Feature Writer: Libertysn
Feature Title: SEEDS OF CORRUPTION 8
Published: 23.08.2024
Story Codes: Demonic
Synopsis: Alice uses her first power and sorts her personal life out.
Author’s Notes: Hope everyone’s enjoyed this, managed to find a good way to slide some smut into this chapter and was quite happy with everything I’ve planted ready for the second book. The next two chapters are going to be quiet focused but the epilogue and onto the second book will be more upbeat. All feedback as always is much appreciated and thank you to everyone who’s commented.
Seeds Of Corruption 8
Chapter 8 – Family matters
Alice sank to her knees, a look of innocence plastered across her crimson face as the man in front of her felt his breath hitch. She had picked Davis up from the club the day after reading her fathers letter and knew if she was going to be out of town for a few days, she would need a big meal to leave on. After her appetiser at the club, Davis, the tall scruffy haired rugby player would suffice for her main course. Davis himself had asked to go back to his flat not wanting to use any of the siderooms which Alice thought was reasonable, what was far from it was the Chelsea flat she now knelt in that stunk of daddy’s money.
Alice spayed her hands across the harsh fabric of his jeans, quickly feeling him stir under her pressure.
“So you don’t find this like, degrading?” Davis stuttered out.
The comment made Alice blink before responding l, “Do I find what degrading?” Alice went back to work not waiting for a response, her fingers deftly unbuckling his belt and pulling the leather smoothly from his jeans.
“I just mean, like giving head. Don’t some women find it like, “I don’t know…”
Alice unbuckled the button on his jeans and pulled the zipper down looking up at the man sitting on the sofa who was stumbling over his words. “Are you from the seventeenth century or something? Do you want me to stop?”
Alice waited, not going any further as Davis’ eyes widened and he responded. “No, no, don’t stop, it’s just, I don’t want to give head in return, alright?”
Alice rolled her eyes beginning to tug his jeans down which he helped her remove and with a tug of his boxers to join him, his hard shaft sprung forth. “One that’s pretty shitty, two you’re lucky I’m a demon.” With that Alice leaned forward kissing the underside of his head, the slightly salty taste of precum touching her tongue and his harsh inhale the signal he would hopefully keep his stupid mouth closed, lest he ruin the moment further.
Continuing to layer light kisses along his shaft, Alice allowed her tongue to tease out swiping at the head of his cock, and everytime she did, he made slightly more noise than the last. Finally giving in, Alice opened her mouth, taking the tip into her mouth and slowly beginning to suck his sadly, impressive cock. As she bobbed her head up and down working her way past the ridge of his head she felt one of his large hands grab at the horn on her head and roughly tug her down onto his shaft. The force and the surprise combined to push her much further down his cock than expected leaving her not far from swallowing the entire thing, sadly whatever demonic changes had worked through her body had not yet removed her gag reflex, the force of his thrust causing her to gag and wince around his cock only seemingly egging him on further.
Pulling herself back up against his added pressure she let the now glistening cock fall from her lips with a pant and ignored the strand of precum and saliva still connecting her to his shaft as she gave him a glare. “Excuse me what the fuck was that?”
Davis just gave her what she thought was his attempt at a playful smile but on his other frame just looked odd.
“Sorry I just thought you’d like it, being a demon and all.”
Alice scowled and almost considering leaving then and there but the thought of going feral once she’s left London put her off the idea.
“Right, from now on keep your hands to yourself, you touch my horns or my hair and you’ll lose them, understand?” Alice asked, trying to look threatening as she swiped at the spit staining her chin.
“Yeah, sure sorry, do your thing.” Davis said with a shrug.
Not entirely satisfied but not wanting to lose out on her meal Alice gave him one more scowl before descending onto his cock once more.
Wanting to get this over with sooner rather than later Alice tried to work him to the edge as quickly as possible, within a minute her bobbing her head had gotten her almost as deep as he had thrust her to before, and with the warmup this time as she approached her throat her gags became less frequent. Making sure as she pulled out she worked the tip before descending once more she felt the tell tale changes in his aura signalling him being about to cum, and soon saw the physical twitches the human body had that gave it away. Picking up her speed Alice was once again a surprised when as she felt the first twitch of his cock his hand came to the back of her skull pushing her down once more, his cock sliding smoothly in her mouth to the hilt leaving her nose pressed into the wirey hairs on his stomach as she felt his cum begin to shoot into the back of her throat.
Before she could even think of gagging she felt as his soul began to give way, the corrupted essence she had created and that which had already existed within him crumbling away and being consumed by her own. Something was different though, with everyone else she could feel the corruption she had created and consume it, but Davis seemed to be full of sin. Lust, Wrath, Greed, Pride it went on. And while she could only consume two of those sins, he made a veritable feast for her.
Once Alice started returning back to herself, his spit and cum leaving a lurid trail from the side of her mouth she saw his slumped body on the sofa, his eyes rolled back leaving only the whites visible.
Panicking Alice quickly rose to her feet wiping the back of her hand across her face and reached for his pulse, having a frightening reminder of the first time she fed through sex she was grateful to find his pulse, erratic as it was. Pulling up his pants, and wiping at the spit collected on her dress, Alice shot a text to Levash saying she may be slightly late back and sat and waited for Davis to wake up.
Fourty three minutes later, Davis let an undignified snort rattle through his body as he shook awake, as he did he seemed to blink a few times looking around his living room slowly in confusion before his glassy eyes looked onto the crimson goddess sat to his side.
“Hey you’re awake, you passed out for a little bit there.” Alice said, trying not to let worry tinge her voice.
