on her lap as her hands hovered around the knife, unsure of what to do.

"Don't worry about me," I said nonchalantly. "I die like this all the time." Coughing up blood didn't help with my credibility. She ran her hand through my hair, unable to do anything else. "What's your name?" I asked, bringing my hand up to pinch her cheek.

"Madison." She said, her eyes wide with panic as my body started to vanish. I flashed her a smile.

"It's a nice name. Goodbye." I flicked her forehead, using whatever I had left in me to put her to sleep. I could still feel it, the twenty human souls in the building; no more no less, thankfully. I shut my eyes as I felt myself move over to Greg's plane; the line was as long as ever.

"Lilith? You're back." Lucian asked as he walked up to me. It was rare to see him here, but it wasn't impossible. "The books are out now. Look." He said, pulling out a small piece of hematite and a copy of the book. He seemed proud. I pulled him closer to me, reading it with him as I mimicked the illustrations he wrote down.

"How do you feel about giving them this kind of power?" I asked, turning to face him as the two of us moved up the line. It wasn't perfect control, having multiple loopholes and weaknesses for each spell in the book, but it was still a power that their kind didn't have naturally. "It could hurt a lot of people..." I said, looking at him as he stared back.

"Isn't that the point?" He asked. "We're meant to cause as much chaos as possible in their world. You do it by granting their desires, and I do it by leaving them powerful tools." He leaned against me, pocketing the stone as he took back his book. "But you're right, it does make me feel a bit strange. I'm conflicted."

"I see; so it's not just me," I said, sighing. "I wonder why." The two of us walked up to Greg, each placing our stones on his desk; I got an opal for my troubles with that piece of shit.

"Is something wrong? You two look off today." The reaper asked as the machine started filling up the bottles. "Is it about your father again?"

"No, it's not that," I replied, taking my share; ten bottles. "I just don't know why. I've been getting curious about the humans, Greg. Normally, I'd just finish up my job, but I've been staying overtime lately."

"What is it you do?" He asked as Lucian grabbed fifteen bottles. I told him to go ahead of me as I took some more of Greg's time. I swore that I could see a smile form in his skull, though I knew that was impossible with how he was.

"I've just been... curious. Reading their letters, sometimes I talk to them." I leaned against his desk, resting my body on it as I held a bottle in my hand. "I know I shouldn't care; that I should just focus on making their lives as miserable as possible... But..."

I heard him chuckle to himself as he called for the next soul. "You'll find out in time, Lilith. Now go, your brother is waiting." He ushered me away as I returned home, hearing a ruckus inside before I even touched the door.

"I'm sorry." I heard Lucian yell before the sound of a chair breaking forced my hand into opening the door. There, beating down on him with the leg of said chair, was our father; he seemed angrier than usual. I looked at my brother, his face was bloody and there was a large gash on his leg that was bent the wrong way. I felt like shit since I knew that I couldn't do anything to help him. All I could do was watch with clenched fists.

"What are you looking at?" Dad asked, turning around while tightening his grip on the leg. "Go to your room." He said, watching me run to my room. I'm sorry Lucian, I'm sorry. I locked the door, taking a few moments to steady my breathing as I stashed away the lekos. Even in my room, I could hear the sound of his body being thrown against the walls of the house. Dad; there was nothing we could do, unless. I looked at my haul for today, wondering if it'll be enough before I stowed it away.

I lied on my bed, looking up at the ceiling as I felt something pulse in my chest. I brought a finger up to my eye, wiping a tear that had formed. "Why am I feeling like this? Demons shouldn't feel... guilty..." I muttered to myself, turning around to bury my head in my pillow. I shuffled over, taking one of the bottles I got earlier and downing it in one gulp. Maybe that would drown out the screams.

"Madison, right?" I could see one of the women from earlier knocking on the door as Madison answered. "I... do you remember who lived in this house?" She held up a picture of that piece of shit's house. Madison's eyes widened as she shook her head.

"I feel like I've been there before... and that..." Her hand instinctively went over to her crotch area. "Nine months ago... why am I feeling like this?"

"I see. So you were there too..." The woman said, marking down something on her phone. "Out of everyone I talked to, they all said the same thing. So, can I ask you something?" Madison just nodded out of confusion. "Nine months ago, did you wake up in that house?"

"I... I think so. My memory is hazy. All I remember is my body feeling warm before I saw that... someone stabbed themselves." Shit. I forgot to erase that one. "I remember semen being everywhere, but oddly enough... I was clean." I breathed a sigh of relief, at least I prevented their pregnancies.

Why did I do that? Why did I do something good for them? What's happening to me? And why... why does it make me feel good, helping others?