16.1 The Calm Before The Sh*tstorm

Ezraphel woke as she always did when she didn't have a particularly long night with her Stanley, at the crack of dawn. In truth she didn't really need to sleep especially after receiving a hefty dose of spirit energy from her Stanley but she liked to snuggle afterwards and besides a sleeping Stanley was too adorable. It's the reason why she spent at least half an hour simple watching him sleep. Yes she was aware that the action may come off as disconcerting to some (and even her Stanley once upon a time) but the Lilim could give a damn.

Unfortunately her vigilant and amorous gaze was interrupted by a particularly loud crack of thunder causing her to scowl. If she wasn't so sure that there weren't any deities in this world she would have given the local thunder God a piece of her mind. But in all seriousness she should deal with that after all her Stanley and his friends were expected to be doing their game today and it would be remiss of her to allow this literal rain on their preparations.

She could do it right then and there but constructing a spell to gradually scatter the rain clouds would involve invoking a spell of a high level. Not necessarily a problem for her per se, she could do it easily actually however her Stanley's burgeoning mana sensing skill was in a rather sensitive stage where he could and has reacted to sudden spikes and with her literally cuddling him if she were to invoke the spell it would most certainly wake him up. Again this wasn't a particular problem as she could simply pull away, teleport, go intangible, etc but the problem was Ezraphel didn't want to move. She was comfortable lying here snuggling with her Stanley and watching his peaceful face as he slept.

Also the ambience created by the overcast skies and muffled patter of the raindrops on the roof was rather complimentary. Yes she actually quite liked the rain in this specific instance and perhaps she could wait an hour or two before getting to that spell.

*KRAKOOOOMMM*

Following the flash of lightning was a clap of thunder that shook the very walls if only slightly and was so loud that it was damn near egregious. Most importantly it disrupted her Stanley's peaceful rest causing him to scowl in his sleep before his eyes fluttered open.

'…Stanley was right. Fuck this rain.'

As the man himself came to she reached down to caress his face. She received a grunt in response as he looked about the place most likely wondering about the discrepancies with their bedroom. She could actually pinpoint the exact moment when he remembered that they weren't at home. She could also guess what the catalyst for this realization was too.

'It's the bed…I bet it's the bed.'

"Morning Ez" he yawned.

Very reluctantly Ezraphel maneuvered herself away and out of his grip ignoring the pang in her heart as she did. You'd think having done this multiple times already that she would be used to it but she would never be used to it.

"Good morning Stanley."

Another peel of thunder interrupted her.

'God dammit' she scowled.

"God dammit" Stanley verbally echoed with a scowl to exceed hers "could you do something about that."

"I was just about to do that before you awoke."

Technically true, she would have eventually done it before he would have originally woke up without that damn thunder ruining her 'Stanley gazing.'

"Well don't let me stop you" he sat up.

Ezraphel bit her bottom lip, they were both naked having fallen asleep where they were after having sex for several hours. She was apparently not very subtle in her admiration for her Stanley's naked form considering his next words.

"Don't even think about it."

"Just a quickie~" she argued with her main argument points being her two luscious breasts which she pushed up un ashamedly while giving him her best sultry expression.

The same expression that could have started wars between nations had absolutely zero effect on her Stanley who instead posed a simple question.

"Shouldn't you be making breakfast before everyone wakes up?"

It had the desired effect as the Lilim stiffened before posing a question of her own "what time is it?"

If given the choice Ezraphel usually used the sun as a sort of time marker out of habit rather than any of the time keeping devices but with the sky so overcast it was a bit harder to parse the time. It certainly didn't help that she was being distracted by her Stanley.

"Hey!"

Ezraphel blinked "eh?"

"It's a quarter past 7."

Ezraphel froze "eh?"

He rolled his eyes "7:17am"

"Eeeeeeehhhhh!?"

What!? How long was she watching him sleep!?

Literally blinking to her feet with a flap of her wings Ezraphel began to panic only to be quelled by the words of her Stanley.

"Calm down none of us are exactly early risers" he placated "you still have about an hour before everyone wakes up."

A preliminary check confirmed that everyone was still in their rooms 'thank the gods' however her brows furrowed once her senses hovered over the only other couple in the house.

"Something wrong?"

Her Stanley's voice caused her to blink before she shook her head carefully to avoid any suspicions.

"No, no problems."

'Yet' a traitorous part of her mind supplied.

Clamping down on that Ezraphel carefully did not let the anxiety show on her face as she headed for the door "now if you'll excuse me I have to go make breakfast."

Stanley watched her edged towards the door his gaze heavy with suspicion before he spoke "Ez."

"Y-yes?"

"Your clothes."

Looking down Ezraphel saw that she was naked "oh" but with a flash she was now wearing her now signature tank top and short shorts "thank you for reminding me."

She just about turned her back to him when he called out again "Ez."

Stiffening up she looked at him over her shoulder "yes Stanley?"

"Your disguise."

At that moment she registered the feel of her two extra appendages and with a flex of her magic she was rendered to a ditzy blonde human as opposed to a ditzy Lilim.

"There" she managed to grasp the doorknob when

"Ez"

At this point Ezraphel's weariness was for a completely different reason as she closed her eyes and took a breath before plastering on a (hopefully) convincing smile and turning around to address her husband.

"Yeees~?"

Now Stanley had a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he spoke "remember, no magic."

