Molyneux's Story

Planes were the absolute worst.

Eris focused her blue eyes, burning a hole—if only metaphorically, much to her regret—into the businessman across the aisle and more towards the front of the plane from her seat. He’d been regaling anyone who would listen with undoubtedly inflated tales of his international success, and now he’d moved onto not-so-subtle racism. Given that the flight attendants were largely Japanese, this seemed an incredibly stupid move, but he seemed like an incredibly stupid person.

But, to be honest, focusing her irritation on him was only an excuse. Why the Council thought putting her on a full plane, squeezed into economy class and hemmed in on all sides by humanity was a good idea was quite beyond her. Granted, the backpack full of snacks was helping, but hearing their hearts beat, smelling their odors… even being cooped up with them as everyone turned sweaty and even more odorous wasn’t helping.

She refocused on the movie playing on the small screen in front of her, trying desperately to pay attention to the sound coming in on her headphones to drown out all the noise. The talking, the moving, heck, even the breathing was almost too much to bear.


~ ~


“Where are you sending me?” The horned girl stood, hugging herself, the thin hoodie she wore over a t-shirt nowhere near heavy enough to battle the chill of the underground room, somewhere in Europe.

“Japan. We can give you the language with a spell to ensure you’ll blend in, but you won’t be alone.”

She nodded. The Council had made it entirely apparent that they didn’t trust her, or her self-control, one whit. If her constant guards hadn’t been enough, the psych evaluations and tests they’d put her through had made it crystal clear. Eris guessed that she had failed, otherwise, why would she be here? In a candlelit chamber—how cliché!—where a member of the European chapter of the Council sneered at her. Guards lined the walls of the chamber, watching her with cold eyes and guns drawn.

“This folder has everything you need to start your life there,” he continued, pushing a folder in her direction across the desk where he sat. A guard picked it up and, while two others accompanied him, gave it to her. “The name you chose, pretentious as it is, is on all of your new documents. Do not lose any of them.” He waved her away. Taking their cue, group of guards surrounded her and escorted her out. They didn’t touch her, but the guns made their point for them.


~ ~


For what was probably the millionth time, Eris opened the slim folder they’d given her and read over the bare details. The taxi driver had understood her and she him, so she assumed the spell had worked as it was supposed to. The busy streets were lit up with signs and billboards of all kinds, making the night feel more like high noon. As directed, she’d taken a minute in the airport bathroom to change into her costume, which was all she could think of the dress and shoes, with accessories, when she’d looked into the suitcase.

Apparently someone in the Council had a sense of humor.

The almost Lolita-style dress covered everything from the neck down to her knees, restraining her curves in black lace. The makeup was minimal, but the short dress and the high stockings, paired with knee high boots, was not at all what she was used to. Apparently a girl with white hair and horns was too unusual for Japan, but in this getup as well, she didn’t see any suspicion in anyone’s eyes.

She paid the driver with what little was left of the small portion of money she’d been given for the journey, and got her suitcases out of the trunk. Rolling them up to the door, she paused as she saw herself reflected in the window. Taking a deep breath, Eris straightened to her full height of barely over five feet, plus a few inches due to the shoes, and marched through the doors.

Here goes nothing.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Eris said, mustering up her sweetest smile as she offered her hand for a handshake. Afterwards she quickly moved inside, as directed, and put her stuff down in a corner.

“I’m Eris Jones, like you already know,” she said with a small laugh, “and, well,” she looked down at herself and, with a bit of self-consciousness, smoothed her skirt. “This was what the Council said I should wear. Something about making the horns less noticeable, so that the humans don’t guess the truth.”

The bar wasn’t anything fancy, but it seemed clean and welcoming for customers. Which was good, because her paycheck from the bar would be paying for anything above and beyond her room and food bill. The owner, on the other hand, did not seem so welcoming. As she nodded and moved to one of the tables where Molyneux had requested she move, she replied, “A small room is just fine, but I’d rather be farther away from the customers if possible. For safety reasons, obviously,” she added the last with another small laugh, this one more awkward than the last.

Eris obediently sat, resting a chin in one small hand, nails without polish and short. “So what would you like me to do here?” She called out cheerily. “I’m a fast learner, I know I can be of help.” Starting at the obviously cranky bar owner, she wondered if he was always that difficult, or if there was something about her that was ticking him off. They hadn’t really told her anything at all about him, but he didn’t smell human. Not quite, anyway. He smelled different, like a demon, but not like any of the demons she’d run across before. Granted, that number was very few and the encounters short, but the smell was unmistakable, regardless of how faint.

