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Hello, heathens. Today we're covering an exciting topic in the Infernal Realm, for all of you who like to dabble beyond the spirit realm. That's right, demons. Now, the first thing to know about demons is how to protect yourself against them. Two of the most common tools are easy to find, but important to understand how to use. The first is salt. It's a common belief that demons can't pass over salt lines, but that's only partially true. The reality is demons can't pass over salt lines without disrupting them. So they won't completely ward off a demon, but if you lay a salt line, you can check to see if an invisible demon or Hellspawn has crossed the area. Second is silver. Most weapons don't hurt demons at all. Silver does hurt demons, but only if it breaks their skin; it sets their blood on fire. So keep a silver knife or blade ready; you need to break skin, so blunt objects won't do the trick. We suggest....

Continue reading on pg 9, "Salt and Silver"

-Witchcraft Weekly, volume 54.

Empty rooms were the scariest, Felix had always thought. Terrifying as it was throwing a door open only to be greeted by a demon, at least then he knew where it was. 

But luck was not on his side today, as he carefully swept the room, looking for the invading creature. They'd gotten the right room, as Elodie had pointed out some tracks of blood on the carpet, and the lights to the room weren't working, but the demon itself was nowhere to be seen. Felix hoped it hadn't fled; it had taken long enough to track the demon here, starting over would be a nightmare. 

"Checking the closet," said Elodie. She had to lower her flashlight, so Felix kept his aimed on where she was looking. Elodie reached the small closet in the room, holding a silver blade. in one hand and sliding the door open with another. "Damn. Nothing."

"Checking the bathroom," said Felix. Elodie turned to hover the beam of her light over the door as Felix steadied himself and then swung the door open. He didn't see anything at first; the cheap appliances didn't offer much hiding space, except behind the shower curtain. Creeping up to it, Felix opened the curtain, but once again found nothing.

"I don't think it's here," he said, before turning around, getting ready to leave the bathroom...

...and coming face to face with the demon.

The demon, as well as the human body it was possessing, was clinging to the ceiling like a lizard. A young man was possessed, but the shadowy eyes and black veins pulsing out of its skin made it clear that the thing was a demon, if it's position on the wall wasn't evidence enough. "It's here, Elodie," Felix shouted, dropping the flashlight to brace himself as the demon leapt at him.

Elodie began reciting an exorcism as the demon attempted to claw into Felix's chest. He slashed at it with his own silvered knife, managing a small slash into its arm. The creature recoiled briefly before moving in for another strike, which Felix ducked underneath before darting out of the bathroom. 

Elodie was on the other side of the room, focused on the chanting. Even though she posed the greater threat, Felix seemed to be the demon's current target. He flipped on survival mode. He and Elodie knew the odds of beating a demon in a brawl like this were low, and with a human being possessed, Felix couldn't go in for the kill even if he did have the chance. The only option was to survive the assault until the exorcism was over. 

The demon skitters down the wall onto the floor as it exits the bathroom and Felix launches himself out of the way as it tries to lunge for him again. He can barely think over the adrenaline pulsing in his veins, but manages to strike at the demon again, to keep its attention on him. He goes in for another swing, but the demon is ready this time, and Felix is knocked to his back, rolling back up onto his knees just in time to avoid a lethal swipe at his neck, the demon having grown long, sharp claws. They plunge instead into the skin of his forearms, and Felix shouts in pain, but holds strong.

After what feels like minutes, but is only about ten more seconds, Elodie finishes the exorcism. The demon screeches, a high-pitched sound that pierces Felix's ears. The claws retract back into human fingers, the human falls back limply, and the demon's spirit is pulled out of the body and thrown back to hell.

"You alright?" asks Elodie, coming to his side and pulling out a first-aid kit. 

"I'm fine. Check him out," says Felix, tilting his head towards the unconscious man. He pulls some gauze and a roll of bandages out and begins treating the wound on his arm himself. It stings but he gets through it.

Elodie looks over the man. Felix isn't 't too concerned, as when demons used their powers to heal themselves, the bodies they possessed were also healed. "Just the small cut from where you nicked him. It wasn't even enough to burn the skin." She starts to clean the cut and the man startles awake.

"Holy shit, where am I?" the man asks, trying to sit up. Elodie gently places a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to lay down. "Who are you?"

"Take it easy. You were just possessed by a demon," she says. "I know that sounds hard to believe-"

"It doesn't, actually, not after everything that happened," the man interrupts. "Do you see my glasses, I can't see without 'em."

Without saying a word, Felix stands up to find the glasses, as Elodie keeps talking to the man. His name is Dwight, and he was in Vegas for a corporate event, but got lost trying to find a venue, then blacked out and came to in the driver's seat of a taxi. He hadn't been able to control his own body, watching the stolen car speed down the street before parking in front of this hotel and coming into this room, where he'd been for about three hours. 

"I swear I didn't steal that car, though. Am I gonna be arrested?" he asks frantically, as Felix returns with the glasses.

"You'll be alright," Elodie assures him. "We have a government contact who will take care of any nearby camera footage or anything."

Felix tunes the rest of their conversation out. They give the same speech to all the people the save, how demons choose weak, unsuspecting targets, so it's unlikely they'll be a victim twice, a support group they can contact to share experiences with, and an explanation of what happened.

Felix finishes cleaning his injury before pulling out his phone to call Jonah. He shares Dwight's name and description of what happened, and Jonah assures him he'll take care of the stolen taxi, keeping Dwight's name clean.

Elodie gets Dwight set up with another place to stay for the night before they part ways. In the car, Elodie drives while Felix sketches the spirit he saw in his journal. The details are vague because he only saw it for half a second, but it's better than nothing.

"That should be the last of them," says Elodie as they pull up to their own hotel. A valet takes their car as they enter the resort. "Three demons in two days, though. That sucked."

"I'm glad Haddie got us out here, though. Things could've been a lot worse."

Elodie nods in agreement. They'd uncovered a plot by the three demons to start a fire in the poker room of one of Las Vegas's busiest casinos. The chaos and injuries could've been so much worse.

"I'm so looking forward to a good night's sleep, for sure," she says, unlocking the door to the suite they shared.

Felix agrees. They'd been woken up at three a.m. from a call from Haddie, telling them she'd had a vision revealing the location of one of the demons. He was ready to lie down for a long time. Taking off his jacket, he moved over to the window to examine the view of the Las Vegas strip, and froze.

"We have to leave," he said, pointing to the window sill. Elodie gasped. The salt line they'd set for protection was broken in the middle. A demon had been here.

"Damn it, I knew there was something off in that casino yesterday. I should've listened to my gut," said Elodie. In order to track down the demons, Elodie had performed a ritual that allowed her to see traces of nearby demons. She'd found a faint trail unlike the three demons they were tracking, but had brushed it off as nothing. "We need to kill it before it hurts anyone else."

"How would we do that?" asked Felix. He was already moving to the bedroom to throw his belongings into a bag.

Elodie doesnt answer for a minute, pacing back and forth in the room. "Hang on, our trap worked," she said, gesturing to the windowsill. When they left the salt lines, they had laid silver tacks within them. As the demon entered the room, it must have cut itself on the tack, leaving a few droplets of blood on the wall. "We can summon it and then kill it." She leans down, collecting the blood in a small glass vial. 

"Are you sure? We've never performed a summoning?" asks Felix.

"We don't have a choice. If this one broke into the room, he could be tracking us or have our scent or something. We can't risk him finding us again. Plus, I've been studying rituals, and Mikaela has been giving me some tips." 

"You're right. This is our best option. Maybe we can use the safehouse south of here. It's a bit of a drive, but better than doing it here."

"Good thinking. I'll call Zarina and make sure it's okay. We should drive separately, just in case."

"You go ahead now. I'm going to check the room for anything else out of place," says Felix. Elodie quickly gathers her things and after a quick hug goodbye, leaves the room.

Felix immediately gets to work. He doesn't bother checking furniture or other hotel items; he's more concerned about their personal items being stolen or tampered with. He looks over his journal, the extra knives they keep, and some of the extra spell components Elodie didn't take with her. Nothing seems out of place. Felix is just about to leave when he spots it.

Lying on the bedspread of Felix's bedroom, just beneath the pillow is a green and black poker chip. Upon glancing at it, Felix doesn't see anything out of the ordinary with it. But it most certainly wasn't here before. He reaches into his supply bag and pulls out a lead box. Lead is known for being able to ward off infernal properties; if that chip is cursed, it won't be able to affect him while it's in the box. Felix inserts the chip into the box, finishes packing, and heads out into the night.

As he climbs into the car waiting for him in the parking lot, he rubs his eyes. He's exhausted, and the safe house is a six hour drive away. No matter; catching this demon takes priority right now, and if that means giving up a few more hours of sleep, he'll do it.

On late nights like this, slot machines are Ace's favorite stomping grounds. They're full of people addicted to the sounds and lights, and it's far too easy to get people going, spending more, risking more. He lives for the cheap thrills.

He slinks up to a woman in her fifties. She slams her hand on the machine; four sevens had shown up but the last symbol didn't match. So close. She turns to get out of the chair, but Ace puts a friendly hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh, so close! Give it another go, why don't you?"

"I don't know. This one's having a bad streak."

"That's how they get you. You step away just before the big win," says Ace, fully aware that he's lying about the machine's algorithm, and statistics in general. "Next one's on me," he adds, sliding another dollar into the machine.

The woman's eyes light up as the wheels spin around, but once again, no money is won. "So close!" Ace shouts sympathetically. 

"Maybe I'll try again," says the woman, pulling another dollar bill out of her purse. Ace grins and walks away.

This casino gig is the best he's had in a decade. He's a natural at getting people to spend just a bit more money. The crooked owners made a devilish deal a year ago, wanting more money for their business, and Ace had been assigned here to help. It was a lot better than signing contracts and seducing people daily.

Not that he didn't enjoy that. In fact, right after  encouraging a young man to splurge on some top shelf whiskey instead of the normal stuff, he spots two gorgeous men laughing at a roulette table. Ace runs the numbers in his head; he'd met his quota of money he'd convinced others to spend for the evening. He deserves a good time. After all, he'll have to feed soon and these gentlemen make a fine target.

He goes up and introduces himself, and their positive responses tell him he's read them right. They're a couple, but looking for a third tonight, and Ace is more than happy to volunteer his time. He goes to buy them another round of pink cocktails, but the bartender stops him.

"Hey, boss has a job for you," says the bartender.

"Ugh, seriously? This late?" asks Ace, knowing that this time of night is prime time for his sort of work, but he likes to complain.

"You're lucky, it's a quick one." The bartender leans over the bar so only Ace can hear what comes next. "Room 13 in that hotel next door. There's a pair of demon hunters staying there. Go in and mess it up just enough to scare 'em off. Let 'em think we're on to them."

"Sure thing," grumbles Ace. "But gimme those drinks first."

The drinks are ready in record time. Ace takes one in each hand and returns to the table where the guys are celebrating a win. Doesn't matter. The casino will win it back soon enough. Triple zero roulette, an addition Ace had suggested, always beats people out.

"Gentlemen, I got a quick piece of business to take care of," says Ace. He hands a glass to each of them before winking. "But I'll be back before you can say 'spit-roast'!" The couple laughs and Ace turns to leave.

The crisp air is a welcome feeling as Ace slips into a back alleyway. He finally allows his human disguise to slip. While his physical features don't change much, he sprouts a pair of horns, his eyes darkens, and his tails slips out behind him. The room is on the first floor, so Ace simply forces the window open through sheer will and peaks inside.

Everything looks empty. The lights are off and he doesn't hear anything. There is, however, a line of salt in the windowsill. This job just keeps getting easier. Ace climbs through the window gingerly, but disrupting the trail of salt nonetheless. Perfect.

He surveys the room, looking for any obvious traps he'll have to destroy, but sees nothing. Upon entering one of the two bedrooms, he notices a small bag with a handful of herbs, stones, and other strange objects, and thanks Lady Luck that the room was empty. He hated dealing with witches or spellcasters of any kind.

The other room has fewer signs of a demon hunter, but there is a large journal sitting on one of the desks that catches his eye. Ace wants to flip through it, but he's on a time crunch. Doesn't want to risk being spotted by demon hunters. So he settles for one more ill omen that is sure to leave the hunters confused. He conjures a poker chip out of the void and tosses it onto the bed.

As he begins to leave, he hears someone speaking outside the door, prompting him to leave in more of a hurry. Slightly careless this time, he scrapes his hand on something sharp. Fuck, they'd left silver on the windowsill. But there was no time, so Ace slips out the door and shuts the window before the door can open.

As he walks back out into the dark night, he shifts his appearance back to his human disguise. He reenters the casino, looking for the lucky pair he'd found earlier. It was shaping up to be a damn good night.

Chapter Text

S. Ward: Hello everyone, and welcome back to our show, All things Wicked This Night. Today, my witchy friend Mikaela and I are going to give you all a crash course in demonic rituals. Tell me Mikaela, what are the pieces of a ritual?
M. Ried: So, there's actually a ton of variety depending on what your goal is and what kind of demon you want to summon, but there are some trends that I've observed in my practices. First, you need a casting bowl. Now really, this can be a glass, a jar, anything to hold your components. The components dictate the kind of ritual you'll cast. A summoning, a scrying, a blessing even.
S. Ward: Though I don't know why you'd go around blessing demons. (laughs)
M. Reid: True. Anyway, I always suggest incense, especially if you're newer to spellcasting. While you don't need it, it helps stabilize the spell and takes a lot of mental strain off the caster. Candles are used as an energy source to fuel the ritual, and finally, mostly for summonings, there's a sigil. This is what actually contains the demon. Otherwise, you bring it to you and it's free to roam about.
S. Ward: Thank you for the overview. And for our listeners at home wanting to try a ritual, always remember the first rule of demon summoning.
M. Reid. Never summon something you can't banish.
"All things Wicked This Night" (podcast) Season 3, Episode 12

The drive south is grueling. Felix is already terrible at keeping a sleep schedule, and these last few days have been worse. Now, it's almost four in the morning, and he's pushing twenty-five hours straight of being awake. It doesn't help that the old car doesn't have a port for music, and the radio doesn't play much of anything good at this time of night. He stifles a yawn as he pulls  into a gas station to refuel.

He enters the store of the station after filling the car to get a coffee. "Damn, buddy," says the man working there. He's old, probably pushing sixty-five. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Not far off," says Felix, filling a large cup and pulling out his wallet to pay. 

The man waves him off. "On the house. You need it."

Felix thanks him and returns to the car, rubbing his eyes. He's pulled all-nighters before, but this is brutal. He's fought two demons today and spent the better part of the afternoon tracking a demon through Vegas. He wills himself to stay awake for the final hour of the journey before pulling back on the the interstate. Luckily, the shitty coffee and pure spite allow him to survive the trip until he pulls up to the house.

The house is nice and modern. It's got two stories with a wrap around porch and a white picket fence, the perfect image of peace and relaxation. It's advertised to the locals as a rental property for folks looking to get away from city life, but in reality, it's nothing like that. Felix pulls his luggage out of the car and climbs the steps to the front door. He pulls a key out of his back pocket, unlocking the door and stepping inside, before locking it behind him.

Zarina and Haddie, two of his American contacts, had built this place almost a decade ago. It was an old safehouse that they and their other allies used when they were in the area. The walls were covered in bookshelves with journals and tomes about Demonology, spellcasting, and other otherworldly arts. 

"Felix, you made it," says Elodie, stepping out of the kitchen with a large, ornate bowl. She looks just about as exhausted Felix does. "Sorta," she adds, taking in his demeanor. "I've got the kettle on for some tea, if you want some."

"That would be great."

Elodie gives a satisfied nod at his answer. She turns back to go to the kitchen, stopping only briefly to say, "I'm just mixing the last of the herbs. Why don't you set your stuff down in the bedroom?"

Following her suggestion, Felix moves to one of the two bedrooms in the house. It's a modest arrangement, with a double bed pressed against the corner of the room, a desk with a comfortable chair, a large wardrobe taller than he is, and a single bedside table with a lamp. But he's not expecting luxury. They're here to summon a demon after all.

Felix gets to work unpacking his single suitcase and duffel bag. His clothes only fill half the wardrobe, but his journals and spell components fill out the desk. He does kick off his shoes and quickly wash his face in the bathroom; glad to finally be off the road.

When Felix goes back downstairs, Elodie is back in the kitchen, reading over the instructions to the spell while mixing a few herbs together. "Here," she says, handing Felix the page with the ingredients. "I'm going to draw the sigil. Can you add everything else?" Felix nodded and looked over the instructions. Rosemary, thyme, honeycomb, everything looked simple. He added peppermint oil to the vial with the demon's blood in order to add it to the mixture before muddling everything together.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to do this near the demon's location?" he asks.

Elodie opens a large brown messenger bag and pulls out a stick of chalk. "Yeah, but you know something caught wind of our location, and there's nothing between here and Vegas that's any safer. If we want to get capture this last guy, this is the place to do it."

Felix shrugs. She's not wrong, but the summoning scares him. They've never actually done it before, and Felix has only a rudimentary understanding of witchcraft. Elodie's a little better, but the spell seems advanced, even for her. She's always been the more careless of the two, and it makes him uneasy. But they've survived twenty years together; he can have faith in her.

"So, explain this spell to me," he says, bringing the bowl into the library where Elodie is tracing out a sigil.

"It's pretty straight forward," she says. "The spell calls for a handful of components and either of piece of the demon or something it's created. We have it's blood, so we're good there. If it works, he gets summoned to our location, and as soon as he arrives, it'll be chained to the sigil, unable to leave. I'll perform the exorcism, and if something goes wrong, you stick a knife in its chest."

"And you're feeling confident about" Felix asks. Elodie nods. "Do we have all the components?"

"The paper I gave you have everything for the bowl. The other components are written here," she says holding up the spellbook to a page depicting the summoning ritual. "Just incense and five candles, one on each point."

She goes back to drawing. The sigil itself is small and simple in design. No fancy characters or symbols to draw out. It's a pentagram with a line protruding from each corner at a random angle. "All finished," says Elodie, dusting the extra chalk off of her hands. "I'll go get the candles; you got the bowl?"

Felix nods. He puts the bowl in the center of the sigil, before adding a stick of incense and lighting it. The warm scent of peppermint fills the room and a faint trail of smoke rises up above the bowl. Elodie returns with five candles, lighting one at each corner.

"You ready?" she asks, pulling out a book with the summoning chant written on it.

Felix nods and steps back. He closes the curtains in the room and shuts off the lights. The only light comes from the candles. Careful to stay outside the summoning sigil, Felix makes his way back to where Elodie stands, pulling his silver knife out of his pocket. He keeps himself in front of her protectively, ready to be the first line of defense once this demon appears.

Elodie begins the verse, voice strong and unwavering. Felix feels a gust of wind raise the hairs on the back of his neck. Something is happening, and only time will tell if it's working. 

The candles flicker, but hold steady. The wind picks up and the temperature drops significantly. Felix instinctively shivers at the feeling. Suddenly, he gets the feeling that he's being watched, but he shakes it off. From what he's read, demons being summoned play tricks to try to scare summoners off. It's just a trick, it has to be a trick.

The wind is howling now. It's freezing. Something feels wrong, and he wants to ask Elodie, but finds his voice stuck in his throat. Felix suddenly feels a tug at his left arm. He looks down and a thin, golden chain has wrapped around his finger. It's cold to the touch, and it fits like a snug ring. There's a strong tug on the chain, pulling him, and he stumbles forward towards the sigil, just barely stopping himself before he crosses the chalk line.

"Almost there," says Elodie before continuing the chant. 

The wind pierces Felix's skin. It hurts, unlike anything he's ever felt before. There's a white hot pain and his vision goes fuzzy. He tries to right himself, but his brain can't figure out which way is up. The last thing he remembers is losing his balance, falling forward towards the tile floor. He braces for a rough impact, but something catches him before he lands on the hard ground, and then everything goes blank.

Ace is ecstatic. He's definitely chosen the right partners for tonight. He's lying naked between two gorgeous men, having the time of his life, when suddenly, he feels an ethereal claw reach for him and pull.

Shit. Is he being summoned? He hasn't been summoned in a year. What the hell is this? Ace tries to resist it, tries to send psychic energy to the summoner to dissuade them from continuing, but it's no use. He can feel his legs going numb. He quickly looks to his partners as the numbness begins to travel up his body. "Sorry darlings, but I gotta go. Have fun without me, 'kay?"

"Right now? But we're already-"

"Ta-ta!"

Ace wishes he could see the look of shock on the two humans as he's pulled from a comfy California king in Las Vegas to a rather plain looking house in who knows where, arriving with a massive pulse wave of energy shooting out from his body. He doesn't have much time to react before a man stumbles forward, falling towards him. Instinctively, he reaches out to catch the man before he falls. 

He's unconscious. Well, little victories. Ace holds up his clawed hand, ready to make it a quick, simple kill, when he notices a gleaming golden chain dangling from the man's finger. It trails across the floor and then up to connect to... Ace's own hand. Fuck. Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

Lowering the man to the ground, Ace takes in his surroundings. He appears to be in a small library. There's a woman lying against a bookshelf, several of the novels are scattered around her body. She must have been flung back when Ace was summoned. There was a spell book in her hand; she was the summoner. He's standing in a sigil, but he's not trapped. Something went wrong with the spell.

Ace looks over the man again. He appears to have dropped a knife when he fell, and Ace is lucky it didn't hit either of them. There are also deep bags under his eyes; even without the summoning, he probably wouldn't have stayed conscious much longer.

He decides to leave the library, so he throws the man over his shoulders (rather ungracefully) and leaves the room. As he passes by the kitchen, he notices the stove has been left on. A tea kettle sits to the side of the stove, but someone forgot to shut it off. He flips the switch, relieved that there won't be an accidental house fire. He walks up the stairs before coming across two bedrooms with open doors. One of them has the wardrobe open with decidedly more feminine clothes inside, so he walks to the other bedroom, shuts the door, and drops the man (equally ungracefully) on the bed.

"Do you know how much shit you've gotten us into?" he asks, not expecting nor receiving a response. "I don't even know which of us has it worse, isn't that funny?"

Ace plops down onto the desk chair. He doesn't sleep, but he appreciates the time to clear his mind and plan out his next move. Maybe he can turn this unfortunate situation into something positive.

Chapter Text

Beware the demon's silver tongue. Behind charming smiles, clever smiles, and a charming demeanor, they manipulate and scheme, always to their own interest. Trust is a luxury you cannot afford when dealing with demons - their words are laced with lies, actions driven by ulterior motives. Demons care only for their own self-preservation and advancement, regardless of the cost to others.
Vigo's Journal, pg 56

"Felix? Felix, wake up!" Elodie's voice jolts Felix awake. She's standing above him, blocking his view of most of the room, panic clear in her voice. He takes a moment to orient himself. The last thing he remembers is the summoning, a lot of pain, and blacking out. There's still pain in his head, but it's a dull ache now. He sits up, and something's wrong. There's no summoning sigil, no candles. He's in his own room, with no memory of how he got there. He's lying on the center of the bed, about a foot away from the pillow, which is also strange.

"What happened?" he asks, squinting his eyes. They hurt to open. His voice is rough; how long had he been out for? 

"Something went wrong with the ritual. I finished the spell, but the demon didn't show. I'm gonna go call Mikaela and see what happened, but I wanted to check on you. Make sure nothing got to you," Elodie answered, before fishing a pendulum from a small pouch she's brought with her and holding it up between them. The weight at the bottom begins to spin in a small, clockwise circle. Elodie replaces the pendulum with a satisfied nod. "Just had to be sure it was still you in there."

Felix nods, not particularly confident it is him in there, but the pendulum is rarely wrong. He still feels groggy, so he lies back down, shutting his eyes "What about you, are you okay?" He knows she isn't possessed, or the pendulum would've shown it.

"Well, that shock wave knocked me into a bookshelf. Got a nasty bruise on my back. You coulda helped me get up before coming back here for a nap," she says, but there's no anger in her tone.

"I don't remember getting here," Felix admits. "I'm sorry, I must have been disoriented."

"Oh, I'm only kidding, Felix." He hears Elodie walk away and shut the door, her phone already ringing.

Felix rests his eyes for a few minutes, trying to take in the situation. The summoning hadn't worked, but something must have happened. He walks himself through the events. Lighting candles, dimming the lights, then the wind and that tug on his hand.

Wait, that chain he saw on his hand, was it still there? Felix yanks his hand out from under the grey blanket and gasps. The delicate, golden chain that he saw during the summoning was protruding from his hand, wrapped tight around his left ring finger. The chain was a simple one, reminding Felix of a necklace chain. He turns on the lamp beside the bed to examine it better. It's mostly taught, leading off of the bed, but there's a little bit of give. 

A deep feeling of dread fills his stomach as he sits up and slowly follows the chain to his left and behind him. Sitting on the desk, one foot resting on the chair, is in fact, a demon.

He's a little shorter than Felix, and has two large horns protruding up from the top of his head, a round face, and a long, thin tail with a spade-shaped tip. His fingers and toes extend to claws... and he's completely nude. Which, if Felix was anything but a trained demon hunter, probably would have startled him the most. Instead, he notices the other end of the chain is attached to the demon. Not around his finger, but extending from the flesh of the back of his hand.

"About time you woke up. I was getting lonely." His tone is light-hearted, as if he's discussing dinner plans or the weather. He's grinning as he slides of the desk.

Felix ignores him, leaps to his feet, and begins to call for help. "Elo- mmrph!" The demon lunges forward, covering Felix's mouth with a hand. The other catches Felix's arm as soon as he raises it to strike the demon. Immediately, Felix recognizes the supernatural strength of the creature. In terms of raw strength, he's significantly outmatched. As his brain flips into survival mode again, he tries to plan his next move.

"Oh, hush. No need to get that lovely lady involved here. Let's just have a little chat, you and I," the demon continues, not taking Felix's struggle seriously. Not letting his panic get the better of him, Felix uses his lower body to lunge forward, taking the demon by surprise and knocking him away. He breaks free and moves past him towards the desk where his silver knife sits. He needs to arm himself before-

The demon yanks hard on the chain connecting them and Felix falls back, just shy of the desk. He tries to pull back, but it's no use. He falls to the ground and the demon knocks him onto his back before pinning him down. Felix tries to call for help again, but once again finds his shout muffled by a strong hand covering his mouth.

"Well there you go, now you've just made it awkward," says the demon, still with the same easy lilt. "At least, awkward for you. I'm enjoying this." 

Felix isn't dying today. The mocking tone only fuels his will to fight. He pries his teeth apart, angles his jaw and bites down on one of the demon's fingers.

"What in the hells?" the demon shouts, recoiling away from Felix, a pained and confused expression on his face. As soon as his lower body is free, he rocks his forces a leg out from the demon, before aiming a kick to his chest. It works surprisingly effectively, as the demon is now the one falling back. 

Felix uses the change in momentum to spring to his feet and grab the knife. He wraps a hand around one of the demon's horns and yanks him up to his knees, pressing the knife to his throat. "Still enjoying this?" he snarls.

"Oh, I like it when they try and play rough," the demon says, but his tone is airy, betraying his distress. He tries stand, but Felix stomps down on his tail, hard, pressing the knife even more tightly against his throat, just about ready to draw blood. The demon loses all bravado in an instant. "Okay, okay, stop. Don't kill me, please. You don't want to do that."

"Give me one good reason," says Felix. The demon hesitates, so Felix digs in, and a small stream of crimson traces down his throat. 

"Because it'll kill you too!" the demon finally shouts. He pulls at the chain connecting them. It's not enough to dislodge Felix's hand from his horn or the knife from his neck, but it gets his attention. "That spell connected us. If one of us dies, the other will too."

"You're bluffing," says Felix. He's not sure, but refuses to let his tone betray that.

"You wanna take that bet?" the demon asks. "Willing to put your life on the line to kill me?"

Felix is still suspicious of the demon, as he damn well should be. But didn't think the risk was worth it, so he released the demon's horn and stepped back, still wielding the knife in case it was a lie and the demon leapt at him.

"Thank you for being reasonable about this," says the demon, getting to his feet, and to Felix's surprise, holding out a hand to Felix. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ace."

Felix doesn't take his hand, crossing his arms instead and feeling smug when the gesture yanks the chain enough to startle Ace. "Felix."

"Hi Felix. Now, could you tell me what the fuck you were thinking? Summoning me like that?"

Felix snorts. "I didn't decide anything. It was my partner's decision. We know you were with the other three demons causing trouble in Las Vegas, so she decided to cast a summoning here." He leans in and narrows his eyes. "So we could kill you, until things got complicated."

Ace pauses for a moment, taking in the information. "Okay, there's a lot to clear up here. First of all, those other three demons? Not with me. I've been in Vegas for months; those fuckers only showed up a month ago and started attracting attention. Also, I was not causing trouble. People gamble all the time, I just gave them a little more encouragement." Felix was confused; was Ace not involved in the scheme the others had been?

"Okay, so why were you in our room?"

"Had a job. I have the same boss as those guys, we just don't usually work in the same circle. He wanted you gone I guess, so I broke into your room to scare you off. It worked, just a little too well."

"Right" Felix leans back against the desk, twirling the knife while Ace plops down on the bed. Now that they aren't fighting to the death, Felix gets a better look at him. If he was a human, he'd be in his mid-forties, with dark brown hair with the faintest hint of grey, and a goatee frames his lower face. Oh, and he's still naked.

"Is nudity typical for a demon summoning?" asks Felix. He finds his loosest pair of pants in his wardrobe and tosses them towards the demon sitting on the bed. Ace catches them, but makes no move to put them on.

"No, usually I'd be wearing something only slightly more modest. Unfortunately, you summoned me here-"

"My partner summoned you."

"Sure, you guys summoned me here while I was having a grand old time with a gorgeous pair of gentlemen." Felix raises and eyebrow and Ace cackles. "Man it was terrible timing. One of then had half his fi-"

"I've got it," says Felix. "No need to continue. Put those pants on."

Ace's smile widens and his eyes give a sudden twinkle. "Ah, come on. We're both dudes. No need to be shy, or are you feeling intimidated perhaps?"

Felix is feeling neither of those things. He's agitated, and maybe a little flustered. He can feel heat running down the back of his neck, but refuses to show it. If this demon wants to play this way, Felix is gonna push back. Instead, he pointedly lowers his gaze before meeting Ace's eyes again. "By that? Not at all."

A look of shock and offense crosses Ace's face. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. And if that story was going where I think it was going, you definitely should not be sitting on my bed like that."

Ace huffs, pouting, but acquiesces, pulling the pants on. 

"Well, now what?" Felix asks. He feels slightly silly for even trying to have a reasonable conversation with a demon in the first place, but he's got no idea what else to do. Out of the people who might know how to break this bond, Ace is the only one who is conveniently, right here. 

"Either you and I can go on forever being best friends, never more than three feet apart," says Ace. "Which, you're lovely, but I've never been one to commit to a partner for more than two months. Or, we can figure out how to break this spell."

"You mean you don't know how to break it?" asks Felix. How would a demon not know the way out of one of the most dangerous rituals to them? He absentmindedly begins picking at a nail, suddenly growing more uncomfortable with the situation. 

"No! I've never seen a summoning so badly botched before. I know how to break out of a summoning sigil, but bound to you? That's a whole other story."

"I'm sorry, you're bound to me?" asks Felix. His voice had gotten softer. He pulls out the desk chair and has a seat. 

"Yeah, if that wasn't obvious," mutters Ace. 

Felix pauses. The two of them sit for a moment. Felix takes in the situation. He's summoned a demon, and neither of them can kill each other. Ace's powers are limited, but he's still a demonic entity, stronger than Felix. While he's not sure there's any risk of the two of them staying connected, it certainly is unpleasant.

"What exactly does the bond mean?"

"Well, for starters, I can't leave like I normally would, I can't turn invisible or change my form to you, and we I can't be exorcised. Oh yeah, and I can't just rip out your throat and call it a day."

That's a lot. Though to be fair, it does sound like it's Ace who suffers more from the predicament, so perhaps that's a benefit for Felix. But that doesn't improve his situation at all.

"We need to break this bond," he says, more to himself than Ace.

"Sure, so you can kill me once you're free?" asks Ace. Right, another roadblock Felix hadn't considered. They don't trust each other. Not a bit. The bond is forcing them into a stalemate. As soon as it's gone, they'll be at each other's throats, and not in the way Ace and his partner must have been last night.

"I could say the same to you."

"I've never killed a human," says Ace, with enough conviction in his voice that Felix, against all odds, believes him. "You've killed a bunch of demons, by the looks of it, so who's the real risk here?"

It makes sense. Ace is in an impossible situation. If he stays connected to Felix, he's left stranded without some of his powers. But the second it breaks, he's trapped in a demon hunter's 
safehouse with all sorts of demon wards. And yet, Felix certainly can't stay connected to him.

"Tell you what. Let's work together to figure out what we need to do, and we'll go to a mutually agreed upon spot to perform whatever spell or ritual we need to," he says finally. Ace considers it for a moment before nodding, satisfied. He reaches out a hand and Felix shakes it.

"Okay, if we're gonna do this, let's make sure we're on the same page about everything," says Ace. "What do you want to know?"

Chapter Text

Do demons ever make good allies? Well, in theory they might, as cunning, viscous predators, they'd be powerful weapons in a fight. However, they all have one trait in common that prevents them from working with humans: their pride. Demons see humans as pitiful, inferior creatures. An allied human is in almost every case like working with an inferior species. We see this in demon deals; demons are ruthless negotiators who don't give humans an inch when it comes to signing a pact. The best that a human can hope for is finding a demon who has an even larger rivalry with another demon, in which they can temporarily team up to defeat the common foe. However, the human had best get out of the demon's path once the enemy has been destroyed, lest they be annihilated next.
-Unknown, circa 1856

There's a long pause in the room, the silence stretching between Ace and the hunter, *Felix.* The human seems to be lost in thought, sitting at the desk with his head in his hands. It's only now that the anger sets in as Ace begins to realize that instead of carousing and enjoying his time in Vegas, he's now got to deal with a single, grouchy human. Not only that, but he has to work with him to survive. It's rather off-putting, and his patience is running thin. "Well come on, I'm sure you've got questions," he snaps.

"Right, right. So, the summoning, are you familiar with the spell?" Felix asks. "She was the one who set up the spell, and I don't know the specifics."

"Sure, so it felt like a typical summoning," Ace begins. "Though I don't experience those regularly enough to be sure. I saw the sigil when I was summoned, and everything looked right from first glance."

"What do you think went wrong?" Felix asks.

"That's the thing that's got me confused too," Ace admits. He scratches his forehead, just beneath the base of his horn. "If something is wrong with the set up or the verbal components, the summoning just fails; I wouldn't have been forced here at all. But here I am." 

"So you're not sure?" Felix asks. Ace is about to say something snarky like 'no shit, that's what I just said,' but he looks up and sees that Felix looks dead serious. He's pulled out a journal and is writing down what Ace says, so he lets it slide with a simple eye roll.

"If you let me take a look at the set up, maybe I could figure it out," he says. 

Felix shakes his head. "If Elodie sees you, she'll kill you."

"Couldn't you just explain that it'll kill you too?"

Felix's face drops. "We have a pact. If one of us notices that the other is possessed or corrupted by demons, and the normal tactics don't work, we go for the kill, no matter what."

Ace winces. "That's intense."

"Yes, but we don't want to let a demon get away and hurt other innocents. So Elodie would definitely attack you, no matter the cost."

It makes sense, but Ace still feels uneasy. "So why don't you have that same promise to yourself? End us both right now?" If they're willing to end the other's life to kill a demon, why wouldn't they do it themselves given the opportunity.

Felix takes a deep breath. He can't meet Ace's gaze. "Because I want to believe that you're right. That you don't actually hurt people, and if I let you go, I won't regret it." His voice gets small. "And, I don't want to die." Ace nods, understanding where Felix is coming from as the man continues. "But we can't go out there, or Elodie will see."

Now, Ace grins. "Not if I don't let her." When Felix tilts his head in confusion, he adds, "I still have a few of my demonic abilities, you know. I can make myself invisible from anyone I don't want seeing me. They can't hear me either. Except you, of course, but that's because of the bond."

"Really?"

"Really. You think, what's her name, Elodie? You think she would have come in here and not noticed naked demon on the desk?"

"I guess not. Let's go then."

Ace follows him through a short hallway, taking quick note of the house's layout. He didn't pay attention to it in the dark. There is a second bedroom next door to Felix's, and the two seem to share a bathroom. Ace guesses that the closed door on the other side of the staircase is a master bedroom. Downstairs is wide open with designated spots for a kitchen, dining area, and sitting room. The sitting room is covered in bookshelves and has a doorway on the other side which leads to a dedicated library, which hosts the summoning sigil.

Felix leads them into the library where Ace kneels to the ground and gets a good look at the set up. It's a little bit awkward, handling the slack of the chain, as he has to yank it to get Felix's attention when he needs to move a little bit farther away. However, it doesn't take long to find the problem. The simplistic sigil makes the error easy to spot. One of the lines cutting through the center of the sigil stops about a quarter of an inch before it reaches the outside border. There's a gap in between the lines, enough to ruin the sigil. 

"Your friend missed a spot," he says, getting back on his feet. "Didn't close the sigil all the way."

"And sigils need to be closed, otherwise, there's nothing to anchor the ritual to, right?" asked Felix. 

"Exactly, but everything else was perfect, so the ritual still happened, but it needed another source to anchor to. By chance, were you standing closer to the sigil than Elodie?"

"I was," Felix says softly. Understanding hits them both at the same time. When the ritual didn't have a sigil to connect to, it chose Felix as the anchor point. "I still don't understand why you can't be exorcised."

"Because technically, because I'm bound to you. An exorcism fails because it would separate me from that bond." Felix still looks confused, so Ace adds. "Like, this is some freaky strong magic that overrides other spells that try to pull me away from you."

Felix gives a low whistle as he scribbles more notes into his journal. "Powerful ritual then."

Felix doesn't know the half of it. It's such a strong ritual, and Ace is leaving so much out, like how it shields him from being seen by other demons, how Felix could force him to use his powers as he pleased. But Felix doesn't question him further about the bond, much to Ace's relief.

"Well then, I wonder if this library would have any information on how to separate a summoning bond to a person," Felix says.

"You mean does the library created by demon nerds say anything about demons?" asks Ace in a mocking tone.

Felix ignores him and begins to skim the library shelves selecting a handful of tomes that look helpful. As he's lead around the room, Ace pulls back on the chain a few times, stopping Felix in his tracks, just to show that he can. Felix doesn't react, much to Ace's disappointment. 

"So, how did you become a demon hunter?" asked Ace. He'd heard stories about humans who when toe-to-toe with demons, but had never met one himself.

"Someone close to me died," said Felix. "And I didn't want other people to meet the same fate." It's an answer that makes sense; Ace can't see why anyone else would want to get involved in this life, but he wants to know more. Felix moves on to the next shelf, but Ace makes a note to pry at that story later.

"How come I burned when you bit me?" asked Ace, looking down at the wound on his hand. 

At that question, Felix actually looks smug. He bares his teeth to Ace, running his tongue along one of his top incisors, which is a different color than the rest of his teeth. "I lost a tooth fighting a demon a few years ago. When I got an implant, I found a specialist who made it out of silver."

"Have you ever actually needed it before today?"

"Once." Strange. The man had been injured and his first thought had been to turn his own body into a weapon. That was some dedication.

Eventually, Felix turns to go back up the stairs with a large stack of books in hand. Ace follows him, not sure what else to do. Felix closes the door behind him before picking up one of the books and sitting at the desk to read. Ace sits himself on the bed and watches him for a moment before asking, "Any more questions? About anything. Demons, me, the best sex positions?"

Felix scoffs before leaning back in the chair, thinking. "What kind of demon are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm an incubus, darling," says Ace. "Thought someone as smart as you would've figured it out by now."

"I was trying not to stereotype. I didn't want to assume anything despite you being-" he gestures vaguely at Ace. "you being you. Anyway, what do you need while we're bound together?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've not studied day to day habits of demons. Do you need to eat, sleep, stuff like that?"

"Demons don't need sleep, but I gotta say, personally, I do enjoy a good nap every few days. I don't have to eat food..." Ace grins as he continues. "But I will have to *feed* occasionally."

Ace can all but see the wheels turning in Felix's mind as he tries to comprehend Ace's statement. He can pinpoint the exact moment Felix puts it together, as his face goes pale and he looks at the floor, then Ace, then back at the floor. "Does that- Does that mean what I think it is?"

"And what is it that you think it means?" asks Ace. He pretends to examine his nails and curls his tail around his leg. Felix doesn't answer, seemingly content to stare at the carpet until he drills a hole through it with his eyes. It's electrifying, watching him try and fail to stay stoic. "Haven't got a guess? Well it means that eventually, I'm going to seduce you, and then you and I are gonna-"

"Enough, Ace. I get the picture," Felix snaps, and Ace has to hold back a laugh at his reaction. 

"Oh, don't be such a prude, Darling. Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I won't need to feed again for a few days, so we've got time to get to know each other before I need your... assistance." Felix sits down at the desk and begins opening a book. Ace comes up behind him and puts both his hands on his shoulders. He leans in next to Felix and whispers into his ear. "Or, maybe that'll be enough encouragement for you to figure out how to end this before I get hungry."

Felix tries to shake Ace's hands off, but Ace tightens his grip for a few more seconds, just to remind the human who's in charge before he backs off, flopping down on the bed. "Well, happy reading."

"You're not going to help?"

"Oh, certainly not. I find research dreadfully boring, and you got us into this mess, so you can figure out how to get us out of it."

Felix mutters something under his breath, but opens the book and begins reading.  Ace leans back and shuts his eyes. He'll miss Vegas, but bothering the human is fun. Maybe he'll just call it a mini-vacation.

Chapter Text

Demon hunting is a socially isolating lifestyle. It's best to work with another hunter or several others, or loneliness creeps up on you. That said, when you spend all of your time with the same people, they can begin to annoy you. Remember to get space when you need it, and if you and your partners don't click, there's no shame in finding another hunting buddy. It's not like you're chained together anyway.
-Henry Bayshore, 'Hunting for Dummies'

Felix doesn't expect to be particularly productive during his first day of research, and he proved himself right. He'd taken a couple more general books on demon summoning, hoping he could at least learn the basics of what the ritual was. He really should have paid more attention when Elodie talked about spells. His rudimentary knowledge meant that reading the complicated texts were slow going.

But he couldn't ask Elodie for help, or Mikaela, though she'd be a great asset. If they knew there was a demon bound to him, they'd try to kill it, and Felix couldn't risk losing his own life. Not when he still had a job to do. Besides, after staying awake for so long, even sleeping through the whole morning wasn't enough. By ten o'clock, Felix was exhausted, so he marked the page in the book he was reading and turned go to bed.

"Will you move?" he asks Ace, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, blocking his space.

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired and want to sleep," he says. "And that's my bed."

Ace just smirks back at him. "But I'm your guest. Shouldn't you be a gracious host and let me have the bed?"

"You don't sleep."

Ace hold up a finger, irritatingly close to Felix's nose. "Ah-ah, I don't need to sleep, but I still can."

Felix shoved his hand away. "You're not taking my bed, Ace."

"I don't see why we can't at least share. It's big enough for the both of us."

Felix rolls his eyes but decides not to fight it anymore. He's too tired. Ace is still blocking the entrance to the bed, with it being set in the corner, so Felix awkwardly steps aside him, climbing into the bed. Trapped between Ace and the bedroom wall, Felix rolls to his side, facing away from the demon, and tries to go to sleep.

Ten minutes pass, and he feels a sudden, rhythmic shaking of the bed behind him. He looks over to see Ace bouncing his leg up and down, still sitting on the edge of the bed. "Would you stop that?" 

"Stop what?"

"Rocking the bed."

Suddenly, something is lightly touching the back of his neck, oddly caressing his skin. Felix whirls around and grabs it. He's holding the spade of Ace's tail, which he lets go of immediately. The demon just laughs. "That's funny, I've never had someone complain about that before. Usually they enjoy it when the bed starts rocking."

"You know what I mean. I need sleep," said Felix, rolling back onto his side.

There was a short silence, for perhaps a minute, before Ace spoke again, "Wanna make out?"

"No."

"Wanna snuggle?"

"NO!"

Aggravated, Felix yanked the bed's only blanket over himself completely and squeezed his eyes shut. He just wanted some sleep.

Suddenly, he heard a snicker of laughter behind him. "What?" he asked flatly.

"Nothing. Goodnight, Darling."

Felix finally found an uneasy sleep, hoping that Ace hadn't lied about everything and wasn't plotting to kill him while he slept.

Morning arrived, and Felix had not, in fact, been murdered during the night. With his eyes closed, he enjoyed the relative peace for a moment before the events yesterday began flooding his mind again. Right. Demon. Summoning. Stuck. 

With a deep breath, he opened his eyes, ready to face the day.

And came face to face with Ace staring right back at him. Felix shouted in shock and rolled backwards. "Finally," said Ace, laughing. "I was wondering how long it'd be 'til you woke up. You should'a seen the look on your face." Somehow, in the middle of the night, Ace had stepped over Felix's body and slid into the small space between him and the wall.

