“Hey. Hey. What’re you doin’? Why’re your eyes all closed?” Indeed, when Epos woke up, she did it not to the ringing of an alarm, but to the peal of a certain devil’s voice. And right as she’d forgotten she made a contract, too. Her dream had been all sweet, she’d been a barista, and every day this customer would come, not for the coffee but for-, “hey, I know you’re awake. I can smell it! Y’see, us demons are always real good at some sense, and I’ve got a real good sniffer!”

-He could smell that she was awake?... “Mrmm, please, Judas, I-,” she groaned, turning over. Something that had been on her chest before (the approximate size of a small kitten) tumbled heel-over-keel, falling onto the bed.

“Whoa!” Judas cried out in surprise. “Gee, that was scary!”

She peeked an eye open. No surprise, Judas was certainly on her bed. Wait, was he doing a headstand? No, that wasn’t it, it was more like he was trying to dislodge his head from the bed. -Hold on. Doesn’t Judas have horns? “H-, hey! Get your horns out of my bed!” Epos warned, snatching up the little devil from where he’d been. The little thing’s head tumbled about as its eyes turned to spirals. There were a pair of holes in her mattress. “Oh, gosh,” she groaned. Well, now she was awake, at least.

Judas squirmed in her hand. “R-, release me, human!” His wings flapped erratically and uselessly. Wow. She could really just hold him in place, couldn’t she? “This is shameful, come on!” -But it was cruel. The second she released her grip he flew out of her hand, sighing deeply. “Sheesh, for such a weakling, yer pretty strong!”

Suppose she was. “You’re pretty loud for being so small.”

“Hey, I told you not to call me small! Are ya deaf?!” Judas squealed. Maybe all demons were tiny in Hell, so he wasn’t used to being the small one? Well, that didn’t matter much.

A glance at the clock informed her that she was awake a quarter before she actually had to be. Which… wasn’t an entirely terrible thing? She would probably have liked having a few more minutes of sleep, but the chances of Judas letting her have them were slim at best. So, instead, she got out of bed, quickly re-made her bed, and got dressed. At first, she felt that maybe Judas shouldn’t be in the same room while she did it, but… She honestly didn’t even know if he was a male at all, or if demons had that. The only clothing he had was this necktie (lacking the neck part suggesting that it was somehow a clip-on), fastened to his bare chest by a tie-clip.

“...What are you?” she asked absently, tying her scarf in front of the mirror while he readjusted his little tie.

“-Huh? I’m a demo-, devil! Haven’t I told you?”

She shook her head. “N-, no, I meant-, what gender are you?”

He tilted his head. “What’s a gender?”

At this point, not even this could put a dent in her. “According to the Lord above, man was birthed with two forms, the daughter of Eve or the son of Adam.” Judas sank down to sit on the cupboard while she rummaged for the books she’d need for the day. “The sons of Adam are strong and must protect the daughters of Eve, who tend to their wounds when the battle is over.” There was no other way she could explain it. “They love each other, as the Lord envisioned.”

Judas closed his eyes thoughtfully. “-So, sons are strong…” Epos nodded slowly. “-Then, that’s what I am! Damn straight I fight battles, checheche!” Made sense to her. “I’ll bet you’re a daughter, then. Hehe.”

Well… he wasn’t wrong. All this talk of sons and daughters reminded her that her little brother should have his graduation soon. A shiver ran down her spine. “Guess so,” she said.

For some reason, Judas started blabbering about his various battles, which Epos thoroughly ignored. Instead, she put her attention on brushing her teeth. It was important to have clean teeth. While Judas talked about the first time he defeated a devil (“it was so underwhelming! All my life I thought they were these super dangerous things, then I just crushed him like a bug!”) and why he ate a rock to begin with (“I was really hungry. Like, really hungry.”), she thought about what the day would hold.

Between 8 and 10, she had a rather short lecture. Then, a short lunch break, followed by a long lecture that would last for at least four hours. At 16, she’d go to work, and then, depending on what orders she got, she might have to-,

“Hey, are ya listening?”

Epos whipped her head around, toothbrush dangling from her mouth. “-Hmuhp?”

He grinned. “As I was saying, I used ta be a real beast! Until that bastard Devil tricked me…” She stared at him, watching as his face twisted into a scowl. “Listen. Never ever trust a devil. Those bastards’ll trick ya and fool ya and tell you they’re doin’ a good thing while they stab ya in the back.” For some reason, going by the way he said it, it almost seemed as if he didn’t consider himself to be a devil at all.

“-Well, okay. Are you sure you don’t want me to trust you?”

He stared at her blankly. “Huh? Wait… N-, no! You can trust me, I’m no backstabber, I swear! Well, unless you consider that a backstabbing… But they deserved it, so it’s okay. B-, but I wouldn’t betray ya! Some Earth-human can’t possibly warrant a betrayal anyway. I think.”

He thought. Well, good enough for her. She spat out her tooth-paste water, and exited her bathroom. Before she grabbed her backpack, she made sure to wind her scarf around her neck several times. It almost covered her entire mouth, but that was sort of the point. Furthermore, she put on her rather long jacket (it was autumn, after all), her boots, and… A pair of gloves. Most people couldn’t see Brands. Actually, the people who could naturally see Brands (and demons) were so extraordinarily rare that considering them as normal humans was almost sacrilegious. Eyes of the Prophet.

