Chapter Text
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
A chilly wind is running through your clothes. You are wearing a hoodie, which is just perfect for this kind of weather. You are in luck - today is a good night. No acid rains, hurricanes, or floods of the giant lava river that crosses the whole city. It’s surprising how cold it can be in the city with the river of lava.
You decide to spend your time on your way "home" productively, meaning torturing Mammon with questions about the weather and nightly cycle. He seems very annoyed, but responds to all the questions nonetheless.
Apparently, daylight is nonexistent in the Devildom. Instead, there is an endless night, with different cycles to differentiate "morning" from "evening". Demons are able to tell what time of the night it is just by looking at the sky. A skill that you need to obtain as soon as possible.
There are also more hours per night than humans have per day. The usual twenty-four hours are stretched into thirty-six, allowing demons to go to RAD, work, have time for tasks, personal stuff, and sleep.
“And somehow, I doubt that you put all these hours to good use,” you tease Mammon.
“What can ya possibly know about me, human?” The demon angrily shouts, pointing his finger at you. “Aight, if you're gonna be such an ass, I’m done answerin’ your stupid questions.”
“Guess I’ll have to find someone more knowledgeable than you. Satan, for example. He seems so responsible. A complete opposite of you, actually.”
“Ha! Satan may be the biggest bookworm in existence, but he still doesn’t know shit!” Mammon scoffs. “He spends his whole time burying himself in books, but the real life is here, in the streets!” He spreads his arms theatrically. “I’m not sayin’ that he is completely clueless though. He charmed tons of people with his fake smiles, so he has hundreds of acquaintances of all sorts. But he has zero real friends and doesn’t actually speak with anybody other than us, his bros. And the only info about the outside world he gets from his shitty encyclopedias and stuff. If it’s that sorta knowledge you're after, suit yourself.”
Mammon sounds like he is bragging and worrying about his little brother at the same time. That is very endearing.
“Didn’t expect you to be such a good big bro, Mammon. Who knew that you had such a cute side all along,” you grin.
“Hey! Ya have a death wish or somethin’? I don’t have anythin’ cute! I’m the most badass demon in the world! If ya call me cute one more time, I’m gonna bite your empty head off!” The demon starts yelling at you, quickening his step. He wants to reach the House as soon as possible and get rid of you.
“Don’t say cute stuff then; otherwise, I’m legally obligated to call you a cutie,” you continue your mindless teasing, paying more attention to the road than to the conversation. Mammon becomes as red as a tomato, though you are not sure if it's from anger or embarrassment.
“Cutie-!” he almost squeaks. “Did ya smash your head when they teleported you here?! Are all humans simply crazy?”
“More or less,” you smile. “Wait, you didn’t speak to a human before?”
“I sure did, stupid human. And lemme tell you: you’re all weirdos. Those witches that tryna drag me into the pact, that shady Solomon guy, I have chills from him, that kid…” Mammon looks at the sky, lost in thought.
Ding-ding-ding, you heard this name before.
“Wait, what’s up with that salmon-guy? I heard about him from Lucifer.”
“So-lo-mon, ya dumbass. He’s a human and a new exchange student, like you. Ya’ll meet him tomorrow, don’t jump outta your pants,” Mammon grins, noticing how you perked up after he mentioned another human.
RAD is located not far from the House of Lamentation, and the route is rather scenic. You pass a park, a cemetery and a couple of shops. Both RAD and the House are built in a rather secluded area; there are no high buildings or noise from people and cars. You already like this place.
Mammon leads you to a hill where the House is. But you stop to feast your eyes on the view of the city that lies beneath you. Countless lights from buildings look absolutely magical, paired with bright stars and an enormous moon. You've never seen stars back at home; the pollution of a big city doesn't allow such luxury. But here, in the Devildom, despite endless night, it is never really dark.
You finally notice a huge castle, the kind that you would only see in a fairy tale. It isn't that far from the House either, standing on the very edge of a city. The castle grounds are surrounded by a high stone fence that separates the castle from the buildings of the city that decided to grow up right behind the wall. You notice a huge lake near the palace, and you just know that the water there is crystal clear.
“What’s with this castle?” you ask Mammon, who is standing quietly near you, also admiring the view.
“That’s where Lord Diavolo lives,” he answers. “He is too important to live with us in the House, so he has the whole castle all to himself.”
