Title: Blue-Eyed
Author: Me
Genre: Fantasy Drama?
Rating: OT for Older Teen
Warnings: America is a perverted shapeshifter, blood, gore, violence, nudity, heavily implied sex, mentioned sex
Summary: America is a demon and Arthur's trapped in a dungeon. America tells us about his history with Arthur, his most powerful master.
I am an incredibly powerful demon. I'm saying this to give you an idea of the strength of my greatest master. Normally I am strong enough to resist summonings, but this one... This one was too powerful to resist, little did I know that it would be the one that would drag me into submission and servitude after such a long period of freedom...
I decided to make my grand entrance with lots of smoke and flashes. This is my favorite entrance: I appear with a burst of colored light, and then I fill the room with a harmless smoke as colored sparks float down from above. When the smoke clears, I am revealed in whatever form I have chosen to take. This time I chose that of a small child with golden hair and sapphire eyes, dressed in a pure white christening gown. I love irony.
The summoning circle was drawn with blood. That was the first thing I noticed. Although the lines that formed the runes and circle wavered a bit and varied in thickness, the were all marked perfectly. Whoever had summoned me had made no mistakes on my end of this ritual, but I could always try to trick them into stepping out of their protective circle. I had done it many times before. It was one of the many reasons I often chose this form, people believe me because I look innocent.
The smoke cleared from the room, which appeared to be a prison or dungeon of some sort. That explained the use of blood rather than chalk, which most wizards prefer despite blood being more potent. I glanced across the room to see who had called me.
A young man, at most in his early twenties, stood staring back at me. He had clearly been imprisoned for a while and, judging by the many wounds I could see through his tattered clothing, he had not been treated kindly. His whole body was coated in a thick layer of grime, except where the blood had left trails down his body. But the most striking thing about him was his eyes, a harsh acidic green, that were placed under thick, dark eyebrows.
"Big brother?" I asked in my sweetest voice, hoping to coax him out of his circle. Before I could continue in my cooing however, he stopped me with an outburst.
"Don't bother, demon," he hissed angrily. "I know your tricks. Now, by the circle, give me your name!"
To you this request for my name may seem like a simple thing, a common thing even. But in magic, names are power. He wanted my true name, and, because of the circle, I had to give it to him.
"I am Unum," I replied, my voice dropping several octaves and becoming a full-sounding bass, which I'm told is rather disturbing to hear coming from a child. Then I listed off the most impressive of my many accomplishments, only exaggerating slightly for the effect. "And who are you to summon me?" I demanded as I grew horns and a tail. I do so love theatrics.
He laughed. It was a bitter, hollow thing. He'd probably been robbed of his true laugh long ago in this place. "I am your master. From this day forward, Unum, you are bound to serve and protect me." Then he recited a spell that turned his words into reality and made me into his slave.
My circle glowed brightly, causing me to shield my eyes. Then it vanished, not leaving behind a single bloodstain.
I approached my new master slowly. My body grew and changed shape as I moved, until I was a busty young woman who looked like she could be my child-form's promiscuous older sister. I'd clothed myself with two small strips of fabric that directed eyes more than they hid anything from them. "What do you desire, my master?" I asked flirtatiously as I helped support him. The man really looked awful.
"Heal me," he barked. I smiled coyly at him, then I ran my fingertips down his chest, sending ripples of healing magic throughout his body. Within seconds he was as good as new.
"And now, my lord?" I inquired as I pressed my more than ample breasts against him. Did I mention that I like to toy with humans? Well I do, and I've found that switching between seductive and innocent is one of the most rewarding ways to do it.
My master would have none of it, however. He pushed me away, although I did see a blush appearing on his face before he turned away.
"Now I'll need some new clothes," he stated, looking down at the destroyed fabric that seemed to be held to his body by dried blood where it was still intact. "Something impressive and worthy of a mighty wizard served by a very powerful demon."