Davis didn’t seem to notice, just nodding weakly. “That was, wow.” His voice came out breathy, far weaker than it had before in the club.
“Yeah that was, well something. Next time though when’s girl tells you not to grab her head, don’t. Got it?” Alice said almost jokingly, genuinely annoyed but hoping to avoid him panicking more than anything else.
“Of course I’ll never do it again, I’m sorry mistress.” Davis said, his eyes wide and earnest.
Alice just held her hands up rising for the sofa. “None of that now, just yeah, listen to a gal would ya. Also get over whatever weird thing you have with giving head, your future partners will be grateful for it.”
Davis again nodded rapidly, the curly hair on his head bouncing.
Alice pulled her phone out as she made her way to the door, and only got a dead battery symbol for her efforts. Spinning on the spot she saw Davis sat on the edge of his seat watching her.
“You think you can call me an Uber? My phone died?” Alice did I not need to wait for a response as Davis fumbled for his phone with haste.
——–
Returning to the flat she found Levash sat at his desk typing away, slinking past him Alice shedded her clothes as she went making a bee line for the bathroom. Taking a quick shower and brushing her teeth, Alice was fresh and ready to see her boyfriend.
Entering back into the bedroom Alice took one of the robes from the door and made her way to the bed where Levash had relocated while she was washing.
“Well fed for your trip?” Levash asked casually scrolling on his laptop, his eyes drifting slightly as he seemed to take in the measure of her bare legs.
“Very, but it was a little odd.”
Levash looked away from the laptop now fully as Alice fell onto the bed instantly curling into his side.
“Odd how?” He asked.
“The guy, he, his eyes rolled back into his head, like a full exorcist moment. He was out for nearly an hour before he woke up and when he did, he was very, obedient? Like he was hanging on my every word.”
Levash took a second to consider what Alice had said, his arm curling around her back as she tucked herself into his chest.
“Was there anything else weird about it?”
“He was really corrupted, and I don’t just mean with Lust, when I fed I could tell his soul was riddled with sin, sins, I don’t know.” Alice responded with a shrug.
Levash continued to think watching Alice minimise the document he had been working on and load up Netflix.
“I’ll monitor the next time you feed, could be a power coming through. A lot of Liliths children had some ability to influence those around them, maybe ask her, have you spoken to her at all about your trip?”
Alice found the show they had started the night before, a drama about a ghost detective, starting the show going she responded.
“I’ll ask her, and I did, she knew I was the last but still seemed sad at my mums death, I didn’t want to push her with her promise she made.” Alice shrugged.
“And you’re sure, you don’t want me to come at all?” Levash asked.
“No, best not. My dads not a bigot but he always seemed very squeamish about supe stuff, having me turn up with horns and a tail will be enough, showing him my demon boyfriend who turned me into a ‘monster’ probably won’t go over well.”
Levash smirked. “I can always play the lustful and dumb human you seduced, he never has to know I’m a demon.”
Alice huffed a laugh but shook her head. “No, sorry. I want you to meet him at some point you know? So probably for the best we don’t lie to him.”
As Alice settled in watching the show, Levash seemed to be fidgeting more than usual. Turning to him she saw his face knitted in confusion. “You okay?”
Levash seemed to pause considering his words before speaking. “I’m fine, just, it’s odd five hundred years and no one’s ever asked me to meet there parents.” He laughed as he finished.
Alice shrugged. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean I’m certain things are probably different in Lestia.”
Levash nodded. “No. I’d like to meet him, there’s a lot not afforded to us there anymore, I’m happy for whatever you want to share about your life here.”
He smiled down at Alice who just squeezed him a little harder in response. “I’m happy to share all I’ve got, sadly the normal side of my life is rapidly dwindling.”
Levash didn’t respond, unsure on if he should apologise for the turn her life has taken, but Alice didn’t expect one. More and more she realised she was still happy, maybe more so than before when she simply began to glide through life again, letting things happen without reacting. She chose to focus on what she had gained rather than what she had lost.
————-
Walking into the cafe, Alice got many looks from staff and customers alike. Most looked away before making eye contact with the Demon but the odd brave soul matched her look with a sneer. She had tried to cover up most of her skin, dressing for the weather for once but it didn’t appease them. Thankfully she spotted the towering ginger Werewolf towards the back of the cafe and made a beeline for her.
Reaching the table she was slightly shocked to see Chris tucked into the corner who rose to hug the demon at her arrival. It was quick but Alice couldn’t help but beam with happiness at the confirmation of their continued friendship.
“You smell, odd–.” Chris said as they parted.
Alice snorted as the pair slid into the booth. “Way to ruin the moment.”
“No I mean, it’s like an odd perfume?”
Alice shrugged. “I’ve got nothing on, do I smell bad?”
“No! I mean no, it’s just. Probably a Demon thing. Ignore me.” Chris said quickly waving Alice off.
Alice slowly nodded before turning to the slightly dour looking Were. “How are you holding up Jules?”
Julia shrugged while waving down a waitress for the table. “Mark’s healing and he’ll be fine, his ego on the other hand–” unsurprisingly two waitresses walked past the table making no motion to serve them.
“I can imagine. How are you though?” Alice asked, taking a seat next to Chris.
Julia scowled slightly, giving up on flagging a waitress. “How the fuck am I supposed to be? I’ve been told I have to lead an army to war? I’m twenty six, Alice. How are you coping?”
Alice shrugged, the group or waitresses at the counter kept passing glimpses to the table with absolutely zero subtlety.
