Chapter Text
(( CAYRIE REFS: Outfits, Playlist, Pact Marks, House of Lamentation Map ))
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Cayrie found herself in Coren’s home after stepping through the light.
She appeared in the middle of her new room, standing among all the belongings that had been packed up. Quinnigan and Miri were overjoyed to see her, erupting in a chorus of excited chuurs and meows at her arrival.
Cayrie smiled at them and wiped at her face, willing her red-eyed puffiness to fade away.
“...Sis?” her brother’s voice called from the floor below, echoing through the open stairwell. It’d been a voice she hadn’t heard in a very long time. Quietly, she opened the bedroom door and walked out into the hallway, staring down at him from the landing.
He looked just the same as the day she’d left him.
Any hope she had of not crying anymore today went out the window as he came up the stairs and gathered her in a long, tight hug.
It was the same sort of hug they’d given each other after he’d come home after a stint of service for the military - that kind of hug where you hadn’t seen each other for so long, and there had been a very real chance you wouldn’t have seen the other ever again if something had gone horribly wrong.
They held each other for a long time, crying with joy at their reunion. As much as she loved those demon brothers of hers - she had truly, deeply, missed her human one during her time in the Devildom.
⥈
Cayrie spent a long time talking with him about everything she’d experienced during her time away. All the people and places and different things she’d seen. He was quite shocked to learn about her awakened magical abilities - and to hear that he, too, was a descendant of Lilith.
She told him all about the brothers, fondly showing him a year’s worth of photos on her DDD, and telling him about all their mishaps and adventures together. He marveled at her pact marks, flowing down her arm in that bold black ink. They talked together long into the night, until Cayrie didn’t think she could physically speak anymore.
As her bed was still covered in boxes, she simply crashed on the couch - too exhausted and spent to care either way.
⥈
The next few months were spent unpacking, reorganizing, and remodeling the house. Cayrie dove into the work as a way to keep herself busy and her mind off all she’d left behind. She painted walls, replaced floors, dug up garden beds, and made for herself a little piece of the world she could comfortably call her own.
As all her debts had been paid and she now had very good luck with lotteries, she didn’t have the need to work right off - which was a good thing. It allowed her time to process her transition between worlds.
Well…as much as she was able to. There was a significant problem on that front, as Cayrie was finding it difficult to reconnect with humanity.
She would often find herself staring distantly at her fellow humans, so annoyingly oblivious to the world she’d been to. It was hard for her to talk with anyone, as she found the conversations overwhelmingly shallow, boring, or too invasive for her liking.
There was no way she could speak freely about her experiences to anyone but her brother, and so she didn’t really care to speak to anyone at all.
Instead, she spent a lot of time working the land, sitting in forests, or riding back roads a little too fast on her motorcycle - thinking about just how disconnected she felt from almost everyone here.
This was not an unfamiliar feeling, as she had known it well before she’d left…but now, it was tenfold.
Thankfully, the near-constant action on her DDD helped her through it. Between Coren and those brothers, she was hard-pressed to feel truly lonely - and due to their rural lifestyle, she was easily left alone by the humans she was constantly lying to. Her family, most especially.
Lucifer, however, had to govern the brother’s activity quite sternly as they were almost constantly blowing up her phone in one way or the other. It was then delegated that each brother would have an assigned day each month in which they could call her in an effort not to overwhelm her time. Cayrie always looked forward to their calls, eager to tell the demon on the line what she’d done or seen that day, how the weather was, or info on the latest human world topic they were interested in.
She loved the video calls most especially. Cayrie would sit outside with one of the brothers amid the trees and the breezes and the birdsong, laying happily on the grass, sometimes saying nothing at all as they chilled together over the connection. At times she’d be basking in the sun, or under the stars, or showing them the might of a thunderstorm as it raged against her house.
Whatever it was, they were always happy to see it, never getting bored of all the human world things she showed them.
In return, she ate up everything they sent her regarding the Devildom. All the latest gossip and news, new releases of products, gripes about classes and sibling bickering - she listened to it all happily, feeling like she was still a part of that otherworldly family.
And so spring turned to summer, summer to fall, and fall to winter in the blink of an eye.
⥈
Coren, for his work, was often gone for a day or two at a time. Today was one of those days, and so Cayrie found herself alone in the house.
She sat herself on the couch near the woodstove, watching a show while she snuggled up near the warmth of the fire. It was very cold this time of year in her part of the world. The whole yard was covered in a deep layer of white snow, the eaves of the house adorned with icicles, and the air outside so frigid it often hurt her face.
She didn’t mind it one bit, though, not next to the fire as she was. She was dressed comfortably in her signature lounge wear - leggings, long socks, and a soft cardigan - sipping on a beer while she watched some television.
Not ten minutes into the episode, her DDD rang. A wide grin spread across her face when she saw who was calling. When she accepted the video call, his excited smile filled up her screen.
