Demon's Awakening Ch. 03

Hugh said something about emailing me more resources but it went through one ear and out the other. As we left, Khloe was the one to take the lead, conveying her gratitude on my behalf since I was rendered into a mute ball of anxiety. She practically slapped me out the door to get us moving.

"I need context." Khloe hissed under her breath on the train. "Flowers? Dick in a box?!"

I explained the reason behind Hugh's gifts, relief washing over her face. "I almost thought you were his mistress. Thank god."

Begrudgingly I said. "Do you really want the details on Alor's dick?" It didn't occur to me that the train was still packed and my low voice carried enough that a few eyes widened our way. I cupped a hand over my mouth. The public shouldn't know of Alor. Period.

Khloe laughed nervously. "As a matter of fact, why not wait till we get to your place?" I felt her firm grip on my arms, pulling my hand from my mouth. Her stern gaze was meant only for me. Don't draw more attention to yourself.

Since I felt like I would barely be able to function properly for the rest of my night and days with Alor, we quickly dropped by the grocery store on our way to my apartment. That was another optional place to live...

No. I gripped the amulet at my throat when we entered the front door, plastic bags rustling at our sides. Alor didn't announce his presence. I released a breath and Khloe shut the door before hauling her bags onto the kitchen counter.

She pulled out two chocolate ice creams, gesturing for me to sit on one of the stools.

I was coming to realise that eating restored my sanity and sense of faith. You cannot organise and compartmentalise your problems properly on an empty stomach. Or rather, eating ice cream when things were going out of my control was a welcome distraction.

"Wait," Khloe said. "So the dick in the box isn't some kind of ancient dildo? That would make more sense."

None of this made sense. "It's so stupid."

Though Hugh had explained a lot of Alor's past, I still had questions. Who was Alor's foe? Generally in ancient stories of good and evil—or in this case humans and demons—there were prominent heroic figures. I assumed Alor's foe must have been one.

"Oh! Do you mind if I borrow your leg warmers for Aspen?" Khloe stood up to collect the remaining rubbish from our meal. She was going on the university ski trip next month which lasted for the whole study break.

I nodded, licking what remained of my ice cream. "They're in my closet drawer. Second one."

With that she headed into my bedroom. The cool ice cream washed down my throat and I sighed, satiated.

I stilled. Khloe had gone into my room. I dropped the stick and rushed after her.

I found Khloe rummaging through the wrong drawers in my closet. Thankfully, it was nothing but a mundane scene. "Are you sure you still have them?"

"Yes, you're just looking in the wrong place." I moved to take her spot before my closet. Quickly digging through my set of drawers. I wanted her out of this room as fast as possible.

"You know, for a room that's housing a demon it looks pretty normal—" Khloe's breath caught in her throat, I cut a glance at her. Her eyes trained on a spot in inside the closet, finger trembling as she pointed.

I swivelled to see long sharp fingers emerge from the darkness inside my closet and grip the sliding door. Physical fingers.

Alor had stolen another body. Wonderful.

"You're back just in time." His deep voice reverberated around us.

He could've squeezed past the door but no—with inhuman strength, Alor slammed the door back for no apparent reason but to show off. Khloe shrieked as I tried to back her out the door. My blood pulsed in my ears, but I managed to be calmer than what I was feeling. I tried to wrench the door handle but it wouldn't budge.

Khloe looked horrified. "Jin?"

I baulked. Alor, looking extremely pleased with himself, had stolen another body but I hadn't fully registered the person he stole. As if he and I shared this moment alone, he shot me a wicked smile that said I know your whereabouts. I know the people you meet.

"What do you think? Do you like my human? Isn't he handsome? " He laughed, strands of dark hair fell into his face. There was an apron hanging from his waist, clad in jeans and sneakers he smelt of fish. Alor must have found Jin at work.

The horror washed away and subsided in my stomach. In a firm voice I asked. "Alor, where did you find Jin?"

He put his hands on his hips. "You're not answering my question. Be honest, what do you think?"

"Right now Alor, I think this is absolutely insane. But..." I had to entertain his question, otherwise this would be like talking to a brick wall and nothing would get through. I scanned his face and torso, the markings now extended down the frame of his chest. Whatever shirt Jin had been wearing, I spotted the remnants of it on the floor. "Not bad."

Alor spread his arms out in a grand gesture, liked he'd emerged from a dark cave and the sun was touching his skin for the first time. There was fevor in his voice. "I feel it. This one's from my bloodline."

I went cold. If Alor was in the body of a relative, he'd be more powerful than before.

Done with his conversational mood, Alor lunged for me. But just as his fingers curled on my arm, he doubled back at our contact with a surprised hissed. It was as if he'd touched a hot stove. I clutched the amulet at my throat, relieved all at once only to hear a scream and see Alor now had Khloe in his grasp.

"No!" I failed to rip her from Alor, and before I knew it he stood in a pose indicating he was in the midst of a summoning, one hand around Khloe's neck, vicious nails pressing in like a promise, and the other held above him as if reaching for the universe.