Felix just groaned. The day was already off to a terrible start. He moved to get off the bed, momentarily forgetting about the chain. Ace made no move to follow him, so when Felix reached the edge, the chain went taut, causing him to lose his balance and fall. Ace just laughed again before rolling out of the bed himself, grabbing the chain from the center, and forcing Felix to his feet.

In the bathroom, Ace continued his streak of childish behavior. Felix began to get undressed to shower. "Would you turn around?" he asked Ace.

"Aw, you're not gonna give me a show?" he responds, sitting on the bathroom counter and trying out one of Elodie's perfumes. 

Suddenly, Felix realizes another problem. He can't take his shirt off, as the chain connecting them keeps him from sliding out of his sleeve. He returns to the bedroom, pulling Ace along with him. He finds a pair of scissors and the shirt from the top of the sleeve to the collar. "Turn around," Felix repeats once they're back in the bathroom, with a strong sense of authority that even has Ace doing a double take. He makes a 'tsk tsk' sound, but otherwise complies while Felix strips and turns on the shower. 

Felix has never been one to sing in the shower, but apparently, Ace is. As Felix tries to clean himself as fast as possible, Ace belts out a chorus to a Whitney Houston hit that would bring tears to the singer's eyes. Tears of pain, that is. Felix pokes his head out from behind the shower curtain and tells Ace to shut it, to which he responds, "Jealous?" and continues singing anyway. Felix thunks his head against the wall of the shower, trying to calm himself down before continuing.

Ace must hear his pause, with shower sounds not changing, because he suddenly pipes up. "Want some company?" Felix doesn't dignify the question with a response, finishing up in silence before shutting the water off, and another complication arises. His towel is on the wall next to  the far side of the shower, the chain is out the front. Felix is left awkwardly stretching through the entire length of the shower, one hand close at the front of the shower, where the chain is still connected to Ace and the other reaching for the towel. After significant struggle, he manages to catch the cotton between two fingers and pull it back towards himself.

Drying himself off, Felix puts his new pair of pants on and wraps the towel from his torso to just beneath his arms. "Wow, you really are a prude," Ace comments at the way he choses to cover himself. Felix just rolls his eyes and leaves the bathroom. 

Elodie's door is open, but her room is empty, so Felix enters and finds the sewing kit she keeps on her. Years of hunting have made them both experts in basic clothing repairs, a skill Felix has found surprisingly helpful recently. Back in his own bedroom, he ignores Ace yanking on the chain and snickering as he sews three buttons into his shirt along the line he cut. Finally able to dress, Felix undoes the buttons, slides his shirt on and then closes the top. The sleeves are now a little uneven in tightness, but it's better than wearing the same shirt for days. 

"What's your problem?" asks Felix, finally reacting to Ace's antics.

The demon just shrugs. "You brought me here, you can deal with it."

"I'm sorry, is this just... revenge for being summoned?"

"Maybe," says Ace, in a way that certainly means yes. "Maybe some inspiration for you to solve this damn problem for both of us."

"You know, you could help with that," says Felix, opening the door and going downstairs with Ace still jingling the chain behind them.

He doesn't let up on his antics in the kitchen either. As Felix tries to make breakfast, Ace blocks his way to the fridge, turns off the stove while Felix is cooking eggs, and very nearly trips him with his tail.

"Would you quit it?" Felix hisses, finally adding the eggs as well as a toasted bagel to his plate.

"Quit what?" comes a voice from behind him, and Felix freezes. He catches Ace's expression too, and he also has a look of shock on his face.

Felix turns to see Elodie walk into the room., returning a glass to the kitchen. "Nothing," he answers quickly. "Just, erm, was trying to kill a fly and it kept getting away."

"I see," says Elodie. "You feeling any better? I haven't seen much of you lately, and I wanted to talk about catching that demon."

"Do you really think it's worth our time?" Felix asks. 

"Absolutely, I bet it's tracking us. It found our room," says Elodie. "Hell, maybe the summoning failed because it was already here, just out of sight. Maybe it knocked us out and we couldn't see it."

Felix begins adding jam to his bagel, trying to think of a way to answer Elodie's question that gets her to back off the summoning without becoming suspicious. If she tries summoning Ace with Felix already bound to him who knows what would happen? "Why would it just knock us out?" he finally asks. "It could have killed us last night."

"Maybe it was trying to send a message," says Elodie, uncertain. She sits down at the kitchen table, pondering the situation.

"Well then it did a pretty poor job. It should have at least let us know what it wanted." Felix pulls a fork out of the kitchen drawer and sets in on his plate.

"What's your theory then?"

Felix looks at Ace, who's leaning against the countertop, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "Maybe your summoning had an issue. It was your first time trying it, after all. And maybe it's a weak, pathetic demon who's too scared to come after us face to face." His tone is sharp as he ends his sentence, and he looks at Ace out of the corner of his eye who responds extremely maturely, sticking his tongue out at Felix.

"Maybe. Let's lay low for a few days; make sure it doesn't pop up and come for us when we aren't ready."

"I agree. I'll do some reading and see if I can find anything about failed summonings." Elodie nods.

"I'm going to go to the store today for some groceries. You need anything?" 

"I'll text you," says Felix as Ace next to him says "Oh, how about a good red wine." Felix ignores him and picks up his plate, wondering where his fork went. He opens the same drawer and picks up another one as Elodie turns to leave.

Felix picks up his phone and begins adding a few things to a list for Elodie. "So, maybe a nice Merlot, what do you think?"

"I'm not asking Elodie to get you wine," says Felix, sending the message.

"Why not? Forcing me to be around you is bad enough, but having to do it sober is just cruel," says Ace. 

"Because I don't drink wine; if I ask her to buy some, she'll be suspicious." 

Felix takes the plate to the kitchen table and Ace follows. Only when he sit down does he realize that the fork is missing again. "Ace, did you take my fork?"

"Hmm, why would I do that?" asks Ace, fluttering his eyelashes. Felix rolls his eyes and fishes yet another out from the drawer. He eats as quickly as he can, ravenous after the last few busy days.

Felix tries to settle in for another day of research, but Ace does not let up on his antics. From talking nonsense to himself to wandering around the room, going through his stuff and testing the lengths of a chain. Felix gets so wrapped up in trying to study one of the books that he doesn't notice that Ace has looped the chain around his front while he zoned out, leaving the thin chain tangled up around his chest. He nearly falls out of the chair trying to fix it, and Ace cackles.

After several hours and no new answers, Elodie brings him food. Chicken and rice and some grilled vegetables. Felix takes a break from reading and allows himself to eat more slowly, enjoying his rest from work. He zones out a little bit, just relaxing for a while. At least, until he hears a snicker from the bed to his left. 

He turns over to see that Ace has snatched his journal. He has a pink pen in his hand, and is doodling over the faded writing and sketches on the pages. "What are you doing?" Felix whisper-yells, knocking the pen from his hand. He tries to nab the journal as well, but Ace turns away, holding it just out of reach.

"I'm just making some revisions," he said. Felix stares at the pink scribbles, which are certainly are not improvements. 

"Where'd you even get that pen? Give it back!"

"It was on the desk in the library. And, no, I don't think I will."

Felix lunges for his journal again, only succeeding in jostling Ace's arm a little bit, causing a small "click" to come from the back of the book.

"Ooh, what's this?" Ace asks teasingly, and Felix's blood runs cold. Ace opens up a hidden compartment in a journal, and half a dozen Polaroid photos fall out. "What are these? Are they of you?"

Felix gets out of the chair to grab at them, but Ace kicks the chair out as he tries to get up, causing Felix to slip on to the ground. Ace pins him down. "Just a sec', I wanna look at these real quick." Felix just freezes, giving up completely. He's too weak to fight back; he can't argue and yell or Elodie will hear. He's completely hopeless, defeated. 

"Oh, is this a young Elodie?" asks Ace, holding up the first picture. Felix knows the photo of him and Elodie sitting on a tree branch on Dyer Island. "She was adorable, and you... well the bowl cut wasn't a great idea."

"Ace, please stop," Felix says desperately, angry at having his privacy completely invaded. The demon doesn't listen, he just keeps flipping through the photos until he comes to the last one.

The last is Felix's favorite. He's seventeen in that picture, which Elodie took. It shows him and another boy, just a year older. The other boy is looking at the camera, a look of pleasant surprise on his face as a young Felix leans in and kisses him on the cheek. "You never told me about a man in your life," says Ace, wiggling his eyebrows. "You've got good taste; how come he's not out here hunting demons? Something happen between you two?"

With renewed anger, Felix stands up, making another attempt at grabbing the photos. He catches the one in Ace's hand between his fingers and tries to pull it away, but the photo rips in the process, causing Felix to stumble back down, eyes beginning to water.

"Well now look what you've done," taunts Ace, picking up the pieces of the photo and turning them over. "Oh you left him a note on the back. 'Dear Sebastian, you'll always be here, in my heart. I-'...Oh fuck." Ace trails off and a genuine look of remorse crosses his face. He doesn't finish reading the photo.

'I miss you.'

Felix is crying now. He'd just destroyed the last photo of him and Sebastian, his first love, and one of his best friends. There was so little left from the Pariahs, and now, another artifact had been destroyed.

"Sorry," mutters Ace. But it's half-hearted. Felix doesn't respond, just sitting down on the bedroom floor and sobbing, holding his head in his hands. He stays like that for a long time. Ace is mercifully silent.

When he finally composes himself and stands up, he doesn't look at Ace, though he can feel the demon's stare directed towards him. Instead, he turns to the desk, where he sits down and opens the next tome. The demon has caused enough pain already. It's time to send him away.

Chapter Text

S. Ward: So then, if you do get possessed by a demon, is there any hope for you?
M. Reid: Likely no, which is why all those prevention methods we just discussed are vital. When possessed by a demon, it's a fight for control of consciousness. There's a tug-of-war of sorts, between human and demon for control of the body. And demons, just as they are physically stronger than humans, are usually mentally stronger.
S. Ward: Usually?
M. Reid: Usually, yes. There are a few cases in which a human has been able to render control during demonic possession. It takes an unbelievable amount of mental fortitude, and obviously, you shouldn't letting yourself get possessed to give it a try.
S. Ward: True. Friendly reminder to all of our listeners, don't try this at home. But, Mikaela, tell me what happens if a human does manage to take control of a demon during a possession attempt.
M. Reid: Well, ordinarily, the demon will leave immediately; it doesn't want to spend it's time fighting, and will just search out a weaker host.
S. Ward: And, correct me if I'm wrong, but that means in the future, demons will be less likely to attempt a repeat possession.
M. Reid: Exactly. And, in extremely rare cases, it's possible for the human to trap the demon instead, keeping it from leaving them until they can perform an exorcism, sending the demon straight back to hell.
S. Ward: But this is extremely rare. In fact, between the two of us, we only know of one person who's ever managed to do that, right?
M. Reid: Yes. A long-time hunter, [censored]. Absolutely unbelievable story; it just shows that we as humans are a lot stronger than we think.
All Things Wicked This Night, season 2, episode 5

When Felix goes to bed, Ace sits himself on the desk chair he'd been using for the last several hours of research. The chain is just long enough so Felix could lie on back on the with enough length of the chain to reach Ace at the desk. Felix has his hand on his stomach, providing Ace a little more slack to move his own arm. Ace is currently logged into Felix's laptop, causing some minor fights online, arguing with strangers on social media and laughing at the tension he creates.

He does feel a little bad for how the night had ended. He didn't realize just how much the photos in the journal meant to Felix, and while seeing him get angry at Ace's antics throughout the day were amusing, watching him break down on the floor was just plain sad. Sure, it was pathetic watching a grown man cry over a photo, but also, Ace can't help but feel a bit guilty. It's a strange feeling he isn't used to. He doesn't like it.

He knows that he is probably slowing Felix down, distracting him from his work and stressing him out, but at the same time, Ace can't help but feel angry. Sure, Felix was attractive - Ace wasn't exactly dreading needing to feed on him - but it was nothing compared to when he had the freedom to roam around, surveying his options for the night before seducing whoever he wanted. And trapped here? Ace missed the sights and sounds of Vegas, the drinking and the thrill of gambling, convincing people to loosen their wallets just a little bit more. He wants to leave.

Who could blame him if he wanted to have a little fun while stuck in this lonely house? All Ace wanted was to enjoy the otherwise bland time he spent cooped up in a house with little entertainment aside from the endless shelves of books. And Felix was so easy to rile up, flushing at the slightest dirty joke or risqué suggestion. Aside from the issue with the journal, it was all harmless; was Felix just allergic to taking a joke?

And that voice in his head certainly doesn't help. His demonic nature, a second consciousness in his mind urging him forward, to keep getting a rise out of the pathetic human. Ace knows rationally, he's being an ass, but that instinct within him pushes him forward.

Suddenly, a gasp pulls Ace out of his reflection. He turns to look at Felix, who was curling in himself. His brow is wrinkled and eyes squeezed shut. He pulls weakly on the chain, only succeeding in tangling it around his hand and wrist. Clearly, he was having a nightmare.

Ace sighs then spins in the chair to fully face Felix. Looking down on him, he feels the same feeling he had after the photo had been ripped: a mix of pity and guilt. After a moment of considering, Ace decides not to bother waking him.

Instead, he reaches out a hand, claws extending from his fingertips as he does so, hovering his palm mere millimeters above Felix's forehead. He reaches into Felix's mind, skimming over his thoughts and subconsciousness until he finds the nightmare. Then, he pulls his hand back up, dragging the bad dream with him, a power all Incubi shared.

The nightmare manifests as an orb, blood red encased in black mist, as Ace pries it out of Felix's mind. It's larger than Ace had ever seen, about twice the size of his fist, but he manages to dislodge it. Felix immediately falls still on the bed. Turning back to the desk, Ace brings the orb with him and examines it between his hands, spinning it around to get a good look at it. It crackles with a dark energy, several layers of shadow swirling within each other, like a thousand knots tangled into one throbbing mass.

Ace spends the better part of an hour untangling those 'knots,' twisting the orb and pulling the dark thoughts away one by one. When he finishes, he is left with a translucent, ruby colored orb, all of the blackness removed, dispersed into the air. 

It was a task Ace ordinarily performed with the relatively few partners he spent the night with; a thank you for (unknowingly) allowing him to feed off of them. Ordinarily, Ace would replace the nightmare with a peaceful, calming dream, but that required diving into their minds to find a good memory to use as a guide.

"Do it," says that voice, his Incubus instinct, in his mind. "Just take a quick peek. See what he's got cooped up in there."

Ace pushes the thoughts away. He relationship in already strained with Felix; no need to risk making destroying it all.

So he replaces the orb, a fresh, empty slate into Felix's mind. The man would continue to sleep, but it would be silent, dreamless.

"Don't say I've never done anything nice for you," mumbles Ace. He watches Felix's breath even out beside him. The stress in his body evaporating off of him. Ace doesn't turn back to the computer; the screen goes dark beside him. He just watches Felix sleep, but it doesn't feel wrong or invasive. Instead, it soothes a tension in Ace's mind he didn't realize he had. Like he belongs there. It's probably just an Incubus instinct; Ace simply wants to make sure another nightmare doesn't return. At least, that's what he tells himself.

When Felix wakes up, several hour later, Ace decides to bit his lip and not mention what he'd done the night before. Felix is so closed off and might not be properly grateful that Ace was in his mind the night before.

The other thing Ace realizes as Felix wakes up is that he's hungry. Not the human kind of hunger, with a growling stomach. No, he needs to feed, and soon. He can feel the logical part of his brain slowing down, and he feels warm. It's a pleasant burn now, but one that he knows will soon turn to torture if he doesn't get what he needs.

While Felix showers, Ace gives him a repeat performance, singing into the bathroom mirror. He once again turns away when Felix tells him to and laughs at the ridiculous way Felix wraps himself up in his towel, holding it under his arms like most women do. But he doesn't question it this time. In fact, he doesn't speak to Felix directly much. 

In the kitchen, Felix is once again making eggs, and Ace hides the salt behind the coffee machine. Felix doesn't find it for several minutes, and when he does, he just looks at Ace with a tired, defeated glare. It's less funny than before. Ace watches Felix brew coffee and stir eggs for a few minutes in silence. He sits on the table while Felix eats and stays quiet when Elodie comes in for a few minutes of conversation. 

Felix doesn't eat lunch that day, instead spending the next eight hours researching, cooped up in the bedroom. He only leaves twice; once to use the bathroom and then once to get another stack of books when the first set proves to be unhelpful. Ace is impressed and slightly concerned by his dedication. 

The whole time, Ace lounges on the bed, swiping Felix's laptop after awhile to pass the time. Desire swirls in his body, a hunger that festers as the day goes on. He decides to wait, though, until the night. Enjoying the wait, after all, makes it all much more worth it.

At six o'clock, Felix leaves to make dinner, a more complex affair than breakfast. He makes pasta with roasted tomatoes and mushrooms with a garlicky sauce that even has Ace's mouth watering, despite not needing to eat. He calls Elodie down for dinner, and begins plating up the food.

"Haven't seen you much today, Felix," she says, sitting down at the table. "Any luck with your reading?"

"No, not yet. But we're not sure what kind of demon it is, or what happened with the summoning, so it's not clear what I'm looking for yet."

"Right. And you are taking breaks, yes?" she asks, her tone almost motherly.

"Yes," he lies, looking down at his plate. Ace snorts, and Felix kicks him under the table. 

"That's good. I've been sleeping a lot these last few days. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I finally got a break."

Elodie continues chatting while Felix eats, only occasionally speaking and mostly just nodding along. Elodie doesn't seem to mind, however, and offers to do the dishes once they finish.

"So, you got any plans for the night?" asks Ace, as the two of them walk back up the stairs.

"Just more reading," says Felix. Ace grins and stops walking at the top of the stairs. Felix tries to pull on the chain to get him to keep moving, but Ace doesn't budge. "What?"

"Darling, could you be anymore boring?" asks Ace, laughing, and slowly moving up the rest of the stairs.

"Well I'm sorry I'm the only one interested in getting us out of this mess before you need to... to-" his stutters. His voice had started stern but trailed off, embarrassed to even say the words.

"I hate to break it to you, Sweetheart, but unless you've already got it figured out, it seems unavoidable. I'll need to feed on you."

The color disappears from Felix's face. He stops in the hallway at stares at Ace, mouth open in shock. "Already?" he asks, barely a whisper.

"Mm-hmm, tonight I think," says Ace, stepping closer to him. Felix groans loudly and pushes him away. Rude. "I mean, you're not my first choice either! You think I'm thrilled about this?"

"Of course not," Felix says through gritted teeth, his gaze intense, matching Ace's. "Let me guess, it's the first time you've had not had your say from a dozen partners, and you don't know how to handle it. I can't imagine how much of a disappointment I must be to you; you've never not had a choice before. Well, suck it up, because I don't have a choice either."

Ace grabs the slack of the chain between this, forcing Felix to stumble and trip closer to him. He grabs him by the collar of his shirt and snarls. "You think I get to have a choice every time? Don't pretend to know me." He straightens up, and while he's shorter than Felix, his supernatural strength makes him much more intimidating. When he meets the other man's gaze, he's met with a look he's never seen before. Fear.

But Ace pushes on anyway. "You really think I get to roam around the Earth, sleeping with anyone I want? That's not how hell works, Felix. I have a boss. I have a job. I seduce whoever he tells me to, whenever he tells me to. I only get my pick when I'm in between work, you understand? So, no, you're far from the first I've had to feed off of; you're nothing special."

He lets go of Felix's shirt, roughly shoving him away. Felix reaches a hand up to his collarbone where Ace had grabbed him and catches his breath. When he looks at Ace again, the fear is gone, and so is most of the anger Ace is accustomed to seeing. There's another look on his face. The bags beneath his eyes look heavier and his mouth hangs open, as if he's looking for something to say.

"What? Did I piss you off again?" asks Ace.

"I'm- I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ace," says Felix, voice so quiet that Ace is taken aback. "That can't be easy, being expected to drop everything for a partner you don't get to select yourself." 

Pity? That emotion in Felix's voice was pity. For what? Ace's only job being to sleep with people? It was an art, he enjoyed it; finding what made different people tic, what turned each of his partners on. So why was Felix looking at him like it had been some drastic, traumatic backstory? "I don't- what are you on about?" he all but growls, pushing Felix against the wall. "I like my work, I get to have fun. It's better than the whatever the hell you do, going around the world trying not to die, never being able make friends. Hell, aside from Elodie, I'm probably the first person you've actually talked to in months." He closes in towards Felix, crowding him against the hallway wall. 

He should stop, back off. He ought to pull away and apologize. This is escalating far more than Ace meant it to. But suddenly, Ace hears that voice in him mind again. "Look at him, such a weak human mind. Why not break him down a little further?" And Ace should fight it, but he doesn't. He gives in. Keeps pushing

"In fact, you should be grateful I'm here; with that lonely life you've go, I'm probably the most action you'll see for a year!"

Felix's face twitches, the anger back, but not the fear. Ace pushes in closer, testing him, trying to get him to react at all. And Felix does; he looks down at Ace with fire in his eyes, but speaks in a low, calm, commanding voice. "Back off. Now."

An ethereal force suddenly takes over Ace's mind, and he finds himself staggering backwards against his will, forcing him to obey the command. Ace is thrown backwards until his back hits the opposite wall, the golden chain between them going taut and pain shooting down his shoulder. When he looks back at Felix, the human mirrors his confused his expression. Ace tries to move forward, but Felix holds up a hand, and that same invisible force is back, keeping him from moving forward. No matter how hard Ace pushes, wills himself to move forward, he can't move an inch.

Shit, Felix has figured out the true nature of their bond. As long as he wills it, he can force Ace to do as he pleases. This is bad. The confusion drops from his face and he glares, closing his hand into a fist. Ace yelps as he finds himself dragged to the ground, forced to his knees- the same position he'd been in when Felix first held a knife to his throat. "I've had enough of your shit, Ace." There's nothing behind Felix's eyes. His expression is cold, empty, as he looks at Felix like hie's just another demon he needs to find a way to put down.

"Let me go, dammit," shouts Ace. Felix stops concentrating on it, and Ace is released. He stands up but stays put and continues, "Don't fucking do that to me."

"Yeah? And why not?" asks Felix, his tone crueler than Ace has ever heard before.

"Because it's not fucking fair. You can't just throw me around as you like? That's messed up."

Oh now Felix is angry. "Not fair? You've been throwing me around for the last two days, Ace," he hisses, forcing himself to keep his voice low. "You've been tripping me up and pissing me off just because you know I can't fight back because Elodie can actually hear me."

That, actually makes sense. Ace pauses, unable to decide what to say, but it seems Felix isn't finished. "Or is it that I'm just a pathetic human, and you aren't used to us being equals? It scares you not to be in charge, especially to someone like me," he says. "I've put up with your shit for two days Ace, now that the tables have turned you think it's suddenly different? I'm only dealing with you so I don't have to die, you bastard. Not to be your friend. Deal with it."

And with that, Felix turns on his heal and enters his bedroom, slamming the door shut, the chain stuck underneath the crack between the bottom of the door and both of them. There's only a little give, and Ace is pressed against the door. "Come on, Felix, let me in!" says Ace, but the door doesn't budge. 

Ace thinks he could break down the door if he really wanted, but doesn't. If he does, Felix would probably use his new-found power to fight back, and he can't handle that right now.

There's a soft thump on the other side of the door, and suddenly Ace's hand has a lot more slack. Felix must have sat down. Then he hears it; Felix is crying again. He's trying to hold it in, as Ace only picks up small sniffles and choked off sounds.

He's done it again, gone and pushed too far, and now he's suffering the consequences. It's especially terrifying, now that Felix realizes he controls their bond, but fear isn't the main feeling running through Ace's black heart. No, he feels guilt again, and it stings.

"Weak," says the Infernal voice inside him. "You're weak, bending to its will."

When it becomes clear the door isn't about to open, Ace sits down, leaning his back against the wall in a way he's sure must mirror Felix's position. He's quiet for a long time, listening to Felix slowly attempt to control his crying. It doesn't seem to be going well, as the sounds of sniffling don't stop for a long time. After awhile, the crying does stop, replaced by shallow, shuddering breaths. Then, there's just quiet. Unlike the silence Ace has grown used to the last couple days, interrupted by Felix's page turning and Ace's own rambling, this is a heavy silence, weighted down by the tension in the air.

It must take nearly two hours, but then, there's movement on the other side of the door, which begins to slide open. Ace jumps out of the way, sliding the chain out from the bottom of the door and standing to see Felix on the other side. Felix won't meet his gaze, but stands aside for Ace to enter the bedroom before sliding the door shut. Ace opens his mouth to form an apology, but he can't find the words. He knows he's in the wrong, but he's not sure what to apologize for; how does he even describe the hurt he's caused?

Felix walks back to the bed, where he sits down, not giving him a chance to say anything. "Ace," he begins, looking like he has something important to say, but he swallows it down, saying instead, "let's just get this over with."

"Get what over with?" asks Ace, confused as he takes a seat at the desk.

Felix shoots him a flat look. "Sex. You need to feed, right?"

He's not wrong. He's getting uncomfortable and hungry. His limbs feel heavy and his head aches like he's wearing a bike helmet that's too snug on his head. He can survive for a couple more days, but he won't enjoy it by any means. He should feed tonight, as he knows all his symptoms will be worse tomorrow.

Yet, when he looks at Felix, he just can't. His face is still puffy crying and the pain seeps through his face. Feeding off of him tonight would be wrong. Hell, feeding on him ever after what happened between them these last few days is going to feel wrong no matter what. But tonight, the human probably wouldn't be able to stand it. And truthfully, neither would he.

"No, let's not do it tonight," he says softly. 

Felix looks at him confused. "What? I thought you needed to-"

"Not tonight. Look, I'll need to soon, but after what just happened. After everything I did, not tonight. I can wait, just... get some sleep."

Felix nods curtly. He goes to change into pajamas, and this time Ace turns away without needing to be asked. He dresses in blue pajama pants and a matching top that he's also sewn buttons into. When he goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth, Ace follows him silently. Felix washes his face and stares at his reflection in the mirror for a full minute. He looks tired, and not just from a lack of sleep. The poor guy's exhausted, the effects of the situation starting to show on his expression.

Ace sits on the desk chair, not wanting to take over Felix's personal space as he had two nights ago. Felix pulls the blanket over him, facing away from Ace. A couple minutes go by in silence before Ace hears a quiet, "thank you. For waiting."

"Don't mention it," says Ace. He feels something he hasn't felt in years; regret. Guilt. It's a strange, overbearing sensation. 

Ace wonders how to fix it. The problem is, he spends so little time with humans that he's got no clue how to interact with them. In hell, demons don't exactly apologize. Or make friends. Violence and bloodshed is their preferred form of conflict resolution. The best way to show care for another demon is to just... pick someone else to stab.

When Felix falls asleep, Ace gets an idea. He carefully unplugs Felix's phone from the nightstand and calls the one number he's committed to memory since becoming a demon. The one human who can tolerate his presence; his one friend. 

Midnight is approaching, far later than is acceptable to call a person, but Ace knows his friend keeps odd hours. Twelve at night is a better time to call him than twelve o'clock noon. 

As Ace expects, the phone only rings twice before a deep, masculine voice answers. "Hello? Who is this?"

Ace smiles, happy to hear the familiar voice. He speaks into the phone, a more energetic tone, "Hiya Jeffery!"

Chapter Text

Demons are ruthless creatures. There isn't a shred of compromise or care in their minds. They care not for anyone's interests but their own. All of this, of course, is common knowledge to anyone who's studied or encountered demons at all. But why? After all, most demons were at one time human. Should it not then follow that at least some of them ought to have a shred of the humanity they lived with?
My theory, after five years of field work, documenting demonic activity and interrogating captive demons leads me to a new theory - a potential breakthrough in the field. Demons are inherently so cruel and callous because they don't have a soul, and thus, no trace of humanity.
Zarina Kassir, "Findings from the Field - an Extensive Report of Demonic Behavior"

"Ace! I haven't heard from you in a long time. Good to hear your voice," says Jeff through the phone. Ace reclines back in the chair with a smile. He's glad that Jeff isn't upset that it's been three months since Ace has called.

He's known Jeff for about seven years now. He'd been up in Canada, tasked with seducing a politician, getting the affair discovered by his wife, and allowing the politician's opponent to win the upcoming election. The opposing man had made an infernal with one of Ace's higher ups, and he'd been asked to carry out the job.

He met Jeff the night after the election, in a bar celebrating his success. The man had caught his eye, and Ace had approached him, looking for a fun night to treat himself after his work ended. Jeff had bought him a drink and politely turned him down, hinting to Ace that he wasn't interested in men. Infatuated, and refusing to turn down a challenge, Ace approached him the next night, disguised as an attractive woman. Jeff had once again refused, but bought him a drink and the two had a lovely conversation.

The next day, Ace had gone back again, no longer disguised, and Jeff had sought him out, explaining that he had studied demons in his spare time, and had figured out he was a demon. He had also admitted that he was asexual, but complimented Ace on both of his attempts. Surprisingly, Jeff was chill with Ace's demonic traits, and the two became drinking buddies. When Ace got called to another job, Jeff had given him his number, telling him to call when he needed a friend.

Since then, no matter how hectic Ace's life became, Jeff was always happy to pick up the phone. Ace had visited him twice more in Canada, but called him much more often. He liked Jeff; the guy had a relaxed aura around him, didn't hate him for being a demon, and unlike Felix, could take a damn joke. In return, Ace had pulled a couple strings to get Jeff a couple of neat gigs in the area.

"Yeah, I've been busy. Helping a couple casino owners get back in the green in Las Vegas."

"No worries, I get it. So what has you calling tonight?" asks Jeff.

"You'll never believe what's happened to me. A pair of demon hunters caught my trail in Vegas, and botched a summoning so bad. Now I'm chained to one of them, and we're completely stuck together."

"And you're alive?" Jeff asks, the surprise clear in his voice. "How has a pair of demon hunters not managed to kill you yet?"

"Oh, I came up with a plan," says Ace. He looks over at Felix, who still seems to be asleep. However, just to be safe, he waves a hand over Felix's forehead, gently easing him into a deeper sleep. Nothing invasive, just enough to allow Ace to continue the conversation without being interrupted. "I told him that if I die, he'll also die as a result of the bond."

"Wow. Good thinking."

Ace leans forward again. "Hey, I wanted to ask you, I may have messed things up with this guy I'm stuck to. I started a couple fights, and ripped a picture that matters to him. And I was kinda insulting." He spends a few minutes explaining everything that's happened the last two days, and Jeff listens.

There's a pause when Ace finishes, and Jeff responds eventually with a long sigh. "Have you, tried apologizing?" he asks.

Ace slaps his forehead. "No, and that's the problem. I don't even know where to start! I need your help." He's grateful that Jeff doesn't stop to shame him, and Ace hopes he can help.

"Well, let's start with why you want to apologize."

"Oh that's easy. I need to feed on him, and he said he'd do it, but he seems more reluctant, and I don't want it to make him hate me more.."

Jeff makes a disappointed sound. "That's the only reason? You don't feel bad at all, don't want to make things better?"

"Well, those are bonuses, but I mean, me feeding is unavoidable, so priorities matter here."

"Okay, well. To start, you have to acknowledge what you did wrong, and say you're sorry. Give it a try."

Ace rolls his eyes. Practicing an apology? It feels weird over the phone to someone he hasn't done anything to. "Okay," he says flatly. "Felix, I'm sorry I tore the picture and insulted you."

"Good start, but don't make your tone sound like you're reading from a script," Jeff instructs. "Then, you say how your actions hurt them. Try again."

"Are you serious?" Ace asks, but Jeff just hums an affirmative. "Fine. I'm sorry for tearing the picture and insulting you. I was disrespectful and rude, and didn't listen to you."

"Good. As long as you say it genuinely, you can't go wrong."

Ace wrinkles his nose. The apology sounds stupid coming out of his mouth. "How is a silly apology going to fix all this?" he asks. 

"It isn't supposed to. The apology is supposed to be the beginning. You have to take time to make amends, show remorse, and build trust."

Ace groans. This whole things is beginning to sound like a whole lot of work. "And how do I do all that?"

"Well, when he says something to you, listen. I know you like jokes, but don't make them at his expense. See if there's anything you can help out with, that sort of thing."

"And that'll get him to stop hating me by tomorrow?"

Jeff sighs. He's the most patient person Ace knows, but there's a tension in his voice. "No, this sort of thing takes time."

"Okay, let me rephrase this. Will it work enough to make him less awkward during sex? By tomorrow?"

"Ace, there's no promises. These things take awhile, and there's no timeline with these things!"

Ace huffs. "I don't get it. It's just sex, right? It's fun. Can't he just put it aside so I can feed off of him and live?"

Jeff's voice is strained when he speaks, like he's trying to control himself from being angry. "Ace, he's agreed to it already, okay? But you can't expect him to be happy about it. And you know, a lot of people don't share your perspective on intimacy being shallow. Either you wait as long as he needs to make things right, or you deal with it being awkward."

"So you're saying, why bother trying to make things better if I'm out of time?" Ace asks.

"No, now you're deliberately misunderstanding my point. You should want to make things better. But depending on your time frame before you need to feed things still might not be fixed by then, and your partner, Felix, might still not be thrilled about it all."

"So why bother trying at all? I still don't get it."

"Well, you acknowledged that you've been rude the last two days. If you want your relationship with him to be smoother, then you have to consider-"

"I'm done," Ace announces. "You don't get it Jeff. I don't want a relationship with him. I want things to be done, and less awkward in the meantime. I don't actually care about fixing this, because as soon as I'm free, I'm going to be miles away. And I don't need your help with that."

"Ace-" Jeff starts, but Ace hangs up the call and slams the phone back on the desk. Thank god Felix was in a deep sleep, or that action would have awoken him. Ace quickly deletes the call history from Felix's phone before plugging it back in. He sits there for awhile, arms crossed in irritation as he thinks through the conversation.

Who is Jeff to lecture him about 'perspectives on sex?' He's not even into sex; he has no right to act like he knows better than Ace. And anyway, Ace can figure out being nice on his own; he was human once, and certainly doesn't need to be taught how to do that. He knows how to be nice when he absolutely has to, and humans are easy to please. Just stay out of the way, say something nice, be helpful; it shouldn't be difficult at all. He stews for a couple hours; becoming an immortal demon has certainly allowed him to pass the time better. 

Around four in the morning, Ace hears a quiet noise from Felix. Another nightmare, he notes, by the sound of it. With the same precision as before, he pulls the bad dream from Felix's head, grabbing the orb that it manifests as, and sets to work removing the parasitic bad memories and traumas from Felix's subconsciousness. He finds that as icy as his relationship with Felix is, he enjoys the process of detangling and removing it all. By the end, he's once again with a blank slate, a subconsciousness that if returned, will ensure Felix doesn't dream for the rest of the night.

Once again, Ace is tempted to give him a good dream, but he decides against it. Dreamless it is. Satisfied with his work, Ace presses the orb against Felix's forehead; it sinks in slowly, and Felix's body eases into a state of relaxation when it returns.

He settles back into his position in the chair, listening to the sound of Felix's breathing as it slowly evens out. He feels a sense of pride in a job well done. He's done one thing right, and tomorrow, he'll start making amends. After all, if he and Felix are going to be stuck together for awhile, may as well enjoy each other's company.

When morning arrives, Felix doesn't want to open his eyes. After last night, he isn't ready to face the day. So he allows himself to lie still, eyes closed, taking in the morning. Despite the demon two feet away, he finds that he's in an unexpectedly good mood, his sleep surprisingly restful. He's not slept this well in weeks.

He gets up slowly, starting the day by first cutting up and sewing buttons into two more of his shirts and putting his dirty clothes in the wash. 

Ace is quiet today. His shower is remarkably devoid of any singing, and Ace gives him privacy when he gets dressed for the day. Felix begins to question whether Ace is angry at him, but isn't willing to break the silence by questioning it. Ace's only comment comes when Felix finishes drying his hair with his towel after buttoning up his shirt.

"Felix?" Ace asks while he's looking at himself in the mirror, meeting his reflection's gaze.

"Hmm?"

"You, uh. You look good today."

"Okay? Thanks."  Ace turns away from him and Felix catches him in the mirror, scowling at himself. The compliment was weird coming from Ace, and Felix just shrugs to himself.

No foods or utensils go missing at breakfast, another win for Felix.

"Do you need any help?" asks Ace, beaming a smile at Felix while he sets out ingredients for an omelet. What's he playing at? Is he going to replace the salt with sugar, or turn off the stove while he's working? 

"No, I'm okay," he answers, not wanting to risk something going wrong at breakfast With Ace watching him silently, Felix is especially fearful of sabotage.

"Oh, alright then," Ace says awkwardly, before taking a step away, giving Felix as much space as possible. Felix cooks in silence, preparing two omelets, one for him and Elodie. "That looks good," he adds when the food is finished. 

Felix ignores him, and texts Elodie to come down for breakfast. 

"These are amazing, Felix," she says, halfway through the meal. "By the way, what are you doing with your shirts?"

Oh right. Felix knew it was only a matter of time before Elodie got suspicious, but he had forgotten how obvious the buttons on his shirt would be. "It got ripped, so I closed it up."

"But why add the buttons and not a patch?" Felix just shrugged, looking at his plate. "And isn't this the third shirt like that?" she asks. 

Behind him, Ace stiffens. This is bad; they can't get caught here. Felix doesn't give an answer, just freezes, looking at his plate. After what feels like forever, Elodie shakes her head and changes the subject. 

"Zarina is thinking of coming by for a couple days. She's been researching Hellspawn in Oregon, and offered to take a look at her research, see if she can figure out what happened with that summoning."

"It'll be nice to see her again," says Felix, grateful for the change of subject.

"Yeah, though personally, your theory makes sense. I mean, if it didn't want to meet us head-on in the hotel, it probably doesn't want to challenge us on our turf."

Felix just nods along as the two finish their food. As Elodie begins work on the dishes, he and Ace make a quick stop in the library before returning upstairs. 

"Do you like cooking?" Ace asks as they return to the bedroom.

"Yes."

"That's neat. What got you interested in it?"

"We needed to eat, Elodie and I. One of us had to learn."

He keeps his responses curt, not looking at Ace. He's got no idea why Ace is acting all different today, being less of a nuisance and making attempts at small talk. Sure, it's better than the alternative, but Felix still finds it odd. 

It isn't until Ace decides to pick up one of the old journals on the bed that Felix figures it all out. Uncharacteristic conversation, compliments, and now trying to be helpful? Obviously, Ace was trying all this so Felix would be more agreeable to the fact that Ace had to feed. Which was ridiculous. He'd already agreed to it, Ace was the one causing the delay, not him. He wishes he understood what Ace was hoping to achieve. It wasn't like they were friends, and a day of friendliness wasn't about to change that.

They hadn't agreed on a time, but Felix assumes it'll be some time tonight, as Ace hasn't mentioned anything yet. And that is proving to be an issue. The research is slow going enough. The book he's currently paging through is written in old English, which is even harder to read with English only being his second language. Some of the text is faded and the spelling is poor. But now, though Felix hates to admit it, he's a little bit distracted by the thought of what's coming tonight. 

He has mixed feelings about letting Ace feed off of him. On one hand, it's not like he has a choice. If Ace doesn't feed, he'll wither away and die, taking Felix with him. It'll happen, whether he wants it to or not. But this makes Felix begin to wonder, if Ace hadn't been such an ass the first couple days, would he be so opposed to it? Casual sex and hookups has never been his style, but maybe, given the extreme circumstances, he could have been open minded.

Ace's words from the night before sting in his mind. 'I'm probably the first person you've talked to in months.' The Incubus certainly had seen right through him; he was spot on. Felix grimaces at the memory. 

Yet, he also feels rather sad. Ace had only rarely resorted to insults or violence, only lashed out when he got scared. Especially after hearing a bit of Ace's... job history, he wonders if maybe his bravado and apathy towards feeding is genuine or a cover for numbness to it all. And though a more rational part of Felix tells him he doesn't owe Ace another chance, but something is tugging him in a more forgiving direction.

There is also a part of him that questions why he hasn't used the chain to his advantage more. He really could have the demon leave him completely alone, unable to cause any more problems. No more irritation or arguments. And maybe that's why Ace is being nicer to him; he's afraid of Felix's retribution. And while Felix might keep it to himself, take advantage of Ace backing off, he has no plans to pull it all in his own favor, force Ace to do his will. It feels evil, taking complete control over another- person? Being? The thought alone makes him shudder. 

He's lost in thought, completely distracted from his research, so after only a few hours, he gives it a break. He pulls out his laptop, and after logging out of several social media accounts, all of which seem to belong to Ace, he logs into one of his streaming accounts and pulls up the next episode of a nature documentary he's been watching in his free time.

It's nice, finally having a break from it all. He gets up from the desk to relax on the bed, Ace scrambling to make room for him. The tension from leaning over a book all day slowly eases from his mind as he listens to the narrator describe how cheetahs use camouflage in their grassy hunting grounds. 

Beside him, he feels Ace's attention on the screen, and in a moment of kindness, tilts the screen so they both can see it clearly. Ace makes a noise of appreciation, but stays quiet throughout the show.

When the episode ends, Felix still feels too out of it to stop, so he simply plays the next episode. As he leans back after hitting play, he feels a slight pressure on outside of his upper arm. He freezes as the pressure encircles his arm before coming to a stop. Not moving his face, he eyes the spot and sees that Ace has wrapped his tail around his arm, the spaded tip flattening over his shoulder. A glance to the demon tells Felix that Ace might not even be aware of what he's done, as he's still transfixed on the laptop before them. 

Felix takes a breath, opening his mouth to say something, when he finds that he doesn't particularly mind the contact. It's not intrusive, and he finds it oddly grounding, so he doesn't bother mentioning it.

Elodie orders pizza tonight, and Felix quickly goes downstairs for dinner, feeling more relaxed than he's been in awhile. When Elodie mentions so, asking what's got him in a better mood, he genuinely can't answer. 

Dinner is quick, as many of their meals together are. Not out of tension, but rather, they don't have much to say. Felix supposes that after twenty years of knowing each other, they're bound to have nights like this. 

So he finishes dinner and takes care of dishes this time before going upstairs. Reentering the room, he closes the door behind him and stares at it, taking deep, steadying breaths before turning back to Ace. 

"Okay, let's do this."

Ace knew this was coming. He knew that tonight would have to be the night he fed, but still, hearing Felix be the one to make the suggestion is a surprise.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

They both sit on the bed. For a moment, neither of them move. Ace knows he has to be the one to initiate this; he's the one who needs it after all, not the other way around. Yet, he finds himself frozen, unsure how to approach the situation. He's done this a hundred times before, but this feels different. If this goes wrong somehow, he can't just find another human. He has to get this right.

It's Felix who breaks the silence. "So, I'm not sure I understand what exactly this entails. How much do we have to do?"

"You, uh, you have to finish, and once you do is when I do the actual feeding bit," says Ace. It feel weird, having to describe it to a human instead of just doing it to someone unaware of the process. But if that's what it takes to make Felix more comfortable, it's a conversation Ace is willing to have. "It's not like, literal feeding. I don't... eat anything. I just like, absorb the energy." He looks at Felix blankly, knowing the explanation is shit.

"Oddly enough, I think I follow. So you don't actually finish yourself?" Felix asks, still sounding unsure.

"Nah, I'm alright. Anything else you need to know?"

Felix shakes his head, and Ace finally decides to take some initiative. He sits back against the headboard and spreads his legs apart, before motioning for Felix to come join him, resting his back against Ace's chest. "This okay?" he asks, and Felix nods. "Anything you need me to know? What not to do?"

Felix is quiet for a moment while he adjusts himself to get more comfortable. "I guess, don't leave any marks. And my shirt stays on."

"I can do that," Ace assures him. He admonishes himself for being disappointed at both requests. This isn't a time for selfishness, he knows that. 

It appears that Felix would rather get it over with, rip the bandaid off, as he slides off his jeans and underwear himself in one go. Even from behind, Ace can tell he's embarrassed by it, so thinking quick, he pulls the blanket up to Felix's stomach, trying to help ease his discomfort. "Is this better?" he asks, and Felix nods.

He's working only by feel now, but that's nothing new to him. He trails his hands down Felix's sides, over his shirt, before reaching lower. He's only half hard, so Ace takes his time. He moves his hands down to his hips, rubbing gentle circles into them. All the while, he watches Felix's face from the corner of his eye, gauging his reaction.

There's tension everywhere in Felix's body. He's not putting all of his weight on Ace and trying to keep himself still. Ace hates it, wishes Felix felt comfortable enough to relax a bit. He trails his hands higher again, dipping underneath his shirt before pausing.

"This okay? Going under your shirt?" he asks. 

Felix nods against him, so Ace continues, feels up his abdomen, his sides. And after a few minutes, he reaches down to admire his thighs. Ace must have found a particularly sensitive spot, because Felix flexes his thighs in response and gasps, breath starting to stutter. But hells, he still so tense.

"Try and relax Darling," he says, curling one hand around Felix's torso, encouraging him to finally fully lean back against him. "I've got you."

