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A total of sixteen hours had passed.

The floor was beyond uncomfortable, and as cold and unforgiving as her Master, so Lillith decided to make use of the empty chair. She had a feeling he may not approve of it, but she was in serious pain at this point. Who knows when he'll be back anyways? He said it would only be a few hours, but she was positive at least a full day had crept by at the breakneck speed of fucking molasses. She pulled her sore body up into the chair with effort and sat, and scolded herself for not using it hours ago.

It wasn't particularly comfortable, but it was better than her bed of concrete.

'I'm going to die here. He'll never bring me back to Nazarick. I'm going to waste away in this basement, and when he's through with me, he'll kill me and leave everything but my skull here. I'll be just another paperweight on his desk. Some unfortunate soul will be his next victim, and she will look into my hollow eye sockets and wonder if she's going to end up like me, just as I did.'

---

"I need to use the bathroom." Lillith said quietly, and Demiurge snapped his face towards her and swung the whip over her head with a thunderous crack, making her cringe.

"I told you, _no_talking." He snarled, glowering down at her. Lillith dropped her gaze, but then his jaw worked as he seemed to be looking for signs of deception, trying to determine if it were a trick or not, but then his angry scowl softened as he came to the realization that this was indeed an inevitability.

He sauntered towards her and with a snap of his fingers, the collar and chain fell away from her neck and landed heavily at her feet.

'I'm free...'

The Arch Devil bent at the waist to look her in the eyes.

"You have five minutes. If you are a fraction of a second longer, I will be coming in there." He warned, the malice in his voice sent an icy chill rolling down her spine.. "And I promise, you won't like what happens next."

Lillith nervously gulped and nodded.

The Arch Devil turned to the Doberman. "Azazel, eskorte zu badezimmer."

"Go." He said, canting his head towards the exit. "Get up. Five minutes." He repeated.

His servant tentatively stood, warily watching the whip in his hand, and made her way to the door. Her heart was racing. To her surprise, Demiurge remained in the basement and did not follow her.

As soon as Lillith was over the threshold of her prison she made her way to the tiny bathroom, and then shut the door.

From the outside.

'This is my chance.'

Azazel watched her intently, and whined when she moved away from where he had been ordered to escort her.

She then quietly crept to the front door of the cottage, and turned the handle with surgical precision, pulling it open as cautiously and silently as possible; and then the dog that had come to be her lifeline to sanity, her friend, fucking betrayed her with a sharp bark of alarm, and he lunged.

Lillith should have known. His devout loyalty lies with his Master, the monster that feeds him, and not her.

'FUCK!'

She clumsily slipped out the front door, narrowly avoiding the Doberman's snapping fangs and slammed it behind her.

Then she bolted, moving as fast as her weakened body could carry her, running purely on adrenaline. She felt soft blades of grass beneath her bare feet, and the sun was as bright and blinding as a spotlight, warming her still naked flesh. Her eyes took precious moments to adjust and her limbs were shaking violently with anxiety and fear, and her mind was spinning. Lillith's eyes darted around wildly, and she came to the conclusion that she hadn't the faintest idea of where she was even running to.

'Where do I go? I don't know where to run, I just have to escape him!'

She heard a bestial roar of rage from the cottage, and her heart began slamming into her ribs so hard with fear that it hurt.

'SHIT-FUCK-SHIT-FUCK-SHIT!'

This was so stupid, what the Hell was she thinking? She couldn't escape him, he would always find her. That bastard could literally smell her fear.

Wait...fear.

She wasn't the only one who was afraid of him. Lillith hauled ass to the skinning shed and snatched a still warm and bloody hide with a fumbling hand and fled into the butchering ring. She slipped through the bars and among the dozens of tightly contained Abelion sheep, dropping onto all fours among the bleating and startled animals and not a second too soon. The front door of the cottage swung open so hard it snapped off of the hinges.

Lillith scrambled between the sheep, making a beeline for the center of the herd for better cover and keeping herself as low as possible as Demiurge stormed out of the cottage, whipping his head around as he sought her out.

The Arch Devil was beyond enraged; his face was harshly furrowed with fury and she was convinced if he locked onto her with his eyes alone she would instantly burst into flames.

His talons extended with the sound of a dozen blades being drawn, and he tilted his head back, as he sniffed the air like a wolf.

"Where are you, Pet?" He called out, his voice adopting a sweet sing-song tone. "Come out, come out, where ever you are..."

