~A Friend Indeed~

Earlier…

As he watched Amelia leave the room Stan frowned "hey Jamie you want to know a secret?"

"Hit me" he said absently.

"That whole airsoft match was a shit show."

This had Jamie glancing at him "what do you mean?"

Stan sighed and went on to give an abridged explanation of his grievances which mostly revolved around the lack of challenge he felt.

By the end of it Jamie took a moment to contemplate his answer before speaking "can't say I sympathize with your plight there Stan."

"I know, I was just venting."

"Do you want my honest opinion? Completely unfiltered and uncensored?"

Now it was Stan's turn to glance at his friend "what am I, a pussy?"

"Alright I just figure I at least owe you that courtesy since you've had the patience to carry my dead weight. Now I feel that as your friend I should tell you that you're acting like an entitled bitch."

Stan stared into Jamie's impassive eyes "…explain."

"Oh woe is me I'm so good at airsoft that it's not even a challenge anymore~" he mocked with that same bland expression and dry tone of voice "you sound like the main antagonist in an anime and that's cringe as fuck."

'…fuck he's got a point.'

"That said" Jamie continued "since this issue of yours is obviously more concerning to you I'll keep the roast to a minimum" he then cleared "so my advice, either find a different hobby or just find another aspect airsoft to enjoy" he suggested then gestured to himself.

Stan could see where Jamie was coming from. Unlike him Jamie did not take airsoft seriously most of the times they play. He treats the entire thing as if he were in a videogame with aggressive plays, shouting one-liners, taunting, bantering and generally just screwing around. He's just in it for the lols, having fun while making meme worthy fire content. Hell the reason why he chose a KSG sawed off spring loaded shotgun as his weapon wasn't because it was the best weapon or that he was particularly proficient with it but because he liked the pump action aspect.

Jamie's approach heavily contrasted Stan's own approach of treating it like a combat simulation. The only one-liners, taunting and clowning he did were either in his head or after a match. During a match however Stan was like the Terminator, a machine going through the field with focused precision and mowing down the enemy with tactical flare. Funny enough despite their contrasting methods Stan and Jamie were unironically the perfect duo.

Stan had better skill and proficiency but Jamie had creativity on his side and was a font for implementing the most unorthodox plays. Mind you these plays come as a result of Jamie just thinking completely off the rails and thinking it would make for great content which more often than not would result in him getting shot. This is where Stan comes in because not only was he the only one who would entertain Jamie's most outlandish ideas he was also skilled enough to help pull some of them off and watch his back.

Realistically most of the time the plans don't work but in the rare instances that they manage to pull one off it was truly a beautiful thing. In fact some of Jamie's highest viewed videos were of him and a masked Stan going insane-o style on the field and pulling off the sickest of airsoft trick shots and plays. As someone who admittedly took airsoft more seriously than he should Stan was not a fan of players who break the combat simulation 'immersion' and wipe their asses with it. The only reason why he even entertained Jamie with his indulgence in these goofy plays was because Stan has been a fan of Jamie since before they even met.

He got into Jamie's content a little after the man himself came back from a multi-year hiatus that saw him rebranding his channel from a purely gaming channel to a variety channel with a focus on reactions, commentary and exploring the obscure. The very first video of Jamie's that Stan watched was called 'Dildo Trick Shots' and from there it was a wild ride down an interesting rabbit hole. Imagine a playlist of over 50 videos from a single channel and it is called 'Sex Toy Adventures.'

And it really was an adventure.

In Jamie's own words the thought process behind his videos was what's the most insane shit I can get away with that no YouTuber will ever dare try for fear of getting demonetized?

To that end Jamie took the concept of a sex toy and did literally anything and everything that YouTube would allow him to put on the platform without getting demonetized. He did things like dildo trick shots, bottle cap challenge with 'fleshlight nunchucks', hosting dildo slap fights, turning dildos into race cars then hosting a pinewood derby and that's not even a quarter of the shit he got up to. He ordered a 3 foot tall 75 kg super dildo and turned it into a go kart then ordered six more and had his friends compete in Olympic style challenges revolving around said dildos for a $10,000 cash prize.

Stan may be genius in videogames but there is no doubt that Jamie is a content creating savant. It says something about him and his style that despite the videos being age restricted (meaning the algorithm wasn't supporting them so the videos weren't being recommended) yet most if not all of those videos reach over a million views after a year. And this was at a time when his channel was considered dead because of the prior hiatus.

What makes Jamie unique as a content creator is that his entire online style and persona is antithesis to the usual content creator. In a deliberate and complete contrast to YouTubers who have an overly happy persona and over exaggerated reaction that often came off as forced and try hard Jamie kept a deadpan expression and has the emotional range of a potato with his reactions being muted.

He makes up for this seeming disadvantage by being witty, oddly knowledgeable, utterly fearless and blunt honesty. Of all the people he knew Stan would go so far as to say that Jamie would be the only person who could handle being in his situation with Ezraphel better than him without falling to her charms or resorting to something drastic.

Also while Stan may complain that his overall experience in the airsoft match was disappointing he couldn't say that he didn't have fun and a major source of that fun factor came when he was paired with Jamie. The man has an uncanny ability to make things infinitely more fun with his antics.

With that said "I guess you have a point."

"…wow."

"What?"

"This stuff was really getting to you huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I expected more of a fight. I just called you an entitled bitch" he emphasized "nothing to that? Really?"

"Look man I've got some shit going on in my life right now and I need this thing to work out for me okay."

"Does this particular 'shit' have anything to do with Ezraphel?"

"How'd you figure?"

"Believe it or not I've had a girlfriend before."

"I know dude, I watched the video."

