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lairofdragonagelore · 2 years ago

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Andrastian Design: Tapestry and Tryptich

Even though there is tapestry of each cultural group all over DAI, it’s common to associate tapestry with Ferelden mainly. In game we mostly find in Ferelden houses some of these Tapestries, that like the Stained Glasses of the Chantry, narrate the story of Andraste.

The main reason why I assume these are Ferelden-made is basically because, 1) we find them always inside houses and castles of Ferelden, and 2) by analysing their frame, they are associated with the Ferelden Wyvern.

The frame

Fist of all, let’s see the details of the frame: They are decorated with a beautiful colourful complex set of patterns: dots, geometrical lines, circles, swirls, half-circles, and star-like figures compound it.

On the top corners we find two different kind of owls.

Owls have always been part of Ferelden design because they belong to their alamari heritage, given the important role that the Lady of the Skies [represented as an owl too] have in the alamarri/avvar religion. Since they are also quite close to spirits, I would not be surprised if these owls are also a link to the Elvhenan [we know that a curious pair of birds can be found in the Hidden Armoury [Elven mountain ruins] and there are many owls in Skyhold [specially in the front gates and in the basement library that may or may not be related to the ancient elvhen presence in it] as well as in the Inverted Ward.

In the lower part of the frame, we find a Ferelden Wyvern, which are represented in several places throughout DAI. They are related to a non-official folktale of Andraste that we find in one of the books of World of Thedas. The tale is quite meaningless and shallow [more details in Crestwood]. This detail is the main reason why I think these tapestry are strongly Ferelden made.

The Story of Andraste

1-Unknown Event

The first of all these tapestries is the one most difficult for me to understand. Based on the Chant of Light, it may represent the dark times alamarri were living; most of their territories were invaded by Tevinter, their resources were stolen and their people were kidnapped and turned into slaves. These strange harpy creatures may be a rare representation of Tevinter preying on Alamarri [it’s very strange since Tevinter is always represented with a snake or a dragon]

On the other hand, we see two bridges and a big elevated structure that makes me remember Ostagar, which was a Tevinter structure to keep the Chasind away from the invaded regions of Ferelden.

Another interpretation is that this may represent the Golden City of the Maker, desecrated with the entrance of the Magisters. We have to remember that Andraste’s Tale comes half a century after the end of the First Blight. Still, it’s a weird representation since it’s not a floating city in the air, but a fortress in an island, with access through bridges, and there is water bellow.

We also know that by that time, Andraste called the Alamarri gods for help, but they remained silent [meaning, neither the Lady of the Sky, nor Korth, nor Hakkon answered her] and this scene may represent the despair that such situation may have caused.

Finally, as a last interpretation, this structure may be Kinloch Hold, where the current circle of Magi of Ferelden is located. The original construction was built by the Avvar with some help from dwarves. It served as a fortress and a watchtower and was long considered impregnable until the Tevinter Imperium drove the Avvar from it in a brutal campaign. Maybe this image represents Kinloch Hold but surrounded by harpies and despair due to the lack of answer of the gods while the avvar were attacked by the Tevinter forces.

In any case, I can’t totally trust 100% any of these interpretation. The drawing is very strange for the lore we were given.

2- The Maker speaks to Andraste

Without the answer of her gods, Andraste roamed the forest of Ferelden until the Maker appeared. Here we can see once more the figure of a man, without face, covered from toe to head, only wearing a crown. He is presented with a glow of green and golden, making his connection to the Fade a bit subtler in this drawing than in the Stained Glasses.

His veil has a pattern of what I think it’s a rose or a flower with vines, but sadly it’s not easy to see the details. I could not find a better quality image for a decent zoom-in.

Over him, we see the moon with three borders, and I can’t avoid making a connection with the murals of Solas [Murals in DAI] where the Veil is represented with thick borders. This is very curious because in the other tapestries the moon appears like a normal element in the drawing, so this representation emphasises to the Player [not to the people inside Thedas] that there may be some special relationship with the moon. It’s also worth noting that the moon has a yellow/golden border same as the figure of the Maker, and golden decorations are usually related to godhood [at least inside the elvhenan context].

This scene represents the verses of Andraste 1 [Chant of Light - Part 1] where the Maker claims that the world has forgotten him, and invites Andraste to join him to the Golden City and leave the sorrow behind, but Andraste asks him to forgive humanity. He accepts, promising his return if his children listen to her.

3- With Maferath, Andraste leads the Exalted March against Tevinter

Here, Andraste and Maferath lead an Exalted March against Tevinter in order to spread the word of the Maker and stop Tevinter oppression all over the alamarri lands. We see in this tapestry several alamarri warriors using a shield with the symbol of the Sun and hilts with wolf/mabari shapes. Again, the mabari is a Ferelden icon, while the Avvar prefer the wolf, since it’s an animal of freedom and not tamed as the hound [A Plea from the Warrior to the Spirits]. Depending on how we perceive the alamari around Andraste, this hilt can be also a subtle elvhen symbol of rebellion. I insist in relating the Avvar/alamari with the elvhen simply because their perception of the world of the spirits gave them similar wisdom than the Elvhenan.

Andraste is also wearing her typical one-spiked crown. Behind her we can see Maferath. She and Maferath wear a common element: a series of golden tiles around their chest or veil to emphasise the link they have: they are the leaders guided by divine words in this “divine” march against Tevinter.

Also, notice how different the moon is represented in this tapestry in comparison with the previous one.

4- Andraste fights in Tevinter territory

This seems to be a depiction of a battle close to Minrathous. The background shows typical Tevinter buildings. On the left side of the tapestry we can see Tevinter warriors being killed by arrows [probably a subtle calling of Shartan presence], while Andraste, as a [superheroe] warrior, jumps in the air.