“I’m not, but I have an ancient Demon stuck in my head telling me what needs to be done. I’m basically on auto pilot sadly.”
Julia dropped her head into her arms with her groan.
Chris tapped Alice’s arm. “Let me out, I’ll go get us drinks.”
Alice slid out and Chris walked over to the counter being watched the entire way. Sitting back down she saw Were still leaning across the table.
“I don’t really have any advice that’s going to make this magically better. Trust me I’ve been trying to find something to convince myself for weeks now.” Alice whispered.
“Why did you agree then? If Liliths only in your head surely you could just ignore her?”
A shiver went down her spine making clear Liliths position on that thought.
“I could have but she’s only a small part of it. The harsh truth for both of us Jules? We don’t have a choice.” Julia picked her head up slightly, listening to the demon as she continued. “I mean sure we can ignore fighting and stick our heads in the sand, but Celestials are actively looking for me to kill me for who I descend from. When they do and they defeat the Demons uprising here, they’re going to come for your people, and you’ll all be carried back to Lestia, chucked in a pit and be turned into a Demon whether you like it or not. No one’s going to let us do nothing, so fuck it, well do something, and we will make them regret ever forcing our hand.” Alice tried to embody any of the confidence Lilith usually did but judging by the smile cracking the wolf’s mouth she didn’t succeed.
“You should let Levash stick to the inspirational speeches, he’s much better.”
“You’re smiling though. That’s gotta count for something.”
Julia took a deep breath stretching her arms. “I guess you’re right, your demons, best able to keep up, don’t think I’m having my pack going to war with a bunch of weaklings.”
Alice pretended to look shocked. “I’ll have you know our legions could conquer entire realms with the right motivation. Shame that the right motivation usually distracts us too much.”
The pair laughed as Chris approached with three plastic cups in her hands. “I got us all coffee, they had a pot already brewed and with how they’re acting I didn’t really want to give them the chance to do anything behind a wall.”
They fell into conversation as if an imminent invasion didn’t hang over two of the members’ heads.
Luckily Chris was there to keep them all distracted. “Oh Alice, did you get the letter I posted? It looked like it was from your dad.”
“Yeah, he, well I’m heading down to see him tonight actually, my mums died.”
Chris’ look instantly turned to pity.”Oh, Alice. What happened? Was it anything to do with that commune she joined?”
Alice shrugged. “I think? I don’t want to jump to conclusions yet, but the police found a golden flakes at the crime scene and under her nails. So we think it’s celestial blood from her defending herself.”
Julia’s internet peaked chiming in. “You think a celestial killed her?”
“Honestly we don’t know, she’s been dead a few weeks, and her body was burned which Levash has said is unusual for a Celestial, they’d have more likely just dragged her to Lestia or killed her with a weapon. Flames are distinctly demonic, or human.”
“What’s the plan then? Have you told your dad you’re, well?”
Alice looked back at Chris as she spoke. “Yeah he took it better than expected, he seemed really bent out of shape about mum so it went over his head. Besides you remember when I started transitioning, he never even mentioned anything about it for over a year, he’ll just pretend everything’s normal and fine.”
“How are you doing though? I know you weren’t close with your mum but?” Chris asked.
Alice shrugged. “It’s just another thing on the plate at this point, I know– I knew that, that commune wasn’t trustworthy but I can’t see them having done this, mum was completely drunk on the koolaid, she’d have done anything for them. Plus they wouldn’t know I was a demon to know planting a golden blood would scare us or distract us. It’s odd but I need to see dad, take things from there. Hopefully if we can see her body we can get a witch to test it like at the forum.” Julia reached across grabbing the demon’s hand who accepted the comfort. “Speaking of, Julia, do you have many contacts within the witches?”
Julia shook her head, her eyes darting to Chris before flicking back. “No, but we can discuss making some on Monday with Levash, I have a few ideas.”
Alice noticed Julia’s eyes keep darting to the unsuspecting human and quickly took the hint. “Yeah no problem, we can see them and go over plans.”
“Julia, can I ask you something potentially really personal?”
Julia looked to Alice over her coffee nodding slowly. “I reserve the right to say no though.”
Alice was hoping the voice in her head stayed quiet for this one. “Your religious beliefs, about Lilith.” Julia just nodded. “What do you actually believe?”
Julia furrowed her brows. “You don’t know what the Children of Lilith follow?”
“I know what Lilith tells me, but her view, as well, the creator is different from you, the err, the follower.”
Julia nodded considering the question for a moment, Chris long since gone having to go back to check on Mark. “Well I don’t speak for everyone, but I think the common opinion is that Lilith was once on Earth and actively worked to unite the three major supe factions and keep them working together while she was on Earth.”
“Well yeah she created you right?”
Julia snorted. “No one actually believes that? I mean sorry especially now demons are here like succubi and those Wrath demons you all look a lot like how she was described. We’re all humanoid?”
Alice was more than slightly surprised which clearly showed at Julia’s laugh. “Look I’m sure she was around when we first all came about but I reckon we’d all be a little prettier if we were actually made like you lot.”
“So why do you follow her then?”
“For me? It’s leadership, she’s absolutely made Weres, witches, and Vamps safer and more prosperous for her intervention throughout history. The alliances we’ve made due to her have been instrumental for things like the founding of The Council. That’s what I follow.”
Alice leaned in so her whisper could be heard over the general chatter of the cafe. “And you’d ‘prepare’ Earth for her?”
