@Magyar
Even cat people will say that cats are assholes.
Which was a sentiment Serena found herself wholeheartedly agreeing with when she woke to find a furry rear in her face, another fluffy body pinning her arms to her chest and a third sleeping sprawled across her legs to effectively hold her in place.
It was not
that cold. They were doing this on purpose.
"Off." Her voice was muffled by Jasmine's fur, and the little gray cat just continued to purr away from her perch on the witch's face. "
Off," Serena repeated, wriggling in an effort to free herself from her feline hangers-on.
They clung, refusing to budge.
As if the ratty old tavern bed wasn't uncomfortable enough already. Normally she would have been fine with the situation- not pleased, but amiable enough- and just allowed her familiars their nap before eventually getting out of bed and actually starting the day.
But this was not
normally. This was post-four days of sleeping in a probably lice-infested bed, asking questions she honestly didn't fully understand herself all over a shady, dead end town, and after four days of getting nowhere fast.
So she was a little less than chipper. Grumbling to herself, she rolled quickly onto her side and sent all three cats tumbling to the floor, yowling their disapproval.
"Well, I told you to move," she huffed at them as she got to her feet with a stretch. Dressing quickly, she tossed over her shoulder, "If I don't find anything today, we're leaving. I promise. I'll be back by dusk. Don't get into too much trouble."
Grumbling meows was her response as she slipped out of the room and down the hall to the stairs that led down into the tavern proper.
It was later than she'd thought, but still early enough that there were only a few customers near the bar, sorry sots she'd seen every day since she'd arrived in this town. Her stomach rumbled as she started for the door and she paused, then sighed and turned to make her way toward a table.
Maybe she should at least start with some breakfast.
Aohdei was lingering too long in this tavern. He was getting twitchy, and the man he'd decided on had left before Aohdei could see where he'd gone. That would make two days without a proper recharge, and he was not ready to be caught drained of power, not here. There were far too many who would take advantage of a weakened demon in this place, much less this goddamn mage infested hellhole of a country.
Fucking magicians.
Aohdei drank deeply from his wine glass, the dark red liquid spilling just a drop down into his beard. He wiped it away but cursed himself for spilling at all. It wasn't wine in the glass, but blood. Stale blood, but blood nonetheless, and it did its job. He was almost out. A day's worth perhaps, no more. Hence his acquired target - now missing - and his eagerness to flee. Once a man was discovered dead, people would become agitated, and a search would commence. He needed to act quickly then move quicker. The dark leather duster coat he wore obscured his woolen robe and linen undergarments beneath it. Normally a tad overdressed for the weather, but the heat was comfortable and very welcome. The more of it there was, the less it felt like his energy was leaching out slowly by the minute.
He scanned the sparsely inhabited tavern for another target when an old woman in similarly heavy clothing came down the stairs. Several cats accompanied her, but upon a further glance, Aohdei saw that she wasn't an old hag with too many pets, but a young girl with odd eyes. Much more intriguing was her odd scent. She didn't smell of human, not entirely. But then again, not many in this province did... but it was the demon in her that he could smell. Smelled like home. Cír popped a mustelid head out from between the duster's lapels to claim a peek at the demoness. Aohdei kept his gaze on her, curious. Maybe he could gain some assistance in selecting a meal for the road.
Serena felt eyes on her back and a tingle traced up her spine. Under her cloak, she gave a subtle flick of her fingers, a signal to her familiars. The cats dispersed soundlessly, slinking into the shadows to wait and watch.
Warily now, the witch wove her way gracefully through the tables and took a seat at a smaller one closer to the door, back protectively to the wall.
A serving boy approached and she smiled, trying to dampen the feeling of being hunted. "Just some porridge, thank you," she murmured, and the server scurried off to get her food.
Clicking her fingers against the table, Serena sent out a gentle pulse of magic- nothing fancy, just trying to ascertain a general sense of the intent of the person watching her.
