Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Edith had led the pair to a small and mostly empty park, while Maria and Sammy were on the phone. Just as Maria’s butt hit a small bench Sammy dropped the bombshell.

“They’ve been arrested!”

“Wait, what? Who?!

“All of them. Your parents and your siblings.”

“What?!”

“Yeah! For tax evasion, tax fraud, money laundering, and a lot of other illegal money stuff.”

Maria went still for a second, before slowly turning to look at her demon. Edith, who clearly heard what Sammy was saying, had a smug look on her face and simply shrugged at Maria. What had Edith done?

“Your siblings we let off, but your parents are out on bail. It’s been all over the news!”

“Oh gods…”

“Right?! Oh, the news also found out about you…”

“They… They what?!”

“Remember how you said your parents ‘faked’ your death? They tried to get an actual death certificate for you and have been trying for some time, apparently. But they made a lot of public statements and talks about your ‘death’ when you were kicked out, and the media dug into it and found out you aren’t dead. They also tried tracking you down, because they found out you were trans, and considering your dad was very, very anti-LGBTQ it’s this big story.”

“Oh no…” Maria really didn’t like the sound of all this. Well, her parents getting arrested she didn’t care about, but the media making a frenzy about her being alive and trans actually made her feel sick. Everyone will know she’s trans now, no matter how well she passes… Maria felt Edith’s arm wrap around her waist and pull her into a side hug.

“Yeah… Also the IRS is looking for you. They want to ask you questions, but they aren’t trying to arrest you or anything. I think because you got out of there just as you turned eighteen that you’re in the clear for whatever your family has done.”

“Great…” Maria said with as much enthusiasm as a rock. Without much thought, Maria leaned more onto her demon, who held her tighter in return.

“I’m sorry, Maria…”

“It’s okay. Just something else I can blame on my family.”

“Are you sure you're okay? If you need me, I can leave work early and come over.”

“No, no. It’s fine, I’ve got Edith here, and I suppose I should go and talk to the IRS as soon as I can.”

Sammy was quiet for another second, seemingly still not convinced on Edith. “Alright. Well just don’t disappear on me again, okay? And make sure to tell me how everything goes with the IRS!”

“Okay, Sammy. Will do.”

“Alright. Be safe.”

“You, too.”

With that, Maria hung up the phone and closed her eyes for a minute just trying to process all of that. Just as she thought things were kind of calming down again, reality said “nope” and gave her the middle finger. Edith meanwhile just gently rubbed her side as she held her.

“Alright. I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Edith nodded. “Where would you like me to start?”

“Why not start with the lesser of the two things, the apartment address you told me to say.”

“Well,” Edith began, “The I.P.L. tends to have an apartment building in most major cities on Earth. That’s where they keep the different gates for travel between Earth and other planes. They also use it as a cover for people who have a life on Earth and another plane. So, in our case, we live here, but you are still known on Earth. It could be troublesome if, say, the government was trying to get a hold of you, like I guess they are now, and you were nowhere to be found. So, the I.P.L. can assign you an apartment in the building as a cover for your place of residence. You can just have it be a cover or you can actually rent an apartment there for a home on Earth. We only have the cover address, not an actual room. Though we could get one if you want/need one.”

“So, what if the IRS ends up going to the place and finds we don’t actually live there?”

“The building or complex has a guard out front. They won’t let anyone in but will take a message and deliver it to the person, upon which they can say they aren’t home or use a gate to show up at the complex. There are other safety measures and stuff, but I don’t really know them all.”

“Okay.” That was good at least. “So… What’s going on with my family and their money?”

“Right, I was going to tell you, but the tech guy cut me off. You’ve probably heard stories that making deals with demons never ends well, right? It’s actually pretty true when it comes to demons dealing with humans. It’s kind of a cultural thing that we try to screw humans over. Pixies also screw humans over, as well,” Edith mused at that last bit.

“Anyway, we don’t always do that, but in a case like ours I wanted your parents to get some payback at the end of the deal. So, my Mom has some decent connections on Earth and within the I.P.L. Basically we used those connections to give your family dirty money, funneled through all sorts of things. What your family did with it was all on them, and from the sounds of it, they just dug themselves a deeper hole. The IRS and other agencies have actually had their eyes on them for quite a while, but using Mom’s connections we held them at bay. That’s because the contract between your parents and I went on until I took you as mine on your birthday. When that happened, we let go of the reins and let them go after your family.”

Maria just stared at her demon as she explained everything. It was all a little shocking to hear, really. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into screwing her parents over, and a lot of people must have helped in it. And it was all because Maria’s parents were willing to sell her away for money.