Flattery will get you everywhere. The compliment was the only reason I decided not to give him something ridiculous like a leotard or the robes that had finally fallen out of fashion with wizards. I giggled as I snapped my fingers, creating a ball of pale blue light. The light flew to the man's head and spiraled down his body, clothing him in a dark green double-breasted suit and cloak. It fit him perfectly of course, but it was also cut to hide exactly how horribly thin he was. He had come very close to dying.
I gave him white gloves made of kid leather as an afterthought. They seemed to suit him perfectly.
"Now you will show my captors what happens when one crosses Arthur Kirkland, last living member of the Kirkland line." That explained his power. The Kirklands were an ancient family of witches and wizards of nearly unparalleled magical strength.
He smiled at me. ...Well, it was more of a smirk really. A cold, bitter, cruel, heart-breaking and heart-broken smirk that spoke of revenge and pain. "Be sure not to make it too gentle or quick. I want them to suffer for their impudence," he ordered. I grinned mischievously at him. I, like most demons, hate having to simply murder a human. When we kill we want to torture and torment, not simply end. Arthur certainly knew how to please a girl...or boy, since I consider my "true" gender to be male.
Arthur returned my grin with a glare. "And pick some other form, would you?" he huffed. "I am not one of those wizards who beds their demons, and I will not have my reputation ruined by your desire to run around looking like a harlot!" It was rather amusing to see him be simply annoyed and irritated instead of icily angry. I made sure to annoy him much more in the future.
"Yes, master" I answered, making a deep bow as my body shifted again. My hair grew shorter, I grew taller, and my breasts shrank. I now had the form of a devilishly handsome young man who could have been the male twin of my female form. This time I clothed myself with white knee breeches met by black boots and an open navy blue tailcoat with red facings. No shirt, of course. My muscled chest in that form is far too gorgeous to cover up so quickly.
Arthur made an irritated sound and rolled his eyes, but he couldn't hide the growing red tint to his face. He shook his head and grumbled about how I should put on a shirt, but I didn't. I've already mentioned how amazing my chest is.
Then I destroyed his cell in a deliciously violent explosion of brick and mortar and stone and metal. The dust flew up and surrounded us in a way that I thought was beautifully dramatic and Arthur just thought was needlessly showy. I moved faster than the human eye could see and quickly beat the guards that came to bloody pulps. I wasn't exactly taking my time with them, but I was getting some enjoyment. It had been far too long since I'd killed a human with my bare hands.
After disposing of them, I returned to my master's side. He seemed mildly surprised to notice that his clothes hadn't been marred by the dirt. Of course, his clothes were made of pure magic, so they wouldn't be damaged by non-magical means.
"Take me upstairs," he ordered brusquely. "Edelstein only has two demons regularly. We must strike before he has time to raise an army."
I nodded. I had heard of the Edelstein family. They were not said to be nearly as powerful as the Kirklands, but they were powerful enough to be known nonetheless. "Would you care to give me a specific location, master? Or, perhaps, some information on these two demons?" I asked curiously.
"One of his demons he beds: a brunette woman he calls Erszébet. The other is a man who is like an albino with white hair, pale skin, and red-violet eyes," Arthur informed me. These descriptions meant little to nothing. Our masters can order us to take a specific form, and, while most demons have a few favorite appearances, these often change as time passes.
"Edelstein's study and bedroom will likely be protected by powerful magic wards and charms, and those are likely where he is..." Arthur paused to think. "You'll have to take me to the ballroom. It's as close as we can get without running into his protective magic."
Arthur definitely knew a lot about his enemy's magical abilities. It wasn't until later that I would find out about the snooping he'd done, or had his previous demon servants do, at the fancy parties held in Edelstein's house.
I used my magic to transport us to the ballroom, dipping slightly into Arthur's thoughts to find the exact location. I can only tap into people's thoughts because I'm an extremely powerful demon. Even so, I'm very limited in this regard. I can only access people's thoughts when they're thinking really loud or if they let me access them.
Arthur was almost completely correct about Edelstein's magic defenses. Unfortunately, he didn't know where the man's demons were. Though we didn't have to wait long to find out because as soon as we appeared in the ballroom we heard a confidant laugh.
