SEEDS OF CORRUPTION 6 by Libertysn

Feature Writer: Libertysn

Feature Title: SEEDS OF CORRUPTION 6

Published: 26.07.2024

Story Codes: Demonic

Synopsis: Alice learns more about her Ancestor and how she can help

Author’s Notes: Hey all hope you enjoyed the much longer than usual chapter. This did start closer to 10,000 words when initially started editing but felt the need to add the smut to the end. Something I will be adding more off to older chapters as I go. Hope you enjoyed the update!

Seeds Of Corruption 6

Chapter 6 – Mother of Monsters

“Has she seriously not explained anything to you?” Levash asked in disbelief.

Alice shrugged, “Bits and pieces, but she never mentioned anything about being a queen or something.”

“Alice, Lilith was never a queen, she was one of the six princes of Lestia.” Levash stated with emphasis waiting for the significance to dawn on her.

Alice continued to look blankly at him. “Is that lower then, or?”

Pinching his nose, Levash began. “How to summarise, the first Demon, Samael, was a being equivalent to how humans view deities. His form was incomprehensible. Think of a collection of stars and dust–”

Alice interrupted him saying, “I can think that but I dont think it’s painting the picture you want it too.”

Ignoring her comment Levash continued. “Samael was this thing, floating through existence and he became obsessed with the beings he viewed in his travels and how insignificant they seemed in comparison to him. This caused pride to bubble within him, an unknown feeling he hadn’t ever experienced before and he became addicted to it. From this he adapted himself to become sin incarnate. He became Pride.” Levash’s eyes flashed with warning as Alice went to interrupt once more. “Now at that point he still existed in a void, but as his form had changed and was now less suited to that kind of environment, Samael constructed his own realm to experience and spread his sin. This was Lestia.”

Levash watched as Alice’s hand raised into the air, realising she wasn’t going to let him continue he nodded to her in assent.

“So is he the equivalent of the Devil then? Satan?”

“All monikers he has used in his dealings in foreign planes, his true name, Samael, was reserved for use amongst those born or shaped by sin.”

“And this all relates to Lilith how?”

“One more interruption and I’m sending you to bed with nothing else, you can go tell Lilith how you pissed me off.”

As Alice put her hands up in surrender, he winked and continued. “With Lestia built, Samael finally had to fathom his loneliness, he had constructed a physical form for himself, a home, and ways to spread pride to other beings, to mould them in his image, but he didn’t have anyone else indulging in that sin with him. He aimed to create a creature out of pure sin, to have never existed as anything else but sin. His hope being that they would relate to him in Pride however upon creation, he found Lilith. Obviously Lilith did not take to Pride but soon found herself establishing a new sin that was absent from creation, Lust. After indulging in her new sin with the first Demon she soon gave birth to her first child, Belial who also turned out to be a demon of lust not pride. In the end Samael realised he had failed in creating a true partner for Pride and giving Lilith her own layer of Lestia as far from him as possible, he sent her to establish her own kingdom. She declared herself the Prince of Lust, and Samael followed suit adopting the moniker for Pride. Not to be out done by his own creation he did also go on to declare himself King of Lestia itself and typically used this term rather than any others.”

Alice placed her hand up again and he stopped so she assumed it was safe to speak. “So Samael is, shock, really prideful then.” Levash nodded. “Then why was he ever trying to create an equal if they would never have truly been equal?”

“He’s a Lucifan, they can pretend to be well rounded leaders who are naturally fit for their role, but their sin clouds their minds as much as lust clouds ours.” Levash said with a wink.

Levash cleared his throat to continue once he realised Alice had no further comments to add. “Once her kingdom was established, Lilith started to travel to other realms and convert beings she found to lust, creating the first true Succubi and Incubi, they resembled her and her child’s forms, our forms, but even those turned by Lilith herself could not stand up to her or the children of Liliths power. Long story short Samael continued to try and create a partner resulting in four more Demons who would all go on to establish their own sins, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth and Envy. After this he gave up on trying to create an equal and instead followed in the footsteps of his creations, he began spawning demons through those corrupted by his sin, thus giving us Lucifans, or pride Demons. After he gave up there was some conflict between Lilith and the Prince of Greed, Mammon, this culminated with Mammon killing Lilith’s first child, Belial. Lilith fell into a fit of anger so deep it caused her to, in turn, create a second sin of her own, Wrath. The conflict led to war and Lilith killed Mammon, flooded and seized his kingdom and used it to establish a second layer of Lestia dedicated to wrath, and the Demons created in her war against Mammon became Leviacas, Wrath Demons. Samael despised this result, feeling upstaged by his own creations. Which he was. Following this he declared creation of a second sin to be treason, Lilith was made to appoint a Demon to represent Wrath, which always was seen as a puppet, her child Marchosias. Greed demons relocated to a less desirable plane in Lestia, and that is how he arrived at what Lestia looked like prior to the invasion. Lilith created two kinds of Demons, two sins, was the first demon born of pure sin, was the first to turn beings into Demons, etcetera, etcetera.” Levash trailed off towards the end, pride, ironically evident in his voice but still as he mentioned the invasion his mood turned decidedly more dour.

Levash paused after that, Alice reluctant to push him. He finally looked back up from the ground, his face set and his voice clear. “During the fall, Baphomet the Prince of Gluttony and Abyzou the Prince of Envy both died early on, their layers made for poor fortifications. Astaroth, Prince of Sloth, disappeared shortly after.” He paused and closed his eyes, she could see the muscles in his arms looked tight, his fists clenched, she moved closer to him reaching out to hold his hand, after a few moments he accepted the gesture.

As his tight muscles released their tension he looked up and shared a small smile with Alice before continuing. “After this the fighting had grown mostly to a stalemate, Lilith, Samael and Marchosias, had finally created a secure path connecting the three kingdoms with Greed, which had managed to stand alone. Once a route had been opened, the three Princes planned with Pluto the Prince of Greed,” Levash sneered, spitting his name like a curse. “The plan was to connect their armies together in Lust and work their way down through each layer, leaving only reserve forces behind them. There would be a, well a natural phenomenon in Lestia at that time that created a thick red miasma across the edges of most layers, moving under this cover, the Celestials would not have been able to track the armies movements nor know that they had all amassed in one realm. Samael and Marchosias were never seen again, their armies say they had been attacked by an overwhelming force, but the stories of that evening were wild and varied across the armies. Needless to say the Princes had been betrayed by Pluto who after this evening declared his defection to the Celestials, he was to be “cleansed” of his sin. As far as we know to this day he lives in luxury for his betrayal, a gilded cage crafted to only contain him. Lilith alone stood against the hordes for what felt like hundreds of years. We even managed to expand into Gluttony and had hopes to seize Greed but it was never to be. Celestials had snuck past our defences, Lilith was butchered and her body taken to be paraded as a trophy, the last fallen Prince. With her defeat, pockets managed to last for maybe two, three years, but, in the end we all fell.”

