Worship

Cameron was far from an established liar. He was often bewildered by how long he had gotten away with pretending to be a proper cult member with unwavering loyalty, but he had. That didn't mean he had any confidence as he approached the group and attempted to converse with them long enough for Apollo to make an appearance, opting to debate about the cake and change the demon's mind constantly to delay them leaving.

"I... don't know, you don't really want that one, do you? It's not fancy," he murmured once Darius seemed to have his mind made up, smiling quietly when the demon ultimately agreed and changed his mind.

"I guess-- I deserve something fancy, don't I? I haven't got money but I'm sure they'll give it to me for free," he nodded as he leaned back to examine the display, his attention drifting away when he took into account Elijah, who wasn't as oblivious as everyone else seemed to be.

"He's up to something. Ask him, Mary. He likes you, right? Ask him what he's been up to," muttered Elijah, his eyes firmly locked on a now nervous Cameron. "He's fucking shifty; he's a fucking snake, that's what he is. He's done something or planning to do something, I can tell."
 
As Darius seemed to review the cakes critically, Mary was instead deciding to keep a relative distance from the demon. After all, she was choosing to keep her distance once fear of somehow passing anyone off. She was tired and scared and it was just easier to pretend that the scenario was different. Staring off vacantly, she was brought back to reality by Caneron's suspiciousness. Nervously side-eyeing Cameron, her cheeks grew pink at the mention of their blooming affection.

"... hey, are you okay?" Whispered Mary, her hands nervously folded behind her back. "Look, I don't know what you're doing but I hope it isn't anything dangerous, Cam. If... we just follow his instruction, we can get back to normal sooner rather than later, right? I know this is stressful, I feel like I'm on the edge of passing out."
 
  • Like
Reactions: potassiumboron
"...I've done what I can to ensure you, me and Agnes get out safely, that's all I care about, Mary. We're innocent in this and... and I've done my best to get out of this situation. It was for the best that Apollo was called; he promised not to hurt us, said it was never his intention to," he whispered under his breath as he quietly moved closer to her, ignoring the looks of protectiveness Elijah was shooting his direction. "Apollo-- I don't trust him, not that much, but he... sounded genuine, I... I really think he'll let us go back to our normal lives. I don't know what he's going to do to your brother but-- but it'll be fine, we'll get back to normal and-- and that's all that matters-- We just have to keep them busy until Apollo comes--"

"Right, I'm going with this. Carrot cake sounds great. Like, who thought of putting carrot in a cake? I'm curious, you know? It's not fancy but fuck it, not everything has to be," the demon abruptly decided, much sooner than Cameron clearly would have liked given his desperate grimace. "You guys want anything? My treat. To make up for scaring the shit out of you all, I guess."
 
"Cameron, I can't just let my brother get hurt! I-I... I just get him back and while I'm still fucking furious, I can't let anything happen to him," urges Mary in horror, her hands pressed to her chest as she watched Agnes take in everything curiously.

"Yeah, I want some chewing gum and perhaps some potato crisps. I haven't properly ate since Elijah kidnapped me, I'm going to treat myself," Agnes decided as she trailed along the ailse, "oh, and get some iced tea for the road."
 
"I... don't think he'll hurt him. He loves him, right? I... I'm sure it's going to be fine, Mary," he nodded quickly, not really paying too much attention to her worry about Elijah. 1) He didn't remotely care what happened to the man, and 2) he was far more concerned keeping everyone distracted, which made Agnes' hunt for snacks all the more welcoming. Wherever she went, Darius tended to follow behind, and as long as he was kept distracted, Apollo had a chance to arrive and put a stop to everything.

"He kidnapped you? He seems like such a nice man, the more I hear of him, the better he gets," the demon sarcastically remarked as he, as expected, trailed behind Agnes, having made it abundantly clear to everyone that she was the only person he could spent time with and not get pissed off, even in spite of her insults and fury at him. "...Hey, I'd offer to avenge your honour or whatever, like in those corny ass movies, but I know Mary's your mate and hurting Eli would only hurt her-- see? I'm thoughtful and generous. I'm not some sadistic monster, hon."
 
