Angels, Demons, Donuts and Pixie Tea

Council Requests

It had been a long time since Ferya had spent a great deal of time with a human. Not that she had spent much time with them before meeting Lucifer, with the long hours and the general seclusion that most humans found themselves in, she had never made friends or even acquaintances. But before Lucifer had entered her life, she had at least had neighbours who were human, who she would hear or speak to as they passed in the hallway. But other than saying hello to a rare human in her apartment building lobby, she only saw humans when they ventured into Sinfully Delicious.

From what Ferya knew, humans weren't necessarily enslaved. They never had been. They just weren't as powerful as those that referred to themselves as kin. Other than those that were criminals or who had done horrible things to the earth or other humans before the kin had arrived. Or that was what she had learned in the brief moments that someone had spoken of humanity, and Ferya wrestled with the realization that she had grown up human, she was half human at least, but at some point, she had become more than human.

But the free ones did all eke out a pitiful existence and desperately struggled to avoid being eaten by creatures who fed on human flesh.

It was clearly a circle of predatory life that the rest of the species had accepted, with its risks and benefits. Nymphs and Pixes were favoured targets of demons, vampires enjoyed Elven blood the best, and witches believed that the organs of shape shifters to be valuable in their spells.

It was brutal and vicious, but everyone dealt with it as best they could. Humans were just unfortunate to find themselves on the bottom of the food pyramid.

It surprised Ferya when she looked up from where she was filling a display case with donuts on a previously unremarkable day to see four humans walk into the coffee shop. Two older, a man and a woman, and two younger, male and female again. They glanced around curiously before making their way to where she was, eyes locked on her.

"Ferya?" The older woman spoke as the older man glared at her.

The other two were watching the shop nervously, though it was empty of everyone but Finley, who stood behind her, silent as death.

Gavin would be there soon as well.

She hoped, anyway. He had been rather upset the day before, though he hadn't explained it. She had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the Nymph who had been talking to Finley when she had come out into the shop from the back. Another Cacique, like Murchadh, though she was still trying to figure out what the title meant.

Murchadh had offhandedly explained that it was nothing more than a formality that signified how much power a person could wield and a level of respect that others of their kind showed a Cacique. The others seemed to think that it marked them out as leaders.

Murchadh was the Cacique of the blood elves. Lucifer, who was also considered a Cacique, had the human title, the Prince of Darkness. She wasn't sure what Cacique Eviaus was a leader of, if anything.

"How can I help you?" She glanced at the group, offering them a smile, though it wasn't completely returned by the nervous humans.

"You're half human, aren't you?" The man prompted bluntly, frowning at her, his attention on her eyes.

Ferya supposed they were the only thing that marked her as inhuman, so she nodded and ignored the sharp tone. "Yes."

The older woman shot her companion a hard look before turning back to her. The smile pasted on her face was frail, but Ferya could see more tiredness than malice in the woman's eyes. "Rumour is, they're starting up a council, of all the species. That you might know some of the people involved in that? We thought maybe you'd know more about it. If they're going to include humans, if we're going to have a say in how things go from now on."