Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was nothing human about Aulkeï, even if he sometimes looked like it. He was a devil, a creature from the Realm of Shadows, living in the corners of the world that even fairies seldom saw. And when he was hungry, he only needed to take, take whatever he wanted, since his favourite meal was never kept from him. The others that once hunted on the same grounds as he has receded in numbers, hunted by humans themselves – foolish humans. They rarely knew what was good for them. Not that Aulkeï knew himself but, from his perspective, they rarely decided in their own interest.

Case and point: one evening that he was only venturing outside of his den, he felt that one of them was calling him. He was not born yet that witches and warlocks had already figured a way to speak to their kind, for some reason, and from time to time they would use it. Aulkeï himself had heard that call more than once, even if this was the first in a long time.  

It might be a trap.

A trap for what? There was nothing that humans could do to him. He had never heard of such a thing; it had never been attempted against him. He was ancient and cunning. If humans had any interest in capturing him, it would have already happened – and they would have failed.

Besides, he was curious. If it turned out to be a fluke or anything that wasn’t of immediate interest, he could always leave. After all, nothing in that call bonded him – which was a mistake. If they wanted his attention, they should be ready to take it by force. He would do the same if he was in their position.

How did one explain how he saw the world? It was more sensations than senses. He moved through it like a cloud of awareness, and everything that entered said cloud had no secret for him. People could pass him, some brighter than others. Some even projected shadows. He walked among the latter like a king, for they were his people. As long as he ruled over them, he was strong. And they didn’t even know that he was there.

On his way to the call, he stopped in a closed furniture shop to look for a mirror – apparently, it was the night for humans, and humans didn’t work the night. He already knew that he wanted a male appearance for when he would present himself. He had made himself a few such “costumes” to wear in the past, but that was ages ago and none of them would do. After having stepped through the door like it was made of smoke, he wandered through the empty aisles, collecting fragments of people’s presence for inspiration. Many were lost thoughts, mundane things like wondering about money – typical for a shop, he might say – but maybe...

He found what he wanted towards the back, where the employees could spend time alone with their own troubles. That’s where he unravelled, after some poking around the shelves and boxes, the tale of a woman full of sin.

She was happy yet wasn’t. There was another employee, an immigrant below her in the chain of command, dark and exotic – her words. She came from a family that always alienated such people, even if they didn’t necessarily realize that they did so because they didn’t hate them openly; upon discovering that they were just as human as she, she was confused and strangely titillated. He was forbidden. In her mind, he was tall and mysterious, with an accent that stroked her ears, alluring, manly with a touch of delicacy. She didn’t dare to stare him in the face in case he might read her mind, so she imaged him idealized. She wanted to breach her marriage for him.

He promptly took that appearance she fantasized for himself. Black eyes, black hair, an amber-coloured skin, with a threatening sharpness to his features and a slight bump in his otherwise perfect nose. She had forgotten that the palm of a human’s hand was always pale, so he added that. And then he gave himself longer hair, got rid of every single blemish on his skin, and gave a reddish undertone to his eyes, because why not. Finally, he ditched the employee’s uniform in favour of all-white pants, low-cut shirt and flowing coat. Perfect.

Out of curiosity, he looked for him, for what he thought of her. He found that she was the last of his concerns. He had escaped the war. He was scared. The strangers all around him looked at him strangely. His manager never listened to his complains of racist comments from the clients so he had stopped reporting them.

Sin, no matter how conveniently humans had defined it, was a volatile thing that moved with the ages. It was born in the shadow of each person that didn’t dare be honest with themselves, and then devils either fed on it or fanned it so that it would grow bigger, like a fire. He already knew he would be back for them. As to what to do with this... if he pushed the woman, she might try to seduce him. Or maybe, if she realized that he was dangerous for her, her marriage – from her perspective, because in reality she was the most dangerous of the two – she might start tormenting him. The latter would be the best outcome for Aulkeï. That would, indeed, be a delicious meal.

But enough waffling. He had a call to answer.

He escaped the shop and moved towards the one that had called him, crossing the final stretch in one leap. A moment later, he was in a bedroom. A bedroom? Oh my. He looked around, at all the books on the shelves, the strange devices modern humans kept for company – computers, they called them – the board on the wall. And all the posters. He could barely see the walls at all, and they didn’t even seem to be sharing any sort of theme. On the ground in the middle of the room was a blood pentagram traced on newspaper. At least it seemed that his caller had had the time to clean up whatever animal they had sacrificed this time around.

“Hello?” said a male voice.

Aulkeï, surprised, reported his attention on the human man in the room with him. Young (in his twenties? It was always so hard to tell), tanned, big-eyed, hair combed to the side like he was some sort of cool kid. He was rather cute, the type of cute Aukleï enjoyed pushing around when he was toying with humans, although from the look of annoyance on his face he wasn’t in the mood for that.

Didn’t he know his place? He would be addressed when Aulkeï wished to address him, not when he was busy examining what was around him. Hadn’t the proper way of speaking to a devil been taught with the ritual?

The man didn’t seem intimidated by Aulkeï’s frown. He stared right back, not outright hostile but not friendly either. Professional, one might say. He was getting under Aulkeï’s skin.

“What?” he snapped.

“I’m just making sure that you know that I can see you,” said the man. “You are late.”

“Late?” Aulkeï laughed.

Who did he think he was? Not only had he called him in his own home, but he addressed him as if he was his equal. Maybe Aulkeï had taken an appearance that was still too human, despite its otherworldly beauty. He got his feet off the ground and levitated so that he would stare down at the man – even more than he already did.

“You are late,” he said without batting an eye. “The ritual sends a clear call to all nearby devils ten minutes after it’s started. That was two hours ago. You’ve ignored it, and then took your sweet time to come.”

Aulkeï narrowed his eyes at him. “That, somehow, makes me late? Watch your tongue, mortal. I’m here now. If you are unhappy with the way I’ve manifested, I can leave. Good luck convincing me to come back.”

“And good luck finding a better deal than the one I’m about to offer you, devil,” said the man.

“Oh?” That was interesting. Maybe he could learn to like the guy. “State your case. You better be convincing.”

Aulkeï sat down (on thin air) and crossed his long legs. 

“How about I give you something...” he paused. Smiled as he savoured the dramatic effect. “For free.”

Aulkeï had to pause. In all his years, he had never heard that one.

“And what is that thing that you are so eager to offer me?” he asked.

“My dreams. All of them, every night.”

“Your dreams?”

The man was mad. He could see devils and other supernatural creatures, he could cast a ritual, he clearly has some warlock potential – Aulkeï, however, didn’t smell a familiar on him, meaning that he wasn’t a warlock. His dreams would be like candy to Aulkeï, not very nourishing but so, so sweet. Forbidden, because humans with the same talents as that man didn’t seem to like when that happened – something about how the process made them weak in the morning – and did their damnest to prevent that. Not that Aulkeï couldn’t use sheer power to make them submit to his will... but that would require effort, and he didn’t like that. Getting them for free was almost too good to be true.

“And you want nothing in return?” asked Aulkeï. “You expect me to believe that? Surely there is something you wish for, something you desire over all else...”

“I said what I said, devil,” he said. “I no longer wish to dream. Take them and eat them. I never needed it anyway.”

Aulkeï had to lick his lips; he realized he did so when he was in the middle of it.

“I’ve never known my mother,” said the man. He seemed a little vulnerable. “Sometimes I dream about her, and I don’t want to be given hope—“  

“I didn’t ask,” said Aulkeï. “If this is truly all you want, we should shake on it.”

“Hm.” He seemed a little taken aback. “Keeping things professional, I see. I didn’t mean to become emotional on you.”

“That’s normal, for humans. I see it all the time.” Well, used to, at least. It’s been a while since he got to make any deals at all.

“It would be a shame if you grew attached? I am considered your prey, after all, strictly speaking. It would be like a lion grew soft for a gazelle.”

The man had a small smile as he said that. Oh, he wished that Aulkeï was in his league. There was no chance he, a devil, a lord of the Shadows in his own right, would ever grow attached to something as fragile, weak and puny as a human. Others might have, and they were weak for it; Aulkeï was no such thing as weak.

“Merely making sure that you don’t grow too attached to me,” he replied. “I have standards. My mother taught me to never play with your food... more than necessary.”

It was an easy jab, made only more hurtful by the fact that he wanted to hurt. The human should have seen it coming. He didn’t, and the pain was visible on his features. Aulkeï smiled at him, a smile full of sharp teeth – a last-minute tweak to his appearance just for the occasion.

“Wow... that was uncalled for,” said the human.

“Take it as a lesson on why you shouldn’t tell a devil your weaknesses. You should feel grateful that I taught it to you in such an innocuous way. Next time might not be so kind.”

“I shall keep it in mind, then.”

“Good. Now, let us proceed, and resume the terms of the contract. I am allowed access to where you sleep every night to eat your dreams. You are not to deny me. The deal is, of course, valid until one of us dies.”

“Devils can die?”

“No. Unless they are starved, which isn’t going to happen any time soon.”

“Oh. What if one day I feel ready to dream again—“

“No. It’s a deal to the death or nothing.”

“I’m giving you something. Why does it have to be a deal?”

“Once again, if you don’t like it, I’ll leave.”

“Fine. All right.” The human rolled his eyes. Rolled his eyes. “You’re greedy.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you also slothful, lustful, gluttonous, envious, prideful and easy to anger?”

“Hardly half of that. I wouldn’t give myself that much credit.”

The human chuckled. Aulkeï hardly saw what was so funny.

“So, is it a deal?” the devil asked.

“One last question. Will you always look like... that?” The man gestured to all of him. “Not that I am complaining, but I was a little surprised when you appeared.”

“What about it?”

“You’re so... handsome. Aren’t you supposed to look like an unspeakably horrifying eldritch entity?”

“Considering that my true form is invisible, I’d say that I am not supposed to look like anything at all. But they are cases of young devils during their first outing in this plane of existence that sort of threw together a form without any prior knowledge. But those are beginner mistakes.”

“Oh, that’s interesting, I didn’t know that. And how about...” he stopped himself.

“Yes?”

“No, it’s a stupid question.”

“Ask anyway. Trust me, I have a poor opinion of all humans so there’s hardly anything you can do to make it worse.”

“That a mood.”

“... Pardon?”

He shook his head. “Never mind. My question was about the horns, and the hooved feet... You know, classic devil attributes. Where did those come from?”

