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Dissonance - Chapter 26: Wrathful Hearts

The relief was almost immediate. Zeke felt his shoulders sag slightly the moment the cool Devildom night air hit him, releasing a tension even he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He could still hear the pounding music inside the club, but mercifully his body no longer felt like it vibrated through every one of his frayed nerve endings. The throbbing behind his eyes even subsided into a dull ache.

It wasn’t a complete respite, however. Taking a deep breath of fresh air caused a twinge of pain in his chest, and before thinking about it Zeke had raised a hand to rub tenderly at the phantom wound that had not yet been sustained. How could possible futures cause him actual pain? Before coming to the Devildom his abilities had certainly caused him plenty of issues, but never like this. All his difficulties had been regulated firmly to his own mind and the ignorance of the non-magical and mundane aspects of human society. He did not like these new developments.

There had to be a way to control this better.

“Are you alright? Does it hurt?” Satan’s concerned voice reminded him that he needed to keep his head firmly in the here and now. Zeke let his eyes flutter closed, brow furrowing as he brought his focus sharply to the present and away from distant futures that might never come. He used the warmth of the arm around his waist, holding him protectively, to anchor himself to what was real.

“I’m okay. It’s just the stress of midterms, deadlines, and being outed. I’m exhausted.” All reasonable excuses and all true enough, but Zeke didn’t want to deal with the visions or try to explain them or how they were evolving. A part of him did consider telling Satan just to spite Barbatos and the butler’s warning to keep them to himself. The more reasonable part of him knew that there was no reason to stress or sadden the brothers with something they couldn’t actually help change or control. He would figure this out on his own.

“Excessive stress can cause many troubling symptoms in humans. If your stress has reached a level that you’re in physical pain perhaps we need to find a way to address that. As much as I hate to ask Lucifer for anything, I’m sure he could arrange for your school workload to be reduced if it is causing your physical health to deteriorate.” It was sweet, how attentive and worried Satan could get.

“It’s fine, Satan. Midterms are over, my publisher has the final draft of my next book, and we can’t really change that everyone knows who I am now. I’m sure I’ll feel better if I just get a little rest.” He had only managed to get one halfway decent night of sleep since before midterms started, and that had only been thanks to Belphie’s intervention.

“Then I will make sure my idiotic brothers don’t bother you with their inane nonsense over the weekend.” It was adorable how very serious Satan could get, and he could appreciate the Avatar of Wrath’s sentiments. The brothers did tend to try to drag him everywhere and include him in everything all of the time. Zeke honestly appreciated that too. Satan himself had taken him to plenty of museums and art galleries since he had arrived. Still, being pulled in so many directions constantly was exhausting.

“My hero.” Zeke let a satisfied smile tug the corners of his mouth upwards as he watched the Avatar of Wrath’s cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink.

“You’re too cheeky for a human.” Satan huffed, but his hand stayed against Zeke’s lower back as he guided the way back towards the House of Lamentation. For his part, Zeke was more than happy to walk in silence, close enough to feel the heat radiating off the demon beside him. Despite what he had said to Asmo in the club, he couldn’t help but gravitate towards Satan even if he knew it was foolish. Just getting to be this close to him would have to be enough, that was what he told himself, but deep down he knew that was a blatant lie.

He tried to distract himself by observing his surroundings. The lesser demons on the street gave a wide berth to the pair, none wanting to provoke the ire of Satan. Zeke could see the hunger radiating off many of them, they would gladly rip him to pieces in a heartbeat if he wasn’t with one of the brothers. It was a sober reminder that he was a sheep among wolves, helpless without one of his guardians. Except those guardians were also wolves. Every logical thing told him that he didn’t belong here.

Too bad the heart rarely listened to logic. All the visions of the future suggested that he would die sooner rather than later. Even if he lived to be old, it was nothing to them. Why did his gut tell him he was exactly where he was supposed to be when all the evidence was to the contrary?

Zeke sighed and turned his attention away from the streets and up towards the Devildom sky. He could see the stars so clearly here, there was too much light pollution in the city he lived to actually see the stars in the human world. They reached the gates of the House of Lamentation. There was something particularly enchanting about the Devildom moon. It was hauntingly beautiful. He stopped walking so that he could stare up at it, feeling Satan stop beside him.

“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” The words left him without his consent, but he couldn’t find it in him to be upset about it either. Did Satan even know the significance of the words? Zeke could tell that the demon had fixed that intense emerald gaze on him, as he did so often when they were together, but he didn’t turn to look at him. He could imagine Levi absolutely losing it if he’d heard it. The otaku would have had a full-on nerd out, if he didn’t blue screen. That was actually an amusing thought. Except that was not something he would have ever said to Levi. Or any of the others for that matter.

The silence stretched between them.

“I can die happy.” Zeke felt his heart stutter as Satan’s normally smooth voice came out hushed and a little breathless. Of course Satan would know. Also leave it to Satan to give the most direct response possible. He liked that about him. Even if Zeke couldn’t read auras, he knew that the fourth born was not one to mince his words when it came to his feelings, unlike some of his other brothers.

A warm hand brushed against his, Zeke finally turning to look at Satan as their fingers intertwined. He was surprised to see the familiar curling black horns of Satan’s demon form. Those green eyes were gleaming, full of starlight as they gazed at him with the softest, most adoring look - one he had thought only reserved for all the stray cats that the demon loved to feed. When something hard and cold curled loosely around his waist Zeke didn’t have to glance down to know that it was Satan’s armor plated tail.

“I’m only human.” They were being illogical. Satan had no good reason to care for him this much.

“I don’t care.” Zeke felt his heart flutter traitorously in his chest as Satan raised his free hand to cup his face tenderly.

“I’m not going to be here very long.” This could never last.

“All the more reason to take advantage of the time we have.” Zeke closed his eyes as he felt Satan press their foreheads together gently, careful of his horns.

“Fuck it.” The moment he felt Satan’s lips brush against his, the entirety of the three realms faded away. The kiss was perfect. It was tender and sensual, Satan’s lips were warm and surprisingly soft, and they slotted against his like they were made to be there.

Zeke really was only human, how could he possibly resist the temptation of a demon? Whatever the future might be, right now all he wanted was to be with Satan. Maybe that was selfish when he knew it could only end in tragedy, but he desperately wanted to be selfish this time.

The world came rushing back when the kiss finally ended, Zeke wasn’t sure if it had been a few seconds or a few minutes, but they were both breathing heavily. It was good to know the demon was as affected as he was. He enjoyed how flushed Satan’s handsome face was, and how his pupils were blown wide with desire. There was a sense of pride there, he, a lowly human, had the Avatar of Wrath wanting him.

“Make a pact with me.” The words flew from Zeke’s mouth, like the confession it felt so right that he couldn’t control his own voice. All of the brothers had offered him their pacts, all but Satan, but it was Satan’s he wanted most of all.

Rather than words, his demon responded by moving his hand from Zeke’s jaw to grasp the back of his neck and forcefully pull him back into another, deeper kiss. A low growl rumbled through Satan’s chest, which Zeke was now pressed flush against as his mouth opened, their tongues tangling together. One of his hands had found its way into blond hair, twisting the messy strands between his fingers and giving gentle tugs as he tried to pull Satan impossibly closer.

A shock of infernal magic wove around them, he could feel the now familiar tingle racing across his tongue, his piercing clacking briefly against a sharp fang as a faint coppery taste blended with the tang of demonus that lingered on Satan’s tongue. He felt taloned fingers dig just a little harder into his neck, and realized that the Avatar of Wrath was squeezing over Lucifer’s mark. His heart ached as he realized the jealousy and insecurity that Satan was feeling as Lucifer’s mark had been placed first. Zeke bit the demon’s bottom lip to distract him, which must have worked because the grip on his neck loosened immediately.

Bracing himself for the next part he wondered for only a moment where Satan’s pact mark would etch itself into his flesh. The sudden burning sensation over his heart seemed so obvious in retrospect. That was the only fitting place for the mark of Wrath to sit. He broke the kiss so that he could bury his face against the side of Satan’s neck, sagging against his beautiful demon as the infernal magic dispersed, seemingly taking most of his energy with it. Forging the pacts was always so draining.

Strong arms wrapped around him, holding him close for the time being, both just basking in the afterglow of the kiss and the new pact. Zeke didn’t know exactly how long they stood there, but eventually he felt Satan pull away. He missed how warm he was, but not for long, because suddenly his feet were off the ground as Satan picked him up, cradling him like a princess from one of the demon’s cheesy romance novels. If it was anyone else he’d have been indignant about being carried, but he was feeling just tired and sappy enough to allow it.

They ended up curled up on one of the library sofas in front of the fireplace, Zeke sprawled out on Satan’s chest while the demon quietly read aloud, holding the book with one hand and gently running the other through Zeke’s hair soothingly until they both eventually fell asleep.

#obey me #obey me mc #obey me oc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me satan #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 7 days

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Dissonance - Chapter 25: The Fall in Time

There had been a drastic shift since the day E.J. Novak had been exposed. More and different than Zeke had expected. The uneasy feeling in his gut had never fully left him, and the once rare and fleeting visions of both past and future were growing more frequent and more intense. He didn’t mind the ones of the past so much, because they seemed to mostly consist of memories. Not his own memories, but Lilith’s - those could be annoying at times, but manageable.

It was the visions of the future that rattled him. Well, they were possible futures. He knew they couldn’t all be solid, set-in-stone, futures. Zeke died in too many of them for them all to be true. Phantom pains from these possible deaths had started to plague him, which was beyond inconvenient. He knew he hid it well. The demons were overprotective and overbearing as it was, he couldn’t imagine how they might behave if they knew.

All of that was troubling enough, but what had really started to shake him was the change in Lucifer’s aura. The mighty firstborn, eldest and most powerful, prideful, unshakable Lucifer - was surrounded by an air of melancholy. Zeke wasn’t sure what exactly could make his prideful demon seem so very…defeated. Not that Lucifer’s outward behavior changed much. His brothers didn’t seem to notice the difference. They couldn’t see the mottled grays that tinged that once vibrant radiance, but Zeke could.

Mammon was also notably subdued. Zeke had felt bad for losing his temper at him, but every single time he thought about what the demon had done he felt his anger and irritation start to bubble up again. His entire life had to be altered for as long as he lived over this, why should he coddle the Avatar of Greed to make him feel better? Zeke certainly didn’t feel better. The others had even reassured him that Mammon’s behavior was not because he’d actually harmed him or gone too far. Although the idea of a demon being this mopey because Zeke was mad at him seemed somewhat ridiculous. Did being Mammon’s master truly have that big of an impact? Would any of the others be equally sad if they disappointed him?

Thinking about it was giving him a headache. Truthfully everything seemed to give him a headache since that day. If it wasn’t the visions, it was the lack of sleep. His head felt like an entire hive of angry hornets were buzzing away. Zeke thought it even felt like his teeth might be vibrating. Of course that could just be the obnoxiously loud club music currently playing at The Fall.

Midterms were finally over and everyone had managed to pass, although Mammon barely squeaked by. Asmo had enthusiastically insisted they celebrate by going out to The Fall together. The Avatar of Lust had been trying unsuccessfully to drag Zeke here since his arrival. Lucifer was adamantly against him being brought here for any reason, and Zeke was not the clubbing type anyway. Lord Diavolo had caught wind of Asmo’s idea to celebrate and had thought it was a great idea. The prince had rented out an entire VIP section just for all of them and the other exchange students.

Lucifer could hardly say no when it was Lord Diavolo. Neither could the rest of them, for that matter. Asmo, Mammon, and Solomon had immediately dove into the throngs of club-going demons, obviously in their element. Zeke knew that they often came here together. Levi and Belphie on the other hand truly looked like they wished they could be anywhere else. The Avatar of Sloth had loudly complained about the music making it hard to sleep, although he had ended up napping in a booth inside their reserved section of the club regardless. It was no surprise to see Levi scrunched up in a corner playing a hand-held gaming console as he tried to ignore anyone and everyone. Beel didn’t seem to care much about the club, but Lord Diavolo had a huge spread of food laid out in their section to keep the Avatar of Gluttony preoccupied.

It wasn’t a surprise either that Lucifer seemed mostly preoccupied with speaking to Lord Diavolo off at their own table, with Barbatos attentively refilling their drinks. What was a surprise was that Satan had also gone to mingle. He had half expected the Avatar of Wrath to spend the entire evening with his nose firmly stuck in a book. Zeke would have preferred to do that, but the way his head pounded in time to the beat of the music would have made reading impossible.

Simeon and Luke had entrenched themselves at Zeke’s table, the three of them drinking mocktails instead of cocktails. Demonus didn’t have any effect on humans anyway, and even if it did, Zeke wasn’t much interested in alcohol or any mind-altering or impairing substances for that matter. As an added bonus, the fact that Zeke was drinking mocktails too had helped soothe Luke’s pouting over being treated like a child.

