Tw: why is he cute?
"It's not a long walk," Sodo muttered—guy still looked as if he had gone through a tumble dryer.
You flinched as he spoke and was exasperated with yourself for doing so. You were too high-strung. "Not short enough; probably your first—and only—time hearing that, though..." You passed through the halls as the candles still flickered, the sun in the midst of rising. The spring mornings could still be cool. It had been so long since you'd seen a sun that didn't want to fry you like an egg in seconds flat, and even then, Terzo's sun you had only met yesterday. Your retinas burned.
"You're not hers; she can't just toss you back down again."
You eyed him suspiciously; it sounded like he was trying to comfort you. He walked with his hands clasped behind his back. You thought he did that when trying to seem bigger than he was. "And if she spots us and orders you to kill me?"
"Ah, I see your point," his tail flicked.
And your point was a very long and sharp one. Sodo worked for the church, meaning he took orders from those with the most sway over the clergy. And their orders were undeniable. Or you could deny them, find yourself in great pain and slowly be pulled back into the depths. Hell was a shitty place, but to deny a cosmic law, well, that made it even shittier. You straightened Mari's habit. She could ask Sodo to kill you, and the only way to get him to stop would be for Copia to get him off you.
"I don't think I've seen you in glamour."
"I used to be on recruitment with Terzo when he was Papa. Got good at it," you muttered. Terzo taught you how people worked—probably wasn't great for the people pleaser in you. But he was the same kind of creature. You tugged again at your sleeves and belt.
"Is a nuns habit so different to a cassock?" He was a ghoul of questions today.
"Sash is more busty than waisty... the shape is allll wrong...." You picked more at your belt. It probably looked just fine, but it felt less fine.
"You're still handsome, _______."
You nearly stumbled walking, "Okay, what are you doing?"
He shrugged and smirked. "Nothing."
"No, no.. you don't just do nothing, you... Play the long con, you sell out my best friend to get him killed and me deported, and you..."
"Best friend..."
"Shut up! He was..." You bit your lip. Ten times the best boy Sodo might ever hope to be...
"Shhh." Sodo stopped, his head snapping in the direction of a corridor.
You frowned and followed his gaze towards the noise of approaching clipped-heeled steps on marble tile.
You held your breath and hid your heartbeat; you logically knew she couldn't hear it—but hell had taught you differently.
Sodomiser flickered his attention to your chest before stealing your hand and dragging you towards a storeroom cupboard. He pushed you in and hunched his back towards the door, hiding you from immediate view.
Damn it. You knew where this was going—there was only one reason a ghoul would have a sister of sin in a storeroom closet. Asshole was always looking for an excuse. He touched your jawline and grabbed a fistful of your thigh.
It seemed maybe you were both looking for an excuse. You reached for his nape and hip and leaned in, waiting to make a mistake.
But he stopped dead still and closed his eyes—listening.
He wasn't going to do it unless he had to.
You relaxed a little. Good... good, your body might want him, but you did not. It left you time to—look at him. The point of his nose, his thin lips, pointed chin and squared jaw. He softly thumbed over your cheek as he listened. His rough fingers littered your skin with sparks you had trouble ignoring. Even a trip to hell did not sway your heart's delusions—likely, the absence made it fonder.
His brows drew painfully, and he swallowed. You were glad not to be the only one tortured by this positioning.
You spitefully missed his scent. Leather and ash, a couch by the fire, you breathed him in, and your brow crinkled. Why did he smell of roses...? Oh, Maria. That made sense—why so willing to sacrifice her? Seemed a dangerous thing to be favoured by Sodomiser, the fire ghoul.
Lake green eyes slowly opened on you, and his pupils washed down your face. His shoulders shrunk as the danger had passed. "I didn't tell her about Henry; I know you won't believe me, but I was there that day because she broke down my bike when she found out I knew about him too," he muttered.
"Then how...?"
"I don't know if the other clans found him out while chasing cherubs, or maybe if the cherubs are hers, she always knew."
"So she just—she just sent me down because she fucking felt like doing it that day?" you swallowed a lump in your throat. Why were you still so upset that she didn't fucking like you? She was the worst.
"I leave the brain stuff to Aether and Cumulus, but I hear things are moving. I think she got rid of you because whatever she has planned—she thinks you can mess with it." His eyes lingered on a feature of yours you liked most and one you hated about yourself. "I think you've got her scared, _______," his mouth quirked, and he leaned in for a moment, and you thought he might kiss you, but he only butted you softly, pressing his horns to yours before he backed away, going for the door.
"What happened to Henry?"
His hand paused on the doorknob. "...maybe later..."