“Would you like to live in such a place?” You are curious. How can an Avatar of Greed be satisfied with sharing a house with all his brothers? Maybe he envies Diavolo for how many riches and power he has. You could use it to your advantage.
“Nah, fuck that,” Mammon replies almost immediately, shaking his head for emphasis. “This castle is too creepy: ghosts, screams from the dungeons, Barbatos hidin’ in the corners. Besides, my bros are too childish, they can’t live without their big bro. So I’m stuck in this little house with ‘em.” You see a tiny smile on the corner of his lips.
“Here you are, showing that cute side of yours again,” you smile genuinely.
“Shut up, human,” he quietly mumbles, blushing again. It seems he is too tired to bite back more actively.
You finally approach the House you've heard so much about. If that is what Mammon calls a "little house", he would have a stroke if he ever visited your tiny apartment. A huge mansion looks like it belongs on a Halloween-themed postcard or in an amusement park as a haunted house. A perfect home for seven demons. Plus one human. There must be tons of secret passages, hidden rooms, and secrets that are waiting to be explored. You are excited.
You and the demon enter the House through giant, heavy, wooden doors and appear in the hallway. The interior is even spookier than the courtroom. Tons of paintings are hanging on the walls as far as the eye can see; most of them are either terrifying, sickening, or disturbing. Somebody in the family is a collector, and with a twisted taste as well. The whole house must’ve been decorated with this "beauty". You just hope that there are no such paintings in your room.
But once you begin to ignore the art hanging on the walls, you realize that the House is actually really beautiful. Gargoyles, dragons, snakes, and skeletons are thematically implemented in the interior as columns, door handles, statues, candelabras, and lamps. It's done so tastefully that it doesn’t look like a parody of a haunted house from horror movies. The House of Lamentation has character, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be cozy as well. A beast with a kind heart, you have a soft spot for that kind of thing.
You are already falling in love with the House, and you didn’t even get past the hallway. Mammon gives you several seconds to look around, then points his hand somewhere toward the staircase and announces, “This is the House of Lamentation, technically it’s one of the dorms here at RAD. A super special dorm, reserved for student council members. So ya better be grateful that you’re allowed to live here, ya hear me? No matter what my brothers tell ya about me, I’m an officer of the student council, elite of the elite, the top of the RAD social pyramid, got it?” Mammon starts bragging, shining like a diamond. He is completely lost in his fantasies; it's the first time you see him that happy. “In other words, I’m a big shot. A REAL big shot. Like, even regular big shots are impressed by what a big shot I am.”
You seriously need to shut him up, or at least make Mammon change the subject. The only thing you want from him is to learn where your bed is and finally pass out for many hours. You are a tough cookie, but you seriously need a break.
“Mammon, just point me in the direction of my room. Enough of your bullshit,” you interrupt him, putting a hand on your face in a tired motion. The demon looks very offended.
“Hey! What’s with this bratty attitude of yours? I’m tryin’ to teach ya about the respect toward your superiors, you ungrateful piece of shit!” Mammon pouts at you. He sighs and looks at you seriously: “You won’t last a single night here if ya keep this shit up. And then it will be me whom Lucifer will tear apart. Cut your crap if ya want to safely return home.”
You look him in the eyes, feeling the temperature of your body rise from sheer anger. Your emotions were subdued for too long, and it finally backfires. You almost enjoy the heat on your face and growling in your voice when you finally snap.
“I am no one to you, and you are no one to me. I was dragged here against my will in the first place, and since then, I've been nothing but an obedient good boy who agreed to every crap you forced on me. And now you dare to open your mouth and teach me how to live? I have zero respect for you or for anybody else in here. And I will do things my own way, whether you like it or not. If it gets me killed in the end, so be it. At least I’ll die with dignity, and it'll be much better than being a spineless loser like you, Mon.”
Mammon stands silently in front of you. You don’t know when you approached him so closely that you can feel the smell of raspberries again. He looks at you calmly, no signs of anger in his blue eyes, but you see that you really offended him. You expected Mammon to explode with rage already, anybody in his place would. You underestimated him. Everybody does.
“If you wanna survive here in the Devildom,” Mammon says in a quiet voice, “you’d better listen real close to what I’m about to say. If it ever looks like a demon is about to attack you…” He moves closer, letting his face show a tiny piece of his real anger. “Run away. Either that, or die.”
