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The water used to mist the produce landed on Abaddon’s shoulder and he scowled and recoiled, brushing the dampness from his clothing. A prince of hell confined to a mortal vessel and forced to complete pointless tasks like ‘running errands’. It was utterly humiliating.
“Matriach,” he said, and stopped walking, “I want to return to the hotel.”
“We haven’t even gotten the bleach yet,” Katherine replied, gripping his hand tighter and pulling him along towards the aisle that contained the cleaning products.
“I want to return to the hotel,” Abaddon repeated while stomping his feet before adding,”I don't see why you require bleach anyway.” And no, he was not whining. He was a gatekeeper of Hell and such frivolous things were below his status. He was simply strengthening his reasoning for being taken back to the hotel right that instant.
Katherine made an exasperated sound and tugged his hand harder to pull him into movement. “You drank the last of what we had,” she pointed out. “And you remember what happened the last time I left you at the hotel alone.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, “That child-body-sized hole in the wall was already hard enough to explain to the repairman and the claw marks that surrounded it did not help.” Abaddon’s scowl deepened as he attempted to tug his hand away from Katherine's grip, but she only held his wrist tighter.
“I. Want. To. Return. To. The. Hotel.” Abaddon demanded, leaning his full body weight backwards in an attempt to escape Katherine's grasp.
“Just let me get bleach and we can go,” she replied, annoyance creeping into her voice.
“I want to go now!” Abaddon cried in a high pitched tone. Katherine's eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip on Abaddon’s wrist even further.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“I would!”
Like a switch had been flipped, Abaddon threw himself to the linoleum tile floor, kicking and screaming like a petulant child. Katherine quickly released his wrist in favor of trying to pick up the thrashing demon with no success. Other shoppers looked up from what they were doing to observe the scene Abaddon was making. Katherine gave the nearest a tight smile while she tried to drag Abaddon to his feet. This attempt also proved futile.
Abaddon kicked into shelves, knocking down displays of overpriced paper towels and scattering sponges whilst screaming like a banshee. Katherine rushed to prop up a display of candles before it could fully topple over only to trip over a sponge and land hard on the ground. Scrambling back to feet and brushing hair from her face she waved awkwardly at a concerned looking woman an aisle over.
“Sorry!” Katherine called to an old man who had been struck by a stray bottle of Windex as she rushed back to Abaddon while simultaneously trying to pick up scattered products.. How the bottle had even ended up airborne in the first place was lost in the blur of flailing limbs and shrill shrieks. For a demon, Abaddon was able to do a scarily convincing imitation of a child’s tantrum.
Katherine knelt down next to Abaddon on the cold store floor, narrowly avoiding the limbs being thrown at her in the process but getting caught by a stray scratch. She looked down at her hand where a small mark was left. She would have to trim his nails again soon.
“Come on,” Katherine said, looking around at the crowd that had gathered. She struggled to suppress the grimace that was trying to fight its way onto her face. That couldn't be good for the already non-existent chances of customers at the hotel. “You need to get up.” Katherine laughed nervously. “Sorry, he missed his nap today. You know how kids get.” She directed the remark at the crowd, many of whom were pretending they weren’t watching the scene and feigning indifference.
“Abbadon!” she hissed, getting a hold of one of his arms. “If you don’t get up right now I will take the bones you got from that squirrel, I know where you hid them!” Abaddon looked at her aghast for a split second before the expression turned to a glare. It wasn't surprising she was aware of the location of his collection, he wasn’t exactly very good at being sneaky. Nonetheless though, he was still surprised. Abaddon seemed to consider her words for a moment before he finally ceased his screaming and kicking, going limp face down on the floor.
Katherine quickly scooped him up with all the care of an amazon driver delivering a package labeled ‘fragile’; which is to say virtually none. Abaddon remained limp even in her arms, the tantrum seemed to have tired him out. Katherine hurried away from the people who had gathered while trying to step over the various products that were strewn across the floor. She yelled various apologies behind herself as she went, cringing at the hostile looks she received in return. The aisle the tantrum had taken place in was littered with fallen items and the employees were not pleased with the sight. It was almost impressive the amount of havoc such a small being had managed to cause in such a short amount of time.
Abaddon was mostly silent in Katherine's arms until they got to the car save for a few sniffles. It looked like even demons weren't immune to runny noses after crying.
Katherine unlocked the car doors and buckled Abaddon into his car seat before quickly opening her own door and climbing into the vehicle. She put a hand on her face and massaged her temples. After a few moments of silence she finally spoke in an irritated voice.
“You need to stop doing that, Abaddon!” The demon crossed his arms.
“You were not listening to my command!”
“You're going to get us banned from the store!” she retorted, turning on the car and reversing it out of the parking spot. Abaddon slumped into his car seat. Yes, maybe he was pouting now but that was an entirely reasonable reaction, even for a demon.
“I want Froot Loops when we return,” Abaddon muttered. Katherine sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Fine.”