“My best bet is that it’s all a human invention.” Aulkeï shrugged. “Your bible church was always so adamant about making us devils the bad guys. It’s easier to hate your enemy when it doesn’t look human.”

“Never mind that devils happen to be among the nastiest predators of humans...”

“It’s easy for humans to accuse rather than understand; words to think about. Now, let us finish out the deal, unless you still got another unrelated question for me.”

“Yes... Let us do that.”

The man gave him his hand and Aulkeï shook it. His palm was warm and firm. For a man that had just offered a lifetime’s worth of dreams to a devil, he was surprisingly calm. He kept holding him for longer than necessary.

“My name is Shawn, by the way,” said the human.

“I know,” lied Aulkeï.

“Do you now?”

“Why would you doubt me so?” Aulkeï offered him his best smile, this time with human teeth.

“Because otherwise you would have used it to intimidate me, instead of ‘mortal’. What is yours?”

“It’s Sebastian.”

Shawn let go of his hand. “It is not.”

“Why not? Call me Seb.”

“That’s a human name. Your mother wouldn’t have named you that. I’ll call you Satan.”

“Urg.” Aulkeï rolled his eyes. “Anything but that. It’s Aulkeï, since you’re so adamant about it.”

“Thank you.”

He was smarter than what Aulkeï had given him credit for. Too bad he only used his brain to be even more annoying than what he already was. But it wasn’t a problem. Aulkeï could handle that if that meant that he wouldn’t be making any more effort.

“Well, Aulkeï, this is how it’s going to be.” Shawn went to sit on his bed. “I go to sleep every night at ten o’clock. It might take a while for me to do that, but eventually—“

“It’s past midnight.”

“Yeah.” Shawn glared at him. “Because you were late.”

Aulkeï chuckled. Now that was funny.

“I’ll be going to bed soon now,” said Shawn. “You’ll get your dream then.”

“Sweet.”

“Just need to clean things up.”

He went to pick up the newspaper under Aulkeï and walked out, probably to go and throw it in the trash or stash it to burn it. This gave Aulkeï some time alone to examine the room, which he found most interesting.

The hundreds of posters all over the walls – there was no open space on them – didn’t retain his attention long. Instead, he looked at the books, browsing through them. He was surprised by the number of horror stories he found on the shelves. He picked one randomly and opened it at a page in the middle to start reading it. Horror, in general, amused him. He could see other devils using it as inspiration for practical jokes. He’d do some himself if it didn’t require so much effort.

“Do you have to wait here in my room until I start dreaming?” asked Shawn when he walked back in. He had changed to a pyjama shirt and pants. His breath smelled like toothpaste.

“I mean, I could come back later, I got things to do, but I’d rather wait here. What about it?”

“Are you going to stare at me until I sleep?”

Aulkeï looked up from his book at the human. Shawn didn’t have a bad face. He looked like the type of person that would get easily flustered when teased. If you stared at humans a certain way for long enough, they started to blush, and that was sort of cute for a pathetic, inferior lifeform. Aulkeï was almost tempted to do just that.

“So?” asked Shawn after a long silence. That must have felt awkward for him.

“I can make myself discreet.”

“As in?”

Aulkeï dematerialized. The book he had been carrying dropped on the ground, yet he was still there. He simply didn’t have a form. Shawn’s eyes widened and he looked all around his room, and that was extremely funny.

“Is he gone?” asked Shawn under his breath.

Aulkeï didn’t appear.

Shawn breathed in deeply, closed his eyes, and seemed to focus.

“No, he’s still here. Being a dick, probably,” said Shawn after a moment.

Oh, so he could extend his senses too. That was interesting. For someone with no familiar, he sure knew a lot of warlock tricks.

Shawn didn’t add anything to his previous comment. He got in bed and closed his eyes, yet didn’t seem to fall asleep for a long time. Aulkeï didn’t mind waiting. He had all night if need be. One of the things humans underestimated about him was how patient he could be. They were the ones on a timer, not him.

He sure was a strange one, though, that human. He knew witch rituals and witch techniques yet, without a familiar to boost his magical capabilities, he was extremely weak. He was unafraid of a devil and even talked back to him. He didn’t care about giving away his dreams.

Yet, for all those particularities, Aulkeï wasn’t the least worried. He never was. He was a devil. Sure, some supernatural creatures were hunted by humans. Not him. No one was insane enough to try and trick the Trickster.

When he knew that Shawn was sleeping, he turned back into a more human form, although he did give himself cat eyes just to be able to see better in the dark – the reason why he was turning back at all was that it was easier to see when one had a material form. He leaned over Shawn’s sleeping form.

There it was again: this desire to push him around until he turned pink in the face. There were many different humans that he enjoyed tormenting in many different ways, but it was quite rare for him to stumble over one that made him want to get... personal. Like he wanted to be the only thing on Shawn’s mind at all time. That would annoy him for sure if it was the case.

Would he be annoyed if he knew that Aulkeï had creepily stroked his cheek while he was out?

He wondered about it as he did just that. It was soft. He had shaved quite closely. When Aulkeï touched it with his lips – a human body part that was even more sensitive than his fingertips – he could detect the tiny points of a growing beard.

By the way, that didn’t count as kissing.

As if on cue, Shawn started to dream. Aulkeï had been on the lookout for that, obviously, and so he sank his metaphorical fangs into the stream of sweet energy. Dream energy was like the steam released at the end of a long day. It was unrefined sin energy, in a way, energy he couldn’t quite use to nourish himself. It wasn’t exactly delicious – that would mean that it had a taste – but the sensation he got from it was: like warmth rolling through his being, followed by a feeling of serenity. All his worries and stress dispersed. He even felt a little dizzy, having underestimated the potency of Shawn’s dreams.

He lingered in the room after he had lapped it up the very last drop, feeling content and sluggish. Life was good. He’d gladly slip his physical in a warm bath, or eat something way too sweet like ice cream. None of that was available at the moment, which was fine. He’d wait a bit that the effects cleared enough so that he could walk straight, and then he’d leave.

Chapter Text

Aulkeï was scared of no one, but he did keep away from the hunters in town. There were a little too trigger-happy for him.

There was a time where supernatural creatures existed in abundance, and humans wouldn’t do anything about it. Witches and warlocks made pacts with their familiars in order to have some measure of power, and they were the ones ordinary people turned to when they needed some help with anything magical.

All of that changed when hunter guilds started to appear.

At first, they were nothing but pest control, but then fanatics got their hands on them and they turned into extermination operations. For creatures like Aulkeï, it was easy to hide, but some others suffered tremendously. Those that had an affinity with the fairies pleaded for their protection and fled in their dimension. Others turned to the wilderness. And those that were small and good at hiding, gnomes, lilliputs, goblins, made it a rule to stay out of human’s sight and never interact with them. The rest got killed.

With the supernatural creatures wiped out of everyday life, it became easy for the humans to forget they existed. And where they didn’t forget fast enough, the undercover demons and the vampires moved in to propagate the lies that it had all been a delusion. Apparently, they gained from it, even if Aulkeï had no idea what they did gain. It’s not like demons would speak with a devil if they could avoid it, and vampires were only interested in things with blood.

And so, everyone forgot, save for some witches and hunters that were born with the ability to see supernatural creatures. Even they began to be called crazy after a while.

Except in this town. Here, through the ages and the denials, a unit of hunters persisted, held together by sheer luck, will, and religious conviction. They started their days with a prayer about how they vowed to exterminate the forces of evil and ended it with one of forgiveness for the souls of the sinners they had sowed on that day. They worked as exterminators and plumbers, policemen and security guards, just to get their hands everywhere a supernatural creature might be.

Once, one had started a journal to try and track down Aulkeï. He probably thought that they were strong enough to take on a devil. He stopped when Aulkeï went to his house and destroyed the journal in his sleep, writing “this could have been you” in red letters on every single one of the two hundred torn page all across his kitchen. That got the message across loud and clear.

It did occur to Aulkeï that Shawn might be associated with them. He went through their registers to find a list of member’s names, one night that there was no one in the head honcho’s office. Luckily for him, he found one on paper (he still didn’t quite know how to get around this whole computer files thing) and discovered that his inkling had been wrong.

That suited him. Shawn’s dreams were potent, he’d hate it if he had to keep away from them for his own tranquillity.

Aulkeï didn’t show himself to Shawn for several days after that, even if he did drop by his house a little before ten and hung out around his room in his dematerialised form. He wasn’t really sure if Shawn knew. The later had yet to complain about a recrudescence of unwanted dreams.

But, a week or so after their first meeting, the devil donned his human body. He wasn’t quite sure himself why he did it other than curiosity at Shawn’s reaction. And, indeed, Shawn seemed quite surprised when opened the front door to his flat to find him standing in the hallway.

“Aulkeï?” he asked.

“Why do you ask? Do you know someone as handsome as me?” Aulkeï chuckled. “I doubt it.”

“I was just... I never expected you to just try and walk in – come in, by the way.” He moved to the side so that his visitor could pass through the door. “Didn’t seem like your style.”

“What do you know of my style?”

“Not much,” Shawn admitted. He closed and locked the door again. “I assumed that you wouldn’t talk to me ever again.”

“And I assumed that you wouldn’t be interested,” said Aulkeï. He hung up his coat and turned to him.

Shawn stared at his face.

“Like what you see?” asked Aulkeï.

“Yeah. Love the cat eyes.”

“The cat— Oh, of course, the cat eyes.” Aulkeï had completely forgotten that he had left those on. “Human vision is terrible at night.”

“I suppose. Being able to change your body at will seems very convenient.”

“It is. I switch it up from time to time, to get some variety, but I also like getting the full human body experience as well.”

“What’s that?”

“Human sensations. Touch, cold, warmth, pain... pleasure.”

Shawn gave him a strange look. He wanted to ask. Hesitated. Then asked anyway.

“You can have sex?”

“I can. It’s nice, albeit a little smelly. What’s that to you?”

“I’m surprised. I thought it would be dull in comparison to, I don’t know, inter-planar sex with other devils.”

“That’s actually very painful. And raising the child afterwards even more.” Aulkeï sighed. “Not that I would know from past experience, but there is a reason why there are not many devils.”

“Oh. Sounds tough.”

“It would be if I couldn’t have human sex.”

Shawn laughed. “I like you. You’ve got wit.”

“Can’t say the same about you,” lied Aulkeï.

“That you like me or that I got wit?”