The angels seemed content to talk about the grueling tests they had just endured, or about baking, and didn’t press Zeke to fully engage in conversation. Luke did turn to him frequently, trying to include him, but the angel didn’t seem to notice his brief, strained answers. Simeon on the other hand seemed to sense the somber mood, always steering the little angel back into conversation with him while shooting Zeke a kind and sympathetic smile. Leave it to an angel to know when a soul is troubled and waning. He mouthed a small ‘thank you’ to Simeon once, when Luke had his attention elsewhere. That had earned him a radiant smile. The angel was still criminally pretty, especially when he smiled like that, but at least Zeke no longer dissolved into a flustered mess every time he looked at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did the Devildom nights always pass this slowly? Zeke had been over the entire experience ten minutes after arriving. It had been hours now, with that incessant pounding music tenderizing his brain matter. The angels had excused themselves after only an hour of the torment. Luke had an early bedtime, and the music had only gotten worse as soon as the angels left. Zeke realized that the club must have had specific instructions about what kind of music they could play while the angels were still in the building, because the music and dancing was much more sexually charged after they left.

The dance floor was a mess of grinding bodies, and Zeke was sure he saw plenty of groping and making out, both on and off the dance floor. Nobody seemed the slightest bit fazed by this, but he supposed they were demons, after all, why would they be? He even saw Asmo and Solomon slipping away somewhere together, which honestly didn’t surprise him either. Those two obviously had something going on. Not a full-blown relationship, at least not an exclusive one, but something.

Zeke wanted to go home. He hadn’t moved from his table the entire night. It wasn’t as if he could leave the VIP section anyway. As long as he was close to Lucifer and Lord Diavolo here, then he was safe, no demon would dare try anything. Speaking of those two, he noticed that both were noticeably drunk by this point. He hadn’t seen Mammon or Satan for a long time either.

“Are you feeling alright, Mr. Pendergast?” The voice speaking directly in his ear caused Zeke to jerk his head away as he turned to glare sharply at the demon. When had Barbatos moved?

“I’m fine.” He knew it was hardly convincing when he had to push the words through gritted teeth.

“I see. Perhaps I was mistaken, then. You seemed to be holding your head a lot. I assumed you had a headache.” The butler had this knowing look about him, it annoyed Zeke to no end. He always seemed to know something nobody else did. Then again, that just meant they had something in common, didn’t it? He always knew more than anyone wanted him to know, simply by reading auras. Lucifer didn’t want his brothers to know how sad he was the past week or so, but the Avatar of Pride couldn’t hide his feelings from him so easily.

“It’s not a big deal.” Being here certainly wasn’t doing his head any favors, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d not felt pain throbbing behind his eyes. Having Barbatos so close to him was putting him more on edge than he’d already been. In all the different visions of death he’d glimpsed, the demon was always there, watching. It was unnerving.

The eldritch horror that was Barbatos hummed softly, looking at him with what he thought was a glimpse of amusement. There was a flicker of something else that flashed across his aura, but the butler’s aura was such a complexity of swirling colors that it was hard to truly decipher.

“Have you told Lucifer about your visions?” Zeke felt himself flinch at those words, eyes darting to the demon in question. He seemed very preoccupied with whatever Lord Diavolo was saying. Lucifer’s aura seemed even more depressed now that he was intoxicated.

“No.” He wasn’t surprised that Barbatos knew. It wasn’t as if he thought the demon was the cause of any of his foreseen deaths, but they had only begun after meeting him. The demon seemed far too aware in the visions to simply be a spectator.

“That is good. Lucifer’s mind has been troubled greatly and I think it best you not burden him further. In fact, I think it best you keep all of these visions to yourself. They could tarnish the program.” Was Barbatos trying to get a rise out of him? It was clearly a warning.

“I hadn’t planned on sharing.” That familiar fire was starting to burn in his chest. He knew the demon in front of him was dangerous, but he didn’t care much at this point.

“You’re awfully calm for a human that sees death at every turn. I was always under the impression that humans feared death more than almost anything.” The way the demon seemed both intrigued and perplexed annoyed him.

“Would worrying about it do me any good?” There was a noticeable bite to his tone, and he didn’t bother trying to hide it. Zeke couldn’t stop the visions and certainly couldn’t control what he saw. He doubted there was much he could do to stop the outcome either.

“No. I suppose not.” There was that amusement again. How infuriating.

Just as he thought he might not be able to douse the inferno swelling in his chest, a very tipsy Asmo flounced into view, flopping into the booth next to him and draping his body over Zeke dramatically. Solomon all but collapsed onto the booth opposite them. Both seemed a bit out of breath, and the sorcerer had shiny smears around his mouth that looked suspiciously like the Avatar of Lust’s smudged lip gloss. Well at least they had been enjoying the night.

Barbatos simply smiled and bowed before slinking off back to his master’s side. Thankfully he rarely had cause to interact with the butler. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to see him much over the next six months. It was annoying to know that the demon saw everything, and did nothing at all. Not that Zeke expected the demon to help him, but knowing he was just watching was enough to piss him off.

“Darling~ Come dance with me.” Asmo practically whined, nuzzling at Zeke’s cheek while his hands roamed along his arms, back, and sides - something between petting and groping.

“Asmo, I really don’t know how to dance like,” he gestured towards the dance floor, unsure if the demons were actually dancing or engaging in intense foreplay, “that. Plus I don’t think it’s a good idea. Lucifer wouldn’t want me to leave the VIP section.”

“I’ll teach you! You’re supposed to be celebrating too. It can’t be fun sitting here all by yourself.” No, it wasn’t fun. Nothing about tonight had been fun. His head gave another intense throb as if to remind him of that. “Ooh~ Or maybe you’d be interested in a different kind of fun~”

“Not a chance.” Zeke snorted at the way Asmo batted his eyelashes at him. It was hardly the first time Asmo had made a playful pass at him, and probably wouldn’t be the last. He didn’t mind it, though. The demon had never been pushy about it, only tried to make sure he knew that he was interested and accepted each time Zeke expressed that he simply wasn’t interested in Asmo, not in that way.

“Boo~” The Avatar of Lust pouted, which caused Solomon to laugh. He’d almost forgotten the sorcerer was there.

“Give it up, Asmo. I’ve only seen him get all heart-eyed for two people, and neither is you.” The sorcerer gave Zeke a sly smile and he felt his face flush as he scowled and looked away. He knew his mentor had him absolutely figured out. He knew Asmo did too.

“No fair~ I’m prettier than Simeon, right hon?” Asmo grabbed at his sweater with a deeper pout.

“The prettiest, Asmo.” Zeke sighed affectionately. It was hard for him to stay in a bad mood with Asmo’s attention on him. He just wished someone else was paying attention to him. Where was Satan anyway? Was the Avatar of Wrath somewhere on the dance floor? Was he dancing like that with someone? Zeke felt a twist in his gut that felt an awful lot like jealousy.

“Well if not me, my brother isn’t a bad choice. Satan’s very handsome.” Asmo sighed wistfully, laying his head on Zeke’s shoulder.

“That one’s never going to happen either, Asmo.” It wasn’t like Zeke expected a powerful immortal demon to entertain his silly crush. He’d be gone in the blink of an eye for these demons. Forgotten and dust within a century regardless of what he did. It was better that it stayed this way.

“Oh, hon no.” Leave it to Asmo to try to make him feel better about it. “Satan adores you. We all do!”

“Asmo isn’t wrong. Even I’m charmed by you, my adorable apprentice.” Solomon agreed cheekily.

“Call me adorable again, I’ll hit you.” Zeke huffed, although there were no real teeth to the threat. He sighed and rubbed at his temples. The headache was starting to get worse again.

“My apprentice is so mean to me.” Solomon actually looked concerned as he peered more closely at Zeke’s strained expression. “Maybe you should call it a night. Let me go get one of the brothers to escort you.”

The sorcerer didn’t wait for his approval of the idea, but Zeke wouldn’t have said no anyway. He definitely wanted to get out of here. That was all he had wanted to do all night. Surprisingly Solomon didn’t make a beeline for Beel, Belphie, or Levi. Actually, now that he looked closer he realized that none of the three were in the VIP section anymore. Those traitors! They’d left without him.

Zeke felt another spike of betrayal when Solomon returned with Satan on his heels. Of course the sorcerer had done that on purpose. He could tell by the smug smile on his stupid face. At the same time, the gentle concern on Satan’s face was enough to make his insides flutter in that annoying way. Hopeless, he was utterly hopeless.

“Are you alright? Solomon said you weren’t feeling well.” Satan had to nearly shout to be heard over the still blaring music.

“I just want to go home.” Zeke gently pried himself out of Asmo’s grasp and reached for Satan, who immediately wrapped an arm around his waist and started guiding him towards the exit. He turned just enough to subtly flip Solomon off before the sorcerer disappeared from his sight. Zeke couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard the shady bastard laughing as they left.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 12 days

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Dissonance - Bonus: Fate Written in Stone

Three demons sat in tense silence inside Lord Diavolo’s office. Lucifer was staring down at his teacup with a deep frown. The televised interview went well. He was very proud at how well his human had handled the situation. It was a situation that he should never have been placed in, however. He was going to hang Mammon from the ceiling for a month, or perhaps he should shred his brother’s beloved Goldie.

“Well that was not as disastrous as we all feared.” Lord Diavolo finally broke the silence, taking a sip of his tea.

“Not yet.” Lucifer sighed, wholly unconvinced. Zeke’s life was on the line here. How many demons might be especially tempted by his soul now? It would be quite the boast to be able to claim such a radiant soul as his human’s but now they knew that he was E. J. Novak. This incident had practically turned Zeke into a walking trophy, just waiting to be claimed.

“Are you having doubts about your abilities to keep him safe to the end of the year? Come Lucifer, have a little more faith in your brothers.” Lord Diavolo chided him gently.

“I will keep him safe, but you can’t deny the danger has increased dramatically.” Lucifer wished Lord Diavolo took this more seriously. He knew that Zeke’s welfare was only truly a concern to the prince insofar as it related to the success of his exchange program.

“That is true, but I am certain he will be alive and well at the end of the program. He will be returned home in just as much health as he was taken, or perhaps even better.” Lord Diavolo had all of Lucifer’s reports on the progress of their human. He would know that the brothers were taking better care of him than the human had ever bothered to care for himself.

The reminder that Lord Diavolo was still quite set on returning Zeke to the human realm at the end of all this only served to sour Lucifer’s mood further. He had hoped by now that Lord Diavolo would see the dramatic benefit the human’s presence was to his brothers, and himself for that matter.

“Young Master, if I may speak freely?” Barbatos had finally broken his silence to do more than observe the situation.

“Of course! I welcome your opinion, Barbatos, you know that.” Was Lord Diavolo’s immediate reply as the prince turned towards his steward. Lucifer also turned to look at the normally stoic butler, noting that he just barely seemed troubled. If Barbatos appeared mildly troubled then he must be very bothered by something.

“I feel that I must remind you of the future I had seen prior to bringing Mr. Pendergast for the exchange program.” Lucifer felt his stomach drop as Lord Diavolo made a gesture that Barbatos should continue. “Upon further and closer observation of this potential future I am quite certain that in the future I saw Mr. Pendergast will be murdered in the human realm by a deranged fan less than two years from now.”

The butler let that revelation hang in the room, now silent as the grave, as he allowed the implications to truly sink in. Lucifer felt an icy, sinking dread creep through him as he realized the true horror that Barbatos had just dropped on them.

Lucifer had brought Ezekiel here in the hopes of protecting him. He thought for sure that he could circumvent that desolate future by bringing him to the Devildom. If it was a deranged fan that caused his human’s death, that meant that coming to the Devildom set in motion the events that would lead to that grim fate.

That also meant that Mammon would be indirectly responsible for Zeke’s looming demise. If Zeke had not come here, he would never have had to go public with his identity, and no disturbed fan would have known how to reach him.

“That is certainly…unfortunate.” Lord Diavolo was clearly trying to be careful with both his wording and his tone.

“Unfortunate?” Lucifer seethed as he stood and began pacing. “I brought him here because I thought I would be keeping him safe. Now Barbatos is telling me that decision might be the cause of his death? I think that is more than simply unfortunate.”

“I understand this must be very difficult for you, my old friend, but what is done is done. Fate is a hard thing to break. Perhaps no decision is the right one. Humans die, we can’t interfere, it’s forbidden.” Lord Diavolo had stood, trying to make a placating gesture, which only further agitated Lucifer.

“You don’t understand! This is my family. I can’t just accept that he is going to die, no matter what I do. I won’t lose another one, Diavolo. I can’t. If he stays here I can keep him safe.” Lucifer knew he was grasping at straws. He knew that it was forbidden. His initial reason for swearing loyalty to Lord Diavolo was because he begged him to do something forbidden.

