Demon's Awakening Ch. 02

I thought I could've ignored the entity. All this time I'd been careful, coexisting with the weird paranormal happenings. But this time it had interfered with other people in my life in the worst possible way.

Adrenaline made me roll out from under him. I got to the edge of the bed when a clawed hand gripped my ankle, paralysing me there like a deer half caught in the jaws of a lion. I screamed at the entity possessing Ethan. "Get out of his body!"

Though this entity was inhabiting a human body, his movements and gestures were animalistic. When he cocked his head at me it was reminiscent of a curious hawk. Pupils expanding and shifting, assessing me like I was the alien one. "You were enjoying this body."

"I was enjoying Ethan!" I shouted. How long had he been using Ethan? Ethan did surprise me tonight with his aggressive side, but was that this entity's doing? Demonic possession was pretty damn hard to miss on a person.

"This is Alor." Alor's grip tightened as he lifted my ankle, pointing to the sole of my foot. "And we made a deal while you were asleep."

The root chakra was located in the sole of the foot. One of many areas an entity could drain human energy from. No wonder I'd been feeling sleep deprived for days, and now Alor had stolen a physical body and fed off our sexual energy.

I tried shoving his grip off my ankle to no avail. I glowered at him. "You brand my foot without my knowledge, there's no deal made."

Alor might've been an all powerful demon, but he had limitations. As I once said, words were power. He gave me a name and I could use it to inconvenience him as much as he could inconvenience me. As far as I knew, he could only possess male vessels.

"You don't get to chose. This is my domain. You just decided to sleep in it." A frantic and menacing laugh erupted from Alor and I yelped as he jerked me back under him.

"I've never had a female companion before. This should be fun—"

Alor punched himself in the face, throwing himself off me. I quickly dashed for my bedside drawer, snatching a vile of sacred water. This will burn him good.

Alor was still scrupling with himself, a hand on his throat he growled. "Get back in there you brat!"

He thrashed his head and Ethan's voice came through. "F-fuck off!"

I didn't know whether it was Alor or Ethan as their voices seemed to blend into one. Two hands closed around his throat and he began turning blue, dark energy erupted circulating around the room, whipping my hair like I was stuck in a whirlwind.

I didn't waste another second and flicked sacred water from the vile onto Alor. "Alor, I command you get out of Ethan right now!"

My stomach twisted at the blood curdling scream he made, the smell of burning flesh wafted through the room. He's a demon, I shouldn't feel guilty after what he's done. But Alor was in Ethan's body, and for a second I panicked thinking Ethan would feel the same pain. Alor released his throat and doubled down onto the floor before he blacked out. The dark energy in the room dissipated and everything fell silent.

I took a breath, stumbling against the wall to gather myself. I didn't realise how fast my heart rate was going. Apprehensively, I went over to Ethan. I almost choked, he was so still and stiff I thought he—

Please don't die!

I stared down at his face, the markings on his face and arms slowly faded and Ethan released an agonised breath from his lips. Blood dripped from his nose as he opened his dark eyes. I reached for him.

"Mina." Ethan sighed, leaning up and wrapping an arm around me. I felt my emotional control break and cried into his shoulder. He's okay, everything is okay.

Instead of freaking out over what had happened, his reaction was one I never expected. "I thought Alor was just a myth."

***

"Hey are you ok?" Khloe whispered over my shoulder. I shot my head up from the desk, nearly knocking our heads together. Class had finished ages ago, but I didn't want to go home after the date night incident. "Ethan said you'd be in here..."

I'd taken Ethan to the hospital under the guise that he'd suddenly fainted with a blood nose. No sacred water burn marks on his body was a bonus. Thankfully we weren't there long and I was able to drive him home.

"How did you know it was Alor?" I asked.

"I work for a group of demonologists." He sounded defeated, like he'd been trying to keep it a secret. He wiped his eyes, city lights tracing across his face. "Thats not the reason I joined you. It was a nice date."

Somehow, I couldn't believe the full extent of Ethan's words. Initially I didn't question he was over for a date, but now he'd put doubt in me. My knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.

When I pulled up at the front of his apartment building he clasped my hand over the gear shift.

"I remember everything," He reassured. "Up until I want you to be mine."

I closed my eyes, unable to look at him. "I'll see you in class."