Nothing. She couldn't feel anything.
Well that was odd. And vaguely terrifying.
Quietly, not raising her head, she noted, "Its rude to stare, you know."
Aohdei felt Cír stirring in his coat, growing restless. He could smell the approaching cats and wanted to hunt them. He was growing weak as well, having only a slightly more productive day regarding his meals. Aohdei refused him, however, keeping him beneath the leather jacket.
He muttered under his breath, saying, "No... not yet. We don't know the nature of these vermin. They might be more than a match for you."
If it was possible for a weasel to scoff through a mental link, Cír had just done so. Proud little imp, he was, and Aohdei liked him for it. The Witch had spoken to him, he realised, and he refocused his gaze on her.
"Yes. It is," He said rather bluntly, "But you're not going to stop me, are you, young sorceress? And neither are your little felid friends, lest they value keeping their tails firmly attached to their bodies." Cír popped his head out between Aohdei's lapels, chittering, then upon seeing a grey tabby slinking nearby, hissed. It did not sound like a noise that should be made by a weasel, but much more like the hiss of a snake large enough to swallow men. Then again, Cír wasn't truly a weasel.
Jasmine's fur went up along the line of her spine and her tail puffed out as a growl rumbled in her chest. The toms immediately came to her defense, glaring up at the stranger for his threat and his hissing pet.
Normally, Serena would have just smiled and tried to smooth the situation over, perhaps offered to but the man his breakfast and maybe strike up a conversation in the hope of getting some information. Even now, she knew that's what she should do.
But it had been a long few days.
Taking a sip of her water, she said coolly, "You or the ferret move to touch my cats and I swear I'll magic your cock off so fast you won't feel it until you go to take a piss."
Sorren's eyes widened and the little black cat stared stared up at her with an indignant meow that had the unmistakable feel of an elder scolding Watch your language!
Serena just waved him off. It was an empty threat anyway, gods knew she didn't have that kind of power. She just wasn't in the mood to humor baseless threats against her familiars without retaliation.
With a quiet sigh, she added, "Of course, we could always be civil and you could tell me why you've been staring. I hardly think it's my stunningly pretty looks- far too early in the morning for that, and you don't exactly seem the type." She finally raised her eyes to look at his face.
Hm. Not the type to hit on women just out of bed, but perhaps the type to lure them into dark alleys and strip the skin from their flesh. Or he was perfectly innocent, she really couldn't read him at all- and that in itself was unsettling.
Aohdei didn't like word games, and he didn't like her resistance. Why did human-borns have to be so stiff-necked? No matter, he'd just get to the point. He brought the wine glass to his lips and drained the rest of the liquid. A particularly large clot had formed, perhaps the size of a grape, and he plucked it from the bottom of the glass much like one would a feather from a dead goose. Popping it into his mouth and chewing on the solidifying blood, he pointed to the door, swallowed, and said, "There was a man sitting in this bar several minutes ago. He had scalp shorn blonde hair, a pug nose, and squinty brown eyes. He wore leathers, drank lager, and grabbed at the serving maids. Are you familiar with him?"
He gave her a second or two to reply, but continued on anyway, waving dismissively and saying, "It doesn't matter. His identity wouldn't have mattered had I gotten my way before and it shouldn't matter if you help me. I intend to kill him, and I intend to eat him. Parts of him anyway, I don't need the whole man, and I'd rather not consume parts of his flabby, pale flesh. Can you at the very least, point me in the direction of his house? It will be a favour that I will readily repay."
The witch shook her head. "No, I don't-"
Her eyes widened and she just stared at him for a long moment. Her familiars had gathered around her feet, huddled and growling.
"I don't know where he lives," she murmured, "and if I did I wouldn't tell you, if you're being truthful about you intentions. Why in the names of the gods would you tell a perfect stranger that you plan to commit murder?"
