Contracting Contradictions (Forever & Enigma)

[Forever For Never]

@Enigma


It was the It was the night of her birthday .Emmaline had turned 17, the age in which you could summon a familiar. There were two options: an angel or a demon. Everyone in her family had summoned angels, and gotten along well with them. But she didn't want an angel. They were cordial, but generally detached, doing whatever one said without complaint. Of course, they didn't obey orders that violated any laws of their contract. Contracts were made by the forces of heaven and hell, as they had waged war over the human world and nearly destroyed it in the process. Both angels and demons could reside on the world, save that they made a contact with one particular human. They were to obey this human, to (hopefully) get along with them. Of course it was by no means meant to oppress the angel or demon, if any sort of abuse was occurring the human would be violating their contract, and the familiar would be released, the human would be imprisoned.


Emmaline had no plans of abusing her familiar, she chose to summon a demon because she hoped to befriend it. Demons could be crude, vulgar, and nasty, but they could also be very amusing and fun to be around. She wanted a familiar that was her friend, not simply one that followed every order she gave without having any kind of connection with her. Of course, her family wasn't very happy about it. Her older brother tolerated it, although her mother was very upset about it. That didn't matter though. If she was going to spend the majority of her life with this companion, she wanted to be friends with it. Otherwise that would just be awkward.


Taking a deep breath, she finished off the summoning circles, feeling dizzy, mainly because she had used her own blood to draw it. There were three circles surrounded by demonic symbols. The innermost one was where the demon would appear. The demon wouldn't be able to go past the second circle. She was standing just outside the third circle. Once the demon was summoned, she would step into the outermost circle to communicate with him or her. If they agreed to make a contract with her, she would reach into the second circle, grab their hand, and pull them out. But if she stepped past the line somehow, the demon was able to pull her back into hell with them. That was mainly her mother's concern, but Emmaline wasn't stupid enough to do that, even if demons could be very convincing.


Finished with that, the birthday girl stepped back, caught her breath, steadied herself, and finally looked forward with a determined look on her face. It was almost midnight, if she didn't finish soon she wouldn't have a familiar. The reasoning for this was simple: The later in the day it was, the more powerful of a demon she would summon, even if it was more risky. But she really didn't want a foot-tall imp to be her familiar, so she was going big or going home.


Finally, Emmaline lit the black candles surrounding the outer circle, returned to her place, opened the guide to summoning and caring for demonic familiars, and began to chant. There were several chants, but of course she had chosen to do the hardest one, wanting the best demon she could summon. The foreign demon sentences flew off her tongue fluently, she had been practicing all week, since the words had no effect if it wasn't the day of turning seventeen. She broke into a sweat, and felt more and more weak, but the chanting resumed for a good ten minutes, increasing in volume and rapidness. She ended the final words with a shout.


Nothing happened for a second, and stared at the inner circle catching her breath. Then, there was an explosion of multi-colored smoke, which nearly caused Emmaline to fly backwards, but she held her place. She hesitantly took a step into the outer circle where she was still safe, waving away smoke and coughing. "H-hello?" She asked, squinting to see through the smoke.

 

[Enigma]

Darius

Seconds ago, the blonde demon has been perched within his lounge, the room decorated with gold and red shawls all over the walls, pillows piled over the floor and couches that strangely seemed to hold some elegance. The decor was nothing less that what he deserved in his position as one of the demon lords, A demon that could control many, if not thousands of the lower class beasts with a simple snap or even glance. Feared and respected, he rarely ever felt the need to escape his little sanctuary that adored him so.

This was until the explosion happened. From lounging around, sipping at the most expensive wine a small ghoul had brought back from the human realm, he was suddenly taken from his lavish room and to a completely unfamiliar area to which the very scents had already begun to disturb him. He raise a hand, a white glove appearing within the mass of colour, and quickly swatted away smoke as if it was a fly.

As it vanished, finally the high ranking demon had shown himself to another's eyes. Darius stood at 6''1 with bright blonde hair that could even be said as gold as it fell in loose locks to the nape his neck, with one stray strand falling across his eyes. His skin was pale with darker lashes that framed crystal red orbs that confined a pair of slit like pupils. He adorned a dark black suit. With a pristine white shirt and a cravat around his neck, a red crystal buried within its ruffles as a few stray ends resting upon the collar of his void black blazer. Finally, with a pair of curled up black horns resting upon his skull, curling back to the air with a small flick, a silver chain hanging off each one where a similar red crystal would hang, swaying slowly.

With the shift of smoke, the demon had the ability to stare down at the human who dared to summon him. It was unheard of! A frown had instantly appeared on his noble features as he shifted at the waist, leaning forwards to stare at the girl in disgust. It was a child! Humming slightly, his brows furrowed, as he ran a hand through the ever golden strands of hair that fell in his view.

"Finally...someone has the ability to summon me and its...a foolish child..."

His voice was low, full of malice and distaste. Darius was far from happy about this but he knew he would be unable to break through the second ring, but that did not stop him from stepping out of the first. "So? Tell me why you want to make a contract." He demanded, waving his hand dismissively, shoving it into his pocket as he raised a brow. "I will disagree anyway. However, rules say that I must at least hear out your offer for this." He had to be a gentleman, right?​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmaline peered through the smoke to see a hand-or rather, a glove-cut through it. Her eyes widened as she looked up to see a demon towering over her small 5"3 form. He was... Majestic, although from how annoyed he appeared, she wouldn't say that to his face. She probably stood there for a good 30 seconds simply gaping. He was unlike any demon she'd ever seen. How had she managed to summon a demon this spectacular?


His words snapped her out of her trance, and she frowned. He didn't appear to be that friendly. "Well, I don't know how old you are, but it's been two hundred years since anyone over seventeen was able to summon a demon." She told him. "So I'm terribly sorry if my age doesn't speak for myself, but given the fact that I was able to summon you, I don't think age would matter too much." She put her hands on her hips in a failed attempt to look confident and in charge.