Julia shrugged. “If she thought it was best, I mean, from what we can read from the history books, and from Vampires who were around back then, she never let us down. If she thought it was best for supes I’d do it.” It was a lot to consider, at least it placated a bit of the worry Alice had about misleading her friend. “Just tell me, do you think we can really bring her back?” The usual shiver followed the question.
“I’ll be coming back to Earth once we have rebuilt.” Lilith whispered into her mind.
Alice relayed the words and Julia looked genuinely relieved.
“Hopefully I’m around to see it.”
Alice nodded. “Don’t worry once she’s about I’ll get something signed for you.”
Julia gave her the finger for her troubles.
—-
Julia ended up paying for the odd drinks they had gotten to the table and getting ready to leave. Alice made to join Julia heading for the exit. Checking her phone for the time she saw she had about three hours before the driver Levash had organised to take her down to Brighton to see her dad. As she was busy tapping away on her phone she never noticed the waitress step out in front of her until the collected plates tumbled out of her hands and the remains of a saucy pasta meal spilled down her cream turtleneck.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking..” Alice had already started to bend to pick up the scattered plates as she felt eyes burning holes in the back of her head, the cafe falling into an eerie quiet. Standing with the plates she saw the look of disgust on the waitresses face.
“Do you want to take these?” Alice asked warily. She continued to see most of the patrons in the cafe just staring at her, a man from the booth to her right began to stand as Julia quickly made her way over.
“I think you should be on your way.”
Alice scoffed at the comment, rolling her eyes as Julia tried to get past the crowd gathering around the waitress.
“No shit, that’s the plan.” Alice responded, Dropping the plates back on the table she made to step forward but the crowd and the waitress refused to part. Julia looked increasingly worried at the development trying to gently push past the crowd.
“I don’t think you understand, you shouldn’t be coming back.” A large bald man said from behind the waitress. The man nodded to the door and above it sat a small cross with Jesus crucified.
The sight just made the Demon burst out laughing. “You realise Demons have literally fuck all to do with religion right? I could take that off the wall and use it as a back massager and I’m not going to be smoked down for it. Now all of you kindly, move.”
The crowd was growing restless and Alice could see the red aura passing over the crowd, since they didn’t want to serve her food, perhaps she could feed another way. As the man who called out prior pushed forward and reached into his pocket her hand shot out grasping his wrist with a Iron grip.
“You take anything out of that pocket and you lose it.” Alice saw the jolt of fear as her eyes began to glow, something she had gained a small modicum of control over recently. Another man in the crowd mirrored his movement reaching into his pocket as Julia quickly shoved him out of the way, reaching out for the Demon and pulling her forcefully through the crowd. Passing through some patrons recoiled simply afraid to even touch the demon before them.
Julia shouted over the parting crowd her voice echoing the authority Alice had seen from her father Jethro. “We’re leaving, if anyone follows us they’ll regret it, go back about your day.”
No one looked happy at the comment and Alice revelled as they all quietly seethed no one willing to make a move against the pair. As Julia continued to pull the almost drunk Succubus from the building Alice made one finally grab for the previously pointed out cross. Snapping it from the nail holding it in place was easy, almost as easy as breaking the cross in two before she dropped it at the doorway. The final jolt of rage, of unfulfilled anger flowed into Alice.
Out on the street Julia continued to drag the Succubus along until they had slipped two streets over far enough away to know they weren’t being followed.
Turning on Alice, Julia exclaimed. “What the fuck was that?!”
“I’m sorry?” Alice questioned, wrenching herself from Julia’s grip.
“Why the fuck did you have to antagonise them? You realise fighting humans in public isn’t going to do any us any favours.”
Alice’s nose scrunched up slightly as she considered her words carefully. “What would you have done? Smile, take it on the chin, and hope that that placates them?”
Julia leaned against the side of the building, waiting for the passing group of school kids to pass, their excited commentary and giggles pointedly aimed at Alice.
Once passed Julia responded. “Alice, what would you have done if any of them had actually swung for you?”
Alice just shrugged. “I’ve not really been in a fight, well ever. But I managed to chuck John pretty far, so, that?”
Nodding Julia continued. “And then the police would have been called, inevitably. Since you can’t and don’t look human, you’d have been treated like an unregistered supernatural. Do you know what happens to unregistered supernaturals who break the peace?” When Alice didn’t respond, just standing there staring expectantly Julia continued. “I’ll give you a hint, they’re not seen again, yeah? So since you can’t use your human ID and you don’t have a supe one, in the future, let them get a couple of barbs in so they feel better about their pathetic, short lives. Then go home, have a shag, or whatever you lot do for fun and forget about it. Now I could give you a hundred reasons why I’d rather you not end up dead or in some government lab, but I’ll give you the main one–”
“You need me for Lilith.” Alice responded, cutting Julia off.
Julia rolled her eyes at Alice’s interruption and finished. “Because you’re my mate.”
Alice had the awareness to look slightly embarrassed at her comment, and as Julia turned starting to continue back down the street Alice made to catch up muttering her apology. “Sorry, that famous temper Lilith passed down got to me, it sorta makes you want to egg people on like that, like make them Wrathful…”
Julia waved her apology off. “Don’t worry about it, they deserved a lot worse than what they got, just remember things aren’t exactly geared to protect us.”
That was becoming more and more clear to Alice as the days went on.
—
The pair continued on their walk for a while longer, eventually coming to a stop and saying their farewells as Alice split off to head for the club. They made their assurances to meet the following week to discuss integrating the pack and the legions of Lestia, and how a shared command structure would work, something Alice definitely needed Levash and the other members of the triumvirate to organise. Given the time of day Alice was unsurprised to find the club empty of humans, the majority of the demons milling about seemed to be in far more relaxed wear than was usually seen on any of the floors, she thought she spotted an Imp passing in what looked like a pyjama set with cartoon cats on. Sitting in one of the spare booths Alice awaited her taxi, she noted she had about half an hour to kill.