Alice sat in silence, Levash’s voice was tight as he attempted to lighten the mood. “I’m impressed you have sat still for so long.”

“They paraded her body around?”

Levash shrugged. “This is what we were told, but it would have been around their realm, not ours. Had they done that in Lestia, perhaps it would have inspired more resistance, she became in the end, our only beacon of hope, for all Demons.”

Alice tried to speak in her mind to Lilith, the Demon she had spoken with seemed like many things but never this general, Prince, Levash spoke of her admiration, adoration even clear in his voice. Yet Lilith did not respond.

Trying to turn the subject away from the potential humiliations she suffered, Alice asked. “I’m just, when you say they created sin, you don’t mean literally right? Humans have been greedy and wrathful and all the rest since time immemorial. Those impulses weren’t created by anyone else, they just, are.”

Levash rolled his eyes. “And you can tell me where sin comes from?”

“Yes, It’s just innate, it exists inside all of us, every being, not just Demons.” Alice stated bluntly.

“Every realm Demons visited sin exists, where they haven’t it doesn’t. We have been to realms devoid of say, wrath on our arrival but then after a few months later it has become something intrinsic to the native populations.”

“But humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years.”

“And the Princes of hell have been around much longer. Regardless, you’re getting caught up on semantics. Lilith is the creator of lust, of us, of everything we are. You being a descendant of hers–”

“Based on quick maths I did, we are talking about at least twenty generations removed.”

“It makes no difference, you’re a child of Lilith. This explains pretty much everything, you see and feed from wrath as well as lust, because, you are a child of Lilith. I never corrupted you, you’d have already been a demon, I guess I just woke you up.”

Alice shrugged once again. “That’s basically what Lilith has told me on repeat. Something about the corruption from our, coupling basically just kickstarter everything so the demonic genetics destroyed the human ones. Fun!”

Levash stood taking a deep breath. “Well tragic story aside, it does ease my mood knowing this was pretty much guaranteed to happen to you at some point with our return to earth.”

Laughin, Alice rose to join him and followed him into the kitchen as he reached into a mostly barren cabinet to pull out a small crystal decanter. “Not likely, you think I’d have just slept with the first handsome demon that was nice to me?”

Levash winked as he crouched to pull two glasses from a lower cupboard. “Maybe not, regardless, drink?”

“Please, and make it strong would you.”

---

The pair hadn’t spoke much since, both returning to Levash’s bedroom. Alice sat trying to digest everything, from this new worlds politics to her great something grandmothers very brutal sounding death. Yet one thing her mind kept flicking back to the fact that her tolerance had gone through the roof significantly. Sadly, no more cheap nights out.

“What made her change her mind and have you tell me? Does she want you to tell others?” Levash asked as he set his phone back on the side.

Alice shrugged in response. “She told

me to ask you for information but not much else, I assume she wants me to tell others, or at least doesn’t mind.” Alice felt the chill and confirmation from Lilith in the back of her mind. “Yeah, others. Well she thinks this is the best way to protect me and all Demons. Can we use this? I mean Demons aren’t exactly the threat here and who else will want to hear about some dead Demon Prince?”

Levash sat silently for a moment, but she saw it, the moment realisation washed over him, his eyes growing wider, his shoulders pulling back, and confidence that had drained during his impromptu history lesson returning. Rising from his chair, scotch forgotten, he paced over to his desk and began digging through files he had stacked on the side. At this angle she could see his tee riding up high on his back revealing–.

“Come read this.” Alice blinked, before stepping towards him and looking at the open document, it seemed inside the file was packed with photos and sheets but the top one had a title in bold.

“The Mother of Monsters?” Alice questioned.

Levash looked at her with a grin. “Lilith, industrious as she was, established a cult on earth, a cult of supernaturals that she made believe that she had created them. It began as a small cult, more focused on preparing for her visits and acting as her direct agents on earth, but once she stopped visiting directly these earthly supernaturals believed their creator had died and they changed from cult and spread to a fully organised religion, intent on bringing her back.” Levash turned a few pages over leaving one open for Alice to read. Weres, Witches and Vampires. The three original groups in Liliths cult and now they are the main practitioners of her religion, and it was widespread. A map at the bottom showing sects throughout North America, Europe and parts of the Middle East. She felt a swell of pride from within and a rumble.

“Well Lilith, I think appreciates the growth. But how can we use this?” Alice numbered reading through the different territories dedicated to her.

Levash again began to flip a few pages leaving one open, a list. The list showed major political groups that follow this belief. Looking for anything she recognised, most just listed as place names followed by court, Scottish court? Then it was onto packs and she spotted it.

“The Farkas pack believes Lilith is their God? How many in the pack do? Would me saying I’m her descendant or that I can speak to her be enough to convince them?”

Levash shrugged. “The leadership will be unanimous, as for the general members, I couldn’t say. The main belief of the religion is that they must prepare the Earth for Liliths return–”

Alice’s eyes widened in realisation “And what if they see me as her herald? If I told them Lilith does not want to return to Earth she wishes to return to Lestia, would they be swayed to move?”

The serpentine grin on Levash’s gave away his excitement. “They’d need proof, can Lilith give you that? Can you two interact whenever you wish?”

Alice nodded. “I’d rather grill her first a bit to learn what to say but yes I can talk to her essentially whenever she wants to talk back.”

“If the dogs are needed then I will help call them to heel.”

Levash watched her curiously as Alice blanked out partly.

“She agrees with the plan.” Alice said with a nod and a smile.

Levash nodded, walking over to her, his arms slowly enveloping her own. “Do you? You’d be lying to your friends about Liliths intentions. Potentially using the icon of their religion as a way to guide them into a war that a lot of them will certainly perish in. You would be part of this, fighting this war, with us. Can you handle that?”