Lillith thought she was going to pass out, she was so scared. The earthy scent of livestock was thick and it was uncomfortably hot between the creatures. She struggled to breathe and tried to continue shuffling in tandem with the sheep, desperate to blend in and keeping her head down as low as possible.

"I can smell your terror...I know you're nearby." He growled with such dark menace it made her want to piss herself. "Come out now and I just might let you live."

'Fuck, no.'

The demon paced back and forth mere yards away from the butchering ring, sorting through the scents he detected and attempting to decipher the coordinates of hers.

"I suppose I can always burn it all down to flush you out, and simply start over..." He muttered, an edge of agitation in his voice. "It would not be the first time, as I'm ever the perfectionist."

'He wouldn't destroy it all just to smoke me out...would he?'

Demiurge waved his arm in a grand gesture as though to sweep the clouds from the sky, and all around her scarlet and gold Hellfire erupted from the earth at his command. A massive wall of heat slammed into her from both sides, and she broke out into a sweat. Her back suddenly felt as though hot tar had been poured onto her, and she realized the hide was melting and fusing to her skin. She stripped it off in a panic and hissed in pain as it ripped off some of her hair and outer layer of epidermis, but she had no time to tend to her wounds. Lillith stumbled to her feet to try to take off running full tilt, but the distraught sheep were darting madly in all directions, many of them on fire.

"There you are." A pointed growl sliced through the cacophony of bawling animals and roaring flame.

Lillith's pulse kicked and she wove around the beasts in terror and stumbled blindly through the billowing black smoke, coughing and clueless as to where she was running and not really caring, as long as she could escape.

An evil cackle followed her.

"You cannot escape me. And even if you could, I will always find you. I know your scent, pet." He hissed venomously, and damn it all, she knew it was the absolute truth.

She tripped, faltering and fell to the scorched and blackened earth. It was still fire hot and burned her palms, and she shrieked as the flesh blistered and peeled open. His footsteps grew closer.

'No, no, fuck!'

She rapidly rolled onto her back, her limbs uncoordinated and clambering in panic as she tried to find purchase to scramble backwards and as far away from the sharply dressed death marching towards her, his tail swaying fluidly.

A shadow eclipsed the sun above as something came swooping down from the heavens.

Massive feathered wings unfurled, shielding her from the red-clad monster who would devour her soul. A gleaming, feminine figure towered over Lillith, her smile as bright as the sun and she reached out to Lillith.

An angel. A fucking angel had just come to her rescue. She might survive this after all!

'I'm saved!'

Lillith reached out to her, her spirit uplifted with hope for the first time in years.

"Come with me. I'll protect yo-"

"She's going no where." The demon said tonelessly.

With a wet squelch the angel's head was abruptly sliced clean from her body, and hot blood splattered onto Lillith's face and outstretched arm, her shield of wings fell limp as the Seraphim form crumpled to the ground.

Demiurge cut the divine being down as though she were nothing.

"What a pathetically useless cunt." Demiurge scoffed with a disgusted sneer as he flung the blood from his scythed talons, as though he had touched something most unsavory.

"How dare you turn your back to me as though I am no threat." He then kicked her decapitated carcass with a dull meaty thud.

Lillith's mouth hung agape; she couldn't move. She was frozen, in tongue-numbing shock. She wasn't even shaking anymore.

'What the actual fuck just happened?!'

That was supposed to be her chance; her one chance at freedom, and the Arch Devil demolished what should have been her savior as though it were no inconvenience.

"Her blood is on _your_hands, because you tried to run from me." He accused, and Lillith could come up with no argument because had she not have tried to escape, the angel would indeed still be alive.

'An angel, a sacred being is dead because of me...I'm going straight to Hell when I die.'

Demiurge retracted his talons and settled on his haunches in front of Lillith, his tail arching into an S for balance.

"Look at me." The demon cupped her chin, and she could feel the slick of blood on his fingers as he closed her still hanging jaw, his icy stare of neurological venom boring into hers.

"Listen to me very, very carefully, pet. NOTHING, NO ONE_will save you. No God, no Angel, no man nor woman." His eyes burned like the white-hot fires produced by the birth of a star, and she knew now that without a shadow of a doubt he was not merely _a Devil, but THE DEVIL.

"You belong to me, you are my property, and I will NEVER let you go." He vowed, as though he himself had carved her fate into stone. "EVER."

---

Lillith jolted awake, gasping like she was drowning in fear.

