Phlox:
our souls are united
∗·• ♔ ♥ ♔ •·∗
«Y-you're...a d-demon?» the words tasted somewhat bitter in his mouth as if they weren't right. As if it was a lie. But they weren't. The proof was the dark creature of a naked woman lying next to him, stretched out like a pleased cat. But she was anything but tame.
«A-a shapeshifting...succubus...» She traced a talon over his pale chest, feeling how his heartbeat was still running a million miles an hour, despite that they weren't fooling around anymore.
He was scared. And it aroused her. But she held back.
«H-how...» he whispered dumbfounded, turning his head to look at the roof, thoughts echoing in his head all at once, making it impossible for him to make any reason out of the situation. She had explained it so calmly, so nonchalantly, that she was «living» an afterlife of karma- as if it wasn't ridiculously impossible.
«H-hold on...if yo-you're a shapeshifter...do you have...like a...co-constant...a-a true...» he hesitated, motioning his hand in circles to somewhat elaborate what he meant.
«A true appearance?» she continued for him and Ethan could only nod vaguely as her talon had begun to now run up to his collarbones.
Right now she was just a mere combination of the appearance between the Maze Ethan knew and her demon form. Her skin had finally returned to a much more human-like color but she still towered over him. Her face was round and heart-shaped, yet she had very high and defined cheekbones. Her hair was curled in a reddish color, yet the straws faded in a much darker shade at the tips. She looked almost human if one could look past her fangs, extended pupil that melted into her iris and claws.
«I suppose my shadow - or demon- form» She allowed the darkness to grow from her pupil to the white of her sclera but refrained from allowing it to crawl any further, keeping it safely in her eyes only.
Ethan could only watch her with an astonished expression. Even as she laid next to him - existing proof right in front of his eyes- he still found it hard to believe that she was in fact a demon. He wanted to laugh but he was too dumbfounded to even smile right now.
«However, now that I am in the human realm I take on the form of a human...» with said words her form changed: her skin became paler and filled with random freckles, her hair turned lighter in color taking on a red shade that Ethan could help but run his fingers through. Her face grew rounder and cheeks redder. She shrunk a little in height and grew slightly curvier. And her eyes turned into a light caramel color.
Ethan felt his mouth pull into an uneven smile and felt the name «Maze» bubble in his throat. He had learned to know the demon by this form, but little did he know that he had also encountered her through a different form.
The demon allowed her form to grow longer, slimmer and more tanned, her freckles melted into the color. Her hair grew longer and darker, the edges of her face grew sharper, cheekbones rising even higher and chin growing more pointed. Her eye-color turned into a dark brown shade, nose became straighter and lips fuller, stretching into a smirk as Ethan's jaw almost fell to the floor in shock.
«A-Ace...?» he whispered, his gaze lost in her almost onyx eyes. The demon could only laugh lowly at his shock as she noticed the prominent blush beginning to spread in his face.
The dumbfounded human groaned as he turned his back to her, hiding his face in the pillows, form shrinking in embarrassment. He just wanted to sink into the sheets and never reappear ever again as the memory of his encounters with Ace or Maze or... whoever she was, played in his head.
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»
«Wh-what other things?» Ethan asked and bit his lower lip. He was hesitant about asking so many questions but now that she was finally giving him answers he couldn't stop his curiosity from running wild.
"My punishment» Maze looked away «I don't know who I am. I am but a reflection of what I see as I have never had an appearance that is truly my own. I am like a shadow. I have never been my own being. I crave stability, yet the only constant thing in my afterlife is change»
"T-that must be painful...I-I'm sorry..."
"Didn't I tell you to stop apologizing?" Maze teased, causing Ethan to blush and smile sheepishly as he looked away. After a while of silence Ethan hesitantly spoke up again.
«I-In my eyes... A-appearance doesn't determine who you are, i-it is merely a-a skin your s-soul uses to m-move around in. Who y-you are, lays w-within your soul and to me... y-you are Maze n-no matter the skin»
Maze looked back up at Ethan and couldn't help but smile at this, one that the human returned immediately.
She wanted to shake her head at him. He was certainly different than the others she had encountered through her many years of the afterlife. She hadn't known how, but at this moment it became clear to her.
