So much for a peaceful first day back.
Just a few periods into the school day, and Cobalt was already feeling worn out. Several fights had broken out amongst some of the returning third-years, and one unfortunate Glutton boy had already been shipped off to the Brimstone General Hospital to be treated for several broken ribs. Bizarrely enough, as the Incubus stepped into the teacher's lounge to take his morning break, he overheard some of his colleagues discussing how smoothly the day was going.
Apparently violence amongst the students was just expected and accepted in the first few days back. He had learned as much over the summer, but had silently hoped that it wouldn't be true.
Yawning, Cobalt shuffled over to the staff room's far wall, where the teacher's pigeonholes were set up. His was the furthest on the right on the very top row, forcing him to stand on his tiptoes in order to reach his mail. By the time he managed to get it off the shelf, the Incubus was dismayed to find that it was little more than a collection of invoices pertaining to the books he had bought over the summer.
"Don't know what I was expecting, really..." he mumbled to himself, disinterestedly slitting the envelopes open.
Before he could begin to read them, however, a purple hand suddenly clasped the Incubus' shoulder, scaring the living daylights out of him. Scattering his mail all over the floor, Cobalt whipped around to see a purple-skinned woman leaning by the pigeonholes, her wings fluttering excitedly behind her as her tail coiled and uncoiled behind her back.
"Bonjour chéri," she purred in a faux-French accent, crossing her arms before her prodigious chest as she fixed her lidded eyes upon the Incubus.
Cobalt frowned and bent down to pick up the scattered letters. Monique Pudon, the Lust Applied Demonics teacher. A Succubus, and a rather stereotypical example of her kind.
"Good morning, Madam Pudon," the Incubus stated curtly, neatly stacking the letters as he slipped them into his satchel.
"Oh, so cold, Cobalt! A summer apart, and you're already back to such sterile formalities!" she gasped, holding a hand to her forehead.
Her cheeks were rather rosy. Had she been drinking so early into the day? A school day?
"Y- Yes, well... I'd rather stick to formalities, if it's all the same to you," Cobalt mumbled, nervously glancing around at his other colleagues.
"Ah, still so tightly wound, I see. I understand; first day jitters, and all that. Come, come! The morning break is so fleeting, we may as well enjoy it together, non?" the Succubus laughed, wrapping an arm around him.
Try as he might to resist, Madam Pudon pulled the Incubus close and began to drag him over to a secluded set of armchairs next to one of the teacher's lounge windows. Despite her softness, she was surprisingly strong, and with his neck locked in her arm, Cobalt was able to smell the liquor on her breath.
Really, had she no shame?
"Here we are!"
Sitting Cobalt down in one of the armchairs, she rounded the table and sat across from him, her hands folded neatly in her lap.
"Tea?" Madam Pudon asked, producing a flask.
"Um... I suppose so," the Incubus sighed, figuring it would be impolite to refuse.
Grabbing a pair of nearby mugs, the Succubus poured out a steaming measure of tea for the pair of them. It was deep black, just how Cobalt liked it, but as he brought the mug to his face, he blanched upon realising that it stank of whiskey.
"I decided to expand my tastes over the summer. Nothing beats tea à la française, but I decided to experiment with an Irish style, and I must say, it's really working for me," she explained, sipping her drink.
Nodding slowly, he set his mug down.
"I- I see. I've heard of Irish coffee, but not... never mind."
"Regardless, I think it's a lovely pick me up. Tell me, how did you spend your summer, mon chéri?"
Cobalt shrugged and recounted the same tale he had told everyone else when they asked him that question. He talked about the teacher training course, as well as what few other miscellaneous activities he had gotten up to. Smiling as he spoke, Madam Pudon took a deep sip of her tea.
"How interesting... Not to judge your tastes, but if you prefer your girls to be human, then I suppose that would explain a few things," she stated bluntly, crossing her legs.
Despite having not drunk the tea, Cobalt still choked on his own spittle and almost wound up spilling it all over himself.
"Wh- What?! No, I did no such thing! My time spent Earthside was purely for educational purposes!"
Madam Pudon cocked her head.
"Oh? So you still haven't felt the touch of a woman~?" she asked with a lurid smile.
He furrowed his brow.