Said video being the one where he, for some reason, decided to tell the story of how he acquired his first girlfriend. It is one of about a dozen or so videos where Jamie has revealed particularly embarrassing aspects of his life in the past. They are one and all the type of stuff you would look back on and think what the fuck was I on back then followed by making sure none of it ever reached the light of day by burying them deliberately in your mind.

For some reason Jamie just decided to tell those stories because, in his words, he's grown past those mistakes and saw no reason why they should bother him now. Also it would make for great content and once again he was right. Last he checked the Story Time With James playlist all had videos upwards of a million each.

So yeah Stan knew about Jamie's girlfriend…he also knew his first date went terribly, that he's an hypochondriac, that he used to think listening to rock music would get him sent to hell and that in highschool he used to act like a 'mysterious anime character'because he thought it made him look cool. There's more where that came from and it was listening to stories like those that made Stan like and admire Jamie as an individual.

At the cost of coming off like a weirdo he felt like Jamie was a kindred spirit especially since he's pretty sure he has a bad case of 'main character syndrome.'

Unaware of Stan's thoughts Jamie continued "I'm talking about my second girlfriend, Chelsea."

"You had a second girlfriend?"

"Yeah I don't really talk about her because well…" he paused to find the right words before continuing slowly "I see your point about relationships not worth the investment unless you can guarantee there's something there worth your time."

Stan didn't really know what to say to that especially since the expression on Jamie's face carried a rather heavy emotion.

"I…"

"We didn't break up or anything" Jamie interrupted "she just uh…she passed away."

'What the fuck!?'

"Oh…oh shit dude I..."

Stan really didn't know what else to say to that since through his abilities Stan picked up on the sadness that the other man was trying to hide behind his usual blank façade.

'What the fuck can I say to that?'

"I'm sorry for your loss" swallowing more than just dry saliva Stan spoke up "how did she…"

"Car accident, she went on vacation with her family up north for Christmas" he shook his head "her dad decided to save money on snow tires for the icy roads."

"Fuck."

"Yep" Jamie's lips purse "I got over it but…it fucking hurts man."

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. Like I said it happened years ago now and I'm over it. The point I was trying to make before all this heavy shit is that you went from living alone to taking up some random woman off street. I won't even go into how fucking weird and unbelievable that story of how you two met is but I've been there too. When…Chelsea moved in with me that took some getting use to."

"I mean yeah but…" he trailed off still stuck on the fact that Jamie had a secret second girlfriend who died "that was months ago dude, I'm over it. Me and Ezraphel, we're good."

"You sure about that? I distinctly remember you admitting you don't go outside unless it's necessary. Did that change since Ezraphel showed up?"

"Yes?"

Why the hell did that sound like a question?

"Really? You go on dates?"

"Yeah we've been on a date before."

"How many?"

"…"

"You said a date, please tell me you don't mean a single date."

Stan looked away with furrowed brows.

"Stan you've been together for half a year."

"We still do couple stuff!" Stan half snapped "and it's not like I'm keeping her chained to my basement or anything it's just…" he trailed before shaking his head "what does that have to do with anything?"

Jamie stared at him for a moment before shaking his head "Stan, relationships, like really serious relationships, change people. I've done more new things with Chelsea that I never even considered before I met her and before I knew it some of the things I used to love doing just didn't hit the same way anymore."

Stan almost said something along the lines of "don't I know it" before he held his tongue.

"Maybe I'm just reaching here but I really think you should consider looking into stuff for you guys to enjoy as a couple outside the house."

…it's not as if Stan didn't consider that though saying that he gave the thought consideration is like saying someone deliberately stepped on a bear trap. When it came down to it Ezraphel was actually fairly low maintenance. All she asks for is love, sex and spending time together all of which are things that they do. Anything more was a question of how much he was willing to give up of himself.

He sighed 'so this is what it comes down to.'

Change.

"God dammit."

"Hey it's just a suggestion and my personal opinion but if you already have a good thing going then who am I to ask you to rock that boat?"

"How the fuck did we even get here?" Stan groaned whilst massaging his eyebrows

Jamie gave a thoughtful expression "you know I completely forgot."

At that moment Kendrick entered the room and upon seeing both their expressions raised a brow "what's up with you guys?"

Stan and Jamie shared a glance with the former answering "we just decided we're going to be playing Warzone while we wait for dinner."

"We did?" Jamie raised a brow and Stan gave him a meaningful look that him sighing before he stood up "so we did. I'm gonna take a shower. You two play nice while I'm gone."

Kendrick ignored him in favor of looking to Stan "what the hell? We literally just spent the last two hours shooting at people and you want to play Warzone?"

"That's right."

Airsoft may have been an overall bust so he'll have to get his fix of gun violence the the old fashioned way.

"You do realize there's five of us right?"

"About that…" he trailed off as Kendall entered the room.

"What's going on?" she asked as Kendrick regarded her.

Stan chose to answer "we're playing Warzone, you in?"

"Pass" she waved off plopping herself on the couch before plugging in her wireless earphones and drowning out the rest of the world.

Kendrick looked to Stan who could only shrug with a smug expression "there problem solved."

"…I'll have to reinstall the damn thing."

"We still have time."

As Kendrick left to do his business Stan's expression dropped into a frown as he considered the conversation he just had with Jamie. Then he had an epiphany about the man, see the current Jamie was a completely different content creator in his early years. Along with primarily being a gaming channel he didn't show his face, his uploads were random and sporadic and his content mostly consisted of gameplay montages featuring copyrighted rock music.

Compared that with now, he streams every day, uploads videos every day, reached out to other content creators for collaborations, started an E-Sports organization seemingly on a whim as a passion project, opened a merch store for said organization, co-created an original indie comic that's seeing moderate success, does acting (and voice acting) on the side and generally just kept himself busy.

What's the epiphany?