Even then, it’s not like there wasn’t any way for ordinary people to see Brands. They just needed a pair of special glasses to do so. She couldn’t risk meeting either of these people.

The gloves would stay on for the majority of the day, whether it was cold or not. They had to. Maybe if she’d been better with make-up she could hide it like that…

Either way, with her morning routine done, all she had left to do was get to the college she studied at. One might think that she wouldn’t need to study since she had a stable job (which she had studied many years for thankyouverymuch), the fact of the matter was that she did need a cover-story. Something official to pay taxes on. And, as odd as it was, she truly did enjoy studying biochemistry. It was interesting. As shameful as it was to admit, she actually enjoyed learning about this more than she did learning about all the holy crusades that had taken place or all the contents of Deuteronomy.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Man, if her mother found out…

“Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout? You’ve been awful silent since we left that big grey spire thing…” Judas noted, most likely in reference to the fact that they left her area of residence a few minutes ago.

“-Huh? No, I-,” here Epos noticed that people were looking at her oddly, “I… I can’t talk to you, people will think I’m being weird.” She whispered that last part, pulling up her scarf to hide the movements of her mouth. Judas perked an eyebrow, clearly not understanding why this would be. “W-, well, they can’t see you. To them, you’re invisible and silent. So… if I go around talking to myself, I’ll look like a looney.”

“Ohhhh!” Judas’ face lit up in realization, only to suddenly scrunch together again. “Wait, seriously? But-, but you could see me just fine!”

“That’s… I’m not exactly sure, but I think demons can purposely show themselves to humans they intend to contract.”

Judas frowned. Then, he zoomed off, not even giving Epos a pause to stop him. Not that she could’ve if she’d wanted to. No, all she could do was watch as he darted through the crowd of early-morning louchers, waving an arm in front of any passerby he could find, shouting obscenities in their face, solemnly finding that none could see or hear him. As a final measure, he gave some poor guy a light slap to the face, finding some solace in the fact that the guy stopped in his tracks, glanced around in confusion, and generally showed that he had, indeed, felt it.

“Okay, uh, it ain’t all bad.” Judas flew back to Epos and hid in her scarf. “Maybe if I bite someone…”

Epos drew her lips tight. “I wouldn’t say it was a bad thing at all.” Judas tilted his head. “W-, well, if people could see you, they’d attack you, or call the police, or, if they had the proper contacts, even call for exorcists!” Going by the way Judas only tilted his head even more, this didn’t quite register with him. “Exorcists? You know, people who can exorcise you? I’m one of them, remember? B-, but don’t tell anyone I’m an exorcist, okay?”

Judas scratched his head. “So, uhhh… if people could see me, they’d kill me?” Epos nodded. “Hah, I’d like to see them try!” With that, he flashed a competitive grin. Somehow, Epos doubted he could defeat anyone, not even a first-rung. Then again, she was a third-rung, and he’d contracted her just fine…

Unimportant. The Collage of Wyrmfell was coming into view, and she was early. Even if Judas wasn’t a very good demon, at least he made for a good alarm clock.

“Okay, um, before I even go in here, I just want you to know that I’ll only be ignoring you since I don’t want to make myself look like a foo-,” Epos, all of a sudden, was struck by how thoroughly chummy she had gotten with this little sinner. She spoke with a demon as if it was a human, or even a-, f-, friend. How had it gotten this bad? Was she this inept at her job? It was almost as if-,

-As if mother had been right all along.

“-Yeah, okay, I won’t get upset, I promise! I’ll keep nice and quiet, and you just… well, you just do whatever human stuff you do, yeah?” The little tormentor did a thumbs up and a grin, melting what little fear Epos had. Yeah, alright. Maybe Judas was a pretty alright guy.

Even if he did contract her without her will… Or without stating his own desire first…

...Hold on. That was odd. That-, that wasn’t how contracts worked!

“Ding dong, ding dong,” a bell chimed, informing her that she had ten minutes to get to her first lecture. She could save those thoughts for later, right now, she had stuff to learn about!

Judas followed her entirely fearlessly.

The College of Wyrmfell was one of those old colleges where the scholars who resided within the aged walls of it always debated whether it was a thousand or two thousand years old. Sometime, Epos knew she’d heard one of the more ancient researchers state bravely that the College of Wyrmfell predated the pyramids, which she couldn’t for the life of her believe. Though, when she let her eyes graze these worn walls and half-eroded bricks, maybe she could believe it was true.

Judas did not seem too impressed by any of it, which she found a shame, since it truly was an impressive monument. Although she was only allowed entrance on account of her family-line, for once, she did not fault it.

Her ability to continue her stay at the college, on the other hand, roused nothing but pride in her. She did well, which was something she couldn’t say for any other detail in her life.

The devil on her shoulder included. Heck, he almost seemed like a direct result of all her faults!

