The months began to fly by as the two lived pretty much as mother and son. Though the transition was awkward at first they eventually were able to settle in and the boy had even asked for permission to call her 'Mom'. She allowed it and for the first few times was unsure if she made the right call but quickly got used to it.
She was happier than she had been in a long time. So naturally something had to come along to try and smash that happiness.
That night was supposed to be a rather quiet and fun night. Blaze had talked the boy out of a fishing job in favor of a movie night, just the two of them and all the snack food the boy could eat. Which was a lot. They had pulled all the blankets and pillows in the house to the living room and had torn apart the couches for their cushions. Before them laid all the makings of the greatest pillow fort of all time. It had become a monthly event that they did, starting from Iruma never having a chance to make a fort as a child. Blaze tried to give him every possible opportunity to do the things he never did.
"Put it there, you little punk." The woman groaned as Iruma purposefully put the cushion on her head.
"Here?" He jerked his arm to the side knocking over the other side of the fort. For a brief moment panic littered his face, he immediately bent his head. "I'm sorry. I…" He cut himself off by slapping a hand to his mouth, but the damage was done.
"Nuh-uh. I heard it." Blaze reached over her head and pulled out a pickle jar that was rather full of money. "In. Come on. Cough up them dollar bills." She chuckled at the boy as he struggled not to say the word again. He got up and moved to his room, coming back with a dollar which he shoved into the jar opening with a pout.
"This thing takes most of my paycheck." The kid sighed. He had gotten a little of Blaze's attitude from her over the course of staying together. He was still sweet and often overly generous but every now and then he would sass off a little and complain more than he used to. In fact, in an effort to curb his habit of making everything his fault she created the 'Unnecessary Apologies' jar, which was beginning to fill up over the last seven months.
"There are two ways to fix that. Quit apologizing or quit working." She shook the jar before replacing it. "I for one like having the extra money on hand. Helps out feeding you."
The boy pouted a bit more before launching into stacking the fort. They didn't take too long as they had done this quite a few times and as they laid out the snacks they were ready. Blaze raised the blanket letting the boy sneak under. "Alright time for A Man from UNCLE." As the title began, the power cut out leaving the two in complete darkness.
"What?" The boy looked around in the dark trying to see.
"The power probably went out. Hold on. My purse was on the other side of the couch. Can you reach it?" Blaze put her hand on the boy as he leaned over. She didn't want him to lean back up and clock her.
"Got it." He cried. "Here." He handed her the bag. She looked at him and he looked at her. They could see each other but the world had gotten no brighter. That wasn't right, the world around them had turned a blurred purple.
A deep rumbling voice echoed behind them and both humans whipped their heads around. A very tall man stood in what was once her couch but was now a void of darkness. He stood in a weird purple suit that was a different shade from the surroundings. He was bald and had two horns. He had little glasses that hid his eyes and a white puffy mustache.
Was she dreaming?
He spoke again in that deep abyssal voice. The boy was yanked from her arms by some strong invisible force as ropes wrapped around him and a sign saying sold appeared on him. Was this man the devil?
She reached forward, grabbing hold of the ropes. "Wait, please!" She cried desperately. She wasn't sure what was going on but she knew that this man was taking her son. "Not him! Don't take him!"
The man spoke again but she couldn't understand him. With a snap of his fingers, she felt her mind tingle. "Release him mortal. I have a contract. His parents have sold him to me."
Contract!? Sold? Those bastards. She felt rage build within her. Those fucks had complained to her before she had taken custody of the boy that they would be unable to provide for themselves. She never expected they would stoop to such a low level.
"No, I refuse. I have custody of him. They have no rights to sell him." Iruma seemed startled by her scream as she desperately clutched him to her body. "Cancel it." She clawed at the bindings hoping to find a way to detangle them.
"Unless he is previously contracted, I will not cancel it." The devil spoke in his deep and dreadful voice but his words struck a chord through her.
Wait, a previous contract.
"Wait, wait. I have a contract." She was desperate to get him to halt his kidnapping. "He and I are contracted to stay together. You can't take him."
The devil reached his hand, summoning a familiar loose leaf paper into it. The man looked over the simplistic contract. The woman wasn't religious but she prayed to whoever would listen that he would not take him from her.
"I see. This changes nothing. I just need to take you with me." Thick ropes bound her up just like Iruma and she could feel something hard and pointy dig into her ribs. Her purse must have still been on her person when she was bound up. "This is your last chance. If you leave the contract in place, I will drag you to hell with Iruma."
She didn't even so much as hesitate. Whether it was the fear of being alone without the boy or the love she felt for the overly kind boy she sneered at the devil. "Well you better start dragging, because I won't abandon him." She turned her eyes to the boy. He was starting to tear up and she smiled at him. "I'm in this for the long haul, Iruma."
Blaze was like 97% sure she had missed something even though she had been present for the whole recent experience. She had been dragged to hell with her son by an evil looking devil but somehow she found herself here. In a brightly lit manor, in a love seat with Iruma seated half on, half beside her and aforementioned devil was crying in front of them as he begged while the room around her was clearly designed to welcome them. "Won't you please be my grandchild and daughter?"
