Demon?
What?
I’ve gone mad. I’ve studied so much, I’ve turned absolutely insane.
Or I got psychosis from sleep deprivation. Can that happen?
I stared at the pretty individual before my eyes. The one that had appeared out of thin air like some phantom. It took me a moment to realise he was, in fact, corporeal. Another for things to click that he was real.
After the initial shock of the not-ghost appearing, I couldn’t help but note that the youth I summoned was absolutely gorgeous. Not just pretty, but unfairly good-looking. I had hardly seen a person — are demons persons? — as beautiful, if anyone could actually compare with Orion.
The red glow from the summoning circle gave his pale complexion a little warmth. His eyes were enchanting, the way they seemed to look into the very essence of who I was. The black hair and clothes were a stark contrast to his skin.
And there… was this sweet…
For some reason, my breath quivered as I inhaled.
Orion was so close that I could see his long eyelashes. His face was like that porcelain doll Jade got from her (our) grandmother. The nose straight and cute and…
“But I am not to be subservient or complacent,” he said.
Even though his way of speech felt somewhat distant, it seemed gentle in a strange way. It was like hearing snow speak, perhaps. Or maybe it was more correct to say a small clearing in a forest covered in snow. Each word a little slow without being quite drawled, the tone cold, but the voice itself soft on the ears. It was deliberate, and almost like cotton to my ears.
Wait? What?
“Huh?”
Orion grabbed my arms and forced me to stand up. He was surprisingly strong.
“You summoned me, and as such, you need now pay the price.”
That was fair, I supposed. Honestly, summoning was like calling a service, when I thought about it. You couldn’t call cleaner without paying either.
Not that this is a demonic cleaning service, but still.
I nodded.
He immediately pulled me toward the circle.
Startled, I turned to look for my bag. “My things!”
“How utterly bothersome.”
He let go of one arm and, when I looked toward him, he shoved the leather bag and the book about summoning demons into my arms.
“You are to come with me.”
He stepped into the red summoning circle and wasted no time pulling me along.
I was excited, horrified and confused all the time same time. I didn’t know what to expect.
I had considered what the demon realm might look like many times before. Perhaps it was in levels with evil only getting worse the lower or further in you got. Perhaps they merely scared humans in the upper levels, perhaps that’s where things like what give nightmares and sleep paralysis live. Perhaps further in was torture or plans on taking over.
Maybe it was covered in lava or was burning. Possibly it was barren and nothing could live there because of the evil miasma. Or the vegetation was twisted and dark, like in the most horrifying horror films.
The demon lords must have castles, I thought, like in western fantasy! Or they could spend their days in Chinese palaces. Though I thought it very possible demon lords may have grander, more wondrous residences, like the size of the greatest pyramid.
Were pyramids extremely large? I suddenly felt a little unsure. Those felt like they would be full of ghosts, which explained the curses… Yeah, I didn’t want to look into those very much.
But that posed the question if the demon realm was underground, like the underworld. Was it the underworld? Would there be wondering souls…
Oh, god, am I going to meet ghosts?!
I felt terribly distressed. I nearly started trembling, but showing weakness in front of a demon seemed like an unusually bad idea. Not that I had shown any strength either, but you know? I needed to keep some balance to not seem completely like an incompetent, bumbling idiot. Just a little bit dumb at most was okay.
But if there weren’t any ghost, what would their society look like? Was it like humanity but wilder? Was there just one demon lord or were there multiple? Did they have classes like humans, with a working class and a capitalistic upper class? Did they have a currency? Was it coins or maybe bones? How did they travel? Did they fly? A lot of folklore and myth did say they could fly, either through the use of wings or otherwise.
That, in turn, posed the question of what they all looked like. Surely they didn’t actually look like Orion, who looked human, although he came across more toward “pale like a corpse” than human? Had Orion hid his wings and tail or did he look different altogether and this was merely a well-done disguise?
“What are you dawdling for? You appear ghastly, as if I just absorbed your soul.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Orion cocked an eyebrow. “You apologise to a demon? That is quite novel.”
“Eh…”
“If you are sufficiently prepared now, I am leaving.”
“I’m ready!”
Then it hit me.
Ready for what????
I didn’t have time to ask before Orion’s pale hand grabbed the strap of my messenger bag and hung it over my head. The book and my phone were suddenly gone, and I stiffened.
“You seem quite incompetent,” the demon said as he turned his back to me. “You ought to indeed return my favour properly.”