Behind her, we see a lightning and a dark cloud, suggesting three potential things: when we read about the role of Shartan and the elves, their contribution is usually described as the responsible for creating “dark clouds of arrows that fall upon the enemy”.

The other interpretation, more andrastian, is that the Maker presence is there, helping them in battle. Finally, in the last interpretation, this cloud may be a representation of Andraste’s magical powers [in DAO we have the icon of Tempest looking similar to this: clouds and lightnings]. There is a glowing circle behind her face similar to the moon in the previous tapestry. These details may reinforce the idea of Andraste as a prophet of the Maker, or as a mage [specially if we read about her childhood with that strange episode of her half-sister dying in a fire, in the middle of the forest, implying that Andraste may have lost control of potential magical powers or was possessed by some spirit; the interpretations of this vague episode can go wild].

On the right side of the tapestry, I can see a statue that I suspect is of Nevarran origin [Egyptian-like design], meaning this battle may have been close to the borders of Tevinter and Nevarra.

Again, like in the post of Stained Glasses, I don’t find a particular group of verses where Andraste narrates her movement across Ferelden, the Waking Sea, and Nevarra to attack Tevinter lands. The closest verse to this action is in Shartan Verses [Chant of Light - Part 2] but also historical battles are implied in Hymns and Transfigurations [Chant of Light - Part 1] where Andraste prays to the Maker before heading to combat. It is curious that there is no verses about the “travelling” part of Andraste and her armies, not even when crossing the Waking Sea and Nevarra in which land there are some tales going on as we saw in Emprise du Lion: Pools of the Sun with her supposed Nevarran disciple/lover Hector. In fact, in this local tale, the event of the betrayal is placed there, in Nevarra and not in front of Miranthous ready to lay a siege [hence my complete confusion about where exactly this betrayal happened, and if any siege to Miranthous truly happened].

5- Andraste is handed over to Tevinter

In this scene we see when Maferath hands over Andraste to Tevinter. Since in the previous tapestry we see hints of Nevarra, and then we have this tapestry of the betrayal, we can assume that the tapestries narrate Andraste’s story in a way that makes Hector easy to be included [check Emprise du Lion: Pools of the Sun], while the Stained Glasses seem to remove any presence of Nevarra in her story. But the Stained Glasses have the presence of Shartan, which has been completely erased in these tapestries, making me suspect that maybe these tapestries keep the tale of Andraste with a strong Ferelden vision, probably closer to the most ancient versions of her tales [likely before the Long Walk of the free elves to the Dales, time when the tale of Shartan appears as we saw in The Chantry and the Mythology of the Chant of Light].

Here, we see Andraste being held by two Tevinter guys who look very evil. Like in the Stained Glasses, Havard is not here either. According to the Chant of Light, The Aegis Havard was supposed to be here, and unable to fight his Lord Maferath as well as to hand Andraste over to Tevinter, he puts himself in between Andraste and the evil Tevinter and ends up deadly wounded [Chant of Light - Part 2].

In the shadows, representing the secret arrangement, we see Maferath giving a handshake to Archon Hessarian.

Behind them, a snake passes by: it has the tip of the tail golden, continues black, and then it turns out white. I’m not so sure if this means the transition of Archon Hessarian, from worshipping Old Gods, to kill Andraste, and then repent and became an Andrastian follower himself.

In the background, we see more Tevinter buildings with “evil” red glowing windows.

The moon has a similar style to the one we saw in the tapestry with the Maker, but its borders are smudged. The colours seem to be the same ones but desaturated and muddy.

I’m not sure if this represents some “lack of presence of divinity” since Andraste’s golden tiles are also hidden below her hair, giving the idea that the Maker abandoned her. She is not wearing her typical one-spiked crown either.

This tapestry represents the verse of Apotheosis 1 [Chant of Light - Part 2].

6- Andraste is killed

In the next tapestry we see the public execution of Andraste in a pyre. The background shows Tevinter buildings, suggesting this is Minrathous.

On the left we see Havard, the avvar warrior who is wearing a klimt-yellow robe. He is looking down, lamenting this situation. He is not “deadly wounded” as the Chant says. It seems that in this Ferelden version, Havard never was in the moment Maferath hands over Andraste, so he appears safe and sound at the moment of her execution.

Close to Havard, we see a woman, kneeling as she cries, that maybe is Justinia, the original one. I guess this because it makes not much sense to add a random woman in this scene; all the characters present in this image have a relevance in the story of Andraste.

There is also a Tevinter man in black robes who also seems sad about this execution [Is this Trefir? the Archon’s slave who left Tevinter carrying the Sword of Mercy and was supposed to found the Blades of Hessarian?, more details in “The Chantry and the Mythology of the Chant of Light”]. I’m surprised of seeing another “sad Tevinter” considering this is made by Ferelden and one would expect a more anti-tevinter propaganda.

In the centre we see Archon Hessarian, wearing a white robe, the same white that Andraste. This is very unusual given the typical dark outfit of the high hierarchy in Tevinter, so I’m inclined to interpret his figure here as “a purification” that the Archon experienced when he killed Andraste out of Mercy. If Andraste was purified by fire, the Archon was so by his merciful act. Again, a veeery rare representation of Tevinters, specially coming from a Ferelden source. As the Chant claims, he is sinking his sword in Andraste’s heart to give her a merciful death.

In the pyre, Andraste’s bleeds to death, tingeing her hair of red too. she still wears a minimal line of golden tiles.

On the right side of the tapestry, we see Maferath, leaving the scene with some facial gesture of regret, while holding in his hand a crown, that may represent the Maker, as if “he removed the Maker influence in this story”, or more likely, to “recover” his leadership of the alamarri.

I think this crown has one longer spike, so it may be Andraste’s crown, but it’s not the same crown that Andraste uses in previous tapestries, so the interpretation is a bit more loosely. Ferelden art depicts Andrates’ crown in very different ways.