But his next words threw Emmaline off. She blinked at him with her bright blue eyes. What was she able to offer him? She should've thought this through. Of course a demon of his caliber wouldn't just make a contract with a measly little girl like her for shits and giggles! "U-uhm, well..." She started, trying to think of something on the spot. "It seems that it's been quite a while since you've been back to the human realm, judging by what you're wearing, and I imagine you'd like to see how things have progressed. A lot has changed." She paused, then her eyes widened. "N-not that there's anything wrong with what you're wearing, but people here haven't worn that sort of stuff for over 500 years, it looks quite good on you!" She explained frantically.


Oh great, I need to get it together. She thought to herself, then cleared her throat. "And as for me... Well, there are many reasons I want a demonic familiar." She started. "First off, it's really hard to even make it in this world without a familiar. You can only summon a demon or angel on your birthday when you turn 17, which is how I'm summoning you. No sooner, no later. If you miss the opportunity or fail, you get no familiar, and live a boring life." She said with a frown. "And... To be honest, the reason I'm summoning a demon is because angels are really boring. All the demonic familiars I've met are really interesting, so I guess I wanted a companion that wouldn't be so apathetic, that would actually have a personality, an opinion on things."

 

[Enigma]

Darius

As the female, just recently dubbed as a moron, had tried to look intimidating, or at least he believed she had tried. His red orbs had watched as her hands settled upon her hips, the action itself causing her brow to raise curiously before he just snorted in amusement, the edges of his lips raising into a sinister grin at how daring this mortal female could be. He had never accepted a contract and had long since decided he never would. Yet, out of all the people who had summoned him, this was the most intriguing reaction out of them all.

Even as the girl continued rambling, his brows remained up and the grin, as sinister as it was, remained perfectly in place as a gloved hand slowly patted his upper arms now they were crossed. It only got better as she tried to think of something that would bring him to accept this offer and be bound to her until her mortal death. Now what demon would! You had to serve, though most of them found loopholes, a far inferior creature and even come across the scum of those halo freaks.

During her ramblings, Darius had slowly become bored. It was boring. Rolling his eyes, Darius uncrossed his arms and reached over to the edge of the second circle where he was bound to stay. Gloved hands brushed against the air and immediately the circles had reacted as sparks of electricity danced within the air to burn against the white of his gloves. The sparks continued for a few seconds before he withdrew his hand, staring at the charred material with a small huff.

Finally, his attention was on the girl, his lips having fell to a somber frown. Now he was listening. "So for my acceptance of this deal, to which I am left in servitude of a munchkin...I get to discover the changes that have been made to this realm?" He asked, his eyes not even on her as he rubbed his fingers together, removing the ash from the white gloves. "But...You are completely correct in saying that those Halo bastards are boring, lack personality and are to...They are just foolish birds." He muttered, distaste lacing his tone as he rolled his eyes.

So with a few seconds of thought, Darius turned to face the girl, studying her for a moment before he bowed at the waist, an arm resting upon his abdomen as he did. Then when he stood to his full height, grin slowly twisting into the malicious grin from before, the demon spoke in his tauntingly sly tone, eyes glimmering. "Let me introduce myself, Human." His arms fell to his sides before being raise to fold across his torso. "I am Darius, one of the generals and subordinates to the Lord." By that, he meant the leader of his realm. "I am one of the four Kings..." He went silent, huffing again as he held out his hand. "I'll accept your deal, brat."​

 

[Forever For Never]

(Darius's rudeness makes me way more happy than it should x3 I love the way you write him )

Emmaline




Emmaline was growing more than a bit irritated, and somewhat wondered why she'd bother talking to this demonic jerk. It was so obvious that he wasn't even listening, and he even attempted to cross the circle! The nerve! She hadn't used a gallon of her own blood making the circles just for him to disrespectfully cross. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. Even if he was an insufferable prick, she wanted to at least attempt to get him to be her familiar. He was the only chance she had, and she wouldn't be able to live off her family's torment and "I told you so!'s over failing to get a demonic familiar.

When he actually started talking, she nodded. "Yeah, angels are so one-dimensional. It's like they don't even have souls. So far you seem to be a grumpy jerk, but at least that's some emotion and personality compared to their apathy." She said with a laugh. But when he actually stopped to think about it, she was quite surprised. Would he really accept the contract?! She hoped so! Even if they didn't seem to get along, she was sure that eventually she'd be able to get his attitude in check enough to live with him.

Emmaline's eyes widened. He was one of the four kings?! She had heard about them, some of the most powerful demons in existence! She kinda understood his 'holier than though' attitude now, he was a big deal! How had she managed to summon something like him?! She couldn't help but gape at him for a minute, then snapped to her senses, and grabbed his hand before he could pull it away again. She'd be an idiot to pass up the opportunity to have such a powerful familiar!!

With as much strength as she could muster, the small blond held tight to the demon's hand with both of hers, and yanked him over the second circle. A glowing red light flared, and all three circles disappeared as the blinding light vanished with a snap. Emmaline winced as she felt something burning into her hand. She looked at it to see a demonic symbol engraved on the top of her hand, like a blood red tattoo. She had no idea what it meant. Perhaps Darius did?

"W-well, it's nice to meet you, Darius. My name is Emmaline, and I'm pleased to meet you." She mustered, letting go of his hands and smiling at him with a somewhat wary but hopefully confident smile. She knew that the laws of familiars prevented him from harming her unless she herself ordered it, but she was sure that a high-class demon such as himself would be able to find some sort of loophole. She wondered if she was getting in over her head, but it was too late now that she'd already made the contract.

"Anyway, it's almost midnight here, so I guess we should go back home. My house is this way. I made a room for you, but... Well, I didn't expect to summon a demon of your caliber, so tomorrow you can help me look for some furnishings that are better-suited to you." She said with a sheepish laugh, still having a hard time processing how she had managed to do that.​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

Pulled out of the circle, the high ranking demon breathed a small sigh of relief as the restrictions that bound him to such a small space was gone. A grin had slipped onto his face as he reached over, plucking one of the pristine white gloves from his limb to reveal carvings having formed deep within his skin, coloured with a shade of red that resembled freshly spilled blood. Each detail was elaborate and beautiful. From the basic pentagram to the curls and flickers of lines that in his own realm, each held a meaning.

