As George approached the woman, he felt ignored. She did not falter and continued working to sweep stray grass off the path to her tiny cottage.
He stood behind her. His frame towered over her as she kept working. With a quick sniff of the air, George could smell the sweet, slightly floral blood she possessed. Thankfully, the demon was full of the bunny blood he sucked down earlier. For now, she was safe under his menacing gaze.
Annoyance was quick to embrace him. He placed a fist on his lips and quickly cleared his throat.
She turned around and smiled. "Yes?"
The woman seemed oblivious to the danger he possessed. He may have been new to his body, but he could tell a certain danger lurked in the aura that surrounded him. For a human woman to seem so unbothered by his existence seemed like a bit of a shock to him.
George thought about how to proceed. He didn't exactly have any idea how to converse with anyone. He didn't even know where he was.
"Where is this?" He simply asked, gesturing toward the run-down structure, which once was a grand palace.
The woman smiled. She set her broom against the cottage and put her hands on her hips. "My kingdom."
He laughed. This woman would call a cottage and a husk of a palace a kingdom? There appeared to be nothing else for miles.
"What?" She frowned.
"A kingdom of one?" George asked, smirking.
"Of three, thank you." The woman shook her head. "I, Emma, am the duchess of this fair kingdom."
A duchess, too? Sure.
"Spectacular." He slowly clapped.
Emma was nearly fuming at that point. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Who are you? If you think of harming the child, I shall banish you back to hell."
Oh, sassy, too! There's no better way to spice up a chase. He smirked mischievously, one fang flashing in her direction.
His name? Well, he couldn't very well be a demon named George if he were a hell-dwelling creature. It needed to be an intimidating name. A name that would strike fear in people far and wide! A name that would cause infamous tales to spread, just by intimidation alone! A name that women worldwide would panty-drop upon hearing!
"Azazel."
He face-palmed himself.
He had just picked the most stereotypical edge-lord name in existence. He would never recover from this.
He was now a king, virgin, BokeBall trainer, necromancer, demon, and fallen angel. His resume was growing by the hour.
"Okay, Azazel," she said, pointing at his face. "Why are you here?"
"Unsure," he simply stated as he mulled over his name in his head. "I saw the building over there and became intrigued."
Emma squint. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. She was quite a strange woman. Earlier, he had thought she was beautiful, but now he thought she was a bit of a goober. Cute, but still a goober.
"Tea?" she asked.
Azazel, the man formerly known as George, shrugged. "Tea?"
Were all women cryptic? As if a one-word question meant anything. Plus, how did she know he wasn't going to rip apart her flesh? She called him a demon from Hell, but she wasn't treating him as such. In fact, she was treating him like his sister did.
"Come in and discuss my kingdom over tea," the small woman stated, opening the door to her cottage.
Did stranger danger not exist here?
He followed her into the cottage, needing to duck as he moved through the doorway. Actually, the ceiling was rather low. He could tell he had scraped it with the top of his horns, even with him ducking.
"You are financially responsible for the damage," Emma stated dryly as she took the kettle off a wood-fired stove.
She gestured for him to have a seat at the small, wooden table in the center of the room.
"Unfortunately, I am short on funds." He took a seat after prying his horns out of the ceiling above him.
Emma poured two cups of tea. She set the kettle near the center of the table and then flopped into an empty chair.
"Then summon up some cash from the demon realm." She nodded as if one could manifest money from thin air.
"Afraid not," Azazel said, shaking his head as he took a sip of the tea. "I have never seen this so-called demon realm."
The woman scoffed as she pointed toward the damage to the ceiling. "Obviously, you are in debt."
He glanced at the long gash in the ceiling, running from the entrance to the spot where he was seated. "I have other ways I could pay debt," he seductively purred in her direction.
"..."
"..."
Emma wasn't having it.
Azazel sighed as he drank the rest of the tea. He had no idea what she wanted from him, but his knowledge of the world was limited, so he had run out of suggestions.