He wasn't beautiful in looks. His smile, body, or even eyes weren't what had attracted her, not in the first place that is. It was his soul. His soul had been broken beyond repair but still managed to take care of and show kindness to others. His soul that managed to see through her facade, see the real her when she didn't even know who that was because he was just like her: hiding behind a fake appearance. He hadn't fallen for with her looks, not even her spell, he had fallen for her soul and even in different appearances he had managed to find her.
At first glance they didn't seem like a fit at all, but then again: the eyes are easily fooled as they can only scratch the surface of what lays underneath. But when one didn't take their appearance under consideration one would realize that their souls were made for each other.
«W-why were y-you in that club?» Maze frowned at Ethan unexpected question and Ethan hurriedly continued as he noticed this. «I-in the a-appearance of Ace?"
It felt wired for him to talk about Maze like Ace and even more so as he referred to Ace like it was just a second skin Maze could slip into. Which she in a sense was.
Maze raised a brow before she asked: «You mean the strip club?»
Ethan nodded before he looked down at her finger, unconsciously gracing over his peck.
«Y-you seemed s-so unhappy...» he admitted which made the demons frown deepen.
«I had to feed» she explained, but it didn't aid Ethan's curiosity and thirst for answers at all.
«F-feed?» He asked lowly.
«Every demon has a need that needs to be filled, like humans with hunger and thirst. Although we cannot die we will suffer if that need isn't fulfilled»
«W-what's y-you need?» Ethan asked hesitantly and Maze couldn't help but smirk as she looked up at him through low lids.
«Take a guess»
Ethan swallowed hard.
«C-curiosity of books?» He suggested lowly and Maze couldn't help but scoff.
She leaned up and cast a brief gaze down at his lips before she kissed him softly. The kiss was short, yet passion clung to each second. "Sex and blood» she said before she pulled away. It was funny how Ethan didn't react much to it, like he had expected her to say something crazy and her words just merely lived up to that expectation. So the demon just continued to answer his question:
«I was working at the club because it was the easiest way I could feed, and because most bastards in there were so wasted they wouldn't remember the source of their bruises and marks the day after»
As if on cue Ethan's hand raised to his neck, finger tracing a small hickey on his pale skin. Maze caught this and snickered.
She raised her hand from his chest to his nose and tapped it. «Not bruises like that, I never fucked them like I fuck you. I simply punished the imbeciles». This made him feel slightly better, but still, a nagging sensation made the lump in his throat grow.
«D-did...y-you kill them?»
Maze shrugged.
«Only the ones that were better of dead than living». But that was to be expected by a demon of her kind with her special needs. But to Ethan that fact wasn't obvious at all as he couldn't help but widen his eyes at the way she uttered her confession so nonchalant.
"D-doesn't it go a-against karma?" He asked, clearly shocked.
"Karma occurs after death, not before. Many innocent people die every day for no reason at all, but karma always meets them in the end to guide them to either a new life or hell."
Ethan felt like his head was on over-load. It was too much information for him to take in at such a short amount of time. His entire perspective of reality was just flipped upside down as all of his new discoveries thundered through his head.
Maze was a demon. Demons were real. They walked on earth among humans that were completely unaware of their existence.
Maze was Ace and also a shapeshifting demon. Named Raksasha. That could turn into what could be described as a shadow and any appearance she wanted. She could shift into Donald Trump and save America if she wished to.
She was a demon who had killed people. People could be killed by demons every day for no reason at all and karma didn't even enter the picture until after death had occurred.
Suddenly a new question made an appearance in his head.
«D-does G-god exist?»
«No demon has ever seen evil gathered up like a mud-man before, so we don't believe something that is pure goodness exists either»
When Ethan's facial expression just seemed to grow more confused Maze continued: «evil and good exist but nothing can be just plain evil or good. Where there are shadows there is light. Even demons have good in them, we are just filled up with more evil. That is all.»
Ethan nodded at this, slowly the pieces begun adding up in his head. But there was still so much he didn't understand.
«Got any more questions for me?» Maze asked and Ethan nodded.
«I-if you're a...d-demon...s-shouldn't y-you be in...» he turned back to look at her and Maze just raised a brow at him. «...h-hell?»
"I am tending to special matters»
"S-special m-matters?" he uttered each word with such hesitant punctuality it made the demon snort in amusement.
