Chapter Text
“Hey.”
“Lady Aym.”
“Look at us.”
This trio of demons that Aym had acquired were quickly becoming a pain in the neck. Not only are they utterly useless in a fight if they’re separated from each other, they simply do not shut up with their comments and remarks.
“Lady Aym?”
“She’s busy being amazing as always.”
“Amazing and brilliant and glorious~”
Aym does not mind the constant praise. If anything, it’s a change from most demons in the Inferno. What bothers her, is that they interrupt her and have no concept of manners. She cannot stand it.
“Bored now.”
“So bored.”
“Hey. Hey. Lady Aym.”
“I am busy. This better be worth my time.”
She sternly says. One of the trio, the one with his hair slicked back, looks at what Aym is doing. She’s looking at one photo of her beloved husband, Bruno. They’ve heard the rumours, that he was some slave she saved and she actually respects him. Somehow.
Despite her utter hatred of men and male demons. They don’t like that. What’s this man got that’s better than three demons that respect and praise their glorious lady Aym?
“Why’s he so important?”
“He looks like a slut. I bet he’s used to just sucking his master’s cock than anything truly useful to you, Lady Aym.”
“He’s probably shit at that, too. He’s not like Us. We’re much better than a whore who can only bend over and take it—“
Her dismissive look towards them has quickly turned into one of pure rage. The tension spiked up as the air cools rapidly, turning to subzero temperatures quick despite the Inferno’s natural heat. The trio immediately go silent.
“Oh.”
“..Shit.”
“Forgive us.”
Aym stands up. That’s the scariest to them; Aym never raises a finger with other demons. They aren’t worth her time. She moves very slowly towards them.
“I.. forgive you three.”
She says. Casually. All three blink.
“Really?”
“That so?”
“.. Thank you, Lady Aym.”
“Yes. In fact, you three are just what I need for a very special plan I have. If you do this, I can.. offer more than mere praises.”
The moment she begins to unbutton her shirt, the trio immediately nod along to whatever request she wants. Whatever, it’ll be worth it.
-
“Lady Aym is counting on us.”
“We will succeed.”
“As always.”
They work silently. One by one, the church soldiers are executed without hesitation. They fall. As they’re about to clean up their mess of bodies, they fail to notice the trap set.
Within minutes, all three are on the ground after being struck by holy magic, painfully trying to get back up. Pain shoots up their bodies like fire.
They were sent to the church to eliminate a few priestesses that were getting a few ideas to kill demons. They probably should have expected a few counter measures, but for it to effect even infernal demons.. is concerning.
“She must have known.”
The first one says after a few minutes.
“Yes.. Lady Aym isn’t stupid. She must have sent us here to die. We saw how cheerful she was to send us here.”
The second one, with one bang parted in the middle, remarks quietly.
“.. who do we serve now, though?”
The third asks. They remain silent, almost waiting for death. They don’t know, they don’t know a life without serving the strong. Humans aren’t strong. Their weak.
The door opening, the scent of demonic blood causes them to snap out of their state.
“Help.”
“We require assistance.”
“Please help us, friend.”
“Oh, um.. well, you three seem friendly enough for.. ‘colleagues’.”
Andariel heals the trio from the spell easily with a flick of her wrist. The moment they’re freed, they circle around her like a flock of birds before they suddenly stop.
“Lady Aym left us here.”
”Left us to die. Bitch.”
“You’re strong, so we will serve you now.”
“E.. Eh? Um.. no, I can’t have that. I’m a nun.”
“. . .?”
“No, you’re an infernal demon.”
“A sexy one at that.”
“Okay, um, you got me. I’m pretending to be one. I-I can’t really have three new male friends show up in my life. . Well, er..”
Andariel trails off at that hot mental image, blushing a bit.
“We will serve you regardless.”
“Honour and praise you.”
“We work together. We will not be separated.”
“..? Why?”
“The Inferno is harsh.”
“If we separate, one of us may die from any stronger demons.”
“Simple Logic.”
-
“Mistress.”
“Lady Andariel.”
“Our glorious lady.”
“I-I told you three to call me Andariel. But, er, yes?”
“Where do humans come from?”
Andariel spits out her tea almost instantly in shock. One of the triplets clean up the mess while the other two sit nearby.
“.. e..eh? Wh-Where did that question come from?”
“We are curious.”
“Humans are weak. We do not know about such weak creatures.”
“But you bother to pretend to be a ‘human’. You know many things. Please explain it to us.”
“Um.. well, how do demons procreate in the Inferno?”
“Many ways. Too many to count.”
“Much better than humans.”
“We’re better by default.”
Andariel frowns at this. Well, shit, there goes that excuse she could’ve used. Alright, she can do this. She’s taught children about the story before.
