25 Pestilence Machine

Hex anxiously waited for the demon to show up that night. He didn't have anything to protect himself, no crosses, nothing. He didn't believe in that kind of thing, but after getting magical powers, all that changed. Demons were real, and he didn't know what else was after that door was opened.

It was midnight, so he thought it would be safe then, Turbuk said that night, so it should have been fine if it was after midnight, he thought, right? It was supposed to show up that night, but the day had passed, so it won't show up, right? He went to sleep feeling very relieved.

The next thing he knew, he was in a factory, he knew it was a dream, he had lucid dreams before. He walked through the factory and came upon a circular platform, where someone who looked exactly like him was standing.

"Hello?" he asked.

The doppelganger turned around, it wore a mask that looked like a face without skin. Red eyes stared through the mask.

"I am here to torment you, human," the doppelganger said.

"I'm not exactly human, I'm an Angel of Acid," he said proudly.

"Really? I've never heard of a thing like that before." The doppelganger took off his mask, and he had the same face as him.

"What's your name, demon? And why did you take my form?" he asked.

"I've been watching you for a while actually, you're exactly the type of faithless guy that I'm into tormenting. Also, I chose your form because it is the closest to perfection. You may call me… Pestilence Machine, Pestilence for short." Pestilence looked at his arms proudly.

"Perfection? A short guy like me? You've got to be kidding." He scoffed.

"Everyone has a different perception of perfection, I like being young looking." Pestilence smiled.

"Trust me, I'm a long ways away from perfect." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Aw, don't sell yourself short hun. I may be here to torment you, but please don't do my job for me." Pestilence shook his head.

"I could point out a million flaws, and that's just physically." He squinted his eyes, he didn't think highly of himself at all, the times he acts narcissistic was to only pretend that he had some kind of ego, that's what no self esteem got him.

"Again, please don't do my job for me, although it might be easy to reinforce some of your biases against yourself, I was surprised you were helping me instead of trying to kick me out. I'm a demon, you know. See?" Pestilence brought out his wings, made from square hunks of metal that had square holes at the ends that dripped blood.

"As long as you aren't here to hurt my friends, I'm fine with it being just me." He shrugged.

"Well, how about I have you all to myself? I could possess you and take your lover out of the picture. Then it could be just you and me." Pestilence put a finger to his bottom lip.

"I won't let you hurt her." He didn't have any qualms with the demon up until that point.

"I'd like to see you stop me. I won't have you with anyone else, you see. I'd prefer if you would look at only me. Even if you hate me, I enjoy it." Pestilence laughed.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get you out of me, I was fine with you before, but if you threaten Din then we are no longer on good terms." He frowned.

"I'd like to see you try." He laughed, and dissipated.

He woke up very disturbed. He had to protect Din, but how? When would the demon strike? He questioned if the demon was flirting with him or not, and concluded that he was, by the way he talked. He had to think about how to protect Din from himself, without letting her know that there was a demon inside him waiting to get out.

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