Damon wanted blood.
He was burning up from the inside, being close enough to kiss Edwin, but not being able to. The man was sleeping between them, him, and the demon. He had his adorable nose buried in Damon's chest, giving off adorable huffs as he breathed in and out.
He is alive, God darn it, Damon could not help but think. His blood had been an elixir before, for Edwin was a Lich, but now…
Damon wanted to drink him dry. To bury himself deep inside of him and never, ever, untangle himself from him. This man was something that Damon had never believed he could meet.
Had never hoped for.
His brown eyes flashed at the demon, as the man snuggled into Edwin, his purple eyes boring a hole into Damon. The message clear, the challenge given.
As Edwin turned in his sleep, and Damon was met with a curtain of fine curly hair, he could not help but think he was a fool.
How could he be so blind as to not recognize his own soulmate, while the man had lived with him? Why had he been so easy-going with him? He was a seducer, for crying out loud! Making people forget that the world existed and obsess over him was his specialty…
The demon smirked, his red hair mixing in with Edwin's.
Damon wanted to rage, he wanted to scream.
Instead of following his instincts and ending up in an early grave, he kissed Edwin's hair, took in the fresh scent of the man's mint shampoo, and stood up.
It was high time he started to train once more. The demon, Seraphin was his name, of that much, he was sure, was not strong enough to defeat Orion.
But if Damon protected Edwin, and the demon failed, just like the vampire was sure he would, then Edwin would have only one path ahead of him.
Damon vowed to be that golden ticket to freedom Edwin hoped for.
0000
For the first time in forever, Len could not open a door.
Orion was raging to the left, but that was not helping any. The Door of Hell, a dream door, was locked so tight, that there was no going out through it.
There were other paths to return to the human realm, Len knew. He had gone there more than once when his mortal word vomit machines got too out of hand. Accidenting someone who made you think up porn, or erotic, as the mortals liked to call it, at one in the morning brought enough dopamine in the brain to get one high.
"I will kill them! All three of them!" Orion was pacing, Len could hear his erratic steps. But what was the point of him going to the human realm to get his crush under control, Len asked himself, if he was going to kill the Lich?
"And then what?" Len was not a servant. He was not used to being treated as a lock pick. His talents had been born of necessity.
Necessity, and having to think up a gay harem mating ball style sex scene with a Naga…
He shuddered.
Darn it all, he hoped that the witch was burning here somewhere, or, worse for her, was now a Muse.
"What do you mean, and then what? I chain his soul up and get to do whatever I want with him!"
Orion showed a worrying lack of oversight, Len could not help but think. And if that was the way he went about his love life, how was the man going to go about ruling hell?
Not that it mattered. Hell was made to be ruled by incompetent hotheads with more emotions and muscle than brains.
It was just their lot in life.
"Don't you see the problem, Orion?" Len asked, for he was getting sick of having to hear Orion's fuming. "You killed your own soulmate, and the man does not want you."
As the noises of the pacing finally stopped, Len went back to trying to open the door. Maybe if he got his trusty chainsaw, he would have more luck?
He knocked on the door, but it gave him a hollow sound. Darn it, it was a mana barrier…
"Soulmate?" Orion asked, right behind Len. Len had not even heard him approach, but he did not turn around. Orion was not going to kill him.
He needed him.
"It is obvious to anyone who has eyes that your soul is bonded to the soul of a Lich. I just put two and two together. You claimed him when you strangled him, most like," Len took out a Swiss army knife, and looked at the strange mana eater which he had never used before.
How many years would it take for the small needle like thing to go through a door which was about five meters high?
"That can't be," Orion murmured, but Len had never known any mercy. No, it was time to tell the demon that his childish antics had cost him the only thing that mattered.
Oh, soulmates were normally not vital to demons. What did it matter if some mortal was your perfect match? Could the mortal do anything for you, but sell their soul cheaply?
But they were not speaking about a mortal, no. They were speaking about a Lich. And a Lich who was in hell was a terror and a half.
For Hell was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the creature, and the more the Lich gorged himself, the stronger Orion would become in turn. It was the simple Law of Mutual Exchange which all soulmates abided to.
"You could have killed him so many times, right? But you stopped each and every time. Because you had hope he would choose you, right?" Len asked, as he knocked on the door. Maybe if he was nice to the guards, they could open the door?
"Who is it?"
Well, I'll be dammed, Len thought to himself.
"Pizza delivery!" Len lied, making his voice as depressed as he could make it. Even conjuring a pizza box in his hands and placing it near the lock.
Hoping beyond hope that a demon from the level of gluttony was on the other side.
"What do you mean I could have killed him when I wanted? I had a job to do, Len! I couldn't just kill him when he puked all over the floor, or as he tossed and turned in his bed later, or…"
"Oh, what is on the pizza?" The man really sounded like a demon from the gluttony level. Len loved those brothers and sisters of his. Bless their souls, they were a treasure when someone had to sneak pass them.
For some reason, maybe just so they could stay in shape, most like, they could not conjure up food for themselves. That was their curse.
It was kind of sad, Len could not help but think, that a demon would be willing to sell their soul for a slice of pizza.
But such was life.
Len opened the box and thought long and hard on what he should put on the pizza. There was already a thick layer of cheese on it, but should he put peperoni or chicken on top?
"Len, quit it with this nonsense and explain yourself! Edwin can't be my soulmate!" Orion roared; Len bit his bottom lip.
"Hey, is there someone with you on the other side?" The gluttony demon asked.
Len bit his bottom lip. Fuck.
"Look, the pizza can have whatever you want on top of it, my good man," the time for games was over, and Orion was not getting the hint, still harping on about his messed up love life. "Even pineapple."
"Len, I am warning you!"
"Even…" the demon on the other side made a pause, and Len made peace with the fact that no, he was not going to pass through this door without getting scarred for life. Or having a kill on sight order from the "We Love Pizza!" demonic club down on the third level of Hell. "Even… horse jerky?"
Len pressed his head against the door. He was so dead…
"Len!"
And Orion was not helping matters any.
"Yes, even horse jerky," Len magicked a pizza to go with the new topping, and even he had to admit that it looked good.
Orion packed him at the collar, as the demon on the other side opened the door and took his pizza.
Len had had enough!
"Yes, your soulmate! You strangled him, stole a kiss from him, made it so that he could become a Lich, so he can be your equal! Now unhand me, or I swear, I will punch a hole through your dead heart!"
Len's red eyes flashed; Orion's snowstorm gray eyes narrowed.
"Cool, a show with the food!" The glutton demon said, as he took a slice from the pizza box.
"Why you little…"
Good on the poor guardsman, Len decided, from his place on the floor, as he watched Orion force-feed the demon pizza slice after pizza slice.
When he saw something which looked like mashed potatoes, he vowed to mind his tongue around Orion. Potatoes on pizza… the demons from the "We Love Pizza" club were going to start a Holy War over this…