“W-Well, um.. in the Bible, God is said to have created Adam from dust. He then took one of Adam’s ribs to form his wife Eve.”
The triplets look bored at this already. Boooring!
“Not that fake story.”
“The goddess above here peddles such vile tales.”
“We mean biologically.”
“Oh… O-OH!”
Andariel squeaks, blushing a bit. She tries to focus; even as the triplets smile a bit at her blushing. Cute.
“Well, er.. most humans make babies by.. well, um, preforming a rite called ‘making love’.”
“. . . Making.. love?”
“We love you, Lady Andariel.”
“Very much.~”
“. . . T-There’s more to it than just saying it. Love is different, it’s.. special, it’s more than lusting over someone like demons do.”
She ponders how she could explain it for a second. These three, despite being old demons, are utterly clueless to human customs. If she can teach them.. it’ll help them blend in, so it’s safer for them to wander around when she’s busy.
”Firstly, you’d need a strong bond with a woman you like. Secondly, a place where we can relax and eat and chat, and.. stuff like that.”
“There’s a soft bed here.”
“And the atmosphere is ‘cozy’.”
“And here’s food.”
Andariel blinks as the third triplet has somehow - she won’t ask how - brought her one cat Labolas, that’s meowing and squirming in its arms.
“Hey, no, put that Labolas down!—Nevermind..”
Andariel chides the third triplet, only to mutter as it devours the poor demon to get rid of it with a grin.
“And, er, I don’t think this place counts, really, it’s covered in blood. Typically, er, places for that need to be cleaner.”
“. . . We can clean.”
“No!.. Y-You three do enough for me. I’ve got a few ideas.”
-
The tavern she picked is far away from their current residence, one mansion the triplets.. ‘acquired’ for her. Andariel isn’t entirely fond of it as she prefers to live humbly - a mansion makes people suspicious after all. But she appreciates the thought.
It’s not that big, not that small. It has enough food and drink to satisfy her on days where the hunger is too bad, and the female workers know her.
“Oh, Sister Eleison! Undercover again, I see.”
“Haha, er.. yes. Sorry. This is the only way I can get time away from the church. It’s lovely to see you, Becky.”
She orders an entire list worth of food for herself, while letting the three choose whatever they want. The triplets don’t particularly care what their lady eats, as they will serve her anything; but considering it’s human food, they’re a little surprised by her choices.
Pottage, stew, salted meats, fried potatoes.. that’s just the savoury side of it, as she orders all of the desserts there for the four of them.
“..Why do you bother with human food?”
“It doesn’t seem nice from the way it looks.”
“Our cooking is ten times better.”
“It’s delicious.. and, well, I have to stave off my own hungers somehow. It’s either this or I bite my nails ‘till they bleed. Besides, it helps people out.”
“It’ll make you fat, lass-“
The triplets glare at him cause the man commenting that to sheepishly smile and back away before Andariel can retaliate.
“So.. um..”
She trails off a bit. What can they talk about, that won’t get them thrown out? Andariel looks around nervously as she sips her tea. Dammit, think, stupid, think! You’ve flirted with men before, this should be piss easy!
The triplets didn’t order much. Just some slices of cake that’s said to be strawberry, but the berries don’t look the usual ripe colour and it still tastes too sweet for their liking.
“. . . How’s your cake?”
“Tolerable.”
“Too sweet.”
“If you made it, it would be much better.”
“.. at least you three are honest.”
Andariel mutters. She’s practically devoured most of the savoury food in minutes.
“Why do you come to these places?”
“It’s boring.”
“Our home has better entertainment.”
“As I said. To relax, to eat nice food.. to chat about anything.. In our cases, we need to be a bit careful with what we say.”
One man - to the triplets, he looks more like a pig - barges inside of the Tavern.
“You all, we’ve got a problem - that purple haired slut is back, and I saw her head this way!”
Most men in the tavern don’t look that afraid at this. The triplets tilt their heads at this. Their lady is not a ‘harlot’, so they aren’t that concerned.
“What’s the issue, I thought she’s kinda hot.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty cute.”
”Plus she gives amazing blowjob—“
“—Idiots, she’s that harlot that seduces men AND women, then they just vanish!.. and also eats all the food in whatever place she’s in!”
Poor Andariel wants to curl up and die. It’s not her fault those people ‘vanish’. Really. They just don’t like her sleeping with others after bedding them, report it to the church, and happen to die when the church blames them too.
“I-I should.. go wash my hands. Yep. You three, um, please stay right here, I’ll be right back.”
“..? They are not dirty.”
One of the triplets says, before the three tilt their head as she’s suddenly walked into another room in the tavern.