Ezraphel gave him a blank stare for a long while before plastering on a rather brittle smile "of course Stanley. Be right back!"

The moment the door was closed behind her Ezraphel's smile turned to an expression of worry as her eyes trailed to a specific section of the house. A moment later she disappeared from sight becoming like a ghost becoming invisible and intangible. Floating through the walls unseen she came upon a sight that would have had her gushing but now only filled her with a sense of dread.

Much like her and her Stanley it would seem that Amelia and Liam had engaged in carnal pleasures, though of a tamer variety compared to them.

'They look cute together~' Ezraphel couldn't help but smile at the couple cuddling together under the sheets both of them nude.

The moment passed however as Ezraphel reached out with her senses towards the sleeping redhead. She swallowed nervously as it all but confirmed the worst case scenario, Amelia was corrupted and it wasn't a small thing either. The corruption had already taken root and was in the process of branching out to encompass all of her being. In fact the only reason why she wasn't already showing signs of monsterization was because humans on earth had very little mana compared to Eos and Earth itself was for all intents utterly devoid of natural mana.

It meant that the Demonic Energy in her body would be pulling 'double duty' as the saying goes. Not just corrupting her but also developing and expanding Amelia's mana network as it went.

'Huh, that would be interesting to see actually.'

How would corruption work for people who didn't have a mana system? Her Stanley went through a similar process to become an Incubus but Ezraphel was a bit too uh, distracted to really take stock of the changes. Plus Incubi and Mamono corruption were inherently different

'ABABABA-THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT!' she shook her head to get back on track 'I have to stop this.'

She reached out and…

'But how?'

There was no feasible way to prevent corruption that didn't involve holy magic and she sure as hell wasn't in possession of a means to access that and even if she did…

'Should I?' a traitorous thought entered her mind before she shook it off 'what am I thinking?'

She raised her hand to channel mana only to come up short. The more she stared at Amelia's sleeping form the less certain she became of her decision.

"Why did it have to be you?" she whispered with a tortured expression.

Ezraphel liked Amelia, she liked her very much. And a huge reason for why she did was because Amelia reminded her of some of the friends she left behind on Eos. Thoughts of her home and the friends, family and acquaintances she left behind were things that Ezraphel never truly forgot but chose not to dwell on. It also helped that her Stanley, the internet and Earth itself have provided many distractions but there are times when it wasn't enough. There are times that for everything she has gained coming to Earth she remembered the things that she lost in doing so.

The ability to travel about and go as she pleased was one such thing however her wanderlust has been satiated through her frequent secret excursions into the city. The same could not be said for her social life. Ezraphel has made a number of acquaintances throughout her stay with her Stanley however she could not say that anyone is or even could be her friend. It had less to do with her being a Mamono and more to do with her personality and true disposition.

Everyone likes and wants to be friends with a beautiful outgoing and cheerful woman however the same could not be said for a 'sexual deviant.' She knew this and was always careful to prod both verbally and mentally with every interaction to see how people would react to that facet of herself. So far despite the humans of Earth entering a new phase of open-mindedness most people remain fairly conservative when it comes to matters of sexual expression.

Then she met Amelia and it was as if she was back home again. Granted Amelia wasn't as superfluous in her expressiveness as a typical mamono however after trekking through a desert of conservatives (including her Stanley) Amelia was like an oasis. The fact that she stood next to Kendall who despite being more open minded than most yet was rendered near paralyzed with embarrassment at Ezraphel's retelling of one of her and her Stanley's tamer nights only served to make her stand out.

Ezraphel would admit it was the very first time she ever thought about corrupting a human and-

Ezraphel started for a moment and her eyes widened 'how…how did Amelia become corrupted?'

The simplest answer was that she was responsible but again how?

'Was it caused by Stanley and I?'

It couldn't be since the first thing she did was put up a barrier around their room when they arrived making sure that it not only prevented any Demonic Energy from leaving the room but actually acted as a cleanser transporting any and all Demonic Energy residue to her personal pocket dimension.

The only other explanation was if she did it but…

'I-I don't remember ever doing this…'

Ezraphel would definitely remember corrupting someone especially Amelia.

"…"

The thought had Ezraphel floating in place for a very long moment until the woman in question started to stir.

After a minute Ezraphel turned away with an unreadable expression 'I should start preparing breakfast.'

With that she teleported directly to the kitchen making sure that no one present before deactivating her spell becoming solid once more.

'I can't keep this from Stanley'

The thought never occurred to her to do so in the first place.

'But I can at least soften the blow of his reaction with a good breakfast'

The thought brought some measure of comfort to the Lilim which was why she intended to make all his favorite breakfast food this morning. Opening the refrigerator she went to retrieve her ingredients only to freeze at something missing.

"Where is…?" she trailed off reaching further in she must have rearranged all the contents of the refrigerator only to come up short "but I put it…right…there."

As she said this something clicked within her mind, well two things actually. Ever so mechanically she turned her head towards the counter where a familiar pitcher was placed amongst the washed dishes.

"Oh…"

Her eyes went back to inside the refrigerator reaffirming that said pitcher was absent.

"Oh…"

Then she thought about Amelia's current condition, the contents of said pitcher and the hypothesized time frame with which Amelia would find the contents of said pitcher to then receive said condition.

"Oooooohhh~"

Realizing what happened Ezraphel could only come to a single conclusion which to put it in Stanley's words

"I fucked up."