#tribulatio

The demon slept like a rock, and that was probably for the best. It meant he slept through Trouble sliding out of bed in the middle of the night and sneaking out of the room. He slept through Trouble wandering down to the giant superstore down the street and purchasing the biggest suitcase they carried. He slept through Trouble bringing the suitcase back to the room and rolling it to the closet where the asshole fratboy still lay in a heap. He slept through Trouble stuffing the dead asshole into the suitcase - and the sound of the asshole’s back snapping in two, when he wouldn’t fit the first time. 

Trouble took the suitcase back out of the room while the demon slept, and rolled the damn thing right out of the hotel lobby and out onto the near-empty street. He rolled it all the way to the angels’ place and dumped the asshole on the floor, right next to Brent. He set the suitcase by the door and walked back to the hotel. 

No use leaving the asshole in the suitcase and letting him rot there. They might need the suitcase again. 

So when Dee stirred and opened his eyes to the faint light poking around the edges of the blackout curtains, Trouble had been back in bed and sleeping for hours. Trouble smiled and kissed Dee’s hair. 

“Mornin’, you,” he said sleepily. 

“Mmm.” Dee flopped onto Trouble’s chest and nuzzled into his neck. “Morning.” 

“You sleep okay?” Trouble’s fingers slipped under Dee’s shirt, and he gently scratched his back with blunted nails.

“Mmm. Really good.” Dee’s breath warmed Trouble’s neck. His lips crept higher, brushing Trouble’s jaw, finding the corner of his mouth. 

Trouble inhaled into the kiss, hand drifting up to cradle Dee’s face. “You… you don’t have to, Dee… I mean…”

You were assaulted last night. Almost raped. You thought I was going to sell you to the man who was going to do it. You don’t owe me anything.

“You don’t have to,” he said again, lamely.

“I want to,” Dee said, pushing himself up until he was straddling Trouble’s hips. 

Trouble groaned. “Dee…” His hands settled on Dee’s hips. “Wait…”

Dee froze. When Trouble opened his eyes, Dee was staring at him, eyes wide, pupils round with fear. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Dee whispered. He began to tremble. He slumped off of Trouble.

“Hey, no,” Trouble said. “It’s not… It’s not you, Dee. You’re not… the bad one. Okay? I just… I want to explain. So that you… know.”

“Know what?” Dee hadn’t stopped shaking. He hugged himself tightly. 

Trouble whined softly. He knew he had to tell Dee, but everything had been so nice up until now. That had to end sooner or later. May as well be sooner, so he didn’t keep deluding himself that this could be… something. 

That they could be something.

He reached out and gently took Dee’s hand. “You watched what I did to Jude… right?” he said. 

Dee’s eyes went a little wider. “When he–” He motioned, briefly, to his mouth.

Trouble flinched. Of course, that’s what Dee would remember, instead of the part where Trouble had become a monster after. He swallowed hard. “Well, I was… feeding on him. After I took you upstairs, I fed on Lucas, too. I fed on them both. It’s how I… eat.”

“You… ate them?” Dee breathed. 

“No. I eat their… energy, I guess,” Trouble said. “Their pain. Or their, um. Orgasms. I like those, too. It’s how I’ve lived… pretty much since I was a teenager. I… I just feed on people. That’s how the angels found me. I was finding more people to feed on. I’m… a fucking parasite, Dee.”

The demon flinched back, releasing Trouble’s hand. “But you… you feed on people who want to hurt you. You killed the angels. You took the man who kept trying to kiss you at the bar. You killed the man… the man who…” His voice began to tremble. His eyes flicked to the doorway, where the man who had tried to rape Dee had stood yesterday. “You killed them. I don’t think that’s bad, Trouble.” 

Blood flooded Trouble’s cheeks. He squeezed his eyes shut as he said, “I haven’t always killed… bad people, Dee. There have been good ones in there.”

The silence stretched out for an uncomfortable amount of time. Dee drew in a deep breath and said, “the body I took… she was good. She was a good person. Funny. She liked wearing dresses, and this… specific color purple. I don’t think she lived here; I think she was visiting. She liked smoothies and this one actor - she had a lot of pictures of him in her phone. 

