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It was too late when she had realised.
The hand on the clock clicked for every second that passed, yet it still felt like forever before the next one came. The grandfather clock had always worked perfectly. Never a second late, and never a second early. As another minute passed, the two hands met at the number one. A chime rang through the house. Despite the late timing, Belphegor was still awake, quietly watching the clock as his eyes darted between the door and the hand.
When the door slowly opened, he rushed to greet her with open arms, clinging to her like glue as he peppered her face with kisses.
A gentle smile greeted him, her hand stroked his hair as she laughed. She had always found his clinginess to be cute. He welcomed her home with a chaste kiss on her forehead, and held her by her hand as they walked to the attic. He asked her about her night, the smile still plastered on his face as she talked about what she had done with her friends.
He laid her down on the bed, and cuddled her close to him, her head on his chest. Despite asking about how her day had gone, he had already known everything. Everything there was to know about her, he already knew. From the friends she often met up with to the friends she had before she came to Devildom as an exchange student. The videos and photos in her camera roll, the words written in her diary, and her messages.
He had followed her that day. A camera snug in hand as he snuck behind her, his teeth nibbling on his nail as he watched the numerous guys that tried to court her. He never noticed that he would often bite his nail to the point that it would bleed. If he let it bleed without healing it himself, maybe she would lick the blood off for him. Such temptations were just fantasies, he knew she would never do anything of the sort. He took a photo of every smile she flashed, every laugh that escaped her lips and every step she made. The shutter of the camera, quiet and fast. To capture her grace, her beauty, her soul.
The outside world was a dangerous place, plagued with petty criminals and disgusting perverts. As her loved one, it was his duty to protect her. She loved it when he asked for her attention, she would always love him, especially with his claws dug deep into the chest of all the guys that had laid their eyes on her. He believed that if she saw him at that moment, hands covered in blood from the guys who had hit on her, she would hold him close to her and thank him for what he had done. What a hero he was.
As one of the strongest demons in hell, he knew how to make them disappear. They wouldn’t just die from a stab wound, but if it was from him, they would turn into mere specks of dust. Their status didn’t matter much either. Considering how he had seriously wanted to destroy the human race when Lilith died, killing lower demons wouldn't be a problem.
He rushed to get home before her, cleaning his hands and putting on his pyjamas to make it seem as though he had been waiting for her to come home all night. He would hold her hand in his as he continued his charade. His innocent smile, his flustered reactions. All rehearsed just for her. He was sure that she would love his true self, yet a tiny part of him doubted that.
It started with a few texts every hour to ask her what she was up to. Then he started to call her more often, disrupting her schedule. He could sense when she disliked it, so he stopped messaging and calling her all day. He didn't want her to dislike him, but he didn't want to wait for her to come home.Instead, he started to tail her wherever she went, taking notes of all the people she talked with. He couldn't leave her alone. Not even in her dreams did he allow her any privacy.
He twisted it so that each dream she had would be a wholesome moment with just the two of them. She didnt need anybody else in her life. He was all she needed, yet she just couldn't see that. He wanted her to stay home more often, to caress his hair and kiss his forehead as she whispered sweet words of affirmations. She loved to hold him in her arms as she fell asleep to sweet dreams. Her mind would always be filled with him, just the way he intended it to be.
“Belphie..” Her tone sounded serious, “I've been wanting to tell you this for a while, but I think someone has been following me. Everywhere I go, I can feel a pair of eyes digging holes in my back.”
“Hey hey its gonna be okay,, don't be scared.” Belphegor locked hands with hers, kneading her hand with his thumb, “I’ll try to find him, alright?”
For a brief moment there, he was genuinely concerned that she had a stalker. He mentally slapped himself for being silly. Who else would follow her around 24/7? She was talking about him. She must have been so grateful to have protection.
Belphegor smiled, and pulled her back down on the bed. He advised her to not go out, lest the stalker should follow her again.
It was hard to keep a facade 24/7, it was inevitable that an argument would happen once she found out that he had been looking through her phone.
She was angry and reprimanded him for his lack of trust. His apologetic eyes and crocodile tears made her forgive him immediately for how she had overreacted. She consoled him, telling him that she was wrong and that he was right. She always did pity him.
