Since he'd gotten here, Arkemoz had had a tendency to gawk at everything around him. He'd seen what normal life on Earth generally seemed to look like, but he hadn't really experienced it. And riding in a car was definitely the strangest thing he'd done so far.

It was so slow, yet so fast at the same time. In Hell, they used portals to get around over longer distances, partly because of how Hell dimensions tended to warp in on themselves, which made them harder to navigate. Demons still had technology, but they mostly used that to get around the mortal realms and the universe. There was no need to travel the Hell dimensions beyond visiting demon cities, so they simply didn't have vehicles.

Arkemoz found himself staring at what he had been told was called the glove compartment again in an effort to understand it. He'd looked inside of it already and there were no gloves, but when he'd asked, James just laughed at him for it. It certainly didn't make Arkemoz want to ask about anything else that might be seen as completely obvious. And it was also very confusing because otherwise, James seemed generally nice to him, outside of finding Arkemoz's lack of knowledge funny.

"So what's the deal with demons, anyway?" James asked, making Arkemoz look at him. What was that supposed to mean? "How come there's so few of you guys, here? I thought your thing was, like, tempting humans, and stuff."

This whole time, James had been looking at Arkemoz instead of at the road, but he quickly averted his eyes as he'd said the last part. But Arkemoz was too confused by the question itself to even question this.

"Where did you hear that?"

James shrugged, putting both of his hands on the steering wheel. "That's about all anyone knows about demons."

Arkemoz looked out the window, not sure how he felt about this. Well, no, he felt offended, that he knew, but he wasn't sure if he should be. By James' own admission, there weren't many demons on Earth. It would make sense that there would be a lot of misinformation. But James had also said that one of his superiors was Azralis. Had she never told her subordinates about these things?

"So, you don't do any tempting?"

James wagged his eyebrow at him, pairing it with a smirk, which made Arkemoz blush again. What did this reaction mean? Obviously, he couldn't ask James, but he needed to know.

"No. Most demons don't care about humans. Or the Earth."

"Huh."

James kept his eyes on the road, and so did Arkemoz, not sure what else to do as he toyed with the flared-out end of his tail. He'd always had a tendency to play with things with his hands, especially when uncomfortable, but in this form, it was much worse.

"Well, why'd you come here, then?"

Arkemoz looked at the vampire in surprise. He hadn't expected that question. But he supposed there was no need to be secretive about it. He just hoped he wouldn't get mocked for it. "I...don't share my fellow demons' values."

James grinned at him. It made Arkemoz feel weird inside. Almost warm. "See, if you didn't just say that thing about how demons don't corrupt humans, I'd think that means you don't like doing that. But, uh, I have no idea what demons see as good values."

Right, of course, Arkemoz had been far too vague. Sort of on purpose, since he felt more than a little ashamed of it, but since James had no frame of reference, maybe he had no reason to feel ashamed. Arkemoz still kept his eyes firmly trained on the tip of his tail.

"Well, let's just say that demons are very focused on war. And I don't want to be." Arkemoz heaved a sign. "And I'm also not very strong or...desirable, which doesn't help."

James was giving a very unconvinced look. Arkemoz scowled at him, expecting him to try to undermine his views, as most of his clan had tried to do any time he'd talked about how pointless continuing their war with the angels was, but he was shocked into silence once James spoke. "Not desirable? Are the other demons blind or something?"

Arkemoz frowned. Surely, he didn't mean that literally, but then what could it mean? "No? We all have six eyes. We can see much better than humans."

James stared at him for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought, as if he was trying to imagine it. "Oh, so you don't actually look like this."

The demon looked down at his hands. His eyes found the manacles encircling his wrists, and he glared at them. "We automatically change based on our surroundings. For the most part. Some of us are better at it than others."

"That is really cool," James commented, looking impressed. Arkemoz was more impressed that they hadn't crashed yet, given how little attention James was paying to the road. "But anyway, my point is that if some demon douchebag told you you're not, uh, desirable, well, then they're stupid."

Arkemoz mulled that over for a bit. Was James trying to say that he specifically found him attractive, or that on Earth the demon's obvious inadequacy when it came to horn size, strength, and height weren't as important as other things?

