“Hey. Arthur,” Steve whispered at two in the morning. Arthur, lying about two decimeters beneath him under the bed, suddenly awoke, bumping his head on the bed. Rubbing his forehead, he quickly realized why he had woken up, and rolled out from under the bed. Acrobatically, he changed his position from lying to standing in less than a second, a feat of dexterity impossible for most humans. “Wazzit,” he said, eyes closed out of tiredness and teeth dangerously close to biting his tongue.
“...What were you doing under my bed?...” Steve asked in confusion. It’s not often you see a demonic man in a suit roll out from under your bed and twirl around to standing in OS-speeds. “Huh? Ah, ye, it was so comfy, a just couldn’t help myself,” Arthur slurred, trying his best to get his rebellious tongue under control. A half-moon was shining in on the pair, revealing the truth in Arthur’s statement. Steve furrowed his brows, as he seemed to do at the drop of a hat, looked Arthur up and down, and finally finished thinking enough to ask whatever dire question was on his mind.
“Are you really a demon?” Steve asked honestly. Arthur had to take a moment. Of course he was a demon, he said that yesterday! Did you really need to wake him up for this? Humans. What a bother. But he didn’t say this, no matter how strongly he thought it. Alright. What Steve wanted wasn’t some “of course I’m a demon, don’t you trust me” bullcrap, no, he wanted proof. And it was up to Arthur to give him this.
“Do you have anything strong you don’t mind if I destroy?” Arthur asked with a straight face. “Can be anything. Glass, iron, orixion,” He added. Steve looked at him for a second in disbelief, before shrugging and pointing at a glass vase standing serenely in the window. Arthur tapped the window once or twice. “Wow, this is really good stuff!” he exclaimed upon realizing the glass was quite thin, and yet quite sturdy. “Shush it! Josey might wake up!” Steve whispered loudly. “Just destroy the vase and be done with it,” Steve added, crossing his arms.
“Vase? Where is-, oh, this? This is a vase?!” Arthur whisper-shouted as well, pointing at the multi-coloured glass vase. He had only ever seen wooden vases. Steve nodded in response, narrowing his eyes in hopes of making Arthur finnish whatever he was going to do. As long as it didn’t wake Josey up…
Arthur smiled a particular smile, grabbed the vase, carefully removed the amber dahlias in it, looked at it for a second, and then licked it. “Slurp”. Steve looked extremely appalled for a second, before noticing that something was happening to the vase. It was… melting? Somehow, Steve furrowed his brows even further as Arthur carelessly held onto the quickly melting vase. Eventually, the little water in it fell out, splashing onto the floor.
“Hrmm, Steve, dear, what was that?...” Josey asked groggily, not even turning her face towards the action. Steve immediately put his index-finger over his mouth, a universal sign even Arthur could understand. “Nothing dear, I just spilled my water, don’t worry,” Steve said in as reassuring a tone as he could possibly muster. Josey muttered for a bit, before finally telling Steve to clean it up before it got absorbed into the carpet. “Yes, dear,” Steve said dejectedly, unwillingly getting out and up of the bed to face Arthur. Arthur gulped, feeling a waft of guilt and shame come over him as his eyes met those of the tired, angry and slightly amazed Steve. Arthur quickly tapped his voider twice and followed Steve into the kitchen, where he immediately turned off the voider again.
“Before you even say sorry, tell me, did I see that correctly?” Steve asked, leaning on the counter. “You want me to do it again?” Arthur replied genuinely, preparing to grab something nearby. “No, no, that’s not necessary. I just want to make clear: are you honestly a demon?” Steve asked once more. This time, Arthur just couldn’t hide his irritation. “Of course I am! And not just any demon either, I’m from the 8th Circle Hell! That must say something to you, right? I may look like, well, this, but I assure you! I’ve killed humans before!” Arthur shouted, crossing his arms in frustration. This all, of course, meant very little to Steve, who wasn’t exactly christian. But from the way Arthur said it, the 8th circle must be a pretty bad place. The only thing that actually stood out to him was the whole thing about having killed humans before.