“She seems scared.”
“These humans are weak creatures. They should fear her.”
“We will wait, regardless.”
The tea they drink is sweeter than the tea in the Inferno. They do not like Aym, but they will not deny her advancements and improvements to the quality of life in that place. Tea there is naturally bitter - sugarcane cannot grow in the Inferno’s natural heat. Aym may be many things, but the triplets won’t object to admitting that she is a bit of a genius.
They offer the barmaid - some girl who’s shy and has hazel coloured hair - a few coins from their lady’s purse. They’ve seen their lady give coins to people before for such services.
The man that commented about their lady earlier is still talking. It annoys them. Very much. Their lady is graceful and elegant, not a common peasant like them.
What causes their patience to snap is that filthy thing spewing excuse after excuse why their lady is ‘nothing more than a leg-spreading harlot’.
“Excuse us.”
“Sir.”
“We need to talk.”
“..? What’s with you three. You’re creeping me out.”
“You will apologise.”
“To our beloved lady.”
“Right now. Thank you.”
“You three are with that slut?.. Of course she’d have three children. I bet you three don’t even have the same fathers.”
“. . . We are not her sons. We are her servants.”
“A depraved pig like you wouldn’t understand.”
“.. then again, expecting a human to have manners is ridiculous of us.”
“Why you little bastards!-“
-
Andariel splashes some water into her face the moment she enters the other room, her hands clutching at her sides and chest. She can’t stop shaking.
“F..fuck, I-I should’ve thought this could happen. What was I thinking? It’s my fault they’re going to get pestered and how will I ever managed to convince others to let us out peacefully? Oh, you just had to pick this tavern, Andariel, you stupid bitch-“
-
“. . . Ow.”
The third triplet pulls the dagger out of his chest, and throws it back near the man’s head as payback. The other two have managed to heal the few wounds the tavern patrons have done, as they’ve turned on them instantly.
“What the fu— you three are demons!?”
“Shit, someone go get the church’s—“
“No need, I’ll kill them.”
“.. yes, because we are so scared of a worser looking man then that pig.”
The first triplet dryly remarks. A silver bullet being shot near the first’s head causes him to smile sheepishly.
“.. ah.”
“Not good.”
“Do we retreat?”
“No. Lady Andariel is not with us. We will retreat with her.”
“But what do we do?”
“Keep him busy.”
Before he can land a headshot on the three, Andariel immediately grabs the triplets out of the way and freezes Robert’s rifle solid for a second; the ice breaks just as he lines up another shot and—
“Got you.”
She can feel him shove the rifle against her chest in slow motion; the resulting dozen shots causes bits of bone and bloody debris to paint the tavern walls a gory shade of lilac. Her body collapses instantly, tears streaming down her face.
“Now stay down.”
The twitching of limbs causes him to spin around to look and pause out of pure shock. Andariel’s body moves on its own, stitching itself back together quickly and forcing her back up.
“. . . What the hell?”
Robert asks, frowning. That’s the first time any of the demons took a point-blank shot from his rifle - it is custom made, mind you - and lived. He’s both pissed off and pretty impressed.
“. . . What the FUCK is your problem, you asshole?! I just wanted one fucking Date with my friends here and oh, no, even that’s too much to ask!? And—sorry, who the HELL aims for the boobs when shooting someone?! That fucking hurts!”
“. . .”
“. . .”
“. . . Hot.”
One of the triplets comment as Andariel continues yelling for a few seconds. All three demons are in shock, truthfully. The fact she’s risked her life.. for them, of all demons.. is arousing and inspiring. Perhaps both.
Her healing from that is proof she’s part of the royal infernal family; only they can heal from silver enchanted weapons and bullets. Proof she’s strong. Proof they’ve made the right choice.
Andariel immediately kicks Robert down and onto the ground as payback for that, as the gun-man was naturally still a bit stunned she was even alive, and talking.
“.. screw this, I’ll take my food and leave. Ahem, er, thank you. Good day.”
She leaves the exactly amount of coins the food was altogether on the counter, grabs what little she had left - if you can call it little - and quickly exits the tavern with the triplets, with the sounds of gunshots and angry patrons behind them.
-
After a few minutes, they’ve managed to run far away that the crowd can’t catch up. Andariel almost collapses on the ground.
“.. hah.. ah.. s-sorry.. running like that, after healing a lot, is never a good idea.”
“.. you saved us?”
“We were defending your honour first, but..”
“You saved us. Why? Most demons would have left us to get shot.”
“Because you three are my friends. There’s no other reason to it.”
“. . .”
“. . .”
“. . .”
“Um.. are you three okay?”
Andariel is practically tackle-hugged by the triplets.