Your whole body wakes up, ready for both attack and defense. You wanted to start a fight with somebody ever since you woke up on that stone-cold floor. It froze your bones and muscles; you were freezing until this very moment. You finally feel your blood running through your veins. Mammon wants to speak with you in a language you are quite fluent in. You want it. You need it. The demon is ready to give it all to you, and you will take it. And give it back as much as you possibly can. You tense your body, ready to strike…
Suddenly, you hear an unknown voice from above. “How about this? I vote for YOU to die, Mammon.”
Both you and Mammon freeze, looking wide-eyed at each other. You two synchronically raise your heads to stare at the demon on the stairs. Must be one of the brothers you haven’t met yet.
This one looks like a stereotypical nerd. Minus the glasses and pimples. You wonder for a second whether demons even need glasses or suffer from pimples. Bright purple hair almost covers the guy’s orange eyes. These are the only two unusual things that make this demon stand out. If not for them, you could walk right past him and not even notice. It is certainly crazy how different all the brothers are.
“Fuck… Levi,” you hear Mammon’s scared voice. Wait, "scared"?
You turn your head toward Mammon. The demon that was ready to kick your ass is completely gone. Your perfect sparring partner, the bringer of your own twisted salvation, transformed back into the good old Mammon. It's extremely disappointing, to say the least. You return your attention to a purple-haired cockblocker (which is not the right term for the whole situation, but for some reason, it still fits).
“Mammon, give me back my money. Then go crawl in a hole and die,” Levi hisses at the greedy demon.
Mammon tilts his head toward you without breaking eye contact with his brother and whispers, “This here is Leviathan, the Avatar of Envy. He’s the third-oldest. Since his name’s sorta hard to say, you can just call him Levi.” Then he raises his head and replies to Leviathan, “Come on, I told you I’d get it to ya! I just need a little more time… And ya still want me to die even after I give it back?! That’s real harsh, Levi!”
“You need 'a little more time'? How much more?” The demon asks, leaning his head to the side.
“A little more, okay? A little more means a little more!”
“You’ve been telling me that for the last 200 years, Mammon,” Levi replies, not convinced.
Holy shit, "200 years"? You actually didn’t consider before that the guys in front of you could be ancient beings, possibly completely immortal. But it can’t be right, there must be some kind of balance in the universe, right? Your head starts to almost hurt from the thought that you got into the world full of immortal, invincible, magic-wielding ancient creatures. You won’t let this thought consume you, though. Demons breathe, eat, and feel pain (you remember how Lucifer punched Mammon earlier). Therefore, they may be different, but they do the same things humans do to keep their bodies alive. You can hurt them. You can deal some damage. You can possibly kill them. This conclusion calms you down.
Meanwhile, brothers are still quarreling.
“-you’re a lowlife and a waste of space,” Levi is hissing at Mammon from the stairs.
“Hey! Come on, that’s even worse!” the demon pouts.
“Whatever… Just give me back my money. I need to buy the Blu-ray box set of 'Journey to the Devildom: The Tale of a Little She-Devil and Her Reluctant Companion'! The initial round of copies includes promotional tickets to a life event as a special bonus!” Levi’s demeanor completely changes the second he starts talking about this show. His eyes are now shining with the light that only people with true passion have.
You can relate. Anime isn’t your cup of tea, though. You saw several of them, the ones that were recommended by your co-worker. While you enjoyed some of them, you never really dived deep enough to become a part of this culture. That life event sounds cool, though. You can understand how much it means for a true fan. Mammon, apparently, can’t.
“I’ve got no idea what you’re even talking about, Levi, but it doesn’t matter! Because I don’t even have any money to give you. How am I supposed to give back money I don’t have, huh?!” Mammon stares at his brother, waiting for an answer.
“So, then, you’re telling me you refuse to pay me back?!”
Fuck, this conversation is going nowhere. You find a lovely little couch where you can sit and wait for this endless quarrel to finish. Realistically, it seems that you will sleep on this couch. It is very comfortable, so you don’t mind. Right now, when the fight with Mammon is for sure cancelled, you start feeling sleepy once again.