“Both.”

“Now you’re just being mean for the sake of it. Everyone else knows that I’m the king of wit. Do you want to go to my room and wait there while I get ready?”

Aulkeï didn’t even bother answering. He vanished then reappeared in Shawn’s room. He was a lot faster in his dematerialised form. He might enjoy appearing at the front door, but that didn’t mean that he would walk the rest of the way. That would take effort.

He supposed that Shawn would eventually appear in his ugly pyjamas so he didn’t bother calling him. He flopped on his bed instead, laying on his back over the covers, and stared at the ceiling. There were posters there too. Looking at them one by one was entertaining enough. They were really strange, because there were posters nowhere else in Shawn’s home. There probably was a story behind it.

Not that Aulkeï cared.

“Oh!” cried Shawn when he came in. “Oh— Aulkeï, you scared the crap out of me. Thought you’d be invisible by now.”

Aulkeï looked at Shawn from between his raised thighs and gave him his best wolfish grin. Sweet. He liked pranking people without expending a single effort.

“I’m sort of glad you’re not, though. I still got a question for you.”

“Hmm.”

Shawn walked across the room and Aulkeï gave him his bed back, laying on the wall instead. Gravity? No idea who she was.

“I was sort of wondering if you felt human emotions,” said Shawn once he had sat down on the blankets.

“Human emotions?” Aulkeï chuckled. “There’re not just for you guys.”

“Yeah, but I mean... Seems weird to think that an inter-dimensional predator like you would have those, but if you didn’t, you’re faking them really well.”

“I have them. Of course I do. I feed by manipulating them in others, I evolved to feel them as well so I know how they work instinctually.”

“Huh. That’s interesting. So you’re actually quite similar to us in that regard.”

“One could say that.”

“And you never feel bad when you cause pain to people that can feel all the things you do?”

“Should I?”

“I know that most people would. Most humans at least.”

“I disagree.”

“Why that?”

“You do realize that I am an opportunistic feeder? I can’t create bad people, I can only encourage them. And then, when they do what they would have eventually done on their own, I profit. Should I feel guilty over the small pushes I give right and left?”

“So that’s the excuse you give yourself? You’re not bad because people are?”

“I don’t know what else to tell you. I just don’t feel guilty. It’s not an excuse, it’s an explanation. I don’t actually care if you think it’s a good one or not.”

“I still don’t understand you.”

“But you do.” Aulkeï grinned at him. “You eat meat.”

“That’s not the same.”

“Animals got feelings too, yet you eat them. As far as I know, I don’t need to kill to eat, which makes me a lot more ethical than you.”

Shawn laughed. “You? Ethical? You’re the contrary of ethical. You’re a devil.”

“And yet you understand where I’m coming from.”

He went silent for a while after than, thinking about it. “I see where you’re coming from, even if I disagree. For one, I never killed any animal myself. It’s all pre-packaged in shops. It’s not the same.”

“Well, then, if you’re going to be like that, I don’t have any other examples that might compare.”

“I’m still happy you explained. I was wondering about how you’d word it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Shawn in bed, looking like he was about to try and sleep. Aulkeï was about to disperse his material form when he turned back to him with another question.

“Why did you make yourself so good-looking?”

“Ehe.” Aulkeï savoured the compliment. He liked when his work was recognized. “People treat you better when you’re pretty.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yes. They are more likely to make a deal with you. I speak out of experience.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that. And what about the fact that you’re a guy? Devils don’t have gender from what I understood, so do people treat you better when you’re one?”

“Depends on what they want from me and who’s making the deal, but being a man used to be a lot more reliably beneficial in the past. Now it’s just a habit of mine. That sort of body is more comfortable to me.”

“So... it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m gay?”

Oh. Aulkeï didn’t expect that one. In retrospective, he should have seen it coming, with where those questions were going.

“What a coincidence,” said Aulkeï. “I’m also gay.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes.”

Shawn’s attitude changed. He looked at Aulkeï’s lips, then his gaze swept his torso all the way to his crotch. It was like he was seeing him for the first time. Or maybe he was considering how all of that might be available to him. His face turned red but he didn’t look away.

Aulkeï reached down to stroke his cheek. A single finger under his chin and he tilted Shawn’s head up. The latter let him do with no resistance whatsoever. His expression became hopeful, eager. He parted his lips when Aulkeï leaned down.

Their mouths were but a breath away when Aulkeï stopped, then grinned. He had his sharp teeth on again.

“Fooled you,” he said.

He vanished.

It was a blessing for Shawn that Aulkeï couldn’t laugh in his true form, or he’s be kept awake by his cackling for fifteen minutes straight. Instead, he curled against the wall, hiding his face, and wallowed in shame, knowing that Aulkeï was still there and very, very smug about his prank.

Even after that certain incident between them, Shawn’s attitude towards the devil visiting him every night didn’t change. He was hurt, of course, that Aulkeï would mock him in that way but when he saw that it was never brought up again, he calmed down.

He’d still give him those quick lip-chest-crotch look. That was cute. It was like he couldn’t help himself and Aulkeï loved it. He filled his body out a little and tightened his clothes so that the changes might be made more obvious. If Shawn noticed, he didn’t comment.

He made small talk instead, asking about his day and he seemed interested. Gone were the moralist takes on Aulkeï’s way of feeding. Instead, he asked questions about every little thing about Aulkeï. And Aulkeï, flattered by the never-ending attention, answered them, explaining them in human terms. He couldn’t recall any time he had spoken so much to the same human. Not that he was against it, he had just never met anyone so interested in him.

Another proof that one got a lot more out of others when they were pretty, he thought. To him, it was obvious that Shawn was driven by sheer lust. What else? If he wasn’t a warlock of a hunter, he couldn’t possibly use all that information for anything.

“How powerful are you?” Shawn asked one night.

“Didn’t I already answer that question? I told you that it wasn’t something that could be measured.”

“Yeah, you did. But if, let’s say, there was a demon in front of you that wanted to fight you, who would win?”

“It would be a bit cheating if it was a demon. They might be strong, but I can deny their access to this dimension in the snap of a finger and send them back to Hell. That’s why demons hate devils. That’s also probably why Satan was described as a devil rather than a demon.”

“So... you could rule over demons if you wanted to?”

“Ruling? As in, being responsible and seeing that everyone does as they are told? That sounds like effort.”

“But if you were forced to, you could?”

“There is nothing that can force me to do anything I don’t want.”

“So... you’re telling me that there is nothing stronger than you?”

“One could take it that way, yes.” 

Shawn leaned back against the wall of the bed, thinking. He had given Aulkeï a couch on the other side of the room and a tall glass of dr. Pepper, his favourite human drink. Something about the burn and the sweetness combined was irresistible to him.

“Everyone is so lucky devils are lazy,” said Shawn. “If you wanted, you could single-handedly wipe out this entire city, right?”

“What for? It’s mine.”

“Yours?”

“Yeah. Everything in it, every single human and all the supernaturals, they’re all mine. Everything they do eventually works in my interest, and everything they don’t do gives me some peace. They feed me, I control them as I want, and there is no one, absolutely no one, crazy enough to dispute my claim.”

“Didn’t you just say that ruling took too much effort?”

“I’m not the ruler. That title is probably claimed by— Hmm... I think the current vampire in power’s called Cleo, if I’m not mistaken. That changes all the time. But I do lord over it. The tax goes to me, if you will. Cleo can only drink so much blood until he explodes, while I can easily fit it in my grasp and eat it whole. But I won’t, because then I’d have to go to another city and that would take some effort.”

Shawn shook his head and chuckled. “You’re really something.”

“I am, indeed, something.”

“And yet, you’re talking to me, a mere mortal. Like a cat talking to a mouse.”

“More like a lion talking to a mouse. You alone could never give me enough nourishment for it to be satisfying, so why not?”

“I’m entertaining to you.”

“Sometimes. When I want to be entertained.”

“Like when you tease me.”

It took Aulkeï a moment to realize what the other meant. When he did, he grinned, put his glass down, laid on the couch and adjusted his clothes so that they would reveal more skin. Shawn smiled and shook his head.

“I’m not falling for it this time,” said Shawn. “You’re a being that can turn into a photoshopped version of a human. I’m just me, I can’t compare to that.”

“I never said that I was attracted to perfect looks myself. It’s humans that base so much on appearance.”

“What do you mean?”

“That I don’t care about outside beauty. Not as much as you’d think.” Aulkeï stood up and walked over to sit next to Shawn on the bed. “Humans can be really cute, sometimes. That’s what I like.”

“And so you’d consider them for... doing things?”

“Like sex?” Aulkeï leaned in. Shawn was very red in the face and his tanned skin barely hid it. He was lip-licking cute. “It wouldn’t be my first rodeo.”

“Stop it.” He placed a hand on Aulkeï’s chest. “You’re just teasing me. You’re going to vanish in thin air again.”

“That’s true.” Aulkeï placed a hand on each side of Shawn and kept moving forward, forcing him to drop on the sheets beneath him. “But I got to make sure your attraction doesn’t die out, so I feed it.”

“What? Why?”

“You don’t get it? It’s obvious.”

“Obviously mean.”

“Not at all. I think you’d be worthy of me, but I’m not quite in the mood until one day, I’ll be. And when that happens, I can’t have you refuse me.”

Shawn frowned. This revelation didn’t seem to please him. A shame, because Aulkeï preferred when he was flustered.

“So, I’m some sort of fuck toy to you,” said Shawn.

“I explained my point of view. That can be yours if you want, even if it will only make you miserable.”

“How else am I suppose to look at it?” Shawn tried to push him off him. Aulkeï wasn’t done, so he didn’t budge. “You’re telling me that you’ll use me when you want!”

“It’s still a step-up from getting nothing.”

“I’d rather get nothing.”

“No, you don’t, Shawn. My little sweet.”

The nickname must have taken the human by surprise because he blushed again. Aulkeï stroked his cheek and he wasn’t pushed away.

“You want to be privileged?” added Aulkeï. “Look at you. You got my time and attention every day. You have my interest. No one else got that. Of all my possession, you are currently my favourite, a little treat I got tucked away like a secret. Don’t tell me that you’d rather have nothing.”

“Fuck off,” said Shawn. “Just vanish already.”

Aulkeï didn’t expect the lust the rejection awakened in him. Right then, he was ready to make all of Shawn’s desires come true. He wanted him to regret those words, to beg for forgiveness as he succumbed to wave after wave of pleasure. He wanted him to love him.