Ethan hadn't shown up for the last few days. Khloe must have texted him. I forced a smile up at her. "Would you believe me if I said there was a demon in my house?"

Khloe said I'd looked like my soul had been sucked out by a demon, which meant yes. I relayed what'd happened two nights ago, and how I'd been crashing here in the empty classrooms for the night instead of going back to my apartment. For the first time as a seer, I felt out of my depth and didn't know what to do.

I hadn't ever revealed my seer abilities to her until now and she didn't seem deterred. It was a gamble as to whether or not normal folk would take the news seriously. But some people don't believe it unless they see it, and that was understandable. Though I couldn't deny how much it'd hurt.

Khloe gave me a heavy sigh. She yanked me up from my desk, conviction lit up her eyes. "You're coming to mine, not without dinner first."

We arrived at a night market situated in the university car park. There were a number of mouth-watering smells, French crepes with lemon curd, steaming naan and creamy butter chicken, I could've eaten at every food stand. But Khloe and I decided on Okonomiyaki. The shhh of batter and hum of conversation among other customers was a comfort to my ears. Khloe passed me a bottle of Vodka she bought, and I'd drank the right amount to make me tipsy enough to talk to the young chef making more okonomiyaki in front of us.

"How are you so good at that?" I pointed at his work bench, the preparations of his cooking. Under the scarf, his hair was predominantly dark except for a strand of white.

The chef snorted. "I'm just naturally gifted."

"Liar!" Khloe slurred, pointing her finger above the steam. "You need a license to make food!"

He held a hand up while using the other to flip the the savoury pancake. He whistled. "Geez lady, not so loud. You're ruining my reputation as a master chef."

There was something about him that was so easy going. We watched in awe as he effortlessly dished up the okonomiyaki, covering it with different sauces in intricate patterns all in the span of a minute. Or at least it felt like it.

"I get good because I practise." He flicked his gaze to me every now and then, focusing his main efforts on the okonomiyaki.

"But you're so confident with it. Don't you mess up?"

He scoffed. "Duh, that's part of it."

He sprinkled some fish flakes on top before moving over to the other customer.

"Enjoy your meal~" He placed the dish before the customer and we cheered and wooed after him in applause.

"That's more like it." He grinned. "I like your moral support."

He came back over to our side, wiping down his cooking table top for the next order. Thats when he looked up at me with a bright smile.

"I'm a better cook than yesterday, that's for sure."

I returned his smile.

By the time we finished, the chef had introduced himself as Jin. I made a note to myself to drop by this night market again when I didn't feel like cooking. I hit the hay for the night at Khloe's place and the next morning, I woke rejuvenated. I'm better than what I was yesterday. And the day before that.

I knew my next move with Alor. I'd return to my apartment for good.

***

Janet didn't know shit about her apartments. Or what the tenants were hiding from her. The moment I'd walked into the apartment, I knew there was a cursed object somewhere. But it couldn't have been the mattress.

Beneath the floorboards right under my bed, I pulled out a black wooden box. It was subtly ornate, with slight patterned engravings across the sides and on the lid, where a bronze clasp held it shut. The wood was warm under my fingers. Opening it, inside lay a bundle wrapped in bleak paper talismans, written in an alien language akin to hieroglyphs. At the touch of it, a wave of pure heat washed over me, pooling between my thighs and persisted. I could identify the strength of this power as only being one thing.

Male energy.

I didn't dare to touch it and shut the box tight. Oh. My. God.

Alor's deep chuckling surrounded me. "Can't contain yourself."

I turned on the room. "Why is your dick in a box?" I thought he'd never been alive. There was no way.

"A foe cut it off. I was potent in my time and someone was jealous."

"Oh fuck off." I dismissed. He was lying, getting his fair share of fun.

Alor's tone was gloating. "You want it so bad."

"Shouldn't this be in a museum or something?!" I half shrieked.

"Wherever it goes, I go." Alor said. "My foe didn't want me in such a place."

I needed to find a proper place to store this box. That way I could be rid of Alor for good. There had to be a demonology museum of some kind. Ethan would know.

The doorbell chimed. "Delivery!"

I stuffed the box under the floorboard and clicked it back into place. Not bothering to haul my bed, I ran to the door.

The delivery man handed me a large cardboard box. I don't remember ordering anything?

"Thank you." I said before shutting the door.