The few TV’s around this level of the bar all seemed to project the same reality shows Chris was usually obsessed with, watching in amusement Alice failing to notice Urdon cheerfully approaching her with another purple skinned demoness in tow.
“Speak of the devil, err demon. Alice, how have you been? Who’d you kill?” Urdon shouted across the bar, earning a few glares from those watching the claws and rings rerun. As he got closer he nodded to the dried crimson stain on her turtleneck.
“Been better, got some pretty shitty news all things considered, heading down to Brighton to see some family actually.” Alice responded as both demons sat in the booth with her, the new purple demoness giving her a small finger wave as she caught her eye.. Alice paused nodded to the stain stretching the cloth out. “This was me not paying attention and getting someone’s dinner spilled down me.”
“Well hopefully you sort it all out, if you ever need anything you know to just ask. Actually we have some some clothes in the back in storage, look for the black box by the door.”
“Alice raised a brow. “Anything that’s not latex or leather? I’m going to see my very conservative human father.”
Urdon gave an award winning smile. “There are some shirts but I wouldn’t hope for anything nice. Anyway, what’s this Brighton like anyway, about the furthest I’ve travelled in this world is zone three.” Urdon finished mumbling towards the end, the new demoness at his rolling eyes dramatically so Alice would notice.
“It’s fine, alot of beaches and gays, whos your friend anyway?” Alice nodded to the grateful woman.
Urdon blinked in shock before quickly getting out, “Shit, sorry. This is Sophia, she was a human too!”
Sophia cringed before adding, “He means a long time ago. I was one of the last people taken from Earth before the portal was closed.”
Alice slowly nodded as realisation dawned on her. “I’m sorry, I can’t begin to imagine how horrific that would have been.”
Sophia shrugged, “Only slightly worse than being a woman in the fifteen hundreds. It’s nice to meet you though, I’ve heard a lot.”
“I’m getting that a lot now honestly, but likewise. I’ve not seen you around before.” Alice said off handed, a small commotion beginning to break out towards the TV’s.
“I don’t come here much, I’ve got a boyfriend who’s a vamp, can’t do much with him but his bar is all repressed goth lust and yearning. It’s basically a buffet for me.” Sophia replied, the din by the TV’s growing louder. “I think what Urdon wanted was to introduce us since we were both born humans. We can do each others claws and swap horror stories about the change” Sophia finished whispering towards the end.
Urdon though hadn’t missed it and started nodding vigorously to her left.
“That would be lovely, although apparently I was born a demon, I just never knew it. Which at this point is honestly becoming a running trend in my life.” Before Alice could see if her joke fell flat the talking and gasps from around the TV’s had grown into a booming cacophony as nearly all demons in the bar gathered around the TV’s.
Alice was the first to leave the booth with both other demons hot on her tail, the TV had switched at some point, breaking news scrawling across the bottom of the screen. Pushing past a few of the larger Leviacas and Envy demons, Alice caught sight of what had shocked the crowd. Panning around the house commons the camera focused on a man with two giant twisting horns and scales running from cheek down into the collar of the tattered shirt he wore. The man held a bloodied knife in his hand and continued to pace back and forth as if he himself was taking in the carnage he had wrought. As the camera zoomed out getting a better aerial shot, the image of overturned cars filled the road leading to the structure, smoke billowing from a few.
Alice turned to her left seeing Sophia and Urdon had managed to get to her. “What kind of demon is that?”
Sophia looked at her in confusion. “I, I don’t know he’s mostly disguised as a human so it narrows it down a bit, but incubus don’t have horns that large.”
Urdon added, “and I don’t know a single demon with scales like that.”
Before Alice could respond a loud bang rang out from the TV cutting off the news reporter’s own speculation, turning back all that could be seen before the camera quickly cut away was the collapsing figure of the apparent demon.
The bar broke out into loud and concerned chattering as phones began to rapidly ping with received messages. The last thing Alice saw of the news as the camera spiralled over the themes was confirmation that the demonic terrorist had been neutralised. Pushing her way out of the crowd she pulled her phone from her pocket and ignoring the text from Chris telling her to switch on the news she went to dial Levash but saw his call come in before she got the chance.
“Alice, where are you?” Levash’s voice came through the phone, rushed, and subdued, the arguing going on around him coming through almost louder than him.
“The club, waiting for the taxi. Levash what the fuck was that?”
“We’re not certain, but Alice, don’t leave Goetia. This is going to be a shitstorm. We all need to stick together.”
Alice continued to walk out of the main floor of Sloth and into the back storage room, the din of the bar floor cutting off to an oppressive silence as the doors pulled shut and Levash’ words sunk in. “Levash, I have to go, my mums dead.”
“And I sympathise with you, I really do, but this is going to be big. Alice, someone who looks like a demon has just attacked parliament, there’s two dead and it was all caught live. People were already out for blood, this is only going to make it worse.”
“So then let me leave London, Demons are only known to be in London and Leeds, no ones going to be rioting in bloody Brighton.”
Alice heard Levash sigh, the arguing surrounding him finally growing quieter. “Alice, you aren’t exactly subtle. Yes no ones looking for demons at the beach but when they see a red skinned woman, with horns and a tail they aren’t going to mistake you for a fairy. Please we can arrange something else soon, I’ll come down with you. We just need to wait this out and see what the reaction is.”