It was also a little scary to hear Edith admit to doing something so… bad? Was it really bad though? It was just helping bad people get what they deserve, right? There was of course the fact that her parents had used the money in ways that actively hurt people like Maria. Though was that really Edith’s fault? She just gave them money, and they could have done good things with it.

“You okay, dear?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah… I was just caught up in my head there.”

“You… You don’t think of me any differently, do you?” Edith asked with genuine worry on her face.

Maria shook her head. “No, I don’t.” She wasn’t going to think of it as Edith doing anything bad. Her parents had done what they did because they were shit people. Edith was doing no more fulfilling her end of the bargain. What they decided to do with the money was no fault of Edith’s. “Though I am a little shocked at how much effort you seemed to put into getting me.”

“I was a little, too, when it all first started. But after seeing you, and getting to be with you, I know it was all worth it.” Edith gave Maria a very sincere smile, which Maria couldn’t help reciprocating.

“Well, I’m glad you're happy with me. I’m pretty happy with you too,” Maria said before sitting up to kiss her lover.

After they pulled away from the kiss, Edith rested her forehead on Maria’s. “I love you,” the demon almost whispered, still a little afraid to say it out loud.

“I love you, too.”

~~~

“Are you sure I’ll be okay?” Maria asked Edith as they stepped into the gate room.

After their little talk Maria ended up calling the IRS. It was quite annoying because she had to call the basic phone number, then wait on hold for half an hour. After someone finally picked up, she was transferred over and over again until finally, after over an hour on the phone, she was talking to someone useful.

The agent, Mr. Markson, asked her a few basic questions over the phone to confirm her identity, which was apparently no longer Maria Crawthord, but Maria Τῠ́ρᾰννος. Edith had apparently taken the liberty of using the I.P.L. to create an identity for herself a few days before she came for Maria. And on the day Maria was knocked out, she had gotten them married in the eyes of the government.

Maria was a little miffed at her demon for it, to be honest, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. To be fair, they are married in Celesque as well, and it’s not like they are going to break up or anything. They are a literal magically perfect match for one another. So, she guessed there wasn’t really any harm in it.

Oddly enough, it helped in a weird way because both the media and the IRS were looking for her with the last name Crawthord. Having it changed literally the day this all started put a bit of a hurdle in the way of finding her. Even if they did find out about the name change, it’s not like they can actually get to her because she isn’t even on the same plane as them.

Maria also wondered just how much the IRS really cared about her since they couldn’t even look up marriage certificate. Hopefully this all meant they wouldn’t actually need her for very long or for anything too strenuous. Still, Agent Markson asked her if she could meet him at one of the local offices for some questioning. At least it was early enough in the day that it wouldn’t really affect Maria and Edith’s plans. Not that they really had plans. So, after grabbing some lunch, the two headed to the planar gate.

“Yes, you’ll be fine dear. You’ve had magic in you for nearly a full four days now. You’ve even started changing. You’ll be fine,” Edith reassured Maria as they walked closer to the big blue portal. The portal looked very similar to the Stargate in the aptly named Stargate franchise. Maybe one of the people working on the original movie wasn’t actually human…

“Okay…” Maria wasn’t entirely convinced, but she still trusted Edith. Grabbing onto her demon’s hand tightly, she stepped forward into the gate.

Similar to when Edith teleported Maria two days ago, Maria completely lost all sense of gravity. Dizziness washed over her in more powerful waves than Edith’s little jump, and Maria felt her stomach lurch. Somehow, in the space between spaces, Maria managed to not throw up. Then suddenly it was all over, and the pair were standing in a different plane.

Maria’s sense of equilibrium didn’t return to her right away, and she quickly grabbed onto Edith. Her lover chuckled lightly as she kept hold of her stumbling human.

“Fuck, I think I might throw up…” Maria muttered trying to hold in her lunch.

Immediately the attendant on this side of the portal said, “There’s a trash can right over here.”

Maria hurriedly stumbled over to it, before dry heaving a couple of times. Edith, meanwhile, stayed behind her and rubbed her back.

“Gods, that wasn’t fun,” Maria managed to get out after a couple of seconds. Slowly she pulled away from the trash can. Now that she wasn’t feeling sick anymore, she noticed the tiny headache she had this morning had returned.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I thought it wouldn’t be that bad. Sorry, dear.”

“It’s fine… I already feel better, but fuck I really don’t want to do that again…”

“You should be more use to it the next time around,” the attendant piped up. “Normally takes first timers only three or four trips before it doesn’t phase them.”