He immediately recognized how dangerous going down that path was. When had a mere human gained such a hold on him, a devil? He had to be careful.

“Fine,” said Aulkeï. “Since you can’t bear to face the truth, I’ll spare you this time. Have a good night.”

Shawn turned his head away instead of answering – rude, but he was already forgiven – and Aulkeï dematerialized to let him sleep.

Chapter Text

A few more nights went by where nothing of importance happened. Aulkeï got in a habit of reading a book from Shawn’s shelves when he was over if Shawn didn’t have anything to tell him. That suited him well enough.

They avoided the subject of temptation. Neither of them wanted to bring it up. In Shawn’s case, the reasons for that were obvious, but for Aulkeï... he didn’t quite know, or rather he didn’t want to think about it. Because there were times where he just wanted Shawn, where it was raw and unasked for. He enjoyed such sensations, indulged himself by imagining what would happen, but he never acted upon it. Once again, it was too dangerous.

That was, until a night that was exactly two months after their first meeting.

It was later, and Shawn was starting to dream. Aulkeï had places he needed to be that night but he still wanted his fix. He thought that he could go through it quickly.

But, as he started to lap up the produce of that night, he noticed that it felt... different. Each sort of dream had a distinct flavour to it, and he could tell most of them apart in a blink of an eye. He paused as he tried to identify this one, and then it hit him.

It was a wet dream.

Shawn let out a breathy sigh and shifted under him ever so slightly. There was movement behind his eyelids. How unbearably adorable would it be if he was dreaming of Aulkeï? He wanted that to be true. He also wanted Shawn, with a passion, in an almost desperate way, and he wanted him now. Before he knew it, he was pressing his body down against the human’s, seeking physical contact.

No— No. This was not what he was supposed to do. He liked eating Shawn’s dreams, and he shouldn’t be changing that just because happened to like— to want the other. He couldn’t let him have such control over him. He leaned in and lapped all of the other’s dream in one go, spotting it in the middle.

And regretted it almost instantly. His head was spined. The room spun. He wasn’t making the room spin, right? He hated when that happened. That meant that he had to focus to stop it, and that was the last thing on his mind right now. He breathed in deeply.

“Aulkeï?” mumbled Shawn. “What are you doing laying on me?”

Aulkeï looked down. Oh, he was awake. Anyone would wake up if their dream was cut right in the middle after all. Shawn couldn’t see in the dark, so he reached for his nightlamp and turned in on.

“Oh my god. Aulkeï. Your eyes.”

“Hmm?”

“They are wide like saucers.”

Like saucers. That was the funniest shit anyone had told him in a while. Aulkeï wheezed and flopped on the side, against the wall. Oh yeah, that was perfect. With Shawn’s body against his, it was really, really comfy and warm. Too bad there was all this cloth between them, then he’d be even warmer. He forgot what he had been laughing about. Did it matter?

“Oh my god. Are you high?” said Shawn.

“I’m not high...” that might have been a little slurred, but it wasn’t Aulkeï’s fault. Shawn’s dreams were just so damn tasty, and he had taken that one in one go. “Not at aaall.”

“You’re high as a kite.”

Aulkeï started to laugh again. Shawn was so damn funny right now. Everything he said was funny. And he had such a nice voice... he had such a nice everything.

“Did my dream make you like that?”

“Like what?” Oh yeah, he had dreamed a little before Aulkeï took it from him, right? “Were you dreaming about me?”

“That’s not the question right now.”

“I bet you were dreaming about you and me having hot gay sex together.” He paused. “Imagine how much better it would be if we did it in real life?”

Aulkeï tried to wrap his arms around Shawn’s waist, but the latter was already getting out of bed. How rude. Now he couldn’t even hold him.

“That’s not how sex work,” said Aulkeï.

“I know that’s not how sex work, I’m trying to avoid it.”

“Why would you be so mean?” Aulkeï felt tears well in his eyes. “I thought you liked me?”

Shawn visibly hesitated when he heard the tremor in his voice. Aulkeï sniffled miserably.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” said Shawn. He rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly why we shouldn’t be having sex right now. You’re not yourself.”

“You don’t know, maybe I’m just sensitive! I got emotions too, you know!”

“I know! Look, let’s calm down, I’ll get you... some dr. Pepper. You like that. I’ll be right back.”

“No... no, you are not leaving me.”

Shawn walked sideways to the door. “I’m not, I’ll be right back.”

Aulkeï shook his head. Shawn didn’t get it. When he said that he wasn’t leaving, no one was leaving. He extended his hands and grabbed hold of the space around him, twisting it to his liking.

The bottom end of the room, where Aulkeï laid on the bed, suddenly seemed to drop by a whole story, stretching the floor with it. Shawn, surprised, tripped, fell, and started to slide towards where he had come from.

“What the hell?”

“If the soft way’s not going to work, I got to find another,” said Aulkeï. He was no longer pretending to cry in the hope that he would be getting the other’s sympathy. He opened his arms wide to catch Shawn. “Come to me, my sweet. I’m going to eat you up.”

“Aulkeï, what are you doing to my house?”

“Our house.”

Shawn dropped in his arms. Aulkeï expanded the bed for the two of them, in fact he spread it until it had the size of a small swimming pool and filled it with cushions. Shawn had stopped tried to claw his way out towards the door that was now almost directly over them and was looking in absolute shock around him. Finally, he could be held tight. Aulkeï did just that, wrapping his arms around him from behind.

“This is madness,” said the human.

“It’s just me,” said Aulkeï.

“I’m going to scream.”

“In space, no one can hear you scream. And I mean, there’s extra-interdimensional space between us and any neighbour you might have, meaning that we’re completely alone with each other.”

And then Aulkeï lifted Shawn’s shirt and licked a trail up his back. Shawn shivered.

“Aulkeï, oh my God, don’t. Let me go.”

Shawn, of course, knew that Aulkeï wouldn’t listen to an order of his and tried to wriggle his way out of his arms. The latter laughed. A fraction of a second later, Shawn’s wrists were pinned to the giant bed by fluffy pink manacles – of course they were pink, pink was the best colour. He was red and huffy. That was so, so damn cute of him. Aulkeï almost wanted to eat him up, in a figurative sense of course.

He looked a little scared though. That Aulkeï didn’t want.

“Hush, hush,” he said, petting the side of his human’s face. “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to make you feel good.”

“Please, let me go,” said Shawn.

Aulkeï laid down on a pile of cushions next to Shawn, a hand on his chest to stroke it. He honestly didn’t want to see Shawn distressed like that, it didn’t feel quite as nice as he would want, but he also didn’t want to let him go. It was a dilemma, and the fumes clouding his mind wasn’t making thinking it through any easier.

“You don’t want to fuck me?” he asked Shawn.

“I...” Shawn closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. “I do, but right now I’m scared. You’ve just wrecked my room. I didn’t know... didn’t expect you to be capable of this.”

He opened his eyes and looked at Aulkeï in the eyes.

“I’d feel better if you would let go of my hands,” he said.

Ah, that was an easy solution. Aulkeï nodded, and the manacles vanished. He might have gone a little overboard with this one.

Shawn sat up, rubbing his wrists a little. He was silent, and he had a look on his face that Aulkeï didn’t quite know how to read. His mood became a lot clearer when Shawn leaned in. Aulkeï allowed the kiss, and it was fresh and too chaste for his liking, so he passed a hand in Shawn’s hair to hold him there so that he could deepen it. He was met with no resistance. In fact, he was met with an eager tongue instead. Aulkeï hummed in delight and slowly turned so that he would lay on his back.

They parted.

“Are you absolutely sure that it’s all right?” asked Shawn.

“That again?” Aulkeï clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Stop it. I want it. You. Fuck me.”

“I know, but among humans... well, if one of them was as high as you are right now, I’d be really iffy about their ability to consent.”

“I’m not high.”

“You sound super drunk. Your speech is slurred.”

Was it? Aulkeï paused to listen but he heard nothing. Shawn was bullshitting him.

“It was why your kind like eating dreams?” Shawn asked. “Because you get shitfaced?”

“Hey, dreams make me feel nice.” Beat. “It’s not being shitfaced. Not the same thing.”

“Sure, Aulkeï.” Shawn rolled his eyes. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“I can totally consent. I’m consenting right now. Do it.”

“All right, all right...”

Despite his eye-rolling and head shaking, Shawn did get to it. He helped Aulkeï out of his jacket, then his shirt. All the bare skin that Aulkeï had been teasing so much was revealed, and the human took a moment to bask in the sight.

“Like what you see?” asked Aulkeï.

“Oh yeah. Shit, Aulkeï, you got the best body I ever saw.” Shawn passed a hand over it, touching it as if to make sure it was real. “Totally worth the wait.”

“That’s the least I can do.”

Shawn’s hand trailed lower and lower, exploring, but stopped before he got to Aulkeï’s happy trail. He looked concerned.

“We probably should have discussed this before,” he said, “but, erm... how do you want to do it?”

Aulkeï blinked a few times, taken aback. “Do what?”

“Are you a top or a bottom?”

“Oh! Oh. I’m an interdimensional eldritch monster. I’m happy with either side, really.”

“Oh, same. I mean, maybe not the interdimensional eldritch part. We’ll see about being a monster.” He chuckled. Aulkeï didn’t get the joke. “But yeah, so we’re both switches. That’s good to know.”

Beat.

“So... how do you want to do it?” asked Shawn.

“Why do I have to decide?”

“Oh yeah.” Shawn smacked his forehead. “I forgot how lazy you are. All right, you’re probably not in a state to top anyway...”

“I am.”

“Okay, fine, you are, but I’m going to top.”

“Works for me.”

“You got a condom?”

Aulkeï narrowed his eyes.

“Oh my gosh, Aulkeï, don’t look at me like that,” said Shawn. “I’m not fucking you without a condom.”

“I’m clean.”

“Yeah, and when are you going to get tested to prove it to me?”

Aulkeï opened his mouth wide but no words came out. Words were supposed to come out. Was this body broken?

“I didn’t think so,” said Shawn.

“What is this discrimination!” cried Aulkeï all of a sudden. “You’ve got more microbes on you than I ever had in my entire life! What’s a few more?”

“I’m not fucking you without a condom. Contrary to you, I can die from an STD.”

“Who cares? I can just decide you’ll live forever.”

“Wait, really?”