“When I took her body… she was frightened. I kept telling her I was only borrowing it and I’d be gone in a few days. She let me take us to a park and to a… a big fountain. I put our hand in the water and it felt so good. It was summer, I remember that. I took us to a bar because I heard music inside. I liked the music. We danced, and I liked that, too. And then someone asked if he could buy us a drink.”

Trouble opened his eyes. A tear rolled down Dee’s cheek. 

“Lucas,” Dee rasped. “That was Lucas. He bought us a drink. She told me not to take it, but I drank it anyway. I liked how it tasted. She said it didn’t taste right. I finished it.” He whimpered softly. “I started to feel strange, and tried to leave. Lucas followed me out, and she started to scream at me to run. I didn’t - I couldn’t. I was too dizzy. When he reached out, and burned me…” Dee’s chest hitched. “She never stopped screaming, after that. She screamed when they cuffed us. She screamed when they put us in the trunk. She screamed when they whipped us, beat us… and then they drowned us, and she… she stopped.” 

“Dee,” Trouble whispered. “I’m so–”

“I just mean that… I’ve killed someone, too,” Dee said. He took a deep, steadying breath. “Someone good. Someone who didn’t deserve it.”

Trouble shook his head. “That’s not the same–”

“It is to me.”

Trouble moved in close and brushed the tears from Dee’s eyes. He wrapped his arms around Dee and held him tight. 

After a long moment, Dee spoke again, his voice muffled against Trouble’s chest. “Do you want to feed… on me?”

“No,” Trouble snarled in horror and disgust, his body going rigid.

Dee recoiled. Tears brimmed in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t… does that mean you don’t… want… me?”

Trouble’s stomach dropped. The demon looked so small, huddled on the bed. He swallowed hard. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do anything,” he said, finally. “But… yeah, Dee. I do want you.”

Dee nodded meekly. “Could I… Am I… allowed to kiss you?” he said. 

Trouble lurched forward and caught Dee’s mouth in a kiss. “Forget this ‘allowed’ bullshit,” he said against Dee’s lips. The demon whimpered against his mouth. “We can do whatever the fuck we want, Dee.” He kissed his way across Dee’s cheek, down his neck, his teeth nipping Dee’s collarbone. “So tell me what you want, honey, okay? Is this okay?” 

Dee inhaled sharply. “Trouble… yes, it’s… could I have… more?” 

Trouble grinned as the spicy scents of Dee’s happiness floated in the air. “Yeah, Dee,” he murmured. “We can do more.” 

Continued here

Dee fumbled with the chopsticks. He’d never used those before, either, but his broken-then-healed-wrong fingers certainly weren’t helping things. Trouble passed him a fork. Dee picked up a piece of dragon roll, eying the thin-sliced avocado, the vibrant sauce on top.

“Go ahead,” Trouble said, giving Dee a smile. “Try it.” 

Dee carefully put the piece into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. He stared at the bedspread, as if he was trying to read fine print in the fabric. 

Trouble tilted his head. “Well? What do you think?” He shoveled in his own piece of sashimi. “Mmm.”

Dee swallowed hard and smacked his lips a few times. “I… d-don’t know,” he whispered. 

Trouble pointed at a salmon roll. “That’s okay. Maybe try that one? It’s less… intense, I guess, could be–”

“No, I mean…” Dee stuck a finger into his mouth and rubbed the pad back and forth across his tongue. “I… I’m not… Is it supposed to taste like something?”

Trouble blinked. “Oh. I… yeah, it’s one of the more flavorful rolls. Maybe…?” He reached for a bit of ginger and pinched a flake of it in his chopsticks. “Open up. This is a little spicy, but it’s also sweet and a little sour. It tastes good. Give it a try.” Dee opened his mouth obediently. Trouble gently set the ginger down on his tongue. 

Dee chewed, splitting the ginger between his teeth. “I… I taste… something with that,” he said. “It tastes like… flowers?” 

Trouble swallowed down the dread he could feel welling in his throat. “Oh. Dee, have you… always… not been able to taste much?”

Dee’s brows pulled together. “No,” he said. “When I first came to earth, I could… I could taste things. I wanted to try things, that’s why I came. I tried… pizza. Alcohol, too. I didn’t like that, except for… one thing, I forget what it’s called. I tried strawberries. I tried a grilled cheese. I liked all those things. They tasted good.”

“You could taste them?” Trouble said. “You could taste them more than you can taste this?” He motioned at the petal-pink ginger. “Because this should taste like… It’s pretty strong.”