"Fuck me!" She shrieked.

Her muscles then locked and clenched, and she groaned in agony; it felt as though she had been ran over by a herd of stampeding horses.

Dehydration cramps. She really needed more water.

And food.

Her body would begin breaking down in the next few days if she couldn't have enough of either.

Lillith's back and neck were pulsing with pain, and as evening fell and the temperature dropped, it made every single joint in her body ache ten times worse. Shit, her fucking hair hurt. The drug was almost completely out of her system too, exacerbating the situation because it had taken the edge off of her discomfort. With her senses no longer dimmed, the outlook of her situation seemed increasingly bleak.

Slowly, her heart rate returned to normal.

Shit, that was seriously fucked up. Words could not even begin to express her relief that it had just been a nightmare; a lucid-as-fuck nightmare. She recalled the earthy aroma of the sheep as she ambled among them, how the freshly peeled hide she hid under was still bloody and damp with fleshy remanants.

It couldn't have been more real if had it happened in the waking world. Just to further convince herself it had indeed only been a dream, Lillith examined her palms, and the flesh there was intact and free of blisters.

'He will never let me go. But I'm at least smart enough to never try to run from him.'

Azazel rested on his side across the room, and he let out a bored sigh. Lillith found herself wondering if the dog really would alert Demiurge if she were dumb or desperate enough to ever try to escape.

Probably.

She stared up at the ceiling, struggling to not dwell on her aches or even worse, the _hunger_and stomach cramps the lack of food was causing. It felt as though a clenching hand was mercilessly twisting her guts. Her stomach gurgled loudly, demanding sustenance.

'Shit, I'll probably starve to death before he even considers coming back.'

As if her Master had heard the obscene noises, the steel door suddenly swung open with a creak, and her blood sang as the smell of food, meat, wafted into the room. Demiurge entered, and he had two trays of chopped steak balanced on one hand like a expert server, the whip in the other.

It was like an answer to an unspoken prayer.

Her mouth watered, and she licked her lips. Azazel bounded over to the demon, bouncing up and down like a playful pup, just as ecstatic about the promise of food as she was.

"Nein." Demiurge muttered to him.

The Doberman whined and toned down his energy.

_"Zurück."_Azazel backed up, giving his Master space but still paced eagerly near the blessed bearer of food, never taking his eyes off of him. Demiurge approached them, and set the trays on the floor. Even with the meat within his reach, the dog kept his distance.

Demiurge's gaze fell to his human prisoner, and he swung the whip in her direction; it swept frighteningly close over her head with a thunderous crack, and she scrambled clumsily to the floor, almost tripping over the unwieldy chain hanging low from her neck.

"Stay off of the furniture! You are not permitted to use it." The demon reprimanded her sternly.

Lillith kept low to the ground in a bid to avoid the terrifying weapon. And the closer to floor she was, the better she could smell the mouth-watering food. She watched, borderline ravenous with festering hunger as spirals of steam billowed from the fresh steaks which he had meticulously cut into bite-sized pieces for his two pets.

She was literally starving. She had not eaten in two days.

Lillith tried to covertly inch closer towards the vulnerable trays, but her endeavor did not go unnoticed by the Arch Devil. A harsh crack ripped through the air again. She froze in place, cringing and waiting for the sting, but it thankfully did not come.

"You have not earned your food yet." Demiurge admonished his pet. "Stay." He ordered and narrowed his glacial gaze as he looked down on her.

_"Kommen."_Demiurge said in the unfamiliar language as he returned his attention to the dog. Azazel approached his Master, keeping his eyes on the demon attentively and wisely not touching the meat that was very temptingly mere inches in front of him.

"Sitzen." The demon pointed to the ground. Azazel sat and grinned toothily, his tall ears pricked forward, actively listening and hanging on every command, panting with excitement.

"Guter hund." Demiurge bent at the waist and plucked a piece off of the tray, then tossed it to him as a reward. The dog snapped it out of the air, swallowing it whole, and wagged his nub as he licked his chops.

The Arch Devil now looked to his prisoner, and picked up a piece of meat from her tray.

"Now, _come_to me." The demon said. Lillith slowly, warily rose to approach him, forgetting to stay on her knees as all her focus was on that heavenly smelling meat and he swung the whip dangerously close to her feet. She jolted and dropped to the ground, only to see that there was a deep gash in the concrete where it had struck.

'Holy shit.'