The radical change in Jamie's schedule occurred after his hiatus and at no point did he ever give the details of those 'missing years' despite willingly telling embarrassing stories of his youth to potentially millions of people online.

"Oh…" Stan leaned back to put his palms over his face and groaned out a long "fuck."

~Between A Rock And A Hard Place~

As he figured playing a couple rounds of Warzone helped with lifting his spirits. The first person shooter thrive where airsoft failed in this case because no matter how good he was physically or cognitively there will always be a limitation based on the gameplay. That's why even someone like him can die a bunch of ways such as: getting ambushed by rats, overwhelmed by sweats, scoped by a sniper trained by God Usopp himself, killed by a spawn camper, killed by a dickhead using the latest hacks and falling for a motherfucking claymore trap.

…there was a reason why Stan stopped playing Warzone besides having to play a deluge of other games and it only took him a couple matches to remember why. In any case even as he reacquainted himself with his past grievances with the game Stan found that he did feel a lot better with himself knowing that one of his main passions wouldn't be tainted by this new development. In hindsight he already knew this since he never stopped playing videogames and the only changes that his transformation gave him was that he became more efficient in his work.

I.e. he got objectively better at playing videogames, could play more videogames and for a lot longer.

Now as for airsoft there was no way he was going to let this minor setback prevent him from continuing to do it. He agreed with Jamie's advice that he would need to take a different approach to enjoying it. Then there was Jamie's other advice about finding something he and Ezraphel can enjoy together outside…that was also not sexual. That last part is important since he's not willing to go down the path of a true pervert.

Then just as he was thinking about the possible activities they can do together Amelia waltz in and her presence was like cold water being dunked on him.

Now whether Ezraphel was aware of this (and he is certain she was) Stan has been for the past several months developing sensitivity for mana and magic. Yes there was a difference and on his free time he has invested passively into further developing this sensitivity. This came following Ezraphel's habit for suddenly teleporting into his personal space. She's developed said habit because Stan was jumpier than a prison bitch and she liked his reactions.

His passive grinding ultimately resulted in him being more familiar with demonic Energy and even able detect when a spell is being cast in his vicinity. It wasn't the easiest thing to do considering Ezraphel has turned the house into a nexus of Demonic Energy fueled magical activity. Though now since they were away from there his sensory ability was even now more potent. For example he sensed when Ezraphel cast a spell in the kitchen before he was shut out. He could only guess that she put up a privacy ward (or something similar) since he couldn't sense what was happening in there anymore.

Suspicious but since Liam came running a moment later making a comment about it being a bad idea to bother the two ladies right now Stan figured the spell was used to prevent anyone else from interrupting her cooking process. She did that with him and he saw nothing wrong with securing her privacy in that manner. That line of thought changed when Amelia entered the room and it wasn't so much that Stan felt anything particularly wrong…but he did.

Looking at Amelia felt like looking at a camouflage used by the Predator. At first glance you wouldn't be able to see anything but the more he scrutinized her the more he noticed a subtle distortion effect. Said distortion stood out to his senses even if it's by the barest margins. He could tell that the distortion was magical in nature because in comparison to everyone else who had not a trace of magic on them it it stood out very much to his senses.

Then all at once Stan's suspicions about Amelia's off kilter behavior came to the fore. He knew Ezraphel was involved but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt here since he already expressed the importance of neither of them screwing up here. He took a leap of faith with introducing her to some of the few people in his life whose opinions actually mattered to him (and Amelia). He trusted her not to do anything stupid. He knew her and Amelia would hit it off and he also figured she wouldn't be able to help herself in some capacity.

He thought the worst she would do was to help the other couple have a weekend to remember which she accomplished on day one. Stan thought this was fine so long as it was just harmless fucking and nothing more. It's easy to say in hindsight that he should have seen this coming, that he should have known Ezraphel the Lilim wouldn't stop there.

'I'm jumping to conclusions.'

Are you though? Are you really?

…

'Aren't you going to say anything to defend her? Convince me that I'm overreacting?'

…I think we overestimated Ezraphel's self control.

Amelia caught him staring at that moment "what? Got something to say?"

He had plenty to say…but not to her.

Standing up with a scowl on his face Stan walked straight into the kitchen where Ezraphel had just finished putting the finishing touches on the presentation for the food. The moment he walked in he had her undivided attention however she flinched as she noticed his expression.

Still she put on a confused yet curious expression as she asked "is something the matter Stanley?"

He got right up in her face as he spoke "what did you do to Amelia?"

"I do not know what you are referring to."

There was a reaction, small as it was he still caught it and even then "Ezraphel. I already know you're responsible for the 'added spice' to Amelia and Liam's sex life last night. I don't really care that you did that, its fine" he pointed in the general direction of the others "Amelia's been acting like Liam's overly affectionate shadow all day, she reminds me of you. Know something about that?"

"…"

Rather than answer his question Ezraphel instead turned her back to him to continue what she was doing before "excuse me Stanley but I have much work to do."

Stan looked at her aghast as she ignored him. She's never done that before and admittedly it caught him off guard. Not enough to not realize what she was doing.

"Hey."

"…" she kept silent.

"Don't you fucking ignore me!"

He grabbed her arm only for it melt away into smoke as did the rest of her body before it reformed behind him.

Naturally this extreme means of avoiding him did not improve his temper one bit "are you fucking being serious right now!?"

He did not make another attempt at physically interacting with her.

But rather than ignore him Ezraphel instead turned from her work to look him in the eye, still nervous but steadfast "Stanley I understand you are upset."

'Fucking understatement.'

"I did not want for you to find out like this-"

"So you're admitting it."

"…yes."

"Ezraphel-"

"Let me finish."

"…" he held his peace.