He wanted to thank him for the compliment either way, even though James couldn't understand these things, but he found himself staring out the window with his cheeks heating up, unable to say a word. He really hoped there was some reason for this, and that his body wasn't just malfunctioning because already this was majorly inconvenient.

"I wouldn't have strong offspring," Arkemoz forced out after finally regaining the ability to speak properly again. "That's the problem."

James blinked at him, his eyebrows flying up as he coughed as if something had gotten stuck in his throat. "Is that all you guys worry about?"

"Is there more to it than that?" Arkemoz hated how often confusion was his primary emotion. Before coming here, it had been anger and shame, and he wasn't sure if he preferred this or not.

James just nodded in an exaggerated manner, making the demon feel stupid for asking yet again. If there was some kind of handbook for understanding human societal nuances—or vampiric, in this case, if there was any difference—he needed to get it.

There was something like that for demons, which he'd been assigned to read as soon as he learned that skill, and it had been very informative, if a little disheartening. He had a feeling demon society was much simpler than the human one, so surely they had some kind of guide for it.

"I know this has gotta be all really overwhelming," James said, patting Arkemoz's shoulder and giving him a soft smile. The demon had not been expecting this at all, and so he froze, looking at the vampire with wide eyes. "But don't worry. You'll get it, Arkie."

There it was again. A nickname, James had called it. It sounded rather demeaning to have his name shortened like this, but Arkemoz also couldn't help but feel some kind of positive emotion when James said it. So, like almost everything else, it was confusing.

James cleared his throat, now avoiding Arkemoz's gaze. "I'm, uh, you know, I'm here for you if you need me. I mean, if you decide to stick around."

That sounded...kind of pleasant. Was this what Arkemoz had been hoping would happen when he'd come here? He had wanted to meet with someone who would help him become a part of this society as much as possible, but he'd just been expecting that it would be another demon because he hadn't thought anyone else could possibly understand. So he hadn't even considered James filling that role before.

"Thank you."

James smiled again. And to Arkemoz's shock, he felt the corner of his mouth twitch. How odd.

"I kinda get what you're going through, you know. The world changed a lot over the last few decades, and I've had a bit of a hard time making sense of it."

Arkemoz had no idea how that must have felt. With everyone in Hell being immortal, nothing really tended to change. But to be an immortal, living among mortals, that must have been an extremely disorienting experience. And Arkemoz was only now realizing that if he stayed on Earth, it would be his reality as well.

The car came to a halt as they reached an unassuming house on a hill at the edge of a forest, partially hidden by trees and a bit away from the road. Arkemoz wasn't sure what he'd been expecting from this warlock, but he'd assumed something less conventional, he supposed. Perhaps a cavern, or a portal to another dimension, not a two-story, wooden house with an antenna sticking out of the roof.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Arkemoz had yet to find out what those were for, but every house seemed to have them.

"I hope this guy knows his stuff," James said as he climbed out of the car. Arkemoz made a move to follow, only to stop for a moment as he had to figure out which part of the door he was supposed to pull at to get it open. Why wasn't there a knob like on all the other doors he'd seen?

The sun was still out, but James had parked in the shade cast by the trees, and most of the way to the house seemed to also offer that. Apparently, that was enough for a vampire to be outside. James had also said something about the car having special windows to protect him from the sun's rays, but he hadn't explained it further. Arkemoz wondered if that was some kind of enchantment.

They made their way towards the house, and Arkemoz couldn't help but start getting a little nervous. What would this warlock want in exchange for getting rid of the cuffs? The demon had nothing to give, which certainly didn't help matters.

The door opened even before they reached it, revealing an overly happy-looking man with glasses and face tattoos that looked like thin lines running over his cheeks, stopping about halfway. Arkemoz frowned when he saw them from more up close, realizing that it was a text of some kind. And more surprisingly, it looked demonic.

"Hi! Come on in," he said, adjusting his glasses and waving them inside. Arkemoz gave James an unsure look, but the vampire just shrugged and walked in, so the demon followed without a word.

They followed the man through a kitchen and living room until finally, they reached a door with more demonic script carved into it. This time it was large enough for Arkemoz to easily read it, though. It seemed to be a protection spell, one meant to hide something. And Arkemoz quickly found out why it was there when the warlock opened it, revealing a dark room full of bookshelves with old books, crystals, vials of things Arkemoz couldn't identify, ingredients of all kinds, and more.

