[C] Dancing with the Devil

Mental illness mixed with severe depression and substance abuse, after a while it all became too much to deal with. His family had cast him out years ago and sent him away to this place.

It was meant to be a mental health facility, built to rehabilitate people back into society.

He knew what it was, a sanitarium and he had been trapped here for far too long.

After another failed suicide attempted he had be restrained and sent to one of the padded rooms, he sat there, with his arms bound behind him.

He could have sworn that this place was making him worse, not better, the medicine left him out of it, at times he couldn't remember who he was and the constant isolation had been breaking him down day by day.

He had prayed for so many nights, turning to the heavens for saving, but for just as many nights he hadn't heard and answer and things hadn't gotten any better.

"Please..."

He whimpered, recently he had been hearing things that he knew weren't there, little whispers that he thought could be words, words he tried to ignored but when ever he begged for someone to help him, they would come back, louder than before.

Instead of ignoring them tonight he tried to hear what they were saying, speaking the words out loud as if it would make sense if they were spoken.

Lucifer was bored.

Painfully bored. He was laid on his bed of silk and furs and toying with his long hair and feel so painfully bored.

And then he heard the whispering.

He bolted up with a feral grin on his lips. "Someone's calling me," he sang. He pushed himself off the bed and almost pranced towards the guards at the gate of his circle.

"And that means one thing." He was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as he felt the power course through him. One guard glanced back at him as Lucifer gave a pleased moan.

When someone called for him in the overworld, he got the chance to send a projection to meet them. That meant he got a lift on what was blocking his power.

His body began to appear in the room, leant against one of the padded walls. His eyes leered at the boy in the room.

"What an interesting little creature. I haven't had someone like you summon me in many many years," he purred.

Demetri Kept muttering the words until the sound of someone else's voice made him jump.

His gaze turned up to the man in his cell, his eyes widening at the beautiful figure standing in front of him.

He looked far less attractive in comparison, his skin was pale from being locked in doors, his eyes covered in a dark ring from not sleeping.

"Who are you?"

He muttered, he had been hearing things but he had never imagined another person so clearly, he didn't get visitors and this man didn't look like a nurse.

"Don't even know the person you summoned?"

Lucifer snorted softly as he strolled towards the boy slowly. His naked body moved like ink in water, flowing rather than walking.

"So what do you want from me?"

He crouched before the boy, reaching out to stroke up his throat slowly.

"Do you want me to kill for you? Torture? I could do anything your pitiful little mortal heart desires," he crooned in a voice like velvet, stroking the boy's cheek.

He couldn't keep his eyes off the man, he could feel a lump in his throat form as he moved toward him, he wanted to reach out and touch him but with his arms bound it was impossible.

His eyes slid shut as his throat was stroked, he hadn't been touched so gently in a very long time.

"A-anything?"

He muttered in disbelief, after all his praying and he finally been sent his salvation?

His gaze unfocused as he thought about what he wanted, to be free of this place, to go home, to be well again.

"Stay with me..."

He whispered, before looking up at the man again, he didn't want to be alone, the pain of solitude was slowly crushing him.

"I don't want to be alone."

His brows shot up as his stroking paused.

"That's it?" His soft voice now came out blunt and harsh.

"I give you the chance to kill the person you hate most and you ask for me to stay with you?"

Lucifer sighed heavily and slumped back, crossing one leg over the other. His raised foot rested on the boy's shoulder as he crossed his arms, looking like he was floating in an invisible seat.

"And I thought this was going to be fun."

"I don't hate anyone enough to want them dead."

He muttered, people had treated him terribly, but he didn't blame them, how could he? The doctors and guards were just doing what they had been train to.

His family hadn't known how to handle him, it wasn't their fault, it was his own.

A small frown graced his lips, the man seemed disappointed in him, he had been hoping, foolishly hoping for a companion, it would have been nice to have someone there for him.

"Sorry."

He didn't know how he had brought this man here but obviously he wasn't pleased about being here.

Lucifer's head tilted back and he gave a long groan.

Now the kid was apologising?

"What are you apologising for?" he asked, already exasperated.

