Harlee POV
"Zeev's a Demon! Some of his Contracts literally involve sex!"
"That's probably true, but I'm still partially human, and my morals aren't quite the same as yours." I shrugged. Ash threw their hands in the air.
"Human Master who has access to a Demon with an unlimited knowledge of pleasure, sex, endless stamina and the ability to change form, and what does she say? 'I'm trying to be faithful'!" Ash mimicked me. Zeev laughed.
"You know it's funny, I thought something similar when I first became Bound to Harlee." Zeev commented. Ash let out a wordless roar and stomped towards the bathroom.
"I'm taking a shower-a long one." Ash griped.
Zeev POV
I watched Ash go with amusement. Both of us Bound to a Mistress determined not to use the skills we were originally designed for, and yet neither of us willing to let her go.
"Since I don't have to work today, you wanna take a walk?" Harlee asked. I smiled at her, it was nice to see her in better spirits.
It was raining out, so I grabbed a large umbrella and we began walking down the sidewalk on her street. The tree lined street was almost empty, and the water clung to the leaves, dropping with huge splats on the umbrella. Harlee clung to my arm and kicked at water puddles like a child while we walked. Occasionally her hand would sneak down to rest at her waist.
"Are you tired? If you're tired we can go back." I offered.
"No, I'm fine." Harlee smiled brightly at me and leaned up to kiss my jaw. "I do love rainy days though." She sighed, holding out a hand beyond the umbrella. "Even more now, because they remind me of the smell of your wings. That wet earthy and ozone smell. Petrichor-now always means Zeev to me." She smiled. I blinked as I felt a new warmth spreading in my chest.
"Zeev.. if this kid does need souls.. was I wrong to want it?" Harlee wasn't looking at me, but her arm tightened on mine. I sighed.
"That's an issue of morality that I can't answer for you Harlee. My mind doesn't work that way. You know how I feel about this subject." I responded. She heaved a sigh herself.
"Yeah, I know I just.. didn't mean to bring a serial killer into the world." She kicked a rock off the pavement. I flinched.
"Is that how you think of us, truly?" I asked her, pulling her to a stop. She looked at me with a look of apology.
"Well, not entirely. You were both victims of circumstance, and you've both made changes. For me. But this kid.." She laid a hand on her stomach "..I made that choice. I may have set loose a killer on the world, because I didn't think things through. I willingly jumped in with both feet before asking all the right questions, and now.." Harlee looked away.
"Harlee, we don't know anything yet. But if you're regretting your decision, Ash and I can figure out a way to remove it." I replied simply. After all, the spark was still mostly a part of me. I could feel the tiny piece of my Core pulsing away in her. Surely I'd be able to recall it?
"Is there a way we could find out? What it is I mean? Cambion or Nephilim?" Harlee asked suddenly. Now there was an idea.
"But that still doesn't mean it will or won't necessarily need souls to survive." I cautioned.
"I understand, but it might help ease my mind." Harlee put a hand on my chest and looked up at me with heartfelt eyes. I sighed. The things I would do for this human.
Harlee POV
"It's a part of you, so why can't you tell?" Ash demanded.
"Well that's exactly it, all I see is 'me' when I look at it, what do you get?" Zeev retorted.
"Just the same, Fallen Angel bird brain." Ash roared.
"So what does that mean?" Zeev yelled.
"How do I know?" Ash screamed. I leaned forward with my elbow on my knee and covered my eyes with one hand, heaving a sigh. I was sitting on the couch in the living room with those two idiots across the room from me, and this had been going on for a while.
"Ok, enough. What's the general idea here?" I asked. Both jerked like I had cracked a whip.
"We think it's still too new." Zeev said sheepishly.
"Yeah, it still registers mostly Zeev. Give it some time to develop. At least to start growing its soul." Ash remarked.
"Growing its.. soul?" I looked at them, taken aback.