The verse that this tapestry represents is Apotheosis 2 [Chant of Light - Part 2].

7- Andraste ascends

Here we see the ascension of Andraste to the Maker’s side. Also, notice that this tapestry shows a normal moon too.

The background displays two tree, one of them looking a bit like a thorny vine. There is a sky full of stars. An intense white light wraps her and makes her raise. She is wearing white, implying how the fire purified her. Below her, we see Maferath and Archon Hessarian, surprised.

The verse represented in this image is the last part of Apotheosis 2 [Chant of Light - Part 2].

8-Havard takes Andraste’s ashes

In the last tapestry, we see Havard, wearing this iconic klimt-yellow robe, carrying Andraste’s ashes in the night, leaving Miranthous/Tevinter. We will know later that he went to the Frostback Mountains to build Haven, founding the Temple of Andraste that later will be developed into the Disciples of Andraste.

The verse represented in this image is the last part of Apotheosis 2, [Chant of Light - Part 2], even though it is curious that the Chant claims that Havard was healed by the ashes of Andraste, while we see in the tapestries that he was not even hurt. It’s also curious he looks more like a mage [yellow robe and staff] than an avvar warrior.

Many of these tapestries, including this one, display small lines of green in the scenery as if it were mist, but they give an eerie feeling to the drawing, almost a subtle Fade-y effect.

The Orlesian Triptych

Why do we assume this is Orlesian? Simple: it’s not only over elaborated, it has a Quincunx design in it [more details below] which is present in the Orlesian design of rugs,

and has the typical triangular face of Orlais, that may represent Andraste [we find it in many sculptures of Orlais], Celene or Drakon’s Heraldry. I cannot point out exactly who is this triangular face, but all these options look reasonable in my opinion.

The Orlesian triptych is focused on the execution of Andraste and her later ascension.

At the top we see three iconic symbols in circles: in the centre, below the Orlesian face [or Drakon’s heraldry, I never know], we find a circle depicting the Golden City. At the right side, the typical icon of the six snakes with that little polygon in the middle, which used to be the typical symbol to represent Tevinter in a more “arcane” way [ check Nation Art: Tevinter].

On the left side, we find a simplification of a Ferelden symbol we found in Nation Art: Ferelden, which shows a face crying. I assume this is a representation of Andaste’s face in a Ferelden style or a vestige of a Sun-based religion before the alamarri trinity religion.

As apparently Orlesian design implies, the triptych shows the 3/4 of a Quincunx, completing the fourth circle on Andraste’s heart. Therefore, the middle of the complete Quincunx would show the face of Andraste wearing her typical spiked crown. The Quincunx has been quite a repetitive element in DAO, being forgotten in later games. In DAI we only see it in Solas’ Tarot Card, and in some Orlesian designs that are seen in the concept art but not inside the game so far I’ve seen.

Below the Ferelden symbol, we see Maferath. He is wearing a crown of three spikes, a bit squared. He can’t see the light that Andraste radiates. Ironically, he is drawn in a more darker and evil way than the Archon, which is surprising for me, since Orlais did not show a strong negative sentiment towards Maferath as Ferelden does [in the Hinterlands, we see in very raw sculptures the strong rejection that Ferelden has towards him in general]. Instead, I was expecting Orlais, headquarters of the Chantry religion, to be more negative towards Tevinter because their Imperial Church.

Below the symbol of Tevinter, Archon Hessarian looks at Andraste, unbothered by the radiance, ready to use the sword as we can see his hand ready, close to the hilt of the sword at his waist. A white snake is surrounding him, probably as a symbol of his change of heart that gave him some level of “cleansing”.

The two panels are separated by a sword that lays over the burning body of Andraste: this is the Sword of Mercy that we see in many other pieces of art. Curiously, it’s the same sword that the Tevinter Warrior holds in the statues Female Kossith/ Desire demon /Tevinter Warrior which decorate the columns of the Imperial Highway. This makes me suspect, in combination with such a positive view over Tevinter elements, that maybe this triptych is older than i expected, maybe older than the Schism of the Chantry. However, we have no information to confirm or debunk it, sadly.

When we open the Triptych, we can see Andraste, purified [wearing white] and the sun behind her.

This figure is a copy of the tapestry of the ascension of Andraste: I mean, from a design point of view, the designer copy-pasted the same Andraste and altered it a bit, meaning that one of these pieces of art if the copy of the other.

On the left, we see the Ferelden side: Maferath is kneeling down, defeated, regretful, with his crown on his lap.

The Chantry hierarchy can be easily seen here represented by the three people lamenting Andraste’s death and looking down at Masferath: Sister/Brother and revered Mother.

Beside Andraste, we see the “white” Divine, the Divine with main residence in Orlais.

On the right, we have the Tevinter side, mirroring the left side: we see that Archon Hessarian is on the ground, regretful, in similar position to Maferath. He, as well as Maferath, wears a red cord in his head that was not present in Maferath’s head in the previous image. I don’t know what it could mean, since it stands out a lot in the drawing of dark and white colours.

Behind him, we see a group of Tevinters that I assume belong to the hierarchy of the Imperial Chantry. Just by the outfit, we can see a magister, and probably a Revered Father and a sister.

I assume this one marked in the image is the magister simply because he wears similar to the Magister Erasthenes that we meet in Orlais: Shrine of Dumat.

Beside Andraste, if I’m not mistaken, we can see the “Black” Divine, the imperial Divine. The curious helm he uses reminds me a lot of the mysterious symbol we found in Hinterlands: The Unknown Ruin.

Now, this Triptych is astonishing and mega-surprising for the presence of the Imperial Chantry in equality to the Orlesian Chantry, “Black” Divine included, since he’s considered a “false” divine. So, I think that this triptych, usually seen in Orlesian places, is quite subversive. I’m sad we don’t have much information about who painted it and when, because, again, to place the Imperial church in the same level than the orlesian Chantry, mirroring it no less, it’s very, very strange.