The horror in her tone was perfectly genuine, both at the act he described and the seeming sheer stupidity it took to relay it to her. In a tavern. Where anyone could hear.
Alright, so there were only a few other patrons and none were paying them much attention, but still!
Between days of being weakened, eating and drinking the excess of his former meals, and having to speak with the sheep that were called humans instead of ignoring them, Aohdei was on edge. Nevermind that he was stressed about being in mage territory and this, witch, this foolish little demon girl with too many annoying cats and too much of a conscience was advocating for the lesser beings! Nearly a week of shitty conditions, peasant food, and hard road, and this was his answer!
From a fellow demon!
Aohdei brought his glass high into the air and slammed it down into the table, crushing the stem and shattering the base. The cup fell and cracked on the table as well, but by then embers had begun to flicker around his cracked fingertips, and out from his beard. His eyes had taken a dark sheen that had a true inner fire, and he snapped at her, "Because I'm fucking hungry, and if you don't tell me I'm going to find that disgusting man anyways!" He stood, pushing the table as he did, Cír scrambling to his shoulders, and picked out the glass from his hands. He didn't bleed, rather his wounds cauterising immediately.
When he was done with that, he rested his uninjured hand on the table, pointed his newly scarred finger her way, and snarled at a lower tone, "From one of us to another, don't spare their hides. They're fucking vermin, like the rats that follow them. And if you've even the slightest premonition about telling any of them that I'm here, I'll be having a banquet feast instead of a light snack, d'you understand me?"
In that moment, he appeared much less human, with his wild mane and blackened extremities. If it were not for the small stature and very human face, he'd resemble his former self nearly to the tee.
He swirled his duster around him, stalking to the door, and called back without so much as a glance, "And keep those damn cats to yourself, witch!"
instinctively she shrank back, eyes flickering about to see if anyone had noticed his little display.
If they did, they didn't show it.
Stunned, Serena simply sat at her table for several long moments, gathering the cats into her arms and stroking them absently in a vague effort to reassure.
From one of us to another...
A demon then. After all this time, she'd actually found a demon.
And he was everything she'd feared.
"Upstairs," she murmured to her familiars. "Now. If I'm not back in an hour, come find me. If- if something happens, just go home." They started to protest but be ignored them, screeching back her chair and practically flying to the door.
"Wait." Stumbling out into the street, she called after the demon. "Please, wait. I need to speak with you."
Aohdei had left at a brisk walk, and continued at his pace after a quick falter when he heard her words. He spared a scowling glance her way, before motioning rather impatiently for her to catch up. This girl was already wearing on his very thin nerves.
Cír had taken to curling around Aohdei's neck when in stoat form, but when he'd spotted one of the oil lamps that the small town had by the inn, he morphed into a small owl and flew to it. He took what seemed to be a bath in the oil, catching alight very quickly, but seeming not to notice. If anything, he played in the flame like a piglet in mud. Aohdei snapped at him to stop fooling around, and Cír stopped mid roll, poked his head up, and shook the oil from his wings before gliding back to Aohdei's shoulder.
Serena hurried to catch up, sparing a quick glance for the shapeshifting creature before shaking her head and putting her questions aside.
"Who are you?" she asked the demon bluntly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to eat that slobbish and slightly overweight man," Aohdei snapped, disgruntled and only slightly impatient, "Or didn't you hear me the first time?"
As he walked, in the direction he assumed the man had gone, his coat billowed around his feet and Cír had to flap his wings to steady himself in acclimation to the demon's stride. Truth be told, Aohdei had no idea where the man had gone, but he was relying on Cír having not told him that he was going in the wrong direction as a sign that he was going towards the right one. He glanced at the woman following him and sneered out of reflex. This delusional demoness had very possibly thrown a large wrench into his meal plan.
"I will tell you who I am when you agree to help me find that whoreson..." His mood was rather soured, and Aohdei wasn't a very rational person, "Until then, call me Dei."
