[Ring: Pride - Location: Outskirts of Imp City, Moxxie's Private Property, Office - Moxxie POV]
***
[Female Demon:] "Thank you, darling, for having those fresh products delivered to my district. But are you sure you don't want me to pay for them?"
Chuckling, I picked up a slinky from my desk and started playing with it, relaxing in my chair.
"No need, Rosie. You're doing me a service by taking them off my hands."
"I also heard you guys were running low on food. I couldn't let my favorite Overlord starve, let alone her demons." I put the slinky down.
Then I noticed my hand's nails — more like claws — and frowned. 'I should get another pedicure soon.'
[Rosie:] "Ah, darling, you are spoiling me and my district. We appreciate your kindness."
Smirking, I said, "No need for all that, Rosie. After all, I did owe you a favor."
There was a long pause on the other end before her voice returned.
[Rosie:] "Oh my dear, I'm sorry but I will have to cut our lovely chat short. Something has come up."
"Haha. Of course. Don't let me keep you, Rosie. I hope you have a lovely day. Goodbye."
[Rosie:] "You too, darling, and goodbye."
Dial tone. I hung up the phone and relaxed in my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Satan, I feel less like a mobster and more like a fucking politician. Anyway, guys, you might be thinking what happened to the orphanage."
"Well, it's all taken care of. I had Grace handle the rest for me. I really need to do something nice for her. Bobby went back to the Greed Ring to add my new addition to my tourist trap."
"That incubus and succubus are gonna attract a lot of tourists." Crossing my right leg over my left. "Shit, I don't know what to do right now. Alastor is still running around wild."
"Blitzø hasn't met with Millie yet. Too busy dealing and spending time with his daughter Loona."
"Maybe I shouldn't have pushed that so soon. Oh well, I can't take that back."
Suddenly I felt a mental pull in the back of my mind.
Like somebody was calling out to me — well, not me, more like to anyone who was listening. It was like someone putting their address online for everyone to see.
"Oh, that's convenient." Relaxing in my chair, I closed my eyes and followed the tug in the back of my mind.
The tug got stronger the closer I get to it. Following the line back to its source, I realized other demons and creatures were following it too.
'Annoying pests.' I flared my energy to scare them off and claimed this one as mine.
Lucky for me there were only small fries, so I didn't need to put in much effort. It was easy to scare them off.
Eventually I slowed down, hitting a membrane-like barrier. I perked up slightly in excitement. 'Oh, been a while since a random human called out to anyone like this.'
'Usually when a human is calling for a demon, they already have an idea who they're calling. A pre-loaded one, if you will.'
'But you get some of those humans who just try shit. Who kind of just blindly call out to anything.'
'Anyway, I shouldn't keep my caller waiting. After all, if I wait too long other demons might start coming.'
Feeling my body slumping in my chair, I went full astral projection. Going through the membrane, my body mentally shivered.
It felt like I went through thick slime.
I could feel the ancient law settle over my soul. Well, it was more like an agreement to play the game — the deal-making game.
Soon I found myself in an office straight out of the early 1940s, floating there in my astral form.
Looking around, the office was a crime scene. And a sloppy one at that. Furniture, glass, items, and other trinkets were broken or knocked over.
As I was looking around, my eyes eventually landed on the young man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties or late twenties.
He had short brown hair that was messy with streaks of blood in it. His heterochromia eyes were wide open and frantic.
He was hunched over a very crude, messy, and hurriedly drawn pentagram, staring at a black book.
His dress shirt and pants were covered in blood. Recognizing him to be the human Vox before his death.
The flipped-over desk behind him, slightly out of view, on the ground was an old, well-dressed man whose face had become a pin cushion.
Not too far from the body was a broken jagged piece of glass covered in blood.
'Hmm, this must be where it all started. But I never read or saw him ever trying to call a demon.'
'But then again, that was fiction.' Looking back over at Vox who started reading from the book out loud, speaking in gibberish.
[Vox:] "Demonic gibberish."
***
[HRB:] I am not going to look up any kind of demonic language. So use your imagination.
***
'Satan, he is butchering the shit out of the demonic language. Fuck, he's not even saying anything. Well, it doesn't matter — it's all intent anyway.'
Rubbing my chin, I thought, 'But how should I go about answering his call? Full-on "I'm a powerful demon, fear me"? Or…'
Smirking, I snapped my fingers, taking control of the shadows in the room. Pulling them in and concentrating them at the center of the pentagram.
A deep darkness pooled on top of the pentagram, pulling in all light. Then a pair of six bright yellow eyes opened up, staring at Vox.
The lights in the room flickered before they completely went off, leaving nothing but the glowing eyes.
Vox fell on his back, crawling backward from the eyes, staring wide-eyed. Then the shadows grew from the darkness, getting taller and taller before all the lights came back on, revealing a chibi shadow Trigon.