He spoke in a thousands tongues, a single incantation. Molten eyes a light. I couldn't breathe.

Nothing moved.

Nothing happened.

Alor rushed in tongues again, visibly agitated as he flexed his fingers above him. He stared at the ceiling, almost longingly. With this chance of momentary distraction, Khloe shrugged out of his grip and ran to me, I quickly scanned her for any injuries but other than being shaken she was fine.

It appeared that Alor had miscalculated with whatever he was planning, because the expression on his face was completely foreign. Lost and confused. I didn't think he was aware that we were still in the same room.

"Khloe," I whispered, the door finally opening under my hand. "Go home, you're safer there. I'll call you later."

There was a hesitant glance Alor's way before she looked at me and nodded. Leaving without another word the front door slammed and I felt my muscles ease.

But he's still here.

"This makes no sense." Alor murmured to himself.

Tell me about it.

I payed him no heed and walked past him to grab a few of my sacred water viles stocked in my bedside drawer. I needed to have at least one on me at all times now. The lesson was late but nevertheless learned.

"It seems your new physical body doesn't like you." I said casually.

With one violent motion of his hand, various objects in the room were knocked onto the floor. My lavender vases smashed to pieces. Whatever his power was doing, it wasn't working the same way he'd willed it to before.

Strangely enough, that made Alor angrier.

***

Things took a turn. Over the coming days, Alor refused to get out from his cramped position under my bed. He was like a bug drawn to light with this particular spot. I suspected being near his male energy was somewhat of a comfort. I wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with him, other than the fact that his powers weren't working like usual. If he was still draining my energy, I was unaware of it, his power was that depleted.

For the first time since discovering Alor's existence, I thought things were looking up.

But I came home one day to my kitchen ransacked, a dishevelled Alor sat in the light of my open fridge door consuming raw chicken breast. There was a deep line in his brow as he glared at me, his stomach growling.

"It won't stop!" He chewed through a mouthful of raw meat, exasperated. "My insides."

Surely a Dark Priest would've known how to eat?

"Thats because you're hungry." I sighed, digging through my backpack to fish out my leftover sandwich from university. I chucked it his way, the chicken breast splat on the floor as he caught it.

"Eat this, you'll get sick if you eat raw meat."

This was only the beginning of a steep learning curve. I informed Alor that he could eat a variety of things in my fridge under my supervision, and that he didn't need to crawl under my bed in his downtime. He fought back, saying it was his replenishing place. Or as I would call it, a charging pod. But sometimes things wouldn't compute...

Entering my bedroom late one night, I freaked at the sight of Alor floating behind my curtains. "Alor we went over this. Don't hide under my bed or in the curtains or in my closet! It's weird—and not to mention super creepy—since you have a physical body!"

He sulked. "I'm not used to a human body. I don't know what to do with it!"

I was going to be extra precise with him. "Ok, fine. Let me teach you. Lesson one: humans don't float around on their legs, they walk." I placed one foot in front of the other, demonstrating. "Lesson two: They sit on comfortable things like chairs or sofas when they're not doing anything." I sat on my bed and sniffed the air. "Since when was the last time you've washed?"

Alor stared blankly. "Washed?"

"Ah," I grimaced. "So the Dark Priest doesn't know human hygiene. Or you might be toying with me. Well, either way I'll make sure Hugh helps you with that."

Alor was in the midst of transformation, I'd never stopped to consider it for something significant until Hugh replied back to an email I sent:

Domesticate the great dark priest! This is the best thing we could ask for. I'll come over.

I opened the door to Hugh and Ethan and half regretted it. I hadn't seen Ethan since the initial incident, and though it was well in the past I couldn't make much eye contact with him. He greeted me with a tight-lipped smile.

When they proceeded to the living room, Alor made quite the resplendent hobo on my couch. Unbothered by Hugh and Ethan, his hair was limp and greasy, skin sallow with dark circles under his eyes. He was completely engrossed in Wile Coyote and the Road Runner on the tv.

When the Road runner meep meep'ed and gave Wile such a fright and sent him up into a patch of rock, Alor and Hugh shrieked in hysterics instantaneously. Ethan and I looked at each other dumbfounded. I switched off the tv, silencing the cacophony of laughter.

Alor looked daggers at me. "Wench." He spat, puffing out his chest.

"Alor, you have good taste." Hugh exclaimed as he sat in a spare chair. Ethan gestured for me to sit in the remaining seat as he didn't want to be near Alor.

"Wench," Alor repeated with force. "Sit on my lap."

My hackles rose. "Who do you think you are?"

What irked me beyond his blatant disregard of Hugh and Ethan was that Alor seemed to be putting on bravado. This archaic manner of masculinity hadn't come through since he'd had his powers.

He scoffed and smiled. "I'm a king."

"You don't smell like one." Ethan shot back, pinching his nose.