Aulkeï suddenly paused, wide-eyed. “Wait a second. I can.”

“You only realize that now?”

“I totally can. Why has no one wished for that before?” Beat. “Oh wait, Clotilde has. And I killed her because it was too much work!” He started laughing. That was so funny. Because she had wanted the opposite, and then she was dead!

“Oh my God, Aukleï.” Beat. “Do you want a drink?”

“Yeah! You said you were going to get me one and then you never did – what’s up with that? Are you a liar?”

“No, no I’m not— Listen, I’ll get you one right now if you let me walk to the kitchen, okay?”

Aulkeï nodded, then realized that the door was directly above them and that Shawn couldn’t walk. Well, he guessed it wouldn’t hurt to return the room to its normal state. So he did.

“Thanks,” said Shawn.

“Thank me when you’ve reached the kitchen,” said Aulkeï.

Shawn narrowed his eyes at the devil. Aulkeï frowned, confused at his reaction.

“What did you do?” asked Shawn.

“Nothing! Nothing that I remember doing on purpose but— Hmm. Would be a shame if you felt into a dimensional rift. I’m coming with you.”

“A dimensional rift?”

“Look, those, erm, just happen, okay?”

“Oh yeah, sure, that makes it a lot better.”

“Glad you agree. To the kitchen!”

Aulkeï somehow managed to stand on his wobbly legs. He remembered he could float and decided that he could do that later. Never do today what you could do tomorrow! Or so they said. That was what they said, right?

Shawn looked tired as he walked to the kitchen and served him a tall glass of Dr Pepper. Of course, Aulkeï could have summoned one right in his hand but it was always better to have it given to him. It made him feel important... and maybe a little cherished. Which didn’t happen often, even though he was an awesome person to hang out with.

Aulkeï threw his head back to drink. Only he forgot to open his mouth and ended up just throwing the content of his glass on his face and chest. Shit. Luckily, he wasn’t human, so he could just absorb what he had missed through his skin, right?

It fucking burned.

Aukleï threw the glass on the ground, smashing it, and screamed with all the might of his puny human lungs. No pain could compare to this one, none that a human could ever feel.

“What the fuck?” cried Shawn. And suddenly he was there with a towel, trying to wipe at whatever soft juice remained on his clothes. “What the fuck—Aulkeï, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know!”

“Stop!”

Aulkeï did, and suddenly he felt a lot better. Huh. Figures.

Shawn covered his face with his hands and rubbed it for several long moments. Aulkeï was content to just stare out in the emptiness in the meantime. Some of the dust particles sort of looked like dicks.

“When are we fucking, again?” he asked.

“You just won’t shut up until I fuck you?” said Shawn. “After all you put me through?”

“Yeah! What’s up with the wait?”

“I’m still not doing it without a condom!”

“Fuck condoms!”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck me!”

“After I get a condom!”

“Okay.”

Shawn just stopped. He did a few gestures with his hands in Aulkeï’s direction but they were not sign language. Not that Aulkeï knew sign langue. Or did he? He did think that the translators wiggled in very funny ways when they sometimes came on the TVs but he had been told that he had a strange sense of humour. Especially when he was high.

Which he totally wasn’t at the moment, for those keeping track at home.

“Fine,” said Shawn. “Fine. This is fine.”

“Of course it is,” said Aulkeï. “I can totally consent.”

“I’d commit a crime if that gets you to stop,” said Shawn.

“Ooooh, crime! Can I come?”

“You’re the crime.”

“Yay!” Aulkeï punched both of his fists in the air. “Go, crime!”

Shawn started to laugh. He tried to stop himself at first, for some reason, keeping it low, but he had to let it spill out. Before long, it was a full-blown crisis, and Aulkeï had to wait for it to die out all alone. That was so rude.

“Sorry, but you just...” said Shawn. “I haven’t laughed like that in forever. You’re just... too much. It’s good. It feels good. Really good.”

“I like it... when you smile,” said Aulkeï. “Like that. I think it’s your best smile to date.”

“Thank you,” said Shawn. “I’m not too bad, for a human, am I not?”

Aulkeï pushed his lips together, refraining himself from answering. He knew flirting when he saw it and he always liked playing hard to get. Or at least he felt like playing hard to get at the moment.

Shawn reached up and gently pushed on Aulkeï’s chin so that he would be looking down. And then he kissed him.

Oh... Oh. That felt nice. With the lingering dream in his system, that gave Aulkeï shivers all over, even in his toes. He wanted more. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss. Shawn tasted nice and had a perfectly proportioned tongue with an optimal texture. Ten on ten, would kiss a lot more than he already had.

He wasn’t given the chance of doing it all in one go, sadly. The other interrupted it their little session. He was a little breathless but still very willing if the way he looked at Aulkeï was of any indication. And Aulkeï liked when people looked at him like he was the most beautiful person they had ever seen. It even made him blush a little.

“Living room,” said Shawn, a bit breathless. “Think you can turn the couch into a bed for me?”

“Oh yeah,” said Aulkeï. “I always wanted to do that.”

“Knock yourself out.”

Aulkeï stepped into the living room. He narrowed his eyes at the future bed, focusing for a brief moment on how he wanted to change it, then made it come true with a snap of the finger. Not that he needed to snap his fingers to do anything, it just felt nice in his hand.

He flopped on the newly created double bed. Things got a little tight in here now but it was fine as long as one stayed on the bed. It was warm too.

Shawn was coming back from a trip to some drawer, carrying a little piece of plastic and a small bottle. He showed it to Aulkeï as if it was some prize.

“You really like pink,” said Shawn, looking at the bed.

“How could you tell?”

“I... Guessed it.”

“Ah.”

“Now... should we get those stained clothes off you?”

Aulkeï smiled and his long fingers tangled with the white rim of his pullover. The material could stretch enough for him to pass it over his head. And then, with one flick of the wrist, he tossed it over the edge of the bed.

“God damn,” said Shawn. He rubbed his hands over Shawn’s chest, appreciative. “I know you cheated but... fuck Aulkeï. You’re hot.”

“Thank you. You deserve it.”

Shawn chuckled. “You’re a charmer, aren’t you?”

Aulkeï chuckled along with him. Shawn’s hand passed over a nipple and suddenly he wasn’t laughing anymore.

“Sensitive?” asked Shawn.

He pinched the small nub. Aulkeï’s moan was the answer he needed. He continued, alternating between the two of them, until they were both erect and so, so sensitive. The buzz of pleasure slowly spread through Aulkeï’s body. He closed his eyes.

“I want you,” said Shawn.

His hands left Aulkeï, leaving cold traces where they had been touching him so that he could start removing his clothes. Good riddance, those pyjamas were ugly, especially compared to Shawn’s bare body. Well, save for some boxers, but those were easy to forgive. Not only they clung quite close to Shawn’s crotch, but they were also quickly removed.

Shawn crawled near Aulkeï once more, entirely bare.

“Your turn?” he asked.

“Take them off,” said Aulkeï as he lifted his hips. He was feeling lazy.

Shawn rolled his eyes but he did anyway. Or at least it seemed like he was going to do it at first until he palmed Aulkeï over his clothes instead. Which felt nice. Aulkeï planted his feet a little firmer, arched his back a little further, just so that he could rub into the touch. Oh, that felt nice.

Shawn indulged him. His hand went back, and forth, following the line of a hardening length. His touch wasn’t even that insistent or precise, not through two layers of cloth, but it was the sight of his hand on him that excited Aulkeï most. Shawn had the prettiest of hands, true warlock hands, long-palmed and with thin fingers. Their dexterity was unparalleled. Even the slightest twitch of his pinkie had intent behind it, and that intent at the moment was to put on a small, private show for Aulkeï.

And he watched with rapt attention.

Soon was the front of his pants obviously tented and Aulkeï shifted his hips, trying to relieve some of the building pressure in vain. Shawn’s caresses became lighter and lighter, until he was only touching him with the tips of his fingers. And then he took off. Beautiful as a crane.

Aulkeï wanted those fucking pants off.

He was panting hard by now, shaking from the effort because he had forgotten to lower his hands this whole time. And now Shawn was looking at him, looking oh-so-very pleased with himself. Or maybe he was just ogling him.

“Something wrong?” asked Shawn.

“You know!”

“Do I now?” Shawn chuckled and leaned towards Aulkeï. “I’m enjoying myself. Seeing you like that. All-powerful devil...”

He placed his hand on Aulkeï’s chest, between his collar bones. His pointer finger and thumb pressed against the soft flesh of his throat a little too tight. Like he was holding his throat, but not quite.

“All-powerful devil, yet you’re mine,” whispered Shawn.

“Yours?” Aulkeï chuckled. “I’m no one’s.”

Shawn didn’t answer. His hand travelled down Aulkeï’s chest, slowly, pushing down so that he would rest his hips on the sheets. And then he gripped the rim of his pants, pulling them up. That relieved some of the pressure on Aulkeï’s dick, making him sigh in relief.

“So fucking hot,” said Shawn.

He leaned down for a kiss, closing his eyes. Aulkeï did the same. And, indeed, it was better that way: he could focus on just tasting the other. His lips were very soft. His teeth... not so much, and yet he loved them just as much. He’d caress him mouth on mouth, and then the next time they touched Shawn would nibble on him. Aulkeï passed a hand in Shawn’s hair, pulling him in closer so that their kiss would deepen, so that their tongues would stroke each other. He hummed in contentment when he got just that.

Shawn broke the kiss but remained right there, whispering with his eyes closed. “All right. I’ll get those pants off you.”

Aulkeï had to let him go then, watching him as he unbuttoned the front and gently pulled them off his long legs. And then he did the same thing with his underwear, pretending as if Aulkeï’s proud erection didn’t exist. Pretending as his own, nestled in his lap, didn’t exist either.

He reached for the small bottle next to the condom.

His hands were really gorgeous, thought Aulkeï. He could watch them do small, simple tasks for hours, like now as they spread some lube on three of his fingers. Why had he not noticed them before?

He moved his hand over Aulkeï’s body, towards his crotch.

“Don’t need,” said Aulkeï.

“Of course you do,” said Shawn as he lowered a hand between Aulkeï’s spread legs.

A finger pushed in with ease. Shawn frowned a little at the lack of resistance, then pushed in a second one. Same result. And then a third one.

“I made this body for one thing,” said Aulkeï. “Use it.”

