Demon Bound

With the suns shining through the window, Maria finally began to stir. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet, but she instantly knew where she was. The inhuman warmth of the woman she was cuddling up to told her everything. She didn’t move or make any indication she was awake. Maria just stayed there cuddling up to her demon. Her face resting on the top of one of Edith’s breasts as the demon held her close. As always her tail was wrapped around Maria’s calf, though right now it was a little loose due to Edith still being asleep.

Thoughts and memories of yesterday, and especially last night, went through Maria’s mind. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Normally she was meek and shy, not daring to do anything risky or terribly new. For gods’ sakes she was too afraid to even get tipsy. But somehow she was forward and daring enough to say yes to a demon being her magically destined life partner. She was also shocked at how fast she had come to the conclusion that this was what she wanted. It was all a little crazy, but it wasn’t bad.

She was actually happy. She had someone who lov— No, she wasn’t ready to think about the L word with Edith yet. Not that she didn’t want that of course! It was just a bit daunting and fast. She was also not going to think about how Edith said this bond would be akin to her being Edith’s wife. Though she did love the sound of being a wife. It was a childhood dream come true, and she was only a tad disappointed at not getting to wear a white dress. Well maybe they could still have a wedding…

“Good morning, my dear Maria.” Edith’s arms gently squeezed Maria as the demon shifted into a more comfortable position, pulling Maria out of her thoughts.

“Morning,” Maria said with a hint of shyness in her voice. For some odd reason she couldn’t bring herself to look at Edith.

“A little shy the morning after, are we?” Edith said with a giggle before kissing the top of Maria’s head. “There’s no reason to be.”

Maria felt her face flush. “I. Um. I’m not shy. It’s just…” Why was she so nervous? Maybe she was afraid that this was still all a dream and didn’t want to break out of it yet. Taking a deep breath she shifted and turned her head to look Edith straight on. “Good morning.”

Like yesterday Edith was the epitome of ‘woke up like this’. Though her hair was a bit more frazzled than the other day, probably thanks to Maria last night. Maria couldn’t help but openly stare. Edith was so beautiful to her, every little detail of her face super clear. It was as if the fog had been lifted away and she could finally see clearly for the first time. Maria had never needed glasses before. She knew she had good vision, but still she imagined that this is what it’s like for people wearing glasses the first time. 

It took her a few solid seconds of staring before she noticed Edith staring back with a little wide eyed look.

“What?”

“Oh don’t worry,” Edith answered as her face returned to a smile. “You’ll find out soon enough, but for now how are you feeling?”

Maria raised an eyebrow at Edith at her cryptic response, but let it go. “I’m good. Still a little shocked that this all isn’t a dream, if I’m honest,” she finished with a chuckle.

“Well, I’m certainly glad it all isn’t just a dream.” One of Edith’s hands found its way into Maria’s bed head hair. “Otherwise I’d be missing out on having such a wonderful girl in my life.” Maria still thought it wasn’t fair how easily Edith could get to her heart. “You know you’re really cute when you blush,” Edith said cupping her face and pulling her closer.

“I am not,” Maria pouted at her. 

“Oh yes you are, Maria,” Edith said just before finally closing the gap and kissing her.  Maria felt her whole body relax into the kiss, not that after last night’s fun she wasn’t feeling relaxed. “As much as I want to stay in bed and have a repeat of last night,” Edith said breaking the kiss. “We do have things we need to do today.”

“Oh. Okay.” Maria was a little disappointed, even though she hadn’t realized that’s what she wanted. “What do we need to do?”

“Well for starters we need to get you registered as a being of the I.P.L., Interconnected Planes League, as well as declare you a resident of Celesque. Then declare our connection to one another, which will already be put on your registration so I don’t know why we have to do that twice, and give you permission to use my bank account because you have no money here. Fuck there's more, but I can’t remember the rest. I have a packet with a list of everything in the office.”

“Wow… So a bunch of bureaucratic hullabaloo?”

“Exactly. It’s going to be pretty tedious, but necessary for you to stay a part of my life,” Edith said with a heartwarming smile.

“Can you stop trying to be smooth for just one minute?” Maria teased at her demon.

“Only when you stop being so damn cute,” Edith shot right back with a smirk. Maria did a playful pout, which only made Edith laugh. “Alright, we really do need to get up and ready.”

Maria had to admit a shower would be really nice to get all the sweat and cum off of her, as well as out of her. “Okay fine, I didn’t want to be comfy and cuddly anyway,” she playfully groaned, finally peeling herself off of Edith. Oh yeah, she really needed to shower…

Maria could sense the eyes on her ass as she made her way into the bathroom. Not that she minded, it actually made her feel a bit sexy and desired. The part that was strange was how normal it felt to be just domestic with Edith. Just being able to start their day as if they were a couple who had lived together for years. But that was probably a good thing. Maria also wondered if other people who had a nuptiae pact felt the same. Maybe it was true about them being fated for one another.