"Like a fish market." Hugh interjected, standing before Alor. Hand in the shape of a gun, he pointed to Alor's tattooed forehead. "For a king Alor you really don't consider how your actions affect your subjects. You might get bit in the ass for it if you're not careful."

Something slipped down Hugh's sleeve cuff, revealing black beads stringed together. A religious bracelet. Alor's eyes singled in on it.

Hugh's voice was unnervingly calm. "Will you listen to me or not?"

Like my amulet, I assumed this bracelet was a demon-repellant relic. Or judging from the alarm in Alor's eyes, a weapon. A tense silence passed before Alor's gaze finally lifted to Hugh. Bringing him to heel.

"Good." Hugh took his seat and clasped his hands together in one loud clap, proceeding with his lessons. He explained to Alor that because he was stuck in a human form, he needed to take care of it otherwise his mood and health would deplete significantly. Those were foreign concepts to Alor.

Ethan handed me a list they'd written for Alor. In subheadings and paragraphs it listed all the basics of human survival with detailed directions and descriptions on how one should execute each action.

• Eat and drink at morning, lunch and dinner...

• Sleep for at least eight hours in a bed...

• In the morning and before sleep time, take a bath in the bathroom...

• By eating your body creates waste so don't forget to shit and piss...

"I was hoping Hugh would give Alor a demonstration." I whispered to Ethan. "But... maybe not."

Ethan chuckled, the sound warm and inviting. I didn't realise how much I'd missed it.

"I'm sorry about last time," I confessed. "I didn't mean to be cold to you when I dropped you off."

"It's ok." He smiled. "Things got busy on my end. I'd have spoken to you sooner otherwise."

So he wasn't avoiding me.

Hugh cut in. "Mina pass Alor the list."

As I leant to give it to Alor, he rose and snatched it off me. Rude.

"As it stands, you're mortal Alor." Hugh stated watching Alor skim over the list. "You're subject to all the dangers we're subject to."

Alor scowled, chucking the list into the air and letting it drift to the floor. "Thats just scribbles on paper and I refuse to believe such idiocy."

I slapped my hands down my sides in frustration. Goddamnit he can't read!

"Well then," Hugh shrugged, delivering his next words with a morbid grin. "If you're not mindful of your health and all the things in the human world that pose a risk to you, you'll die."

Alor chuckled, having no reference to the totality of death. When his gaze fell on me, something crossed his mind and his laughing faded to a scowl.

"I don't die." He said my way before turning his gaze back to Hugh. "That's below me."

By the time our session ended, Alor had gotten into the bath. At least explaining that wasn't as difficult as I imagined.

I peered through the door. "Do you need me to watch you in here in case you drown?"

"Why not bathe with me?" He purred, extending a hand towards me. "That would be more fun."

"Nooo." I said in a mock saccharine tone. "You won't get me in there—"

I was hit with a splash of warm water and I shut my eyes at the impact. I could hear it all slosh over the bathtub onto the titled floor. Alor was too pleased with himself to laugh.

"There's this thing called washing your hair." I wiped the water from my eyes and glared down at him. "Let me show you."

"Fuck!" Alor shouted as I dug my fingers into his scalp. Hair all sudsy and white like a fluffy cloud. "It's horrible!"

"This way you become well aquatinted with pain." I intoned mildly. "You don't want to feel this do you? Death feels much worse than this."

Alor growled, expression scrunching up to hide his grimace. "You're being wicked on purpose."

I imagined pulling his hair underwater and letting him drown. Alor only thought of himself and no one else, how could he have called me wicked? You stole a body, you took a person's place and stole his life.

Instead I gripped his hair in my fist. "The Dark Priest needs a lesson in empathy." I untangled my fingers from the bubbly strands. "Lay down so I can rinse the suds off."

For once Alor complied. I focused on the shampoo floating into the water instead of his eyes, staring up at me.

As he sat back up, I asked. "How did you get Jin?"

Slowly, he turned to me, his wet hair plastered to his head. "Through the delivery man."

Spirits and demons didn't make a whole lot of sense. Some had strict rules around them as to how they travelled. But Alor was more... unhinged. He could simply blow out my door on the wind if he wanted to, like a disease spreading slowly and infecting multiple people. That was the only way I could picture it.

"Why didn't you possess the delivery man?" I frowned.

"Because you like this one." He said as if that was simple enough.

I scoffed. "You were planning something." I remembered the desperate way he looked to the ceiling with Khloe locked in his grip. "You said Jin was your blood."

Alor gave me a flat look. "I needed a vessel from my bloodline in order to conduct a spell." He averted his eyes. "It has proved more difficult than I expected."

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of the tub and stood.

"You can't stay in Jin's body." It'd almost been two weeks since he'd first shown up as Jin. Someone was bound to be searching for him. The sooner he didn't have a vessel, the better the world would be. "If you don't get out of his body soon, I will find a way to exercise you."

Even if that meant exercising Alor from existence.