Book 1: The Wrong Girl in the Devildom

Tick...Tick...Tick...

Alicia had to run home before it started raining, but her mind was clear and she was focused. She had to talk to Mammon, she needed her answers, and she was going to get her answers. She got settled and waited until after dinner to confront Mammon. At least she was sure he was in his room this time. It was late, and there was nowhere for him to go at this hour. 

"Mammon." She opened his door and felt a wave of relief hit her when she saw him at the computer. "We need to talk."

Mammon quickly got out his seat and chuckled. "I was actually about to go-"

"You were about to stay and talk to me." She could feel her words wrap around him, and she felt horrible about it, but it was necessary. She could see the confusion on his face, and he looked at her with a small amount of betrayal.

"You're using the pact on me?"

"I can't talk to you any other way. You're always on the run, and we need to talk." She shifted her weight to her other foot and held her hands together. "You've been cagey, and dodging me as if you owe me money."

"I told you I have a lot of responsibilities I have to take care of because of Lucifer."

"Yeah, I know that's a load of shit." She couldn't believe he was still trying to feed her that lie. "Levi told me Lucifer would never send you to the treasury...And I should've known that."

"W-What? 'Licia I'm not lying. I have been super busy."

"Yes, but it had nothing to do with the treasury, and with you lying to me about that, I'm afraid you might've been lying about other things." She took a seat on his bed and crossed her legs.

"You know the pact doesn't make people tell you the truth, right?"

"Yes, but I'm putting faith in you that you won't lie to me again. Because if you lie to me again, things aren't going to stay pleasant." She pushed her hair out of her face and sighed. "First question, did you pawn my necklace?"

"What?"

"The necklace Diavolo gave me, the last time I saw it was the night of the ball. I woke up and it's not in my room, you didn't respond to my message, so I'm just going to assume that you pawned it."

"I didn't pawn it."

"Then give it to me."

"I can't."

"Okay, so you pawned it. I hope you got a pretty buck for it." She crossed her arms and sighed. "Now, why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not-"

"Mammon, I swear to-" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Keep calm, keep focused. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Mammon noticed the slight tremors in her hands. She was really upset about that? He cleared his throat and looked away from her. Things with Saphonya would be easier if she stayed away from him, and if this was his opening, he was taking it.

"I didn't want to see you."

"Wow, okay." Alicia clenched her fists and slowly moved them down her legs. She could hear the sound of rain falling, the thunder crashing through the air. She did her best to try and focus on it, she wanted the noise to keep her calm.  "Was it because I did something?"

"Yeah, it was." Mammon kept his voice even and disinterested. This was harder than he thought it would be. His chest hurt...His chest shouldn't be hurting. 

"I asked you if I did something, and you told me no." She got off the bed and relaxed her stance. Mammon moved his fingers and stepped closer to her.

"You were injured and I didn't want to give you another thing to stress out about." He reached out to her and she swatted his hand away from him.

Her chest was starting to feel heavy, and she could hear her heart pounding. She suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe, but she did her best to keep her anxiety down. "So what was it?"

"What was what?"

"What did I do? What was so wrong that you decided to ghost me?"

"You stayed in my bed."

"You were cuddling me."

"It's called an empty gesture, human. Not my fault you don't understand the concept of a one night stand." Too harsh Mammon. He turned his attention to Alicia and could see the pain on her face. Yup, that was definitely a step too far, but he couldn't go back now. One conversation of pain and she would be safe for the rest of her time here. "You're just a human, did you really think that we would end up being something?"

"That's enough."

"No, you wanted to talk, let's talk." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rested against his desk. "I don't understand why you humans seem to have a hard time with the idea of casual sex."

"Plenty of humans are okay with casual sex. I'm just not one of them."

"And that's your problem. That's why we're in this situation right now. You got attached and you've been breaking your neck to be closed to me ever since."

"I thought you were my friend!"

"I am your friend but I'm just that. Your friend! Why would I risk my life by testing Lucifer's patience? He assigned me to watch out for you. I did that. I took you out of a situation you didn't want to be in, I made you comfortable. You propositioned me for sex, I wasn't going to turn that down."

"You could've turned me down."

"I didn't want to."

Alicia felt tears stinging her eyes and she covered her face for a moment to compose herself. She was doing everything in her power not to lash out at the man in front of her. Calm down...Calm down... "So, that was really all that night was to you, huh? Just...Casual sex?"

"Yeah, that's all it was. The minute I realized you were starting to cling on to me, I decided that giving us some space would be best."

"You could've just told me that you wanted space. You didn't have to be cruel about it."

"Didn't have to be- 'Licia, I'm a demon!" As if to prove his point, he shifted to his demon form. He picked her up by her throat and slammed her against the wall. "Cruel is in my name! What I was doing was being merciful." He watched her struggle, the fear in her eyes triggered something instinctual in him. When was the last time anyone looked at him with that much fear? It should've felt good...but all it was doing was hurting him. He contemplated giving in, scaring her enough to make her run, but that would be too much for him. Instead, he dropped her on the ground. "You humans can't leave well enough alone!"

Alicia caught her breath and glared at Mammon. The pain in her hands was getting worse, and she struggled, but she managed to get back to her feet. Tears fell down her face, and she clenched her fists.

"I thought you liked me!"

"I do, but whatever illusion you have about us being together needs to end, now."

"I don't know where you're getting this impression that I was looking for a relationship, but let's say I was, why is that such a crazy idea?"

"Because I don't love you!"