“Ah? Hmm. I should have guessed. I’m deceived. I was looking forward to fingering you.”

Aulkeï frowned. “Why?”

“Maybe I like seeing you come undone. I still could...”

He pushed in deeper, curling his fingers. Aulkeï gasped before he felt the wave of pleasure hit him.

“Right like that,” said Shawn. “That face you make.”

With one hand and his teeth, he ripped the condom’s package open.

Then he stroked Aulkeï’s prostate once again, alternating two fingers to massage him, and Aulkeï forgot to look at him. He heard himself moan again. He moved into the other’s touch, trying to teach him the pace he liked best. Shawn listened because Shawn wanted to hear more from him. Wanted to see him come undone.

Aulkeï gave him a little. Not too much too soon.

“Beautiful,” said Shawn.

Shawn’s other hand was at his crotch now, stroking his dick at the same pace as the thrust of his fingers, condom on. What was the point of fingering him if he was going to touch himself anyway? Oh, Aulkeï would have asked if he wasn’t busy enjoying himself. He couldn’t tear his eyes off Shawn’s dick though, because he wanted that. He really did.

Shawn’s touch faltered. “You’re staring,” he said.

“I want it.”

“Fine. I get it.”

“I want the real thing.”

“I noticed.”

“Give it to me.”

“I’m going to!”

Shawn pulled his fingers and changed position, from next to Aulkeï’s to between his legs. He didn’t exactly lean over him, rather he remained seated upwards, somewhat seated on his ankles, having lifted Aulkeï’s thighs over his legs. He was enjoying the view, even allowing himself a few strokes to the bare chest in front of his chest before getting down to the real business.

There was a brief pressure at his ass, then Shawn slipped in as easily as his fingers previously had. Aulkeï let out a long breath of air as he was slowly filled. So... considerate. So delicate.

Aulkeï wanted so much more.

He crossed his legs behind Shawn, wordlessly demanding that he hurried up to fill his aching depth. That made Shawn chuckle, for some reason, and he complied.

“Ah, yes,” said Aulkeï. “Finally.”

Shawn immediately pulled out, but it was only to come right back. He started shallow, as if Aulkeï was human, the silly thing. So Aulkeï had to move against him firmly, showing him how it was done. He didn’t even care that he was making an effort. He needed more, and he needed now.

“Fine, you pesky thing,” said Shawn, punctuating his words with a light tap on Aulkeï’s thighs.

He got a little rougher, finally making some use of the lube he had spent so much time spreading all over Aulkeï. He even grabbed his hip, his nail digging into his flesh, just so that he could control at what angle he was pounding. And, after a few trials and errors as he watched Aulkeï’s reaction, he zeroed on his prostate.

“Move your butt,” said Shawn. “Fucking lazy...”

Fine. Aulkeï could make an effort this one time. He lifted his knees a little so that he could move with him— And it felt so good. He didn’t regret it. He arched his back, his toes curled, and he just loved it. Oh, humans were the best. Especially the ones that knew how to fuck like Shawn. Maybe Shawn was the best? He was! When he reached so deep inside, when he just—

“Oh my god,” said Aulkeï. “Oh my fucking— Shawn!”

“You’re so loud,” said Shawn.

“Harder!”

Aulkeï wanted to see if he could go harder, if he could truly make him feel that good.

The man delivered, even if he had to lean down over Aulkeï for that to happen. He was closer now, close enough to kiss, with an arm on each side of the other’s head.

Aulkeï wanted to stare at him, but he was starting to see stars. He reached up, to— His hand was held in Shawn’s, their fingers interlocking, and was pushed back in the sheets above his head. But he needed that. It was an anchor in the storm of sensations.

The bed creaked a little, but could it be blamed? They were going to town, both of them. It was hard to hear about the screaming— Aulkeï’s screaming. He just had to. When Shawn’s dick would hit him just right, it would rip through him! He had to let it out somehow, even if he was just cycling through senseless sounds, sounds that sounded more and more like broken sobs. Until he was really sobbing, that was. He couldn’t hold on anymore. He had to—

Aulkeï, for the second time this evening, screamed with all the strength of his puny human lungs as pleasure wrecked his puny human body.

How could something so small and flimsy feel so good? And it was all of it, at once, every nerve exploding into a million fireworks as his orgasm travelled from his crotch to his brain. He lost himself in it and screamed some more, like he was on a roller coaster. He was coming, he realized halfway through. It felt so good that he had forgotten that this is what it was.

He didn’t feel Shawn come. Had he? He must have for, when Aulkeï was finally coming down for his high, the human was slowing his thrusts. He was panting hard. There were beads of sweat rolling down his bare chest.

Sweat glands! Aulkeï knew he had been forgetting something when he made that body. No wonder he felt a bit too warm at the moment.

Shawn had no such concern. Slowly, with a smile that gave Aulkeï a fuzzy feeling in his stomach, he rolled over and snuggled up next to him. Aulkeï looked down and made a face when he saw the mess he had made on his chest. Should have replaced cum with water like he had last time he had taken a human form.

A damn. He felt too content, warm and relaxed to care about anatomy now, of all things. Even with the dream more or less fucked out of his system, he didn’t have the will to care. He made the cum inside and outside of him vanish, along with Shawn’s condom (he was considerate sometimes).

Shawn hummed and seemed to settle down before going to sleep, despite the lack of covers. So Aulkeï had to make sure that he was covered. He wasn’t sure how long a human could go without being covered before they caught a cold. And then Aulkeï was more than happy to lay right there with Shawn for as long as he wanted.

Even if the other’s mind was still running, apparently.

“Aulkeï?” asked Shawn.

“Hmm?”

“I just wanted to know... how do devils do it?” asked Shawn.

“Do what?”

“Sex.”

“They don’t. That’s a human thing.”

“You said they did. I remember.”

“I said that they reproduce. Not the same thing.”

“Well, how do they do that? Unless that’s too advanced to be explained to my tiny human brain.”

It was, indeed, a bit complicated to explain it in human words. Aulkeï took a moment to think about it.

“Do you know how octopus reproduce?” asked Aulkeï.

“Sort of.”

“Well, first off, the devil that’s going to be the dad chops a dick-tentacle off – it’s not really a tentacle, but you get the picture – and then throws it at the one that’s going to be the mom. Then the mom cuts themselves open and stuffs it inside themselves, and then they cut their own tentacle to put it in there too. Then the dad eats the mom and mish-mashes them inside them, then the mom tears her way out alien style out of the dad. Then the baby is alive and starts eating the mom from the inside, so the mom got to feed on parts of the dad for the baby to eat too. And then the mom explodes when the baby’s ready. But then she reforms, and now you got three devils.”

There was a silence.

“How on earth is that supposed to look anything how octopus reproduce?” asked Shawn.

“I don’t know.”

“Go to sleep, Aulkeï. Just... go to sleep.”

“Okay,” said Aulkeï.

He closed his eyes and pretended that he was doing just that. He didn’t mind laying in silence as he listened to Shawn’s breathing calm. It was soothing. He could grow used to that.

Chapter Text

Aulkeï escaped before Shawn awoke, the next day, like a coward. But he did leave Shawn’s couch as a pink bed because he didn’t know how to turn it back without waking the human up, which would have been an awkward experience. Because he was bolting. Running away. Him! A devil!

Yesterday had been a fluke. He didn’t seem like the sort of creature that needed a filter but he had one, one that was crucial to maintain his ego. And the moment it had been removed, he had run straight into a human’s arms. A human’s arms! Shawn’s lovely, lovely arms, and those nice hands of his, hmmm...

He digressed. This had been inexcusable. He was never talking to Shawn ever again. In fact, it was probably best he never ate another of his dreams just to be sure that he was avoiding him to the extent of his abilities. It should be fine. No Shawn meant fewer efforts moving around to get his fix.

Come the night, he was back in Shawn’s room.

Not that Shawn could see him. Not that he was supposed to see him. Not that it would be polite of him to remark his presence after yesterday.

Shawn, standing near his bed in his god-awful pyjamas, was staring in the general direction of his dematerialised form.

“I know you’re here,” he said after a while

He was so rude.

Aulkeï appeared, dressed, floating in mid-air, hands on his hips and frowning. That conveyed his mood well enough for Shawn to look confused, which was a good thing. Mortals needed to be confused by the mysterious, impenetrable ways of their immortal lords. As it should be, because Aulkeï had been quite penetrable lately.

“Okay,” said Shawn. “We need to talk.”

“We don’t.”

“We need to talk. You’re mad at me.”

Aulkeï was, but Shawn was not supposed to guess that easily. (Never mind that he had clearly communicated that but a few seconds ago.)

“I’m not mad,” he said. Ha! That would confound him, surely.

“Why are you mad?” asked Shawn.

“Because— Because it wasn’t supposed to happen! I was going to make you pine for me, make you delirious for my touch but then you had to have that wet dream and I just— Urg. This ruins everything!”

“Is that why you are mad? Because it didn’t fit what you had in mind?”

“Why else?”

“Why can’t you let that go? Aulkeï, it’s in the past. We can’t change it. Life is too short... My life is too short for petty drama like that.”

“What does it change for you?”

“I don’t want things to be like that between us.”

Aulkeï didn’t reply right away. It seemed too easy to mock the stupid human for being sentimental, but then he was only human. They were quite sentimental creatures. A bit like Aulkeï was, even if he would rather ignore that and pretend as if he was a purely rational creature.

Instead, Aulkeï decided that he was going to read a book. He picked one off the shelf and flipped it open at some random page. He had never read it, but he was sure that he was smart enough to figure out what it was about at the midway point.

“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” asked Shawn. “Fine.”

Fine by Aulkeï.

Only it wasn’t fine. Because now, Shawn was starting to take off his clothes and Aulkeï couldn’t focus on what he was supposed to read. He tried, for a few second, to focus on his page, but had to give up and look at the human and what he was doing.

“If you’re not going to be rational, I guess I just got to employ irrational tactics,” said Shawn. “You’re looking at me now.”

Aulkeï snapped his fingers and the shirt returned to Shawn’s chest. Shawn, unphased, just started taking it off again.

“You can’t stop me,” said the human. “This is my home. I do what I want.”

“I am going to fuse your skin and your shirt,” said Aulkeï.

“That might kill me.”

“I’ve done it to others before.”

“I bet you have.”

Something about Shawn’s casual response was the straw that broke the camels’ back. Aulkeï threw his book on the ground.

