Demon and the Mage (Jeongcheol)

Seungcheol

1922

I never thought this day would come. Never thought there would come a time when my brothers and I would stand up to our father and say enough was enough.

But here we were. The odds of us walking away from this were slim to none, but I'd known the second the command left my father's lips that I had no other alternative.

You're too close to the human. Kill him.

I hadn't expected my siblings to support me, but I should've known better. Even without the deal we'd made aeons ago to protect each when we were in mortal peril, we always had each other's backs.

Refusing to kill the human I was in love with? That definitely qualified as mortal peril.

Father lounged on his throne, a goblet loosely held in one hand as he lazily perused us. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a casual conversation...until you looked at any other demon in the room. The inner circle ranged around the walls, weapons already drawn, shields in place.

They knew what was coming.

So did we.

There was no way I was backing down.

"What do you mean, no?" Father drawled the question like he was completely unbothered by the answer. He couldn't hide the fury in his eyes though. Once upon a time, it would've sent me running for a corner to hide in.

Those times were in the past.

"I mean, no. I will not kill Doyoon."

"I can't understand why you're refusing this," he said with faux amusement. My brother, Joshua, bristled next to me. We all knew, Father included, exactly why. This was all a game, an elaborate dance Father was conducting before he unleashed his wrath.

I wasn't about to follow the steps. I'd often done so before, but this time, I was dancing to my own tune. "And I can't understand why you're asking me to kill an innocent."

"Seungcheol's right," Vernon interjected, stepping forward. As the oldest, he was the one we often let speak for us. "To do so would be to break the treaty with Heaven. We cannot harm an innocent."

Lucifer snorted, throwing his goblet against the wall, narrowly missing a demon. She didn't flinch, knowing better than to give Father a reaction when he was in this mood. "Innocent? Is that what we call fucking a demon?"

My jaw twitched, but I refused to rise to his bait. "Doyoon doesn't know anything about us. He thinks I'm an ordinary human, just like him."

Father unfolded his massive frame from the chair like we had all the time in the world. Which I guess, being demons, we did. It was more about the theatrics. He wanted us to take this time to reconsider. To think about what would happen next.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I'd known what it would mean the second I'd refused him. He wouldn't let this go unpunished. I'd bear it though. For Doyoon. For love.

It was worth it.

Part of me wanted to look at my brothers. To plead with them to let me do this alone. Remind them they didn't need to suffer his wrath for me. But that'd show weakness. So I kept my gaze locked forward and trusted they knew what they were doing. We'd learned a long time ago to hide our closeness. Our love. Just like we'd learned to hide any feelings that weren't wrath and vengeance.

I thought I'd done enough to hide my feelings where Doyoon was concerned. I'd been so careful to keep him hidden from this world, from this part of my life.

But this was a painful lesson in how I'd failed.

Father stopped a few paces in front of us, just out of reach of our swords, as he considered us. His coal-black hair fell loosely down his back, disappearing against his wings that were always on display. As he never ventured topside, he didn't feel the need to hide them. He was proud of who he was, of what he had done. Legend had it that he was once the most beautiful of all supernatural creatures. God's most revered angel. To look upon his face was to fall in love.