Cass wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he was able to diffuse the situation in the dining room somehow. Lucian was in a better mood when they all left, Byron eventually coming to knock on the door to check on Cass.
It was time to get back to work, and after the kind of conversation they had, Cass didn’t think he had any right to say no to Edgar’s help now. So, he let the man help again. It felt strange, and he knew it would be even stranges when Sam came back to work tomorrow to also have Edgar here, but it wasn’t...bad.
Lucian and Gideon went off to have a chat and blow off some steam, which worried both Cass and Edgar, but Lucian promised he’d bring Gideon back in one piece so that he could do his lessons with Edgar again.
That made Gideon flush and Edgar stiffen.
Edgar wouldn’t even speak to Cass about their lessons, refusing him at every turn. Telling Cass they were just ’normal lessons’. His shoulders were too stiff, his body too tense for Cass to actually believe that, but Cass held his tongue.
He didn’t really have a foot in this argument. He didn’t even know what a ’normal’ lesson was from the temple.
Plus, it didn’t look like it was anything sexual. Edgar wasn’t red enough in the face, or twitching and shifting in his seat enough. It just seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it, and Cass couldn’t find another reason to poke him about it.
So, they worked, Byron acting as the replacement Sam and guard all wrapped up in one. Now that Cass was thinking about it, was Sam also a bodyguard? Was he strong enough to protect Cass?
He asked Byron that, and the damn dragon smirked.
"Well, my Lord, I can’t say that he can best a dragon if that’s what you’re asking." Even Edgar cleared his throat at that response. Cass felt his face warm for the poor fellow demon. He should have known better, but Byron hadn’t been like this before.
He was just flaunting that he had touched Sam, and damnit, Cass couldn’t even be mad! The man had been chasing Sam this whole time, had even stopped being a spy just so that he could be closer to him.
Not that Byron’s spying had been particularly bad, but he had kind of sold his soul to the devil. Literally and figuratively. Cass chuckled at that. The dragon had given his soul away to a kind of devil-Sam. That was a little cute when he thought about it.
Cass didn’t ask him anymore questions, saving them for Sam when he would see him tomorrow. Instead, he got through a few more piles of papers and requests that had piled up in the time that they had been busy with...saving Fiona and Lady Ava.
Shit, that felt like a life-time ago, and in reality, it wasn’t. That almost made his head spin just thinking about it, but instead, he focused on his work.
Byron only stopped both Edgar and Cass from working when the clock struck a certain time.
"Sam told me to stop you if you got to this time." Byron told Cass stiffly, half-expecting Cass to argue with him. However, Sam knew Cass best, at least when it came to his working habits. If he had told Byron to stop him at that time, then...it was probably time to stop.
Cass nodded, sighing, and putting down his pen.
"Fine. It’s not like this pile of shit is going anywhere." Cass muttered, glaring at the piles that were fucking endless. Most of this wasn’t even his own personal stuff he had to deal with related to his financial empire.
Edgar, who had been working from the loveseat in the office, put down his pen too. He raised his arms, linking his hands and stretching.
"Being bent over like this isn’t pleasant." He commented. Cass gave a soft exhale, nodding.
"Yeah. Your shoulders get really tense." Cass remarked casually and Edgar nodded.
"Agreed. Do you want me to massage your shoulders?" Edgar offered and Cass shook his head. He was quietly clearing off his desk, making a spot for the large demon encyclopedia. He needed to look up sex demons. He had no other choice.
"No no. I’ll manage." Cass told him. Edgar looked skeptical, but didn’t prod anymore. Instead, he began organising the piles he’d completed and helping Byron add them to the piles that Cass had also completed. That gave Cass some time to work through the demon encyclopedia. By work, he meant getting to the back of the book where the sex demons were.
You’d think that it would have been alphabetical. That would have made sense, and in some aspects, it was. But it was also sorted by power levels, and with the current Demon King being a sex demon, that meant by association that they were all rather powerful. That was something that Cass learned as he read the book.
Whatever race of demon was related to the Demon King got a boost. It was an incentive not to kill the Demon King and take his throne from his fellow kin. Not so much an incentive for the other demons, but it did mean that most sex demons had closed ranks, protecting their own.
Outside of Cass who wanted his ’father’s’ head on a spike.