"Yes I have brought Amelia into the 'fold' so to speak" there was an audible pop of Stan's knuckles as his fist tightened but Ezraphel ignored this and soldiered on "it isn't what you think and if you give me the chance I-we will explain to you exactly what is going on."

"We?"

"Hey guys."

So caught up in her words Stan didn't even notice Amelia until she popped up in the doorway startling him.

"What's going on?" the redhead continued.

Stan gave a very long look at the woman standing before him. Now that she was closer he could actually pinpoint where the distortions seemed to be concentrated and his eyes lowered to her stomach. Fun Fact: Ezraphel's mana seemed to be at its highest concentration around her stomach, specifically her womb. And just like that Stan figured out that the distortions are in fact some kind of concealment spell.

"You keep staring at me like that Ezraphel's going to get the wrong idea" her words caused him to avert his gaze to her face. She met his scowl with one of her own as she folded her arms "got something to say?"

Rather than waste his breath on her Stan turned to Ezraphel "we'll talk about this later."

As he walked away Amelia walked into the kitchen proper and words were shared between the two now close friends apparently. Stan ignored this to stew in his own thoughts.

'She did it. She actually fucking did it.'

Of all the things that could happen it just had to be the worst case scenario.

"Hey Stan-" Kendrick's voice interrupted his thoughts

"Not in the mood" he interrupted sitting as he took a seat at the table.

"Should I even ask?"

Stan opted not to answer as Amelia came into the room bearing plates and utensils and looking none too happy with him.

"You forgot to take the plates, dickhead."

His reply is as casual as it was venomous "my mistake, bitch."

That's about as much as Liam could take "okay, let's not do this right now."

Stan didn't take his eyes off Amelia as he spoke addressed Liam "your fiancée is a bad influence."

"That's rich coming from you."

"Enough!" surprisingly it was Kendall who shouted "I have no idea what's going on between you two but it ends now."

"I'll take those" Jamie muttered as he took the plates and made himself scarce.

The entire time Amelia and Stan never stopped glaring at each other.

"Amy…" Liam half pleaded only to be interrupted by Kendall addressing Stan.

"Knock it off."

The shorter man finally took his eyes away to glance at Kendall who glared at him in return. After taking a glance around Stan stood out of his chair and made to leave the room.

"I'm getting some air, don't wait up" he added.

As he made his way to the back porch Stan could not help but lament his current situation.

'How the hell did this happen?'

Obvious answer: Ezraphel corrupted Amelia when he wasn't paying attention and there were a lot of instances where he wasn't paying proper attention to her. Why would he when she's proven herself to be trustworthy when it came to people for the most part? He's already expressed to her the importance of not corrupting people especially people he knew. After everything they've been through the last thing he expected was for her to pull this shit!

On the other hand Ezraphel made it seem as if she actually had an excuse beyond 'it's in my nature' or some such bullshit. Part of him wanted to hold this against her and he certainly will for the foreseeable future. And this brought him to a dilemma because while Stan just couldn't let this go he did not really know how he should proceed.

'What am I supposed to do?'

That wasn't the right question however.

'What can I do?

This wasn't the first time Ezraphel had gone against his wishes. In fact it's become almost like a gag routine at this point for her to just do whatever she wanted regardless of how he felt and he could do nothing but accept it. Some might call him whipped, some may even go so far as to call him a pussy that can't stand up to her but in his defense those prior instances where she defied him were tame and inconsequential.

Stanley is a stubborn man but he was also aware of Ezraphel's intentions in the instances where she did defy him. Ezraphel does have his best interest at heart even in the instances where she was just being indulgent. It's all about perception and even if he found her actions to be annoying in the moment they generally weren't worth any kind of heavy punishment.

Did he sound like a pussy making up excuses?

Maybe, but here's another question: what the fuck is he supposed to do when his interdimensional, magical, reality warping, quasi demi-goddess and succubus princess girlfriend stops listening to him?

Stan could do a lot to inflict emotional damage but he didn't want to. Not necessarily because he's gotten 'soft' per se but because he needed to maintain something of an equilibrium. The last thing he wanted was to resort to verbal abuse (or really any kind of abuse) that was more intense than a scolding and upset the balance.

See while he and Ezraphel have built a certain relationship dynamic Stan remains cognizant of the fact that whatever control he had over his girlfriend was the amount she allowed him to have. Not to bring up his old fears that are admittedly valid but Ezraphel can still resort to mental manipulations to adjust his attitude if she felt emotionally cornered. Ezraphel will always have his best interest at heart but that could be twisted to fit a perception and she could use this to justify being heavy handed.

'Push too much and I risk setting her off but do too little and it sets precedence' he summed up in his thoughts.

The distant sound of thunder reached his ears as he looked up to the darkened sky signaling the end of Ezraphel's weather spell. And as the rain came down Stan gave a sardonic half smile that contained not a shred of mirth.

"So this is what they call being stuck between a rock and a hard place."

~Reap~

There was an awkward air as everyone helped set the table and Amelia couldn't even say that she wasn't partly to blame. As much as Amelia felt that Stan was an asshole mistreating Ezraphel she's the one who went and instigated a conflict in front of everyone. She couldn't help it however because whatever he said or did to Ezraphel had put the woman into a depressive funk. The vibrancy with which she carried out her tasks was now replaced by anxiety she was barely able to keep under the surface. Ezraphel explained somewhat why she was worried, she told her of Stan's rules and his expectations.

Admittedly she got the reason why he would be angry, really she did but it still pissed her off seeing Ezraphel like that. She would like nothing more than to lay into him but unfortunately she also knew that antagonizing him wouldn't make Ezraphel feel better, at all. She was unequivocally in love with the bastard in a way that Amelia would never be able to fully comprehend. Worst case scenario she would just end up alienating her new friend. The only way forward now was to reconcile with Stan and she found an opportunity when the dinner set up was close to being completed.