She sipped on the tea. He could almost see her eyebrows twitch. As the pair sat in silence, he heard the creak of a door opening. Slowly, a short, hunched-over old woman appeared from the nearby room. Without a thought, the elderly lady took a seat at the table.
Azazel glanced at the old woman, whose thin, graying hair was up in a bun. The woman stared him down, focusing her squinty-eyed gaze on his face.
Oh, no. He had standards. He couldn't lose his virginity to an old lady.
"I ain't afraid of no demon," the granny said with a flat tone.
Again, Azazel face-palmed himself. What an interesting pair of women!
"Grandma," Emma pointed toward the handsome demon. "This is Azazel. He ruined our ceiling."
Azazel rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Maybe you shouldn't have invited me inside."
"I'm Charlotte," the old woman stated as she poured a cup of tea for herself. "Fix my ceiling."
Never having ever performed a lick of manual labor due to his life as a royal, Azazel didn't take kindly to that demand. Plus, there was no way he could stand up in the cottage without further harming the structure. As it were, he would have to roll out of the chair and to the door to exit the building.
"What about a new pet?"
Emma raised her brow. "A new pet?"
Azazel took the BokeBall out of his jacket pocket. Like a real trainer, he held it out in front of him, summoning the zombie bunny. The grotesque, soulless animal manifested on the table.
The bunny had its tongue lopped out of its mouth as it slowly hopped to the vase of flowers, knocking them onto the floor.
A delightfully disgusting scent permeated the air.
The rabbit may have been in a certain state of decompensation.
Emma looked rather pleased.
"Get that thing off my table," Charlotte demanded.
"As you wish, m'lady," Azazel forced the rotting bunny back in the BokeBall.
"That was a neat trick," Emma mused. Somehow, she was unphased; the bunny was essentially a trapped corpse.
"I know, right?" Azazel seemed rather proud of himself. He poured himself another cup of tea. It was going to be a long day.
"So, does your kingdom have a name?"
"No," Emma sighed. "Not since Grandpa died and everyone left."
A single tear escaped the corner of Granny's eye. "My husband was such a kind man, but then...STAB."
Charlotte shook her head in dismay. "He was a king who had a mistress stab him in the heart. Ever since, the kingdom has been a shadow of the past."
Azazel scowled. It seemed that along with being cryptic, women also had a much-enjoyed pastime of stabbing kings in the heart. "I have heard a story like that before."
There was silence.
After a few minutes, the old lady continued. "It's just been us since. Emma's mother disappeared last year. We haven't heard a thing."
With all the talk about kingdoms and murdered kings, Azazel knew he should take his chances. It wasn't as if these women were going to stab his heart with his new-found reflexes. Most of the time, though, he was unsure if he possessed a heart any longer.
"Tell you what," he glanced between both of the women. "I have a certain knowledge that may be beneficial."
Emma looked straight at him, not sure she was going to buy what he had for sale. "Uh-huh?"
"In exchange for a place of respite, I will help you rebuild this kingdom of yours," he proposed. It wasn't like he had any real place to go, and these two women seemed like they weren't the king-stabbing type.
He flicked his wrist and pointed a single finger toward Emma. "I shall be the Duke to this Duchess."
"....."
Emma was silent.
"Sure," Charlotte agreed. "Good luck with that building of kingdoms nonsense, though. You have my blessing as Queen."
"Grandma!" Emma protested, frowning at the frail old woman.
Azazel smirked at Emma. Ah, he would have what he wanted after all.
"He's hot," Charlotte responded as she waggled her brows at him. "But I'm old. You can have the hot husband."
"See! I knew it!" Azazel celebrated his victory. He knew his hot body would have advantages.
Both women turned their heads to stare at him. He could feel the sweat beads form. It seemed they were expecting an explanation for his excitement over Charlotte pointing out his attractiveness.
"Nothing..." He chugged the entire cup of tea.
Azazel added both Duke and Granny Tamer to the resume. It was continuing to grow by the hour. He wondered what other titles he might one day possess as he began a new life in the unnamed kingdom.