The words seem to help a bit, as Felix sighs and tilts his head to lean into Ace's shoulder, so he keeps going. "I know this isn't ideal," he admits. "But I'm so grateful to you anyway, for helping me. I know it's a lot, so just, thank you." There's no response, but Felix nodded a little.

It's slow going, getting Felix relaxed, but Ace is content to wait. After everything Felix has done to put up with him, not to mention the hours he's spent trying to find a way to free them, he deserves a little patience. Ace takes a few minutes just touching him gently, and slowly, Felix seems to relax. His eyes drift shut, and his muscles start to relax. 

Tentatively, Ace wrapped a hand loosely around the base of Felix's dick, not moving yet. In an instant, Felix's body went rigid again, but Ace just waited. Let him calm down before continuing. He begins to stroke his hand up and down in slow, controlled movements, immediately sinking into a gentle rhythm. Then, one repetition, only the slightest bit rougher, pulls a low groan out of Felix.

Instinctively, Felix shoots a hand up, to cover his mouth. And hells it's hard not to pull it away, to tell him to let it all out. With any other partner, Ace would've protested, but he has no right to do that now.

So Ace keeps going, one hand still methodically sliding up and down while the other tightens it's hold on Felix, pulling him closer. Felix seems to be adjusting too, as his body finally goes back to a lax, content state. He keeps his hand curled up in a fist over his mouth, muffling the tiny noises he makes, but lets his head droop to the side, resting against the front of Ace's shoulder.

Once again Ace finds himself battling his own desires to bite down on that bit of exposed neck, to suck a mark right into the flesh, but he restrains himself. Instead, he leaves a gentle series of kisses along Felix's jawline. It feels intimate, almost delicate. Ace knows he's crossing a line; they never discussed kisses, but Felix gasps at the first one in a way that sets Ace's skin alight, and he can't stop.

He tightens his grip and adds a slight twist to the end of each upstroke that tears a grunt from Felix, escaping past his fist. Ace really want to hear more of those. "You're doing so well," he says, causing Felix to buck his hips and whine. Ace groans at that, increasing his efforts on Felix's shaft.

There's no talking for awhile, just quiet moans and the sound of their bodies connecting. But somewhere in the midst of it all, Ace notices a shift in Felix's demeanor. Something about it feels softer now, like it's no longer just a transaction out of necessity, but a moment between partners. Ace smiles to himself, pleased that he'd gotten a moment like this from Felix. He finds himself relaxing, letting his intuition guide his movements, just doing what feels right. His hand moves a little slower, but a little more firmly. He trails his lips up Felix's jaw, then nibbles at his ear, earning a full-body shiver in response.

"Shit, I'm gonna..." Felix trails off, tensing up again, but this time, out of pleasure instead of nerves. He drops his hand from his mouth, grasping at the hand around his chest, no longer hiding the sounds and instead just holding on to Ace, knuckles white from the effort.

"That's good. Just let it happen," says Ace. He nuzzles his forehead into the crook of Felix's neck, careful not to poke him with his horns. He starts to feel it himself. The air becomes charged with energy that only Ace can pick up on. His chest tingles in anticipation and he closes his eyes and focuses on the sensation of having Felix close to him...

With a shout, Felix comes, and Ace focuses on that change in energy, absorbing it into himself. It's an easy feat, as simple as taking manual control of his breath. He allows the feeling to wash over him, satiating him. A warmth starts in his chest and slowly spreads to his arms, his legs, and the rest of him as he feeds off the energy in the room. It feels calming and revitalizing, putting an end to the hunger that had been building up within him for days now. He takes his hand off Felix's dick and pulls him into a strong, protective hug from behind.

They sit like that for a moment, Felix struggling to catch his breath while Ace steadies himself, focusing back in the moment. Felix starts to shift in front of him, but he doesn't seem to be getting up. Ace loosens his grip and Felix slides down his chest. Ace gets the memo, shifting them both so that Felix can lie on his back, head in Ace's lap. 

Ace's hands slide through Felix's short hair, massaging his scalp soothingly. Felix's eyes are open, but glazed over. Ace assumes that mentally, he must still be far away.

"Thank you," he says softly, leaning down to plant a kiss on his forehead. And he means it too. He already feels stronger, more stable.

"Of course," Felix mumbles. "It's not like we had a choice."

And there it is. The moment's over. Ace's heart sinks into his stomach as Felix speaks. Of course it's nothing more than a transaction, a necessity to keep them both alive. Felix deserves so much better for putting up with Ace's antics, and after their talk yesterday, Ace feels even more guilty. 

"Do you need anything?" Ace asks as his hands move lower to massage Felix's shoulders and neck. He doesn't answer right away, just pulling the blanket over his chest.

"No. You?" Hells, even after all of this, he's still thinking about Ace. 

'Tell me you're okay with this,' Ace thinks to himself. 'Let me know it's going to be okay.' But aloud he can only bring himself to stay, "Just, will you stay here for a minute?"

Felix doesn't respond, but also doesn't move, which Ace accepts as a yes. He wraps his tail loosely around Felix's arm, not enough to limit his movement, but as a gentle touch, a reminder he's there. Felix's eyes drift open for a few seconds, but they're unfocused, his gaze far away. 

Suddenly, Ace feels a strong urge in his chest. Desire, but not the same, sexual kind he's become so used to. As he looks down at Felix, there's a burning want for the man in his lap. Ace wants to pull him up, kiss his parted lips, and make the whole thing between them real.

But he can't. He's lost any chance of that happening with the way he's acted these last few days. So he settles for holding Felix in his lap, handling him gently, as if he might break, and swearing to himself that he'll be better; he'll do everything he can to be a better friend. Friend? Can he ever call himself that to Felix? 

Whatever, his own feelings can wait until this is just a distant bad memory. For now, his focus will have to be Felix and his comfort. It's too late to fix this, Ace thinks. But he'll be damned again if he won't try to make the rest of their time together as easy as possible.

Chapter Text

You'll never know when a demon is scared. They'll lie, cheat, and scheme, their silver tongues making them look at ease even when the odds are against them. They show no fear, no sign of weakness. 
-Vigo's journal, pg 202

Felix doesn't sleep much that night. He dozes off a couple of times, but it's an uneasy sensation. Fortunately, Ace doesn't say much to him, so Felix is content to stare at the wall and pretend to be unconscious.

Last night, he'd laid in Ace's lap for a few moments before getting up to use the bathroom. When he returned, he'd simply gone straight back to the bed, rolled away from Ace, and proceeded to lie still for hours.

And he's miserable. He's stuck in an unimaginable situation, stuck with a demon who berates and belittles him for everything. And yet, he's been forced to give up everything, his privacy, his time, and now his body just to keep himself alive. The thought of it makes his stomach queasy. 

He let an incubus feed off of him for its own survival. What sort of self-respecting demon hunter would've allowed it to happen? Felix can't believe he's gotten himself into this mess, and that's not even the worst part.

The worst part was that he liked it.

Not in the sense that his body reacted in a a positive way, he knows that's not the same. No, somehow, for awhile, he mentally, even emotionally enjoyed the encounter. When his eyes closed, he put the situation aside and focused on the moment, and he liked it. He liked being held, being touched gently and treated like he was a partner. He knew that incubi could manipulate minds, make people think that they were loved, but Ace couldn't do that. His demonic powers of influence had been hampered by the summoning. This was all him, his own emotions. He was just so tired of being lonely and isolated from a normal life that the first time he experienced something good in seven years - a single caring touch - he gave in. 

And how fucked up is that?

Then, when Ace had held him there afterwards, didn't immediately push him away with another cruel joke, it was almost like staying with a real partner. At least, it had felt real at the time, until the high wore off and Felix realized just how stupid of a thought it was. Dear lord, if Ace knew what he'd been thinking, he'd never hear the end of it. The mocking and teasing would be unbearable.

Usually, when he can't sleep, he spends the night tossing and turning, but tonight he wills himself to stay still, on his side facing the wall. If there's any silver lining to the event, it's that Ace is miraculously silent the whole time. Maybe he thinks Felix is asleep. Good. Felix can't bear to hear Ace taunt him for this.

Eventually, morning comes, and Felix is frustratingly conscious. He can hear Elodie walking around, first to the bathroom and then downstairs, but Felix doesn't feel like moving. He doesn't feel like doing anything. There's a stack of books on the desk that he really ought to take a look at, and frankly, last night's events should make him more determined to find a way to break the bond, but he just can't. It's like he's got no energy or will. Everything just feels numb.

"Felix, are you awake?" He hears Ace ask behind him. Felix says nothing, and closes his eyes. Ace doesn't say anything else, either unaware that Felix is awake or choosing not to push it. 

Felix rolls onto his back, head still facing the wall; he can't bring himself to face the Incubus. Not after last night. It hurts, the unevenness of the relationship. Ace used his body to feed, to keep them both alive, nothing more. And Felix wishes he could make it mean nothing. He wishes he could move past it, like another failed hookup.

He's not sure how much longer he lies there, but it must be a couple more hours. His stomach rumbles, but he does nothing. Just the thought of putting food in his mouth right now feel wrong with the way his stomach aches. His limbs feel too heavy to move, getting up sounds painful. 

This sort of feeling isn't new to Felix. He'd spent far too much time in bed the first few years after losing his family. And after a failed demon hunt, losing someone they could have helped. Or when the memories of his old friends, his old partner, got too strong. But now, chained to Ace? Felix isn't sure he'll be able to take another relapse. He'd hope it was just a rough morning, but he's given up on hope years ago.

Maybe it's the stress of the last few days, or maybe it's the fact that he didn't sleep well last night, but suddenly, there's a warm sensation on the back of his neck, a phantom touch, and drowsiness overwhelms his mind. There's not even enough time to question what happened before his eyelids drift closed and he falls asleep.

Ace immediately feels guilty for what he's done, putting Felix to sleep, but he doesn't know what else to do. Felix had been pretending to be asleep, but doing a shit job at it. Ace could hear his uneven breaths, had heard him fidget with the bedsheets. He thinks Felix might have only have had half an hour of sleep the whole night.

Throughout the time, Ace had gone back and forth, deciding whether to reach out, ask Felix if he needs anything and see if there's anything he can do. He had stayed silent though, not sure what to say.

So when morning had come around, he had simply called out to Felix, asking if he was awake yet. Felix, despite clearly being conscious, had said nothing. Worried, Ace had reached out with one of the few Incubus powers he still had control of to skim Felix's mind, just enough to read his mental state, see what he was feeling. 

He'd been met with a deluge of exhaustion. It had been a bone-deep feeling of fatigue plaguing the man. Sadness, and confusion as well, but all Ace could really feel had been his exhaustion. So he had woven his powers, calming Felix's mind, lulling him to sleep.

Yeah, maybe he shouldn't have done that. But at least he thinks he's doing it for the right reason.

He sits in silence for a couple minutes, unsure of what to do. He'd done something wrong, but doesn't really understand what. Not to mention, his attempts at being friendly yesterday had been met with hesitancy. So what does he do?

Simple. He steals Felix's phone again and calls Jeff. It takes a little longer this time, but Jeff answers his phone. "Hello?" he asks, in his typical cheery voice.

"Jeff, it's me again," says Ace. "Listen I need-"

"Ace," Jeff interjects with a long sigh. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon after you hung up on me."

"Right, yeah, my bad. Anyway, I need your help with something. It's important."

"Is that what you're calling for?"

"I just said that. What are you on about?" Ace begins a sort of mini-pacing, moving between the bed and stretching the chain until it's taught. He's trying to figure out what Jeff is expecting him to say.

"Well, last time you called, you argued with me, and then hung up on me while I was trying to talk to you," Jeff explains. "Can you imagine how I might be feeling?"

"Let's see, uh. Probably not thrilled. I guess, maybe a little upset... angry. Oh! I'm sorry!"

"Are you? Or did you just realize that that's what I'm looking for?"

Ace freezes. He really hadn't said phrased that very well. But, wasn't Jeff being unreasonable? After all, Ace still feels justified from their argument yesterday. How come Jeff doesn't have to apologize to him? Ace is about to protest when he turns back around and sees Felix, heavy bags under his eyes from a night of poor sleep. If he needs to swallow his pride and apologize for Felix's sake, he can do that. "I'm sorry for hanging up on you Jeff, and for not listening to your suggestions. I'm glad you tried to help yesterday."

"Thank you for apologizing," says Jeff after awhile. He takes a deep breath. "So what do you need my help with?"

"It's the human I'm stuck to. I think I broke him," says Ace.

"Ace that is so unbelievably nonspecific."

"Right. He's not sleeping, or wasn't, until I used my sleep powers, and uh, while he was awake he wasn't moving."

"Is he sick?"

"No, he's just, kinda sad?" Ace looks at Felix again, wondering if that's the correct way to describe it all.

"Did you have another fight?"

"No! So, I tried being nicer to him, but nothing seemed to be working. Then we watched a show together, and then I fed on him, and now he's not moving."

Jeff is quiet for a long time. "You fed on him?"

"I didn't have a choice! I was getting really weak, and needed him or things were gonna get really bad."

"Ace, I'm not blaming you. I get it, you need to live. But at the same time, remember how we talked about how not all humans view sex as pragmatically as you? Maybe he feels bad because it was a negative experience for him."

Ace sits down, ready to argue, when he remembers it's not Jeff he's angry at. Hell, it's not Felix he's angry at, it's this damn situation. Instead, he takes a deep breath and says, "What should I have done differently?"

"Aside from not pick fights the first couple days, maybe nothing, Ace," says Jeff. "It sounds like the situation was already bad enough. There's a good chance that he felt like there wasn't a connection, and he felt used."

"Well, both those things are true. I was dying, and I mean, we're not exactly boyfriends, so I did need to use him to feed."

"Right. Let me rephrase. There's a good chance he feels bad today because he was used."

"Well what exactly was I supposed to do? Felix doesn't like me, remember?"

Jeff goes quiet for awhile, breathing deeply. Even on the other end of the phone line, Ace can hear the gears turning in Jeff's head. He appreciates his friend's help - wouldn't know where to start without him. "This man, Felix. He's in a really difficult situation. He just had sex with a stranger to keep you from dying. You already have a rocky relationship, and now he probably has a lot going on in his mind."

"That makes sense," Ace admits. "But what can I do? The longer he's like this, the longer it will take him to find a solution, and the more likely it is I'll have to feed again."

"You said you tried being nice to him? What do you mean by that?"

"I tried to give him a compliment, but he took it weird, then I offered to help with breakfast, and then I tried to make small-talk, but he kept saying brushing me off," Ace explains. "I'm out of ideas."

"You know Ace, that might not all be your fault. If he's a demon hunter, odds are he doesn't have much of a social life. Maybe he couldn't tell that you were trying to be nice. It might be hard for him to understand your intentions."

"So what do I do?"

Jeff pauses. Ace hears the sound of dogs barking, and Jeff yells something to them before returning to the conversation. "Shit, Ace, I gotta go. Look, that's not something I can give you the answer to. But, look. Figure out what's important to him, and see what you can do to make those things easier, or better, or even more fun. Listen to him, and trust your intuition." Ace snorts. "Not your demonic intuition, your human intuition."

"I don't have one of those." Ace's human intuition, which definitely does not exist, has been the result of many of Ace and Jeff's more lighthearted arguments, generally taking place when the human is under the influence of too much red.

"Whatever you say. Just, try to be helpful. Sorry, I gotta go now."

"Okay, but real quick, Jeff?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For the ideas. And the listening."

Ace can hear the smile on the other end of the line. "You're welcome Ace. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

Ace smiles and hums in agreement before hanging up the phone. Once again, he deletes the call log and plugs it back in so Felix won't notice. Speaking of, the man is still asleep, so Ace has more time to kill.

He glances around the room before his eyes settle on a journal. It's on the top of the stack of the ones Felix has yet to read, and thinner than the rest. Maybe Ace can take Jeff's advice and be helpful, knock out one of the books for Felix. They've yet to find anything, so what are the odds this one will be any different?

Ace gets about two pages in before realizing that this journal could in fact be very different. The author, a man who only refers to himself as Vigo, describes an unfortunate situation he found himself in. After an erroneous summoning attempt, Vigo ended up with a demon chained to his arm, the exact situation Felix and Ace were stuck in.

Ace continues reading. Vigo is much ruder to the demon than Felix ever was. He refers to the demon as it, which Ace finds distasteful, and keeps him weak and at bay by stabbing him with a silver blade until the demon runs the risk of bleeding out. Ace internally thanks Felix for never trying that on him, shuddering at the thought. 

The demon in the journal had told also Vigo that killing the demon would remove the bond. Vigo had spent months recording his different attempts at separating himself from the demon, all different manners from brute force to complicated spells to summoning another demon for help. Nothing seemed to be working. Vigo also complained about the demon's foul personality and "sultry sense of comedy," which makes Ace laugh.

As he read another entry about another failed attempt, Ace realizes there's only a single page left. He turns the page and reads the entry, then his eyes go wide in shock.

There, a single line, is the solution for breaking the bond. It's two sentences, and a simple procedure. It won't take Felix more than a minute to accomplish.

Hands shaking, Ace rips the paper from the journal. He has to destroy this. He doesn't know what to do, there's no good way to get rid of it in the room. 

Things get worse. Felix begins to stir. Thinking quickly, Ace rocks the desk forward until it's standing on its front two legs. Then, he slides the paper into the crevice between the back of the desk and the wall. When he sets the desk back down, the paper is hidden. It isn't perfect, but it's safe for now. And Ace can keep Felix from looking there. All that matters is that Felix doesn't find that paper.

Felix blinks awake, briefly turning to face Ace, who tries to steady his expression, hoping to hide the guilt from his eyes. Felix says nothing, though, simply rolling onto his side again, facing towards the wall.

Catching his breath, Ace relaxes. Now that the journal scrap is hidden, he can turn his attention to his next task; fixing a sad human.

Chapter Text

Demon 22-A

Incubus/Succubus

Physical Characteristics: medium horns, curved but not twisted; long, skinny tail with spade-shaped tip; retractable claws; sharp incisors (but still pass for human looking)

Behaviors : often found in urban settings; cheery and extroverted; crass humor; solitary hunters

Strengths/Abilities : dream manipulation; shape-shifting; invisibility (theorized); emotional manipulation

Weaknesses : physical strength (compared to other demons, not humans); inherent greed; limited self control around vices

Incubi and Succubi require intercourse to feed (time frame unknown) or they wither away. Best dealt with by making oneself appear an easy, interested target and fighting when in solitude. Beware thralls or humans corrupted into fighting for the demon, as they are irrational and quick to violence.

-Richter's Journal

When Felix stirs, it's early afternoon. He feels more rested and is shocked at how well he managed to sleep, given his mental state. Ordinarily, when he's in a foul mood, he doesn't sleep much. And when he does, he's usually plagued with nightmares. Whatever sort of blessing had allowed him to sleep, Felix doesn't question it, lest it be taken away.

He still feels limp and heavy, like getting up is an impossible feat. So he just huffs and pulls the blanket further up his body.

"Hey, Felix, are you doing okay?" Ace's voice comes behind him. There's a hint of concern in his voice, a tone that Felix isn't used to hearing.

"I'm just tired," he lies, not ready to turn around and face Ace after last night. It's a bad lie, he knows it, knows Ace can see through it. He just buries his head in the pillow and hopes he won't say anything.

"When's the last time you ate something?" 

The question catches Felix off guard. He turns around, finally, to see Ace staring at him, much closer than anticipated. He's sitting in the desk chair, but it's been slid over to the side of the bed. Ace's face is all scrunched up, and he seems genuinely surprised when Felix turns to face him. One of his hands is extended, hovering between him and Felix, as if he was about to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Last evening," Felix says softly. "Dinner."

Ace's expression deflates. He drops his hand to the bed sheet between them, digging his fingers into it. Felix is grateful that he hasn't extended his claws or the cotton would be shredded. "You should go get something," he says. The words sound awkward in his mouth, as if he's rehearsed what to say. 

"Can't," is all Felix can say. He doesn't know how to explain the twisted knots in his stomach that prevent him from eating, as much as he knows he should.

"You need to Dar- Felix." Ace is oddly insistent, but his voice stays soft. "It's been what, twenty hours? And I mean, especially after last night with the, you know."

Ace is right. He really needs to eat, but it just feels like too much work, getting up and forcing food into his body. "I don't feel good," he says quietly. 

"I'm sorry," says Ace. He doesn't say what for but it feels genuine. On the bed, his fingers are tapping, stretching out towards Felix but not yet making contact. "And maybe, you'l feel better if you eat." When Felix doesn't respond, Ace adds, "At least get some water?"

And it's not like Felix has much he can say against that. The only problem is that getting out of bed feels impossible when his body feels weighed down, heavy like lead. Still, he nods slightly at Ace suggestion.

"Okay, let's go," says Ace. He stands up and reaches a hand out to Felix. With a grimace, Felix takes it, and Ace pulls him to a sitting position, then up to his feet. The floor rocks beneath him, as Felix realizes he's stood up too fast and begins falling over, vision all blurry. A steady hand reaches out to catch him. "Careful," says Ace, arm supporting his weight as he tries to even out his balance. It takes a minute, but Felix eventually stands up straight. He nods at Ace in thanks, but the demon's hand doesn't leave his back.

"Are you alright?" he asks, rubbing his hand up and down his sleeve. The touch is soothing, and it takes every ounce of energy he has left not to lean into the touch. Instead, Ace gently pushes Felix to the door, removing his arm as he does. Felix notices the absence of the touch just as strongly as the touch itself.

When he gets downstairs, he fills a glass from the sink and downs it in seconds before filling it up again. Ace was right; the water is helping. His hand shakes as he downs another glass, fatigue taking over, but he can feel some of the tightness in his chest ease up. He figures he'll at least browse the options in the fridge to see if anything sounds edible.

To his surprise, there is a large bowl with a chicken salad sitting on the middle shelf. There's a note in Elodie's handwriting -

Please it something, love. Make sure you're taking care of yourself. I'm thinking Chinese takeout for dinner, text me what you want.

-with a large, loopy heart at the bottom. 

Felix finds the tension easing a little bit. The salad doesn't have to be prepared, doesn't have to be warmed up. Grateful to Elodie, he pulls it out of the fridge, undoes the plastic wrap covering it, and finds a fork from the cabinet. His hands continue to shake while he holds the bowl. Ace notices and Felix feels embarrassed. Ace says nothing, though, only reaches out a hand and firmly takes the dish from Felix before following him upstairs. 

Upstairs, Felix sits down to eat. Finally having something in his stomach feels good, and some of the uncomfortable feeling in his chest and stomach dissipates. When he finishes, he leans back in his chair, finally feeling better.

He's not sure he has the strength or willpower to shower, so he settles for brushing his teeth and a change of clothes. He changes into the only other pair of pajamas that he's cut and buttoned up, preferring the comfort of sleep clothes to every day clothing. Briefly, Felix wonders whether he should offer one of his extra shirts to Ace; he's been shirtless for days, only wearing some of Felix's extra pairs of pants. But the demon hasn't mentioned it, so Felix doesn't bother either. 

Finally, for the first time in a day, he decides to get back to work. The first journal he picks up is a think one, looking to be almost a century old. It's written by hand, with exceptional penmanship. After reading the first couple pages, a twinge of hope shoots into Felix's heart. The author, a man named Vigo, describes the exact same dilemma he's having with Ace, the binding of a human and demon as a result of a failed summoning spell.

He speeds through the journal, skimming over all of the information. Mentally, he notes the different failed strategies, eager to get to the solution. As he approaches the end of the book, he gets excited. This could all be over soon. Felix flips to the last page, and his heart drops.

There's an entry missing. The top of the final page has been ripped, and not particularly cleanly, out of the journal. Felix thinks this must have the solution, as it's the end of the journal and nothing about the previous excepts suggests that Vigo was in any danger. 

Where could the scrap have gone? Felix wonders if someone who had the book before pulled that piece out to save for later, discarding the rest of the journal. Or maybe Vigo himself removed it, if the ritual was complicated. Either way, all sense of hope is drained from Felix as he tosses the journal down and buries his head in his hands.

The sudden movement startles Ace, who's lounging on the bed beside him. He looks up to see Felix's frustration and asks, "Everything alright?"

"No. I thought for a second I find something, but I didn't. This journal, I think it's missing the page with the exact answer we need," he explains, frustrated. Felix doesn't bother looking up, just stares into his hands.

A hand touches his shoulder as Ace stands up behind him. "That sucks. I hate feeling close to a breakthrough and then it all goes wrong."

Felix just huffs. "It wasn't even the right page. It was the top bit of the paper that was ripped away. Who even does that?" Ace hums sympathetically, and Felix straightens out, throwing the journal on the floor and picking up the next book.

"Maybe it's time for a break," Ace suggests.

"I can't. I just want this-" Felix tugs at the chain between them. "-gone."

There's a hint of something that flashes across Ace's expression, but Felix doesn't know what it is. He goes to open the next, much thicker book when Ace argues again. "Yeah, but if you burn yourself out, it might take longer, right?" Felix doesn't answer. "Come on, we... you should watch the next episode of that nature show."

It's weird hearing Ace be pushy about this. Maybe it's the surprise of hearing it that has Felix giving up the fight and opening up his laptop. He briefly looks at Ace, still sitting on the bed before taking a deep breath, standing up, and moving over to join them.

As he moves to sit down, Ace scrambles to get out of the away, as if he's afraid to touch him. Felix doesn't blame him; he is a mess after all. He wonders if Ace's incubus senses have picked up on Felix's mixed emotions. If they had, he wouldn't blame Ace for scurrying away from him like his touch was repulsive.

He settles in to his usual spot on the bed, closer to the wall, and sets the computer on his lap. Ace lays on his side beside him, though his tail stays strictly on his side of the bed. The episode is about jellyfish and squids, which Felix finds fascinating. It's almost enough to make him forget about his tension with Ace. Almost.

When the episode ends, Felix spends the next two hours doing more research. Is disheartening, having been so close and missing the one piece he needed, but he's not going to let that stop him. A renewed dedication takes over as he pours over the next tome. This one seems to be a guide on improving summoning techniques; maybe it'll say something about mishaps. Felix reads through half of it before his phone dings with a text from Elodie.

Dinner's here. I'm in my room if you need me!

Felix types out a thank you and goes downstairs. There's a takeout container of orange chicken and a plastic bag will egg rolls sitting on the counter which Felix takes back upstairs and begins to eat. The food is comforting, especially because once again, it doesn't require any preparation on his end.

"Back when I was alive, I practically lived at this one Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas," says Ace. "The owners were fantastic, knew me real well because I was there three times a week. Even bailed me out of jail once." It's the first time Felix has heard Ace talk about his life. There seems to be a faraway look in his eye as he speaks. The smile on his face isn't his usual smirk, but a softer grin. 

"How much of your life did you spend in Vegas?" Felix asks. 

"Twenty-eight years," Ace answers. "I was born in Argentina, but didn't like it there. My family was dirt poor. I loved seeing American movies whenever I had the chance, and I remembered dreams about Las Vegas. When I was seventeen, I picked up all the stuff I had - it all fit in one bag - and spent almost all my life savings on a train ticket to the United States."

"It must have been difficult then, with almost no money, starting over somewhere new," says Felix. 

Ace nods enthusiastically. "You've got no idea. I remember, I had $20 in my hand, put it all on a single hand of Blackjack. I won, and let it ride. Made $320 in half an hour, and went on my way."

Felix listens to the story with interest. Gambling has never been an interest of his, though he and Elodie have engaged in the occasional poker game while on the road. And he certainly had never had to rely on something so risky to provide food and housing. Ace clearly had a lot of stories worth sharing.

"If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did you, well, die?" Felix asks. He finds himself interested in hearing more.

"Are you asking me how old I am?"

"Oh, sorry."

"No, no worries, I'm just teasing," says Ace with a chuckle. "I died just over fifteen years ago."

Eyes wide, Felix stares at him. "Only?"

"Right, I aged well, didn't I?"

Felix is surprised. Ace was the youngest demon he'd met. Sure, he didn't ask most of them their ages, but Zarina had during her studies found a way to age dead demons, and the youngest he'd killed before meeting Ace had been turned into a demon over a hundred years ago. Zarina had theorized that younger demons weren't strong enough to get out of hell and roam on Earth, needing time to regain their strength after their deaths. Maybe they'd have to revisit that theory.

"Which honestly, helped me adjust a lot when I did get back up here," Ace continues. "I mean, the number of times I've had to explain the internet to other demons up here, it's shocking."

Felix laughs at that. He finds himself curious at the details of why Ace is back so soon, but decides not to push. All the chicken is gone by the time Felix finishes, a surprise given the massive portion of food but perhaps due to the fact that he hasn't been eating enough. However, there is still one egg roll left that Felix can't finish, so Felix holds the bag out in Ace's direction, a questioning look on his face. 

"No, I don't need to eat." Ace dismisses the offer with a hand, but Felix sees his eyes linger on the bag.

"But you can?" asks Felix. That seems to win Ace over as he takes the offered egg roll. He gives an appreciative groan as he takes the first bite.

"Thank you!" he says, mouth still full.

Felix smiles a little bit at that, as he picks up the book he's almost finished with. A feeling of satisfaction flutters in his stomach when the demon flashes him a grin. The tome ends up not being as helpful as Felix had hoped, and Ace once again encourages him to take a break when he finishes it. 

"Do you have any games here?" he asks, prompting a search in the living room. They find a cabinet with several different games and bring them upstairs. After shifting the desk, Felix sits on the side of the bed while Ace sits on the other side of the desk in the chair. They're forced to play one handed, their wrists both on the table, the chain slack between them. 

Felix beats Ace at checkers, two games of chess, and absolutely destroys him at Scrabble. The final game has Ace especially frustrated when Felix spells both butene and butane, insisting those can't possibly be two different words.

He acquiesces when Ace demands they switch to a card game, and proceeds to lose embarrassingly at poker for the next half hour. Although, he suspects it's less due to blunders on his end and more to Ace being really good at the game.

Much to Ace's disappointment, Felix does not agree to play strip poker, calling it quits after a few more hands. But Felix finds that instead of scoffing and huffing at Ace's crude joke, he snorts out a laugh. Ace looks taken aback at the reaction, but says nothing as they put the desk back up against the wall and hide the board games in the wardrobe. They don't want Elodie coming by and seeing two player games in Felix's room and getting suspicious.

Felix takes another glance at a book, but it's getting late, and he decides to get ready for bed. Before he can get up though, he hears Ace speak beside him, voice low.

"How long have you had this?" he asks. Felix looks up to see Ace thumbing through his personal journal, though much more gently than the first time. He flips through the pages, eyes running over the old pages, the notes and sketches.

"Eighteen years," Felix answers. "After I decided to commit to demon hunting, I figured it would be worthwhile to start taking notes on demons. Learn how to fight them."

"You discovered all of this?" asks Ace. Picking a page at random, he reads the notes scribbled on the page. 

"Well, with help from Elodie, and another couple of friends named Haddie and Zarina," Felix says, ducking his head. "But out of the group, I've always been the most interested in this sort of thing. This notetaking."

"So, that's your way of saying yes, but you're too humble to admit it?" Ace teases.

Felix can feel his face getting hot and buries himself in the book he's reading, pursing his lips to keep the smile off his face.

"Can I, offer some advice?" Ace asks. Felix looks at him with an eyebrow quirked. "Just, about your journal." Felix nods and Ace taps the bed next to him.

The bed shifts under their combined weight as Ace opens on of the pages and opens it to him. 

"So, these two demons, the ones you've labeled 13a and 13c, they're actually the same demon."

"Really? I mean, their claw shapes gave away that they were similar, but their fangs were just so different."

"Yeah, those are actually sex-based differences. Women who turn into that kind end up with the bigger, flatter teeth. No one's really sure why."

Felix carefully makes the edits in his journal. They sit like that as Ace skims through the pages, offering other slight adjustments. Ace keeps his hands to himself, but his tail ends up curling around Felix, wrapping this time around his calf, just below his knee. Felix stiffens a little bit at the contact, but finds he doesn't mind. When Felix looks back at Ace, the demon doesn't seem to have mentioned it, offering an explanation about one of the demons on the page. Maybe it's an unintentional habit which Felix silently reaps the benefits of.

"I can't believe you've written all this," Ace says as he skims the next page. "I mean, all these entries and I'm barely finding mistakes. You're incredible at this." 

"Well, I've had a lot of time to study them."

"Don't downplay your accomplishments," says Ace. Felix shrugs but Ace stands firm. "I'm serious. This is... remarkable!"

While Ace certainly is exaggerating Felix's skills, he finds that he appreciates the sentiment. He shakes his head but relaxes as Ace skims through the next page.

Ace had been impressed by the descriptions and acute observations of the different demons, but that's nothing when he gets to the back of his book. The last section is an index of sorts, with pictures, sketches of each of the demons. There are diagrams highlighting the anatomy of claws or horns, each pointing out how a demon can be recognized. 

And the detail is extraordinary. Ace would expect to find some of these drawings in a textbook in Demon Hunting 101. Their accuracy has him in awe.

"Felix, wow. I've never seen drawings like this. Did you like, catch them so you could get these drawing so accurate? The detail is amazing."

"No, I usually just remember what they look like while I fight them."

"No fucking way," says Ace, his tone unintentionally tense, causing Felix to flinch back. Ace reaches out a hand apologetically when he hears how loud he was. "Sorry. I just mean, this is amazing. Felix, I mean, you commit all those demons to memory? While trying to not die, and then you just go home and draw them like it's no big deal?"

Felix nods slowly, the tips of his earns flushing red. "I guess so," he says quietly, looking down at the ground.

"Well, I'm very impressed by all of that," says Ace. The words feel foreign coming from his mouth. He's used to turning up the charm and flattering people as a means to get them in bed, but this? The earnest compliment is new to him, but the way that Felix turn away from him makes it worth it.

That night, Felix lies down on the bed while Ace prepares to settle in on the desk chair again, but he feels a gentle tug on the chain connecting them. Following the pull, he sees Felix sitting on the bed, but on the far side, holding an arm out to keep from yanking Ace out of the chair. But his eyes are trained on the bed, not looking at him.

"You need something?" Ace asks.

"You've, ahm. I've been sitting in that chair all day. I know it's not comfortable," Felix begins. "Would you be more comfortable, uh, here?"

Ace wants to argue, ask Felix if he's sure he's comfortable with it, but he probably doesn't want to draw the conversation out. Ace simply stands up and lays down on the bed. Felix shifts over, making more space between them, and Ace rests his left hand on his own chest, increasing the slack between them. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Felix hums in affirmation and closes his eyes. Ace can't help but watch him as he falls asleep, much more easily than the night before. A mixture of emotions swirl around in his chest. Gratitude for Felix's willingness to let him feed yesterday and relief that he seems to have mentally recovered from his rough morning. And yet, Ace remains plagued with guilt, having hid the solution to breaking the spell the night before. He's singlehandedly forcing Felix to stay trapped, chained to him, and it tugs at his chest more than it should. He lies there, thankful that Felix has let him share his bed tonight, and he reflect a little more on the day.

His jokes today hadn't been met with the ire and frustration they had before, mostly due to the fact that he'd tempered his sense of humor. And Felix had agreed to take breaks when Ace suggested. The man certainly needed his reminders, and Ace wonders if Elodie ever has to do the same thing when they're on the road together. When Ace shared about his past human life, Felix had listened with rapt attention. Maybe he would be able to fix this rift between them he'd caused. Maybe they could even be friends, at least, until the chain was broken.

Ace decides to get some sleep as well, but is awoken only an hour into his rest by a gasp, followed by a long groan. He wakes up to see Felix's face contorted in yet another nightmare. Without even sitting up, Ace focuses on pulling it out until it materializes in his hand.

It feels more personal, more intimate like this. Ace lying next to Felix while he gently tugs at the bad thoughts plaguing the man's dreams. The whole time, Ace's face is inches from Felix's. He can feel Felix's deep, steady breaths against him. Ace can't help but feel guilty at how right it is, as if this is something he could get used to.

When he returns the orb to Felix's mind, once again keeping it blank and dreamless, Ace can't help but linger. It's time to pull back, he has no right to stay this close. But Ace can't help but indulge a little, running his fingers through Felix's hair, tracing along the front, top, back of his head until he reaches the nape of his neck. After a gentle path around Felix's neck, just above his collarbone, Ace pulls back. Felix's brow furrows, but he doesn't wake up. It was a mistake, twice over. First, for daring to touch Felix while he slept, and second, because now he so desperately wants more.

The rest of the night goes smoothly. Ace thinks he sleeps for some of it, but he's not sure. When morning comes, the first rays of sunlight seeping through the crack in the curtain, Ace lies on his back, watching Felix wake up from the corner of his eye. Sitting up, Felix stretches and blinks slowly a few times, adjusting to newfound consciousness. The golden light hits him just right, and Ace can't help but admire his features. At least fate got him bound to an attractive man's arm; the view just about makes up for all the chaos.

When Felix gets up for the day, Ace follows him through his routine, remaining courteous of the man's privacy and sense of modesty. Then, they go downstairs so Felix can make breakfast.

While Felix turns on the stove and heats butter over a pan, Ace finds his chance to be useful. He adds water to the coffee machine, and coffee grounds into a filter. By the time Felix sees what he's up to, he's starting up the machine.

"What are you doing?" Felix asks, cracking eggs into the pan.

"Sorry, did you not want coffee today?" Ace asks. 

"No, I just - thank you." Felix smiles awkwardly at him and returns to his own work. Ace can't help but grin when Felix turns away, happy to have been helpful. 

When Felix finishes cooking, Ace notices that he's made a larger portion of breakfast than usual, dishing it up into two plates instead of one. "Elodie joining for breakfast?" Ace asks, but Felix shakes his head and presses one of the dishes into his hands.

"No, you mentioned that it looked good yesterday, so I thought, maybe you'd appreciate trying it," says Felix, a little uncertain.

"Oh, yeah. No definitely," Ace stammers out, wincing at how awkward he sounds. "Thank you."

"Thanks for the coffee."

It's a relatively quick meal, and after does the dishes, they go to the library so Felix can get another set of books. The pang of guilt comes back at Ace as Felix searches for another few tomes, but he tries not to dwell on it. Instead, a small section of the library catches his eye. There are newer books, most of them smaller than the large books in the rest of the room. 

"Do you guys have a fantasy section?" he asks, tone light hearted.

"Not many, but I think Haddie added them awhile ago. She wanted some books here that weren't all research-based."

"Mind if I take a peak?"

Felix nods and follows Ace over to the single shelf. Not being picky, Ace picks up the first three that catch his eye and follows Felix back upstairs. He opens the first one and settles in on the bed as Felix starts settling in, doing the actual work.

The first novel is entertaining enough, about a runaway princess and the dragons she befriends along the way. A lot more fight scenes than Ace was expecting, but he still finds it a good way to pass the time. 

At about one in the afternoon, Felix stretches and stands up from the desk. 

"Break time?" Ace asks.

"Sorta. I'm exhausted," says Felix. Ace draws his feet up on the bed so Felix can get past him. He settles on his pillow with a loud thud, and is asleep within minutes.

The last third of the book takes an alarmingly spicy turn. Ace becomes engrossed in the new lack of plot, chuckling at the inaccuracies of how scales feel during sex. Yet, the poorly written scenes have him distracted enough that he doesn't notice Felix start to shift beside him.

The nightmare is quieter this time. Felix doesn't gasp or cry this time. Ace misses the way he curls his legs up and draws his hand against the chest. It isn't until Felix jerks up into a seated position and shouts, "No, don't take him!" that Ace finally notices.

Felix's face is pale, chest heaving as he looks around the room in panic. There are tears in his eyes as he catches his breath and takes in his surroundings. Ace's heart breaks at the hollow expression, the deep sadness in his eyes.

"Sorry," Felix mumbles, not meeting Ace's gaze. He doesn't have a chance to respond before Felix lies back down, turning away from Ace on his side.

Ace just sits there, tongue caught in his throat. If Felix goes back down this hole of sadness, Ace doesn't know what he'll do. But as he sits there, he feels frozen, unsure of how to help.

He hears the first sob only a minute later. Felix catches it in his throat, clearly trying to stifle the sounds. But he can't keep them all hidden. Ace watches him curl his arms around himself, trying to recreate the sensation of a warm embrace.

That movement sets off a lightbulb in Ace's mind. He's a damn incubus, physical comfort is his thing. He slides over and also rolls onto his side, until his chest is inches away from Felix's back.

"Tell me if this is too much, okay?" he whispers as he closes his left arm around Felix's torso, worming it under Felix's arm. His right slides beneath Felix's neck and shoulders, gently cradling him. "I'll get out of here if you need me to."

"Don't go." The response is low, terrified. Ace slips his tail around Felix's ankle, wrapping it a few times as he speaks, muffled into Felix's head.

"Okay, I'll stay."

Felix cries for awhile. Ace doesn't let go, thankful that his demon nature keeps his arm from falling asleep. It's tempting to talk again, to tell Felix it's all going to be okay, but Ace keeps his mouth shut, hoping the silence comes across as soothing.

Eventually, the tears subside. Ace feels torn, unsure if he should stay or pull away. To his surprise, Felix solves the dilemma for him, placing his own hand over Ace's, holding it there.

"Thank you," he breathes.

"Of course, Darling. I'm happy to help."

After a few minutes, Felix's breath evens out and he falls back asleep. Ace doesn't leave, content to stay there as long as he's needed.

Chapter Text

Most demons have no reason to consort with humans on Earth. Most that do simply are there to make deals, giving temporary power in exchange for a human's soul. Very rarely, will a demon associate with humans for another reason, but be warned, these reasons are never good. Such demons should be avoided at all costs.

-Unknown

Felix is a little bit surprised to wake up in the same position he fell asleep in. There is a warm body pressed behind him and hands curled around his own. It's a pleasant sensation, and Felix allows himself to linger in the moment for a minute before he shifts, pulling against the hold.

Ace seems to understand, as he untangles his arms from Felix and sits up against the headboard. Notably, however, his tail still remains tucked around Felix's ankle. Felix finds he doesn't mind. He peers at the clock sitting on the desk. It's three o'clock. He was asleep for about two hours. And Ace had been lying there since.... since the nightmare.

Felix sits up as well, trying to recount what had happened. He knows he talks in his sleep sometimes, but wonders what Ace had heard. He doesn't even know what to say. Does he apologize? Say thank you? Ask what he did while he was asleep?

"Are you feeling okay?" Ace's voice startles Felix out of his confusion.

"It's nothing I'm not used to," he responds, voice hoarse. Because how does he answer that? He's nowhere near okay, the nightmare still feels like a stab in the side, a reminder that his past still has its claws dug deep within him.

"That isn't an answer."

"What?"

Ace is looking at Felix, he can feel the demon's gaze on him, but Felix can't be bothered to look back at him. "I asked if you were okay, not if you were used to it."

The comment weighs heavily on him. Felix just stares at the bed in front of him for a moment. "I'm thirsty," he declares. Ace shifts off of the bed. When Ace offers his hand to Felix, he doesn't take it, standing on his own.

He moves to the kitchen in silence, finding the cabinet with the tea kettle, filling it, and putting it on the stove. While he waits, he pulls out one mug in each hand, raising one of them to Ace in question.

"Yes, please."

While the water boils, Felix hears footsteps come down the stairs. Elodie appears in the kitchen, looking relieved to see him. "Hi, Love," she says, walking forward to give Felix a hug. Ace shifts around awkwardly to avoid detection, and Felix only gives her a one-arm hug in return, not wanting the chain on his finger to hit her. "Are you doing alright? I missed you yesterday."

"Nightmare," he says. It's not a lie; he did have one. But the timeline isn't true. "Just needed some space."

"I understand. The same one?"

"Yes." Finally, the truth.

"I'm sorry, Felix," she says, her voice laced with genuine compassion, not a hint of pity. Then, she looks past him to the counter. "Two mugs? Is one for me?"

Felix winces, but has no choice but to nod. Ace returns the gesture understandingly, catching his eye. The water boils and Felix pours the water between the mugs while Elodie pulls out tea bags, earl grey for herself, and Felix's favorite, cinnamon. 

The teas steep and Elodie talks about her day. Mikaela hasn't figured out what might have gone wrong with the summoning, saying failed summonings are normal, but shouldn't have responded in such a large change of energy. She tells Felix that Zarina is slowly making her way to them, but she has a couple stops along the way, and expects to arrive in three or four days. Felix listens along, and when his tea is ready, goes back to the staircase.

"Felix," says Elodie. He turns to face her. "You really gotta get out of the house, don't you think?"

"I'm trying to research what happened, there's a lot to go over."

"Love, you can't burn yourself out," says Elodie. Besides him, Ace nods in agreement. "Why don't you at least go grocery shopping tomorrow? I went last time."

Felix is about to protest when Ace speaks up next to him. "Just say yes; we'll figure it out, and it'll be good for you."

Though he shoots the demon a glare, Felix sighs and says yes to Elodie. She goes back to the library while Felix returns upstairs, Ace in tow.

"I'm sorry about the tea," he says, when Ace shuts the door behind them.

"Don't be."

There's a heavy silence between them. Felix sits on the bed, against the headrest while Ace pulls the desk chair next to the bed. His tea is still too hot to sip, and he's left awkwardly sitting there, unable to speak.

"Was I too... pushy earlier?" Ace asks. "When you woke up and I um- held you?"

