Among Demons : Succubus Divine

Ch. 19 : Emotional Affliction

After all the evidence was gathered and the body was taken to the morgue, we did everything we could to locate any relative or friend that knew the victim. But as we started the next day, the sad truth about our victims' life was found.

He had been traveling alone, looking to find a place for himself and working odd jobs to fund his travel. He didn’t even have a school record either and had spent his young life wandering around doing what he wished. We were able to find the Inn he had booked and collected his few meager belongings. And a small timeline of his activities was pieced together thanks to some Demons that had recognized his picture at a few shops and restaurants after I asked Nick to circulate it. So we knew that he hadn’t grown close with anyone and was looking to work a bit more to fund his next move before he became a target.

It bothered me that this man had somehow been held captive for who knows how long without the perpetrator leaving any kind of evidence behind. But what bothered me the most was that more and more victims were coming to light as I dug into the Demon population within my territory.

A few ShapeShifters, another Vampire, a Fay couple and even a Banshee had all led nearly identical lives before dropping off the face of the Earth, only to reappear dead weeks later. They had all been solitary, introverted people who rarely interacted with others at all. Most all held menial jobs or worked odd hours to avoid social interactions of any kind. And every single one of them was found with something missing from their bodies. Wings, claws, fur, nails, blood and even fingers and eyes would be missing from the bodies. They would all be covered in cuts and bruises and a few had been starved and beaten as well.

It all bubbled up in my chest as I continued to dig, feeling the guilt, anger and self-hatred climb higher as I learned more.

I felt like I had failed these Demons, my people, and had been blindly believing that everything and everyone under my care was safe and well cared for. The guilt alone was crushing as I wondered how much I could have done to stop the killer if I had taken notice of the first, second, third, or even fifth victim. How many lives I could have saved if I had just paid closer attention to my people.

“Hey.” Danny made me jump as he called out to me, silencing the large team office and making the other two turn to look at me. “You good? Your face is kinda weird.”

I chuckled as I heard the door open, shaking my head at his words while recalling that he had invited someone to the office during lunchtime.

“Weird?!” The cheerfully loud voice of Nyla cut into their heavy stares, making Danny jump out of his seat to help her with the bags she carried. “How can you say that about her? She’s gorgeous!” She paused as she looked at me a bit more carefully, her eyes widening before she moved around the desks to get to the corner loveseat where I was. “Dev, honey, what’s wrong?”

She took my hands in hers and I sighed, seeing the other three men in the room return their focus to me. Though it was more likely a mild concern since Detective Izaak and Danny were still inching towards the bags of food Nyla brought.

“It’s nothing.” I told her, giving her hands a squeeze before pulling away. “I was just going a little internal for a second.” Her worried gaze made me smile a little more and I stood up and began making my way towards the food as well, patting her shoulder as I passed. “Honest! I’m fine.”

She pouted as I passed, grabbing my arm and tugging me to her for a hug as she spoke.

“Don’t you dare get sick on me.” She whined, playfully glaring as she pulled away to hide her true worry. “I won’t be able to handle seeing you hospitalized again… it cuts into my projects!”

I laughed with her as we joined the men, pulling out food for ourselves while Nyla kindly introduced herself to Detective Izaak, the last of Danny’s close friends that she hadn’t met. It was a perfect distraction to have Nyla in the room making everyone laugh with stories of us as troublesome teenagers. Like the time we had been bored enough to break into the principal's office during a school festival and stayed there the whole day eating his snacks. Or when Nick had to pick us up after we took Nyla’s mom’s car out for a joyride only to run out of gas thirty minutes outside of the city in the middle of the woods. Of course, some of the stories were edited to keep any of them from realizing that she was a Demon in hiding, but it didn’t take away from the humor of it all. The three men even shared tales of their own misdeeds and I, somewhat regrettably, learned a bit more about all three of them as the hour ticked by.

When we finished our food Nyla helped clean up, thanking us all for letting her join us during lunch and kissing Danny good-bye before leaving.

“What did she mean before?”

I stopped in my tracks as I aimed for the loveseat where my things were, turning to face Detective Marcus as he leaned against Danny’s desk.

“About being hospitalized?” His brow arched a bit as he spoke and Danny, who sat at his desk behind him, nodded along as he recalled Nyla’s words. “Are you really alright?”

I hesitated, catching Detective Izaak's interest in the question as well and wondered if I should really explain this to them. I didn’t doubt these men who truly did their best to understand things about Demons during the few cases and interactions we’ve had. And they weren’t overly cold, insulting or hateful like some other Humans in this building either. So maybe, hopefully, it won’t be dangerous for me to explain this bit about myself to them.

Of course, if my instinct is wrong, they’ll simply use this knowledge to hurt me and I’ll know how they really feel about me.

“Do you recall what I told you about Demons during the first case?” I asked Detective Marcus, wondering if he still remembered my words from the morgue.

He nodded, “Yeah, you said that Demons' emotions are a lot stronger than Humans and that they could get sick or grow weak if they’re overcome by too many negative emotions.”

I smiled, genuinely surprised that he cared to remember, but his responding smile made my body shiver and a rising flutter attacked my chest and stomach. I could even feel my Demonic Core stir a bit in response too which startled me even more. So I turned away quickly and cleared my throat as a distraction, mentally reminding myself to avoid getting sucked into his steele gray gaze again. Or smile at him either.

