Chapter Text
The streets of London were bustling with the flow of daily activity. A young boy shining shoes. An old woman selling flowers. A startling imbalance of men and women of academia scurrying to or meandering from classes at the University across the street. Murklin observed it all with feigned impassivity. His master had sent him to spend time in various Surface cities to observe and see what he could learn that could help him better lure the inhabitants into soul contracts. The young fledgling had wandered the streets of London for hours before coming across the University. He'd seen the disparity of poverty, the pompous pride of the wealthy, the desperation of the young, the old, and the foolhardy. All things he could use to his advantage to acquire contracts.
Murklin would go as far as to say he'd learned a lot, but there was only so much to be learned when London was the fifth city he'd visited for this assignment. Much of what he'd learned seemed universal. He was growing bored. He wanted a challenge, which was why he had decided to spend his afternoon strolling the University grounds. Those with learning would be harder to trick, making the acquisition of their souls all the more satisfying.
Most of the individuals Murklin had seen so far more or less fit what he'd expected. Harried students rushed down walkways with their noses tucked between pages of open books. A collection of men in matching uniforms kicked a ball across a large field. Wisened professors strolled along chatting with colleagues or students, the occasional teaching assistant laden with materials trailed along behind. Gardeners trimmed hedges and watered flowerbeds. A small girl crouched nearly in a flowering bush.
Wait . . .
What?
Murklin paused and took a moment to observe the girl. She wore a dark dress with a ruffled skirt, a leather bag slung across her body, and had wild, light curls braided out of her face and tied off with a ribbon. Most notably, she was staring intently into the bush and occasionally frantically writing something in a leatherbound notebook sandwiched between her knees and her chest, like she was hiding her words from the world around her.
"What are you doing?" Murklin asked in befuddlement before he could decide if he wanted to say anything at all. He stood across the walkway from her at an angle, his hands casually in his pants pockets.
The girl whipped her head around to stare at him with wide eyes. She blinked and seemed to appraise him for a moment like she could gauge his intent from how his tie sat under his vest or how he'd rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. She came to some sort of conclusion and tilted her head curiously as she said, "It depends. Do you believe in magic?"
The shadow demon raised a brow but decided to play along for now. "It depends on the magic."
After a long pause, where the girl stared at him intently once more, she gave a solemn nod and turned back toward the bush. "I'm observing pixies."
What was that reaction? Her gaze had lingered on the top of his head, but he currently had his horns so short they wouldn't be able to be seen past his hair unless someone got extremely close. He should look as human as she did. “Pixies,” Murklin echoed in bemusement. “And what is a child doing alone in the middle of a University campus observing pixies?” The young demon casually drew closer.
“I'm not alone,” the girl denied, shaking her head.
The demon slowly took a look around to see if anyone was keeping an eye on the child. No one so much as appeared to be aware that she was there. “Oh? And who is here with you?” Murklin goaded. He was now standing next to the girl. Curiously there was an aura of light magic around her. Either she wasn’t human, or she was a little budding witch with a patron of light.
The girl frowned and turned to point. “My sister’s right th—” She cut herself off, looking around a little frantic. The faintest sweet curl of fear drifted up to Murklin’s nose. “Oh.”
“‘Oh’, indeed,” Murklin said with an amused rumble in his voice.
After a moment of surveying their surroundings, the girl stood, clutching her notebook to her chest. “I—I have to go.” She darted around the demon and scurried down the path toward one of the campus buildings.
Intrigued by the child, Murklin ambled after her, easily catching up and keeping pace. She gave him a wide-eyed glance. “It wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me to leave a lost child alone, now would it? Mind if I accompany you?”
The girl gave him a blank look, staring at him as they walked. She reminded him of a porcelain doll. Pretty in a rather symmetrical way with her round, freckled cheeks. She’d be fun to dress up in different clothes. A life-sized doll for him to play with. Yes, that was an appealing thought. Murklin just had to figure out how she had light magic. It would be rather bothersome if she could readily have access to that all the time.
“I don’t even know your name, mister. Why should I let a complete stranger accompany me anywhere?” the girl said. A smart one. She didn’t look or sound wary though, so he could work with it.
Telling her his actual name was out of the question. He was confident things would go his way but on the off chance they didn’t, he wasn’t going to risk his real name. He’d worked too hard for this Surface pass. Murklin hummed and put on a winning smile. “Call me Donnie.”
“Donnie,” the girl repeated flatly, like she wasn’t convinced he looked like a Donnie.
Murklin nodded and leaned down to whisper, “It’s short for Donovan.”
It was hard to tell what this child was thinking when she looked at him so blankly. But the aura of light magic was even stronger from so close. It actually felt familiar, now that he thought about it. But since he couldn’t actually see the glowing ring associated with angels, the girl must be using a glamor. An angel child . Not even Master Anzu had one of those in his collection. A child wouldn’t be nearly the challenge he was looking for as his first chosen debtor, but the angel would make for a nice prize. He’d be the envy of Hell.
“What might your name be, birdie?” Murklin asked teasingly. “After all, it’s not fair for you to know mine if I don’t get to know yours.”