"I feel like you demons think you're great people when you show basic kindness and consideration of others," She drawled in response, picking up a large bag of barbecue flavored crisps, he stomach growling. Setting her hands on her hips, she did decide to offer a smile. "Listen, not eating for a few days won't keep this big ass of mine, will it? I'm just say-"

"Darius!" Came a roar, something that would have been cute coming from Apollo's short and sweet appearance if it wasn't for the fact that each step he took cracked the concrete of the store, his face beetroot and sharp teeth exposed. "You little bitch. Did you honestly think I would let you get away with this?! And you..." he began, his black eyes locking on Elijah, it being clear that it was becoming difficult to keep his appearance as human as possible. "Did you think you could just run away and break your promises?! You made a deal with me and you have the audacity to break a deal with a demon?! Darius, if you actually give a shit about these humans, I suggest you get the fuck out of my way."
 
Elijah had always maintained that the brief glimpses of his boyfriend's true form really didn't bother him. He had seen a demon in the flesh and it barely provoked any reaction from him so when he said he liked how Apollo looked, he generally meant it. That didn't mean he found the sight to be enjoyable at the moment, freezing in horror as Cameron's treachery finally hit home for him. He opened his mouth to speak, only to find no words actually left his mouth. He hadn't ever been frightened of Apollo before, but there was apparently a first time for everything.

The only person that wasn't visibly bothered by the sight was Darius. Inwardly he was fuming, of course, and it tok everything not to let that show on his outward appearance. Instead, he pulled a stool used for stacking shelves and took a seat, tearing into a nearby bag of Doritos to occupy himself as the situation developed.

"Okay, you need to relax or you're going to burst a vein or two, little brother. Why are you so mad, really? Because your boyfriend realised how shit you are and dumped you? Because you were outsmarted by me? Either way, chill out," he remarked calmly, knowing the attitude would only infuriate his brother. "I don't really care about the humans, bar one exception. That doesn't mean you can hurt them, I ain't gonna allow you to do that. I mean, we can talk about it if you want, but... nah, I'm not changing my mind. So either you walk away and go back to Daddy or you get yourself embarrassed in front of your little boyfriend over there. Your choice, bro."
 
"Outsmart me?! II found you!" Apollyn scoffed, his voice now echoing the store, choosing to freeze time around them all but for Darius and Elijah. He had skipped right past his 'conventional' demon form, that of which he showed his subjects and during casual events in everyday activities straight to his most 'true' form, easily towering over Elijah and Darius as long as the older demon stayed in his human form. Hell, his head was well past the ceiling to the point where he had to bend down, the rows of sharp teeth exposed.

"I never meant to show you this side of me Elijah," he began, his voice somehow staying just as it did in his human form, his sharp claws extending in his anger. "Why did you do this?! Why did you have to decide to just leave when we could have talked this out?! Do you see what you made me do? Do you understand how badly you broke my heart?!" He asked, deciding to pick Elijah up. Not enough to hurt him, even though he could pop the human like a grape at this point. Bringing him up to his face and the many rows of sharp teeth. "I don't want to hurt you, Elijah. I just want an explanation for how stupid you've been acting. Do you not love me anymore? Was there something I couldn't give you? I wanted to compromise with you."

He then turned to face Darius, stepping forward.

"As for you, when will you stop using me in your attempts to gain our father's attention?!"
 
"You know, if you wanted to win your boyfriend back, I really, truly think you've just fucked it up, Apollyn. It's almost like you never learn that you're not destined for this relationship business. Take Dad's example; use your reputation to fuck whores or something. True love? Isn't for you, brother," smiled Darius calmly from the stool, choosing to remain as he was, in his human form, rather than deliver on his threats to 'embarrass' the other. He could easily start up a fight if he chose to, but that would only risk harming the humans he had made an unfortunate promise to protect. Admittedly, he would turn his back on his promises without a second's thought, but not when one of the people concerned was someone he had taken a shine to and, surprisingly, genuinely wanted to get to know.

It hadn't taken long for Elijah to completely pass out, whether from the shock, fear, or simply from the height he was at, the fear of falling from it causing him to develop a panic attack - until unconsciousness stopped it, anyway. The enormity of what he had gotten himself into only now hit him. He had attended sacrifices, gushed about his boyfriend's power and even developed plans to stand at his side in Hell. All of that he knew he had taken seriously, but it was only when things started to escalate that it seemed to be too serious. Now was the moment he realised he couldn't do it anymore, and he would have communicated that had he stayed conscious. Fortunately, the brief spell only lasted a few minutes, stirring awake in horror to realise none of it was a nightmare.

