It must be said that Baekhyun has done many ill-advised things in his life. 

The thing is: Strange whispering has been following him around for weeks, too low to either decipher the intonations or tell the words apart – which is all the same, as he has a feeling the language is not one known to humankind. 

Still, everything he's done up to this moment is nothing to bat an eyelash at, truly, although the drop of blood after pricking his finger on a needle might have made some of the more… superstitious-prone look twice. 

Before the whispering began, he was of the conviction that ghouls and evil spirits were nothing but tall tales those old hags at the town square told impressionable young minds to frighten them, but having someone – something – constantly mutter into his ears has made him significantly more receptive. 

In his defence, he hadn’t honestly believed that trying to summon a demon would, well, summon a demon. He may have been slightly rash in his decision to try, but anyone in his situation would have been desperate for answers. He just chose to get them straight from the source instead of less potentially-life-threatening books. 

The whispering has stopped, at least. Small mercies. 

The demon is smiling, however. “At last,” it says, the words trailing off into a sigh. “Freedom.”

Baekhyun should be more concerned with what the demon has to say, or figuring out an escape route, but he’ll be damned (if he isn’t already) if he can look away. 

The demon has a pair of small twirly horns atop its head of wild hair that is a few shades darker than the blood Baekhyun spilled to summon it. Wings sprout from its back, grand and leathery. Fitted pants cover its legs, but its chiselled chest is left bare, and Baekhyun’s gaze is drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Perhaps the demon will turn him to a crisp as well.

Coal eyes are boring into his soul. He swallows and involuntarily draws away from the demon. 

Its grin widens. “Ah. Is it the horns? Do forgive me, human. Centuries locked up have made me forget how your kind reacts to me.”

As it speaks, its appearance begins to change, which is a strange and slightly disturbing sight to behold. Supernatural features morph into human-like, and distinctly male. Even the eyes have changed into a dark brown, but there is still something otherworldly about him, something alluring yet frightening.

“Who are you?” Baekhyun asks. Curiosity killed the cat and all that, but there’s no turning back now.

The demon hums, approaching Baekhyun slowly. “I’m known by many names. But you…” He stops in front of him, a pair of slender fingers brushing his jaw. “You may call me Junmyeon.”

“Junmyeon,” Baekhyun breathes, eyes trailing down the demon’s face and taking in every little detail. He finds himself rooted to the spot, by fear or lust, he cannot tell. “You were the voice?”

Junmyeon nods, his gaze roaming as his hand trails down Baekhyun’s chest to rest on his stomach. “I wanted my freedom.”

Baekhyun frowns. “So you made me summon you?”

The low chuckle that escapes the demon sends a shiver down Baekhyun’s spine. “I… encouraged you, perhaps. But you were not entirely unwilling, were you, Baekhyun?”

Rather than admit to anything, to himself or to the demon, Baekhyun asks, “Will you kill me?”

“Only if you ask me to,” Junmyeon says. “But I would rather not. I owe you a reward for setting me free, don’t you think?”

Baekhyun hits a wall just as it occurs to him that Junmyeon is fiddling with his belt. He swallows dryly. “What –”

“Don’t worry,” Junmyeon purrs. “I’m not an incubus.” Baekhyun doesn’t even know what that is. “I’ll be good to you.”

Baekhyun is prone to trouble, he knows that, yet having a demon touch him, while titillating, is just – wrong. If anyone finds out, he’ll be condemned, or banished, or perhaps even sentenced to death. He can’t –

Warm hands cradle Baekhyun’s face. “No one has to know,” Junmyeon soothes. “Your trepidation is reasonable, but you do want me, I can tell.” 

Gods above save him, but Baekhyun does want him. His soul is on fire with lust, his fingers itching to touch, his body a traitor to his mind that’s telling him this is his worst idea yet. Junmyeon has him caged against the wall, his body flush with his, and a small whimper escapes Baekhyun when Junmyeon’s hand slips beneath his pants. 

“That’s it,” Junmyeon purrs, wrapping his palm around Baekhyun’s rapidly-hardening . “Have you never wanted to a demon?”

With a strangled gasp, Baekhyun drops his head against the wall. It reveals his throat to Junmyeon, who pounces on the opportunity to put his mouth to the skin. “I thought demons were a myth.”

“Ah.” Junmyeon tuts, shaking his head. “I see. Centuries are lifetimes to you, of course. How easily your kind forgets.” He a long stripe up Baekhyun’s neck, humming. “No matter. They’ll remember soon enough.”

Baekhyun throws caution to the winds and succumbs.

Time blurs.

When he returns to the town, it has been days since anyone saw him. His friends are relieved to see him back, but one of the hags stills when she sees him. Her eyes widen in horror, and she lifts a trembling arm to point a damning finger at him. “Your eye! You have been marked, Harbinger of Death!”

Sinister laughter echoes around them, no longer audible to Baekhyun’s ears only. An ominous darkness descends upon everything in vicinity, but Baekhyun is oddly numb to the terrified screams that rise into the air. 

There is a gentle pressure on his shoulder, as though someone has put a hand there, but Baekhyun knows without looking that nothing is there. 

“I need my strength replenished,” Junmyeon says, voice pitched low. “The centuries in chains have not been kind to me. But do not worry, darling human of mine. 

“No harm will come to you.”

This round's theme was Game of Tinysparks, aka sentences chosen by Tinysparks' mods. I chose mod K's line, "No one has to know", and thus here we are. Hah.

I'm quite pleased with this one. It's an AU I might be tempted to explore in the future, but uhhhh, no promises.

(I did not have an opportunity to describe it, but the mark the hag refers to is a sigil or something of the sort in Baekhyun's eye, and the hag recognises it. Hehehe.)