The Day After

Waking up, I could feel my body finally recover from the self-inflicted injuries. My body still feels heavy, but at least the screaming pain in my wrist has stopped. Slowly regaining my senses, I look towards the bed where Eli should be.

The bed is empty, which sends me into a panicked state. I stand up in a hurry, almost losing my balance as I stand up. I make my way to the door until I felt a touch on my shoulder.

Cornelius stands next to me, hand on my shoulder.

"Good morning sunshine!" He yells, clearly mocking my rugged appearance.

"Where is she?" I ask, calmed down from seeing a familiar face.

"Small Elizabeth is downstairs learning some card trick from that fellow called Ashmodai."He says in a surprisingly gentle tone.

Looking at Cornelius, I can see that he's still in his demonic appearance.

"How are you suddenly capable of transforming?" I ask in a groggy tone, feeling my adrenaline rush die down from my momentary panicked state.

"This? It's nothing as complicated as that. I simply looked for a bound devil soul in these forsaken planes. Promised him to find his body, and then I possessed it myself." He says as if he told me one of those daily facts of the internet.

"Why does it look like you?" I ask, looking at the clear resemblance.

"I have some tricks up my sleeve." He says with a smug yet also sinister smile that immediately manages to annoy me.

"Anyway, I'm going to eat something and sit next to Ashmodai and Eli." I announce, knowing that he won't give me an answer if I ask further.

"Don't try to leave me behind, Little Ed. We really have to work on those manners of you. A gentleman should always str-"

"I GET IT" I yell, interrupting some undoubtedly "grandiose" speech.

Making our way downstairs, I could see Ashmodai sitting on his most trusted chair. Eli sits on the opposite side of the black wooden table. Stains of blood and alcohol are clear for the eye to see. Ashmodai seems to be doing that magic trick that you guess someone's card.

"Nope! That's wrong!" Eli yells excitedly.

"Really, what a shame. I guess you won this piece." Asmodai answers, pointing at a piece of the pie.

I arrive next to them together with Cornelius. Eli, who hasn't noticed us yet excitedly starts eating her piece of the pie. Her face quickly shows a confused expression as she pulls something out of her mouth. Standing next to her, I could see her pull out the card queen of hearts.

"How?" She asks in a flabbergasted tone. Her mouth is wide agape which shows her mind being blown.

"You're going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open for much longer." I say while trying to look at her condition. Eli much like a little puppy immediately turns around hearing my voice.

"Brother!" She yells, her eyes tingling with happiness as she jumps to me in a hugging motion. I catch her and hug her back. She's still frail, of course, but it seems that no other side effects have appeared. I feel a sudden tug as Eli pulls on my shirt, signaling me to let her go. Agreeing to her commands, I put her down on the floor as she makes her way toward the succubus bartender.

'I truly wonder how she's going to end up if she continues to live here.' I think to myself, as I do not wish for any child endangerment services to start attacking me. Then again, if I was in a world where child endangerment services were, I probably would have entrusted her to people more capable.' I ramble in my head, starting to lose track of my own thoughts.

Ashmodai chuckles as he invites us to sit down.

"You seem to be laughing an awful lot these days." I tell Ashmodai, as I've seen him give a devilish smirk quite often, but not necessarily laugh.

"What can I say, my friend? A lot of fun events have been happening." He says "Wicked Blossom" in hand and a bright mischievous smile on his face.

I would respond, but a small figure carrying a large cake catches my attention. Eli who went to the bartender seems to have gotten some cake from the kitchen. A small familiar black-furred creature floating at her side.

"How do you feel, Eli?" I ask, wanting to make sure nothing unexpected is affecting her.

"I feel better than I ever have before! Besides, I have a dear friend back!" She announces loudly. Araam who floats next to her seems pleased as one eye is doing that "I act like I don't care, but I just can't hide my emotions" look.

Eli places the cake in front of me with a proud look. Ahsmodai's devilish smile became even clearer for the eye to see. An expectant look seems to be in the little girl's eyes.

"Well, what is this?" I ask not in an accusing tone but in a soft acquiring one.

"I made this for your recovery. I hope you like it." She answers in a sudden shy tone.

It looks good: A large, seemingly chocolate cake with a lot of sweets on top of it. I look to my left and find that Cornelius isn't sitting next to me anymore.

Eli, who has already cut me a piece, also wants to give one to Ashmodai before mentally retracting her offer.

"It's a shame that mister Ashmodai is allergic to chocolate, otherwise we could have all eaten together." She says in a gloomy tone.

Noticing her sadness at not being able to share her self-made cake, I decided to take a huge bite of my piece.

'It tastes like….'

'........'

I actively try to stop myself from gagging as I come to the realization that the "chocolate" cake seems to simply be a burned cake with a lot of sweets.

"It's such a shame that Idrilth couldn't be here. Idrilth also ate some cake yesterday, but it appears that Idrilths's busy today." She says in a sullen tone.

"How does it taste?" She asks with hope and expectation in her eyes.

"…"

"It's delicious." I answer, not being able, to tell the truth against those glittering eyes. A burst of Loud laughter escapes Ashmodai's mouth as I force myself to finish the pie.

'