#andraste #andrastian design #maferath #hessarian #archon hessarian #chantry #chant of light #sword of mercy #ferelden design #Ferelden Wyvern #owl #Quincunx #the sun symbol

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sluttyten · 1 month ago

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The Devil in Me

Kinktober Day 9 | Haechan Masterlist | Member Masterlist

tags: loss of virginity, first time, oral sex, marking, biting, possessive/protective Haechan, mentions of human sacrifice, demons, a lot softer/romantic than it sounds

length: 8293

Maybe you should have heeded the warnings of your friends and family, but you’d thought it was all just a bit of small-mindedness and prejudice.

When you started seeing a guy who was a loud and proud satanist, your friends and family had all told you that he would be bad news. But you’d done some research into the belief system of satanists, and it wasn’t inherently evil, as they all seemed to believe. And you liked this guy, he was charming and handsome and he spoke to you like you were his everything, that you were someone special to him.

And now, in your present position, you can see that you were in fact someone special to him.

You were his virgin sacrifice.

It had been a mistake to tell him that you were a virgin. You could’ve fed him some other excuse for why you didn’t want to have sex, but you’d gone with the truth. And now look where it got you.

He’d brought you out into the woods on the premise of a night hike, stargazing, camping and keeping each other warm beside a campfire. But now you were strapped to a wooden table in the middle of a circle of fire in the woods, and he was pacing in circles around you, chanting words and drawing symbols on his bare chest in either red paint or some kind of blood.

He’d already given you the evil villain speech. This was a ritual to summon a demon he’d read about — a chaos demon who could grant him wealth and talent by stealing it from others. He was going to sacrifice you and blah blah blah. You’d stopped listening after a while. The straps on your wrists were so tight that you were losing feeling in your fingertips. Your ankles were tied down too, and you could see no way out of this, resigned to your fate.

All you know is that if he kills you, you’re going to haunt the shit out of him.

When he stops his pacing, when the chanting slows, you close your eyes and send a prayer out to anyone listening to save you.

The asshole teases you with your own death. He trails his hunting knife from your neck down between your breasts, slicing apart your shirt as he goes.

Your shirt falls open, and he returns the blade to your throat. You refuse to make a sound, you refuse to give him the satisfaction of hearing you cry out.

“Look at me!” He yells, his hand gripping your chin. “I want you to watch.”

Your eyes fly open, and you stare this asshole in the eye, putting as much hatred and vitriol in your gaze as you can.

He grins, trailing the knife lower, and with a flick of his wrist, he gives you a shallow cut just above your left breast. You can see the first drops of your blood well up to the surface. His eyes light up, the chant falling from his lips again as he lifts his hand and the blade, drawing them up into the air over the center of your chest.

He’s going to plunge it into your heart, that’s something he said during his monologue.

You suck in a breath, watching his hand, watching the moonlight glint off the blade.

He swings.

And a tan hand curls around his wrist, halting the movement.

“I don’t think so,” a smooth voice says.

You watch the hand on your would-be murderer’s wrist. The hand guides his, redirecting the path of his blade, and you squeeze your eyes shut as the blade draws across his throat. You try to tune out the wet choking sound as your would-be murderer collapses, as he pulls himself away through the grass and the brush, as he dies the ugly death he would have given to you.

You open your eyes when you can no longer hear him struggling to survive, and you see before you a beautiful, beautiful demon.

His eyes glow a deep red. Two black horns stick out from his black hair. Ragged black wings jut out from his shoulders. And he’s beautiful. Devastatingly handsome.

The summoning ritual worked.

The fight for survival comes racing back through you, and you jerk against your bonds, crying out, screaming for help. You’ll not have your soul taken by a demon. That’s not happening tonight!

“Don’t be afraid,” he says calmly, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

With a wave of his hand, the bonds on your wrists snap, your ankles suddenly are freed as well. You sit up, clutching at the sides of your shirt to pull them together over your chest. The demon looks at you, and then turns his head to the side towards where you last heard that bastard's dying breaths fade away.

“Some humans are real assholes, yknow?” The demon says, still not looking at you. “They think we all want sacrifices, which, don’t get me wrong, they can be nice from time to time, but we don’t demand the murder of virgins. We certainly don’t demand unwilling pretty women be murdered in the woods.”

He spits towards what you can only assume is the dead body of your would-be murderer. And then the demon looks back at you, eyes aglow.

“I’m Haechan,” he introduces himself, holding his hand out to you. “But you can call me Donghyeok.”

You hesitate for a moment, uncertain if you should give him your name or shake his hand. You feel like you’ve heard stories about how bad doing either of those things could be. But in the end, it’s the way that the corner of his mouth tilts up as he watches you that convinces you.

You put your hand in his, and you give him your name.

Donghyeok lifts your hand, brushing his lips across your knuckles. “Pleased to have saved you.”

Your pulse throbs in your veins, pounding in your ears.

An actual demon is holding your hand, standing before you smelling like sea air and citrus rather than the burning brimstone stories would have you believe. Donghyeok lowers your hand, and you pull it back into your lap.

“That guy seemed like a dick.” Donghyeok turns away, shaking his wings as he walks over to the nearest flickering ground torch. He continues talking while he extinguishes that torch, saying, “Very bossy in his summoning chant. I probably would’ve ended up killing him even if he wasn’t trying to murder you. How did you end up here, anyway?”

“I was stupid.” You droop forward, hanging your head as you look down at your knees. “I let him trick me into thinking he was a good guy despite all the warnings from everyone around me. I thought they were just prejudiced since he was a Satanist, but they were right.” You risk a glance in Donghyeok’s direction. “I shouldn’t have ever told him I’m a virgin, I was basically just asking to get sacrificed in a demonic ritual.”