"Th- That's no business of yours."
Lowering her tone, Madam Pudon reached beneath the table and began to sensuously stroke Cobalt's thigh, much to the Incubus' discomfort.
"But it could be, if you're willing to take a chance, mon doux, petit agneau-"
Something dark, sharp and metallic suddenly bit into the wood of the table, shattering the Succubus' mug and scattering fragments of porcelain and woodchips everywhere. Recoiling, she shrieked and toppled out of her chair, drawing the attention of everyone in the staff room. Swallowing hard, Cobalt looked up at the blade that had been thrown at their table.
A warped iron dagger, as sharp as sin and dark as night, ten inches in length and covered in tiny, indecipherable runes. A knife that inspired deep-seated feelings of dread within the Incubus.
"Immoderata..." Cobalt murmured, slowly turning to face the individual that had thrown the weapon.
There, standing in the centre of the teacher's lounge, was a tall, thin woman. She was wearing a pristine nurse's uniform, the white cloth of which sharply contrasted with her skin, which was as black as coal dust. Wings bedecked in stony feathers were folded behind her back, and from her forehead sprouted a single grey horn that wound around her alabaster-haired head like some cruel mockery of a halo.
She was a Fallen, a rather unsettling demon of Envy.
But what was most disturbing was her face. The nurse had a sharp, angular visage, with stormy violet eyes that were just a little too wide behind her steel-framed spectacles, though Cobalt knew for a fact that the glasses were just for show; the woman's eyesight was better than most people he knew.
Taking a deep breath, Cobalt pulled Immoderata from the wood of the table and held it out to the Fallen.
"Elya... I think you dropped this," he said, not making eye contact with the nurse.
She slowly approached the table with slow, deliberate footsteps. Staring down Madam Pudon, she took the dagger from Cobalt's hands and slipped it into her stocking.
"Yes. I believe I did. May I borrow Mr. Trayer for a moment?" she asked, not once taking her piercing gaze off the Succubus.
Madam Pudon just shakily nodded her head, terrified by the freezing-cold aura that Elya seemed to carry with her wherever she went. With the Succubus scared away from her quarry, the nurse marched towards Cobalt and placed a firm hand on his shoulder, forcing him to his feet.
"Elya..." the Incubus breathed, glancing up at her with pleading eyes.
But he could detect no hint of mercy in her violet stare.
"This shall only take a minute," she responded in her cold monotone.
The Incubus could only quietly murmur in response as he was guided out of the staff room and down the hall, towards the school's infirmary. As they approach, Cobalt saw a couple of students lingering outside, one of whom was clutching a hand to his bleeding nose. They looked to be first-years.
"A- Ah, Nurse Yalfre! We was fightin', yeah? I bruised me knuckles, and Petey got his nose busted up!" the first one cried enthusiastically.
"Yeah, yeah! Could you fix us up?" the second one added, seemingly unperturbed by his gushing nose.
One thing that baffled the Incubus was the strange cult of enraptured students that had formed around B.I.D.'s enigmatic school nurse. It seemed that many of them got injured on purpose just for the chance to be treated by her.
Brushing past them both, Elya didn't even dignify either of them with a glance as she shoved Cobalt into the infirmary and kicked the door shut behind them. Locking it, Elya clasped her hands behind her back and fixed him with a piercing, unblinking stare.
"You've been avoiding me, my love," the Fallen said, her voice growing lower and more insidious now that they were alone.
"I was Earthside all summer," Cobalt murmured, feeling a cold sweat form upon his brow.
"I know."
Reaching into the pocket of her uniform, Elya produced a sizable wad of polaroid photos and tossed them before the Incubus, where they spread out all over the infirmary floor. Glancing down, he blanched at the sight of them.
Each and every picture featured him, both in disguise as a human and in private as a demon. His commute to the Oxford campus, his private discussions with the demonic tutors working undercover there, his day trips into London to go book shopping... And countless pictures of him sleeping, some of which were taken from within his room.
"Have you been stalking me?! I thought I told you to-!"
The Incubus cut himself off at the sight of the Fallen, or more precisely, the lack thereof. Distracted as he was by the invasive pictures, he failed to notice that Elya had completely disappeared. All he saw before him was a crumpled pile of the nurse's clothes, atop which sat her false spectacles.
