RSE CH 31 (Patreon)

“Argh! What the hell did I do?”

Walking home in the moonlight, Leo groaned in frustration when he thought about the trouble he’d just set himself up for. He couldn't believe he’d been childish enough to bet with a devil. He knew Rayne’s type were crazy enough not to back down from a wager—even one that put their very Barloweom on the line. 

 He shouldn’t have done it, plain and simple. After confirming the death of the stray devil, he should have walked away after complimenting them on their technique. If he had done that, he wouldn’t be in such a sticky situation.

‘Then again, I guess this could be… good?’

It was a feeble attempt to find a silver lining. At least that’s what it sounded like—even in his own head. Could Leo win against Rayne Mephisto’s circle all by himself? 

Of course, that would depend on the fight and how much power he was willing to use. On how much he was willing to reveal. He clenched his fists before forcing himself to relax as he decided what he was willing to risk.

‘I can’t use Tyrfing, even if I wanted to.’

Tyrfing was too dangerous to bring out in what would be the equivalent of a sparring match—albeit one with a hell of a lot on the line. His sword had a mix of demonic and holy power. That should be completely impossible. 

But it was possible… somehow—the proof being the sword’s existence.

Leo was sure that just touching them with his sword would cause the devils extreme pain. Such was the potency of the holy power inside it.

‘I guess I will just use a practice sword and my gravity magic.’

Now that he knew what Rayne’s Circle were capable of, there would be no surprises. The problem was, they were powerful enough that if he held back too much, he’d find himself stuck in a devil’s Circle. He worried about it the rest of the way home—but also what it would mean for his ever living a normal life.

When Leo finally got home, he was mentally exhausted. 

All this time, ever since that day, really, he had been running from his past. All he wanted was to live a normal life, far from bloodshed and supernatural events. He had sealed much of his power, and even ignored his duty as an exorcist. 

But since he’d come to Spartanburg, it felt like all his actions were futile. Nephilim, Devils, stray devils, exorcists, Divine Gear users… This city was crawling with so much of the supernatural that it made him shake his head in disbelief.

As if that wasn’t enough, he’d been almost constantly harassed by one group of devils or another—all wishing to recruit him. 

“Ugh…Should I just leave this place?” 

He was seriously starting to consider it. He had enough money stashed away in a special bank account, and his parents had several other secret funds. If he left now and went to one of the cities with low supernatural activity—maybe Chapel Hill—he might find the peace he sought.

But then what would happen to Asa? 

Thinking about the girl who’d been the solitary ray of sunshine in his life, Leo resolved to hang on. 

“You are distracted.”

Those words were all the warning he received, and he immediately tilted his head to the right. Only then did the sound of a knife whooshing past his ear register. 

Leo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you seriously intend to welcome me home like this every time?” he asked. His voice held back none of the irritation he felt, though that was much more irritation than he wished to convey. 

Lucia did not miss his reaction, but she showed no expression outside of a miniscule tilt upward of the corners of her lips that could barely be described as an smile.

“Do you want a bath? Dinner? Or…Me?” 

Thought such words from a beautiful woman would normally be enticing, Lucia had such a monotone delivery that Leo’s heartrate actually decreased. He gave her a deadpan stare.

“My… Your reaction is quite the surprise. I read that 80% of men dream about receiving such a line.” She seemed genuinely surprised at his lack of reaction. 

“One… You really need to verify your sources. And Cosmopolitan doesn’t count as a reputable source. Two… Even if it was true, that sentence would be far more enticing if it were delivered in a sultry tone, instead of monotone.” 

Leo shrugged off his jacket as he entered his house, and closed behind.

“I see. Duly noted.” Lucia nodded as she took the jacket from his hands and directed him toward the bathroom. 

Their actions were seamless, something Leo only noticed after he entered the shower. For a long-lived race like Devils, the time they’d spent together was infinitely small. And yet, the two of them had more or less gotten rather used to living together. 

Despite her expressionless face, Lucia was far from emotionless. She had an attention to detail that bordered on a superpower, and she was very good at her job—her job being taking care of her charge. One could see that she was not a maid for nothing. 

Leo doubted there were many maids who could match her. 

***

The short, hot shower helped Leo calm down, and it wasn’t long before he found himself telling her about his day. She would have the most insight into the Mephisto’s, and should be able to give him good counsel. 

Through his recounting the day’s events, Lucia stayed silent and only frowned when he mentioned the way Rayne and her group had launched into attacking a stray devil without obtaining more information beforehand.