Once the glow, the ethereal symbolization of their new bond vanished, Darius had turned to Emmaline with a raised brow as she mumbled on about rooms and furniture, both of which utterly confused him. From reports, from lowly servant minions of course, Humans often showed little care to demon familiars. They did not have a strong necessity to sleep or even eat and so most were ordered to remain awake as guards or to simply do chores.

Eventually, he shook his head and reached over, settling the marked hand upon her head as red eyes stared curiously at her, studying each detail his enhanced senses could pick up due to their proximity. "Hm...It is strange, Emma." He called out, cocking his head slightly with a toothy grin. There was no way he would remember such a long name when she would eventually die anyway. "Do you not wish to order me to keep watch? Or to simply fufil chores during you rest?" He asked, his tone becoming sickeningly darker as his gaze narrowed.

Darius may of been attracted to the offer of this deal simply because this humans put down those preaching douche bags but he doubted that she was any different from the humans he had met when he broke the barrier between his realm and this, entering here without little care for rules or laws. He was a king! However, he could not hurt her but from his own knowledge, this mean he could not kill her nor cause her physical pain. He had, many years ago, explicitly looks for a loophole and there was nothing talking about emotional pain, mental pain.

​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmaline let out a slight yelp and flinched when she felt a weight on her head, relaxing a bit and gazing up at the demon's face, observing it as he observed hers. He had sinfully perfect features, but that was expected of a demon from his status. She actually kinda liked the nickname, almost everyone called her by her full name due to her mother's insistance, though it was quite irritating to her. She would have friends call her by Em, or Emma, but she only had one, though he did call her Em.


"Well, if anyone knows anything about higher-ranked demons it's that they have their ways of getting out of doing things." She stated, rolling her eyes. "So even if I did chose to try to overwork you, you'd find some sort of loophole anyway. Plus, I don't really want you plotting a bunch of ways to torture me in unspeakable ways once I die and go to hell, so even though you're kinda a high and mighty asshole at the moment, I hope that someday we can be friends." She finished, walking with him.


She would be happy if that happened. It had been kinda lonely since her mom had stopped her older brothers from contacting get shyer she had moved out after declaring that she would summon a demon. Coming from a family that was composed of Angel-lovers, not one of them failing to summon an angel for the past 10 generations, she was kinda a disgrace. So Darius had better be worth it!

 

[Enigma]

Darius

At the end of her declaration, Darius just chuckled softly, removing his hand as he followed after hand, hands falling into his pockets. He had no problem walking behind the girl, occasionally allowing his gaze to flicker from her to something he had never seen. There was most likely a demonic version of this all but the human version of anything was an unsolvable mystery to him. He was one of the four kings of hell and he still found the human realm to be out of his understanding.

Halfway through their trip, Darius tilted his head, letting it fall to the side so golden locks cascaded in a small curl at the ends as they pooled on his shoulder. "You know a lot about us..." he mumbled faintly, raising his brows in what seemed like respect. Humans were so fragile and moronic but this girl, Emma he remembered, had actually looked into his species before summoning. Most just wanted the affiliation to a powerful servant. "Though I have to congratulate you on that. I already had plans to make you regret this without even waiting for your death." There was a paused as he used his gloved hand to push back the locks from his sight. "However, you are remotely interesting and I cannot allow anything to take away the only source of amusement I have had in hundreds of years."

They must have been nearly there because his sight had caught up on a small building which he suspected was her home. So, for now he decided to find out more about the girl, if not that, just to try and annoy her. Angry humans were fun to rattle up. He was just about to speak, his lips parted and poised to poison her with sly words, before he registered her last line. "Friends?" He asked, his expression having actually morphed into one of real confusion before he removed that weak display and shrugged. "I do not know. You are my first contract, the first deal I have decided to accept." He added, flicking his wrist a few times to stare at the red markings.

After a few seconds he looked back at her. "You, Emma, are one of the firsts to summon a King and have them accept a deal, a contract." He stated, as if it was the highest achievement in the world. Which, in the demon realm it was as the Kings rarely even showed themselves to other demons but one another or their Lord. "Even if you smell of the preaching bastards."​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmaline grinned, glancing back up at Darius. She wondered if he could change his form. Some demons that she'd seen were able to. Perhaps into something less tall and intimidating? She assumed that intimidating was what he was aiming for, as a demon, but she was technically sort of in charge of him. As much as anyone could be in charge of one of the four Kings, that was.


"Well, of course!" She said with a slight laugh. "It took me several hours to set up everything for summoning you. I learned about all kinds of demons, and most of the more powerful ones seemed to be a lot more interesting than the weaker ones, so I just aimed to summon the most powerful one I could. It never said anything about being able to summon a King though..." She trailed off, staring at him with wide eyes. "I'm actually surprised I managed to summon a demon in the first place. I don't think anyone in the history of my family has ever even tried before me. How could I of all people manage to make a contract with one if no one ever has before?"


She grimaced slightly. "That probably explains why I might smell like angels." She added as they approached her house. It was a modest home, a kitchen and living room downstairs, two bedrooms and a sort of entertainment room upstairs. She. Unlocked the door and led Darius inside. "Welcome to my home... Or I guess it's yours too now." She said. It was decorated in dark blues and purples, accents of silver and black in the furniture.


"Your room is to the right upstairs. Do whatever you want with it as long as no one dies and it's reasonably clean. Mine's to the left, and if the door's closed please knock, I'm probably either showering or sleeping." She informed him, kicking her shoes off and sitting on a plushy purple couch.

 

[Enigma]

Walking through the door, his hands still shoved into the depths of his pockets, Darius stood idly in the door frame as he studied the decor and colour scheme with a critical gaze and grin. Having discovered her families link to the angels, he had briefly suspected that she would live in shades of whites and pastels, so the silver and blacks made his current position much more comfortable that he believed it would be. "Maybe I should stop expecting things from you..." He mumbled before shaking his head, walking into the place with his head held high, as usual.

