Fallen Pride - 7. Chapter 7

“NASSAU!”

The Prince of Hell looked up from his chess game and winced as the thick gold door smashed back into the wall, blowing dust and marble chips across the room. The chamber where Nassau liked to hold court was small but beautifully proportioned with a ceiling reflecting the night sky, though not the one currently above them.

“NASSAU! You bastard!” Kiorl strode into the courtroom, a mass of fur and rage, and Nassau didn’t think he’d seen his friend look as feral as that in millennia. He made a motion to stand, about to dismiss the rest of the courtiers, but Kiorl was fast, and he snatched Nassau up by the front of his tunic, snarling. “What the hell did you do to me, you fucking empath!?”

Nassau growled. He wasn’t an animal, but his snarl had nothing to do with physiology and everything to do with rage. It was one thing for Kiorl to treat him as an old friend in private, and quiet another to do it in front of a dozen other major demons. Rage ripped through him, following the line of fire adorning his body, and the room became a storm of power and lightning.

“YOU WILL RESPECT YOUR PRINCE!” Nassau’s voice boomed with his inherited power: the ceiling shook, cracks appeared where there should have been only a sky fading into deepest indigo scattered with stars. Nassau stood, his wings huge above and around him, every feather suddenly gilt and razor edged. The Prince of hell had always been dangerous and beautiful, but it had been a long time since even Kiorl had seen his glory. Nassau’s eyes were the storm, and Kiorl felt his sense of self coming loose from his body as he looked into them. For the second time that day, he was pushed to his knees by the power exerted on him, and the panther mewled as the storm of his lord threatened to tear him apart. And then it was over, the wind lessened and slacked off, and Nassau’s yard long hair settled itself in soft curves around his shoulders, as smooth and tangle-free as always. He turned to the rest of his court. “You may go.”

No-one needed telling twice.

There was a long time when nothing happened, and then Kiorl felt two fingers lifting his muzzle, and he looked up. Nassau’s eyes were no longer the wall-to-wall storm, he was no longer Lord Nassau Del Rae, Leader of the Seven Armies and Prince of Hell, but just Nassau, Kiorl’s oldest friend.

“Kiorl? What happened?” Nassau’s brows drew low in a frown, and one slim hand took Kiorl’s muzzle, and turned his head to look at his cheek. “What happened?”

“I kissed him. He hit me.”

“You kissed Lahja?” Nassau sounded shocked.

“That’s his name?” Kiorl couldn’t help but smile. “Lahja...”

“Fucking seriously Ki? You kissed the man without even asking him his name? Do you have a death wish?”

“Well, there wouldn’t have been much point. He was asleep.”

Nassau stood, rolling his eyes.

“You kissed him when he was asleep. Of course! Makes total fucking sense.” The Prince of hell took a deep breath. “Have you even seen what you look like?”

“Yes,” Kiorl growled. “You can fix it, right?”

“Nope. No power in the ‘verse can reverse that. Must have been some slap.”

Kiorl whined as he got up off the floor, shaking bits of marble ceiling from his complicated braids.

“I have to stay like this?”

“Yeah,” Nassau smiled softly at him, “try and think of it as a good thing. After all, scars are sexy.”

*

The noise made Lahja blink softly. Blinking had been one of the things that had confused him about his new body. He could choose to see nothing, nothing but the inside of his own eyelids, but he couldn’t choose when his mind showed him visions of heaven, and each time Lahja felt an ache in the chest of the body which made every other pain seem trivial. The soft noise came again, and Lahja turned his vision to the white wood door. His body snarled; there was the smell of food.

“Lahja?” Tobias’s voice was soft and unmistakable. “I brought food. I’d rather come in than leave it sitting out here again.” If it hadn’t been for the smell, Lahja would have thought the demon had left, it was so quiet. “Lahja? I’m sorry. Please, you need to eat something.”

It was a struggle to find his feet again, and stand. Lahja noticed how frail the body he wore seemed compared to the first time he’d woken up in it. The wrist attached to his hand seemed thin, the skin paler, less supple than it had been before. He shuffled to the door, and opened it softly. Sure enough, only Tobias stood there, looking pensive and holding a tray of interesting smells.

