Secret Devil [Z3N&Hideki](Private)

[-Hideki-]

Marcello Wachow

Gender: Male

Age: 33 years

Height: 1.80m

Hair colour: blond

Eye colour: blue

Sexual orientation: homosexual

Status: Lives as a celibate

Occupation: Priest

Religion: Catholic Christian

Biography: Marcello was born in the metropolitan area in a crime driven district in which the poorest citizens lived. He grew up at his father’s place and regardless of their unfortunate financial state he was a happy child until his life completely turned for the worse.

 

At the age of six he witnessed how his father got stabbed to death with knives by a group of Mafiosi and as if the violent loss of his father hadn’t been enough for the kid already he had to live at his drug addicted and alcoholic mother’s place since then.

 

Being the nice fellow that he was he had a tough life in the district and the public school he went to which led to him being beaten up regularly not only at home by his frustrated and mentally ill mother but also by his peers and some older guys.

In order to not suffer that fate any longer he joined a street gang at the age of thirteen but he didn’t fit in there as well and was basically used as the doormat and the odd-job man for the ruthless criminal youth in the gang but he had become completely apathetic towards his life and all life in general by that time.

 

A year later he met Jason, a newcomer in the gang who was sarcastic and cynic as fuck but not needlessly cruel or a sadist. Jason befriended Marcello and fought the fights for the younger man that he didn’t care to fight anymore. They became best friends as well as fuckbuddies later on.

 

When Marcello nearly lost his life fighting members of another street gang at seventeen, he decided to change his life only to find his mother dead on the floor of their apartment when he finally got released from hospital. He left the gang and started to ask himself questions again.

 

The young man thought that there must be a meaning for all the needless violence, for pain, suffering and death because the mere thought that there was nothing to come after that, no bigger plan behind it scared him just as much as the peoples hate, greed and selfishness disgusted him.

 

One day he stumbled across a poster that had written “What is our purpose?” on it, with the address of a church and a specific date written on it. The poster had been smeared by some people who had written “God is dead!” across it but Marcello went to the meet up at the church after that.

 

The church and the religion gave him what he wanted to hear and he could find comfort and meaning in it. And while he first cling onto it like a drowning man who didn’t want to die just because he couldn’t bear the meaninglessness and ugliness of his life and human nature, he obsessed over it later and developed a strong believe in the Christian doctrine.

 

Jason had too left the gang after the incident and was aiming to get his life in order but he chose another path ridiculing Marcello for his new found believes, telling him that he was deceiving himself with an illusion to not be confronted with the cold hard ground of reality. But now that Marcello had found new meaning, he wasn’t apathetic anymore and stood up and fought for what he believed.

 

The both of them stayed friends even though he didn’t sleep with Jason or anyone else for that matter anymore.

He left the liberal and for the most part unreligious metropolitan area and moved to a city in a more religious region that only had 200.000 inhabitants and decided to become a priest.

 

The believers in his parish loved the young priest who cared and was there for them and who would always answer their questions. He also brought people who had lost their path back onto it and he didn’t send people away who asked him for help.

Marcello had become an influential person in the city and was seen as a role model by many.

 

But time didn’t stand still in his region as well and he had to fight for the influence of the church there as well. To cap it all of the members of the occultist cult that he had been fighting in the city from the start, had started to become more active again, pagan music festivals were held in the city and he couldn’t hope for help from their new mayor who was unlike the man who had governed the as long as Marcello had lived there.

 

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He had just comfortably placed himself in front of the fireplace with a book he had planned to read for a long time to find a little ease, when he heard some noises from a far. At first he had thought it had come from the fire that burned in the fireplace but it wasn’t that close and it came out of the opposite direction.

 

Reluctantly he closed the book, placed it on the coffee table and rose from his armchair. His blue eyes peeked at the clock. It was ten minutes before midnight.

Marcello had a clear idea where the noises were coming from and who caused them. It wasn’t the first time that that had happened.

Those bloody occultists devil worshippers regularly broke into his church.

 

The blond man sat down on his chestnut coloured chesterfield sofa and grabbed his shoes. The seventh time this month! It would be the seventh time that he would have to chase away those cult members from the holy ground of the church.

 

As soon as he had laced his shoes, he grabbed the baseball bat that he had bought after those Satanists had broken in the first time. He also owned a gun but he didn’t deem it necessary for the occultists. They had never used violence against him and they always ran whenever they saw his face consumed by rage and the baseball bat.

 

The priest stormed out of the door of the parish house that was surrounded by trees and a little vegetable garden, heading straight towards the church. They would take a pasting from him this time that was for sure. If the damn mayor wouldn’t ban them and take the problem seriously, he needed to find a solution for his problem as well.

 

Marcello had fought a political fight against the occultists for years already. He had even organised campaigns and protests against them. And he actually had had the former mayor far enough that he was willing to consider banning the group from the city but then the people of the city had elected a new guy and the priest had to start from zero again.

 

The occultists thought that in the cellar of the Gothic style church was a ritual room with a connection to the underworld and they attempted to summon a demon while practising an old ceremony.

The story about the cellar of the church was a myth from the middle ages that had somehow survived through the centuries.

He didn’t believe in summoning devils, people that were possessed by demons or exorcisms that was all a bunch of bollocks and by spreading such ideas, those occultists and others who believed in such things, made a mockery out of his church.

 

When Marcello had met Jason the last time and had complained about the situation, the other had told him that believing in an invisible sky daddy was ridiculous enough and that he couldn’t see much of a difference between the priest and the occultists. Marcello had felt rather insulted by that but on the other hand it hadn’t been a surprise that an atheist like his best friend and former fuckbuddy would say something that could hurt his religious feelings. It hadn’t been the first time that it had happened and didn’t mean that much, what really bugged him was, that no one but his parish seemed to take the problems of the church in his city seriously and it wasn’t only the occultists, the new mayor himself was a problem as well.

 

It hadn’t been long ago when Marcello had thought that his church might be lost forever because the libertarian mayor had cut off all state funding for the church leading to the parish lacking money.

There had been potential buyers for the building already and one had been worse than the other. It still made him sick to his stomach when he thought about what could have happened to his beloved church. One guy had wanted to turn it into a love hotel, another one had a reptile zoo in mind and the last one was actually the University for Technology and Science that wanted to expand its faculty of genetic engineering and thought the building was perfect for it.

“If an institution isn’t able to survive on its own it’s a sign that the people don’t want it or don’t care about it, that it is basically useless. There is no reason to save that church Mister ...... Bakot, was it right? Ah, doesn’t matter. Look, that’s the way of the world and the beauty of capitalism, today it’s a church, tomorrow a reptile zoo or a part of the university and in ten years it might be a fast food restaurant, deal with it.” Those had been the words of the mayor who wasn’t any older than Marcello himself.

 

The young priest had fought with all his might to save his church. The members of the parish had organised jumble sales where they had sold their old stuff and donated the income to the church. Marcello had made fundraisers, he had tried to generate a little money over his Christian youtube channel that he had made for the church and to fight the occultists but it just hadn’t been enough money so he had to accept private investors in the end. Now the former St. Anthony Church was called Heißler Electronics Church and in front of the door there were huge advertisements for a car brand, Jone’s weapon corner and Yummy Burgers. He hated it every time he saw the once beautiful and graceful front of his church but at least the church was still a church and not a love hotel or a faculty for genetic engineering.

 

When the mayor had dropped by to visit the video game store on the opposite side of the street he had said to Marcello:”Ah hello Mister Penkow, I see the church is still there. I like it better than before now because it isn’t a burden to the tax payers any longer, plus, it also reminds me that I should make a stop at Heißler Electronics on my way home, they have a great new surround sound system did you know that?”

 

And it hadn’t gone any better when Marcello had informed mayor Cole about the occultists and how damaging they were to the city and to his parish and the church.

“I know that my predecessor had wanted to ban those nutjobs but I honestly don’t care about what they do. In case they don’t infringe the rights of others they can believe and practise all the crazy bullshit they want as long as the tax payers don’t have to pay for their idiocy that is. And as far as I know, they weren’t the group that believed in magical invisible creatures that got state funding, that was your cult, wasn’t it? If you hear about them receiving state funds, let me know, if not I don’t care whether they pray to Satan, God or a golden toilet pan in their free time.”

 

So he was on his own and he was determined to end this madness and keep the occultists from the churches ground for eternity. He might even buy an alarm system or traps tomorrow that he would activate during night time. Enough was enough!

His blood was boiling in his veins and his face was red from anger.

 

Rigorously he opened the huge, old door of the church from which the mascot of Jone’s weapon coner – a cactus with a hat that smiled and held different weapons in what were supposed to be his hands- laughed into his face. It made him even angrier.

 

With a loud bang the door closed behind him and he didn’t look left or right but went straight to the cellar. His footsteps echoed back to him but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to get his hands on those bloody devil worshippers.

 

When he arrived at the room that the occultists believed to have a connection to the underworld, his hand clenched around the baseball bat even more. Marcello kicked the door open and seemed to have more similarity with his street gang member self from back then, than with a man of God.

 

When the wooden door fell to the ground all eyes that were hidden under the robes of the cult members suddenly were on him. The room in the cellar was lit by black candles and the occultists in their dark monks robes were standing around a pentagram in a circle. Blood was spilled from the leaders hand onto the pentagram as they continued to mutter some formulas in Latin.

“Get out!” Marcello screamed right away his carotid pulsating visibly. The occultist didn’t listen this time, they seemed just as determined than him and one woman said:”We have nothing to fear anymore, he will be here any time, the lord of the underworld and he will destroy you vermin and this whole pathetic world with you.” Her words were followed by manic laughter.

 

It was obvious that words didn’t have an effect this time so the priest went to the leader of the group and hit him hard with the baseball bat into the back. The man fell to the ground as Marcello turned to the next one. “I am not bluffing. I beat you all into a bloody mess of flesh if you won’t leave.” He threatened them and this time they seemed to believe him. They grabbed their leader and ran off again.

 

The tension and the adrenaline in Marcello’s body calmed down a little and he let the baseball bat sink. He really needed to secure the church better and he needed to repair the door he had just kicked in.

 

When he attempted to get the door up from the ground he saw the pentagram rotating. He couldn’t believe his eyes; they must have been deceiving him. The priest rubbed his eyes in disbelief, when he suddenly was blinded by a bright, white light. He fell down, hitting his arse on the cold hard floor of the old cellar. He couldn’t see anything anymore but he felt how the room temperature rose significantly. It burned on his pale white skin and at one moment he thought that he would burst into flames and burn to death, leaving only a carbonised ambiguous form on the cellar ground that one could only hardly identify as a human body.

 

But as sudden as the temperature had risen, it fell again and the light disappeared. He blinked with his eyes because he still couldn’t really see. Slowly his sight returned and he was at least able to see the silhouette of a male in the middle of the pentagram. Did one of the occultists return? No, he wasn’t wearing a monks robe. His vision cleared again and now he was able to see the man completely and in detail and he caught his breath.

This was definitely not a human man. But if it wasn’t, what was it then? Those nutcases couldn’t possibly have summoned a real demon or could they? Something like that wasn’t possible and yet there he was.

 

Marcello’s heart was beating too fast and too heavy in his chest. It felt like it would break through his ribs and his skin and fall down on the floor next to the startled priest. He made the sign of the cross and as soon as he was able to realise that the scenery was actually real and what that meant for him, he hastily stood up and ran through the open passage where the door had been before. He stumbled up the stairs and left the cellar. Out of breath he locked the door to the cellar but he didn’t know whether that would stop the demon from coming after him or not.

 

After he had locked the door he realised that he had forgotten his baseball bat on the ground that had fallen out of his hand when he had been hitting the floor.

The priest panicked for a moment and then asked himself whether a baseball bat would be of any use against a demon anyway. Were any human weapons of use against a demon?

He didn’t know but he knew that he had to get rid of the monster that was now in his cellar.

 

But how? How did one send back a demo? The blond man didn’t know that. He hadn’t believed that something like that was possible and he never had cared to learn about things like exorcism and other such bullshit and he wasn’t sure where one would learn such a thing.

 

If there was a place he could find information about something like that it was in those old medieval books in the churches library though. He ran through the church, up the stairs until he reached the old and beautifully build library. The priest knew the section he wanted to head for and he grabbed an old book that had the information he needed. It actually had a bunch of clichés that were often used in Hollywood movies in it but somewhere those clichés had to have come from after all.

 

Marcello ran down again, took a case with holy water and soon he stood in front of the locked door that led into the cellar. He took deep breaths, then he opened the door and brought himself to walking down the stairs, this time not that fast though. The man pressed the old medieval book against his pounding heart. His eyes were wide open looking for the demon but he wasn’t on the way, he must have stayed in the room. And indeed he found the monster at the same place he had left it.

 

He sneaked inside of the room, got onto an old dumped altar and emptied out the whole case of holy water over the demons head while passionately speaking the words that he had read in the book that he was clinging onto. Marcello waited for something to happen, for the demon to scream in pain and agony before he disappeared and was defeated but it hadn’t had any other effect than that the demon and his clothes were completely drenched from the water now.

[Z3N]

Farzahl

 

Zhilin Krasimir Makarovich

 

 

 

Gender: Male.

Age: Looks in his late twenties.

Height: 1.82m.

Hair Colour: Black. (White in demon form.)

Eye Colour: Dark blue. (White in demon form.)

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual.

Status: Not married.

Occupation: Works at a manga/book/anime store (just a geek shop).

Religion: None.

Biography: Being born into one of the most feared demon families was quite the spectacle to witness. A new prince of hell would fight or the throne. The first born had quite the anticipation held for him. Wanting for him to be the perfect new ruler, the example for his younger siblings yet to come.

 

He was taught a lot of things during his first years in this world. Learning about the creatures that lived with them, which rank what demon was, how he should behave in others environment. Not being allowed to do what he wanted to do except books that he had to study in his early years. He wanted more freedom, wanting to experience something new. Something that didn’t had to deal with pages of literature and knowledge passed on by his family.

 

Eventually he was allowed to learn how to fight as he understood how the underworld worked. The sparring with his mentors went well despite being kicked ass in the beginning. He liked how he could actually interact with others even if it was just by the sword and by fists. He slowly expanded his powers and reputation like this. Eventually being able to control the element of fire. Each one of the siblings got one power. One could teleport while another had telekinesis, etc. They all had a unique trait.

 

Two out of the six siblings had quite the interest in battle. Farzahl was one, the fourth was the other one. They got along pretty well, more than one would have expected. They became strong and the fourth brother found his place with the royal army, serving under his brother who was in command of all armies, guiding them through the battlefields in the underworld. The second brother was more likely to be found in libraries. Learning more and more about this world as if he just couldn’t get enough about it. Thinking that with his wisdom he could be a more suitable king than Farzahl.

 

However the fourth brother Tedohr crumbled in battle one day. A strong clan ambushed the troop, putting them in a tight spot. Tedohr did not manage to get out of there so he bought time for the others to escape the grasp of this clan. Taken over by fury Farzahl and the second oldest (Bitxal) took revenge and destroyed the clan within a day. Their power could not be underestimated. Proving to everyone that whenever the kingdom would be threatened they’d be executed without mercy.

 

Years went by and suddenly demons got called upon by these so-called humans. Being chained by them once they got summoned, they could not easily turn back to hell. Yet none was strong enough to call upon one of the royals of this world. They tried to find solutions but they understood pretty soon that they’d need to learn more about the place called Earth first.