Could she? Did she have a choice? It had felt like Levash and Lilith had been pushing for this from the start, but despite this she could say no to both of them, as impossible as it seemed. However she couldn’t say no to a Celestial hell bent on her destruction. If she stayed out of this the army would potentially be weaker, unable to finish them. Levash would be returned to hell in chains or as a corpse. Lilith would remain a ghost in her mind for as long as she lived, which most likely wouldn’t be long. Steeling herself, Alice nodded.

“Alice, this shouldn’t be taken lightly, theirs–”

“I know, I get it. I can’t change my mind and go back after. The thing is I can’t go back now, my flat has been destroyed, I’m being hunted. I have the creator of our race stuck in my head. There’s no option to sit this out, but I’m less mad about that than I expected.” Levash quirked an eyebrow. “The Celestials need to be stopped, they came after me in my home as they did for our entire species. If we finish them off, Demons can return to Lestia free, Lilith may stop bothering me and finally rest in peace, or at least be a little less demanding, and I can return home, to my flat with my friend and live as I wish, not having to spend my days looking over my shoulder. So I’m in this, where do we start?”

Levashs hands moved from her arms down to her waist pulling her close to his form, the hardness she felt against her waist evident of his feelings on the matter. As he leaned over, his mouth began trailing soft kisses along her collarbone.

“You’ll have to learn to fight, weapons, hand to hand, powers when they come in. I won’t have you unable to defend yourself.” As his voice grew breathy, the kisses reawakened her lust.

“Lilith already told me to tell you I needed to learn, I just decided to forget.”Alice barely got out as her voice grew breathier at the attention.

“Forgetting an order already? Naughty girl.” With that his mouth left her collar and his hands tightening on her hips pushed her back hard so she buckled onto the bed.

“Remove your dress.” The order was growled at her, she found herself unable to deny him as her lust spiked, the dress quickly forgotten and she was grateful she had forgone putting her underwear back on after the shower, laying bare before him. She watched as he came to stand between her pushing her knees wider with his own. Slowly he began to remove his clothes and he was doing it torturously slow, the lust inside bubbling up and overpowering most of her senses.

“I don’t need to be a Levicas, Alice, to find the idea of you fighting alongside me, erotic..” She sat up unable to wait any longer, her hands nimbly removing the belt from his pants as she pulled away he caught her hands in his. “Patience, you’ve no control of your lust have you?” The teasing grin on his face as he leaned in closer, the rough texture of his jeans brushing against her inner thighs. “Well, we will have to fix that.” Leaning over her he took the belt from her hands, pushing her towards the footboard, the belt seamlessly looped around each of her wrists and then one of the bars in the frame, locking her wrists in place. “There we go much better.” As he pulled away the heat radiating from his body leaving Alice almost cold without his presence. He continued in his achingly slow movements as his pants were pulled away from his lithe form.

“Can I see you?” Alice asked as she shamelessly took in his entire nude form.

Levash cocked his eyebrow at Alice’s question as his hands rested on her thighs, lifting them and spreading them as he rested his length over her core. “Are you not seeing enough? Remember, are shared sin is lust not greed.” As he was pulling his shaft backwards the friction sending a jolt through her, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment before she continued.

“I mean you, this.” As she spoke her tail whipped from behind her lightly slapping his thigh. Levash’s face dropped, Alice was ready to rip the belt in two to be able to comfort him before he spoke.

“It’s not a pretty sight I’m afraid, the war has not been kind.” Levash said pulling back slightly as his eyes grew downcast.

“Do we not heal everything?” She could see the horror in his eyes as he spoke.

“They have their ways of making it last–”

“I wouldn’t push you if you’re uncomfortable with it, but I promise it wouldn’t change anything between us.”

Their eyes locked and she could tell he was searching hers, looking for something. He must have found it as a moment later the human visage before her melted away, embers flickering along his skin leaving a crimson tone behind. As the last cinders flickered away, Alice gazed upon Levash for the first time and all she saw was true beauty.

Levash knelt between her and she wanted to reach out to him, sadness evident in his now orange eyes. Taking in everything she saw the scars, sixteen she counted on his chest and upper thighs, and a long gouge starting above his jawline and travelling straight down into his throat. Where two thin curled horns must have once sat, only one remained, the other cracked at the base leaving a jagged stump in its wake. His tail lay limp behind him but she couldn’t see any wings behind his back, even the smaller vestigial ones Incubi usually possessed.

As he started to pull away from her, shame evident, she snapped. Her legs tightened around his waist refusing to let him escape, and tugging as hard as she could the belt easily ripped in two. Alice grabbed the retreating demon, flipping him and pinning him to the bed with ease. Leaning down slowly she saw his eyes watching her, a feral gleam as if he expected to be attacked. Placing a gentle kiss to the scar on his jawline she followed it across placing tender light kisses until she reached his lips. Alice leaned back to gaze down upon him.

“You are single handedly the most beautiful person I have ever looked upon, Levash. Regardless of what form you take. None of this changes anything.” Slinking lower down his body she began to place soft kisses on each of the exposed scars on his body. “I promise you, no matter what happens in this fight, you will always remain beautiful to me, and every single being that has ever laid a hand on you, not in lust.” She sat up again feeling the lust and the wrath wrestle inside her, the idea that anyone would lay a hand on him, on her incubus. “Will know only death.” They continued to hold eye contact before a slight relieved chuckle left Levash’s mouth as he sat up holding her in his lap.

“Appreciate the thought but you might want to wait until you can actually fight back, killer.” At the comment her tail whipped playfully at him, the spade catching his upper arm with a sting. “And less of that, I promise mine would be worse.”

Looking at how dull the blade at his tails tip seemed, she doubted that. As he sat up and pushed her to lay back down on the bed his new crimson form leaning over her, lust won out against the wrath.

Levash smiled as he engulfed her senses, “Now where were we?”