“Good to know,” Maria sighed, getting to her feet. “Alright, let’s get this interview over with.” With some purpose, Maria started heading to the door only for Edith to grab her arm and stop her. “What?”

“Are you forgetting something, Maria?” Edith asked cryptically.

“I… No?” Edith simply gestured to Maria’s eyes, then at her own demonic body. “Oh. Right. Kind of didn’t even think about that… What’s that say about me, considering I’ve only been part of the wider multiplanar universe for like thr— four days?”

“I would say it means you’re very accepting, dear,” Edith said with a smile, before giving Maria a light kiss. “Now, ready to put on a glamour?”

“Uh, yeah, but how do I do that?”

“Well, it’s a simple spell so it wouldn’t be too difficult to teach, but you’re probably not ready to cast spells yet. So, I’ll do it for us.”

“Well, okay then.” A small wave of excitement washed over Maria at the thought of being able to learn magic and spells. The fantasy nerd inside of her was extremely happy at this moment, even if she couldn’t learn spells yet.

Edith muttered a few archaic sounding words that made her already glowing eyes grow brighter. A second a wave of warmth covered Maria. Nothing seemed to have happened, but then she blinked. Instantly, Maria no longer saw the demon she had come to know and love. Instead, what stood before her was a human with deep olive skin. There were no horns. No tail. No glowing red cat eyes. Just a human who had the exact same structure as Edith, but none of the demon-y parts.

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“What do you think?” The brown eyed woman asked Maria.

“I— I—  I don’t know what I was expecting really.” Maria chuckled. “But you look the same, just without all the…demon. Maybe you're a bit more olive than I expected.”

“I am half Greek, my dear Maria.”

“That...makes a lot of sense.”

“Well, don’t get too used to it. All my demon parts are still there. If you focus a little bit you should be able to see through it.”

Curious, Maria tried focusing harder on her lover and within a couple of seconds the entire human visage faded away to demon, though there was like a magical shimmer over her. Defocusing didn't make the demon Edith go away, but instead focusing on the disguise made it come back. “Wait, so what happens to your tail and horns? Are they just invisible?”

“Oh, they’re ethereal at the moment, see,” Edith said, waving her hand over her head where her horns should be. “Though if I want I can focus on making them physical and invisible instead.”

“Huh. Well that’s interesting and good to know for the future if I ever grow them, I guess.” Maria couldn’t help but wonder what it might feel like to have an ethereal tail. Or a non-ethereal tail for that matter.

“Alright, let’s go,” Edith said, taking Maria’s arm and leading her out the exit.

The exit was an elevator and after a few moments the elevator beeped, and the door opened. Though once they stepped in, Maria realized that they had just walked through disguised elevator doors at the back and were now facing the real doors. Edith pushed the ground floor button and the elevator lurched upward. After around thirty seconds the machine beeped, and the doors opened once again.

The lobby they stepped out into was small, but obviously high end. Marble floor. molded ceilings, gold trimmings, large exotic potted plants...Maria wondered if the plants were even native to Earth. There were also several leather lounge seats scattered about, but the biggest feature was the large security desk up front with an electronic gate, so that only authorized individuals could get through.

The human guard behind the desk looked absolutely massive. He must have been near seven feet tall. Large enough that it made Maria focus for a second, only to find that he was definitely not human. Maybe some kind of…well he was blue, massive, and had large spiked horns, so demon maybe? Oni? Maria didn’t know. But the one real issue with the guy was that he was currently half arguing with, half trying to calm down a rather upset human.

“Oh shit,” Maria muttered as she froze in place.

“What?”

“That’s Sammy…”

Currently yelling at the security guard was a five-foot five androgynous stick of a human with deep navy-blue hair. A sprinkling of light makeup helped light up their bright green eyes, that shined with an intensity yet unseen by Maria until right now. It was actually a little frightening just to see how angry and frustrated Sammy clearly was.

“I told you for the last goddamn time, I just talked to her and she said she was here! Now let me through!”

“Mixx, please calm down. I have tried calling up to the room multiple times and have not gotten an answer. I’m sorry but I can’t let you up. I have left messages for them to get back to you as soon as they can.”

“Ugh. Alright, I’m going to fucking call her.”

“Mixx, please, I’m sure they’re just busy at the moment.”

Maria wondered if the guard had ever had to try this hard to hold someone off before. Though Sammy just threatening to skip the middleman and call her directly could have really led to a problem if she wasn’t here all ready. Maybe the I.P.L. didn’t quite have all the logistics figured out. Well, guess it was up to Maria to save the poor man from the enby’s wrath.