 

It was an interesting subject. They were weak yet thought that they were above everything else. A great misunderstanding. Farzahl took an unexpected interest in these humans and wondered how they’d be like.

 

----------------------------------------------

 

It was just a regular day in his castle. An old dark building, a greyish colour. Huge windows overlooking the city as it was standing on top of a ravine. Yet the ground was sturdy enough to keep it up and steady. Standing proudly for ages. The roofs were pointing up as if they were spears ready to be thrown into the sky. Soldiers were guarding the entrance of the castle, only letting those in who deemed worthy or had business with one of the royals residing there.

 

The sky had a light red glow to it, the only light this world had. Clouds were moving around, indicating that it would be not such a nice day. There would probably be a chance of rain falling down. Yes, it rained in the underworld as well just like on Earth.

 

The maple trees around the castle were softly moving their branches due to the gust of wind passing through. Bats were flying around, having some fun with each other as it was never as clear as it was on Earth. Here bats could live normally however they still liked their sleep. Some had their place in the entrance of the castle, some rather stayed outside.

 

Farzahl was in the living quarters together with Bitxal (second oldest), having a discussion about these humans. Bitxal believed that they would be of great help to expand his knowledge, while Farzahl thought of them as weak beings. He had heard stories of those who returned after their contract ended and honestly, he didn’t think much about them. He was only interested in the food they created. It was a little different than what they ate here but most of it was really good in their opinion. Also the fact that everything looked so different was what interested him.

 

How their buildings looked, how they acted around one another, their statuses in society. It was all different. They didn’t have one ruled over one world but had multiple ones, a lot of them. They had Sky high buildings where one could overlook almost an entire country. They rode planes while here they rode dragons. Well, planes were useful since more people could use it. They had cars while here they had ghost horses with small wagons attached to it. About six beings could get in there.

 

Bitxal was more in the opinion that they could tell more about how humans saw demons. What their religions were, what their cultures were. Why they would behave the way they did, how they lead their countries. The only thing they managed to agree upon was that their sense of fashion was indeed quite nice. Regretfully they didn’t get their hands on any of that yet. Though the thing they called manga and comics was interesting.

 

One of the demons that got out of the contract got a bunch of them back with him. For a nice price they bought most of it since he already read all of them. Utterly fascinated by the storylines they had the manga’s in their hands while they were in discussion. Though their thoughts were most likely to be with the books than with each other. Some were better than others but they were all equally enjoyable. It made them wonder about what more books could exist. Regretfully they didn’t have the chance to go and find out. It would be too troublesome to leave the castle behind while the royals would go on an innocent trip.

 

Eventually Farzahl his book was finished and he looked straight at Bitxal. ”I’ve taken a liking to these Russian names. If I ever have the chance to visit Earth, I’d name myself Zhilin Krasimir Makarovich. What do you think?” Farzahl asked his brother who just shrugged lightly. ”Why would you even bother with choosing a name like that, it’s not like we’d ever have the chance to go there.” Bitxal answered which made Farzahl go silent. ”You sure know how to stump someone.” He muttered under his breath before standing up, throwing the book on the table as he had finished before leaving the room.

 

As he got out of there, he greeted some of the employees who passed him by. They had quite a lot of work to do in this castle as it asked for high maintenance but it gave them a pretty good pay check so they didn’t complain too much. Their hours were also decent and even sometimes got a day off. Some had horns, some had tails, some had random skin colours, others had scales. In short, there was a big diversity within their species.

 

When he looked out of the window, he saw his two sisters who were also the youngest of the family. He smiled in a brotherly way as he saw them play. Well play, more likely playfully fighting with each other. Though once they caught him staring they had these big grins on their faces and mentioned for him to come downstairs. He rolled his eyes but did it anyway. He opened the window and with one swift jump, he landed neatly in the grass. He dusted himself off after the landing before making his way towards them. They were considered teens now so their fighting ability would be a bit higher than it used to be. Especially as they were sparring more as they felt like being able to protect themselves better. Farzahl taught them some tricks but they made it their own as they put their own twist to it.

 

”Well, brother. Are you ready to take the both of us on?” Poarin (fifth child) taunted with Pirech (sixth child) sticking her tongue out provokingly. Farzahl raised an eyebrow as they seemed serious about it. ”What does the winner get?” ”A bag of Wurmchies!” They said in unison. (Wurmchies = worms that taste like chocolate after being cooked.) ”Deal.” Farzahl agreed with their challenge and they all went into place.

 

Farzahl calmed himself and listened to the sounds around him, making notice of every movement that would happen. Being an important person in the army helped a lot with combats. And then a dagger was thrown into his direction by Poarin who could use teleportation. Dodging it easily but was then forced to get down because of an ice spear making its way towards his body. This was controlled by Pirech. He rolled over and got up on his feet again.

 

Taking the sword from his belt and blocked Poarin’s. The iron clashing against one another resounded throughout the garden. A deadly silence besides that. But just as he was about to strike Poarin, his feet got stuck in ice, making it more difficult to defend himself. Yet still managing to block any incoming attacks. However the ice slowly started to make its way up and soon enough he was completely covered in ice.

 

Yet despite the obvious disadvantage, the ice started to tremble and eventually shattered into pieces, revealing a flame around Farzahl his body. With a smirk on his lips, he ran towards Poarin who quickly teleported to Pirech’s side just before she was about to be struck. Little did they know that that was exactly the place where he wanted her to go. A circle of fire surrounding them which only grew bigger.

 

With smooth movements he managed to get behind them due to the smoke blinding them from what was happening outside of it. With both knives, he held them to their throats. ”I win.” He said before pulling back and making the fire disappear. The sisters fell down on their knees and started whining which did not work on him. ”You owe me a big of Wurmchies.” He said, waving as he went off into the distance. He could hear them both groan loudly in response.

 

But as he was still in sight of his sisters a pentagram appeared beneath his feet. Making him go wide eyed as light started to surround him. His sister screamed at the happening but they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Soon his vision was completely gone and his body was being taken away. Within only mere seconds he could feel the ground on his feet again. Being disorientated from what had just happened he tried to look around and see where he was but nothing was familiar to him.

 

Cautiously he tried to search for something that could help him out but then he spotted something running up the stairs which didn’t look like a demon. He had no actual traits of their species. Farzahl his hands were like dark liquid forming into dragon like arms. Yet this one didn’t show anything. And then the light bulb went on. They actually managed to summon a royal.

 

He waited for this human to get back which actually happened and just watched what the other did. Blinking as suddenly water was poured all over him, making his clothes soaking wet. He tilted his head to the side out of amusement as he had heard about this. The thing they do to repel demonic creatures. Sadly enough it didn’t work for every demon, perhaps on the low level ones but besides those it wouldn’t really work.

 

”So this probably didn’t work out the way you wanted it to…” Farzahl commented amused. He looked to the ground and nodded as it was a decent piece of work that they did to summon him. Sitting down on one of the stairs he looked at the human. ”You probably didn’t call for me seeing you want to get rid of me. But since you’re the only person here in this room it makes you my contractor. So we’re both stuck with each other. Let’s have a good time.” He said to the other with a mischievous smile on his lips.

 

”Why are we in a contract? Because you’re the first human I looked at. Even if it was not your choice.” He resumed. ”Oh, and if you break the contract by killing me you’ll become a demon yourself. Unless you choose to become a demon like me, the contract will be considered completed.” After he said that he wondered about how the other would react.

[-Hideki-]

The water ran over the demon creating a puddle underneath the creature’s shoes. It hadn’t worked, why hadn’t it worked? Those Satanists had been able to summon that thing with formulas out of medieval books, so why didn’t it work to get rid of the devil with the holy water. And what could he do now? There were a thousand things running through his head but none of them was a solution to his problem.

 

He would probably be the first victim of the apocalypse that came with that monster. Wasn’t that what those occultists had said? That the demon lord would destroy humankind? And how would he kill him? Would this creature eat him alive? The thought made his hair stand on end and he shook his head, when he heard the dark voice of the soaking wet man in front of him.

 

“Obviously not!”the priest grumbled at the amused comment and glared discontented at the young looking male from the underworld. At second sight he didn’t look that monstrous to Marcello anymore. The glowing white hair and eyes, not to mention those claw like arms actually looked rather fascinating to him and as any human he wanted to touch what was fascinating and he didn’t know but he was able to control himself, for the sake or politeness and respect and not to forget his own wellbeing.

 

He saw how the demon casually sat down and he asked himself what his intentions were. If he was really here to destroy humankind and the earth he seemed rather calm and not too ambitious.

While in his thoughts he noticed what the other had to say on the sidelines but when he heard that he supposedly was this man’s contractor the demon had his full attention again.

“Wait! What? No! You’re clearly mistaking. Your contractors are those fucking devil worshipping occultists scumbags. They are responsible for this whole mess. I didn’t even believe in contracts with the devil or summoning demons and all that jazz.” Marcello explained furiously.

 

It seemed like the other had expected his protest because he had an explanation ready.

Hearing this irritated the already angry human even more. This was not possible! It couldn’t be and he would not tolerate being bound to that creature without a choice. Marcello grabbed the demon by his collar, firmly enough that his pale hand turned even whiter. “I can’t under any circumstances be in a contract with a devil because I am a fucking priest. My everything belongs to god and god alone! I haven’t signed any contract with your kind and I haven’t disturbed your bloody afternoon nap or whatever you were doing before those wankers had summoned you into my church!” he screamed, when he suddenly realised what he was doing there.

 

The chalk-white male let go of the other mans collar and awkwardly straightened his clothes again, bringing back an appropriate amount of distance between them again.

He pressed his cold fingers against his forehead and thought for a moment. “I never intended to kill anyone.” And that was the truth. He wouldn’t like to kill the demon, or the occultists’ not even mayor Cole even without the threat that he’d become a demon if he killed the white haired guy.

Not that the threat wasn’t repulsive. To Marcello being a human was worse enough already. He was disgusted by his own species and even by himself more often than not, being a demon - what meant the personification of the human’s worst traits in his understanding – would be unbearable to him.

 

“Be assured though that you won’t be on earth for long. I’ll send you back to where you’ve come from or I’ll find a loophole in that contract!” he was determined and thought about contacting a lawyer for a minute when he realised that their lawyers had no clue about contracts with demons even though he was pretty sure that most lawyers would go to hell after they had died.

“I am sure that this is in your best interest too. Certainly you’d like to go back home and torture damned human souls or watch them suffer and burn in the purgatorial fire and all your other demon hobbies.” He assumed and was about to head to the library again to read himself through the whole medieval section in hope to find something of use.

 

At least the occultists had been wrong about the destroying the earth thing but it was bad enough as it was and all of that just because that bloody mayor cared about nothing and didn’t take him seriously. Marcello had warned him! He had warned him that the occultists were dangerous. Okay, he hadn’t known that it actually was possible to summon demons but still.

He would pay the mayor a visit in the afternoon that this happy go lucky kid would never ever forget. Yes, he would demand him to take responsibility.

 

His effusive thoughts were stemmed by the realisation that he couldn’t just tell the mayor that the occultist had summoned a demon who now claimed him as his contractor. If he did they would say he had lost it and throw him into a padded cell in some insane asylum.

And even if he were able to prove any of that, the blame would probably be on him because he apparently was bound to the devil. A priest bound to a devil! It would ruin him, his church and his religion on an international level.

 

It was frustrating but he had to do something. The occultist didn’t know that they had succeeded so they would try it again. And if they figured out that they were really capable of summoning demons, those lunatics would probably summon a whole army of those creatures. He would definitely secure the church better but it wasn’t enough. If they weren’t able to get into his church, they would find another place and try it there. The mayor had to protect the citizens from the occultists doing! It was mandatory. And if that arsehole wouldn’t listen to him again, he would contact the state government. Someone needed to listen to him, it was of great importance.

 

When he had reached the passage he suddenly froze. His left hand clung to the doorframe making a disgusting sound. He turned his head as if someone had put reality into slow-motion.

“What exactly did you mean with ‘we are stuck together’?” he demanded to know. “You don’t mean that you’ll stay at my place or even worse, my church?”

It was a disaster. He couldn’t let the poor folks of his parish come into contact with that devil, he couldn’t expose them to that sort of danger.

But he didn’t want the other in his house either. It was a demon after all and even if he weren’t he didn’t want any rumours about him to start spreading, plus, he really liked his alone time.

[Z3N]

Farzahl listened to the words that came out of the human his mouth. But in honesty, he was just observing the other. His blonde hairs that swayed with every movement he made, his pure blue eyes that glistened when he got more furious. A cold fire burning inside of them as he tried to prove what he was saying was the rightest thing to do. His skin was rather pale unlike most of the residents of the underworld. But he guessed it was normal to be a bit less “tanned”.

 

The moment he was grabbed by his collar, he was a bit taken aback as he didn’t think this guy would have the guts to even come near him. After all, he sneaked into the room and suddenly poured this kind of water over him in hopes to make him perish. It was worth the try but at least he could’ve been a little more creative with how he was going to handle this. Perhaps he could’ve hit him with the baseball bat that was laying on the floor. He would’ve felt it for sure but it would’ve made Farzahl angered in return. It was a double-edged sword.

 

Once he was let go off and the other regained his composure, Farzahl could only stare at the other blankly. A bit disappointed that he wasn’t at least hit in the face. He hoped for a little more spunk from this person. He then let his eyes go to the clothes. Realizing that he was dealing with a priest of all things. The lowest kind of people on this world. Those who believed in an invisible god just like those damned psycho angels. They were all loyal to him yet nobody had seen him in person before. Who knew who was in charge up there. He despised them and those who believed in them.

 

When the other said that he wouldn’t be on Earth for too long, he was struck by curiosity. Well, he couldn’t stay for too long after all as his kingdom needed him. Bitxal was probably over the moon now that he was the eldest in the castle. They couldn’t have picked a worse time to call upon him. If Bitxal was to be the ruler of the underworld, who knew what would happen next. Plus, him being a smart ass would make things complicated for sure. And his interest in humans was not exactly a good thing for them. He just hoped that his younger siblings would stop him from making rash choices now he was not there.

At least he hoped.

 

”I hope you can find a way out since I don’t want to be stuck here either. After all, it was somewhat your fault for chasing away the actual summoner. If you were a little smart, you could’ve avoided it and come in later. But I guess you act before you think. It’s not always a good thing to be like that. You should work on it.” He said, the last part more mockingly as he looked down upon the priest. Being treated like this made him slightly annoyed but he couldn’t do anything against it.

 

One of the rules of being in a contract was that the demon was to never hurt his contractor. But if the other hurts himself, it isn’t his business. So whenever a demon would ever strike his ‘master’ he would feel nothing else but pain throughout his body. Some would even be on the brink of passing out, but mostly that was not the case. It would stay for about two minutes before it would go away again. It was one of the disadvantages to be linked to a human as they were not as strong build as a demon. Easily breaking when done something wrong.

 

He stood up as the priest was about to make his way out of the basement and looked up as the other paused in his tracks. Letting out a sigh at the question. He grabbed something invisible in the air which soon revealed a chain connecting them both. He had a chain on his neck while his ‘master’ had it around his wrist. ”You see this? It’s our contract. I can leave your side for a temporary time but once I cross it you will feel sick to the stomach. The higher ranking the demon, the more distance we can have between us. So in my case it’ll probably be this whole city. If I go out of the city without you for a longer period of time, you’ll get sick. Also if you get hurt or when I do, we’ll feel that there’s something wrong with the other. A minor kind of telepathy.” He explained to the priest.

