By the time Melody made it home from RAD, she was exhausted. The stares of hungry demons following her everywhere was tiring enough; Melody felt like she was going to run into trouble every time she stepped out of a classroom, or turned a corner. Her nerves were wound so tightly that even catching an errant movement out of the corner of her eye was almost enough to make her scream. Every so often she’d catch a glimpse of Mammon in the halls. He never really made any attempt to approach her, or help her. Melody wondered if he was shirking his role as her guardian, or if his mere presence was enough to keep her safe. It was hard to tell, since no one she had ever spoken to seemed to have a kind word to say about him.
Apart from that, being in classes again was stressful. At the very least, the teachers tended not to stare her down as their next meal. Or, if they did, it was a far more subtle thing. But, they had probably been spoken to quite specifically before the program. Even in a place like the Devildom, there were probably guidelines for how a teacher could, or couldn’t, act. The structure of the classrooms made her feel a little safer, but at the same time, she felt put on the spot to perform academically. In public school she had been a rather average student, not really excelling at anything in particular, though her teachers rarely had occasion to complain much about her behavior, they also didn’t put much effort into bringing out any hidden talents she might have had. She was the academic equivalent to a wallflower. Socially, she was much the same.
Fortunately for Melody, a lot of the classes she was in were beginner-level classes, so they started with the basics of a variety of subjects. Some of them were similar to the ones she had back in high school: math, science, literature, history, home economics. While it was true that literature and history had a lot of elements that were different, since they looked at Devildom writings and history, the system of studying them was similar. However, on top of such ‘mundane’ topics were magical classes and potion classes, which definitely would have been out of place in the human realm’s public schools. Magical matters was largely theory; she had no ability to use it. Potions would be easier to do without being able to cast, but it wasn’t like anything she had learned before. The mix of the strange and the familiar definitely made her wonder at her own sanity. She wondered how a student with not even a vague belief in magic, or the supernatural, would have fared.
And then there were her tasks. It wasn’t strictly an academic thing, since there was a component to it that wasn’t simply knowledge and the application of skill. As the demon students challenged her, she channeled power through her DDD since she had no magic to work with herself. But she found that her belief in her own ability to do the puzzles helped her win as much as anything she knew. There seemed to be a strange symbiosis between her and her DDD, and the fact that it affected the demon students she was up against showed how strong magic really was. Melody had to keep that in mind for the future. Maybe someone could explain it to her someday, if she were ever brave enough to ask.
Dinner, at the very least, was better than yesterday’s had been. There were several things from the human realm that Melody was familiar with, and so she filled up. Lunch had also been sparse for her, since she was trying to get used to the food, and remembered too keenly the previous evening. The brothers didn’t seem to mind the mix of human food in with their normal fare and didn’t even comment, except for Beel, who was just happy to be eating period. But the security she felt by eating something she knew so well did a lot to ease her mind, and it was nice to have her belly feel full for the first time since she arrived. In fact, it made her rather sleepy, and when she was sure that she couldn’t take another bite, she meekly excused herself from the table and padded down to her room.
Melody was just about to doze off when she heard her DDD buzz. At first she was inclined to just roll over and ignore it, but then she remembered what Lucifer had said earlier. He had congratulated her for surviving the night without being eaten? If she ignored a text, was she putting herself at risk? Not wanting to figure that out the hard way, she sighed and groped around for her DDD. Finding it, she turned on the screen and blearily tapped to open the chat message. The chat icon showed a dragon, which was unhelpful, but at least the name was clear: Leviathan.
- - Come to the kitchen, Normie. I’ll give you one last chance to make up for earlier. - -
- - Okay….I’ll be there in a moment. - -
- - Don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. I don’t want anyone to mistakenly think that I hang out with some human normie. - -
Melody was very much done with being called ‘normie’. And it seemed strange to her that someone from a very fringe group was worried about what people thought, since usually it was not caring about what people thought that allowed someone to exist in the fringes. But she was too tired to sort out demon psychology at the moment. Casually pulling her hair back, she padded out into the hallway and headed for the kitchen. However, she was surprised to find someone there who wasn’t Levi. Beel was snacking away at something in the fridge. Although she couldn’t see his face, his size and hair were enough to give him away. Melody wasn’t sure if she should stay, or go, but Beel took the choice away from her. Pulling out of the fridge he noticed her standing there, and blinked a few times.
“Oh, it’s you,” he said with his low, rumbly voice.
“Um, yeah.” Remembering Levi’s instructions not to tell anyone what she was doing, she made something up. “I just came here to get a drink.”
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“Don’t tell me that you’re hungry too?” asked Beel, scowling at her. “Because I can’t have another person in here looking for food. There’d be less for me.” That seemed fair enough to Melody, who wasn’t the least bit hungry, but with her nerves being ruffled, she could certainly use a drink to counteract the dry feeling in her throat.