Laying her back and lifting her thighs once more Alice felt as Levash’s head pushed against her entrance, looking up into his face, she couldn’t help but notice all the similar features he had as a human, his hair still black and curled, his nose, his lips. Oh his lips. As he began to push forward he felt slightly larger than before, her body having to acclimate to his size once again as he parted her. There was no foreplay tonight. As his shaft slid in all the way to the hilt his wicked grin warned her of what was to come. Pulling out far quicker than he had entered he slammed back in drawing a ragged moan from her. He didn’t rest long, continuing forward stretching her by force alone as hands dug into the quilt around her. Leaning over Levash seized her lips, her legs instantly wrapping around his waist trying to force him back inside as he pulled out. They continued like this for a time, switching positions, both demons lost to the lust that was inherent to their nature. It wasn’t until the sun began to rise that clarity came back to Alice’s mind, even as the last orgasm tried to wring any sanity left out of her.

As Levash collapsed beside her she took her time watching his form, how the change in skin tone now created new shadows along his abs. How the horns forced his hair to part in a different way. Would she truly care about any of the other changes that were to come for herself?

Levash was watching her as he said, “Thank you. For earlier.”

Alice blinked, seeing Levash’s eyes open once again and staring into hers, he looked delicate, as if she could shatter him with words alone.

“I, I’ve not taken my true form in some time, unless I’m to fight. I forgot I was created for this, not war.”

“As long as I am around, I will never let you forget that again.” She leaned in placing a kiss gently on his lips. “Besides, red suits you.”

He laughed. “I’m glad you’re a fan, honestly it’s rather fortunate that your a fan of red.” He punctuated his statement with a smack on her thigh.

As a gasp slipped from Alice’s mouth she continued, “Right well I’d rather not get that way by you spanking me.”

His grin grew even wider. “I don’t think you’ll need any help in that regard.” He nodded to the mirror in the corner. Confused and slightly concerned she got up walking over to the mirror, slightly unsteady on her feet. Looking in the mirror, she looked normal, well her hair was a mess, her neck had a deep bite mark on it looking like it had almost broken skin, her lips looked truly bee stung. Spinning around on her heel she gave her back a once over, other than having a few scratches and– Turning back to Levash and marching over with a mock scowl on her face she saw as any remaining tension left his body as he just began to laugh.

“Erm excuse me, after I was so accepting I don’t think it’s fair to laugh, do you?”

He just continued laughing and in short time, so was she. Curling up next to him they quickly pulled the covers over themselves. She could worry about her mostly crimson coloured back when she awoke.

---

Alice was stirred awake by Levash and before she was even aware of her surroundings the loud ringing phone was pressed to her face.

“Answer.” Levash said, his voice muffled by sleep.

Looking at the phone she had to squint her eyes to make out the call coming through. Accepting the call she put it on speaker and dropped it back to the bed luxuriating in Levash’s arms.

“Alice, you there?”

Alice had closed her eyes and weakly mumbled into Levash’s chest in response.

“Alice?” The voice from the phone said growing slightly more agitated.

“She’s here, she’s trying to go back to sleep, give me a minute.” Levash sat up dumping her back onto the covers with a slight pout. Leaning back over her he whispered. “I’m going to go shower, comfort her, then come join me.”

Leaving her with a wink, Alice watched his retreating still demonic form before she spoke. “Morning, Chris, how are you?”

“Alice, it’s two in the afternoon. How are you still in bed? Actually don’t answer that.”

“Oh we just had a wonderful evening, couldn’t find much time for sleep all things considered.”

Chris mumbled something just out of range of the phone before responding. “Alice be serious, you haven’t called in sick and I’ve been deflecting questions left and right about you but the show runner is just about ready to have my head if I don’t get anyone else on board. Can you perform?” Alice sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Looking down as Chris spoke she could see hints of red poking round to the side of her hips and slowly encroaching on her inner thighs. It was spreading fast, so much for stopping anymore transformations, huh Lilith.

“Christ has he fucked your brains out or something, can you perform?”

Alice rolled her eyes, “If only I was so lucky after the weekend I’ve had, Christ. Yes I can perform, but I’ll need a violin provided to me.”

“Oh thank God you found out how to hide everything?”

Alice yawned, rising off the bed and waking to the kitchen. “No and I’m turning red, but I can perform if she can’t replace me.” The line was silent, in the kitchen Alice quickly realised the shelves were empty, no food in sight. Settling on a glass of water Chris finally spoke.

“Do you not care that you can’t perform?”

“I care that I’m being told I can’t perform because of what’s happening to me. I can perform though, this just comes down to the show runner.” Silence again. “Look I’m not going to beat myself up because she doesn’t want me in her show. That’s her loss.” Still no response. “If we’re having a conversation you’re gonna need to talk back to me.”

“I don’t know what to say, it’s. It feels like you’re changing, you’ve been looking forward to this since the show was announced.”

Alice snorted in response, “Yes three weeks ago, when I was unaware of what I was or that it would be an issue for me performing.”

Christina scoffed. “What you was? You’re going to pretend you’ve always been a Demon then? How are you justifying that one?”

“Ancestry, it’s why what’s happened, happened to me and no one else. Regardless, we don’t need to argue about it. I won’t be allowed to perform. I think I’ve found new work though which is fun.”

“What? working in that club?”

Alice rolled her eyes. “No helping Levash, shockingly not many job opportunities for a Demon gal going around.”

Chris responded before Alice had finished speaking. “I’ve had to tell the police about your change and they’re looking to speak to you.” Alice stood gobsmacked, placing the glass carefully into the sink as Chris continued speaking increasingly faster. “They kept quizzing me about all the demonic references and why it would be happening, plus the guard who didn’t see anyone come in by the way, pointed out he’d seen your horns. They want to speak to you to find out what you know about the break in and to get you registered.”

Alice hung up. Turning off her phone and only just resisting the urge to smash it she left the kitchen for the bathroom. Levash greeted her with a smile as he continued to wash the dark hair on his now human head. Entering the shower and pulling back the curtain Alice pinned him to the wall eager to dampen the storm inside her.

---

Alice sat on Levash’s bed with only a towel trapped between her horns and hair, staring at the traitorous phone. Levash walked back into the bedroom carrying a small box, seeing the phone he finally commented.

“You should destroy it.”

Alice flinched at his comment, looking at him slightly in shock.

“If the police are looking for you they can track what cell towers it connects to when you turn it on. They may have traced it this morning.” Levash said as he began opening the box.

“Would your wards not do anything to mask the call?”