 

”Any other questions?” He asked before walking up the stairs. He didn’t wait for an answer for the priest as he was about to go take a look at the place. His eyes were all over the place, taking in every corner of the building as if he was going to make it his own. However there was this one statue he disliked. An angel that was on the highest point inside of the church looked down over the place. He clicked his tongue as he ripped his eyes from the thing and went to see something more interesting.

 

Eventually he made his way to the window and was brought the view of the outside world. It was completely different from what he was used to. The sun was shining brightly, lightning everything up with its radiance. The grass was green, the trees still had their leaves on it. Not dead ones. Children playing outside there, kicking a ball to one another. People who were talking peacefully with each other. He laid his head against the glass as he silently looked at the scenery in front of him.

”Must be nice to not deal with any true monsters.” He mumbled under his breath. But then there was a knock on the church its door, making him point his face into its direction. He slowly got up and went to open up the door but before he opened it, he realized that demons were not common in this world.

 

At the last second, he shifted in a human form before standing face to face with other people. They were dressed in neat clothes, covering almost everything from their body which was weird. Demons would mostly wear as less as possible as clothes were a hindrance. He for example mainly wore some pants with a loose shirt hanging open. Only when in combat he would wear more protective clothes.

[-Hideki-]

Marcello grinned at the demon who thought he had just insulted him. “Yes, sure! It’s my fault for not considering that some lunatics who worship Satan and think that he would come up at their command to destroy earth would actually summon a creature that looks like it could have arisen right out of those video games our careless mayor always plays. And of course I should have known everything about the rules of summoning devils when I hadn’t believed such a thing was actually possible. How unreasonable and premature of me to chase those maniacs away, I totally agree. I’m lucky though that from all the demons whom I could have ended up being bound to I am apparently bound to the greatest genius who obviously thinks before he speaks!” his voice sounded through the cellar sarcastically, ending with a laugh into the arrogant devils face.

 

The moment in which the priest saw the chain that connected him to that demon who had already proven to him that he at least possessed the deadly sin of pride and vanity, he understood the dramatic scale that contract had. Not only for him, probably to that creature as well, as he was wearing the chain too.

 

He hated it. He hated being unfree and that chain was a visible sign of restriction. It reminded him about his days in the gang and the tattoos he had all over his torso that had marked him as a member of the gang back in the city and that still marked him as a former member of that gang, meaning, he would never be able to completely free himself from the gang ever again.

And that chain was similar, it was just not yet sure whether it would leave a permanent mark or not.

 

The blond man had no further questions and even if he had had some he wouldn’t have asked at that moment. The devil walked past him and at first he followed him around to stop him from damaging anything in his beloved church eying him sceptically. Marcello noticed that the demon didn’t seem to like the huge statue of the angel and he smirked a little. In the priest’s eyes this was probably jealousy – and if it was that would have been yet another deadly sin – since the beautiful and humble angles, the loyal servants of god were true purity.

 

Marcello loved angels. He collected angel statues and his whole place was full with them. His favourite ones were the statues of the archangel Michael and Raphael that he had placed next to a huge picture of his deceased father in his living room. Even though it was sentimental Marcello often hoped that his father was with them in heaven somewhere, at a much better place than earth.

 

When he had been sure that the demon wouldn’t destroy the place he went up to the library leaving the self-aggrandising man alone. He started to read in one book after the other but he couldn’t find anything about getting out of a contract with a devil – the books just warned to not make one with examples of what barbaric, vicious things had happened to those who had done it – and nothing as to how one could send them back without killing them. There were a few things about exorcising devils that had possessed humans but Marcello wasn’t possessed by that creature.

There were some things he could try but he hadn’t much hope that they would work without the guy possessing someone or something.

 

After a while the priest had fallen asleep with one of the medieval books on his head. He just woke up, when the sun was shining bright into his face. He jumped up and looked at his wrist watch and he knew that people would arrive any minute.

 

Why hadn’t the church bells waken him up? He was confused for a moment and then remembered that the bells hadn't been ringing anymore since half a year. Mayor Cole had forbidden all religious institutions to produce "noise disturbance" as he had called it. “Ones religion is ones private matter and I am not denying anyone the right to practise their hokeypokey for themselves but I won’t tolerate those institutions to be a burden to anyone else by forcing their row on their fellow citizens.” ,had been his statement.

 

Marcello started to run down the stairs when he heard how the door was being opened. “Shit!” he cursed. What would happen if they saw the demon? His claws and his shining eyes? He ran faster to get there before they would see the devil when he felt something weird and just knew that the other had shapeshifted somehow. “Thank god.” The priest was relieved when he finally arrived in the hall of the church.

 

“Father Wachow!” an old lady in a black dress who was wearing a hat with plenty of feathers said.

“Misses Stone!” he returned the greeting, smiling and shaking the old lady’s hand. Most of his parish who attended church for every mass were from the older generation. “How is Chloe doing?” he asked about the old lady’s severely ill granddaughter. “A little better, thank you for asking father. The doctors say she might be able to witness the upcoming Christmas at least for a last time.” She answered and Marcello accompanied her to her seat.

 

Then he noticed the demon in his human form. He had black hair now and all in all he looked much less impressive and just like every other guy as if he really was a human. Marcello went up to him:” Calvin there you are, I was searching for you already.” What got him a questioning look from Mister Portland who was a middle aged banker. “He is a new apprentice, he will become a priest soon but for now he’ll stay at our parish for a while.” The priest informed the man and the other smiled. “Nice to meet you.” The man commented and walked to his seat.

 

Marcello grabbed the demon by the wrist and pulled him with him into a backroom pressing him up against the wall, looking extremely stern and fierce:”You will sit there through the mass, won’t say anything and you won’t harm any of those people! If you lay a finger on one of those people under my protection I swear I find a way to make you regret that contract even more than I do! I hope that was clear enough.”

 

When it came to his parish, the church and the people who mattered to him he knew no fear anymore. He didn’t care how strong that demon might be and what he could do to him, he wanted the people to be safe. The young priest let go of the devil. “What is your name by the way? I doubt that it is Calvin but I have to call you something. I am Marcello Wachow by the way.” He wanted to know.

 

He was just about to grab the right robe for today’s mass as the church organ started to play. Marcello hurried and got himself dressed into the robe leaving the backroom without looking back at the demon another time.

[Z3N]

He was wearing a black biker jacket with a black shirt underneath. It had a V-shape so some of his chest was exposed depending how he was moving. He was wearing dark ripped jeans with a small chain hanging on it and combat boots to top it off. Several piercings were placed in his ears which he thought would be fun to have. Well, he had some piercings in the demon world before but not as flashy as these. He twisted his earring a little to make it fit better as it was annoying him by rubbing against his flesh. After a few turns it got back in place and he was all better.

 

Though when he actually took a look at the people he noticed that there were more than he expected there to be. Perhaps they just wanted to believe in something and this so-called god was the one to offer them a certain escape from reality. He just thought it was utter bullshit to believe in a non-existing person like those angels. It was not unusual for an angel to turn into a demon after he came to a conclusion that he was being lied to all the time. Angels had their ways of handling beings and it was not always a good thing. Sometimes he even wondered who were the bad guys now and then.

 

There were people from all ages. The youngest one was just a baby who got dragged into the church by his mother. He felt pity as he was forced to be quiet throughout this whole time. After all, people were not as tolerant to crying children in church and often got dead stares pointed towards them. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against one of the walls before he was being introduced by the priest. Raising an eyebrow as he was called Calvin all of the sudden. Not being able to respond as he was being greeted by a man. Smiling without any emotion towards the other before he was pulled away from the church.

 

As he was confused by this whole situation, he just let himself be dragged into a separated room. He didn’t think much about it as there was no actual harm in this. Once there, he was actually being slammed into the wall, though more likely pushed to it. The look on the priest his face got a little more serious before. It was not filled with anxiety this time but more with determination. He wondered as to why he got into that state since he hadn’t done anything wrong to begin with. A sigh escaped from his mouth as he realized that this was going to be quite a hassle after all.

 

When the other asked for his name, he paused as he thought about it. He probably didn’t want his demon name. ”Zhilin…” He said just before the priest walked out of the door. And there he was now with nothing to do. There was nothing to keep him busy just a few chairs and some old stuff that was laying around. He stood up and looked at the door. It wouldn’t hurt to go outside didn’t it. He wouldn’t do anything except some exploring. It’d be fine. He nodded to himself as if he was giving permission for himself.

 

However he waited for a while before making his way out, making sure that Marcello didn’t notice it and slid into the shadow to the outside world. Luckily there was another exit he could take inside of the church. His eyes widened as he was actually outside now. It was completely different, from the atmosphere around the people to the actual appearance. As he was fascinated by everything he seemed to have lost track of what he was supposed to do. He walked around a bit and the people greeted him once he passed by. Though he made sure that he stayed near the church.

 

There was one cat that came up to him, making him stop in his tracks and looked at the animal. It placed its paws on top of his legs and meowed towards him, making him chuckle at the sudden interaction. He sat down on the grass and lifted the animal up who seemed to be happy to have attention from someone. He was still at the domain of the church so the priest wouldn’t need to get worried sick about him, though he highly doubted that that was going to be the case. After all they didn’t have an all too good start with each other.

 

He placed it into his lap and rubbed over its fur. It was soft under his fingers making the both of them more relaxed. It even started to purr. But then a girl came running towards him with a relieved expression on her face. She plopped down on the grass on the opposite side of Zhilin who just looked at her. ”Thank you for holding my cat.” She said and pointed towards the animal he was holding. He made an O-form with his mouth as he now knew it wasn’t a stray. Yet didn’t do any movements to give it back to her, instead he kept doing what he did.

 

She didn’t seem to mind as she was just watching like a mother who was looking at her child playing with friends. ”Her name is Luna.” She mentioned. The cat had black smooth fur with white paws as if she was wearing socks. ”She likes to go out at night so that’s why she got that name.” She explained. ”Especially when the moon is up, she’s the most active then. It’s a bit annoying that she goes out of the house, but she always comes back so it’s not that big of a deal.”

 

Humming in return to her explanation, he eventually looked up at her. ”You seem to love her very much. I’m sure she does too.” He responded to her which made her blink a couple of times as she didn’t expect that of him. Eventually Luna got enough off the petting and went back to her owner, laying down next to her in the grass as if she was about to get tanned. The girl reached out her hand and introduced herself. ”I’m Kate, nice to meet you.” ”Zhilin.” And with that they shook hands.

 

After a short time, a woman came out of the church and walked straight towards Kate. Nagging to her as to why she didn’t come to the church to pray. Asking why she was rebelling now. Zhilin kept silent as he didn’t want to get into some unnecessary business that had to do with them. He already had enough trouble with handling one stubborn human, he didn’t feel like having more of them around him. Though he did consider getting a pet or something to keep him company. It was far better than humans.

[-Hideki-]

It was like the longest mass that he had ever held. Focussing on the actual subject was hard as somewhere in his mind he had that white haired man who had just turned into a black haired man and who was sitting in the backroom. But he kept to what he had prepared for today’s mass and the people seemed satisfied and happy with his preach.

 

Marcello had found out that he had a certain charisma after he had become a priest. Back as a teen he would have laughed if someone had called him charismatic. It was undeniable that he had something that kept the people coming to his church though. He was popular; his Christian youtube channel was rather popular among the believers as well and it made him happy that so many people considered what he had to say or deemed his speeches helpful. Giving strength to people like dying young Chloe and her family was the hardest and yet the most satisfying part of his job because he could take the fear away from people, making them happy even if they seeminly had nothing to be happy about. He created hope and he had wished for someone who had given him exactly that back when he had been younger.

 

When the devil sneaked outside it had made him lose track for a moment but he had managed to continue and overplay the little dropout. When the mass had ended he stood next to the door, shaking everyone’s hand, thanking them for attending church and wishing them a blessed day.

From his position he could see the demon on a bench and how he was cuddling with a cat. It felt weird to watch that because he knew what that person who looked like a human really was. What kind of evil creature would cuddle with kittens? He shook the hand of Misses Morgan and then saw how the red headed women went towards the bench scolding her daughter for not attending the mass.

 

He sighed as he had spoken with the concerned mother about that when she had come to him to cry about her problems just a week ago. Marcello had told her that she couldn’t force someone to find god and to believe and that people needed to accept god out of their free will but she apparently hadn’t quite understood. When he had shaken the last hand he went over to the both of them and he laid his hand on the shoulder of the woman. “Misses Morgan, I understand that you feel hurt and a little helpless facing the decisions of your daughter but as I have told you before you can’t make someone find their way to god and you can’t force someone to take your own path. Everyone has to find their own way.” He further explained to her that by trying to get her daughter back into the church, she would just create a greater distance between her daughter, herself and god. The young priest also told her the story of how he had tried to convince Jason to accept Jesus Christ and God in his life after he had found to the Christian believe back then. He also told her that he would have destroyed their friendship if he hadn’t come to realise that not everybody had to choose the same path and believe and that he should accept his friend how he was.

 

After helping out Misses Morgan with her little family problem he turned to the demon on the bench, letting himself sink next to him. “I didn’t know that monsters liked to cuddle and play with kittens?” he said, grinning amused. “Seeing you like that you looked like a cute man, almost innocent, it’s fascinating and ironic how deceiving pictures and moments can be.” The priest concluded and looked up into the sky. The sun was shining into his face and he took a deep breath before he stretched himself and moved his head from one side to the other. It made a little cracking sound.

While he wasn’t old he was not a teenager anymore either and sleeping on the ground wasn’t exactly the best thing to do.

 

Marcello just wanted to take a shower, have breakfast and then take a nap but he had a lot of things to do that couldn’t wait. At first he would take care of securing the church so he would drive to a security company. Maybe he would also by a nice guard dog? He wasn’t sure yet.

 

He thought for a moment whether he should leave the demon alone on the bench or take him with him and decided that it would be better to take him with him because the other wouldn’t fall out of his reach and it would give him a feeling of supposed control.

 

Marcello stood up from the bench and looked into the now blue eyes of the other man. “I’ll have to make some purchases, you’ll come with me.” he informed him and fished out his keys out of his pockets. When he pressed the button on the key the doors of a luxurious golden-painted car swung open.

 

The priest didn’t really like that he had such an ostentatious, hence noticeable car but the brand was one of the churches investors and they wanted the priest to always drive one of their new cars, it was product placement at its finest and Marcello actually promoted the car brand by driving around in it.

He didn’t want to complain though because owning a car, a car that was not stolen, and having an actual drivers licence had been completely unrealistic back in his street gang days were he had stolen cars and had driven them without a licence.

 

Marcello walked to his car, throwing the robe onto the backseats. “What are you waiting for Zhilin, we don’t have the whole day.” He called for the devil that he still needed a decent way get rid of. "We'll have to drop by the bakery first because I am hungry." he added and placed himself on the drivers seat waiting for the demon to enter the car.

[Z3N]

The woman was making quite the scene just because her daughter didn’t set the church as her first priority. A girl who knew what she was doing and wasn’t dragged into the abyss of this woman her mind, a dark place to be. Who knew what would happen if the older one snapped. He could easily make her go that far, using words to make her lose her mind slowly. Getting inside of her head so there was no escape from it. Being trapped inside of herself would be the scariest for someone to be in. Their nightmares and dreams coming true, making them unable to separate reality from fantasy. Losing her grip on the world and eventually losing herself due to his actions. Succumbing to his powers and mostly leaving this world soon after. It was easy to make them believe in things that weren’t true since it was human nature. They would believe the worst outcome more than the good, there was always a breaking point. By this woman it would be her daughter. If he would take her and make her attached to him, she wouldn’t be able to accept it. And once they leave each other, she would become an easy target.

