After finally heading to the kitchen you see Troye and Zack laughing and joking around with the rest of the boys. You were going to make yourself a plate and join them on the kitchen island before Zack slightly smacked your hand and pushed you towards the door. "Why?" You asked, feeling a little saddened, you're so hungry.
"You have to eat at the big table with Kio and his family. Vinnie needs you there too." He was dusting you off whilst explaining that this dinner is important since the three of you are one or something but all you cared about is the food. You weren't really sure where the three of you were supposed to go from the merge but you sure hoped it would at least score you food god dammit! ...can you even say god dammit or is he like your dad now too...
As you walked out to the dining hall you noticed that everything was set up nicely with beautiful black decorations, red foods and glass accents. Candles were the only source of light which made you wonder why it still seemed as though a few lamps were used. Kio stood next to you, his hand was on the small of your back, slowly rubbing circles. Of course you were still pissed off but no need to air your dirty laundry in front of everyone! He slowly lead you to one end of the seat as he took his directly in front of you, his dad watched you guys from the other side of the table before claiming that the seat in front of him will be empty. It was the big seat. One that you'd assume a host or hostess would sit in as they watched above everyone. Kio offered it to Vinnie telepathically who seemed quite nervous. This is not his home after all.
"I would like you to give your seat up for Vinnie, darling" Mr Satan requested. At first you thought he spoke to Kio before realising all eyes were on you. You just stood up and let him have it, only to see that there were no seats lefts. Kio offered you his lap but his dad exclaimed that you should take the big seat. "It's only fitting to have the most powerful lady, sit in the most powerful chair." His smile was menacing but the longer you looked at him the more genuine it seemed. You just sighed before taking your seat. Both boys were by your side which could be the reason you felt content, but you couldn't help but feel Kio's blatant confusion and Vinnie's nervousness. You tried your hardest to emit a more neutral energy to calm the boys down, but nothing worked.
"Shall we eat?" You finally replied. As you looked through the guests, you couldn't help but notice 7 men, seemingly much older but it was still hard to tell. On the opposite side of them there was what seemed to be shape shifters, at first you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, but looking at them from your big seat, you could tell they were just indecisive shape shifters. There was only 6 of them. There was just one more seat empty next to Kio and you assumed it would be filled with Quinton or Zack, instead, it's Aya. The only one in the room who's dressed appropriately for the aesthetic of the dinner which made you wonder if she'd planned it. You tried to ask Kio telepathically if she was the one he texted earlier but the sound of their laughter confirmed your suspicions before you could even ask. Who is this bitch anyways.
Kio's dad clears his throat, the shape shifters take their final form as teenage boys. Yes because we definitely need more white boys in this establishment. You just rolled your eyes as some of them changed into copies of the staff members from the kitchen. "This dinner may be my last before the war boys...and girls-" Satan chuckled. "Due to my son choosing the only girl we told him he couldn't have, we now have to clash with those who choose to look down on us for the 5th time this century. I hope this merge means we do not have to let history repeat itself." The fuck does he mean by fifth time this century! You tried to remember the last time you caused a war and it was....like NEVER. You decided to leave questions for later as you were so sick of asking the same shit. You just picked up your glass as a toast to this small speech or whatever it was and gulped it down. If there's going to be a war, might as well get drunk one last time.
"Baby, relax, if you wanna get drunk it's gonna take you a little longer than usual" Kio laughed.
"Yeah, you're drinking for three" Vinnie agreed. That honestly sounds disgusting. You feel as though you're their mother or something. 'drinking for three, eating for three, feeling for three' when did you even sign up for this? All because you kissed a stranger one night in New York? Thinking back on it now, you worked so hard to get that apartment, the friends you had, the lifestyle you chose for yourself... Only for none of that hard work to matter a few months later. If only Kio was there when you needed him most. After he left you in high school you were all alone in his big house until your parents found you and dragged you back home. They called you crazy for being in an abandoned house- and even though you knew it was Kio's, you almost couldn't remember if anyone actually lived there, if you'd just imagined everything that happened with him. And over time it was so easy to forget about him it was like the memories were taken right of your brain. Knowing what you know now, they most likely were stolen from you. Kio the big fucking idiot better watch out for a hurricane of anger after this dinner.
You diverted your attention back to him and Aya as they chatted away and you wondered why she wasn't with Quinton and why Quinton wasn't there in the first place! You decided to manifest him and closed your eyes, as soon as you opened them you noticed one of the shape shifters glitch. It seemed as though no one else saw Quinton losing cover three times in less than 30 seconds. One of the 7 men began laughing at him before another stuffed his mouth with bread. Something is going on here and you weren't sure if it was good or bad, or wether or not to snitch on Quinton.
"Hello, earth to Lily!" Vinnie called for you. "Red or white wine?" You looked at his face and back at Troye who was holding both bottles and a trolley of liquor in front of him. "You wanted to get drunk so maybe try a darker liquor?" Vinnie suggested, putting his hands over yours. He slid a small paper between your palms before asking Troye for Hennessy. You discretely looked at the paper and memorised it before pretending to eat it.
"He's watching you, any sign of nervousness and the blood war begins here" fuck, does that mean it's not Kio's father up there? does Kio know? You wondered if they were all shapeshifters and decided to put your powers to good use.