Levash shrugged. “I’ll pop a text to the witch who set them up and ask, regardless I’d prefer you use a burner, especially here.”

Reaching into the box he had set on the bed he pulled out a dull blue box tossing it to Alice. Opening the package an old flip phone fell out into her lap.

“Is this really needed? I’m going to feel like a drug dealer.”

Levash packed the box under the bed and as he rose from the floor she saw the serious look on his face as he stared at her. “They mentioned specifically about registering you. Every Demon that has been registered has gone missing. On top of that the council is going to know we lied about you having always been a Demon–”

“No they won’t.” Alice interrupted, Levash took a seat next to her and waited for her to continue. “They won’t, we didn’t lie, Lilith has made it clear that I was never human, regardless of my appearance. We never lied. I have always been a Demon, I just appeared human until now.”

Levash considered it a second and shrugged. “In for a penny.” Levash paused for a moment before meeting Alice’s eyes. The Council is hardly the biggest issue we have. You’re taking all of this a lot better than I’d have expected. It’s been less than a week and you seem very, resigned.”

Alice nodded to him.”I am. I mean, there are plenty of things I don’t hate about it, the sex for one is a phenomenal motivator.”

“Still focusing on your silver linings?”

She rolled her eyes. “I mean look at it this way, I feel better physically than I ever have in my life. I look better than I have ever done in my life. The fact I’ve been gaining Succubi features and not, well, Incubi ones has been very reassuring. Again their has been plenty of great sex.” That finally got a reaction from him in the form of a cheeky wink. Alice continued, “Then on the other hand the bad, I have lost my job, I’m being hunted by otherworldly beings, hate groups and now the police. I have become part of some massive ongoing war for an entire species’ existence. I have some ancient Demon Prince stuck in my head bitching at me like my mother. I’ve started getting stares again from people on the street like I’m some kind of freak, something I haven’t had to experience in years. I’ll be honest it’s definitely weighed pretty heavily in favour of one side over the other.”

“So I ask again, why are you seemingly so accepting of all this? Your life has been uprooted in less than a week, you’d be allowed a moment to scream and fight this.”

Alice shrugged.

“What’s the other option? I know I’ve never asked but it seems very clear I can’t not be a Demon. Lilith has made her distaste at the idea of me not helping you and specifically the war effort known. People are going to hate me until I can hide who I am, and I struggled hiding who I was the first time round, so long term, probably off the table. This is all to say, I can choose to be depressed about this, kick and scream at every change that is forced upon me, or each time I feel like I’m wronged. Or I can choose to accept the things I can’t change, and change the things I can. That just seems the path of less resistance.”

Levash snorted as he moved closer to Alice, his hand resting squarely on her inner thigh. “You’ve just managed to justify joining a war by saying it’s the path of least resistance and you’ve sort of almost convinced me. Bravo.”

“Must be that demonic charm finally coming in.” Alice winked.

“I wouldn’t push your luck. Anyway, you have a package coming in an hour, I was hoping to head to the shop to pick up some bits, if I’m having a guest stay.”

Alice stood up gesturing to herself. “You want me to answer the door like this?”

Levash gave her a once over before shaking his head. “Not unless you’re looking for a new meal, in which case, down by the bins not in my bed you tramp.”

“Seriously, do you have a gown or something?” He nodded to the closet as he shrugged on a jacket that was hung by the door.

“Wear whatever you want, the package is for you to open when it arrives. Ciao.”

Waving him off Alice opened the wardrobe, not shocked to find a lot of designer clothes she would never be able to afford. Settling on the least expensive looking T shirt that she could find and stealing a pair of his boxers, she went off in search of a hair dryer.

---

The delivery driver was certainly shocked when she answered the door, his eyes darting back and forth between the tail and the horns. He seemed nervous but she could see the lust start to swell from him. It was actually starting to become quite fun just to see how easily she could manipulate someone’s lust, by moving her body into a certain angle, letting the tail pull the t-shirt up slightly, so many options. The man was almost sweating by the time he had unloaded the fourth box into the room, be that from the temperature or her, well she could probably guess. Signing with a fake name just in case she shut the door looking at all the parcels. Surely they weren’t all for her? Gently tearing into the first package she was gobsmacked, inside she found plenty of new outfits, dresses, suits, underwear, shoes and accessories. Going through each bag and sorting them into piles on the bed Levash had seemingly ordered more clothes than she had ever owned at one point before in her life, some of it matching the brands in his own wardrobe. How much must this have cost him? She probably shouldn’t have been surprised that it all fit, slipping into a tight pair of jeans that hugged her new curves perfectly and keeping his plain tee she started to fold the clothes to store.

With multiple piles on the bed and nowhere to move them to, she was grateful to see Levash coming through the door bags in hand..

“I’ll be honest with everything I ordered. I was sort of expecting a bigger mess.” Alice made a move to help unload the shopping but was quickly waved off, instead he set them down and stole a kiss from her.

“You sort the food wherever it needs to go, I’ll do the rest.” Levash said as he started removing boxes and plates and cutlery from the bags.

“The food?” Alice asked confused before seeing Levash nod to all the bags. She saw plenty of fresh fruit and veg, meats, spices, sauces. Definitely far more than two, or more likely one person could use but the gesture was, well very endearing.

“I thought you didn’t eat regular food?” Alice asked as she began removing items to place onto the counter.

“I don’t, but you do, and besides you promised me a cooked meal, I’m not forgetting that.”

Her cheeks turned red at the thought of how much he had actually done for her, at least these cheeks would fade back to normal sooner. The pair moved in pleasant silence packing everything away where it needed to be. Levash mentioned he’d ordered a chest for her to store her clothes in that should come the following day before asking her to sit down.

Levash’s face took a serious turn as he started, “So I don’t want to jump down your throat with this, but I think I’ve sufficiently buttered you up first so. Firstly I need your confirmation that you’re helping us, for now diplomatically, first step working on convincing the Werewolves to join us.”

Alice nodded. “If they worship Lilith, or their version of her, then it makes more sense for me to be there, I’m more than prepared to help get them on board.”

“And if it’s other groups?”

“Like?”

Levash gestured with his hands as if he was listing them off. “Witches, Fae, other Weres, Vampires, Undead, etcetera.”

Alice considered it for a moment. “Do you think I’d have a problem working with any of them?”