 

However he refrained from doing so as he was bound to a priest who would high likely disapprove of it. After all they were his little followers. It almost seemed like they took him as the messenger of god while he was just reading those little stories in old books. Who knew how much was true, why didn’t a random person write it down because he thought it would be nice if people lived by it. What if… He sighed as the mother’s voice just went louder and louder until Marcello came in between.

 

Finally some peace for his ears. Kate seemed to be a little down because of it, making him hesitate about what to do next. He ruffled through her hair as she was near to crying. He hated to see the sight of people crying as he thought it was a sign of weakness, almost disgusting. ”If you ever need someone to talk to...” He commented and gave her a card where his phone number was written down upon. Yes, he had a cell phone. It was one of the gifts that he received from another demon who just came back, he never knew it would come in so handy as now.

 

The girl managed to smile a little as she received the small card and nodded out of appreciation. She took up Luna and made her way back to her home after saying goodbye. Though now he was left with an odd feeling. Why was he being so nice to her. He groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he let his head hang backwards. And then it came to him. She resembled one of his sisters, Pirech. The youngest one of the family. But he promised to himself that he wouldn’t get attached to anyone who was of no use to him. After all, there was a chance that he could escape from this curse, this contract that he made with a human.

 

The leaves started moving due to a sudden breeze going through, birds whistled as they were waving back and forth on the branches. The sun was still out and about, not giving any signs of backing down any moment. He had to squint his eyes as he wasn’t that used to such bright light shining upon him. It never shone as brightly. The dying flame inside of his heart was the same. His interest for combat drifted away and just played around with his sisters. He could easily see through the enemy and plan ahead. He’d always make a plan B just in case and that was why he was undefeated for ages. It became a routine, nothing special. Nothing that actually made him pay attention anymore and eventually he stayed out of the fields. There was no challenge anymore. He felt guilty about becoming this way towards his late brother Tedohr, but there was no escape. Even his family noticed already. A demon with no goal.

 

When Marcello came back and said to go with him, Zhilin just nodded silently. The other seemed unusually calm right now though the comment about him playing around with the cat and looking cute made him almost choke in the air. ”You saw that…” He muttered as he didn’t think the priest would look at that moment. What an embarrassing it must have been. As they walked towards the car, he didn’t expect to see a golden one standing there. And when it was opened, he gave a disapproving look towards Marcello before he got in. ”Or you really have bad taste or you’re forced to drive this.” He commented to the other as he made himself comfortable in the chair. He didn’t even bother to wear his seatbelt as he wouldn’t get hurt in this world, not seriously.

 

Once the car started he blinked several times and watched how the other drove this thing with uttermost care. Being a fast learner was one of his advantages. His eyes got back to the road after a little while and stared into the distance. ”Why are you so against demons?” He asked out of the blue as if his mind was speaking for him. He wanted to know an answer on that question but he could somewhat guess what it’d be. It was the only question he asked during the ride as he didn’t feel like talking too much. He didn’t want to get kicked out of the vehicle after all even if it wouldn’t kill him. It’d be troublesome to find the other again while he would just be able to get a ride.

 

As they arrived at the shop, he got out and stretched himself out. ”So what are we going to get? Guns? or another baseball bat?” He asked in a mocking way.

[-Hideki-]

Marcello rolled his eyes annoyed when the other felt the need to comment on the car that had been designed for those rich people who wanted everyone else to know that they were filthy rich. It was a symbol of abundance and in the priests eyes people who usually bought stuff like that were guilty of the deadly sin of gluttony.

“Neither! Nobody forces me to drive this car and if you even considered that this would be my personal taste your talent of accurate observation and evaluation seems to not be as great as you think it is kitty-boy.” He replied to the comment. “I drive this car because I get something for driving it in return. It is a deal. A rather fair one I chose to agree on.”

 

Now he at least liked something about his car. He liked that the demon disliked it. It was a childish thought but then again both of them had acted somewhat childishly towards each other from the start and there was no sign of their communication getting any better. The priest said nothing and just drove his car. He had a risky and fast driving style and often got a speeding ticket.

The fact that his golden shiny car had an engine that could have been put into a racing car didn’t make him get any less tickets. The local traffic policeman always laughed when he stopped Marcello because he thought it was hilarious that a priest would drive like a member of a street racing gang.

 

When he saw the smile of the policeman – which often made Marcello wish he wasn’t celibate – in his mind’s eye Zhilin asked him a question. The priest laughed at the question because he thought that the reason was quite obvious and yet it was a fair question to ask.

“Instead of wording it like that you could ask: Why do you hate murder, violence, greed, vanity, jealousy, arrogance, intrigues, corruption, betrayal, cheating, cruelty, sadism, lies, egoism, hate, anger, laziness, atrocities etc. etc.” the blond started to answer. “Demons, as I understood the teachings, are the personifications of the human’s worst character traits. And those traits are what I am fighting against. And if demons are those traits, they are humankind’s greatest enemy.” He explained and then returned the question. “Why do you look down on me and other humans?” he asked not thinking that the other would actually give him an answer or would take him any more serious than he had before.

 

Marcello parked the car in front of the bakery and attempted to go inside when the demon tried to mock him again. “Food, obviously as I don’t intent to buy a gun at the bakery. When you listen, you know things, when you don’t listen, your problem.” He shrugged and stepped inside of the bakery.

 

The lady behind the counter greeted the priest friendly and by name as she was a part of his parish who would always attempt church at all Catholic holidays and when her appointment book would let her also on regular Sundays. She asked him who the demon was and Marcello told her the same he had told Mister Portland just not introducing him as Calvin anymore but as Zhilin. He hated that he had to lie to her and he would ask god for forgiveness about it but he had no other choice as to lie about that in order to not endanger his parish or himself.

 

He bought a bagel and a muffin for later, asked Zhilin if he wanted anything and then got back into his car now to go to the security company. Marcello wouldn’t buy a gun, he didn’t need more guns as he already had his gun and some weapons Jone’s weapon corner had given to him to try out and recommend. The priest wouldn’t recommend weapons to his parish, so he had never tried them out nor recommended them. He also had no intention to shoot with a machine gun at the occultists.

The priest would get a security system, maybe new secure doors or some lasers though and of course he would buy the guard dog as he really had come to like that idea. That occultist’s wouldn’t summon another smug arrogant demon onto earth in the cellar of his church.

 

Marcello parked his car on the parking area of the security company and he could already hear dogs barking. His golden car didn’t even catch the eye next to the other luxurious cars that were parked there. He went for the entrance not caring whether Zhilin followed him or not. The employees of the company didn’t know who Marcello was, unlike the lady at the bakery, but they could tell he was a Christian priest and it became quite sure that they didn’t really know how to act around him as priests weren’t their usual clientele.

 

“Hello,” the model like looking woman with the black hair, the short dress and the high-heels said unsure what kind of honorific to use for a priest so she thought she should play it safe and address him as every other man, just that she wouldn’t flirt with him. She offered him her hand:”....Sir and welcome! Please sit there for a minute the boss is still in a conversation with another client. He will take time for you as soon as possible.”

 

Marcello shook her hand saying “Thank you.” before he took his place in one of those designer armchairs that looked like gigantic black leather hands. He could now see how the beautiful woman turned to Zhilin, telling him to sit next to his friend but she openly and shamelessly flirted with the demon. The priest looked at the scene disapprovingly, crossing his arms while turning his attention towards the waterspout fountain the company had in its entrance hall.

[Z3N]

When he heard the response as to why he disliked humans, he could somewhat see the logic in his answer. It was true but not to the extent that they would only have those traits, they still had some “humanity” inside of themselves even though they let that past behind. Demons were not born like this, the first ones were humans. However due to jealousy, wrath, narcissism, etc. taking over, they got reborn as demons. The worst ones. Some were murderers, others psychopaths, others liars. Some people couldn’t resist evil until the end so it consumed them. Leaving bitterness and loneliness inside of their hearts, one that was supposed to never be filled again. An endless suffering until one would be slain and released from their body. They didn’t go to the afterlife, they just simply vanished into the nothingness. A salvation for many, but not everybody wanted to end their lives until they reached a certain goal. It depended on their willpower and if they still wanted to move on or not. Those were the firstborns. Only a handful of them still exist. Zhilin his father was one of them, the son of the strongest being in the underworld.

 

But the question that he got in return, made him think about it honestly for a moment. ”They’re weak.” He responded curtly. It was a contradictory since his father was a human once so he would think of him as weak, but it was different with him. He tried to change after having spent time in the underworld. He missed human contact and the warm hearts they had even though he didn’t see it at first. Yet, he didn’t allow himself to return back there as if he was punishing himself for becoming the way he was. He was a strong man, one that Zhilin looked up to. Even though he was never a human at first, he could somewhat relate to the man. The longing of having some attention that was unlike in hell. Though he would never admit it if anyone would ask.

 

Well, now that he was a bit outside, he already felt a lot better. Humming to Marcello who said to buy something sweet since they were at a bakery. It was his first time to see one in real life and it was fascinating. It looked pretty different from where he came from. There the building would not be a building but a small cart that they pushed around which had all the necessary stuff in it to make some nice stuff. The only actual buildings were meant for fine dining, the more expensive kind of food. The food that was less expensive had a food truck with some tables around it or they would share a building and fuse it together into something extraordinary. He had to admit that they were much better than the expensive ones. Something he didn’t have in common with his siblings. It just tasted better there.

 

Zhilin followed the human inside of the shop and took a quick look around. The smell of the sweets, fresh baked bread and other things wafted through the air and made their way to his nose. It was so nice. He didn’t think anything here would make him feel hungry from just smelling it in the first place. He looked at the lady who greeted Marcello in a friendly manner, making him think that they probably knew each other. Giving her a nice smile which made her somewhat blush by his sudden action. Chuckling before pointing towards a bagel with salmon on it. Once received, he would take a bite from it and his eyes widened at the taste. It was so good. A completely different flavour from what they had at his home. With that, they went to the next place in silence.

 

This building looked more plain than the others, less appealing as well. Despite the good looking cars, it was a bummer. Sitting down next to Marcello just as the woman asked of him, though her attitude was quite different to him than to the priest. He shot some compliments to her, making her even more excited than she already was. Her cleavage was more visible once she bent over a little as she whispered something in his ear. Of course he wasn’t going to avert his eyes as she did it on purpose. Why would he even do so if he was allowed to. Her cherry red lips opened and closed as she articulated every word carefully, making him feel amused. He played around with her a bit more before she had to go away. He groaned once she was gone and crossed his arms as he knew what kind of woman she was now.

 

”Don’t let me get involved with her…” He commented to Marcello with a wry smile. ”She’s one of those people that once she doesn’t get what she wants, she’ll turn into a complete psycho.” He didn’t care if the other listened or not, it was more like he was making a note to himself in order to not forget. But just as he was about to relax in the chair a little, he had this alarming feeling. Making him stand up as he looked around cautiously, eventually looking through the window and there he saw a man standing, looking up to where Zhilin was situated. His whole face went completely blank once he caught sight of the other.

 

”Is it important what you have to do here?” He asked Marcello, looking straight at him as he walked up to him. ”If not, just move your appointment, I’ll deal with it for you.” He said a bit more urgent as the window started to have stripes of ice on them. They were barely visible but it was there for sure. His dark blue eyes, started to shift into a more light blue colour, warning the other that he was not joking around right now.

 

Meanwhile in front of the building, two more people gathered and it seemed that they were now complete. Of course, demons didn’t need much power to deal with humans but three demons against one was a little unfair and Zhilin didn’t know if his human would leave unscratched if it were to break out in a fight. Well, it was going to come to that point since they didn’t seem really ‘friendly’.

[-Hideki-]

Marcello had laughed about the explanation of the demon as to why the other hated and looked down on humans as he deemed it pathetic. Hating someone for merely the lack of physical strength was the perception of a small-mind in his eyes. The priest thought that a man’s greatness and strength wasn’t judged by how he treated the ones above and stronger than him but those beneath him, the weakest people in a society.

 

The opinion the priest had had of the demon sank even lower now and he had just laughed condescendingly at the others words, shaking his head dismissingly.

He smirked when the black haired demon now told him that he shouldn’t let him get involved with the pretty woman who had approached him before.

“You’re asking me to keep you from making a mistake?” he asked but still looked at the waterspout fountain. “Don’t you have any self-discipline and self-control? Not being able to control the own urges and going after every opportunity of pleasure is my definition of weakness, it is the weakness of the character. For someone who hates the weak, you seem extremely weak old chap.” the blond commented, snorting.

 

They sat there quietly for a while when a door opened and Marcello saw the boss of the company saying goodbye to his client. The priest stood up from his seat and walked towards the incredibly well-dressed man. He was tall, had blond hair, green eyes and a bright smile on his face. “Good day padre, I’m Ragnar Hansen, if you’d follow me!” he greeted the Priest when father Wachow heard the voice of the demon behind him. He didn’t turn around and just said:”Yes, it is important. You can wait here; you don’t have to accompany me during the appointment, no worries.”

 

With those words he saw how Ragnar Hansen touched the receptionist’s arse telling her to get him and his guest a drink and then disappeared after the taller male into the boss’s office.

Just like the entrance hall the office was modern and high-polished white. Just the chairs were black. Marcello described his problems to the man and Hansen seemed optimistic. “That’s no problem. We will turn your church into the safest building in the city. Our company even protects schools and kindergartens from Islamists, those occultists aren’t even a challenge for us. And before we’ve installed everything that you need, we’ll send you enough men who will keep the church safe 24/07, it’s included in our services with no extra charge. Sounds good?” he asked and Marcello nodded.

 

“And what about the guard dog?” he asked. The boss of the company smiled. “Easy, padre! You just go outside, follow the way into the backyard and one of the dog trainers will see that you get just the right dog.” He assured him and then turned to the two men who were staying at the door. “Björn, can I see the church and its environment please and Shin, call Köster’s office and make an appointment for the padre for today.” He said and the priest saw how the two men who had stood there like lifeless object the whole time before did what their boss told them to do. The black haired guy made the phone call and the other used a device that apparently was integrated into his wristwatch that projected a smaller version of his church and its surroundings into the room.

 

It didn’t take long and then Marcello could leave the office again. The guy, Mister Köster, would arrive at the church at 6pm and would examine the church closely to figure out the best systems to secure it. The priest’s mood had lit up a little but it dropped again immediately when he entered the hall again and saw the ice on the window. It was summer and not only that, he also felt that something just wasn’t right, that something was up.

 

Now he remembered the sudden strange acting of the demon and he took a deep breath. If something was wrong, why didn’t that idiot tell him that and not just ask whether the appointment was important or not? How was he supposed to understand what was going on then? It was not like he was familiar with the whole situation. His hands formed fists when he stared at the window and he could feel how a lump was building in his throat.

[Z3N]

Zhilin clicked his tongue in annoyance as the priest was oblivious about his urgent callout. It was not exactly something for him to do, but they hadn’t been around each other for so long so it was to be expected that this would happen. Instead of dragging the other with him, he just silently agreed and let the other go to his meeting. After all, he didn’t want the guy to be in too much trouble after a short while even though they’d probably find out the master anyway. But, for now he wanted to keep it on a low radar. The priest already had a lot of troublesome things on his hand so he didn’t feel like putting more on his shoulder. Weird. But since he had been in the army he learned to take care of his soldiers.