"I'll have the bottle of vodka please, the blue label." You finally spoke up. "So, Mr Lucifer, or shall I call you dad since I'm your soon to be daughter in law, aye?" You laughed. People and demons were staring at you, eyes pinned to your every move. Have you messed up their plans? "What was that thing you told me? About the plants and the boys when we went fishing? Do you remember?" You continued eating, waiting for any sort of answer to confirm or disprove your suspicions.
"Yeah, I can't really remember much of that day, I was probably drunk" the old man laughed. Yeah right.
"It was definitely on the bloody Mary though, right? Your boat?"
"Yeah, it is my boat after all"
"That's nice, What do you want from me Noah?" Kio told you to look around you using your power eyes which made no sense at all until you tried it. Satan was infact there but he'd taken his seat beside Quinton in the form of Zack. In front of you was indeed Noah who seemed to be grinning.
"Is this some sort of joke?" You asked them to which no one but Quinton replied.
"Just a test. You caught on quite late, but we can blame fake Satan for that."
"Test for what?"
"A war really is coming", Kio's dad warned. "Don't take your powers for granted. I think we can definitely use Quinton as part of the official team, even though it's only the three of you, Quintons powers are almost exactly like yours, just not as powerful" Kio seemed quite annoyed with his dads statements and just as you were going to comfort him, you noticed Aya's hands already on his lap.
"Thank you, father in law, but may you please banish this whore from the palace before I do so myself." Satan just laughed before claiming that it was up to you.
"The irony makes it humourous" he laughed. "But if you do want to get rid of her, that's fine, she'll just go back home with her family of sex demons" you saw him reach over as he smacked the back of her head quite gently. If she's a sex demon, she needs to keep her sex away from Kio. You don't understand why you suddenly feel this jealousy over him. You figured he was probably manipulating you to feel that way for him and just let it go. You began eating your food as you figured this dinner was going to go to waste, but the 7 men began eating too. One of them reach over and thanked you for eating, was he waiting for you or something?
"We'll, my holiday begins tonight, I trust you boys and girl, can take care of yourselves."
"Girl? Only one?" Aya asked.
"You're going back home, you heard her" you just saw Aya roll her eyes before taking a chicken drumstick off the table and running with it. Satan's laugh filled the room as he made her run in circles, she ran back to the table one last time to grab herself the plate of potatoes before Satan finally made her vanish. At least he let her have the food. Nice man. He waved at the lot of you one last time , leaving you with all the boys and men staring at you, waiting for some sort of orders.
"You guys can continue eating" you smiled before stuffing your face some more. Why is everything so delicious?
After you cleaned up your side of the table you decided to leave as much food as you could for the 2 shape shifters and the big man who thanked you earlier, it's almost as if they have bottomless holes in their tummies. As you walked down the hall, finally getting some time away from the two boys who seemed to be inseperable at the table, you took your time admiring the weird designs even wall had to offer.
"You know, each curvature and design is made from a human life that couldn't stay in the underworld?" Quinton informed you. Troye put his hand on your shoulder and began explaining how each of these lines connects you to their spirits in hell, and how some areas seem hotter at times because it represents the spirits guilt and level of torture.
"Yeah but you know, if you put your ears up close enough, you can hear their screams." Quinton laughed at Troyes empathetic feelings for such dead and horrible people.
"Anyways thanks for the weird stories boys, I'm just gonna go back to my room"
"Oh I'm afraid you can't go back, not until Quinton and I are done" Troye stopped you. For fucks sakes if it's more shape shifters...
"Done doing what?" You felt agitated and thought maybe it was time to do some real damage. You looked at them through your eyes like Kio suggested before and all you could see was piles of darkness where their souls are supposed to be. "Mother fucking shape shifters" rather than fleeting, you decided to imagine a rope made of fire restricting the boys, you didn't exactly know what you were supposed to do to make it happen but you hoped that imagining it would be enough. And luckily it was.
Vinnie and Kio finally came when the boys were restricted and you watched as they shoved their hands down the shifters throats... literally. You were almost deafened with screams before the shifters disappeared, leaving you with two satisfied boys. You hadn't realised that you were cornered and also tied up with chains until you looked down properly. You assumed imagining weapons took longer than you thought it did and freed yourself.
"Weird day?" Vinnie asked, referring to the expression plastered accross your face.
"Look I understand that you guys are testing me, but you're just getting on my nerves. One more test and it's over for the lot of you."
"Ooh, I love it when your eyes change into red flames, you look so sexy" Kio commented. "I'm kind of happy Vinnie is going back home for the next few weeks, leaving us all alone"
"That's disgusting." Vinnie punched Kio's arm, pretending to vomit on him.
"You're acting like we didn't have a threesome a few weeks ago..." Kio replied, purposely staring into Vinnie's eyes as he reached for his hands.
"I'm not gay."
"Neither am I"
"I might have to be if neither of you can shut the fuck up. Vinnie go home, Kio, get out of my way, I'm finally going to shower. ALONE."
You couldn't lie that you were turned on by their little bromance. They probably felt it even, but you couldn't physically bring yourself to admit it. Looking back at today you realised that you knew more than you chose to believe and wondered why Aya and Quinton were avoiding each other, why Satan took a liking to her and why she has a childish charm to her. As curious as you were, you couldn't let it distract you from the fact that a war is coming, and everyone seems to know about the conditions but you. Especially Kio.