“I brought bread, some fruit. This is the closest approximation I’ve been able to make to ice cream since I’ve been down here. I have honey, some vegetable crisps… I noticed you didn’t look so keen on the meat. Can I come in?”

Lahja nodded mutely. After fleeing up the stairs from the nightmarish demon who had assaulted him, his body seemed to have given up fighting. Tobias perched the tray on the bed, looping the drapes out of the way.

“I miss bed curtains.” His sigh was wistful, “I always wanted them, but there’s no point: Zai shreds everything with his claws when he’s asleep. My mate is none too careful in bed.” Tobias patted the soft surface of the bed. “Come and eat something. I didn’t know what you would like. What did you eat before?”

“I didn’t.” Lahja stared at the demon who looked like a man, but had become a cat by some twisted evil magic.

“You didn’t? What, ever?”

“Angels don’t eat,” Lahja explained, “or dream,” he found his body talking, almost without his input, and couldn’t have explained why he wanted to tell Tobias anything. “Angel’s don’t breathe, or walk. These are all things for beings made of flesh. I have never owned clothes before.”

“Who dressed you?” Tobias was curious.

“Nassau left me here. I think these are his clothes…. I do not know how to be in a body.” Lahja realised he was crying, the tears were hot and wet on his skin.

“Oh...” Tobias bit his lip, and held out his hand, offering Lahja a little piece of bread. It wasn’t like the bread Nassau had given him, but paler and softer. “Eating is a good start. You own a body now, and it’s all yours. But you have to feed it.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Well that would be a terrible shame now, wouldn’t it?” Tobias smiled at him softly. “I’ll go.”

“No.” It was a single small world, but Lahja was surprised by the power it had. Tobias stilled and turned to him, and for a tiny moment, Lahja felt the air suffuse with adoration, just like it had been when the choir raised their voice to sing. “Please stay.”

“Sure,” Tobias took another piece of bread and tore it in two, “after all doesn’t the bible say something about breaking bread together being important.”

“You know the Scriptures?” Lahja was shocked. What on earth could a demon want with the word of The Lord?

“Well, not all of them,” Tobias shrugged, as though it meant nothing, as though Lahja’s world hadn’t just spun on it’s axis. “I was human before I became a demon; I’ve read some of the Bible, but it is terribly long.”

“When were you human?”

“Ohhh...” Tobias put his head on one side, looking wistful, “long time ago now. I don’t miss it, because that’s always what everyone asks next, but I do miss the sunsets, and the moon.” He touched the piece of bread Lahja was still holding with his own. “If you eat, I’ll tell you all about it.”

Lahja looked at the bread he held, listening to the insistent gnawing of his body, and decided he didn’t want to feel as awful as he currently did. It wasn’t a sin to eat, after all. Tobias had a lovely voice, and Lahja listened to him talk, though he didn’t absorb everything. Mostly the young demon allowed Tobias’ words to wash over him and concentrated on the flavours and textures of the food he ate, lighting up the inside of his mind. He had no frame of reference for describing the things his mouth told him, but there were colours he couldn’t name, prickles that needled and tickled him, feelings he didn’t understand. It was only when there were no other scraps of food left on the tray, that he turned his attention back to what Tobias was saying.

“...so with you that makes thirteen of us now. We’re a big house.”

“Um...” Lahja looked up at his companion. “There was someone… I hit someone.”

Violence is a sin, Lahja heard his own voice say in his head. Since gaining a body, all you have done is commit sin. Maybe you deserved to be cast out from the divine presence.

Lahja felt tears splash down the face he wore, and the knowledge that he was crying only made him cry harder.

“Oh,” Tobias sounded sad, “Lahja...” a moment later he felt the weight of the demon’s arm rest around his shoulders, and Lahja tried to breathe, then found his sadness was getting in the way. He gulped and sniffed, and rubbed at the tears.

“Sorry. The body seems to do that.”

