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Demon Au

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Monster's didn't exist under your bed. Nor did they hide in the closets either. Silly fears grown within the minds of children often cause many humans to double check the dark corners of their rooms and vehicles, constantly assuring themselves of safety.

The routine checks, the fright of the children- the mental fright that wriggled into a person's conscious: that's where the monsters truly dwelled. That's where they fed upon the negative emotions of each soul in a household; grew their strength and formed the nightmares that left many screaming awake into a cold sweat. What better terror was there than a fear of something one could not truly see while constantly paranoid of its existence?

No, monsters didn't hide under the bed: but this one did.

He'd prepared for this very moment. Body a dark mass that molded itself into the shadows of the room- leaving a higher temperature of air as the only evidence of his existence. One with the the things that made a person lose their breath, he bent through the world of reality and his own, hiding himself perfectly beneath the heavily covered mattress of his prey. She would be coming in soon- exhausted from a day of hard work, hunched over her desk- slumping into her bed without a second glance.

It would be the last of her many mistakes she would make. Lucy Heartfilia had been the demon's target for years. Every moment culminated until that very night beneath her bed. From the scratching sounds that often ran along the walls when she slept, to the rasping growls he sent into her ear as she cooked. Moment after moment he chipped and chipped away at her, weakening every set of defenses she had. Oh how he loved to watch the thin hairs on her neck stand on end- the way she'd shiver and undo her ponytail to allow the blanket of her blonde hair to warm herself.

She always responded just right, glancing from one end of the room to the other, eyes narrowed as she tried to discern the danger in her empty room. Lucy was a woman of habit, who always locked her doors each night and checked the windows. Every item had its place and each time he would move an object to another location, it was swiftly moved back where it belonged.

The woman always muttered to herself when this occurred. 'Am I losing it? There's no way I put my keys in the fridge twice!' Every happenstance brought a new phrase past her lips. 'Seriously need to get more sleep, now I'm hearing voices! Maybe I should ask Erza or Levy to come over…'

Sometimes she would even scream, if the loud thud of his feet on the floor was loud enough, stomping just outside her doorway when the silence of the night was at its loudest. Tonight, he planned to bring forth such a shout again, but in a far more…. Physical manner.

"Ugh… stayed up late again-" Lucy's voice, echoing down the halls of her small home alerted him to the start of this ruse- dark eyes narrowing as he waited in silence. Her feet padded against the floor, light steps over hardwood while her pants and shirt slipped from her body into a messy pile at the foot of her bed. She made no further attempts to dress herself, falling onto her mattress with a whine that caused the springs to squeak from the sudden weight.

He took no notice. Body incorporeal for the moment, he wouldn't feel a shred of discomfort. Listening to her shuffle, a couple pillows fell to the floor in her attempts for comfort before finally settled in: shutting off the light and sighing. "- …. Did I forget to set the alarm?"

Just when he'd been about to form himself to a more solid mass, the light clicked back on and he hissed just beneath his breath, a low whoosh of air that sent a gust of heat from under the bed. She didn't seem to notice, as the vents nearby gushed out their own heat in a steady rhythm. At last, her minor chore finished and the lamp clicked off once more.

Perfect. All was laid out before him like a children's paint by numbers book. The demon smirked cruelly, lips thinning out into a smile that split open his face to reveal a row of sharp teeth and barely contained smoke. A being of fire at his core, he would have to be careful lest she be alerted to his presence. Almost there… just a little bit more and she's all mine….

Seconds ticked to minutes and minutes turned to an hour. Lucy tossed and turned in many different attempts to sink into a deep sleep. He was used to this. Half-sleep taking over, her body sprawled above him and the moment he was waiting for finally came- in the form of a slender hand, draping itself off the mattress and dangling helpfully before him.

He gave it a few more seconds- to allow her sleep-addled security to set in and once the heater shut off- he struck.

Taloned fingers snapped out as a warm hand grasped her own, right at the wrist and with a rough tug, he pulled against her body just enough to jolt it back awake. The bed shook from the force and a deep chuckle echoed from the darkness, joined by the shout that came from Lucy. He felt the sudden sense of terror and dread fill the air like a fog and breathed it in. Delicious- but then her hand twisted and grasped his own in the tightest grip she could muster; the gleam in his amber eyes extinguished: confused.