It was the near-albino who stood before us. He wore tight brown breeches met by black boots with a blue tunic and a red cape. I thought the cape was a little much, but who was I to complain about someone else's showy wardrobe. In his right hand he held a slender sword.
"Cuique?" I asked. "Is that you?" I had worked with a demon in the past whose favorite form was a near albino and favored swords over guns.
"Unum? Fancy seeing you here," he replied as he casually strolled forward. "I suppose Kirkland is your master now?"
I nodded as I made a musket with bayonet appear in my hands. "And Edelstein is yours?"
"Sissy boy? Yes," he answered. "The bastard's basically made Patria into his whore. It's horrible. Patria was made for battle, not for bedding!"
I was about to respond when Arthur decided that our little chat had gone on long enough. "Get on with it!" he cried angrily.
"Sorry Cuique, but I must obey my master," I said, aiming my musket at him.
He smirked. "I'd let you pass if I could, but sissy boy isn't a complete idiot, so I have to try my best to stop you." He leveled his sword at me. There was a tense pause as we circled each other, neither of us willing to strike first. Arthur wisely backed up to give us space and began casting a protective circle around himself.
I ran out of patience first and fired. Cuique nimbly dodged while laughing. "Is that all you have, Unum?" he challenged as he lunged forward. I managed to turn my gun in time to block his attack, the sword made a harsh grating sound as it slid across my musket. I brought my leg up and managed to kick him, knocking him off balance, but he quickly recovered.
I smiled as I leaped out of his range, then I took aim and fired at him again. This time my opponent didn't just dodge, but he also thrust his sword towards me. I chuckled until I noticed that his sword was growing longer and still coming towards me. I jumped away, narrowly missing the blade, and fired another shot at him.
The battle continued until, at last, I managed to defeat Cuique by stabbing him with my bayonet. He cursed as he dissolved into smoke and disappeared. He wasn't dead, it takes far more than that to kill a demon, but he had been sent back to the demonic realm and freed from his master's control.
Arthur threw a glare at me. "You could have finished that much quicker if you hadn't insisted on toying with him," he accused.
A carefree smile spread across my face. "Probably," I returned. "But where's the fun in that?"
My master huffed, but we continued towards our ultimate goal: Edelstein's personal rooms.
We knew what he was doing long before we reached his door. We could hear it: the pleasured moans and impassioned cries. There was no question about what Edelstein was doing. Arthur's face flushed a lovely scarlet hue as we drew closer.
I decided it was time to change my appearance again. My basic form didn't change, although my skin did become more tanned. What I changed was my clothing. I now wore jeans, leather chaps, a button-down shirt, vest, boots with silver spurs, and a wide-brimmed hat, just like the men who rode around the frontier did. At my hips were a pair of revolvers, in my boot was a large bowie knife, and perched on my nose was a pair of glasses.
Arthur muttered some spell to remove the other wizard's traps from the door before gesturing for me to open it. I did so in a surprisingly normal fashion for me.
We both quietly entered the room, Arthur's face still its vivid scarlet shade. He waited until I had my guns trained on the figures in the bed before making our presence known.
"Well Roderich," he said loudly in an arrogant tone. He was confident in our victory. "You may have won the last round, but the game goes to me."
The couple on the bed broke apart. The dark-haired man reached blindly for a pair of glasses on the nearby table and put them on. The brunette woman simply looked intrigued and far happier than someone who was naked and about to be killed had the right to. Of course, she was a demon who loved combat, so it was only to be expected that she'd perk up at the first sign of a fight.
"Arthur," the other man hissed. "Finally managed to get yourself a demon, have you? What happened to Gilbert?"
"Is that what you named him?" Arthur asked airily. "My demon destroyed Cuique or Gilbert or whoever he was with ease." I smirked at that. Sure, my master was just praising me to get a rise out of Edelstein, but I do love flattery.