Alice’s phone pinged with a notification confirming the taxi driver had pulled up outside of the club. As the silence dragged on Alice’s indecision warred, she knew that logically, Levash was right, she had already very clearly seen the hatred that some humans held, but this was her mother. She needed to be there for her dad, she was all he had left. “I’m sorry.”
“Alice look wait-” The call cut as Alice put the phone into airplane mode, she found the black box and luckily saw a plain white tee on top that was only slightly baggy. Swapping out her turtleneck for it she quickly headed out the back door of the club. Levash wouldn’t be happy but she could smooth that over when she got back, it was only going to be two days, three tops. Seeing the taxi waiting at the side of the road Alice got in and with only one startled look from the human driver set off in silence.
—-
The sun had fully set by the time she arrived outside her family house, seeing it the only one bare of Christmas decorations and thanked the driver before departing. He gave her an odd look but set off saying nothing leaving her on the damp road. Approaching the front door she tried to stamp down the apprehension she felt coiled deep within her, it had been over a year since she had last seen her dad and the reception since she transitioned had always been a tepid one at best. Never outright hateful, but clearly never supportive. Regardless of how dismissive he had been on the phone, Alice couldn’t get over the thought that the horns would be a step too far.
Before Alice was able to build up the courage to knock, the front door opened and suddenly her father stood before her. The estrangement from her mother had not been kind to him, his once strong form from a lifetime as a labourer had quickly sagged, what hair he had left thinned and receded further up his head, avoiding that far was just one more thing to be grateful to estrogen and potentially becoming a demon for.
“Ad- er Alice, you look…” Her fathers voice fell silent, his face taking on an almost slack jawed appearance and a faint hint of that usual red aura swirled before all being stamped out as he visibly shook himself before continuing. “Alice sorry, bit of a shock is all. Come in, please.”
Alice nodded awkwardly and walked past him into the main corridor of the house, her father shutting the door behind her before squeezing past into the living room. Alice followed silently, still a little in shock waiting for an explosion. He gestured for her to sit down in one of the few chairs before pouring drinks from a steaming tea set. The item was out of place in the living room, something old that her mother had left behind when she left for Yorkshire.
Alice finally built up the courage to speak as she was passed one of the delicate cups. “So how have you been?”
Her father finished. Pouring his own cup and taking a seat across from her, placing the mug down as he spoke. “Aside from hearing about your mother. Fine mostly, started getting out of the house a bit more, I’ve been volunteering in town, just helping around the city really. What about you, what. Well what happened.’
Alice wondered briefly over how much to tell him, what would he accept better, that she and potentially her mother had always had this in them, or that it was some random freak event. “‘I’m, well we don’t really know. I’m friends with, well a Demon and he’s not sure either. It’s not been awful though, I mean, I lost my job and I keep tearing holes in t-shirts when I try and put them on but…” Alice ended with a shrug, her own tail coiling tightly around her leg. Taking a long sip of the tea it tasted almost bitter. A faint reminder why her mother always handled the drinks in the house.
The pair sit mostly in silence before her father holds up his hand. “Give me a second actually, I want to show you something.” Getting up, Alice caught the small strain in his back as he struggled to rise before making his way out of the room and slowly heading upstairs. Taking a second to look around the sparse living room, it seemed most of the decorations in here had been taken down since her mother had left. The wall once filled with family photos held two now, one of her in primary school that stung a little to see back up, and a photo of her father with her grandparents. The rest seemingly taken down and put in storage. As for the rest of the room it was equally bare, a small bin almost hidden by the tv looked to hold empty glass bottles, presumably of beer and aside from the small mirror in the corner not much else had remained after her mother and she had left.
Hearing heavy steps coming from the stairway Alice waited seeing her father come back into view entering the room with an open box. Placing on the table between them and sitting down with a sigh her father motioned for her to look through the items.
“It’s all stuff of your mothers, some from what she left behind, some that was-” he paused struggling with his words. “Brought back with her. Take a look.” Her father said looking almost resigned as he picked up his tea but placed it back down before taking a sip. Looking in the box she found some of the photos of them that had once been on the wall including one she and her mum had taken early in Alice’s transition. Looking back at herself, the awkward girl she used to be with an awful attempt at makeup and a dress Christina had insisted on buying, she couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face. Placing it to the side and planning to ask to take it back with her she started to dig through the rest of the box.
After getting through all the photos of her family and all the random junk she finally got to what looked like a big journal, taking it out she could feel her dads gaze burning into her, clearly this is what he had wanted her to find. Opening it up at first it seemed like a scrapbook started in her mothers youth, old fuzzy photos of her mother and friends out with awful hairstyles and almost worse fashion sense than she had growing up. Continuing through she started to notice pictures of her father when he was much younger cropping up, with one at a bowling alley marked as a first date. Life events flicked by, their family, their house, Alice’s birth and then the reveal of supernatural creatures. Alice flicked through a few pages, photos of the riots, of news reports, and the blonde fae woman who gave interviews in her youth, eventually her mother even had pictures of her with random people out and about, one marked first Were-bear which made Alice snort once again at the name, and another marked first mermaid, which made Alice pause. The creature didn’t have the iconic tail but she did have scales across the forearm that was in the picture and even a few silvery blue ones across her cheek bones. She wondered if mermaids ever had horns? It was safe to say though that her mother had grown obsessed with the supernatural after their reveal.