Edith seemed to be waiting at the door to the bathroom while Maria made her way in. Maria turned around to see what Edith was doing when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The glimpse was so quick she almost didn’t see it. But she did.

Running up to the mirror she took a long hard look at herself. Everything about her seemed the same as it had been before she came to this plane. Same height, same shape, same skin color. The one thing that was different about her were her eyes. They were glowing much like Edith’s did. Not only that, they were slitted like her demon’s, but instead of Edith’s red, Maria’s eyes were purple. Bright, fucking glowing purple. 

Maria’s first shocked reaction was to look over at Edith. A million questions running through her mind as she looked for all the answers in her demon.

“Fuck me, you’re really fucking cute when your eyes dilate like that. No wonder people told me it was cute when my eyes do the same.”

“Edith! What the fuck?!” Maria’s hand clutched at the sides of the mirror. “What happened? Why are my eyes like this? What’s going on?” 

Seeing the panic start to take her over, Edith quickly swooped in and hugged her. “Hey, it’s okay Maria. Everything’s okay.”

“What do you mean everything is okay? My eyes are god damn purple.”

“Shh,” Edith cooed, running a soothing hand through her hair. “It is okay. Remember when I told you that your body would change?”

Right, she did tell Maria that... 

“It’s going to happen this fast?” Maria asked looking up at her, still panicking. 

“No, no sweetheart. It won’t happen that fast. There’s just normally one very fast change after the couple become intimate and solidify their union. I’m sorry. I should have warned you.”

Maria huddled into her demon’s hug. “What… What am I going to become?” There were a few tears in her eyes.

“I… I don’t know exactly,” Edith replied honestly. “It’s different for everyone. Some become the same race as their partner, some become other races. Some just have a few things that change while staying mostly human.”

“I’ve… I’ve worked so hard on transitioning. I… I don’t want it to ruin that,” Maria cried out, letting her biggest fear be known.

“Maria.” Edith pulled her in so tight Maria feared she might burst. “That’s not going to happen. I promise you that these changes won’t ruin your transition. You’re always going to be this cute beautiful girl you are, no matter what may change.” Edith gently rubbed her back. “If anything this might do more for your transition.” There were a few seconds before Edith panicked and said, “Not that I think you need it! You’re beautiful and wonderful just the way you are. I just meant that it might— Fuck. I mean—”

Maria couldn’t help but chuckle into her demon’s shoulder as Edith panicked about what she just said. “It’s okay Edith. I understand what you mean,” Maria said, still a little out of it. She felt Edith let go of the tension she was suddenly holding. For a few minutes the two of them just stayed there holding on to one another. The sudden fear and tension dissipating as they both calmed down. 

“Are you feeling better now?” Edith asked quietly.

“I am. It was all just… I don’t know. I know you told me I would change, but with everything that happened I didn't think about it. So suddenly seeing that my eyes had changed just really freaked me out.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you when I noticed earlier that they changed…”

“It’s okay… Just next time if you see something that’s changed on me, please let me know right away,” Maria said, pulling back to look up at Edith.

“I will, I promise,” Edith replied before leaning in to give her a quick kiss. “Your eyes really are beautiful though.”

“Thanks,” Maria managed to blush out. “At least they’re not plain boring old brown anymore.”

“Hey, your brown eyes were beautiful,” Edith chuckled.

“Oh sure. That’s what they all say about brown eyes,” Maria teased.

“Oh be quiet,” Edith said playfully before leaning in and giving Maria’s neck a nip. If Maria wasn’t fully awake, she was now. “Now we both need to get ready because if we stand here naked in each other's arms any longer I can’t promise I won’t do anything to you.”