Goddammit. So I’m already incompetent??
“I’ll try.”
I should have wondered what would happen if I couldn’t go back. I didn’t. It never even crossed my mind. I was simply lured to a new world by an otherworldly beauty. A beauty who must have been wearing the most intoxicating perfume or cologne, because… because…
I didn’t know, really. I just very much like the fragrance.
Orion threw me a cold look back, grabbed my sleeve, and pulled me along.
I thought it would be like walking through a tunnel or that we would be teleported in light and smoke.
Instead, I was in the classroom one step—
“Oh, fuck, the summoning circle and the desks.”
—and the next step I was in a garden at nighttime with a moon crescent hanging low.
It really was a garden.
It really, with definite certainty, was a garden.
With flowers, trees, a beautifully trimmed hedge, stone paths. A few benches. A statue that seemed to feature some medieval person.
Is that a pond??
“…”
Where is my blood and torture?! WHERE ARE THE EVIL MIASMA AND SCARY MONSTERS?!
“…”
I’ve gone mad. I’ve definitely gone mad.
What was worse was that a certain Orion Blackwood fit perfectly into this picture!! He adjusted his sleeves and patted the travel dust off his shoulders.
Was there even travel dust to pat???
Then Orion put his hand down in his pocket and took out a…
“…”
…smartphone?
He held it up and fixed the stray strands of his black, shoulder length hair.
I’m so fucking disappointed!!
“Is this really the demon world?”
Orion paused, then looked at me expressionlessly. “The demon world? I did not state I would bring you to demon territory.”
I felt a flicker of hope.
“Although ‘tis only two hours away by carriage. The climate is the same as in this area.”
It was immediately crushed.
Let’s not think about it.
“How do I pay for the summoning?” I asked. “Do I become your servant to bring you tea thrice a day and recommend biscuits to entertain guests?”
Orion stared at me with his red eyes. Even in the moonlight they had a bright colour, like fresh blood.
“Do come with me, if you would,” he said as he turned away and began walking.
The pace was rhythmic against stone and sounded exactly like the steps I heard before.
I looked down.
His black, shiny shoes had a heel, perhaps a little over five centimetres in height. I looked down at my ridiculously worn-out sneakers, which only had me a centimetre in elevation at most.
I could feel my head turn the gears.
“Did you get summoned while you were in the garden?” I asked.
I needed to make sense of the situation. There were so many things that seemed to be complete nonsense to me now, despite the general sense that they shouldn’t be nonsense.
“No, I was, in fact, in a research room at the student library not far from here.”
Now I have more questions.
“Why not return there?”
“I entered the library on my own, and thus leaving with someone else in tow would look peculiar.”
And not leaving at all, yet still walking in the garden isn’t??
Orion stopped to look at me.
“What’s the matter?”
“Come along with me. Do be less talkative.”
I sucked in a breath and obediently followed. I had no idea where I was, so, for now, it seemed the most reasonable to follow him to try figure out where on earth he brought me.
We eventually exited the garden to approach a roughly twenty-story apartment building. At a distance it looked like any such building, but when we got closer I noticed it didn’t look quite right. The outside appeared to be from flagstones and the windows were definitely stained glass.
Orion swiped a key card over a reader and we both entered through the sliding stained-glass doors.
“Out late?”
I startled at the light voice. I hadn’t noticed the security guard because the entrance was rather dimlit. Even as we walked, the light remained that way, adding a bit of a spooky feeling to it.
Not particularly pleasant for an entrance, I would say.
Orion stopped for a chat. “Not much more than usual, I would like to believe.”
The security guard nodded a“Do not stay up too late. Do your classes not start early?”
Or he didn’t stop for a chat. He walked past the guard without replying to the question and I could only run after him, feeling like a fearful dog as the security guard scrutinised me.
Orion brought me through a maze of corridors and finally to a landing for the elevator. The script on top of the elevator told me nothing, but there was also a display of where the elevator was, showing it digitally with Arabic numerals.
Looks like the display is universal…
Orion pressed the sixteenth floor. He still hadn’t explained my purpose there, but I decided to just go with the flow for now.
Before long I found myself in front of apartment 1606F. Orion unlocked the door and let me in.
It was odd to enter the apartment of a demon. It felt even more peculiar when I got a house tour.
I hadn’t even got my shoes or outerwear off, yet Orion was already listing it all off.