"No, it wasn't bad," says Felix. "I think it helped actually, a little." That's a bold understatement, but the truth feels too much like an admission of something Felix can't yet say.

At that, Ace beams. "Glad I could help." Felix nods at him and the silence resumes. "Do you want to talk about it? No pressure, I just know some people think it's helpful."

Felix pauses and looks at the ceiling. The number of times he's been asked that question. First by Elodie when they traveled together, until she realized it was futile. And more recently by their newer associates and friends. And now Ace.

"It's, tough. It's old trauma," he says simply. "A recurring nightmare that comes and goes."

"Right, yeah, no pressure, like I said," Ace says, backing off.

Felix thinks for a moment. Elodie knows what the nightmare is about, but no one else does. But maybe, against all odds, Ace was the perfect person to tell. After all, he's a demon, so he can probably understand most of the story. And even if things go poorly, eventually they'll be free from each other, and Felix won't have to stay around him. "Can I tell you?" he asks. "I feel like you might understand."

"Of course," says Ace, leaning in towards him.

"Okay, bear with me. I've never actually told this story before. Only Elodie knows, and she lived it with me."

"Take all the time you need."

Felix settles in on the bed and Ace leans back on the chair, his tail coming up again to wrap around Felix's ankle. Felix looks at his tail, then catches Ace's eyes. The demon starts to unravel his tail, but Felix shakes his head and offers a slight smile.

"So, this is, well it's why I hunt demons..."

I never had a normal childhood. I was an only child, and my parents didn't live in an area with a lot of other little kids. We lived in a fancy neighborhood in a town in southern Germany in this awful, gaudy mansion. It even had a name, the Richter Manor. So instead of children, I spent a lot of time around boring grown ups, and in my home's library. Now, I look back and think that my early isolation kept me from realizing how bad things became until it was too late.

Both of my parents were physicians, and had some fame in their circles. Combined with a comfortable trust fund from my father's side, they traveled a lot. Sometimes I joined them, but sometimes I stayed alone with a nanny. It was very, isolating. I liked my caretakers well enough, but we didn't go out a lot. With my parents, it was never parks or playgrounds, just fancy restaurants with menus I couldn't read and the occasional art gallery. Once, we went to a film festival. I remember being too young to understand the meanings behind them, the rhetoric. I remember wishing we could go see an action movie, my parents and I. But they'd never waste time on that.

But I loved traveling. My parents took me everywhere. The Americas, Africa, eastern Asia, and all over Europe. I loved seeing the world, and hearing new languages, and seeing architecture, with all the building styles and techniques. Everything but meeting people. That was always the worst part.

I was never good at socializing. I blame my lack of peers at a young age, but also myself. I remember my parents throwing parties at the manor, and how I'd take my plate of food upstairs to the library to be alone from it all. My father didn't know what was wrong with me. For a few months, there was a new specialist in my house every week, asking a new series of questions about what I liked to do and why I didn't like people. I remember hearing one of the doctors talking to my parents in the hallway, after they thought I was asleep. She mentioned she thought I might have autism.

My parents threw her out of the house. I didn't see any more doctors. I think my parents just tried to shove it under the rug. My father was... ashamed of me. After that, I think they gave up on me being the son they wanted and just tried to make the most of the disappointment they had. I think they tried for another baby, but they never were successful.

When I was, let me think, nine, we took a trip to a place called Dyer Island. There were these massive houses there, a huge forest to explore, and even better, other kids. One of them was Elodie. I remember being excited. I didn't need to be socially gifted to play football and volleyball with them. After a week there, I ran up to my parents during a meeting. I told them I loved it there, and I never wanted to leave.

The people all around me clapped, and my father looked so proud of me. I didn't understand why, but I was so happy in that moment.

We did leave, but only for awhile. Those two years were strange. I was pulled out of school and stayed home, my father teaching me or hiring tutors. During that time, my parents fought a lot. My dad telling my mom we had to go back to the island, while my mother protested. We already didn't see each other much outside of public appearances, but in that time, I never saw them together. Two years later, my parents told me we'd be moving to Dyer Island permanently. I was so happy. I hadn't made many friends at school, the ones I had stopped talking to me when I was pulled out. Returning to Dyer Island, to my friends, it was like paradise. 

Well, when we were there permanently, things changed. Now we were a group, called the Imperiatti. There were big ceremonies, some of them I had to attend, others that I wasn't allowed to go to. But we met a man who was supposed to be our leader. He wore a cloak with a hood over his head, so I never saw his face. But I remember his eyes glowed a dark orange. We also met demons for the first time. I didn't want to believe it was real. The tails, the horns, the teeth, it was so unnerving - no offense to you of course. But the people, our parents, told us we were to respect them as our superiors.

In the meantime, the children, we all had lessons, what they referred to as school, but it wasn't really. We met in the home of one of the parents every day. At first, we learned math and science, close enough to what he had been off of the island for us to think we were learning ordinary things. But then, the lessons changed. We learned about the sins of the world, how humans are weak and look for another leader, but so often those leaders were failures, unable to properly lead their followers. We learned about how all sorts of rich and influential leaders often sought the guidance of demons, as they were strong enough to properly lead. We were taught that every great leader of the world had a demon behind them, offering support and pulling the strings. 

So we learned that by pledging loyalty to demons was the only way us humans could becomes stronger. They encouraged unwavering devotion to demonkind. And they had just the way for us to start.

There was physical training too. They emphasized that all of us would need to be ready to fight when the demons needed us. I followed along with it all, never questioning why they gave children knives and told us to learn to fight. I was good at it, and when the adults watched, they all seemed proud of me. My father said I was doing well. He... he'd never said that to me before, and I was so glad to hear it, so I immediately did all I could to make him happy.

In charge of the entire project was a single man. The man's name was Talbot Grimes. One day, he met with the kids for a special meeting. There, he told us that he was three hundred years old. We all laughed, we weren't young enough to believe him. But he wasn't lying. He removed the hood, and I remember seeing his face. He wasn't human.

He explained that he was a demon, and through the powers of hell we could all be just like him. He said he was a scientist, studying how to make humans stronger, to save the human race, but he needed our help. All we had to do was stay on the island, and be ready when he needed us. He said to keep with the lessons, to keep training to fight. Eventually, our lives would change completely, and he needed us prepared. I was willing to do it all, for him. He said he wanted to make humans stronger, and I believed him.

But, as I got older, I started to be confused by it all. I didn't understand why the adults met in secrecy, and why we all had to wait. My parents shushed me whenever I asked questions, saying it wasn't our place. That Talbot was a genius who was going to save us. I stopped asking questions, for awhile. I was happy to learn at the makeshift school they set up, and read from the library in Talbot's laboratory. I didn't know at the time that the books were written by demons, many contained misinformation about the world that I absorbed willingly.

But then, their rhetoric changed. Suddenly, Talbot didn't want to save the human race, only those loyal to him. My father told me it was important that we stay on his good side, be perfect servants of him so that when it was time, we would be ready. We had to be deserving of his salvation. I still didn't know what that meant. The others explained that not everyone deserved to be saved, only the strong.

I acted up again, asked more questions. But I had gotten older, I think I was 13 now. I made the mistake of asking during one of our meetings how come we didn't invite everyone to the island, so that everyone could be saved.

I remember Talbot shouting that I was to be removed from the meeting. Two guards approached me. I still remember my father pushing me into their hands, shaking his head in disappointment. 

I was led to a basement deep underground. There was a storage closet there. Well, not really a closet. It was too small for that. Just a place where extra boxes had been kept. I was thrown in there, locked inside. The room was dark, cold. Too short for me to stand up straight in, but too narrow for me to sit down. I was hunched over for hours. It all hurt so bad. When they finally let me out, Talbot himself was waiting there. He reminded me only the strong survive, and right now, I was weak. I wasn't strong enough to understand his ways.

I kept acting out, kept getting sent to that room. I tried to keep myself calm, keep fighting and asking questions, but eventually, it just hurt... too much.

From then on, I stopped asking my questions. I tried writing them down, but my diary was found, and I was thrown in that closet for a full day and night. So I kept them to myself. I strove to be, well, perfect. I didn't talk back or argue, even when I knew I was being lied to. But I was so scared. I wanted to talk to someone else, but there was no one I could trust. 

I became perfect. The perfect student, the perfect fighter. Everything had to be just right. I needed to get back on Talbot's good side. I needed to be saved.

That changed a year later. I was in the basement, just taking some time to myself, when I heard crying. There was someone in that same storage room, begging to be let out. I couldn't help her, or I'd be in trouble too, but I sat just outside and tapped my foot against the door to let her know I was there. When Talbot and some guards came to let her out, I hid in the shadows, letting her see my face, so she recognized me.

That girl, Elodie, came and talked to me that night. She was skeptical, just as I was. She'd been locked away for questioning why we couldn't leave the island. She missed her home in Paris and the friends she'd made there. 

For months, she was the only person I talked to. I remember my father telling me he was proud I'd found a friend, but he didn't know the conversations we had. We shared our fears, watching everyone around us become manipulated and brainwashed into obedience. We talked about running away, but knew it would never happen. There was only a single boat on the island, and constantly guarded. 

I didn't realize it then, but I think I owe her my life. I was dangerously close to giving up, to just going along with everyone else's fanaticism and not asking anymore questions. I was losing myself, but she pulled me back. Just having another person on that hell of an island changed everything.

Together, we found three other teenagers who were like us, not understanding the goals of Talbot and the Imperiatti. We called ourselves the Pariahs, the outcasts, the skeptics. And we were best friends. We stopped talking to other people except when we had too. It was just the five of us against the rest.

One of them, well, his name was Sebastian. He was a year older than me, and he was so unbelievably smart. He knew all sorts of stuff about history, about space, about chemistry. And he was friendly, and kind. He was also the first person I came out to, and, well, when I was fifteen and he was sixteen, we started dating.

He was my saving grace, really. He looked out for me, and was always there to talk to. When I was closed to letting my skepticism out at our assemblies, he'd remind me to stay quiet, then listen to me rant about how stupid it all was later, after I cried in his arms. And as teens, we always had a curfew. I remember I'd break it all the time to go see him. He'd give me shit for it, but wouldn't let me go back, in case I got caught on my way to my room. It was... we spent a lot of nights together like that. I certainly was in love with him.

The five of us now, well we thought that maybe we'd be able to escape together. We drew up a plan, but realized that one of us would have to distract the guards. Someone would have to stay behind and face the consequences when the rest of us left. I remember having a fight with Sebastian, about which of us would stay behind. It got so bad it delayed us for weeks. Eventually, the drawing plan we made was discovered. Luckily, we'd hidden it and the guards couldn't tell who made it. But the boat was taken away from the island, and we were trapped completely. The only way off of the island now was by helicopter, and only Talbot had a phone to the outside world to call for help. Our stubbornness, and I think, our love for each other had just ruined our plan.

Things quickly got worse. One day, we all met for an assembly. We were told to get in a line. It was time to prove our devotion and loyalty, so when Talbot needed us, we were ready. This 'proof' was a brand.

After saying that, Felix carefully undoes the buttons of his shirt, hands shaking. Ace watches as Felix works. When the buttons are undone, he opens his shirt and Ace's jaw drops.

On the right side of his torso, just beneath his ribs, Felix has a brand on his skin. It's a dark, ugly thing, shaped as an intricate rune. A sick feeling erupts in Ace's stomach when he recognizes it - a Bond of Servitude.

He's never actually seen them before, only heard stories in hell. The brand can only be acquired willingly by a human, and it's done in loyalty to another creature. When that creature commands it, the human immediately dies and transforms into a demon, its soul transferred to the creature who created the brand.

"Fuck," breathes Ace.

Felix continues. "We were all to become demons, followers of Talbot, his army. That was how we were going to be saved. We were going to live forever as demons in exchange for servitude to him. The lessons, the training, they were making us good soldiers, ready to obey."

Ace winces. "Trust me. Eternity as a demon is not worth it."

"I know. But, there was nothing we could do. There were so many guards, new ones. Demons who would slit our throats in a second if we didn't agree to the brand. So with no other choice, all five of us got them. It hurt, so bad. There was something demonic about it, that caused the pain to linger. Sometimes I can still feel it."

"I'm so sorry," Ace says. To willingly offer service to a demon was a painful sacrifice, but to do it under threat of death. No one deserved that, let alone Felix when he was just a child. "You all must have been terrified."

Felix nods, he runs his hands over the rune once before sliding his shirt back over it, though he doesn't button it up again. "We were, but we didn't even know what it was."

"They didn't tell you what the brand was? That's fucked up."

"Oh I agree. But I don't think any of the Imperiatti knew what it was. We- they only knew devotion to Talbot. Anyway, we knew it was bad. Things changed after we were branded. There were more assemblies, more meetings to discuss affairs within the cult. Talbot brought more demons to the island, and there were whispers that we'd be needed soon. We couldn't meet in groups without demons present, and there was a strict curfew, at seven o'clock at night."

"So the five of us snuck out at night, late after curfew, another rule they'd just added. We broke into Talbot's study, and we searched for any clue as to what had been branded into our skin. When we found it, we were terrified. We thought we were all doomed to become demons, forced to obey Talbot. It was the first time I ever saw Sebastian cry. We went back to his room and just cried together all not. It was miserable."

Felix had tears in his eyes now. He pulls his journal off of the night stand and pulls out the now ripped picture of him and Sebastian, a tear running down his cheek. Ace feels a pang of guilt when he sees the torn photo but bites his tongue. Felix sets down a different picture in front of Ace. There are five of them in the photo. He sees a young Felix and Elodie, the boy he recognizes as Sebastian from the other picture, and two other young women. They're in a library. Elodie is taking the picture, only half her face visible, the polaroid at an awkward angle. The two women are both smiling at the camera. Sebastian is looking up from his book with a gentle grin, and Felix is asleep on his lap.

"I'm so sorry. None of you deserved that," Ace says. He hands the photo back to Felix, who returns it to the journal's back compartment. 

"I know. But then, a miracle happened. When the rest of us gave up, Elodie kept going. She kept sneaking out to the study to find some sort of cure, some sort of antidote to the brand, and after a month, she was successful."

"Really?" Ace had never in his time in Hell learned about a cure for the Brand of Servitude. It was supposed to be one of the strongest, most unbreakable marks in the world. He supposes nothing is truly infallible.

"Really. It was a tattoo. It didn't have a name; Elodie found it in a journal in the back of the study. Talbot probably wanted to know if his plan had any weaknesses, but didn't expect we'd find his things. The Pariahs, we just called it our hope. That night, we all met and tattooed ourselves. One of the other girls, her name was Amari, had done a few before. And we got these."

Felix slides his shirt off of the other side of his torso. There's a tattoo right beneath his ribs, on the left side now, of two angel wings spread wide. It's a pitch black color, the lines shaky and clearly unprofessional, but the shape was still clear.

"We didn't know if it would work, but it was the only chance we had. And just in time to, because -*ah!*"

Felix makes a startled sound, sucking in air, and Ace realizes he's to blame. He'd unintentionally reached out a hand and traced the tattoo, his thumb running over the wings. "Sorry," he says quickly, but against all rationality, his hand lingers on Felix's torso, not moving but still present.

"No, it's okay. I was just, surprised," says Felix. He pauses, closing his eyes and letting his head rest against the headboard.  Ace cautiously resumes his gentle touches, continuing to trace the skin on and around the tattoo.

"We got the tattoos just in time because not even a week later, we were all gathered together and told it was time to transform. I remember as Talbot said only a single word, and everyone I knew, my friends and family, dropped to the ground around me. I played along, terrified. I still remember lying next to my father's body lying limp and on the ground. He wasn't breathing. Everyone around me was dead. I was too far away from the rest of the Pariahs to know whether they were playing along like me or if they had been caught. The guards walked around us, checking us. I held my breath any time they came over, terrified each time, thinking this would be the round I was caught."

"An hour later, the bodies transformed. I remember it was grotesque. Limbs snapped in unnatural positions. Spikes and claws broke through skin. Inhuman sounds and sights were all around me. I looked to my left, and my father had become a demon."

Ace remembers his transformation to a demon. How his had also been remarkably quick. But witnessing hundreds of transformations at once? That must have been torture.

"I remember there was a moment of celebration. The people around me had been elated to have become demons. And then, they noticed us. My father, who I no longer recognized, saw that I hadn't transformed. So the Pariahs, we ran. And we hid."

Felix starts shaking. Ace removes his hand from his side to hold Felix's, squeezing gently. "Sorry. I- it was so long ago. I should be better at this."

"Take your time, Darling. You don't even have to tell me tonight, you know."

Felix shakes his head, and Ace sees determination fill his expression. Stubborn human.

"We hid for, um. A week. Talbot and the demons, our own families, were searching the island for us. I remember being so hungry. I was in a kitchen, against a wall, tucked underneath a sink. The sink had a leak and I collected the water there to survive. But it wasn't a good hiding spot. Three days in, a group of demons, including my father, came to search the kitchen. They were just about to open the door I was hiding in, when suddenly, out of the pantry, burst Sebastian. I didn't even know he'd been in there. He was a distraction. The demons were so focused on capturing him that they didn't bother checking the rest of the kitchen."

Ace knows how this story ends. There's only one possible ending to it, but he waits for Felix to take a deep breath, a long sip of tea, and continue.

"They beat him, there, on the kitchen floor. Demanded the locations of where the rest of us were hiding. Said they'd make his death quick if he ratted us out. He refused. I lost track of time, trying to drown out his screams and cries before he bled out. And then, I had to wait in that room with nothing but his body for three more days."

Felix is shuddering now. Ace gets up and kneels on the bed, straddling Felix's legs and holding his arms open. Felix doesn't move, but gives a subtle nod, so Ace leans forward to encompass him in a hug. "I'm so sorry. That's terrible."

"And after, the demons left. Figured they had more important matters than looking for me. Left the island completely. I finally left my hiding spot, sore as hell, and desperately looked for any of the other Pariahs. I found Elodie six hours later, hiding in a rotting log out in the forest. She said she'd slept with rats inches from her head for nights. It had rained for a solid day, and she was shaking from the cold."

Ace feels a lump rising in his throat. "And the others?" he asks quietly.

"Amari was found too. Her hiding spot just wasn't enough. We found her body by the docks, but didn't know where she hid. And the other, Celia." Felix goes pale, freezing in Ace's arms. "She trapped herself in an airtight vault filled with artifacts the Imperiatti owned. When we finally found her, we didn't know if she died of suffocation or dehydration, but she... she was gone."

"And after that, Elodie and I, well we couldn't go back to our ordinary lives. We were far too broken for that. We'd spent years away from society and were unbearably... fucked up. And we kept looking over our shoulders, never feeling safe. We decided together that we'd rather be prepared if Talbot ever catches us again, so we learned everything we could about hunting demons, and we've saved a few lives in the process. And I mean, that's what we've been doing for twenty years." Felix seems to recoil at the last sentence. "Twenty years. I can't believe it's been that long since I lost... everything."

At that, Felix begins to cry, the tears that had welled up in his eyes finally spilling over. Ace is surprised he held out that long, but pulls tighter against him nonetheless. And when he gets sore on his knees, he shifts to sit next to Felix instead, arms still steady, one around his torso and the other curled around the back of his head, pulling him in close.

Ace watches and waits patiently, lets Felix work through it all. From the way he's shaking, Ace isn't surprised he's never told this story before. It would be enough to drive anyone, even the strongest person, to madness. He wondered how Felix and Elodie had both managed to keep their sanity in tact, let alone keep up the fight against demons to save others. And now, after years living under the fear of a demon, Felix is just unlucky enough to be stuck to Ace, another demon, again. Worse, Ace had hidden the key to ending this Ace desperately wishes he wasn't here now, that Felix could at least feel safe in his own home.

But here he was, so as he held the human tight, he focused on keeping his own breathing still, noting how Felix tried to match it through stuttering breaths and sobs. Felix is stuck with him, so the least Ace can do is help him, stay with him now.

"Thank you for sharing that with me," he says quietly, unsure what else to say. He gently takes the mug, still a third full, from Felix's hand and reaches past him to set it on the nightstand. And he just holds him for as long as he can. 

Eventually, Felix pulls away, and Ace watches him tuck his legs beneath his knees, curling in on himself. Ace spots a box of tissues on the nightstand and uses his tail to nab it, offering it to Felix. "Thank you for listening," he says quietly.

"Course. I'm sorry you had such a bad dream," says Ace. He wishes he'd been more vigilant, had noticed the nightmare before it caused this reaction. But at the same time, he's glad Felix has told him. He knows happy people don't hunt demons, 

"It's always the same one. Well, not always, but it's been recurring throughout the years. It's that exact moment where the demons searched the kitchen and Sebastian jumped out to save me. But sometimes, he yells at me to help him. Cries, says he doesn't want to die. And I always try to get out of my hiding spot, but I can't. I'm trapped in place, and I have to watch him die. Over and over and over."

"That's terrible," says Ace. The silence between them is thick and heavy. Finally, Ace decides to break it. "What was he like, Sebastian? Aside from what you told me?"

"He was amazing really. He was from Peru, came with his parents like I did. When we talked about leaving, he said he wanted to be an astronomer. He always talked about how we found proof that demons exist, and he wondered if there was even more out there. He wanted to discover aliens."

"Wow, almost as smart as you are."

Felix doesn't smile at that. But he exhales quickly enough to pass for a laugh. "Much smarter than me. But, now that you mention it, he was a terrible writer. He'd leave me notes, little messages in my desk or the book I was reading, but I couldn't even tell what they said half the time."

"Wait, actually?"

"His handwriting was awful." At that, Felix reaches to the nightstand and pulls the journal out. In the compartment with the photos, he has a small index card, weathered with age. Felix unfolds it and shows it to Ace.

He's right. Ace can only make out about half the words, plus a heart and a goofy-looking smiley face at the bottom. The penmanship leaves much to be desired, and Ace laughs before handing it back to Felix. "You know, as an incubus, I can read every human language, and this has me stumped."

"Wait, you can?"

"Yeah. How else would I have been able to read your journal? You think I picked up German in Las Vegas? Or in Hell?"

That *does* get a smile from Felix, which makes Ace happy. Felix grabs his mug and swirls it around a few times before taking a sip and wincing. "It's gone cold," he explains. 

"Come on, let's go get you a new one," says Ace. To his surprise, Felix nods and this time, allows Ace to pull him off of the bed. When they go downstairs, Felix automatically grabs an extra mug for Ace while water begins to boil. Ace looks through the tea options while Felix just kinda... stands there. 

"Ace, how would you feel about going to the grocery store tomorrow? I know it'll be a little weird, with the two of us like this." Felix tugs at the chain lightly. "But I think we could figure it out, maybe go in the morning, when it's not super busy. But if you don't want to, I could just tell Elodie that I can't go beca-"

"Sounds like a plan!" Ace interrupts him. "Let's get you out of the house." He picks a tea bag at random and plops it in his mug.

Felix doesn't go back to work for the rest of the day. Ace knows he's probably stressed to find a solution so Ace doesn't need to keep feeding off of him, but clearly, the man's distracted. Ace just wishes Felix didn't have to decide between getting away from him or not burning himself out.

He feels even more guilty for preferring it like this, when Felix isn't busy all day. It means that when Ace belts out the song stuck in his head, he doesn't interrupt important research. It means Felix takes a break to watch a documentary, and Ace gets to hit on the bed next to him again. This time, feeling bold, he grumbles about not being able to see and uses the excuse to squish their shoulders together. While Felix rolls his eyes at the gesture, he doesn't complain, which Ace takes as a win.

Ace still doesn't know how Felix sees him. He's not delusional enough to think they're friends. Felix ought to hate him still, for everything that's happened between them. But if he trusted him enough to tell Ace his story about why he began hunting demons, maybe there was a... an acceptance between them, perhaps. Ace concludes Felix is being pragmatic, doing the best he can to make their time forced together bearable. While a disgusting, selfish part of Ace wishes for more, he knows he can't have that. So he settles for this, leaning on Felix's, listening to a southing woman with a light southern accent describe the hunting patterns of tigers.

And if his tail finds his way around Felix's arm again, the spaded tip curling onto his torso, right over where the brand is, well, Ace isn't going to complain.

Chapter Text

What is the difference between Hellspawn and proper demons? Well, quite a bit actually. Both come from the Hells, but that's where their similarities end. It's common knowledge amongst demonologists that Demons are former humans, simply without souls. The most common ways of losing a soul is to trade it in a deal during one's human life, at which time it is forfeit to the demon who the human makes the deal with, or it is tortured out upon the death of humans who wind up in hell. Hellspawn, by contrast, were never humans. Instead, they are creatures that have been conjured up directly in the hells. They have no emotion, no desires or goals. They are conjured to follow the commands and orders of whatever infernal creature creates them. Servants, soldiers, shields. They are nothing like proper demons, just mindless creatures, nothing more than dust and ash.

Z. Kassir, A Study of Hellspawn, vol. 1, pg 11.

That morning highlights just how badly they need groceries. Felix throws breakfast together from the leftovers, a single fried egg and the edge piece of bread for toast. Ace is being unhelpful as always, sitting on the counter, the chain stretched almost taut between them. 

"Who's this Zarina you and Elodie have been talking about?" he asks.

"A friend. She's been pretty close to Elodie, well, both of us for about six or seven years now."

"Another demon hunter?"

Felix tilts his head. "Kind of, but not really. She knows the basics of hunting, and can hold her own in a fight, but she's more a researcher. She does a lot of recording and filming. Usually with Hellspawn. She'll be here in a few days for a visit."

"Like a demon journalist?" 

"Kind of. She's really passionate about it. I mean, a lot of the knowledge and studies about demons we're going off of are old, you've seen the books I've been researching from. Zarina wants to have some easy to follow studies, future records for future generations."

"That's actually really cool," says Ace.

"I think so too."

"What do you think?" Elodie's voice cuts off their conversation. Felix freezes as she enters the kitchen, dirty plate in hand. "Sorry, I didn't leave you much to eat."

He spots the change in subject and runs with it. "Don't worry about that. I'll get something while I'm out."

Elodie crosses the kitchen to wash her dishes, moving between Felix and Ace. Ace jumps to his feet, sliding off of the counter. He wraps the chain around his wrist and raises his arm awkwardly so that Elodie, still unaware of the demon's presence, walks underneath it and doesn't feel it.

As the sink begins to fill with warm water, Felix sighs in relief that she'd not discovered the chain. Ace slips around them both to Felix's right, sliding the chain over Felix's head so it dangles in front of him, not behind him. 

"So, anyway. Who were you talking to earlier?" asks Elodie, making Felix's relief dissipate.  

"Uh, no one, what do you mean?"

"It sounded like you were talking about Zarina to someone, but I don't see anyone here." Elodie looks behind them towards the kitchen. "And your phone's all the way over there."

Oh, this is bad. Elodie can't find out that Ace is here; she'll be livid, and with good reason. But Felix knows she's the type to stab first and ask questions later, and if Ace dies, he'll be dead too. And right now, that's a very bad thing. "I guess I was just talking to myself, I didn't even notice," he says before immediately cringing. It's a terrible lie, and when he looks up, Elodie's face is scrunched in skepticism. 

"Really?" She finishes washing the dishes and moves to put the plate away, in the cupboard Ace is blocking. Ace slides out of the way again, this time slipping behind Felix, switching sides again. This of course, means the chain is now completely wrapped around Felix's body, which makes sliding the eggs onto the plate a little challenging. It pulls taut as Ace, still invisible to Elodie, moves to his left, but Felix has no time to do adjust it without Elodie noticing. "You don't do that. Ever."

"I know. I guess I must be more, um isolated than I realized. Probably a good thing I'm getting out of the house."

Elodie makes a noise of affirmation, but doesn't look any more convinced. She once again moves around the kitchen, this time to put her fork and knife away. Once again, where Ace is standing. But she's faster this time, and Ace is trapped between her and the kitchen counter. In one swift motion he throws himself onto the kitchen counter, a mess of legs and tail as he scrambles to get out of the way of the silverware drawer.

He's successful, partially; Elodie doesn't notice Ace leaping above the forks and knives as she puts her dishes back. However, it does have the unfortunate side effect of pulling the chain hard, knocking Felix off balance. He collides roughly with Elodie, who looks at him even more suspiciously now. 

"What is going on with you?" she asks. 

It's times like these that Felix wishes that he was a better liar. When their demon hunts get them questioned by the police or other passersby, he usually leaves the talking to Elodie, and now, that is proving to be a downfall. "I lost my balance," he says with a shrug. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired."

Not letting him go that easily, Elodie grabs his arm just beneath the shoulder, turning him back to look at her. There's worry in her eyes; they're wide, searching his expression for something. Felix hardens his expression, face a mask of unemotional features. Or at least, he hopes it is. 

From the counter, Ace mouths sorry but it's more a distraction than anything else as Felix forces himself to hold her gaze. He's not sure what she's about to say, but it can't be good. Has she caught on? Is she angry?

What Elodie asks takes him by surprise. "Felix," she begins, her voice soft, almost shaking. "Have you been drinking again?"

And that hurts. The question isn't meant as an accusation, but it stings like one. He's not been thinking about how his isolation must have been affecting her too. He's lost count of the number of times she dealt with his shit. A depressive, drunken state, a nasty hangover. Nights where Felix got far too drunk and picked fights. And the times he withdrew for weeks. And now, he's been hidden in his room; no wonder she's worried. While Felix still thinks he's lying for good reason, he can't deny the pain he must have been causing her. 

"No, Elodie. I haven't," he says, hoping she'll believe him.

"Then please, tell me what's going on. You're acting strange. I haven't seen you in days, you keep talking to yourself, and... and I just don't get it. What's happening?" There's fear in her words and Felix doesn't know what to do. She takes his hand off his arm and reaches for his hands instead, but not wanting her to feel the invisible chain, Felix jerks away. "What? Are you sure you're okay?"

Felix's eyes flick to Ace, still sitting on the countertop, hovering out of the way. The chain is still tight around his upper body, restricting his movement. For a second, he considers putting the chain in Elodie's hand. Telling her the truth. She deserves to know.

And yet, as Felix's gaze drifts downward, he spots the silverware drawer, still opened. Their forks and knives are pure silver, makeshift weapons that they lay at the dinner table.

No, he can't tell her the truth. And it stings, but decades of training, of a life dedicated to eradicating demonkind has left its mark. Elodie won't hesitate to kill Ace, even at the cost of Felix's life. She'd be perfectly justified in it, too. Yet, Felix truly believes there's a way out of this, and until he's proven wrong for certain, he can't tell her.

"Nothing's wrong. I promise. Just, bad memories coming back again. I really think getting out of the house today will help," he says, hoping she'll believe him.

The way she tilts her head and narrows her eyes tells him she doesn't.

"Okay, sounds good," Elodie responds a little too quickly. "I'll text you a list, 'kay?"

"Alright." Felix eats quickly, the small breakfast making only a slight dent in his hunger, but it'll be enough for a shopping trip. As soon as Elodie backs away, Ace slides off the counter and they move towards the front door.

"I'm sorry," says Ace as soon as they're out the door.

"Don't worry about it. It isn't your fault the chain got tangled," says Felix.

Ace stops for a moment, looking like he's ready to say something. "Oh, right. That," is all that he says, though, as they continue towards the car. But Felix can't shake the fact that it looked like there was something more on the demon's mind.

Going to the store is a terrible idea. Felix knows it from the second they get in the car the next day. Felix opens the driver side door before stepping aside. Ace has to awkwardly climb across the center console and into the passenger seat, whacking his knee in the process and getting his tail stuck on the armrest. Twenty years of honing his patience to deal with the wiles and chaos of demons, and here he is, losing his patience as one of them tries to get in the car.

After that initial hiccup, the drive is surprisingly smooth. Ace sets with his hand on the center console, allowing Felix a little more wiggle room with the chain. Felix uses that to his advantage, opening the window and laying his forearm across it, half his arm being warmed by the sun. Ace flips through the stations on the radio - this car unfortunately predates the aux cord - and settles on a classic rock station, his tail tapping along with the rhythm of an upbeat tune.

The drive to the store is a longer one, due to the rural location of the safe house. But Felix finds he doesn't mind. Loathe as he is to admit it, Felix realizes Elodie was right; getting out of the house for awhile is already doing wonders for his mental state. The tightness in his chest slowly dissolves as the wind strikes blows against his arm and the side of his face. 

He finds himself wondering about the incubus beside him. Especially after yesterday, Ace knows a lot more about him than he knows about Ace. He wonders about Ace's life, both before and after he became a demon, and what he did before getting summoned.

While he worries it's a little bit too personal, curiosity gets the better of him and he finds himself asking, "So, you said you lived in Las Vegas most of your life?" he asks, glancing at Ace. "What did you do there?"

Ace is leaning back in his seat, eyes closed as he contemplates the question. "Mm- a little bit of everything I guess. I tried to keep a job, worked with a moving company, bartending, even dealt blackjack at one of the shittier casinos. But I could never stay away from gambling myself, you know?"

Felix takes a moment to realize Ace is actually asking him a question. The only poker experience he has is playing with Elodie and some strangers in dive bars, usually while they were asking around for intel on nearby demons. "I don't know. I've never really gambled," he admits. "I think I'd go crazy in Vegas, with all those flashing lights and bells. Too much for me."

"I gotcha. But you know me, that's my level of flashy. I could never really get away from it for too long. It worked out sometimes, usually didn't. I mean, there's a whole side of that city no one ever talks about, the addicts, the people who lost everything."

Ace's eyes are still closed, but they're scrunched as he winces, likely a painful memory. He cracks one open and Felix nods for him to continue.

"But I, towards the end of my life, my human life, I got involved with some shady folks. Owed the wrong people too much money, tripped and fell into the gang violence that was pretty bad at the time. I figured, it sucks, but it won't kill me, you know?"

"I understand," answers Felix, more on autopilot, listening to the story.

"Well, turns out it could kill me. I got shot over it," says Ace. Felix immediately starts to apologize for his disingenuous response but Ace dismisses it with the flick of his wrist. "Had a job to do, move some money from one guy to another. Turns out the amount wasn't right, not that I knew what it was supposed to be, and I got shot, twice. Shit hurt bad."

"I understand," Felix says again. And this time, he's serious; he's got the scars to show it. He'd been shot by well-armed demons a couple times, each time the pain was only rivaled by Elodie's scolding while she helped patch him up. Ace shifts beside him and Felix turns to see where Ace is pointing. There are two faded scars on his abdomen, right next to his navel. Pretty high caliber weapon too, by the look of them, but Felix isn't an expert on gunshot wounds.

"And, surprise surprise, I went to hell," says Ace.

Felix sucks in a breath, unsure he's comfortable with where the conversation is going. Who goes to hell is one hell of a touchy subject between humans in general, but demon hunters tend to be even worse about it. He's half expecting Ace to start theorizing on where he went wrong, how he should have been a better person, but instead, Ace continues with a snort. 

"You know how there's two types of people that go to hell?" he asks. "Bad people, and anyone who makes a deal with a demon in exchange for their soul."

"Sure," okay, nothing controversial so far. 

"Turns out there's a third type. Humans who manage to piss of a powerful demon so bad in their life, the demon ends up with a personal vendetta against them and drags them to hell when they finally kick the bucket."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"Because, I was in that third group. I'm no saint, I know, but turns out, while I was working with that gang, I did a hit on someone who was actually a pretty powerful member of a demon-worshiping cult. Ended up hearing from his goonies about how 'I'm going to die and go to hell for my most unwise actions,' but I didn't actually think it was true. 'Til I died, of course."

Felix doesn't know what to say. Empathy has never been his strong suit, and Ace's story is near impossible to relate to. He had lived completely different life than Felix is. It's tempting to apologize for what Ace went through, not out of remorse, but out of well, sorrow for what he'd lost.

"I don't know what you know about the afterlife down there," Ace continues. "But people who sell their souls to demons immediately become demons themselves when they reach hell. People like me though, or just the morally shitty folks, we get tortured."

At this point, they've pulled into the grocery store, but Felix makes no move to leave the car, even leaving the engine running while Ace continues his story. "We get left in our own tiny little cell, assigned a few demons who spend their afterlives crafting the most brutal methods they can think of, and existence becomes agony."

Felix has heard about this. He knows the basics, but it had only been rumor and speculation. Hearing it spoken by someone who had lived it is different; he can't dismiss the claims and is forced to accept them. He shudders at the thought of constant, endless torture.

"I once heard that the average is two hundred years. Two hundred of being beaten, cut, and just... just fucked up," says Ace, his voice raw. "Before the demons torture the soul out of someone and the human becomes demon." 

Felix nods, but now he's confused. Ace wasn't that old; hadn't been dead for very long. Had he just been easy to torture or was there something else? Humans in hell were tortured until they lost their souls, the very thing that made them human in the first place. But there was no way Ace could have lost his that quickly, right?

Ace must see the confused look on Felix's face because he continues. "And I, well I was a bit of a wuss. I know it sounds silly, like, torture is torture. But I was losing myself quickly. It was agonizing. I lasted three years."

"Before you became a demon?"

"Before I chose to become a demon." Ace's voice drops, low and dark. "I remember crying every damn day, the pain was just so much, that when I was offered a deal, I took it."

"But demons don't make deals with damned souls, right? Only humans on Earth I thought."

Ace nods and shakes his head. "You're not wrong. I was the first. One of the stronger demons, he wanted to test a new idea. Sent one of his lackeys in to talk to me. Offered an end to the torture, said he'd finish the process instantly, turn me into a demon then and there."

"And what did he want in return?"

"Loyalty to his boss. Basically, I'd be done with the torture, in exchange for a term of service, kinda like an indentured servant to another demon. And I mean, it sounded like a good deal at the time. I agreed right away. Well, not right away, as they'd just ripped all my teeth out. But as soon as my torturers put 'em back and I could talk again, I took the deal."

"How long was the deal for?" Felix asks, not sure he wants to hear the answer. Ace's response proves him right.

"Four hundred years."

"And you've served for-"

"Twelve."

There's a heaviness to Ace's tone when he says it. A fatigue strains his voice, and Felix can't begin to imagine the pain that must have been.

"And don't get me wrong," says Ace, continuing. "If I was back there, being tortured along with all those other people who still haven't had their souls shredded up, I'd take the deal again and again. This shit I do, this work, it's nothing compared to that torture."

"What is it that you do? Or, did before you got stuck with me?" Felix asks. He wonders if the question is inappropriate, but by now, they've both overshared.

"Ehh, stuff the boss needed an incubus for. Fulfilling his end of deals he made with humans, mostly."

"Wait, what? He made the deals, but you had to carry them out? Isn't the whole point that he'd fulfill the human's wish?"

Ace shrugs. "Sometimes. Look, basically, deals are complicated." He turns in the seat to face Felix as he explains. "If you asked a demon for a billion dollars, then, poof! We could make it appear. But if you asked for a billion dollars, and no problems from the government, that's not as easy. Then, we'd need to hack the systems, get someone in the government to overlook the money, stuff like that."

"And then there's stuff like, I want to be a successful actor. Like, how do you define success? We could use a demonic power to give someone the charisma and talent, but making it in Hollywood isn't so easy. That's when weaker demons like me come in. Manipulate the casting directors, pull the competition away. Influence events like that so the deals get done and the boss can cash in on his end of the deal."

It makes sense, Felix thinks. He'd never realized that demon deals were so... complex on the infernal side. An entire system, an industry almost, around keeping up the demands of humans, all to capitalize on their souls.

"And for me, I usually slept with people. Had a guy who wanted his wife to divorce him, I slept with his wife, made her realize she could do way better than him. Met another guy who wanted a music gig at a high class venue, hooked up with the owner, and name-dropped the guy a couple times."

"That, that's a strange job to have to do for four centuries," is all Felix can say. He's still trying to process the consequences of that sort of work, but Ace must decide the conversation is over, as he undoes his seat belt and motions for Felix to open the car door. Felix tries, and fails, not to laugh when Ace's horns get caught on the lip of the door frame, but eventually, Ace stumbles out.

Arriving inside makes Felix even warier about the shopping trip. It's busier than usual, though it is mid-morning on a weekend. "Relax, no one can see or hear me," says Ace as Felix pulls a cart free. "Which, really, is a shame. I'm stunning."

Felix just rolls his eyes as he reaches for his phone. As promised, there's a list from Elodie on the things they need. Which is a lot. This is going to take awhile. And Elodie doesn't even sort her lists properly. The first thing on the list is milk and the second ground beef. And neither are even at the front of the store!

Felix slowly slides the cart forward as he tries to mentally reorganize the list, spotting the produce first and beginning to map out the trip through the store. He's so distracted he doesn't hear Ace wander away until the chain goes taut, awkwardly pulling Felix's arm with him. The sudden jolt gains suspicious looks from a couple other shoppers and Felix turns away from them, trying hard not to make eye contact.

He realizes now that he's at a disadvantage to the incubus's antics. Ace can move about freely, with no one able to see or hear him, but Felix doesn't have that luxury. He can't even pull the chain or sternly tell Ace to come back without looking like he's arguing with himself. So with a huff, he turns back to the list. He understands why maybe Elodie would have forgotten to sort things like the citrus fruits from the berries, but to put them spaced all throughout the list is atrocious. Eventually, he gives up on the mental sorting and copies the words from Elodie's text into his notes app and begins resorting it all himself.

Engrossed in the task, he's unaware of the gentle tug at the chain, Ace stretching across the aisle to grab one of the items on the entrance display, a clearance section for foods about to expire. Then, suddenly, he hears the gentle "pop" of a seal being broken, a bag being opened, then a loud "shit!"

Felix turns to see Ace and a bag of large marshmallows, a large portion of them strewn about, laying on the floor.

"It exploded," is the only explanation Ace gives, and Felix thanks the stars he's good at keeping a straight face because somehow, he is equally amused and annoyed at the display. 

Felix subtly winds the chain between them around his wrist, drawing Ace closer to him. "Why were you doing that in the first place?" he asks under his breath, hoping it's quiet enough to not draw attention. 

"I got hungry, and don't worry. No one can see the bag either," Ace says proudly, as if that solves their problem. He must see the flat, unimpressed look Felix gives him because he pulls another marshmallow out of the bag and holds it between them. "Want one?"

"No."

"Your loss," he says with a shrug, tossing the thing into his own mouth as Felix turns back towards the cart. He doesn't give Ace a warning as he begins navigating the aisles of fruits and vegetables, causing him to yelp as the chain pulls him along.

And Ace is an absolute menace. Felix wonders if last night the incubus had been replaced with a trouble making child. Or a cat perhaps. He switches the price tags on items, mixes up the different types of apples, some of which are already hard enough to tell apart, and rearranges a display of boxes into a phallic shape. All while devouring the bag of marshmallows at an alarming rate.

Felix hurries to get all the items on his list into the cart. Sure, Ace might be invisible, but Felix does not want the store's workers to wonder why the trail of chaos seems to lead to him.

It isn't even that Ace is trying to be an asshole. He rarely is. It's just that Felix proves to be so easy to mess with, he can't help it. The way he  While Felix examines two different cuts of beef, Ace hides the spices he picked out underneath the bag of apples. And when Felix gets confused and returns to the spice aisle, Ace sneakily puts the small jars back on top.

"I could've sworn those weren't there a second ago," Felix says, mostly to himself as he puts the extra jar of paprika that he nearly bought back on the shelf. Ace keeps a straight face, but secretly enjoys the confusion on the human's face.

Later, Felix is holding two different bags of nearly identical bagels. He refused to hurry up and pick one when Ace asked him to, so now, Ace is looking around the aisle, looking at the nearby packages of shredded cheese. He looks back at Felix, still carefully reading labels, and wonders how many bags of cheese he can slip into the cart before he's caught. It'll be tricky, with Felix hovering right beside it, but Ace lives for stupid challenges like this.

He manages eight bags before Felix finally decides on one brand of bagels over the other, but to his amusement, Felix doesn't notice Ace's additions to the cart as he drops the bagels in. In fact, they go three more aisles undiscovered.

"What did you do?" Felix asks.

"It's about time you noticed," Ace answers with a grin. Felix rolls his eyes as he spins the cart back around to go return the items to the proper aisle, but Ace notices a small smile on his lips, which he hides half a second too late.

Still later, Felix is waiting to get milk. Another woman is standing in front of the doors with the milk, not moving nor even browsing the options. She's leaned over the cart, texting.

"Excuse me," Felix tries, coming around the side of his own cart to try and get the woman's attention. "Excuse me," he says again when she doesn't move. "Could you please move out of my way? I'm trying-"

The woman turns around. She's on the younger side, early twenties Ace thinks, immediately knowing what kind of human this is. The kind that still can't fathom that other people exist, lost in their own worlds. She just makes a face at Felix before rolling her eyes and turning back to her phone.

Felix takes a deep breath, getting ready to try again, but Ace is faster. He walks up right next to the woman and kicks her cart, sending it rolling down the aisle. The woman stares in confusion, but Felix is too far away for it to have been him, before hurrying to catch up with her belongings. 

"Ace, that was unnecessary," Felix says, finally reaching into the shelves and picking up a jug of milk. But then, after a short pause, he adds, "thank you."

Ace grins, happy to have helped, even if Felix is a little too stubborn to admit it. "Being an invisible demon has it's perks," he says, and gets a half-nod in response. Meh, he'll take what he can get.

