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one - inej
Inej is the first to notice. She noticed before she even knew his name. She noticed, which is why she approached him. I can help you. But she didn’t know if she could help with this.
They were on a job, sneaking out of a mercher’s home, priceless DeKappel in tow. They had bypassed all the security, until there was only one guard left. And then he turned, and stared. And when Inej turned to look at what he was staring at — which she normally wouldn't, but something in the guard’s eyes was akin to terror. So she turned.
There, Kaz, still walking away, unfazed as ever. Confused, Inej was about to look away to continue running, but when she blinked—
It was fire, the world set ablaze — an inferno, flames licking up her calves — and in the center of it all stood Kaz, a demon, horns and all, and wings — oh, great, enormous, bat-like wings that beat the air around him, beating the flames toward her and—
It was shadow, it was a void, one that saw and heard and felt everything — it felt her breath, heard her heart, and it saw her thoughts — it was everything, everything and nothing all at once and it overwhelmed her, taking over her senses because it saw, it saw and it knew, it knew everything and at once Inej knew that Kaz was the void, that Kaz saw and heard and felt and knew all—
And she blinked and it was gone. So was the guard.
Kaz smirked. “Well, let’s hope he doesn’t say anything about this. Let’s go.”
And they left.
Inej made a mental note to ask about that later. Scratch that, if it works then it’s fine. And it’s his secret to keep, anyway. She could wait until he told her of his own accord.
two - jesper
Jesper was the second to notice. After all, how could he not? Kaz could be so overwhelming at times. And other times, Kaz could be extremely convincing, and he didn’t even have Jesper’s good looks! It was downright offensive of Kaz.
It was during a fight when he Saw for the first time. There was one guy left and he aimed his revolver to shoot him until he saw it.
A shadowy body whose dozens of limbs had shoved the helpless grunt on the ground as a thousand voices from a hundred faces interrogated him in a haunting chorus that was beautiful and ethereal while simultaneously dangerous and terrifying. It sounded like a siren song. It sounded like the sharpening of a million knives. And then Jesper knew. That was Kaz.
He backed away, terrified, as one of Kaz’s limbs of shadow reached towards the man’s head and plucked out his soul. Kaz flicked it away, wiping the remaining glowing soul off his hand. Then, he turned to face Jesper.
Jesper had whimpered — but don’t you dare tell anyone, especially not Wylan — and cowered, and when no blows had rained upon him, he opened his eyes. There stood Kaz. Human.
Jesper never dared to cross Kaz after that.
three - nina
As the Corpsewitch, Nina had seen far more than her fair share of rotting corpses in varying stages of decay, but even that did not prepare her for the sight of Kaz fucking Brekker.
She had barged straight into his office without knocking, as usual, and opened her mouth to tease him about Inej and—
Kaz was sitting at his desk, but no, not really, because that couldn’t be Kaz. It was a mangled, rotting, thing, and it had eyes, so many eyes, and they were all looking at her despite the fact that his head was angled downwards at his paperwork.
Sweat broke out on Nina’s palms.
“Kaz?” she asked quietly.
Kaz looked up, and he was normal again. He returned to scratching with his pen. “What now, Nina?”
“Nothing,” Nina said, and she quickly backed out of the room.
Okay, Kaz is some kind of demonic being. What else is new?
four - wylan
Wylan had heard of Kaz’s… situation from his boyfriend. Jesper had run home to him that day, and when asked, he only cried. Wylan immediately knew something was wrong; Jesper never cried.
“Jes? Jes, what’s wrong?”
Jesper only sucked in a shuddering breath. Seeming to calm himself Jesper hugged Wylan tight.
“Wylan,” Jesper began, and Wylan felt apprehensive. Jesper never used his full name unless it was actually serious, usually choosing to call him Wy or some new pet name. “It’s Kaz.”
Jesper told him everything.
So when he noticed Kaz flickering in and out of sight, his very body seeming to disappear and reappear as he read over the documents for him, Wylan was ready.
Or he thought he was.
His first thought was that Kaz looked like a saint. Beautiful, white, feathered wings sprouted from his back.
His second thought was that Kaz was no saint. Because as he watched, more wings grew, and the feathers became soaked with blood.
Wylan almost didn’t believe his eyes. But he did, and kept a closer eye on Kaz ever since.
five - matthias
Maybe Matthias was right about Kaz. The demjin, the boy who could kill and maim and steal without ever getting caught, even with a bad leg and a cane.
It was no surprise he was truly a demon.
They were walking together towards the Van Eck mansion, where Nina was staying, when Matthias noticed a faint light in the corner of his vision.
It was Kaz.
The demjin was glowing, pulsing with a demonic light, the shadows falling over his face making him look more gaunt and devilish than he usually did. Matthias did a double take.
I was right, he thought hysterically, I was right. Kaz Brekker is a demjin.
It disappeared soon after, though, leaving Matthias to worry for his sanity. He didn’t have to worry long.
plus one - kaz
Kaz was an otherworldly being. He knew that. It was useful, he supposed, to scare away opponents, to terrify answers and money out of pigeons. But it was also a curse. It scared away friends and enemies alike. He was always alone. His whole life, he had been lonely. His parents were terrified of a demon child, and Jordie had always been wary of his demon brother.
So when Matthias called him demjin, he didn’t correct him. After all, Matthias had been right.
One day, he gathered the courage to finally admit it to his friends.
They were eating waffles together — Nina’s idea — when Matthias referred to him as demjin again.
“Close enough,” he said.
“What?” asked Nina, a mouth full of waffles.
“Demjin. Demon. It is close enough.”
Five faces turned to face him, each a different expression of shock.
Inej took his hand. “You don’t have to.”
He shook his head. “You deserve to know. You all deserve to know.” It was a rare moment of vulnerability. He smiled a little. “Besides, you all already know, or guessed, anyway.”
His body flickered and he took on all his forms at once, till he was everything and nothing.
It was blinding like both darkness and light.
And then it was gone.
“You really are a demjin,” said Matthias in awe.
“Like I said, close enough.”