Ah, while she’d been thinking, it seemed she had already reached the day’s first lecture hall. It was a simple kind, with a podium, stage and blackboard for the professor to teach from. A dozen rows of matted chairs reached up the side of the hall, and Epos felt no fear in striding up the stairs, heading for the final row at the very top. Maybe it might seem a bit cowardly, sitting at the very edge, but she preferred it by far with sitting in the front. She heard and saw better down there, but watching other students take notes on things the professor hadn’t even said… staggering.

She preferred it in the back, with the slackers and under-performers. It was where she belonged, after all, even though she hardly fell behind the course in general.

Either way, she sat down in her seat, and watched as students slowly began filing into the room. She hardly recognized any of them, except… “Early as always! Earlybird! Early poopoo bird! Early birdbrain!” The man (couldn’t call him anything but that, he was, after all, 26) ran up the stairs on all four, threw his body in the seat next to Epos’ and tossed his luggage onto the bench, grinning like a madman all the while.

Epos looked him up and down. “Good morning, Paulie.”

“Boom! Ignored! Highly uncool of you!” He was the kind of guy that Epos wanted to say “please keep quiet” to but was constantly unable to. The professor couldn’t do anything since he never disrupted any lessons, and although one could make the argument that he bullied Epos in a certain way… “Oh well. You’re still cool in my book. But watch out! That opinion can change at any time!” -One couldn’t honestly say he was a bad guy. He just had an odd way of showing his affections.

“Energetic as always. Did you demon keep you up?” Epos asked, fishing her personal computer out of her backpack. Paulie stared at her for a moment, meticulously processing what she’d said.

“Aha! No, it did not! Nice segway though.” Pause nodded deeply. “I’m trying to keep it from escaping the chains I’ve kept it in, but it only gets stronger with each day! You haven’t got any pro-tips, have you, miss exorcist?” He grinned knowingly, and she could only smile as Judas moved about in her scarf, unseen to any prying eyes.

“No, I haven’t, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have had time to tell you now. Professor Jung just came.”

Paulie’s head snapped to face the podium, where an elderly man had taken the stage. “-Ah, shoot! You’re right!” His eyebrows furrowed together. “Which you usually aren’t! Good on you!”

Right. That was probably meant as a compliment of some sort, but Epos really couldn’t pick up on it. Her mind was focused on the task at hand. Fingers stretching out, she put her energy on taking notes of everything the prof said.

Even after an hour straight with no breaks so to speak of, her fingers were still going strong. The same couldn’t be said for either Judas, who had fallen asleep, or Paulie, who had also fallen asleep. It was a damn miracle he could have stable grades when he rarely spent a waking moment listening to any of the professors. She hadn’t expected any attention from Judas, so she didn’t feel the same ire for his situation.

The lecture soon ended, and the second she stood up, both Judas and Paulie rose from the dead.

Paulie did so by raising his head a foot off the desk, and then slamming it back into it. “Aha! I am awake!” And, well, it was certainly one way of getting awake. Judas seemed to wake up not only from Epos standing up, but also from the bang that resounded when Paulie headbutted the table. Once he woke up, he began by saying something in a panicked tone and tangling himself up in the scarf, giving Epos no choice but to release him.

“-Phew! Holy moly, what just happened?? It felt like when I was sealed or something!” he exclaimed, eyeing the scarf warily. “Did you curse this cloth, human??”

Epos gave Paulie a glance just to see if he was paying attention to her. He was not. “-No, I, um... “ an idea hit her. “Do you mean… that you fell asleep?” Judas squinted at her. “You… Have you never slept before?”

“What’s sleeping?”

Oh, right. He had said it himself. Demons don’t sleep. Then… “-I guess it’s something both humans and devils do. Don’t worry, it isn’t dangerous.”

Judas seemed hesitant to accept this as fact, but did so after some minor coaxing. With Paulie in tow, Epos headed for the cafeteria to get something to eat. Her fingers were tired, and she really needed the extra energy. Judas and Paulie both watched owl-eyed as Epos bought herself a tuna sandwich. “If you don’t give me a bite, I’ll knock your socks in.”

Epos turned to Paulie. “You could just ask normally.” Paulie accepted the delectable treat with an open heart and mouth.

“You’ll regret trusting me!” Paulie warned as he took a large bite. Meanwhile, Epos bought herself another sandwich. “Gahahaha, pathetic fool!” Calling it a bite would be an insult to the Kirby-like theatrics that Paulie acted out in order to, legally speaking, only take a single bite. He simply unhinged his jaw like a snake. It would’ve been impressive if it was anyone but Paulie.

Judas snaked his way out of her scarf. “Might I have a little taste?” She held it up to him, watching as he bit off what was pretty much an oversized crumb. It was sort of charming that he was opening up to tasting new human foods, but she sort of wished it wasn’t her food he was eating.

With lunch done, she headed for her second and last (but far from least) lecture of the day. And with that all over and done with, she should have time to study with Paulie before she went ho-,

“Brring brring.” Her phone. If she was lucky, it was a telemarketer. If not… She answered it. “-Esteemed Exorcist Epos von Ascheberg?” Damn it all.

“Yessir.”

“You’ve got a mission.”