This continued with pictures getting sparser and fewer in between, some truly awful pictures of Alice in transition. Turning the page it ended with pictures of Alice and her ex at a meal with both of her parents and then the next page almost resembled those chaotic scribbles of a madman. No pictures were present on either page but just harsh jagged lettering written over and over the same characters, almost carved into the page filling it.
“That was about a week before the news announced that demons existed.” Her father said, his eyes on the window behind her, pain or something similar evident in his tone.
Looking closer Alice could make out the lettering was infernal, some of the characters she had already learned their English equivalent from Urdon. Trying to piece together what little she knew it almost read.
“Lilith save me.” Alice muttered.
Her fathers eyes focused back on Alice as she spoke leaning forward in his seat, “Pardon?”
“The lettering I think it’s infernal, what demons use to write, I can only make out a few of the characters I’ve not really learned infernal well myself, but it seems to be the same message over and over again.”
Alice’s dad considered this a flash of red in his aura once before being smothered and disappearing. “How would your mother know, what did you call it?”
“Infernal, they mostly use it in-”
“In hell.” He interrupted.
“They call it Lestia. But I don’t know why she’d know it. I mean, I’d never seen it before, not until I went too…” Alice stopped not wanting to admit where but her father seemed to catch it.
“Where’d you see it?
Alice paused but saw her fathers anger begin to bubble again. “At this club in London, I went with a few friends and the menus and signs were all in it.
Her father scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “So it’s true then you started hanging around demon clubs, is that how this happened? How you became,” he gestured at her from her horns to her tail.
Alice shook her head, pausing before she spoke feeling faintly dizzy. “No I don’t think so, I think it’s something to do with me but, regardless-”
Without being given a chance to pause her father responded. “How did you meet the Demon anyway? I’m assuming at this club?”
Alice blinked a bit confused, her tongue feeling tired. “Erm yeah sorry. We just talked and got on.”
“You know your mother was obsessed with demons up at that cult? Why was she so obssessed with them, why did she know this infernal bollocks, and then you come home a fucking demon after going to one of their clubs. Alice, tell me now what happened.” The angry tone in her fathers voice caught her by surprise, she has gotten too used to being sat down like this a lot growing up and in her teens, everytime she failed to live up to his expectations of what she should be doing, what she should like, who her friends were.
She felt her tail coil around her leg as she began to speak, “I don’t know exactly dad, I never had anything like this,” Alice pointed to the scrawling from the journal, “I’ll be honest I never thought about demons before that night, and I only went for a friend’s birthday. I don’t know why.” Her conscience stabbed at her the lie she was telling but none of it would help her father deal with his loss.
The silence had enveloped the pair for a moment, her father clearly thinking something over as his anger rose and became harder to place. Alice on the other hand was blinking hard, her thoughts slowing down and all her senses seeming to dull, fear crept into her being slowly.
“Who’s the demon Alice? What is his name? Who did this to you?” Her father growled out rising as he spoke. He looked back to the window and seemed to nod at something but Alice could barely think to turn around. Alice tried to open her mouth to say anything but her mouth didn’t want to cooperate, none of her body did.
Her father sighed seeing her inability to speak. Reaching for the teapot he removed the lid and pulled a string from the cup, instead of a tea bag though Alice caught sight of a gold and platinum orb, then as he sat back down the rock seemed to crush in on itself as he pinched it, a golden syrupy liquid coming from within.
“I don’t know what I expected. I hoped you’d come and it would all be a lie, that whatever child I fucking had still existed, but you killed him long before all this. Azeal told me there’s corruption in your blood, that your mother was poisoned just like you are. So we dealt with her, but he said he can fix you.”
Alice saw her fathers mouth move as he continued to talk to her, a firm scowl set across his face but all she could hear was static. Trying to get up, to get her phone and call Levash or Christina, anyone she couldn’t stop herself as she fell forward out of her seat. Trying to push one arm in front of herself she saw two sets of boots approaching her from the hallway before everything swiftly faded to black.
—-
Levash sat at the desk of Evangeline’s office, the day had been nothing short of painstaking. His day had started with organising details for the Vampire Persephone to come down in February, which given her extensive list of requirements for entering the city of London had taken every waking moment, from leaving Alice in bed to the fateful news report in the afternoon.
He’d just gotten into the London hub for The Council and had gotten ready to sit down with a few local members who could offer various bits of support for their cause when the dwarf from the front desk came in, silently turned on a tv flicking to the news and waiting. They all had watched as the scaled and horned man wrecked the street outside commons before being taken out live on TV. That had put a swift end to the meeting as most of the attendees left without offering any help at all.
And beyond it all, beyond fielding calls nearly constantly from different leaders in the supe community, from journalists looking for a story, from human agents set to monitor the community Levash kept going back to one person in particular. Alice. He didn’t want to check how many times his calls had gone straight to voicemail, how none of his messages were being read like usual.
Looking at the email he has been drafted to a small Were pack in Wales he just closed the window on the laptop unable to focus on the task with her out in the world right now. Flicking the news on a new tab he watched the coverage of the protest outside the club. This far underground the sound of them was muffled but watching it on tv, even without Alice’s ability to see wrath’s aura he could see the rage bubbling across the surface. A powder keg sat on their doorstep and one small spark could set them alight, nearly all the demons in the club has left and been ordered home or to The Councils hub to shelter for the eve, the club has a skeletal crew of a few Levitans, Incubi and Succubi ready to barricade all the entryways and try and hold off if anyone attempted to get through the walls.
Looking back to his phone, still no response and he almost wanted to launch his phone across the room. Five hundred years, five hundred years he’d gone without this kind of relationship, and then she had come along and without him even noticing she had fully wormed her way past his set walls. What he thought would be at best a sort of mentor relationship has gone far beyond that at this point.