Donghyeok’s wings flare as he turns to look at you. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever blame yourself for the actions of a stupid man. He is the one that did this, not you.”

He extinguishes two more torches before either of you speak again.

“Virgin sacrifices don’t actually mean, like sexual virginity, yknow?” Donghyeok says, his back facing you while he puts out another torch. Now only four of them remain lit in the circle. “It’s virgin blood. Blood that’s never been used for a ritual before. As soon as he cut you, I felt the call, and I saw what he was going to do to you. I’m tired of men killing women with the excuse of summoning me. I just require a few drops of blood to be spilled, not a life taken.”

Donghyeok waves his wings, and three more torches flicker out, leaving just one glowing right in front of you, providing just enough light to see by as Donghyeok strides back to you. His bloody red eyes sweep over you from head to toe.

“What are you going to do to me?” You can tell your voice is small, nearly lost in the whisper of wind through the trees. But Donghyeok hears, and he cocks his head slightly to the side to watch you.

“Haven’t you been listening?” He reaches up, snapping his fingers together and drawing a handkerchief out of thin air. “I’m not here to do anything to you. I came to rescue you from that asshole, and now you’re free.” He holds the handkerchief out to you.

“So you’re just going to leave me here?” You accept the silky white cloth, and you find one corner of it embroidered with flowy script — LDH, it says, and you run your thumb over the fine threads making up the letters.

“I didn’t say I was leaving you.” He smiles, and again, your pulse thunders. “We can go, or we can stay here and have sex.”

A squawk of surprise and indignation leaves you, which makes Donghyeok laugh. And fuck, you thought he was beautiful before, the sight and sound of his genuine laughter makes him even more beautiful.

“I’m joking!” He keeps laughing, his shoulders shaking as he tries to hold it in while he speaks, “But I can get you out of here in a snap so you don’t have to hike back through these woods in the dark.”

“Please!” You reach out, grabbing both of his hands, holding them between yours. “Please, get me out of here.”

Donghyeok’s expression goes serious. “I will, I promise. And what about him?”

You begin to turn your head to look, but you change your mind, keeping your gaze fixed on this beautiful demon. You shake your head. “Leave him. The police can deal with him, I’ll report the crime when I get back to town.”

Donghyeok watches you for a moment, contemplating something. Then he shrugs, holds tighter to your hands, and you feel a tug behind your navel.

The scenery around you has changed.

You’re still in the woods, but just at the edge of it. You can see the lights of town just ahead through the trunks.

“Here, let’s at least make it look like you’ve run back here.” Donghyeok crouches down, filling his hand with soft dirt. “May I?”

You’re not entirely sure what you’re agreeing to, but you nod. Immediately, Donghyeok is touching you, spreading dirt over your clothes, a smear of mud along the torn open edge of your shirt. He runs his fingers through your hair (which shouldn’t feel as good as it does). He plucks some twigs and leaves, sticking them haphazardly in your hair, dangling from a new rip at the bottom of your shirt.

He takes a step back to appreciate his handiwork, then nods, satisfied.

You both stand there looking at each other for a moment, and finally you say, “Thank you.”

Donghyeok nods. “You didn’t deserve what that asshole was going to do to you. None of them ever do deserve it. He, however, deserved everything he got, and everything he’s going to get when I get back to Hell.”

“Thank you,” you repeat because you mean it, and there are no words more genuine that you can think to say. “Really, Donghyeok, thank you.”

You turn towards the lights of town. You’re going to the police, filing a report, making sure they know that that bastard tried to kill you, and he's the reason he’s dead.

“One thing before you go!” Donghyeok steps in front of you. You look up at him just as he reaches out and puts his hand on your right shoulder. His hand burns hot and then hotter through your shirt, and you hiss in pain, trying to draw away, but Donghyeok holds on, only releasing you once the pain begins to fade into a tingle.

“That’s all. See you around.”

And then the demon disappears into a shadowy mist.

You stand there for a moment before you pull yourself back together, and you walk into town, straight for the police station.

They believe the story, which is good since most of it is true. Only part of it is fictionalized: when you say that you managed to slip the bonds he’d had on your wrists, the part where you wrestled the knife from him, where you’d cut him across the throat and then run miles back to town through the woods. But the story is believable because the facts and evidence are all there — the police trek through the woods and find the site of the ritual, find his body, find a blade that somehow has your fingerprints; they find plans in his apartment, records of messages between him and others, of his search history on how to summon a demon and how to perform a virgin sacrifice.

When you finally leave the police station, returning home under the care of your family and friends, you finally get a moment to yourself in the shower.

You peel off your pants and socks, drag your shirt over your head, slip off your panties and bra, and then you look at yourself in the mirror.

Black inky lines that weren’t there before these events are there now. You twist, angling better towards the mirror to be able to see what appears to be a whole tattoo that you never got.

A sunflower curves from front to back over your shoulder and down onto your arm.

You brush your fingers over the petals, feeling your skin tingle in a not unpleasant way. It sends a curl of warmth into your belly, makes your heart pound.

It’s Donghyeok, you know it is.

This is his mark, left on you.

The next time you see him, it’s too brief for your liking.

There’s a street festival, sort of like a carnival in town, and you spend hours down there one day as afternoon turns to evening turns to night. It brings all the weirdos out, from your town and those surrounding. You stick close to your friends, you have fun, you spend too much money on greasy food and rigged carnival games, you flirt with a cute carnie to get the big stuffed teddy bear prize.

Your friends decide to ride the Ferris wheel, but your mild fear of heights and the lure of a big pink cloud of cotton candy call to you instead. You’ll stay here feet firmly on the ground, enjoying your cotton candy, and watching them take a turn on the giant wheel.

But first you have to find the cotton candy booth.

You’re carrying your teddy prize like it’s a toddler, hoisted up to sit on your hip. You’re still rather pleased with yourself for having flirted it out of the carnie, even though you’re not quite sure what you’re going to do with it, and carrying it around for the rest of the night is possibly going to become a bit of a hindrance.

