Queen of the Ashes

Chapter Fourteen

The demon began to trace her finger over his shoulder blades, drawing patterns between his random and spread freckles, earning slight shudders from the boy who tried his best to suppress his reactions towards her touch.

She couldn't understand why he reacted like this, he hadn't done anything out of character when he was with her in the form of Ace, except getting wasted which wasn't that bad considering all of the other things he could've done. But Ethan felt like he had made a fool out of himself, by getting clumsily drunk in front of her.

«Y-you...» Ethan began, voice uneven with embarrassment. «Y-you were her the e-entire time?»

«Ace is just a camouflage, just like Maze, they are the human-appearances I take on that still allow my demon side to breathe in» Ethan suddenly turned to look at her, his mismatching orbs wide in shock. «Y-your real name isn't Maze?»

The demon shook her head «It is just one of the names I go under here. My demon name is Rakshasa»

Ethan tilted his head slightly «R-Rak...R-Rekasa?»

The demon just smiled at him - she liked how he affected her, how he made her smile like this. She couldn't even remember smiling true smiles like this in the past centuries of her afterlife. She didn't do that, before she met Ethan. He brought this happiness forward inside of her and it bubbled up inside of her to the point where she couldn't suppress her reaction towards it. The happiness made her unable to not touch the wonderful human that brought it forward in her in the first place.

«Rak-sha-sa» she spelled out.

«Q-quite the m-mouthful...» he admitted shyly, knowing that with his stutters it would be a hard name to pronounce in the long run. He bit his lower lip, and the demons gaze couldn't help but fall to his lips as he licked over them (oblivious to the effects it had on the demon).

«You can continue to call me Maze»

«I-If it's o-okay by you...That w-would be easier» Ethan admitted. A comfortable silence grew between them, Ethan just watching her with wonder as she traced the outlines of his chest with her fingertips slowly. It had been a while since Maze had laid like this - just simply basking in another being's presence, but she didn't find it strange at all. It actually soothed her to just lay in silence, caressing Ethan's skin. She still felt hungry for his body, the need to jump him still evident in the wetness between her thighs, but for now, she just allowed herself to relax.

"W-why is it that you can change your appearance, c-can all demons do that?"

"No. Although we share some shared abilities like telekinesis and teleportation, each individual demon has an appearance and a set of abilities that reflects the mistake they made that sent them into what you humans call hell. We are reborn from the ashes of our mistakes" Maze sighed a little, as the subject was a little sore for all demons.

"My demon form reflects my mistake and even as no demon remembers their past or their mistake: our needs and appearance and tattoos helps us understand»

«Tattoos?»

At the mention of it she tilted her head exposing her neck and the inked line of unfamiliar symbols that stretched down her spine.

«They are written in a language we have yet to discover the meaning of, but we think they indicate how we died. Since my tattoo runs down my spine I suppose I was stabbed in the back"

Ethan's eyes went to her back as swallowed hard.

«D-does it h-hurt?»

Maze shook her head «No. There are many other things that hurt a lot more»