“Huh?” Tobias went from looking concerned to confused. “The body?”

Lahja made a gesture to the shape he’d been cast in, but was stopped by Tobias’s hand around his wrist.

“No. This is you, your body. Your hands, your face, your hair. It’s not like you can trade. You’re a person now Lahja, you need to get used to it.”

Lahja barely heard what he said, because he was still staring at the place where Tobias was touching him. Four hundred thousand nerve ending were sending signals to his mind, and every single on of them made Lahja excited, confused, nervous, and scared.

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

Tobias looked down to where their skin touched and frowned.

“Should it?”

“Oh no!” Lahja felt the growing sensation below the skin he was still having trouble calling his own. He just had time to pull away from Tobias, and the bright searing white light died within the same breath as it had come. The words Nassau had said to him replayed in his head.

You’re going to have to learn to control that.

“I hit someone.” Lahja repeated into the empty room.

Tobias had obviously chosen to ignore the sudden light.

“Yes. That was Kiorl.”

“He lives here?” Lahja sked with a feeling he might have labelled ‘trepidation’.

“Yes. He is the oldest and most powerful demon in this house. Kiorl is a member of the royal court, and Prince Nassau’s friend,” the reverential tone dropped from Tobias’s voice, “he is also a self important son-of-a-bitch, a jerk, and a twisted bastard too boot. But he can be kind and sweet, Jahke says he isn’t all hard and flinty under his fur, but we’ve never gotten that close. Our panther isn’t a big fan of empaths.”

“Of what?”

Empaths. The words arrived in his brain, even though Tobias hadn’t moved his lips. It is a skill Nassau and I share.

“I’m not very good, though I’ve got better since I was here.” Tobias smiled at him in a reassuring manner. “It means I can feel what you feel, though not what you’re thinking, not unless you try to share it with me.”

“But… I don’t know what I feel.”

“Confused mostly, a bit scared, a bit tired, quite hungry. I can make you something else if you want.”

“But...”

“Kiorl went out. Most of the guys are downstairs. No one will touch you, I promise.”

Lahja had no idea if Tobias was in a position to make such a promise, but the body growled its continued hunger and he decided by standing up. He followed Tobias closely, and as they walked, the demon reeled off the names of their house mates, smiling as he touched certain doors with his finger tips.

“I like to think we’re a pretty decent bunch. Much more normal now than I was when I first came. I was the first of the recruits. Former humans,” he added, “Jahke was next, I think you met him in Records?”

“He and Nassau were...” Lahja didn’t know how to describe the interaction between the pale demon with horns and hooves and the Prince of hell. They had spoken to each other, but Lahja had the impression there was more going on than just that.

“Well, Jahke is as promiscuous as they come. He really likes Nassau.” Lahja watched Tobias walk away from him before noticing he was no longer being followed. Tobias came back with a puzzled expression. “Why do I get the feeling you have no idea what I’m talking about?”

Lahja shook his head gently. He had a twisty sensation in his gut which told him whatever Tobias might try to explain was going to make him want to run back to him room. Lahja was about to follow Tobias when the twisty feeling dove lower in the body he was using and made him wince.

“Ung….”

“Lahja? What’s wrong?” Lahja felt Tobias pressing at his mind. For a passing moment, Lahja wondered if it was how Shai had felt when Lahja had reached out to him. But Lahja was filled by a burning, pressing, uncomfortable need to do something. The body hurt in a new and strange way and Lahja pressed a hand over his front between his legs. Tobias suddenly seemed to understand. “Oh shit! This way!”

Lahja could only whine in desperation.

“OK, you have a body now, and bodies have needs. Needs other than eating.” Tobias spoke very quickly, and shouldered open a door without a name on it. “This is the bathroom.”

Lahja hurried towards the white seat with a hole in Tobias had gestured to, then stopped. Tobias turned to see what he was looking at and snapped.

“Will you two please go and use your own bed!?”

The man and the snake in the shower were far too busy enjoying each other to noticed or care Tobias’s anger, or that their newest house mate stared, and pissed himself.