“This is the vestibule, and over there is a parlour. Past the settee to the left is my study. Go right and you will find a dining table, kitchenette and my bedroom. Please do not enter the place I sleep.” He motioned to a door to the right, a few steps away from us. “Finally, that is the restroom. Opportunity to wash yourself in any capacity other than washing your hands is outside. I request you follow proper sanitary practices, thank you.”
What, am I moving in or something?
I couldn’t ask that, but I could only look incredulously at Orion.
That was also not much of a tour, I added in my mind as I stood by the entrance, seeing just about nothing of the apartment.
Admittedly, I was at least a little excited to see how a demon lived. It sounded quite normal, and the apartment building look mostly normal. It was just that all the concrete had been exchanged for stone and all doors to the apartments were clearly heavy wooden doors. I couldn’t tell if there were steel beams and columns in the walls and floors, so that was anyone’s guess.
It was… curious, to say the least.
“Take off your shoes and leave anything you wear outdoors by the door, either hanging it up or folding it, thank you.”
I’m politely asked by a demon to hang up my jacket.
This was difficult to process.
“So about payment…” I began as I placed my bag on a chair next to the coat rack.
“No need to be in such a hurry,” was all Orion told me as he, with clearly measured speed, unbuttons his robe.
I pushed up my glasses. “Ah, right. Sorry.”
Wait, why am I apologising???
Every single one of Orion’s movement looked elegant and purposeful. I would surely have fumbled with the buttons, but, despite that they didn’t look easy to unbutton, he did so with ease.
I froze in the middle of taking off my jacket, watching the mesmerising movements of slender fingers so pale they seemed to glow against the black-as-night robe he wore.
The movements paused, and I could feel the icy gaze on me; I hurried to take off my jacket, hang it up and moved passed him. The sweet fragrance that seemed to surround Orion was a little cold, a little nutty, but right then, it was perhaps a little more earthy. Not necessarily in a bad way, just not as sweet. Perhaps it reminded me of argan oil.
That’s what Jade uses, right? Argan oil. I think she does, probably.
Who was going to answer that question? No one for the time being, that was for sure.
Suddenly, I missed my sister and mum terribly. I never did that, not having lived with them in a very long time, but it still hit me. Like a nagging feeling in my chest, poking at my heart, telling me to be at home with my own kin.
It frustrated me, since homesickness for me wasn’t going “home” but going to the dorm.
I looked around, rooted to the centre of the apartment.
Putting aside the mostly grey stones used for the walls and floors, the colours of the apartment were either black or a neutral beige. There was nothing in between.
“Who decorated the place?” I blurted out.
Even if I didn’t see it, I just instinctively knew he did that thing when he cocked his eyebrow.
“It came pre-furnished.”
I blinked. Once. Twice.
“Except the study. That is my own selection of furniture and books.”
Thrice.
The furniture looked fairly expensive, and it was like this when he got it?? Are demons rich, or does he pay by offering up the souls of humans to let the owner live forever?
I turned to look at Orion. He was standing on his tiptoes, looking at the things on the top shelf of the pantry.
Walking over to where he was, I hesitantly asked, “Am I the payment? Do I pay with my body or my soul?”
I don’t know why, but he looked unsteady for a moment when I said “body” so I reached out to steady him.
He slapped my hand away.
“…”
Why do I feel like a dog getting disciplined by my owner all of a sudden?
He glared at me like I offended his entire race and should be shamed in return by a million demons.
I get the feeling being shamed by a demon would make anything a human can think of seem like having fun at the beach on a pleasant summer day.
His cold gaze sent shivers down my spine, and I shrank back like a dumb little puppy with my tail between my legs.
I just wanted to help.
Then I realised that my thinking may be wrong. Orion was a demon. Or claimed to be one. Thinking like a human, or thinking like he was a human, wasn’t going to benefit me in the least.
Orion was once again looking at the shelf. Something seemed to flash in my eyes.
Startled, my eyes searched for what was wrong. I soon found it.
In the empty hand, that had only just slapped me, was a package.
Orion looked at it, seemed satisfied, and opened it. He took out a tea bag.
A tea bag. The demon was making fucking tea!!!
Then he turned to me. “Would you like some?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
Orion glanced up toward the shelf, and the package was gone. I moved sideways like a very unstealthy not-so-little crab and saw that the package was there, on the top shelf.
???
“…”
!!!
Did I just see magic?! So casual!!