This was going to be a long run and he could only leave now when the boy explicitly told him to leave. As was the nature of such vague wishes.

"So what do we do for fun around here?"

"You seemed annoyed with me, I didn't mean to upset you, I was just hoping that..."

He shook his head, he was only going to annoy the man more by blubbering on like and idiot.

His one chance to have someone and he had already blown it.

"Fun?"

He replied, sounding confused, he looked back up at the sinfully beautiful man and shrugged softly.

"They have activities during the day but I'm not allowed to leave my cell."

He wouldn't be allowed out for another few days, at least not until he was assessed by the doctor and considered stable again.

Lucifer rolled his eyes as the boy babbled on.

Exellent. Not only did the boy apologise, he babbled. Great. Couldn't have asked for anyone better to be stuck with.

Best 'master' ever.

Gag him with a spoon.

Was the boy even allowed spoons in here?

Lucifer gave a little sigh when the boy answered his question. "We're making our own fun, then. Guess how much time it'll take to see another more interesting human being. Guess what's under my hat." In a wisp of black and purple smoke a tophat appeared on the Demon's head that he lifted and used to add a flourish to his bow. It disappeared like smoke in a breeze.

The Demon snorted softly as he threw himself back as if throwing himself moodily in a chair, his arms crossed over his chest.

His lips pursed a little, he had only just met the man and he thought he wasn't interesting?

Demetri gave a little sigh, so much for his hope of finding a friend in this man.

He watched in wonder as he made a hat appear from no where then made it disappear.

"You're magic."

He muttered, not exactly a question.

"Can you help me escape?"

He asked, looking a little more excited, he wanted to be able to leave this place.

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"My talents are beyond magic, boy. I am the creature your watery illusions of magic was birthed from."

He laid back, his legs crossed at the ankle as he waved a finger lazily. Little sparks of purple crackled around his fingertips. "Your ideas of magic cannot even compare to my ability."

It was his child that took on a fraction of his ability and spread it through the generations of his bloodline. Now that watery version people called magic was cropping up anywhere.

Lucifer shrugged in response to the question.

Can he help the boy escape? Yes.

Will he help the boy escape? Not likely.

He watched the sparks with fascination.

It may not be anything to the man but to Demetri the small trick still held wonder.

The way he floated about, his appearance, his very movements, it was painfully obvious that this man wasn't human.

He looked over the man more closely this time, his cheeks colouring with a soft brush as he took in the man's naked form.

He really was beautiful, even if the man had no interest in talking to him, beyond making a comment to belittle his understanding of the situation, or freeing him, at the very least the man was something pretty to admire.

"If you are magic why are you still here?"

He asked hesitantly, the man clearly disliked him, he had no reason to stay.

"...I'm hallucinating."

It seemed more logical than what was happening now.

Lucifer rolled his eyes as if the boy had asked a stupid question.

"I'm bound by magic."

It was obvious, wasn't it? He had been summoned by someone and he was a slave to the cruel mistress that was summoning magic. He had no choice but to obey the rules of the summon unless his power was returned to him completely.

Something he hadn't had in millennia. He could barely remember the feeling of his true power coursing through his body.

Lucifer snorted softly with a dismissive wave of his hand. "My beauty is not something a mortal could achieve in a mere hallucination."

"What magic?"

He asked curiously, had he known who this man was perhaps he wouldn't be so forward with his questions, he might even think twice about talking to the man.

Still, he was desperate for any type of company, even if it was with someone who disliked him and only made him feel stupid.

"I've heard that you only dream about people that you've seen before, I definitely haven't see anyone like you."

Plus he had felt the man's touch, surely that couldn't be an illusion.

Lucifer sighed heavily.

He was suffering a real simpleton this time, wasn't he?

"Your magic," he replied anyway, rolling his eyes. "Your magic called me here and now I'm bound to it."

Lucifer smirked as his body flowed forwards until he was nose-to-nose with the boy.

"Think this is a dream if you will, boy." His long, pointed tongue swiped over the boy's lip slowly.

Demetri only looked more confused as the man explained.