Dee stared down at the food laid out around him, chewing his lip. He swallowed, over and over again, and Trouble watched as his tongue flicked out and dabbed at a bit of rice that clung to the corner of his mouth. 

Then, Dee’s eyes went wide. “The holy water,” he breathed.

Trouble felt the dread harden and slide down into his stomach. He knew without having to ask. He asked anyway. “What do you mean?”

“The… th-the holy water,” Dee said softly. “When it… b-burned me. I can repair my flesh but… it’s always taken me longer, to regain the ability to feel after they’ve burned me with it. On my face, in my mouth… everywhere.” He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. “And they poured it in my mouth… I don’t know how long it’s been.” He raised his gaze to Trouble. His large eyes looked haunted - and dark with something close to shame. “You saw.”

Trouble lurched forward and pulled Dee into his arms. Dee wound his arms around Trouble’s waist. The warm ginger scent of Dee’s happiness mingled with the pickled ginger of the food. “Shhh, I got you, Dee. You don’t have to worry about that. I… I didn’t know. We can toss this, and wait until you’re feeling better to–”

“No,” Dee said. He pulled back enough to look into Trouble’s eyes. “I… I like it. I like how it feels, to eat. It’s… I like the warm rice. I like how the fish feels.” 

Trouble’s fingers traced Dee’s jaw. He snorted. “Really? The fish texture is what turns most people off.” 

Dee shook his head. “It’s… it’s so different.” He reached out with two fingers and carefully picked up another piece - one from the restaurant’s signature roll that Trouble had already forgotten the name of. “What are these?”

“Tiny little sprouts,” Trouble said, grinning as Dee peered at the near-microscopic leaves that dotted the eel sauce of that roll. 

“Sprouts… of plants?” Dee whispered, eyes wide with wonder. “I didn’t know plants grew this small.”

“Oh, little demon,” Trouble sighed, leaning forward to press a kiss to the top of Dee’s head. “I’m going to show you so much, honey. Finish your sushi. Tomorrow we could go to a museum if you wanted to. Hm? What do you say?”

Dee finished chewing his bite and swallowed, smiling shyly. “Could I… Could we… maybe stay in bed for a while? Just… just us?” 

The little thing was so sweet. Trouble held back the urge to tackle Dee to the bed, disrupting the containers of sushi and making a mess of them both. He settled for kissing Dee’s hand instead. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Bed sounds good. Let’s stay in bed tomorrow, just you and me.”

“Thank you,” Dee whispered, cheeks flushing pink. 

Trouble picked up another bite and shoveled it into his mouth. “Yeah, Dee,” he said through the delicious bite.

Continued here

“Hey, little demon,” he said affectionately, reaching out and nudging their chin with his knuckles. “You thirsty? Want more water?” 

They nodded, throat bobbing as they leaned into even that slight touch. They looked up at Trouble with such sincerity - with such trust. 

They already trusted him. 

“Sounds good,” he said, grabbing the cup and taking it from the room. He drank his fill from the sink before he filled the cup for the demon and returned to their room. They took the cup from him and drank deeply, their hand only shaking a little bit. Once they were finished, they set the cup down and curled up in the bed. Trouble crawled in next to them. They folded themself against his chest and immediately began to purr. 

“Hey, you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to their forehead. “You doing okay up here? You need anything? You don’t have to stay in this room while I’m feeding, you know.”

Dee swallowed hard. “Um, I… I d-don’t want to…” Their fingers tightened in Trouble’s shirt. “I like…” 

“You like the bed?”

Dee nodded and buried their face in Trouble’s neck. “It’s… nice. Soft. And it’s… it feels…” 

Trouble scented the air, trailing his fingers up and down Dee’s arm. The demon only purred louder as the warm scent of cardamom filled the space between them. Trouble wet his lips. “...safe?”

The demon whimpered softly. “Y-yeah.” 

“Hm.” Another kiss, pressed between the demon’s eyebrows. They sighed and tangled their legs together. “Before we leave, I can help you get cleaned up. Can get some fresh clothes for you, too; Jude isn’t much bigger than you. Or…” Trouble tilted his head back, enough that he could see the demon’s face. “I… maybe should have asked this before. I don’t really know how all this demon stuff works, but… this body. You said it was… a woman’s body.”