 

Once Marcello disappeared into a room, he ignored the woman from before and walked out of the building. Swiftly making his way down the stairs and with utter ease, he made his way to the two demons who were standing there out in the open. Of course they had the appearance of a human to keep it low key but there was this feeling of danger that nobody could really ignore. Women and men hurried their way past them so they didn’t have to deal with them. He could even smell a bit of fear coming from them, the stronger the scent, the better they became. It was a bad thing, but it was just the way demons were. No exceptions. These two were eyeing Zhilin, or rather Farzahl, cautiously as they didn’t know what to expect from a master in combat. Gaining his strength over the ages that passed by, some skill that they couldn’t acquire easily.

 

One of the two seemed to be amused by all of this. A brown haired, young man who was wearing a hoodie and some ripped jeans. The other was dressed in suit and had red hair. ”Well, well. I didn’t think I’d find you so soon in this place.” The brown haired one said with a mocking tone as if he didn’t put any research into any of this. ”Oh well, you probably already now about your limitations don’t you. Being all… chained up and everything. It’s almost like BDSM if you think about it. Everyone has their own fetish so it wouldn’t be weird if that was one of yours.” The boy ticked Farzahl off even more than the priest. His eye twitching by every sentence as if he had a tick. It was only to refrain himself for killing them right there but as the boy said, he had limitations due to the contract. One that even he couldn’t overcome that easily. He gritted his teeth but didn’t do anything despite the provoking.

 

The brown one didn’t seem too happy with the reaction he received and got angry. ”Oh, so you’re still going to pretend to be the big guy here. Well, I’ll finish this quickly than so the royals can see that they’re worth nothing.” He yelled and lunged towards Farzahl who dodged the attack barely. It was annoying that he couldn’t use his strength to its fullest but he didn’t think it would be this bad. He took in a deep breath before taking a better stance. This time the red head attacked, swinging his fist right at Farzahl his face, who blocked it was his hand and twisted it around so the guy would be put in a lock. The brown one however kicked Farzahl his knees so he was forced to let the other go. A shot of pain going through his body because of the impact. He then got kicked on the head as he didn’t get up fast enough, his ears ringing.

 

”Hmmm, I thought you’d be stronger than this. Perhaps your little master is better than you? Should I go find him?” The boy said with a big grin, pissing Farzahl off by the thought of it. ”Haah, I guess you leave me no choice.” He said and went up against the two of them. A lot of punched were received and blocked, blood was spilled and groans were to be heard. It lasted for a good while before the fight was about to come to an end. Both sides were not about to leave unscratched. But just as the brown haired boy was about to stab him with a dagger he hid underneath his jacket, Farzahl reacted quickly enough and stabbed the owner of it instead. His other hand on the guy his throat, making flames rise from his hands until the force was strong enough to bring him to ashes. The red head however managed to teleport away from the scene before Farzahl could stop him.

 

”How annoying.” He groaned before he squatted down next to the ashes. A clean stabwound on his left shoulder, blood dripped from his nose, and a few scratches were visible on his face. He coughed up some blood that was probably from a punch from earlier. Sighing as he didn’t think he’d be in such a pinch with lower demons than he was. He rubbed the back of his neck as he sat there, trying to get rid of the pain while his wounds slowly started to heal. It was not as fast as normal but it was working. Luckily everybody was too busy with their work and didn’t really pay attention to their surroundings. There was a passer-by but he pretended to not see anything.

 

He slowly got up from the ground and staggered around until he was able to lean against a wall of the building. Realizing that the red head would bring more reinforcement for the next time they’d find him. He’d have to get stronger in order to survive and protect his master.

[-Hideki-]

Suddenly Marcello felt roaring pain in his shoulder. It was like thunder striking his body down. The priest held his shoulder with his hand and closed his eyes for a moment when a huge hand was put onto his shoulder and he could hear Ragnar Hansen’s voice asking:”Are you alright padre?”

The blond cleric nodded trying to normalise his expression but soon grabbed his nose because it felt like he had just gotten punched in his face.

 

He smiled at the confused boss of the security company, waving goodbye when he was heading for the door. Marcello had felt much greater pain before but this was just too odd. He sure would have thought that something was wrong with him if he didn’t know that he was connected to the demon, hence felt the pain the other was feeling if he got hurt. For a moment he asked himself whether that only applied to pain or to pleasure as well. It was a somewhat exciting thought that made him curious but it got blacked out by something that felt like a fist was treating his stomach with one punch after the other.

And this time it seemed like god himself had send the pain to punish him for his impure and weak thoughts even though he knew that the pain was solely addressed to Zhilin and he was only feeling it because they were connected.

 

He made it out of the building without hunching with pain another time and he saw nothing than a little blood on the ground and the demon leaning on the wall, obviously wounded.

So something bad really had happened. It angered him that the other hadn’t clearly said that he was in trouble and on the other hand he felt a little worried and noticed the urge to protect his demon. Even though he hated being bound to him, it was still his demon after all.

Marcello tried to persuade himself into thinking that he only cared for the others misery because he was feeling the pain himself and that this was the only reason he cared but it wasn’t. The young priest always had had a protective nature.

 

The blond walked up to the demon pressing a handkerchief into his hand to stop the blood flow from his nose with. “So you are in trouble?” he said. “How about you let me know what the problem is instead of saying some vague shit and asking me whether my appointment was important or not next time?” The blond looked displeased and sighed. “Whom have you fought and why?”

 

He looked into the others face closely examining him. “Since you claimed to hate the physically weak I assume you haven’t a problem at all to accompany me to the backyard looking for a guard dog to buy, have you?” Wachow asked rhetorically when he walked pass the demon and around the building. When he arrived at the backyard he saw a huge terrain that was surrounded by a bard wire fence. It looked cold and sprawling. The barking of the dogs was way louder than before and when he came near to the gate he pressed the bell and waited for a person to arrive.

 

A buff, tall man with red hair and a full beard stood before them a few seconds later, wanting to know what they wanted. He was grumpy and didn’t seem all too keen of their appearance. That changed when Marcello informed him that he wanted to buy a guard dog. The red head turned out to be one of the dog trainers named Nils. And Nils let them in, greeted them shortly and then started to talk about dogs and wanted to know what exactly Marcello was searching for before he showed him his dogs.

[Z3N]

Zhilin spit some blood to the ground and groaned as he noticed the small dot of red on the ground. Human bodies sure were weak. His hair covered almost all of his eyes the way he was standing there, not feeling like being looked at in this state. But then the priest just had to come to him. It was annoying to look at that human his face at that time, wanting it to be anybody except for him. He didn’t lift his head up and merely shrugged about the questions as the other wasn’t really interested in his wellbeing nor the reason why he was attacked. It was most certainly because of the pain he had felt before because of the fighting. He couldn’t think of the priest to actually be worried. The mere thought was amusing.

 

”Let’s just say this’ll happen again.” He responded curtly before straightening his back. There was a small sizzle on the scratches, disappearing at sight as they weren’t that difficult to heal even in this world. When the other mentioned a guard dog, he let out a deep sigh as this would mean even more trouble. He wouldn’t need to look out for the human but now a dog as well. Did he really want to make his life sickening or what was his plan. The bleeding of his nose had already stopped and the bruises healed nicely. Nothing serious that one had to worry about. Well, the handkerchief helped a little but he wasn’t going to admit that.

 

As they walked around the building, Zhilin cleaned himself up though the small tears in his shirt couldn’t be fixed right now. He didn’t have an ability for that. When they arrived, he saw a lot of dogs doing their thing behind a fence. Some were eating, some barking like crazy and others were asleep or didn’t give a damn about this all. He went closer, ignoring the red head who came to greet Marcello all too friendly. His eyes were now focused on one particular dog who had a mean face and barked towards the red head and the priest. Only when Zhilin was in a close proximity he took notice.

 

Zhilin had a wicked grin on his lips as the dog reminded him of something. ”You would fit the name Cerberus completely.” He said as he couldn’t look away from the animal who became oddly silent once Zhilin spoke. It didn’t seem like it was a normal thing for the dog as the red head couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the two with a confused expression. He placed his hand on the fence and of course he felt a light shock running through his body, but instead of it hurting, he solely felt an adrenaline rush kicking through. Shivers ran up his spine as it felt nice.

 

”Let’s get this one.” He said to Marcello, looking towards the other with a serious expression for a second before returning his attention back to the animal. The fence wasn’t too high so instead of waiting for the other to open the door, he placed his hand on a safe spot and hopped over as if he was jumping over a rope. He picked up the dog which was a Caucasian Shepherd. Though it was more like putting the dog on his back paws and holding it into a hug. The dog barked in agreement, well he hoped that it was that.

 

However because a paw got stuck in his shirt, the dog ripped it open, making quite the sound when it did. Zhilin paused and looked at the damage that was done. ”I need a new shirt now…” He muttered under his breath before putting the dog back down who went to lay on the ground. Three clean scars were to be seen on the right side of his chest. Almost as if a wolf put his claws into him during a hunt. The red head opened the door cautiously, making sure that Marcello wouldn’t be attacked since it would be bad for business otherwise.

 

But then Zhilin got a text message, making him read it once received. It was from Kate who seemed to need someone to talk to as her mother was on another rampage. His face got oddly dark, almost like the devil he was in the underworld. ”I have to go.” He said and wrote down his number on a piece of paper before giving it to Marcello. With that he ran off into the direction where the other asked to meet. He was surprised though that it was inside of a bar. Especially since she still wasn’t allowed to drink.

 

It only took about 10 minutes before he arrived at the place thanks to his more advanced abilities. He pushed the door open and saw her sitting at a table with a boy who seemed to be hitting on her without her agreement. Zhilin chuckled and walked over, grabbing the boy by his collar, making him stand on his feet. Instead of throwing him the other side, he leaned in closer and whispered some sweet words that weren’t so innocent. Blowing into his ear before letting him go, the other stumbled away with one hand covering his ear. Kate being stunned at the sudden sight. He chuckled before they went into a more meaningful discussion. Well, it was distracting him so it was fine.

 

It mainly contained about her mother nagging about not cleaning up her room, not helping to do chores, her grades that weren’t top notch, not being allowed to have a part-time job and so on. He nodded once in a while as to make it seem that he was listening. He took a sip from a Classic Sazerac, the drink cooling off his insides. It was more difficult for him to actually get drunk unless he would pour one bottle of strong liquor inside of him in one go. But then he would be completely drunk.

 

The boy from before came back silently and tapped Zhilin his shoulder with a faint blush on his cheeks. But before he could even utter a word, Zhilin pulled him close and kissed him slowly. Feeling the slightest trembles of the other when his hand was placed on the boy his neck. Chuckling once they separated again. With that, the boy stormed out, almost crying. Kate once again blinked at Zhilin as she wasn’t used to see that kind of scene happening. ”It’s an innocent joke.” He commented with a mischievous expression on his face.

[-Hideki-]

The answer he had got didn’t satisfy him, it actually pissed him off a little and he would make sure to get the real answer after he had chosen a dog. While Nils informed him about the basics of keeping and training a guard dog Zhilin strolled off and apparently found a dog that was to his liking. And of course it was the one dog who was aggressive towards Marcello as well as Nils. The blond man rolled his eyes once again but didn’t say anything regarding the suggestion to take the Caucasian Shepherd that for some weird reason seemed to like the demon.

 

It was clear to the priest that he certainly wouldn’t buy that dog, even Nils didn’t think this was a good choice and subtly pushed to look at some other dogs first as well, when the demon suddenly announced that he had to leave. Marcello smelled trouble again but before he could say something the other had run off on him. The priest’s hands formed fists. “That guys a fucking douche.” He commented more to himself than to anyone else but Nils heard it for sure. “He seems to be rather disrespectful indeed. How come that someone like him is accompanying you?” the ginger asked, making Marcello sigh. “I saved him from the street gang he was in.” He lied. “That explains his behaviour but he didn’t look like a gang member, are you sure?” This sentence made the blond smile. How did a gang member even look like? Was there a way they usually looked? Did he look like one?

“He was in one of those gangs in a larger city that say they want to take back their district from other people.” he added and the red head seemed surprised. “Why do you help someone like this? He sure doesn’t deserve it.” Nils told him and the blond man laughed a dry laugh:”I believe in second chances and forgiveness.”

 

After that conversation they focussed back on the dogs and after a while Marcello had decided to take a Rottweiler and a Dogo Canario who were a splendid team according to the ginger. The priest trained with the dogs for a while and Nils taught him everything he needed to know, before he left the backyard together with the two dogs.

 

Letting the dogs sit on the backseat of his car he drove to mayor Cole afterwards and as always hadn’t had much luck with the libertarian. He wasn’t even sure who was a greater pain in his arse, the demon or the mayor. He decided to declare it a tied game and went back to the church to be there when that Köster would arrive.

 

Mister Köster arrived punctually at 6pm and it took him quite some time to inspect the church and to discuss his solutions with the young priest. Köster also seemed to be fond about the dogs he had just bought so he got distracted a few times. When he was about to end the conversation with Köster in front of the church he suddenly felt something soft and hot on his lips for a few seconds. It was as if he had just kissed someone and it made him bite his lip. So that was so important for that demon to do, making out with strangers somewhere. While it made him even madder at Zhilin it also answered the question he had had before since that meant that he was able to feel the pleasure the other man felt as well.

 

Now he didn’t find it that exciting anymore since it wasn’t less odd than the sudden pain, just less painful and more pleasant. But it still wasn’t the real deal and actually it made him want to kiss and hold someone again and that he wasn’t allowed to do.

“Dry lips?” Köster commented and Marcello remembered that he was still talking to the other man. “What? Yes, unfortunately.” The priest commented and got some advices from the other before the man left.

 

It didn’t take long for the security to arrive and Marcello could already see that they weren’t just body guards but obviously some paramilitary group. He would leave it to them to secure the church and while he was looking at them he remembered the slogan of the security company:”We protect you where our state fails!” In times like these their boss would probably be a multimillionaire soon or he already was one.

 

The priest went back into his house where he read another pile of books about exorcism and he still couldn’t find a solution for his particular problem. Sometimes he would look outside and see the guard dogs and the security company’s troops that secured the area. His church looked like a prison now but it was the only way to keep the occultists from the cellar, so he would bear with it.

 

After he had eaten for dinner he turned on the TV, watched some news, got angry about the news, watched a political talk show and saw that they didn’t address any real problems but were all talking the same old bullshit that didn’t lead anywhere again and frustratedly turned out the TV.

Not long after that, at 11 pm he went to sleep because he was still tired from not really sleeping the night before.

 

Marcello’s bedroom was also full with statues of angels, just like his living room was. It also had a giant oil painting of the Last Supper on the wall. The only non religious decoration in the room was a picture that showed him and Jason when he was about fifteen. His hair had been incredibly short and he was wearing a short sleeved shirt, showing off his tattoos.

That aspect he didn’t like about the photo that he had made at a concert and that had captured one of his better memorise from back then.