"I'll tell you some other time" Maze promised. It wasn't that she didn't trust Ethan, she obviously had strong feelings towards him. But one never knew what lurked in the shadows, listening carefully to everything you said.
"H-How d-did you e-escape hell?"
"I promise to reveal it all in due time"
Maze continued to trace her finger up his chest - nail growing sharper by the second- until she reached his collarbones that were painfully viably due to his boyish appearance, despite the fact that he was in his mid 20's.
With slow movements she began to trace her claw up his throat and jaw until she reached his lips. He inhaled slowly as she rested her knuckles under his chin to keep his head tilted up and began to slowly caress his plumps lips that hung in an adorable pout with her thumb.
«You are lucky to be the only one who gets to see the side of me that is good»
Ethan smiled softly at this, his worry slightly subsided by her slightly reassuring words.
After a while of only staring at each other Ethan felt another question suddenly light up in his head.
«Y-you said k-karma will either leads you to hell o-or a new life...d-demons are f-filled up with more evil than g-good...s-so what happens to...p-people that are f-filled with more good than evil...a-after they die?»
«They live on - or their soul does by being reincarnated into a new body. Because the greatest achievement or reward in our existence: is life»
«I-I don't t-think...that's truly a reward...o-or maybe it is..but n-not the greatest»
«Doesn't surprise me to hear you say that. You humans never truly understand the value of anything until it's gone»
"Wh-what happens when e-everyone is filled up with more e-evil the g-good?"
"Doom"
After a while of silence, the only sound occasionally breaking it being Ethan's soft breaths as he basked in the caress of Mazes fingers, he looked down at Maze who already had her gaze resting on him.
«H-How did you...s-save me?» he asked hesitantly. He had asked her many times before and was only met with anger but now she seemed more open towards answering his questions.
He knew she didn't just do CPR or bandage his wounds until they stopped bleeding because he had no scars on his arms - he had realized this as he wanted to check up on his stitches only to find pure and spotless skin under the bandage. She hadn't taken him to a hospital either because then he would've woken up there. He knew there was something she wasn't telling him.
Maze sighed as she looked down at his arm that laid by his side, wrist facing up.
«I assume you've already realized it wasn't a mundane way that saved you» she moved her hand from his chin to his forearm and began to slowly trace his skin, right where his fresh scar should've been.
«I brought you back» she explained «you were dead, but I brought you back to life»
Although he had figured out that she had used an unconventional method, he still couldn't help but feel shocked to actually hear those words come out of her mouth.
«H-how?»
Maze stopped tracing her fingertip over his skin to lay her palm on his wrist. The pictures of the blood and wounds suddenly flashed before her eyes and she swallowed thickly.
«A spell. It's called a caladrius. It was a saying in the old times that if placed by the side of a sick person the bird could predict if the individual were to live or not. But they also have other hidden powers. Powers that are too complicated to be performed by a human.»
She curled her hand into a fist, tracing her fingertips over her own palm
«The caladrius powers can be woken by a promise sworn by two in the form of blood - demon blood» she traced a line of where the knife had sliced over her skin. «The promise, the vow, the unpredicted sacrifice brings out the healing powers of the caladrius and gives it the strength to execute the greatest deeds. Like bringing someone back to life»
«I-It sounds like...a-a children's s-story. It f-feels like you're going t-to laugh at me in a few seconds f-for actually believing in it»
«It is not, it's true. It is pretty unheard of that a demon uses a spell like that to save a human. But it is the truth»
«B-But...W-why did you s-save me? W-wouldn't I be r-reborn or something?»
«Yes, but you wouldn't have known anything of your previous life» and you wouldn't remember me and I would've been unable to find you.
"O-oh..." Ethan couldn't run from his past or the darkness hanging over him like a cloud in the absence of his father and lack of care from his mother - despite Maze filling life into his dying soul (despite being dead herself). But he couldn't help but wonder if he would be happier in another life.
"I thought it wasn't the best option for you to die" Maze admitted as she realized where Ethan's mind had gone. After a few yet long minutes Ethan looked down at her.
«I t-trust you...»
His words were shaky but nowhere near shallow. And it didn't only earn him a true and heartwarming smile from the demon, but also a mischievous glimmer in her dark alluring eyes.