"I will retrieve Stanley" Ezraphel spoke and went to do just that only to be halted by Amelia.

"No, I'll get him."

"You don't have to-"

The redhead interrupted "look, I'm really proud of what we accomplished in that kitchen and I'd really like to enjoy the food without the weird awkward tension."

Now she had Ezraphel's full attention and the blonde met her gaze for a while before nodding "alright then."

Amelia nodded and made her way out of the kitchen bypassing the dining room so as not to alert everyone else specifically Liam and headed towards the back porch. By this point it was raining again and she found Stan standing near the edge of the porch looking up at the grey clouds as the sky became progressively darker as night approached.

"Hey," she called out after a moment.

"What do you want?"

"Dinner's ready."

"I'm surprised you bothered to come out for that, was expecting Ez."

"Look, I get why you're acting like even more of an asshole right now."

"Do you?"

Amelia paused looking over her shoulder before stepping completely outside and closing the door behind her "Ezraphel told me everything."

In response Stan scoffed "everything?"

"I know about her being a Lilim, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, Mamono, everything."

At this Stan turned fully to give her a once over "do you also know what's happening to you?"

"Monsterization" Amelia nodded with a sardonic look "yeah she explained that too and I read about it on the wiki."

"Oh good you did your homework" he quipped "and you seem eerily calm about the situation."

"Ezraphel isn't manipulating me."

"Are you sure about that? Because I don't think most people would be so calm about turning into a monster."

"First of all I'm not most people and second they're called Mamono you ignoramus."

"And you're fine with becoming one of them."

"So what if I am? You have a problem with that? Not feeling so special since you won't have a monopoly on a sexy monster girl waifu?"

"Hey it's your decision. I don't give a shit what you want to do with your life. I'm not your keeper but I am Ezraphel's and the last thing I want is for her to go around looking for every weirdo who won't mind being turned into Mamono. That would be a fucking disaster."

"Oh most definitely" Amelia agreed "so are we done here? You gonna stop giving Ezraphel the third degree or what?"

Rather than answer her he looked to the side "I'll consider it after she stops hiding."

Before Amelia could comment there was a visible ripple in the very fabric of reality itself that Ezraphel suddenly stepped through. She was in her true form making it hard for Amelia to take her eyes off her and it wasn't necessarily due to the effects of her supernatural charm.

The Lilim still anxious spoke "you were both taking long so I took the liberty of transporting us to a pocket dimension."

'What?'

Amelia looked around and now that she was taking a closer look she saw that the current world around her looked different, as if looking through a glass window. Rain fell but the sound was muted, wind blew but she could not feel its touch and no doubt the temperature was dropping but she could not feel it.

Stan's words cut through her thoughts "what did you do?"

"I…made a mistake" Ezraphel began her ears and wings drooping "and Amelia became corrupted."

"I'm having a hard time believing you corrupted someone by mistake. How the hell does that even happen when you've been so careful after all this time?"

At that Ezraphel hesitated as she tried to find the words so Amelia spoke it for her "it was the milk."

That caused Stan to turn his gaze back to her "what about the milk?"

"Uh…" now it was Amelia's turn to hesitate because behind him Ezraphel was shaking her head.

He quickly turned to Ezraphel however the woman had gone back to looking down at him with even more anxiousness.

His eyes narrowed "what did she mean by the milk?"

"I…"

Before she could muster up the words he turned back to Amelia "how did you get corrupted in the first place?"

As he said this Stan repositioned himself so that he had both women in his sights.

Amelia now found herself under the unenviable scrutiny of the couple for separate reasons. On the one hand there was Stan glaring at her with enough force that she feared she might spontaneously combust. On the other hand there was Ezraphel giving her a pleading look she was inclined to agree with but knew that the woman was floundering and would drag this out unnecessarily because of it.

So without any more preamble she spoke the truth which essentially boiled down to her drinking a whole picture of milk she found in the fridge last night which turned out to be milk Ezraphel left 'unattended' that was apparently meant for him.

"So what you're saying…is you got corrupted…by milk Ezraphel left in the fridge?" he asked calmly though the tension rose exponentially.

"…yes" Amelia confirmed.

"Ezraphel…"

"Y-yes Stanley?"

"This is the part where you debunk her words to give me the real reason that while may be worse than the one she gave is also infinitely less retarded."

"…" Ezraphel silently swallowed.

"Any time now" he lightly urged.

Finally mustering up the courage Ezraphel spoke "she speaks the truth Stanley."

"…"

There was a long silent pause before it was broken by Stan placing his head in his hands and giving a very Vader-esque "nooo~"

"I made a mistake" Ezraphel continued.

In response Stan turned away from them both half staggering to the hand rails. Then like Peter Griffin after hurting his knee Stan sucked in a long hiss-like breath through his teeth before letting out a long suffering groan of pain.

"HSSS-AAAH!"

Amelia deadpans at the overdramatic display however a cursory glance at the other woman revealed the Lilim to have the opposite expression. Ezraphel looked shocked and pale with anxiety.

*CRACK*

Amelia jumped as the sound of splintering wood reached her ears. Stan had just broken the wooden handrails but more concerning was the fact that he was still making those frankly ridiculous sounds. She opened her mouth to comment when her words died to a gasp when on one particularly loud exhale black miasma began leaking off his body like thick smoke. At that point he's finally done with the dramatic sounds but now he was hyperventilating and the miasma was pouring out of him at a faster rate to the point where it was forming a legitimate aura.

It was getting thick too, to the point where his form was being obscured.

"Stanley…" she heard Ezraphel mutter whilst taking tentative steps towards him.