“What are you throwing a fit for now?” asked Shawn.

“You’re not scared of me!” cried Aulkeï. “All the humans I’ve ever dealt with have been! Always scared! And here you are, edging me on to kill you! I can’t make you flinch – I can’t even make you say I’m sorry for tempting me into having sex with you! What’s so hard to understand about me being your superior? Capable of killing you in an instant?”

Aulkeï was screaming, getting closer and closer to Shawn, but Shawn wasn’t flinching. In fact, Shawn was looking at him straight in the eyes. Aulkeï, just to make him react, grabbed his neck. But he didn’t snap it. Didn’t even tighten his fingers. Shawn flinched, but otherwise looked at him right in the eyes.

“Didn’t it occur to you that I might have nothing to lose?” said Shawn. “I don’t care if you kill me. Do it right now.”

“What?” said Aulkeï. “What are you on about? Are you suicidal?”

“No,” said Shawn. “Far from that.”

Aulkeï let go of him. He wasn’t going to kill Shawn to prove a point, he was acting too weird for him not to be curious. And yet, he was starting to get really, really nervous. It wasn’t that often that something eluded his understanding.

“What do you want?” asked Aulkeï.

“That’s none of your business, yet,” said Shawn.

“Tell me. Tell me or I’ll make you suffer.”

Shawn seemed to hesitate.

“I can keep you alive and suffering for a long, long time,” said Aulkeï, pressing his advantage.

“I won’t tell you, but I can show you. You can’t say you regret it afterwards.”

“I’ll say whatever I want.”

“Fine. Have it your way.”

Shawn turned away from him, just for a moment, and took a deep breath. He was acting strange. Too strange. The more time was passing, the less Aulkeï was feeling at ease about what was happening. Yet he didn’t run. He had never done such a thing in his life and the thought barely occurred to him. He was a devil! There was nothing in this world that he feared.

Shawn turned back to him.

“I need you to stand in the middle of the room,” he said. “And not move.”

Aulkeï hesitated before obeying. He usually wouldn’t obey a human if he could help it, not unless he was getting something in exchange. But he was getting something in exchange: answers.

That feeling that something wasn’t right again. Shut up! Aulkeï was a devil. Nothing could harm a devil.

He stood in the middle of the room. Actually stood. Didn’t float over the ground.

“Good,” said Shawn. “Thank you.”

It was his turn to move. He went back to the door and exited the room, standing just outside the doorway. He had a very focused look on his face.

He reached for one of the posters on the wall inside the room and ripped it off. A circle appeared, a circle with a star inside of it, with symbols on the inside and the outside, painted on the wallpaper with what appeared to be dried blood. A pentagram?

“I’m sorry,” said Shawn.

He said a word and placed his hand on the pentagram. And everything, from that point onward, went very, very fast.

All of the posters, torn to shreds, flew off the walls. The entire room, ceiling, walls, even the ground, was covered in symbols traced in blood, that glowed. The bits of paper swirled through the air. The roar of magic – not a real sound, yet present all the same – deafened Aulkeï.

Aulkeï, that stood frozen in the centre of the room, paralysed. For the first time in his long, long, life, he feared.

There was a burning flash of pain in his chest. Aulkeï saw a red-glowing chain of light springing out of him, flying in the direction of Shawn. And when that chain connected with Shawn’s hand, Aulkeï screamed, for he felt a second flash of pain, on that cut deeper. It wasn’t just physical. This was the pain of having one’s wings ripped off.

Shawn felt to his knees, then fainted. That, somehow, marked the beginning of the end of this chaos, as the symbols on the wall stopped glowing. The shreds of the posters flew down to the torn carpet. Not even the bed had been spared, the sheets lacerated as if something had taken a knife to them.

Aulkeï stumbled forward and fell to his knees. The chain in his chest had not vanished. It still linked him to Shawn’s hand. He reached up for it and grabbed it, pulling at it, and realised that this was more than an addition to his appearance. It was part of him. Something had compelled him to link with Shawn, one he didn’t quite understand, and the visible chain was only the physical manifestation of it.

He made it vanish. That did not change any other facts, but at least it was out of his face. He strongly disliked it.

“Oh god,” said Shawn. He slowly rubbed his head as he came to.

Aulkeï was above him in an instant, grabbing him by the neck. He lifted him above his head. That was it. He didn’t care for another explanation. Shawn was going to die right this minute by strangulation.

Hands off.

Whatever that order was, it felt like a punch to the guts. Aulkeï let go of Shawn – or rather, his hand let go of Shawn, without Aulkeï having any control over it – and he staggered backwards. Shawn more or less landed on his feet, rubbing his throat.

“Fuck,” he said. “I knew you would react like that.”

“What the fuck did you do to me?” cried Aulkeï. “What was that?”

Shawn straightened. There were bruises on his neck from Aulkeï’s previous grip on him.

“You are my familiar,” he said.

“What?”

“What I said. A familiar. The magical creature that fuels a warlock.”

“I am not,” said Aulkeï. “If that was the case, I would have consented to it. A familiar? Me? You’re out of your mind.”

“It is what it is,” said Shawn. “I’ve put an enchantment on you that forces you to do as I say for as long as it lasts. So, I’ve made you my familiar.”

“An enchantment?” repeated Aulkeï. He laughed. “You’re joking, right? No human in the entire world would ever become powerful enough to enslave a devil. You can barely muster demons when you’re powerful enough.”

“I’m not,” said Shawn. “You’re right. I don’t have the power. But you do.”

“Me?”

“Absolutely. That’s what my entire plan hinged on. That’s why you had to stay in this room as long as I could make you stay. You put out a prodigious amount of energy by just existing, Aulkeï. All I needed was to have a place to capture it and store it. And then I can turn it against you.”

After having remained quite calm up to this point, there was now a wide – almost mad – smile on Shawn’s face. This moment was the conclusion of a plan that had taken years of his young life and he had to say it. All of it. It had to come out.

“That’s why I gave you my dreams,” said Shawn. “That was the point. All I needed was for you to come in here and wait a while, fuelling your own trap... That was my plan.”

Aulkeï didn’t answer. He looked inside of him and saw that all that Shawn had said was true. That he was indeed under a spell that compelled him to do as Shawn said, that he was linked to him in the same way a familiar would be.

But Shawn’s plan had one major flaw.

“That’s all fine and dandy,” said Aulkeï. “But in an hour, the spell will be over. And I’ll kill you. It will be easier than to try and undo the familiar bound.”

“I already told you that I don’t care,” answered Shawn. “In fact, I was certain that you would try to kill me. All I need you is your power for an hour. I’m going to kill the hunters of this town.”

That took Aulkeï a moment to process.

“You are going to do what?”

“Kill the hunters. Do you know that there is a hunter association living here? I’m going to kill them. I got their addresses. I know where they live, every single one of them. Tonight, they are going to die. And then I’ll die.”

Aulkeï, once again, didn’t answer right away. He was confused. He wasn’t quite sure if it was because the situation required an effort to understand or because Shawn was making no sense.

“Why?” he asked eventually.

“Why?” repeated Shawn. “Because they took everything from me. My family... my friends. My familiar. I was part of a witch and warlock coven, we weren’t harming anyone, living in the middle of nowhere, minding our own business. And then they came and killed everyone. They must die.”

“Ah,” said Aulkeï. “Revenge.”

“Why else? I’m a good person... Revenge is all I want.”

Shawn was a little calmer now. Almost sad, now that he was thinking back to what he had lost. He was so young, thought Aulkeï. Too young for having lived through all that, one would guess, and yet here they were. Really, humans were so highly entertaining.

“What about their kids?” asked Aulkeï. “Some of them have families that did nothing to you.”

“Those will die, but a painless death. In their sleep, possibly. No child should have to go through what I went through.”

“You thought of everything.”

“I had years to think things through. Just like I spent years devising this room.” He looked around, at the huge mess that it had become. “I feel weird, now that it’s all coming together. This feels surreal.”

“I can only imagine. I have one more question.”

“Yes?

“Why not... killing them in some other way? Surely you could have done it without my powers. You humans got plenty creative with it over the years.”

“Too hazardous. I don’t know how to make a pipe bomb but I do know how to devise a spell,” said Shawn.

“It was risky.”

“Because you could have found out before now?” Shawn shrugged. “And then I would have died. Whatever. I was meant to die a long time ago. I’m only alive now because they are meant to die for their crime. For all of their crimes. My coven was not their first victims.”

Aulkeï chuckled. Then snapped his fingers as Shawn’s clothes turned white, similar to the ones that Aulkeï himself wore. That earned him a surprised look from the human.

“I like pink,” said Aulkeï, “but I would rather wear white. And since we’re now bonded... Well, seems appropriate that we might match. I have no more questions. Shall we go?”

“A moment,” said Shawn.

He hurried away, then came back with a list. Aulkeï assumed that this was all of the hunters’ home addresses.

“I’m ready,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Aulkeï offered him his hand, and Shawn took it. They vanished from the ruined room.

Chapter Text

Aulkeï made them first appear in front of the general quarters of the hunters. They both looked up at it in silence, at that house facade that looked like any other. It was late at night, yet there was a window with some light in it on the second floor.

“That’s a bathroom,” said Aulkeï, pointing at it. “Like, not a toilet one, an actual bathroom.”

“Someone in it?”

“A woman, crying.”

“From the hunters?”

Aulkeï shrugged. “It’s their building.”

“Bring me to her.”

Aulkeï warped them up in the room again. There was indeed a woman in the shower, sobbing quietly while the water was running down her body. She had not noticed that they were there, too busy with her own misery – probably unable to hear them as long as they didn’t speak.

Shawn stared in her direction, then at Aulkeï, then back at her. He seemed to hesitate as if he had not considered that hunters might cry just as he did. That hunters were not human.

But then Shawn straightened, and his expression hardened, and he fixed his gaze on Aulkeï. The most delicious whiff of sin energy emanated from Shawn, awakening Aulkeï’s bottomless appetite.

“Kill her,” said Shawn.

She heard them then. She gripped the edge of the curtain to pull it back, quickly, but she didn’t have the time. Her hand dropped on the floor and blood splattered from her severed forearm. She had a strangled scream, one that didn’t carry very far, and suddenly there was more blood on the foggy glass of the stall then there was water.

The water washed it away like it had washed away her tears.

“Anyone else in here?” asked Shawn.

Aulkeï ignored him as he went to the stall and pulled the curtain back as she had intended. There she was, or at least what was left of her.