The demon’s face crumpled. They squeezed their eyes shut. “Yes. I… I stole it.” 

“Shh.” Trouble smoothed the hair that had been singed short. “My question is… are you? A woman? I mean… what do you feel like, separate from the body?” Do demons even have gender?

Dee shook their head. “I am… a creature,” they whispered. 

Trouble huffed. “Okay,” he said. “But… if I were to describe you to someone else. What would I say about you? Would I say, ‘she is a demon’? Or–”

“No,” the demon gasped. 

A tiny flood of warmth trickled through Trouble’s gut. He suppressed a smile. “Okay… is it… ‘they’?”

The demon shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “No, I am…” He lowered his voice further, so that the word was barely more than a breath. “...he.”

Trouble hugged the demon tight. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, Dee. You know that’s okay? It’s okay for you to be that?”

The demon shuddered and clutched Trouble tight. The smell of sulfur prickled his nose. Tears wet the collar of his shirt. “It… is?” Dee whispered. 

“Yeah.” Trouble squeezed him tighter. “You know I’m the same, too?”

The demon stopped shaking - he even stopped breathing. “You…? But you’re not–”

“I’m not a demon, no.” More kisses - to the top of his head, to the tip of his nose, on both cheeks. Dee began breathing again. His arms locked around Trouble’s torso. “But I’m… like you. Everyone thought I was a girl. When I couldn’t take it anymore… Well. It was bad, but I’m free now. I’m here.” 

“Did they hurt you?” Dee whispered. 

Trouble stiffened. As if he could feel the change, Dee tilted back his head and met Trouble’s eyes. 

“It’s nothing I couldn’t handle, little one,” Trouble said, gently cradling the demon’s face. 

More purring. The little thing loved being touched. Trouble didn’t think he would ever get tired of the touching, either. 

Maybe a few more feeds. A few more pulls from Jude, and Trouble would take the demon from this place forever. He was rapidly running out of patience to keep drawing this out. He just wanted this little thing to be gone from this place, and safe.

Maybe… Trouble could stay with him even after they left. Trouble couldn’t think of the last time he’d spent more than a few days with anyone; he had no memory at all of wanting to stay with someone he had no intention of feeding on. But, as his arms tightened around the demon, he couldn’t imagine leaving him. 

A few more feeds. Just a few more feeds from the angel in the basement, and Trouble would take the demon from this place forever. 

“Okay, you,” he murmured against Dee’s forehead. “I’m gonna head back downstairs. “You need anything before I go? A blanket? You need food? …do you even need to eat?”

The demon swallowed. “I don’t need to eat, no,” he said. “Though I… I like to.” 

“Alright. Well, I can go grab something for you before I head downstairs.” Trouble extricated himself from the demon’s embrace and tucked him into bed. “I’ll grab some more water for you, too. And, hey…” He bent and kissed the demon once more on the head. “Thank you for telling me who you are, little demon. I want to know you. Really.” 

Tears flooded the demon’s wide eyes. He gathered the blanket even tighter around himself as Trouble took the water glass and headed back to the kitchen. 

Trouble searched high and low, but didn’t find a scrap of food - not in the pantry, in the fridge, not in a single cabinet. Apparently the angels didn’t need to eat, and didn’t feel the need to feed their captive either. Trouble filled the glass in the sink, brought it to the demon, and headed back downstairs with yet another fucking sin added to the laundry list he simply didn’t have the time or patience to make Jude atone for. 

Continued here

After Dee’s nap, they ordered room service again - pizza this time. Trouble watched as Dee marveled at the supreme toppings, sniffed delicately at the steam coming off the long stretches of melty cheese. He took a shy little bite. His eyes went wide. 

“I can… taste it,” he mumbled around the pizza. He immediately shoveled in a much bigger bite. Trouble watched happily as he took his own slice. 

Grease smeared on Dee’s lips as he stared at Trouble. “You still… eat? Even though you…?” He swallowed down his bite. 

Trouble shrugged. “Sure. Pizza tastes good, sushi tastes good. I just can’t live on it. The only thing I can live on is…” 

The silence drew out for an uncomfortable beat. Then, Dee nodded like it was nothing and took another bite. Trouble eyed him carefully. 

“And that doesn’t… bother you? Scare you?” A bit of cheese dropped from the slice in Trouble’s hand back into the box. “That I… that I eat people?”