Floating there before falling onto the floor. Smirking as I took control of my chibi shadow Trigon.
[Chibi Trigon:] "Oof!"
Quickly getting up to my feet, I puffed out my chest with my fists on my hips like nothing happened.
[CT:] "Who dares call the mighty Trigon!"
Standing there with my chest puffed out, there was a long awkward silence in the room.
[Vox:] ....
[Chibi Trigon:] ...
[Vox:] "Ha… hah… aha…"
Raising an eyebrow, I looked at him with confusion as he held his face, his body shaking.
[Chibi Trigon:] "What's s—"
[Vox:] "YOU GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME… THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR RUINING MY FUCKING CAREER!"
He exploded, yelling while pointing at me with wide bloodshot eyes.
[Vox:] "THIS LITTLE SHIT!"
He stood there huffing, exhausted after venting some of his anger and frustration. I shrank back from him, acting scared.
[Chibi Trigon:] "I… I… I'm sorry. It's just when you call out like that randomly, you pretty much send out a large signal for demons, creatures, or anything else interested to answer."
[Chibi Trigon:] "I was just able to answer you first."
He stared at me for a minute and I stared back with all six eyes. He gritted his teeth, growling out...
[Vox:] "Go back and send me someone else."
Panicking, I raised my hands up, waving them around.
[Chibi Trigon:] "Wait, wait, please wait! This is my first time. I will… I will um… I'll do everything within my power to grant your desire!"
I shouted the last part out, smirking inside. He went quiet, staring at me for a long moment. Before he stood up straight, fixing his hair and smearing blood in it.
[Vox:] "Anything, huh?"
He slowly walked over, picked up a chair, and sat down, crossing his left leg over his right. Smiling.
[Vox:] "Ah, I am sorry for my outburst."
He glanced over at the body before looking back at me.
[Vox:] "As you can see, you caught me in a… um… predicament. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Vincent Whittman, but my friends call me Vox. And you do want to be my friend, right?"
I nodded my head up and down in a blur.
'Fuck, is this shit actually working?'
[Chibi Trigon:] "Hello, Vox. I am Trigon, a demon from the depths below."
He smiled at me, nodding his head like he was listening.
[Vox:] "Yes, yes. But let's get down to business. You said you could do anything."
Nodding my head as I floated upside down.
[Chibi Trigon:] "Yes, I'll do everything within my power."
He smiled even wider, showing off his pearly white teeth.
[Vox:] "Then I want influence, beauty, I—"
Waving my hands in front of him while looking embarrassed, I interrupted him.
[Chibi Trigon:] "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I can't do that."
He frowned, baring his teeth, and stood up, pointing at me fiercely. I shrank back from him, quite literally getting smaller.
[Vox:] "You just said you could do anything! Are you playing games with me‽"
Shaking my head.
[Chibi Trigon:] "No, no, I can do anything within my power.. I just can't do it for free."
He paused, staring at me for a moment before sitting back down and fixing his hair again. He smiled.
[Vox:] "Ah, my apologies. I seem to have forgotten that you demons require a deal to agree on."
Going back to my normal size, I floated around his head in excitement.
[Chibi Trigon:] "Yes, a deal has to be struck. So Vox, what do you want?"
He went quiet, thinking.
[Vox:] "I want influence. People to tune into me, their love, attention, them to admire me. I want to be the center of their world!"
He stood up, shouting the last part. I backed up from him. He came to his senses, coughing into his hand and sitting back down.
[Vox:] "Sorry about that."
He at least had the decency to look embarrassed.
[Chibi Trigon:] "No, that's all right. It's just… um… you're asking for a lot."
He had the look of disappointment, slowly getting angry.
[Vox:] "What, you can't do it?"
Waving my hands.
[Chibi Trigon:] "No, I can do that. It's just you'll have to kill a person every month to fuel my magic to keep it going."
He went quiet for a moment, frowning.
[Vox:] "A body a month, huh. I don't think I could do that. That seems a bit much, don't you think? I think I'd prefer to talk to someone else."
'Are you fucking kidding me. Now you have a problem with taking a life.' I glanced at the dead body out of the corner of my eye.
Controlling my shadow, I made it start panicking, waving its arms around.
[Chibi Trigon:] "No! It's not that I can't do it, it's just my magic won't be able to fuel it forever. No need to call someone else — I can um… make it better."
He went quiet, staring at me, letting me know he was listening.
[Chibi Trigon:] "I will give you what you want, but I can also give you a silver tongue so you can convince anyone to do anything."
[Chibi Trigon:] "You will never be caught committing any crime, enhanced stamina, beauty, and charisma. On top of that, I will give you eternal beauty."
[Chibi Trigon:] "That way you always stay beautiful even when aging, and ideal beauty — anyone who looks at you will see their ideal beautiful person."
He smiled a little bit before quickly becoming serious.
[Vox:] "Alright, but I want a 30-day trial."