“The Devildom is too dangerous for a human like him, Lucifer. He isn’t like Solomon, or the witches, not to mention the Celestial Realm would absolutely have something to say about it. My hands are tied here. You can’t protect him forever. The Reapers will come for him one way or another if it is time for his candle to burn out.” They were all sound arguments, and Lucifer hated that he agreed with it. It was true that humans did simply die so very easily. Their human had already nearly been killed because of a momentary lapse in the twin’s vigilance. It was only a matter of time before there was another mistake that put Zeke’s life in danger. Even if he somehow managed to protect him from every outside danger, Ezekiel would eventually wither away, but he still couldn’t accept this finality.

It could not be that there was nothing that Lucifer could do. Was his Father still punishing him even now? Or perhaps it was that Father was still punishing her. Barbatos had stated that Lilith’s bloodline had flourished at first. It was only more recent generations that tragedy had started erasing each of her descendants. Had Father somehow found out that Lilith had lived?

Lucifer had gotten so lost in his thoughts and pacing that he actually startled when he felt a hand gently rest on his shoulder. He turned his gaze to Lord Diavolo, and realized that there was genuine sympathy and regret in the prince’s eyes.

“Lucifer, there is little we can do. Remember, this is only a possible future. There is still half a year until he must leave. Use the time wisely.” Lucifer looked from Diavolo to Barbatos, but the butler remained unreadable. He knew that unless Lord Diavolo allowed it, Barbatos would do nothing. It was beyond frustrating.

“Barbatos, is there a possible future where he lives a long, happy life?” He knew there was a chance that the butler would refuse to answer, and for a moment, Barbatos hesitates, eyes flickering to his master still standing behind Lucifer. Diavolo must have made some gesture of approval, because Barbatos gave an almost imperceptible nod before giving his reply.

“No. None that I have seen so far. I’m sorry, Lucifer.” The mighty firstborn, Avatar of Pride, allowed his shoulders to slump in defeat. If Barbatos saw no good future for Ezekiel, then there was probably no easy way to guide them towards a future with a desired outcome for the human.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me lucifer #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 14 days

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Dissonance - Chapter 24: Mark of Greed

Beel and Satan had bolted from the room immediately after realizing Mammon’s intentions, but both knew that they’d never catch him. The second born was the fastest, after all, and he had a head start. The Avatar of Greed had probably fled the moment all the attention had shifted to Zeke. Lucifer had declined to give chase, opting instead to furiously call and message Mammon forbidding him from leaking the information, not for any amount of money. Those calls and messages were ignored, not that anyone was surprised. It didn’t take a genius to understand very quickly that there was no way to stop what had been set into motion.

Zeke felt that familiar pit form in his stomach. There was no other choice than to reveal himself publicly. He could at the very least take control of the situation. If they were quick enough, they could even prevent Mammon from profiting from the situation. Mustering his resolve, Zeke decided he would figure out how to punish the greedy demon later, for now he squared his shoulders and set about directing the rest of his demons.

Lucifer was tasked with contacting Lord Diavolo and arranging the public announcement about Zeke’s authorship of The Cohen Files. They decided that Zeke would do an interview for RAD’s newspaper in addition to a Devildom-wide broadcast naming him as the realm-spanning, award-winning celebrated author E. J. Novak. Lord Diavolo was still worried about security concerns, but seemed tentatively positive about the situation overall, hoping that the popularity of Zeke’s books would boost support for the exchange program.

Asmo had immediately set about fussing over his appearance, loudly bemoaning the dark circles that Zeke always seemed to have around his eyes. Thankfully the beautiful demon had all the best skin care products and make-up a person, demon or human, could ask for so it wasn’t long before Zeke no longer looked like he hadn’t been skipping sleep for days on end. He had to change into his school uniform, even though it was decided that none of the House of Lamentation residents would be attending classes that day.

While Asmo would make sure that Zeke looked his best at his first public appearance - he’d have his picture taken for the newspaper - Levi was tasked with monitoring the online reactions to the announcement. The otaku was more than happy to jump at the opportunity to be helpful to one of his idols. Satan was quick to begin contacting his many associates to arrange good publicity and support for E. J. Novak.

On the other side of things, Zeke contacted his publicist and made arrangements for the reveal to the human world as well. He knew if his identity leaked in the Devildom it would inevitably reach the other realms as well. He had never wanted to go public with this information, but now that it was unavoidable he wanted to control the narrative - he didn’t know what tabloids might try to dig up about his life if left to their own speculations. It was better for his publisher to make an official announcement and reveal on his own terms, or as much as they could be his terms.

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Less than an hour after Mammon had vanished, Zeke sat in front of a camera with an apparently very influential demon who happened to be the president of RAD’s newspaper club. The uneasy feeling had never left him, but he smiled for the camera and answered the questions that had been approved beforehand smoothly while Lord Diavolo, Barbatos, and Lucifer watched out of frame. Mephistopheles kept to the script and managed to hide his contempt until the cameras stopped rolling.

As soon as the interview was over, the demon in question let his expression sour as he got up and praised Lord Diavolo’s handling of this matter - even though he really didn’t know the situation and it was all done under Zeke’s direction - before leaving abruptly to work on writing up an accompanying article for the live interview they had just conducted.

Lucifer instructed him to go home, it was clear that he had things to discuss with Lord Diavolo and Barbatos, things that were deemed not for his ears. Zeke didn’t really have a problem with that. They had done all he had asked so far. If there was more they wished to do in regards to the situation that was fine. They’d fill him in on anything that was important for him to know later. He trusted Lucifer to handle it from here.

Beel and Belphie were waiting outside the room, ready to serve as his escorts, but so was Asmo. The fifth born excitedly shoved his D.D.D. in Zeke’s face to show him that the video interview was already blowing up even though it had only just aired. Zeke pulled his constantly vibrating D.D.D from his pocket - Levi was barraging him with messages about how cool he had looked on T.V. Levi and the rest of the brothers, minus Mammon, had been left at the House of Lamentation to watch the interview from home.

For his part, Zeke still felt like the tension was wound tight inside his gut, the exhaustion from his insomnia had taken a backseat to the adrenaline of the situation fueling him to sort out the mess that his own carelessness had caused. He should never have left his laptop just sitting open with the upcoming novel pulled up. It wasn’t even as if one of the brothers barging into his room unannounced was uncommon even while he was in there. Maybe if it had only been Satan this wouldn’t have been so bad, he could trust Satan not to lose his head over it. The problem was it wasn’t just Satan.

Acknowledging his own part in this situation did little to cool the anger he felt burning towards a certain white-haired demon. Yes, he had slipped up, but if Mammon’s greed weren’t so all-encompassing that he’d sell him out for some lousy grim they could have kept the secret contained to the House of Lamentation. A part of him knew it wasn’t entirely Mammon’s fault. The brothers were ruled by their respective sins. Some had better control of theirs than others. Mammon seemed to have the least amount of restraint with his sin, except maybe Lucifer, since the eldest didn’t seem to think his Pride needed to be kept in check. Zeke had his own opinions about that, given the demon’s Pride had more than once caused him to butt heads with him.

Still, succumbing to his sin wasn’t going to fly as an excuse to go unpunished, not this time. Zeke had no idea what Lucifer planned to do to Mammon as punishment for this whole incident, but he wasn’t going to let the greed demon off the hook with only Lucifer’s retribution. No, Mammon needed to be made to understand exactly how furious Zeke was right now.

Speak of the devil. Zeke accepted the call and pressed his D.D.D. to his ear.

“Mammon.” His tone was flat, not really expressing the depth of his fury. He was far too good at hiding his emotions.

“Oi! Human! Why’d ya go and do that?! This guy was willing to pay mad grim for ya real name! Now that everybody knows he - ”

“Mammon.” That rage seeped into his voice, just a little, and the demon cut himself off mid-sentence.

“O-oi! No need to sound upset! We can still make loads of grim! Think of all the cash people will pay for public appearances and autographs!” Mammon sounded desperate, and very concerned. Good.

“Mammon this is an order. Return to the House of Lamentation immediately.” Zeke felt the familiar heat and tingle race across his tongue and down his throat as the infernal magic pulled harshly at his pact with the Avatar of Greed. He hung up the call without waiting for further reply. Mammon would have no choice but to obey.

The twins flanked him as he began walking, heading home so that he could intercept his recently acquired troublemaker of a demon. Zeke didn’t catch the look the two youngest exchanged, nor did he realize that his lavender irises were rimmed with a burning gold as he clung to the magic that bound Mammon to him, relishing in the crackle of the energy surrounding him. Asmo trailed slightly behind, typing furiously on his phone, almost giddy as he realized there was about to be one hell of a show at Mammon’s expense.

They arrived before the second born. That was fine with Zeke. He stood in the entrance hall facing the front door, arms folded across his chest as he waited for his demon. The brothers had all crowded in the nearest doorway to watch. Asmo and Levi both had their phones ready to begin recording so that they could document whatever was about to befall their older brother.

It was not a long wait. Mammon nearly slammed open the front door in his haste, obviously having sprinted home at Zeke’s command. The demon skidded to a stop, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

“Ya gotta lot o’ nerve ordering the Great Mammon, human!” Did he really think he could save face or talk back to him right now?

“Down.” Zeke was not in the mood to deal with this particular demon’s bluster or bravado. Mammon dropped to his hands and knees before him. He didn’t realize the purple of his eyes had been swallowed up by a glowing gold as he pulled even harder on his pact with the Avatar of Greed. What he did notice was that the pact mark on his right shoulder itched and tingled, just shy of painful.

The other demons noticed that the mark was faintly glowing, but none moved to stop him. Most of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. Satan was the only one present without a pact with him, but the demon was practically vibrating in place. Zeke imagined he was feeding off of his rage.

“O-oi! What’s the big idea?!” Mammon seemed to finally realize the gravity of the trouble he was in, because he was sweating now.

Zeke’s calm facade finally began to crack, his lips twisted into a scowl, brow furrowing as he glared down at the demon practically prostrated before him.

“The big idea is that you have irrevocably destroyed my privacy with your petty and short-sighted greed. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” Zeke’s voice raised slightly at the end, already knowing that Mammon had no idea what he’d done wrong, because he could only see the profit and not the consequences. He wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse. The rage and magic pulsed in his chest. “I can never just be me from here on out. Everything I do or say will be linked to E. J. Novak, it can affect every aspect of my life. If I make a mistake it can give people cause to stop buying my books and anything that is connected to my books, fans and media will pick apart every aspect of my life, they’ll hound me for interviews, for autographs, fan mail, the potential for harassment from obsessive fans because the reality of Ezekiel Jada Pendergast does not live up to their fantasies about E. J. Novak!”

At last Mammon seemed to understand, at least a little, because his face twisted in guilt as he realized just how badly he had screwed up. The demon tried to lift himself up, but Zeke unfolded his arms and the next thing he knew his boot was on Mammon’s head, pushing the demon all the way down to the floor. He was surprised that he could even force him down physically.

“Do you even care what your greed just cost me?” Zeke felt more than saw the way Mammon flinched, the demon almost cowering in the face of his anger.

“’M sorry!” It was Zeke’s turn to flinch, Mammon sounded on the brink of tears. He lifted his foot off the demon and took a step back, breathing a little ragged as he tried to pull all that anger back in, there was a reason he kept his emotions buried. They hurt people. Mammon didn’t even try to raise his head or look up. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I didn’t want to cause ya trouble, I swear! ‘M so sorry.”

Zeke could feel the rage slowly draining out of him. He was still angry, still upset, but he couldn’t direct that fury at Mammon when the demon was so utterly pathetic in that moment. What kind of terrible person was he that he could reduce an Avatar of Sin to an apologetic mess?

“Go to your room.” Zeke let the magic he had been holding fizzle out, his eyes returning to normal and the burn of the infernal magic fading from his shoulder. “Lucifer will deal with you later.”

Mammon bolted up the stairs to obey that last command. The other demons present, minus Beel, snickered at the second born’s expense, clearly enjoying how thoroughly reprimanded their greedy older brother had been. A new surge of anger flared in his chest as he pulled at the infernal magic in two other marks.

“Leviathan. Asmodeus. You will delete those videos. I will not have either of you publicly disgracing your brother.” No matter how angry he was at Mammon in the moment, he cared about him as much as his brothers. He wouldn’t allow one of the Seven Rulers of Hell be humiliated for all to watch.

All that done, he sulked off to his room and slammed the door behind him.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 21 days

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Dissonance - Chapter 23: E. J. Novak

How had it already been six months? Time was slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. Zeke had settled into his new routine so completely, that it felt strange to think that it was already half over. He never wanted this to end. Although time moving so quickly had him stressed for more reasons than his eventual return to the human world. It was getting harder to keep up with everything that he currently had to juggle.

He was so wrapped up in studying, homework, plotting and enacting his revenge, cooking and chore duties, club activities, his reading sessions and coffee dates with Satan, gaming sessions with Levi, and spa treatments with Asmo, that his looming deadlines for his publisher had caught up to him before he had time to even catch his breath.