“Firstly, I would like to thank you for following them. I understand why they were careless, but things could have turned out for the worse if they’d met up with that stray Peak level devil.” Lucia gave him a small bow. “As for why Rayne wants you so desperately, I think you will come to learn the reason soon enough. I completely understand her actions; in her shoes, I might do the same thing, myself.” 

The succubus maid tsk’d softly to herself. “But it’s funny how everything would just work out if she’d set aside her pride and ask her brother for help.”

“I see.” Leo frowned. “Though, to be honest, I don’t really care. She couldn’t make me enter her circle, even if I was willing.”

“That is true.” Lucia gave him a flat look, which was barely different from how she normally looked. “Even in your current state, your power is not something Rayne can contain. Her pieces would malfunction at best… or, hurt both of you at the worst.”

She drummer her fingers against the table, deep in thought. The situation was complicated. Rayne and her Circle may have been lucky tonight, but there was no telling what would happen next time. That stray Peak level stray was still out there.

Things would be easier if she could directly intervene and exterminate the Peak level stray herself, but that one in particular was off the table—and it wasn’t just politics. Lucia knew the true story behind what had happened with the stray Peak level devil, and she sympathized with the woman. 

As such, for both political and emotional reasons, she could not act. But —

“Leo…I believe this presents us with the perfect opportunity.” She looked at the young man sitting in front of her. 

“The perfect opportunity for what?” Leo asked. 

Lucia tilted her head to one side as she studied him, unblinking.

A sinking feeling in his gut warned Leo that the discussion was heading in a direction he wouldn’t like.

Lucis found Leo a rather peculiar young man. So much power in such a young body. The accumulated rust from several years of neglect was slowly falling away under her training, but there was no denying that his current power left much to be desired—especially when compared to his feat at an incredibly tender age of chasing off a dragon.

Lucia knew the training she had him do was just a way to refine his skills. In terms of raw power, he was far beyond his peers. But that frustrated her to no end, because he refused to use this power.

“This is an opportunity for you to hunt down and capture a Peak level stray devil.”

Leo blinked several times, then simply stared at her in silence for several seconds before asking, “Are you crazy?”

“Hear me out. You are perfectly capable of hunting a Peak stray.”

“No.” Leo snorted. “There is nothing to hear. I know very well that I could hunt down a Peak stray if I used what I have at my disposal. It might be a difficult fight, but I know that I would win.” 

Leo was not overestimating himself. If he went all out, with no care for the safety of the city, he was certain that he would win. 

But…

Fists clenched at his sides, he stood and glared at the maid. “Why the hell would I do that? This goes against all the objectives I had when I agreed to come to this sleepy little town.”

Peak level wasn’t some unknown. If he killed one, news of it was certain to reach the Vatican. He would be on their radar, and his whereabouts would become known. If by some miracle it didn’t happen, any semblance at normal life would be destroyed beyond repair. 

But what if… What if he lost control?

Leo closed his eyes. Gorgotten memories threatened to resurface, but he resolutely pushed them down. Leo did not regret his actions that day. Had he not acted, many lives would have been lost. He would do it again, if he had to.

But the consequences haunted him. 

“I refuse. I am not interested in risking myself for… for whatever good you think this ‘opportunity’ presents.” In the end, that was all he could say. 

“Leo…” Lucia looked at him, and for the first time, he saw a flicker of emotion behind the mask—a mixture of pity and understanding. 

“Do you know what succubae are?”

He shrugged. “Dream sex demons?” His words were sharper than he wished them to be. He knew that he was acting like a petulant child, but he did not want this conversation to continue.

Lucia nodded, his words didn’t phase her. “Indeed. But to be more precise, we are emotion demons. As a race, we feed on feelings. The more heightened those emotions are, the easier it is for us to feed. But those emotions also affect us. It is why emotions like joy and lust are our favorites.”

She looked down at her arms, hiding a slight, nearly imperceptible tremble. “I am old, Leo. I’ve lived through the Great War between the Three Factions and two civil wars amongst devils. What emotions do you think were the most prevalent in those times?”

Leo closed his eyes, treating the question like a rhetorical.

She waited a minute for him to respond, but when he didn’t, she continued. “Fear, hatred, lamentation, and despair were what I ate day in and day out. Every week, people I knew and even those I loved died. Those were times when waking up the next day was seen as more of a curse than a blessing.”

Leo opened his eyes and stared at the woman before him.

Lucia ducked her head, hair that had escaped her braid obscuring her face. “In those times, many succubae simply could not stand the constant onslaught of negative emotions. Most went crazy and had to be put down. Others killed themselves, unable to support the burden of negative emotion forced upon them. Today, we succubae are terribly few—so few that only a handful of us remain.”