"No." Mustering her courage, Serena stepped in front of him and planted herself directly in his path. "I want answers, and I'm not helping you kill someone to get them! I'll grant you that some people deserve death, but who had you the right to decide that?"
Her eyes flashed, slightly mitigating the tremor in her voice. "If it's just about food, I'm sure I can help you find some other way to sustain yourself."
"Unless you have a supply of freshly dead humans," Aohdei snarled, poking Serena squarely in the chest, "Or you happen to keep souls in a jar, you can't feed me! And for your information, I chose him because he explicitly seemed like an asshole. Either way, I'm still in the right!"
His temper was flaring again, sparks lighting on the ends of his hair and beard, "These people are my food, and to deny me a meal is like saving a sheep from a wolf. If you so value life, then let me live mine!" He began to walk around her but stopped himself half stride before wheeling back around with that same accusatory finger, "What kind of demon are you?! And who are you to stand in my way?!"
Cír reminded him curtly that he had no energy to spend in anger, and that this woman was little more than a nuisance. He also told him that his volume was attracting townsfolk, and that they should leave. Aohdei told him to shut the fuck up.
The witch shrank back again instinctively, though she kept her eyes locked in his. "A poor personality is no reason for a death sentence!" she hissed, trying to keep her voice relatively low in an effort to avoid attention.
When he called her a demon she winced and looked around warily. "The kind trying not to draw attention, that's what!" A pause, then a sigh, and she added in a near whisper, "Half. I'm a half demon. Which is why I want to speak with you. I am looking for answers, and a demon seems my best bet of getting them."
A flicker of horror passed through her eyes and she bit her lip. "And you are everything I feared you'd be."
Aohdei snorted derisively, before snarkily replying, "If I am the worst of your fears, then you're more human than you'll ever be daemon." He thrust a finger towards himself, perhaps a bit dramatically, "I am nothing! I was once a prince among my kind, powerful and fearsome, terrible to behold!"
As he spoke, he seemed to look past her, as if seeing something he'd remembered. He refocused his eyes on the witch, continuing, "And now I'm like them. Because of one of them! So excuse me if I don't try and find some alternative options when it comes time to chow down..." He'd began to calm down, ever so slowly, and asked in a more inquisitive tone, "Answers about what?" His face was skeptical and a tad wary, still very much the grumpy demon.
"I am them!" Serena hissed back. Then she took a breath and tried to quiet herself a bit, gathering her thoughts.
"Answers about what I am," she murmured after a moment. "And...about my father. How I could find him."
Aohdei's mood shifted very quickly just then. He knew a good opportunity, and he took it. His face relaxed, his eyes lost their intensity, and the errant sparks that floated around his hairline went out.
When he spoke, his voice was much more subdued, and he said, "I've got maybe two more days before I pass out from exhaustion, and if that happens, I wake up not myself. I go into survival mode, and someone - if not multiple people - will definitely die. So here's what you can do for me, so I can do something for you... Find me a human soul, a human heart, or a dying person. If that's outside of your Vermin Morals, then collect as many pigs as you can. They'll work, but only in bulk, and even then it won't last long... but that's beside the point."
He got closer to her, uncomfortably so, hands gesturing and eyes shining with an unpredictable desperation. His voice became low and biting, "Help me, so I can give you the answers you want. A week, max, and you'll never see me again, half-blood. I swear it."
Serena swallowed thickly. "A soul- any soul?" She took a breath and chewed at her bottom lip. "Alright. I can do that. How long do I have?"
Her stomach roiled even as she said the words, hands clenched in the folds of her robes.
Aohdei paused for a second to squint incredulously, before saying, "Two days, dumbass, I just said I have two days."
He spun on his heel, threw his hands in the air, and muttered to himself, "I'm gonna starve to death in this town." He swiveled again to look back at Serena, his coat flapping as he did so, "I assume you don't live here, otherwise you wouldn't be in the sleeping quarters of the Inn..." His expression turned to one of disgust, "Unless you clean up after them?"