"Yeah, you didn't think those things just appeared did you? It's gotta be formed along with the body. A soul is never truly 'complete' until you die. The rest of the time it's always changing and growing." Ash shrugged and came around to sit beside me. I was bewildered.
"I had no idea.." I looked down at my midriff. Growing a soul?
"Give it a few more weeks to months, let that soul start to develop so we can see how it interacts with Zeev's Core, then.. we'll see." Ash shrugged again. "I mean, right now-that's not even a kid yet, it doesn't even have a heart or brain or anything, it's like a wart, a bunch of random cells all mixed up with a bit of Zeev's Core. It ain't nothin' yet. Give it time to develop, geez." Ash poked at my stomach. I smacked Ash's hand, but Zeev grabbed mine swiftly.
"Harlee, are you alright?" Zeev asked softly.
"I'm just.. a little emotional.. Growing a soul and all.." I replied with tears in my eyes and a choked laugh. Zeev cracked a grin and Ash grabbed me around the waist.
"Aww Mistress is adorable!" Ash cried and I swatted Ash's hand.
Zeev POV
"I dunno.. I don't really trust that creepy fucker." Josh said, rubbing the back of his head. I sighed and pulled my pants leg up to reveal the Mark.
"Go ahead." I told him before he could ask and Josh reached for the Mark tentatively. He brushed his fingers across it and almost instantly recoiled.
"You let Ash Mark you? How? Why? Also, ew.." Josh plopped down on a rusty swing.. I eyed it speculatively, waiting for the chain to break.
"It was going to happen eventually. The moment Ash sacrificed themself to save Harlee, it created the Bond between Ash and Harlee, much like it did between Harlee and I. However, with our Bond, her soul becoming mine was not an issue, I already have half of it. For Ash.. well, the issue became more complicated.." I explained.
"I think I get it. Ash'll never get her soul, because first of all, you have staked a claim to it, and second Ash can't take what's incomplete, but still had to Bind themself to it and it to them, which means since you carry half.." Josh offered.
"Exactly. I'm now Bound to Ash too. Which essentially means Ash is incapable of betraying me and also must obey me, at least to a certain extent. Ash's ultimate Mistress is Harlee, so Ash cannot go against her wishes, so if I ever give Ash any order that directly counters any she's given, Ash will be forced to obey Harlee's commands over mine. But that's how it should be. I'd rather not be Bound to that snake anyway." I crossed my arms.
"Why do you call Ash a snake?" Josh asked.
"You'll see. Come on Ash, might as well get over here." I called. Ash stepped from Harlee's house to the abandoned playground.
"Barrier first!" Josh warned, and a wall of bent light went up around us, making us disappear.
"You are getting very good at that young Mage." I praised and Josh grinned.
"I learned how to cast it on an inanimate object so I don't have to hold it or concentrate on it." Josh tossed down a polished blue stone. "Cool huh?" I nodded approval. Josh was going to be a formidable opponent one day.
"Ok, go." Josh told Ash and Ash shifted into Demon Form in a puff of smoke.
"Flashy bastard." I mumbled. Ash grinned, an obscene look on the snake's mouth they now bore.
"Damn. Ok, I get the snake reference." Josh ran a hand through his hair.
"Dragon! DRAGON!" Ash roared, twisting their long white body and shaking their mane of long hair. "You see these legs! Snake DO NOT have legs!" Ash pointed with one clawed foot, then unfurled leathery wings. "Do snakes have these?" Ash demanded. "Dragon." Satisfied with themselves, they trotted to the side and wound up in a coil.
"Snake." Josh and I said together.
Harlee POV
I hadn't been away from my two Demons in so long that I suddenly found my life very empty without them.
"You look sad." Kayla said.
"I thought I'd be happy to get away from those two. They bicker like children, and are jealous of any attention I give the other most of all. But without them, I just feel.. numb." I rubbed my chest.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you do that." Kayla commented.