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“If you’ve killed humans before, why do you need me to do it for you?” Steve retorted. Arthur could feel his face going red from embarrassment. “Well, I… I-, it doesn’t matter, right?! You signed the contract, now you have to help me!” Arthur said, hoping Steve would accept such a lackluster diversion. Steve looked him in the eye for a few seconds. Arthur diverted his gaze. Steve sighed. “Alright, sure, let’s just clean this up and get back to bed,” Steve said, hoping that would be the end of it.
But just as he was about to grab a little towel… “Grooannn~” Arthur’s stomach growled loudly. “Oh, haha, yeah, I haven’t eaten in more than two days,” Arthur said with a little smile. He had totally forgotten about that, but when he said he’d killed humans, well… his appetite was a bit roused. Steve looked him in the eye for a good three seconds, sighed, and made his way towards the fridge. “What do you want?” Steve asked, opening the fridge. He really wanted to just go back to sleep. “Well, what do you have?” Arthur asked, popping up behind Steve to take a peek into the little fridge. “A bit of everything. Salad. Paprika. Pasta,” Steve said in a monotone I-want-to-die voice. Arthur seemed, and was, confused. “Where’s the meat?” he asked, thinking dearly of the meat Steve had cut up earlier. “ We don’t eat much meat,” Steve replied. Josey was actually a vegetarian, but since she respected the wishes of the rest of the family, she had gone back to an omnivore diet, but she made sure to use as little as possible.
“What about the meat you cut up earlier?” Arthur asked, already drooling. “What meat?” Steve asked unknowingly. “You know - the girl. She looked mighty tasty, I was tempted to ask for a piece right there and then, but you looked so spooky I couldn’t bring myself to~” Arthur squealed, his tail wagging back and forth happily and his ears flapping up and down strangely. Steve looked at him with a very funny look. “You can’t be serious,” he finally said, almost wanting to laugh. “Do demons eat human meat?” he asked with a quaint little smile. “What else is there to eat?” Arthur replied honestly. Steve was left speechless. “Come on Steve, I’m sure you still have those delicious little pieces, come on~” Arthur pleaded, his tail unconsciously pointing towards the front door, or, more specifically, the car.
Steve wasn’t sure if he still had those or if he had already disposed of everything, but he didn’t really want to challenge Arthur. It was no longer a question that Arthur was a demon, no, now, it was more a question of what exactly he could do. Arthur was a jolly fellow, but Steve really didn’t want to see him truly angry. Steve reluctantly went out to his dear car, that little fiat, an excited demon following his every move.
Steve opened the boot, and there they were. Four bags. One with the head(he always wanted to save the head for his collection), one with the limbs, one with his bloodied clothes and chainsaw, and one with the scraps. Arthur wanted the scraps. Steve carefully scanned the surrounding. It was dark and cool, as it had been hours ago when he drove home. Not one house was lit even in the slightest, and no creature stirred. The boot reeked of blood. How had he forgotten to dispose of it?... he had gotten lazy and careless ever since he stopped becoming one. He had to be more careful, otherwise, this might just have been the last one he’s ever-, “So? Are they there? Oh! They are! Come on, come on, I’m starving!~” Arthur gleefully squealed from behind.
Hesitantly, Steve handed Arthur the bag filled with scraps, bare-handed. Arthur took one look in the bag, sniffed it deeply, and exhaled it, as if it were some sort of premium ganja. “This is… This smells a thousand times better than any human I’ve ever smelled...” Arthur finally said, looking fondly at the meat in the bag. He looked up a little, noticed Steve, shouted something about Steve not having any, and ran of into a bush. Steve couldn’t even bother anymore, just going straight inside, locking the door, and going back to bed. Josey was sleeping soundly, her prized 500£ vase lying in a molten mess on the floor. Steve just fell asleep. At around three, he woke up by Arthur sliding in under the bed, but couldn’t even bother to care, simply falling asleep again.