“The Vampires in London are known to be especially ruthless compared to other areas, a distinct disregard for human life–”

“Don’t I know it, Chris dated one, didn’t end well.” Alice said.

“So I ask again, would you have an issue working with them?” Thinking on longer than usual, she shook her head.

“No issues with any specific groups, I reserve the right to have issues with individuals within them though.”

He nodded, accepting her condition. “Good then I’ll message Evangeline to set up the stipend, you’ll get about three thousand five hundred a month and I’ll set you up with a credit card that links to the bars accounts, don’t over do it like I just did and you’ll be fine.” She nodded slightly blown away.

“That’s considerably more than I saw after tax at my last job so good to know I’m moving up in the world.”

“I don’t want to be rude but you’ll probably be doing a bit more work at this one I’m afraid.” Pausing for a second to look her over once more. “Second point, as we mentioned last night, we will be beginning training tomorrow. I and a Levicas, who works as a bouncer at Goetia, will be training you. It’s not going to be fun, you’re probably going to want to kill me afterwards, try and channel that anger into something more productive though.” Alice rolled her eyes picking up on his innuendo.

“That’s all fine, I don’t want to be caught out.”

“Finally, we’re looking into the SDF, we have to be discreet about it considering their partnership. But we intend to take them out, dead. Is that going to be an issue for you to be involved in?”

“After what they did, my flat, my mothers violin and stealing my money? I’m not sure I care. Regardless I’d probably rather not be involved with any of that.”

Levash nodded continuing, “If we can recover your money I’ll make sure it’s earmarked for you, do you know how much you had?”

“I withdrew about thirty five grand, give or take. As you can imagine, a little more than pissed at the thought of losing it.”

Nodding again he made a note of the exact figure and promised to pass it along. “In which case that’s everything, welcome to the rebellion Alice.”

She rolled her eyes.”So where do we begin?”

“We begin tomorrow, today, is just for us.” She was grateful he kept his word, and she was even more grateful the universe didn’t decide to ruin one day, well except for the start.

—

Alice looked into the mirror still trying to follow some of the makeup tips she had gotten from one of the red skinned bartenders at Goetia. She had decided on a glossy black lip gloss and a dark eyeshadow and little else. Dressing for her new body had proven difficult, the last spot of white skin had faded to red after about a week of it first appearing, and the week and half since had been spent trying to work out what went with the new tone. Well in between reading far too much into the histories of local supernatural groups and getting her arse handed to her by Levash or Gozro.

Gozro had proved to be more or less a gentle giant, only, she recognised exactly how the wrath he represented worked, it would only take one wild impulse or negative stimuli and he would be off like a cheap firework. She had been there plenty of times by now herself. It truly had been shocking how easily she had just fallen into this life now, she barely saw any humans outside of feeding, spending most of her time with her own kind. Feeding had just become another part of the day and thinking of their impending doom was mere small talk.

Tonight was to rectify that, Alice hadn’t spoken to Chris really since the confirmation about the police. She had reached out to her from her new phone and asked for them all to have a night out to reconnect. Alice truly meant what she said as well, she did want to reconnect with Chris, not having her in her life had been the one thing she missed the most about her forgone humanity without question, and now with her improved knowledge on supernaturals she was looking forward to flexing on the woman who had lived in this scene for years.

She would probably need to be more careful about how she approached her second motivation for the meeting tonight. Julia and Mark. She had kept in touch with Julia, being able to get in touch with her through a private app on Levash’s computer that anyone registered with The Council had access to. This had allowed her to make sure both her and Chris were fine, and almost prod at Julia for information in regards to the upcoming pack forum. The Weres would be meeting to discuss anything and everything affecting their kind, the event itself taking three days, Wednesday to Friday, and the final crowning act would be the potential of the Weres going to war.

Julia had been reserved but Alice had managed to work out the dominating opinion between most of the leadership of the pack. ‘Let the Demons hold the front, the Celestials will never reach us.’ It was asinine in practice, completely underestimating the force of a group that could enslave all demon-kind. But the worst was it was completely uncaring, which may be a bit rich coming from a Demon but still. The whole motto of The Council essentially boils down to, stronger together, and the Weres of Farkas’ pack know that better than anyone, they have had two wars fought since the fifties that the pack found themselves greatly at risk of losing, the fist to London vampires, the Second to The Brotherhood, apparently a better equipped, better trained version of the SDF that has been around since the Catholic church’s conception. The Council stepped in with both fights though and Supes from across the country of every faction fought and bled for them, and now they wouldn’t give the same courtesy? If all else failed with Lilith, she was prepared to shame each and every one of the fucking dogs that would sit there and condemn Demons.

Focusing on positive thoughts though she took in her new look. Her longer hair had stopped growing around her waist and while she did miss her old cut sometimes, this did make her look a little sleeker. The white as well standing harshly in contrast to the new crimson tone of her skin. Lilith had been true to her word stopping any other changes from occurring, her reasoning for the skin was, ‘it’s not painful so grow up.’ Lovely as always. She’d even grown used to the tail, it had started to come in handy using it for balance when learning to fight, she was more surprised to find they even made bands and rings for them, she settled on a single silver one attached near the tip for tonight as well as similar pushed to the base of her horns.

The overall look was decidedly more goth than she was used to, but being a Demon on staff at the club came with certain, regulations. Look the part. It’s how they attracted more meals on legs, so as needs must. The tight leather pants and heels made her already killer legs truly lethal, the matching corset was sinful and the hints of red far too similar to her current skin tone for Levash not to have planned it. She knew there was a plethora of changes still to come, but she truly felt like a Succubus now, there really was no hiding it. She had gotten over asking herself if it bothered her because at some point, amongst everything else being thrust on her the idea of clinging onto her presumed humanity had become an afterthought.

Dropping the lipstick into her new bag and popping her lips she turned seeing the slightly exacerbated look on Levash’s face, it quickly bled into mirth though.

“In the space of two weeks you’ve gone from taking half as long as me to get ready, to double.”

Alice shrugged. “Perfection takes work, even for us. Besides you best be nice to me tonight, I think my thighs are still bruised from that kick you gave me this morning.”

He laughed, taking her arm as they left the flat. “Then you have more motivation to learn to move next time.”