Shrugging, Darius had slumped down onto the sofa with a small huff, closing the bloodied orbs as he leaned his head back onto the cushions. This was a strange situation for him. Out of all four kings, only three had ever accepted contracts. The first one out of them all was Kalos, the eldest of them all and he had only accepted because the person had a strong mastery over his magic to a point he had been subdued by the human and controlled. Then Amy, who had agreed to stay close to a human she had fallen for, even if she denied it later. Now, Darius had joined the ranks.

Sighing, Darius sat up properly as he reached up, pressing the pads of his fingers against his temple as he finally removed the other glove and pushed it into the pocket with the other. One held the deep rooted symbol while the other was without even a mark. When Emma had sat down, Darius had turned his gaze to her before huffing, raising the contracted symbol by bringing up his hand. "I suspect you have one of these, correct?" He asked, not even needing an answer. "There are a few things we hide from the humans and Angels, information agreed upon by the kings that we would not disclose."

Turning around his palm, the deep red was seeming to contrast how pale his skin was. "Who announced that these symbols, that our contractors get vary due to choice, though this isn't the case." He crossed his legs, closing his eyes tiredly. Darius did not need to sleep but he enjoyed the action of it. "These are deeply engraved to us personally. The one you have on your hand is mine. While it gives me a link to you to a point I can find you in most places, the structure of it will allow you some perks as well." He added, opening his eyes and raising a brow. "It will warn me if you get in danger but only under certain situations, though you use your blood upon it to manually activate it."

Then there was silence as his brows furrowed, lips pursing in thought before huffing. "There is more but I don't feel much inclined to warn you of much else. Other than that you should avoid telling anyone the importance of this because I will exploit every loophole, Emma. Though I doubt you will....of course you can, in extreme cases, give someone a depiction of the symbol so they can be located and can contact me. Just avoid doing that unless necessary, okay?"

http://th01.deviantart.net/images/PRE/large/indyart/tattoo/Just_another_pentagram.jpg
​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emma~line

Emmaline looked up at the demon. He was less intimidating sitting down, but he still towered over a foot taller than her. She put their hands side by side. They had the same pentagram-like marking on their hands, and it was the same size, but it looked over sized on her hand, much smaller than the demon's. She sighed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your special marking unless it's really important. I have better things to talk about than the secrets of the four Kings you know." It was meant to be a joke, but she wasn't sure if he would interpret it that way.

"... So if it wasn't working I'd just have to drop some of my blood on it to activate it?" The blond asked, long hair pushed over one shoulder. She smiled to herself, entertaining thoughts of using it to make him pick up a pizza or other silly things. Not that she would. "By the way, what is it with you demons and human blood?" She complained, frowning at Darius. "I had to use almost a gallon of my blood for the ritual to summon you. Did you know that for summoning angels you just use freaking holy water? What the hell is up with that?" She sighed.

Speaking of which, Emmaline really needed to get some food in her. Preferably steak, because that would help increase the red blood cells and help her make up for the blood that she'd lost. She had been feeling quite lightheaded and exhausted, which was expected, but she didn't really want to show any weakness to her new, overpowered familiar.

"Hey, I'm going to make some steak. Do you want some?" She asked as she got up from the couch, took a moment to stabilize the spinning of her head, and walked into the kitchen. She pulled out a huge skillet and unwrapped two succulent steaks. f Darius didn't want one she would simply eat it tomorrow, but she had heard that even though they didn't need much food demons loved red meat, so she was fairly sure that he would not turn it down. She heated the stove to a high temperature and put some oil on the pan, wondering how to season the steaks.​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

He just huffed at the girl, reaching up to press his fingers against his forehead in a overly dramatic manner. "Do your books not teach you this?" He asked, obviously annoyed by the question as he leaned back, actually enjoying the comforts of this couch. Mentally noting that this was now his, the demon turned to look over the back of the sofa as the human had gotten up to make food. Which, by saying steak, had actually enticed the demon into grinning enthusiastically. "Of course! Meat of any kind, any time." was his quick response.

Obviously in a much better mood, Darius continued with a much softer tone than before. "Our reasons for choosing blood as a medium for most deals, contracts or even ceremonies is because it is personal. We are monsters but we hold true to our word if given, we also are very serious about everything having a 'fair trade'. " He pointed out, raising a hand as one finger stood up among the rest. "Since we give out our marks, even if we do not inform our contractors of its ability, we need to have an equal offering. "

Darius shifted upon the seat, sitting up properly as he stared at the TV before him in confusion, brows furrowing as he was tempted to touch the creepy object. "Blood is personal in so way to humans. It is a part of you, something that you need and will die without, something that can identify you and relate you to others. That is similar to our marks and in link to that, our type of deals. So you use your blood, we deem it an equal trade and then we answer calls." He finished, closing his eyes as he fell onto his side on the couch, eyes closed. "Those preaching idiots only use holy water because they are robotic ants, if best. It means very little to them personally."

Eventually, he pointed over to the Tv that stood across from a table. "Now, what is this device? It looks strange. Is it some type of prison?" He asked, raising a brow quizzically as he sat up slightly, propped up against the arm. "And how are you going to cook the meat without fire? From my knowledge, you humans do not eat it uncooked, correct?"

​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmmmmmmmaline




The blond smiled at how the demon had opened up so much more simply at the mention of meat, perhaps she could use that as a bribe in the future, to hopefully get him not to escape out of loopholes like she was sure he would. She scoured her spice cabinet, deciding that lemon pepper was a good seasoning for her meal. She wondered if Darius wanted anything on his steak. Did he even want it cooked? Who knew what demons liked. By the sounds of it, it didn't even seem like he knew that people put things on meat for more seasoning.

"Oh I guess that does make sense." Emmaline mused as she watched the steam on the pan begin to rise, meaning that it was almost hot enough for the steak. "But still, why so much? It took almost half the blood in my body to summon you." She said with frown as she put her steak on the pan. It immediately began to sizzle, and she glanced at Darius's steak.

