Cass sat there, Sam crying silently, Lucian holding him, and Byron looking like he had no idea what to do in this situation. Cass wasn’t sure why they were behaving this way.
Lucian’s breaths were harsh in his ear, more so than when he’d been in his bed in pleasure. Cass normally would have blushed at that thought, but he didn’t. Not this time.
"Cass, fuck, at least hug me back." Lucian sounded upset and Cass wasn’t exactly sure why. Awkwardly, he raised his hands up and patted his back. That seemed to upset Lucian more. "Shit. Just yell at me or something. Get mad. It’s so clear to me that you are upset, so get fucking upset, Cass." Lucian rumbled. "Are all nobles like this? Bottling it up?" Lucian was trying to get a rise out of him.
Cass could spot it from a mile away. He was so obvious about it. It would only be cemented if he made a comment about his magic powers or called him Lord Blackburn.
"I’m not repressing anything." Cass told him coolly and Lucian let out a harsh laugh.
"I’m calling bull. Shit. You’re a damn good liar, and I would believe you if I didn’t have this connection with you. I feel like I’m going to die, Cass. Die. I had to check to see if my insides were becoming outsides. That’s how much I am in pain from what you’re feeling, and I’m not feeling all of it." Lucian’s breath was warm against Cass’ shoulder. His arms were tight.
He was warm. So warm that Cass’ cold body twitched.
"I-I’m not-" Lucian’s deep, dangerous growl stilled his tongue. Cass narrowed his gaze. "Stop that." Cass warned and Lucian squeezed him.
"No. I won’t. Shit. Just get mad at me. Please? Yell at me, scream at me. I’m the one who forced this. You should just take it out on me. Remember? I can take it. As long as you don’t hurt both of my hearts, I can take it." Lucian let out a shuddering breath. "But you’re doing that right now, Cass." Something stirred inside of Cass, something deep inside of his chest.
"That’s not my problem." Cass told him, the words feeling forced, intentionally painful. Lucian let out a harsh breath.
"I earned that." Lucian told him, causing Cass to jerk in his arms. "I did. My sweet Cass is hurting. So get it out. I can take it. I have a shitty memory." Lucian promised and Cass clenched his teeth. He could feel how Lucian was waking him up.
He didn’t want to wake up. It was easier when he was like how he had been. He didn’t feel the pain that was in his chest. He didn’t feel how much he wanted to scream, shout.
He didn’t feel anything.
Cass felt the moment the first hot tear fell. It burned his skin, a traitor against his own mind. Cass felt his body shake, his arms reaching up and clenching around the other man. Lucian didn’t say anything as Cass pressed his face against his shoulder, but instead of just crying, he sunk his teeth into the skin there. He bit down, hard. Lucian flinched, but didn’t complain.
Instead he began to whisper sweet words to Cass, for his ears alone even though they were in a room with two other people. Cass shuddered, his body not okay. Even as he broke skin on Lucian’s shoulder and blood flooded into his mouth, Cass didn’t feel satiated.
Didn’t feel okay.
Lucian held him, careful, watchful as tears continued to pour from Cass’ eyes. They were hot, painful. They didn’t cause him any kind of relief and it only grew worse as Cass began to feel the emotions he’d shoved down. He couldn’t fucking breathe.
It was then that he could sense how concerned Cassian himself was for Cass and that stirred something in him. He had thought that Cassian would sympathize, understand. The man was instead worried for him. For Cass.
That shattered something deep inside of Cass.
"I’m so mad at you for keeping this from me." Cass whispered, extracting his teeth from Lucian’s throat, blood still on his mouth as he spoke. Sam let out a sob.
"I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have said something earlier. I should have-I should have done something. I thought I was doing the right thing. I just...I just wanted to remain by your side." Sam cut off with a choked sound, made a soft moaning sound, before he sucked in air. "All I wanted to do was serve you since I was born, my Lord." That sounded...strange. Confusing to Cass’ ears. He didn’t know what that meant.
Why the fuck would Sam want to serve him? He wasn’t even a good fucking person. Or a bad one! He was just...him.
"You don’t mean that." Cass told him bitterly and heard something move nearby.
"Sam, no." Byron said softly but it sounded like a struggle.
"No! I will not have this go on any further. My Lord, look at me. Please." Cass had been avoiding looking at anyone. He hadn’t closed his eyes, but he wasn’t seeing anything, that was for sure. At the moment he was staring at the wound that he’d made on Lucian’s neck. The clear, obvious bite mark that Cass made.
Even in this situation, there was a small part of him that found an ounce of pride for his obvious mark.