If all of that wasn’t enough, mid-terms were looming. It was true that he enjoyed most of his classes because the subjects were interesting and engaging - for the most part. That didn’t stop it from being stressful. No matter how much he liked learning, these were all entirely new subjects and he had started off behind all of the demon students. With Satan’s help his grades had all far exceeded the expectations laid out for him, but that had been both a blessing and curse. Lord Diavolo had decided he was doing well enough that the grading curve they had originally planned to give him was revoked.

Zeke had not been a fan of receiving a handicap in the first place, but it had been a certain safety net of sorts that he was sorely missing now that it was gone. There was a lot more pressure for him to perform well on the midterms. His success or failure would reflect upon the entire exchange program. At least the other exchange students were also under the same sort of pressure, as none of the others were being given a grading curve either. Of course they were all far more familiar with magic than he was. The only reason he wasn’t freaking out worse was because both Satan and Solomon had been spending exorbitant amounts of time tutoring him the past week as they all crunched for these exams. Even when they weren’t busy tutoring him, he was self-studying or writing well into the early morning.

Zeke hadn’t slept in four days.

At least the clubs had been easy enough to deal with. Going with a literary club had been the correct choice. He had been introduced to a wide selection of Devildom literature and he got to spend a lot of reading time peacefully with Satan. He had learned, much to his amusement and Satan’s annoyance that he was actually a faster reader than the demon. Although Zeke envied the Avatar of Wrath’s ability to never need a bookmark.

As for the fan club, other than lots of envious looks when Levi had told them about his autographed first edition copy of The Cohen Files, that one hadn’t raised any issues. Nobody suspected him in the slightest, all he had to do was lazily analyze each book with the other members of the club. They liked to speculate about him unknowingly. It was both amusing and weird to listen to fan theories about his books and himself in person, while they were all clueless that the author was actually sitting right there with them.

It was especially entertaining when Levi and Satan riled them all up into heated debates about such insignificant things like the gender of E. J. Novak. The fan club was torn on whether the author was male or female. Apparently he wrote the female protagonist too well, with none of the typical trappings male authors make when writing strong female characters. So clearly E. J. Novak was female. Satan was in this camp, he liked to point out that many female authors used initials in their pen names because statistically speaking male authors sold more books, so not making it obvious that it was a female writer was a strategy to get their books into more hands. In Satan’s defense, this was all true.

Levi was of the opinion that E. J. Novak was definitely a guy. He insisted that he could tell by the writing style and pointed out that not every male writer objectified their female characters. Then there was the complete lack of romantic subplots, apparently Levi considered this one of the core pieces of evidence to support the idea that E. J. Novak was a man. Zeke had to shake his head at it, because while Levi got it right, he felt like his reasoning was awful. Just because he hadn’t wrote romance into the books that ruled out him being a woman? Levi acted like female authors only write books with romantic elements involved. What a load of shit.

It was almost enough for him to side with Satan on this trivial issue on principle, but he already felt bad deceiving them about his identity. Lying outright when he knew the answer felt a bit too wrong, so he had to be on Levi’s team of E. J. Novak being a man. He knew it irritated Satan that he wasn’t on his side, even if it was such a stupid, silly little thing. Besides, he got to to side with Satan on a lot of his other observations about his work, the demon was almost scarily good at literary analysis.

What really had shocked Zeke was all the fanfiction discussion that went on in the club. He hadn’t even realized that was a thing! Some of the stories he’d read regarding his characters - especially Sadie - had turned him several shades of red. It felt a bit strange seeing his characters in such wildly different settings and behaving in ways he’d never even considered. He didn’t begrudge the fans their fantasies, but never in his life had he been exposed to that much smut. It blew his mind. Everyone else in the club had been more surprised that he didn’t read fanfiction. Apparently even Satan read fanfiction. Levi even got pressured to show some of the fanfiction that he had written. That was eye-opening, to put it mildly.

He was getting wildly off track. The static fuzzy quality to his thoughts told Zeke that he was starting to crash, and hard. He had been trying to finish up the last few chapters of his latest book, but his mind was so sluggish that he had drifted away from writing into rambling tangles of thoughts that did nothing to help the creative process. For the first time in a very long time, his life was actually more appealing than his stories. He didn’t feel the need for the distraction into the fantastical, imaginary world he had created for himself years ago. Zeke’s real life had become a fantastical world.

It had been a long time since he had such a bout of writer’s block. Zeke couldn’t keep his mind focused on the screen in front of him. He knew that what he needed more than anything was sleep, but he couldn’t neglect this any longer if he wanted to meet his deadlines. If he didn’t get this to his editor in the next few days they might miss the projected publishing date.

It was a pity that Devildom energy drinks weren’t safe for human consumption, but he could still get coffee. Zeke wandered into the kitchen in a bit of a daze. It was early enough in the morning that he thought that the coast would be clear, everyone should still be asleep - or gaming in Levi’s case - at this hour. The kitchen wasn’t as deserted as he’d thought however. Really it was no surprise to find Beel there, raiding the fridge before breakfast. He must be awake for his morning workout.

“Morning Beel.” He greeted with a yawn as he shuffled over to the coffee maker.

“You should be sleeping.” Zeke waved off the gentle giant’s concern, he must have been zoned out longer than he thought if it was already time for Beel to be up. Rather than feeling a sense of urgency to get back to writing he started a pot of coffee.

Lucifer would be awake soon enough to start herding them all to get ready for school, might as well make him a cup of hell coffee while he was at it. The firstborn always insisted that he preferred hell coffee when Zeke made it, and he knew about the bitterness being worse the more fond the maker was of who they were making it for. It was probably pretty bitter. He couldn’t deny he was very fond of the Avatar of Pride. Of all his demons, really.

While the coffee finished brewing he started making breakfast. It wasn’t his turn, but he was already up and needed the break from sitting hunched in front of his laptop. You couldn’t wring blood from a stone. If he wasn’t able to write, then staring at the screen wasn’t going to help. Refocusing on a new task for a little bit would probably help far more than anything else.

Beel seemed content to help too. Zeke had to keep him from eating the entire contents of the fridge anyway. Partway through cooking Asmo sauntered into the kitchen, apparently he was on breakfast duty this morning. They sent Beel off to work on getting Belphie up, while Asmo and he worked together to finish preparing the meal and setting the table before everyone began trickling in. Everyone else started showing up just as they finished laying out all the platters piled high with eggs, sausages, pancakes, and toast. He smiled at Beel carrying Belphie in.

He noticed that Satan was not there yet, but figured the bookworm had probably stayed up late reading so was running late this morning. Zeke headed back to his room, ignoring breakfast in favor of getting ready for school first. When he opened his bedroom door he froze when he saw a figure standing next to his desk, staring intently at his still open laptop.

Even while his brain was trying to process the situation Zeke knew who it was because they smelled like old books and leather, plus he could recognize Satan’s aura anywhere. It was warm and comforting, with that biting undercurrent of anger that he couldn’t fully suppress no matter how hard he tried. Finally his mind caught up, realizing the gravity of the situation as he rushed forward and slammed the laptop closed. Zeke knew deep down that it was already too late. His heart was racing, there was no way that Satan wouldn’t have figured it out. He wasn’t sure just how long the demon had been in his room, but the Avatar of Wrath was too clever not to have put the pieces together.

Satan had startled slightly when Zeke had rushed in and closed the laptop so abruptly, the demon staring at him with wide eyes for a few moments. Zeke imagined his expression was much the same, surprised and uncertain, as they both simply stared at each other for a few moments. Green eyes broke contact first, darting to the side.

“I didn’t mean to snoop. I finished this week’s book for the literary club and I wanted to talk about it with you before anyone else. You weren’t here and the laptop was open.” Satan looked both embarrassed and guilty for a few moments, but then Zeke saw the gears turning in the demon’s head before he snapped his attention back to him. “That…that was the next book in The Cohen Files series, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” Now it was Zeke’s turn to look a bit guilty. He couldn’t lie to Satan’s face with the evidence right there in front of them. “You weren’t supposed to see it.”

“I can’t believe it.” Satan still had that expression, the one where he was concentrating, deep in thought. The expression that Zeke always felt a little flustered over, because the demon was so distractingly handsome.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to know.” He knew that Levi and Satan were big fans, and he’d felt bad about deceiving them this whole time, but he had his reasons.

“It’s so obvious now. E. J. Novak. Ezekiel Jada Pendergast, you took your first two initials, and the last name?” That did have Satan looking a bit stumped, like he was fitting a puzzle together but didn’t have all the pieces.

“Novak is my mother’s maiden name.” There was no reason to try to hide it now. Satan nodded as he seemed satisfied with this new answer.

“Oh.” A look of realization, then annoyance came over Satan’s face. “Levi was right. Curses.”

Zeke stared in confusion for a moment, before snickering as he realized the same thing that Satan did.

“Yeah, sorry. You lost that one. I’m definitely a guy.” He couldn’t believe that was the first thing Satan was worried about, then again, he knew Satan really liked being right.

“I was so sure.” It was adorable when Satan pouted, he didn’t do it often, but Zeke considered it a real treat when it did happen.

“I’m sorry.” Zeke couldn’t hide that he was amused at Satan’s reaction. He was worried that the demon would have been upset at him not telling him about being the author, but instead he was more worried about being wrong about his gender.

The amusement was short-lived, because other presences were suddenly brought to Zeke’s attention. Levi and Mammon were both standing in the doorway, watching them with wildly different expressions.

“Woooooah!” Levi cried out finally, rushing in to grab Zeke by the shoulders and shake him a little in his excitement. “You’re really E. J. Novak?! All this time I’ve been living in the same house as a legend. This is so cool! The games based on your books are some of the hardest, best written mystery and puzzle games ever!”

“Shh! Levi, not so loud!” Zeke tried frantically to shush the otaku’s fanboy moment, but it was too late, his room was right next to the kitchen.

The rest of the brothers had come to see what the commotion was, because they had sent Mammon to fetch Zeke for breakfast and suddenly Levi was screeching. Lucifer sighed heavily as he realized what was going on almost immediately.

“Oooh~, our darling is a celebrity and nobody told me?” Asmo practically squealed. “I can’t wait to -“

“No! No telling your followers, no tagging me, no nothing!” Zeke felt panic welling up in his chest. If everyone knew about his identity he’d have a very difficult time having any kind of private life. The whole reason he used a pen name to begin with was to keep his privacy intact. Not to mention human fans could get obsessive and crazy enough, he didn’t want to find out how bad demon ones might get.

“This is private, privileged information, and I expect you all to keep it that way. For Zeke’s privacy and safety Lord Diavolo and I have kept this hidden, even from you lot. No one breathes a word of this to anyone outside this house, am I clear?” Lucifer had been quick to try to take charge of the situation and do damage control.

Zeke could feel Satan’s arms wrap comfortingly around him and he turned to press his face against his school jacket as he tried to take deep, calming breaths. All the brothers began trying to reassure Zeke that they would keep his secret safe after seeing him so distressed about the situation.

“Uh, where’s Mammon?” Belphie asked suddenly, and looking around they all realized very quickly that the greed demon had already bolted with his secret. Nobody had to say it. Mammon would sell that information in a heartbeat without thinking of the consequences.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 29 days

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Dissonance - Chapter 22: Murder on the London Express

How had a curse gone wrong landed him back in the human world sitting on a train with Lucifer, Mammon, and Satan? The curse would wear off on its own in time, and while he did want it to end sooner rather than later, tracking down the witch responsible for the curse seemed a little excessive. Then again, as he looked at Satan’s face staring out the window with an annoyed scowl, it made him reconsider. He wished Satan were himself, because it felt awkward and wrong interacting with either of them while they were in the wrong body. It gave him more than a minor headache. The dissonance between the face and the aura was disorienting.

It wasn’t just the swapped bodies that was troubling him, though. After months in the dark of the Devildom the sunlight filtering in through the window of their private car was aggravating to his eyes. There was also the distinct lack of raw magical power flowing freely through the air. Yes, at first the Devildom’s excess magical atmosphere had been suffocating and something he’d needed to be protected from, but now it felt strange without it. Zeke felt weaker, more vulnerable. He wasn’t sure he could even cast the simplest of spells like this.

His entire body was filled with anxious tension as he played with the chocolate lizard keychain that Lucifer had bought for him - had bought matching ones for the four of them. He knew it was stupid to be afraid of being left back in the human world. Of course he was going to end up back here, but not yet, there was still time left in the exchange program. Zeke just really wanted this curse to be over with so they could go home.

It didn’t surprise him that he considered the House of Lamentation to be his home. The brothers had made it home. He had always been alone in the human world. His apartment was a shelter, someplace for him to reside, but it had always been empty and cold. That wasn’t really a home, in his meager opinion. Home was filled with warmth, love, and safety. His demons, though demons they may be, had become his family - an unconventional family to be certain, but his nonetheless.

Zeke felt Satan shift next to him and glanced over, observing the way Lucifer’s eyebrows were slightly pinched in concentration as Satan read to occupy himself. Mammon was seated next to Lucifer on the bench opposite them. At least until he got up and announced he was going to check out the dining car to brag about the food to Beel. For some reason this filled him with a sense of apprehension.