 

The priest never wore short sleeved shirts or went into public pools. And while he sometimes talked about his past in a vague way to his parish no one knew in what kind of gang he had been and that he had been in a gang at all. He didn’t want anyone to know that about him. He also didn’t want to publically show off the tattoos as he hated them and he also knew that for many people they were insulting. He still didn’t know why that doctor had saved his life regardless of what he apparently had been. Marcello had actually asked the man and he had said to him that he was a doctor and not a judge and that it was his job and duty to save lives and not judge whether someone deserved to live or not. He even had expressed happiness about the gang member’s survival what had left Marcello completely speechless and baffled.

 

The blond male undressed, as he only slept in briefs like he had done back when he and Jason had shared an apartment. Sometimes they would have even been completely naked.

Marcello was rather toned and not only his arms but his whole chest was full of tattoos. Under his collar bones one could read ‘Brotherhood’ another one showed a skull, he had signs, symbols of his former gang, a knight, a snake and everything was made so that it fit together. The only things that disturbed the picture were thick scars and plenty of them.

Even though he hated to have the tattoos he had to give the guy who had made them that he had been an incredible artist before some other guy from another gang had shot him in the head.

 

His sleep was disturbed by the sudden feeling of falling onto stone and hitting the ground. He then felt like someone would press him down so that he couldn’t move, but he actually could.

When he opened his eyes he saw bright light coming in through the window. A few minutes later someone was knocking at his door screaming.

 

The young man covered himself in his Star Wars bathrobe and put on some sneakers when he opened the door and saw a tall brunette man in front of him. “I think we got one of your occultists father!” the security man said and Marcello followed him outside, always checking that the bathrobe was completely closed and wouldn’t reveal a tattoo.

 

When they arrived at the place they had pinned down the supposed occultist like a terrorist, all guns pointed at the man’s head. Marcello saw Zhilin lying on the floor. The priest sighed irritated and tried to keep his composure. He took a deep breath before he said:”This is not an occultist. This is my apprentice.” It took a moment but then the men at least took the guns down. “We thought the way that he looked he could easily be an occultist.” The brown haired man said and Marcello closed his blue eyes for a second. “Really? So every second teenager and wanna be rockstar in his twenties looks like an occultist to you?” he asked making the man scratch his head a little embarrassed.

 

Marcello pulled Zhilin up from the floor and gripped the other’s upper arm strongly and tightly.

He dragged him with him, his face showing rage. By that time he was so angered about Zhilin that he even overheard and didn’t care about the muttering about suspecting the priest to be gay from the security men.

 

He shoved the demon inside of his house, smashing the door close right after them. The clock showed that it was 2am.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You self-entitled, egocentric bitch!” he screamed holding him at his collar. “I have the damn right to know what trouble you’re in as it affects the both of us. We are bound to each other in case you haven't noticed what means that regardless of if we want to or not we have to live together and that only works through cooperation and communication. Even allies in a war have to cooperate and keep an eye on each other. One has to know what the other does and one can’t just do whatever he wants to do without informing the other party. It’s not like I am happy about that either but that is how it is.” Marcello started to get it out of his system.

 

“So stop acting like a fucking spoiled, narcissistic rude teenage brat that has no sense of responsibility you damn arsehole. Like that you are a mere pain in the arse. I am fed up with this! I am a priest not a bloody baby-sitter and I don’t care for your antics so no more stupid games as I am not a fan of those.” The blond man added and punched hard against the wall next to the demons head making some plaster come off. The priest didn’t punch him in his face as the only thing that he would have achieved with this would have been actually punching himself in the face as well. He was a physically strong man and even though he had become a priest he still trained his body. At this point his bathrobe had revealed the skull on his chest and a part of the word ‘Brotherhood’.

 

Marcello stroked his blond hair out of his face and looked into Zhilin’s eyes sternly. “You will tell me everything regarding that fight! You will always tell me if something is up that could possibly affect me straight away! And you will stay reachable for me and not run off to who knows where without informing me beforehand, as I don’t care to face the consequences for your doing that you haven’t spoken through with me before, understood !?” He demanded and then let go of the others collar.

 

After he had cooled down a little again he turned around saying:”I’ll go back to sleep in a while again. You will stay inside and either go to sleep yourself or sit somewhere and behave for a change.” Marcello shook his head at all of this.

[Z3N]

Kate just looked in amusement towards Zhilin who made a boy run off with just a mere kiss. He didn’t feel anything about it, it was just a plain old kiss that happened in the heat of the moment. His eyes became colder the more he stayed around here, noticing the differences within these humans. They were more outgoing, they talked friendly, they embraced those they cared about, sprouting words of love towards their dearest. It made him feel… empty. For a demon it was only normal to feel out of place yet there was this sense of longing that made him feel like he didn’t have everything in his life. As if he wasn’t allowed to enjoy his time here on Earth.

 

The smell of alcohol and perfume swirled through the air, a nice scent. One that meant pleasure and being social with others. Having a nice time with friends and family, eating some good food while they were watching a game on the television that was hanging on the wall. The wooden tables and chairs that creaked once in a while, depending on how old the things were. The clock ticked slowly by as if it was counting down for something. The bartender showed off his skills as he was making the drinks for the customers. It looked good. Especially the cocktails that he presented to a group of friends with mixed gender. They seemed to be having the time of their life and as he looked closer, it looked like they were having a Birthday party. It had been a while since he got one of those things. He was still young when they did so but as soon as he became older and his siblings arrived, they didn’t do that much for him anymore. Only a sweet treat despite not being a fan of sweetness.

 

Now that he thought about it, his parents always treated him differently from the others for some reason, he had yet to discover the reason behind it. But honestly, he wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to know the truth. The differences in appearance between him and his siblings were pretty noticeable as well so he had thought about having another mother as he didn’t look anything like her. Perhaps his biological mother died before he could actually remember her clearly. It was a possibility. Not all demons were as strong as the other and it wasn’t usual for her to die after giving birth to her child. It depended on how strong her mate was. Seeing that his father was one of the strongest in the underworld, it was realistic. However he didn’t know why his father never brought it up despite him being sure about it.

 

With a snap of Kate her fingers, he was brought back to the bar that they were in. He blinked at her action which made her gesture towards some new people that arrived. Two new girls and a boy. They all seemed to still be in high school which was the case as she introduced them to him. He greeted them politely yet void of any emotion as he honestly didn’t feel like caring anymore. Kate seemed to have lightened her heart as well. They all chatted ever so happy with one another as Zhilin just sat with them like a guard. Eventually after about half an hour he had enough of it and said his goodbye to the others.

 

The gust of wind made him feel refreshed once he went outside. His eyes closed themselves for mere seconds and with that, he started moving again. He had a feeling that the priest wouldn’t get the dog that he chose which was not that hard to predict. It wouldn’t take long before he remembered that his shirt was ripped up because of that dog, making him run a hand over his face as nobody felt like mentioning it before and he just sat there with his front exposed. Well, he at least gave them some kind of show to look at when they had nothing better to do.

 

He aimlessly walked around the town, taking in the scenery around him as he didn’t feel like doing anything else. He just wanted to be left alone. But he still stopped by a small box where sound came from. Out of curiosity he opened the thing and saw a small kitten sitting inside of it. Squatting down in front of it, he reached out with a finger so the kitten wouldn’t be too taken aback. Once it started to sniff and didn’t do anything, Zhilin petted the animal gently. ”I guess we’re the same right now.” He said with an empty smile. He stayed still like that before he felt a light tap on his shoulder from a pretty young woman. Her eyes on the kitten with a longing stare. ”They abandoned him.” He commented monotonously which made her face go into a more dark expression, a mix of anger and sadness. They talked for a bit and eventually she made the decision to take the animal home with her.

 

All by himself again, he moved on. The sky became darker and more people started to make their way home. It was like time pushed the fast forward button and everything seemed to pass by in a flash without him being able to do anything. Finally, he decided to go back home as he checked his cell phone. It was nearing the 2am mark.

 

On his walk back to the house of the priest, he thought about his siblings. And honestly they didn’t really see him like a member of the family. The sisters used him as a sparring partner, the second oldest only talked to him in convenience, the third was all over the place and didn’t really care for anyone. Bitxal (second oldest) even made an attempt to get rid of Zhilin before but luckily due to the difference in physical combat, Zhilin managed to get out of the grip of the other. Now that he was by himself, he could see the picture more clearly which made him want to switch of everything. No more thinking, no more emotions. It would be so much easier to go on like that.

 

When he got on the domain of the priest, he was suddenly thrown on the ground and guns were pointed towards him. Too lifeless to resist, he just let it happen and couldn’t care if he was shot or not. And then the door opened with the priest talking to the guards and up he went. Being dragged inside of the house, he got immediately slammed against the wall after the door was closed with a loud bang.

 

The bomb inside of Marcello exploded with only this. The words came out as knives, being thought of as a lowly being that was only a pest on this world was making Zhilin irritated. He couldn’t have this right now and honestly this guy was the worst one to tell him all of this. He didn’t expect for the other to punch the wall next to his head. He didn’t think this guy would be so aggressive but it only made him more irritated. No matter what, there was almost no chance for them to get along, not when they were like this. And the words pierced through Zhilin.

 

”You want to know why?” He yelled back and pushed himself of the wall. ”Those two were probably minions of my fucked up brother who wants to get the throne for himself. He send those fuckers to get rid of me but then they found out that I’m bound to a dickhead like you. Now they’re not only going to go after me but you as well so you’re in serious shit if you don’t go acting like a grown-up and not some kid who wants to play priest. Since you didn’t know what I meant before I’ll fucking scream it so you’ll understand. Second of all why the fuck should I let you know about my whereabouts when you don’t give a rat shit about my wellbeing. You say all that shit about demons only being the worst of the humans but who do you think who made us in the first place. It’s your kind who made us like this. So don’t go turn the table on me when it’s not our fault for existing in this hell hole of a universe.”

 

His voice became louder and louder until he was finished. His breath seemed to have stocked but he didn’t care. He threw his jacked harshly against the door before making his way to the sofa but paused. ”And about this feeling what the other is feeling, I’ll switch it to a minimum since you seem to absolutely hate it. This way you won’t feel anything unless in great pain. Satisfied?” He growled towards Marcello as a lightning shock ran through the invisible chain. It seemed like a blue spark quickly made its way from point A to point B through the air.

 

With that he dropped on the sofa and turned his body towards the wall, closing his eyes as he didn’t want to argue anymore with this human. He had his share for the day.

[-Hideki-]

The blond was on his way to the kitchen as he wanted to make himself a tea. He hated it when his aggression got a hold of him and it hadn’t happened during a long time before that incident but that damn guy and the whole situation managed to throw him out of his line as he feared of losing control over his life again and getting back into some dark stuff that once had pulled him into an existence between apathy, aggression and grief. And becoming like that again he wanted to prevent from happening at all costs.

 

As expected the other didn’t react any less aggressive than Marcello had been before but he listened anyway and laughed at some of the accusations. “First of all, I don’t want to play priest, I am one and I am rather good at what I am doing because I actually help people. Second, I was going through with my business like an adult, you are the one acting like a teenager here. Third, I said demons represented the worst traits that we humans have. Which means that our very own weak and disgusting character traits are what formed you. I am not glorifying our species at all as I know and I have seen many times how evil and twisted we are. I’m not excluding myself from that either but I am fighting against all of those traits within me every day as I am trying to be a better person. And that is what I told you before in the car in other words. Thinking that someone like me off all people is the worst priest one could actually think of and that I shouldn’t even give suggestions and speeches to people is totally justified though but I disagree completely. I think that my imperfection and my inner demons those from my past and my present make me perfect to help others being better than I am. I found god for myself but I didn’t become a priest for myself.” he explained and managed to stay calm while he was talking to Zhilin, he didn’t know how long he would manage to do that as he awaited a negative reaction.

 

Taking another deep breath he placed himself next to the demon on the sofa looking at the statues of the archangels and then to the black haired man. The other smelled like alcohol and Marcello couldn’t stand that smell as it always reminded him of his alcoholic mother. “I genuinely cared for your wellbeing, I even felt protective towards you even though I didn’t want to and I didn’t know why since you acted like an arrogant jerk the whole time. Your reaction was to block me off though; you didn’t want me to get any closer to you and pushed me away. So what do you want? Me to show you that I care or me to not show you that I care as your words now and your actions before seem rather contradictory to me?” He said and leaned back into the sofa not caring about his tattoos getting exposed to someone else at that moment. “I don’t think that your brother’s minions will get a hold of us if we work together for the change and cooperate. One person alone is an easy target, a team or a group isn’t that easy to destroy. I unfortunately know what I am talking about in this regard.” He suggested and then got up from the sofa.

 

“Do you want a tea as well?” he asked on his way to the kitchen. When he had turned the water boiler on he stepped into the door frame between the living room and the kitchen, looking into Zhilins eyes. “No. I hate depending on others. I hate being forced to trust someone whom I most likely can’t trust. I hate being bound to someone or something. It isn’t the fact that I feel what you feel that bugs me. I honestly don’t know whether I like it or not. It was odd. And it awakened some memories and feelings that I had forgotten about. No clue whether that is good or bad or neither.” He honestly answered a rhetorical question. Marcello wasn’t talking about the pain, as he remembered that too well. It was more the kiss that had confused him. After all he had been celibate since more than ten years.

 

The priest was surprised when the other changed their connection. Was that an upgrade or a downgrade now? Felt like a downgrade. It surprised him though that this was even possible.

“Wait, you had control over that all along? That means you wanted that! You wanted to feel what I feel and let me feel what you feel?” he asked and he didn’t really know how to think about that. “In that case I might have misjudged you to a degree after all.” He added in mumbling voice, went back into the kitchen, got the tea and placed two cups and the teapot on the coffee table.

[Z3N]

Zhilin rolled his eyes as the other started speaking again. Yet he still listened to the words that came out of the other his mouth. His eyes narrowing as he had to admit that the priest was right about some things and maybe he should’ve thought about what he was going to say first. He felt a little embarrassed as he was being corrected like that yet tried to not let it show on his face as it would only make things even worse then. He was already like a fire spreading through the woods so the last thing he wanted was for him to do something that he would regret later on.

 

When he felt the human his presence near him, he tensed up a little as he didn’t want to get another surprise like the previous fist swing towards the wall. Only this time it would be on him instead. The words stung like a bitch as he couldn’t react to it. They were the truth after all. He bit his bottom lip as he just laid there, not moving an inch even though the other was trying his best to keep a calm demeanour. Why was he feeling so bad about this all. Why was he indeed acting like a child. Why couldn’t he be normal, just like in the underworld. How did this human manage to stir him up the way he did. He was never being yelled at like this before, it was different.

 

The mentioning of his brother’s minions and them working together, caught his attention. They would indeed be stronger if they worked together and that way he would regain his powers again. However as the other noticed that the electric shock worked as a downgrade and said those things, he turned around and stood up from the couch, pulling the other his robe that was hanging loosely around his body. Having taken a glimpse of the tattoos that were on him. It was interesting to see a priest like that but it was perhaps not the best time to ask about it. They all had their own past, their own memories they wanted to forget. Zhilin was nothing different. Even demons could regret their actions.

 

”It’s not because I didn’t want to let you know about it. I just couldn’t do anything before you raged on like that. It gave me enough energy to manipulate the chain. And I will tell you that what I can tell if you do the same. You’re asking me to be the honest guy but I won’t do it all by myself.” He responded to the other as he seemed to calm down, well it looked like that. Who knew what this human was thinking in the first place. He then realized he was still hanging onto the other his clothes and let go.