The rest of the shopping trip goes smoothly. Ace cracks some hilarious jokes at the expense of the other customers, which Felix really ought to appreciate more than he does. The checkout goes smoothly, though Felix does get to listen to Ace's tirade about the price of groceries these. Ironic, considering he's never bought groceries in over a decade. He's mostly just repeating what he's heard humans complaining about.

And yes, he does cause a little more trouble in the parking lot. A man refuses to put his shopping cart away, so as he and Felix walk to their car, Ace slides the abandoned cart a few yards over, blocking the man's car in its parking place. The man swears loudly before getting out of the car, this time dragging the cart back to where it belongs with a huff. At that, Felix actually smiles. 

Felix asks if Ace is alright stopping to get a quick bite before they return home, and Ace agrees. The cafe is a small building, but warm, with pop music playing quietly. The lights are dimmed, but the windows open, allowing the sunlight to stream in, illuminating the building's interior.

The barista is a rather attractive woman, who looks a little too happy to see Felix enter. She gives him a smile too genuine for just a customer service worker looking for tips and asks, "Hi, what can I get started for you today?" in a tone that immediately makes it clear to Ace that she isn't just interested in a bigger tip.

Felix orders a latte then points at the glass display with a variety of pastries. "Which of the muffins do you recommend?"

"The orange and cranberry are to die for." Gods, she's neither subtle nor skilled at this small talk. It's aggravating to watch, and Ace finds himself tensing up, impatiently tapping his foot as he watches. 

"Great I'll take one of those."

"Excellent decision."

"Well she's certainly friendly," Ace says quietly while the barista picks up a muffin from the display and carefully places it in a bag. But he grumbles it out in a way that makes Felix raise an eyebrow at him. He looks confused, looking at Ace as though he's the one acting strange and not the barista with the heart eyes.

"Alright, and your total will be, let me see, eleven forty-three." She flips her computer screen around for Felix to pay, but he doesn't move. Instead, he subtly stares at Ace, an irritated expression on his face. "Um, sir, whenever you're ready."

Felix snaps his head back towards her. "Oh, um, sorry. Could I actually get a second one of those?"

"Sure." The barista's voice becomes flat as she retrieves a second muffin. She's probably assumed the second one was for a partner, and Ace feels a strange sense of smugness.

While she looks away, Felix tugs sharply at his own arm, which, somehow, causes a sharp pain to shoot down the base of Ace's tail. He looks at Felix's wrist, and to his surprise, sees that he's wrapped his tail several times around it, tight. Before he has a chance to react, Felix pulls again, and Ace scrambles to unfurl it so he can reach for his wallet.

Oh, no wonder he couldn't pay. Ace shakes his head, trying to snap out of it. He hadn't even realized his tail had wandered. While they wait for Felix's drink, Ace stares at the counter, hoping Felix won't call him out on his behavior. 

"Are you feeling alright?" No such luck.

"Fine," says Ace through gritted teeth. Damn, he's tense. He just now becomes aware of the strain in his jaw and the way his shoulders are hunched over. He tightly coils his tail around his own leg, hoping to avoid anymore mishaps.

Felix's question is a fair one; Ace is acting strange. He tells himself it's just the barista's awkward, heavy-handed flirting, nothing more. But somehow, that feels like a lie, one that Ace isn't sure what to make of. 

The barista is much more subdued when she gives Felix his drink, and the two of them leave the shop. As they do, Felix takes one of the muffins from the bag and hands it to Ace. 

"You know, if you wanted one, you could have just asked," says Felix. 

"Huh?"

"You didn't need to stop me from paying. No one else can hear you, so you could have just asked me for a muffin. You didn't need to-" he twirls one of his fingers around his wrist, miming what Ace had previously done with his tail.

"Right, thanks," says Ace, not meeting his gaze. Felix seems to think that his little issue with his tail earlier was him wanting a muffin. And Ace, frankly, is too confused by his own behavior to correct him. He's unsure that saying 'I'm irrationally angry at the barista's flirting and got clingy,' is going to help his current situation.

Felix still eyes him curiously as Ace once again struggles to get into the car, but when he speaks again, it isn't about Ace. "She was... strange. I wonder wy she was so friendly at first and then suddenly so blunt. Don't you think that was odd?"

"Nah, she was just being friendly while she thought you were single," Ace answers. Felix pauses, hands on the wheel and looks at him. "I mean, she was pretty obviously hitting on you, but the second muffin made it look like you were turning her down, alluding to the fact that you had a partner."

Felix nods, still slightly skeptical. "I guess that's for the best that she didn't try anything. I'm not exactly one for relationships."

"Eh, from the way she was looking at you, I don't think it was a relationship she was after, if you know what I mean," says Ace. "Come on, you've hooked up before, haven't you?"

"Sure, but even if I didn't have an invisible demon at my side, it's not really my thing. I've never been one for casual sex."

Feeling bold, Ace says, "But we hooked up."

"That's different."

"Are you saying you enjoyed it?" Felix's jaw clenches briefly as he looks over at Ace, who flashes an incredibly cheeky grin his way, hoping he'll pick up on Ace's lighthearted tone.

Felix returns a sly smile before looking back at the road as he puts the car into drive and pulls out of the parking lot. "I'm saying, sleeping with you is marginally preferable to both of us dying." The words alone are harsh, but there's a subtle lilt to them and no bite behind them. 

Ace barks out a laugh. "Wow, you sure know how to make a guy feel special."

The drive home goes smoothly. They chat about nothing. Felix doesn't bring up Ace's odd behavior with the barista or ask any more questions about Ace's job, working for a much more powerful demon, which he appreciates.

When they get home, Felix picks up the bags containing the groceries he bought, and they head inside. 

"Elodie will probably come help put these away, so just be careful," Felix says quietly as they get inside.

And that's when Ace feels it. About three steps into the front hallway, his steps get heavy. He feels weak, feet rooted to the ground. There's a painful tingling sensation, pins and needles traveling up his legs. Worst of all, a wave of fatigue courses through his body. Then he realizes, he's not invisible anymore. Not to anyone.

Felix, unaware of his predicament, tugs on the chain from several steps in front of Ace. "What are you doing?" he asks with a huff.

"Felix, I can't move. My powers are gone."

The color drains from Felix's face as he looks down. Ace follows his gaze to see that he's standing on freshly drawn lines of chalk. He recognizes the pattern they make as a powerful rune. A Devil's Snare. Designed to keep any demon who steps in it from escaping. 

Felix walks back to him, trying to quickly scuff one of the lines out with his shoe, but there isn't enough time.

Elodie rounds the corner. When she sees Ace, she immediately draws a silver knife. "I knew something was up with you, Felix. Now talk."

Chapter Text

Incident Report
Reporting Officer: Detective D. Tapp
Location: Dyer Island
Date: [REDACTED]

During the investigation of Dyer Island following the reported mass disappearance of its inhabitants, the remains of an adult female were discovered approximately 0.8 miles south of the primary compound. The skeletal remains were located in a shallow grave, obscured by undergrowth. Forensic analysis estimates the time of death to be approximately three years prior to the island’s recent events.

The remains were well-preserved given the burial conditions, and clear evidence of trauma was identified. A puncture wound in the sternum was consistent with a single, forceful stab wound inflicted by a sharp, narrow blade. The wound’s angle suggests the victim was kneeling or restrained at the time of death. No defensive injuries were identified on the bones, suggesting the victim was either subdued or incapacitated prior to the attack.

Clothing remnants, including a tattered white dress, were recovered with the body. These, along with dental records, allowed tentative identification of the victim as [NAME REDACTED], a member of the cult who was last seen on the island three years ago, according to local missing persons reports.

The discovery of remains predating the mass disappearance suggests a deeper history of violence on Dyer Island. While the primary investigation focuses on the disappearance of the cult’s members, this earlier homicide raises questions about internal conflict or sacrificial practices within the group. Further forensic and archival investigation is underway to establish a connection between this homicide and the subsequent events leading to the island’s abandonment.

Case #[Redacted]: Dyer Island Disappearances

Felix doesn't know what to say. Seeing Élodie brandishing the weapon in front of him, while not a new sight, is no less terrifying than the times it's happened before. They've only had these face-offs when one suspected the other of being possessed. So far, they've been lucky enough to avoid catastrophe thus far. But with Ace no longer invisible, and standing right behind him, Felix wonders if their luck is running out.

"Élodie, I swear, I can explain this," he starts, setting the bags he's carrying down, and holding up both hands. He's not expecting her to lunge at him, but he's worried she'll attack Ace, unwillingly killing both of them.

"Really? Because you've had plenty of time to explain all of this. You've been acting strange for days. Telling me it's nothing, you let me think I was crazy!" Élodie's eyes are wide, her grip on the knife shaking. "The talking to yourself, avoiding me, and then making me think I was the one acting paranoid."

Felix steadies himself, keeps his hands out in front of him, palms out towards her. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he says. "Will you please just put the knife down? We can just talk about it."

"You call that talking about it?" Élodie points behind him, and Felix looks behind him to see Ace's claws completely extended, gleaming in the hallway light. 

"Ace, what are you doing?" he asks.

"I can't do anything about this!" he says, holding up his hands defensively. "The Devil's Snare is keeping me from hiding any part of my form, so you're gonna have to deal with the claws or let me go."

"That's not happening," says Élodie, before she glances at Felix's hand and gasps. Ace's wild gesticulating makes the chain rattle between them. "What the hell did he do to you?" she asks, grabbing the chain. 

At that, Ace makes a sound of frustration. "Okay, this one was your fault," he tells her. Élodie ignores him and tightens her grip on it. "This was a result of your half-assed summoning. I'm not exactly here by choice either."

Felix winces at that; could Ace have chosen a worse way to word it, or has he forgotten that he and Élodie tried to summon Ace in the first place to... kill him? Élodie sure as hell remembers because in an instant she's lunging at Ace, ready to strike. "You! You're that last demon from Las Vegas."

Felix hates himself for it, but he has no choice but to intercept her, grabbing her wrist, and guiding the knife into the wall instead of Ace's chest. The change in momentum is enough to cause Elodie to lose her balance, and she falls, but not before dragging Felix down with her. 

"What the hell did you do to him?" she suddenly yells up at Ace, who has his hands in front of him defensively. She tries to get back up but Felix's arm, now around her torso, keeps her from standing. "Maybe you aren't possessing him, but you're doing something, dammit. Felix, snap out of it!" 

Felix understands. She must think he's been manipulated, enthralled perhaps. They've seen humans under the spell of demons before; it's never a pretty sight. "Élodie, that's not what's going on."

"Then why the hell is he alive?"

"Because, I can't kill him, or it'll kill me too."

That, finally, gets Élodie to at least stop actively trying to stab anyone. "What do you mean?" 

"When you- when we summoned him, the sigil wasn't drawn properly, and so the summoning happened, but didn't work properly, and now he's been summoned, bound to me. Believe me I'd kill him if I could-"

"Hey! I'm standing right here."

"-but if either one of us dies, so will the other. We're stuck like this."

And for a moment, Élodie seems to actually believe him. Her grip on the knife loosens, and she stops to collect herself. Felix stops holding her down and they both catch their breath. But then a look of confusion, then distrust and skepticism crosses her face as she looks between Felix and Ace. "And how do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"That he isn't lying!" Élodie jumps to her feet, Ace reaching forward to help Felix up. "I bet he's lying! Just trying to save his own skin." She points at him accusingly. 

"Me? A liar? How dare you?" Ace asks in a tone that does not convey the severity of the situation whatsoever. Felix shoots him an unamused glance, then quickly turns back to Élodie. 

"I-" he takes a deep breath. Felix knows he needs Élodie on board, keeping Ace alive until they break the chain. He struggles to find the words to convince her. "I think you might be right. But I can't say for sure, and I don't distrust him enough to gamble my life."

"But our pact. If one of us is compromised..." Elodie trails off, reaching for her knife again. She doesn't raise it, just stares at the blade, a growing sense of dread in her eyes. "I, we said we would."

Of course Felix remembers their agreement. By all means, Élodie should kill him. They're agreed on it. He needs to convince her otherwise. "We made that agreement years ago. We don't have to go through with it. Think about how much more we know about demon hunting, about how to handle them now. We don't have to risk this. We can find a way to break this bond, and if Ace is lying, deal with him then."

Felix doesn't have to turn around to feel the expression Ace must be making behind him. He reaches for Élodie's wrist with his hand, getting her to drop the knife to the ground. "What if he's manipulating you, Felix? You can't trust a demon with anything. They lie about anything to get themselves ahead. What if this chain is actually hurting you? Or manipulating you somehow? Just biding his time for later?"

"I don't know any of that, not for sure, and believe me, I don't trust him either. But if he was trying to manipulate me, he wouldn't have let you become aware of this, would he?" Felix gestures to the chain between them. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was scared to. But I didn't know what to say until now, when it just came up naturally."

"I know," says Élodie. "I'm just scared for you. What if he's doing something bad to you right now and you can't even tell?"

"It's not. I need you to trust me Élodie. I know I haven't earned it these last few days, but I need you to try. Would you rather kill me now and never know for sure whether it was worth it?"

Ace is thankfully silent as Élodie's face twists first to confusion, then to anger, and finally frustration. "Fine," she finally says, picking up her knife. "But don't expect me to like it. Or him."

"Thank you," Felix says, but Élodie won't meet his gaze. She just turns and walks off, leaving Felix to scuff out the Devil's Snare and free Ace.

"Well, she's a lot less friendly than I thought she'd be," Ace says a little to loudly as Felix picks up the grocery bags and leads them to the kitchen. He stiffens at the poor joke and Ace mutters and apology.

Felix puts the food away in silence until he finally hears Élodie's door slam shut. With a heavy sigh he turns to Ace. "I'm sorry for what I said to her."

Ace quirks an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"About me not trusting you. And wanting to kill you."

"Right, that. It's fine, you said what you had to to keep yourself alive. You couldn't let her kill me or you'd be in trouble," says Ace, grimacing slightly before he continues. "And I get it. I'm not particularly easy to like, I know that."

"Ace that's not what I meant-"

Ace cuts him off. "It's fine, Felix."

"But I do trust you. It's just-"

"I said it's fine." Ace raises his voice slightly, in a tone that means drop it. Felix winces and continues putting the groceries away. The silence between them is oppressive. When that's finished, they go upstairs, not a word said between them.

Ace flops on the bed as soon as they return, falling asleep shortly after. Felix settles in at the desk, going back to the thin journal that would have helped, had the final page not been ripped out. Felix wonders if he'd missed something on his first glance. He's not optimistic that he'll find anything, but it's worth another look. He looks over the journal again. 

Vigo had also found himself bound to a demon he'd attempted to summon, and from the looks of it, they'd had quite a rocky relationship. Like Felix, Vigo had also realized he held all the power in the bond, but Vigo had been quick to exploit it, keeping the demon silent and frozen, exerting his own will over them. Felix thinks about how much he's been hurt by demons over the years, but the thought of doing that to anyone feels wrong. Vigo must hot have had the same reservations.

Based on how the journal is dated, it looks like it took only a matter of weeks to solve the problem. And that's where Felix's frustration stems. The top half of the final page is missing. The bottom half talks about the success that came with the solution, how Vigo was then free of the bond and never had issues again. But the top half must have contained the solution itself. And that's the bit that's missing. It's extraordinarily aggravating. Almost suspicious that the one piece missing is the one he needs, but Felix doesn't know what could have happened to it. He's not seen Ace pick up a book all week, and doubts he would have kept it hidden. He'd have no reason to hide the solution from Felix.

Beside him, said Demon lets out a snore. Good to know one of them is able to relax right now. 

His fight with Elodie is still fresh in his mind, as is his short conversation with Ace they'd had in the kitchen. Felix knows she's right, he really shouldn't be trusting this demon as much as he is. He certainly should not have told Ace what he had about his life before he became a demon hunter. Felix doesn't think he's under an Incubus charm, Ace's manipulation powers shouldn't work on him due to the bond. Ace had said so, as had a couple of the journals he'd already read. The bond makes him immune to that sort of thing.

Felix hates to admit it to himself, but Ace has grown on him. Ever since the first disastrous forty-eight hours and the even more awkward night that had followed, he hasn't been... unpleasant to be around. And while he regards sharing his trauma with Ace as a moment of weakness, at least Ace was kind about it. He examines the chain hanging between him and the sleeping demon. Over the last almost week it's become a sight Felix has grown accustomed to. In twenty-something years of demon hunting, thousands of demons killed, is it really that odd to have befriended one? He knows there's a chance, frankly a rather good one that Ace does have some other goal in mind. And of course Felix is suspicious of him, he has to be in his line of work. But the last week has left him so disoriented, he doesn't' even know where he stands with the incubus.

He had told Élodie he didn't trust Ace. And told Ace that he did trust him.

But he doesn't know who he lied to.

It'll be impossible to explain to Élodie, Felix knows. Telling her "hey, so I decided to tell this demon I just met a week ago with my life's story and I think he's actually not, you know, an evil demon," doesn't seem convincing. She'll want Ace gone as soon as possible, ideally dead. But after hearing about Ace's life, before and after becoming a demon, and all the things he's been forced to do, Felix doesn't think he wants Ace to have to go back. Not that Ace would want to stick around after this whole thing blows over, but a part of Felix wants to make sure he'll be okay once he goes. 

The confusion boils over into frustration as Felix stares at the journal. Why did it have to be this hard? Why did the one bit of information he needed have to be ripped out?  He tries to be patient, keep his cool, flipping between the previous page and this one, as if the missing scrap of paper will appear if he just wills it into existence. He can feel himself getting angry, the back of his neck heating up and he shifts awkwardly.

He reads every single line of the previous few pages, as if he hadn't already clinically examined each and everyone of them half a dozen times already. It's not fair, being this close and yet, unable to find the answer he's looking for. The other journals lie in piles, a reminder that he's never been this close. That if he can't find the answer here, he'll be back to square one. It taunts him, being so close to a solution and yet unable to find the one page he needs.

Frustration boils over to rage as his knuckles go white over the yellowed pages. In a moment of anger, he raises his hands and shoves them down, hard. The desk creaks under his force, rocking forward on the front legs. He winces, carefully setting the desk back down, trying limit the noise he makes. As he does, he hears a gentle swishing sound. Great, he's knocked something over.

Beside him, Ace still hasn't moved, so Felix awkwardly uses the sole of his foot to drag whatever it was, a small half-sheet of paper, closer to him. And when he sees it, he gasps. The page is yellowed with time, wrinkled, but well-preserved. Felix carefully picks it up, eyes widening when he recognizes the familiar scrawl of Vigo's handwriting. It's the same size as the missing paper from the journal, right where the solution to getting rid of the chain was. On the paper is two lines of writing.

Day 17: In a moment of poor judgement, I killed the demon, and the chain disappeared. I was freed and unharmed in the process. Problem solved.

Immediately, Felix's blood runs cold. Élodie was right. Ace had lied to him; Felix would be perfectly safe if the Incubus died. And from the looks of it; the place where it had been hidden and the clumsy tear line, Ace must have found this journal first and hidden this part of the page. When, Felix doesn't know. Maybe while he was asleep.

He remembers one night, how after tossing and turning, he'd suddenly felt some sort of foreign sensation weighing him down until he fell asleep. Had Ace done that to him? Forced him unconscious, found the journal, and hidden the exact page Felix needed? Felix had started reading Vigo's journal the very next day; the timing was too perfect. Élodie's words of warning echo in his mind. "You can't trust a demon with anything. They lie about anything to get themselves ahead." And Ace had insisted he been truthful the time he'd spent bound to Felix. Clearly, that was far from the case. 

Heart beating rapidly in his chest, Felix reached for the knife on the desk, only barely aware of the movement. No longer in conscious control, its muscle memory that pulls the knife into his trembling hand, arming himself, just like he would against any other demon. It feels unnaturally cool in his grasp, or maybe his skin was just burning up - he doesn't know which. He flips it to a reverse grip as he stood and approaches the bed, where Ace is still asleep, and raises his arm, prepared to stab down.

Ace's eyes are still closed, his breathing even and deep. He's not even awake. Felix can kill him here without him knowing what happened. No fighting. No pleading for mercy. No watching the light drain from the demon's eyes. It would be painless for Ace and well, less painful for Felix.

And there's something about Ace's unknowing, peaceful demeanor that enrages Felix. He's at ease, too much at ease for a demon who's spent the last week lying to him. Who's kept him stuck on a chain, no chance for peace, time alone, no better than a dog on a leash. It's a decision that shouldn't even have to be made. 

It could all be over now. Élodie would be proud of him for making the right choice, and they'd be able to move on, hunting whatever demon they found next. He wouldn't have to spend another second with Ace; he'd be free at last to do what he pleased. No more listening to him sing in the bathroom, no more reaching around him to cook, no more sharing his space with a creature from hell, and no more feeding. Now that is a tempting thought. Felix doesn't know the exact time frame of an Incubus' feeding schedule, but he senses Ace will need to feed again soon, and Felix doesn't think he can handle all that again. Finally, this could be his chance at freedom. One quick strike, and he could walk away from it all. Move on with his work, fighting other demons, saving people who actually deserved it.

His own words rattle in his mind. "I'd kill him if I could." He'd managed to convince Elodie that was the case. Surely, can convince himself, too.

The knife gleams a little in the darkness, the small streak of moonlight that slips through the window illuminates the blade... but also the chain between the two of them. A reminder of what's caused this mess. But it's enough to give Felix pause. The knife a foot above Ace's chest, Felix finds himself frozen, and angry at his hesitation. He knows that, practically, he ought to go for the kill. He's a demon hunter, and Ace a demon. This shouldn't even be a question.

But perhaps this goes deeper than practicality. In the last week or so, they've made a connection; Felix can't deny that much. Ace has grown on him with his silly jokes, overall optimism, and surprisingly, a kindness that surpasses any demon (and most humans) Felix has ever met. He'd listened to Felix tell the story of his life, never once judging him, and with those first two days aside, had he ever actually been hurt by Ace?

Besides, this certainly isn't a lie Felix can blame him for. Had Ace not come up with the lie when Felix first held the knife to his throat, Felix wouldn't have hesitated to kill him. Could he really fault Ace for lying in self defense? No that would be foolish. Felix doesn't blame Ace for needing to feed off of him, and he'd done that for survival. He'd lied for the same reason, so can he really be held guilty for it? Especially when for all Felix knows, Ace has been telling the truth about never having killed a person before. Would letting him go free risk the lives of other innocent people? Felix doesn't think so. 

And if his thoughts from before mean anything, that he considers Ace a friend, (or an almost-friend) then can he really go through with this? As much as he hates it, he can't look at Ace and see just another demon. He's spent twenty years tracking the infernal creatures, destroying those responsible for murdering humans, terrorizing innocent people. None of those descriptions fit Ace.

Felix's hand shakes. And he never shakes when he holds a blade. Not since he killed her. It can only mean one thing, he's fighting against instinct. He knows he should kill Ace here and now, but finds that he doesn't want to. Betraying every one of his hunter's instincts, he lets the knife clatter back on the desk. As soon as he does, his body feels a hundred pounds lighter. The room feels quieter, though there was no sound to begin with.

As he stands there, trying to catch his breath, which he didn't realize had sped up in the moment, Felix questions his own judgement. Is he a coward? No, he's killed hundreds, maybe a thousand demons without second thought. He's not afraid of blood or death. So what is he? Naive? Perhaps. Crazy? Almost certainly.

And yet, as the knife leaves his hand, he feels a wave of confidence that he's done the right thing. That they'll find another way, and letting Ace live will be worth it, in the end. The certainty should feel wrong; nothing in Felix's research has revealed an alternative solution to fix this problem. And yet, Felix feels something in his heart that he hasn't known in years: hope.

And after all, if things go wrong later, he always has a backup plan.

So instead of a knife, Felix, places a hand on Ace's chest, gently shaking him awake.

"F-Felix?" Ace stutters. "What, what are you doing?" His voice is ragged, confused. He jolts up, almost too quickly, but Felix says nothing.

"Move over, I want to sleep, and you're in my way." Felix's voice is lower than usual, as he tries to steady his voice, keep it from shaking.

"Right, right, let me just..." Ace practically leaps out of Felix's way, almost as if he's afraid to touch him as Felix crawls past him, over to his side of bed, against the corner of the wall. He rolls onto his back, moving his hand over his chest so that Ace has some slack on his side. But he doesn't fall asleep right away, lying awake and staring at the wall.

There's a deep sigh beside him, and some shuffling tells him Ace hasn't gone back to sleep either. Felix says nothing, voice stuck in his throat. How can he admit to the demon, and perhaps, his friend, that he'd tried to kill him, and only barely stopped himself before he did? Suddenly, Felix feels ashamed of ever thinking he should kill Ace, a wave of guilt washing over him.

It doesn't take too long for him to finally drift off to sleep, but before he does, Felix swears he feels a pair of eyes on him, watching him.

"Felix?" whispers Ace, after he's certain the human is asleep and can't hear him. Ace sits up, reclining against the headboard, taking deep breaths in an effort to soothe himself.

He hadn't been asleep. Not for awhile.

Felix had unknowingly woken him up when he rocked the desk. Originally, Ace hadn't moved because he'd planned to simply go back to sleep. But then, the paper he'd hidden had fallen from the desk, and Felix had found it. It was all over. His lie had been discovered.

Ace had given up as soon as Felix picked it up. He could have tried fighting back, but Felix could control the bond. He'd be forced to his knees and have his throat slit then and there. Ace had decided it would be easier to go without a fight, let Felix kill him quickly, and maybe, save the man from guilt if he did by some chance feel some sort of goodwill towards Ace. Felix wouldn't have to look him in the eye when he killed him. And Ace wouldn't have to feel the pain of having his bond controlled, his body manipulated against his will.

And Felix would be perfectly justified too. Even if they'd formed a connection this last week, that wasn't enough time for Felix to go against twenty years of survival. And Ace had lied to him, and Élodie had urged him to kill him. There was no rational justification for someone as logical-minded as Felix. Especially with their rocky relationship. While he thinks he's come a long way since those first two disastrous days, Ace knows how badly he wronged the human. He's not redeemed himself enough for Felix to reconsider. Ace had kept his eyes closed, he'd been prepared for a moment of pain, then nothing.

Ace had nearly leapt out of his own skin when he'd felt a hand on his chest, instead of a knife. He'd had to pretend that Felix had just woken him up. He had watched the man crawl into bed and fall asleep, watched him act as if he hadn't just contemplated killing Ace. Ace was torn between feeling terrified and grateful, the swirl of emotions making him dizzy.

He had watched as Felix had fallen asleep, watched his breathing deepen and eyes flutter shut, but Ace couldn't do the same. After about half an hour of trying, he gave up, which led to now.

Now, sitting up in bed, Ace watches Felix sleep, a dozen questions running through his mind. Why hadn't Felix killed him? Did he think that he could use Ace for something later on? Some even more powerful spell or ritual? Unlikely, as he wouldn't have spent all these days researching a cure. And it wasn't like Felix had some moral code against killing an unaware foe. He could have woken Ace up and hadn't gone for it anyway. So... what did that leave? Did the amazing power of friendship save his life? No. Pity? Not likely. Mercy? Ace certainly didn't deserve his mercy. A demon hunting sparing a demon was unbelievable, and yet, here they  were, Ace very much still breathing.

Ace had always thought that humans were predictable, but now, Felix had thrown him off balance. He replays their previous interactions, wondering if there was something he's missed that would have justified Felix's compassion. Ace can't recall doing anything that merited forgiveness.

So if it was nothing special that he did, then the only logical answer was that Felix was just a man of extraordinary compassion and kindness. He didn't outwardly show it; he was short with everyone but Elodie, and yet, he'd left Ace alive. Could it be that the one person Ace had been bound to was one of the few alive who wouldn't immediately take the opportunity to kill a demon and set themselves free? Especially after all Ace had done to deserve it?

Ace's mind spun with disbelief and gratitude. He could never repay Felix, and was completely indebted to him. And Felix had no idea he knew. He didn't know Ace was awake, so clearly, Felix didn't want to confront him about his lie. Would he later, after he slept on it? Or was he willing to let Ace live, not letting Ace know he'd found the missing page? Was Felix willing to let him live? For how long? Until he could find another solution? What if he got impatient? 

Ace knows he can't fuck this up again. Can't hurt Felix like he did those first few disastrous days together. Eventually, Felix will question him about his lie. And Ace will have to come clean about everything. The one-sidedness of their bond, Ace's invasion of Felix's dreams... and how he's been using Felix like a coward for his own protection. But maybe that'll be okay. He can only hope it will be.

More sleep is off of the table, so Ace tries to pass time, but finds himself overwhelmed and distracted by what just happened. His thoughts are blurry, and the hours drag by. The night feels like it lasts a week. And it gets even worse.

Gradually, Ace became aware of a growing discomfort in his chest and an ache in his head. Shit; he needs to feed, probably tomorrow. Felix has just chosen to save him, and now, how does Ace repay him? By asking for more.

He closes his eyes and rests his head in his hands. He's been shown a grace he cannot repay, but he swears he'll try. Tomorrow, he'll take even more, when he needs to feed again, but perhaps after he can still find a way to starting making up for all he's done. And then the next day, and the next, and as long as they're stuck together, he'll try to set things right.

And maybe, when it all gets sorted out, Felix will let him stay.

Chapter Text

Do not be fooled by their cunning forms or poisoned words, for the demon's very touch is a curse upon the soul. Their hands corrode what they hold, their steps rot the ground beneath them, and their whispers twist even the purest heart. No pity, no mercy—these creatures were made to destroy, and to brush against their existence is to invite ruin. They are not lost souls to be saved but devouring darkness to be cast out and burned away.

Father Campbell, "The Scourge of Demonkind"

"Hey, Felix, I've got some bad news," says Ace over breakfast. Once again, Felix had prepared a plate for Ace, and they both had sat down to eat together. That morning had been awkward. Ace had been unable to carry on with his typical idle chatter, too busy thinking about the events of the previous night. Meanwhile, Felix had caught on to the uncharacteristic silence, but hadn't mentioned it. So far, neither of them has mentioned the elephant in the room. For all Felix knows, Ace is unaware of what happened last night, and Ace finds that he's content to keep it that way.

"What is it?" Felix asks casually. He's taken a book down to the table with him, notably not the journal he'd found the missing paper from, and was flipping through it while he ate.

It feels awful needing to admit, but it must be done. Ace already feels warm, too warm. And he's fatigued. Yet, it's different this time. A stronger sense of arousal accompanying the sensations he's already feeling. Like he knows there's sustenance here, and he just needs to reach out and take it. Ace has been feeling on edge all morning. He needs to feed soon, and if Felix is willing again, he has to accept the offer.

But saying it is weird. Especially now that Felix knows that he doesn't need to accept. The first time, Felix had let Ace feed on him because he was under the assumption that they both would die if he didn't agree. Now, Felix could refuse and be perfectly fine, though the same couldn't be said for Ace. 

"I uh- I need to feed again," Ace admits, stabbing at a piece of bacon with his fork. He ordinarily loves bacon, but today, it's just a reminder of all that Felix is sacrificing for him. His cooking is a small thing in comparison, but it's yet another kindness that Ace doesn't know how to repay. "Today, probably, if that's okay."

"Alright," says Felix. He doesn't give any obvious signs of discomfort, but Ace notices the way his shoulders tighten and his grip on the book goes tight. "When?"

"I mean, whenever works," Ace deflects. "What time would you prefer?" The words sound wrong. They're talking about sex, but it feels as though they're scheduling a meeting. He's probably just deflecting, and Ace gets it. Things have been weird between them since... well since Felix considered killing him.

"Perhaps sooner than later," Felix decides, his tone flat, almost clinical. "Just, while it's on our minds." He may as well have said, to get it over with, with the way he speaks. Ace deflates a little bit, but does his best not to show it. Felix still is focused, looking over the journal and giving as little attention to Ace as possible.

He makes sure to help Felix with the dishes, still quiet. He does say much while Felix brushes his teeth or leads him to the bedroom. When they enter, Ace gently grabs his shoulder and guides him to the desk chair before sitting on the bed, facing him. Felix tilts his head, confused.

"I wanted to talk to you, before we do anything. About last time."

Felix's face presses into a line. He nods his head once, expression stoic. "What is there to discuss?" His tone is strained. He's uncomfortable, but Ace knows they need to have a conversation.

"Last time, things weren't very good for you, right? You didn't seem particularly comfortable, and got a little distant after. Is that- do you think that's fair?"

"I suppose so," says Felix, looking down at his hands. He begins idly playing with the chain at his finger. 

"Can you explain it to me? Tell me what you think went wrong?" asks Ace.

"I wouldn't say anything went wrong, in particular. It's more, the expected difficulties from a bad situation."

"What do you mean by that?"

Felix huffs. "I mean, it all feels empty. Like I'm being used, which to be fair, I am."

"I'm not using you!" Ace protests, pride wounded, but Felix continues.

"Yes you are, objectively speaking. I mean, the only reason we had sex is so you can feed off of me." Ace tries to interrupt, but Felix holds up a hand. "And I know that much isn't your fault, but that is what's happening. We are only doing this because you need to, and as a consequence, I am being used for my body."

Ace frowns deeply, knowing that Felix is right. He wants to put a hand on his shoulder, tell him that he was sorry, but was pity really the best form of foreplay? No.

Felix wasn't done talking. "And I get it, you know? I understand that it doesn't always have to mean something, but I just, I can't do it. I've tried before, one night stands and meeting strangers just looking for a night with someone, but I- I don't enjoy it. It leaves me feeling empty, used. And that's kind of what this is." He tightens his jaw as he continues. "You can't expect me to enjoy this"

Ace had expected the words to hurt , but instead, he just feels sad for Felix. He doesn't understand first hand; quick and easy sex has always been fun and enjoyable, even before he became a demon. Even when he wasn't thrilled about his choice of partner, he still could have fun with it. But he can see where Felix is coming from, and how it would hurt. Sympathy, he thinks it's called; maybe Jeff has been on to something.

Felix is right though, and Ace had promised himself that he'd find a way to make things right. Suddenly, a lightbulb goes off in his head. Ace has one area of expertise, one skill that he absolutely excels in; making people feel good. So maybe, that's what he can do.

"I have a suggestion," he says, before pausing. He waits until Felix manages to look up and meet his gaze to continue. "And if you don't like the idea, no pressure. If it's better for you, we could stop thinking of it as just for feeding, and make it more about both of us having fun."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Well, you said that you didn't enjoy it last time because it felt like I was using you to get what I needed. Would it be better for you if we focus on you first, make sure you get what you want?"

"I um-" Felix trails off, looking back down at his lap, fidgeting with the drawstring of his pajama pants. His ears turn an adorable shade of red, the blush slowly spreading across his face. He doesn't need to say anything for Ace to get his answer. He's successfully piqued Felix's interest.

It's almost enough to put Ace back in his comfort zone; finding someone interested in him and winning them over. That's all he needs to do now. Get Felix to let him in while keeping him on board with what they're doing. "We don't have to of course. Which sounds best to you, Darling? Just, go through it all quickly, or spend a little more time letting me take care of you properly?"

Correction; Felix is now an adorable shade of red; his expression before was nothing compared to this. He opens his mouth to speak but hesitates several times before finally getting some words out, barely above a whisper. "The second one, I guess."

Ace smiles, genuinely relieved. Finally, he could give Felix something to make up for all he'd taken. "Then come here, Darling." 

Felix stands uncertainly, so Ace grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls him forward. He slides his hands behind Felix's thighs and pulls him up, onto the bed, so he's straddling Ace's lap. Felix freezes up, much like he did the first time but Ace knows better now. He just needs some reassurance. "This okay?" he asks, and when Felix nods he leans in until their lips are inches apart. "Can I kiss you?"

Another nod, even subtler than last time, but Ace still picks up on it. He uses the flexibility of his tail to his advantage- hooking it around the back of Felix's neck and pressing the spade-shaped tip underneath his chin, lifting Felix's face to be even with his. Felix sucks in a breath, eyes wide, but Ace isn't worried. He's been with anxious partners before, knows how to be gentle and careful, pick up on the smaller cues. And sensing Felix's interest, he pulls Felix in and joins their lips together.

As he expected, Ace takes the lead as they kiss. He kept it chaste and gentle to start, just focusing on his intuition to guide himself through it all. Meanwhile, he lets his hands roam across Felix's body, moving his hands from his neck and collar bone, down his chest, and then resting them at his lower back. He notices that Felix is still stiff around him, unsure of what to do with his hands. So he lightly grasps Felix's left wrist, guiding it up and around his neck, to his shoulder. Then, he repeats the process with the other hand. Felix, getting the message, grips his shoulders tightly as they continue. With Felix's arms out of the way, Ace is free to gently wrap his tail around Felix's waist; the broad, flat tip slips beneath the hem of his shirt, gently stroking over his abs.

The gentle hold and sensation has Felix squirming and shifting right away. While Ace appreciates the effect he's having, the magnitude of his responses is a little surprisingly. A particularly playful stroke of his tail sends Felix jerking away, releasing all the air lungs in an ugly sounding (yet endearing) snort.

"You okay?" asks Ace, raising a hand to cup the back of his neck. Felix pulls away, instinctively covering his mouth, embarrassed. Ace searches his face, trying to decipher the problem, but can't figure it out. He's just about to ask, when his tail unintentionally glides back over his abdomen and another sound escapes, a small giggle this time. 

Oh- Ohh "A little ticklish, Darling?" he asks. Felix looks away, still flushed, which Ace takes as a yes. "Nothing to be embarrassed about," he adds, leaning back in for another kiss, which Felix eagerly responds to. 

Ace is loathe to remove his tail, so he continues his movements, pressing his tail more firmly against his skin, hoping to at least ease the ticklish sensation. Felix seems to appreciate the situation, and begins to loosen up in Ace's arms, so Ace decides to push a little more and deepen the kiss.

The kiss becomes heated, open-mouthed, and passionate. And while Ace has yet to feed, the residual energy from their closeness is enough for his fatigue and hunger to subside for the moment. He pulls Felix tight against him, sliding his tongue between his parted lips, and roaming over Felix's. 

A moment later, Ace pulls back, bringing his hand back up to Felix's cheek and watching him. Felix is breathing quickly, eyes closed and mouthing hanging slightly open. Ace uses the moment to admire his expression and feels a surge of pride at the reactions he's causing. 

"Hey, I just want you to relax again, okay? Just trust your intuition, and I'll follow mine. See what feels right." Felix nods, eyes still closed, and Ace guides his head forward, letting it rest against his shoulder. "But if anything, anything at all stops feeling good, tell me, okay?"

"Yes, I will."

"Lovely. Same as last time, I assume? No marks, leave your shirt on?"

Felix pauses at that, hums against Ace's shoulder. "You can take my shirt off," he says quietly.

"You sure? There's no pressure at all."

At that comment, the Felix leans back and opens his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. I only wanted it on the last time because of the brand. But, it's not a secret anymore, so yes, I'm okay with it."

The new bit of confidence, minor as it is, looks good on him. Ace hums in affirmation, but suddenly finds himself distracted by something else. From the angle they're at, with Felix positioned slightly higher than him, Ace is at the perfect height to lean forward and reach out towards his neck and lips. Ace leans forward, kissing his side of his neck, just next to his Adam's apple. Careful to be gentle, not risking leaving an unwanted mark, Ace trails across the front of his throat to the other side of his neck, stopping at every inch to leave another kiss or nibble. 

The effect is strong, and Felix tilts his head back, allowing Ace more room to explore. He's quiet, but taking deep, steadying breaths that highlight just how much of an effect Ace is having on him. 

It's deeply satisfying, feeling Felix relax above him, because of him. Ace has always been one to enjoy watching his partners find pleasure and enjoy themselves, and Felix is no exception. He pulls back, and meeting Felix's eyes and watches his expression. Felix shivers as Ace slides a hand across his lips, tracing the outline of his small smile. 

Seeing Felix's eyes, normally flat, dark, and exhausted, shine with contentment, and watching his body, always so stiff from hunching over his desk, finally relax, makes Ace smile back. It feels good, being the reason for Felix's relaxation.

Finally, Ace can't control himself any longer. He brings his hand up to Felix's shoulder, undoing each of the buttons between the collar and the sleeve. Then, he pulls it up, sliding off the one intact sleeve and removing it, letting it fall to the floor behind Felix. Once that's all done, Ace freezes in place.

"What's wrong, Ace?" Felix asks after a few seconds, looking down between them. The thick sound of anxiety is back in his voice. "I know it's, it's a lot. I can put it back on if you want."

The words finally spur Ace into action. He realizes he's been staring, gaping Felix's impressive, toned chest. He'd been distracted by the brand the first time Felix had opened his shirt. Somehow, he hadn't noticed just how strong and muscular Felix is. After decades of hunting and fighting demons, it made sense, and now, here is Ace, staring dumbly. 

But he knows Felix isn't referring to his muscles. There's another reason he's offering to cover up again. His chest is smattered with scars of different types. Old burns, stab wounds, and bite marks; Ace even spots a couple that he thinks might be long-healed scars from gunshot wounds. He examines the latter two closely, holding Felix by the hips and pulling him in.

"I'm sorry, I know it's not pleasant to look at," Felix says again, and Ace realizes he still hasn't spoken. 

"Oh, Darling, don't say that about yourself," says Ace. He once again angles Felix's face to meet his, this time sliding his tail beneath his chin, gently guiding his head back up. "You're gorgeous, lovely. I just am sad. It shows how much you've been through. So much pain, so much loss." He ghosts his hands over Felix's chest. 

Felix squirms, from the words, from the position of Ace's tail, from it all. He tenses again, unable to form a response. He's closing in on himself, kind of like last time, but before Ace truly begins to worry, he notices something else. There's a hint of a smile on Felix's lips, something there hadn't been the first time. He can't seem to shake it off of his downcast expression. And he isn't completely freezing up either, just getting a little stiff with the kind words.

It clicks into place. He's not scared or self-conscious; he's gotten flustered.

And seeing Felix flustered, but still happy, is a win for Ace. "Don't ever feel like you have to hide yourself from me," says Ace.

Felix gasps at that, and Ace falters. Was that a step in the wrong direction? He was speaking to a relationship that they didn't have. He had no right to say things that a lover might, when beneath all this, it all really was just pretend.

Yet, the words made Felix shudder, almost losing his balance on Ace's lap. Ace reached out quickly to steady him, and Felix leaned into the touch.

Ace is an expert at finding his partners' desires, and now, it seems like that's all Felix needed: gentle words he'd never heard, kindness he'd never felt.

Using his demonic strength, Ace turns the two of them so he's facing the headboard and gently slides Felix off his lap and onto his back, lying on the mattress beneath him. It's so much more intimate than last time, and he shifts his body, allowing Felix to straighten out his legs with Ace lying on top of him.

The shift in position has a noticeable affect on Felix as well. His breath hitches in his throat, eyes following Ace's hands as they rake over his torso. 

Suddenly Ace realizes he's down bad, so much worse than he initially thought. He knew he'd found Felix physically attractive since the start, but he found himself increasingly enamored with the man. The few acts of kindness Felix had shared with him pulled hard on Ace's hardened heart. He knew he was infatuated with the human, an equally terrifying and exhilarating feeling.

Ace adjusted his grip on Felix's body, holding his sides, covering the brand on his left, placing kisses around and beneath his collarbone. After a couple minutes, he looks back up at Felix's face. Felix is looking back at him, eyes glossed over, mouth hanging open. His face is still red, and the color is spreading down his neck, but not nearly as bright as it had been before. He's never had this before, Ace's intuition supplies. Hasn't had someone so much as look at him like this in years.

And as he lowers back down, nuzzles his face into the crook of Felix's neck, that dark instinct comes back. Ace could push Felix further, hold him here and have his way with him. Kiss him silly and touch him until he sees stars. And fuck, there's a part of him that wants it too. Wants to see him come undone.

That voice begins speaking in his head again, as Ace lowers his fingers to the waistband of Felix's bottoms and slowly tugs them down. "You want this," it says. "Just give in to your true nature. Take everything."

But, fuck, it's wrong. Ace doesn't want to risk this. As much as he wants more, he can't push it. The desire is selfish; all Felix wants is a partner who takes care of his needs, not completely pulls him apart for his own pleasure.  And now isn't the time for selfishness. 

"Just take it; he'd let you have it all and still come crawling back for more."

Ace pulls Felix's boxers down, and slides them off before squeezing his hands around the backs of his thighs. Above him, Ace hears the soft "thump" of Felix's head roughly hitting the mattress and a long, drawn out sigh.

"Look at him, he's begging for it. He's craving it."

Ace props himself up a little higher, watching Felix. He's adjusting to being nude in front of Ace, which is understandable. But his eyes are squeezed shut- he looks uncomfortable.

"Don't let this one get away. If you won't claim him, someone else will."

But Ace can't. No, he won't. He can't let his Incubus tendencies to take, to own, control his actions. This isn't about him right now. Reading his partners has always been easy; if he can focus on giving Felix what he wants, maybe that stupid voice in his head will shut up.

He can tell from Felix's body language, the calm state Ace has gotten him into might not last long if Ace lingers here much longer. His patience is waning, and his uncertainty, his fear could come creeping back in soon. But, he's responding so well to everything Ace has done, so maybe that's a sign for Ace to stop stalling and trust himself. 