Trying to push down the twisting in his gut, Zeke forced himself to take in the passing scenery. The countryside they were traveling through while seeking out this witch was quite charming. If he wasn’t so anxious to return to the Devildom he probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Scarcely a few minutes passed since Mammon had left them when they all jolted at the sound of a woman’s scream. They shared a look between them before bolting up and heading towards the commotion. Zeke had a sinking feeling, which was only confirmed when someone claimed a woman had been murdered, and gave a description that fit Mammon as the prime suspect. He should never ignore those bad feelings he got. They were seldom wrong.

They got to the car only to be met with three living humans, Mammon, and the deceased witch, Grisella. He was surprised to learn the very witch they had been searching for had been on the same train the whole time. Mammon hadn’t killed her, naturally, but they were accusing him of the crime, which made that little ember of rage that never quite burned out flare to life. He knew Mammon, maybe he wasn’t quite as close to him as he was to the twins, or Asmo, or Satan, but he knew that Mammon was not a killer - not for no reason. Definitely not in this situation.

This was a disaster. They’d come all this way and the one person that could help them might not be able to on account of being dead. Of course, there was still a chance. His eyes met those of the slain woman’s spirit as she stood there scowling at the scene of her own murder. He immediately gestured for her to follow him and began stalking back to their own private car with a frown. Lucifer and Satan gave him briefly puzzled looks, before understanding dawned on them. The three human suspects were easily hypnotized into remaining put and docile, while the three demons followed Zeke. The rest of the passengers and the conductor were also placating with magic into allowing them to handle the situation.

As soon as they were in private, Zeke was able to get the spirit’s version of what had happened, which was only mildly helpful. She didn’t actually know who had killed her. It also happened that she knew who the demons were and why they were there. She refused to undo the curse unless they solved her murder. They were hardly in a position to refuse, and while they technically could just wait for the curse to wear off on its own, Zeke really, really wanted this curse to be over. Lucifer and Satan couldn’t agree more.

What they didn’t seem to agree on was how to go about solving the murder. Lucifer and Satan seemed eager to simply torture the three human suspects to get their answer swiftly and be done with it. Zeke thought perhaps he should be alarmed at just how okay he would have been with that method if not for the fact that it would draw far too much attention from human world authorities. Pointing this fact out did bring the demons around fairly quickly to his way of thinking. They didn’t want to cause an even bigger scene and make a mess that would need to be cleaned up. That would be far too much of a hassle.

Instead they decided to follow Zeke’s lead and do the investigation the human way. He led them back to the car with the suspects. His eyes flew about the room, taking in all the details he could. Zeke did not write paranormal mysteries for no reason. There was also his other ability. Just reading their auras was enough for him to know almost immediately who was guilty. Of course that was useless without evidence, so he took point, questioning the three, who were convinced that he was a detective of some sort, thanks to some minor magical manipulation. He didn’t even need one of the demons to do it, thanks to his training with Solomon and lessons from RAD.

Satan seemed to be thoroughly enjoying playing detective with him, adding his own inquiries to supplement Zeke’s questioning lines. It didn’t take long for Satan to piece together the incriminating evidence, and Zeke let the demon gleefully explain how they figured out that it was Noah, an aspiring witch that had been spurned by the deceased when attempting to become her apprentice. Faced with the truth, the man tearfully confessed and was taken into proper custody.

The witch Grisella thanked them for helping her solve her murder, and seemed a bit rueful that the entire reason she had refused Noah was because she had known she would die soon. Zeke was surprised to learn that witches could often sense their own deaths approaching, and the irony was not lost on him that her knowledge of her looming death had been exactly what led to her downfall. It was like a self-fulling prophecy.

Regardless, she kept her end of the deal and undid the curse. Lucifer and Satan were both elated to be returned to their proper bodies, but seemed to be considerably closer and less antagonistic to one another after this whole ordeal, so silver linings.

Mammon was grateful that Zeke was able to clear his name from the crime, and admitted that Zeke’s ability to speak to ghosts had always freaked him out so much that he hadn’t spent as much time with him as he’d have liked. Of course all of this was conveyed in the most tsundere fashion you could imagine. Also in distinctly Mammon fashion, the Avatar of Greed made a big show of how he owed Zeke and so Zeke should be very grateful that Mammon was going to make a pact with him as repayment.

That day a warm fondness grew in his chest for the greedy troublemaker. Although the pact mark felt like molten gold searing into his right shoulder, sitting opposite of Levi’s mark of envy, he was glad to have it. The rest of the train ride was spent leaning against Satan’s side, sleeping on the demon’s shoulder as the infernal magic drained him even worse than usual due to the low magic atmosphere of the human world.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me satan #obey me dissonance

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Dissonance - Chapter 21: Cursed Conundrums

At first all their studying and reading was done in the library, either at RAD or at the House of Lamentation. Satan had been reluctant to let Zeke into his room, feeling it was dangerous because of his haphazard stacks of books, many of which were cursed. The discovery that Zeke’s ability to read auras and sense magic made it easy for him to tell if an object was cursed or not at a single glance did eventually alleviate that concern, at least somewhat. Solomon was even teaching him how to tell exactly what kind of curse an object was imbued with.

There was a palpable tension the first time Satan had finally allowed him into his messy bedroom. This was the Avatar of Wrath’s private space, his sanctuary, and it wasn’t easy to let someone in. Zeke could understand that, until meeting the brothers he had shut everyone out too. Slowly but surely they became as comfortable together in Satan’s room as they were in a library. All the cursed books even became good practice for Zeke, since Satan knew all the curses on his own books, Zeke could try to determine each intricate curse the demon pointed out. He even started getting more right than wrong with time. It was another thing that he got to do with Satan.

He liked all of the brothers, but the deepening bond he held with the wrath demon made him the happiest of all. Although he got along very well with Satan he sensed his hesitation, something was holding him back. It was a puzzle for Zeke to mull over when he was alone with his thoughts. A rarer and rarer occurrence these days admittedly.

The day had started out normally. He and Satan were sitting among the stacks of books, quietly reading identical copies of The Hound of Baskervilles one minute, and the next Zeke was practically hiding behind his chair as books flew about the room. Lucifer had barged in unannounced, lecturing Satan about something, and now this had happened. Zeke got the courage to peek over the edge of his chair just in time to see Lucifer catch a particular cursed book. Satan tried to snatch it out of Lucifer’s hand, causing a flash of light.

Oh no.

All the objects that had been flying about the room suddenly dropped to the floor as the two brothers stared at each other, both looking positively aghast as they realized what had just happened. Zeke could only wince as he recalled Satan warning him about this particular forbidden book. This was not good.

“Look what you’ve done!” Satan’s voice rings out, but there was something off.

“This is all your fault!” Lucifer countered, although again, it wasn’t quite right.

“Let’s all calm down? Are you both okay?” Zeke already knew, he could absolutely tell, the auras had switched. The curse had definitely taken effect.

“No.” Satan (Lucifer) sighed.

“No!” Lucifer (Satan) snarled.

“Well how long does this last?” It felt so weird looking at Satan’s face and knowing he was speaking to Lucifer.

“According to the literature on this subject, the effect is supposed to last for several days.” Lucifer (Satan) huffed in frustration.

“How am I going to explain this to Lord Diavolo?” Satan (Lucifer) groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was so weird seeing Satan’s body making very Lucifer gestures.

Within an hour all the brothers had found out about the situation. Satan actually seemed to start having a bit of fun with it, impersonating Lucifer which caused the other brothers to all laugh. Zeke didn’t find this funny. Not one bit. Lucifer didn’t either. There was a small argument about where they were going to stay until the effects wore off, but Satan absolutely refused to stay in Lucifer’s room and Satan’s room was also out of the question.

Zeke wasn’t sure how they ended up in his room. He certainly hadn’t volunteered to have the pair of them sleeping in his room. The twins weren’t happy about the arrangement either, considering they spent many nights in his room and that wouldn’t be feasible until this issue was resolved.

It was funny, it never felt crowded in his room when Beel and Belphie would sneak in to sleep with him. Having Lucifer and Satan in his room at the same time definitely felt crowded. It was the first time either of them slept in his room. He wasn’t so sure about sharing the bed with either of them. Asmo, Levi, Beel, and Belphie were all demons he felt perfectly comfortable sleeping next to, enjoying having them cuddled up to him, in fact. It was absolutely not that way with Lucifer or Satan.

Zeke could sit on the sofa shoulder-to-shoulder with Satan, their arms and legs brushing against each other, but having him sleep next to him was another story entirely. It wasn’t that he was opposed to it, it was just that he felt different with Satan. With Asmo, Levi, Beel, and Belphie it was cozy, it was completely platonic. The feelings he had swirling inside him when it came to Satan weren’t entirely platonic. Under different circumstances he would love a chance to sleep with his face buried in the Avatar of Wrath’s golden hair. The problem was that blond mop was on the wrong demon and Lucifer was also here. It wasn’t happening, not tonight at least. Not until his co-conspirator was back in his proper body.

He took the couch and spent the entire night lying awake worrying about how long this curse was going to take to wear off. The next morning Satan (Lucifer) insisted they all go to school as normal and act as if nothing was amiss. That plan fell apart almost immediately, since Lord Diavolo was able to tell the pair had switched almost instantly.

Somehow they did survive the school day, but Zeke felt completely drained from babysitting Satan and Mammon to make sure they didn’t do anything to humiliate Lucifer while Satan was in the firstborn’s body. Lucifer had asked him to, and Lord Diavolo had also urged him to make sure nothing went amiss. As if he could really have stopped either demon from doing something to tarnish Lucifer’s reputation if they’d have actually tried it. He didn’t have pacts with Satan or Mammon, and while it was true he had a pact with Lucifer and Satan was currently in Lucifer’s body he wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work.

All of the evening was spent with Lucifer and Satan arguing. The back and forth was exhausting just watching. He felt for Satan, he had realized very quickly that the wrathful demon had a major inferiority complex when it came to Lucifer. It was somewhat understandable, but he also felt bad for the eldest. They had both had to deal with incredibly difficult and traumatic things that had tainted the entirety of their relationship with each other. That said, he thought that there was little excuse for them not to at least try to work this out. They’d had plenty of time since Satan’s birth.

The fact that they wouldn’t stop arguing so that Zeke could sleep really wasn’t that big of a problem. He stayed awake more nights than he slept, even with Belphie’s interventions so the lack of sleep wasn’t going to bother him much. It was the fact that he couldn’t exactly do his normal nightly writing with Satan in the room. He’d have felt weird with Lucifer in the room too, but at least Lucifer knew about his work. Zeke still hadn’t told anyone else, and he wasn’t ready to reveal that secret just yet, maybe never.

When the arguing was enough that he couldn’t hear his own thoughts he retreated into the hall, only to find Mammon hanging from the ceiling. He was tempted to leave him there, knowing that he’d gotten the punishment for trying to take advantage of the situation with Lucifer and Satan. Zeke finally let the second born down on the condition that he help stop the fighting. Mammon had a great idea and Zeke had a headache.

Admittedly having them work together towards a common goal wasn’t the worst idea that he had heard Mammon have, but it kind of fell apart once they were dragged into the game only to be told by Levi that it was a dating sim and it was more competitive that cooperative. Zeke was more than a little annoyed to have been designated as the heroine that Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, and Satan now had to compete to woo so they could win the game. He really disliked the idea of gaining his affections being some kind of competition between the brothers.

What surprised him most was that all four seemed determined to win. He would have felt giddy at the idea of Satan trying to romance him, except he knew that they were all only interested in winning. It wasn’t about him at all. They just wanted to prove they were better than the others. Especially Satan and Lucifer, for Satan it was trying to beat Lucifer, and for Lucifer it was just a matter of pride - of course Lucifer assumed there could be no outcome but victory for himself. At least the pair looked like themselves in the game world and not swapped.

Even knowing that it still made his heart flutter when Satan helped him in a scene, he loved it when Satan smiled. Not the fake smiles that he usually wore, but the genuine ones where the left side of his mouth quirked just so that betrayed his real feelings. The giddiness quickly faded to leave a bitter taste in his mouth. None of them actually wanted to make him fall for them. It was just a game they wanted to win. He managed to soldier through the intimacy advancement tactics of each brother. It was nice to see Lucifer acting so relaxed since there were no risk of bringing disgrace to Lord Diavolo in the game.

By the time the end of the game came and it was time for one of them to confess Zeke was definitely over it all. He just wanted it to be over and for things to go back to normal. At least the brothers seemed to realize he was not enjoying this game and toned down their bickering over winning.

Satan even apologized for getting him into the strange mess. Zeke appreciated it, and had a heart-to-heart with Satan about why he seemed to hate Lucifer so much. After listening he felt like he understood where Satan was coming from, but he knew Lucifer well enough by now to know that Satan was misunderstanding his brother and he told him so, even though it might make him angry. Zeke wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it was still pleasantly surprising that Satan seemed to take his words to heart and even thanked him for offering his outside perspective on the matter.