Eris shrugged. “If that’s all the room you’ve got, but I really do prefer heat and running water, especially because I cook rather frequently.”

She wrinkled her nose a bit at the cigarette smoke, but said nothing. It wasn’t like it could give her cancer anymore. Thinking over the question, she let out a sigh. “It’s… complicated.” And without knowing what the Council had told him, potentially dangerous, but she could go over the highlights.

“About a year ago,” Ten months, fourteen days, three hours, give or take… “I was captured on my way home and taken to some kind of warehouse. To make a very long story short,”

~~

Pain. Hunger. Screams in the dark. Were they hers? Everything hurts. Where… what…the screams wouldn’t stop…

~~

“They made me a demon. Specifically Labartu, from what the Council tell me. I don’t know how, or why, but since then, nothing has been the same.” And if that wasn’t the understatement of the year, what was? Time to change the subject. “What I’m good at? Well, uh,” she shrugged, “I did bartend a little back at college, very informally, but I have the basics down.”

She cocked her head. “Well, I don’t really know what many demons look like, but if you were expecting more, so was I. What exactly are you? Not to be rude, but I’ve only met a few demons before,” don’thinkaboutthemdon’tthinkdon’tthink “and you blend in better than any I’ve ever seen,” she said with a challenging gaze and arms crossed over her chest. Why should this interrogation only go one way? To temper the bluntness, she smiled and added, “Besides, I make up for my lack of stature with my excellent chatting skills, I assure you.”

The night was quiet, and Eris couldn't stop messing with her skirts. She wasn't used to ones so short, and the gnawing hunger in her stomach was becoming urgent. To stave it off, she rummaged in a large messenger bag and took out a rather obnoxiously long stick of beef jerky, and started munching it happily.

"Then I look forward to learning that skill of blending from you," she said, cheerful again.

Eris followed willingly enough, leaving her things behind. When food was involved, she was highly motivated. And when they reached the kitchen, Eris smiled widely, the pixie-like cuteness of her face enhanced by dimples. "I certainly won't eat any customers," she protested weakly, too focused on the kitchen in front of her, "but the offer of a snack is certainly welcome." She paused, then, her eyes wide and greedy, went into the pantry and made and ate three sandwiches, two pickles, and a decent chunk of raw beef, her secondary set of demon teeth making a brief appearance as she tore into it and disappearing again when the meat had been consumed. It wasn't quite what her stomach wanted, but she'd learned over the past almost-year to make do with what she had. Anything to keep herself from starting in on the populace.

Wiping her face daintily with a hankerchief from her pocket, she rejoined Molyneux. "Thanks," she said with a deep, satisfied sigh. "I needed that. So, on with the tour?"

She wasn't exactly sure what he was going to have her do around the place, but there had to be something he needed help with. It was a place of business, after all, all kinds of things needed to get done all the time. "But really," she argued, "I'm good behind the bar, and I don't eat humans, I really don't. Unless they tried to kill her, but she thought that was a given. "And besides, I want to do something to earn my keep here. I feel bad enough being forced on you, especially since I know so little about Japan, I can't just lay around and do nothing. Bartending will keep me occupied and out of your hair, it really will."

She wheedled, "Besides, if I'm bartending you can keep a close eye on me, just like they want. And I swear, as soon as you show me what's off limits, I'll keep away from it. I'm good at secrets," she added, a little ironically. Eris grinned. Some days it felt like her hair had grown so long because it was full of secrets, as impossible as that was. She looked at a strand critically. Almost time to change colors, I think. Blue? Black? Red? She looked critically at her new boss' hair and shook her head slightly. He probably wouldn't like it if I matched him, but I think it would be fun. Perhaps later...?

"Excellent! Eris replied, beaming. "I'm not perfect, but I do work very hard." She stared at the office door, wondering why he required such secrecy. Distracted by his criticism, she said, "People in general can be bad with secrets, and generally mortals are gullible. I frankly would find it hard to believe that anyone would get horns like these willingly," she motioned to her own, "but most humans have no problem with it. Body modification is becoming more and more popular, I guess."

She almost reached up to touch her horns, but withdrew her hand before she got a hold of one. It still felt... wrong, somehow, like something she needed to fix. And she'd tried, over and over again, but the horns just grew back. There was no choice but to get used to them. For now, anyway.