Her words were delivered in the same monotone Leo had come to expect from Lucia, but those were anything but emotionless. Leo recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same haunted and distant look he’d had for years after that day. 

It was what looked back at him in the mirror after one of his nightmares.

“I was a young succubus when the first war started. I have seen and done things I regret to this day. But if you asked me if I would do those terrible things again...” An almost imperceptible shiver ran through her. “My answer would undoubtedly be yes.” 

“Why?” Leo found himself asking. 

This was the first time he’d ever asked someone about their experience in the wars. His parents were both war veterans, but they never shared their experiences. Neither spoke of their past… or their inner turmoil.

“Why? It’s simple, really. I did what I did because I didn’t want to die... because I wished to protect those I loved.” She gave him a sad smile. “Sadly, I failed. I was unable to protect anyone. I was unable to save anyone. I could only watch as each of those I loved died… one after another. My mind nearly crumbled, and when I teetered on the edge of insanity, I created my first mask.” She sighed. “I did so not to protect others, but to protect my fragile heart.”

She clasped her hands to stop their trembling. “Staying behind an emotionless mask was the only way I knew of to protect my sanity. And as the years went by, what started as a mask became my true face.” 

She pinched and pulled at her cheeks in a pitiful attempt at a funny joke, as if trying to form a wide smile. All that did was force her lips to curve upwards in a caricature of a smile.

Why tell me all this? What do you wish to accomplish?” 

“I told you that I both feel and feed on emotions. This is why I know…I know that behind your indifferent exterior, there is a terrified young man.”

“…”

Leo felt as if the room was pressing down on him—much worse than the greatest gravitational Power. He was suffocating.

“I know that, just like me, you hide behind a mask. You hide your past, you seal your power, and you flee your responsibilities. As someone who has walked that path before you, I believe I understand what you must be feeling.”

“Why are you telling me this?!” 

“Because!” 

For the first time since they’d met, Lucia raised her voice. “Because I know, Leo! Because I understand! Your efforts to avoid notice, to be unseen, to be no one are only leading you to hell. Hiding your head in the sand will not change reality! How long will you ignore what is happening? How far must you flee to avoid your destiny? Do you truly think playing dumb will be enough to give you your so-called ‘normal’ life?!”

“I don’t know, okay! I don’t know. Is it so bad to want to be ignored? Why do I have to fight? Why do I have to risk my life? Why do I have to bleed and suffer to protect people I do not even know?”

Leo was shouting, now. “All my life I have been training, fighting, and killing devils for the sake of people who don’t even know I exist. A fucking dragon attacked us and I fought back, but do you know how I was received?”

He gave a mirthless chuckle. “They all took a step back. They all looked at me as if I was the monster. They feared my power; they feared what I could do.”

Leo buried his face in his hands. “And you know what?” he muttered from between his fingers. “I couldn’t blame them. I am a monster. I’m an abomination that should have never seen the light of day. If not for me, my parents could…”

He stopped when he felt arms wrap around him. 

“Shhh… “

Lucia hugged him. The position was awkward, as he was taller than her, but he sensed the intention behind it. She buried her face in his chest as she held him tight. In moments, his shirt was damp. 

Though he could not see her face, those were undoubtedly tears. 

“Are you crying?” He asked quietly.

“I am not.” 

A bitter smile creased his lips. “I want to cry.” 

“Then cry,” she said.

“Crying isn’t manly.” He chuckled at his lame attempt to lift the mood. 

“No one will see. Men can cry… it’s okay.”

Leo closed his mouth. His throat felt tight. His arm bent at the elbow, and he rested it on the back of Lucia’s head. He patted her head gently. Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes, but they refused to fall. 

“I need time to think.” That was all he could say. 

Lucia nodded against his chest and released him. She took a few steps back. He studied her face, but her expression was pristine. The damp splotch on his shirt was the only evidence of her emotion… of what had happened between them. 

Turning around, Leo walked to the door. He needed time. Time to think. Time to… just time. His head felt dense. The discussion they’d had was too much… too heavy.

When he reached the door, Leo stopped. Hand on the doorknob, and not looking over his shoulder, he said, “You are the first person, other of my parents, I’ve shared any of that with.”

“You are the first person, outside my mother, I spoke to of those things,” was Lucia’s reply. “I guess we are each other’s first.”

Leo smiled. For once, he did not think her innuendo ruined the atmosphere. “Thank you.” 

That was all he said before walking out the door. 

So quietly he wouldn’t have heard it, even had he stayed, she answered, “You’re welcome.”