"Now, let's take a look at that enchantment," the warlock said, stopping by the table in the middle of the room. Arkemoz walked up to it, hesitantly raising his hands to show the man the cuffs while the warlock clipped some kind of circular contraption with a lens onto his glasses. Did that make him see better?

The demon let the man study the cuffs, peering down at them from very up close.

"I gotta ask," James said from behind Arkemoz. "What's with the tattoos?"

"Protection spell. Turns out learning demonic magics makes you quite a few enemies," the warlock said in a lighthearted tone, as if this was anything to joke about. But the man spoke again before Arkemoz had the chance to ask how he could possibly have a deep understanding of demonic magic when demons tended not to like having their secrets revealed.

"This looks angelic in origin. Fascinating."

"What?" both the demon and James said at once, though the vampire seemed much more skeptical than shocked.

"Angels aren't real."

Arkemoz scoffed. He wished that were true. A lot of problems for his people would have been solved if angels didn't exist. But then again, he was sure they'd find other reasons and species to fight.

"They are very real, though very different from their many interpretations," said the warlock, taking the thing off his glasses and drawing himself to his full height. "They just haven't been on Earth for centuries. And I hear that vampires captured you using these?"

Arkemoz nodded, not sure what to think of all of this. He didn't know that much about magic other than his own kind's, so it hadn't really occurred to him to question how these vampires had managed this. He'd just assumed that there was magic on this planet that could bind a demon.

He certainly hadn't thought of angels having a hand in it.

"Can you get them off?" Arkemoz asked, now feeling even more uncomfortable wearing these. He didn't want anything angelic near him, and especially not on him.

"Yes, I think so." The warlock went back to studying the cuffs. "I'm just a bit disturbed by the idea of vampires having access to this kind of magic."

James walked up to the table and leaned onto it, looking from Arkemoz to the warlock, his eyes wide and shocked, maybe even distressed. "I'm sorry, can we go back to that bit about angels being real?"

The warlock nodded as he went over to one of the bookshelves and started paging through the heavy tomes. "Yes, angels. Celestial beings of immense power, capable of shifting between physical and nonphysical forms. I've met three and they were all equally unpleasant."

Arkemoz sighed. He'd never actually met an angel, seeing as he'd never been on a battlefield, but he still agreed with that last sentiment if half of what he'd heard and read about them was true.

"Though, I did trap them to study them, so that might have played a part in their mood," the warlock said, chuckling as he came back with a book and a bowl containing ingredients.

"Who the hell are you?" asked James, looking like he was in awe of the man but also completely lost at this point. Arkemoz felt the urge to do something to comfort him, but he had no idea what, so he settled on a concerned look. He had really thought that James would know about the angels' existence, especially since one of his superiors was a demon.

Maybe Azralis didn't want to talk about angels, though. If Arkemoz were her, he definitely wouldn't, especially since there weren't supposed to be any angels on this planet. He hadn't known her that well in Hell, but she had never been that interested in the war either.

"Qironin. Don't remember my original name anymore," the man said pleasantly, shaking James' hand. Arkemoz blinked. That sounded very much like a demonic word, but if it was, it was in a dialect he wasn't familiar with. This man was definitely the oddest one Arkemoz had met so far. "And you are James Adley, correct? Born at the end of the eighteenth century?"

James huffed, looking incredibly annoyed, and for some reason that made Arkemoz feel something strange. Like he wanted to laugh. Yeah, that was it, definitely. He'd never felt that before, given that demons in their natural forms didn't laugh at all, and his brief stay on Earth had been anything but humorous. But he didn't give in to the urge since he wasn't sure why he wanted to laugh in the first place.

"Hey, don't blame me for being interested. Most vampires don't live this long," Qironin said, grinning before turning his attention back to the book he'd brought. "I assume Aegis already tried the basic cancelation spells, so I'll try a few of the more complicated ones. But it might still take a while, so bear with me."

Arkemoz nodded, and let the man pull his hands within the white circle on the table. Even though there was nothing he could see, an uncomfortable feeling pricked through his whole body as his fingers crossed the line. He kept his hands there, though, eager to get free of the cuffs.