The rest of the game was more tolerable after that talk, knowing that even if Satan wasn’t trying to win his favor, at least he knew that the demon must deeply respect him to take his opinion into account.

None of them were expecting a version of Cerberus to show up and the game to switch into a horror survival situation. While Levi geeked out over the tonal shift, Lucifer somehow managed to get this version of Cerberus under control in order to protect them and won the game so they could all leave. Sometime during all of this, Lucifer and Satan seemed to find a tentative understanding with one another. Once they left the game the two still had their bodies switched though. Well, it wasn’t as if he was expecting the curse to wear off over the course of a single game. At least they were sort of getting along now.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me dissonance

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Dissonance - Chapter 20: That Time I Had a Sleepover Retreat at the Demon Lord's Castle and Gained the Pact of Envy!

Zeke felt like he was in a bit of a daze as he sat on a couch in a lavish sitting room at the Demon Lord’s castle. Simeon and Solomon were fussing over him, carefully bandaging a few small scrapes he’d earned over the past several hours. They didn’t want to use healing magic, citing how exhausted he already was, saying it would be better to let such minor injuries heal on their own. Given he was too tired to disagree he simply sat there and let them fuss.

The more pressing thing taking up his attention was the infernal magic still pulsing through his veins, the stinging mark on his left shoulder a reminder that he had just gained his fifth pact. Zeke still thought it all felt a bit surreal, but Levi was still hovering nearby, hands wringing as he watched the others tend to him. The events leading up to this were wild, to say the least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This all started when Lucifer announced at breakfast Friday morning that Lord Diavolo had decided to host a sleepover retreat at the Demon Lord’s castle for all the exchange students and the student council - which was just the brothers, Diavolo, and Barbatos. Most of the brothers had groaned at the very idea. Beel seemed entirely indifferent, still scarfing down his breakfast as if nothing else mattered - which to the Avatar of Gluttony was probably pretty close to true. Asmo on the other end of the spectrum, seemed downright giddy at the idea of having a sleepover with Zeke.

That had all the brothers flipping their tunes about the retreat. A small argument broke out over who would get to room with Zeke, a privilege all the demons seemed to want, but Lucifer halted that argument with the proclamation that room assignments would be chosen at random when they arrived at the castle. That earned grumbles, but everyone agreed that was the most fair way to do it.

The itinerary for the retreat was gone over, and Zeke found himself a little daunted by what was revealed. The first night seemed perfectly normal. They would arrive after school to the castle, hand out room assignments, take a tour of the castle, and have dinner prepared by Barbatos. The next day was okay, he was looking forward to breakfast and lunch prepared by Luke, and a scavenger hunt could be fun. It was the formal dance that worried him. He had never been to such a thing. Well, Zeke had never been to a sleepover either, but that seemed easy. He didn’t want to look like a total fool in front of a bunch of Devildom elite that would be in attendance. Plus, he didn’t have anything to wear to that kind of event. There was hardly time to prepare for anything, as the retreat would begin that night.

Lucifer tried to reassure him that Barbatos had an outfit prepared for him. Zeke still didn’t know how to dance. All of them wanted to teach him, but in the end Mammon won out on giving him a crash course ballroom dancing lesson the next day in-between the activities planned. He was a little surprised that it would be Mammon, but everyone reluctantly agreed that Mammon was a good dancer. That was something he hadn’t known about the Avatar of Greed, and he was looking forward to the lesson. Even if he still thought dancing in front of a bunch of people would be very embarrassing.

As if the formal dance wasn’t enough pressure, the third day he was expected to cook human world food for everyone. Zeke was an average cook at best. Could he really make something good enough to be served to the literal prince of Hell? He was assured that anything would be fine. This was about cultural sharing. They were having cuisine from a different realm each day of the retreat.

Things had begun to go wrong almost from the moment they arrived. Zeke was mortified to learn that he would be sharing a room with Asmo and Simeon. He had gotten much better at interacting with the angel over the last few months, but sharing a class with him and sharing a room with him for three nights were entirely different beasts. At least there would be the tour to distract him for most of the evening. He could avoid sitting near him at dinner too. That would just have to do for now, because Lucifer was not accepting any complaints or requests to switch rooms.

Everyone was shown to their rooms so that they could drop off their luggage and get settled in. At least he would have Asmo with him, although that might be a bad thing. The Avatar of Lust knew all about his silly little crush on Simeon, and he wasn’t exactly subtle or discrete. Honestly Zeke was amazed that it had been this long and his secret was still safe. The gossip started almost immediately, but thankfully Asmo only talked about how there could be no one that didn’t love him. Simeon questioned that, but Zeke could only agree with Asmo. The demon was insanely charming. Sure, he imagined some people wouldn’t like him, but that was bound to be far less people than that adored him. Asmo had shown him his Devilgram following. It was staggering.

Thankfully Satan came soon to gather them up for the castle tour. It started nice, they got to see a portrait of the current Demon King - Lord Diavolo’s father. There was a lot of really gorgeous artwork in the castle, both paintings and sculptures. Some of it was a bit grotesque and morbid, but still beautiful in its own right.

The real disaster started while they were following Little D No. 2 through a hall of paintings. Apparently one of Asmo’s exes, a witch named Helene, was trapped inside one of those portraits. There was a strong pull, and he blacked out momentarily. Solomon was calling to him when he woke up. They were alone, in the labyrinth beneath the Demon Lord’s castle, because apparently that was a thing.

Solomon summoned Asmo, while I summoned Beel. That just left us to find Mammon and Levi. When they did find the second and third born they were being chased by a giant snake. A snake that just happened to formally be Levi’s pet, a.k.a. Henry 1.0. Zeke couldn’t make this shit up, and he was a writer by trade! There was more than one moment that he truly thought perhaps they had somehow gotten themselves trapped in one of Levi’s ridiculous anime shows. That was the level of bullshit he felt they were putting up with.

Beel offered to eat the snake, but Levi begged for them to spare Henry 1.0, and as much as Zeke was over the situation, he couldn’t say no to the otaku when he was sobbing and begging like that. He used his pact to forbid Beel from eating Henry 1.0. Solomon was to the rescue with the brilliant plan to have Asmo charm the snake after using an incantation that was meant to amplify Asmo’s power. It worked and the snake even led them out of the labyrinth. Zeke filed that spell away in his memory for later, and thanked his past self for having the foresight to do so.

When he was able to retreat back to his assigned room he fell into bed immediately after showering and changing into his pajamas. He was too exhausted to be worried about sharing a room with Simeon. The angel made no comment when Asmo crawled into bed with Zeke to cuddle either.

You would think that would be the end of it, right? Nothing more could possibly go wrong in this train wreck of a retreat weekend, right? That’s what you’d think. No, day two saw Asmo totally screwing up the scavenger hunt, which wasn’t a big deal in and of itself, some of the others complained, but Zeke was able to spend time with Luke and spent another chunk of the afternoon with Mammon learning a few traditional Devildom dance, including a waltz. Mammon made it feel easier than he had been worried about.

The formal dance had Zeke nervous as hell, dance lessons be damned. Barbatos really had ensured that he had something to wear for the event, though. The demon moth silk dress shirt matched his eyes impeccably, the waistcoat was black with silver stars, and the tie matched, black dress pants and very expensive black leather shoes rounded out the roster, forgoing a jacket. Glimmering diamond cuff links gifted to him by Lucifer completed the look. Asmo absolutely gushed over him. All of the brothers, Solomon, the angels, and even Lord Diavolo complimented him when he came out dressed for the dance. Barbatos simply had a pleased, secretive smile.

Lucifer swept him to the dance floor for the first dance, to the complaint of his brothers, but Zeke simply promised that they would all get a turn. The brothers passed him around the dance floor, dance after dance until his feet were getting tired, even in the surprisingly comfortable dress shoes.

Up to that point he had only danced with the brothers, Solomon, Simeon, and Luke. Most of the demonic auras in the ballroom were quite powerful, but none could compare to Lucifer. They had mostly ignored him, giving barely a polite acknowledgment when Lord Diavolo introduced him along with the other exchange students. That was why he was surprised when one of them actually asked him to dance. The demon’s aura wasn’t particularly malicious, and he thought it might be good for Lord Diavolo if he was seen mingling with more than just his caretakers. He accepted, but found at the end of the song that the demon refused to let him go.

Zeke ended up with a strained and bruised wrist, and that demon ended up being escorted from the dance by Barbatos. The aura coming off the butler was terrifying and that was even looking at the auras of the brothers! Surprisingly both Simeon and Solomon seemed quite furious at his minor injury as well. Luke was outraged, but worried and fussy as Simeon healed Zeke’s wrist for him with a kind smile that made his heart thump wildly.

He wanted to sleep, but Mammon, Levi, and Beel dragged him out of his room to go on a mission. Of course it was Mammon’s idea, although Zeke couldn’t for the life of himself understand what could have possessed any of them to think it was a good idea. For his part, he wanted no part of it, but was dragged along anyway. They were going to sneak into the room that Lord Diavolo and Lucifer were sharing for the retreat, to get a picture of a sleeping Lucifer, because Mammon thought the picture would sell for a lot. Again, Zeke was very against this, but forced along anyway.

Predictably things went awry almost immediately. Instead of stepping into the room they were expecting, they were met with a pitch black room. Oh, and it was occupied by a pissed off Cerberus. Thankfully before the hell hound could eat them, they were teleported back into the underground labyrinth.

Zeke could have done without the reunion with Henry 1.0, especially since it involved them once again running for their lives. At some point he tripped, struggling to keep up with the demons. His ankle was twisted and he scraped his hands and knees. He was inclined to allow Beel to really eat the damn snake this time, but once again he was moved by Levi’s tears as the weeb clung to him and begged for him to do something. Asmo wasn’t with them this time, and neither was Solomon. However, Zeke knew what to do now. He summoned Asmo, and was shocked when the same incantation that Solomon had used on Asmo before actually forced the Avatar of Lust into his demon form as he channeled more power into the demon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was how he found out that his magic was special enough to be more potent than the most powerful human sorcerer in history. Also Levi had begged him to make a pact with him through pitiful sobs, citing how Zeke was his true Henry, being willing to do whatever it took to spare the murderous Henry 1.0 just because he didn’t want to make Levi sad. Well, he couldn’t deny the reason he had not gone for a violent ending to that little saga was the Avatar of Envy’s tears. Naturally he couldn’t turn Levi down when he was being that pathetic about it.

Zeke closed his eyes with a sigh. The rest of the brothers were in a quiet, but heated discussion in a far corner of the room, obviously trying not to disturb him. He startled slightly when he felt something being draped over him, but relaxed again when he realized it was Levi’s jacket, the otaku giving him a nervous smile.

Maybe the retreat wasn’t a total waste after all.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me lucifer #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me luke #obey me solomon #obey me dissonance

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Dissonance - Chapter 19: Revenge Best Served

Zeke found himself humming softly to himself in the kitchen. A cookbook he borrowed from Satan was propped open in front of him. It was his turn to make dinner and he was attempting Babylon Curry. So far following the recipes and some minor assistance from one of the brothers had served him well enough to make it through cooking duties. He even found that he enjoyed cooking for the brothers, who always praised him for making the Devildom dishes well despite never using the ingredients before.

Beel and Belphie were sitting at the island counter - Belphie with his head down napping, and Beel munching on a large pile of snacks. Zeke had learned quickly that if he wanted to actually cook he had to make a lot of easy snacks to occupy the Avatar of Gluttony or risk losing all his ingredients before he could cook them. With Beel preoccupied he could let his mind wander a bit as he prepared the curry.

Following the incident in Lilith’s replica room he had noticed several things. First and foremost, the twins who had already been fairly attached to him, were even more so now. It wasn’t just Belphie sneaking into his bed almost every night, now Beel was doing it too. If he wasn’t in his bed, they would join him in Levi’s room for games and anime, in the library while he and Satan studied, or they would look at stars together in the planetarium - whichever activity Zeke was doing that night. Beel and Belphie were his near constant companions when they weren’t in separate classes or he wasn’t with another of the brothers. Zeke found himself attending Beel’s fangol practices, supporting him from the bleachers, usually with a sleeping Belphie using his lap as a pillow.

It wasn’t just the twins, though. Asmo somehow became even clingier than before. The Avatar of Lust was always touching him when they were together, even if it was just linking their arms. Mammon invited him out to watch his modeling shoots, and Zeke went to be supportive - it seemed fair since he was showing his support to Beel’s sports practices, plus he was genuinely impressed and proud of the Avatar of Greed. All of the brothers were devastatingly handsome, but Mammon was an actual model and seemed to take it seriously and he knew there were few things that the demon actually took seriously.

The café outings with Satan were almost a daily occurrence now, and sometimes Solomon would also tag along. Zeke enjoyed spending time with them both. Even when they weren’t having a full-on lesson, Solomon always seemed to be teaching him something. Zeke still preferred his solo not-dates with Satan, though.