"P-Put me down, this is-- this is fucking insane-- you're actually i-insane," he stammered as he ignored sense and peered down, grimacing at how small the others all seemed to be. "I-I-- I don't fucking want to do this anymore, I-I can't, I don't-- like you, I don't like you anymore-- I hate you r-right now--"
 
"I hate you too, Elijah. You... make me go through emotional rollercoasters, why, because you decided to tell your sister the truth? I have to suffer from your mistakes? You make me look like a fool to my father all because you didn't want to talk things over?!" He snapped in response, his body tensing as did his grip, though, after a moment, he seemed to shrink down when the sound of sniffling came from Apollyn's powerful form. He didn't want to hurt Elijah, even when he was given the opportunity to do so. Despite returning to his more 'human' form, his grip was still onto Elijah's collar with super strength. His face was stained in tears, the fact that he went from some deadly monster to an innocent looking young man most likely being whiplash.

"I just wanted you to talk to me," he whispered, his eyes still locked on the other as his free hand wiped away tears on his coat sleeve. "I just wanted you to listen to me a-and figure this out like adults. Then you go and block my number and don't even give me the face-to-face opportunity to talk everything out? I-I..." he continued, his voice cracking. Letting go of Elijah's collar, he took a step back to wipe more of the tears with both hands. At the moment, what Darius saying felt true. He had thought he found true love and yet here he was, his fiance running away from him.
 
"...I just wanted you to live a normal life with me. You refused so I... knew I couldn't be with you, it's not rocket science, Apollo. I hate this life; I hate yo when you act like a monster and you're not, right? You're sweet and funny and-- and you're fucking up yourself, but I like that. I think you have every right to be so into yourself 'cos you're adorable and-- and I just want a normal life. I want a cool apartment in the city and a cool job and... and I want to invite my sister around every Sunday for a roast dinner. I want a few cats, maybe a mouse or two, and... and I want you to just not... do this insane shit. You're not going to stop, it's so fucking important to you apparently, so... so I'm done, that's all there is to it. It wasn't really about running away from your father, I just-- needed to get away from you, I guess, I-- I can't do this anymore, I--"

"Yeah, yeah, can we just stop? He's done with you, you're upset, but you'll get over it, Apollyn. I got over my shit, sort of-- and I think being abandoned by my father is a lot more emotionally wrecking than being dumped, hm? Just-- find yourself a nice soldier in Hell to spend a night with, you'll feel better in no time," grunted Darius as he reluctantly pushed himself up off the stool to stride across, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I mean, Agnes and the others want to go home. I'll take them back. You have no reason to still be here, do you? I'm sure Dad won't mind you crawling back to Hell a few months early."
 
"Fuck you, Darius. It isn't my fault that my father is disappointed in you. It's actions like these that are the very reason he won't give you the time if day. Maybe if you acted your age and actually decided to talk things over, he might actually notice you," he countered bitterly. He wasn't mad at Elijah anymore so much as hd was with Darius, the fact that the other seemed to disregard his feelings made him uncomfortable.

"You'll never understand true love a-and what Elijah and I had because you like to keep people out under the guise of you being so cool and brooding. I'm not just going to piss off to Hell because of this, I... I'm the future king and unlike you, I have promised and responsibilities I need to keep. I intend to graduate and I intend to keep my following, even... even though Elijah will be gone. I don't want to but I know that I have to, I don't have time to fuck around like that," he strictly spoke, trying his best to seem at least a little less distraught than he was. "Fine. Fine, I'm going back to my dorm, then. Elijah, I hope you understand I won't be helping with your expenses anymore. Darius can do that now, can't he? Enjoy... finding someone who loves you as much as I did."
 
A small part of Elijah actually believed that Apollo might agree to his vision of their life together. He hoped that he would shun his responsibilities and start a proper life together with him, and it was the hope that was eating away at him. Only now did he have that definitive answer when, after emotionally explaining what he wanted and leaving the door open for Apollo to agree to it, it was ultimately rejected. It hurt, of course, but he put his own mask on and acted as though he was better than he was about it. The fact Darius was so mad also helped; it gave him time to compose himself while the demon slowly grew angrier until he burst.

