Alex gets up and heads to the bathroom, closing the door with a little too much force. He looks into the mirror and sees the bags under his eyes.
He washes his face and looks again, seeing Lilith standing behind him. He screams and slips, falling back onto her.
Lilith catches him, holding him to her chest. "Do you need help, Master??" She asks, smiling at him.
Alex looks at her with mild annoyance and anger , "how did you get in here??!!!" He asks, standing up straight.
He notices that she is wearing his clothes, the nice and comfortable ones. "Oh I just opened the door.... duh." She said, sticking her tongue out.
Alex face palms himself and grabs her arm, gently, his not a monster after all. He drags her to the front door and opens it.
"Please leave, now!!" He says, not wanting any more drama for today, or the rest of his life.
Lilith blinks slowly, her tail drooping between her legs, her horns dim and flickering. "Okay, if that's what you want...." she says.
She looks back with those sad pink eyes, but Alex just closes the door. He takes a deep breath, finally his life can go back to normal.
As he moves towards the kitchen, he finally starts a sudden hotness in his chest. He thinks it might be heart burn and decides to drink some water.
But the moment he reaches the kitchen, a sudden burning sensation hits him in his stomach, his hot, and extremely painful.
He falls to the ground and coughs up blood, vision blurring as his head pounds harder. He crawls towards the main door, the pain slowly reducing.
He manages to stand up and open the door. "Lilith are you still ...." he stops mid sentence.
Lilith is surrounded by the neighbours, each of them looking concerned. They all turn towards him, eyes demanding answers.
"Alex, is this your girlfriend, we found her collapsed on the ground, she is bleeding badly.... Did you do this?" No of his neighbours asks.
Everyone starts murmuring and whispering to each other. Alex knows this is bad, if all this is his doing, they might gang up on him.
"Oh Lilith, I told you not to go out with your medicine, you know it's bad for your .....stomach??" He asks himself rather than defending.
He moves between the crowd and grabs her, carrying her in his arms, she wraps her arms around him, locking her hands behind his neck.
Alex turns back to his apartment, and one of the neighbours stops him." Hey wait a minute, who is that girl?" His neighbour asks.
Alex sighs and looks at him, that tired expression showing. "She's my girlfriend if you must know." He says, closing the door behind him.
Alex places her on the couch and heads towards the kitchen, he hesitates, poking his hand through before entering.
He grabs a cup of water and heads back to the livingroom, "hey lilith, i brought you a glass of wa..." he stops mid sentence, dropping the glass on the floor.
Lilith is sitting comfortably on his couch, she is kicking her legs in the air. "What the actual fuck!!" He says.
She looks at him and straightens up.
"Sit, Master. You look like you're about to pass out." she says, gesturing to the couch.
Alex doesn't sit, he stands there, fists clenched as if he's going to hit something. "Explain yourself now....Please." he says.
Lilith sighs like he's being dramatic. "Fine here are the basic rules. We made a pact last night. You said and i quote... 'live with me forever' while drunk and crying like a baby."
" I accepted and we sealed it with a kiss and… other stuff..... adult stuff. Now we're bound together forever Master."
"If you leave you permanently, or if you kick me out, the pact burns us both from the inside. Slow. Painful. Like really bad acid reflux that lasts forever."
She tells him, pointing at his stomach.
Alex stares, blinking slowly. "Both of us?" he asks.
"Yup.....You burn, I burn... Fun couple activity." She grins.
"So unless you wanna die in agony, I'm staying. Forever. Yay."
Alex looks like he's had enough of life, eyes dead and tired, his shoulders slumped in defeat "I hate you." he says.
Lilith giggles, her tail knocking over a lamp "You'll get used to it."
He rubs his face and stomach, feeling the slight pain, he lifts his shirt and sees burn marks. "Great, just wonder." He says.
He looks at Lilith and sighs, "Fine but if you're staying… look human. I have neighbors. And a job. And I don't need people thinking I'm running a cult."
Lilith snaps her fingers, a thick layer of pink smoke swirls. When it clears, she's in a full maid outfit...black dress, white apron, frilly headband, short skirt, stockings.
She looks like she stepped out of a cosplay catalog or anime con.
"Better, Master?" she asks, twirling ,skirt flares just enough to be dangerous.
