Chapter 3 – Pleasantries
"So what you're saying is that I'm not completely human, and those men knew so they wanted to kill me." Leah slowly drew out each phrase, trying to summarize what Sebastian had been explaining to her for the past few minutes.
"Almost," the demon corrected, "but I don't think those men personally cared. I reckon that they were impelled by a greater power."
"Like... a demon?" Leah shot him a curious glance.
"Perhaps, but there are other forces at work than just my people."
Leah gulped. "Like what?"
"Angels, grim reapers, spell casters..." he counted them off his fingers. "Those are the only ones I have encountered."
The young woman sunk back into the couch, heaving a large sigh which caught Sebastian's attention.
"What's wrong?" he asked, remembering to be more sensitive after being called out earlier.
"It feels like my world has just been turned upside down," she replied, staring forward at nothing in particular. "Everything that you've told me, it doesn't make sense! Demons and angels aren't supposed to be real!"
"I'm slightly offended by that."
"Sorry," she apologized, offering him a weak smile, "but it's hard to absorb all this in. I mean, if you supernatural beings exist, why have we never heard of you before? There's bound to be some kind of supernatural event that made it to all the top headlines."
"We take precautions to be discreet," explained Sebastian. "And you probably have never seen us because your city is quite... dull, to be frank. We are attracted to chaos, and this is hardly such a place."
"Until now apparently..."
"Yes," he agreed, "until now..." He studied her face briefly as she stared off into space. Her expression was difficult to read: somewhere between frustration, acceptance, and determination. All morning long, he had been waiting for her to break –to explode into a hysterical fit, scream at him, scream at the world, and cry herself numbingly to sleep. However, despite her earlier bout, she had been surprisingly compliant and thoughtful about the entire situation. He was rather impressed with this mortal's ability to cope.
"So now what?"
Her question snapped him out of his thoughts. He found himself met with a pair of hard-set eyes, resolute and eager for instruction.
"Well, first we need to figure out if you are truly human."
"Shouldn't that be obvious?" She arched a brow.
"Not quite." Sebastian stood up from his seat and walked over to where she was sitting. To her surprise, he kneeled down to one knee in front of her and gingerly took hold of one of her hands.
Leah sat up with a start, reflexively jerking her hand out of his clasp. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" She eyed him suspiciously, following his every movement in case he tried something funny again.
"I am determining whether or not you are human," he replied innocently.
"And why exactly do you need my hand for that?"
"I need to taste your blood. And I assumed the hand is the most proper place to do so. Unless..." he flashed her a mischievous grin, "...you have another place in mind."
"What?" Leah shrank away from him, shaking her head manically. "Ew! No!"
"Then will you please lend me your hand for a second?" he asked gentler, offering his hand toward her. "The sooner we find out, the sooner we know why you were attacked."
Leah stared at his hand, still uncertain of whether to trust him. After awhile, she extended her hand out reluctantly and asked, "Will it hurt?"
Sebastian was silent for a moment, then began to chuckle. "You were bleeding buckets last night without a complaint, and now you are apprehensive about a tiny puncture?"
The demon's laughter ceased when he saw the fear evident in her eyes. Immediately, he realized that this wasn't about the pain, but about her being able to trust him. His face softened slightly as he tried to comfort her.
"Don't worry, it will only be a prick."
He took her hand gently and raised it to his lips, searching her face for approval. When she turned to look away, he quickly pierced her index fingertip with his teeth. He barely heard her gasp as the taste of her blood met his tongue. All his senses were directly toward that metallic flow, searching for a clue...
After a few more seconds, Sebastian removed his lips, took a tissue from a box on the coffee table and wrapped it around her finger.
"Well?" Leah inquired eagerly, drawing back her hand and leaning forward to hear what he had to say.
"You're human..." he stated, meeting her gaze.
"I sense a 'but'."
"...but you are incomplete."
A moment of silence ensued as both tried to comprehend the news.
"What do you mean?"
"The blood is an indirect gateway to understanding a person's soul." Sebastian waited for her acknowledgement.
"Yes, go on?"
"And the soul determines if one is human or not," he continued. "Yours was human, but it seems to be missing a piece."
"My soul is... missing a piece?" She didn't know whether to be confused or completely mortified.
"Yes. There is a void in your soul, however what's left is completely human."
"I see... so, I am human."
"For the time being. If you are to reclaim the missing soul fragment, however, you may be more than just human."
"Wait, hold on a sec," Leah waved her hands between them, "how come I am not aware of any of this? Wouldn't I know if I lost a piece of my soul, or if I'm... er... not human?" The insane prospect that she was not human was mind-blowing and almost incomprehensible at this point.