Taking a delicate sniff, she could smell that few humans had come up to this part of the building. Although there weren't any customers in the bar, it was a safe enough bet that being able to hear and smell them from up here would be difficult. Perhaps there was some kind of soundproofing in the walls? With her hunger temporarily assuaged and the drive for prey blunted, sorting out what she could and couldn't smell was more difficult. She'd heard there were some species with such a keen sense of smell and hearing that they could find prey from miles away, of which Weres were the best example. It would be interesting to know what senses Molyneux had. More than interesting, it would probably become essential.

The night was waning on, and although she wasn't quite falling asleep yet, the jetlag was unkind, as were the cramped economy seats. "Feel free to stick me in any kind of spare room with a bed for the night," Eris said, looking down the hall. "I'm not too picky. And besides, you're stuck with me as it is because of the Council, I don't want to make it any harder on you." Her offer was sincere, and although she hoped he actually had a spare bed, the way she was starting to feel was making any soft spot seem a likely place for a nap. Her optimism had led her to believe she might find a friend in her, well, "guardian," but that appeared to be reaching too high.

We just need to be able to tolerate each other, I guess. I can find other friends. But I guess I'll be going it alone for a while.

Eris grinned at the corpse under the bed comment, and shrugged off the "little girl" jab. She'd turned twenty-one before ... the incident, and given the transformation she'd undergone, she had no idea how, or if, she'd age in the future. As far as the Council could guess, she might look the same for the next few centuries. For all she knew, the demon doomed to be her babysitter could be many times her age, but it seemed rude to ask.

"That will work just fine, thanks. I don't need anything fancy, and a bed would be amazing right now," she said, setting down her things with a deep sigh. "And don't worry, I'm sure you'll find nothing in my room you haven't seen before." She laughed, and pushed open the door to the room.

As he'd said, it was sparse, but the essential bits of furniture plus a door was there, and that was more than enough. "No, I've interrupted your night enough. Please, don't worry about me, I'm just going to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. It was a long flight." She smiled. "And I'm sure whatever else I need to know can wait until tomorrow. Good night!"

Since there didn't seem to be any objections, she gently closed the door, but did not lock it. Setting her things down, she fluffed the pillow and then sat on the bed to take off her shoes. There were enough buckles that it required concentration, whereas the rest would not. Better to be more awake for that, because if she had to sleep in her clothes, so be it. Sleep was a harsh mistress, and one she had not yet been able to beat in this new life.

Eris' alarm went off at 6 am, and she would have slammed the snooze button if only her stomach would stop growling. Yawning and stretching, she slipped out of bed and looked into the contents of her suitcases. The clothes were ridiculous, of course, but there was some kind of hybrid between schoolgirl and goth that at least had matching flats. Granted, the mary-janes were several inches off of the ground with a thick, even sole, but it was much easier than yesterday's boots.

She scrambled into the clothes, including a warm pair of tights, slipped on the shoes, ran a brush through her hair, and hoped it was good enough. There was no mirror in the room, but she'd still managed to miss hitting her horns with the hairbrush, and that made a good morning. She rushed down the stairs and, not seeing Molyneux, wandered into the pantry. The bar was empty, and the kitchen was spotless, but all the ingredients were there.

Time to hope this doesn't get me kicked out.

Humming a little, she threw together a basic omelette, heavy on cheese and sausage, with nary a vegetable to be found.
This pan is excellent, she mused as she flipped the omelette gently in half. After another few minutes she slid it onto a plate she'd found in the cupboard and shoveled it into her mouth, barely savoring the flavor and ending up with flecks of egg around her mouth. When she'd finished it, she wiped her face with a napkin and went back to the stove, starting up a second omelette, this one with ham instead of sausage. Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, she wondered if adding some other random scraps from the fridge would make it better or just awful. With omelettes it was hard to tell.

Eris heard steps, a heart beat that wasn't quite human. "Would you like some?" she called out cheerfully, poking the omelette gently with a spatula.

Eris wrinkled her brow in confusion, but answered simply, "An omelette? Originally French, made with eggs and whatever else you want to throw into them." Did his type of... demon not eat?

She laughed, nodding her agreement."Nope, I just got down here, this is only the second I've made. Although I don't mind shopping for groceries, the Council is giving me an allowance for that. I was actually planning on going later today or tomorrow, depending on what you wanted me to get done, so let me know if you want me to add anything to my admittedly already extensive list." Hearing his stomach, she slid the omelette onto a new plate and, with a knife, cut and slid half onto her own. The new plate she passed to her new boss. "Sure you don't want to try it?" Unless his stomach was making noises for a different reason--she had no idea of his nutritional needs, and demons came in all kinds. As long as he wasn't trying to eat her, she could care less what he ate. Especially since, as the Council had appointed him her babysitter, he likely didn't have any urges towards eating people, or at least didn't go through with it.