"What?!" Both humans echoed in shock.
"I just want a sweet daughter and lovely grandson to spoil rotten. I have always wanted a little grandchild and you come with a mother to be my lovely daughter." She wasn't really sure what the hell was going on but this was not the vibe she got when he first met them.
"I don't know, do we even have a choice?" Iruma asked from beside the woman.
"Of course, if you truly don't want to be my kin then I will respect that choice." The man sulked for a second before throwing himself in their laps crying big fat tears from his eyes. "But that is why I am pushing you so hard. Please, help an old man fulfill his dying wish? I am begging you."
Blaze closed her eyes exasperated. He got them. He must have done his research with Iruma to know that those were words that the boy could not deny. Please, help, and I beg you. The triple whammy had the boy signing the paper before she could really stop him. She sighed. "So now what?" She grumbled.
"Well, I have to make a contract for you before you can sign, so…" He clapped his hands transforming the room from greeting hall to a pretty spacious bedroom. She inspected the large blue bed. It was definitely big and comfy much more than either human had in their world. "This is my sweet Iruma's room. We've got lots of room for you to add things that catch your interest in the netherworld. As your grandfather, I am now in charge of ensuring both of you are spoiled rotten. I'll provide you with clothes, shelter, food, trinkets and baubles, and your…" He snapped his fingers at Iruma and he was no longer in his ratty pajamas but a blue sailor suit complete with a little tie that had a red slitted eye clip. "Education."
The boy looked amazed at the transformation but frowned. "What about mom?"
"Your mother and I have to draw up a contract together. So we will sort that out after dinner."
"Dinner?" The boy's eyes shined brightly and his stomach growled at the thought of food.
"If you will follow me." A new voice caused the pink haired woman to squeak and move away from the new arrival. They were just about her height and had bright red kitty ears nestled into their equally red hair. With their pale skin and slight build she couldn't pinpoint their gender, almost as if it were purposefully concealed.
"Who are you?" Blaze asked.
"My name is Opera and I am the security demon of this clan, My Lady." He gave a neat bow. He seemed completely fine that this had transpired. Like the Great Demon Sullivan had not just kidnapped a child and his mother. "I have dinner prepared and will lead you to the dinning hall."
Iruma bounced slightly beside her and she took his hand following the new 'demon' to the dining hall.
It seemed demons didn't do anything subtly as the aforementioned room was a literal hall with a long white table that could seat at least 10 people and was laden with much more food than it would normally take to feed the four of them. Unless demons had huge appetites. Which they could and she would never know the difference. Iruma found a seat across the table from her and began digging in with gusto. She wasn't sure what to try as all of it looked…less than appetizing.
"What is this?" She asked no one in particular. The red cat demon moved over to her and began pointing out each thing.
"Before you is the Fire Lance, stewed in various herbs. This is a Hell Sheve…" They were interrupted by Blaze.
"I don't know what those things are." She felt a little bad cutting them off but even though she could understand the words they were saying she had no idea what they were talking about.
"Would you like me to fix a plate of my own favorites for you to sample?" The demon didn't seem perturbed by the woman's hesitation at all. With her simple nod, they went around and picked up little pieces of certain dishes before setting it in front of her. "Here you are, ma'am."
"Thank you Opera." The demon didn't seem to expect that but they liked it. The plate had many things on it but was portioned so each was a single bite. Surprisingly there wasn't anything on the plate she hated. She made little sounds of appreciation with each bite and was completely oblivious to the two demons staring at her. They weren't annoyed with her, just observing the soon to be mistress of the house. While Iruma would be the young master there were no females in the house to be the mistress.
That came with much and as soon as she signed her contract he would be tied to her and her authority would come just after Lord Sullivan's. She seemed easy enough to please. "Blaze." Sullivan called her attention away from the food as she was finishing up. "Would you like to put Iruma to bed? You'll be very busy for a few days."
Both humans looked confusedly at the demon. "She won't be able to see me? Why?" Iruma asked and the two of them wanted to know what the answer to that was.
"Blaze and I need to make an official contract. It will take a few days to accomplish plus the time it will take for her to learn the basics." The woman looked down at Iruma.
"Well, you have school tomorrow so I guess it is time to put you to bed." She sighed sadly. "It sounds like I am going to miss your first day of school."
"If it will make you feel any better I'm recording the whole thing." The cheery demon butted in. "Now off to bed and then you need to come back here." He directed his last words to Blaze as she waved a semi-dismissive hand at him.
Allowing the boy the privacy to change and tucking him into bed didn't take long but the woman lingered even after the boy had gotten settled. "Looks like I'm breaking one of the conditions, so have you given any thought to my punishment."
It hadn't been the first time she had been unable to spend time with the boy due to work or what not. "When you come back, I want that movie night." He spoke the words softly, unsure if he should or not.
"You got it." She rubbed the top of his head, mussing the little hair antenna. Her quite laugh trailed off into a frown. "You sure about all this kid? I mean if you really don't want to be here then I'll find a way you know that right?"