 

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms as he thought about how he could explain the rules in the underworld and what was happening there. Eventually he started: ”My family belongs to one of the original demons, the first ones to set foot in the underworld. My father is called the Demon King as he is one of the last originals and rules Hell. Within my world there is no such thing as loyalty as they all greed for power. Some would kill and succeed, others would fail and get executed or banned from the kingdom, living their lives in shame. Some time ago, humans managed to find a way to summon demons by some kind of ritual. Binding demons to them until their last breath. Many used it for revenge, but once swallowed by evil, their soul belongs to the demon. Only those who could resist in the end will be left alone after they’re dead.”

 

He scraped his throat and then resumed: ”The oldest sibling after me is named Bitxal. Despite his attitude towards the people he wants the throne for himself and has send some assassins to get rid of me though he would never admit it. They failed and got executed. Now that my father decided to step of the throne, my siblings became more active than ever. Especially Bitxal. But he’s the one that not many want as the Demon King as he wants to take over Earth as well. Which means an apocalypse. So that’s why I became the heir to the throne with the most chance to succeed to his regret. It didn’t stop him and he became crazier. That’s why he send those demons here, I don’t know how he did it, but they’re not here by an actual contract with a human being.”

 

His expression became darker with the seconds passing by. He couldn’t stop his brother while he was here. Not like this.

[-Hideki-]

Marcello was somewhat taken aback by Zhilin pulling him by his Star Wars bathrobe but as soon as he realised what was happening his eyes narrowed grimly and he automatically grabbed the other by his collar staring into the demons face with a piercing look, not backing away, not letting the other take over.

 

His bathrobe was opened by the grip of the demon revealing his toned torso. He recognised that the other man glimpsed at his tattoos seemingly surprised about a priest looking like that. The blond asked himself whether the devil could tell what those symbols meant, if he knew that Marcello had belonged to a gang now or if he just gave him that kind of look because having tattoos alone was already weird enough for a priest?

 

Fortunately the other averted his eyes from the priest’s chest and looked him into the face again.

“Ah, so it wasn’t that you had an interest in the experiences that you could get from this connection after all, you merely weren’t able to turn it down at that point. Then I haven’t misjudged you to begin with.” He said half validated because he had been right about the demon not giving a shit about absolutely anything and half disappointed for a reason he couldn’t explain to himself.

 

What followed confused him and he couldn’t really understand what the black haired man was implying or getting at with this. “Yes, I require honesty from you because only with honesty and openness about severe and significant factors a cooperation and connection between two parties can ever work. It is essential to be honest with each other.” he started his answer..

“No one has asked you to be the only honest person of us two and nobody asked you to go through this shit alone, as you obviously couldn’t even do if you wanted because you are just as tied to me as I am to you. I have told you the truth from the start. I haven’t lied to you once. I hate lying and deceiving people. It is already bad and painful enough that I have to lie to my parish, the people under my protection, about you for their own good.”

 

Marcello only released Zhilin after his opposite had let go of his bathrobe. He didn’t care to close it properly again though as now the other had already seen the tattoos anyway. This was his house. He wouldn’t sleep in long sleeves and completely veiled just so the demon that now lived with him wouldn’t ever get a look at his upper body.

 

The priest listened closely while the demon informed him about who he was in his world and how it was run. While the social hierarchy seemed different he could still comprehend it and relate to that kind of environment. “Your home sounds like an awful wasteland to me. Corrupted, brutal, filled by scum not able to see anyone else than themselfs, torn by hate, violence and greed but otherwise completely empty, depressing, hopeless and pathetic because no things which would really matter or would really be worth fighting for exist there!” he reflected what he had just heard. “It seems familiar to me, since it is much like the place where I grew up.” The blond commented.

 

In the district he had grown up no one had cared for anything else than the own outcome and goals as well. People had sold their own grandmother for getting even a remotely better life than they had before.

No one could be truly trusted and only the strongest would survive the district and even those often died at a young age. Hate, anger, pain and greed was all that had dominated that district. People had been sorting themselves into groups to not be singled out and destroyed. There had been no survival when one was alone because one wasn’t powerful enough. So like Marcello had done many people had gotten into a gang because it was safer to be in one than to not be. Nobody had wanted to get singled out by those he was not only seen as an enemy due to the way he looked but also a good fodder for them because he had been on his own like the priest had before he had joined the street gang. Marcello had never cared about his former gangs motives, their ideology or ambitions, he hadn’t cared about anything of it nor had he genuinely believed in it but he had known that this had been the only gang that he could have gotten into and that he needed the strength of numbers if he didn’t want to lose his life before it had started.

And while he indeed found the strength in numbers he needed, he never found actual friendship or loyalty there with the exception of Jason. But love, love was something that he had never been able to find anywhere else than in god and Jesus.

 

Hearing that those people who were bound to a demon and gave in to evil and letting themselves get consumed completely by sin and malicious intentions wouldn’t be able to ever find peace didn't shock him at all. This was nothing new to him and pretty much aligned with the teachings of god.

And Marcello didn’t fear this. If he failed, if his worst traits would take over and he would become a dangerous and vicious human being in the end, god would sure judge him for it. The priest was certain that god’s judgement was always just and right, so whether he would go to heaven or to hell it would be justified and he would gladly accept whatever the decision was in the end.

The blond started to take his bound with the devil as a challenge, a challenge from god that he had to pass, something that he had to overcome to become better and that would make him grow.

 

Wachow wasn’t impressed by the demon being a royal. He had never been impressed by titles, status or wealth. It was irrelevant to him and he didn’t see the demon in any other light than he had before.

It wasn’t even worth shrugging to him. The interesting part was the one about what seemed to be a political fight, a fight for power against his brother, Bitxal, he had called him.

 

The blond male scratched his chin for a moment before he said:” So let me get this straight, this mess isn’t only ours, as it is not only affecting you and me, our whole species will also be affected by whether we make it or we fail?”

Sighing somewhat frustrated he remarked sarcastically:” So in case we fail the occultists will get what they want. The apocalypse will wipe all of us away and your place will change as well. That’s not much responsibility and pressure lying on us now at all, absolutely not. And it will be totally easy to keep the occultists from worsening the situation, your brother’s minions from killing you and your brother from overtaking your world.”

 

He rose from his seat when he had cleared the cup of tea and brought it back into the kitchen where he put it into the automatic dishwasher, when he came back he finished what he had to say:”No one should have that much responsibility and that much power at the same time. The fate of the underworld shouldn’t rest on your shoulders alone nor should the fate of earth rest on mine. But apparently it does now so we have to find a way to defeat your brother and get your arse on the throne of your place somehow. At the moment I don’t have any ideas how to get you back home though. And trust me I have tried to find a solution for this.”

 

The priest laid his hand on Zhilin’s shoulder in a friendly, collegial manner and when he stated:”I’m certain we will find a solution though in case we stop fighting against ourselves to crown it all. If we’re treating each other like enemies they’ll have won sooner than we can comprehend, so we shouldn’t do them that favour.”

With these words he took his hand away from the others shoulder again, showing a faint smile.

[Z3N]

Once he finished to tell what he had to tell, he was surprised to see a rather calm response from the other. He thought the guy would’ve freaked out instead as this wasn’t something everyone would hear about someday in their lives. It was a full responsibility that they had, one that had the power to change their worlds for the better or worse. One that could steal many lives or save them. It all depended on how good they would deal with the other, how strong their will was. It actually was a good thing that he was bound to a priest now that he thought about it. Since he seemed to know about exorcism, it would make their fight just a little bit easier. Even the slightest increase of winning was already a huge step forward.

 

Zhilin nodded as Marcello summarized what he just explained. Though the sarcastic comment could’ve been left behind, he was able to live with it. The small pat on his shoulder, made him feel reassured somehow. An odd feeling that went through his body. The faint smile took him back as he didn’t expect that one at all. It made him realize that the other could smile like that like any other human being. It was a nice thing to see, a nice change of pace. Perhaps they would be able to get along after all if he would manage to keep as honest as possible. Though easier said than done as it would make things more complicated, depending on the situation that they were in. Only time knew.

 

”Well, my brother had told me about having found a portal to the human world before but I don’t know if it’ll work.” He mentioned, the memory popping up now that he actually put his thoughts into it. ”If I remember correctly, you can make one by mixing human and demon blood together and write the correct symbols. But since I can’t get that far away from you, you’ll have to go with me and I don’t know if you’d want to do that. Not in this current state.” His eyes were focusing on Marcello. ”If our bond is not strong enough, you’ll get hurt. If a human crosses that portal with the absolute trust in his demon, there’s a possibility you’ll get severely injured as no human body is meant to go through something like that.”

 

It was maybe a stupid thing to say to the other, but it was a possibility that they had to take in account. ”But we still have time left so we can find another way to enter that’s less… dangerous.” He commented as he didn’t want to put anyone through that kind of pain. He groaned as he couldn’t think of another solution for it that instant. But then his eyes got back to the tattoos on the other his chest. ”Where did you get those? Do they mean something?” He asked out of curiosity. He couldn’t help it since it was his first time seeing a priest with actual tattoos on him. It was normal for someone who had a different kind of job, but this one was a special case.

 

But then his stomach rumbled as he hadn’t eaten much today. Holding one hand over it in an attempt to make it go quiet. That was embarrassing, how could he even forget that a body like this needed more food than the average demon. When he was down under, he didn’t have to consume as much. Perhaps one nice meal every three days would manage before he would feel anything from it. He averted his eyes from the human as he patted his stomach which eventually went silent again. Now he just wanted to go crawl in a hole or something for showing such an image to the other.

[-Hideki-]

Marcello listened to the others possible solution to their problem and he sighed when he heard about the blood mixing. Why was it always about blood? Why did people accredited blood that much power and even the ability to bound people together? The occultists used blood for the ritual and his former gang had somehow taken pride in their blood. He had never quite understood it but had moved along to not draw attention towards himself.

 

He listened further and the solution of course had severe complications and risks. The blond man thought for a moment and then said: “We should search for another way but while we are doing that we should simultaneously work on strengthening and closing our bond. I don’t know how close we need to be for this but we can at least try upgrading our connection as good and as far as we can and not further downgrading it.”

His blue eyes wandered over the other and he looked him in the eyes, knowing that this would only work if the other would open up to him and if he opened up to Zhilin as well. Considering their poor start the outlook wasn’t too optimistic but he was sure that they could get along somehow if they tried.

 

It felt like an electro shock running through his body when the black haired male mentioned his tattoos. His body tensed up and he got highly uncomfortable. The questions the demon had asked gave him the information that the other indeed didn’t know that those were the tattoos of a gang member but thought they were normal tattoos. Even though Marcello didn’t want to he would tell him what kind of tattoos those were truthfully, risking that the other would be repulsed afterwards but maybe sharing that would have the opposite effect and bring their connection forward. He didn’t know for sure.

 

“I got them in a backroom of a bar in the district I grew up back in my home city.” He answered the first and easy to answer question. Then he dropped the robe a little deeper and pointed at the knight. “Some of them, like this one, are tattoos that I got because I wanted them and because they represented how I saw myself back then. Most of them are signs of the street gang I was a member of - they are like brandings or marks - and the other symbols are best described as signs of hate I suppose and they are also branding me. While I sure hated before out of different reasons I’ve never actually felt that sort of hate that they represent though, not that that fact would matter anyway. If people saw them they would get ill and hostile feelings towards me without asking no matter what, maybe they would be even borderline disgusted by me but there is no way I can get rid of them. One can leave the past behind but eradicating one’s own past completely is unfortunately not possible I guess.” He explained and was relieved when he heard the other mans stomach rumbling.

 

Talking about his tattoos was weird for him as he never had done it before nor had he ever talked about the gang. It usually was if none of that had ever happened and he didn’t like the subject at all. Sometimes he wished that if he just kept silent about it, it would have never happened indeed but that was impossible.

 

He chuckled when he saw that his companion seemed to feel embarrassed by the noises his food craving body made. It was amusing and cute that showing something that basic and simple to another person would make him react that way.

 

Marcello pulled the bathrobe over his shoulders again grabbing the telephone. “I’m afraid we have to order pizza as I am not exactly a good cook.” The blond let the other know. “At least that pizza restaurant that has opened 24/7 and also delivers is of any use now. It was a public library before. But when mayor Cole cut the state funding it became bankrupt. Some people, me included, protested to keep and safe the library but it obviously didn’t help.”

He handed the demon a menu card that the restaurant would always throw into the letter box as advertisement to chose from.

 

The blond really wasn’t able to cook so he usually ate out or bought some convenience food. Back when he had shared an apartment with Jason the older male had actually cooked for the both of them. It had surprised Marcello that Jason had been able to cook and not even bad.

When he thought about Jason he remembered something. Jason, who was a criminal psychologist, had married quite some time ago and Jun, his husband, might be able to help Zhilin and him now.

 

His best friend worked with different kind of criminals, many of them gang members and much to Marcello’s surprise they trusted him more than other psychologists because Jason had been a gang member as well. He didn’t even cover his tattoos up; he showed them to his patients and funnily enough even those who had been or were in a rivalling gangs opened up to him better than to other psychologists.

 

One time Jason had a patient who had been in a similar gang than they had been, who had murdered an innocent, non-gang member teenager in an upper middle class district who had been the cousin of Jun. Jun had one day just appeared at Jason’s work place screaming, shutting and insulting him because he had worked with that patient who was nothing more than a disgusting murderer. They ended up having a lot of conversations, not as a therapist and a client but as private people and somehow they had fallen in love.

 

Marcello had been the one doing their wedding ceremony in his church and it had gone along with a whole lot of protest. Both from his parish and online because he would let gay people marry in his church. The priest had stood by that decision though and he had given a lot of speeches to the people gaining more new member for his church than he had lost and gaining more subscribers online than he had lost.

 

It had been Jun’s wish to marry in a church; Jason had hated the idea but had done it for him after Marcello had convinced his friend. He was certain that Jun would help him now. His friend’s husband was strictly speaking a physicist but he often spoke like a crazy science fiction nerd in the priests eyes. He thought there were different dimensions, even stated it must be possible to travel from one dimension into the other somehow. The guy was also obsessed with time travelling. His colleagues didn’t take the man seriously regardless of his PhD but Wachow was sure if they explained their little problem the right way, Jun would be open-minded enough to at least try to help the demon and him.

 

Sure he couldn’t say that Zhilin was a demon and they needed to find a path into hell. Jun wouldn’t believe that and Jason would probably claim Marcello was suffering from a psychosis and should see a psychiatrist. But if they said the demon was an alien from another dimension, what wasn’t even a complete lie , he might be able to interest him for it.

 

Marcello ordered the pizza after the other had chosen what he wanted to eat and while they were waiting he sat down on the sofa next to the devil again. “I had an idea. I can’t guarantee that any result will come from it though; it would only be a try. I know someone who is fascinated of the idea of different dimensions and who is obsessed with finding possibilities to travel between them. If we explained our problem to him, he might be able to help us finding another way to stop your brother. But the chance that he will succeed isn’t that high and we would have to travel to get to him tomorrow because he isn’t located in this city. What do you think?” he introduced his thoughts awaiting the others estimation.

[Z3N]

When Marcello actually started to talk about his tattoos, he was a little surprised. He didn’t think a guy like him would’ve been in a gang before, but if he thought about it, it was still possible. Repenting for their sins by giving salvation to those who need it. It actually made sense even though it was a completely turn of career. Plus the struggles he had to go through didn’t seem to help him in the slightest. He felt a little bad that he came to Earth in such a bad timing but nothing could be done about it. They only had the power to make the best out of their situation. His eyes went over to the knight that the other had pointed out before, and tilted his head to the side to take a better look at it. It didn’t seem too bad at all and it fit with the other tattoos.