“Listen, human,” the Avatar of Greed suddenly remembers about you. You open your eyes (you haven’t noticed when you closed them) and look at him. “Ya remember my advice from before about what to do when demons attack?” You nod. “Well, you’re about to witness that for real. So…” And you can’t care less. You close your eyes and lie down for a nap. “…time for you to die, because if it’s either you or me, it ain’t gonna be me!”
You still don't care. You raise your hand and flip Mammon off. After that, you roll to your other side to face the back of the couch and fall asleep.
...
It is unknown how much time has passed, can’t be that long, but you're now being rudely pushed by someone.
“Hey, you, wake up!” You hear Levi’s voice. You roll onto your back and open one eye. You now understand why the pushes felt so strange. Instead of using his hands, Leviathan took a mop that was standing in the corner and poked you with it till you woke up. “Are you Mammon’s drunk buddy he met in the club, or something? You can’t sleep here, go home!”
“Nope, I’m your new roommate. Nice to meet you.” You wave your hand in a friendly gesture.
“Don’t tell me Mammon rented my room to some creep again!” Levi yells. 'Creep'? Ouch. “The room is already taken, so go find Mammon and better get your money back. Or do anything else, just go away!” He continues poking you with a mop.
“First of all, you got it all wrong. I’m Castiel the Human, a new exchange student. Second of all…” You sit yourself up, take your end of the mop and pull it out of Levi’s hands in one motion. “Stop poking me with this thing, if you don’t want me to shove it up your ass.”
“Wh-!” Leviathan chokes on his words. “A human?! I didn’t know you would live with us! Ugh, that must’ve been the big news Lucifer announced yesterday, but I couldn't be there! I couldn’t abandon my brand-new game 'Ni no Kumi 3'! I had to finish the main storyline and write a review; a lot of people depend on my reviews, you know. They want to know if they should spend their precious money and time on it. But I fell asleep midway, because the night before I was rewatching 'Journey to the Devildom: The Tale of a Little She-Devil and Her Reluctant Companion' to mentally prepare for the Blu-ray release. And now I need to speedrun the game even faster, because it’s been a whole day and I…”
You're patiently sitting on the couch with the mop in your hands and listening to his mumbling. Once Levi stops for a millisecond to catch a breath, you quickly interrupt him, “Dude, just show me where my room is supposed to be, and you can return to whatever it is you're doing.”
“Wait! You are a human, correct?” he asks again. You observe how he visibly forces himself to stop gibbering about his games and shows, and turns on a serious mode. The excited and passionate kid is hidden, you're now dealing with a moody teen who hates his brother.
“Yeah, I think we clarified it by now,” you respond.
“Do you realize what just happened? Mammon used you as a distraction to get away from me. Or maybe I should say he used you as a sacrifice.” Levi slightly leans toward you. “I’ll admit that Mammon is one of the scummiest scumbags you’ll ever meet, like a total lowlife. But still, it was pretty dumb of you to let him use you like that.”
“Levi, I just don’t care what he did to you or what you did to him. It’s not my problem. In fact, the only problem I have right now is that nobody fucking shows me where my goddamn bedroom is.” You really need some peace and quiet to collect your thoughts and get some rest. You have neither the energy nor the desire to check every room in the house. So you will either get the answers from somebody or you will just sleep on the couch; you are already used to it by now.
“So you really just let Mammon get away with it? And won’t even take revenge on him?” Leviathan continues to bait you, softly hissing into your ear. Shit, he may look and act like a total nerd, but he sure knows how to tempt people. Or you're just easily tempted, which sounds about right.
“All right, snake-boy, you got my attention," you sigh. "I assume you already have a bright idea?”
“Snake-?.. Ugh, whatever, just follow me, human.” Levi quickly storms up the stairs, so you just follow him to the second floor, carrying the mop in your hands. You can use it if Levi decides to attack you.
You finally get to see something besides the entry hall. The staircase and the corridors of the second floor are decorated in the same fashion as the previous room. But once you enter Levi’s bedroom, your mind is literally blown.
It is a drastic change from the rest of the house. The first thing you see is a giant aquarium, that occupies the entire wall in front of you. The whole room is illuminated by a blue light, and you understand why when you lift your head and look at the ceiling. Although, there is no ceiling. There is water, it's floating above you, defying all laws of physics. You feel like you are standing at the bottom of the ocean. A surreal feeling, that made you question your sanity for a second there. You decide to focus your attention on more normal things, otherwise you could be standing, looking at this magical water for all eternity.