Levi bombarded him with texts about games and anime that they should enjoy together, and Zeke spent more nights in Levi’s room hanging out with the otaku than in his own room sleeping. Sometimes the twins dragged him back to his own bed so that Belphie could coax Zeke to sleep magically, but sometimes they simply cuddled up in a bean bag right there in Levi’s room to doze off together.

His evening visits with Lucifer changed as well, with the eldest actually stopping work to ask him about his day and engaging in full conversations. Zeke could tell that the firstborn truly enjoyed hearing about whatever he had gotten up to with the other brothers each day - even if they had just been studying or reading. Sometimes Lucifer would put a record on, one that was safe for him to listen to, since most of them were dangerously cursed.

Life in the Devildom became more comfortable and appealing by the day. He had never really missed the human world before, but now he almost hated when he was reminded of it. Zeke would one day, not terribly far from now, have to return to that place. He would be alone again, and now that he had experienced what it was like to be accepted and loved he knew that familiar loneliness would be utterly unbearable.

Zeke felt like a whole new person since coming to live in the House of Lamentation, and desperately did not want to lose these new feelings. Despite the visions being a horrific experience, the aftermath left him with a renewed sense of purpose. The outpouring of support from his demon hosts had been overwhelmingly therapeutic. A lifetime of feeling unwanted couldn’t simply be erased, but for the first time he felt like he was actually healing.

The hole in his heart, once filled with a barely contained storm of rage at the world, was channeled into a much more productive, well-controlled furnace of smoldering embers, ready to forge the way to his own desired form of justice. He could attribute that in large part to Belphie and Satan.

He thought the idea of destroying another human being’s life would make him more squeamish, but surprisingly he felt almost nothing but a soft, preening satisfaction as they researched and made their plans. Satan and Belphie seemed to be enjoying their scheming together with him, both in general and because they were the ones helping him with this momentous task. It also meant they both got to spend even more time with him, which seemed to be something all of the brothers coveted, so they got to gloat even more over that.

Now instead of mystery novels, Satan and Zeke spent their free time pouring over books on advanced curses and torture methods. Zeke learned a lot about various interrogation techniques, both ancient and modern over the weeks following the incident in Lilith’s replica room. Satan was vastly knowledgeable on both curses and torture, and Zeke found it was all rather fascinating. It was a convenient excuse to spend more time with the blond demon.

The other brothers seemed various degrees of concerned or curious about these developments, but thankfully made no comment on their current reading choices. Even Lucifer seemed to leave it well enough alone, even though he had to have at least some idea of what they were planning. Lucifer had seemed reluctant to give his brothers information on the man that had caused the deaths of Zeke’s family. Did he simply not care now that Zeke was involved in the retribution? Was his silence and inaction a signal of his approval?

Whatever the case, Zeke was mostly just glad that Lucifer was not trying to dissuade him or get in his way. The same went for the others. None of them were trying to stop him or talk him out of whatever he was up to, but only Satan and Belphie were actively helping him. More than once he wondered if the other would assist in his plan if he asked, but decided against it. He wanted to be the one orchestrating this particular tragedy.

Zeke didn’t want too many cooks in the kitchen and all that. An apt metaphor given his current task.

It did occur to him that his therapists would have a field day if they knew he was actively plotting the ruination of a living, breathing human being. They had lectured him endlessly about finding forgiveness for people that he perceived had wronged him. Of course that was years ago now. He had learned to lie very well. Zeke knew better than to mention that he stilled burned with resentment and hatred when he thought of that man walking free and enjoying his life without an ounce of remorse…

“Shit!” Zeke yelped as the knife he’d been using to cut the vegetables a little too aggressively slipped and cut his finger. The two demons were beside him in almost an instant.

“That looks deep.” Belphie frowned while Beel grabbed a hand towel and took Zeke’s hand, putting pressure on the cut, which had begun dripping blood.

“I smell human blood.” Satan mused with a scowl as he entered the kitchen, a stack of file folders tucked under his arm.

“Guess dinner has extra flavoring tonight.” Zeke joked, gesturing with his free hand to the one Beel was still holding. “Knife slipped, I let myself get distracted.”

“And angry. I could feel it as I was coming down the hall.” Satan sighed, setting the folders down and walking over to take Zeke’s hand from Beel, humming as he looked over the wound. “It’s a pretty nasty cut.”

“I’ll be more careful.” Zeke sighed, before he recited a healing incantation that he’d studied on his own. The cut slowly closed and he flexed his fingers experimentally. “Not a big deal, see?”

“Hm. You’re improving very fast. I’m impressed.” Satan smiled as he wiped the blood from Zeke’s hand. “Let me help with dinner. I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

The twins had still been hovering, but Zeke shooed them away, so they shuffled back to their seats, still watching carefully, as if afraid he might hurt himself again if they took their eyes off him. He rolled his eyes.

“Well I’ll let you handle the rest of the cutting, I guess. Honestly there isn’t a lot left to do. What did you want to talk about?” Zeke had an idea and was practically buzzing with anticipation as he measured spices to stir into the curry pot.

“My contacts in the human world sent me all the information I could want.” Satan inclined his head towards the folders. “Some of my many acquaintances were able to dig up everything you asked for on the target. We’ve researched all the necessary curses, and gathered all the reagents we need. I have to say, your plan is positively diabolical. If I didn’t know better I’d have thought a demon came up with it.”

“I honestly thought you’d need more help coming up with ways to torment this guy, but we barely had to do anything.” Belphie added, looking very smug.

“Why thank you, I’m pretty proud of myself. I probably shouldn’t be, but I don’t care. When can we start the next phase?” Zeke was physically bouncing as he turned to Satan, eyes sparkling with a sinister glee. Twenty years he had held this grudge, and at long last he could practically taste his revenge. He did not care if that made him a bad person, or even an evil person, he figured he was going to Hell anyway, might as well give a real good reason for his eventual eternal punishment.

“We can start tonight.” Satan smirked, his eyes flashing with a matching delight at the idea of beginning their little game.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me dissonance

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Zeke is very good at masking his emotions most of the time, unless he's with people he really trusts. He laughs and cries much more freely when he's with his found family. Usually he's politely neutral on the outside, but he's often angry.

How easy is it to make your OC cry? Become angry? Laugh?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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He likes all animals, but if he has to choose, then he's more of a cat person.

Is your oc more of a cat person or a dog person?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Zeke is demi-sexual. He usually has to be in love before he starts feeling like he wants to get sexual with someone.

What is your OC’s sexuality?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Zeke is pretty indifferent to dating until he has a deep emotional connection to someone, only then does he start feeling romantically inclined.

How does your OC feel about dating?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Zeke likes to sleep in fleece pj pants and a soft, loose long-sleeved t-shirt.

What does your OC wear to sleep? Do they have a favorite pair of PJs, or are they more the birthday suit type?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Zeke is psychic and learning magic to become a sorcerer.

Is there anything magical about your OC?

#oc question #oc ask

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Dissonance - Chapter 18: To be Wanted by Demons

Zeke cracked his eyes open, they felt sore and his head was throbbing. He was basically wrapped around Belphie, their legs were tangled together and the demon’s head was once again tucked under this chin. Someone was playing with his hair, and it didn’t feel like Beel. Although he could sense seven powerful presences crowded his room.

“Awake now, darling?” Asmo’s voice was a soft coo in his ear.

“Mn.” Zeke mumbled an incoherent affirmative before letting his eyes close again, stretching as much as he could without untangling from Belphie, before nuzzling his face into the indigo hair of his sleepy demon. He was very comfortable. Asmo’s gentle presence snuggled against his back was soothing, although he wondered why Beel wasn’t the one cuddled up against his back.

“How are you feeling?” Satan’s smooth voice reached him, and he felt the bed shift as Satan sat next to Asmo and reached over to gently brush his hair out of his eyes.

“We should put a cold compress on your eyes, hon. They’re all red and puffy. You’ll feel better.” Asmo hummed softly, his slender arms wrapping more firmly around Zeke’s waist as he cuddled closer.

“You worried all of us, normie!” Zeke realized part of the weight on his legs was actually Levi, who was curled up by his feet.

“Yeah human! Don’t go having fits like that while most of us aren’t home!” Mammon tried to seem like he wasn’t just as concerned as his brothers, but Zeke knew better.

“Asmo and I sensed your distress. I was in a meeting with Lord Diavolo and had to rush back home.” Lucifer sighed as if greatly inconvenienced, but Zeke could sense the relief coming off the firstborn in waves.

“I ran out of my spa appointment, darling. You worried me so much, I was afraid something truly awful had happened to you. Ooh~ Our bond is so special, I never sense Solomon the way I feel you~”

Was that so? Zeke wondered why his pact with Asmo would be any different from Solomon’s pact with Asmo. Maybe it was because he was psychic? That seemed to have effects on everything to do with magic. Solomon had commented more than once that his psychic status played a part in how quickly he was picking up on his sorcerer lessons. It was so intuitive to him since coming to the Devildom and being exposed to so much raw magical power flowing freely through the air. At least once his pacts had shielded him from being overloaded with it.

Zeke had doubled his number of pacts today.

That should have been a more concerning thought than it was. In just a few short weeks he had gone from wary and cautious of the brothers to wholly embracing them. He didn’t care if they were demons. It had been weeks and not once had he felt like any of them meant him harm in any way. Quite the contrary. They had proven to be almost excessively protective of him, and each and every one of them had gone out of their way to make him feel wanted and happy.

Maybe it was just because he was so very tired of being alone, but Zeke felt truly cared for since coming here. As a weird orphaned child, with all his oddities and quirks, nobody had wanted him. He had gone through six foster families in less than a year. They all decided he was too much for them. His psychic abilities had frightened them, had made them discard him, had made him a freak.

Zeke had never been violent, had never hurt anyone with his visions or with seeing the dead, but that didn’t matter. They had labeled him insane and he spent most of his life in institutions for troubled and violent children as a result, because there was nowhere else for him to go.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Zeke heaved a sigh and opened his eyes again, turning his head to see Asmo’s face, still pressed near to his, and gave a tired smile. He would enjoy this while it lasted.

“I’m sorry for worrying all of you. Did…the twins tell you what happened?” He wasn’t sure how much they had shared with the others. Satan and Asmo were on one side of him, Belphie was dozing peacefully in his arms still, Beel had actually moved to sit on the other side of Belphie and looked slightly guilty, Lucifer and Mammon had taken up chairs at his bedside, and Levi was curled up around his feet and legs. All of them looked conflicted.

“Yes. We thought they should know. Are you mad?” Beel seemed genuinely concerned that he would be upset with them for sharing something so personal and traumatic. Zeke just felt relief that he wouldn’t have to repeat the sad truth again.

“No. I’m not mad. I never intended to keep it secret or anything. I just don’t like talking about it. It hurts a lot.” The demons all seemed genuinely very disheartened, and they were hovering protectively around him, he realized. As if learning about the demise of his sister made them all the more determined to keep him safe.

“We understand why you would not want to speak of something so personal and emotional.” Lucifer said for everyone, and he sensed the incoming question they all had too. “Did you really see her?”

Every pair of eyes, at least the open ones, were now fixated on Zeke. There was a tension in the room as they all waited for his answer with held breaths.

“Yes. I don’t know why she was there, but she was. I swear I’m not crazy or making it up.” Zeke let out in a rush. He was so used to others not believing him, to thinking he was insane or seeking attention. That was the last thing he wanted any of the brothers to think of him. He knew it was an irrational fear. They knew he was psychic, they had no reason to think he was spouting nonsense. He felt his chest tightening with that fear of rejection anyway.

“Shh. It’s okay. We believe you.” Satan hushed him quickly, cupping his face gently to look into his eyes. There was no doubt or scorn in them, just a gentle concern and profound sadness.

“I am glad she watched over you that day. I have not seen my brothers so happy as they have been since you came into our lives. I think Lilith must have known how much happiness you would bring us. She made sure that you would come to us, so that we could watch over you, as she once did.” Lucifer had moved closer so he could catch his gaze, his expression was uncharacteristically soft. Satan moved to make way for the eldest, so that Lucifer could run his gloved fingers gently through Zeke’s hair.

“I don’t understand why. I’m nothing.” His burning eyes and blurring vision told him tears had begun to well up once more.

“You are everything. The one human that is most adored by the seven rulers of Hell. We would not be swayed by a human that was nothing. Do I make myself clear?” Zeke jolted, startled as Belphie’s voice suddenly hissed angrily from where it was tucked against his throat, the sloth demon now clinging to him even tighter than before. He seemed genuinely offended by Zeke’s low opinion of himself. A quick glance around at the faces of the other six demons showed they shared the youngest’s thoughts on the matter.

“We really like you, Zeke. Please don’t say you’re nothing.” Beel looked about ready to cry again over him.

“They’re right, hon. We adore you, truly.” Asmo pressed a soft kiss to his temple, causing Zeke to close his eyes, unable to handle the way they were all staring at him just then.

“I have never felt more at peace than when we’re together. Nobody has ever made me feel this way before.” Satan’s sincerity made Zeke’s heart clench.

