"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Balthazar howled, his crimson eyes locked onto Jules. He was kneeling on the floor, barely keeping his balance and unable to move an inch, his body unresponsive. His limbs had grown numb to the point where he could hardly feel them, almost as if they had been cut off, and all that was left was some sort of phantom sensation, an illusory pain that they were still attached to his torso.
The only response he got, however, was a cold glare. Jules had no obligation to explain anything to him, so he didn't. Instead, he brought his attention back to Bastien, leaving the vampire to lament on his own.
"How are you feeling?"
"Do you want an honest answer or a white lie?"
"Stop playing around and—"
Jules stopped mid-sentence, the lust twirling in the depths of the demon's eyes hastily shutting him up. Right. If he felt an intense bloodlust when he awakened his angel form, even as his emotions cooled and grew detached, then Bastien must be about to go crazy from a deep thirst, his body now in a state of relentless arousal.
Incubi and sucubi were infamous for their insatiable sexual desire, which was mostly due to their survival instinct—unlike Bastien, most of them needed to eat regularly to survive. If these demons could somewhat suppress their lust by shapeshifting into their human forms, it was a whole other story when they were in their original forms; going against their most basic instinct wasn't as easy as Bastien made it seem.
Although Jules guessed Bastien wasn't having it easy right now, either. He hadn't shifted back into his original form in thousands of years, and it wasn't like a few copious meals had been enough to satiate him. If anything, it was a miracle he hadn't pounced on him yet. Bastien's self-control was, to say the least, impressive. But that might not last, especially when presented with the feast that he, as a half-archangel, was.
"…How about turning back into your human form?"
"Can't."
"Can't? I thought it was a simple matter for you?"
"It is," Bastien sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as a frown creased his brow, "but if I were to return to my human form right now, you're going to have another dead weight to drag with you for the next few days. It's been too long since I last switched back, and—"
"DON'T IGNORE ME!"
Balthazar's roar cut off the incubus, who turned his head toward the vampire in annoyance. Jules could feel the demon's growing impatience. He might appear relatively calm on the outside, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was on the verge of snapping.
A muffled sob resounded behind him, and Jules instinctively glanced over his shoulder, where the twins were still curled up against each other. Their progenitors' scream had startled them into a burst of silent tears again. Despite the vampire being immobilized, they had yet to move an inch, not daring to glance at him and barely making a sound.
'Just, what had that monster done to them…?' was the fleeting thought that crossed his mind as Bastien snarled at the vampire.
…For now, Jules had other matters at hand to handle. The twins could wait. The incubus? Not really.
"You're aware that, right now, I'm not exactly in a, let's say, benevolent mood, aren't you? Or have you forgotten how I've dealt with all the pesky little pests you've sent my way throughout the years?" Bastien paused to smile coldly. "Shall I remind you?"
"Bastien, calm down."
No matter how irritable and furious Bastien was, Balthazar was their best bet to get out of this damned place. Jules might have gone for the killing blow earlier, but now that the vampire had survived and wasn't an immediate threat, it was better to keep him alive.
The hunter didn't believe Balthazar would allow himself to get trapped inside an array for all eternity. He appeared too poised about it, too. Also, if he had been sending his minions to Bastien all this time, then…
Most likely, the vampire had a way to get out and in at will.
The incubus took a deep breath and exhaled. He offered a grimace to Jules and spoke in jest, his teasing habits resurfacing.
"Well, a kiss would help calm me down."
Jules rolled his eyes, but nevertheless grabbed the demon's shirt and dragged him to his height to slam his lips against his. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that that man had the bad habit of saying the truth, or what he needed, in a joking manner. The important stuff was never straightforwardly said.
A chuckle vibrated against his mouth before Bastien greedily returned the kiss, passing an arm around the hunter's waist, just under his wings, to press him against his body. He was holding onto Jules with a possessiveness he had yet to show, making him frown. Still, the hunter didn't push the demon away, letting him feed as much as needed. That was, until he noticed the incubus's tense body had finally relaxed and decided to part.