Eris was certainly glad that her new metabolism seemed to burn through whatever she ate, just as fast as she ate it, but she did understand that it was high maintenance. She finished up her part of the omelette quickly, this time actually enjoying it, and wondered if there were more Japanese ingredients she could add to her next omelette morning. Then, cleaning her dishes and drying them before putting them away, she turned with a nod. "Certainly! What would you have of me, boss?"

Eris laughed and shook her head. "No, they weren't that generous. The allowance was just because one Council member argued that it would be unfair for me to be here under a babysitter if I didn't have enough food to keep myself from temptation. An "unnecessary cruelty," she called it, although all the other European Council members seemed fine with it. But thankfully the head of the Council agreed with her. Otherwise, if I need any necessities or even fun money, they said you would be paying me a small wage for my work."

She shrugged. "And if that's insufficient, I guess I'll just have to find an additional job. Sometimes a girl just needs pretty things!" she joked, grinning. Seeing that he had eaten the omelette, she fought not to grin wider. So he did eat human food! Lucky for him that she liked to cook, and didn't mind sharing. So long as he didn't hog it all, that is, she was a growing demon and needed her sustenance. He didn't seem happy that she'd came, much the opposite, so if he got to see the benefits of a little of the Council's money, so much the better.

Not that those lazy, self-important pooheads had actually earned that money, nooooo. It was probably from the tribute they received, or taxes or something. Heaven forbid they do something other than sit around and pass judgement on people.

Eris shook off the cynical thought and refocused on Molyneux's remark. "Certainly!" she replied, and caught the keys. She'd been a typical college girl, with her share of random part time jobs, so it wasn't like it was her first first day on a job. But every job had a learning curve, and she knew she'd have to be sharp to keep up with this one, especially with a cranky boss.

She tried a few keys before she found the right one, but at last she found it and unlocked the doors, testing them make sure they both opened. That done, she stuck the keys in one of the surprisingly roomy pockets of her too-short skirt and started taking out the tables and chairs. There was no one watching so she didn't bother to pretend that either were heavy, and made short work of putting all of them into place. With a table in each hand, she laid the last two carefully where she thought they had been the night before, adjusting them a little after she put them down.

Walking back towards the door, she turned around to survey the bar. Everything looked good to her, but the bar itself could use a little tidying, so she set to that next. Glasses were organized carefully, any with tiny spots re-washed, and then she straightened the bottles. She wasn't quite sure of his organizational scheme, and until she started working the bar it was impossible to tell what arrangement would be most efficient, so otherwise she left the bottles alone. Eris wiped down the bar again, realizing she was over-doing it and unable to stop, and then took a rag and dusted the shelves were the bottles were. The minifridge under the bar was well-stocked and organized, so she left that alone, and contented herself with taking another clean rag and some window fluid and starting to spot clean the windows. She reached up high and then tugged her skirt down. These clothes were hardly useful for work, but maybe she'd at least get good tips?

Eris blushed and turned. "It was in the suitcases. And I wasn't sure what you were having me do today, but I figured if I was tending bar, it might help with tips. If I ever want to afford normal clothes, I'll have to work for them. They didn't exactly let me pack before they packed me off." She swiped at a small smudge. "If you think it's inappropriate for your place of business, of course I'll see what I can do, but the what the Council packed me seems set on making me look...as unusual as possible."

She swiped another section of glass, thinking about what little conversation she'd actually had with the Council before their decision had been made, changing her entire life. Again. "No, nothing at all. They didn't really brief me for anything other than the basic of basics. I was just glad they gave me the language, frankly. Eris rolled her eyes. "They didn't seem to like me that much. I don't know if that's a demon thing or a me thing, but I'm just glad to be breathing." She was more durable now, to be sure, but the Council had guns, swords, and assorted occult odds and ends. All dangerous, and some of those guards had just been straining at the leash to see what could hurt her.

"Going out sounds great!" Eris grinned, glad of the distraction from her admittedly morbid thoughts. "I like to ramble about sometimes, and it's good for emergencies. And grocery shopping. Definitely grocery shopping." And lists. That meant she needed lists, so to maximize what money she received from the Council and keep herself as well-fed as possible. Meat was definitely required here. Lots of it. Hopefully they had some decent pork, that was one of her favorites.

"A good impression, got it." Eris smiled nervously. "I hope they do like me, it would be nice to have more friends. Do they... know? I mean, about us? I just don't want to say anything I shouldn't, if they're just humans, you know? I don't need another talk with the Council, I really don't."