You cut between two game booths, slipping into the shadowed path that runs along the backs of the games, like an alley between the ring toss games facing one way and the basketball and shooting games facing the other. The cotton candy booth is visible at the end.

You have to step over wires, bags of vacuum-sealed prizes, a crate that’s surrounded by cigarette butts. The dings and chimes, alarm sounds and cries of joy all sound muffled, leaving you feeling a bit apart from the carnival despite being right in the heart of it.

A figure melts out of the shadows, suddenly keeping perfect stride with you.

You gasp, twisting around with the bear between you and this shadow-born devil.

“Me again,” Donghyeok laughs.

He’s got his hands tucked into his pockets. The devil horns are concealed by a hood. He’s wearing a leather jacket that has black wings stitched into the back panel. He could pass for normal, you think as your heart settles back into a more normal rhythm, if only his eyes weren’t still a deep red with his pupils reflecting light like an animal’s eyes at night.

“Donghyeok.” You almost collapse against the back of one of the game tents.

His lips curl around the sound of your name. You like the sound of that — his voice, your name.

You just stand there staring at him for a moment, amazed that he’s actually here. In the days after your near-sacrifice, you’d almost convinced yourself that Donghyeok had been nothing more than a figment of your imagination used to soften the trauma of that night a little. But here he is again. Real. In the flesh.

“Are you keeping out of trouble?” He asks, and when you nod, he scoffs. “But you’re back here walking by yourself? Do you know what kinds of people are drawn to work these carnivals? The transient lifestyle calls to some pretty awful people.” He turns to look back along the path you’ve been walking in this makeshift alleyway.

Several feet back, there’s a slumped over figure where there hadn’t been before. And the longer you look, the more you realize it’s that cute carnie that had given you the bear.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got your back.” Donghyeok pats your right shoulder, his skin hot against yours. “You should get back to your friends before they start worrying. Here, this is for you.”

Out of thin air, he draws a large fluffy pink cotton candy, holding it out to you.

Donghyeok escorts you back towards your friends, and he blends in with the crowd, looking perfectly human except for his eyes. His shoulder bumps against yours. He chatters and laughs with you. You find it so curious the way that your heart skips each time you look at him.

Hours later, once you’re safely ensconced at home, you notice that the center of your sunflower marking on your shoulder is darker than it used to be, almost like you’d gotten it shaded in.

Donghyeok again, you’re sure.

You recall his hand on your shoulder, the gentle but pleasant burn of his skin on yours.

You turn your head, resting your cheek against your shoulder. The center of the sunflower is warm against your cheek.

A few weeks later, you’re certain your family thinks you’re crazy. You’ve not seen Donghyeok again since that night at the carnival, and honestly, you’re beginning to feel very Bella Swan in New Moon about the situation. You’re about to start throwing yourself into harm’s way just to see if Donghyeok will make an appearance to save you; although, you have a strong suspicion that if he knew you were doing dangerous things intentionally, he would make a point of not showing up.

So, instead of trying to cross paths with dangerous men (again), you decide to go to the library and local bookstores and pull any books you can find on how to summon a demon. You do research online, printing out pages and pages of summoning rituals. You’ve got a whole wall of your bedroom dedicated to the stuff.

“There is something very wrong with you,” your dad says one afternoon when he sees it all. “You survived that satanist dick. Why would you put yourself through this?”

You’re pretty sure your family and friends think you’re doing this to torture yourself. You can tell they’re all worried for you, all of them concerned about what path you’re taking.

But you’re not diving headfirst into satanism or anything like that really. You just want to summon one demon in particular – a chaos demon named Haechan who has asked you personally to call him Donghyeok.

You seek out a different ritual than the one performed when you first met him. You don’t want to have to sacrifice a virgin even if it only means a few drops of voluntary blood; that veers too close to the sacrifice you’d almost found yourself to be in the woods.

Eventually, you find a source online that suggests a few specific crystals, certain herbs, fire and chalk and a spell in a language that you’ll have to teach yourself. But it seems doable. You just have to find a shop for all of those things, and then you’ll summon Donghyeok. You just want to see him again. You’re drawn to him, and maybe it’s because he saved you so you’ve got some weird type of twist on Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it’s this sunflower he marked on your shoulder, the roots it’s put down inside you making you want to see him more and more, thirsting for him like a desert plant in a drought.

You find a shop perfectly suited to your needs. The woman running the place seems quirky enough that you don’t have any qualms about telling her everything — what you’re looking for, how you’re going to use it, why you’re using it — and you’re obsessed with the gleeful twinkle in her eye as she dances around the shop, gathering the items you’ve listed, plucking them from dark corners, from a bay of windows, from bunches of herbs hanging from the ceiling.

“I do have to warn you,” she says as she carefully packs it all into a bag for you, her voice dipping towards a serious tone to say, “Some demons are always listening for a call, even if it’s not for them, especially when it’s a pretty girl like you calling with almost no taint in your blood. Just know, dear, that when you call for your demon, someone else might try reaching through. So be careful when you speak the spell. Clear pronunciation, clear focus and determination.”

She pats your hand tenderly before you leave, and she wishes you well.

You set up the ritual in your bedroom. You push all the furniture out of the center of the room, roll back the rug that usually covers the floor beneath your bed. You sketch out the symbols in chalk on the hardwood floor, you set up the crystals exactly according to the diagram on the website, placing candles exactly right too. You scatter herbs across the pentagram, sprinkle a few in a bowl set in the center of the ritual space, and finally you kneel beside it.

You clear your mind except for thoughts of Donghyeok, your wish to have him in front of you, and you begin speaking the words you’ve been practicing since you found them.

Before, they’ve felt like hollow words, but now as they fall from your lips there’s a new weight to them.