The woman leaned forward, almost becoming animalistic in her urge to attack. "Let me fight them, Master Roderich. I will destroy them for you." The covers began to slip from her body as she prepared to strike. Arthur pointedly avoided looking at her breasts. They were definitely sizable, but my female form's are bigger and much, much better.
"Erszébet..." the other wizard murmured regretfully. No one could miss the hunger in the woman's eyes. It was obvious she desperately lusted for battle.
"Should I stop her now, Master?" I asked, speaking softly to prevent the other two from hearing.
Arthur nodded slowly. I would learn that this sort of sneak attack went against his gentlemanly code, although many other things he did also went against it.
I shot the female demon right in the forehead, blood slowly began to trickle out of the wound as her body dissolved into smoke.
"Farewell, Patria," I whispered, hoping that her next master would use her for her battle skills. While we had been enemies in this case, I understood her situation. Demons occasionally have masters who insist on using them for things they aren't good at. It would be like using me as a diplomat or a navigator.
Edelstein stared at the space the woman had previously occupied. "Erszébet..." he whispered in quiet shock.
"Well, Roderich," Arthur announced, breaking the solemn silence that surrounded us "it looks like I've defeated you," he smirked, "once and for all."
The other wizard barely spared a glance for my master, still entranced by the place where his demon had previously been.
My master's expression slipped as he realized that he wasn't getting the recognition he desired. I decided to shatter the awkwardness. "What are we going to do with him?" I asked, gesturing to the other wizard with my gun.
Arthur shrugged. "He's yours to kill in any fashion you desire." I smiled, my lips curling back to reveal suddenly pointy teeth.
"Thank you, Master," I purred gleefully as my clothes dissolved, leaving me wearing only a loincloth as a tail grew from the base of my spine. Huge ram horns spiraled out of my head, and my nails lengthened into claws. My skin turned into a mottled red and black as my eyes turned entirely dark. Arthur shivered slightly at my side before he stepped out of the room, leaving me alone with the defenseless wizard.
I'll spare you the details since you humans tend to have such weak stomachs, but let's just say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself that night.
In all honesty, Arthur was one of my best masters. He never asked me to do anything that I really didn't want to, although he wouldn't have hesitated to had his wishes gone against my own, and he always rewarded me with enough victims to keep me satisfied.
After I finished with Edelstein and returned to a more pleasing form, I found my master and we went to the ruins of the Kirkland manor. He had me rebuild it in all its glory. Once that task was complete he told me some of his plan for the future.
"You will be my butler," he said. "For now, at least. You'd better be able to make a good cup of tea."
I grinned at that. For the next week I served him coffee in the morning before I offered him his tea. He eventually realized that if he just ordered me to do something correctly I'd have no choice but to obey.
Yes, Arthur was probably my favorite master out of all the ones I've had, and it was a sad day indeed when he finally passed away. The Kirkland name continued, of course. Arthur married and had several children, though none of them were actually his wife's despite her having given birth to them. Technically, all three of them were mine.
Now Arthur had always strongly been against using demons for sex, but apparently it was different with me. He hadn't tried to force me into his bed, it had just happened somehow. That night he fell asleep murmuring "I love you" in my ear. And before you ask, I'm not going to give you a detailed description of what happened, I have to keep some things to myself after all.
...You know, now that I think about it, I really miss the guy. I wonder, sometimes, if I might have loved him in my own way. I suppose it's pointless to think about these things now, but there are moments when I'll find myself starting to take on his appearance instead of one of my preferred ones.
...Arthur, I miss you.
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...I'll admit the idea came to me while watching Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, but I think more of the demon-lore is drawn from the Bartimaeus series (especially the demon narrating the story in first-person). I also got to explore writing an unreliable narrator.
All of the demons' names are drawn from the country's motto.
Therefore:
Unum = America (E pluribus unum - Out of Many, One (traditional, not official))
Cuique = Prussia ( Suum cuique - To Each his Own)
Patria = Hungary (Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate - With the help of God for Homeland and Freedom (former motto))