That was something interesting to learn, and so was the fact that most sex demons could use a type of bewitching magic that was eerily similar to what Sir Hune had described Cassian’s Mom could do as a fairy.
Lull others to their side with words, gestures, expressions and looks. Not quite the same, but a type of beguilement that they were proficient in. It made sense that she was a sex demon as well then, since she was already familiar with the base magic.
It was an uneasy feeling for Cass, but that wasn’t anything he could control. She shouldn’t have been able to make a damn deal with a demon, much less the Demon King, anyways. She had used Cassian’s body and the fucker had agreed.
A deal was a deal. Even if Cass didn’t like it. Cassian was just lucky that she didn’t bet his soul, kind of. He’d made Cassian into an eldritch abomination, but Cass was pretty sure they didn’t know what that meant.
As Cass got to some of the more important parts about sex demons, Cass shifted in his mostly comfortable chair. It wasn’t as comfortable as his chair at home, but it was okay. Edgar, who was still moving around the room with Byron, glanced at him, scanning Cass’ serious profile as he read.
Edgar smiled softly, his expression warm as he watched the other man read with his brow furrowed.
Sex demons, like they knew, survived off of essence. That was what they called it, and the book then clarified what ’essence’ was. It was life force, and the more potent life force for them was found in semen. Specifically semen, but there were other things to survive off of. Women also had a seed of sorts, which was what incubi survived off of, while succubi survived off of the more potent stuff.
It was why there were more succubi than incubi, and also why incubi were considered ’weaker’ than succubi. That was strange, given that the Demon King was an incubi, but that was swiftly cleared up.
In a small box was a clarification.
This is only true if the incubi are living by the standards set by our country and governments. If they are not, then this part of the book is almost completely null and void. Demons rarely follow any kind of instruction that is not given to them in written form or by a higher rank demon. Trust no demon’s word if you aren’t certain they are getting something out of the deal.
Well then, that was rather...eye opening. Informative, but eye opening.
So, incubi could be just as powerful as succubi if they decided to sleep with men, which they had no qualms about.
The book also explained the blood was not a great supplier of essence for sex demons, but would work in a pinch. That was why sex demons and vampires tended to get along even if begrudgingly. If a sex demon knew enough vampires, they could be set and might even have a willing bed partner.
Cass’ face burned at that reminder.
There were certain traits that were pretty common among adult sex demons. Horns, tiny, leathery wings, and sharp, whip-like tails with an almost heart-shaped point. Cass almost laughed.
That was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. Sounded like some bad sex game, but...who could he argue with? The gods? This book? He’d, tragically, find out rather soon if they were telling the truth.
Cass glanced over his shoulder, then shivered. He hadn’t anticipated wings, since most of the other classifications said nothing about wings, but...he should have anticipated something like this. A tail though?
His lower region was already uh, pretty cramped, where the fuck would a tail go? His tailbone? Cass felt like a damn idiot once he thought it. Of course it would be at his tailbone. What was bothering him the most of that statement is that they said that this was the case for adult sex demons. Implying two things.
One, adult sex demons didn’t have these or, what Cass was assuming they would clarify later, is that they were able to hide them. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to blend into human society. Two, there were kid sex demons? Babies?
That felt wrong to consider. Gross, even.
Cass really hated that idea, but honestly, this world had been bad, but not bad enough . Baby sex demons would tip the scales for irredeemable if Cass was honest. The whole category of sex demons would have to be killed.
Did that include Cass? Yeah, but that was okay. He’d already died once. What was another death to someone who had beat it already?
Thankfully, the book did clarify somewhat about the young sex demon part. It seemed that when there was an adult sex demon, as there should be if there are children, they supplied the powers that the child would need before they reached adulthood. They would give over some of their essence for the child until they reached the age of majority for the country that the child was in.
After that, the child would have to rely on their own skills to hunt, with sometimes still getting a meal from the adult sex demon. If the adult sex demon was generous.
Cass shivered.
He’d survived his childhood because of the nursery tree next door. He knew that, but he didn’t think that there would be a demon amongst his grandfather’s people. He flinched. He’d hired Sam, who was to say that there wasn’t another demon around? But another sex demon? Cass didn’t know how many demons knew about the deal that the Demon King made with Cassian’s Mom. He’d also never heard anything about those kinds of...disturbances. Ugh, he didn’t know anymore. He’d have to ask Sir Forsythe.