“No,” Dee said, continuing to eat. He was almost done with that slice. 

Trouble’s ears twitched. “Why?”

Dee met his eyes. “Because you’re… good, Trouble. Good to me. And you eat people who hurt you. Would you… w-would you try to eat them, if they didn’t try to hurt you?”

I can always make them try to hurt me, said the tiny voice in the back of Trouble’s mind. I can always make them want me. They always want to; I just need to walk in and look just a little too drunk and–

He squeezed his eyes shut and set down his pizza slice. “That’s not the point,” he said softly.

“But it is,” Dee insisted. “That’s… the whole point.” 

A soft hand found its way into Trouble’s and squeezed. Trouble squeezed back. 

“Trouble,” Dee whispered. “They told me I was wicked. A stain on the earth. A… a festering mound of sin, existing to be purified unt-til they… slid their knives into me and… returned me to–”

“Dee.” A shudder rippled over Trouble’s shoulders. “I’m so, so sorry–”

The hand released his, and nudged up his chin instead. Trouble cracked his eyes open. Dee was looking at him with tears welling in his. 

“I’m free, because of you,” Dee breathed. “I’m saved, because of you. Because you… found those… those beings, and knew they were… were evil, and… saved me. And you’ve killed so many more like them. Do you think… you’ve ever saved anyone else, like me, and didn’t know it? Do you think those men you killed were ever hurting anyone else - besides you - and now they can’t, because you killed them? Have you ever wondered that?”

Trouble was shaking. He felt Dee’s cool hand on his chin. “No,” he murmured. He didn’t know why he was shaking, why his very bones felt like they were going to vibrate out of his skin. 

Dee dropped his hand and nodded. “Well,” he said softly. “I wonder that.” 

To his shock, Trouble let out a rattling sob. Tears coursed down his cheeks. 

Dee dropped his slice of pizza into the box and curled up with his head under Trouble’s chin, purring against Trouble’s chest. Trouble wrapped his arms tightly around the little demon. 

“Fuck,” Trouble gasped. 

“Te amo, Tribulatio,” Dee whispered against Trouble’s shirt. 

Trouble just whimpered softly. He rocked Dee back and forth, cradling him, burying his face in the spicy scents of Dee’s contentment. He could barely smell the pizza anymore. After a long moment, he felt wetness beneath Dee’s face, too. 

With his non-greasy hand, he gently stroked Dee’s hair, smoothing down the ragged ends and earning even louder purring. He held Dee until the scent of the pizza had faded. Then he released Dee and encouraged him to eat some more.

~

Latin lines here:

“I love you, Trouble,” Dee whispered against Trouble’s shirt. 

Continued here

Trouble swallowed. “I’m not here to… do anything to you.” It was hard to think. “You’re a demon, right? And they’re just… fucking with you? For fun?”

The demon sobbed piteously, pressed their forehead against the floor. “I-I am… worthy of the punishment visited upon me by the Lord’s angels,” they wept. “They are… merciful, I… p-please, don’t…”

Trouble groaned as the pain in his back burned hotter. He snuck a peek at the door at the top of the stairs. 

I’ll be able to hear them coming, he reasoned, and allowed the shift. 

He let out a breath of relief as he felt his teeth and ears elongate, as fur thickened all over his body. And - mercifully - the pain in his back dulled to nothing but an ache. He rolled his shoulders and sighed. 

The demon’s breath hitched. They were staring at him, frozen in place. They didn’t even breathe. The sharp scent of shock permeated the air between them. 

Trouble felt his hackles raise, but right on the heels of that, was a twinge of something else. He tilted his head, listening. A chill shuddered over him as his suspicions were confirmed: the demon had no heartbeat. 

“Hey,” he said softly. The demon flinched. “What… is up with your heart?”

The chains clinked as the demon began to shake. Tears rolled down their cheeks and fell onto the cement floor with a soft pat pat pat. Trouble’s nose caught the smell of sulfur. 

“Th-they killed her,” the demon mouthed; their chest was too frozen to form breath. 

A chill trickled beneath Trouble’s skin. He knew the answer. He did. He asked anyway: “who?”

“The human who lived in this body,” the demon breathed. “The… the human woman. I didn’t mean to… I… I didn’t mean to…” They erupted in sobs. 