---

This deep into December the frost that hung on the air was almost enough to chill a Demon, almost. Levash had gone in ahead of Alice, having to meet with Evangeline, leaving her waiting for her friends. She had been tempted to prod at Gozro who was on the door this evening but the glare she got for saying hello was enough to put her off the idea. The usual groups were on the street this evening, the protestors fewer than usual but the corden remained next to the tube stop. Looking up the street Alice caught her first glimpse of her friends. Waiting patiently by Gozro she saw them starting to pass the queue as Chris typed away on her phone. Alice’s phone buzzed in her pocket but she decided to step forward down the steps, as they eventually arrived near her, Chris was still looking around trying to find someone.

Julia was the first to notice.”Jesus Christ, Alice is that you?”

That made Chris’s eyes snap to her and her jaw drop, Mark remained unconcerned but his arm did come up to wrap around Chris.

“It is I, how are you all?” Alice spoke with a little flare, the bow she gave doing more for the lust of the crowd than her friends.

“I, you said your skin had changed but–” Chris stuttered out.

Alice just shrugged, spinning on her heel and heading up the steps. “You get used to it, or I did anyway. It’s all the same features underneath.”

Gozro pulled the rope back and Alice felt her friends hot on her heels.

Chris spoke hesitantly.”So, what have you been doing then? Do you just work here, or?”

Leading them all straight to the back stairwell. Alice responded. “Mostly learning, politics stuff, self defence, all boring. Work wise, just helping Levash.” As the door shut behind Mark, silence reigned over them in the stairwell. Alice asked, “Which floor? You two have already been to Wrath, right?”

Mark and Julia both nodded. Mark looked at Chris who just shrugged.

“Wrath it is, come on, drinks are on me.” Alice said as she spun on her heels heading down the stairs.

Entering Wrath was easier said than done, Alice had been given plenty of chances to look around all the different floors by now and Wrath had to be her least favourite, well maybe on par with gluttony. Two words, mosh pits. Pushing through the door the entrance was surrounded by a dancing area that was always filled with the same types of sweaty, slightly greasy, and slightly too aggressive even for wrath, humans. The music was the kind of metal that gave Alice a headache, and the alcohol tasted of petrol. Oh how grateful she was that Liliths primary sin was lust.

“There’s a booth just up ahead, you three go take a seat I’ll get drinks, two pints and a cocktail?” Alice asked, shouting over the booming music.

Chris shook her head. “Water for me.”

The two Weres nodded for pints and Alice continued to push her way through the human crowd. She could see the red undercurrent of the room, the energy they generated but something about it just didn’t appeal to her at all, the few instances she’d found herself tempted to feed on Wrath were far more personal than a general rage and mania expressed by throwing yourself into people. Getting to the small bar she saw Petros, another Pluti like Margarita whose marble like skin was similar to hers but where she had gold streaks his was silver, as was the bone like crest his horns sprouted from, she needed to ask if that was a power thing. Probably just random.

“Two pints and two waters please.” Petros rolled his eyes, pouring the drinks. Something about Pluti, they always seemed perpetually pissed off. Without much fanfare the four drinks were placed in front of her and he had walked off to deal with a group of humans at the end of the bar. The trip back to the table was perilous but Alice managed it without having to show any of the humans true wrath.

Squeezing into the booth Alice ended up sitting next to Julia passing out the drinks.

“This doesn’t count as a good deed by the way, Chris told us that you don’t charge each other here.” Julia said with a mocking grin as she took her pint. Alice responded only by sticking her tongue out at Julia.

Mark spoke up for the first time. “It’s impressive honestly, we don’t even get discounts at Were run places.”

Alice huffed a quick laugh. “I’m not shocked, I’ve seen Julias appetite, you’d put everywhere out of business.”

Chris took a sip of her water before speaking up. “Any update on the flat?”

Allice was startled at the reminder of the flat but refused to let it show and shook her head. Levash and Evangeline had been very tight-lipped about whatever information they had found on the SDF, as per her request. The last informant they caught in the club, Levash had said provided little information of use, so was passed over to the police to prosecute.

“Nothing concrete, I’ve not heard from John at all which has been a plus, but yeah, obviously I want to get it sorted as soon as possible but, just don’t want to risk Levash or anyone else.” Looking to the Weres Alice continued. “You two know anything about the group? We keep pushing The Council for info but get basically radio silence in return.”

Mark shook his head and interrupted Julia as she went to speak. “We don’t get pestered a lot as a group, you can’t really spot us out on the street and none of our businesses really advertise the fact that they are our businesses. They’ve tried to picket our dads house a few times but his fences, and guards keep them from doing anything too dumb.” Mark took a sip of his pint cringing a bit before continuing. “I have been speaking with Chris though and I know she doesn’t want to be the one to say it but she thinks if it’s not safe then you should cancel the contract on the flat.”

The table was silent. That was the final nail, if Chris moved out and in with someone else, they wouldn’t end up living together again.

“I don’t mind paying the full rent.” Alice waved them off, trying to ignore the growing unease settling within her. She took a look around the room so she didn’t have to see the gobsmacked expressions of her friends.

“How, I mean. Can you afford that? Did you find a new theatre or performance gig?” Chris asked with a s lightly stunned expression

Once again Alice simply waved Chris’ concern off. “I get paid for my work helping Levash out, I can cover rent and bills. We’ll keep it locked and when things are sorted we can move back in.”

Silence loomed over the table once more, Alice could see the looks passed back and forth between the three of them.

“Alice, I was thinking that I’d look for a place with Julia next month, her contract is up and since we don’t know how long this will go on for…” Chris trailed off, the implication hanging clear in the air.

“Oh.” Alice said, her shoulders slumping.

Chris rushed in to fill the silence. “I just mean, it won’t be fair for you to be paying all of that alone, and well. Most of my stuff was destroyed at the flat. That or stolen. I just, is it a good idea to be living together right now, with everything going on for you?”

“Everything going on? You mean, being attacked? ” Alice asked with slight indignation in her tone.

Chris’ eyes went wide at the insinuation but Mark spoke first. “No one is saying that. But you’re close to Levash who’s part of the Demon’s leadership here, he’s known to these guys and if you’re bringing him around, Chris might not be safe. She’s not as durable as us.”

Alice openly scowled at the wolf. “But what? Living with the packmasters daughter is safe? Dating the man who’s in line to take over the pack is?”

