Demon Stories

"You're afraid of me."

"I'm not."

The demon grinned. "You're shaking. You're trying to hide it but I can sense it from here."

Kara tightened the grip on her arms and willed her body to stop shaking. She could not show fear in front of this demon, Leviathan warned her of the consequences. Taking a deep breath, Kara forced a smile.

"I apologize for my rudeness, I was just caught off guard. I actually came here to introduce myself."

Astaroth's grin faltered. He had expected the human to run, but she stood her ground and faced him directly. How boring.

"Yeah I know who you are, you're the human that Leviathan brought back from the dumps."

"Correct, and I've been meaning to get to know you better Astaroth."

The demon barked out a laugh. What kind of stupid ploy was this?

"Don't give me that bullshit. If Leviathan brought you here, then I know for a fact that he told you all you need to know about me."

Indeed he had. Kara clearly remembered the serious look on Leviathan's face as he told her about the deranged and psychotic demon known as Astaroth. He had warned her multiple times not to approach him, but Kara was never one to quietly obey someone's orders. 

"It's true that Leviathan has told me about you, but I'd like to get to know you personally. I will not believe what he's told me unless I see it for myself."

"You must be one very stupid human then," he laughed. "Look around, don't you have your answer already?"

Kara didn't need to look, because the smell was more than enough to tell her what she needed to know. She had walked in on one of Astaroth's many "hunting sprees," and mangled bodies were strewn all around the area. The demon's clothes, face, and claws were covered in blood, and from the looks of his teeth, he had done more to the bodies than just tear them apart.

"I'm aware of your violent tendencies Astaroth, but seeing as this is the Underworld, it's to be expected. I want to know why you act the way you do. Why you kill so much more than the other demons."

Astaroth frowned.

"What if I just kill because it's fun? There's not much else to do here anyway, so stop overthinking things. I'm just-"

"A monster?" Kara shook her head. "No, I don't believe that to be true."

"Tch, you don't know shit about me. If it weren't for your fazing ability, I would have ripped your throat out already."

Astaroth walked up to Kara and brought his bloody claws to her throat. He was angry, but the look in his eyes also held a deep sadness within them. Suddenly, it clicked.

"You're lonely." 

Astaroth froze. 

"You kill because you want to convince yourself that you're fine with being alone."

Kara brought her hand up to Astaroth's face, but the demon immediately pulled away. He stared at her with a mix of horror and confusion.

"No, you're wrong."

He continued to step back as Kara moved forward.

"You desperately want companionship, but you're afraid of letting people get close to you."

"SHUT UP."

"Why is that? Why do you push others away?"

"I SAID SHUT UP."  

Astaroth's mind was racing as he remembered the words spoken to him a long time ago. 

'Disgusting.' 'What's wrong with you?' 'You don't belong here, get lost.' 'Stay away from him, he's a deranged imbecile.' 'As if a monster like him could have a friend.'

He quickly brought his hands up to cover his face. Astaroth couldn't show weakness in front of this human.

"You're wrong, I choose to be alone because I like being alone" Astaroth lied through gritted teeth.

Kara stopped a few steps away from him. She wanted to reach out to him again, but stopped herself.

"You know what I think? I think that you're just telling yourself that because the other archdemons convinced you that you're unapproachable."

Astaroth said nothing, but his tense posture seemed to confirm Kara's suspicions. She was acutely aware of the way Leviathan and the other archdemons spoke about Astaroth. They held a shared hatred for him, but Kara could never understand why. Of all the demons, why was Astaroth the outcast?

"I want to be your friend Astaroth."

That seemed to get a reaction out of the demon as Astaroth lowered his hands to gawk at her. Friends? With him?

"Liar. You're just saying that because you want something from me."

The anger was back in his voice, and Kara had a feeling that he would run off if she said the wrong thing.

"That's not it. You don't deserve to be treated the way you are Astaroth, you deserve love just like the rest of us."

Love? That was such a foreign concept to the archdemon that he almost didn't believe he heard her correctly. Demons don't do love, that was something only humans did.

"Now you're just spouting nonsense. Demons aren't capable of things like "love," so stop wasting your time."

"You're wrong, even demons can learn how to love. Beelzebub loves his library, Berith loves his garden, and Leviathan loves spending time with Andrew. What makes you any different?"

"That's not love, it's just their hobbies."

"People can love their hobbies too."

"You're annoying."

"And you're running away from something that's well within your reach." 

Astaroth growled.

"I can't love. I've been on my own for so long that I doubt feelings like that can ever form inside of me."

Kara believed him. Astaroth spent centuries being isolated and berated by the others, so it's not surprising that he can't properly connect with people. But that doesn't mean it has to stay that way.

"You don't have to love anything, because I'll give you love instead."

Astaroth was stunned into silence.

"I care about you Astaroth, so please let me help you."

"How can you care about someone you've just met? I don't need your pity."

Kara sighed. She should've known this wasn't going to be easy.

"It's not pity. I've learned a lot about you from this encounter, and it's convinced me that you're not a bad person. You're a fascinating individual Astaroth, and I think we can get along well."

She brought her hand up towards him.

"Will you accept my friendship?"

Astaroth stared at her hand for a few moments, clearly conflicted with what to do. But when he looked up at Kara, she smiled so gently at him that Astaroth swore he felt his heart stop for a second. Hesitantly, he took her hand in his own. 

"I… I still think you're lying, but it won't hurt to give it a shot I guess."

Kara was touched. She knew that this was a difficult decision for Astaroth since he had never reached out to anyone before, so she took his feelings very seriously.

"Thank you, I promise not to betray the trust you've given me."

She squeezed his hand to reassure him, and Astaroth squeezed back. He didn't know what to feel, but Kara's warm hand calmed him down. A friend. He finally had a friend.

"Oh, are you alright?"

Kara brought her other hand up to wipe the stray tear off of Astaroth's face. He shook his head.

"I'm fine. It's just… I think this is the first time I've felt truly happy."

It felt as if a heavy weight was finally lifted off his shoulders. He could breathe now, because he wasn't alone anymore.

He looked down at Kara and smiled.

"Thank you."