"I am heating it. This is called a stove, it has gas that's ignited with a spark when you turn a knob. Wow, you don't know what a stove is? How long has it been since you've visited the human realm?" She asked, turning to glance at her familiar. "Do you want your steak cooked, or to have any seasoning on it?" She asked, and then a sly grin formed on her face at the comment about her TV.

"Yes, it is a prison. Any one who commits a crime can be shrunk and placed into one. They have to entertain you. If they fail, then they'll never get out. So they have to make a certain number of people laugh depending on the severity of their crime. I'll show you." She grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. It was on Comedy Centeral. A skit was happening where two guys were trying to out-prank each other. She grinned, wondering if he would really buy it as she flipped her steak.​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

Having twisted around to face his new summoner, his arms folded on the back of the couch as he propped his head up upon his arms, lips pursed. "There are lower ranking demons and higher ranking demons, right?" He questioned rhetorically before waving his hand around dismissively, as if the topic was common sense. If he wasn't now contracted to her, he would have never disclosed any information such as this. "The stronger demon summoned, the more blood is required to act as a medium for us to appear."

He would tap his cheek idly with his forefinger, closing his eyes before dropping his arm down. "That and as I said before, Blood is what we consider personal to you just as you get our marks, which are personal to us. So the stronger we are, the more power the human is getting so the offering for the summons has to be more.". Demons were cheaters, liars and cruel but they had rules and beliefs. Summoning itself had been decided by the Lord himself so even the Kings obeyed their view of it.

Darius had perked up when she began to explain about the TV, his eyes having widened slightly as he turned back around on the couch to stare at the box with a raised brow. This was a form of torture? Having gotten up and straightened his attire, Darius had stepped forwards towards the device before taking a seat before his, idly reaching out to touch the screen before it burst to life. Darius, as powerful as he was, couldn't help it when the sudden colour and sounds came to life, causing him to jerk back a little.

When he had studied it for a few more seconds, his gaze had narrowed for a large grin spread across his devilish features, hands reaching out to settle on either side of the TV. "What an interesting Idea...You humans are not then as despicable as I first believed! To come up with such an amusing way to make another suffer, a fool!" The air around Darius had turned a sickly black as he chuckled, leaning back against the black painted wooden table, Darius watched the show with intrigue. "Ha!" Darius couldn't help but snort in laughter when one of them suffered due to a prank.

When he recalled her asking about his presence in this realm, Darius leaned his head back for a second, humming gently despite the chilling smile still upon his lips. "Ah...The last time I was in this realm was in the battle against those foolish preachers. However, I was only there to command armies and battle with the four Generals of the Angels while the Lord tried to win. I never once looked at your development." He suddenly pursed his lips, thinking. "Before that...The last time I was here was around five hundred years before that very battle, I guess." Darius guessed, shrugging his shoulders.

Darius was about to turn back to the television, to which had become his source of amusement, he paused to turn back to her. "From what I have gathered from what you have told me, your family has aligned themselves with the angels." He pointed out. "And having the ability to summon me shows that your family must have some innate talent for the summoning itself. So, has any of them had the ability to summon one of the preacher's generals?". While serving his new master, Darius had concluded he had to at least try not to obliterate her family of preacher fan girls and so needed to know if they had one of the generals on their side. They were equivalent to the four kings in angel terms and served right under their lord. Darius himself had no problem with it, as he would make the angel suffer regardless, but he decided it would be best to be prepared.

​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emm a line

Emmaline grinned as she saw how enthralled Darius was by the TV. She decided that she would let him believe that for just a bit longer, as it seemed to make him happy. She flipped her steak again. It was almost ready. The succulent scent of the meat made her stomach growl. She was starving! The meat should be very satisfying then.

She turned back to Darius with wide eyes at his mention of the last time he'd been in the human realm. "Seriously?!" She exclaimed. "That was so long ago... A lot has definitely changed since then. I'll have to take you out tomorrow to show you all the things that you've been missing out on. A LOT has changed in 500 years." She told him. "By the way, there are diffeent channels to the TV. Some are about sports such as boxing." Emma grabbed the remote and flipped it to a boxing match. The two boxers were circling each other, attempting to get punches in.

The blond observed the steak with a critical sapphire eye before taking it off of the pan and onto her plate. She cut it through the middle. Pink, with a bit of red. Just the way she liked it: not raw, but not overcooked. She turned her gaze back to the demonic familiar,taking note of the black aura he was casting with a raised eyebrow. "Last call for cooked meat. Or do you prefer it raw?" She asked, nodding her head to the still-raw steak sitting atop the counter. She took a bite of her pown steak and chewed, welcoming the delicious meat. She swallowed her bite, then began to speak once more.

"No, no one in my family has ever summoned an angel general." She sighed in irritation. "But that's not because they're not competent enough to. They believe that it isn't their place to distract the higher-up angels from their 'important' duties, so none of them ever try and summon any angel higher than a guardian angel. If they by chance summon one more powerful, they politely decline the angelic familiar, and try again for a weaker angel. It's stupid really." Emmaline bit into her steak again and chewed viciously, frustrated with her family's 'values.' They were the ones who put her through a school that taught everything of angels and nothing of demons, which was why she had to do all of her research separate.​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

Still enthralled by the TV which picture changed upon Emma flicking the channel, Darius had taken little note of the sweet aroma of the meat that normally would have made even his stomach growl. However, the idea of torture that the TV presented was much more interesting. Occasionally, the demon king would crack up in a fit of laughter, finding it amusing when a character had gotten punched and collapsed in result. If only it was a fight to the death, it would have been much more entertaining.

The matches had ended, causing Darius to sigh dejectedly, lowering his head as he slowly climbed to his feat, shoving his hands into his pockets as he headed over to the island, leaning against it by propping his folded arms up on the surface. "Well, the kings are not allowed to roam free to much due to our duties, after the battle we had an agreement with angels so it restricted us even more." He paused, propping one of his elbows up instead, leaning his head against it. "Plus, I really could not be bothered to look at brain dead humans try to achieve goals they never will." He added, closing his eyes tiredly.