Alex pinches the bridge of his nose, ready to end himself. "I said human, not anime maid fantasy."
"Close enough." She winks, arching her back.
Alex sighs and heads to his room, when he comes out, he is casually dressed "I'm going to work. Do NOT do anything stupid. Do NOT leave. Do NOT talk to anyone. Just… stay here. Quietly please."
Lilith salutes. "Yes sir, Master sir!"
He grabs his keys, wallet, phone and leaves, closing the door behind him with a click.
Lilith waits five seconds, then starts doing what she thinks maids do..
She starts dusting, sweeping, wiping counters.
She hums a little tune, speaking in biblical tongue that causes items to float.
She finds his laundry basket, sniffs his hoodie.... Smiles.
Sniffs his shirt, bigger smile turning pink.
Pulls out a pair of boxers, buries her face in them, deep inhales. "Mmm. Smells like stress and bad decisions. My favorite." she says, sniffing more.
Then a knock on the door.
She opens it, smiling sweetly, already ignoring the third rule.
A guy in a cheap suit holding a rolled-up carpet sample is standing in front of her. "Hi ma'am! I'm from Eternal Comfort Carpets. We're doing free estimates in the building today. Would you like to see our new—"
Lilith's smile drops completely, eyes narrowing. "No." she says, pain and simple.
He keeps going. "This one's stain-resistant, perfect for high-traffic—"
She grabs his collar. Horns flicker for a few seconds. "I said no!!." she said, her voice deepening as she spoke.
Pink smoke swirls around him, he screams, she snaps her fingers...poof!!Gone to hell.
Lilith dusts her hands. "Rude."
Closes the door and goes back to sniffing laundry. "Oh this one dirty.....Jackpot!!" She exclaims.
At the Cafe, Alex is dying.
Customers are yelling, orders are wrong, coffee spills on his shirt, his annoying manager, Ms. Ruth, breathing down his neck like a parasite. "Pick up the pace, Alex! Those orders aren't gonna make themselves!"
He mutters "Yes ma'am!" under his breath. Finally after hours of hell, he clocks out. Drags himself home and opens the door.
The apartment smells like burnt sugar and brimstone. But… clean? Weirdly clean.
Lilith bounces over in her maid outfit. "Welcome home, Master! I made dinner!"
She gestures to the table. Plate of… something pink, glowing,bubbling.
It looks like toxic waste with seasoning.
Alex stares. "What is that?"
"Essence of desire Steak! With a side of lust-glazed Juice!!. Eat up!" she says looking at him.
He backs away. "I'm good. I'll eat cereal."
Lilith pouts. "You're no fun." she says, trying to feed him.
Then faint screams are heard, muffled and low, coming from the fridge.
Alex freezes. "Do you hear that?"
Lilith blinks. "Hear what?" she says, trying to force feed him.
She puts the plate down and opens the fridge, grabbing the ketchup bottle.
Inside tiny muffled screaming. A man's voice. "Help! Let me out!" coming from a jar of pickles.
Lilith's eyes turn red as she stares at him before closing the door."Ketchup ...hey?" she exclaims.
Alex stares at her from the living room, hand on the door handle of his room, "I'm going to bed."
Lilith pouts and gets mad "wait, you should try it, it's delicious and nutritious and ... and..." she tries explaining.
Alex walks into his room and closes the door, locking it for good measure.
Lilith slums on the couch and eats it herself, enjoying her own cooking. Then a knock, she gets up and opens the door.
On the other side is a lady, she is wearing a suit and is carrying a suit case. "Excuse me Ma'am, would you be interested in buying health insurance?" She asks Lilith.
Her eyes narrow and darken, she snaps her finger and the lady's body contorts horribly, she screams but they are short lived.
Lilith turns her into a plushie and picks it up, closing the door behind her. She hears the lock to Alex's room turn and smiles.
Alex sticks his head out, "did you hear something?" He asks.
"No, it was just me talking to myself." She says, placing the plushie in front of her.
"What the heck is thi..." but before he could even ask, Lilith pushes the door open, knocking Alex down.
"You thought you could run but no, now eat Master!!" She said cutely.
Alex turned away in horror, not wanting to eat that. Lilith closes the door.