"- Did you REALLY think I didn't know you were there, Natsu?"

….. Shit..

An exasperated sigh left the demon, not bothering to withhold the gust of steam the second time around as the heat forced the pink, silken sheets to flutter about the bed frame. "-You're supposed to be scared, Lucy- " He chided, deep voice rumbling more like a whine. "That's cheating!"

"You've been making random bumps and noises all through my room this week," She replied, voice lower in tone to match the night, fingers not relinquishing their grip on his. "I knew you had to be up to something. Don't you have actual demon things to do? Like stealing the souls of small children?"

Natsu snorted, offended. "We don't steal souls, people bargain them to us! - and children are too smart to try bargaining with devils: sheesh!" A squeeze from his hand with her own followed, almost like a small punishment, but his words only caused the girl to giggle instead.

"Ugh, now you're just mocking me!"

Another laugh and the demon known as Natsu couldn't hold himself back any longer. His own laughter joined her, fangs glinting under the bed as he chuckled. She couldn't see it, being settled upon her bed still, but the situation was amusing. He'd have to find a new way to play with her, wouldn't he? A bit unorthodox for a demon and a human to be on friendly terms with the other, but he just couldn't help himself. After his laughter died down, he noticed Lucy's own had ended.

She had grown silent, hand tightening over his own, fidgeting about to find his warm palm as a quiet, inaudible sigh passed through her. Natsu couldn't see her, not unless he removed himself from his place, but he could visualize the downturn of her lips with such a noise. Was she… upset?

Natsu was like the fire he was born from, wild and energetic, other emotions asides from those that derived from that wild heat often confused him. Lucy's own emotions jumping from one to the next were not different. The taste of her laugh or even her fear was always nice, but this.. This held a bitter taste that he found himself not enjoying. A quick sadness that filled the room like murky waters.

Far different from the cloud of negativity or light fluffiness that was her laughter. He didn't like it, "Oi- Lucy," He didn't get the chance to finish his question when she interrupted, voice cutting through the night like tiny needles.

"What are we?" The way her words fell through the air like a disappearing fog made his chest clench and her grip lessened and slid away. Instinctively, he twitched his fingers to twine with hers, effectively keeping them in place. The mood felt… hollow.

Despite the awkward position, he slowly slid from his spot, revealing his body to her reality- ignoring the way his rough skin prickled at the change of atmosphere. In the depths of his world, his appearance was always met with scales, horns and wings, but here- he could only manage black talons and black-tar like skin trailing up his forearms that covered his back and sides of his face. His ears, though pointed, remained covered by his unnaturally colored hair, but nothing else adorned his head except for the flames he called forth as his crown when the occasion called for it.

Tonight, he saw no point, rising to his full height to face her, slit eyes staring into honey-brown. They looked open, scared- but not with a fear he could recognize.

"That depends" He answered, uncertain what she was looking for. "What do you want to be? Lucy~?"

A sudden welling of tears and a frustrated whine was not what Natsu had been expecting. The demon, uncharacteristically felt the stirrings of fear and shock welling within him, watched wide-eyed as the blonde shuffled within her blankets. She wiped her eyes as if to hide the evidence and shuddered in an attempt to cover it. This was not what a Lord of Fire had been prepared for.

Shriek, terror and some anger towards his shenanigans, definitely, but this-? It wasn't at the top of his list. It wasn't even ON the list. Certainly it was a strange thing for a Demon and Human to have the sort of relationship they had. Ever since he had first come across her, foolishly playing with an Ouija board one Halloween night, their interactions had never been set to a standard.

He didn't try to kill her. While afraid, at first, she never tried to send him away - not after the first dozen visits at least.- A fact that many of his own brethren frowned upon, often threatening to do to her what he would not. Natsu never allowed it, nothing short of a prank or two. She was a light of laughter that he liked to have living.

This-? Far from what he wanted. He reached out, unsure if it was to make her face him or to wipe the last of hear tears away, only for him to pull back, golden eyes glaring at the clawed fingers he had. A strange wish whispered through his head, a thought he had had time and time again, but had carefully squashed.

I wish I was like her…

"I don't know how to answer that." She finally muttered, voice such a low whisper, even his inhuman ears almost failed to catch it. Eyes slanted back towards her huddled form, followed the curve of her back and the way her legs wrinkled the sheets. The minutes seemed to stretch for an eternity, one that he could live easily even if it choked him to wait, but Lucy's follow up struck him like holy water.