He looks down at Felix's erect cock, then slowly back up his body until he meets Felix's eyes. Not breaking eye contact, he flicks his tongue out, licks his lips slowly and asks, "Can I suck you off?"

Ace takes a mental snapshot of Felix's response to that question. His whole body seems to shudder and his chest jerks upward. His mouth drops open farther and his hands twist into the sheets. Ace already knows his answer, but wait patiently for him to manage a strained, "Yes. Please."

"Wonderful; thank you Darling." Ace moves back down Felix's body until he's properly positioned, sliding Felix's legs further apart so he can kneel between his legs. He raises his left hand up, resting it at Felix's side, leaving him as much slack with the chain as possible. 

The pace of Felix's breathing quickens. Ace soothes him briefly with soft touches to his stomach and thighs, before turning his attention to the spot his been dying to touch. The first gentle pass of his fingers over Felix's dick results in a surprised grunt, which gets louder when Ace blows a gentle stream of air over the tip.

He doesn't waste anymore time teasing, though, and closes his lips around around the tip and swirling his tongue around it. At the same time, he slides his first around the base of it, not moving his hand, just holding it there. Finally, he's rewarded with a proper moan from Felix. 

The sounds above him gave him courage to move on, lowering his head down to take more of Felix's dick in his mouth while stroking his hand up to meet his lips before sliding it back down. He keeps the movements slow, gentle (at least, as gentle as he can be given the situation) as he sets a pace, encouraged by the lovely sounds Felix keeps making.

Ace finds himself lost in a trance, focused solely on keeping his pace and movements steady. Felix's thighs begin to shake, his legs subconsciously trying to push back together. Ace gently wraps his tail around one of Felix's knees, holding it steady, and providing another, more gentle point of contact. 

Suddenly, feeling a little bolder, Ace significantly speeds up his pace, hollowing out his cheeks in the process, trying to push Felix a little further into ecstasy. Instinctively, Felix reached out a hand, perhaps trying to bury it in Ace's hair, but instead landing on his horn. 

As soon as he realized what he'd done, Felix pulls his arm away, "So- mmm, sorry."

And no way in the hells is Ace letting him take that back. He pulls completely off of Felix, watching a trail of spit dangle between the tip and his lips before breaking. "Oh no, by all means, hold onto them. I come with built-in handles; be a shame if you didn't put them to good use." Tentatively, Felix slides both hands down, lightly wrapping them around Ace's horns. The contact sends a shiver down Ace's body, head to tail.

Ace leans back down, moving his mouth back over Felix's dick, but pauses. Ace waits for Felix to lift his head, look at him in confusion...

...and swallows him down to the root.

His action immediately has Felix choking out a moan, tightening his grip on Ace's horns and thrusting his hips off of the bed. And with choking being the last thing on his mind, Ace does nothing to stop him from bucking up again, as he resumes bobbing his head up and down.

"Aah - Ace, fuck!" Felix moans, followed be a sharp breath in, sucked through his teeth.

Ace can tell Felix is close by the way his noises grow in intensity and how he clamps down tight on his horns. So he hums around the dick in his mouth and tightens his grip of Felix's legs, pushing him over the edge.

This time, Felix finishes without much sound at all, only a strangled gasp as his breath catches itself in his throat. He jerks up until his halfway to sitting and tosses his head back. Automatically, Ace swallows everything down, pulling off and looking up at Felix with a satisfied grin.

His horns are released as Ace sits up, once again, opening his mind to absorb the energy released. He sighs in satisfaction, taking in all the energy, as he slowly crawls back up Felix's body to the head of the bed. He rolls off of Felix, onto the bed beside him and props himself up on his side to just watch the man for a moment.

The human's chest heaves with effort, trying to catch his breath. The tension has worked itself out from his limbs at last, and he reclines onto his back once again, limbs splayed out on the sheets. Ace grazes a hand down his torso, enjoying the way Felix's muscles tense and flex under his touch, body coursing with pure euphoria.

The moment of bliss ends far too soon for Ace's liking, as Felix pulls away, beginning to reach for his pants, discarded on the floor.

"Where are you going?" he asks softly, loosely wrapping his tail around Felix's torso. It wasn't strong enough to stop him, just enough to get the message across.

"I should get back to work," says Felix, voice still strained. He is hunched over again, closed off.

"No, no work yet," says Ace, sitting up and putting a hand on his shoulder, more insistent. "Don't go yet."

Felix turns back to him, eyes clouding with confusion and exhaustion. "Did you... need more from me? Another round? I don't think I can."

And Ace wants to scream. Not at Felix, but at anyone who'd ever made him feel that way. Ace only asked him to stay so he could make sure he was alright, and Felix had immediately assumed it was because Ace needed more. The man was so used to others taking from him, sending him away when they were finished. It only strengthens Ace's resolve, and he unwraps his tail, but grabs Felix's bicep with his free arm.

"No nothing like that. I only want to hold you for awhile."

There's no movement. Felix isn't coming back, but he isn't pulling away either. "Why?" he simply asks. "Aren't we done here?"

"I'm done feeding, yeah, but I want to hold you for a bit. Make sure you're okay, you know?"

"I need to get back to work, there are a lot more books to go through." There's a defensive, sharp edge to his voice. Fuck, Ace cannot let this turn into another argument. But at the same time, he can see the fatigue in Felix's expression, the tightness in his jaw. Ace reads his body language in an instant. Felix wants to stay, but feels like he can't.

Ace will just have to convince him otherwise. "Are you using that as an excuse to leave?" he asks, keeping his tone steady. "To push yourself away from being cared for?"

"I can take care of myself," says Felix, but there's no fight in his voice, like he's begging to be convinced otherwise.

"I know that you can, but you don't need to, Darling. Come on, let me take care of you for a bit," says Ace, softly pulling Felix back from the edge of the bed. 

Maybe it's the gentle words, or perhaps fatigue has finally won out, but Felix relents, and allows Ace to move him back to the head of the bed. Ace sits against the headboard, guiding Felix down to lie in the curve of his lap, cradling his head. He watches Felix start to fidget with the sheet, so he wrapped his tail loosely around his wrist, lying the spaded tip in his palm so he had something to run his fingers over, the weight of it serves as an anchor point of security between them.

As Felix settles in, Ace adjusts slightly and slides his hands beneath his head, beginning to massage his neck. Felix sighs contentedly, closing his eyes as he relaxes, so Ace continues, moving his focus from his neck to the back of his head. 

"Thank you," Ace murmurs, massaging circles into the space behind Felix's ears. "For letting me feed. And for letting me do it a little differently this time."

Felix hums. "I think I preferred it this way," he says quietly. The words aren't that much, all things considered, but to Ace, it's a win. 

"Good, I liked it too. You were fantastic." 

Felix makes a note of disagreement in his throat. "Didn't exactly do anything," he argues, but with the way Ace is now rubbing soothing circles on the crown of his head, his words have no fight in them.

"Mm, I wouldn't say that," says Ace. "You gave me your trust, let your guard down and let yourself vulnerable with me. That's not easy, you know, and that's part of why I enjoyed it as much as I did, so thank you."

Felix still looks uneasy, but doesn't argue. Probably because of Ace's superior massage skills. He switches positions again, turning his attention to Felix's jawbone and chin, applying gentle pressure with fingers, and trailing them from just above his throat to the bottoms of his ears. He leans in close, lips almost grazing his forehead and whispers, "And it didn't hurt that you're positively gorgeous."

"Ace," groans Felix, blush appearing once more at his ears. But there's the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips, telling Ace that the compliment is secretly appreciated.

"I'm serious. I mean, look at you, you're stunning. Save some for the rest of those mortals, you know?"

And perhaps that was a little too far, because Felix's eyes shot open and he looked up at Ace, squinting as he did. It was as if he was searching for insincerity, waiting for the punch line of the joke to be revealed. And when none came, he seemed genuinely surprised.

And Ace cursed the world for failing to show this man a fraction of the kindness he was owed. Of course the first person to say such a thing was a demon, forced to use him and his body to survive.

But if Ace could ask Felix to be vulnerable, the least he could do was stay calm. So he pushed those feelings aside, and gave Felix a warm smile. "I mean it, you're lovely. And so compassionate, and so kind."

Felix lets his eyes fall closed again. "I might fall asleep like this," he says, deflecting the compliment.

Ace lets him get away with it; he's been through enough today, and it's only ten thirty in the morning. "That's alright; the books will be here when you wake up."

And so will I, his mind supplies.

Chapter Text

"Bloodied Strangers Vanish After Warehouse Incident: Witness Left Shaken"

Chapter Text

M. Reid: For those of you listening and thinking about summoning a demon of your own-
S. Ward: Don't do it.
M. Reid: (laughs) Well yes, don't try that. But on the off chance that you do, remember that when we talk about banishment methods, exorcisms aren't a cure-all. They have some serious limitations.
S. Ward: Right. Most notably, an exorcism can't banish a demon inhibiting its own form. In other words, it only works on demons who are actively possessing a human.
M. Reid. Correct. Now that is because an exorcism inherently requires the separation of the demon and the host in order to function. There's actually this really interesting theory about...

-All Things Wicked This Night, season 1, episode 6

The kitchen is starting to feel like a war-zone. Almost. There's a heavy tension in the air that Felix doesn't know how to break. Élodie is leaning against the kitchen counter, glaring from behind her mug of coffee, her gaze trailing Ace as he moves throughout the kitchen. For his part, Ace seems to be acutely aware of Élodie's suspicion, as he whistles unnecessarily loudly and flashes a cheeky grin whenever he catches her staring. It doesn't help that he's found just about every method possible to drive Élodie insane already this morning.

And Felix just wants to make his damn eggs.

Instead he waits for either the tension to simmer away or erupt completely. The uneasy atmosphere continues until Élodie finally breaks her silence, with perhaps the most uncomfortable question possible.

"So what kind of demon are you exactly?" Felix grimaces. That is not information he needs Élodie knowing. If she finds out Ace is an incubus and that they've been... She can't know. He looks at Ace, hoping he'll somehow magically read his mind and hold his tongue.

Ace grins widely, completely unaware of Felix's stare.. "Well, I'm-"

Thinking quickly, Felix lifts his heel then brings it down on Ace's tail. Ace yelps in pain but more importantly, his words trail off. Finally he catches Felix looking at him intensely, though he still seems confused. 

Felix picks up where Ace cuts off. "I don't know. He won't tell me." There's just enough bite to his tone that Ace finally figures out why he's lying. He nods before turning back towards Elodie, the calm smile back on his face. "What can I say? I'm an enigma."

Élodie rolls her eyes and Felix silently breathes a sigh of relief before turning back to his breakfast, still cooking on the stove.

"I don't think you're in any position to be cheeky," says Élodie, sipping at her coffee. "You're on thin ice already."

"Well you can't exactly get rid of me without killing Felix too, so I'm not particularly concerned," Ace responds. Felix groans inwardly. He thinks back to the first couple days with Ace, when their relationship had been... icy, at best. He does not need a repeat of that between Ace and Élodie. 

"You know, I've spent twenty years hunting down demons. I''m pretty sure I know two dozen ways to ruin your life without killing you."

Ace falters at that, clearly trying to think of a retort, and Felix forces himself to take a few calming breaths, not wanting to make things any worse. Instead he focuses on finally getting his eggs on a plate, though he has to awkwardly reach around Ace to get a plate.

"Honestly, I'm surprised Felix hasn't broken your nose yet. I've spent two hours around  you and I'm pissed off. I've got no idea how Felix has spent a week putting up with an imp like you.

"Okay, you know what?" Ace dramatically spins around at that. Felix winces slightly, getting a sense of deja vu as he watches the slack of the chain get eaten up by the movement. "You can say a lot about me, but I'm not a fucking imp. That's an insult in hell and-"

As Ace rants, he gestures wildly, knocking into Felix's hand, pulling on the chain, and sending the plate in his hand to the floor.

"No, my eggs," Felix mutters, but neither Ace nor Élodie seems to care about his spilled breakfast. 

"Well I'm sorry," says Élodie, her tone utterly unapologetic. "I didn't realize demons got their feelings hurt by a little name-calling."

"Guys, please, can you just stop fighting?"

But Ace has already taken another step towards Élodie and neither is about to back down. Tension bubbles up between them.

So when the doorbell rings, it's music to his ears. 

"That must be Zarina," says Élodie, looking excited. With one last sneer towards Ace she heads towards the front door. 

"Shall we go greet your guest?" Ace asks, as if he hadn't just spent the last few minutes in a face off. Felix stares, jaw agape. How is Ace so unbothered by all this? But Felix just gestures at at the eggs on the ground and shakes his head.

"Can you quit it?" he asks, dragging the trash can closer to the mess on the floor.

"Quit what?"

"Being such an ass. You've been picking fights all morning. What's going on?"

Ace raises his hands defensively. "Oh come on. I'd say a solid thirty percent have been her fault." It's a failed attempt to lighten the situation. Felix just focuses on cleaning up what would have been breakfast.

"Just... just try to get along," he says before washing his hands and guiding Ace to the front of the house. Ace scoffs but trails behind him.

Zarina is just outside, handing one of her bags to Élodie, who is all too happy to see her. But truthfully, Zarina looks... off. A little frazzled maybe. Possibly from stress of her work, or maybe from the long drive. Whatever it is, Felix is more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt. It's good to see her after a few months.

He chuckles to himself when he sees Élodie watching her with heart eyes, knowing she'd deny it if he asked her about it.

"Felix! Long time, no see," Zarina calls, approaching the front door, one arm outstretched. But she hesitates when she sees Ace standing behind him. Felix stiffens a bit, prepared to offer a second explanation of the incubus chained to him.

But it's not confusion or surprise on her face. It's a strange spark of recognition. Her expression, which Felix had found slightly off-putting at first, suddenly twists into a deep scowl, her features moving unnaturally on her face, shifting in an impossible form.

At the same time, Ace puts a hand on his shoulder pushing him forward as he stares. "Felix, that's not Zarina," he says loudly.

Zarina - no, the demon - moves fast, her form struggling to hold its disguise. She leaps forward, but Felix is faster, catching her while she tries to climb the stairs. He lunges forward, knocking both of them to the ground. Luckily Ace moves quickly enough to give Felix enough slack on the chain to work with as he pins her - it - to the ground. 

"Oh shit," shouts Élodie, running up from the car to join them. "Can you hold her while I get an exorcism?"

"No, don't," Ace interrupts. "She's not possessed. This isn't even her."

And as Felix watches the demon struggle beneath him, he sees that Ace is right. The way its visage struggles to remain in place, its unnaturally long arms and legs. "Doppelgänger?" he asks, looking to Élodie for conformation. She looks and nods.

Felix fumbles for his knife but Élodie stops him. "Wait, it might have done something to Zarina. Keeping it alive might be our only way to find her."

The demon struggles again, its clawed hands reaching for Felix's chest. It tries to shove Felix away, but he doesn't budge. Lifting it my the jacket and slamming it back into the driveway, trying to ignore the dark demon blood oozing onto the cement. "Elodie, that Devil's Snare in the front hallway. Go redraw it."

Élodie nods and Felix tightens his grip. He can already feel his strength starting to wane but he'll be damned if he's going to let this thing hurt Élodie. So he shuts his eyes, and summons every ounce of strength left in him to hold the demon still.

After what feels like an eternity, but likely only is ninety seconds. Élodie slams the front door back open. "It's done."

Felix looks at Ace and calls out, "Grab its arms," as he tightens his grip around the demon's legs. Together, they manage to drag the Doppelgänger back up the steps and into the snare, careful to keep Ace from stepping into the trap. It immediately begins to hiss, turning towards Élodie and lunging at her until the invisible force of the Devil's Snare acts like a force field, preventing it from moving any closer.

"Why aren't we just killing it?" Ace asks. "It's not gonna tell you anything helpful. Doppelgängers can't feel pain, so no amount of interrogation or torture is gonna work."

"Right, but Doppelgängers hunt in pairs and can sense if their partner dies. For all we know, as soon as its partner gets the memo that this one is dead, it knows there's no reason to keep Zarina alive. This way, the one who has Zarina thinks we're still fooled and will have to keep her alive."

"What are we going to do?" Élodie asks, clearly wrecked with nerves. Felix, still struggling to catch his breath, puts a steadying hand on her arm. 

"A plan. We need a plan."

Élodie nods, looking up and wiping unspilled tears from her eyes. "You're right, you're right. Panicking isn't going to help."

Felix could run for his journal, but he doesn't need it. All the details are much safer in his own mind. "Doppelgängers can't maintain the form of a target if the target dies, so we know she's still alive. So there's still time to find her. You called her last night. Do you remember where she is?"

"Yes. She said she was staying at a hotel for the night when the rain picked up. Some big chain, but I think about an hour and a half east of here."

Felix finds the location on his phone, guaranteeing that there is a matching hotel ninety minutes away. But when he looks up, Élodie has sunken in on herself, bottom lip shaking. "Hey," he says. "We're going to find her. We've done this before. Go get your hunting stuff, and we'll meet you in the car in five, alright?"

Still a little shaky, Élodie nods and rushes upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Felix gestures for Ace to follow him, grabbing his own bag from the front closet, double checking the Devil's Snare while the demon howls at him, and heads out the front door.

"Is she okay?" Ace asks before awkwardly climbing through the car into the passenger seat. "I mean, shit's scary, but don't you guys have twenty years of practice?"

Felix grimaces, choosing his words carefully. "It's not often one of our friends is in trouble. And the last time we had to fight Doppelgängers, it didn't end well."

Ace nods in understanding and they wait in a heavy silence for Élodie. When she arrives, her face is set in a grimace, a bag of supplies swung over one of her shoulders. She throws the backseat door open and plops down hard. "Let's go kill that fucker."
Felix puts the car into drive and the three of them speed off, leaving the safehouse, and a howling Doppelgänger behind.

The next hour is tense and quiet. Hunts like these are the kind Felix dreads, when they have a lead so far away but no intel on the location. If they knew exactly where Zarina was, they could talk strategy. But the Doppelgänger showed up this morning in Zarina's car, so she could have been attacked anywhere. They'll have to get to their destination first and play it by ear. 

He glances at Élodie through the rearview mirror. She just stares blankly out the window, eyes glossy, lips pressed in a thin line. Twenty years, and Felix still doesn't know what to say in moments like these. So he just keeps driving. 

Felix has one hand on the wheel, the other clenched into a fist on the center console between the two front seats.He knows he doesn't show it as outwardly as Élodie, but he's barely keeping it together. The two of them don't have many friends, most people they meet don't survive long enough for the title. And the idea of losing Zarina now might break him.

Suddenly, a warm pressure pushes down on his hand. Felix looks to see Ace's hand covering his fist. Briefly, he tears his eyes away from the road to look at Ace, who watches him with a sad smile, eyes full of understanding. It's a comforting gesture, and despite everything going on, it steals Felix's attention for a moment. Without really thinking, Felix flips his hand over, opening his hand and interlacing their fingers. Ace freezes for a second before squeezing gently as Felix returns his attention to the road.

"You guys are gonna be fine," he says confidently. "As long as I don't slow you down too bad, that thing doesn't have a chance against you."

"Slow me down? Because of the chain you mean?" Felix asks quietly.

"I mean, I'm not much of a fighter, so I can't say I'll be particularly helpful."

Felix thinks about it for a moment, contemplating their circumstances. But he doesn't find himself too concerned. He's fought demons with broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder before. this isn't nearly as bad a disadvantage.

"Just stay close, don't let the chain pull taut. I'll take care of the rest," he tells Ace, who chuckles at that. "What's so funny?"

But Ace just gives Felix's hand another squeeze and looks away, out the window instead, leaving Felix staring in confusion.

Felix makes the ninety minute drive in just over seventy minutes, his foot never leaving the gas pedal. It's about noon when they arrive outside of town. Felix initially plans to drive to the hotel Zarina was staying at, where they'd ask around, figure out who had seen Zarina this morning or last night. But suddenly Ace pulls his hand away and points out the window. 

"That house, right there. That's where the other Doppelgänger has to be."

"How do you know?" asks Élodie, her tone suspicious.

"Demons can sorta sense the presence of other demons. It's not like a radar or anything, but I can tell, there's something infernal in there. That's how I could tell it wasn't Zarina when the first Doppelgänger showed up."

Élodie seems to accept that answer as she leans forward and begins going through her bag, adding her flashlight and knife to her belt. Felix takes a moment to study the house. It's a sizable two story, with a wrap-around porch and a large balcony on the second story.  From the boarded up windows and the rotting wood, not to mention the barbed wire fence around the whole property, it's clearly been abandoned. The perfect hideout for a demon. 

Quietly they pile out of the car, Felix helping Ace once again crawl across the driver's seat. "If you can sense other demons, does that mean it knows you're here too?" Felix asks.

"It'll know some demon is here, but not who. For all it'll know, I could be its hunting partner. Not until it sees one of us."

Felix nods, carefully preparing for the fight. He double checks that his flashlight is working and that all three of his hidden knives are within reach. Slowly, he, Ace, and Élodie approach the gate.

"You ready?" he asks her, holding out his hand.

"Completely." Élodie takes it for a second, meeting his gaze. The tears are long gone, replaced by a fire that dances in her eyes. "Lets get her out of here."

Chapter Text

The demonic category of shapeshifters is conflicting. It can be rather complex at first, understanding the different types of demons and how their skills and powers differ, but once you understand the main species, it really is quite simple. Doppelgangers take on the most complex forms, able to siphon the memories and behaviors of the person they're disguised as. However, the person they are disguised as must be kept alive for them to maintain this form. By contrast, Soulshifters can indeed take the form of someone dead or not existent at all, but they cannot access that person's memory. Instead, these demons prefer to read the minds of those they fight and often turn into loved ones or friends of their opponent. After all, it's much harder to fight someone you recognize.*

Zarina Kassir -"Findings from the Field - an Extensive Report of Demonic Behavior"

*The manipulative power of Soulshifters is further discussed in my upcoming novel: The Man who Would be King.

Felix has lost track of how many nights he's spent like this, hunting down demons. As he approaches the fence, he can feel himself falling back into the the same mindset he always adopts in moments like this. His gaze hardens and he stands up a little taller.

There's a gate on the fence, but it's chained shut with a padlock. Felix takes a quick look at it. Like the rest of the house it's run down and rusty.

Élodie notices the lock too as she says, "I can probably pick it just let me get my-"

Felix isn't listening though. He spots a couple rocks sitting on the ground and picks up a large one. He raises it up before slamming down it down on the surface of the lock. Years of rust aid him as he hears a satisfying crack, loosening the locking mechanism. A second strike sends the base of the lock clattering to the ground.

"-lockpicks," Élodie finishes. From the corner of his eye, he can see her look of concern but he doesn't let that slow him down, undoing the chains. The base of the gate has gotten lodged in the dirt, so he slams the gate hard, forcing it open just wide enough for the three of them to slide through. 

As they cross the front yard to reach the house, Felix scans the house. The house is falling apart, but the windows still are well boarded up. They could pry them off, but it would take a lot of time, and probably make a lot of noise.

Instead, he walks up the steps of the front porch. He's expecting to see another locked door, but to his surprise, the front door isn't locked.

In fact it's cracked open.

"Well that's not terrifying at all," Ace says quietly, but Felix doesn't acknowledge it. He can't be distracted now. Instead he pushes open the door and scans the interior of the house. Inside it looks rather ordinary. An abandoned kitchen to the left and living room to the right. Pushing inside, they begin to examine the house. It's deathly quiet. 

"You're sure this is the right place?" Élodie asks under her breath as she shifts into the kitchen.

"Well, something's here," Ace answers. "I suppose there could be two demons in the same tiny town, but one of 'em has to be here."

They continue to explore the main floor in silence, not finding much. Until Élodie opens the bathroom door and gasps. "She was here," Élodie says softly. Felix and Ace follow the sound of her voice. She steps back and Felix sees small droplets of blood on the sink. And in Élodie's hand is a small silver knife. With her other hand, Élodie pulls out her own identical blade, comparing the two. "It was on the floor. This must be hers."

As Felix leans forward to inspect the blood, he sees Élodie's shaken expression in the mirror. Her jaw is locked, and a rigid tension locks her arms in place. 

And Felix stays quiet, but there's a sinking feeling in his gut too. The signs so far point to Zarina being unarmed and long gone. He traces his hand down across the sink. The blood is dried and darker colored, nearly black. It's already seeped into the old sink's cracks, staining the counter: it must be at least a day old. But there's only a little bit. Maybe it was from being hit by a demon's claw, or perhaps Zarina hit her head. 

"Hey," he says softly, meeting Élodie's gaze through the mirror. "There's not enough blood for whatever happened here to have killed her. And we know that the Doppelgänger needed her alive. She could still be okay." Clearly Zarina was attacked in the house. The only question now is whether she's still here or if she was taken somewhere else. But if there's a demon in the house, odds are Zarina is too.

Élodie nods quickly, a jerking movement, as if trying to calm herself down. "Right, let's find her."

With the ground floor of the house searched, they reach a crossroads. Upstairs or downstairs next? Felix is tempted to suggest they look upstairs first, as there's probably more rooms to check, but Ace speaks up before he can.

"Guys, was Zarina a photographer by chance?" he asks, bending down in the hallway.

"I mean, she takes pictures of demons as part of her research," Felix says. "Why?"

Ace doesn't answer, but he bends down to pick something up from right in front of the basement door. He holds it up and it catches the light: a cracked camera lens.

"Shit," Élodie whispers, her breathing coming in sharp gasps.

"No, this is a good thing. It means she might still be here," says Felix. He opens the basement door, wincing as the hinges let out a tired creak. Even though it's the middle of the day, the basement is pitch black. 

Almost simultaneously, he and Élodie click on their flashlights, and two thin beams of light illuminate the basement. Élodie leads the way as the three of them descend. It's tempting to shout Zarina's name: see if she's there. But on the off chance the other demon hasn't been alerted to their presence, they certainly don't want to start now. So they carry on in silence.

The basement of the house is dusty and full of boxes. Their flashlights dance across old mason jars full of old jams, pickled foods, and dried fruits. Then Felix's eyes widen as he hears it. The sound of a dozen small feet skittering across the floor. He tries to warn Élodie but it's too late. She's already following the sound, her flashlight illuminating the source.

Three large rats scurry across the basement floor, ducking into a small hole in the wall. Felix immediately knows whats coming and rushes forward to catch Élodie as she falls back onto the steps, the flashlight rolling down the stairs and further into the basement, landing just the right angle to shut the beam back off.

"I can't - I can't do this," Elodie stutters, her body completely locking up as Felix keeps her from completely collapsing. Her skin is cold to the touch and her hands jump up to her face, scratching at her temples.

Felix has seen all this before. And under any other circumstances, he'd be telling her to calm down, waiting out the panic attack with her. But now, with Zarina potentially in danger, Felix can't lose anymore time.

So he pulls Élodie back to her feet and grabs her shoulder firmly. "Get out of here. Go upstairs; I'll find her. I promise."

Élodie looks like she wants to fight but after a few seconds of wildly looking between Felix and where the rats had been, she bits her lip and nods stiffly, before all but running back up the steps. She leaves the basement door open but disappears out of view.

"Is she okay?" Ace asks, confused.

"No, but she will be. Come on." Felix yanks gently on the chain and finally moves deeper into the basement. With a new sense of urgency, Felix quickly sweeps his flashlight around the room, reflecting off of old cobwebs and dusty boxes.

He's worried though. With Élodie alone, and in a such a vulnerable state, he knows they can't afford to waste anymore time. The silence is a luxury they can't afford anymore. So Felix raises the hand that isn't holding the flashlight to his face and shouts, "Zarina? Are you down here?"

There's a moment of tense quiet, but then there's a response. "Felix, is that you?" Her voice is raspy, but nearby. Felix shoves open the nearest door and he breathes a sigh of relief. Zarina is there, in the basement bathroom. She's slumped on the floor, rope tied around her wrists, keeping her bound to the pipe beneath the sink. She's shaken, but very much alive.

"Oh my god," she suddenly shouts, looking up at Felix. "Behind you!"

Felix turns behind him and it's just Ace there. Right. "He's fine, I'll explain later, but we need to get out of here." He slices the ropes apart with the knife and helps Zarina to her feet.

"Have you killed them all?" asks Zarina, readjusting her torn, bloodied jacket.

"There was the one that took your car, we got it trapped. Then just one more Doppelgänger, right?" 

But Zarina's jaw drops in shock. "Felix, no. There were three."

Felix feels his eyes go wide. This is really bad now. They need to get out of here and find Élodie. If it was just one Doppelgänger out there, he wouldn't be worried about her, but she won't be expecting to encounter two. Now. But as he turns to the basement exit, he sees it's too late.

Standing at the base of the stairs is a demon, wearing Felix's face. 

The second Doppelgänger stares at the three of them for a moment, before turning and rushing up the stairs. Felix tries to run after him but Ace's instincts aren't nearly as quick. The chain goes taut and the Doppelgänger gets away. 

Felix grabs the chain and pulls hard, glaring back at Ace. "Come on. It's going after-"

A voice that sounds exactly like Felix echoes from upstairs. "Élodie, we have to go. Now." 

Finally collecting himself, Ace catches up to him and they both go to climb the stares. But just as they reach the top, the door is slammed shut by some demonic force. The handle doesn't budge, even though the door doesn't have a lock. And despite the house being long abandoned and falling apart, it doesn't budge when he tries to break it down. One of the demons must be magically sealing it closed. Frustrated, he pounds on the door.

"Wait!" Zarina calls out from the base of the staircase, holding Élodie's abandoned flashlight. "There's a cellar door over here." She points to the far side of the basement with the flashlight and there is indeed, another way out. A second, smaller staircase, leads to a pair of doors that must lead back outside.

They cross the basement over to the cellar door, which by some miracle isn't locked. Felix pushes the heavy double doors open with a loud grunt when suddenly Ace shouts from behind him. The final demon is there, this one disguised as Zarina, digging its claws into Ace's shoulder.

It pulls Ace to the ground, and Felix feels himself pulled back in turn, crashing down the staircase, his head landing hard on the cellar, mere inches away from an opened toolbox with a few rusted nails sticking up.

He's disoriented briefly as he forces himself to sit up. Felix looks at Zarina then gestures vaguely to the door, hoping she'll understand. Luckily, Zarina is two steps ahead of him, already sprinting for the exit. 

Felix's vision swirls and dances as he turns back to the demon, who is still pinning Ace to the floor, a look of sheer rage on its stolen features. "You traitor," it snarls. "Does your master know you've been-"

Felix doesn't wait any longer, lunging at the creature. He shoves it, his shoulder colliding with its side, knocking it off balance, and buying Ace enough time to scramble to his feet. Instinctively, Felix pulls out his knife and stands over the demon, ready to go for the kill.

But in the blink of an eye, the demon's form shifts once again. And Felix's world falls apart. 

Because he doesn't see Zarina's twisted visage staring back at him.

He sees her.

As Ace gets back on his feet, he feels a sense of relief. A great deal of gratitude with a slight bit of shame when he realizes that Felix has saved his ass once again. And now, Felix is standing over the demon, and it'll all be over soon.

Except it isn't.

Ace's eyes widen as the knife falls from Felix's hand. He just stares blankly at the demon, who seems to have taken a new form. The demon on the ground now looks like a woman in her early forties with wavy brown hair and wide grey eyes. Her skin is pale and covered in freckles. And Felix-

Felix isn't moving, save for the tremor in his hand, clenching then opening repeatedly. His bottom lip quivers as he stares at the demon on the floor, face paling with recognition.

Felix doesn't seem to notice, but Ace does, as the demon slowly shifts its weight, taking advantage of Felix's momentary distraction to gather its bearings. Then, with a hiss, it lunges towards him, claws extended. Finally, Ace manages to react in time, pulling the chain that connects them hard enough to get Felix out of the way, just in time.

"Come on, snap out of it," Ace yells frantically. But Felix still looks dazed and confused.

His yelling does manage to get Zarina's attention, as she returns at the top of the staircase. She takes a quick look at the situation, the creature on the ground and Felix's far-away gaze. "Fuck. Felix, it's not a Doppelgänger; it's a Soulshifter."

Ace doesn't know if it's Zarina's words or the massive claws that finally gets Felix's attention back. Blinking rapidly, he grabs the knife, and turns back to the demon, though his eyes are still glazed over.

Now, Felix doesn't hesitate. To Ace's relief, he shoves the knife through the demon's chest. It gives an inhuman scream and falls limp. However, relief quickly becomes concern as Felix doesn't stop. Ace watches, confused now, as Felix stabs and stabs, pulling the knife out only to dig it back in. He's muttering to himself, but his words are quiet and slurred, and Ace is unable to make out what he's saying.

"Felix, knock it off," says Ace, trying to grab his wrist and stop him, but Felix just pushes him away, continuing his enraged attacks. Blood of the dead demon coats the knife, and is beginning to stain Felix's hands and the floor around them. But Felix still doesn't stop, raising and lowering the blade into the demon's body.

It isn't until Zarina joins Ace and they both drag Felix back that he stops moving. Instead he sways on his feet, unsteady.

"Sorry," he whispers. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you killed it and that's what matters," Ace tries, but he gets the sense that Felix wasn't talking to him. Instead, he's just staring blankly at the bloody demon corpse.

It's Zarina who speaks up next. "Lets get him out of here," she says quietly. The three of them stumble out through the cellar door just as Elodie comes around the corner, dragging a second corpse herself - the Doppelgänger that looks exactly like Felix - and covered in her own fair share of demon blood. She still looks shaken but relieved to see the rest of them safe. 

"Zarina- oh no," she says, her smile immediately becoming a look of concern when she sees Felix. "What happened."

"There was another one," Zarina says quietly to Élodie. She pauses and looks warily at Ace before continuing. "A Soulshifter. You can go take a look."

"I will; I need somewhere to dump this demon anyway." Élodie drags the Doppelgänger down the cellar steps, likely stowing it next to the one Felix... handled.

When she comes back up the stairs, her posture is heavy with recognition. Clearly, she recognized the person the Soulshifter had mimicked. "Oh Felix. I'm so sorry." 

Ace takes a step back as Élodie pulls Felix into a tight hug, her hands wrapping tightly around his torso. Felix doesn't move much. His hands still hang uselessly at his sides, but his head drops forward, resting against Élodie's. Ace watches for a moment, as a moment of grief passes between the two- one that Ace can't quite understand. 

Zarina too walks over and puts a hand on Felix's shoulder. "Thank you, Felix. For getting me out of there." But Felix doesn't move. He's frozen still, some heavy weight clearly still pushing down on his mind. Ace watches the moment pass, wishing he knew what to say or what to do. 

Eventually, Élodie pulls away and holds out her hand. "I'll drive us back home," she says. Ace watches Felix's hands shake as he tries to get the keys out of his pocket. It's a struggle, but eventually they land in Élodie's hand with a soft clink.

They walk around the side of the house and through the gate, back to the car, four pairs of footsteps the only sound amongst them. When they reach the car, Felix waits for Ace to crawl across the backseat before getting in himself. Ace tries to meet his gaze, hoping to offer a reassuring smile, but Felix stares blankly out the window, intent on avoiding Ace completely. It's quiet in the car too. Ace watches Felix out of the corner of his eye. Briefly, he debates reaching over and taking his hand again. Yet, the distance between them feels so much wider now. Longer than the chain itself. So Ace drops his head and watches the road ahead, or at least what he can see past Zarina's head.

Instead of driving several hours back to the safe house, they stop in the parking lot of the shadiest hotel Ace has ever seen, one that reminds him of laying low after a scrap... back in his human days. At first he's a little confused, but then it clicks into place. All four of them are a mess of dirt, grime, and demon blood. And this is the kind of place that won't ask questions.

"I think I'm the most presentable of us all," Élodie says, tossing off her stained jacket and adjusting her hair in the mirror of the car. "I'll go get a room."

She goes inside while the rest of them leave the car and wait in the parking lot. After a short  silence, Zarina finally speaks up. "Um, hi," she says to Ace, not particularly eloquently. She holds out her hand, slightly awkwardly. "I suppose I haven't actually introduced myself. I'm Zarina, I'm a friend of Élodie and Felix."

Ace shakes her hand, equally awkwardly. "And I'm Ace. I'm an in- a demon, obviously."

"Élodie told me something strange happened with you two about a week ago," says Zarina, luckily saving Ace from a strange explanation. Felix is still silent, staring at the ground in front of him.

Élodie comes back before too long. "Good news, the room is right next to the back door," she says, holding a flimsy looking keycard in her hand. They move inside quickly to avoid traumatizing any passersby. The room itself is a mess that definitely gives Ace a sense of deja vu. The walls are an ugly purple but with all sorts of strange stains. The floor is uneven and the chair looks like it belongs in the waiting room of a dentist office, not a hotel. But considering they're about to cover the bathroom in demon blood, this is probably the place to be.

"Why don't you go ahead?" Élodie says to Felix, jerking her head towards the bathroom. Felix just nods and walks to the bathroom, not even looking to make sure Ace is following him. He moves stiffly, almost robotic. 

The bathroom is equally cheap looking, but Felix doesn't seem to care, focused solely on washing the demon blood away. Ace wants badly to ask if he's okay, but he knows that the answer will be a resounding no. So instead he listens to the rhythmic rush of the shower, staring up at the cheap fluorescent light above the sink.

Five minutes later, the water shuts off, but Felix doesn't move yet, still hidden by the shower curtain. Ace is about to ask what's up when he hears a choked sob from the other side of the curtain. Ace has to bite his tongue to keep from asking something invasive and just waits for Felix to collect himself. And not long after, Felix is leaving the shower, eyes cast downward as he dresses in the spare change of clothes they'd brought in from the car.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ace asks finally.

"No."

"Are you sure? I co-"

"I said no," Felix repeats, harsher than Ace has ever heard him speak.

Ace cleans up too as quickly as he can and they both leave the bathroom. Élodie and Zarina are on the far side of the room, having some sort of conversation. Zarina's back is turned, but as soon as the bathroom door opens, Élodie grabs her arm and she suddenly stops talking, turning to look at Ace. Whatever it was, they certainly don't want him hearing.

Zarina pushes past both of them to clean up next, saying she might take a little longer, as she has a couple days worth of grime to get rid of. Ace decides to brave the bed which doesn't look too lumpy, laying down on the bed. Felix is a little more skeptical of the bed sheets and simply sits down on the other side, back against the headboard, curled in on himself.

Ace doesn't remember falling asleep, but he must have dozed off for a couple minutes because when he comes to, Felix and Élodie are mid-conversation. Not wanting a repeat of before, Ace pretends to still be asleep, keeping his eyes shut and trying not to move. The shower is still running, so he couldn't have been asleep for long.

"And Zarina said she'd gotten word of there being strange noises from the house. Apparently, she just didn't think there would be more than one demon there," Élodie is saying.

"She shouldn't have gone by herself," says Felix, his voice gruff.

Élodie makes a tsk sound. "You're not her mother, you know." Felix doesn't answer to that but Ace can imagine the scrunched up look he probably has on his face. After a few more minutes, Élodie quietly asks, "Is he still asleep?"

Ace does his best sleeping incubus impression, and it must pay off because after a moment Felix whispers, "Yeah, he's out."

Élodie's voice drops quiet. "I just wanted to say, I saw the body of the Soulshifter down there. And that must have been hard. I'm so sorry I couldn't stay down there. I should have been there."

"It's fine," Felix says stiffly. But after a deep breath, he speaks up again. "I didn't think I'd react that badly. But you know, we thought it was a Doppelgänger at first, you know?"

"Yes, we did..." Élodie says, unsure what point Felix was making. 

"For a minute I... I thought she was still alive."

Élodie audibly gasps. "Oh my god. I didn't even think of that. Felix, I'm so sorry." Ace hears footsteps approaching and cracks an eye open to se Élodie perched on the very edge of the bed, an arm around Felix's shoulders. 

"It shouldn't matter," Felix says decisively. "She's gone for years. I shouldn't have let it distract me."

"Felix you aren't being fair to yourself," Élodie sighs. "You know, you never really got the chance to grieve her and-"

But Felix cuts her off. "I don't get to grieve," he says, eyes narrowed into slits. "Not after what I did."

"Felix, you're being ridiculous. You know you can't actually blame yourself for-" Élodie tries, but Felix shakes her arm off of him and pushes her away. Élodie makes a sound of frustration, but just then, the bathroom door opens and Zarina heads out, so Élodie takes her place.

Ace waits a few more minutes before pretending to wake up, stretching his arms out. Felix spares him a quick glance but just seems out of it, and Ace finds himself with endless questions. Questions that he's not sure he'll ever be able to get answered. Beside him, Felix buries his head in his hands, as if trying to escape from the world... or maybe his own mind. And once again, Ace finds himself tongue-tied. 

Chapter Text

Day Seven

I worry that being chained to this demon will be the death of me. But I no longer fear physical retribution or attack, but instead, a sort of mental destruction.

It’s the little things that gnaw at me first. His eyes never leave mine. Even when he’s not speaking, he’s studying, calculating. I can feel his presence constantly, like his voice in my head. I tried to ignore him at first, to resist his incessant questions. But then he started pushing.

He knows how to twist things. He asks questions in that soft, coaxing tone, but I can hear the sharpness beneath it—"what was the worst thing you’ve ever done? Who do you really care about?" Always too personal, always too pointed. As if knowing the answers will somehow weaken me.

I’ve learned that with him, there’s no neutral ground. He lures you in with sympathy, feigned understanding. And then when you start to slip, when you feel just a tiny bit comfortable, he digs deeper. Wants to know what makes me tick, what I regret.

Vigo's Journal

Élodie is quick to clean up, as of the four of them, she was covered in the least blood. Before long, they're back on the road, ready to return to the safe house and finally kill the last demon they'd left trapped in the Devil's Snare.

Zarina and Élodie make a little small talk, with Zarina talking a bit about the Hellspawn she's been researching. It's not particularly interesting to Ace, but then again, he spent the first few years as a demon living amongst them, so the information isn't particularly riveting to him. He listens quietly, impressed with the accuracy of her findings nonetheless.

Felix still is in a bit of a state. His arms are crossed over his chest as he stares out the window. Like he's brooding or something. It's not a look Ace has seen often, and it's a bit unsettling. It's nearly terrifying in fact, how his hole body stays frozen, staring at the open sky out the window. Ace tries to get his attention a couple times, but Felix just seems so far gone. 

And Ace isn't particularly relaxed either. His mind is racing with questions. He wants to know who that woman was. The one that the demon took the form of. Clearly, Felix recognized her, and both Zarina and Élodie must have too. Ace knows better than to ask such a personal question, but the curiosity remains, eating away at him like an itch that just can't be scratched.

Briefly, they stop at a gas station and while Élodie fills up the tank, Zarina heads to the attached convenience store.

"I haven't eaten in over a day," she grumbles, before slamming the car door behind her. Which leaves Ace alone in the car with Felix. Felix is still trying to imitate a statue while Ace picks at an exposed string on the fabric of the seat. 

"Are you made at me?" Ace asks once the silence becomes unbearable.

"No. It's just the car," Felix says bluntly, back still turned.

"The car?"

"I don't like long trips like this. I feel claustrophobic."

Ace chuckles at that. "So you hunt and fight demons, but can't handle cramped spaces?" he says, trying to lighten the mood with some humor.

But when Felix looks at him, Ace immediately realizes his mistake. Ever muscle in Felix's face tightens, as he whips his head around. "Actually yes. I spent three days hiding underneath a sink, while almost everyone I knew tried to hunt me down and kill me. So no, I'm not fan."

"I- Right. I'm sorry," Ace says quietly, kicking himself. He slumps slightly and turns his head to look forward, though he can still feel Felix's gaze piercing him. 

When Élodie finishes getting gas, she climbs back in the car and immediately notices the tension. She opens her mouth as if to comment but after looking between Felix's scowl and Ace's guilty expression, must decide against it. Instead, she turns to the passenger door, which Zarina is in the process of opening and decides to chastise her instead. 

"You haven't eaten in days, and that's the first thing you do get?" she asks.

Zarina takes her seat, her hands full with a family sized bag of potato chips, a large bottle of lemonade, and two chocolate bars, the first of which is already unwrapped and halfway gone. 

"Yes, and I'm going to enjoy every bit of it," she says proudly, chocolate already smeared on her bottom lip.

Élodie rolls her eyes dramatically as she pulls out of the gas station and begins the last bit of the journey home.

Felix eases on the death glare, but remains completely silence as he returns to staring out the window. There's a pain in Ace's chest, he still feels like shit. It reminds him of those first few days, how he'd push too far and regret it right after. He's doing it again, but doesn't know how to stop.

Ace finds himself unsettled again when they finally return to the house, how surgically Felix draws his knife and stabs the Doppelgänger in the back before dragging it outside. He's stiff, precise, and eerily silent. If it wasn't for the inhuman screeches and wails of the demon, Ace might have mistaken Felix for a serial killer. It's only when the thing has been buried that Felix's shoulders relax slightly. He slouches in on himself as they walk back into the house. 

Ace is tempted to ask about the woman, the one the demon had disguised itself as, but frankly, Felix looks like he's on a short fuse, ready to snap. So maybe now isn't the time. Instead he asks, "Do you want to tell the others about your idea? To find something that'll keep me hidden from other demons?"