Finally, the call for food was made and Darius perked up, gathering himself as he twisted around the island to walk over towards the uncooked meat. With a quick grip he had taken the raw, uncooked meat and brought it to his lips, where rows of sharp teeth seems to have replaced the previously human looking ones. With ease, the demon had bitten down into the fresh meat and literally ripped the portion off, chewing it with ease as he leaned back against the counter, moaning happily at the taste of good meat. Demon meat, which literally did come from demons of lower rank, wasn't quite as good as this.

White he was idly chomping at the meat, Darius turned his gaze to Emma as he cocked his head, swallowing. "They are idiots then. All those generals do is what I basically do, we have to stay in our realms and act as a pillar." He pointed out, taking another large chunk of the steak before speaking after he swallowed. "They stay up there, we stay down there. All we do is keep tabs on one another, make sure either of us don't make a dangerous move." Within minutes, the raw steak was done and Darius was licking at his fingers. "But to say the least, your family sound like a bunch of holy obsessed fools that need a wake up call.."​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmmmmmmmmmmmmma




Emmaline simply shrugged at Darius's comment. "Maybe not the humans themselves, but I know lots of the stuff we use now and days could probably be useful to you wen you return to hell, such as the TV. You seem to be very interested in that." She noted as she chewed another bite of steak. Her eyes, however, widened when she saw the knife-like teeth that her demon now possessed, watching with a horrified fascination as he ripped the meat apart. She was glad that she had almost finished her own dinner, because watching this display was making her lose her appetite. She put her fork down, deciding not to eat the last small bite of steak, feeling somewhat nauseous.

"U-um...." She started, somewhat freaked out now. What did she expect though? From the outside Darius did not appear that startling, but what did she expect? He was one of the four kings, of course he would have a terrifying monster hidden behind his skin. She was suddenly very grateful that the contract did not allow for him to inflict any physical pain upon her. That, however, brought her to her next question. "Oh, so I don't know if this is true, but I heard that if you made a contract with a demon when you died they got to keep your soul. I mean I know that you obviously go to hell rather than heaven, but after I die and you're freed from the contract do you get my soul?"

The question frightened her. Hopefully if that was the case, she would be able to convince him during her lifetime that he didn't need to torture her in the afterlife. But who knew? Demons were notorious for lying, cheating, and finding ways out of everything. For a split second she regret summoning him, but the moment soon left. No, she didn't want to live like her family, forever boring and worshipping angels who offered no personality whatsoever. At least during her life she would enjoy having an interesting time, even if she was bound to this demon he would have to obey her until she died.

"Anyway, I think I'm going to go to bed now. Like I said, your room is to the right upstairs. Do whatever you want with it. You can even stay up watching TV if you chose to, but only if the volume is on low so I can't hear it." Emmaline informed Darius with a yawn. This day had been tiring, but she would figure things out tomorrow, and shove it in her mother's face that she was infact able to summon a demon. "So, yeah. Goodnight Darius." She said with a small wave, before resuming upstairs.

(So I think Emmaline's brother is going to try to sneak into their house in the morning through Emma's window, of you want Darius to notice or not)​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

The demon was honestly stunned by her questions, it was the first time he had displayed such an owlish expression to a human in years. It was sudden and to be honest, it became increasingly strange to a point he had no idea if he should answer or not. He had not yet decided on if he would torment her emotionally and mentally yet...he was unsure how she would react to the knowledge of his answer. Would she be fine and accept it or try to order him? Maybe even end the contract?

He had sighed when she suddenly decided to head to bed as he found a way out of explaining the end result of creating a contract with a beast such as him. For a moment, Darius turned to the doors before shrugging his shoulders and turning upon the spot to head up the stairs and to the room the human girl had designated for him.

Darius slipped into the dimly lit room, that having been due to his sight and headed over towards the window with a narrowed gaze. Something annoying would eventually happen because he accepted this contract...but he didn't exactly regret it. He raised his hand and with a echoing snap, the air around him shifted and was coated in the familiar black aura from before, this time however it had changed the appearance of his clothes, leaving him in a silk black shirt and pants. Deciding that he should try to adjust to human nature, Darius slipped into the bed and promptly fell to sleep.

~

The next morning, Darius had woken up around half five in the morning and had quickly returned his attire to something suitable for the day. Emma had pointed out the strangeness of his clothing before and so now he adorned a white shirt, black slacks and a simply loose black tie around the collar. He had used the idea from one of the sketches on the TV on the previous night and he quite liked it.

Heading down stairs, quietly of course, Darius slipped into the living room and collapsed instantly onto the couch with a small thud. "Much better." he grumbled, bringing an arm up to rest over his eyes as he reached over towards the remote to try and attempt to turn it on. It took him ten minutes to finally land on a suitable channel, horror, before he slumped down and decided to wait for his master to awake.​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmaline!~

Emmaline let out a light sigh as she closed her bedroom door, leaning against the solid wooden door for a moment. Darius had seemed quite surprised by the question and hadn't responded, so she decided to let it go for now. She was too tired to deal with that sort of stuff. She changed into a pair of blue flannel pajamas and washed her face before climbing into her bed. Even though she was exhausted from spending her whole birthday preparing for summoning Darius, the question kept her up for a while into the night, before she finally drifted into a blissful sleep.

~

The next morning the blond was awoken from her peaceful slumber to the sound of footsteps in her room. At first she froze, as her mind was still fogged with sleep and she did not know who the intruder could be, but the details from the night before came back, and she relaxed, assuming it was her new familiar. "Darius, next time please knock before coming into my room." She mumbled drowsily, not opening her eyes.

"Darius?" A voice that she recognized asked. "Who's that? Do you have a secret boyfriend, sis?" Her eyes snapped open to see Marcus, her older brother. A wide grin spread over her face as she jumped out of bed, attacking him in a hug. "Marcus! How did you get in here?" She asked, before spotting the open window and shaking her head with a smile. He was the type of guy to do that. Her brother was the only one in her family who would still talk to her after being 'banished' for deciding to summon a demon. His angelic familiar, Nathaniel, stood beside him emotionless.