Other than the watery entourage, it is a normal nerdy room. Super expensive computer, tons of manga and discs with games, figurines of cool girls and hot guys. And a bathtub instead of a bed. Yep, completely normal.
Levi nervously locks the door behind your back. He opens his mouth to say something but closes it back as he sees you raising your mop up, trying to poke the water on the ceiling. You want to learn if there is some kind of glass or if the water is floating there thanks to magic. The mop becomes wet. So magic it is.
“W-what the hell are you doing?!” You hear the demon’s hissing.
“Just checking something. Relax, I’m putting it down already.” You decide to put the mop in the corner to avoid accidentally soaking something important. You leave it at your arm’s length to be able to grab it quickly. “So, what’s on your mind?”
“Argh, I hope nobody saw us…” Levi whines quietly, looking at the door. He turns his head to look at you. “Why, you may ask? Isn’t it obvious? Imagine what would happen if someone saw me inviting you into my room! A human, who doesn’t even look like an otaku, but a normie! You know what people would say, right?!” He looks really worried about his reputation. You would understand if Levi’s main problem was the fact that you were a human. But he thinks that you are normal, seriously?
“Do you really think that I am a normal person, Levi?” You chuckle a little bit. “Mammon actually called me crazy not so long ago.”
“I don’t trust Mammon’s judgment of people, so save your breath,” Leviathan hisses. He seems to hiss often when he is annoyed. And so far, he's been constantly annoyed. “And I wasn’t speaking about your mental health, human. You are not a man of culture, so it is shameful to speak with you. Even to be in one room with you, a normie!”
“So you are an otaku, Leviathan?” You ask, sitting down on the bean bag chair. Levi is definitely not a gracious host, and you are still sore from lying on the floor, so you decide to be a bit rude and sit down without invitation. You frown. Maybe hospitality is not a concept here? Diavolo didn’t even get some kind of rug for you. He healed you, though. You decide that demons just don’t know shit about humans’ bodies or how cold stone floors could affect them. You focus on Levi’s ranting about normies and otakus.
“… no matter how much of a normie you think you are, everyone out there is an otaku in some way! Every single person!”
“Then congrats, there are no normies in your room, so we can finally move on and discuss business.” You are missing the couch already. But the bean bag chair is not half bad actually, a worthy contender.
“What makes you an otaku then, huh? What’s your passion?” Levi curls up on his gaming chair in a pose that cannot be good for his back. What’s with these demons and their annoying habit of avoiding your questions?
“Dancing,” you simply reply.
“That’s… not what I was expecting. Are you sure that you are passionate about something like this?” Levi shivers a little bit. “I mean, dancing is awful. You need to move your body in the right way while everybody is looking at you… A true nightmare for every true shut-in like me!”
“Yeah, I am sure. I actually made it my career; I’m a dance teacher.” You smile. “I don’t believe that there is a 'right' way to dance or that bad dancers even exist. If you let yourself loose and give in to the music, your dance is always beautiful; it doesn’t matter whether you have any skill or not. Audience is not for everybody, though; I agree with you on that.”
Your gaze wanders off during your little speech. You find yourself looking at the bookcase full of, well, books. One book in particular attracts your attention. “The Tale of the Seven Lords: The Lord of Shadow Awakens”.
“What is it, human? What are you looking at?” Levi asks curiously. He decides to ignore everything you said about dancing and whatnot. Levi is too awkward for such activities anyway, so the subject didn’t interest him at all.
“That thick-ass tome. Is that a demonic variant of fantasy?” You point your finger at the book.
“What?! You don’t know the greatest book series ever written, TSL?! It was even written by a human, you uncultured swine!” Ouch. If you slap Levi's face with a wet mop, will you have enough time to get to the door and avoid being killed on the spot? “The fact that you didn’t know about TSL only means that you were wasting your miserable life! So, I’m going to do you a favor and teach you about TSL. Make sure you pay attention!”
Aaand of course, you didn’t pay any attention. Blah-blah, Christopher Pigeon, blah-blah, theatrical version, blah-blah, lords, blah-blah, Henry, blah-blah, power of friendship.
You were staring at the goldfish in the tank the whole time. What a wonderful creature - so peaceful, so quiet. Apparently, the name of the fish is Henry. Henry calmed you down, so you don’t want to slap Levi with a mop that badly. Thanks, pal.
