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Of all the places they could be summoned to, the demon was not expecting to end up bound in chains in some kind of dungeon by a seemingly devout man. Lilies, chains, crystals- they could read him like a book. Hell, he had enough gold on him to be in the Syndicate, or whatever those assholes were called!
"Demon," he began, dragging them with much more force than they expected towards some kind of contraption. It was white and covered in lights, in stark contrast to the rest of this dingy place. "Do not resist. I will be checking your vitals."
"What for?" they snarled.
"I have holy work that must be done," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Demons and holiness, two things that go together like full-face metal masks and deep V-necks. They had barely even started on his outfit! Out of the disco, into the lab- "You may end up being an early domino."
"Several things. Holy?!" He begun placing them into the machine's restraints.
He slid the chains off, and snapped a couple restraints closed around their torso and legs. "Yes! Now, try to stay completely still. I am well aware that with you foul beasts, one must get what one can get."
Before doing anything else, he examined their claws. Dangerously closely, if you asked them - they considered slicing him like the cloth he tested the sharpness on.
"You will do." He was writing in a notepad. The one thing they caught from it was 'exposed skull', which just felt rude.
"I won't do anything until you explain your weird, skewed plan to me." They dropped their voice.
He checked his notebook. Was he trying to like, gauge how safe his info would be with them based on what, tusk length?- He looked back up. "Fine. ... You are to kill the Council to help me revive the Gods."
"You keep saying this is holy, and I keep not believing you. Aren't demons and gods opposites?"
"No! As a wise friend of mine put it - you are but aliens. One and the same."
"Am I really like the gods at all? I kill people, man!"
He turned around and started on some busywork. Damn, he brought the notepad with him, too.
"So," they said casually, "how's this gonna help those gods?"
"You do not need to know that-"
"You will need me to know that."
"Fine." There was a lot of rustling coming from over there. "We have a ritual to gather energy for them, and demons would make it more efficient."
"How are you gathering energy in a way where demons would help? What, are you killing people en masse?"
The rustling turned to scraping- was he pushing something? "The whole Syndicate is, yes."
What-
"What the fuck?!" He said it so casually, too, like of course that's what the gods- sorry, the Gods- want! They pulled what little of their face they could emote with into a snarl.
"It's to gather energy," he explained simply. He was done pushing now.
The object was a casket, sitting open in front of them.
"Your hiding spot," he explained simply, beckoning.
"Is it to fit in with the whatever's death room?!"
"It will look fine in the Council's ritual room, yes." At their... hesitation, he continued, "You kill people too; you said it yourself. What's worse about them?"
The coffin beckoned, too. "Aren't they supposed to be the good guys?"
"Only the Gods decide that."
... What a shitty answer.
He glanced at the back of the coffin, before looking back at them. "Are you not in?"
"Why wouldn't I be, I've already said I'm terrible!" Why not.
The alien squeezed themself into the casket, half-praying to another alien that they'd never see that strange man again.