Had he hit her it would have mangled, if not severed her toes.

"You will remain on all fours, like a dog..." He ground out through clenched teeth. "...until I deem you worthy to serve me again on two legs, as a human." Demiurge growled, his voice dripping with black venom. "Nod if you understand."

Shit, those thorny words hurt. But Lillith anxiously swallowed her pride, and nodded.

'Whatever. As long as I get to eat. Fuck, I'm so hungry.'

"Now, come." He glared at her with ice in his gaze, his crystalline eyes like frosted diamonds.

She obeyed, and tentatively crawled towards to him on her hands and knees; and like Azazel, she sat before her towering master.

"Good girl." He held the small bite-sized chunk of meat out to her, and she started to reach for it, when she saw his whipping hand twitch and he narrowed his eyes. Remembering she was only allowed to use her teeth, she lowered her hand and slowly leaned her front half towards it, and when she was sure it was safe, she gingerly ate it out of his hand.

"Very good...you are learning quickly." He praised her, and the sincerity in his voice was genuine.

She was pleasantly surprised to discover this was not low quality Abelion sheep meat that had been ground for dog food; it was prime steak of some sort but whether it was beef or pork or what she could not be sure. It was foreign-tasting, not quite like familiar beef, as the consistency and texture was more akin to pork, but it didn't quite _taste_like it. Goat, maybe? Or horse? Whatever it absolutely succulent, cooked juicily rare and well seasoned with smoke, bourbon and maple. Her taste buds sang at the recherché of both syrupy sweet and savory mesquite, never having tasted something so decadent. She hardly had to chew as it practically melted in her mouth, and she couldn't prevent the pleased chirp that left her lips.

"Now, kneel." Demiurge commanded.

Already on her knees, she couldn't kneel anymore than she already was. On the edge of starving, she would have done anything at this point for more of the scrumptious sustenance, so Lillith prostrated herself by lowering her front half to the ground, face down, her breasts pressed into the cold floor in a slave's grovel.

Demiurge really liked what he was seeing; it was an ultimately submissive position and gave him a grand view of her rear, which he shamelessly took in. Had they not been in the middle of a training session he probably would have fucked her then and there. The demon licked his lips but opted to exercise self control. A distraction from her training was the last thing she need.

"Good. You may sit up." He permitted her to rise and held out another piece of steak. She devoured it eagerly, and decided if this was her last meal, she was perfectly content with that having been the final taste on her tongue.

'Goddamn, that is so delicious. What the kind of animal tastes that fucking good?'

It must be some sort of exotic game.

"Azazel, essen." The demon released his control, allowing the dog to eat. The Doberman lunged for his tray and enthusiastically wolfed down his dinner.

Lillith watched with intense envy as he ate, biting her lip and she glanced up to her master and whimpered, imploring him for permission to do the same.

Demiurge held his empty hand up, the juices of the steak still running down his gloved fingers and palm.

"First, clean your mess." He said with a seductive grin, showing his ivory fangs. Eager for the rest of her meal, she fervently obeyed, vigorously licking his dripping digits. He watched her intently, and drew a sharp breath as she sucked his index and middle fingers clean. She met his eyes as she did so, and saw they were gleaming with lust, his tongue swept over his lower lip before he snared it between his fangs. She could easily imagine what impure and lascivious thoughts were racing through his mind.

"Good girl. Now you may eat." He pushed the tray toward her with his shoe, and she crouched, ferally tearing into her meat. Demiurge patted her head and turned on his heel, leaving her to devour her plate.

The steak was so perfectly seasoned and delicious that she wanted to cry in despair when it was gone, and even licked her plate of the juice as cleanly as she had licked her master's fingers. After the small but satisfying meal, she felt better and more relaxed.

She knew the bit of steak was not intended to make her full, but to make her more compliant to his commands; it was a small taste designed to maintain her desire for more. Nonetheless, she was grateful that he wasn't going to starve her to death as she was beginning to believe.

So far, he was not being unreasonable in his commands. If she just did what was asked of her, he would feed her. She might actually survive this if she obeys.

Her eyes grew heavy as her meal settled pleasantly in her stomach. Lillith laid down on her side, curling herself tightly in a ball to stay warm and finally drifted off to sleep.

---

"HeeeEEEeeellllp."

Lillith jerked awake with a start, her heart racing.

'Oh, fuck!'