Hesitating for just a moment Levash decided to try calling one more time from the landline in the office and was shocked to hear the phone actually dial.
After three tones the phone answered and a gruff voice came through the other end. “Yes?”
“Hey, is Alice there?” Levash questioned trying to change his accent into a smoother, more generally English one.
“No she’s gone to bed, who’s this?”
“James, I’m a friend of Alice and Christina’s, she said she’d call me and I haven’t heard from her. Who are you?” Levash was glad he hadn’t got through on his mobile.
“Her dad, she left her phone downstairs, I’ll let her know you called, James.” The voice responded back to him sounding ready to hang up.
“Any chance you can go get her so we can speak, I know she was a little upset leaving with everything that’s happened with her mother.”
The voice responded instantly “No. she was distraught so she’s gone to sleep, I’ll get her to call you tomorrow if she’s up. Bye”
The call hung up before Levash could ask again, and the brief slit of anger washed over him and was quickly drowned out by worry.
Sitting in silence considering the call and the foul reaction he’d had to it he quickly thought of a plan flicking open a new app on the laptop and cycling through the CCTV’s for the property. Entering in admin credentials, new feeds linked to the app aside from the main bars, scrolling to the end he found the feed he was looking for. On it he could see a row of three metal cells on the back wall, and inside the only occupied one he saw the injured man Alice had pointed out to him a few weeks prior. They hadn’t gotten as much as they wanted from him and he had been mostly left alone for the past week, that ends tonight
As Levash entered the staff door from pride he went to the back freezer entering the admin code and pulling the metal door back to reveal a staircase going deeper into the ground. Closing the door behind him Levash let the embers overtake him burning away the glamour he wore and revealing his demonic self as he descended. Coming out of the staircase it opened into an arched tunnel, the bricks covered in moss and mould, the damp becoming a permanent fixture long before he’d ever come to Earth. Following the corridor down he saw where the bricks began to merge into newer stones, the supports put in place by The council when the building was renovated and connected to the old London tunnels they used to get around the city undetected before the revelation. Finding what he wanted he entered another code into a more discreet keypad set into the brick wall which parted revealing a doorway made of brick, this opened up into the celled room, and its only inhabitant stirred as the demon entered his confinement.
The brick wall closed behind Levash automatically and as the mechanical wiring stopped then cells fell silent. Illuminated by the faint glow of an overhanging bulb Levash stepped forward entering the view of the cage and as he became visible the chained man recoiled pushing himself further back against the corner of the wall.
“Back, stay the fuck away from you, you-.”
Levash was quick to interrupt, “you what? Fiend? Devil? The truth is, human,” Levash almost spat the word as a sneer grew on his face, “you couldn’t begin to comprehend a word that encompasses all of what we are, those that you use to categorise us fail to recognise all that we are.” Stepping forward and taking out a loose key Levash slowly unlocked the gate and as he did the man pushed himself up the wall standing out still falling short of Levash’s height.
“I’m going to keep this short, I have questions, you answer them and I’ll get you out of here. You hold out I’m going to remove your intestines from your fucking stomach, do you understand?” Levash asked and watched as the man’s loyalties seeped away at the threat as he responded silently with a nod. “Good, first question. Do you have any operations or groups based in or around Brighton.” Levash waited and with the man’s eyes closing he weakly nodded his head.
The questioning continued with relative ease, and Levash felt like the pathetic human had been as honest as he could be, much to his own worry. The SDF had moved operations mostly out of the capital in the auspices of keeping their new Celestial “commander” out of the public eye. More worrying, they had been to Leeds to attack a cult on the Celestials order, which Levash couldn’t imagine was a coincidence. After a few minutes of searching online Levash found what he was looking for, a photo of Alice’s dad, one Lloyd Dean. Turning his phone around he prodded the downtrodden man regaining his attention and asked his final question. “Do you know this man?
The spy’s eyes darted between the photo and Levash, fear and resignation battling it out as he nodded his head.
“He’s the chapter leader in Brighton, he made first contact with the Celestial, or so he says.” The man responded with a shrug, but Levash struggled to focus, turning away for a second realising the implication. Giving himself a moment to regain his composure he shot a text warning to the other heads of their triumvirate as well as a description to The Council of the man and the other information gained. A plan slowly forming in his mind he turned back to the captive who dared to have hope gleaming in his eye as he rose to his feet.
“If that’s it, I can go then right? You’ll let me go, you said you would.” The man rushed out pushing his chained hands forward into Levashs chest. He knew too much, and could expose them in ways people will be clamouring for after the attack, taking he man’s hands he saw relief win out on the spy’s face as his tail shot forward the blade at its tip burying into his throat. Levash saw the moment that realisation struck as he fought to get his hands from Levash’s steel like grasp, as the blood ebbed from the jagged wound Levash made sure to watch as life fled his eyes. Releasing his grasp on the corpse Levash made a commitment that once Alice was home he’d ask her to try her hand at sharpening the point for him.
Closing the cells behind him Levash left down the tunnels away from the club exiting into the sewers and street level as his demonic form faded away leaving the uncomfortable human visage in its place. Walking through the streets it was packed with groups of humans and very little Supes, even now with the moon high in the sky. The braying mobs clearly out for blood, luckily none paid him any attention as he passed. Reaching one of The Councils garages he was able to find a spare Citroen that looked like it was held together with duct tape and well wishes, but it would have to do. Thankfully the engine gave him no issues as he rolled out of the building heading south out of the City.