“Hey. It’s okay.” Trouble inched closer. He could feel the demon’s body heat. He just wanted a little closeness - to give it, and receive a little in return. “It’s okay.”

Trouble smelled the cut-grass scent demon’s panic - sheer, helpless panic. “N-no,” they sobbed. “No, please, don’t burn me, obsecro, noli me aduro, non…”

“I won’t burn you,” Trouble said, easing himself closer. “You saw the angels. I’m not one of them.”

The demon just sobbed, open-mouthed. In the dim overhead bulb, Trouble saw the flash of fangs descending in their panic. His ears perked. 

“Hey,” Trouble said. “Look at me.” 

The demon obeyed. Trouble tried to ignore his crawly zip of discomfort that the demon had done it instantly. He held out his cuffed wrists. “Look,” he said. “Like you. They hurt me, like you. I’m not like them. I’m not going to burn you. Can I just… can I just show you?”

The demon whimpered softly, staring at him with those fathomless eyes. “Please,” they whispered. “Please don’t hurt me.”

It was probably as good as he was going to get. He crept closer, keeping his head and gaze down. That worked well enough with scared animals, and Trouble was willing to try it with this frightened thing. 

The demon’s whimpers rose higher. Their voice broke with each breath. Trouble curled up on the ground with a grunt, allowing his shoulder to press against their arm. They flinched back like he had burned him - then slowly, haltingly, they relaxed once more, until their skin touched again. Trouble could feel them shaking. 

“See?” he murmured. “Won’t burn you.” 

The demon made a small, inquisitive noise. They pressed themself against his back, earning a hiss from Trouble. They flinched away once more. 

“No, it’s okay, that’s my fault,” he said, turning over and presenting them his chest and stomach - though those parts didn’t feel like his softer places, with his back in the state it was in. They curled up against his chest. 

Then, to his delight, they began to purr.

“It’s okay,” he whispered against the lank, short hair. The scent of burnt hair made his nose itch. “It’s okay, little demon. We won’t be here forever. It’ll be okay.”

The demon nodded. “One day they’ll put their blades in me,” they breathed. 

“...holy shit,” Trouble said into their hair. “No. I meant… just sit tight. I don’t mind waiting for a meal, but my patience isn’t endless. And when I leave, you’re coming with me.”

The demon didn’t say anything to that. They just trembled, their bent fingers twisting their way into Trouble’s shirt. The contact was nice. It would definitely make the time go by faster until the unholy fuckers returned, and he would keep working on breaking them down.

~

Translation of the Latin lines:

Trouble smelled the cut-grass scent demon’s panic - sheer, helpless panic. “N-no,” they sobbed. “No, please, don’t burn me, please, don’t burn me, no…”

Continued here

“A new day dawns, and our little snake still draws breath,” Dominic said with a grin. “Sometimes I wonder if it ever tires of polluting the air with its sin?”

The demon sobbed weakly and prostrated themself, pressing their forehead against the dusty floor of the basement. “Forgive me,” they croaked. “Please… forgive me, angels, I do not mean to offend.”

“And yet you do,” Lucas said. “Often. By your very existence. You are a blight on the face of the earth, and an affront to our Lord. And you dare to–”

“Don’t you fuckers ever shut up?” Trouble wondered aloud.

The angels all fell silent, and their gazes all fell on Trouble like a stack of bricks. 

He sighed, relieved to have drawn their ire all the same. “Fuck,” he spat, just to vent a little more annoyance. 

A muscle stood out in Jude’s jaw. “Be silent, creature,” he seethed, staring Trouble down. “It is not your turn to suffer today. The demon’s flesh demands–”

“Oh my god,” Trouble huffed. “I almost wish you would kill me. It would be better than listening to this.”

Lucas ignored him. He walked toward the demon and kicked them onto their side, smirking when they cried out. He unlocked their cuffs from the walls and dragged them into the center of the room. They sobbed, but didn’t resist. When he dropped them, they stayed where they’d been dropped. Their voice broke with each sob. It was a twisted, horrible sound. 

“It sounds… thirsty,” Lucas said, grinning at his companions.

The demon’s sobs only grew louder. “N-no, no, please, angels, mercy, m-misericordia, non, non aqua sancta, miserere mei, misericordia–” A slap rocked their head to the side. 