He fed her lies about her friends. About the things they had said to her behind her back and how they truly felt about her company. He expressed his concern for her choice of companions, and urged her to break contact with each of them each time a minor convenience happened. He convinced her that they had been manipulating her all along, and would throw her away if they did not pity her sorry state. She ate every one of his words, trusting him fully. Slowly but surely, she cut away her ties to her friends. Her social circle became smaller, but it wasn't enough. He needed her to be alone, he needed her to only be able to rely on him.
And so he made her doubt his brothers. He stole all the money she had saved up since she first arrived in Devildom, and put the blame on Mammon. He broke a prized figurine of Levi’s, and told him that he had witnessed her break it in a fit of anger. It wasn't hard to make her lose trust in his brothers. Afterall, most of them had threatened to kill her, him included. Except, he was the exception. He stayed beside her and lulled her to sleep as she cried about the money she had lost. He held her body to his as she took out her anger on him in tears, ranting about all that his brothers had done to her. He stayed by her even when nobody truly trusted her. He had succeeded in isolating her from everyone else.
It was then that he started to become more extreme. She had started to notice all the things he did to keep her in check. She confronted him about how he had followed her around everywhere, and he fell to the floor in anguish as his fake tears wet the floorboard of the attic whilst he talked about how worried he had been since she told him of her stalker. She held him in her arms, immediately forgiving his actions and reassured him that she was alright and that there was no need to follow her around. Still, she expressed her gratitude for how much he cared. He took away all of her sources of happiness. Whatever it was, he tried his best to make her hate it. She had begun to distrust everyone else, clinging only to him for support as she pushed away everyone who told her that Belphegor was acting strange. She believed only in him. Ahh, a rush of pleasure coursed through his body each time he thought of being the only one in her life. He loved the idea of locking her up in a cage where only he could see her. To put a leash on her and make sure that she could never escape.
He had already set up surveillance cameras in her bedroom. Hidden between the books on the shelves, there was no way anybody would be able to find it themselves. In the bathroom, in her bag, in her classroom. He had to be able to monitor her at all times. To keep her protected and unscathed from the scary world. He was doing the right thing.
More problems arose when she started to meet up with somebody from school. He had ignored all the warnings about being her friend and invited her to lunch for a group project. Belphegor hated how she smiled each time she received a text from him, how they would call till the late hours of the night to talk about their day. He had to do something about it. All she needed in life was him. Nobody else mattered, nobody else could care for her as much as he did. When she was left all alone, he was the only one who cared for her.
He often snuck into her room late at night, taking articles of her clothing just to sleep beside them when she didn’t feel like sleeping beside him. Her scent reminded him of her, and it was enough that he at least got to smell her. He would return it the very next day when she was out, and take another piece to replace the previous one. All she needed was something that belonged to her. It didn't matter what kind of clothing he took as long as it had her scent.
He was obsessed with her. Since the day he realised that she was his soulmate, he knew that nothing could ever separate them. Nothing could come in their way, and he made sure that nothing did.
As the knife pierced deep into his heart, Belphegor watched as he stopped struggling. He could have gone for a less violent route, but he was certainly no pacifist. He dumped the body in a trashcan nearby, and rushed home to shower. Oh she looked so pitiful mourning over his death. She cried for days in his arms, telling him how much he meant to her as her only friend. Day and day, Belphegor reminded her of the only person that would never leave her side. He reassured her that she would only be happy with him.
Yet he couldn't just leave the possibility of another person coming into her life. It didnt matter what their gender was, anyone that came in her life had to die by his hands. It was too tiring to keep it up. She could never stay in the house for too long, much to his dismay. He decided to do what seemed like the best option — his first thought when he fell in love with her.
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The ringing in her head just got louder the more she tried to open her eyes. It persisted even when she shook her head to get rid of it. Though her eyes were open, she still couldn't see where she was, for a blindfold had been wrapped around her head. She tried to stand up, only to hit her head against the ‘ceiling’. She realised quite quickly that the heavy feeling on her wrists were metal handcuffs that had been tightened to the point that she could barely feel her hands. She struggled to no avail, a chain had been attached from her right foot to.. wherever she was.
“Belphie..?” Confused and terrified, she called out the first name that popped out of her head. He was the last person she saw before she fell asleep.
“Ah..” His voice responded, a jovial tone in his words as he giggled, “You called out my name.. I knew it, you love me too!”
“Belphie.. what's going on?”