Swallowing hard, Cobalt took a step back and steeled himself, looking around for any hint of her location. Fallen were masters of stealth, but Elya... she was something else.
"I saw that bastard pierce you through and through... And you tore him apart for his transgressions. For me. What else was that but a formal declaration of your devotion?" her voice hissed, coming from everywhere around him.
"That... That's not..."
"Do you not see how perfect we are for one another, my love? We are bound by a passion that kills, a deep need to keep the other protected."
"Elya...!"
"Your perfection knows no bounds, my love. I could drink in your splendour until my days are done. But I have found within me another duty, beyond keeping you safe and pure."
Cobalt glanced around the infirmary, from the nurse's desk to the curtained-off beds. The door was just a few steps away, he just needed to be quick enough to unlock it in time before Elya could pounce on him.
"I need more than just you, my love... I need to be one with you! Together, we could create something perfect! Together we would have such wonderful children!"
"What?!"
Taken aback by her sudden outburst, Cobalt was far to distracted to see the Fallen leap from the shadows in the corner of the room. She tackled the Incubus to the ground and kept him pinned there, pressing his shoulders into the floor as she straddled his waist. She had stripped down to almost nothing, save for a filthy white coat, stained with dust, dirt and dried blood.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Can't you see it, my love?! How happy we'd be?!" Elya cried, whipping Immoderata from the depths of the dirty garment.
She stabbed the blade through the linoleum next to Cobalt's head, a mere inch from his ear.
"To bring such a perfect child into this world is our duty! All of my stalwart belief and deadly efficacy fused with your sheer, unbridled perfection!"
"Elya, get off me! You're talking nonsense!"
"It's you that is speaking nonsense, my love! You bathed yourself in the blood of our aggressor, only to shy away from your loving wife's touch! I must comfort you in order to bring you back to your senses, and should conception occur in the heat of the moment...!"
"Stop this!"
Shifting his weight, Cobalt managed to free one of his arms in order to grab the Fallen's wrist, holding her hand aloft before she could use it to disgrace the Incubus further. Her grin grew wide and maddened as one of her eyes twitched.
"I do not wish to harm you, my love, but you actions have concerned me of late. If I must sever a tendon or two in order to make you feel my overwhelming adoration for you, then I will not hesitate," she hissed in a quiet, dangerous tone.
Terrified as he was by her unhinged rambling, Cobalt swallowed hard and kept his grip. It wouldn't do for him to show weakness. He had to treat Elya more firmly.
She wasn't always like this. The Incubus couldn't remember much of the past, but he knew for a fact that the Fallen was once a bookish and shy girl, terrified of everyone and everything. But at some point - in their third year at school, he figured - something within her changed. She grew possessive and obsessive, constantly fawning over the Incubus during daylight hours, and stalking him closely when night fell. It got too much and he tried to cut ties, but since returning to B.I.D. to become a teacher, Elya slipped into the role of school nurse and continued to harry his every move.
If he couldn't dissuade her from her erratic behaviour, then Cobalt instead tried to direct her to less harmful activities. Indeed, he had some success in this endeavour, having partially convinced Elya to spare the lives of his students and even keep a protective watch over them to some degree.
But it appeared that she had degraded over the summer somewhat. In fact, he had noticed her acting strangely even around the Summer Festival...
"Elya, please, put the knife away and let's talk like civilised adults," Cobalt breathed, doing his best to keep his composure.
"We are more than adults; we are lovers, and yet you deny me your intoxicating touch. Why?!"
"We are not-! Agh, I understand you're upset that I didn't keep in contact over the summer, but please; be rational!"
"I have no use for rationality! I have no use for anything but you, my love! You are mine! You promised me!"
A few cold drops of liquid splashed against Cobalt's face. Confused, he looked into Elya's turbulent eyes to see that despite her twisted grin, she was crying.
"You promised... you promised...!" she repeated, sounding distant as her eyes glazed.
The tension in the Fallen's body ebbed away, allowing him to easy push her away. She barely reacted, just flopping over onto her side as she stared into the middle distance.
"E- Elya?" Cobalt asked, kneeling down next to her.