Stan abruptly stopped hyperventilating and as he turned around Stan was no longer visible, more like a shadowy façade in a sea of murky black save for the two shining orbs of red hidden within.

"Grk" Amelia's breath hitched, she had never been so terrified in her life.

'Stan' ignored her completely and put all his attention on his still advancing girlfriend. When he spoke it was not with a single voice but multiple voices of the same but spoken in different tones and emotions.

"YoU fUcKeD uP!"

She heard his normal tone spoken with a scathing edge, a scream of rage and a snarl with vitriol all in one breath. It sounded unhinged and went a long way to showcase just how angry he was at the moment.

Strangely enough Ezraphel did not seem as affected by his words as she seemed to have been before. All she did was to nod her head in affirmation while still approaching him until he embraced his shadowy form in a hug.

"I know" was her only response to his accusation.

In the next moment the dark aura disappeared from Stan's body taking the heavy tension with it. Amelia gasped as her body seemingly remembered to breathe.

"What just happened?" asked a confused and mildly alarmed Stan as he attempted to separate from Ezraphel only to be pulled back into his embrace.

"Your mana went out of control."

"My mana" once again he tried to separate himself "how?"

Ezraphel pulled him back into her embrace once again "it is a reaction to your emotions."

"Knock it off."

Reluctantly Ezraphel allowed him to slip out of her grasp.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I was speaking to Amelia."

Both Stan and Amelia jumped slightly at the latter's name being called with the former looking to her "I almost forgot you're still here."

Amelia ignored Stan to answer Ezraphel "I am not fine. This weekend is making less and less sense as it goes on. I feel like the plane I was on yesterday actually crashed and I got Isekai'd into another reality."

"Welcome to my world" Stan grumbled before turning to Ezraphel "and you."

Ezraphel straightened up ready for her punishment when the unthinkable happened "do whatever you want."

"U-um excuse me."

"I've been thinking really hard about what I was going to say or do to you after such a colossal and asinine fuck up but you know what? I don't see the point. Despite your constant attempts to prove me wrong" he shouted the last part before calming down"I know you're not an idiot and like you said earlier today you are a grown woman. You already know what I'm about so I won't go beating a dead horse" he paused "so go nuts I guess."

"Oh" clearly Ezraphel did not expect this and the anxiety lessened "then…does that mean…we are okay?" she asked tentatively with some renewed hope.

Stan almost replied only to glance at Amelia and reconsider "let's talk after dinner."

And with that he headed to the door.

Ezraphel raised her hand to snap her finger only to come up short when Stan grabbed the door handle and with a flex opened it. As he did so there was a glass shattering effect and Amelia's senses were assaulted by the sound, smell and feel of rainfall.

For his part Stan opened and closed his hand "I can get use to this."

After he left the two women alone Amelia had to ask the question "does that usually happen?"

A glance at Ezraphel saw the woman shaking her head with what must have been the same look of -what just happened?- Amelia is no doubt sporting as well.

"No that is not how it usually goes when he gets angry."

'Oh goodie' Amelia thought as she strode forward.

"Let's go eat."

"I'm already in the dining room."

"What?" she looked over her shoulder to find Ezraphel no longer there.

'Did I just get Batman'd?'

Ignoring that thought Amelia made her way to the dining room where everyone was already seated and ready including Ezraphel who was in her human guise.

The moment Kendrick saw her he announced "she's still alive!"

"Of course she is" Stan commented "as if I would risk a murder charge for her" he looked to Liam "no offense Liam but your fiancée isn't worth jail time."

"Noted" Liam responded dryly before turning his attention to his fiancée "you didn't go too hard on him did you?"

Stan scoffed at the question however he was summarily ignored as background noise when Liam held her hand. For some reason that single gesture practically washed away the anxiety induced by prior events.

In response to his question she gave him a peck on the lips "me and troll boy came to an understanding."

That seemed to pique both his and everyone's interest "really?"

It was Kendall who asked the question "does that mean you two will stop antagonizing each other?"

"Hell no!"

"Fuck that!"

"I don't even know why I asked that" the woman muttered.

Ezraphel chose that time to clear her throat "I think that is enough preambles for the moment. Amelia and I worked tirelessly to prepare this meal and will be happy to have you all partake" at the expression given Ezraphel added "that means you can start eating now."

"Ain't got to tell me twice" Kendrick stated as he started plating up.

Jamie was right behind him in assorting his own portions.

As Ezraphel promised tonight's dinner was even more phenomenal the night prior. The banter amongst them flowed freely as it did yesterday and everyone generally had a good time. After dinner they all settled in to watch a bad Netflix movie, laughing, joking and taking turns picking it apart all the while enjoying dessert.

All in all despite all the bumps and hiccups that occurred plus the rain coming down outside harder than ever the day was overall fantastic.

But it wasn't quite over yet.

~Sow~

After the movie and while everyone tended to their work backlog Ezraphel and Stan retired to their room. They had a lot to unpack from the events that happened on the porch and Stan decided to get into it.

"You don't seriously think I'm dumb enough to believe that shit do you?"

"I-"

"I said it before and I'll say it again, for as much as a ditzy airhead you can be at times I know you're not actually an idiot Ezraphel" he continued past her attempts.

"I know!" she yelled loudly and desperately enough that even Stan jumped a little "I know I…fucked up Stanley. I know how this seems and if I could I would take it back."

"Then why don't you?"

"It is impossible to control time."

"Not that" he scowled "I know you know a way to stop the corruption or hold it off. Why not do that and call it a day?"

"I…" she trailed off "I can't."

"You can't or you won't."

"…" The Lilim remained silent.

"I think we're done here."

"Wait-"

"No, no I think that just about sums everything up."

"Stanley you don't understand."