“Birdie?” the girl muttered under her breath. They had reached the building and she opened the door to go inside. She immediately turned and entered the little cafe off of the foyer, a bell jingling overhead. She went up to the counter.
Murklin casually walked up behind her and smiled pleasantly at the barista. “An Earl Grey tea and whatever the little lady wants.” His hand brushed a cool, magic-warmed ring of metal as he placed his hand on her head in a pretense of affection. Ah, so it was glamored. The angel child frowned at him. Murklin removed his hand from her hair with a placating grin, hooking the halo around his wrist as he pulled away. It was almost too easy.
Keeping an eye on the demon, the girl said, “I’d like a hot cocoa with cinnamon.”
“We’ll have that right out to you,” the barista cooed. She looked at them like she found their interaction amusing. It worked well for Murklin’s forming plans.
The angel sighed as Murklin paid for both of their drinks. She wandered off, but he could still sense her shadow within the cafe so he wasn’t worried. His prize was still within reach. When Murklin turned to look for her, he found the girl sitting at a table by an open window. A breeze ruffled her braided hair as a butterfly circled the girl before flying out the window. Cute.
Murklin plopped down into the seat across from the angel with a grin, leaning an elbow on the table and his chin in an open palm. “So, chickadee, are you going to tell me your name yet?” He ran a finger along the hidden metal ring in his other hand under the table.
The girl stared at him blankly, though she ever so slightly narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t have to tell a stranger anything, mister.”
“It’s Donnie. Don-nie,” Murklin corrected. “See? Not a stranger.”
“Just because you’ve told me a name doesn’t mean you aren’t a stranger,” the child said, her chin tilted up as she held his gaze.
It was cute how much assurity she had. She had a spark of fighting spirit. Murklin idly wondered how long it would take to break. “And what can I do to make me less of a stranger?” the demon asked, masking an amused purr as a hum.
“I don’t want you to be less of a stranger,” the girl said sharply.
The blankness of her face made it feel like he was being shunned by a porcelain doll. He was less than amused to be spoken to in that manner by his chosen plaything. But before Murklin could respond to such blatant disrespect, a server came over carrying a tray with their drinks.
“Here is your Earl Grey, sir. And the cinnamon cocoa for the young miss,” the server said, giving the angel child a wink as she set the mug in front of the girl.
“Thank you,” the angel said softly, smiling up at the woman.
Murklin blinked in surprise. He didn’t know she could smile. Well, now he definitely wanted to keep that sight for himself. Murklin gave the woman a bland smile and a nod before taking a sip of his tea.
He made several more attempts at conversation with the angel girl, but she either talked around his questions or avoided answering altogether by drinking her cocoa and staring out the open window. She even shoved her notebook in her bag with a frown when she noticed him eyeing it with vague interest. The shadow demon contemplated giving up the pretense of getting to know her first and just grabbing the girl as soon as he finished his tea.
Then the door to the cafe opened. The little bell overhead jingled merrily and Murklin would have paid in no mind like the other dozen times the door had opened since they had been there, except the angel child perked up in her seat.
She looked past him with wide, sparkling eyes, some of the tension in her shoulders relaxing. Murklin turned to glance at the door curiously. Oh, things just got more interesting. The man who entered was clearly an angel based on his magical aura alone, even with his wings and halo glamored. Something in the lightness of his hair and the shape of his eyes reminded Murklin of his birdie. And with the way he glanced almost frantically around the cafe before his gaze landed on their little table, he was looking for them. The girl specifically.
The angel girl stood and went to walk toward the man, but she had to pass by Murklin. The demon was easily able to grab ahold of her wrist to halt her progress. She stared at him with wide eyes, the tension returning to her frame.
“Unhand my sister,” the angel man ordered.
“Sister, hm?” Murklin purred gleefully. This would be even more fun than he had imagined. “You never mentioned having a brother, birdie.” He stood and pulled the girl back toward himself. For a moment, Murklin considered if the grown angel would be willing to sell his soul for his sister’s safe return, but the man wouldn’t be nearly as fun to dress up as the child. A pity it was too risky to try to swing for both siblings’ souls with a full audience in attendance.
“Let go!” The girl leaned away as much as she could with their close proximity, using her free hand to try to pry Murklin’s fingers off her wrist.
Murklin hummed teasingly, as though he were considering it, then grinned maliciously. “No, I don’t think I will.” The angel man started forward, clearly intending to remove the child from his grasp himself. “In fact, I think I’ll take you with me.”
The girl’s face paled, her eyes wide as she stared up at Murklin. The faintest scent of fear wafted up to his nose. “What?” the child said, terror laden in that one syllable.
“Lark!” the angel man shouted frantically, struggling to push his way through cafe patrons who suddenly vacated the surrounding tables as they realized what was happening.
“Ru!” The girl reached for her brother as she and Murklin started sinking into the shadows on the floor.
“Better luck next time, big brother,” the demon taunted with a smirk.
And then they were gone. Swallowed up in the shadows.