Her lip curled. "I heard you, I didn't know if there was any sort of wiggle room," she snapped.
A low growl started to build in her chest and there was a pressure behind her eyes, a coldness in her chest. She fought it back. "I don't live here. Ask the inkeeper for my room, if you like." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I meant what I said before. Touch my cats and I'll have your manhood on a string."
That actually elicited a chuckle out of Aohdei. A humourless chuckle, granted, but a chuckle nonetheless. He smiled a condescending smile and said, "That's assuming I have one, halfbreed."
His eyes contained the same playful curiosity a cat adopted when it was swatting around its prey, moments before devouring it. Cír twisted and snapped back into the shape of a stoat, before slipping under Aohdei's collar. The Demon began to walk back toward the tavern, seemingly paying Serena no more attention until he reached the door, and called back, "You really have no idea what you're dealing with, do you?"
No.
She really didn't.
But she wasn't about to admit that. Giving the demon an arch look and a slightly dismissive wave of her hand, she turned and continued down the street.
Once she was fairly sure she was out of sight, she ducked behind the wall of a building and leaned up against it, hand over her mouth and heart pounding.
What in the name of all the gods had she just agreed to? A soul, a living human soul, and she had two days to deliver it to be...eaten.
Oh gods. If she hadn't been damned before, she certainly was now...
...
Aohdei did not like cats. They were intelligent, snobbish, cranky, and didn't taste nearly good enough to justify the immense trouble one would have to go through to catch one. They also fought with Cír often, and seemed to be able to smell his innate supernatural properties. That made them problems, each and every one.
And he was sharing a room with three. He stood on one side of the room, a disgruntled expression on his features. They sat all three of them on the one bed, shoulder to shoulder and didn't make a sound. Staring at him, just as he was staring at them. Cír sat on his shoulder, doing much the same. The five of them hadn't moved a muscle in ten minutes. Perhaps they hadn't even blinked, but that seemed unlikely.
A stalemate, and one that had no foreseeable end.
It was at least four hours later when Serena managed to return to the inn, trudging her way up to the room with a severe frown and a weight to her step that wasn't often there.
She had to think.
Pushing the door open, she groaned, "I know I've done something stupid, so don't all of you start- gods!"
Surprised that the demon seemed to have actually appropriated half her room, she jumped when she saw him, and all three of her familiars whipped their heads toward the door in unison. "You- what- how long have you been here?!"
Aohdei turned his head her way, a little incredulous, "Since you left and I entered the inn. Despite how I may seem to you, I don't enjoy sleeping on floors or lurking in bars. Believe it or not..." He turned back to the cats, little devils they were. If they weren't her familiars, he might've eaten one or two of them. They weren't even actual demons, but they were just as hellish when they wanted to be. Suffice to say his experience with felines was a generally bad one.
"So?" he said expectantly, eyebrows raised ever so slightly, "What have you got?"
Serena eyed him warily for a moment longer, then moved slowly into tbe room and closed the door behind her. "A ritual," she said, lowering her voice slightly. "One that I think will serve as a fair enough compromise between need and morality, shall we say."
Aohdei raised his eyebrows, mildly surprised. It had been years since someone had done a ritual in his favour, too many years in his opinion. The concept that this comely little witch with a predisposition to cats and a disgusting moral compass would be the first to reinvigorate his ritual life... well it wasn't expected, to say the least.
"What do you have, though?" He pressed, curiousity and impatience overriding his already lax manners, "For the ritual?"
Serena purses her lips and glanced away. "That...is where a slight complication arises. I need some time to gather supplies- no more than a day, I don't think. But then the ritual itself must be performed away from the town."
That wasn't really a rule of magic so much as one of her own making; she didn't want to risk losing control of the spell and hurting innocents.