"I just don't want to be seen as a pet to you-"

This was dangerous. She shouldn't be saying these things. He shouldn't be listening to them. Wrong, wrong, absolutely wrong- he could lose everything in his world if he fell to it; she could lose more than everything. Her life, her soul- her…

"Is it wrong of me?" She asked, words cutting through him like a sharpened blade. The salt of her tears no longer permeated the well of emotions he felt in the room- her gaze fixed to a singular point on the other wall. He could just see the quiver of her bottom lip, how she bit and nibbled into it- the twitch of her jaw, every muscle movement in her face. He gulped as fire surged inside of him, twisting and twirling in a cacophony of wants and needs he wouldn't dare let free.

But then those eyes turned back to him, glistening with inner conflict that mirrored his own and he felt as if the tight coil inside his mind, so often held back by tricks and pranks, snapped. "Is it wrong to love a Demon and hope he feels the same?"

Is

It

Wrong?

Yes.

To

Love

A

Demon?

He was a creature of action, not thought. One who reacted to instincts and followed what his gut urges demanded. In the span of seconds, the heat of his body filled the entire room in a desperate wave as tarred fingers snatched the blonde from her bed, pulled her flush against him until there was no end to him or beginning of her. There was only the feel of her fragile humanity in his arms while he drank her in.

Lucy's shocked cry had been silenced by his own mouth, slanting over her, taking in her air as he poured every ounce of his fiery emotions into her. She shuddered against him and Natsu was briefly aware of his own shaking, quivering as his hands held her fast by the hips, his soul thrumming with a strange contentment when her arms encircled his shoulders, legs wrapping around him for greater purchase.

She fit against him like a weak, perfect, puzzle piece. With a gasp for air, they tumbled to the mattress, the marks of his body slightly damaging her sheets, but he was careful not to do the same to her. Towering over, Natsu pushed away, lips finally separating, swollen and red and he licked his own to remember the taste.

If he hadn't known better, he would have assumed she was an Angel: sent from the Heaven's to save his soul and drag him back from hell. The way her hair glowed in the low-light from her window, framed her face and almost blinded him. Natsu's arms quaked as he battled against himself.

It was wrong. So, terribly wrong- she knew it, that's why she asked. She knew the answer without him having to give it. They couldn't be together. Shouldn't be.

".. Natsu-?" Shaking, Lucy's quizzical gaze matched his own as she inhaled deeply, regaining the air he had taken. Slender fingers moved to trace the outlines of his face, flinching slightly when he reacted, tilting just enough to run his teeth and mouth along the tips of her fingers.

"It wasn't s'posed to be like this." He rasped, running his fingers through the curtain of her hair, trailing at the tips of her ears. "- but I was already damned before I met you, what worse could I do?"

They both knew the answer to that.

"- but do you think I'd willingly damn you right along with me?" The question came just as their breaths mingled, Lucy's eyes drilling into his own as realization of their predicament set in. He couldn't say all the words he wanted to say, not just yet. He had always been there since the beginning, had always watched her, craved her, protected her.

Everything he had done was just to cling to all the moments he could get. Until she aged, passed on, or fell in love with another. Natsu knew all along: he wasn't supposed to have her in his life, and still-...

Those soft fingers touching his heated skin now moved to filter into his brightly colored hair, scraping along the scalp. The action pulled out a pleasant rumble despite himself. Lucy sniffled, still awash in her earlier emotions, but further understood the cliff they stood on. "If loving you is a sin, then it's already too late."

She pulled him in then, but it didn't take much force. Natsu's body gave way like a crumbling building, falling against her as their lips connected once more. He branded the feel of her into his mind, felt her cling with small groans between every breath, hissing when her body moved against him, seeking for a deeper connection.

No; monsters didn't hide under the bed, but they did watch from the darkness- secretly dreaming of a life full of light, a chance to escape their hell. As temperatures rose in the room and clothes dissolved between them, the rapture of Lucy's sweet cries was a light Natsu would forever find addicting.

Were they both damned? He had only meant to keep it all a game, but now it had become a need for survival. One this monster refused to be rid of.

I'll be taking a short break from updating this Anthology in order to try and Get 'Flame's Desire' and 'Red Herring' Updated.