I didn’t know what I had expected. Likely something grander.
Orion clearly could move through space. He said he was summoned from a room, but when we returned, it was a garden. So he had changed the entrance to elsewhere. That was perfectly logical.
Not only that, he had suddenly held my things and given them to me. Of course he hadn’t gone to get them for me! He hadn’t even moved!
Yet I didn’t quite realise it was magic until right then.
Moreover, the closer I looked, the more I realised that Orion used it frequently.
Reaching for the cup, and halfway to it, the cup flashed into his hand; reaching for a cupboard and it swung open so he could get honey. He didn’t even bother to reach for the honey, it just disappeared from the shelf and appeared in his hand!!
There also seemed to be no lag. The moment it was gone, it also reappeared.
He just kept flashing things around, basically. Only doing like a third of the actions actually needed for a cup of tea.
I’M SO ENVIOUS!!
In my mind, I was holding my head, standing on my knee and roaring those words.
Physically, sleeves rolled up, I had one hand paused in the motion of running my finger through my hair, and the other hand on my hip.
Vaguely, I wondered if my damaged sight had become a damaged brain, and I was just not registering every action and all of his movements.
I truly felt like I had gone mad.
Orion finished and walked over to the dining table. There was a coaster there that I was certain was not there before, and Orion placed the cup on it. Then, he pulled out the chair and gracefully sat down.
I looked at the steaming cup.
Where did the hot water even come from??? He didn’t boil any!!
“Would you be so kind to sit down, please?”
Not wanting to anger the demon that could probably flash me out of the sixteenth-floor window, I sat down.
We sat in silence for a while.
“I have a proposition.”
“Okay.”
“Be my romantic partner.”
“…”
What.
I think I misheard.
He couldn’t have said that.
Right?
RIGHT?!
Seeing that I was silent, he repeated himself, “Be my romantic partner.”
Big, fat tears rolled down my metaphorical cheeks while I wailed inside my mind.
Feigning calm, I said, “What do you mean, ‘romantic partner’?”
Orion stared at me for a long time before he asked blandly, “Are there more definitions than one?”
NO, THERE ISN’T. THAT’S WHY I’M ASKING??
“Uh, you said you had a proposition. That means… there are, eh, terms and conditions… right? Can I refuse?”
“Terms and conditions do exist, yes. Refusal is not an option, no.”
Okay, so I might be able tobargain at least.
I scrambled to put my thoughts together.
“Is there a reason you need a romantic partner?”
“Just six or seven months. After that, you are free to do whatever you may desire to do.”
Okay, even if he refuss to answer that, I could maybe do half a year. Seemed doable. There wasn’t any potential partner around me, anyway.
“Do I need to stay here the entire time, or can I go home? I have classes and just disappearing would be a problem if I want to graduate.”
“We can enrol you at this school for your education.”
“I want to finish it at Rivergloom.”
Orion stared at me for a long time. I began fidgeting under such an intense gaze, pushing up my glasses about every other second.
“You will still enrol here temporarily, but I can bring you back to your world, so it ought not to affect your studies too much.”
I can work with that.
“Where will I live?”
“Here.”
I pushed up my glasses and licked my lips. “As in this building?”
“Yes.”
All right.
“Regarding my studies. I have exams quarterly. I need to be in my world for exams in mid-November, end of January, and, if it’s seven months, also mid-April. Including days to study, I might need something like from ten days to two weeks. So I need to go home for about half a month at a time.”
“That is acceptable. All schools have seasonal exams at the end of March, June, September, and December. There is thus no conflict of interest in this matter.”
Though it sounds like there are no breaks at all??? Also, aren’ t you just about to enter exams period?? What are you fake dating for?????
Orion seemed like he couldn’t care less that it was mid-September. He picked up his tea and sipped it calmly.
Suddenly I really wanted something to drink too. I should have said yes when he asked.
“I shan’t bother with you very much at all. You are simply required to act as my romantic partner on an as-needed basis. That involves calling me a partner when speaking with others, regardless of who this person may be. Additionally, I am not fond of physical contact, so there is no need to bother with it. As long as you live with me, ‘tis plausible enough and no one ought to question it.”
“What about clothes and culture?”
“You are the human. You ought to know how to act like one in a human school, no? We shall go find you appropriate attire and other garments you fancy in the next few days. The rest is simply acting human regardless of which world you happen to stay in, no?”
Well… That’s certainly a way to see it!