"Please?"
He sagged, "They didn't know how to... do it. So she ordered me to burn him."
You could see it. Maybe Sodomiser didn't want to, but in most cases, it did not matter what a ghoul wanted. You could hear the screeching; he was killed by a person you told him he could maybe trust. Maybe his tail wagged as Sodo approached... maybe he'd hoped to see you again.
"Fuck," you sniffed.
"I'm sorry, ______... I tried to... I tried..." Sodo shook his head and stepped out into the hallway.
***
"Did you sleep okay, my ghoul?" Papa Emeritus, the fourth, your only master, asked, looking at you in the rearview mirror of the clergy's mini-tour van. Phantom was perched next to him, shotgun, playing a switch game while his tail flicked about animatedly.
"I... no..." You tried to laugh it off, "No, I didn't, sorry, might be some months before..." you shrugged, jostling Sodomiser's head. He was out like a light and nestled into you on one side. You just let it happen—the guy looked like shit, and he maybe hadn't been so bad to you in the last hour or so... and had nothing to do with the feeling of his breath on your throat.
"Mm? I am sorry to hear it—perhaps I can find a way to tire you out, hum?"
"Oh, is that so Papa~?" You found some twinkle, "This new boss situation is going to go to your head, huh?"
He glimpsed you with a shine in his eyes. "Oh yes, plenty of things need uh, doing around the clergy," he nodded very seriously.
"Maybe you could explain to me in detail later what needs doing, Papa E~" You found an innocent smile. Your teeth felt short and slimy and weird. Beside you, movement caught your eye, and you found Rain pointedly staring out the window, the tips of his pointed ears red. You had no idea how he had survived up until now with Swiss and Sodo the way they are.
Still not looking at you, you felt Rain's claws trail you to intertwine with your fingers.
You were definitely not considering omitting 60 years of silence. No matter how cute he was.
He then gained the courage to look you over with those doe eyes before shyly returning to his window watching.
How the fuck was that fair?
"How are we going about this boss?" Cirrus called from behind you. She stood leaning on the back of your chair to look at him. Cirrus was an air ghoullette with a brash nature, half-shaved brown hair and no interest in the masculine body... which left you in dangerous water because she was a very dangerous feline, and you were in a pretty nun's habit. You were pretty sure nonbinary could get on her menu. Ever since you'd woken up that morning, you had felt those feline grey eyes eating at you. She was a slinky cat, and you were a bird in for a lot of trouble if caught.
"I've made a booking for a long spa weekend at a local hotel."
It was a week late, but that was the holiday he'd booked for the two of you. The one Sister had robbed you of after you cleaned her whole crappy basement.
"Eh, I figured we should stay close; the abbey where the cherubs spawn isn't far from the cathedral—I figured the others would also be close by. But we still can't wholly be sure this is her doing, it just is a bit odd..."
"Yeah, cherubs..." why fucking cherubs? Your nose wrinkled at the memory of them all. Tubby bodies, legs skittering... distasteful.
"Why holy?" Swiss leaned over the back of Rain's chair. Palm to cheek in thought.
"We would smell something from our side," Cirrus said. "It is easier to hide holy abominations," her purr was very close to your ears.
"Sometimes power is just power," Rain squeezed your hand a little.
"I just don't really get... why, though? Like why everything?" Everyone looked at you, except Sodo, who had taken to curling his tail about your calf in his sleep. Guess you were missing something.
"Eh.. that I do get, mother has always been very ambitious. Wanting me to be the antichrist, bring about the new dawn and ...you know, all that. My brothers and I decided we wanted a more loving takeover, a wilful, sinful—with music, with the ghost project. I thought Sister Imperator had made her peace with it, evidently not."
"If your take over is music, what is hers?" You could guess, you think you were on the other end of it.
"Violence and authoritarianism... if Lucifer is on both our sides in this, then... I suppose we're on our own?" His mouth pulled glumly.
It explained the ghouls then; most of Sodo's pack were in the current ghost project. The two other packs had pulled out... around the time of Terzo's death. "I've never met the big guy, but surely, he doesn't want this done like the other side, does he? It would be the crusades all over again but with more firepower," you frowned. You weren't about to have a crisis of faith—if Lucifer hadn't heard your prayers in the depths of the mines as many years as you and countless other demons had been there, you were pretty sure he only gave a shit about humanity... if he did at all.
"I supposed we cannot know, Caro, but uh... I'd like to think not. Satanas forbid we become our parents, huh?" He gave you a tight smile in the mirror.
It was not something any demon wanted to think about, really. Sodo took that moment to hum softly into you.
Damn it, he was killing you.