You return your mind to the conversation (more like the monolog) only when Levi starts whining about human otaku stuff. Specifically, when he mentions maid cafés.
“You are more suitable for the role of the maid than the master of the house,” you mumble, lost in thought. You imagine Leviathan in a maid dress and stockings. He seems to have a pair of nice long legs, so it should look good on him. Meanwhile, a miracle happens: Levi finally stops talking.
“What?! What do you mean by that?!” He screams so loudly that the whole neighborhood must’ve heard him.
“I'm not sure myself.” You smile at him. “So what, did you snap out of whatever it was? Are you ready to talk about Mammon, or should I just go away?”
Levi catches his breath after all the intense talking and screaming and nods.
“Yeah, let’s talk about that. I didn’t bring you here to talk about TSL, after all.” He raises his head and fixes his gaze on you. “I don’t think there’s any harm in just coming out and saying what you already know is true: Mammon is a complete and utter scumbag. It’s very important you understand this.”
“Yeah, I don’t need any more motivation than I already have. Come on, spill the beans.” Finally, you can get some action.
“Basically, I lent this scumbag money, and now I want him to pay me back. But being the scumbag that he is, he won’t do it,” Levi frowns. “I wish I could force him to, but despite what a rotten waste of space he is, Mammon’s still the second eldest. I just don’t stand a chance against him.”
Hm, interesting, so there is a pattern that shows how powerful each brother is. And of course, Lucifer is the strongest; no surprise here.
Levi continues, “You say you want to know how Mammon and I first became enemies? Well, it’s a long story, but sure, I’ll tell you, human.”
For fuck’s sake. You were supposed to find a way to torture Mammon, but you were tortured instead. You look at the fish, silently begging Henry to save you. He is supposed to be the hero, after all. You aren’t sure whether it's worth it to stay here and listen to another story about some shitty figurine that was lying in the trash in Mammon’s room. You decide to start listening; maybe you will get some info on the demon’s lair.
“…I just lost it and flew into a rage. I walked straight over to Mammon, who was lying on his bed asleep.” Levi narrates, lost in memories. “Then I raised my leg up into the air over him and brought my heel down onto his stomach as hard as I could. But the next thing I knew, he wasn’t there on the bed anymore. It all happened so fast. He moved with incredible speed. He grabbed me, picked me up, and slammed me headfirst onto the floor. And the worst part is that he was STARK NAKED!” Levi cringes as he tells the story.
You start basically vibrating in your seat, trying to hold in the laughter. If you laugh aloud, you'll embarrass Levi, and he'll kick you out of his room. Even if the demon’s idea turns out to be bad, it was all worth it for just this story. God bless Levi for his storytelling abilities; the image of naked Mammon suplexing his younger brother will be stuck forever in your head.
“…As I started to lose consciousness, I remember thinking… Why does he have to sleep in the nude? He could at least put on some underwear,” Levi complains to you. You can only nod in agreement, not fully recovered from all the laughing.
Other than learning about Mammon’s exhibitionistic tendencies, you actually got some valuable info regarding his speed. If you ever risk starting a fight with him again, you better keep that in mind. Levi suddenly confirms your thoughts.
“You didn’t see earlier, but once Mammon distracted me with you, he ran away extremely fast. No one, aside from Lucifer and Beel, has that kind of speed. I have no chance of catching him and getting my money back,” the demon sighs and stares at you with a waiting look on his face. “But if, say, a human made a pact with Mammon and bound him to their service… Then he’d have to do whatever that human told him to. Which means that if you make a pact with Mammon and order him to give me back my money, he wouldn’t have any choice but to do it, hehehe,” Levi giggles with excitement.
Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold on a second. Do pacts with demons actually exist? And it basically makes them a human’s slave? That sounds too good to be true. You need to get more info on this first.
“What exactly do you mean by 'making a pact'? Will I have to promise to give Mammon my soul, just to make him pay you?” You ask Levi.
He stops his giggling, changes his pose on a chair to an even more uncomfortable one, and explains, “Selling your soul out isn’t always necessary. It depends on what’s in the pact,” Levi frowns. “But, well, you need to give SOMETHING to the demon to make it worth the exchange, so it’s pretty much inevitable. If you don’t want to give up your soul, then I’ll tell you how you can negotiate with Mammon.”