“I’m worried about you. Every day I wake up and I'm so scared that you’ll run away. This way, I can keep you right beside me at all times.” He stroked her cheek, not phased when she visibly flinched at the contact. He untied the blindfold that covered her eyes, and grinned as she looked up at him in horror through the cage. As she looked around, she realised that she was in a dog cage. Her leg tied to his bedside like an animal, and even a food bowl placed in front of her.
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It wasn't how he had expected it. She screamed and cried and threw tantrums at all times. He loved hearing her voice, but he didn't want to risk the chance of his brothers finding out. He had lied that she was missing, that she ran away from home. He sobbed and played victim, lying through his teeth about how she had been sneaking out every night and coming home with a weird smell on her. Having lost faith and trust in her, they didn't bother to contact the authorities, assuming that she had run away from home and didn't want to be found. It was funny how easy it was to trick everybody. At least to him it was.
To solve the solution, he thought of a permanent, one-time thing that would fix it. And so he drugged her to sleep, cutting off her tongue and keeping it as a souvenir to keep on his bed-side. She could still scream, but at least she wouldn't be able to call out for anybody else’s name.
“What's wrong? Are you not hungry?” He pushed the food bowl closer to her, yet she didn't make an effort to move away from the corner of the cage. He didn't notice how thin she had become. He didnt even notice how her eyes once filled with love and warmth had become lifeless. It had been months since she woke up in a cage, and months since she had stood on her feet.
She was tired, so tired. There was no use fighting back. What could she do against one of the rulers of hell? There was nothing she could use against him. Each time he brought her food, he would unlock the cage to put it in the food bowl. She had thought countless times of kicking his face and rushing for help from the brothers. If they found out the truth, she was sure that they would side with her. But the chances were slim, and her fighting spirit had diminished. All day she listened to him talk about her. About how he had killed countless people who even so much as glanced at her, how he manipulated everybody into leaving her alone, and how he was her soulmate.
“I won't force you to eat, then.. Goodnight, sweetie.” He yanked her shirt through the cage so that her head would collide on the walls of it. He kissed her goodnight, an action she had once looked forward to every day.
Tomorrow.. tomorrow would be her birthday. She had counted each day that passed, staring at the clock on the wall was one of the only things she could do when she was restrained in handcuffs. Perhaps she could try to run. One last effort before she gives up on everything. She had found out a week ago that he had not locked her to his bed properly. With all the weight that she had lost, she could slip out of the chain just fine.
When she woke up, Belphegor was infront of her cage, sparklers in one hand and a small cake in the other. He smiled as he wished her a happy birthday, rocking side to side along with the tune of the song. He unlocked the door to put in the cake, and her fantasy had come true. With a kick to his face, she hastily crawled out of the cage, which was a difficult thing to do considering her limbs were practically useless. She heard the groan behind her, but there was no use looking back. She was almost there, the door of the attic merely centimeters away from her face. She knew that trying to escape would be like counting the wool on a sheep, pointless. He slammed her face into the floor and turned her around as he crawled and hovered over her.
“No..” He whined, “Why did you run? Do you not love me anymore? Please don't leave me, please don't run away from me. I need you, please stay.” He begged, genuine tears falling on her face as he cupped her face.
“You love me too, right? You would never leave me.. You're the love of my life. We’re soulmates..” He whispered, as though trying to convince himself.
“Please don’t leave me behind..” He took out a knife from his uniform, and dragged the blade on her face. Her eyes froze in place, watching the glint of metal as her pupils dilated from the light that reflected from it. It cut open her skin slowly, and though it was merely a cut, the prickling pain felt like a thousand needles. He held her neck in his hand, bringing her face close to his as he licked the blood on her face.
“Am I that repulsive to you?” His gaze darkened when she flinched away. The grip in his hand tightened as she made no effort to ease his worries. Carelessly dropping the knife on the floor, he took a hold of her neck with his other hand, tracing the faint lines and veins with such care that it sent goosebumps down her arms.
“I’m not good enough for you.” His face held no emotions. As he strangulates the poor girl, he laid gentle, soft kisses on her collarbone as he always did, paying no mind to the gasps that left her body or hands that tried to push him away. He was already in hell, all he needed to do was steal her from the heavens.
“But I will be all you ever have.”
To have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; even death can’t do us part.