“You will probably need to see my parents, but that should not be an issue. I am a demon; they are demons. There is no difference.”
“…”
All right, he’s like a walking statue, but he’s also surprisingly carefree.
“So you’re saying ‘just be you’?”
“Yes. Please, do remain a foolish human which acts rather dull. If naught else, ‘tis amusing.”
“…”
Whatever, I guess.
We negotiated for a while more, before we seemed to have come to an agreement. Or rather, I managed to bargain myself to something acceptable since I couldn’t refuse.
Orion placed his palms together before he seemed to slowly pull at nothing. But soon, I saw it shimmered, and before long, I saw something that looked like a stack of papers. He let go, and the stack floated upward as something eerily black started to appear.
“What script?”
“Huh?”
He looked at me, his eyes glowing a bright red, the surface making me think of ripples. It was like watching blood move.
“What script do you write with in your native language?”
“Oh.” I looked away from him and then at the contract. “Uh, Latin alphabet.”
“All right.”
Orion looked up, and the weird shadow slowly wrote letters. Then it went faster and faster until it rushed straight on to the stack. The stack of paper slowly floated down until it was about five centimetres above Orion’s hands. That’s when it fell. Orion caught it with ease.
“How disagreeable,” he muttered. He turned to me as the papers paled to white. “These are two contracts and a copy. Sign one, and all three get signed.”
“All right,” I accepted. “Do you have a pen?”
Orion handed me a copy and I began skimming it through. It was seven full pages, no fine print, formal language.
Meanwhile, Orion went to his study and soon returned with a fountain pen. He sat down and I reached for it.
“Wait a moment, I need to prepare it.”
I’ve never used a fountain pen before, so I wasn’t really prepared for that.
He placed a small cup and an ink bottle on the table as well, then seemed to just disassemble his pen. I was thoroughly confused.
What I especially wasn’t prepared for was that he dropped a rather small amount of ink into the cup, then clenched his fist.
“Wh-what?!”
Blood started dripping at an alarming speed into the cup.
“What are you doing?!”
Will I need to give you my blood too?!
“We shall sign using my blood to ensure it can not be broken. And this pen is one that can write no lies, so even if you were to try signing someone else’s name, you will be unable to.” He looked at me, red eyes glowing. “‘Tis but a safety measure.”
“But are you hurt?!”
He emotionlessly opened his hand, then dried his palm. I could see there was not a single wound.
“Then how…?”
Orion went back to preparing the pen to make us write using a mixture of his blood and ink.
Once he finished, he flipped to the very end of his copy, and I did the same. He began writing and, as he said, his name appeared on the copy I had as well.
His name was written in an elegant cursive style.
Orion Blackwood.
I looked up to ask for the pen, but he seemed to be thinking. Then, he continued to write.
Next to his name, a completely different script appeared. It reminded me of Arabic or Sanskrit, and not anything I had even thought demonic writing would look like.
“Is that Elvish or something?” I asked when he raised his hand again.
“Evidently not. ‘Tis the demonic script. Elves do not write horizontally.”
“What’s your name in demon language?” I asked, curious.
He placed the contract he had signed on the third copy. “‘Tis ‘be quiet and sign the bloody paper’.”
I pressed my lips together. My handwriting was a far cry from Orion’s graceful cursive, but I did sign.
I didn’t have the choice to refuse.
Jasper Zachariah Green.
I tried just writing Jasper Green, but apparently not writing my middle name was a lie, so I had to write it in full!
As soon as I placed a dot at the end of my signature, as I always did, the contracts faded away.
“Your copy will appear if you want it to,” Orion explained before I had time to ask. “But like this, no one will find them.”
“So now I’m your boyfriend,” I said, mystified.
“Yes, that would be quite the correct assessment.”
The apartment fell into silence. It wasn’t awkward, but it also was far from comfortable. It just… was quiet.
Then…
“Oh, I should say that we should make sure to get along well. We shall spend several hours together daily for half a year.”
“Don’t make it sound like it’ll be every day. I still need to go home for classes.”
“Of course it will be every day.”
I stared at him.
“Obviously, I shall be in your world with you.”
On my 21st birthday, I, Jasper Green, became a demon’s (fake) boyfriend in his world as payment for summoning said demon…
And he would be my boyfriend in my own world too.
Honestly, just WHAT THE FUCK.
Author’s Note
My rambling boy is back!
For just one chapter, I suppose.