“Right. Well, some Demon races, because they’re not as strong as the others, can suffer greater when negative emotions take over.” My tone quickly took on the same teacher-firmness that I would hear in myself while at the Demon Village and I felt a calming sense of comfort settle in me as I continued. “So, for example, if a ShapeShifter was to feel like absolute garbage, they could suffer a mild cold or feel lethargic for a little while. But if a Nymph was to feel the same emotions… they could end up so weak and sick that they would need to be hospitalized.” I could feel their disbelief at my words and the silence in the room grew just a bit heavier than it had been. “There have even been some cases, though very rare, when the emotional toll on a Demon was so great that they had become deathly ill… and passed away days later.”

I looked up as their minds spun with this new information and I watched as their shock climbed even higher with my next words.

“It’s much more common for Demons to suffer from emotional weakness or instability like that if they were victims of some type of torment growing up. Serious trauma can make even the strongest Demons weak like this too, which is why most Demon parents send their children to private Demon-only schools to protect them from such a fate.”

My mind wandered back to my years as a student and I shuddered a bit at how often I had gotten sick because of the cruelty of my peers simply for what I was. I always refused to hide my dual colored eyes because they had never felt wrong or ugly to me, even as a child, so everyone who met me quickly realized that I wasn't Human. This made me a target instantly and the bullying would pick up almost immediately. Their cold words, the physical pain and embarrassing rumors and pranks that went on while I was in High School and Middle School alone nearly made it so I would have to repeat a year. Several times.

Which is why I made sure to fund, build and rush the opening of a handful of private Demon-only schools near the outskirts of the city so no other Demon kids have to go through what I did. There were a few Humans whose families were Demon or had Demon ties, but I made sure that any level of bullying was reprimanded and dealt with, no matter what.

Danny nodded, understanding what I meant as he glared at the floor, seeming lost in his own thoughts while Detective Izaak appeared to be conflicted about something as he stared blankly at nothing. Detective Marcus was the only one that was still watching me carefully, his expression changing suddenly as if something clicked for him.

“Does that mean that… you suffer from that affliction?” His words were soft and tinged with concern, making my heart clench painfully in my chest. “Is that why you called your brother after we visited your Aunts house?” I flinched when the other two whipped their heads back to me, realizing the same thing that their Team Lead did.

“Yeah…” I murmured, nodding slowly while instinctively backing away from them, suddenly feeling cornered and unsure about my decision to explain. “My race is weak to emotions because our power stems from the most carnal need to procreate and feel intimacy. And my brother knows that physical affection helps me balance myself out so the darker feelings don’t make me collapse… ” My eyes flicked over to Danny who looked shocked and full of regret and pity. “It’s why Nyla hugged me when she came over and saw how I was… she’s seen me get sick because of my emotions before.”

“So, a hug is all it takes?” Danny asked, suddenly getting a funny look of determination on his face. “That’s doable.”

I blinked a few times, feeling stunned by his strangely overwhelming positivity and I couldn’t help but laugh a little once his words fully registered. A grateful feeling came over me thanks to that and the sudden cornered emotion was gone too. The atmosphere of the room also lightened and the other two seemed to relax along with me, though they all still seemed to be focused on their own thoughts when I spoke up again.

“Not really.” I laughed some more at his confused look and plopped down on the loveseat, exhaling deeply. “Hugs do help to ease the weight of my emotions, but it only really helps if I’m close to the person hugging me. So someone like my brother, who’s built a bond with me as family, can really soothe my emotions if they’re going wild.”

“Ah!” Danny chirped up, pointing at me with an even bigger look of determination on his face. “So if I was to become a close friend then I’d be able to help like Nyla does right?”

I laughed some more but nodded, catching a strange look on Detective Marcus as he made his way to his desk. He kept glancing at me throughout the day and the same unreadable look would cross his eyes before it was finally time for us to go home. It both unsettled and excited me to have caught him looking at me so many times. And what made matters worse for me was my indecision to peek at his relationship threads by unveiling my eyes. A part of me wanted to look and see if a bond had already formed between us or if there was even a thread connecting us at all now that my body has recognized and found its Match.

So when it was finally time for us to go home, I gathered my things before the others and walked out rather quickly.

Thankfully I had Nyla to distract me from my inner turmoil since she had decided to invade my home and make it her fabric shop by using my living room as she pleased. She had apparently been struck by some bolt of inspiration again and wanted me to serve as her living mannequin.

It made me smile to see her run around my home picking up, examining and tossing different pieces of fabric and racing to her many sketchbooks and notes as she worked. She talked about some of the work things she dealt with as my Lieutenant and answered some other questions for me about the secondary office as well. But near the end of the day she began to get all dreamy on me, talking about Danny and how she was happy that I seemed to approve of the Human. Though she did joke that it was clearly not a five star approval just yet, while also hoping that things would continue to work out between them.

I wondered if Danny could be her Match and was close to asking her, but it’s not polite to ask about another Demons Match without them bringing it up first. Especially since it’s not so common for those of us stuck on Earth. It could even be taken as an insult or a way to pick a fight, and even seen as a way to upset another Demon too, which of course, is bad. So even if Nyla is my best friend that I have known for years, things could break out badly if Danny isn’t her Match and I bring it up. She could be hurt by my question, since she clearly likes the man and in the heat of the moment it could even look like I’m rubbing in the fact that I had found mine. Even if I’m not doing anything about it.

So I kept my mouth shut and instead chose to talk up the Human that was making my friend blush so hard.

I told her how he seemed truly curious about Demons and how willing he had been to learn more before and during our current case. Her smile could light up the entire apartment complex with the more I talked-up the guy and I figured that it was my way of helping out since his job didn’t leave him with as much free time for Nyla as mine did. He had shown me that he cared for my friend and treated her so sweetly during that night that I had seen them together and even in the office too. So granting him a few brownie points as Nyla’s best friend is the least I could do for them.