“Yo! Yo yo yo, wassup?!” her demon cried excitedly. “It’s me, Mammon!”
“I can see that, you know.” she grinned. “You don’t have to announce it every time.”
“Yeah, but it’s more fun that way!” he chuckled happily. “So, how’ve ya been this month?”
“Really good.” she answered warmly. “We got a lot of snow and it’s been very cold. On the bright side, we’ll probably go fishing soon. Other than that, we’re just hunkering down inside.”
“...Fishing?” he asked, “In weather like that?”
“...Have you not heard of ice fishing?” she asked, brow raised. “It’s actually pretty popular around here. Pretty much, you gather up a bunch of people, go out on a frozen lake somewhere, drill a bunch of holes in the ice, and then sit around and drink beer while you wait for the fish to bite. When they do, you run for the flags and haul the fish up out of the hole. It’s actually really fun. Especially when you get a big one!”
“Ugh, well the COLD doesn't sound fun, but the fishin’ does! You’ll have to let me know if you get anythin’ good!”
“You know I will.” she smiled fondly. “It’s really good to hear from you. Have you been doing all right?”
“Yeah, I’m doing fine...” he muttered, giving her a little shrug. “...Though I’d be doin’ a lot better if that sadistic, stuck-up bastard hadn’t decided we needed to take turns callin’ you. He’s always comin’ up with the dumbest rules. All that stuff about how ‘human lives are short’ and we were ‘eatin’ up too much of your time’. Pfft, whatever. I should be able to call ya whenever I want, right? Once a month sucks.”
“Well, it’s better than zero times a month.” she reminded him, sharing his frustrations, “...Though I do wish I could see you. It’s been several months at this point, hasn’t it?”
“Hm…yeah it has been.” he sighed. “I wish I could see ya, too. But…ah shit - I almost forgot. There’s this dumb meeting I have to go to and it’s startin’ soon. Satan’s over there callin’ for me now. I’m sorry to ring ya and hang up so soon after, but I gotta go for now. I’ll be in touch later.”
“All right, Mammon.” she smiled softly, “Good luck with your meeting.”
“Thanks, Cayrie. See ya.”
She stayed on the call until it dropped with a definitive click. After staring at the device for a moment, and wishing he was still on the other end of it, she put it down in favor of the remote.
No sooner had she pressed play, her DDD went off again.
This time, it was a text message from Solomon.
Solomon: Hey. How are you doing? It’s been a while. I tried calling you just now, but it seems you were on another call. So, I figured I’d go ahead and text you.
Solomon: So, how’ve you been?
Cayrie: I’ve been alright. The human world is rather tame and boring compared to the Devildom.
Solomon: Ha! Well, yeah. I suppose it is, yeah…
Solomon: By the way, Cayrie. I can’t help but wondering…
She sat there, staring at the screen, waiting for him to finish his thought when the sound of crunching footsteps sounded on her porch. They were followed by a demanding series of knocks on the front door.
While she could see the door, she couldn’t see who stood in front of it. Brow furrowed with the question of who it might be, she got up from the couch and went to answer it.
Cayrie was very surprised to see Solomon standing on the other side, wearing nothing that could be considered winter clothing, and shivering violently in the frigid cold of her homeland.
“...Solomon?!” she cried, throwing the door open for him, “The hell are you doing here?! Get inside!”
He was quick to act on her offer to come in. Noticing the wood stove, he made his way toward it, holding out his hands toward the hot metal.
“Whew! That’s so much better!” he sighed happily, “I was not expecting this kind of weather when I teleported here.”
“Yeah, clearly.” she frowned, coming into the warm room with him, “But a quick Gaggle search would have told you as much. What are you doing here, anyway?”
Cayrie had never told the sorcerer where she lived, but she imagined he had his ways of figuring it out regardless.
“I came to surprise you, of course!” he answered happily. “Didn’t expect me to show up, did you?”
“...Can’t say I did, no.” she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn’t expect anyone to show up in this part of the world. That feature was a big reason why she chose to live here in the first place.
“Haha! Excellent.” he grinned, looking very proud of himself. “All right then! The surprise is over, so let’s get going!”
“...Get going where?” she demanded, growing annoyed with his unannounced intrusion and ever-cryptic way of speaking.
“...I mean, you want to go back to the Devildom, don’t you?” he asked, turning to face her, “Well, I’m happy to inform you that Solomon the Wise is about to grant you your wish.”
Cayrie gaped at him.
“Like…right now?” she asked, unwilling to believe it.
Solomon smiled his unknowable little smile as the room shivered and flashed around her in a very disorienting way.
“Solomon?!” she cried as a brilliant light filled her vision. In an instant, the two of them were gone from the room, the unwatched show, unfinished beer, and DDD abandoned right where she had left them.