“Look,” said Aulkeï.

Shawn threw a glance in its direction but, as expected, he couldn’t hold the sight.

“I don’t care,” he answered.

“She exploded. I added all the blood of the man down the hallways in her capillaries.”

“What man?”

“Another hunter, I guess. He’s still alive... a, no, his heart just stopped. He probably looks like a dried-out mummy.”

Shawn looked at him with a frown.

“What did I do?” asked Aulkeï.

“Are you going to kill everyone like that?”

“Like what?”

Shawn just gestured at all the blood on the floor and the curtain. He would have gestured at the mess inside the stall but there wasn’t much to gesture at now that it was slowly watching away.

“A clean murder?” said Aulkeï. “I mean, I can try making a shower around them before killing them but honestly... Do I have to? Figuring out piping in a house is a pain.”

“So gruesomely,” said Shawn.

“Oh... I mean, it's fun. But you’re the boss, dear master. I’ll be more careful.”

“No more explosions.”

“Got it. But you do want them to suffer, right?”

Again, sin energy emanated from Shawn without him realizing it. Aulkeï lapped it up like a kitten laps its mother’s milk and it seemed just as delicious to him.

“No more blood splatters,” said Shawn. “No explosions. I can’t stand the gore. Make them suffer cleanly.”

“Duly noted.”

That wat too bad, really. But he supposed that he couldn’t go against him, not now at least. He’ll have to find other ways to be creative.

“Anyone else in the headquarters?” asked Shawn.

“In this building? Hmmm... pests. Rats. Do you want to kill the cat in the master hunter’s office?”

“The cat can be left alive. Speaking of the master hunter, I’d like to go to him next.” Shawn showed him the top of his list. “But don’t kill him right away. I want to talk to him.”

“Okay,” said Aulkeï. “You’re the boss.”

In Aulkeï’s opinion, that was a waste of time, but then who was he to disobey an order from Shawn? Besides, wasting time was all to his advantage.

They found the master hunter on his porch, with a glass of some alcohol that he was enjoying in the quietness of the night. They opened the gate to his garden and crossed the path with no invitation, and the man looked at them come quite quiet eyes. He didn’t seem alarmed that they were strangers in his garden, his well-hidden garden with high hedges on all sides, later at night.

“Good evening to you,” he said as he rested his glass on the table by his side.

“You don’t recognize me, of course,” said Shawn. “But I want you to remember that witch massacre six years ago?”

“I remember,” said the old man. “You are quite young. Am I right to guess that you were one of the youngsters that were being raised there?”

“I was!”

“A shame. Such a smart young man, that captured what I can only assume is a demon...”

“Hi,” said Aulkeï.

“... talent can be wasted so easily.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that,” said Shawn. “You are the murderers.”

“I know. But that is something we share, now, don’t we?”

Shawn flinched, hesitating. Aulkeï nodded his head lightly, agreeing. He might have been doing all the heavy lifting – and he will continue doing so, probably, until they were done – but Shawn was the one in control now.

“I already know that you will kill the others,” said the old man. “I knew it since the moment I saw your face on the other side of the garden. I was waiting for you for the last six years.”

“You knew of me?”

“Not of you specifically. But that matriarch of yours? She predicted that I would die on that date right before I shot her.”

“Grandma...”

“You must have inherited her talent.”

The man rested his back in the rocking chair and picked up his glass to take a sip. Then, pausing for a second, he drank the whole thing in one go.

“You are probably wondering about the whole story,” said the old man.

“No.”

“Well, just that you know that when we burst in during that infamous night, that your grandmother predicted that our group – and all that was in it – would die as a consequence of that night. I didn’t take her seriously at the time but something about her prophecy stuck with me. She was extremely powerful, that woman. After all, she had an entire community dedicated to making her that way.”

“What do you know about us? You have no right to talk about us.”

“Of course I do. Shawn, was it? We’ve been watching your community since before you were born. Through phone calls and the meagre means we had at the time, of course, but we knew that you were up to no good, getting your nose in demonic rituals...”

“What does it matter? You killed everyone! You killed them all!” Shawn realised that he was screaming, that he might alert the neighbours, so he pulled his voice down. “You will die. I was left alive and now you will die.”

“You don’t have to do this,” said the old man. “I ordered this attack. Take my life and leave the others alone. They have families.”

“Aulkeï.”

The old man was suddenly raised from his seat, which fell to the side, by an invisible force.

“How do you want this one?” said Aulkeï with a wide movement of the arm.

The man was struggling like a bug, held in an invisible hold on his collar. He seemed incapable of making a single sound. Well, Aulkeï knew that he was just paralysed by fear.

“We were a family.”

“You sacrificed people—“

“He can still speak?” said Shawn.

Aulkeï caved his throat in, punching a hole right under it so that the man could still breathe but couldn’t make a sound. And because the force that Aulkeï used was still inviable, it seemed like all of that happened on its own, without being touched. And without a drop of blood, as Shawn wanted it.

“I won’t hear another word from you,” said Shawn. “Aulkeï, do you know how one folds a paper crane?”

“Maybe,” said Aulkeï.

“Let’s get inside.”

The old man was living alone, as far as they could tell. Shawn sat down on the couch and watched as Aulkeï skinned the man then folded his skin, watched during his long, torturous death. The master hunter couldn’t even scream.

Killing children was the most boring part. Aulkeï had the ability to decide that a human might just die like one turned off a machine. It was easy on those that were not protected from magic in any way. Of course, to any other than him, that exploit was an impossible feat. It was proof and a display of his immense power.

The only downside was that it was unimpressive, almost invisible.

He had more fun with the adults, at least. They would run and scream. And, no, Aulkeï didn’t usually care for killing people. It was simply entertaining to him. He felt no guilt or remorse, nothing when they begged – if they begged at all. But he was keeping the most interesting of them all alive, and that was Shawn. Shawn, that he watched from the corner of his eye with glee.

He could see it now – how Shawn had struggled then drowned in grief. How he had convinced himself that this was the only way. Deep down he was still that sad teen that had lost everything during a single night.

And he reeked with sin.

Well, reeked was a strong word when Aulkeï ate all of it with delight. Rarely had he feasted on such a delectable meal. The fear, the terror, the cowardice of the hunters that ran away, all of that was good – but Aulkeï had always been more interested in the perpetrators.

Where could a person such as Shawn go when left free? When he realised that all that killing wouldn’t bring his family back?

If he was, somehow, left alive.

Aulkeï wanted to know. It was deliciously morbid, forbidden. It made him love a human more than he should, more than he already did.

The last family they visited was still awake.

Trapped in their house, between four walls in their living room, they were up because they had forgotten to go to bed, absorbed in their mindless screens. Shawn and he appeared behind the couch, startling the cat that darted away. And, just to be done with it, Aulkeï decided that the three kids on their phone and consoles, seated together under one blanket, would just drop cold in that same second.

That brought the parent’s attention to them, then to the two strangers standing behind them. Aulkeï smiled at them, shooting them what he hoped was his most charming smile, before deciding that he was going to raise the father in the air and break every single one of his bones with loud cracks.

The mother stared at him, then at Aulkeï, before running for her life. She didn’t fight, she didn’t scream for help, she just knew.

“Aulkeï, quit fooling around,” said Shawn.

Aulkeï snapped his neck and dropped him on his children with a shrug before he followed Shawn. The woman had already run down the hallway of her house, to the entrance, frantically forcing her shaking hands to unlock the door. She succeeded when they had crossed half of the distance that separated them from one another.

She opened the door and there was a brick wall in front of her.

She cried in anguish and threw her whole body weight against it, again, again, again, then crawled at it. Tears were running down her face and she was begging. Begging. “No... No no no!” Over and over. It was a godless prayer. Quite striking, really. Aulkeï had seldom seen something like it.

They approached her, Shawn first, Aulkeï right by his side, and as she turned to claw at the wall with her nails. She was breathing so fast that it was hard to imagine that she could still breathe at all. They stood a few paces away from her, waiting that she would be done.

That is when they felt it, both of them, at the same time. It was like a sting that broke, having been pulled to its limit, both ends whipping a sensitive spot inside of them. Aulkeï stopped his gesture and glanced at Shawn, that was so tense that he looked like he was also going to snap in half.

“The hour is finished,” he managed to muster between his gritted teeth.

“Earlier than you estimated, even,” said Aulkeï.

Shawn closed his eyes.

The last hunter looked between the two of them, astonished. There was a surge of hope in her gaze as she seemed to understand what was about to happen, as she was reading the mood in the room. But she didn’t dare move or even speak.

“You’ve seen me kill people for the better part of an hour,” said Aulkeï. “Have you been wondering how I would get rid of you, dear master?”

Shawn hesitated but then nodded.

“Brilliant. You finally fear me. As you should have from the start. It’s tragic for you humans but I simply cannot bring myself to see you as anything as pawns for my entertainment... even if I do love you, Shawn. More than others, at least. More than any other human I’ve ever met. Maybe even romantically, by your human standards.”

Aulkeï moved closer to Shawn. The latter didn’t even dare bat an eye.

“I love you, Shawn,” said Aulkeï. “My master... I don’t want you to die. I love you.”

Aulkeï kissed him. Shawn simply froze from the touch, more than what he already had, having not expected it. So Aulkeï had to break it, for just a fraction of a second, to tell him what to do.

“Hold me.”

Shawn did, his embrace stiff but tight enough for Aulkeï’s liking. Oh, he simply felt so powerful at the moment. Never he had felt that way before in his long, long life, and he already knew that the sensation was addictive.

“You aren’t going to kill me?” asked Shawn.

“No! No, no. I was going to but I thought about it some more and I decided that this was the more interesting course of action.”

Shawn started to laugh, a nervous, constrained laugh. He seemed relieved. He really had been fearing death after all, like every other human. A human with a devil familiar. What a unique creature he had become, all Aulkeï to observe.

“So, you decided that being stuck with me wasn’t all that bad.”

“You know, Shawn.” Aulkeï stroked his human’s cheek with a thumb, from the corner of his mouth to the soft little expanse between his cheekbone and his ear. “Life’s about perspective. The way I see it, you’re stuck with me.”

The head of the last hunter exploded as Aulkeï suddenly applied pressure to it equivalent to the one at the bottom of the Marianna Trench. Blood and brain splattered everywhere, including on Shawn’s cheek, making him flinch.