“You’re the only normie I like, so don’t say bad things about yourself, okay?” Levi’s voice was hushed, and it wavered slightly, as if the envy demon was ready to cry on his behalf.

“The Great Mammon doesn’t waste his time on just any human, and don’t ya forget it.” He felt Mammon ruffle his hair, and he managed a trembling smile.

“I would not call a human who was not worthy my master, Ezekiel. You are more exceptional than you realize.” Lucifer’s voice was soft, but firm. They all meant it, every single one of them. Zeke could tell by the warmth that radiated from the auras all around him.

“Thank you, all of you.” He didn’t know why they meant it, but he wanted so badly to believe it. Maybe for now he didn’t need to understand. For now, just allowing himself to believe was enough, right?

“All of you should get out and let him rest more.” Belphie grumbled, nuzzling against Zeke’s chest as he started to make himself comfy again, clearly intending on falling back asleep with him.

“He needs that compress for his eyes! Plus he should hydrate after crying, his darling head must be aching by now.” Asmo huffed, getting up and heading into the bathroom. A moment later he heard the sink running.

“I actually am thirsty.” Zeke couldn’t argue about the headache. He had to pry Belphie off of him to sit up, and the sleepy demon grumbled the entire time, but he finally had himself upright. Lucifer already had a filled glass that he handed to him. They must have had one ready for him while he was still asleep. He was struck again by how much care and attention he got since coming here. “Thanks.”

Once the glass was empty Lucifer took it from him and Asmo reappeared at his side to gently press a cool, damp cloth over his eyes and help him settle back down onto his pillows. Belphie immediately made himself comfortable pressed into his side, with his head laid on Zeke’s shoulder.

“Thanks Asmo.” He sighed, eyes closed and body relaxing. His head still hurt, but he figured that would fade with time.

“Everyone out. Let him rest.” Lucifer chided, and Zeke heard grumbling complaints, but sensed most of the demons leaving the room reluctantly. Belphie didn’t budge, which he expected, but he sensed Satan lingering as well.

“Can’t they stay, Lucifer? They’re not going to bother me. I’d actually rather have them here than be alone right now.” He knew Lucifer wouldn’t be able to say no, and it was confirmed when he heard the eldest give a tired sigh.

“Very well, but if they disturb your rest tell them to leave, if they don’t, inform me.” Zeke could practically feel the two demons in question roll their eyes, but he simply hummed an acknowledgment. He heard the door click softly shut as Lucifer left them alone. The bed shifted slightly as Satan sat beside him, his fingers gently playing with his hair, probably staring at him again.

“The human, the one that killed your family, do you know his name? Lucifer refused to divulge the information.” Satan’s voice held a very dangerous edge to it, one that had been kept in check until the firstborn had left.

“It was a real pain, him claiming that it wasn’t our place.” Belphie huffed from his spot cuddled against his shoulder.

“Why, yes, yes I do know his name.” Zeke’s eyes were closed, and covered by the cloth even had they been open, but the creeping grin told the demons all they needed to know about whether they were going to have to coax the human into assisting them. Apparently no convincing would be needed. The three of them would have plenty to talk about until dinner time.

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zeke-in-devildom · 1 month

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Dissonance Chapter 17: The Covenant of Twins

“Zeke! Zeke stop! It’s us!” That was Belphie’s voice.

“You’re going to hurt yourself. Please calm down.” That was Beel.

Zeke found that he could no longer thrash or fight. He was completely enveloped in someone’s arms. It was Beel, he didn’t need to see to know. The gentle giant was holding him, near cradling him, against his chest. The landscape of his worst memory was fading away as he blinked his eyes rapidly, watching the scenery morph back into that angelic room he had not been meant to enter.

At least he assumed that it did, everything was a dizzying blur of colors, the tears in his eyes distorted everything as he sobbed against Beel’s chest, breaths ragged as he tried to ground himself back in the present. Why had he been shown that now of all times? It was a memory he had tried so hard to bury, and for the longest time he’d been successful. Not that he forgot what happened, he could never forget, but the details had remained blissfully fuzzy until now.

Someone was softly stroking his hair, that had to be Belphie’s delicate hand, and he could feel one of Beel’s much larger hands running up and down his back in soothing motions. They were both quietly murmuring that he was okay and that he was safe now. Of course it would be them.

The twins.

Right from the moment he had come to the House of Lamentation the twins had been the ones to most attach themselves to him. Sure, all of the brothers seemed to quickly attach to him. They all vied for his attention, all of them tried to take care of and spoil him in their own ways, but none more than the twins. He had known they were twins, despite how much of opposites they seemed to be. Known and conveniently ignored that fact.

Zeke didn’t want to think about it, acknowledge it. There was always a bit of bitter envy in him when he encountered twins in the human realm. They were together. Why wasn’t Eliza with him? Once again he childishly thought of how unfair it was. Life never had been fair or kind to him, though. He didn’t want to resent Beel and Belphie for being together. It was good that they were both alive and well. Zeke wouldn’t wish being separated from your twin on anyone. It was like losing half of yourself. He couldn’t imagine something more awful than losing a twin. Still, he couldn’t completely control that small, ugly anger that continued to burn like embers in his chest.

“What is Lilith’s room doing here?” Beel wasn’t talking to him, and Zeke realized that he had finally quieted from his crying. In fact his eyes were barely open and he felt empty and numb as he practically laid against Beel, barely awake and aware.

“Another thing Lucifer hid from us. We can yell at him later, though. Let’s get Zeke out of here.” Belphie sounded torn between anger, bitterness, sorrow, and concern.

“Yeah.” Zeke felt Beel lift him up, carrying him cradled like a child against his chest. He closed his eyes and just focused on listening to Beel’s strong, steadying heartbeat, and what the twins were saying.

“Who’s Eliza?” Belphie asked as they walked towards Zeke’s room.

“I don’t know.” Beel said quietly. They were both speaking in hushed voices, probably not wanting to wake him.

“Lucifer probably knows.” Why did Belphie always sound so angry about Lucifer? Also he knew Belphie was probably right. All his information was probably in his file that Lucifer, Barbatos, and Lord Diavolo had when choosing him for the exchange program. His sister would be in his records, if they looked for it. At least he knew that they had not been openly sharing his private information with others, including Lucifer’s brothers.

“Eliza is my younger twin sister.” His voice sounded small, and hollow. There was no point keeping it from them. They were just going to ask if they had heard him screaming her name. It wasn’t as if he intended to keep it secret, it was just not something he enjoyed talking about. There was too much pain.

“You have a twin?!” Both twins exclaimed at the same time.

“Not anymore.” That made both demons stop, stunned. He opened his eyes and watched the emotions slowly cross their faces as they processed what he said. Shock morphed into profound grief. Suddenly Beel was hugging him fiercely, and he could feel tears start wetting his hair as the giant demon held him so protectively.

“I can’t imagine losing Belphie.” Beel admitted with a slightly wet voice. Zeke couldn’t see his face, but didn’t need to, he could feel the absolute pain and sorrow radiating off both of them.

“What…what happened?” Belphie asked quietly, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, and was loath to actually ask Zeke to speak of something so grim.

“Can we go to my room first?” Zeke was pretty sure they were alone in the house right now, but he felt exhausted and just wanted to lay in his bed and hide from the world. Even the house seemed gloomy now, as if it was trying to grieve with him.

Beel moved quicker now, carrying him to his bed and setting him down gently after Belphie pulled back the covers. Both twins crawled into bed with him, one on either side, sandwiching him protectively between them. It was warm and comforting and if he didn’t feel so drained and empty Zeke might have begun crying again. Neither of them spoke, both waiting patiently for him to begin speaking.

“We had just turned three. It was the weekend after our birthday. What we had wanted more than anything was to go to the zoo. Eliza was so excited about the polar bears. I couldn’t wait to see the tigers.” Zeke stopped and swallowed, thinking back on those old memories. He could remember it so clearly now, what he had tried so hard not to think about for fear of the pain they caused.

He felt the comforting hands of the twins on him again, running through his hair and rubbing at his shoulder, unhurried, just offering what solace they could with their presence.

“It was so normal. Father was driving, talking to mother who was beside him. Eliza was talking excitedly about some cows in a field as we drove past. She loved animals so much, didn’t matter what kind. I was looking out the window, watching the clouds. Honestly, at the time it seemed like I blinked and when my eyes opened again I was in a hospital. They told me it was three weeks later. I couldn’t remember anything. They told me it was a miracle that I had survived.” How many times had he wished that he hadn’t?

“When I was much older they gave me more details, when I asked. Our parents died instantly in the crash. My sister held on for two days in the hospital, they did everything they could, but her injuries were just…too much.” He had been so angry at them for not saving her. They had saved him, so why not her? Why did he get to live when she died? It was a question he’d been asking himself over and over for most of his life.

“It was a drunk driver. I was told that he walked away from the crash with a few scratches and bruises. I lost my entire family, my whole world, and he was fine. Oh he spent some time in jail, and he had to pay for the medical expenses, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough.” Why did that scum get to live while his parents and sister died? That was a much better question. Except he didn’t really want the man to die. Oh no, death was too quick. He wanted him to suffer. This was the source of so much of that bitter anger that burned in his chest.

Part of the reason he was so fascinated with his Curses and Hexes class was specifically his desire to find a curse nasty enough to set against the man that ruined his life. Zeke didn’t know if he could ever be satisfied that the man had suffered enough but he would just have to settle for what he could get. It would have to be enough.

Zeke was snapped out of his vengeful reverie by two sets of arms hugging him tightly. He found he didn’t mind being squished between the twins. Yes, part of him was bitter that they were whole, but a bigger part of him was glad for it. They were the only ones who could even begin to understand his pain. He knew they had all lost a little sister, but none but Beel and Belphie could truly imagine losing a twin. It was comforting, and for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel alone. They stayed like that, simply holding each other and not speaking for a long time.

“How did you even get in that room? We didn’t even know it was there until we heard you screaming.” Belphie finally asked.

“I noticed a place in the wall that seemed off, kind of like Lucifer’s secret study. When I looked closely at that design on the wall I found a riddle. When I answered the riddle I was suddenly in that room.” It had been stupid of him to go snooping. He should have left well enough alone, but the mystery novelist in him hadn’t been able to resist.

“The answer was Lilith. How did you know?” Beel questioned him gently.

Ah, now that was a harder thing to answer.

“The day I stayed home from the demon attack I had a…dream. It was more like a vision, of something that had happened. I was Lilith, I felt her fall, watched Satan’s birth fro Lucifer, and the deal that Lucifer made to reincarnate Lilith as a human. I didn’t mean to see any of it, it just…happened. In that room just now I had a similar vision, but it was of the accident that killed my family. The funny thing is, Lilith was there that day, when I lost everything. She put her wings around me, helped me. I didn’t remember until I saw it again.” Maybe that was why he’d had the vision in the first place, to remember that Lilith had been there.

“She was there?” Belphie asked in a trembling whisper. Beel had started silently crying again.

“Yes. I’m sorry. I know it’s probably awful hearing these things.” He hated to make them cry, to bring up these horrible memories.

“No.” Beel said quickly, wiping his eyes. “We’re so glad she was watching over you.”

“Yeah.” Belphie agreed quietly. “We might have lost you both otherwise.”

“You wouldn’t have even known I existed. I still don’t know why any of you care. I’m just an exchange student. I won’t even be here that long. Then I’ll be alone again and nobody will care. You’ll forget about me.” Being alone and forgotten, something he accepted, but also feared.

“Never. We’ll never leave you alone again.” Beel squeezed him tighter.

“I’m only here for a year, Beel. I’ll be back in the human world in the blink of an eye for you.” Demons lived for ages, after all. A human life was barely a blink for them, let alone a single year.

“Make a pact with us.” Belphie said seriously as he sat up. He looked more awake than Zeke was used to seeing him. “Even if you go back to the human world, if we have a pact, we’ll be with you as long as you live - even if we’re a realm apart sometimes.”

“Okay.” Zeke didn’t even hesitate or question it this time. With Lucifer and Asmo he had been worried about their motives, but with Beel and Belphie he just wanted that connection to them. He didn’t even bother stating that they couldn’t have his soul. Zeke already knew they wouldn’t ask for it.

The infernal magic wove around him, causing him to break out in goosebumps. It felt different, more intense, having two pacts seared across his soul at the same time. He felt Beel’s mark sting beneath his sternum, over his stomach - a very Beel place - and at the same time Belphie’s mark felt cold as it engraved itself on his back in the same location as Beel’s laid on his front. He could feel the magic flowing between both pacts, even that a shared experience. The twins were always connected, as they should be, and Zeke felt a sense of overwhelming contentment settle over him as his eyes began to droop.

Beel’s gentle hands once more settled him back into his bed, and Belphie draped himself around him. Zeke felt warm and happy as he allowed Belphie’s magic to help ease him into a dreamless sleep while he recovered from the surging magic of his new pacts.

#obey me #obey me oc #obey me mc #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me dissonance

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