You continue, keeping your mind set, and you strike a match, watch the flame flicker and wave as you continue speaking the spell, the foreign words feeling strange on your lips and tongue, creating a tingle that makes you feel that this must be working, that you’ll be able to see Donghyeok again.

You drop the match into the bowl of crushed herbs in the center of the pentagram. The bowl is instantly engulfed in flame, the heat kissing your cheeks, and the final words of the spell incinerate in the air, the flames crackling and flashing a solid purple for a moment.

You feel the air from the room disappear as the fire swirls and sparks, as the candle flames around the circle shoot up elongated and casting shadows. The crystals crack and shimmer.

And when it all falls away, when the flame in the bowl extinguishes and the candles resume their normal flame size, you look up at the demon standing above you.

It’s not him.

You gasp, falling back on your hands.

The demon is fearsome, brutish. He reaches for you, gnarled red fingers clawed with filthy talons. You scramble backwards as he grabs for your sleeve, tearing the fabric when you jerk backwards.

Suddenly the demon releases you and stands straight within the pentagram.

“Haechan’s mark?” He utters in a garbled, deep voice straight from the pits of Hell. “You are under Haechan’s protection?”

A sharp whistle from across your bedroom draws your attention and that of the hideous demon in front of you.

Donghyeok sits on your bed, looking relaxed as ever. He cocks his head to the side, staring down this other demon. “That’s right. She’s under my protection, so get the fuck out.”

Donghyeok flicks his fingers, and the other demon vanishes in a wave of smoke and embers.

You can’t look away from Donghyeok lounging on your bed like it’s his throne. He’s wearing that leather jacket again, though right now his devil horns are visible poking through his dark hair. You’ve missed looking at him.

He looks at you now too. “You called?”

“I wanted to see you,” you tell truthfully.

“Why?” Donghyeok asks, not moving from the bed, just sitting there and watching you.

“Well why did you mark me?” You lift your fingers to the flower on your shoulder, brushing your fingers over the petals.

Across the room, Donghyeok’s eyelids flutter, and he rolls his head on his neck a little as if to relieve tension. “I marked you because I want you to be safe. I knew if any other demons saw my mark on you, they would leave you alone, as just evidenced.” He gestures at the pentagram. “And because I wanted you to have something to remember me by. And I like the thought of you wearing a memory of me.”

You stroke the petals of the flower again, and Donghyeok sits up on the edge of your bed, sitting forward.

“The flower changed the last time I saw you.” You draw your finger up to the center, darker now than it had been when Donghyeok first marked you the night you met. “The center has color now.”

“I know.” He leans forward, but doesn’t leave your bed, though he seems to just be hanging onto the very edge of it. He doesn’t explain more, just looks at you as if waiting for more.

You climb to your feet, picking your way through the candles and crystals and herbs, and you come to stand just in front of Donghyeok. He raises his gaze to your face, his hands are planted on either side of his thighs, and he doesn’t say a word as you reach out a hand, as you first touch his cheek with just your fingertips, and then you move them along his jaw, up into his hair.

Donghyeok’s eyes flutter shut, a sigh falls from his lips.

Your fingers find his horns, and gently you run your fingers along them both.

His hands fly to your hips, a breath catching audibly in his throat. “What are you doing?” He asks, voice tight but not in a way like he wants you to stop.

“You’re beautiful, Donghyeok,” you can’t resist saying, “And you’ve marked me, so maybe I want to return the favor.”

Donghyeok’s lips draw into a smirk. “Mark me how? Who are you trying to show that I’m yours?”

Your heart thunders, heat racing through your body at the sound of that. I’m yours, he said. “Say it again,” you demand.

“Say what?” Donghyeok’s eyes open at last, flicking open and lifting to meet your gaze. “That marking me would show others that I’m yours? That I belong to you in some way?” His hands tighten in your hips pleasantly, and you shuffle a little more forward into the V of his open thighs. Donghyeok smiles up at you, saying, “Baby, you’re mine. And you have been since the night we met, since I put my mark on your shoulder. It’s only fair that you put a claim on me too. Do your worst.”

Challenge burns in his red eyes, and heat flows through you, rivers of fire that all lead to one point, settling low in your belly — a pool of burning need that you’ve never felt with anyone else before.

With your fingers still in Donghyeok’s hair, you tip his head back. His lips pull into a wider grin, a soft sound of amusement, and then, “I forgot, baby, you’re a virgin. Are you intimidated by the thought of marking me?”

“No,” you groan. “Shut up.”

You push Donghyeok’s shoulders, and he flops onto his back in your bed.

God, he just looks like a guy, any normal guy that you might have found and invited back to your bed. And you’ve had a man in your bed before. You’ve had make out sessions, had heated heavy petting that never led anywhere. You’ve had hickeys, and given out your fair share of them too.

But Donghyeok is Donghyeok. There’s definitely something intimidating about the confident way he’s looking at you, the sexy look in his eye as he watches you — not just a look that says that he knows he’s sexy, but even more arousing is that the look in his eyes tells you that he finds you incredibly sexy.

You sink onto your bed on your knees, straddling the demon’s lap. Donghyeok lifts his hands up, interlacing his fingers behind his head as he watches you, and the expression on his face is just stoking that fire inside of you.

“Can you sit up?” You ask. “Take your jacket off?”

“Mm,” Donghyeok hums. “I like when you tell me what to do.”

Your belly swoops, and his grin widens.

He sits up, and you find his smile just inches in front of you. He shrugs out of his jacket, pushing it off the bed, and then he’s sitting here beneath you in a plain white tee, the denim of his jeans rubs against your thighs. And he’s right here. Right here. Lips just in front of you, and your hands drift back to touch him, to feel the warmth and breadth of his shoulders, and then your thumbs are sweeping in to trace over his Adam’s apple, which bobs when he swallows and breathes in sharply. Your fingers slide around to the nape of his neck, just pushing into his hair, and Donghyeok makes a noise so quiet yet so filled with desire.