“Sammy! What are you doing here?” Maria called out a little nervously as she made her way over with Edith in tow. At least she managed to remember she needed to speak English now.

“Oh, by Athena! Maria! See?” they said looking back at the guard, “They are here. You can stop making fake phone calls now.” There was a lot of disdain in their voice.

“I wasn’t…never mind.” The guard pressed a button and the gate clicked open, letting Sammy finally come in. The little enby rushed over and gave Maria a big rib breaking hug, which she happily returned.

 “I’m so happy you’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay Sammy, I already told you that.”

“Yeah well, security over there faking calls didn’t really make it seem like that.”

“Actually…” Edith muttered, pulling out her phone. “My phone was on silent, so I didn’t notice any calls…” Sammy finally looked at the tall woman with a rather focused expression, as if trying to gain as much info as they could.

“Oh right,” Maria said, pulling away from the hug. “Sammy, this is my girlfriend Edith. Edith, this is my best friend Sammy.” She awkwardly stepped to the side to let the two face on another. To her surprise it was Edith who reacted first.

“It’s nice to meet you,” the disguised demon said, holding out a hand to shake. “Sorry for keeping Maria away from phones and stuff for so long. We were rather preoccupied,” Edith said with a smirk aimed at Maria.

Sammy took the hand and raised an eyebrow at Edith before looking over to Maria who was blushing extremely hard. Seeing that Sammy ended up blushing having understood what Edith meant by ‘preoccupied’. Edith just giggled at the sight of the two.

“Edith is rather...”

“Attractive? Good in bed? Sexually forward? All of the above?” Edith said purely enjoying embarrassing her lover in front of Sammy. It also didn’t help that Sammy was blushing even harder which just spurred the demon on more.

“Oh Gods, Edith…”

“What? I was simply curious as to what you were about to say,” the demon smirked.

“Anyway!” Maria said before this could get any more awkward. “What are you doing here, Sammy? Don’t you have work?”

“Well, I called you on my break again, and you finally answered, so I came right here after work to make sure you’re okay.”

“Sammy, you didn’t need to do that.”

“Well you’re my best friend Maria, of course I had to come and make sure,” they said, giving Edith another eye.

“I think that’s pretty admirable of you, Sammy,” Edith said with a genuine smile. “I’m glad to know Maria has a good friend like you looking after her.”

Sammy was a little taken aback by the demon’s words, considering they weren’t really sure about Edith at the moment. Still, they gave a shy smile back and said, “Thank you. See even your girlfriend thinks it’s okay for me to worry about you.”

Maria shook her head. “Alright fine. Thank you for checking up on me, Sammy.”

“See was that so hard?”

Maria chuckled. “No.”

“Say Sammy, Maria and I are heading to the IRS office so Maria can answer some questions, and I know you two don’t get to see each other a lot. Why don’t you join us?”

Maria looked over at her demon a little confused. Sure, she always loved seeing Sammy and spending time with them, but she was surprised Edith suggesting them tagging along. Especially since the couple didn’t really have a good cover story for themselves, so they could just end up digging themselves into a deeper whole.

“Are you sure, Edith?” Maria said in infernal.

“Yes, I’m sure. They’re your friend, Maria, and I don’t want them to think I’m some kind of woman stealing monster.”

“You are literally a demon who kidnapped me and took me to an entirely different plane.”

“Well, it’s not like you haven’t enjoyed it,” Edith said with a smirk, before Maria suddenly felt an invisible tail tease the front of her pants, causing the girl to let out a little squeak. Immediately Maria focused on her lover so she could see her true demon form to know exactly where that tail was. Edith looked way better to her as a demon than a human, anyway.

“What was that?” Sammy asked, looking confused between them.

“Oh, um…” Maria said trying to figure out how to explain the fact that they were just speaking a language that doesn’t exist on Earth.

“We were speaking my native language Uloyrid,” Edith said in English, though Maria recognized Uloyrid as meaning Infernal in Infernal.

Sammy just raised an eyebrow and looked over at Maria. “I didn’t know you spoke another language?”

“Uh, yeah. Edith has been teaching me a little…”

“Where is ‘Uloyrid’ even from?” Sammy asked.

“From Celesque.” Maria suddenly froze at Edith’s words. “It’s the small Greek Island I’m from.”

“Oh…okay. But if you’re Greek, why don’t you speak Greek?”

“Φυσικά μιλάω ελληνικά.”

“What?” Maria and Sammy said in unison.

“I said, ‘of course I speak Greek’. But Uloyrid is the native language of my Island, and it wasn’t always under Greek control.”

“Oh, okay,” Sammy said a little bewildered.

“Wait,” Maria said in infernal. “Why don’t I speak Greek if you do?”

“Well, it’s not my native tongue. Mitéra’s first language is planar common, because she’s a Celesque native, not actually from Greece.”

“Oh. Well okay then.” Maria quickly looked at the time on her phone. “Shit, we should get going. I don’t want to be late.”

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