“What?” Julia and Chris spoke at the same time.

Mark responded with his own growing anger “How do you know who our father is?”

“Your fathers the leader of the Weres?” Chris chimed back in but Mark waved her off.

Alice couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Obviously I’ve been told who the packmaster is, Levash is set to meet him this week and besides The SDF definitely knows your fathers position if they’ve picketed his house the question is have they not spotted either of you leave?” Chris was looking between the siblings clearly in a little shock at the revelation and Alice asked “Did they never tell you?”

“It never came up, nor did it need to with humans.” Julia said as she gave a knowing look to Alice.

“I didn’t need to know? It seems like pretty important information honestly with everything else going on.” Chris said, her voice raising slightly.

Mark, increasingly agitated, turned back to his girlfriend. “Look obviously we’d have said something had anything got serious, but we don’t like to run around telling every human our shit, out of all the supes we like to keep things in house you know.”

“So, us isn’t serious? Me moving in with Julia isn’t serious?” Chris said, turning on her boyfriend, her face contorting in anger.

Alice saw the vein in Mark’s neck throb as he started to respond. “That’s not what I said, you’re putting words in my mouth.”

“Guys I think–” Alice tried to speak over the arguing pair, Julia clearly getting more riled as they kept going.

“You literally just said that if it gets serious, what else can that mean, Mark?” Chris shouted as the music seemed to grow louder.

Mark took a deep breath but his hands seemed to almost twitch as he responded, “I just meant that to tell you about that, I’d expect more commitment.”

“Guys, seriously, this is wrath talking calm the fuck down, let’s go to lust.” Alice said raising from her chair, Julia making to follow her.

Chris continued, disregarding Alice completely. “And who’s fault is it that we’re still barely even considering taking things further?”

“Well I’m sorry if I’m having a little doubt?” Mark shouted, his hands slapping the table.

“Doubt? Over what?”

Before Mark could respond to Chris, Alice’s voice echoed over the musi.

“Shut the fuck up!” Alice’s voice distorted, the sounds of almost two voices speaking over each other coming out as had happened previously. Alice ignored the effect it had had on the now staring crowd that had stopped dancing and she focused on the bickering couple who had finally taken a second to pause as Alice continued, her voice returning to normal. “Look, this is just the drinks talking. I didn’t mean to start an argument.” Alice shifted looking to Chris pointedly. “If you want to move out, fine. It’s upsetting, and I’ll miss living with you but I get it. Julia, I’m sorry for telling a secret that wasn’t mine to share, but she had a right to know if she was going to live with you. Mark, calm the fuck down.” Both Weres clearly took a second to breath, Alice moved to let Julia fully out of the booth and continued speaking. “I’m sorry but I’m not sticking around, I’m upset and annoyed and that’s a poor combo for me, especially down here. Get home safe.” No one else spoke as Alice left the table, she’d see the Weres on Wednesday anyway, regardless of if they expected it or not. Losing Chris like this– She couldn’t think about it, there was too much going on. As she got out into the stairwell, the red haze of Wrath finally clearing she thought to herself, she’d fix things with Chris one day. Hopefully.

---

Down on Pride it was the same arseholes as usual, human dancers who thought their VIP pass to Pride made them better than the Demons walking around here. Pride Demons or Lucifans as she’d come to learn, watching from booths to the side and only inviting those who seemed particularly snobby. Walking to Evangeline’s office she shook an open fist to the same human bartender she usually terrorised. His scoff and clear annoyance at being shaken from his role was almost as satisfying as feeding. The office door audibly unlatched, letting Alice in to see three Demons seated around the table. Evangeline and Levash in their usual positions. A third Demon sat in the spare chair, she had seen a few Demons like him before, large and fat, bent and furred hooved legs. Three stubby horns crowing where his hairline may have once sat. A gluttony Demon, or a Baphos.

Levash was the only one to acknowledge her entrance as the trio continued to talk about the upcoming plans for the Were forum. It was all the same details they had discussed before. Transport would be a rental car which they would exit at the Zigzag car park outside of London, travelling north to Broadwoods tower where they would be met by a Were escort who would guide them through the encampment to Juniper top to be presented to the pack leadership. Time, they had to be at broadwoods by half four in the afternoon, just after nightfall. The plan of discussion, contingencies, defence. On and on.

“Alice, did you manage to get anything from the Siblings?” Evangeline awaited an answer but all three demons looked to her.

“Nothing, they wished to go to Wrath and got agitated, there’s trouble in paradise for my friend and the son, I left before any ire could be directed at me and cause any ill will.” Alice stated simply as she reclined into the plush chair.

The unknown Baphos scowled at the answer. “Why would you take them to Wrath of all places?”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Because Supes of all kinds are banned from Pride, they hate Sloth, they don’t trust Lust after I was changed, Envy demons freak them out, Greeds too expensive.” Pausing, Alice turned back to the Baphos and tried to sound apologetic but failed. “Any gluttony stinks, no offence.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes, spinning back to Evangeline but speaking to Levash.”What do you see in her again?”

Her incubus responded smoothly. “Many things, one of which I need to discuss with you. We have a change in plans for how we’re going to approach the Weres.”

Evangeline’s brow raised. “You think it’s wise to change the plan this close to putting it into action Levash?”

He simply nodded. “It’s our best chance, far better than appealing to their sense of good will. Alice has made me aware recently of her lineage.”

“And why would we care where one more human came from Levash.” The Baphos turned back to her looking her up and down. “No offence.”

Levash sat up as he spoke, “You’d care because her last name is Noctavem, she’s a descendant of Lilith. Best of all she can speak to her.”

Both Demons looked in shock, Levash knowing the weight of what he had just said but still giving off an unaffected attitude.

“Did you teach her the name or has she been asking questions?” The Baphos said looking slightly angered, his red skin growing flush around his bloated neck.

“No one needed to, she approached me with it after being given the name from Lilith herself.” Levash said waving of the question.

“And how can you be certain Lilith, who died may I remind you, four hundred years ago with the fall is speaking to her.” Evangeline asked while looking at her nails, trying to pretend to be bored, but the way her body had gone completely tense, Alice knew she was anything but. Levash shrugged.

“I’m not sure how she’s doing it but if anyone could reach beyond the grave like that it would be her.”