"Hey there, Natey. How've you been?" Emmaline inquired, using one of the various nicknames she had tried on the angel in an attempt to get some sort of reaction. He glanced at her but only nodded, not saying a word. "Whatever." She shrugged, then turned back to Marcus. "So guess what? I actually managed to summon a familiar! He's pretty awesome, let me introduce him. " After saying that she turned to the stairs, yelling, "Darius! Get up here, there's someone who wants to meet you!"
​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

The current show, back on comedy central, was coming to an interesting ending that had gotten Darius to sit up properly with wide eyes and having shifted to the edge of his seat. He was waiting, chewing his lower lip in anticipation before he groaned as the whole scenario had a happy ending, much to his dismay. Collapsing against the sofa, Darius was sulking at the fact none of them had suffered much more than he initially was hoping for. One could of at least died!

Groaning at the sudden call of his name, his head tilted back to look at the stairs, before climbing to his feet as he ran a hand through his hair. The contract was not even a day old and so the very call caused a tug upon the very seal marking his hand. Darius would have to wait till the energy behind it had settled before ignoring anything that wasn't an order. Grumbling, the demon made his way up the stairs, murmuring a few curses within his home language with each step.

When Darius entered the girl's room, he tilted his head at the sight before him. There was Emma and another human male, which he presumed due ot his scent, along with the dubbed 'preacher'. In other words, an angel. His expression, once an amused one had twisted into one of annoyance and aggrivation as he folded his arms across his torso, staring down at his human with a scowl. "Human...Why are you even awake this earlier. Don't your kind normally require more hours than this to recover?" He questioned, raising a brow as he blanked the others for the beginning of his entrance.

However, when Darius did turn to the other two, his settled his gaze on the Angel. Even if it didn't know who he was, the Demon was sure to try and press his buttons for amusement. "Oh! It's a preaching birdy!" He cooed, as if to treat the angel before him as a mere child that was far beneath him. "Emma! You should have called me earlier if a winged birdy was here! This realm is boring without some type of amusement~" He purred, his hands falling into his pockets as he grinned, madly. He spared a glance to the human male, cocking a brow. "Who are they?"​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emmaline rolled her eyes with a sigh. "First off, I have a name. Or have you already forgotten? And second.I didn't chose to wake up. These two came through my window, which consequently woke me up." She stifled a yawn. "By the way, aren't higher up demons supposed to have really good senses? Did you not sense them coming in?" She inquired, then turned back to her uninvited, but not unwelcome, guests.

"This is Marcus, my older brother." She introduced. "Then the angel is Nathaniel, his familiar. I call him Natey though. He doesn't talk much." Marcus waved to Darius, sizing him up. "Nice to meet you, I guess." He said, eyeing the demon. "Emmaline, how did you even manage to summon that demon?" She shrugged sheepishly. The angel simply rolled his eyes but didn't respond to the name-calling, but once he got a good look at the demon, Nathaniel leaned toward the human male and whispered something. His eyes widened, and he stared at Darius once more, in shock.

"Woah, woah, woah! He's one of the four kings?! How in heaven did you manage to do that?!" He exclaimed to his younger sister. Emmaline grimaced, shrugging again. "I spent my whole birthday preparing, re-memorizing the incantations, drawing the blood circles, all that crap. I was just planning to summon a moderately powerful demon, one that wouldn't be a boring familiar, but then he showed up. I'm still not really sure why he accepted the contract..." She gave him a questioning look. "Regardless, I think Darius'll still be a very interesting familiar, for better or for worse."

Marcus shook his head, giving Emma a concerned look. "I don't know, Emmaline. When mom finds out about this, she'll flip out. Are you sure this is a good idea?" The younger sibling frowned. "I don't want to talk about mom right now Marcus. She doesn't have to deal with it, she's the one who disowned me." Shaking her head, she fabricated a strained smile. "Now that you two idiots woke me up, we might as well go downstairs for breakfast. Since you barged in, you have to make me pancakes!" She poked her brother, who laughed, but complied. The procession made their way downstairs. Emmaline sunk into the cushiony couch with a sigh. It was too early for this.​

 
(I'm sorry, I forgot to color-code it! D:

 

[Enigma]

Darius

Looking at Emma with a bored glance, Darius ignored her comment about the name. It wasn't due to being forgetful but the fact Emma was still human, a lower species in his standings. He had simply rolled his eyes, reaching up to press against his temples while pretending to ignore her for a few more minutes before he sighed deeply. "I do so. To a point I can notice every imperfection in a person physically...I was just occupied by that device..." He mumbled, his expression souring. "The person did not die. He gained forgiveness..it was disgusting..."

Then he was introduced to the brother, a person to which he cocked his head to. This...was Emma's relative? Studying the human carefully, Darius simply decided to try and be polite. "Hm...Pleasure to meet you, Human." He replied, still cautious of the human due to the angel present. What demon wouldn't be! Angel's had such a pure presence that inspired good, even to demons who had to suffer small whispers telling them to do good, defy their existence. It was tainting. This was the one reason that Demons were condemned to hell for years because they were unwilling to deal with angel's 'tainting' them.

Finally, his position came up and Darius grinned madly, raising a brow as if the human was foolish. "Of course I am, who else would I be? Do I look like a lower rank?" He asked with a slight hiss, as if his shock about his status actually harmed him physically. "Emma could summon me because her blood is strong." He pointed out, strangely his voice became full of pride. "Your family must have some innate talent..." He suddenly returned to thinking, his gaze narrowed as he turned away from them all and headed down stairs.

Once down, Darius went and sat at one of the tables near the Island, folding his arms against his chest as he huffed. "What in the name of hell is a pancake?" He asked, taken from his thoughts as he glanced over towards his master with a disgusted gaze. "What type of name is 'pancake' ?" He added, raising a brow before he froze. He had a strange duty to reply to a earlier question. Spinning around, Darius faced Emma, expression serious. "Last night I did not answer you." He stated. "About what will happen when death takes you. If you want, I can explain what may happen now...I say its better to get it over with. Quicker you know the possibilities, the more time you have to stop caring..."