Felix pauses for a moment before he answer. "We could. I wouldn't be surprised if Zarina has heard of something."

Ace nods and takes a deep breath to steady himself as they enter the living room, where Élodie and Zarina are sitting and chatting. "And how's Haddie doing?" Élodie asks, curled up in one of the larger armchairs.

"Honestly, not great," Zarina responds from the edge of the couch. "She checked herself back into the psych ward a week or two ago. She told me the nightmares were coming back and that she's been dissociating more and more." Élodie grimaces and when Ace looks beside himself, sees a mirrored expression on Felix's face. "But I think Jonah got her into a better place, and I think found her a nurse who had a run-in with demons. Someone who won't think she's delirious just because she's talking about demons. The last therapist thought she was schizophrenic when she talked about her past. So I think she's with someone more aware now."

"I guess that's good," Élodie admits. "Or at least, better." Her expression further hardens when she sees Ace standing in the doorway. "And what do you want?"

"Some help," says Ace. "If you're feeling kind enough to hear me out, though I know that might be a bit of a stretch for- ow!" He rubs his arm where Felix had elbowed him. 

"What the hell would you want my help with?" Élodie asks.

"From you? Not much." He turns to Zarina instead. "Actually, I was hoping you'd be able to give me some advice."

Élodie tries to protest but Zarina straightens up and looks intrigued, her head tilting to the side. "Really? My help?"

"Well, considering you study demons and stuff, i think you might be able to help me figure something out."

"What is it?"

Ace hesitates briefly. He's got no idea how to explain this very well. "So I'm trying to hide from my boss. The one who sends me out hurting people. Because I want to stop all that shit." Zainra nods slightly, still slightly skeptical, while Élodie's face scrunches in utter disbelief. "Look, you don't have to believe me but it's true. The only reason I go around hurting people is because he forces me to do it."

"And you think I can help you how?" Zarina asks.

"Well, there's a bit of a loophole in the arrangement. I only have to follow direct orders from my boss himself. Not a single other one of his lackeys can do it for him. If he can't find me, I'm essentially a free man... er, demon."

"Go on," Zarina encourages. Élodie too, perks up slightly.

"Now, normally, he has eyes everywhere. Is able to spy on me from a distance. But somehow, whatever magic bound me and Felix together, it's blocked his ability to do that. So if you happen to know anything at all that would mimic that ability, then essentially, I could hide forever. Wouldn't have to follow his orders any longer, because he'd never be able to find me. I know it's a long shot, but you don't happen to know anything about that, do you?"

Zarina goes quiet, contemplating for a moment, before her eyes widen. "As a matter of fact, I think i do." With an excited flourish, she pushes off of the couch and rushes out of the room. "Just let me go find my laptop."

As she disappears up the steps, taking them two at a time, Élodie's sneer deepens. "You really believe what he's saying, Felix?"

Ace turns to face him, hoping that Felix will finally defend him. "I think so," he says quietly. "Why would he lie?"

"So that he can live his life, causing who knows what sort of harm, without anyone being able to stop him. I mean, all this talk about this 'demon boss' could be a lie for all we know."

Ace glares in anger at Élodie's utter denial of his life for the last twelve years. The pain and torture, the lack of freedom and free will and... not being able to stop... all the other things that came with the job. He's about to give her a piece of his mind when Felix speaks up again.

"You mean like the hundreds of other demons that already do?" he asks. "And what is hiding him from other demons going to accomplish? It's not like they care about the violence at all. If we help him and he's lying, then what happens? He disappears from other, equally evil demons? And if he's telling the truth then a whole bunch of people stop getting hurt. We've got nothing to lose here."

Ace watches Felix rant, surprised at how intense he gets. Sure, he doesn't love the fact that Felix is still entertaining the notion that Ace is lying. But he's never been defended like this before... not that he deserves it anyway. 

Élodie's expression remains hardened but her shoulders sink down. "I guess you're right. We'll see what Zarina has to say, but Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't think for a second that you have me fooled."

The tension between them simmers until Zarina's footsteps signal her return. She rushes down the stairs, holding her opened laptop haphazardly by the corner. "Good news. I do have it. Exactly what you're describing Ace."

Ace follows her back to the couch, completely surprised. He hadn't expected such a thing to exist, let alone one of the few people he's mentioned this to be aware of it. But as Zarina scrolls through file after file on the computer, she seems confident. Finally, she stops on one file, zooming in on a strange looking sigil. A collection of strange looking symbols and unknown characters. 

"It's called the Obscura Rune," says Zarina. "It's a blinding sort of sigil. It'll keep anything from scrying on you long distance. No spells, demonic abilities, no nothing."

Élodie quirks her head at that. "If that's the case, why don't all of us have one of those?"

Zarina frowns. "Well, from my research, it comes with some pretty nasty side effects. Apparently, it can only be tattooed on, so it can't be made into a physical charm or  worn. And its magical properties come with some nasty side effects. Skin irritation that come back every day, burns and sores around the tattoo, hot flashes, things like that. Apparently, the only human who ever tried the tattoo went crazy with the side effects. But, it's never been tried on a demon."

"And I can heal myself. Even if they came back every day, I could get rid of them in seconds. It would be a non-issue." But alas, it's all too good to be true, Ace realizes. "But with demon skin, the tattoo won't take. I'll absorb the ink or prevent it from setting or something."

Well that isn't technically true. Sure, he can't get tattoos... in the human sense. But a little bit of silver embedded in the ink, a little infernal magic, and it could take. But then again, that would mean getting him involved. And Ace certainly doesn't need to introduce Felix and the others to him.

"So we're stuck then? Nothing we can do about it?" Élodie asks. Ace gives a noncommittal shrug while Zarina shuts the laptop with a thud. 

"It was all I had. But if you really can't get a tattoo, I guess I don't have a solution for you," says Zarina.

Ace feels defeated. He's so close to freedom, but the only demon he knows that does demonic tattoos is the last one he wants to see again. Barring his boss, of course. Then again, maybe Ace could face him if he was alone, instead of chained to Felix. Briefly, Ace considers getting the chain broken first, then contacting that other demon. Would he have enough time to get the tattoo before his boss found him? No, no way. The second the chain breaks, Ace would be hunted down by his boss and dragged back to hell. Out of the question.

From behind him, Felix finally speaks up, for the first time since Zarina's return. "But we've hunted demons before that had tattoos. Demons who weren't possessing anyone."

Shit. Of course Felix would be so observant. Ace can feel Felix watching him, but can't meet his gaze, embarrassed to have been caught in a lie.

"Well, I guess technically I could get a demonic tattoo. But there aren't many demons who know how to give them."

Élodie must notice his suspicious tone, because hers turns accusatory. "But you know one of them, don't you?"

Ace suddenly is hit with the realization that he misses being around non-demon hunters. People who he can lie to, fool with a few sly words and have wrapped around his finger in seconds. But no, everyone he's been around this week seems to be on to him, and it sucks. He's never been honest, not as a demon nor as a human, but he's never been read so well.

"Yeah, I know a guy. A demon who does tattoos. He could probably manage this one. But we uh... we have history."

Felix's expression softens slightly as he puts a hand on Ace's arm. "Who is he?" he asks quietly.

Ace grimaces, stalling for a few seconds before he finally reveals the truth. "His name is Vittorio, and, well, he's an ex."

Chapter Text

Incubi and succubi are a little different though. You see, in many ways, raw strength, fantastical abilities, even in terms of basic anatomy, they're unimpressive. In a fight, a semi-competent human would be able to hold their own... and a trained demon hunter? They aren't even a little bit of a threat. So when faced with an enemy, incubi will either rely on their wits and try to outsmart their target or flee because they know engaging directly is a death sentence. And yet, few demons give demon hunters more trouble than incubi. Why is that?

Well, you see, incubi are sort of one-trick-ponies. Relatively weak and unassuming with the exception of one insanely powerful ability- the ability to create a thrall. Do not take it lightly when I say that there is nothing more powerful than an incubus's thrall. There is no known cure, no way to snap a thrall out of the state, except if the incubus who created the thrall chooses to release it. These humans who becomes thralls become enamored and obsessed with the incubus, will stop at nothing to please them, and will go to great lengths to please them. There is no stronger form of mental manipulation. Possessions can be fought against, and other forms of mind control are fallible. But once an incubus takes a thrall, there is no going back.

-Haddie Kaur "Hostage in my Own Skin"

Felix watches anxiously as Élodie processes Ace's words before she bursts out laughing. She has a hand over her mouth, but makes no effort to hide her amusement at what Ace had said.

"Sorry," she says unapologetically. "It's just, I didn't think demons did relationships." 

"We don't. At least, now in the human sense," Ace answers. "We sorta just... partnered up." Ace's voice is flat, devoid of any sort of emotion. He crosses his arms over his chest and looks away from Élodie, towards the stairs instead.

"Partnered up?" Élodie repeats with a teasing tone in her voice. "That's so strange to me."

Élodie continues to laugh to herself and even Zarina gives a small smile but Ace doesn't address either of them. Instead he shifts his weight back and forth, rocking slightly. He seems unsettled, his eyes unfocused.

"Hey," Felix says loudly enough to snap Ace out of it. "Do you think he'll help us?"

"Yeah, I'm sure of it."

"Really?" Zarina asks. "It's not like demons to be charitable. Even if you two have... a history, do you really trust him to help out?"

Ace is silent as he thinks for a minute. "Oh he'll help. That part I'm sure of." His voice is weaker than before, but Felix can't put his finger on why.

"So it's simple then," says Élodie, finally in a more serious mood. "We'll summon this Vittorio guy, have him give you the tattoo, figure out how to break the damn chain, and send you on your way."

"No. It's not that simple," Ace interrupts. He rubs his temples, clearly irritated with the discussion. "He won't agree to do it if he feels trapped. If he's stuck in a room with three demon hunters there's no way in the Hells he'd agree to help me."

"So what do you propose we do instead?" Élodie asks. "Not exactly like you can meet him alone when you've got one of those scary demon hunters attached to your arm."

"I could contact him, convince him to meet me and Felix alone somewhere else. If he doesn't know that Felix has a whole bunch of friends, I might be able to convince him that this-" he says, yanking the chain "-was a freak accident. But that Felix isn't really a threat."

"Absolutely not!" Élodie stands up and puts her hands on her hips. "There's no way Felix is going to be alone with two demons. One of you bad enough, but this is ridiculous. It isn't happening."

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Ace challenges, raising his voice. "Have Vittorio kill him? That'd destroy me too and I don't exactly have a death wish."

Élodie opens her mouth to retort but Felix raises a hand between them. "I don't like it either, but it's our best option right now. Ace is right, it would be foolish for him to try to kill me. And we need this to work, to get one step closer to breaking the chain."

Élodie scowls but says nothing, and Felix breaths a sigh of relief that tensions are at least simmering down marginally. "You said your boss is probably looking for you," he says, turning back to Ace. "How do you know Vittorio won't turn you in?"

"Because we have the same boss. Vittorio, well, he's a lot higher up on the chain of command, but at the end of the day, we report to the same demon. And we both hate him."

"And you have a way to contact him?"

"Yeah, most demons have a way to reach out to each other. That won't be an issue. I'll tell him to meet us somewhere nearby. Not today though. There's been enough shit today."

"I'll second that," says Zarina. "I'm beat."

Élodie still looks uneasy, but doesn't say anything. Probably because the plan, while it's a bit of a mess, isn't all too crazy. It could work, depending on how agreeable this Vittorio is. Zarina announces that she's going to make dinner and Élodie follows after her not long after, leaving Felix and Ace alone in the living room.

Speaking of the incubus, Felix finally notices that something is very wrong with Ace. He's shrunken in on himself completely, his eyes closed and face pale. "What's wrong?" Felix asks quietly, but Ace just shakes his head.

"Can we- Can we go upstairs?" he asks, voice shaky. 

Felix nods and gestures for Ace to lead the way to the stairs, concerned about what's going on. He shuts the bedroom door after they arrive and Ace all but collapses on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Ace, what's wrong?" Felix asks, pulling the desk chair out to face the bed and sitting down.

Ace covers his forehead with his hands, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. This is the only way."

"What do you mean?"

"Fuck it shouldn't be a big deal. But I just don't want to see Vittorio again."

That was not the answer Felix was expecting. He's surprised, honestly. Is bad blood between Ace and this Vittorio seriously bothering him this much?

"Did things end poorly between you guys?"

At that Ace laughs coldly. "End badly? It was shit the whole time!" he says, grabbing one of the pillows on the bed and pulling it down on himself, hiding his face. 

"Can you explain it to me?" Felix asks quietly.

There's a long pause before Ace obliges, voice muffled through the pillow. "When I said demons aren't exactly together in the human sense, that was a bit of an understatement. Demons are selfish, and everything is transactional. So it wasn't a relationship like you'd expect but more an unavoidable arrangement."

"I'm not sure I follow."

Ace stiffens, his hands digging into the pillow. "Before I was sent back to Earth, I spent a couple years in the Hells. And that place isn't exactly friendly, especially for weaker demons like me. So I needed protection, and Vittorio was willing to offer it. For a price. But this was right after I'd become a demon, so I didn't have much to offer. As an incubus though,  I did have one thing..."

Felix sucks in a breath, knowing what Ace is going to say before he says it. But he remains quiet, hoping it isn't true.

"So I slept with him, for protection. And because no one else would let me, and I needed to survive."

The admission pierces through the otherwise quiet room, slicing through the silence. Felix opens his mouth to say something, but what is there to say? How can he empathize with something so toxic, so foreign to any of his own experiences? Felix had always thought being an incubus was unpleasant, being dependent on intimacy to survive, but hearing the admission makes him see if for the curse it truly is.

"I hated it because he was a dick about it. He took advantage of the fact that I needed sex to survive. So when I say he's an ex, I didn't mean it like we were ever together. I needed protection, and Vittorio liked having power over someone." Ace slams the pillow down beside him, sitting up with a sigh. He looks at Felix for less than a second, but it's long enough for Felix to look into his eyes and see empty shadows staring back, reflecting utter misery. "And now the only way out of this shitty situation is to see him again. And beg him for help again."

Felix fidgets with the chain binding them. "We don't have to go through with this plan. We can find something else. You don't have to do this."

"Yeah, I do," says Ace roughly. "Because as awful as Vittorio was, I still have nearly six centuries of a debt to pay off to my boss. That's a lot worse than one bad day. It's shit, but it's the lesser of two evils."

Felix wants to protest but when he really stops to think about it, Ace is right. It should be his choice whether they contact Vittorio. He nods slightly and puts a hand on Ace's shoulder. "I'll be there, at least. Hopefully that'll make things a little better."

Ace doesn't smile, but he sits up a little taller. A small sign that maybe, this'll be okay. "You will."

"And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened to you with Vittorio." 

And in the blink of an eye, the moment is over. Ace shakes Felix's hand off of his arm and turns away, closing back in on himself. "Look, I didn't tell you all that because I wanted your pity. I told you because that's just what happened."

"I'm not trying to pity you. I'm just saying you didn't deserve it."

But Ace just waves his hand dismissively. "Just drop it, okay? I'm not a victim here. Save your sympathy for someone who deserves it. Not a monster like me."

"Ace, please-"

"Drop it. I'm not having this conversation with you."

Ace turns away from Felix completely, facing the wall, and dragging a good bit of the chain with him. Not wanting to anger Ace further, Felix turns back to the desk, where several more books and journals are waiting that haven't been opened in days. He looks back at Ace once more before dragging the chair back to the desk and returning to the research.

He finds himself distracted though, his heart heavy. The first time he'd heard Ace talk about becoming a demon, the torture and the deal he'd made out of desperation, Felix had felt awful for him. The amount of suffering he'd gone through just to be stuck with a six hundred year debt made Felix feel awful for him. 

But this newest information about the exploitation and pain he'd suffered by Vittorio's hand, the demon he'd now need to ask for help again, that was unbearable. And that pain was only compounded by how deep in denial Ace seemed to be. Whether he truly believed he didn't deserve sympathy or that he didn't realize the depth of the abuse, Felix wishes Ace hadn't reacted so poorly.

But he knows better than to push it again, so he opens the next book in the stack. It's a miss, a series of journal entries from a member of a small coven of witches. Interesting, but not what he's after now. The second appears to be nothing more than a manifesto from a self proclaimed "demon supremacist," a human who believed that all of humanity's problems could be solved by merely allowing demons to rule the world instead. That one mentions summoning demons, but offers very little actual information and also has Felix questioning the accuracy of the writings.

Many hours late, by the time the sky outside is darkened, he gets to the third, a small tome, weathered with age. Authored by a woman named Lisa Sherwood, it's title is "When it all Falls Apart," and claims to be a guide on fixing mishaps with spells and magics. There's a section on neutralizing poisons and potions, another on reversing curses. Chapter three though is the one that catches Felix's attention. On Botched Summonings, and how to Banish Them.

Hands shaking, he reads over the section. It starts by explaining that in most cases, the logical thing to do is kill the demon or in more extreme circumstances, run away. But then, on one page, Felix finds exactly what he's looking for. A discussion of an exceedingly rare mishap which ends in the binding of the summoned demon and the person nearest whichever summoning circle was used. The three pages that follow detail a spell that can remove the chain, though most of it goes over Felix's head. It doesn't matter though. He knows people who can read it. It might take a road trip to the east coast to ask Mikaela and Sable, but-

"I found it," he says to himself softly. Then, a little louder, "Ace, I found it!"

"Mmm- huh?" Ace asks, voice sluggish as he opens his eyes, blinking his eyes rapidly. He sits up and looks at the book which Felix has turned towards him, eyes widening as he reads over it. But instead of the excitement or glee Felix had been expecting, a small half smile crosses his face. "Wow, you did it."

Felix looks at him quizzically, having expected a stronger reaction. "Are you alright?" he asks softly.

In lieu of a response, Ace's forehead lands against Felix's shoulder with a soft thunk and a few moments of silence pass. "Sorry," Ace finally answers, finally realizing that Felix had been waiting for something. "It just all feels so surreal. Like I know we've been talking about it. Planning it. But now, it's actually here. I'm one step closer to freedom." 

It's an exciting moment for both of them. The chain will finally be gone, which has been a long time coming. But after their talk from earlier, learning about the pain Ace had suffered, their current discovery feels so much sweeter. "I'm glad there's a way that doesn't involve me killing you," Felix adds with a dry tone of humor. 

Ace laughs and sits back up, playfully punching Felix's shoulder. "And hey, you must be thrilled too."

"Of course. I-"

"You must be counting down the days until I'm long gone."

"Well, actually I-"

"No worries, it's fine," Ace continues to interrupt, lying back on the bed with a chuckle. "I know I must be driving you crazy. But don't you worry. Before long, I'll be outta your way and you'l never have to put up with my shit again."

Felix hums in agreement, turning back to the desk. He can't put his finger on why, but his excitement feels dampened all of a sudden. He briefly looks back over the journal, but any motivation he had has evaporated for some strange reason. 

Felix slips a bookmark between the pages and slams the journal shut. A soft snore from beside him tells him Ace has fallen asleep, and it makes Felix realize just how exhausted he is. Maybe the excitement of finding the cure hasn't sunk in yet and Felix will be feeling better about it tomorrow. 

He's gotten used to awkwardly slipping into the bed, climbing over the sleeping demon to get to his side of the bed. Ace stirs briefly but doesn't wake up fully. 

But sleep evades Felix tonight. Felix spends what feels like hours staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to pretend that the faint ache in his chest isn't really there. It doesn't make any sense. He'd finally found what he spent a week searching for. He should be feeling much better, celebrating. 

So why does he suddenly feel so sad?

Chapter Text

The next morning, three of them are in the kitchen. Ace and Felix are back at their usual dance of navigating breakfast preparation while dealing with the chain between them. Zarina sits at the small table, sipping her coffee. She watches the two of them with an amused smile which widens when they get tangled up once again.

"Hey, Ace, question for you," Zarina begins a minute later. "What actually is the difference between incubi and succubi? Like is it a gender thing? Or are there other differences?"

"Oh, no difference at all. Humans just came up with it themselves," says Ace. "We're all the same, really." He feels Felix stiffen beside him but can't figure out why until Élodie appears from the living room, her footsteps louder than usual.

"You're an incubus?" she asks, demandingly. Her hands are firmly placed on her hips as she stairs, not at Ace, but at Felix. Felix suddenly seems to be completely fascinated by the cutting board in front of him, his gaze dropping in an instant. And everything finally clicks for Ace.

While Ace racks his mind, trying to think of the least damaging way to explain this, Zarina speaks up. "You didn't know, El? It's pretty obvious, isn't it?  No wings but single-pronged horns, human colored eyes, spade-tipped tail, ability to turn invisible to only some people? The signs are all there. I thought you would have figured it out sooner."

"Well excuse me for being more concerned on figuring out why Felix has a demon chained to him than figuring out what kind of demon it is," says Élodie. 

And like a ticking time bomb, Ace waits for Élodie to realize what that means. When it happens, her eyes go wide and she stares in shock for a moment before she speaks again.

"Oh my god. You guys are sleeping together, aren't you?" The question is directed at Felix, who is staring at the cutting board like he's trying to burn a hole through it with his gaze. 

Ace can't help the smirk that rises to his face. Because this might have just turned into the funniest conversation of all time. There's something exhilarating about the tension. "I mean can you blame me?" he asks. slinging an arm around Felix's shoulder. "I've been stuck next to him for a whole week. How was I supposed to resist?"

"Ace, stop," says Felix, voice strained.

"What? I'm helping!"

Élodie doesn't look so convinced. "Oh believe me, you're not the one who surprised me." She glances back at Felix. "It's your standards I'm starting to question. I can't believe it. You actually let an incubus feed off of you?" she asks.

"Hey, I cuddled with him too, don't make me sound like I just... drained him and dipped. I'm not heartless."

"Ace, stop helping," Felix says through gritted teeth as his cheeks begin to match the tomato he's slicing.

"Sorry, am I embarrassing you?" Ace asks, resting his head against Felix's shoulder, the tip of one of his horns brushing against his neck. As he makes contact, he can feel Felix's heartbeat through his collarbone, speeding up even as Felix goes stiff. Élodie makes a strangled sound and Ace proudly smirks at her. "Yeah, I'm with Zarina on this. Surprised you didn't notice I'm an incubus. Thought you would have at least heard by now."

And at that statement, Élodie's jaw drops open as she just stares in disbelief. "Why would you say that?" Felix asks, dropping the knife to hide his face in his hands. 

"Oh you're one to talk," Élodie snaps back. "You're the one hooking up with a fucking demon." And when Ace snorts at the irony of the last two words, Élodie's disapproving stare extends to him too. 

He's about to dig himself further into a hole when from behind Élodie, Zarina speaks up. "I'm not sure this changes much, El, but it is a little different. I mean, incubi need... it to survive, so it's not just like a typical hook-up."

"If it helps, you could think of it as charity work," Ace offers, unhelpfully, and it makes Zarina spit her coffee back into her mug as she sputters out a laugh.

At that comment, Felix slams the blade of the knife into the tomato almost violently and shrugs Ace off of his shoulder, sidestepping to put distance between them. But Ace doesn't mind, just flashes him a grin. "Actually, we have some good news to share," Felix says, still not looking up at Élodie.

"Based on how today is going, it better be some damned good news," she says.

"We found something. A counter spell that should break the chain." Felix pulls the paper that had been carefully extracted from the journal and hands it to Élodie. She scans it skeptically at first, but with each line she reads, Ace watches her eyebrows raise higher on her face. 

"This might actually work," she says. "But, we definitely need Sable and Mikaela for this. It's beyond what I can do."

"What makes it so hard?" Zarina asks, looking up from her coffee.

"Well, it looks like the catalyst to break the chain is a lightning bolt at just the right time. And so we could either try the spell a thousand times until we get lucky, or see if Sable still has her weather-bending materials."

"Well, I'm up for a road trip to Greenville if it means getting this chain broken for good," Felix says and Élodie nods in agreement.

"Now all that's left to do here is get that tattoo so we're not swarmed by demons the second the chain breaks," says Ace. From the corner of his eye, he sees Felix looking at him sympathetically, but ignores it, looking ahead. 

"And do you have a way to get in touch?" Élodie asks. 

"Sure do," Ace says. "But let's make a plan first before I go calling him up."

They come up with a plan. Not a great one, but Ace isn't sure there are any great plans given the situation. He also tactfully avoids mentioning his personal history with Vittorio to either Zarina or Élodie, keeping quiet about his reservations. They all agree there's no way to get Vittorio to visit a house owned by demon hunters, so Ace will tell Vittorio to meet him at a nearby hotel. There, he'll hopefully meet up with Ace and Felix and Ace will get the tattoo he needs. 

Where things get a little dicey is with whether Vittorio will even agree should he see Ace chained next to a demon hunter himself. Élodie insists that it's too dangerous, that Felix can't go alone to where there will be two manipulative demons. Ace argues that it's the only shot they have. It's not like Ace can go alone, and he could probably get Vittorio to believe that the summoning mishap could have really just been a freak accident. But the plan is dicey. Because there's no good way to make Vittorio believe that Felix is going along with the plan willingly. It seems like a dead end until-

"What if I pretended to be a thrall?" Felix asks, his voice quiet but steady. "We tell Vittorio that when the chain was formed, you got the jump on me, and now instead of a demon hunter, I'm just a thrall, and I'm more than happy to go along with what you want."

"Absolutely not!" says Élodie, at the same moment Ace says "No way." Which ironically, might have been the first time they've ever agreed on anything. both stare at Felix, who crosses his arms over his chest. 

"Either of you have a better idea then? It's a story that makes sense, and it explains why I'd be going along with the plan."

Ace doesn't have an answer to Felix's challenge, and judging by the silence, neither does Élodie. they just continue to stare at each other, the silence spreading throughout the kitchen.

"Do you really think you'd be able to fool him?" Zarina asks.

"I spent years pretending to be loyal to a demonic cult and had nearly a hundred humans and demons combined fooled the whole time," Felix says, his voice flat. "I think I can manage being mute and staring at a wall for a minute."

Élodie shakes her head. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you being a thrall," she says. "You'd have no way to defend yourself against two demons. What if they try something?"

"I'm not actually going to be a thrall, you know," Felix tells her. "Just pretending. If things go wrong I can still fight back." Then he looks over at Ace. "And what's your reason?"

"I've never taken a thrall before. It just makes me uncomfortable."

"Well it's not going to be real."

"Oh believe me, I know." Ace shrinks on himself a little, feeling strange all of a sudden. "It's just, Vittorio knows how opposed I am to it. He wouldn't believe me if all of a sudden, I said my views on it had changed."

At the mention of Vittorio's name, Felix's expression softens, as he gives Ace the same look he did last night. Ace sets his jaw and turns away, drumming his fingertips on the countertop instead.

"Couldn't you tell him you didn't have a choice?" asks Felix. "Our story already has us getting stuck through some accident, couldn't you have panicked and enthralled me just to save your life. Vittorio would believe that. You can't be held accountable for what you did when your life was on the line!"

It's a good plan, which absolutely sucks. Felix is right and Ace hates it. "Fine," he says. "You're wrong about that last bit though, but I'll save the philosophy debate for another time."

If Felix hears the stiffness in his voice, he chooses to ignore it. Instead, he turns back to Élodie. "And do you have any objection that actually makes sense?" he asks through gritted teeth. Élodie purses her lips but doesn't give an answer. "Well then that settles it. Do you want to contact him now?" 

"Fine. Just try not to freak out too much," says Ace before taking a step away from the counter, closes his eyes, and tries to focus on mentally contacting Vittorio. He knows from the outside, he must look horrifying. His pupils go white and eyes get all bloodshot. 

Since Ace had become a demon, this was the best way demons had contacted each other. A sort of limited telepathy between two of them. At first, Ace had wondered why he hadn't been hearing from anyone, demanding to know his location, but now he has a working theory. The communication required one demon to actively seek out the other and open a path of communication which the second responded to. He wonders now, if the chain is preventing other demons from contacting him. Ace just hopes it won't block him from reaching out to another.

Vittorio, he tries, any chance this is coming through?

The voice he hears in the back of his head sends a cold chill down his back. It's one he's not heard in awhile, and hearing it again certainly wasn't something he was keen on doing. Well, this is most certainly a surprise he hears. You've created quite a stir down here, you know. Got a lot of demons looking for you.

Are you one of them? Ace silently asks. Because if so, this conversation is over.

No, there's better uses for my time. But I do think your old friend Caleb is up there, looking for you.

At the mention of the name, Ace winces. Of all the times he'd almost managed to get away from his pact before, it had been almost always been Caleb dragging him back down to hell. Getting caught again is a terrifying process, even with a handful of demon hunters around.

Vittorio isn't finished yet, it seems. But in the meantime, what did happen to you? You've gotten pretty well hidden this time, left everyone all sorts of curious.

Ace wonders how true that is. If so, does he really want to risk letting Vittorio know where he is? When he might finally have gotten away for once? But then, he thinks about Felix, and Ace really can't force him to keep living like this. He needs to do this, even if it means risking everything. I can explain another time, but not right now. I need your help with something.

An unsettling laugh rattles through the back of his mind. Oh, I knew it wouldn't be long until you came crawling back, begging for something.

Ace opens his eyes and scowls. "What is it?" Felix asks, but Ace doesn't answer him.

It isn't begging. It's a trade offer. I need a tattoo from you, and have a Pactstone in it for you.

There's a pause for a moment and Ace worries that Vittorio's gone. It takes almost a full minute for his response, and when it does come, Ace jolts in surprise. A Pactstone, you say? Now I'm curious how you got your hands on one of those.

Well, it's yours if you help me out.

Sure. The response is confident, assured. Just tell me when and where.

Ace quickly gives Vittorio the name of the hotel they'd agreed on earlier. As soon as you can get there.

Hmm. Surprised you stayed that close to Vegas. That's ballsy of you, I'll say. I can be there tonight... let's say midnight.

I'll see you then, Ace says before ending the connection between them. "He agreed to meet us. Tonight," he says, looking back at the others.

"Good," says Felix. "We're one step closer to solving all of this then." But despite his optimistic outlook, the atmosphere in the kitchen is heavy.

Finally, Élodie speaks up. "Okay, then. Fine. We'll leave here at ten, and we'll hope he shows up alone." Her voice is gravely, the skepticism evident in her voice. 

"There's no we here," Ace says immediately. "You can't come with us. If Vittorio gets wind that there are more demon hunters in the area, he'll never agree to this." 

But Élodie is sticking her ground. "Do you have any idea how utterly insane this all is? Both of you? Because like three days ago, I find out, there's been an incubus living in my house for a week, chained to my best friend. But no, I'm not supposed to kill this one, because it might kill Felix as a result. Maybe, according to said demon, who really isn't a trustworthy source right now."

Ace opens his mouth to argue, but Élodie beats him to it. "No, just listen to me for more then five seconds. So now, we're going to meet a second demon, who most certainly is going to help for reasons this same demon won't actually explain, but it's too scary for me to come with? And it's so that this demon can get some magical tattoo that is going to help him, but do absolutely nothing for us. And I find out you're sleeping together, and I'm just supposed to think this is normal? That I'm the crazy one for doubting this?"

Ace shares a look with Felix, both of them clearly unable how to respond. Worst thing is that Élodie is right about all of it, and Ace doesn't know what to say.

It's Zarina who finally breaks the silence. "What if we take different cars? I mean, we're meeting at a hotel. Vittorio is going to expect to see other humans there. But if we go separately, he'd have no way of telling we're hunters. We'd be just like any other guests there."

Felix nods in agreement, and Ace can feel three pairs of eyes on him. There's a bit of a stalemate between him and Zarina, waiting to see who's going to answer first. And Ace really isn't in the mood to drag this conversation out. "I guess that works," is all he says.

"Fine. Separate cars," says Élodie.

The kitchen cold war continues for a few more minutes, the awkward silence only broken by Felix awkwardly trying to keep cooking. 

"Well, I for one think that's a great plan, Felix," Zarina says.

Felix thanks her quietly and seems to briefly hesitate with his plate in hand, trying to decide whether to stay in the kitchen and eat or retreat back to their bedroom. Eventually he decides on the latter, dragging Ace upstairs with him. 

The day passes in a strange way. Ace doesn't do much, just sits on the bed while Felix reads. At one point, Felix calls the hotel and places a reservation under a fake name. But Ace doesn't do much, just stares at the wall. He's painfully aware of each minute. Each second. 

And yet, before long, his head snaps to the clock. "It's already nine-thirty?"

Beside him, Felix has gotten up from the desk and has started going over his supplies. He's not nearly as well armed as Ace usually sees him, going in with only a single, absolutely tiny dagger hidden on him. If it comes down to a fight, it won't be enough, but Ace knows there's no pointing in saying that. He also packs a first aid kit, one they'll hide in the hotel room when they arrive, in case things get violent and Felix needs to clean up after. And a spare change of clothes just in case. They don't want to walk out covered in blood.

They go outside to where Élodie is tossing a small bag into the back of an extraordinarily well-stocked car. All sorts of charms and artifacts, most likely relics from Zarina's own work and not meant to be useful for tonight. Élodie waves briefly at Felix, and Ace spots Zarina already in the driver's seat. 

Ace has gotten slightly better at shimmying into the passenger seat from the left side of the car. He plops into the seat as Felix starts up the car and follows Zarina into the night.

\"So uh, about the plan," Ace says quietly, a few minutes after they hit the freeway. "Have you seen a lot of thralls before? Do you know... what they're like?"

"A few," Felix answers, his tone clipped. "Why do you ask?"

"I mean, you know how you're going to act once we get there?"

"Quiet. I won't say anything, keep my eyes on the floor. Won't do anything unless you tell me to." Felix keeps his eyes forward as he answer, his jaw locked. Even knowing the whole thing is an act, just hearing Felix's plan puts a sinking feeling in Ace's gut. He doesn't mention it though, just stares out the window. "Also, you said you had leverage? A way to ensure he'll actually do it?"

"Yeah, that won't be a problem." Ace hopes to leave it at that but when they reach a red light, Felix glances over at him, clearly expecting an answer. "Have you ever heard of a Pactstone?"

"No."

"They're used in demon deals, and they're unbelievably powerful. See, a demon deal is only valid if the demon can hold up their end of the bargain. So if someone tried to sell their soul to - oh I don't know - blow up the moon I guess, I wouldn't be able to take that deal because I obviously am not powerful enough for it. But these Pactstones, they unleash an ungodly amount of power for a split second, that would let any demon do something way out of the realms of their power. But they can only be activated by making a deal. They're useless until then."

"Why don't we make a deal then?" Felix asks. "Trade something in exchange for the tattoo. Why contact Vittorio?"

Ace shakes his head. "Because I'm hanging onto mine until I can get someone's soul for it. And this isn't worth your soul, obviously."

Felix snorts at that, and Ace looks over, thinking he'll say something. But the light turns green and Felix looks back at the road and continues driving. Before long, they pull into the place. Zarina's car is already there, a few rows over in the same parking lot. "Alright," Felix says, pulling the key out of the ignition. "Shall we?"

He reaches for the car door but Ace stops him, grabbing his arm. "Wait. I can sense a demonic presence nearby. Vittorio's already here. Probably watching to catch us off guard."

Felix nods stiffly. "Alright. I'll follow your lead then." Felix takes a deep breath, and then everything changes.

Felix doesn't do anything subtle, but the shift is so intense, Ace is unsettled. Felix's eyes, which had previously been aware and alert lose their focus, staring blankly ahead. While he'd previously been sitting in the car perfectly straight, he slumps a little, closing in on himself. The muscles in his jaw, his hands, his chest go limp, forcing himself to seem less threatening, and more agreeable. Even his breathing sounds more subdued.

And suddenly, Ace realizes he might be the bigger liability when it comes to putting on an act. Convincing Vittorio he's created and then kept a thrall, that he's somehow in control and okay with all of this is going to be a challenge. And with Felix unable to do anything of his own volition for the short term future, it all falls on Ace's shoulders.

"Okay, let's go then," he says quietly. Felix doesn't move, but takes a short breath in. A challenge. A reminder.

Right. He needs to be more believable. "Get out of the car," he amends, voice harsher, and the words feel sour on his tongue. There's no response, but Felix mechanically grabs the door handle and pops it open. Stepping out and waiting for Ace to join him. Ace quickly uses his shapeshifting power to obscure his tail and horns from every human in the area, except Felix of course. Then he grabs the small bag they packed, and slams the car door behind him. 

"Keys," he adds, and it's still phrased like too much of a question, but Felix lifts his hand with a single, flawless motion and drops the key into Ace's hand. Without a word, Ace turns and walks towards the front entrance, not looking back and trusting he'll be followed.

And Felix does. He stays a half step behind Ace the whole way, quiet the whole time. And Ace realizes this is it. There's no more time to talk, no last reassurances or contingency plans. They're going to meet Vittorio, and despite having Felix right next to him, Ace has never felt so alone.

"Hello, what can I do for you this evening?" asks the woman at the front desk. Her black hair is pulled up into a tight bun and she gives the perfect customer-service smile as Ace approaches.

"Checking in," Ace says with a smile that looks happier than he feels. "Under a-" shit, what was the name? "Reid"

The woman nods and types into her computer for a few seconds. "Marcus?" she asks with a smile.

"That's the one."

"Great. Give me just a moment," she says. "Looks like you'll be in room 214 - the elevators are just down the hall to the right." She puts a keycard on the desk, but keeps it firmly pressed beneath her lime green acrylic nails. "All I need now is to see an ID."

And Ace hesitates. Because of course this was the one thing they didn't plan for. they know what to expect with Vittorio, but if they cant' get into the damn hotel room without rousing suspicion, it's all for nothing. Behind him, Felix doesn't say anything, because he can't right now. 

So Ace turns back to the woman and tilts his head to the side before leaning and dropping his voice to a low, richer tone. "Why don't you just give me the key tonight, sweetheart. I've had a long day, and need to get off my feet as soon as possible." The woman's eyes get glassy as the incubus charm takes hold. 

"Oh. Of course, Sir. You have a great night now," she says with that same, too-perfect smile. She slides the keycard across towards Ace before retracting her arm. 

"You too," Ace says before turning and leaving the lobby, headed for the elevators. The soft music in the elevator doesn't do nearly enough to calm his nerves, and he finds he can't say a word about it. And while Ace has spent the last twelve years dealing with this shit alone without problem, the silence suddenly feels lonely.

They make it to the room with no problem, stow the bag under one of the beds. All that's left to do is wait. Ace sits on the foot of the bed while Felix stands next to him, eyes trained on the floor, silent, acting his role perfectly. All that's left is for Ace to play his. Ace fiddles with the chain once before letting it drop between him.

And then, there's a knock on the door.

Chapter Text

Demon deals are a rare event, as most humans remain ignorant to the existence of demons, and of the small percentage that know of their existence, most are not foolish enough to make such pacts. Those who do make deals with demons can be characterized by one of two groups. The first are short-sighted, selfish individuals with no sense of foresight. Those people who are incapable of thinking of an eternity spent in Hells upon their death as payment, and are enticed by temporary riches, success, or whatever else they ask for. These people ask for simple things. Fame. Power. Wealth. Revenge, occasionally. These people are impossible to find sympathy for. They know what they're getting into but cannot fathom the expanse of infinity. Trading endless suffering for soon-to-end pleasures? To most, that feels foolish. To them, it's short-sighted, temporary paradise. It's impossible to feel sympathy for these people when they meet their end. Those who face the consequences of their own foolishness perhaps deserve such an agonizing fate.

The second group, however, is much smaller. And perhaps the more tragic victims of a demon deal. These people, oddly enough are the complete opposite of the first. Characterized by compassion, love, or perhaps fear and despair. These are people who make deals to save lives or better them. A martyr who sells his soul in exchange for a cure for his child's terminal illness. A woman who condemns herself to hell so that her town may be saved from an earthquake. These people meet the same fate: selling their soul and becoming demons upon their deaths. And their afterlife will be no less agonizing, but perhaps their tragedies do indeed invoke a little more sympathy or compassion.

And, dear reader, I'm afraid I haven't been entirely truthful. For there is a third type of human that dares deal with a demon. This kind so rare, so uncommon that it's worth little more than a footnote. These people find something worth trading other than their own soul. And this is the most dangerous type of human. For demonic powers are theirs, but they save themselves from damnation.

V. Toscano - Musings from Below

"Ace, it's been awhile," says Vittorio as he enters the room. There's a smug smile on his face that drops when he looks over at Felix, recognition in his eyes. For his part, Felix doesn't move a muscle, just continues to keep his eyes at the ground in between them. Though Ace can see a fain twitch in his eyebrow, as he forces himself not to look up. "And, who's this?"

"Just some demon hunter," Ace says, trying to sound nonchalant. "Summoned me after I escaped a scrap in Vegas, but fucked up the spell. He almost killed me, but I managed to enthrall him at the last second."

But Vittorio just pushes past him, staring at Felix instead, looking curious. He circles slowly, stopping when he's standing right behind Felix, who still hasn't moved an inch. "Just some demon hunter?" he asks. "Is that all you think he is?"

Ace's heart lurches, uneasy. But he plays along. "If there's more, enlighten me."

"Well, it's been years," says Vittorio, completing the circle but still staring at Felix. "But it's unmistakable. That's Jonas Richter's boy. One of the defects from the Dyer Island experiments. Grimes's favorite, I think." He looks back and must notice how confused Ace is. "Right. Sometimes I forget how new to this you are. Happened while you were still human, I think."

Vittorio eyes the chain between the two of them, running a fingertip across the shining metal. "I thought you were against taking thralls for yourself. How'd you manage this one? On one of the greatest demon hunters of all time, no less?"

Instinctively, Ace wants to look away but he knows he can't. He forces himself to watch Vittorio head on, keeping his gaze steady. "He tried to summon me to kill me. I panicked and he had a knife to my throat. Puts things into perspective," he lies, hoping the words come out with more confidence than he feels right now. Vittorio seems to buy it, so he nods. "And what do you mean, one of the greatest of all time?"

"Well, fifteen years ago he and the other. The Rakoto girl, they turned all of southern Germany into a no fly zone. Demons were warned throughout the Hells to stay away from there. Then, they disappeared, and now it seems they've popped up on the other side of the world, and apparently, one of them is your thrall."

"So you're surprised by my competency," Ace says flatly. "Can we just get to business now?"

"Of course. Why don't you show me this tattoo you're after and I'll see what I can do."

From the pocket of his jacket, Ace grabs the crumpled up diagram of the tattoo. "You know a little bit of human magic, right? Would this be able to hide me?" Vittorio takes the paper roughly, looking completely skeptical at first, but slowly his face smooths out in seriousness, then contemplation and realization. 

"It should," he says, sounding genuinely shocked. But then his tone smooths out. "It looks legitimate. It doesn't seem to be exclusive to demonic protection, but no creature, demon or human, would be able to find you from long distance. Scrying, spying, other magical measures, they'll all fail. But, so will your ability to communicate with other demons. The same way you contacted me to get help? That'll be gone for good."

Ace thinks about it for a minute. No one being able to see him or contact him? He'd be free, as long as he stays hidden from the demons already on Earth. It wouldn't be easy. Six hundred years of looking over his shoulder, never staying in one place for too long. But what's the alternative? The same amount of time doing awful work, trying to convince unaware humans to sell their souls and share their fates? It's not even a question.

"Can you do it tonight?" Ace asks.

"I have my supplies with me," Vittorio answers. "Do you have the Pactstone you promised?"

Ace nods stiffly. He focuses his incubus magic to reach into a small, pocket dimension and pull out a small crystal from thin air. It's a dark blue with a blood red center, with pulsing cracks like veins piercing through the blue layer. It's about the size of his palm, and the most precious thing Ace has ever owned. But he's confident. This trade will be worth it.

His hand is steady as he reaches out, and places it in Vittorio's outstretched palm. Vittorio closes his long fingers around it, turning it over in his palm as he inspects it. "Well, you're full of surprises, my Dear, aren't you? Getting your hands on a Pactstone, taking a thrall. You've been busy, and I really should thank you. It's made my life that much simpler as of late."

"Do we have a deal?" Ace asks through gritted teeth.

"Oh we most certainly do." Vittorio flicks his wrist and the Pactstone vanishes, replaced by a magical tattoo needle. It looks almost a syringe, just without the plunger at the bottom and a sharper needle at the tip. Deep blue ink with a shining silver undertone swirls around the center barrel. "Where do you want it?"

"My shoulder," Ace says confidently. "Right on the middle."

Five minutes later, Ace is sitting on the corner of the bed, Vittorio beside him in the desk chair he'd dragged over. And Felix is sitting on the floor, legs crossed, hands still in his lap. "Alright, let's get this over with," Ace says as Vittorio smooths out the diagram and presses the needle to Ace's shoulder.

"Try not to cry too much, at least this time," Vittorio says, his voice cold. Ace opens his mouth to retort but at that moment, the needle pierces Ace's skin for the first time and he has to clamp his mouth shut to avoid grunting in pain.

Ace knew the tattoo was going to hurt, had been preparing for the pain. But this? This is an intensity he never expected. The silver in the ink burns, as if his blood is bubbling and boiling just beneath the service. 