Bastien wasn't all that happy with the idea, instinctively chasing after his lips, and Jules had to press a hand against the demon's mouth to keep him away.
"Enough."
"Just a little more…?"
"Stop it. You sound like an addict."
At last, Bastien's mood improved, albeit at the cost of a tent in his pants. It didn't seem to bother him much, however, and he naturally pressed it against Jules's lower body. Incubis weren't exactly known for their modesty, to begin with.
"If you need a room," Annabelle's voice traveled to their ears, "there's one just there. The place's ransacked, but not gory as hell this time, so…"
"No," Jules replied in a deadpan tone, feeling his mouth twitch. He was still stuck in the demon's embrace, and it didn't seem like he'd be able to extricate himself from it anytime soon. Regardless, he pretended his sister hadn't just suggested they lock themselves in the secret room to fuck, and switched topic, "Are you alright over there?"
Annabelle, whose head had popped from under the desk to peek at the situation, nodded. Her gaze lingered on Bastien, curiosity and uncertainty swirling in her eyes. When their gazes finally met, it froze her mid-movement, leaving her in a semi-upright stance.
"Anna, what's wrong—"
Iris forgot what she was about to say when her eyes fell upon her ancestor. Her mouth fell agape at the majestic but absurd sight. It felt incredibly strange and surreal to see a demon, with his bat wings and whipping tail, holding onto an angel, whose white wings contrasted vividly with the incubus's. These conspicuous things took up half the place in the room, making them impossible to ignore.
It was a scene that seemed to have come straight out of a fiction, but compared to everything else they had seen up to now, it wasn't as overwhelming. Maybe.
"B-bastien?"
As an answer, the incubus waved his free hand, and as he did, two other heads popped. Melody barely reacted, whereas Felix's eyes seemed about to fall out of their sockets. No one could blame him, however.
It was one thing to know that Bastien was a demon and another to see him in his true form.
"…What the fuck happened to your DNA?!" Iris whined. "How come I haven't inherited your good looks?! This is so unfair!"
"I feel you," Annabelle sighed dramatically. "My brother also inherited all of our father's good looks. It's so frigging unfair."
"Right?! Like, I know I'm not ugly, but compared to him? I'm as hideous as a monkey's butt."
"Same here. Bro looks like a goddamn reincarnate deity, while I'm just, well, meh. Why are the guys in our family so much prettier than us? It should be the other way around!"
The silly back and forth between Annabelle and Iris had the merit of loosening up the tension still hanging in the air. Felix snapped out of his shock-induced torpor and ran toward the trembling twins, while Melody scooted closer to her friends and Bastien wrapped himself around Jules a little more, acting like an octopus. The hunter, albeit annoyed, turned a blind eye to the incubus's clinginess.
He'd rather deal with a sticky demon than an out-of-control demon. The former could be reasoned with, at least.
"What is the meaning of this…?"
This time, Balthazar didn't roar, staring at Bastien and Jules in a daze. It felt like he barely registered the presence of the other people, bewitched by the sight before him.
"Hmm?" Bastien, finally calmed and of sound mind, hummed as he snuggled against Jules a bit more. The hunter had given him an inch; now he wanted a mile. "I wouldn't mind telling you, but we have questions of our own, too."
'Using his infatuation against him, huh?' Jules thought, resisting the urge to scoff and berate the old thing.
At the end of the day, that seemed like a better method than threatening the vampire with physical harm. Jules had a hunch he was most certainly stubborn enough to keep his mouth shut under torture, so he decided to play along with Bastien's little charade. Psychological manipulation was sometimes more effective than physical pain.
It wasn't like he minded the close proximity, either.
All Jules had to do was make sure the incubus's hand on his lower back didn't wander too much—that naughty thing kept trying to slip into his pants and fondle his butt, seemingly uncaring about being slapped away or pinched off.
"…"
Well, whatever.