"You're such a little bitch, aren't you? Elijah will get over you, he'll find someone. You'll never be loved, remember that. Dad doesn't love you; he only cares for you because he has to hand you his throne. Mai doesn't love you either, she's just obligated to care for you or she'll lose her head. I might not have anyone, but I'm fine not being liked. You, however, can't fucking cope with people disliking you. I'm sure you'll self-destruct knowing nobody is ever going to love you and the one person that did turned his back once he realised how fucking pathetic you are," the man spat as his own sharpened teeth made an appearance, taking full advantage of the height difference in order to impose himself threateningly over the shorter man, evidently taking delight in every vicious word he was spouting if the wide smile on his face was anything to go by. "Now, be a dear and unfreeze the humans. Unlike you, I'm kinda making friends with them-- with Agnes, anyway. I don't have to slaughter people or brainwash her to win her around."
 
"Even if no one loved me, at least people will remember me when I die unlike you who will die in some alleyway in Hell," he countered, his fists clenched as he held his ground. "I'm sacrificing myself for the sake of our people and the fact that I have that eats you up inside. My father trusts me to be in charge of all of Hell because he knows I can be mature about things. You enjoy your time here, Darius." He then turned to Elijah, stepping towards him with a growing friend.

"Please understand that I would love to just... abandon everything. I want to be able to be normal, go out and enjoy time at the beach o-or watch corny movies. I can't, though. I'm the heir to more than a billion people of my kind and if I don't fill my role and step up as a king, the world will be flung into chaos. There's no other legitimate heir and... a-and that's a lot of pressure that I don't fucking want but I have no other choice. If I don't fulfill my role, millions will die and who knows what would happen to Earth? I-I was trying to compromise with you and tried to explain to you how vital what I'm doing is but I guess I didn't explain it well enough to you. I... I'm sorry," he whispered, trying to keep his voice from cracking as he shoved his hands into his jacket to keep back his urge to grab the human's hands. "I love you. I will always love you because I know you're my soulmate. If you were the only person to ever love me a-and I'm ruining that, at least it was nice to know someone loved me if only for a little while."
 
"I'm hardly your soulmate, Apollo. You don't have a soul." Elijah remarked after a long moment of silence, a smile cracking on his lips despite how awful he felt from the finality of the relationship. He was to blame for the break-up, he realised that, but it was either end things now early on, or end up really disappointing the other when things were close to completion for him on Earth and things had been put into plans. Either way, a break up was inevitable because he really couldn't live like this, and so ending it as early as he had was the only positive he could gather from the whole sorry situation. "I just-- I'd love to be okay with all this and... and come with you, I just can't-- you scare me. This whole fucking thing scares me, I... I can't do this, I-- I need to be with my sister anyway. We've been through a lot together, she needs me and I need her, so... unfreeze her and then we can go. I'll find somewhere, start a new life for her after fucking up this one, so--"

"...Just unfreeze them, Apollyn. This is tedious now." Darius grunted with his arms folded, his lips pursed as he eyed how emotional the younger sibling seemed to be. As furious as he was, and however embittered he could become with him, that didn't really mean he wanted to see him this emotionally wrecked. It was amusing, sure, but it was also incredibly annoying because it made him realise that he didn't entirely like the sight; it played on his older brother instinct to look out for him, and it wasn't exactly an emotion he wanted to feel when he had always proclaimed to dislike him. Nevertheless, he approached and awkwardly offered a grin, nudging him to try and ease the tension. "Chill, you'll be alright. Just go and finish what you need to do or whatever it is Dad has you doing, I dunno. I just-- I need you to hurry up and unfreeze them. Longer this sad little break up goes on, the more I want to tear my ear drums out, so..."
 
"It isn't going to get better," Apollo replied simply, the sight of Elijah's smile - even if it was out of discomfort - only broke his heart. The soul comment didn't help either, of course, and felt like it was just a rub in his face. Nonetheless, he obediently continued time again, leaving both Mary and Agnes more than confused and dizzy, especially upon seeing Apollo stood awkwardly, crying deeply yet as quietly as he could. Clenching his fists, he gave the humans simple nods before leaving the store, not wanting to speak to any of the others except Cameron, though he intended to do that later on when he wasn't sobbing. Instead, he headed straight to his fancy car and slid in, driving away quickly. He would call off the search for his father and Mai and simply try to keep the idea placed by Darius that both didn't actually care about him. He may act full of himself but in reality, he was incredibly insecure.