"You... promised... right...?"
She looked up at him with deep green eyes, like pools of liquid emerald.
"I... I'm not sure what you're talking about."
The Fallen shut her eyes and shook her head.
"You did... You promised me, and it used that to..."
Unsure of what else to do, Cobalt attempted to place a reassuring hand on the troubled nurse's shoulder. But she flinched away, shuffling back onto her feet as she abashedly wrapped her coat around her.
"Go," Elya murmured, staring hard at something just past the Incubus.
He followed her gaze to Immoderata, still sticking upright upon the floor.
"Are you-?"
"Please," she added, her fearful gaze locked with the dagger.
Nodding shakily, Cobalt stepped around it and made his way towards the door. Just as he unlocked it, however, he felt Elya suddenly rush up behind him and shove him out into the hallway.
"I'm so sorry," she said, right before slamming the infirmary door shut and locking it with a definite click.
Cobalt gazed at the door for a moment, mouth agape and brow creased with concern. She had always been somewhat unstable, but this... something was wrong.
"Oi, if you're gonna wait for her to come out again then get in line," one of the lingering students grunted.
"Yeah, I was first," his bleeding friend responded.
"Nah, I was."
"But you said I could see her first if I let you punch me!"
Shaking his head, Cobalt left them to their argument as he turned to make his way back towards the staff room, stopping only to glance back at the infirmary entrance.
He hoped she was okay.
-----
Halfway through the day, and yet more first-day disasters were gradually piling atop Cobalt Trayer. While his second and third-years treated him more-or-less as poorly as they did the previous school year, the new arrivals were a different kettle of fish altogether. Victims of Brimstone's vicious rumour mill, they looked upon the Incubus like he was the stuff of legends, absolutely in awe of the fact that they were being taught by the supposedly legendary Brass Trayer's son. They constantly interrupted class to ask him all kinds of questions, many of which pertained to the incident with Diate at the close of the previous year.
At first he just tried to brush off their queries with a forced smile and pointed comment directing them back to the subject at hand, but as the new students grew more and more enthusiastic in their questioning, Cobalt found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable. He stopped answering them and just stared at the syllabus on the desk in front of him.
"What's it like decapitating someone, sir?"
He furrowed his brow and continued to list off the various topics they were going to be covering throughout the year.
"Mr. Trayer! Did you really die for a minute like the papers said?"
Cobalt gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.
"What does Devil taste like-?"
"Okay, that's enough!" the Incubus cried, abruptly snapping the book shut.
Taking a shaky breath, he set it down on the teacher's desk and rose to his feet.
"I... need to step out for a moment. Look over the syllabus while I'm gone, and please behave yourselves," he announced.
Before they could ask anything else of him, the Incubus marched out of the classroom and shut the door behind him. He kept his focus on the floor and began to walk, doing everything he could to clear his head.
Attending the teacher training course and buying supplies wasn't the only thing he spent his summer doing. He had tried going to a few therapy sessions over the course of those few weeks on Earth, but none of them eased his mind in the slightest. It didn't help that he couldn't be specific about what was troubling him, and in the end, Cobalt only wound up feeling worse for his efforts.
Why did his mind insist on replaying every moment of that encounter with Diate with such vivid detail, when he could barely recall almost all of his own tertiary education? How was that fair?
Cobalt wanted nothing more than to get back into the thick of things as a stronger, more respectable role model for his students, but if he didn't get his head on straight soon...
"... Get it together, Trayer..." Cobalt breathed, stopping in the middle of the corridor.
Lost in his head, he had wound up walking to the opposite end of the building, and he found himself standing just outside the student toilets. Right as he turned around and made to head back the way he came, however, something suddenly exploded.
The Incubus staggered back as an almighty bang erupted from the girls' bathrooms, followed by screaming, shattering porcelain and the sound of gushing water. A pair of Succubi students dashed out of the bathroom as a floor of water followed them. Flecks of porcelain clung to their hair, and Cobalt could smell smoke.
"Mr. Trayer!" one of the girls cried, noticing the bewildered Incubus standing there.
"What happened? Are you alright?" he asked, looking from one to the other.
The second girl pointed at the door.
"Th- The toilet just exploded!"
