Vivi’s Perspective

The parlor was almost overwhelming, even for someone like Vivi who prided herself on being unbothered by aesthetics or status. Deep slate walls and heavy purple velvet gave the room a brooding elegance that matched the impossible gravity pressing against her chest. Shadows flickered from wrought-iron sconces, licking across the black marble like they were alive. And in the center—raised above everyone else like a dark god enthroned in his underworld—he sat.

Lord Asmodeus.

Vivi's steps faltered for a second when she entered. She didn’t let it show. She never did. But the moment her eyes landed on him, seated in his full, monstrous glory atop the obsidian throne, it felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs.

His true form was partially cloaked, restrained for the sake of sanity, but she could still feel it bleeding through the veil of his mortal shape. That shadowy aura of malevolence and raw desire wrapped around him like a second skin—coiling horns, molten eyes, an infernal pressure that radiated off of him and throbbed against her skin like heat. Her thighs clenched on instinct. Her breath caught. She held it together. Barely.

Nyx stood beside him, tiny and fierce, her aura crackling with the same oppressive weight—but young and chaotic. Still forming. Still wild. A cub born of nightmare and divinity. Vivi almost smiled. She liked the kid. Nyx reminded her of a flickering flame that hadn’t yet learned it could start forest fires.

As the others fawned and flirted, as Selena bowed with all her usual polish and Ivy dripped sugar and venom in equal measure, Vivi hung back, watching from under the rim of her beanie. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing. Her clairvoyant sight kept glitching—pulses of disjointed desire, spiraling futures, flashes of golden eyes and burning heavens filled her vision every time she looked at him for too long.

“Sup,” she said when it was her turn, keeping her voice flat, eyes lazy.

“Vivi,” he greeted, calm and deep and unreasonably intoxicating. “Glad you made it.”

Her stomach flipped. Just hearing him say her name made something primal inside her whimper. She hated how much she wanted to kneel. Not for the aesthetics. Not for power. But because it felt right. He wasn’t just her patron. He was more. Bigger. Older. Endless.

She walked past the others, crouched in front of the girl who would likely one day become even more dangerous than her father, and held out a deck of battered cards. Her fingers trembled slightly.

“Wanna know your future, princess?”

Nyx perked up. “Yeah! Tell me!”

Vivi pulled one card—The Sun. Of course. She didn’t need to fake that one. The girl was pure potential wrapped in godblood. The whole room bent around her like they didn’t even notice.

“Big destiny,” Vivi said. “You’re gonna shine bright.”

Nyx smiled, pleased, and Vivi stood again, turning back to him.

He was watching her. Those eyes, like liquid amethyst, burned straight through her mask. Her knees almost buckled. Stop it, she ordered herself. He’s just a man. But no—he wasn’t.

“Hey, Asmodeus,” she muttered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “You got a minute later today? I wanted to ask about… you know.”

She couldn’t say it outright. Not here. Not in front of the others. But the arrangement—the deal she was ready to make—was almost a foregone conclusion. She could already feel her soul humming, warming, softening under his pull. Being around him made her thoughts scramble. She wanted things. Needed things. Safety. Power. Pleasure. Direction. She wasn’t sure where he ended and her own hunger began.

“We’ll talk in a minute. I will take care of you as promised.”

His voice wasn’t even seductive. He didn’t have to try. The words hit her like a hot slap across the face. Her fingers curled into her palms.

Then he asked, “Where’s Lilith?”

Tension. So much tension. The others all shifted, looked away, hedged or hesitated. Vivi didn’t bother.

“She thinks you’ve been ignoring her,” she said plainly. “You prioritized Elara and Selena’s contracts before hers. She’s kind of a prideful bitch, honestly.”

He frowned. Not angry, just calculating. Vivi had seen that look before in dreams—right before he unraveled someone.

Her gaze lingered on him for just a few seconds longer, and her thoughts began to spiral again. The throne. His presence. The way his daughter clung to him like a sacred totem of protection. The way the others looked at him—like he was salvation and damnation wrapped in tailored clothing and restrained malice.

She closed her eyes briefly and saw it again. The vision that had captured her sleepless thoughts since she formed a contract with her master.

He stood on a shattered plain of ash, wings torn and blazing, every movement radiating obscene, demonic power. He was monstrous—beautiful in the way collapsing stars are beautiful—horns gleaming, eyes aflame, roaring in a voice that cracked the sky.

And across from him—his enemy.

A woman of impossible radiance, her skin molten gold streaked with glimmering veins. Her horns burned with golden fire, curling like a crown of greed. Her wings shimmered with precious metal, edged in talons that pulsed with hunger. Her eyes… God, her eyes. Endless pools of molten gold, swirling with longing and malice and possession.

She didn’t fight for righteousness. She fought to own him.

Vivi had woken from that dream many times recently, gasping, drenched in sweat, heart pounding like a war drum. She didn’t know the golden devil’s name. Didn’t need to. She just knew it felt inevitable. Like some future carved in fate’s bone.

She opened her eyes now and exhaled slowly, gaze drifting to him once more.

“He doesn’t even know.” She thought. “But in that dream I’ve seen him at his most terrifying. And still… I’ve never wanted anything more.”

She didn’t smile. She just walked to the side and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, heart hammering. Trying to pretend her body wasn’t aching from just being near him.