I keep starting new stories... whoops?

Chapter One:

The Devil's In The Details

"You have three choices. One, let me kill you. Two, try to kill us, and die. Or three, commit suicide. So, what'll it be?"

The empty hallway projected footsteps through it at an unnecessary volume, causing a vague sense of dread to try to push its way into my mind. I clenched my jaw and continued until I came to the door of the room I was looking for.

"How about door number four? I'll join you. Be an exorcist."

"My my, this sounds awfully familiar..."

"What?"

"Fine, I may as well give you the same treatment as the other one."

I paused, steeling myself, and took in a breath. I could hear voices from inside the room. Well, no time like the present.

I hesitantly grabbed the handle and opened the door, stepping inside, grey eyes taking in the room and the suddenly-hushed students.

After a moment of silence, the man at the front of the room - gods, he was so young! - spoke up, a small smile gracing his features.

"You must be Levi Lux," he greeted. "Welcome! Please, take a seat, class is just starting."

I nodded and walked to a seat at the back of the room, placing my bag on the desk and sitting cross-legged on the chair. My gaze fell on each student in turn, eyes widening slightly as I saw the blue aura around the black-haired boy.

So that's what he meant... I'm not the only one who shouldn't be here.

"Are... Are they a boy or a girl?"

The whispered words from the guy with the piercings floated over to me, and I somehow managed to suppress a smirk. As a cambion, I had no set gender, and my androgynous appearance helped to convey that. In fact, I had no functioning reproductive organs. Though I supposed most would treat me as male - given my default body structure, though with a distinct lack of certain below-the-belt features - I could appear as either, depending on what I wanted to be seen as.

The epitome of non-binary.

Throughout the class I listened diligently, committing each word to memory, though my tail was twitching with boredom in my pants leg, my wings ached to be stretched, and I was developing a slight headache. I had learned the hard way that any attempt to hide my nature at length was difficult as best, unsuccessful and potentially explosive at worst.

After what seemed like an eternity, the teacher - Yukio, I reminded myself - dismissed the class.

"Levi,"

At the sound of my name, I halted my trek toward the door, and turned to Yukio, the other students filtering out.

"May I speak with you a moment?"

Of course he wants to talk to me.

"Sure, Teach. What is it?" I asked as I plopped myself onto a desk, a pierced eyebrow raised.

"You're a demon, correct?" No sooner had he closed the door than the words came out, and I sighed deeply.

"I prefer the term cambion. I'm not some foul creature that needs to be exterminated - though much of your order seems to believe that." I grumbled. "But yes, I am demonic in nature. A child of Asmodeus."

"One of the Seven Princes of Hell?" Yukio questioned.

"Prince of Lust." I confirmed. "The First Incubus, I believe he's been called."

"Are you... do you have any..?"

"Powers?" I supplied. Yukio nodded. "Of a sort. If you want a demonstration, all you have to do is ask," I added with a wink, hopping off the desk and rubbing at my eyes to expel the remnants of the singed contacts.

Brandishing my twin daggers, I silently called upon my demonic heritage, feeling the air around me grow hot as smokey grey flames began to dance around my body, my tail escaping from my pants and my wings forming behind me. The horns were always the most painful part of the ordeal, though I'd gotten used to the feeling long ago, the bone pushing out from my temples and curling like the horns of a ram, dripping with my own blood. As the horns extended, so did the blades on my daggers, the weapons becoming more sword-like. I sent Yukio a fanged grin, and flashed him a peace sign to show off my sharpened nails. My short black hair put my tapered ears on display, and I couldn't feel the shift but I knew my pupils were slits, like those of a reptile, especially going by Yukio's reaction.

"So what do you think, darlin'?" I purred, "Happy now?"

"I've never... seen a demon like you with wings before..." he murmured to himself before snapping out of his half-frightened, half-awed trance. "Y-yeah. That's... good..."

"Thanks for the approval," I fired before dismissing my powers and shoving my daggers back into the tattoos on my shoulderblades, hiding my tail once more. I could call upon my true form even without my blades, but it was best to let people think I needed them. It gave them at least some sense of control and safety. A false one, but... whatever. Humans were strange like that, and appreciated certain comforts.

"Can I go now?" I questioned.

"Yeah. You'll be with Rin and I in the old boys' dorm, if... you're..." he trailed off, looking slightly awkward.

"I have no gender. I don't care. But for the ease of things, I'll present as male for the most part."

He nodded, and before he could ask any more questions, I saved myself and left.

(dudes I just wanna put a break here but it won't let me so I guess we all have to suffer)

"Levi, right?"

I glanced up from my book, stormy eyes finding the black-haired boy standing before me. He was obviously Yukio's brother, they looked a lot alike. I set the book down, careful not to let it end up in the water of the fountain, and spoke.

"Yeah. Don't think I got your name before."