His eyes widened for a moment before his brow gradually furrowed, realisation settling over him like a wet blanket.
"Oh it did, did it?"
He took a deep breath. This was unfortunately a modus operandi that he was familiar with.
"Go inform someone about the damage. I believe I may know the culprit," he sighed, reaching down to cuff the bottoms of his trousers.
Nodding shakily, the pair darted off in the direction of the staff room, leaving Cobalt alone with the growing flood of water pouring from the girls' toilets. Taking care not to soak his socks, he waded into the bathroom and took stock of the damage.
One of the stalls was lying open, and the water was spraying from the damaged toilet. Like the girls had said, it appeared to have spontaneously detonated, scattering shards of porcelain and broken piping all over the bathroom floor. Some of the shrapnel had cracked the mirrors on the far wall.
"For the love of all that burns..." the Incubus swore, approaching the scene of the crime.
From what he had overhead during his break, while the damage from the Sulfur Blood attack was being repair, Mistress Viola had spared no expense in renovating some of the school's fundamental necessities, the bathrooms being one of them. Not only had one of the newly-installed fixtures been completely destroyed, but as he surveyed the ruined stall, he saw that the walls had already been defiled with graffiti.
Tanya is still fucking Whitaker every weekend LOL - Fuckin WHORE - lmao you know it
Everyone hears me but no-one listens :( - Shit quieter then
Mr. Trayer's got a ten-inch-
"I've got a ten-inch what?!" the Incubus cried aloud.
He was suddenly alerted to the sound of echoing laughter coming from up above. Baring his teeth, Cobalt stepped out of the stall and gazed up at the ceiling, where a vent grate lay slightly ajar. That laughter was all too familiar; uproarious with the faintest hint of a British accent.
"Quinn! Get down here right now!" Cobalt called up into the ventilation shaft.
The laughter went quiet, only to be replaced by the sound of someone shuffling about within the vent. A moment later, the grate was kicked upon and someone dropped down right on top of him, knocking the Incubus to the ground with a resounding splash.
"Oi oi, blood brother! Nice to finally get talking to you!" chuckled the demon squatting upon his chest in a cheeky cockney tone.
The individual in question was incredibly short; a couple of inches under the five foot mark, if Cobalt had to guess. Their skin was red in hue, and their face was spattered with freckles. Green, catlike eyes glinted mischievously at the Incubus, and short auburn hair poked out from beneath the beaten flatcap they wore upon their head. Most impressive of all, however, was the long yellow horns that began somewhere above their ears, before curling atop their head and jabbing straight upwards through two holes torn in their hat. They were almost a foot in length.
An Imp, a demon of Greed. And like many of their kind, completely androgynous.
Cobalt would have had trouble determining her gender, had he not been acquainted with this one.
"Quinn Redtile. Could you please get off me?" he wheezed, wincing beneath the Imp's weight.
"I mean, if you say so. Heard there was a market for blokes getting stepped on."
"I... thought you weren't into men?"
"I'm not. But if it's profitable, I could see myself crushing someone's nads."
"What are you talking about? Just get off me!"
Rolling her eyes, Quinn smoothly dismounted her teacher, allowing him to stumble back to his feet, grimacing as he looked down at his sopping clothes.
"It's the first day of school. I really don't need you causing trouble like this," he sighed, gesturing to the destroyed toilet.
The Imp held a hand to her chest and gave an overexaggerated gasp of mock indignancy.
"Wait, you think this is my fault?! Just because I happened to be nearby?!"
"Quinn you've blown up thirty public restrooms in the past year alone."
"... Well-"
"The police are still trying to track you down."
"Really? Pretty sure I straight up told Arnn it was me a couple of times. Doesn't his dad own the coppers?"
Recognising the familiar signs of getting talked into a circle by his wily student, Cobalt massaged his temples and gestured once more to the obliterated toilet.
"Just... why did you do it?" he sighed, already feeling his last few shreds of patience ebb away.
Shrugging her shoulders, Quinn dipped a hand into her blazer pocket and pulled out a small mouse. It was a tiny little brown thing, and it looked completely unperturbed, sitting in the palm of the Imp's hand.