It was that unnerving-as-Hell wail again, what sounded like a sheep screaming in a disturbingly human-like manner for help. Her eyes flitted in panic around the room, only to find she wasn't alone. Azazel was gone, and her Master was perched regally in the chair which had been oddly placed in the center of the room.

She sat up, the bulky chain around her neck rattling. Lillith's bleary eyes were drawn to the demon's hand rhythmically drifting back and forth across his lap. She blinked several times, still trying to shake off her grogginess, and realized there was something nestled on him, and he was petting it.

'Is...is that a puppy?'

"Good morning, pet..." Demiurge's gaze was raptor-like, sharp and intently focused. His face split open with a fanged smile that was eerily thrilled, as though he had been eagerly awaiting for her to wake.

He seemed excited. Too excited.

Her eyes returned their attentions to whatever he was so gently attending to; it was only a little smaller than a pygmy goat but was balled up and not moving much.

Still unsure of what she was seeing, she curiously shifted closer to her Master, slowly ambling on her hands and knees until she could better make out what it was he had there.

Closer inspection revealed a small, snow-white Abelion lamb curled up in his lap, and he stroked its immaculate fleece as though he were caressing a kitten.

'Why does he have a lamb in here? Fuck me, is this another twisted dream? Am I still asleep?'

Evil exhilaration rolled off the demon in waves as his servant's gaze drifted from the lamb to his other hand, and Lillith's stomach flipped with anxiety when she saw that it no longer wielded his whip; today he had traded it for a golden-bladed Bowie knife with a hand-crafted ivory handle...made from a human femur.

"Are you hungry?" He asked slyly, raising a brow and his lips curling at the corners in an invitingly promising gesture.

'Of course, I haven't eaten hardly anything since you brought me here.'

The mischievous tone of his voice made her hesitant to answer. Still, she nodded in hopes he meant to feed her more than just a few scraps, but she couldn't ignore the sharp prickle up her spine that told her he was unequivocally plotting something insidious.

Her brain was screaming at her to say no, but her withering body drowned it out with a resounding yes.

That was the worst thing about hunger. It made a person desperate; it tears down the wall of inhibitions, casts aside self respect and severely impairs judgement.

"I'm sure you are, so today, I'm going to teach you how to make the best use of an animal." He informed her jauntily, jumping right into her next task without even allowing her a chance to really come to life.

'No...please, no...'

"As a servant, you have learned to clean and cook, and have even performed most adequately in preparing skins for me. But today, I am going to show you how to dress more than just a hide, and how to butcher in order to obtain your own meat."

Demiurge dropped his predatory gaze down to the helpless lamb in his lap, suggesting what she had feared.

He expected her to kill it and cut it into pieces to eat.

Eat. Food. FOOD.

Yes.

NO!

Her brain and body warred for the position of pilot.

'No way! I don't want to kill an animal! Especially a baby one!'

Lillith knew it was probably a bad idea and it may only serve to enrage him, but she lightly shook her head.

"Your apprehension is understandable, but you would actually be doing this little creature a favor. His mother broke off from the herd, and Azazel did his job as effectively and indiscriminately as always. It will die a slow and painful death without her milk, but you can show it mercy." Demiurge presented his argument most tactfully, surprisingly permitting her reluctance to an extent and making her resistance sound perfectly reasonable.

'That's a first.'

"You don't want this poor thing to suffer needlessly, now do you?" He continued to press her, but maintained a level and silvery voice. "It has already been a full 38 hours without food."

Is that why it was lying so placidly in his lap? Lillith was sure any human or animal could sense the evil that poured off of her master like toxic radiation, and anything categorized as prey should be panicking hysterically if it were within ten feet of him.

Lillith looked closely at the lamb, and it was curled in a tight ball, as though it were freezing, its head draped over his thigh. It definitely seemed weakened and lethargic; as though it were too drained of strength to even try to struggle or flee from the predator's clutches...or was it simply frozen stiff with fear?

Very much like she often was when she and her Master had first met?

Was it really the kindest thing to do, putting it out of its misery? She didn't want it to suffer. Lillith had been on the edge of starving many times in her life at the brothel, and it was agonizing. The hunger was enough to drive her insane. She remembered chewing the skin off of her lips and the insides of her cheeks, gnawing the flesh around her fingernails and toenails. She hated that it never grew back fast enough for her to nibble at again twice in the same day. Sometimes she would as far as to pick crumbs and scrape at stains that were on her clients clothes while they were sacked out after using her, just to put _something_in her stomach. For this animal to feel that desperation before finally succumbing to this weary and listless shell, probably hours away from death, has to be nothing short of excruciating.

