Meanwhile, David wasn't really aware of what he was doing; he remembered going to get a drink for her, and then – nothing. It was like Illshya was suddenly control his movements, because the next thing he knew he was biting her, feeling her blood slide down his throat.
Remembering what William had said about her blood being tainted, David could sense it too, because it mostly was sweet and sugary, nothing at all like the demon's blood had been, and certainly nothing like normal female vampires'.
'You've done well, pet. Stop drinking now, she's out cold. The drug will keep her under long enough for you to take her to where I want her.'
David actually had to fight the demon's voice in his head, he didn't want to stop, the night was just starting to get interesting for him.
'I SAID STOP.' Came Illshya's voice, annoyed.
Reluctantly David pulled his mouth away from AJ's neck, licking the droplets of blood that fell onto her skin, adjusting the now dead-weight girl in his arms so he could carry her.
'Alright, where to?' he asked.
'There's a funeral home in town you should remember – it's where the service was held for my host. Just putting the hybrid there should mentally damage her, it'll be fun to watch. Come along now, we don't have time to waste.'
He nodded, hoping the demon would stay true to her word about not truly hurting AJ. With a heavy sigh, he started towards the door of the club, back outside to do Illshya's bidding.
After depositing AJ's unconscious form in the basement of the funeral home, David returned to Pierre's house. He entered the house silently. His head was throbbing and as he looked around the darkened room, he wondered how he had gotten there in the first place. His eyes drifted over the couch where he recognized Pierre's sleeping form. He stared, confused for a moment, but then he remembered that since Mikey and Bob were also staying with them, Pierre had given up his bed for Mikey. He stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do.
"You know what you must do," came a voice. He recognized it as Illshya's voice.
"How? There is nothing to write it with," David replied, his voice neutral and flat.
"In order to achieve greatness, sacrifices must be made. I require a blood sacrifice. Retrieve a knife and a bowl from the kitchen."
David's feet carried him to the kitchen, seemingly of their own volition. He retrieved a sharp knife from the drawer and a bowl from the cupboard and walked back into the living room. He put the blade to his own wrist.
"No, pet, that is not necessary. You have been loyal enough. In this instance, I require the blood of another. Use the Earthbender," Illshya commanded.
David walked over to Pierre and knelt down.
"And if he should awaken?" David asked as he grabbed hold of Pierre's wrist
"He will not. I will see to it that he does not."
Just as David put the blade to Pierre's wrist, he heard footsteps. He spun around and stood up, placing the knife into his pocket. Chuck came padding softly down the hallway.
"David? What are you doing?" he asked with a yawn as he walked into the kitchen
"Don't worry about it. What are you doing?" David replied
Chuck came out of the kitchen holding a glass of water.
"Just needed some water. Seriously, what are you up to?" he asked, giving David a look
"Nothing, I swear! Just go back to bed."
Chuck shrugged and walked back down the hallway.
"You'd better not be drawing all over Pierre's face again. You know how mad he gets," Chuck called over his shoulder.
"I'm not, I'm not," David replied, sticking his tongue out.
He waited until he heard Chuck's door close once again. He knelt down next to Pierre and grabbed his wrist. Pulling the blade out of his pocket, he put the cold steel to Pierre's wrist and dragged it slowly across. Pierre grimaced in his sleep, but he did not awaken. As the blood began to flow into the bowl, David absentmindedly licked his lips.
"Go ahead, pet. You have been good and deserve a reward," Illshya said once enough blood had accumulated in the bowl.
David brought Pierre's wrist to his mouth and gently lapped the blood from the wound, delighting in its familiar taste. In his sleep, Pierre made a noise of contentment.
Eventually, the wound stopped bleeding, though David knew it would still leave a scar. He licked the remaining blood off of the knife, careful not to cut himself. He placed the knife on the coffee table and walked to the wall opposite. The wall was bare, save for the coat of beige paint.
"What should I write?" David asked
"Here, let me guide your hand," said a voice from beside him. Illshya had appeared next to him.
She grabbed onto David's wrist and dipped his finger in the blood. Using it like a sort of grotesque finger paint, she began to paint symbols on the wall. It only took about 20 minutes before the entire wall was covered in the strange markings.
"What does it mean?"
"Well, if the wizard is as clever as I think he is, it will only be a matter of time before he figures out that this is a note detailing where to find the hybrid. Come along, pet. Now we get to sit back and relax for the time being. When the moon rises again tomorrow, that is when the real fun begins," Illshya said with a smile as she led David away, still holding onto his wrist.
She opened up a dimensional portal and stepped through. When they exited the portal, they were standing in front of a small funeral home. It was a modest little building, but already there were signs of decay. Shortly after the funeral for Amelia, the building had caught fire and had since been condemned. This was the place where Illshya was keeping Addie. After David had brought her back, they had placed her in the darkened basement and closed the door.
Illshya ascended the stairs after checking on AJ. David was leaning against the doorframe of the room where the bodies were displayed. He felt utterly drained.
"Something is troubling you, pet. What is it?" Illshya asked, walking closer
"There's a lot of negative energy here. People have died, and I can feel the pain and darkness," he replied, rubbing his eyes.
At his statement, Illshya laughed. David immediately stood up straight.
"What's so funny?" he demanded, staring the demon down
"Emotions. You humans have so many of them, and they make you weak, especially the ones like love and joy and sadness," she spat, disgusted.
"But that's what makes us human! Without those, we would all be psychopaths like you!"