Shaking my head.
[Chibi Trigon:] "I'm sorry, but I can't do 30 days. I'm not strong enough for that, but I could do 10."
He looked away, rubbing his chin, deep in thought. Floating there, he looked back at me.
[Vox:] "Fine. 10 days it is."
Smiling widely as my eyes glowed even brighter, I stuck out my hand to him as it burst into purple flames.
[Chibi Trigon:] "Then we come to an agreement. I will give you everything that we discussed and get a 10-day trial."
[Chibi Trigon:] "If you want this deal to continue, all you have to do is kill someone once a month. But if you don't want to worry about the monthly kill, if you kill an innocent soul that will fuel my power for 3 years."
He stared at my hand, before he look over at the body with a frown.
[Vox:] "A body a month or someone innocent for 3 years. And that's all it cost?"
He looked back at me. Shaking my head.
[Chibi Trigon:] "No, not only it will cost you that, but it will also cost your soul. Since I am giving you so much. So It will costs a body and your soul"
[Chibi Trigon:] "But you have a 10-day trial, so you don't have to worry about the cost. Unless you take a life after the 10 days are up."
He went quiet before glancing over at the body again. Then he turned his attention to my hand. Smiling, he reached out and grabbed it.
[Vox:] "Very well. You have a deal."
He shook my hand as I smirk, [Chibi Trigon:] "All right, the agreement has been struck. Brace yourself, Vox. This is going to hurt."
[Vox:] "Wha—"
Before he could say anything else, I smirked and burst into shadows. The purple flames around his hands shot up his arm, up his neck, across his face, and sank into his eyes.
[Vox:] "Ahh!"
Crashing and thud noises. He started screaming his head off, falling on the floor and knocking over the chair he was just sitting on.
Clawing his face, scratching himself, trying to gouge his eyes out.
Blood splattered everywhere from him digging his nails into his face. He continued screaming louder as he started coughing out blood.
Before the purple flames around his eyes spread to his whole head.
He kept screaming until his voice gave out. But he continued to thrash around. Getting bored watching him, I snapped my fingers, controlling the shadows in the room to spread throughout the room.
Pulling in the dead body, the blood stains, and all the broken objects in the room.
Pulling them into the shadow. After a couple of seconds, new fixed furniture came out.
Shadow hands came out, fixing the room, cleaning it, and fixing it as best as I could since I didn't see the room before it got wrecked.
After about 15 minutes of working on the room, the shadows went back to normal. Looking around at the now fixed and clean room. 'Not too shabby, if you ask me.'
Looking back over at Vox, who was just laying flat on the floor without moving an inch, with the last bit of purple flames flickering out, leaving his face.
Revealing him to be incredibly handsome. The areas around his eyes were darker, making his eyes pop more. His eyes had a slight tint of purple to them.
His right arm's sleeve was burnt off, revealing an arm tattoo of dark purple demonic symbols that glowed for a second before going still, looking like a regular tattoo.
He slowly got up, using the desk as support. Before he caught his reflection in a conveniently placed mirror on the wall.
He froze before slowly walking toward it, grabbing the mirror off the wall and holding it up to his face. Looking at himself without blinking.
Holding the mirror in his right hand, he held his chin with his left hand, looking at himself from every angle.
[Vox:] "What…"
Even the way he talked — his voice sounded deeper, silky smooth, warm with a slight hypnotic undertone. Rubbing my hands together.
'Fuck, I do good work.' He continued staring at the mirror with a big smile. Even his teeth looked amazing.
[Vox:] "Haha! I'm perfect!"
Feeling my eyebrow twitch. 'Shit, I think I went too far. I might have made his narcissistic behavior even stronger.'
He suddenly dropped the mirror before fixing his shirt and hair. With a huge smile on his face, he turned around and left the room, not even bothering to question why the room was suddenly clean.
Shrugging. 'Welp, now we wait. I'll just dropped by here and there to check up on him. Maybe I could give him information about future technology.'
'Hmm, food for thought.' Disappearing from the room, going back to my body. I jerked awake, wiping drool from my chin before stretching. I stood up from my chair.
"Man, manipulating people is hungry work." Shrugging my shoulders, I walked out of my office, heading toward the kitchen.
"Hmm, I am in the mood for a homemade burger and a side of fries… or maybe mac and cheese."
***
[Image]
[HRB:] Alright that's another chapter done. I don't really much have to say. I feel about 50-50 on this chaper I think I could have did it better I had to rewrote it a couple of times cuz I didn't like how to went first couple of times.
I feel like my weak point is writing people personalities. I tried to keep Vox in character. But we really don't see his personality as a human before he snaps.
Anyway just tell me what you think about this chapter what you felt like could be better. You know I want your guys thoughts.
Do all that good stuff Stones, comments maybe a review? ;-)
Thanks for coming by and reading this chapter see y'all in the next one.
Bye and stay safe out there.