​

 

[Forever For Never]

Em ma li ne




Emmaline almost glowed with pride. She doubted that the demon handed out compliments that often, and so one for her seemed like a good thing. "Heck yeah, I have strong blood! Since you're my brother you probably do too, but you wasted it summoning a lowly guardian angel. Maybe you could've summoned one of the angel generals!" She didn't exactly know what the use of strong blood was beside the whole demon summoning thing, but it sounded good. Her brother sighed as he got the pancake mix out, before turning to the demon in shock at his comment.

"You don't know what a pancake is?! Where have you been for the last two hundred years?!" Marcus exclaimed as he mixed the batter while Nathaniel stood by the stove watching over the skillet to ensure that it did not overheat and nothing caught on fire. That comment got a laugh out of Emmaline. "He's been in hell. Literally. He's a freaking demon king, of course he wouldn't lower himself so as to learn about a human delicacy such as a pancake. He didn't even know what a TV was either." She said.

"Oh, so he probably doesn't know about electricity or how good special affects are then?" Marcus asked as he poured some batter onto the pan. "That's a shame. You should show him some of the top movies then. The actors can be amazing!" Emmaline shot her brother a look. Darius would most likely be confused, and she didn't really want him to start out with the impression that she was untrustworthy due to the whole TV thing. But her attention was redirected to the demonic familiar at the mention of the unanswered question.

"Wait, what?" Her brother asked. "Demons actually do collect your souls after the contract expires? I thought mom just made that up to scare us so we would stay away from demons." Emmaline shrugged. "I don't know. You can tell me now, Darius. It won't make me break our contract, what's done is done. Plus, if you do get my soul it'll give me time to find out some way to convince you not to make my time in hell... Well... Hellish." She shook her head at the terrible joke.​

 

[Enigma]

Darius

He looked in between the three with a sudden sense of caution as his gaze slid back over towards his human briefly. She wanted them to hear? He raised his brows before leaning back, resting against the edge of the table with a small huff that caused his chest to puff out slightly, eyes closed in thought. It wasn't that classified in terms of information so he assumed it wouldn't matter if an Angel heard. The only issue was, the information could be used against higher demons.

Opening his eyes, red orbs slid towards the angel before towards Emma, lips pursed tightly to a thin line. "Well, there are three outcomes to our agreement made." He pointed out, glancing towards the ceiling. "Firstly, is the method of lower ranking demons and the most common result of having a demonic familiar. We consume your soul." Darius raised a finger, almost as if he was teaching a student. "It is mainly done to gain energy and power. Lower ranking demons do this more often because they do not have the ability to feed off other sources. They are to 'fragile' in some sense."

The demon cocked his head, dropping his arm onto the table with a small thud. "Then there is option two. The one where we drag your soul to hell to...well, to make the soul suffer eternal damnation. This is often done by middle class demons who hold a grudge against the human. These demons have enough power to sustain off other sources and so do not need to always feast upon the soul. However, they are not strong enough for the last option. So, they will often eat the soul but in bad cases, they damn them to eternal torture our of spite."

Then Darius propped his elbow up, resting his head in his elevated hand before closing his eyes. "Then it comes to the last option which was a very rare case." Darius mumbled, voice becoming quieter as a deep sigh rumbled from his chest. "Many...Many years ago, when one of the Kings...well Queen...was contracted, she had fallen in love with the human bound to her. A mistake but it happened." His voice shuddered at the very thought, the disgust evident. "Upon his death, having lived a good eight five or so years, the human had died within her grasp and as per the contract, he was to be consumed or damned. However, this soul is now in Heaven with those asshole preachers. She had gone to a general angel and exposed herself to enough of it's purity to stain her being temporarily. The idiot used this chance to send her love to heaven."

Darius had just scowled, shuddering at the very thought of being exposed to such a strong angel's influence for so long. Amy however, had done it willingly at that time and the other three Kings were still disgusted by it all. "She was foolish, so she was forced to suffer for weeks while she was darkened once more..." He subtly added, rolling his orbs. "The reason we don't like those singing birds is because of their influence. It is a pain in the ass to ignore depending on the strength of the angel and it still effectively stain us." He sat up properly, folding his arms as he looked between them all. "We have kept it a secret, not that I care, but their annoying influence can cause one of our souls to be directed to heaven rather than to be sent with us."​

 

[Forever For Never]

Emma...Line? .-.




The angel, girl, and her brother listened intently to Darius's explanation. Marcus was still flipping his pancakes, but a few were getting burnt, as it was obvious he was concentrating more on the tale that his sister's familiar was telling. After he had finished, the three were silent for a time. "Well... Shit." Emmaline said simply, breaking the trance-like silence. "I'd prefer the first one. You wouldn't need the extra power but the second one sounds terrible, I don't think I'd ever do anything to you to deserve the second one, and the third one sounds like too much work."

"What?!" Marcus cried, snapping his head to look back at Emmaline. "You want go to heaven! I don't want this demon to devour your soul!! And if he's powerful enough to send you to heaven, even with an angel's influence, he better! You don't deserve hell, even if you summoned a demon! She's a good person!" He cried desperately to Darius, abandoning the stove. Emmaline sighed and went to the stove, turning it off and flipping the half-burnt pancakes onto a plate. She took two of them for herself, and offered a few to Darius.

"I don't think it's up to anyone but you to decide my fate, so do whatever you want I guess. Anyway, I was the one who summoned you knowing that there could be consequences, so let's worry about it later. Do you want to try some pancakes? They're a bit burnt, but they're pretty much just water, flour and milk and egg. You can put maple syrup or fruit and whipped cream on it." She said, to Darius, demonstrating by pouring syrup on the pancake, and then putting some strawberries and whipped cream on it.

"Do you want some, Natey?" She asked the angel. He simply shook his head. He rarely ever took any food offered to him. Marcus sighed, grabbing a few pancakes for himself. "I'm going to talk to you about this later, Emmaline." He warned. She simply shrugged. "I don't think it matters now, I don't plan on dying for a long time so we don't have to worry about that." She said, digging in to he pancakes.​