How many times had she wished someone would be sympathetic to her plight and put her out of her misery at the brothel?

More times than she could count. But no one was ever so kind. Maybe she could be the kind one for a change?

'Is it really the right thing to do?'

Demiurge rose from his seat, the animal's limbs dangling limply in his arms, and he crouched down next to her. When he set the lamb on the floor before them, its seemingly boneless legs collapsed out from under it.

The poor thing was so weak it could not stand. Its gaze was dead-eyed, unfocused. It let out a sickly, feeble cry.

'It probably won't last much longer.'

Demiurge held the blade out to her, and she could only stare at it as she swallowed thickly, still fumbling to grasp the fact that he was tasking her with killing a living thing.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, still unsure if she could take a life. She had never killed anything bigger than a cockroach.

Sure, she would give anything to stab the shit out of the man who had violently assaulted her, but this was a creature who had done nothing wrong. It was innocent.

Demiurge smiled at her warmly, eyes hooded yet fire bright as he watched Lillith carefully. The demon gently squeezed her shoulder in an oddly consoling gesture.

"You will do fine," He encouraged her. "We were all beginners, all innocent at some point in time. You will learn with practice. Take it."

'LEARN? Practice?! Shit, I fucking never want to do this ever again. I don't even know if I can do it now!'

Lillith reluctantly took the daunting blade from her Master, and stared sullenly at her own reflection in the blade's polished surface.

The Arch Devil observed her intently, fascinated, his head canted, his crystalline eyes shimmering with morbid curiosity.

'I don't really want to do this. It's cruel...but even more cruel to allow it to suffer. And if I don't obey I may not eat for another day or longer. It's going to die anyways, right?'

"You will be doing this lamb a kindness. You are not a monster like me in easing its suffering." Demiurge offered. "You would only be acting as its angel of mercy."

'Angel...you kill angels. Is that something I really want to be?'

Again, she reminded herself that had merely been a dehydration-induced nightmare. As the days wore on, it was becoming more difficult to differentiate dreams from reality; both realms were bleeding into one another and quickly becoming indistinguishable.

But still, that was...an unusually reassuring thing for her Master to say. It actually made her feel just the slightest bit better when she looked at it that way.

How frighteningly easy it was to be persuaded by the demon's silver tongue.

Lillith's stomach clenched around nothing, having already digested last night's meager meal. Again it was demanding sustenance.

'It's the lamb or me...'

And then Lillith felt the muscles in her arms tense, preparing to follow though with a killing strike, but at the last moment the same muscles relaxed as she hesitated, and the Devil watched her face pale in horror as she realized what she was actually about to commit to.

"It's all right. Everyone hesitates at first." Demiurge said softly. "You have the strength to do it."

Lillith did not look at him. She couldn't. She didn't want to see herself in the reflection of his spectacles, out of the harrowing fear that she would see the same shroud of darkness in her eyes that Demiurge possessed when he would close his hand around her throat or scented her blood. The shadow of a predator. The veil of a Devil.

The demon observed with heated interest as her eyes glazed over; he could see that she was separating herself from the situation. He contemplated if she was trying to fall into the body of the animal in front of her, trying to process the suffering and the struggle from the opposite side before she dared to assume the role of executioner.

As if she didn't know which she truly was.

How fascinating.

The Arch Devil wondered how it felt to watch herself destroy another creature and feel something other than intoxicating power, ravenous bloodlust, the depraved desire to feel flesh yielding and rending beneath fangs and claws.

What was it like for prey to become predator?

Demiurge was almost tempted to ask.

And to his shock, she then suddenly moved.

Demiurge did not flinch at the wet, fleshy sound of the blade being plunged into the lamb's neck, did not respond to the pathetic cry of the animal as its squeal tapered into a sodden gurgle as its lungs filled with blood. He watched his servant as within that moment she killed the her that was, and then became a different creature.

His servant did not cast aside her weapon and refuse to follow through, she did not foolishly try to turn the blade on him, and she did not break from stealing a life. These were the outcomes he weighed as the most plausible to occur from what he had assigned her with based on her history.

She overcame his challenge, and he did not have to push her remotely as hard as he had wholeheartedly expected.

She adapted, she evolved.

Lillith was no longer prey. She was predator, like him.

