“You’re a predator?” I asked as I looked up at him in a weak effort to be cheeky and lighten the mood. It worked as he snorted in response and called me out on it.

  “Cheeky little mortal, of course I am! I am the biggest one of all!” He told me with a familiar smirk.

  “Then you really shouldn’t get startled so easily by ‘cheeky little mortals’ like me.” I shot back and felt him relax further with an amused snort.

  “True.” He said with a sigh before looking down at me with amusement and gave my cloth covered back a gentle rub.

  “Ah… Th-thank you for that. I needed it more than I thought. That aside we should get ourselves cleaned up and you would probably like a clean one, yes?” He asked me and I nodded before taking a couple steps back to give him the room to clean himself first.

  Or I tried to. I was still unsteady on my feet and Gluttony had to help me until one of the swords came to do it. I went with the big one since I had a choice this time around, mainly because it had more places for me to grip than the other two. It also helped that the other two were fighting each other, leaving the large one unhindered to float over to me so I could hold onto it.

  When the other two 'saw' me leaning on the big one, they sank down a little in disappointment. It didn’t last for very long before they started cavorting around in the air to keep me distracted from what the demon was doing. It amused me for a while. Then I remembered Liza again and the smile faded.

  “I think she would have liked you.” I muttered, not really intending it to be heard but the demon heard it anyways.

  “Hm? Who?” He asked as the two smaller swords came over to check on me.

  “Liza. She was the one I was talking about earlier with Salazar…. I’m not certain you could hear it from here.” I replied.

  “Ah yes, your chosen mate. I caught glimpses of her during your trial when I went looking for your answer.” He commented and I gave him a disgruntled look. He, however, was still cleaning himself like all he did was state a fact. It was not amusing.

  “You could say that, but we hadn’t done it yet. That’s not to say we weren’t tempted to, though. We both decided we were going to wait until she was old enough to do it with me. The laws back home make it so that it is criminal for someone who is considered old enough to have sex responsively to have sex with someone who isn’t which is why we waited….. I suppose it's a good thing we did in a way. The one who raped and killed her probably wouldn’t have gotten caught otherwise and I don’t have to mourn an unborn child like you do.” I explained to him. He was quiet while he finished cleaning himself before coming over to do me.

  “About that….” He began as he used one the tongue of one his hand mouths to work on the drying blood smear that covered half my face.

  “Yes?” I asked before adding something that made him snort in amusement. “Also kept that thing away from my ears. It was weird enough the first time you used it to clean my brain.”

  “Quite.” He replied with a smirk before sighing.

  “The thing is, there was a good chance her miscarriage was caused by something I did to her while she was with child. We had done it countless times before without a problem and we didn’t think it would cause our unborn child any problems either. We were so very wrong. She hid it from me at first, but I realized the moment I stepped into our room. I could smell the blood of it…. if I had even shown her a trace of anger in that moment, I have no doubt that she would have broken. She almost did anyways, and I think my telling her that I wanted to have children and to try again with someone else if she had to, was all that kept her from it.”

  “She tried and was successful, her efforts giving us two wonderful children to raise and love. She was the happiest I had ever seen while we raised the two. Then one day I had argument with our daughter who was the elder of the two. She was about your age when we had it and it was about her… sire, Wrath. She wanted to know why he wasn’t allowed to see her and vice versa. I told her. We fought and to this day I still wonder what would have happened if only I had told her how much she meant to me first.”

  “That aside, we did go looking for her, but she didn’t want to be found. Not by us anyways. We kept hearing of her exploits though for several years before her mercenary troop disappeared within the borders of the Empire. We waited and waited but no more news of her came. We all worried but it hit Lust the hardest. Worried for his mother and sister, our son decided to take his sire with him to go and look for her. All that came from that was his capture by the Empire and the discovery of them experimenting on demons to create anti-demon weapons to use against us.”

  “His sire returned to us alone and severely injured by those same weapons months after they had set out. With that news, she started to crack and I had him stay with her while I went out to find our children. I failed and I had to watch her break in my arms. To keep her from completely shattering, I …. I took her in so she would not be bothered by her burdens any longer. We mourned her and those lost to the cruel hands of the Empire. Then we planned their downfall for what they had done.” He said, finishing up his story long after he had finished cleaning me.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Wow.” was all I could say in reply to that. Apparently, that wasn’t quite what he was expecting, and he looked down at me in surprise.