Cass slowly turned his gaze towards where Sam’s voice was, and found that he had to do a double take.
Byron was there, standing at the back of the couch where Sam had been before. There was just one problem. Where was Sam?
Cass glanced around until he heard someone clear its throat. Down on the ground, about the height of the table between them was a small humanoid creature. Cass had seen a picture of it in passing in the demon book and Cass felt his jaw drop.
"Sam?" Cass asked, confused and watched as the small creature nodded grimly.
He was small, greyish in tone, with tiny hands, tiny feet, a whip-like tail and leathery looking wings. His eyes were fully black, a little on the bulging side, but not dangerous. He kind of reminded Cass of a pug if he was honest.
"I’m an imp, my Lord. My job is to find my one master and serve them. There was no guarantee that you would be my one master, but you are. I was born to serve you." It was strange to watch as the imp’s face contorted with pain. "I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing in keeping it from you. I was wrong. I was so wrong. Please. Please don’t kick me out of the mansion. I can understand...how you wouldn’t want to see me anymore, but I can’t be away from you. If you send me away...it’s essentially a death sentence for me." Sam dropped his head, before sighing and Cass watched as the man transformed in front of his eyes.
The small body expanded, getting more colour as the seconds ticked on. He even had his clothes on when he became his human self. It was so strange to witness.
"You aren’t possessing anyone?" Cass asked and Sam shook his head, still looking miserable.
"No. I’m not. I’m small enough as a demon and can cause only so much harm that the gods mostly overlook my kind." Sam said with a shrug. "I would agree with them. I’m only capable of doing more evil if my Master wants me to." Sam let out a self-depreciating laugh. "Plus, who would waste their soul on summoning an imp? No one would willingly do that, and imps are smart enough to avoid those circles. We’d just be killed since higher level demons just need to sniff in our direction and we’re wiped from the face of the planes."
Cass wasn’t sure what to do with the new information he’d just gotten. He wasn’t even sure what he should do right now.
Sam was an...imp. He’d always been a demon, and he’d been tasked with being a spy for the demon king. Specifically to spy on Cass.
"Why me?" Cass asked and Sam’s mouth opened before it appeared to magically shut itself. Something was wrong. Cass could tell before Sam began to convulse on the couch.
Cass sat up in his seat, even with Lucian wrapped around him. Sam’s hands flew to his throat, and when Byron flew around the couch to yank at Sam’s hands, Cass realised something was wrong on a level he couldn’t even see.
Byron pulled Sam’s hands away from his throat. He was shouting at Sam for him to breathe while Sam struggled. It went on for far too long, to the point that Cass worried that Sam was going to die before Sam started gasping for breath.
Cass’ heart felt like it was going to break out of his chest. He wasn’t aware of Lucian petting him to calm him down until Sam’s gasps stopped sounding like a fish out of water.
"What the fuck just happened?" Cass asked, staring at the man that he didn’t want to fucking die. Sam gave him a reluctant smile.
"I’m sorry my Lord. I can’t speak of why. Just that...they want to keep an eye on you." Sam said and Cass hated that. He hated this whole situation. He hated that everyone he cared about just wanted to ’keep an eye’ on him.
Cass turned, tucking his face into the shoulder he’d just bit, smearing blood all over his face.
"Why does everyone just want to watch me? Am I some kind of exotic animal?" Cass was being a baby. He knew he was being a baby. He knew why people wanted to watch him. He was a fucking freak of nature. Something that shouldn’t exist.
He knew that better than most.
"Hey. You aren’t an exotic animal. Clearly they want to watch you because your choices matter. No one’s trying to keep an eye on me." Lucian was trying to make Cass feel better but Cass just shook his head.
"They don’t watch you because you’d just kill them if they got caught." Cass told him and Lucian sighed.
"And what’s stopping you from doing the same?" Lucian asked and Cass’ jaw clenched. He pulled away from Lucian’s shoulder, unaware of how freaky he looked with blood smeared all over his features.
"I would have no one around me at all if I did that. You, Sam, Byron, probably Sir Forsythe and even Ser Hune and Sir Sanders! Fiona, Edgar, Lady Ava! All of you are around me to ’keep an eye’ on me! I would have no one left if I went around acting like you do!" Cass wasn’t aware he was yelling.
Lucian’s gaze was soft, sad as he reached up, rubbing a spot of blood on Cass’ cheek.
"Sweetness, while you might have tried, you wouldn’t have been able to get rid of me, and I suspect, a few of the others as well. While it might have started as observing you, most of us would agree that it has evolved into something much more meaningful." Lucian said and Cass wanted to find a fault with his words. He really did.
But all he could do was cry instead.