Maria couldn’t help but laugh and try to push her demon away as Edith continued to attack her neck with ticklishly light kisses. “Alright fine. I said fine! Ha ha...get off of me already!”

~~~

It took the pair longer than they had planned to get up and out of the house, but neither of them were complaining. Edith had suggested that they shower together in order to ‘save time’, but all it really did was give them a chance to make out and fondle one another in the water. After getting out Edith put on business casual jeans and blouse, while Maria dressed in black skinny jeans and a light gray turtleneck to hide the marks on her neck. After getting dressed, they made themselves a breakfast of chinese leftovers. Maria was right, it was better the next day reheated.

Now the two were seated on a street trolley, riding through the strange city. It was a strange mix of old styles with modern touches, much like Edith’s house. She had asked if that was normal throughout the multiplanes, but Edith informed her that it was just the city. Every plane had its own style and feel to it. Hell/Hades/nearly every religion’s version of Hell for instance was very modern, whereas Fairy was still using the medieval style. Maria was a little surprised to find that there were no cars to be seen anywhere. Everybody was either walking or riding on one of the street trolleys that went throughout the entire city. It was actually very peaceful. Though the assortment of nonhuman beings out and about and on the trolley was still a strange sight.

Maria was looking over the packet Edith talked about earlier, while they waited for their stop. There was a lot of form filling in it to do, and because she was human, it meant having to go through other steps and regulation. It was a little mind numbing, but had to be done.

“Gods, do I really have to fill out all these forms?” Maria asked with a sigh.

“Yes you do, and you’re not the only one with forms to fill.” Edith waved about their own set of forms.

“Ugh. At least it’s all in English.”

“Oh it’s not. None of it is,” Edith replied nonchalantly.

“What do you mean it’s not? I’m looking at it. It’s English.” She raised an eyebrow at her demon.

“No it’s not. We aren’t even speaking English right now. We’re speaking Infernal, while you’re reading the packet in Common. It’s just your mind trying to adapt to suddenly understanding languages humans couldn’t normally comprehend.” Edith reached over and pointed out a section in Maria’s pack. “It explains it all right here.”

Maria was sure Edith was full of shit and just trying to mess with her. There's no way she could be speaking another language and reading in another. She didn’t even speak any other language, so how could she be… The section Edith had pointed to was titled “You aren’t speaking your native tongue.” Under the heading it read, “Take a close look at the words you are reading and pay more attention to the words you say. You will find that you are no longer reading or speaking in your native tongue, but instead you are using your partner's native tongue and/or the planar common language.”

The closer Maria looked at the words the more they began to change into a language she had never even seen before, but yet perfectly understood.

“What the fuck…” Maria said, realizing the words that came out of her mouth weren’t English. She looked over at her demon with wide eyes, hoping she would explain more.

“Gods, you’re cute,” Edith chuckled out.

“This isn’t funny, Edith.”

“What? It’s cute when your eyes go all wide,” She said with a playful smirk. Maria pouted at her.

“Edith…”

“Sorry, but it’s true. Seriously though, I can’t imagine how strange it must be to suddenly know Common and Infernal. But look on the bright side, you didn’t have to study them at all and you still know it,” the demon said with a smile. 

She had a point. Maria had tried learning a couple of languages and failed horribly at it, so this was probably the best and easiest way to learn the planar Common language as well as Infernal. “Yeah, it’s strange but I guess you're right… Is there anything else magical and strange I need to know about?”

“Well… The only thing I can really think of is that you’re going to live a lot longer. But that kind of is implied by the whole nuptiae making you life partners, not really due to the changes you might have.” 

“How much longer? Like a few more decades or…?”

“Well the average magical beings lifespan is around a millennia. So a good while.”

Maria felt like she might faint. Thankfully Edith was there to grab hold of her and pull her in close. “Holy shit…”

“Unholy technically.”

“That’s not funny,” Maria said, giving Edith a serious look.

“It is a bit. Our stop is about to come up, get ready.” Edith smirked, giving Maria a little squeeze and standing up. Gathering herself, Maria got up just in time to feel the little jolt of suddenly stopping. Edith quickly pulled her out and along the street. 

“Wait, so… How old are you?”

“Well,” Edith looked over at Maria, interlacing their fingers. “In human terms I’m ninety-six, though long lived races mostly rate time in decades so nine and a half.”

“Oh wow… That’s um… I…” Maria started to stammer out. Edith was nearly as old as her parents combined!

“Everything okay?” 

“Yeah… I just um. I thought you would be closer to my age. Ninety-six is a lot older than I thought,” She admitted sheepishly. Though she did suddenly remember the very old timey photo of Edith.

“Well what did you expect? I had to be at least twice your age considering I made that pact with your parents.”

“I never really thought about that…”

“I know in human terms seven decades might feel like a big difference, but here it’s not a big deal. I mean my parents have a two century age gap between them and that’s pretty normal. You just have to stop thinking of everything in human terms.”