“What have we said about polluting our language with that filthy mouth, creature?” Jude hissed. 

The demon only shuddered. They pressed a hand to their mouth. 

Dominic went to the table along the wall and picked up a bottle of water. Trouble watched as the demon sobbed with abandon, doing their best to crawl away, until Lucas kicked them onto their back and pinned them under his boot. 

Trouble bared his teeth. “What, you’re going to drown them? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Are you seriously so fucking bored that–”

“Be quiet, demon,” Dominic commanded Trouble. 

“--you–”

Trouble’s eyes went wide. He felt no command. His mouth was still open. He had spoken - just that one word, but he had spoken it - even after the command. And he had stopped himself. The command hadn’t done it. 

He swallowed hard. I’m not a demon, dumbass. 

The demon was writhing under Lucas’s boot, their hands clasped together in supplication as Dominic held the bottle of water over their face. Tears streamed from their eyes. They didn’t beg in words anymore; it was just broken, wordless sobs. 

Dominic smiled. “‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.’” He poured the water over the demon’s face. 

Their flesh blistered immediately. Their scream split Trouble down to his marrow. Skin bubbled and peeled, exposing the fat and tissue beneath as Dominic poured more and more. They threw their hands over their face to protect it. Jude yanked their hands back down and pinned them by their hair. His touch singed the demon’s hair and scalded their wrist. 

Trouble shuddered with rage and horror. He didn’t look away - he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave the demon to suffer alone with the grinning monsters surrounding them. The scent of the demon’s fear permeated the room, but that was nearly overshadowed by the smoky smell of the angels’ sadistic pleasure. Trouble felt sick with it. He barely registered the scent of burning flesh. 

Once the bottle was empty, Dominic let it fall to the floor beside the demon. They flinched away from the noise, quivering, sobbing. They looked like a burn patient. 

When Jude released them, they curled onto their side, hands hovering in front of their burnt face. A little more of their hair was gone. Their voice sounded shredded. 

Jude turned toward Trouble. “You may speak now, if you must,” he said. 

Trouble just stared at him, horrified. He didn’t move from his spot along the wall. 

Jude dragged the demon back to Trouble and chained them once more. They seemed beyond him - beyond everyone. They lay juddering in their chains after the angel released them. Jude remained standing over Trouble, though. 

Trouble would take what had been offered him. Caring for the demon could come later. Once these motherfuckers were gone - or once they were dead.

He tipped his head back. Fuck, these types were all the same, weren’t they? He knew the steps of this dance. He could have had a lot more fun with it if there wasn’t someone else being hurt, but… there would be time for fun. For now, he was just laying groundwork. He was lucky this angel was so fucking easy.

Head tilted back, on his knees, looking up at Jude through his lashes. He knew exactly what he looked like. He knew, because he saw Jude take in that slightest little hitched breath. 

“Angel,” he whispered softly. “Are you going to burn me, too?”

Jude wet his lips. “We will find a way to hurt you, little snake,” he murmured. “In the end, we will. Even if it’s with something so… pedestrian… as the whip.” 

Trouble parted his lips. “What if I wanted something else?”

Jude’s throat bobbed. 

“Jude,” came Lucas’s unwelcome-ass voice. “It’s time for our report to Ezekiel. We can figure out its weakness later, hm?”

“You could come to me alone,” Trouble breathed, softly enough for only Jude to hear. “Break me on your own.” 

There it was. The slightest up-down of Jude’s head. Trouble felt the trap snap shut. He had to keep himself from smiling. 

Jude fell a step back. “Of course,” he said. His voice broke. “Yes. Report to Ezekiel. We can… revisit the other one… at a later date.” 

Dominic chuckled. “We have all the time in the world.” The three of them climbed the steps and left the basement. 

Trouble’s mask disappeared. He whirled to face the demon, who lay in a heap of burnt flesh and pain against the wall. Trouble didn’t even try to touch them. He just lay down between them and the door. 

“Hey, little demon,” he said softly. “It’s okay. I’m here. Can I… can I help…?”

“N-no,” the demon croaked. “I am… healing.”

The demon didn’t look any better than they had five minutes ago, but Trouble didn’t argue. He just shifted again, so that he could better hear when Jude did decide to come to him. 