"True, but the way that you fawn over others, the way that you cry when someone dies...it disgusts me! On the contrary, I enjoy fear and terror, the raging panic that settles in your bones as the chemicals flood your brain. I thrive off of fear."
"So, like the things you've made me see?" he asked
Illshya nodded. "Fear is one of the most powerful emotions there is. If you think though that the things that I have made you see are terrible, you should have been alive back when I ruled. In my time, nightmares walked among us. Walked and danced, skewering victims in plain sight, laying their fears and worst desires out for everyone to see. This to make us laugh. And now nightmares are trapped inside the heads of humans...It amuses me how weak you are, crying out in the middle of the night for your friends to come and save you. Little to do you realize, pet, that there is nothing they can do to save you!"
"Oh yeah? Well, you're wrong! My friends are going to find a way to get rid of you. You say that you despise the weak emotions, but what about rage? Pure, murderous rage? Because that is what you'll find yourself up against if you keep this up!"
Illshya closed the gap that had formed between the two of them. Though in Amelia's body she was shorter than David, the cold fire burning behind her eyes intimidated him like no other.
"Is that a threat?" Illshya asked, her voice soft but dangerous
David did not reply, but he stared into her eyes. She turned away from him and walked away. As she turned away, he grabbed her by the wrist. She looked at him curiously. Before she could say anything, he had closed the gap between the two of them and kissed her. When he pulled back, he found that his teeth had once again lengthened into fangs. Illshya regarded him curiously.
"What's this?" she asked
"Nothing. I just really wanted you to stop talking," he replied, his voice low. Illshya smirked. Two could play that game.
"Well, if you really wanted me to stop talking," she started, reversing his hold on her wrist so she had control, turning everything in her favor, "You would've known to watch your back."
Two seconds later she had David pinned against the wall, one hand in his hair as she kissed him.
Absentmindedly his hands grabbed for her hips, pulling her closer against him, he growling as she tugged his hair, trying to pull herself up against him.
She broke the kiss when she felt him smile into it, his hands roaming down her body to pick her up, and the demon allowed her legs to wrap around his waist as he flipped them, balancing her against the wall as he pressed into her again, his lips finding her neck.
She couldn't help but give a soft moan in satisfaction at how quickly he'd played along; the pressure of his body against hers was clue enough, dancing with the hybrid at the club had started this and she was only prolonging it.
"Mhm – p-pet d-d-"
He laughed, "For the demoness of Hell, you're sure acting mortal."
"Mortal? Hm. It's a petty expression. I could stay quiet if I wished, it's more-"
She bit her lip and inhaled as he gently bit down, last words of the sentence coming out as a breathless whisper that only drove him crazy, "For you."
"Alright, hell that's it – there's a morgue here, where they store and prep the bodies…it's not by where Addie is, but – metal tables. Something to lie on."
Illysha made a noise of approval.
"Kinky."
Five minutes later his mind had said fuck it and he opted for one the carpeted display rooms, the demon flat on her back as he straddled her, her hands reaching up under his shirt to mark his chest and sides with scratches, shortly after he'd pulled her own shirt over her head.
How hadn't he bit her yet, he wasn't completely sur.-
And then, David realized how unsettling the whole situation was. The fact he was about to let a demon seduce him wasn't what was scaring him, however.
It was the fact that she looked like Amelia.
He just – he couldn't. There was so much that seemed familiar, too familiar for him to want to take it any further.
The demon really did like playing with his head, he realized as he looked at her – chest rising and falling in breathing that was elevated in anticipation, mouth half open in a sultry pant, green eyes completely glazed over in lust, hair having been rustled out of its braid into a now-messy ponytail.
When he seemed to freeze into his thoughts, Illshya bucked her hips and tried to sit up against him, surprised when he wouldn't look at her and got up off her, re-buttoning his jeans with an almost pitiful sigh.
"What's the matter, pet? Demon got your tongue?" she called after him, pulling the blouse back over her head with a smirk.
"I. I can't."
She knelt next to him when he sat on the steps towards the casket display, reaching to put one hand on his cheek, though he brushed her off.
"Ten minutes ago you had me pinned to the wall, what changed? You mortals are funny little creatures."
"Ten minutes ago I didn't realize how much you reminded me of Amelia, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to go away."
Illshya laughed.
"Aw, pet. Going to throw me out so soon? Well, why don't you go on then? Go on home, I have to stay here for awhile, I have quite a surprise planned for the hybrid."
David's eyes widened.
"You promise to not hurt her!"
She shook her head.
"I only promised I wouldn't physically hurt her, pet. Mentally she can suffer all she wants, I don't care, it's fun."
"It's fun? I give up. I hate how you've controlled me – kidnapping Addie was the last thing I wanted to do, and the fact that you almost had me-"
"Oh you know you liked it. There's a darkside in everyone, pet. Even you can't hide from yourself. Now go on – go home then, like you wanted."
David turned to glare at the demon, standing as he looked at the dimensional portal she'd just created.
"Fine then, I will. And when I come back? I'll have my friends. We'll end you, once and for all."
"Oh, but pet…before you go…" here she moved faster than he could follow, standing face to face with him, one hand against his chest.
"Take a little piece of me with you." She grinned, and with that David suddenly felt her hand get insanely hot, to the point where he was sure he'd have a burn mark underneath the fabric, though it cooled shortly after as she waved with her other hand, pushing him into the portal with the other.
When he was gone and the door had closed, Illshya hummed to herself. He was completely under her control now, like it or not – that last exothermic reaction had sealed what his bite had started.