Maria just nodded as she thought about it. She was right of course. Maria did need to stop comparing everything to a normal human life because this was far from normal. Not that anything was wrong with it all, it was just crazy. If you had told her a few days ago she would be magically bound to a demon who made a pact for her before she was born, she would think you're crazy. Now she’s the crazy one who agreed to spend the rest of her now very, very long life with a demon she just met, and she couldn’t be happier.

“This is it,” Edith declared as they stood in front of a building that looked like a three story office building. “Ready to be declared my magically fated wife?” The smirk on Edith’s face made Maria blush.

“Y— Yeah. Though could we hold off on using the term wife for a while? I’m not sure I’m quite ready for that.”

Edith smiled at her with understanding. “Of course, how does girlfriend sound?”

“That sounds good.” Maria couldn’t help but shyly hide her massive smile.

“Good.” Edith pulled her in close and kissed her head before whispering, “but one day I will get you in a dress and declare you as my wife in front of everyone I can.” Maria gulped as Edith gave her a predatory smile.

 The only way Maria could describe the inside of the building was ”DMV.” It was just a magical ripoff of everybody’s least favorite place, complete with a massive line, empty water cooler and workers who seemed dead inside. The couple grabbed a number from a machine before looking for some seats. Of course there were no two seats next to one another because no one wanted to sit next to anyone else, so there was always a one seat gap. Edith suggested that Maria just sit on her lap which she readily turned down and elected to stand against a wall.

Thirty minutes into their wait Maria was starting to regret not taking up her demon’s offer, but she wasn’t going to back down. There was no way she would survive the embarrassment of doing that in public, and there was no telling how teasing Edith would be. It would take another forty-five minutes before their number was called and they finally made their way over to a worker in a small open cubical. At first Maria had thought the worker to be a human woman, but upon closer look she saw that the woman’s hair was made up of live snakes. 

The gorgon woman barely looked up at the two from her computer screen as they stood in front of her. Edith started to say hello but the gorgon rudely cut her off by raising a finger. Maria could see Edith’s lips purse for a split second in response before turning back to a neutral face. After a minute or two the worker finally spoke up, though she didn’t look up from her computer.

“What are you in here for today?” There was a heavy Brooklyn accent to her voice that surprised Maria. 

“We are here to get Maria registered as a being of the I.P.L. and a citizen of Celesque.”

“Human acquisition, then.” 

Maria nor Edith seemed pleased with the term acquisition, but neither said anything. The gorgon actually turned to look at them for a split second, and gave Edith a quick once over that for some reason made Maria mad. “Alright,” the gorgon continued as she typed away on the computer, “what is the manner of your relationship: indentured servant for life or designated period, if the later what is the period length, apprentice, pupil, bastard child, adopted child, or pet.”

That definitely wasn’t a list Maria was prepared for. What did magical beings see humans as? 

“Nuptiae,” Edith replied matter of factly.

That made the gorgon pause and turn back towards them. Her snake like eyes gave Maria a long look before looking up to Edith. “Really?” She said snidely. Maria wasn’t one to be angered, normally she just balled it up and put up with it. This woman however, was really making her blood boil. Who was she to judge? Maria could also see the displeasure build up on Edith’s face. “I didn’t think you demons did that kind of thing.”

“I didn’t know it was your place to judge other races based on stereotypes.” All three of them were shocked by that. Maybe Maria most of all considering she was the one who said it. Maria looked over to Edith as if to ask how she did that, only to see Edith give her a proud look.

“She’s right, maybe we should ask your supervisor if that’s part of your job description,” Edith deadpanned over towards the gorgon who’s face immediately turned white. The snakes for her hair all seemed to pull back and hide behind her head in a sort of bun.

“I— There is—” The gorgon worker stuttered out. “I’m sorry, it wasn’t my place. There’s no need to talk to my supervisor, it won’t happen again I promise.” Maria felt a little chuffed at how bashful the gorgon had suddenly become after being called out. The same thing nearly always happened when Maria saw people getting called out on Earth. It was nice to see that some things were universal, even if it did mean there was prejudice here, too. “I need your name before I can go any further.”

“Edith and Maria τῠ́ρᾰννος,” Edith replied, putting an arm around Maria’s waist.

“Wait,” Maria whispered looking up at her demon. “I’m using your last name? And that’s how you pronounce it?”

“Well, of course. We are bonded, so it makes sense. Unless you want to still have Crawthord as your last name?”

“No not really…” Maria really didn’t want to be tied to them anymore.

“See, it all works out. And what did you think my last name would sound like?”

“I don’t know. Something like gargling a mouth full of rocks.”

Edith snorted. “Really? You know it’s Greek right? Well ancient Greek, but still.”

“Wait, it's Greek?”

“Yeah, mother took mitéra’s last name, but mother still wanted something demonic in my name so she picked Edith.”

“Well I got that all backwards,” Maria admitted.

“Woooow,” Edith laughed out.

“Shut up. How was I supposed to know? And Edith? Is that really a demonic name?”

“Of course it is. Have you ever met an Edith who wasn’t demonic?”