The demon scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I don't think so. My hypothesis would be that you would lose the memories associated with that soul fragment."
The mention of memories caused her to freeze. 'It had to be a coincidence,' she thought, her mind racing frantically at the possibilities.
Sebastian took notice of her unease and was quick to react. "Leah? What's wrong?"
"I... I-" she slowly met his gaze. "Let's just say my memory isn't my strongest point..."
At this, the demon's eyes narrowed slightly; a flash of red glazed over them. "Please explain."
Leah was about to disclose what the doctors told her a year ago regarding her memory loss, but a knock at her front door proceeded to interrupt their conversation.
"We will continue this after," stated Sebastian. He appeared rather annoyed at the unplanned intrusion but sat back in his seat nonetheless to wait patiently while Leah went to deal with the visitor.
The woman opened the door to reveal a brown-haired man who appeared to be in his twenties. A pair of thick-brimmed brand name glasses was fitted over joyful eyes.
"Jamie!" Leah took a step back, surprised to see her co-worker at her doorstep. "What are you doing here?"
Smiling broadly, he greeted her cheerfully, "Hey Leah! What, can't someone visit a friend on his day off?"
"Oh no, I didn't mean it that way," she replied, "I just wasn't expecting you. Normally you'd call."
"Well, I thought I'd surprise you this time!"
"Mission accomplished then!" she laughed. It was impossible to not smile around Jamie. His enthusiasm and charm was infectious.
"So..." Jamie glanced at her expectantly, "You going to let me in?"
"Oh!" Leah hesitated for a moment, pondering whether it would be a good idea to let Jamie meet Sebastian. "Um... I was actually thin-"
"Now Leah, that's not the way to greet a friend." A smooth low voice sounded near her ear, and she suddenly became aware of her special guest suddenly standing right behind her. "Let the poor guy in."
"Ah," Jamie was momentarily surprised by the other masculine presence. As Sebastian stepped into view, Leah couldn't help but notice her friend sizing him up with a quick vertical sweep. The demon, she guessed, was doing the same to Jamie.
"I didn't know you had company, Leah," Jamie said after a pause. "We can hang out some other time."
Before Leah could open her mouth to speak, Sebastian had already begun. "No, please come right in. I'd love to meet some of Leah's friends."
"Alright," Jamie smiled hesitantly, "if you say so." He then turned toward Leah, "You alright with this?"
"Yeah, of course," she motioned for him to enter then proceeded to close the door while the two men introduced themselves to each other and went to sit down.
"You'll have to excuse her manners," Sebastian explained to Jamie, clearly enjoying the evil looks he was receiving from Leah. "We had a rough night last night, and the effects are still wearing off for her."
Leah practically choked on her own saliva upon hearing his rather witty explanation. She couldn't believe it. They had not even known each other for one day and he was already injecting innuendos about her into casual discourse. Were all demons as distorted and lewd as he was? Who did he think he was? Teasing her in front of her friends like that... He had no right!
Jamie didn't seem to know how to take Sebastian's explanation and merely offered a general statement. "Oh... well I hope everything gets better..."
Either he was oblivious to the demon's insinuation, or he chose to ignore it out of consideration for Leah. She, on the other hand, had half a mind to grab a pan from the kitchen and smack Sebastian over the head with it. The other option that was just as appealing was to simply completely disappear from the room.
Instead of doing any of the above, Leah decided to stick to being a reasonable individual.
"What he means," she clarified, "is that work really took it out of me yesterday. Just recovering from the tiredness today I suppose."
She took a seat next to Jamie, who kindly shifted over on the couch to give her more room. The two of them faced Sebastian, and she took this opportunity to continue shooting visual daggers at him. The demon in turn, just sat there grinning cheekily at the two humans opposite him. Luckily, Jamie did not notice the non-verbal communication that was occurring around him and continued to lead the conversation.
"So Sebastian, you're Leah's friend?" Jamie asked the demon.
Before the demon could offer a smart-ass reply, Leah quickly butted in, "I'd consider him more as an acquaintance. I haven't known him for too long."
Sebastian cocked his head slightly to the side, deciding to play along with her story but also injecting his own details just for kicks. "Now Leah, don't be shy. I'd say we're more than just acquaintances." And for the punch line... "I mean, if we weren't friends, you wouldn't be letting me stay at your place, would you?"
Where were the forks and knives when she needed them most?
"If you need a place to crash, I have space in my apartment," Jamie offered. "My roommate is gone for a few months."
"Thank you for your kind consideration," Sebastian smiled, "but I won't be here long. Leah has been quite hospitable, and plus we have quite of bit of catching up to do. Don't we, Leah?"
"Too much," she agreed, feigning congeniality.