Aohdei's face dropped, falling into a grim, tight-lipped stare. His time here was wasted, and he said as much, "My time is wasted, then. I could've had my satisfaction already and be gone from this dirty pothole of a town-" He started becoming angry again, standing from the bed, adopting an almost predatorial stance, "And you deluded me!"
He stalked seemingly toward Serena before spinning on his heel abruptly, his cloak fluttering wildly as he bore for the door. He was growing in anger with each heartbeat that passed, muttering to himself, "The last time I trade with a wretched human-sympathiser, and a damned daemon she is too! Fucking hell!" He slammed the door open and made to go down the stairs. Though he hadn't said it, he was making a beeline for the first person he saw, a serving wench wiping down the tables in the bar. His body language might have given away his intention, however, and his intention was entirely a lethal one.
"What- wait! Wait!"
Without thinking Serena lunged after him and latched into his arm, stumbling slightly as she did so she half fell against his back. The warning growls of her familiars thrummed through the air behind her as she tried to crane her next to meet the demon's eyes. "I don't understand- you said I had two days, what difference does it make just waiting one?!"
Aohdei tore his arm away but stopped on the stairs to turn and bare his very inhuman teeth and snarl, "You have no idea what it's like to be a day away from going feral! If I can eat today, I'm eating today! His words were punctuated by weak sparks flying from his lips like spittle, his features suddenly seeming more angled, and his expression contorting in rage. He may have been two days from ferality, but even soul sober, he was still very much the demon.
The tiny witch fought against every instinct screaming at her to turn and run- and another instinct, long buried, that burned hot and bright in her core with a snarl to match his, but she shoved it away and pretended it had been nothing.
"I can get you more than a soul or two," she blurted out, just a tad desperate now. "Please, if you just wait, the initial ritual is taxing and very involved, but it works and then I can summon the spirits with a simple incantation and a proper blood sacrifice. Do you understand? I could call souls for you with little more than a word and a cut- whenever you wanted! You just have to wait a little longer, please."
Again without thinking she reached out for him imploringly, mismatched eyes wide and hair rather touseled from the small scuffle.
Aohdei slapped her hand away, and growled, "How much fucking longer?!"
And he really did growl, a low, inhuman sound that sounded as if it should have come from something that didn't resemble a man so much as he did. Cír slipped back into his jacket, taking a place on his ribs, just under where his heart was in this body. And this body... he hated it. It wasn't originally his. Some bastard had shoved him into a body, a formerly human shape that was increasingly twisted in his inhabitance of it. More and more it began to resemble his true self, by a nearly imperceptible degree. In time, perhaps he would seem a shallow representation of his original form... but unless he was freed of this, he saw no end in sight to this tortured existence.
Yet again Serena found herself fighting the urge to skitter back from him. "I just need a few supplies," she murmured, trying desperately to keep her voice calm and collected. "If I go out now to get them- hell, you could even come with me if that would make you more comfortable. But if I just get these few things, we could...we could head out of town and complete the ritual before moondown."
She screwed up her face a bit at the thought. This would be much more rushed than she would have liked, and probably not a very clean summoning. She'd have to do the whole ritual again to make a simple recasting really feasible, but if that was what it took she was willing.
Aohdei stared at the witch, contemplating her words behind the resting intensity of his gaze before finally, he said, "Fine... fine! We go and... get the ingredients for whatever you need!"
He brought his hand, whiteknuckled and pointing, up to her face though, "But if this takes too long, there will be consequences to be sure, just you remember that!"
Serena raised her hands peaceably, eyes wide. "Understood," she said quickly. After a moment when it seemed he actually meant what he said, she gave a short sigh of relief. After another moment or two, when it seemed clear he wouldn't start shouting again, she tried to slip around him. "Well...follow me?"
Aohdei let out a sigh of release. Angrily, sure, but release nonetheless.
"Lead the way," he said in a deceptively calm voice, his eyes still simmering quietly.
