The Beauty, The Beast, And The Broken

First Day of Hell

Honey

I stand at the threshold of what could only be described as the deepest pit of hell. There are demons of every variety mulling around just waiting to pick you apart.

I step across the dividing line.

This isn't anything I haven't been through before and if they think they can take me down that easily they have another thing com–

"Hello! You must be the new kid starting today. Uh, Honey, if I am correct."

Holy fucking shit!

I jump two feet away from a demon with dark chocolate hair and eyes, with a lighter brown skin tone. It's wearing a coffee washed jumper over a white button up, and white dress pants leading to brown leather shoes. Its teeth are bared at me in what looks to be a wide smile, but is really an underhanded tactic to blind me from the sun's rays reflecting off its teeth's shiny surface.

If you're thinking, oh honey they sound so sweet and friendly, also it's rude to refer to a person as a demon until you get to know them, then you'd be dead wrong, and maybe really dead as well, because you can't survive in this world without acknowledging that there are no real friendly people; only blood-thirsty demons waiting for you to show signs of weakness so they can suck you dry; weakness that I am showing right now if my defensive stance and heavy breathing is any indicator.

Ok Honey, pull yourself together. This is probably the tour guide they sent to show you their numerous torture chambers. You were expecting this to happen and it is nothing to freak out over.

Relaxing my body and calming my breathing I focus back on the demon giving me a quizzical look now, with one perfectly trimmed eyebrow cocked and a slightly smaller, unsure grin.

Really, the looks alone should be a dead give away of this things true species. No human looks that perfect.

"You are honey, right?" The beast asks after the silence stretches to long for its comfort.

"Elliot," I respond.

"Huh, oh, uh, sorry I must have confused you for somebody else." It turns to walk away.

"No"

"Hm?" It turns back and looks at me, confused.

"No. My given name is honey, just–" I let out a sigh, having done this several times before, and thoroughly tired of it. Just because my mom had extreme cravings for honey while pregnant with me, doesn't mean she should have gone and named me honey when I was born. "-just call me Elliot, or Eli. Whatever you want." It is common knowledge that your kind is too lazy to call someone by their full name anyways.

"Okay. Eli then," It says looking back at me with the same blinding smile as before.

Point proven.

"Well, my name is Merlin, but I would appreciate it if you could just call me Lin, please. I get teased because my brother's name is Arthur; you see my mom loves old literature and the legends of Arthur and Merlin are her favorite; so the kids at school used to avoid me because they thought I was going to hex them or something. That's mostly stopped now because, I mean, really, who could ever hate this gorgeous face, but I just feel more comfortable with people calling me Lin now." I listen to the demon's words as we walk, hopefully with a purpose, through the semi-filled halls. I'm also keeping an eye on all the other dangerous creatures roaming about. It seems to be settled for now but you never know when one may strike. It's better to be alert than caught off guard. I do find interest in the tale this Demon has conjured for me though. To think one of its kind has a shared experience of 'being teased and changing names' with me is intriguing and I am listening intently when it says something that catches me off guard.

"Oh. By the way, I'm nonbinary so please refer to me only as they/them. If your not used to it, I can let a few slip ups slide here and there, but my patience is thinner than it seems, especially for bigoted fools." It says without looking over its shoulder to face me. Wait. They say. I think. I'm not really sure what nonbinary-or-whatever means, but I'm pretty sure they just asked me to call them they/them, so I hope that's all there is to it.

"You don't talk much, do you?" they say, this time turning to look at me with a curious look in their eyes but the same grin plastered to their face. I tell myself not to fall for their charms. Demons are all good at pretending and manipulating people to get what they want. I can't let my guard down.

I looked over at Lin with a stoic face, and shrugged my shoulders at their question. I didn't really know how else to answer it. I used to be talkative. Too talkative honestly. The people close to me used to get annoyed with me at times and tell me to shut up at least once a day. That was when I had people close to me. No, not people. Demons. I realized this fact after witnessing how quickly their smiles and kind gestures turned to grimaces and cruel abuse when I spoke too much one day and said something I should never have said. Now it's just me and my family; just the way I want it; and I won't risk upturning their lives again just because of my careless actions.

"Well that's ok. Nobody here, at Harlemon, is going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. And if anybody tries you can come right to me. I'll put them in their place." Lin says with a sinister look on their face; still smiling. A shiver washes over me from the expression. I knew this one was a demon, no matter how friendly they came across at first.

"We pride ourselves on being a bully-free-zone and having one of the most inclusive and diverse student bodies here at Harlemon, so I really don't think you should have too much trouble, but there are always the outliers, no matter how much we wish everyone could just get along," Lin sighs. "So really just let me know if anyone bothers you, okay?" They say, still looking at me while walking down the halls.

I just now realize that Lin has not been paying any attention to where we are going and I question whether we will ever get through this tour.

Looking towards them again I nod my head. Not that I really believe their words. I have seen nice people turn mean at the drop of a hat. I know I can't trust their false sense of security.

"Oh shiz!" Lin exclaims, making me halt in my tracks. They look at me with apologetic eyes as they say, "I'm so sorry Eli. I got sidetracked, and forgot we were supposed to turn the hall all the way back there. Please, don't be mad."

I'm not mad. I expected this anyways, so I just give them another nod of my head and start walking in the direction they emphasized before, turning after a few seconds to indicate that they should lead the way.

They stand for a second looking at me, and then jog to catch up, that smile, as big as ever, plastered back onto their face.

"You know, I like you Eli. You're pretty cool."

That's not the first time I've heard that line before. I won't fall for it again.

A/N: Hi to anyone who may actually read this before I post more chapters. My name is Hope and I am the author of this book. I think the idea for this story came to me from watching a TikTok, but I honestly don't remember at this point. ANYWAYS, I started this story a few months ago while I was procrastinating doing my coursework, and now that it is summer I have decided to pick it up again. It will be a poly BXBXB story and you have met one of our boys already. I really don't know what my posting schedule will be like or where this story is going yet so please be patient with me as this is the first book I am daring to post on this site. I won't bore you anymore and I hope you enjoy the story so far.

Also I'll ask a question or something at the end or beginning of every chapter because I always find that fun when other authors do the same. So question for today:

What's everyone's zodiac sign?

Mine is Virgo. Well my sun is Virgo, my moon is Leo, and my rising is Aries.

Thx for reading<3