the halfling is a demonologist

"You STILL haven't convinced him?"

"...nope."

"It's been almost a week!"

"Yeah..."

Lev ran his hands down his face. Reem sipped on her disgusting grapefruit smoothie, sitting across from him. Same time and place—during her morning break, at the coffee shop she worked at. "What's taking you so long? Surely it can't be that hard to say 'hi, demon, I know someone who might have a cure.'"

"You don't have a cure," she mumbled, then stifled a yawn.

Lev pounded his first against his knee because to hit the table would've meant cracking it. "Well, I could! If only you'd help!"

"If that stuff existed, then people would've used it already." As she spoke, Reem rubbed her temple, eyes closed. "I've also been researching, just so you know. No one has the cure. We're all gonna die and Sionn will turn into a monster like a giant monster goat and destroy his castle with his horns like when deer fight like you know how they ram into each other he's gonna do that but with his castle and we'll be inside and die. I had a dream."

"How are you so sure it'll be him to awaken and not anyone else, like m—anyone else?"

Reem nodded, or nodded off. "Sorry," she said.

"What—never mind. Can't you just set up a meeting? Like... just take me to the castle or something. Can you do that?"

"Mhm mhm."

"Tonight?"

"Mhmmm..." Reem wobbled up. "Break overbyesee. You later."

She then tried to wipe a customer.

To be fair, usually cursed ones got killed as soon as they were spotted, with Lev and Reem's demon lord being exceptions. Lev, because he covered his face. The demon lord... because? 

Lev had done some research of his own, meaning that he bullied Sinon, Lenna and Mahieu into checking on the demon lord's file at the commissary. He would’ve done so himself, but if they asked him to take off the hood... well...

Besides, Lenna and Mahieu could use more reading in general. And calligraphy lessons. While Reem the stupid waitress waffled around, Lev took out his notepad, ordered another choccy milk, and began to work.

The first demon king awakened five thousand years ago. The second, three thousand years ago. Intervals between nights of the black moon have steadily gotten shorter. The last one was only two centuries ago.

Reem dozed off at the counter. The waitress with big tits woke her up.

n+1...?

Never mind. Lev kept writing.

Correlation between power and sanity: demon kings get stronger with each cycle, but they also lose more of themselves. The last demon queen could barely speak. She didn't recognize her husband. But they used to be able to command armies?

Demons are also getting more corrupted. If we they went from eating emotions to eating humans, what's next? They didn't have horns before the last two cycles. Or claws? [citation needed, Mahieu's handwriting is shit]

Are we slowly turning into monsters? 

Why did the night of the black moon start happening?

Why does NO ONE help or care? What is wrong with everyone? Are you guys stupid? Do you want to die?

I dont want to be a monster

So then Lev went back to writing the novel at the back of the notepad. It was about a half-vampire who went on an adventure with his three friends in order to release his brother from a curse that made him evil. Sinon liked it, but Mahieu had said it was too "on the nose" and Lenna was allergic to books or culture in general. Whatever.

Moments or minutes or hours later, Reem plopped next to him. "Lesgo," she mumbled.

"To the castle, right?"

She nodded, and nodded off.

The train station was a couple blocks away. Lev stuffed his notepad into his bag, stuffed his bag into his cloak, read a few chapters of a novel Sinon had gotten for him, then woke Reem up. They left after that.

If Reem went to the castle right after her shift at the coffee shop, then did that mean she worked two jobs without rest? When did she sleep? Humans needed to do that every day, didn't they? Perhaps that's why she acted the way she did. Why not work just one job and ask for a raise? Adults were weird.

Against his best interest, as they took their seat at the steam train, Lev told her, "I'll wake you up once we get to the castle. Take another nap."

"Mhm. Nah."

"Why not?"

"Nope." She yawned.

Adults were WEIRD.

***

It was a good thing that she didn't take on his offer, however, because it was Reem who awoke him. 

Lev often had nice dreams. Two problems: they involved dead people, and he had to wake up eventually. 

He dreamed about his family. His parents were nice. Stupid, too, which was why they'd died. They should've listened when literally everyone told them to stay away from the orphan mutt asking for food at the market. But no... 

...though to be fair, Hanan had been the one who'd begun to feed half of his homecooked meals to Lev. The whole adoption thing happened later. 

Their parents refused to listen. 'Half of him is still a demon.' 'Demons abandon their children, but the human parent must've kept him, right? Where do you think that parent is?' That kind of thing. But noo...

Lev and Reem got off at the stop leading to the demon lord's castle, and a swarm of gunslingers followed. 

"Theresabunshof. Demonhhh..." Yawn. "Hunters behind us."

"I—I know." Lev tried, and failed, to even his breathing. BEWEAR: DEMON CASSLE AHEAD read sign at the foot of the hill. Of course they weren't hunting Lev. Of course. They were going after the other guy. Right?

"What's wrong?" Reem asked.

"What? Just walk." How could she even tell? His entire face and most of his body was hidden by the cloak.

"Aight..."

Did that make him suspicious? The demon hunters trailed behind them, armed to the teeth with salt weapons.

"...creepy ass forest..."

"...intentionally hard to traverse..."

They conversed among themselves as though it were an excursion. There were six of them. If Reem's demon lord had survived for longer than ten seconds against Hanan—Demonsbane, dammit—then the demon could probably wipe the floor with them. Poor things. Should he warn them? Would they suspect if Lev spoke to them?

"Maid!" called out one of the hunters. Lev drew in a breath. "Want some extra cash?"

Reem squinted at them from the corners of her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Once we get to the castle, would you brew us some tea? We'll be done by the time it's ready."

She snorted, thus confirming Lev's hypothesis. "Sure, sure."

As the sun fell, the spooky white trees around them began to glow, as did the path to the castle. If he squinted enough, the black grass below sparkled in multiple colors. It was pretty, kind of. Lev would've just opted for normal vegetation.

Almost there.

"Ah!"

When one of the hunters exclaimed that, Lev jumped.

At the summit of the hill appeared the demon lord.

Lev had seen him last time, so he'd known about the... eye... but it still took some time to assimilate it. Lev's mark was the same, except on the right eye instead of the left. The guy was pale. His black cape and suit didn't help. The demon lord regarded them as though they were cockroaches.

Enemies beneath, enemy above, a helpless ally beside him. Lev was no fighter. He'd never been one, never wanted to be. His brother was. His friends were. But him? Nothing but wasted power.

"Good evening," said the demon. "Reem, who are these people?"

She yawned. "Hi. This is Lev. He drinks choccy milk. Those are, uh. I dunno. They want tea?"

The demon's cold eyes locked on Lev. "I see."

He knew.

Somehow, he knew.

"Come on in. Those who wish to duel me ought to sign a waiver. I'll take the girl's leg."

He turned his back on the hunters as though they were nothing.

He'd seen a few demons before, but nothing like... this.

"Do I shoot?" Asked one of the hunters.

"Nah," replied another.

"Will you guys actually sign that thing?"

"Nah."

"But if we sign," replied the girl who'd soon be legless, "We can't get sanctioned by the commissary."

How were they not scared? Were they stupid? Why had Reem lied so shamelessly? 

They entered castle grounds, then the castle itself. It gave Lev such secondhand embarrassment he almost forgot he was supposed to be scared. What a disaster. Was that a stamp collection? Next to a bottle cap collection? Next to what was either a sculpture of a tree or something that shouldn't be shown in public?

"Reem," the demon lord spoke, "Fetch Elial."