She nodded quickly and- with no small amount of trepidation- turned her back on him to lead him back out of the inn.
Sensing that they would not be returning, her familiars came bounding down the stairs behind her. Sorren and Blaze carried her bag between them, which she bent to take with murmured thanks and slung over her shoulder. The black tom leaped up onto her shoulder as she did, while Jasmine took her usual place in the bag itself, head poking out under Serena's arm. Blaze kept pace at her feet.
All three cats kept their eyes trained on the demon whenever possible.
Trying to ignore that, Serena made her way as casually as she could manage out onto the main street before turning a sharp left to make her way toward the herbalist's shop. She knew there wouldn't be perfect supplies, but the best she could find under the circumstances.
He missed the feeling of fire burning in his veins. The tingle... the sting, even when he was infused with new energy... he hadn't felt that in some time indeed.
But this witch was supposed to help him. She would help him, lest she deal with his consequences. He was even considering just consuming her, once she took him away from all the other humans to help him discreetly. But her demonic heritage would undoubtedly come back to bite him in the ass if he did.
"What are you?" he asked suddenly, after several minutes of walking silence, "Specifically? What is the nature of your heritage, your abilities?"
Serena started a bit, not really expecting him to speak after those first few minutes when it'd seemed like he wasn't going to be much for conversation.
She glanced over at him with wide, mismatched eyes as they paused just outside the herbalist's shop. This was not exactly a conversation she wanted to have around humans. "I...don't really know," she admitted with a quiet, slightly irritated sigh. "I only really learned about my demonic heritage in this last year. As for abilities..."
Her mouth twisted sourly and she looked away from him. "I'm not entirely sure what exactly I can do. It seems to sort of- come and go. I have yet to actually pin down what triggers a demonic response." That was better. Talking about it clinically meant she could pretend it was happening to someone else.
With a sharp shake of her head, she muttered, "Here, let me get these supplies and we can get this over with quickly," as she nudged the door open and slipped inside the shop, hopefully stalling any further questions.
She didn't like not being able to answer when someone asked her something, didn't like the sense of ignorance. The irritation was only compounded when the ignorance was about her.
Aodhei scrunched up his nose, squinting at the back of the witch's head. Her story had obvious holes in it.
"How did you, in realizing your true nature, not find out where and what you came from? Or what other abilities are entailed in your biology?" He asked incredulously, but taking care to keep his descriptive language intentionally neutral, "How did you even find out if it wasn't something from your past coming to tell you or your powers ousting themselves? What, did one of your cats hiss at you wrong and you thought it was a sign?"
Hell, he'd had a child once, several actually, but one in particular who was a half-breed like this girl. From birth, her innate heritage had been evident in her mannerisms and abilities. Even without being taught, she was like her father in nature, and her mother in devious intelligence... and wasn't there something else? Aohdei frowned, bringing a hand up to rub tiredly at his eyes. Remembering things in true detail was much harder than it should have been, thanks to his fleshy prison. Memories came slowly, if at all, and needed a great deal of concentration and coaxing to come fully. It was far too much effort for now.
Serena frowned. Evidently she hadn't succeeded in curbing more questions. With a long-suffering sigh, she glanced back at the demon over her shoulder and lowered her voice as they entered the shop.
"It's...complicated," she muttered. "And honestly I don't have all the answers I would like. It is my...hypothesis that a case of amnesia has something to do with my inability to understand all- all this." She waved her hand at her torso, then at the air between them to signify "this".
"And it was something from my past that informed me of my heritage," she added in almost a grumble. "A demon hunter. Apparently it was not the first time we'd met, though I have little to no memory of that first encounter. That would be the whole amnesia thing."
There. Hopefully that would satisfy his curiosity for the time being. Serena attempted to busy herself selecting the herbs and tinctures she needed for the ritual, then hurried to the front of the shop to pay. Her familiars remained on her person or at her heels, still giving Aodhei dirty looks whenever possible.