  “You are not afraid of me? After I told you all of that?” He asked and I shrugged.

  “You seem pretty chill outside of what you did to Salazar during the trial, and it sounds like the Empire was pretty bad to be still messing shit up even now. And to be honest, I probably would have done the same if I were in your shoes. I mean, I pretty much did the same thing with Liza’s murderer after all.” I told him.

  “Huh. Fair enough I suppose….” he commented, and I nodded in agreement just before I yawned.

  “Of course, I could be too tired to feel much of anything right now. I have been standing here propped up on a floating sword this whole time.” I added when I could speak.

  “Ah! My apologies. I forgot you were trying to rest. Let me replace your blanket for you before we get you back over on the counter so you can lay down.” He replied.

  "Alright... Wait? What! That's a counter!? You had me on a counter this whole time!? What the hell kind of counter is padded!?" I demanded when the last part sank in. The smarmy bugger just chuckled at my outburst as he took the gore-stained blanket from around my shoulders. He ignored my indignant glare and balled the black 'not-cloth' up before disposing of it in his usual manner.

  "One used for the preparation of more.... 'delicate' ingredients." He finally replied after gulping the mess of red and black down.

  He took his sweet time cleaning himself of the few smudges left over from the blanket's disposal, ignoring my glare with an amused look on his face. I didn't know which was worse. The fact he could be joking about it being a counter, which I somehow doubted, or the fact that he wasn’t joking and really had me laying on a counter. Considering he had been treating me like I was more or less just a meal or prey that could talk, there was good chance it was the later.

  “Do I count as ‘delicate ingredients’ to you?” I asked bitterly as he finish cleaning himself and turned his attention back to me. Surprisingly, my words gave him pause and he had to take a few moments to think about what I had said.

  “You are ‘delicate’, I suppose but…. you are not an ingredient. I have never been all that inclined to consider sentient prey as cooking ingredient. Some intelligent dragons but mainly because the meat of dragonic type species simply taste that good and they are usually large enough to spare a useful amount. I never have though. Far more useful in alchemy than cooking.” He explained calmly.

  It was my turn to be inspected for smudges while he spoke although I wasn’t certain if the ones he found were really there or not or if he just wanted to lick me some more. He did seem to enjoy finding one of my ticklish spots and making me squirm for a bit. He eventually stopped and finished my inspection before summoning another black blanket out of thin air for me and draping it around my shoulders.

  "If you don't mind me asking, but what is this made out of?" I queried as he turned me around and ushered me towards the so-called counter. The material was just as soft as the last one, but it was thicker and felt more ‘warming’ than ‘soothing’.

  “Are you certain you want to hear the answer to that?” He replied hesitantly and I just shrugged.

  “Not much I can change or do about it and hearing about it now, when I am tired, would probably be better than later when I can be properly upset with you.” I told him.

  “Fair enough. It is made out of miasma but do not worry, it is mine and I have full control of it. Creating items from miasma is a very advance racial skill for demons and demonics so you will not be receiving it unless you turn into a demonic yourself. Considering your soul traits and how easily you became poisoned with just a little of it, I doubt you will ever become corrupted by it.” He explained to me while we shuffled over to the counter.

  We got there about mid-explanation and he temporarily took back the blanket from me. He draped it over his arm before sliding his hands under my arms, being careful with his claws once more. I suppose I should be grateful that he was being so careful with me, but I couldn’t help but feel more than a bit uneased at the effortlessness he had when lifting up me onto the so-called counter. It reminded me too much of when he lifted me up on one finger during my ‘trial’ with a claw through my jaw. At least he was treating me like a person now instead of a side of beef.

  “That was just a little?” I questioned him in disbelief, remembering the black ooze that was coming out of my wounds while he was feeding on me. He nodded as he lifted my legs up onto the padded surface so I could lay down on it. He put the blanket over me once more and tucked me in like last time.