 

At the mentioning of pizza, he didn’t really know what to expect since he hadn’t eaten one of them before. He did know about the ingredients humans used and the popular dishes but regretfully never got a taste from it. He chose a random pizza, a spicy one so it seemed and let Marcello order the dish. It had jalapenos, chorizo, mozzarella and bell pepper on it which didn’t seem too bad to try out. The worst that could happen was that he would puke if it was too bad. Though he highly doubted that that would happen with this kind of thing.

 

Once they sat down on the sofa, his eyes grew a little bigger at the mentioning of someone being interested about different dimensions. He nodded. ”If it’d help us, than we should try to ask for their help. We might find a way out sooner if he does know about anything.” He responded a little more optimistically. If they had another opinion and point of view they would get a lot further than running around in circles. Well, they would eventually find something but it was better if they had a fresh view on this matter. Zhilin never thought about this since he didn’t expect it to happen, making him regret that he didn’t pay more attention to the words of his brother Bitxal. Yet there was never a mentioning about a stable portal before.

 

Though there was something bothering him. The way Marcello spoke about his tattoos earlier on, he couldn’t exactly lay his finger on it, but he didn’t want the other to feel that way about them. Not since they were permanent markings. ”You know, your tattoos are admirable as they tell you a story. Even if they may not have been good memories, they still let you know that you fought through it all. It just depends on the way you see them.” He commented, trying not to be rude or anything but he just felt like he had to say this to the human. Shifting awkwardly in his seat as there was a weird atmosphere hanging around.

 

But then something got inside of his head now that he thought about it. ”I don’t really have any clothes with me except these so… We should go buy some before we leave tomorrow. Even though I’m a demon, I don’t want to walk around in shitty clothes.” He said to the other with a grin on his lips. ”Don’t worry about the money.”

 

Being a demon had one of its perks as he received a bank account from one of the other demons before. There was already quite an amount on it due to robberies and fraud. It was not the best way to get it, but it was certainly useful in times like these. Plus humans never seemed to find out either so that was a good thing. One of the biggest sums was because one demon had stolen the Mona Lisa painting and sold it on the black market for a big amount. The one that was hanging in the Museum is a fake and the real one was hanging in a mafia house. It was a good deal and they had all the right to do so too. It was not like they would miss it too much without even noticing the difference. Plus it happened quite some time ago so they wouldn’t look into it now all of a sudden.

 

He took the remote control thing and pushed on a random button, letting the television play some random episode of a variety show. It was more of a talk show but with a funny twist to it. The people that were on it were supposed to be famous as everybody started clapping once they entered the room. It was a nice thing to see. The underworld also had some kind of celebrities in it but mostly because they were royals or honoured soldiers from the battlefield. The lack of humour was truly noticeable once compared with the human realm. It was a bit of a pity.

 

After a while of watching the television, the door rang and Zhilin got up from his seat to take the food in his hands. He gave his credit card to the man who swiped it through the machine and went away again. It smelled good. Better than he expected it to be. He placed the box on the coffee table and took a slice in his hands before sitting down on the sofa again. The first bite that he took was so good. He couldn’t help but to smile genuinely for the first time since he entered this world. Well, the first time in years actually. He felt like he became a little kid again.

 

”What else do you make for food? You don’t only eat this right?” He asked out of curiosity as this wasn’t something you could get in hell. He started to wonder about all kinds of dishes that he could taste. He had seen some pictures in books but never seen them up close. He couldn’t remember the names exactly but he was sure that he could point out the delicious looking ones. Though he had his doubts on some of them that he encountered. They looked like slimy thing that would stuck in your mouth and make you choke to death. He didn’t feel like going through that, not now.

 

Though the underworld was not that different. Some dishes consisted of slimy creatures that slid down the throat easily, good when it was nicely seasoned. Others were a bit more chewy, almost like it was a piece of gum. Though they were mostly used in desserts and such as they wouldn’t need large amounts of it. But if humans would like it was a whole other question. It wouldn’t kill them, but the taste wouldn’t be what they’d be used to. Completely different than the pizza that he was holding in his hands.

[-Hideki-]

“As I’ve said, he might have something useful to add or be of help to us or we will go on this trip for nothing. It’s a 50/50 chance. Either way we can get to know each other better on that journey, hence upgrade our connection, plus, I neither have seen him nor my best friend in a while so visiting them isn’t the worst thing I could imagine.” He added and thought about whether they should go by car all the way up North or rather by plane.

 

While he was thinking about travelling methods Zhilin probably thought about his tattoos and Marcello looked at him surprised when he heard what the other had to say. There was no conviction, no disgust or hostility, he even called them admirable. The other apparently had a perspective completely different from his own; he would have never been able to see it from this angle.

“Some stories are rather ugly though.” He responded and sighed. “It is easier said than done to look at it the way you do I suppose.” Marcello laughed a joyless laugh and stared at the ceiling before he looked back into the demons face. “Thank you regardless.” The priest brought himself to say.

 

It indeed felt good to hear something like that as his tattoos and his past were things that he felt bad and to an extent even ashamed about. That the other didn’t place a harsh judgement of him like most people certainly would do was refreshing and it put him into an odd ease that he didn’t really notice or understood himself.

 

Wachow looked at the demon when the other pointed out his lack of clothes. He would lend him some but he didn’t really have many clothes himself aside from his robes and he was certain that Zhilin wouldn’t want to wear the gear of a catholic priest.

His eyes got stuck on the ripped apart shirt that the dog had destroyed and he knew that they would have no other choice than to go shopping for new clothes and his face looked not exactly thrilled.

“Oh, I didn’t worry about the money. I asked myself whether you are one of those people who spend way too much time shopping clothes because I am not fond of shopping.” He turned up his nose at the word shopping and it was pretty clear that he didn’t like it at all.

“Be that as it may you indeed need some clothes.” he agreed and then a question came to his mind.

“Why do you keep the human form now that no one other than me is around? You could easily sit around in your real form.”

 

Then the TV got turned on though and Marcello looked at the screen asking himself who all those people were for a second. He didn’t know celebrities. Whenever he watched TV it were either the news or some political talk shows and no matter which one he was watching it always made him mad and he sometimes worried that politics and the affairs of the world would make him hypertensive sooner or later.

 

The show that was on didn’t interest him and he didn’t follow it at all. He thought about the occultists, about Zhilin’s brother, about mayor Cole, they guard dogs, about his pizza, about how Zhilin seemed to like kittens, about his tattoos, about Jason, he stared at the angel statues, stared at the demon, stared at his own hands, stared at the tea pot, literally everything was more interesting than the TV. Then finally the door bell rang and Marcello had just stood up from the sofa and was about to close his bathrobe so that his tattoos were covered again, when the demon had already gotten to the door.

 

He took his pizza and sat down again. He opened it and when the smell of fresh pizza filled the air in the room he realised that he actually was a little hungry too. The priest started eating when Zhilin asked him about the food he usually ate. “No, of course not. I eat different kinds of food. I often order Chinese or Greek food for example. When I eat out I often eat at the steak house. I even have to confess that I frequently visit Yummy Burgers. But what I mostly eat is convenience food or simple meals that even I can cook.” He explained taking the first bite of his pizza and it tasted good.

 

While he was sitting next to the demon eating his pizza he realised that he hadn’t had a guest to eat at his house in a casual way for a long time. He usually ate alone and did most things alone. Marcello asked himself whether Zhilin had someone he ate with or shared his life with and it made him curious enough to ask. “Is there someone you share your life with in the underworld? Someone who is close to you? Does a person exist in your life who you’ll miss while you are stuck here on earth?”

[Z3N]

The comments about some stories being rather ugly, made him shrug as everybody had those in his opinion. Though being a demon may differ from thoughts as they weren’t completely the same as humans, perhaps their deeds were much worse than ugly. Though the compliment caught him off guard, he didn’t expect from the human to say anything like that in the near future, especially not now since they lashed out to each other not too long ago. It was quite peculiar. Yet, it made him fuzzy inside. A weird feeling indeed and he was confused about what it even was. The meaning of it. Though he felt better when the other seemed to be displeased about having to go shopping. While they were at it, he could maybe buy some more suitable clothes for the priest since he was against the idea of wearing those robes on a journey. Hell, it was even better if the guy just went naked instead.

 

Now, he was happily munching on the food while watching some weird show on the television. It was not too bad but not that amusing either. It was an inner conflict. But the response of how the other ate was a little concerning. ”Hell, you only eat that crap? You never make something good at home?” He blurted out before even realizing it. Even in the underworld they made some dishes if they lived alone. It was so much better than constantly eating out plus it was a cheaper way to live as well. It had all kinds of advantages. The thought of making something the other could enjoy as well popped up inside of his head, making a promise to himself that he would do this whenever he had the time. It almost made him feel like he was a newlywed and it made him cringe at the thought. A demon marrying a human was too ridiculous for words and a priest on top of it all.

 

At the next question, the demon thought about it. Yet nothing came to mind. ”Not really. My father only wants me to take over the throne so he could bugger off. My mother doesn’t think much of me and only talks to me when necessary. My brother wants to kill me for the throne, my sisters see me as a sparring target and my other brother is more interested in games than society. So no. I don’t really have anyone that I want to go back to nor will they miss me.” He answered monotonously. He didn’t like talking about that matter as it made him realize what a shitty family he had. One that would kill the other for more power. It all seemed like a huge joke. Yet it was the painful truth existing in Hell.

 

”Also, I can’t switch to my demon form as it asks more energy in this world so it’s easier for me to stay in human form. I know, it sucks. But what can I do about it.” He commented with a dry laugh. He preferred his demon form over this one but he couldn’t complain. The fact that he didn’t look too bad like this was some kind of reassurance. Though he did look like a more rough kind of person. Not that it really mattered. He rubbed his chin with his finger as he thought about something again.

 

”So we will leave tomorrow? After I buy some clothes to go with me? Is there anything fast that could bring us there?” He asked. He didn’t want to sit still as there was a possibility of getting to know more about these portals to the underworld. Well, any portal would do as long as they were able to manipulate it. It would be bad if he suddenly ended up in heaven where an arsenal of angels would hunt him down. The chills ran through his spine as he thought that. It would likely be the end of him, no doubt about it. Only if a miracle would exist, he would be able to get out of there.

 

He then pointed towards the clock, which said that it was already 4 am. ”Better catch some sleep before we leave.” He commented with a faint smile. The pizza was already gone and he would go throw the box in the litter when he would wake up. After stretching himself out, he laid down with his head on Marcello his lap. ”This doesn’t feel all too bad.” He commented with a mischievous grin. He then closed his eyes, pretending that he was already asleep. It was nice to actually talk with someone who didn’t feel like getting rid of him. Even if it was just for now, it was pleasant. This way he wouldn’t need to be overly cautious about everything and actually felt a little more relaxed.

 

If only his family would be a little more laid back, he wouldn’t have this much problems. The threat of the kingdom crumbling. The human world that would be in danger if Bitxal would take the throne and unleash lower level demons inside of it. The wars that were happening within the underworld and homes that were destroyed. Those were all worries that Zhilin had yet didn’t have the power to do anything about it this instant. It could drive him mad if he didn’t have some positivity left inside of him. It was tough being a royal. More so then others would think.

[-Hideki-]

For some reason the information about the other man’s family didn’t surprise nor shock him. He certainly had heard family stories like his before and his own wasn’t too much greater. Sure his father had been great and he had loved him but he had been murdered when Marcello had been a bloody child. And his mother didn’t even deserve to be called that as she had been nothing than abusive scum who hadn’t been able to get her own shit together and didn’t care at all for anyone than herself.

 

However he had thought that Zhilin might have someone, a demon lady or a friend perhaps. But then again they were devils, they probably didn’t care to bond with anyone beyond fulfilling their own egotistical desires, maybe they weren’t even able to. But if they weren’t able to how would the demon and he be supposed to form a close connection? Marcello pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and said:”That proves my standpoint that blood relations are worth shit, worth nothing and don’t define the true meaning of family once again.”

 

He left it at that as he didn’t know what else to say. The blond man nodded when Zhilin explained to him why he had to stay in the human form and only started talking again when the demon wanted to know how they would travel to Jason’s and Jun’s place.

“The fastest option would be the plane. I’d have to see whether I can still get two free places for a flight tomorrow.” He answered the others questions.

 

When the demon pointed at the clock he was rather surprised to see that it was 4am already. Apparently fighting, talking and eating pizza had taken them quite a while. “Good point, we should go to sleep.” The priest just wanted to get up from the sofa to leave for his bedroom when the demon positioned his head on his lap. Feeling the weight and the warmth of the others head on his lap was weird for him and the place where his head rested made him nervous.

 

The priest hoped that the other wouldn’t move his head too much and that he wouldn’t accidentally or even on purpose rub it against his crotch as he feared an immediate reaction from his body. Marcello wasn’t only celibate he also made all the effort he could to never have to jerk off. Hence he often felt like his balls were about to explode.

 

Jason had told the priest more than once that repressing his sexuality was unhealthy; he had told him that he would go crazy one day out of sexual frustration and that humans weren’t supposed to live like that. Marcello had insisted that this was his decision and that he wanted to be stronger than some urges, wanted to be in control and resist temptation to which Jason had said that he and his religion would hold him to unrealistic, idiotic standards which were also unhealthy.

And in those moments the priest always had thought that Jason should have rather stayed a mechanic instead of becoming a shrink.

 

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable he took a deep breath and rested his head on the backrest of the sofa and to his surprise fell asleep quite soon.

It was already 10am when he woke up and blinked his eyes because the sun was blinding him. When he looked down he could still see the black haired head resting on his lab.

 

Carefully he rested the others head on the sofa and got up, getting fresh clothes from his wardrobe in the bedroom before he disappeared in the bathroom. It didn’t take him long to appear in the living room again looking exactly the same as he always looked in his robe, with the cross necklace and well combed blond hair.

 

He woke up the demon telling him to get ready before he checked whether they’d have some luck with booking a flight or not. Marcello was lucky enough to find a flight that had two seats left but not took off before the evening. He booked it regardless and then started recording a short video for his religious youtube channel.

 

In that video he talked about challenges, how god was testing each one of them, about temptations and resisting them, about staying strong and faithful no matter what difficulties life would throw at them. He uploaded the video when the devil returned to the living room.

 

“I’ve got us on the flight that departs at 7pm, there was no earlier one. However that way we don’t have to hurry. You will be able to get your clothes and we can go and eat some lunch somewhere after that.” He informed the other and closed his laptop when he saw that the video was online.

 

Marcello took the keys and opened the door waiting for Zhilin to leave the house. He left after the devil, locked the door and got dragged into a conversation with some of the security guards. He told them that he would be leaving the city later and wouldn’t return for one or two days then.

 

They drove to the mall and Marcello was more than displeased having to go there. He had never liked malls for some reason. The air was sticky, everything was full of people and all they seemed to have in mind was consumption, consumption and more consumption of goods that nobody really needed.

 

Since the demon wanted to buy clothes though there was nothing he could do about it and so he entered the mall together with him and everything he disliked appeared before his eyes. He turned to the demon next to him. “Here we are. Where do you want to buy your clothes now? You have over a hundred options to do so.” He said annoyed by the mall and the giggling female teenagers who were swinging their handbags and shopping bags around while walking.