The demon noticed the way her hands shook when the lamb's body shuddered to a stillness, and her brow knit with both regret and relief as the full gravity of what she had just done sank in; the way her jaw clenched as a million thoughts were racing through her mind, as she tried to convince herself she had just granted mercy to an animal inferior to herself.

Demiurge saw the subtle changes working through her body as her brain processed on a primal level that she had hunted, had successfully killed. Her fingers clenching as they would when holding felled prey in place to tear through the hide in order to expose the muscle, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips as a result of her salivary glands soaking her mouth to prepare her to taste and devour the meat she had just captured, claimed.

But she refrained from either, no matter how hungry she obviously was. Instead, Lillith sat unmoving, still clutching the knife, staring blankly at the carcass.

Humans were such strange animals. Designed to be an apex predator, and still retained a carnivorous nature ingrained in both body and mind, yet they tended to fight that which they were meant to be with every fiber of their being in favor of benevolent idealism. As though they were better than the beasts they are, like wolves wearing clothes and filing down their fangs.

Pretend as they may, they were still ruled by primitive instincts, as the blood of a predator still flows through their veins.

But Lillith had reverted back to such nature with two days of food and sleep deprivation, laced with a few encouraging words.

How very interesting.

The bloody blade fell from her hand with a metallic clatter, her breath catching in her throat as she returned to herself, and absorbed the magnitude of what she had just done.

Her brain flipped back on, and for the briefest flicker, she saw an emaciated little blonde-haired boy in tattered rags sprawled out on the floor like a dropped doll, blood pouring from his severed jugular, his slate gray eyes dark and emptily gazing into oblivion, his muscles relaxing, sagging as his life drained away.

'Oh, no...'

Her heart dropped with an icy chill into her stomach. Time froze. Her pulse kicked wildly, and she could hear her own heartbeat pounding uncontrollably in her ears.

'No... NO, NO NO!'

The walls of the room seemed to hold their breath as a tidal wave of crippling anxiety crushed the air from her lungs.

'WHAT HAVE I DONE?!'

She looked to her Master in horror, and a smile played on his lips, as though he were trying in earnest not to grin from ear to ear, his diamond eyes beaming at her with unconcealed and utmost pride; Demiurge had never looked more pleased. His tail swayed, no, _wagged_behind him, betraying just how truly thrilled he was at what he had just convinced her to do, and how easily he had used that sharp, silvery serpent's tongue to persuade her into slaughtering an innocent child.

For mercy, she thought, but mainly, for MEAT.

'I'm a monster...like HIM.'

Lillith looked back at the body and blinked when she felt tears welling in her eyes, and when she wiped them away what lie before her was a lamb once again. Just an animal. Not a boy. She had committed no crime.

So why did she still feel so...guilty?

'Why the Hell do I keep seeing the sheep as PEOPLE? I have to be hallucinating. I'm literally starving, and sleep deprived. I'm seeing things.'

The collar and chain around her neck felt heavier than ever, the concrete ground beneath her was like ice. The blood rushing in her ears was deafening.

Demiurge moved behind her, slowly, carefully so as not to startle her, coming to kneel behind her trembling form to card his fingers through her locks, stroking her reassuringly.

"Good girl...you did so well. This animal will not suffer anymore, because you were unselfish, and merciful." He whispered into her hair.

But he was only saying what he knew she needed to hear. Lillith was well aware of that, but his words managed to polish the jagged edges of her shattered nerves and guilt-addled mind.

"Because you did not continue to defy me and you did not hesitate more than once, I will take over from here and butcher it for you." He graciously offered. "Words cannot express how very pleased I am with your compliance in this task." The demon nuzzled the side of her face almost affectionately. She might have even appreciated the sweet gesture if she wasn't still in shock. "Tonight you will eat. And I have another task for you that I think you may even enjoy."

Her stomach was thrilled, but her heart was sickened. He nipped her ear tenderly, and then rose away from her, leaving her to her own devices. Demiurge collected the knife in one hand and gathered the hind legs of the lamb in the other and drug it away, leaving a crimson smear of blood trailing from him.

It was morbid how soft of a sussuration the sound of the lamb's fleece made across the hard and cold concrete. Like the rustle of dove feathers. She found herself wishing she could have asked to keep it's hide for her to sleep on in here. The ground was so hard and cold...It was the least he could do after talking her into-

'Wait, another one?'

She was almost afraid to know what twisted task he had in store for her next.