When Vittorio pushes a little harder, Ace sucks in a sharp breath and tries to ignore the way Vittorio chuckles at it. The pain shooting through his shoulder grows stronger and he tightens his grip on Felix's shoulder. He knows his own hand must feel like a vice but can't let go.

"So if Talbot is such a famous demon, how come I've never heard of him?" Ace asks through gritted teeth, trying to at least get some info out of Vittorio in the meantime. But he tries to keep his voice nonchalant, doesn't want Vittorio to get suspicious of his questions.

"Well, after the Dyer Island events wrapped up twenty some years ago, he hasn't done much to earn any notoriety. Just stays on the island I think, doing research," Vittorio explains. "And well, he isn't a demon. He's nothing but a human at the end of the day."

That doesn't make any sense. Felix's story- Talbot being a demon was central to all of it. "Really?" Ace asks, hiding any of his surprise.

"Yeah, strange right? That a human could gain so much renown in hell. And if you look at him, fuck, he even looks like a demon. Glowing eyes, nasty skin."

"So why's he working with demons then?" Ace asks.

"He made a deal, a few centuries ago," Vittorio says. "See, most humans, when they make a deal with a demon they have nothing to trade but their souls. But Talbot? Absolute genius, that man. Studied all sorts of things from demons to human physiology. Rumor has it though, he has one fear. His own death. So from what I've heard, he made a deal. He performs research on whatever hell is interested in in exchange for his lifespan being expanded."

Then Vittorio's voice drops low. "But frankly, the last centuries have changed him. He's lost all of his humanity. He's gone crazy, obsessive even." Any more conversation on the topic is cut off as a particularly sharp poke causes Ace to tense up again.

Ace briefly looks up, hoping to check in with Felix, but he's turned away, staring straight at the floor. Unlike Ace, who has every muscle clenched and coiled, Felix is clearly forcing himself to remain lax, leaving his body loose while the tension no doubt pools in his mind. It makes sense, Ace figures. A thrall right now would have no reason to be on edge. It's equal parts impressive and terrifying, watching Felix pretend to be okay, acting like a thrall, unaware of the danger he's in. He hasn't physically reacted to what Vittorio said about Talbot, but Ace knows it must be on his mind.

There's a small mirror on the wall in front of them and Ace stares at Felix's expression, as if silently willing him to look up at him. But Felix doesn't move his head. It isn't until Vittorio presses the needle back in and Ace hisses out a muted "fuck" that Felix looks up at him through the mirror. Their eyes meet for half a second, but Ace doesn't see any light behind Felix's. And in an instant, Felix is looking back at the floor.

"Almost done," Vittorio says flatly, pausing for a moment to double check the diagram. 

Ace grits his teeth and nods. His job isn't that hard. He can do this. So he sits and tries to manage the pain when suddenly, he notices a strange sensation. His fingertips are wet. Not the whole pad of his finger, just a few small dots. Slowly, he glances down at his hand, trying not to draw attention. But he can't see the tips of his fingers, still scrunched in Felix's shirt. There's no great way for him to look now, so Ace just waits.

Another flash of pain pricks into his arm and he winces again, hunching over at the stomach, and this time, Vittorio comments, the needly no longer moving. "You never quite had the pain tolerance expected of our kind. But this much a reaction from something so harmless? How you survived those early years in Hell I'll never understand."

"Shut up," Ace gasps. "Just get this finished already."

Vittorio doesn't continue, instead his grip on Ace's arm tightening until it hurts, a pinching, stinging pain matching the needle in his shoulder. Ace looks over at him and Vittorio's expression has hardened into a glare. "You should remember your place. You don't get to demand anything of me." And just as soon as it happens, Vittorio eases his grip again, his point made.

Ace nods and bites his bottom lip to keep himself from responding and making it all worse. He just shuts his eyes and waits for the agony to end. 

After what feels like a short eternity, the needle is pulled away. "There you are. It's done."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because like it or not, I am a man of my word," Vittorio says calmly. "And I wasn't lying earlier when I said the longer you stay on the run, the more attention drawn away from me."

"You're really going to make a play for the throne?"

"I'd be foolish not to." With a flick of his wrist, Vittorio makes the tattoo needle vanish into thin air. He carefully stands up, brushing his hands together. "And frankly, you'd better be cheering for me. You really think you'll survive six hundred more years on the run?"

Ace grimaces. "Any time away is better than being back there."

"Whatever you say," Vittorio says with a shrug. "Oh, and one more thing before I go."

"What is it?" Ace asks. 

Vittorio sucks in a breath, his eyes shifting briefly to Felix before looking back at Ace. "Actually, I need to show you something private. Have your thrall turn around for me?" His inflection makes it sound like a question, but Ace knows better. 

Still, now isn't the time for arguments. "Sure," he says simply, before also looking at Felix. "Turn around, towards the window."

Never breaking the act, Felix gives a single, sharp nod before turning on his heel, facing directly away from them. But instead of revealing anything, Vittorio takes a couple steps away, towards the door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ace asks.

Vittorio stops and puts a hand in the pocket of his jacket. "Testing a theory," he says calmly, before whipping a small, silver throwing knife from the pocket and hurling it towards Ace with superhuman speed. There's no time for Ace to do anything, caught off guard and with such poor reflexes. For a second, all he can think about is that he's going to die and-

-and somehow, Felix must know, because from where he's standing, he whips around. He doesn't catch the blade but his forearm connects with the handle, sending the knife clattering harmlessly to the floor.

Ace finally has enough time for his brain to process and for him to properly freak out. "What the hell?" he asks, glaring at Vittorio, who has a grin on his face. Beside him though, Felix seems to have given up on the act, as he immediately grabs his own knife, body straightening out as he takes a step in front of Ace.

But Vittorio holds his hands up defensively. "No need to do anything dramatic," he says. "Just proving a point."

"What point?" Ace asks. Beside him, Felix seems to have figured it out already, but Ace is still confused.

Vittorio laughs and gestures at Felix. "He ignored your order," Vittorio explains. "Which tells me I was right. You are utterly incapable of taking a thrall. You can't lie to me, you know." It all falls into place, and Ace understands. They'd never had Vittorio convinced. He'd just been going along with it until he had a chance to expose everything. Ace had been played. Again.

"Sorry," Felix mutters, looking back at the floor.

"If it's any consolation, you could've fooled me," Vittorio tells him. "Was a rather convincing attempt. Sadly, it was doomed from the beginning. Because as convincing you were, I know Ace far too well. He's too weak to enthrall anyone."

Felix clenches his jaw and turns back to Vittorio. He flips the knife over in his hand, wielding it threateningly. "Leave. Now."

"You've changed," Vittorio tells Felix. "From what I heard you used to be sharper. A little more cutthroat. Now you've not only spared the life of a demon, but you're helping him." He takes a step forward, closing the distance between them until their faces are mere inches apart. Felix tightens his grip on the knife, but he doesn't strike. "I'd ask what broke you, but I think we both know the answer to that."

With that, Vittorio turns and walks out the door. 

The sound door shutting snaps Ace from his stupor. "Well, that could've gone a lot better," he says, trying to sound happier than he feels. He drags the knife on the floor closer to him with his foot. "Thanks for not letting me die," he says, but there's no response.

Felix looks unsteady as he pushes past Ace, not even acknowledging him. He crouches to the ground and pulls the bag out from under the bed. Probably so they can get going, Ace thinks.

But instead Felix pulls the first aid kit from the bag and takes a couple rolls of bandages out. He tosses it on the bed before unbuttoning and sliding off his shirt. Ace is about to ask what he's up to when Felix turns and then he sees it. Between the front of his shoulder and his collarbone, Felix has streaks of blood slowly trickling down his front. There's four nearly identical puncture wounds and Ace looks down at his own hand in horror, seeing that the pads of his fingers are red with blood.

Shit. He must have instinctively extended his claws while Vittorio was tattooing him - directly into Felix's shoulder. When Ace realizes it, he feels awful, and simply stands there still while Felix cleans up the wound and begins to bandage it. "I'm so sorry," he says, but Felix just waves him off.

But when Felix finishes with the ones on his front, he twists his upper body to get a look at his own shoulder, and Ace spots a larger wound on his back, where his thumb had been. But this one is in such an awkward spot on his shoulder blade, that Ace watches Felix struggle to reach it, trying to clean up a wound he can't see.

"Hey, let me help with that," Ace says, gently putting a hand on Felix's shoulder. But Felix immediately spins around, grabbing Ace by the wrist and shoving him away.

"Don't touch me!" he says with a wild sort of frenzy, his eyes full of fear. And suddenly everything makes sense.

Felix hadn't been acting.

Not entirely, at least. 

The silence and the tension that had permeated the last hour suddenly seem so much heavier, and Ace feels guilty for not having realized sooner. But hearing Vittorio talk about him like that must have done a number on Felix, and Ace hadn't done a thing.

He must space out because suddenly there's a firm tug on the chain and Ace follows Felix to the bathroom, where Felix stands, back towards the mirror, awkwardly craning his head to see his reflection to try and clean and cover the last wound that Ace had left. It's a difficult process, and Felix winces in pain as he awkwardly stretches his shoulder out, but he still must think it's better than asking Ace for help, which stings a little bit. 

The fluorescent lights above them hum, the only sound for a couple of minutes while Felix finishes up and washes his hands. "Are you ready to go?" he asks, as he puts on the new shirt. Ace doesn't budge, doesn't move an inch, so Felix turns back to him "Do you need something?"

Finally Felix looks at him. The lines in his face are all smoothed out and his tone is low and even. He's acting again, and Ace wants to scream at him to stop. "Are you okay?" Ace asks, even though he knows he won't get an answer. 

Felix makes that same expression he must have practiced a million times. I'm fine practically etched into his lips. But he seems to stop for a moment and reconsider. "No. I'm not, but there's nothing to do about it. Let's go."

Well, at least he isn't lying about it.

The wind has picked up by the time they leave the hotel. It might rain later, Ace thinks, as they reach the car. Felix barely waits for Ace to buckle his seatbelt, the engine roaring as he skids out of the parking lot and onto the road. By the time they reach the highway, his knuckles have gone white against the wheel. 

Ace leans back against the car and closes his eyes, anticipating another silent car ride home. But no sooner does he settle against the leather than when a loud slam startles him. Ace jumps to see Felix breathing heavy, with a closed fist on the dashboard he just punched. A second later the car swerves recklessly, drifting close to the shoulder of the road before Felix gets it back under control. 

"Woah!" Ace says loudly. His heart racing, he nearly puts a hand on Felix's shoulder before remembering their last similar interaction, and - not wanting to make the driving worse - back off. "Either chill out or pull over."

"He was human," is all Felix says in response. He drives a little more carefully, but the speed never goes down. Eventually, he pulls off the highway, onto the road that'll eventually lead back to the safehouse. 

And that confuses Ace too. Talbot being a human is what was bothering Felix this whole time? Not the shit with Vittorio? Not getting clawed up and having to act like it didn't matter? "Why's that so upsetting? Humans can be just as shitty as demons, you know. It's not like- holy shit!"

Because Felix nearly sails through a stop sign, slamming on the breaks only seconds before colliding with a minivan that had been driving through the intersection. He expected the stop, but Ace is flung forward in the seat, crying out as the seat belt goes taut and stops him with a sudden force just before he collides with the dash.

But when he looks at Felix for either an explanation or an apology, he is met with silence.  Felix stares forward, glaring at the roads ahead of them as if they've personally offended him. His speed does finally reach an acceptable level, and Ace takes that as a win as they ride through the night. 

It isn't until they pull into the driveway of the safehouse that Felix finally tears his gaze away. He stares at his hands for a long time before finally whispering, "It means I could've killed him."

Things finally click for Ace. Felix and Élodie spent decades hunting down demons, not entirely, but largely because of what Talbot had done. And to find out that the monster who'd ruined his life was a human? And not a demon? Ace can't even imagine. But he sure can empathize. 

So when they do get out of the car, three minutes of brooding silence later, Ace reaches out and puts a hand on Felix's forearm, just beneath his elbow. And while Felix jolts at first, Ace doesn't let go until they get inside. 

"Where are we headed?" Ace asks simply. "Bedroom? Kitchen?"

But Felix just walks to the living room, Ace following close behind. "Élodie will want to know what happened," he says, plopping down on the couch. Problem is, Felix stretches out across the entire couch, leaving no empty space. So Ace awkwardly drags a large easy chair from nearby until it's pressed flush against the couch. That way, when he sits down, there's just barely enough slack for both of them to sit. 

Élodie and Zarina get home fifteen minutes later. Probably left later to avoid suspicion... and drove at a sane pace. But when Ace straightens up to greet them, Felix doesn't move. Ace turns back and sees that Felix is out cold. 

"That bad?" Zarina asks lightly, gesturing at Felix. Élodie is still in the hall, tossing her shoes off and putting them in the closet. 

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes when things get particularly rough, either the PTSD or the stress, he gets real high-strung. Pissed off at everything. Then just, crashes," she explains, right as Élodie enters the room. 

"What happened?" she demands, so loudly that Zarina and Ace flinch. Felix doesn't stir though. 

"I got the tattoo, that part went okay," Ace begins.

"But?"

"Vittorio. He recognized Felix. And knew you apparently. You guys are a little famous, apparently, to demons. Too famous, and Vittorio realized Felix would never have been enthralled, so we had our cover blown."

"I knew it was a bad idea," Élodie mutters, crossing her arms. "Never should've let him do it."

"There's more though," Ace explains. "Apparently, that Talbot guy? He's a human, according to Vittorio." Elodie's jaw drops open, as she just stares, not moving, clearly stunned. "And all Felix said after was that if he'd known he would've been able to kill him."

Élodie is quiet for a moment, lips parted in shock. She glares at Ace as though this is all his fault. When she finally speaks, her voice is raspy. "Wow. All this time." But then, she turns on her heel and pulls out her phone. "I need to call Haddie back." She turns and leaves the room.

Which leaves Ace, Zarina, and Felix, still asleep alone in the living room. "Did it work?" Zarina asks softly after a moment. 

"Well, I don't have a great way of proving it, not until the chain is gone. But even though I hate the guy, I don't think Vittorio lied to us." Zarina stays tense but nods in agreement. The quiet festers, leaving them both out of sorts until Ace finally asks, "Who is Haddie? I've heard you two mention her a couple times now."

Zarina's face goes slack and she winces a little, perhaps at a painful memory. "I've known Haddie for nine years. We didn't work directly together, but she used to hunt demons too. Had some sort of sixth sense, similar to you, really. Even though she's human, she could always sense the presence of other demons in the area. Made her really good at what she did. About seven, eight years ago, the three of us hunted down a pretty big nest of demons together in California."

"But you guys don't work together anymore?"

Zarina sighs, fidgeting with the zipper on her jacket. "No. One of our hunts when wrong. Haddie went missing that night, and no matter how much we looked for her, we couldn't find her. Élodie and I spent five months trying to find her but we failed. Found out one of the demons we were hunting got the jump on her while she was alone and possessed her."

Ace groans slightly. In his last few years, he's seen his fair share of demons possessing humans. The results were never pretty. And to be a demon hunter possessed? Being acutely aware of what actually had happened but unable to stop it? Sounds terrifying.

"When we found her later, it had been two years. We exorcised the demon, but I mean, Haddie was different. Scared. A mess. Broken. Since then, we keep in contact, but she's still in a bad spot. In and out of hospitals and psychiatric wards, just trying to cope with it all."

"I'm so sorry to hear about that," Ace says quietly. Something Zarina said doesn't sit right with him, but he waits for Zarina to collect herself before he asks. "You said only three of you hunted together? You, Haddie, and Élodie. What about Felix?"

"I guess he didn't tell you. Not all that surprising really," Zarina says, more to herself than Ace. She glances over at the couch where Felix is still out cold. "I'm not sure how much of this I should tell you, but I met Élodie eleven months before I met Felix. Nine years ago, around the time I connected with Haddie. She was hunting solo because the two of them had had a fight. So bad they split up for fourteen months."

"Wow," is all Ace can bring himself to say. "What the hell could've done that? They seem so tight."

"I know. It surprised me too, once I finally met Felix. But it was a bad fight, and I think it might explain why Élodie was so upset to find out what of demon you are. See, the last hunt those two did together before the argument was an incubus."

Ace scoffs lightly. "I'll try not to take offense to that."

He means it as a joke but Zarina isn't laughing. Isn't even smiling. "But this one had taken a few thralls." Ace's smile drops, the gravity sinking in. Thralls disgust him, he would never bend someone's will, trick them into fully believing they loved him. "Three of them, and when the incubus saw Felix and Élodie, he ordered the thralls to attack until the hunters were dead. Problem, as I'm sure you know, with thralls, is that even if the incubus dies, they still try and follow orders."

Ace nods, much more serious now, understanding exactly what Zarina is getting at. She continues. "So, they managed to kill the incubus, and two of the thralls, they died in the scrap. It was messy, I heard from Élodie. But there was one more. And they subdued her, dragged her back to the warehouse, and I think chained her while looking for a cure."

"There isn't one," Ace whispers.

Zarina bows her head, making a hum of agreement. "Yeah, but Élodie - both of them were, but her especially - was persistent. They both spent weeks I think looking for something. Trying to find a solution, a treatment, anything."

"So what happened?"

"Well, one day, the thrall got out of the chains. Still tried to follow the incubus's orders. Élodie was closer, so she attacked her. Élodie had wanted to subdue her again. But Felix... he was a little faster."

The air between them feels heavy. The words seems to get stuck on Zarina's tongue, as if even recounting the story second hand is too heavy to share. "Felix shot her. She died instantly. And Élodie was pissed. All those weeks they'd spent trying to find something, gone in a second. The argument turned into a fight, and I don't know what happened after, but they didn't reconcile for over a year. I met Élodie while she was alone, just a little bit after I started working with Haddie."

Ace whistles lowly. It's hard to imagine Felix and Élodie fighting for more than a couple days, let alone a year. And it makes Élodie's reaction to finding out Ace is an incubus make a little more sense, unjustified as Ace thinks it may be. He gets where she's coming from at least.

"I don't think either of them ever got over what happened to the thrall," Zarina says softly. 

Ace cocks his head the side, looking at her. "Is that who the demon turned into back at the house where we found you?" he asks. "Was it the thrall? The woman Felix recognized." It would make sense. Felix hesitating when the demon took the form of someone he felt guilty about.

But Zarina shakes her head. "No, that was someone else." Her words are clipped short and she doesn't look him in the eye.

"Who was it then?"

Zarina takes a deep breath. Opens her mouth to say something then shuts it again. Finally, she says simply. "It's not my place to tell you that. That's for Felix to share."

There's something about her answer that doesn't sit right with Ace. But before he can press any further, he's interrupted by Felix waking up, sitting straight up on the couch, and screaming.

It's hot. Not the kind of how that makes out want to stretch out on the grass with a good book and work on your tan. No, it's a sticky hot that leaves you wondering how long you can go before you collapse. Even with his eyes closed, Felix can feel it, stinging his eyes beneath his eyelids. It makes the cement beneath Felix burn painfully, but he can't even manage to pick himself up. Pain runs down his right leg, blossoming in his ankle and spreading halfway up his calf. Sprained. Bad this time.

He's fifteen again, and sparing demons. His knife, tipped with blood from where he'd managed to only nick the demon in the wrist is just out of reach. He's too tired to cry, though even if he could he can't afford to. He just hopes this is the last one for the day. How many rounds has it been? Four? Five maybe? Unless, did the one where he fell to the ground and picked himself back up before the claws scratched his chest count as one or two?

It doesn't matter. Not really. He'll go until they're satisfied. Suddenly, the brightness behind his eyelids fades a little bit. Felix tries to open his eyes, though only one cooperates. The other is completely swollen shut. Talbot stands above him, blocking out the sun. "Get up," he says plainly, as if Felix is choosing to lay on the floor half dead.

Felix lolls his head to the side, grunting as he's grabbed by the collar and forced to his feet. When he tries to steady himself on his right foot and the pain nearly makes him cry out in pain. He's unsteady, his ankle throbbing in time with his heartbeat.  But he bites his tongue, just like he knows he has to. He looks up, expecting to be reprimanded for his failures again, but instead Talbot is looking at him with a faux compassion, a look of disdain masquerading as pity. "Do you know why I'm so much harder on you than the others your age?" he asks, putting a rotting hand on Felix's shoulder. He doesn't answer. He knows better by now. "Because you, you have potential. To be a great fighter. A leader someday. But fighters need to fight. You don't get strong without the challenge. Without the pain."

Felix is shoved forwards, and his ankle rolls a second time. A wave of nausea accompanies the visceral pain as the sprain only worsens. He coughs to avoid screaming in pain and getting scolded again. "One more round," Talbot said. "Then you can patch yourself up."

Felix tries to pretend that the words are comforting. He takes another step, wincing as his injured leg takes on the pressure. He should say something. Protest this. It all hurts. But the demon he faces just bares its teeth and rushes. There's no time. Felix only manages to put up his guard and brace himself before the next blow comes.

By the time he's done, there's blood flowing from Felix's shoulder from where he was most recently hit. And his damn ankle screams in pain. But he won, knocking the demon unconscious. His vision is blurry as the demon is dragged away and Felix falls to the ground

"You're getting stronger," Talbot says. "Almost becoming impressive."

Felix doesn't respond. He grabs at his leg, trying not to make a single sound of pain. He has to act. Pretend to be fine. Can't show any weakness.

"Get those wounds cleaned up, then get to bed," Talbot says, dropping a meager first aid kit to the ground into the dirt next to Felix. "You've earned a day off, but I'll see you out here the day after to continue this.

Felix just nods. But he doesn't reach for the bandages. He can't even see them anymore, his head is spinning so much. He gets dizzier and dizzier, and feels like he's going to throw up and then-

Felix wakes himself up with the sound of his own scream, bolting upright on the couch, breathing frantically. The ducks his head as he tries to catch his breath. A dream. It had all just been a dream. He spares a half second peak to Ace and Zarina, who are both watching him with concerned glances, but Felix doesn't respond. Just closes back in on himself and tries to catch his breath. It's more of a challenge this time, calming down. Even after a few seconds, calming breathes, he still feels uneasy and wound up. 

Because that wasn't his normal nightmare. No, that one was a memory. One he hadn't thought about in years. 

Behind him he hears Zarina sigh, a vaguely sympathetic sound, but he doesn't turn. A moment later, Élodie comes rushing in but immediately recognizes the all too familiar situation, and Felix doesn't bother to explain to her either. There's nothing to say that hasn't been said a dozen times. Felix puts a hand on the base of his neck, half to feel his own heartbeat settle, half to make sure he's awake. Alive. 

Élodie hands him a glass of water. It feels numb in Felix's hand but he drinks anyway. "We did it," he says once he finally finds words again. "All that's left is to break the chain."

"A few more days and this will all be behind us," Élodie says. "We're getting closer."

Behind Felix, Ace shifts, sitting up a little straighter, smiling when Felix turns to him. "I know tonight didn't go nearly as smoothly as we were hoping, but it worked, right? We got what we needed and then got back out, just fine. We should take the win."

Felix doesn't smile, but he nods. Zarina and Élodie seem to agree too. Felix traces a hand over his injured shoulder and tries to look on the bright side. They're all safe. They may not have fooled Vittorio, but they got what they came for. Mostly a victory at least. And for tonight, that'll have to be enough.

Chapter Text

In my time trapped with said demon, I found one thing particularly aggravating. The threats of death or torture were irritating yes, as were the violent - though truthfully, underwhelming - fits of rage. However, what I found to be the most frustrating of all (and this almost caused me to give up on the experiment early) was simply the sheer amount of time that the incubus spent talking. He never seemed to cease.

-Vigo's Journal

Felix has another nightmare that night while the two of them are laying in the bed. Ace had been distracted last time, talking to Zarina. Hadn't even noticed the nightmare. But now he can see it, the red and black web that only his incubus eyes can detect, pooling like a thick aura around Felix's forehead.

Ace reaches out to clear it again, but hesitates, pausing with his fingers mere inches from Felix. Curiosity stirs, a dark, deceptive thing, filling Ace's lungs with a conflicted sense of desire. Vittorio's words from earlier tonight still stick in his mind. The way he'd talked about Felix. Being dangerous, having once been much more cutthroat, something going wrong. Is it tied to the nightmare, he wonders.

Now, as his fingertips dangle in the air, grazing against the mass of the nightmare, Ace feels enthralled. If he wanted, he could view the nightmare. See exactly what it was Felix was dreaming about. And though he knows he shouldn't pry, it calls to him. Hells, he really should pull away, but instead, his curiosity shifts into something darker, and he reaches into Felix's dream, wanting to see it for himself.

The first thing he sees is a thick fog spread all around him. Ace feels a gust of wind and mud weighing him down in the ground. He hears a scream, feminine, frail,  and quickly drowned out by a chorus of cheers and then tears sting his eyes but they don't fall. 

Before him is a ring of demons. Two dozen or so in total, forming a tights circle that Ace can barely see past. He slowly treks forward, the mud clinging to his shoes, resisting every step. He pushes forward though, makes his way to the circle and finally sees what's in the center of the ring.

The fog is so thick, Ace can't even see the other side of the circle clearly, just vague shapes. But what he can see in the middle, is Felix. He's on his knees, back turned to Ace, crouched over another person. A woman, unmoving, beneath him. Her face is pale, and blood leaks from her chest. Even with the fog, Ace recognizes her instantly.

It's the woman from the basement. The one whose form the demon shapeshifter took.

Ace tries to get a better look at the woman. The injury, but shouting. "No, no, no! I tried. I swear, I tried." It's Felix. Shouting maybe at the woman, maybe at the demons around him. Slowly his head raises, and he turns to look in a slow circle.

But just before Felix turns to him, Ace remembers his promise. He was never supposed to be here. Never supposed to see this. With a deep breath, he pulls himself back out of the dream, returning the bedroom as he forces himself out of the dream.

Guilt hits him like a bucket of ice water over the head. Suffocating and chilling all at once. He holds the aura of the nightmare between his hands, hating himself for what he did, feeling sick to his stomach

Ace shakes his head and tries to think rationally. Sure, that was bad but he didn't actually stay long, and he stopped. So it could have at least been worse. He sighs; those thoughts don't offer much comfort right now. 

Slowly, Ace begins to work at the nightmare, undoing the throes that have formed a tight ball. He loosens each thread of the dream, hoping to at least do something in return for his betrayal. 

If there's any good to come out from this, it's that at the very least, the nightmare is a little weaker tonight. It pulls apart easily under Ace's magic, unraveling until at last the bad dream dissipates. Slowly, Ace returns the dreamless aura to Felix's mind and lays back on the bed beside him.

Regret still presses down on him, heavy on his chest, but Ace just hopes he's made up enough for it, ending the nightmare. He lays there in the silence for a little bit, on his side, facing Felix. Even in his sleep, he looks stressed. Jaw clenched, eyebrows knitted together. One again, Ace's fingers twitch, this time with a desire to reach out to Felix, but he doesn't. 

The next morning, Felix doesn't mention anything. No comment about having a nightmare, or noticing it being interrupted. Which means, hopefully, Ace wasn't in there long enough to make himself known.

Yet, as he watches Felix brush his teeth through the mirror it isn't guilt that plagues him but more of that curiosity. The fog, the demons, the woman, and Felix at the center of it all. Ace forces himself to look away and down at the countertop but it doesn't help. He's seen a little bit of the nightmare, the one Felix once said repeated again and again, and he feels terrible mostly because he wants to see more. Briefly, he wonders whether he should ask, he quickly strikes the thought from his mind. Instead he waits while Felix gets dressed before peering back at the mirror, this time gazing at his own reflection.

With a gentle flick of his hand, he dresses himself in a peach t-shirt, a black jacket, and faded jeans. Ace takes a couple more minutes to try out different shades of blue until he settles on a deep navy he likes.

"Are we leaving today?" is the first thing he says that morning. 

"Yes. Élodie wants to be out of here by nine. It'll be two nights on the road and and then hopefully, we'll get to Greenville by Wednesday afternoon." 

Ace winces at the thought of spending three days trapped in a car with all the others. He can already see it now. Fighting over the music, deciding on a place for lunch, all the little things that get so much worse with tight proximity. It's been hard enough these last couple weeks, and now? All four of them?

But it's a means to an end, Ace decides. Just a few more days, and he'll be gone for good. Hiding for years to come, never staying in one place all that long. But at least he won't be back in Hell.

There's nothing much to do while Felix packs what little he has. So Ace follows behind him as Felix empties the small dresser in the bedroom into a single suitcase. A handful of charges, toiletries, and other little things fill a small messenger bag, where the journal is tucked in a small hidden pocket. For as long as they've been living here, it's impressive, and almost sad just how quickly Felix's room is emptied of anything personal.

"We're the same, kind of," Ace says softly.

"What do you mean?"

"We both have traveled all over the place, and yet, never really stay anywhere."

Felix looks at him for a minute, holding his gaze, as if he's about to say something. But instead he just hums once and turns, headed to the hallway. Ace follows, closing the door without ceremony. 

Zarina is making breakfast when they get downstairs. The smell of eggs and sausages greets them before they round the corner. Élodie is sitting at the sink, washing the pan. There's paper plates and forks on the counter instead of the ordinary dishes, to make it easier for them to leave.

"I sent Sable a copy of the spell," Élodie says while they eat. "She said the lightning summoning will be hard, but the rest of it is pretty straightforward. She'll have it all ready by the time we arrive." 

"Well that's a relief," Ace says. "Wouldn't want to this out any longer than necessary, right Felix?"

"Uh, sure." Felix, already finished with his stands up a little too sharply to toss the plate. 

Weird.

They spend the next twenty minutes getting ready to go. Zarina pulls well over a dozen books from the house's small library to take with her, the seams of her backpack straining under the pressure. Élodie triple-checks every last room while muttering a packing list under her breath. "Toothbrush, laptop charger, wallet..." she repeats for the dozenth time.  "I think that's everything."

Felix locks the back door and the windows, then waits, leaning against the hallway wall, arms crossed. "You doing alright this morning?" Ace asks, trying to come off more casual than concerned. 

Felix just grunts. "Tired."

"Right." Luckily, Élodie and Zarina both join them at the entryway within a few minutes, so there's no time for the awkwardness to settle. 

"Everyone ready?" Zarina asks. Without waiting for anyone else, she opens the front door and leads the way outside. 

"Can I drive?" Ace asks as they reach the back of the car. 

"Do you even have a license?" Élodie asks in response. She hands her bags to Felix as he pops the trunk and sets about loading everything into the car. 

"I mean, it expired probably fifteen years ago, but I did," Ace insists. There's no response, just a heavy look from Élodie as she slides into the driver's seat instead. Zarina is already in the passenger's seat, fiddling with the radio.

"Next time you get Jonah to send you a car, can you please make sure it's one with an aux cord?" she asks. "This one has a cassette player. A cassette player. Who owns those anymore?"

"Hey, at least you aren't driving. You can use your headphones. I'm stuck with the radio." Élodie turns the key into the ignition a little harder than necessary and shakes her head. 

Ace takes one look back at the house. He wonders whether it'll stay empty for years or if more demon hunters will use it as a refuge before long. Behind him Felix clears his throat and Ace turns to see him holding the backseat open, gesturing for him to get in. 

Felix follows him, settling in on the right side of the car, pressed up tight against the window. Ace doesn't make it all the way to the far side, instead sitting on in the middle seat. They're so close like this, pressed together at the side from shoulder to shoe, but it's better than sitting much further apart and pulling on the chain all car ride. Felix is warm against him, and Ace's heart speeds up just a little as the car pulls out of the driveway.

"Speaking of Jonah," Felix says quietly, not long after they reach the interstate. "He's got a room reserved for us in... Oklahoma. If we can make it that far today. It's... fourteen hours from here."

That doesn't seem to phase Élodie and Zarina much. Ace figures travel days like this must be common. "Manageable," is all Élodie says in response. "Ugh. Three days on the road and two nights in hotels. We're gonna get real cozy." She looks back at Ace as she says that, making it clear he doesn't belong with the rest of them. He doesn't answer.

Zarina finally finds a radio station that no one protests to and for awhile only the only sounds in the car are hits from the 80s, advertisements, and a couple of radio hosts who think they're much funnier than they really are. 

"Where are you going to go after we get the chain broken?" Zarina breaks the silence an hour later, meeting Ace's gaze through the rearview mirror.

"I haven't really thought about that part yet," Ace admits, and truthfully, he hasn't planned that far ahead. Maybe he'll call Jeff, see if he'll give him a ride somewhere far away. "Bali, maybe," is what he says out loud.

"Doesn't matter where, as long as you're gone," Élodie says flatly, not looking back, but Ace can see her reflection. Her eyes are pressed into a thin glare as she stares forward at the road.

Ace opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted when a firm pressure suddenly lands on his shoulder. He slowly turns to his right, to see that Felix has fallen asleep, and his head has fallen to the side. A jolt of energy shoots down his spine, and warmth floods his chest. He can feel Felix's breath against his collarbone, warm and steady. 

Subtly, Ace straightens his posture, sitting up a couple inches higher in the seat, so that Felix's neck isn't strained down so far, then he takes the phone off of Felix's lap and sets it to the side. His tail slowly glides across the fabric of the seats, inches closer and closer to Felix's hand. But just before it reaches his fingertip, Ace quickly glances up-

-and now? Oh now Élodie is staring. Lips pursed, she watches him like a hawk through the rear-view mirror, clearly disapproving. She doesn't say anything, but mouths, "back off." The message is clear.

"You want me to wake him up?" Ace half-whispers, half mouths in response. That seems to further frustrate Élodie, but she says nothing else in response, turning back to the road. Ace has a few smug minutes. He loops his tail around Felix's fingers, weaving back and forth between each one, the tip landing in his palm. 

Despite the quiet, Élodie must notice because before long, she cranks the volume of the radio a little louder than necessary. The result is instant. Beside him, Felix stirs. Moment ruined.

Felix lifts his head a couple inches off of Ace's shoulder, blinking through bleary eyes. Ace watches, but tries not to make it obvious, as Felix's sleep-addled mind slowly catches up. A faint bit of color reaches his cheeks when he realizes how he'd fallen asleep, but he doesn't say anything. He looks down at his hand, where Ace's tail is wrapped around. Instead of jerking it away though, he closes his hand gently.

And to Ace's complete surprise, just a few seconds later, that pressure returns as Felix lays his head back on his shoulder, and promptly falls back asleep. 

For a minute, he forgets to be smug. Just thrilled. Though when he sees Élodie looking back at them, he flashes her a grin. 

"Hey," Zarina says quietly, gently brushing Élodie's elbow, "Let him sleep."

"I- Well I wasn't gonna..." Élodie trails off. 

Ace closes his own eyes, relaxing back into the seat. Three more days. He can make it. And things are peaceful now. No demon hunting. No needing to save kidnapped friends. It should be three simple days until they reach Greenville. 

However, as the next hour passes, Ace starts to feel worse. Because of course something just has to go wrong. An aching tightness expands through his chest, knots coiling in his gut. It's cool in the car but a hot flash takes him by surprise.

Just his luck. The one thing that could ruin it all is happening. Today.

Fuck.

The second time Felix wakes up, it's because the car has come to a stop. He blinks awake and sits up. They're sitting in the parking lot of a gas station, and the others are starting to get out of the car. 

"Finally awake, Sweetheart?" Ace asks with a smile, and for a second it feels like it might be genuine. "If you're headed inside, just let me turn invisible real quick." 

Felix nods, rubbing his eyes. Nothing changes in Felix's vision, but Ace flashes him a thumbs up. He swings the door open and gets out of the car, headed inside the small convenience store. Ace follows behind, quiet, but a little closer than usual. The difference is notable, yet oddly grounding. 

After he uses the bathroom, Felix spots Élodie and  Zarina in an aisle, surrounded by chocolate bars and bags of candy. "I can't decide," Zarina says, rubbing her hands together. "I never can." 

"Get two and I'll split 'em both with you," Élodie suggests. 

"Oh but that almost makes it worse, having to make two decisions." Zarina pouts and Élodie laughs. 

Felix is still several feet away. They haven't spotted him yet, and Ace has an increasingly familiar smirk on his face as they get closer. He pushes ahead until he's right behind Élodie. "Whatcha looking at?" he asks, putting his head right on her shoulder.

Élodie turns, sees nothing, and shrieks a little. The clerk at the checkout gives her a strange look as confusion turns to recognition and she glares. Though she can't see Ace, still invisible, she sidesteps and shoves him away. 

Zarina laughs, but at least has the courtesy to look guilty about it. Élodie doesn't say anything, and just walks off, out the door. "What was that?" Felix asks.

"Oh come on, it was the perfect opportunity," Ace says, laughing. 

"You're ridiculous," Zarina agrees. Holding a full sized chocolate bar in one hand and a bag of candies in the other. "Shit, Élodie was gonna buy these for me."

"Here, I've got it." Zarina thanks Felix and hands the snacks over. But as they wait in line behind a man buying scratch-offs, Ace suddenly perks up, pointing at a small refrigerated section. 

"Ooh, they have sushi here?" he asks.

"Don't," Zarina warns.

But Ace doesn't stop staring at it. "I am not buying you gas station sushi."  Felix says, voice low.

"Not a problem. No need to buy it," Ace says gleefully. And to his dismay, as they leave the store two minutes later, Ace slips a small plastic carton under his jacket and strolls out gleefully. 

Five minutes later, they're all in the car, back on the interstate, and Ace is halfway through a sad-looking California roll. The container didn't come with chopsticks, so he picks each piece up with his fingers and pops them into his mouth. 

"God, that reeks," says Élodie from the front seat, nose all wrinkled. Ace doesn't seem to mind the comment, pleased with himself. 

When he's done, Ace doesn't even replace the cover, just tosses the container to the side. No regard for anyone else in the car. It's extreme, even for him.

"Is everything alright?" Felix asks under his breath, so only Ace can hear. "You're acting different." He had a stronger word than 'different' in mind, but didn't dare push it.

"Yeah, things are just fine," Ace answers. Felix is still skeptical, but then Ace tilts his head forward, gesturing to where Élodie and Zarina are chatting in front of them. The movement is subtle but the message is clear. 'Ask me later.'

They stop for lunch late, at a burger place right off the highway. Ace once again turns invisible as they walk inside. Ace turns invisible again, and they stumble out of the car, with no more grace than the first time they tried to. "Ugh. I would kill for some fries right now," he says. 

"And how do you expect to be able to eat while you're invisible?" Felix asks, to which Ace simply shrugs. 

Élodie opens the door for Zarina with a smile, then turns to enter the restaurant herself, only to be interrupted by Ace, who slides through the door like she'd meant to hold it for him all along. Felix, though, has no choice but to follow, mouthing an apology as they enter the building.

After all four of them order, Élodie reaches into her back pocket, but pulls her hand back out, confused. "Did I leave it in the car?" she whispers to herself.

Ace perks up, dipping into his jacket pocket and pulls out an olive green wallet that Felix immediately recognizes. "Lunch is on me, friends," he announces to the only three people who can hear him now.

Élodie too recognizes her wallet in Ace's hand and yanks it away. She politely pays for the food but when they disappear around the corner to fill up her drinks, she grabs Ace by the collar and leans in close. "I don't know what's gotten into you today, but you better fix it. Because I swear, at this rate, only one of us is gonna survive this trip, and it's not gonna be you."

For his part, Ace does actually look a little bit nervous, but that fades away when Élodie lets go. "You have impressive grip strength," is all he says. 

Ace doesn't do much more when their food arrives at the table, though he does pout a bit when he sees only three orders of french fries and not four. Zarina talks for a little bit about her research, studying Hellspawn, and Ace compliments her on the accuracy.

Eventually though, he reaches across the table and steals one of Zarina's fries from the half-empty bag. Felix gives him a disapproving look but Zarina just laughs, turns the fry bag around, and says, "Knock yourself out." Luckily, the restaurant is nearly empty, so no one notices what must be the odd sight of french fries levitating into the air and then disappearing. 

Ten minutes of grease and tension later, they finally leave the restaurant and get back on the road. And finally, manage several hours of peace. They drive all afternoon, hit up a drive thru for dinner, and go late into the night, the sun setting over the horizon. 

But just before nine o'clock, the radio station Élodie had found devolves into static. "Damn it," she says quietly, scanning the next few stations for anything good. "Finally found another good station and it's gone."

"I could sing for you guys," Ace offers.

"No, don't you dare," says Élodie.

But it's too late. Ace has already started singing, some sort of Spanish ballad in a pitchy falsetto that even has Zarina rubbing her temples before long. Horribly flat, but Felix suspects it's off-key on purpose, though he's not sure why.

He gets through the second verse before Élodie suddenly snaps. "Zarina, can you call the hotel we're staying at? Jonah texted the name to us this morning."

"Sure, why?" Zarina asks, already unlocking her phone. 

"Ask them if they can add a second room for us. I am not spending a second more than necessary with Ace."

From beside Felix, the singing comes to a stop. Ace listens closely as Zarina calls the hotel, and when she gets the second room confirmed, leans back into the seat, looking much more relaxed.

Silence fills the interior of the car for the last stretch of the day's travel, and they reach the hotel just after midnight. "I'll check in if you get the bags," Élodie says. She doesn't even wait for a response, just slips out of the car and crosses the parking lot.

By the time the rest of them get their bags into the lobby, Élodie is waiting with two envelopes of room keys. She shoves one into Felix's hand and snatches her bag. "Gods the later we get started tomorrow the better. I'm gonna go raid the mini-bar and try not to get a noise complaint," she says roughly. 

When the elevator arrives, Ace puts a hand on Felix's forearm. "Lets just take the next one," he suggests quietly, voice completely devoid of the bite it had all day. It's a good idea, and as the elevator doors close between the four of them, Élodie looks relieved. 

Three minutes later, they're in the hotel room. Two queen sized beds, but it's clear they'll only be using one. 

"Nice place," Ace says with a low whistle. "What exactly do they pay demon hunters if you're managing hotel stays like this?" 

He starts to walk into the room, but Felix doesn't budge. Instead, he snatches the chain between two fingers and reels it in, sharp, until he and Ace are only inches apart.

"What the hell happened today? I know you and Élodie don't get along, but you were out of line. Are you trying to annoy my friends on purpose? Because this is becoming a repeat of those first two days between you and I. And you know how those ended"

He's expecting Ace to fight back like he has all day. A snide remark, a bad joke. But Ace just looks tired. His expression deflates as he softly says, "I am so sorry."

It's disarming. Felix is still angry, but the energy is gone. "Tell me what happened, please," he says instead. He lets the chain slip through his fingers, hanging between them, though neither backs up. 

"Look, I panicked. Things were fine early this morning until you got that text from Jonah. And then you mentioned that there was one room for the four of us and I got worried, and so I didn't know how to tell you, so I thought pissing of Élodie would be the only way to get a separate room. And I know that I definitely shoulda gone about it better but I didn't-"

"Wait," says Felix, holding up his hands, and Ace immediately quiets. "Why was it so important to get a second room? Do you dislike being around her that much or something?"

"No. It's not that." Ace scratches the back of his neck, a hint of color rising to his cheeks. "I need to feed again."

Oh. The realization hits Felix. Suddenly the erratic behavior makes a little bit more sense. It hadn't been intentionally hurtful, but a plan. A horrible, ill-conceived plan, but a plan nonetheless. 

"I understand now, at least." Felix slouches back, against the door, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sharing a room for that would've been disastrous."

"If it helps, I really am sorry. I felt horrible about all of it today," Ace says quietly. "And now you certainly can't be in the mood anymore, and I've fucked it all up." He stares at the ground, dejected.

"I get it," Felix says quietly, and it's the truth. The last dregs of frustration dissipate and he realizes he's just as tired as Ace. Ready for the long day to end. "I don't think it would've gone over well either if you'd announced that in the car." He thinks for a minute more. "And you're right, I'm too tired tonight, but maybe in the morning tomorrow? Will that work for you?"

For a second Ace looks like he'll protest to even that. Say they should wait longer, or apologize again. But instead, he looks back at Felix and finally smiles. "Yeah. I can wait for you."

Ace rambles a little bit while they get ready for bed, but for once, Felix finds he enjoys the noise. "I mean, I guess we could have tried staying with them. Hooked up in the shower or something," Ace muses while Felix brushes his teeth. "Sorry, too soon?"

"No," Felix says when he's done, reaching for his water. "It was kinda funny actually. It would have been terrible."

"Yeah, you're too loud for that to have worked," Ace says, so nonchalantly that Felix chokes on his water.

No retort comes to mind, though, and before long, they end up in the bed by the window, the chain between them completely slack. But even as Felix's eyes droop, he turns his head to look at Ace once more.

"You should've let me know today. We could have figured something out together. We would've found a way that didn't involve pissing off my friends."

"Yeah?"

"I mean, this situation sucks, but your... needs still matter to me. I'm sorry you felt like you had to hide it all day." Felix braces his hand against Ace's shoulder as he speaks, letting the touch linger. Ace smiles back at him through half lidded eyes.

"Aw, look at us, setting boundaries and having mature conversations. Shame we waiting until the very end to talk about it."

"...right," is all Felix says in response, his hand falling away. There's no more talk between the two of them, and Felix falls asleep, finally succumbing to his exhaustion, the chain wrapped twice around his finger.