"I do understand!" he snapped with a sneer "I got played. You lulled me into a false sense of security and made me trust you all the while chipping away at my defenses. The truth is at this point I wouldn't be able to stop you one way or the other if you decided to corrupt everyone on a fucking whim!"

"That is not it!" Ezraphel shouted looking incensed "Amelia made the choice herself after I presented the information for her! She chose this!"

"Of course she did" he sneered.

"I did not manipulate her at all!"

"I believe you" he stated calmly "and even if it's FUCKING STUPID I also believe you had a lapse in judgment and left your…breast milk in the fridge."

That caused the Lilim to stiffen "you knew?"

"About what? The milk?"

Ezraphel nodded.

The question through him for a loop as he sputtered in utter incredulity while giving her and expression that screamed are you serious right now?

"Of course I knew!"

He paused seeing the oddly bashful expression on her face as she looked away with a blush and almost rolled his eyes.

Putting a hand to his forehead he sighed "that's beside the point anyway" he jabbed a finger at her "you had all day to see Amelia was corrupted and put a stop to it. It didn't need to escalate and you didn't need to let her have a choice. But you did because you knew she would accept becoming a Mamono…because who wouldn't" he finished lowly.

"And what is so wrong with that?" Ezraphel retorted with a frown "I told her everything Stanley."

"Ez, the only people who would say no to becoming a Mamono or Incubus especially if the deal is coming from you are hardcore religious fanatics, paranoid delusionists or stubborn assholes like me."

To this Ezraphel folded her arms "then that seems to be an issue with the human condition rather than I."

"Yeah…and isn't that a fucking shame" he shook his head "Ez I'm really trying to understand why you'd do something like this without me chalking it up to you being a manipulative bitch or just not being strong enough to go against your nature."

"…I don't think you would understand if I explained it."

"It's either you try to explain it or I completely reevaluate our relationship" he stated bluntly "because this shit right here seems to me like we're balancing precariously next to a slippery slope and I very much would like not to be on this wagon when it teeters over the edge."

Ezraphel did not need him to spell out that analogy. He meant to leave the relationship, to leave her and that cannot happen. So swallowing any self doubts and worries Ezraphel went on to explain her reasoning for wanting to turn Amelia into a Mamono. She spared no details as she made her case and throughout it all Stan listened with a contemplative expression.

By the end of it he nodded "I believe you."

"You do?" even with their bond and her ability to read emotions she could not sparse his own for some reason.

"I accept that there are some things about you that will never truly make sense to me. I don't think you're the kind of person who would maliciously lie through her teeth and manipulate people like some kind of puppet master to get what she wants."

"I would never lie to you."

"Yeah but you won't tell me things."

"You told me not to so long as it doesn't affect you or I can resolve the situation myself."

In response to that Stan let out a groan as he massaged his temple "yeah I did say that didn't I?" he shook his head "that's my bad but to be honest I don't necessarily care too much about Amelia becoming a mamono since that's her choice. I'm not worried about her I'm worried about you."

"You think I will use this as an excuse to corrupt more humans since even without my influence they would choose to become Mamono."

"Yeah" he nodded "and then the ones you turn will eventually fuck up, expose themselves and well…I don't need to tell you how that would go."

"War…"

"Yep"

"I would never allow such an outcome. I will use everything in my power to ensure that never happens."

In response Stanley fell backwards onto the bed to stare at the ceiling and mutter under his breath "for better or worse right?"

Ezraphel decided to join him on the bed spooning herself against him and resting her head on his chest. It was a bit awkward given the height disparity however the ensuing silence was less so. Stanley's hand even drifted to rake through her hair absently as he contemplated things while looking at the ceiling.

Eventually Stanley broke it with his next words "you asked earlier if we were okay" he paused "to be honest I don't think we are."

He waited for Ezraphel to comment however she remained silent.

"For what it's worth I'm not planning on ending our relationship or anything but…yeah, I'm going to need time to process."

Ezraphel released a shuddering breath "I understand…and I am sorry."

"It's…not fine, not really but you do you. I'd be the worst hypocrite if I told you to change who you are fundamentally to suit my needs when you've been putting up with my bullshit for half a year. So what exactly is the plan with Amelia?"

Another bout of silence before Ezraphel sighed "I promised to aid her in her transition into a Mamono to the best of my abilities. I even gave her the choice of what she wanted to become."

"Good idea, last thing anyone needs is for her to turn into a Centaur or Lamia."

"She had those same thoughts in mind."

"Hm, my better half would want you two to break the news to Liam before you go through with this…but on the other hand I doubt he would mind the change too much after the initial shock of seeing his fiancée become a monster girl."

"Liam loves Amelia very much" Ezraphel spoke "he would not leave her for something so trivial."

"I wouldn't call turning his fiancée into a monster girl trivial Ez."

"All the same I believe their relationship will become stronger after her transformation."

"As a pessimist I have mixed feelings about that."

"You need to be more optimistic."

"I was…then this happened."

"Ah…" Ezraphel trailed off awkwardly with a wince.

Luckily the silence did not last long.

"By the way what's the plan for monsterizing Amelia?"

"I would transport her to a pocket dimension where she would undergo her transformation and thorough education."

"Okay and when are you planning to do this?"

"Ideally tonight."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? Hardly any time will pass in the pocket dimension."

"That's not it. I think you should wait until they go home because let me tell ya, it's going to be fucking jarring for everyone else when Amelia changes overnight."

"I have excellent illusion spells."

"I'm talking personality Ez. You saw how everyone looked at her today. You saw how they reacted to me yesterday. At least I have the excuse of time and distance to explain my changes."

Ezraphel hummed "it would also give her and Liam time to adjust in private."

"Exactly and speaking of, after thinking on it for a while I think you should definitely tell Liam before going through with it."