«Now, you should have already learned by now, that trusting a demon is a truly terrible idea» she snickered softly before placing her hands on either side of him, raising her upper body from his stomach. Nipples brushing over his skin, making shivers erupt over both of their nude bodies.
«You should be terrified of me, tremble in my presence. You should run from me» she whispered, her lips brushing against his. Ethan shuddered and could only smile.
«Why aren't you scared?»
«B-because I-I trust you...»
«Do you now?» she leaned in to slip her tongue past Ethan's obedient lips. He could only hum in response, eyes falling shut in pleasure as he felt Maze dominate his tongue with ease. She coaxed him, tongue exploring his mouth as if she had never kissed him before, creating a toe-curling sensation igniting in both of their guts.
Maze had never met someone who submitted to her right away but still held her attention. Someone that allowed her to take charge, to strip him off his clothes and control, but didn't lose his dignity. Someone that could be fucked senseless in one minute and still be able to read a book and have a normal conversation afterward. Not completely consumed by her being. Someone that was completely and utterly smitten by her but didn't nag for attention. Someone who cowered under her gaze but didn't break. Someone that had seen her at her worst but still didn't run. Someone who trusted her from the very beginning.
Someone that saw past her looks. Someone that truly saw her for who she was.
Someone that made her drip in desire and despise the thought of having anyone but him underneath her.
The demon straddled his thighs, keeping them locked down as she traced both of her hands up his chest. Ethan exhaled deeply as she reached around his neck and squeezed lightly. She was a little hesitant towards this, but as usual Ethan never seized to surprise as he submitted to her right away and -unexpectedly- moaned. Immediately she felt a shiver run down her own spine and end at her core and she sighed lowly in pleasure.
Someone who made the demon utterly and completely fucking addicted.
She bent down to connect their lips, bare chest pressing against his, and hips resting over his, grinding her crotch against his hardened member. Ethan moaned again, slightly lost in the pleasure as he placed his hands on her hips to try and increase the pressure on his throbbing arousal, but Maze immediately took charge by grabbing his wrists and placing them at the protrusions at the head of the bed.
«Keep them there» she instructed with heated eyes and Ethan could only nod his head, lips brushing hers in the action. He couldn't believe Maze wasn't satisfied yet, they had been going at it for hours and now after only a few minutes' break she wanted to start over again. What surprised him, even more, was that he wasn't...limp...or even a little slack...he was rock hard all over again. He had never really been able to go for round five before - especially when Maze tortured him each time for at least twenty minutes- but now he was just as eager as her to continue where they'd left of. It was like she had drugged him with Viagra or something.
Maze kissed his lips softly - much softer than usual- before she pushed his head to the side, exposing his desirable long pale neck. She wasted no time as she licked a trail from his collar bone all the way up to his lobe, covering his skin with her salvia before she began to suck on it. She didn't stop until she felt satisfied, marking the entire left side of his neck with bruises that would last for quite some time. Ethan was unaware of the reason for why she did this due to the fact that he had never been in this kind of relationship before, but Maze knew any other person laying their eyes on him would get the message immediately.
The human was hers, and no one would dare to touch him now that her marks were littered all over the left side of his neck. But she still wasn't satisfied with just marking one side of his neck. She tilted his head to the other side and harassed his right side, all the while grinding her wetness against his painfully hard member.
When she felt satisfied she leaned back to admire her work and smirked. Ethan could only look at her through hooded eyes, desire swirling in his mismatching orbs, igniting a thousand tingles in Maze's stomach pit. She would never grow tired of this look, him being frustrated to the point where he couldn't talk or do anything besides look up at her with a lustful expression.
But she could enjoy the look on him some other time when her hunger wasn't constantly nagging at her to ravish her human. With more force than Ethan had expected she slammed her hips down, taking all of him inside of her without even blinking, knocking the breath out of his lungs.
He could only gasp as she began to move, at a speed so rapid it made him quiver.
She devoured his lips, catching his bottom one in between her teeth as she growled possessively into his mouth.
Although she didn't say it in mere words it was clear to Ethan what she meant.
He belonged to her, and there was nothing he could do about it.
****
So, the story is taking shape!
Now you know more about demons, hell and karma! Which is all my own developed and constructed theory (idk if anyone has thought of it before, but this is my own inspired idea).
Please leave a vote and comment if you liked it!
Have an exquisite day!
-B