"I don't have any magic, if I did I wouldn't be here."

He muttered, he tugged a little at his straight jacket, if he could do supernatural things he would be far far away from here doing something fun.

The boy's face practically glowed red when the man's tongue swiped over his lip, he felt it, he knew he did, it couldn't possibly be a dream.

A soft shiver chased through his body and he looked down at the ground nervously, shuffling his bare feet a little.

Lucifer hissed, baring fanged teeth in annoyance.

"Then it's latent."

Great. Not only was he summoned by a strong magic and bound to a basket case, that strong magic was latent. The boy didn't even know that he had magic.

"To be able to summon me with latent power like you did, you'll have to have a darker energy. Imagine tendrils of darkness; maybe even smoke. These will do your bidding if you focus hard enough."

He wasnt going to deal with a non-magical simpleton.

Demetri shrinked back as he was hissed at, nothing this man said seemed to make any sense to him at the moment.

"I hear...voices."

He admitted pitifully, he didn't tell his doctors that but suddenly he was spilling it all to a man who he didn't even know a few minutes ago.

"They told me what to say and when I did, you appeared."

Had he accidentally summoned this man? No wonder he was so testy and annoyed.

Though the man couldn't exactly mock him for listening to voices in his head, after all he was spouting all sorts of things about magic.

Despite his reservations he did as he was told, he imagined tendrils that gleamed in the small amount of moonlight that was able to filter into his room through the small barred window that was too high to reach.

He imagined them, they were like animated ink, no amount of light could penetrate them but it caused them to gleam, they wrapped around his body much like the jacket that confided him except he didn't think of them as restricting, they were embracing him, holding him close protectively as they coiled around his limbs.

"You're from a strong line."

Some lines of magic were fuelled by the power of the deceased magical people of his bloodline. It seemed that Demetri was from one of these lines.

"The voices are wise. Wiser than most here on the Overworld."

A little smile curled Lucifer's lips when the tendrils formed around the boy's body.

For a first attempt, that was a great try. He had a strong magical power.

That could be useful in the future.

"Have them do your bidding."

Demetri looked up at the man as he said the first non-negative thing about him.

Now it was time to find out for himself if this was all real or not.

He let his eyes slide shut as he thought about the inky black tendrils slipping behind his back, working with one another as they slowly unbuckled each of the restraints holding his jacket shut.

He could hear the soft clink of the metal and a moment later the jacket loosened, falling open as he pulled his arms free.

Lucifer nodded as he watched the tendrils work.

They were clumsy and didn't work together as well as they should, but with practise they'd become as fluid as ink in water.

"You have potential."

The boy's power was strong. It was definitely something he could use.

The boy gave a bright smile as his arms were freed, he stretched them over his head with a soft groan.

It has been so long since he had been able to do that.

Since his body was freed the tendrils coiled back around his torso and limbs, snaking over his body protectively as he stayed sat there.

"To do what?"

If he had potential then there had to be something he could do with it, he was already so pleased with this new found ability.

It was becoming blindingly obvious that this was more real than he thought, maybe tomorrow he would wake up and it would have all been a dream but for now, he was a little excited.

"Thank you for teaching me."

He muttered, looking down at his hand as a tendril weaved through his fingers like an affectionate pet.

"To do a lot."

Lucifer licked his lips like a predator with his eyes on his prey as he looked over the boy with a keen eye again.

He swooped forwards until he was sat float in the air cross-legged in front of the boy.

The pink-tinged tendrils that curled around the boy's fingers was joined by the purple-tinged shadows that Lucifer controlled. They teased through the boy's fingers and fed energy to the weaker tendrils.

"Magic that strong can do anything it pleases."

Thoughts of what he could do with it ran through his mind like wild fire, he hadn't known that he had wanted magic so badly until he had it.

He watch intently as the man's shadows pushed into his hand and seemed to make his tendrils stronger.

He gave a little smile, he could feel them, like and extension of himself now.

He focused them beneath him, using the tendril to lift his body off of the ground, he gave a soft laugh as he sat on top of them as they held his weight off of the ground.