"That would be up to Amelia."

"If you won't tell him and she won't tell him then I will."

"What happened to not caring that much about it?"

"Not gonna lie I was prepared to wash my hands of this entire mess and let the two of you handle it but then I realize how much of a disaster that would be. Leaving Liam at the mercy of you and Amelia is just a cruel and unusual punishmen-ow!"

While she pinched his cheek for his insolence Ezraphel felt grateful that despite everything they were still on relatively good terms.

"What's everyone doing right now?"

"Kendall and James are in their rooms and Kendrick is in the living room. All are preoccupied with their work."

"What about Amelia and Liam? Amelia pounced on him yet?"

"No, I took the liberty of halting the effects of corruption for the time being."

"Good" at that he leaned forward causing Ezraphel to back away much to her reluctance "then we can get this show on the road."

Meanwhile…

'What the hell am I doing?'

He was supposed to be compiling information for a quick video he would do once he got back home.

'I feel like I'm missing something.'

It's been like that all day to be honest and it all stemmed from his fiancée. At this point he's asked if she's alright enough times that it would become annoying and every time the answer has been the same. Amelia was fine…or so she claimed but it has become impossible for him to ignore her strange behavior. Even something as banal as her antagonistic relationship with Stan took on a more serious edge out of nowhere. Three guesses as to the reason why that is because that's the only thing he has in trying to figure out what it was all about. Neither Amelia nor Stan for that matter is willing to disclose the reasons behind their sudden hate for each other.

Then there was the other thing, namely Amelia's sudden sex drive ramping up to eleven. Now to be fair Amelia did have a higher than normal sex drive and was super casual about being lewd and crude. At one point in her life she was completely fine with becoming a porn star which was still such a wild concept to him. Even wilder was the fact that despite the situation being mildly disconcerting he was actually looking forward to continuing where they left off earlier.

A man not particularly bothered by his beautiful and sexy fiancée wanting to have more sex and actually looking forward to it?

Crazy right?

Unfortunately it appeared that whatever had gotten into Amelia that day had run its course because she has gone back to normal it would seem. A bit disappointing but ultimately he felt it was for the best. The last thing he wanted was to run the risk of impregnating her since for all that he loved Amelia and wanted to have a child he wanted this to be a deliberate act rather than a surprise.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Suddenly his musings were interrupted by a knock at their door and with Amelia both closer and only on her phone presumably checking her socials she opted to answer it.

"I got it."

Liam didn't even pretend he was busy as he watched her do this particularly because she chose to wear one of his shirt and underwear which gave a great view of her shapely legs and ass. His shameless ogling was interrupted when the doors open revealing a sight he did not expect. He could recognize Ezraphel's frame from this angle and Amelia seemed just as surprised by this fact.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Stanley wants to speak with Liam before we got through with the…process."

Liam perked up at his name and Amelia gave him a quick side glance as she asked "what for?"

This time Stan was the one to speak "because if you're gonna go through with this he might as well know what he's about to get into."

Amelia gave another side glance at him meeting his eyes before stepping outside and shutting the door behind her. Hearing a few hurried and exchange Liam stood ready to investigate what was happening but he didn't even make it halfway before the door opened again. Amelia stepped inside looking very unsure of herself while Ezraphel and Stan followed behind the latter of which closed the door.

"Amy, what's going on?" he asked glancing at the three.

Still looking a bit unsure of herself Amelia answered "babe I…there's something I need to tell you?"

"What is it?"

Stan chose to make himself comfortable by sitting on the bed and patting the next to him "might want to sit down for this one."

"I think I'll stand" he replied with a frown.

"I think you should take his advice babe."

Liam looked to his fiancée with mild surprise and allowed her to guide him to take a seat beside Stan "okay, now what?"

"Now, Ez do the thing."

"Wait just like that?" Amelia spoke giving the man a surprised look.

Ezraphel herself seemed to be of the same mind "are you sure?"

"Better he sees it first than having to go through the whole song and dance of him thinking we're crazy."

Now Liam is both dreading and anticipating what was about to happen seeing how serious everyone was he began to mentally prepare himself.

"Very well then."

Liam was not ready for wind to start picking up out of nowhere and for Ezraphel to suddenly start emitting light. He was definitely not ready for her to suddenly sprout horns, wings and a tail. She looked like a demon with piercing red eyes, snow white hair, flawless pale skin and above all a devilish beauty that Liam just could not take his eyes off of. Sound seemed to become muted all around him as all his focus seemed to be forcefully taken by the inhuman beauty standing before him.

How could something like this even exist?

"Am I dreaming?"

As the words left his lips his head was forcefully turned and he was met with the face of Amelia.

"Snap out of it right now or so help me I will bitch slap you into oblivion."

Funny enough that actually did work to bring him back yet his gaze immediately lingered to the other woman in the room.

"Hey!" his face was turned back to Amelia "you only get to look at me like that understand?"

"I…" he paused to swallow feeling his heart beating rapidly

"It's okay, nod if you do."

"Tone down the charm Ez, you're turning him into a caveman" came Stan's voice.

"I already have."

"Well damn, looks like your boy ain't loyal Amelia."

Liam frowned at this and Amelia scowled "shut. The fuck. Up."

Thankfully the banter distracted him enough for him to shake off enough shock for him to make coherent sentences again.

"Okay, I'm okay"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah" he glanced back at Ezraphel with his eyes lingering on her extra features and shook his head "no, not really. What the hell is going on!?"

Stan chose to answer that "might as well get comfortable. Ez, put a barrier. This is going to take a while."

~To Be Continued~

Author's Notes: Good news, expect the next update not to take a month to be released but if you don't want to wait nonetheless then there are two advance chapters available on my Pa treon.