"I know and if you weren't here then I probably would hate it but…do I have anything in the human world to go back to without you?" His eyes weren't sad. To him, he was just stating a fact. And she hated that she related so strongly to that. Aside from her books the boy was the only good thing in her world.
"Alright kid. I just wanted to know where you stood on this." She kissed his forehead. "Now sleep. I want you to have a wonderful day tomorrow."
Blaze came back down to the dining hall with a heavier heart. She wasn't sure what was in store for her but she would face it. For her boy.
The door to the hall swung open revealing the room to look much different than the last time she had entered it. The food and the table were gone and in their place was a large intricate circle. "What's all this then?"
"This will be the spell circle we create our contract in. It is a bit tighter than your son's." Sullivan informed her. "I must know what you want in your contract so we can adjust the circle."
"I can ask for whatever I want?" Blaze asked skeptically. When the demon nodded she leaned forward. "I want the power to protect my son here. I heard you tell him that if we are exposed as humans we can get eaten."
"Is that all?"
"No, I want…I want my books from the apartment." She grinned with a smug look. "Bet that is gonna be a tall order. Demons don't just show up to the human world or we would have known about it. I bet there is a pretty strict protocol for going to the human world."
"There is but I have your books." Sullivan tutted. "I couldn't make it look like you were kidnapped so I cleaned your apartment and used a spell that makes anyone who remembers you forget you existed. No need to cause a panic."
"How convenient." She grimaced. "I don't think going missing would put anyone in a panic though. We stuck to ourselves mostly."
"Is this all?" The older demon asked. "You could ask for anything."
"Well," The woman frowned. She didn't need something like unlimited money or unlimited power. All she cared about in the world she had. "I want Iruma to experience everything he's been unable to until this point. I want him to make friends, and play. I want him to live out the rest of his childhood without having to give it all up."
A smile graced the lips of the demon. Of all the people that Iruma could have been with, he was pleased to find that she was good hearted like him. "Very well, I shall add a few conditions for you, and there." A long sheet of parchment paper unravels in front of her and words bleed into the paper. His voice turned darker and his body language went stiff. "I can give you what you want but I will make you my daughter by blood and by mana. I can't do that for Iruma since his body still has some growing to do."
"Are you saying you're going to turn me into a demon?"
"More or less, you cannot turn a living human into a demon. Doing this would make you a pure-blooded witch." He explained. "All witch bloodlines begin this way. But becoming a full blooded witch will help you not only protect yourself but Iruma as well."
"You had me at Iruma." The girl grinned.
"That was the end of the whole thing." The demon broke his sinister character to pout, but he recovered from that quickly. "You'll be unconscious for a few days and need some training after that. You will probably take years to fully master your abilities."
"Listen Pops." The pinkette threw her braid over her shoulder. "I'm no stranger to hard work."
"When you are ready, step into the circle."
"Wait, we are doing this now?" She squeaked.
"Yes, it would be best to get it done sooner rather than later. I didn't prepare any extra scent blocker for you as I was only getting a grandson. This will make you smell of my kin and people won't question it. If you go through with this you can not return to the human world even if Iruma decides to go back. You will forever be a denizen of the netherworld." She felt like the demon wasn't giving her the whole truth but did she even have a reason to stay completely human. If Iruma was staying here, did she even have anything in the human world that was worth going back for?
Her family were the last people she wanted to see, she had no friends and even a dead mouse had a more exciting love life than her. No pets, no goals, no life outside the dead end job until Iruma came along. Staying here would require this so she didn't see any real point in postponing it when she thought about it.
"Alright." She gave a nod. "I'm ready." She said, stepping into the circle. Ruins appeared as Sullivan followed her in.
"The process is fairly straightforward." He released the contract in his hand and let it float in the air before the words on the page drifted off and fluttered around them. They spun around them slowly at first but the speed picked up with each rotation. "Blaze Harrison, is it your decision to take on my blood and magic as you own."
"Sure." She nodded. He grabbed her hand and gave the tip of her finger a little stab with his claws. "Ah." She cried out snatching her hand back while droplets of her splattered on the circle below and the color changed from white to blood red.
"I need you to hold out your hands so I can transfer the mana." She followed his instructions, mind beginning to feel fuzzy. She felt his hands press against her when a horrible pain ripped at her chest. A scream left her mouth and her body convulsed. It felt like someone poured molten metal in her veins.
Outside of the circle, Opera started on in concern. The room was soundproof thanks to the spell Lord Sullivan had cast while the woman was up with her son. He had never seen this ritual be done. It was a part of the dark ages, when even Lord Sullivan had been young. For good reason, they thought as the woman convulsed from the formation of her mana core.
The toll on her body would be great but the payoff was that she would be able to for her own magic. She would have the backing and prestige of her father's clan to help live in the demon world.
Her scream cut off as the light of the spell and the words that formed golden chains bound the two in the contract. She was now the blood daughter of Sullivan and she was no longer human. As the woman's body began to fall her new father caught her softly. "Let's put her in her room, Opera. She'll need a lot of rest after this."