"So them two birds that ran out, yeah? They were gonna squish this little fella. I wasn't just gonna stand by and watch; that's like being an accessory to murder, innit?" she explained, gently stroking the rodent's head.
It shut its eyes and made a delighted chittering noise, prompting Cobalt to sigh once more.
Of course. Imps could speak to animals, and Quinn Redtile seemed to be on good terms with every mouse, crow, raccoon and possum in the whole city state.
But even so, he couldn't fault her for wanting to save an animal's life, even if her methods left a lot to be desired. Shaking his head, he just waved her away.
"Alright, just... go. Someone will be by shortly to inspect the mess you've made, so you'd best be on your way," Cobalt told her, planting his hands on his hips.
She gave him a big, shiny grin.
"Heh, I knew you'd see things my way, blood brother!" she laughed, holding up her hand.
There, on the palm of her right hand, was a long, jagged scar. Swallowing hard, Cobalt glanced down at his own hand to see an almost identical wound.
It was almost a year since he had agreed to disguise himself as a woman in order to pass himself off as Quinn's girlfriend, all for the sake of keeping her parents happy. In retrospect, it was a terrible plan that went so poorly that Cobalt wound up getting paralysed for his troubles, but even so, he had earned the Imp's trust. She cut their palms and formed a blood bond; the highest accolade she could bestow upon a friend.
"I'm not condoning this, Quinn. Just... enabling it," he said after a moment's thought, frowning at his own words.
"Alright alright, I'll see myself out. Just lemme-" she began, turning on her heel only to freeze upon noticing a lengthy shadow in the doorway.
Glancing down, they both saw the warped reflection of a Fallen standing just outside the bathroom, prompting them to glance at each other. Quinn directed her gaze upwards at the open vent before placing her hands together in a pleading gesture. With a deep and meaningful sigh, Cobalt just gave her a defeated nod, cupped his hands together and hunkered down. Giving the Imp a boost, she managed to scuttle back into the airway right as someone stomped their way into the flooded restroom.
Cobalt heard the sound of someone clucking their tongue.
"Trayer. I should have known," spoke a shrill, snobby voice.
He already knew who it was before he turned around. Out of all the staff to fetch, did they have to get her...?
Martha Cain; every bit as warm and inviting as the frigid water currently spewing out of the destroyed pipes. She was a particularly angular Fallen with a sharp nose and a sharper tongue; a veteran of the teaching trade that believed herself to be better than everyone around her.
And Cobalt's old core teacher besides.
Taking in the chaos of the destroyed bathroom, she fixed Cobalt with a disapproving glare.
"First you cause a ruckus at the opening ceremony, and now this. You never cease to find new ways to disgrace yourself," she hissed, narrowing her eyes at the Incubus' sopping clothes.
He bared his teeth, but swallowed back his vitriol.
"Save it, Martha. Now that you're here, you can take over," he responded curtly, fixing to push past the Fallen.
She stuck her hand out, halting him in his tracks.
"And where do you think you're going? You don't just get to make a mess and walk away scot-free. This isn't some kindergarten playgroup, though perhaps you'd feel more at home in one," Martha chided.
"Wha- you're blaming me for this?!"
"Who else has the capacity for this level of ineptitude? On the first day, no less?"
"It's an old building, Martha! There was probably pressure building in the pipes or something!"
"Nonsense! The entire sewerage system was renovated!"
"Oh so obviously it's my fault then?! The toilet had already exploded before I got here!"
Feeling himself growing angry, Cobalt took a deep breath and calmed himself, growing uncomfortably hot in the pit of his stomach.
"If you don't mind, Miss Cain, I have a class to return to," he said in a low tone, pushing past the Fallen.
"Tch. I'm sure their grades won't suffer for your absence. In fact, they may improve."
He stopped and glared over his shoulder.
"Tell me, Martha; when was the last time you saw one of your students smile?"
Her acid-green eyes widened a little.
"And just what the Hell do you mean by that, Trayer?!" she shrieked.
"Nothing. Good luck with the plumbing, Miss Cain!" Cobalt called, swiftly exiting the bathroom.
"Trayer, you get back here right now!"
Despite his squishing shoes and dripping clothes, he accelerated into a brisk jog as he made his way down the hall.
"TRAYER!"