“Oh, no…I just need a glass of water,” Melody said. While it’s true she could drink from the tap in her room, she just preferred to have a glass. She didn’t know if Beel felt constantly thirsty along with his hunger, so she couldn’t guess whether there’d be anything else to drink. “I’m still full from dinner.” This declaration seemed to ease Beel’s mind, and his scowl relaxed into a rather neutral expression. Still feeling a bit like a deer in the headlights, Melody tried really hard not to look around for Levi, so she kept her focus on Beel’s face. Beel, not sure what to make of this, jumped to his own conclusions. “What? Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
Melody almost hiccupped. What could she say that would keep him from being suspicious about her presence here. Stalling for time, she looked for a glass and slowly filled it with water from the sink. As she sipped, Beel watched her, apparently not in a hurry. Her mind was ticking so fast, she could barely keep up. It occurred to her that something had been nagging at her mind for a while now. Mammon, Lucifer, and Diavolo had all mentioned there being seven brothers, but she had only seen six.
“I’m just wondering if I’ve misunderstood something….everyone kept saying there were seven brothers, but I’ve only counted six…” Melody managed to make herself say. She was unprepared for the immediate reaction of anger coming from Beel, and she shrunk back.
“…Now listen, don’t you ever mention him in front of Lucifer. Just so we’re clear, I’m not going to tell you anything, either. Lucifer would yell at me if I did.” Then the anger faded away, leaving behind a pensive sort of sadness. Melody winced, the sadness hitting her harder than the anger had. “And don’t bother asking any of my brothers either. No one talks about him. Even though he’s our brother… We have to treat him like he doesn’t exist… It’s not right. But since no one can defy Lucifer… You know what? This isn’t any of your business, human. I’m leaving. I’ve already eaten everything there was in the refrigerator anyway.” Finally he smiled. “I’m pretty sure Lucifer is hiding a poisoned apple in the desk in the study…”
Melody had stepped on a land-mine of a family issue. Her emotions flickered rapidly, as did her thoughts. The youngest brother was out of favor? Shunned? A matter to not be discussed, even among family? It sounded a little too close to home. She was sure if her mother didn’t step in, her brothers and sisters would be more than happy to ignore her, or cast her aside entirely. And, somehow, they all agreed to this, though Beel sounded reluctant. Her heart was up in her throat. Beel was already walking past her, but, she couldn’t let him go like that.
“Beel, wait!”
“What is it?” The large demon turned around to face Melody, hands in his pockets.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know. But… I do know families can be complicated. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Beel’s expression softened.
“Now you know,” was all he said, but even though his tone was neutral, and his words short, Melody felt that he wasn’t angry with her, just the situation and being hit with an unexpected question. She let him go, and he quickly left to pursue the hidden treat. Or, at least, what Melody assumed was a treat. It wouldn’t actually be poisoned…would it?
“…psst…hey!”
“Eeek! A ghost?”
“Seriously? No! Over here! Look!” Melody glanced around wildly, until Leviathan stepped out from his hiding spot.
“What were you doing back there?” Melody asked, hand over her heart while she tried to calm it back down.
“What do you think? Beel was just in here! I can’t have him finding me with you, now can I?!” Levi moved a little closer, but still kept quite a distance away. “Look, I have a clue to finding Mammon’s credit card, so we can go ahead with my plan to get my money back.”
“Um, what do you need me for then?” Melody asked, her emotions still flip-flopping from her earlier question, one that she regrets asking.
“Just think about it. Mammon is scum, like I told you. And he’s more powerful than me. He’ll promise me the world to get the card back, but once he gets it, do you think he’ll follow through on his promises? No! But, if you make a pact with him, he’ll have to do as you say, with no choice in the matter.” Those words still sent a chill down Melody’s spine. No choice. But Leviathan didn’t seem to think twice about such a plan, and instead sounded pretty excited over having hatched such an idea. Not stopping to hear whether Melody was willing to comply, he opened the freezer and started poking around inside.
“Wait, isn’t that the freezer?”
“Hmm…all I see is a bunch of ice inside. …Oh wait, look! It’s the ice cream Satan hid from Beel about a century ago. I totally forgot about that. Heh, I’m not about to tell him, though. It’d spoil the joke. He’ll probably figure it out in another 2000 years or so, I’d say.” It took Melody a bit to process that. While it was true a lot of humans exaggerated things, but, it did enter her mind to wonder whether or not they were being literal. Did Mammon actually borrow money from Levi 260 years ago? Was that ice cream in there for a century? Could ice cream even last 2000 years without turning into a weird rock? Melody couldn’t imagine it.
“…Wait a second. There’s something else there behind the ice.” Levi’s exclamations brought Melody out of her musing in time for her to see Levi pull out a huge chunk of ice. Encased inside was a black and gold card. “Found it! Lucifer wasn’t lying. It really IS frozen! Ugh, it’s super heavy! And big, too! I’m gonna put it in the microwave and thaw it. Let’s see, I guess about two minutes on auto should do the trick.”
As he spoke, Levi popped open the microwave and shoved the ice chunk in there. Closing the door with a click, he started plunking in the numbers. But, before he could press ‘start’, Melody caught at his sleeve. Startled at the contact, he turned sharply towards her, orange eyes narrowing as he scuttled back from her, a slight twitch forming in his cheek. Melody took a step back, holding her hand up in an apologetic way.
“If you turn it on, you’ll break it, and the water will probably make a mess…that’s all,” she sputtered out, answering the unspoken question. Levi continued to glare, but then rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I don’t want to have to clean it up; that’s not worth it. Maybe we can chip away at most of it with a knife…”