It had only taken him this long to recognize her because of the pitiable condition the demon had put her in. His last memory of her had been more than memorable. In the middle of an abandoned factory after school, he remembered how she had squirmed beneath him as he withdrew his flaccid penis from her creamy pussy after filling her half naked body with his seed. That had been quite the experience, especially for her.
What had intially been intended as a means of humbling her, had ended up being a pleasurable ride for her, and for him as well (if he was being completely honest). Hoever, since then, he had not set his eyes on her, and she had not even crossed his mind for a second- not until this moment.
How had she come to be in this state?! Did his semen in her attract the demon currently possessing her? There were so many questions. This spurred Alex's interest in the case. Thankfully, the room was dark, so Zooey's ever watchful eyes did not pick up the look of surprise on his face, as well as his sudden interest in this case.
Eager to find out the truth, he activated his eye of god and truly looked at her.
It turned out she was actually possessed. It was notlike he had actually been doubting that- at least not completely anyway. But given just the kind of person Catherine was, he would not put it past her to come up with this charade, just for the attention.
What he saw was the complete picture.
Beneath her fleshly suit was a very toxic horned evil spirit. If a brain scan had been taken, the image would show some kind of large tumor in her brain. But that was just but the medical interpretation of the truth. She was possessed by a malevolent entity, plain and simple. Currently, it had taken over her entire body, subduing her mind, emotions and will under its forceful influence. This made her extremely aggressive and antagonistic towards Zooey and Alex.
Like a sudden flash of lightning in the dark night sky, Alex's true power came on for a brief moment when he activated his eye of god. Zooey was not all that sensitive to pick up a demigod's energy signature. But the demon was a low level cosmic being, and was able to immediately sense it.
"WHAT DID YOU SEE?!!" Catherine suddenly shrieked in a scratchy voice. "YOU THERE..!"
Like an oracle pointing out an evil person, she lifted up her dirty hand to point at Alex. The ugly chains rattled in response to her movement, further enhancing the troubling sight.
"I SAID WHAT DID YOU SEE?!! TELL ME!!"
Zooey looked at Alex suspiciously; "You know this chump?"
Alex shrugged. "I've probably met more than one or two demons in my lifetime Zooey. I don't go around asking for their pictures to remember them by. Let's get this over with already."
His answer seemed to satisfy her.
"Not so fast newbie, this is a teachable moment right here. You need to imbibe your first vital lesson. In the field, when on a mission, the first and most important rule that binds every mage is; keep the common folk safe at all times."
She opened her Hermès carry on bag to search for something as she explained;
"Now, while we would very much like to pulverize the demon occupying this body, our number one priority is to first save the girl. Hence, the exorcism."
It was very exhausting having to play down his true strength .
Truth was, with his current strength, Alex could very easily cast a terrifying cosmic shadow over the entire building, and force the room to burn out every unwanted demon. But of course, doing so would expose him. So, instead, he had to sit back and watch Zooey shuffle through a bunch of weird artifacts, and bring out an even weirder perfume.
Catherine, who had been cursing and screaming at Alex all this while, immediately swallowed her words as soon as she caught sight of the perfume. Instively, the demon opened her mouth to unleash a fresh wave of obscenities, but was caught in the face by a short burst.
The smell of the perfume was actually unique and somewhat pleasing to the nose. But for the demon in Catherine, it was a whole other thing. As soon as the spritz came in contact with her, she reacted like acid had been sprayed directly in her face. Visibly trying to fight off something, she yelled, kicked and foamed at the mouth, laying destructive curses on the 'mad-girl-in-the-monk's-robe.'
The perfume was no ordinary perfume.
Not even Alex was left out of the loop. He felt the effects immediately, but not in the way the demon did. Almost as soon as his nose caught a whiff of the very exotic scent, he felt his body heat up and a stranger fire of lust rose up from within his abdomen. It was instataneous. It was immediate. And it came with a certain impulsive reaction that was impossible to escape.
Alex was not completely sure what this strange power was, but it was nothing compared to the sheer brute force of his own strength. So, from within him, he activated the power of god, and let out just a small fraction. That was more than enough to counter this intruding spell.
Little did he know that Zooey had been closely observing him.
Of course, she did not overtly keep her eyes on him like an amateur. In fact, her eyes had been fixed directly on Catherine the whole time, just so she could mask her true intention which was to gauge the effect of the perfume on her new partner. Zooey was definitely surprised, but she kept her emotions hidden.
Even with a wild, violent, demon-possessed girl threatening to murder her and laugh as her remains boil in acid, Zooey still somehow found the time to fix her watchful eyes to cover his entire reaction. Inwardly, she was astonished, maybe even a little impressed that the perfume had done close to nothing to him.
Covering up her innermost thoughts, she explained the perfume to him;
"I'm kind of surprised that you did not ask me what this perfume does. But I suppose that's understandable seeing that you're probably using up most of your power trying to suppress its effects. Trying to act tought aren't you?"
"What do yo---"
She held up her hand dismissively; "Don't even try to deny it. This is no ordinary perfume. It has been mixed with the body fluids of a succubus, and a member of the Nine Tailed Fox clan. It's extremely powerful stuff, trust me."
"Sounds exotic, but what does it do exactly?"
"What does it do???" she asked mockingly; "It puts demons to sleep thats what!"
Alex looked at her like she had just said the moon was in the back of her car. "What?"
"That's exactly what it does. Because of how easily it is to diffuse in the air, its power spreads four times as fast, enveloping the entire radius with a powerful sedative that acts particularly fast on mages, spirits, and of course, demons. Basically, it lulls them into a state of unsconciousness. There is simply no resisting it."
She pointed at Catherine;
"See?"
Indeed, right before his very eyes, Catherine, who had been raging like a wild bull on cocaine only just a moment ago, was already knocked out cold on the bed.
"Wait, is she...?"
"Dead? Of course not. Her body's simply gone limp, and her mind's currently suppressed. But the demon however, that's a different story altogether..."
She kicked Catherine's still body, nudging the demon inside her;
"Isn't that right demon? I know you can hear me you bastard. I don't have time for your nonsense right now, what's your name?"
True to her word, Catherine remained frozen like a corpse, but her eyes opened, revealing her dillated pupils. She was like one who had gone on a psychedelic trip.
"Khosla James," the demon answered. "My name is Khosla James. I come from the dep---"
"I could not give the slightest damn about where you're from demon. All I know is you're getting out of her- one way or another."
Alex watched as she reached into that same carry on bag, and fished through its contents till she brought out another unique object. He thought to himself; 'Just how many more of those artifacts did she have in there?' His thoughts were of no consequence.