And so the afternoon continued on with the three adults discussing light topics. The tension that initially smothered the room gradually dissipated over time, leaving a more relaxed –yet still cautious atmosphere.
"Ah, look at the time!" Jamie glanced up from his watch, surprised at how long they had been talking.
"Don't you have work at six?" asked Leah, recalling his work schedule.
"Yeah, I better get going before Nick decides to cut my pay again," he stood up, grinning. Turning to Sebastian, he reached out his hand, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Sebastian."
"Likewise." The demon shook Jamie's outstretched hand firmly, smiling slightly when he noticed the other man's eyes flit over his black nails before meeting his eyes again.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," she said as she led Jamie to the door, Sebastian following behind.
"You're not working today?" he asked, confused.
"Nah, I took Gill's shift last night so Nick let me take today off," she explained.
"Oh, then yea, see ya tomorrow."
To Leah's surprise, he gave her a gentle hug, something he normally didn't do. Well, not unless they were out drunk with a group of friends or something. Nevertheless, she returned the gesture then watched him leave.
"What was that all about?" Sebastian cocked a brow at her amusedly.
"What do you mean?"
He opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it again. "Never mind," he grinned, quickly changing the subject before she could object. "So what are you having for dinner?"
The abrupt question surprised her. She furrowed her brow in frustration, "Shouldn't we be continuing our earlier discussion?"
"You mean about your memory?" He was striding to the refrigerator already. Not waiting for her acknowledgement, he continued, "Don't worry, I have something planned for you already. It should help decipher a large piece of the puzzle..."
His voice drifted off before becoming silent. Leah followed him into the kitchen, expecting him to finish his thoughts. Her expression became one of annoyance when he gave no inclination of pursuing further explanation.
"Would you care to elaborate?" She leaned against the counter, arms folded over her chest as her piercing eyes drilled the demon.
Sebastian looked up from the vegetables he was currently chopping to meet her gaze. "I'm taking you to meet someone who is incredibly perceptive. He should be able to tell us more about you."
"Who is this person? And what makes you think he'll have all the answers. You're a supernatural being, aren't you?" she mocked, "and yet you couldn't seem to figure out much."
The demon sighed. He understood why she was so speculative; however he was unimpressed by her tone and attitude, and certainly did not enjoy being the target of her mockery. She was but a mere human, at least for the moment. A disposable creature. He could snap her in two if he so chose to and it wouldn't mean a thing to him, though taking the current events into consideration, it may redirect the outcome. He reminded himself to be patient; to tolerate her mannerisms.
"You're right, my abilities are limited," he admitted, resuming his chopping. "However, I assure you that the person I am taking you to see is knowledgeable on all historical supernatural accounts. His wisdom far outshines mine, although..." he paused, turning to shoot her a laugh.
"What?" she probed.
"...I'm afraid his sanity is questionable."
"Oh great." That wasn't exactly what Leah wanted to hear: that she was going to be meeting a wise-ass lunatic.
"Don't worry though," said Sebastian, "his mental state won't deter him from offering us the information we need."
Leah didn't bother responding to the demon's reassurance. Instead, she had fallen silent, trying to digest everything. As she watched Sebastian continue his culinary work, her mind had drifted to other things... like why he enjoyed working in the kitchen so much. It was strange, even comical, to pair a demon with cooking. He seemed to follow her train of thought and spoke before she even asked.
"It's out of habit, if you're wondering," he explained, "I used to be a butler. Well, act as a butler."
"A butler?" Leah smirked, "I didn't know demons held such menial positions."
"It's more complicated than you may think," he said quietly. "As a demon, I am bound to my contract... and my master. I do everything in my power to fulfill his bidding. It just so happens that my last master appointed me as his butler."
"You did all his housework?" she asked.
"Yes, and much more."
"To what extent?"
He slowly turned to capture her eyes with his, "to the extent of killing for him."
An involuntary shiver ran down her spine at his words. Their eyes were locked, and as much as she wished she could not tear her gaze away. He was a murderer, she knew that, and yet she wanted to know more.
"And what reward do you get in return?"
The corners of his lips lifted in a sinister smile.
"A soul."
Leah gulped. Just her luck... she was working alongside a soul-sucking demon, literally.
A/N:
For those of you wondering if this is an OCxSebby fic, I actually don't know yet. I'm not sure how I can inject romance appropriately into the story since it's mostly action and drama, but if there's enough interest, I might consider it and see how it goes. Regardless though, the main focus will not be romance.
Anywho, thanks for reading, and remember to review. I enjoy constructive criticism as well as creative ideas :)
ps. Who do you think Sebby is bringing Leah to meet? (Hint: it's a canon character.)