~

Translation of the Latin lines:

The demon’s sobs only grew louder. “N-no, no, please, angels, mercy, m-mercy, no, not the holy water, have mercy on me, mercy–” A slap rocked their head to the side. 

Continued here

Trouble thought about turning on the TV for the demon to show him what that was like, but Dee didn’t seem interested in that at all. All he wanted to do was cuddle close to Trouble and talk. He wanted to hear all about the things he’d come to earth to explore all those years ago and never got the chance. He wanted to hear about the seasons (it was spring now, and Dee decided just from hearing them described that fall would be his favorite) and the different things humans liked to do (dancing, food, and waterparks were all yesses, desk jobs were a no.) He wanted to see a dinosaur skeleton, so the science museum was a must-visit. A movie in a theater was another must. He had seen a sunrise and a sunset, but he wanted more of those. He also wanted to go to a coffee shop and try everything they had. 

“We can do that whenever you want,” Trouble said as Dee curled up against his side. “Tomorrow. Today. We have time. You just let me know.” 

“Maybe… not all at once?” Dee said softly. 

“Of course not,” Trouble huffed, laughing. “It would take weeks to see all the stuff I want to show you. Months, maybe. But like I said, little demon, we have time. We have all the time in the world, now.”

Dee swallowed hard and pressed his cheek against Trouble’s shoulder. “There’s… well, I… it might take me… some time. To walk to them.”

“We can take the bus.” Trouble kissed Dee’s hair. “I’ll show you how.” 

Dee whined softly. “I mean… I…”

Trouble tilted Dee’s chin up and looked into his eyes. “What is it, little one?”

Dee swallowed again, eyes wide as he gazed back at Trouble. “It’s…” He glanced away, and Trouble felt him reach down for his leg. “They… My leg.”

Trouble’s brows pulled together as he sat up. Dee sat up with him, and slowly tugged the leg of his sweatpants up and over his shin. 

Trouble blinked. The demon’s shin was… was crooked, and a horrible scar twisted across the lower half of it. 

“Dee,” he breathed. 

“That was in… the first year, I think,” Dee said softly. “They broke it, and… and kept breaking it. I could mend it, but it took… all the energy I had. They beat me, burned me. Mocked me. After a while I just had to… let it heal wrong. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of it. It… hurts, now. It hurts to walk for long. I didn’t realize it until we, um, walked here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Unbearable heat prickled under Trouble’s skin. He couldn’t relieve it. Not now that the angels were dead. 

Dee’s eyes swam with tears. “Because you were taking me away from that place,” he whispered. “I didn’t mind, because you were taking me away from that place. I didn’t want to slow us down.” 

“Dee.” Trouble pulled him close. The demon buried his face in Trouble’s neck and began to purr. 

Trouble pressed his face into Dee’s hair and shivered with rage. How much time did I waste fucking around with garden-variety fuckheads while you were being tortured in these monsters’ basement? How much time did the world waste NOT HELPING YOU while you suffered? Fuck. Fuck. 

The words in his head spun out of control. His gums ached for the feed, for the taste of flesh in his mouth as energy poured in, for the sensation of fear and pleasure and pain pouring over his tongue and down his throat as he sucked those fuckers dry, bled them for their sins, broke them slowly for every single moment they made Dee–

“Trouble?” he murmured, and pulled away. 

Trouble shuddered and swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut. “Fuck,” he breathed. 

Dee’s soft hand nudged Trouble’s chin. “I’m alright,” he said. His breath huffed over Trouble’s face. “I’m… I’m safe. Because of you. Because of what you did.” 

Trouble opened his eyes. It was hard to see straight. Fury still thundered through his skull. “Yeah.”

Dee leaned forward and kissed Trouble’s mouth. Trouble whimpered softly, the heat of his rage still warming him, but it dispersed ever so slightly with Dee’s touch. 

“Salvator mea,” Dee whispered against Trouble’s lips. 

Trouble cradled Dee’s face. “Dee,” he whispered back. 

Dee broke the kiss and stretched out on the bed, reaching out for Trouble. Trouble lay down beside him. “Stay with me, Trouble,” Dee said. “And… and maybe we’ll go outside to do something tomorrow?” 

“Just say the word, lovebug,” Trouble said, kissing Dee once more. “I’m all yours.” 

~

Latin lines:

“My rescuer,” Dee whispered against Trouble’s lips.

Continued here