I cut it open on the kitchen counter, wafted by a pungently sweet smell finding two small lavender bouquets beside another smaller velvet box. A note was attached.

Wear this and he won't be able to touch you. He also despises lavender :D!!! Meet me in my office in G06 if you wanna talk about it. - Hugh

How did Hugh find out? I tossed the note aside and dug into the box to pull out an amulet. It managed to look like normal jewellery without being too abstract. The main feature was a tiny dainty gemstone. One which I couldn't decipher but it was a calming blue.

I now had the perfect opportunity to utilise some vases the last tenant had left behind. I fished them out from my linen cupboard and set the vases on both bedside tables, filling them with the lavender bouquets.

The amulet turned out to be a choker as I clipped it on. I surveyed my bedroom. "Alor."

Nothing.

"Alor?"

Silence. I grinned. It was already working. I couldn't wait and headed for the university campus.

***

I knew Khloe wouldn't want to miss being in Hugh's presence, so I dragged her along with me. She'd been at work but was willing to get off early. "I'll break the rules for sir anytime." She'd said.

To say Hugh's office was messy was an understatement. His desk was strewn with open tomes, situated between two full bookshelves. There were a few empty coffee cups on the window sill. He sat cross legged from Khloe and I, dressed in casual loose fitting clothes.

"I didn't realise you were a full time demonologist, sir." I said. Khloe seemed to be shaking in her boots at being in a small space with Hugh and was unnaturally quiet, so I made the effort to lead. "Thank you for the flowers, by the way."

Khloe looked at me askance. Offended. I'd explain it later.

"It's my primary focus of study, but gothic studies also goes hand in hand. I'm glad Ethan made it my business. It's not everyday a demonologist comes across Alor." He noisily sipped on a mini orange juice box.

"You seem to be an expert on Alor, can you tell me who he is?" I asked. "So far I've discovered a cursed item under my bed which he claims was one of his... appendages."

Hugh gave me the creepiest grin he could muster. "So potent they cut it off. It's true."

So he knew it was Alor's dick. Great. More confirmation. Khloe looked completely lost in the conversation.

"But that doesn't make sense to me." I said. "I can feel his energy and it's not human. How could he have once been alive?"

Finishing the rest of his orange juice, Hugh began his explanation. Like an old relative sitting by the fire, ready to wow the young children with their story. "Thousands of years ago, Alor possessed the body of a monk. An entity as powerful as Alor has the ability to possess a human for so long that they become one and the same. That's why he gives you the idea that he was once alive.

"This monk had been waning from the righteous path destined for himself and called upon Alor to give him the courage to commit heinous acts that would lead to excommunication. He granted his wish but inhabited the monk's body for the rest of eternity. Thus Alor gained more power in the dark arts and became known as an immoral and powerful Dark Priest."

I'd had my fair share of paranormal activity, but never a demon with such a renown backstory. How has Alor stayed in my apartment all this time?! It was somewhat concerning no one else seemed to know Alor's history and the threat he posed apart from Hugh and his demonologist team.

"You look lost." Hugh pointed out. "I know it's a lot to take in."

I shook my head. "It is, I'm just overwhelmed. My land lady says he's not caused any trouble for past tenants. Nor the whole building itself. They actually laugh about it."

"That's strange." Hugh's tone turned serious. "It sounds like Alor's whims have changed at your arrival, meaning he might have bigger plans for meddling. Worst case scenario, master of world destruction."

I swallowed. It felt like the breath was taken out of me. That was sinister and beyond imaginable, demonic meddling on a global scale.

Hugh scratched his chin, pondering. "If he's been in the apartment you live in all this time contained, that is the best place he can stay."

I surged up from my seat. "What!?"

"It's best for the real world to not know about him. But in saying that, if Alor goes unchecked like you say he has by every other tenant, I fear he'll conjure something into existence. That is why you are the best candidate to watch over him."

You've got to be kidding me...

"Can't I store his dick in a museum?" I cried. Khloe almost fell out of her seat.

Hugh only shook his head. I fell back into my seat and whined into my hands. I was going to have to live with him! Honourable duty be damned, I'd make the university classroom my home if I didn't get a good nights sleep. But destruction and potential world domination...

"Think of Alor as wild Tachimon." Hugh said enthusiastically. "That makes it more exciting. You must catch him and tame him!"