He kept his promise and everyone was fine, nor did he have any intentions to hurt any of them. His anger was gone and instead simply replaced with sadness and weariness. He wanted to sleep or maybe drink enough to actually pass out. Maybe she would return home for the night to just be able to sleep in his own room and get some comfort from someone.
 
Elijah barely waited a second to head out to his own car, deciding to get a move on after making some pathetic effort to tell his sister he'd call later and explain his next plan of action. Right now, only he had to move on for obvious reasons - he could hardly go back to the university or to that area of London, knowing he'd just see Apollo everywhere he went. Hell, even London felt too small an area to live in now. He had some money in the bank, more than enough to buy himself a new apartment somewhere, and he wasn't going to waste time hanging about while the others all went back home. He was happy to abandon all his belongings to completely start afresh, only this time having the contact with his sister and being able to talk things through to her, which he never had the last time he escaped a city to start anew.

"He'll call 'ya. I mean, he and Apollo had a pretty sad break up so-- hey, he'll call you later. I can drive you all back, I don't mind risking bumping into my brother. He'll probably be shut up somewhere all night anyway, so the likelihood of even seeing him is slim," shrugged Darius as he casually dumped the armful of snacks onto the counter for the oblivious cashier to scan through, his only method of buying everything being to manipulate the poor woman into thinking he had paid. Only when that was done did he approach the others again, grimacing at the generally heavy atmosphere.

"...Look, I'm not the bad guy here. I could abandon you all now this is all over and done with but I'm not doing that; I'll drive you all home. I'll find us a car, easily. Don't think about the moral implications of it being stealing-- it's either that or you don't get home. Then I can totally leave you all alone if you'd prefer that. Obviously I'd like to stick around and make a friend or two, but the ball's in your court," he shrugged again, his comments mostly directed at Agnes if anything. Cameron seemed decent and Mary was obviously kind and had n bad bone in her body, so they would make good friends if he had to befriend them, but they were hardly his first choice. "Do you wanna get a move on then? We'll just find a car in the parking lot and climb on in, it's really not that big of a deal."
 
"What just happened? Did y'all do some demon shit?" Agnes confirmed, clearly still dazed as Mary decided to slip some things into the pile herself. The brief second she had seen Apollo she had, only to see him leaving while sobbing? It was a gross and confusing sight for all of them. Holding her head, she turned to Darius.

"So is it over? Are we still running? Oi, if not then you need to use your weird powers on our boss because I'm most likely fired for missing three days of work, no call no show. Don't think you can just run away all of a sudden," she replied easily, going as far as to roll her eyes.
 
"I mean, Apollo's sticking around until he's finished his business here, but yeah, it's over, I'm guessing. If he was gonna kill you all, you'd be dead. So yeah, you can go home and I'll do some demon shit to stop you getting fired. You humans are really so fussy, aren't you? Chill out, I can sort it," the laidback demon grunted, rolling his eyes to himself at the level of confusion and bewilderment around him. He expected it, sure, but that didn't mean he could handle it for long, taking the moment to head out into the car park to find himself a car he wouldn't be embarrassed to drive in. It was the only similarity between him and his brother - he liked fine things. Admittedly, he was also alright with lounging in some cramped apartment eating a store bought pizza; he was complex and he knew that.

"...I'll probably have to stick around Apollo, for a while anyway. I... I mean, I feel bad for him, in a way," began Cameron as he trailed out after the other, smiling quietly at Mary. "This has been intense, huh? I, uh-- we're still dating, aren't we? Because I think we can actually go on a date properly and not have to worry about either of us getting killed, which is-- it's nice."
 
"Well, yeah. I mean, it isn't your fault any of this happened," Mary replied easily as she followed Darius out, turning off her morals just for a bit if it meant getting home. She wanted to be in her own bed, cuddled up with her stuffed animals and watching late night television and if it meant having to drive in a stolen car, she could handle it.

"If I We're you, I would just stop seeing him. The whole demon cult thing I just... seems like unnecessary stress, yeah? You're in college, you should be working on term papers and whatnot, not on silly things like cults. You're smarter than that."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back