You are prepared to hear a ton of bullshit that won’t help you with negotiating at all. What are the chances that Levi won’t lie to you? Is he really so desperate to get his money back that he is ready to sell out his brother to slavery? You can’t also be sure that you can avoid losing your soul if you try to make a pact. Is it really possible to replace the soul with something valuable for a demon? You've never heard of such cases; pacts with demons in any piece of media you've read or watched always demanded a soul. But it won’t hurt to listen to what else Levi has to say:
“Okay, color me interested. What do you have on Mammon?”
“I take it this means you think this plan of mine could work, right? Excellent! You may be a human, but still, you show some promise!” Levi straightens up in his chair, looking reassured. You are not sure if it was a bad attempt to butter you up or if Leviathan lacks validation just like Mammon, and he genuinely got excited.
“Before I can decide whether it can work or not, I need to hear all the info you’ve got. So what are you suggesting?” You repeat your question. You are quite surprised by how much patience you have today. But you have a goal, and now you can finally see a way to reach it.
“If you just walk up to Mammon and ask him to make a pact with you, he’ll never agree,” Levi starts explaining. “No, you need some leverage… a bargaining chip. You will offer him something he wants so badly that he’d do ANYTHING to get it,” the demon smiles cunningly. He leans closer to you and starts whispering, “Lucifer has something that Mammon wants, something he’d kill to get. I’m referring to Mammon’s credit card, which Lucifer took away from him.”
Yep, it is a ton of bullshit that won’t help you in the slightest. But Levi doesn’t give up.
“Hey, I see that look on your face, I know what you are thinking. 'A credit card? Pff, why would he care so much about something like that?' Well, you’ve got no idea just how much he depends on that thing,” the demon sighs. “Let’s see, what did he used to call it again? 'My one true love'? It was something like that. It was like he thought it was a woman. He probably named it. I bet he even slept with it. Gross,” Levi cringes from the mere thought. “That idiot used it constantly, never stopped. Eventually, Lucifer had enough of his behavior, so he confiscated it. So if you decide to proceed with the pact, you need to find out where he’s hidden it.”
“Hmm, easier said than done. Not impossible, though,” you say, deep in thought. The whole credit card thing sounded incredibly stupid. Just stupid enough to be true. Getting info from Lucifer will be extremely difficult, but you're still willing to give it a shot. But only after you learn more about pacts from a more credible source. Levi could ‘forget’ to tell you a lot of details about pacts, for the sake of making them more appealing. You need to know what you are getting yourself into.
“All right, I’ll give it more thought and tell you my answer tomorrow.” Levi nods, accepting your conditions. “Now, tell me where my room is so I could leave you alone.”
“The guest room is on the first floor, near the kitchen. You won’t miss it; it has a black door with a silver handle,” Levi replies. He already turned his back on you and started playing the game he mentioned earlier.
Finally, you got a simple and short answer, without long stories and speeches. Beel is your favorite in this regard: his replies about human flesh were short and on point. The rest of the brothers could learn a lot from his example.
You immediately leave Levi’s room and go back to the first floor. You take the wrong turn and accidentally stumble upon the library instead of the kitchen, but other than that, you find your room rather quickly.
Once you open the black door with a fancy doorknob with a picture of a skull on it, you finally get to see where you are going to live for a whole year. The first thing you notice is a big tree growing from the floor right next to the bed. Its branches and leaves cover the whole ceiling of the room, just like the water did in Levi’s. The tree trunk and branches are decorated with all kinds of lamps and garland lights. Honestly, the sight is simply breathtaking. Elegant furniture, a big soft bed with light-purple bedsheets and colorful pillows, climbing plants all over the walls, and zero creepy paintings. You love it all. You even have a private bathroom, all to yourself. The room couldn’t be any more perfect.
You look out the window to check out the sight. It is absolutely wonderful: you can see not only the back garden of the house but also the distant lights of a city. It's so incredible that it takes you long enough to realize: the window can’t be here. There is a library behind this wall, and as far as you understand, your room is situated in the middle of the house. So is it an illusion?
You open the window and stick your hand out. You feel a very real chilly wind, the same you felt while walking with Mammon.