Qironin began mixing some of the ingredients, setting them on fire with a single word and continuing to mutter in a language Arkemoz didn't know. The fire in the bowl quickly turned red, and to Arkemoz's shock, the warlock put his hands into it, taking it out as if it were a solid object. Qironin proceeded to separate the flame into both of his hands and reached for the cuffs, touching each with a finger.

Arkemoz flinched, preparing himself for being burned, but if anything, the flame was cold. He watched as the cuffs glowed and vibrated, but eventually Qironin's fire went out and the cuffs went back to their very faint blue glow.

The demon sighed, glaring at the cuffs while Qironin shook his head. "Okay, moving on to attempt number two."

The warlock continued, trying several more spells, each in what seemed to be a different language. Arkemoz had been under the impression that it didn't actually matter which language one used to cast spells, but he clearly knew much less than Qironin, so he didn't say anything. He just focused on trying not to let his growing pessimism show.

What if he couldn't get these cuffs off? He didn't want to be stuck this weak and useless, and the fact that this magic was apparently angelic just made it worse.

Was it possible that there were angels on Earth? He almost dared not think it, but he couldn't help it. The implications were terrifying. From what he knew about angels, he couldn't think of why such an emotionless, war-focused species would stay here. All the angels seemed to want was to eradicate demons from existence.

Could that be why those vampires had taken him? But no, that made no sense. If they'd wanted to kill him, surely they wouldn't have bothered capturing him. Those vampires had kept him alive because of his blood, yes, but from what they'd said, that wasn't the end goal.

Arkemoz let out a small sigh as he fought not to get too anxious. There was no reason for angels to be here. Their primary mission was to wage war on demons, which was raging on some other planet, likely in a whole other galaxy.

Qironin was looking at him with sympathy, as if he could tell what Arkemoz was thinking about. He didn't say anything, though, and prepared yet another spell. The flame was neon blue this time, an incredibly odd color even for Arkemoz, who was used to a plethora of them from Hell.

However, this time when the warlock put the flame on the cuffs, they shook much more violently, turning horribly cold. They were so cold it almost burned, but just as Arkemoz was about to tell Qironin to stop, the cuffs popped open.

Arkemoz snatched his hands away, rubbing his bruised wrists as he felt his strength returning to him. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. That felt much better.

"Oh, good, I only had two other spells left to try." Qironin looked very pleased with himself.

"Thank you," the demon said earnestly, that being about the only thing he could do to show his gratitude.

James had mostly been watching from the background this whole time, but now he'd come up to him and was checking Arkemoz's wrists while muttering something about 'bastard vampires'.

Arkemoz didn't appreciate being doted over like this. The bruises would heal soon. But some part of him must have enjoyed it because he found himself willingly offering his other wrist for James to inspect.

"Yes, no problem at all," Qironin said in a very distracted way, rubbing his chin and looking thoughtful. "I'm now very concerned about these vampires having access to angelic magic, though. I did hear about those demon disappearances, but this is potentially even more worrying."

James finally stopped checking over Arkemoz and focused on the warlock again. "Yeah, it's a mess, that's for sure."

"Would you mind if I join you? I generally try not to draw attention to myself, but I feel like I should get involved this time."

As James and Qironin continued talking, Arkemoz got lost in his own thoughts. He was now free to go and wander the world again with no goal in mind, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. Someone was using angelic magic to capture demons and use them for something. If these had been demons fighting in the war, Arkemoz wouldn't have been as bothered, but these ones were different. They'd come to Earth, and they stayed here. Which meant that they hadn't wanted to take part in the war, or they'd deserted, which Arkemoz couldn't help but relate to.

But if he wanted to know who was capturing demons and why, and hopefully put a stop to it, he would have to work with Aegis. Though maybe that wasn't such a bad decision. He didn't want to be alone again, and he liked being around James, even though it was for reasons he didn't fully understand. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, being out there alone might end with him getting captured again, and he wasn't sure if he'd live that down, assuming he'd survive.

Summed up like this, Arkemoz realized that there was only one correct thing to do—help Aegis try to find out what was going on and why.