"Rin. So... you're, ah..." Gods, he was as awkward as his brother.

"A cambion, yes." I confirmed, a slight smirk crossing over my lips. "And I see you're a halfblood as well. Not a cambion, but... something of demonic origin."

The panic in his eyes almost made me laugh as he checked to make sure he wasn't on fire or had his tail out.

"You have a slight blue glow to you. Don't worry, only demons can see it. You should really learn to hide that, you know." I informed him, a hint of amusement in my voice.

He immediately calmed down and glared at me. "Yeah, well how come I can't see yours?" he snapped.

"Because I have mine concealed. However, if I were to let my guard down..." I let my own dark grey, almost black aura seep out for a moment before hiding it once more, just enough for him to catch a glimpse. He staggered back with a sharp gasp. "I could teach you to hide yours, I suppose. Might keep others from finding you so easily."

"You'd... You'd do that?" Rin asked, amazed at my kindness.

Ha. Kindness... I'd just rather not get found out because some demonic asshole followed him right to me. "Yeah, why not? Bonding experience and all that shit."

"Sweet!" He cried, jumping in excitement before regaining control of himself. "Oh, wait, um. Question. What are- ah... I've never had to ask this before... What're your pronouns?"

I smiled inwardly. Finally, I was encountering people who actually asked instead of just assuming. "He/him are perfectly fine for now. Just use whatever seems best at the time. I sometimes present as more feminine. Kinda depends on the day."

"O-okay..." he murmured, clearly not used to the subject.

I gave him props for trying, though.

As if on cue to save him from any further awkwardness, the pierced guy I saw in class came over with two friends.

"Yo Rin, talking to the newbie?"

"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Rin said, smiling brightly.

The guy turned to me and gave me a once-over. He opened his mouth to speak, when his pink-haired companion interrupted. "Just call him Bon. I'm Shima, that's Konekomaru."

I bowed my head and smiled a bit. These guys seemed nice enough. Of course, if I let it get out to any of them that I wasn't human, well... they'd probably kill me where I stood.

Better to be safe than sorry.

"Levi Lux, obviously. A pleasure." I replied. I liked Bon. Or... the piercings, at the very least. I had quite a few myself, though a few of them were more concealed. Four in each ear, left eyebrow, bridge, septum, tongue, navel, and a few dermal anchors. Some called it an addiction. In all honesty, I just liked the way they looked.

When I directed my attention back to the conversation at hand, they were all talking about exorcist classifications.

"So Levi," Shima began, eyes fixing on me, "What meister are you going for, here?"

"Probably Knight," I informed him, picking my book up again and putting it on my lap. "Though possibly also Tamer. They seem like the best fit for me."

"You can summon demons?!" Shima questioned. "We haven't been over that in class yet... how do you do it?"

I smirked and held out my hands, both of which had summoning circles tattooed on the backs. "I wouldn't recommend getting yours tattooed, though. It's... not the best way of doing things. It's not like you can rip up the papers if you're in danger. But I've had papers snatched and ripped apart before without my consent, so I figured this was the easiest way to deal with things." It was a lie, of course. I had never used paper. The two beasts I could summon were assigned to be my guardians at birth. They were just easier to explain away as a Tamer's summoned demons, hence the false taming sigils.

"What do you summon?" he said, voice low, as if he was almost afraid to ask. It was just the two of us in this conversation now, the other boys distracted with their own.

"I suppose you could call them hellhounds," I murmured. "Never really thought about a name for the species. Maybe I'll show them to you some time."

Shima smiled. "That'd be cool," he admitted.

"Hey Shima, Levi. We're heading out for a bit. You comin' with?" Bon said, interrupting our conversation.

"Yeah, sure," Shima replied, glancing back at me, a pleading glint in his eyes, as if begging me to join them.

I accepted. "Not like I have anything better to do," I admitted, placing the book in my bag and hopping off the fountain, "Besides, I need a tour of this place anyway."

Unsurprisingly, I found that it took a while to get anywhere, and by the time we'd gone to a few shops and explored a bit, the sun was already setting.

"I guess we'd better get going," Rin sighed.

"What, afraid of the dark?" I taunted, a smirk playing on my lips.

He seemed to puff up, as if trying to make himself look bigger. "Pfft, no, Yukio just doesn't like it when I'm out so late."

"Sooo... you're your brother's bitch, is what I'm hearing." I shot back with a light chuckle. At my words, the other guys burst out laughing.

"He's not wrong, Rin!" Shima guffawed, doubling over.

The hellspawn glared at us, eyes narrowing. "Fine, I don't need to go back. But what even is there to do after dark?"

I brightened instantly, a wicked grin on my face. "Who's up for a little lower-class demon hunting?"

Let's see if I can actually keep up on this one.

Also, I'm sorry that ffn hates me so much.

-DTW