Your exhaustion is now gone; you need answers. You take a white stone out of the flower pot and throw it out the window. You watch attentively where it lands, and then head out to the exit of the house. After a brief scan of the surroundings, you find the familiar spot in the garden. A white stone is lying right where it's supposed to, between a red, unknown plant and a bench. You raise your head to look at the window, but the place where your room should be is already occupied by a familiar window of the library. It is slightly open and not very high, so with the help of a bench, you successfully climb it and appear in the library.
You decide that your window is functional only from one side and is somehow connected to this one. But your thoughts are interrupted by a scream and the sound of a cup landing on the floor. You raise your head, still sitting on the windowsill, and see Satan’s shocked face.
“What the hell are you doing?!” He yells at you, his eyes shining with an unnaturally bright green light.
“I wanted to know if I could get into my room this way. Apparently, the guest room and the library share the same window,” you reply calmly.
“I thought someone was trying to break into the house,” Satan sighs, visibly less furious. He gets on his knees and begins to collect the scattered pieces of the former cup. “You are lucky that I didn’t attack you; you would be dead in an instant.”
“Yeah, I’m really lucky that you are such a scaredy-cat and started shouting instead of attacking,” you grin mockingly. Satan stops collecting the broken cup and raises his gaze at you. You expect to see the bright green light again, but it isn’t there. The demon looks surprised and maybe even amused.
“It takes a lot of courage or a lot of stupidity to say such things to a demon,” Satan smiles, but his eyes don’t.
“Don’t mind me, just the sight of a mighty demon kneeling in front of me went to my head.” You pick yourself up from the windowsill and go to the door. When you start to open it, the hand appears from behind and slams it shut. You turn around to face Satan, who is now blocking your exit; his arm is right next to your face. He stands so close to you that you have to lean on the door. This pose would be even more threatening if you weren’t a little bit taller than Satan, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
“You think you can break my favorite cup, spill all the tea on the floor, call me a scaredy-cat, and walk away like nothing happened?” He says it right into your face. The green light is still absent, but Satan is pissed off nonetheless.
“Yeah, it isn’t very neighborly of me, is it?” You are trying to find the same energy you felt when Mammon was ready to attack you, but it isn’t there. Either you are very tired or you don’t sense Satan’s intention to tear you apart. Anyway, the fight is not happening, but you need to end this conversation somehow. You don’t want to act like a total dick on your first day (too late, Cas), so you offer a compromise, “How about I buy you another cup? What was it like?”
Satan unexpectedly blushes and backs off. “Never mind,” he mumbles, opens the door, making you move out of his way, and leaves you alone in the room. You have no idea what happened, but since he refused your offer, you could at least look for splinters, which Satan didn’t finish picking up. You won’t bother cleaning the tea from the floor since you left your trusty mop in Levi’s bedroom.
You kneel and pick up all the splinters, but as you are about to toss them in the trash, you notice a fragment of an image that was on this cup. It's a cat, a cute cartoonish kitten. Now you understand Satan’s reaction. After this revelation, you just have to buy him a new one. You want to see the look on his face when you give it to him. You bet it will be priceless.
Cackling quietly, you return to your room. It is time to go through your stuff and make a list of the things you need.
First, you check what you have on you. Your trusty knife with its sheath is where it belongs, attached to your shin, hidden beneath your jeans. Your metal brass knuckles are in the pocket of your hoodie, as well as a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Then you take off your sneakers; a little jackknife is still here, good.
The only things missing are your phone, headphones, and keys from your apartment. The loss of these things is not critical, but unpleasant. Especially the headphones, you won’t make it through the year without music, and you are the type who doesn’t like to turn your music on without headphones, for everyone to hear. Except for when you are dancing, of course.
Next on the list are everyday necessities. Lucifer promised that all your needs would be taken care of, so you hope that he will keep his word.
Unfortunately, you don’t find any soap or toothpaste, not even toilet paper in the bathroom. Your closet is also empty, except for some kind of uniform, but it isn’t enough. You can’t even change your underwear or brush your hair. You don’t have anything except for weapons and cigarettes. And if there were some kind of pocket money for you to use, Mammon, as your technical supervisor, must’ve already stolen it. Nice.
You can’t possibly rest without dealing with this problem first. So you start wandering around the house. After all, if Satan already came home, Lucifer might have returned as well. But you can’t open any of the doors on the second floor, and the common rooms on the first floor are all empty, so you are left to your own devices. And it's never a good thing.
You return all your belongings to where they were and leave the house.