You’ve been sitting here watching the path of your hands, but now you look at his lips so full and moist in front of you. And then you look just a bit higher to his eyes.��

Perhaps the demonic bloody red of them should scare you, but they don’t. They stare into yours and you can’t bring yourself to give a damn about the fact that Donghyeok is a demon and not just a man.

That doesn’t matter to you one bit when you finally press your lips to his.

Donghyeok immediately kisses you back, opening up to your kiss, but he lets you take the lead, lets you do what you want with him. He moans when you push your hands higher into his hair at the back of his head, moans when you suck on his tongue, moans when you press your chest against his.

You moan when his hands finally find your hips again. Donghyeok drags your hips across the front of his pants, and you break the kiss to let out a shuddery moan.

“Okay?” He murmurs, lips falling down to your jaw, leaving butterfly kisses along the underside.

“Yes,” you sigh, “Do it again.”

Donghyeok drags you over his crotch again, rolling his hips up too, and you can feel him then, his erection beginning to press against the front of his jeans. He does it again and again, and after a few moments, you pick up the rhythm, taking over as you simulate riding him, and you bring his mouth back onto yours.

Again, Donghyeok is happy to let you lead, to control what’s happening.

He just touches you without pushing you, kisses you at the pace you set, although that doesn’t mean he’s a passive participant in all of this. He’s reacting and vocal, occasionally nipping at your bottom lip, occasionally bucking his hips out of rhythm with your moves. It’s like he’s giving you little peeks into his desire for you, moments when his cool demon facade slips.

Donghyeok moans when you leave his mouth behind to instead kiss his neck. His hands come to rest on your ass while you keep rolling and grinding down on his straining erection, and you’re feeling the tightening in your belly, you know if you don’t stop soon you’re going to cum like this. But it wouldn’t be the first time. You’ve had boyfriends and casual relationships before that respected your virginity, that had been content with things like this, found it hot to cum when fully clothed.

Donghyeok seems to be in the same mindset.

His golden skin beneath your lips is hot, and he moans your name again and again, rolling his hips up to meet each downward push of yours. You rock your hips more frantically, losing control as your orgasm rises. You bite at his throat as you cum, and Donghyeok’s hands on your ass keep you moving, keeping up with the push and pull of your pussy grinding over his erection.

Your body is still tingling as you roll off of him, as you lie down in your bed and pull him over you. “More,” you demand, “I want more.”

“Are you sure?” The demon above you asks.

You crave more from him. Donghyeok has you hotter than any man ever has before.

He kisses you without warning, jolting forward and sweeping you into a dramatic, hungry kiss. You want him, and you pour that desire into the kiss, impatient and horny for him to give you more.

You don’t wait for Donghyeok to start undressing you, you reach down and unfasten your shorts, maneuvering them off your hips and down your legs. The shirt’s a bit more difficult to rid yourself of, but Donghyeok obligingly breaks the kiss to let you pull it over your head, and while you’re in this position with space between you, you reach for the hem of his shirt.

“Can I?” You ask, tucking your fingers beneath the hem. “I want to have all of you.”

Donghyeok’s eyes flash flaming red. His voice is rough with emotion when he says simply, “Yes.”

You drag his shirt over his head without another moment wasted. And then your hands are back in his hair, stroking the curve of his horns as Donghyeok crushes his mouth to yours again.

Donghyeok grinds against your thigh while the two of you make out, and you have to pull one of your hands from his hair, seeking out one of his hands to pull down between your legs.

You’ve been touched like this before too. Over the panties, an ex rubbing your clit and stroking along your slit with the thin fabric between you and him. You’d managed a weak, unsatisfactory orgasm from it after a drawn out attempt, and decided to end things with him a few days later citing that you just didn’t feel the chemistry.

But presently, the moment Donghyeok’s fingers make contact with your clit over your panties, your brain is buzzing. Every nerve ending in your body is alert.

Donghyeok kisses you through every gasp and sigh. He smiles when you whine and buck your hips, when you circle your hips and grab at his wrist to guide his fingers towards your wet entrance, to the spot where your panties are absolutely soaked through. He kisses the corner of your mouth, and teases, “Do you want me to continue?”

You push away your panties, almost tearing them in your rush to be rid of them.

This much you’ve never done before. Never done penetration even with a man’s fingers.

Whether Donghyeok can read that in you, or if he sees the slight anxious anticipation in your gaze, he tenderly kisses your lips, sufficiently distracting you as he slicks his fingers against your bare pussy. This is a first for you too. Bare fingers and bare pussy, slick wetness making the glide so much easier and more pleasant.

Donghyeok kisses you and touches you until you’re whimpering, reaching for his wrist. “Inside me, put them inside me,” you beg, urging his hand lower.

It doesn’t make sense for a demon to be so gentle, but he is. Donghyeok eases first a single finger inside you, then another. He leaves your lips to kiss down your throat and chest, kissing lower and lower, drawing down your body until his mouth is right there and he licks your clit.

You’re not sure if it’s just the experience of oral sex or if it’s because it’s Donghyeok, but your entire body lights up as he licks your clit, as he thrusts his fingers into you again. He takes his time with you, filling you with his fingers, curling them inside you and brushing a spot that makes you gasp, body jerking at the incredible sensation.

Donghyeok laughs, delighted by how you’re reacting. He kisses your hips and your belly, slowly works his way back up, and you swear it feels like he kisses every part of you. His fingers press inside your pussy, slow thrusts until you’re begging for more, raking your fingers through his hair while he’s kissing your belly. Your fingers find his horns, and you use them like handles to guide his head back down.

He’s laughing still, thoroughly enjoying you taking control, guiding him to where you want him.

You arch your back, rolling your hips down against his face as Donghyeok sucks your clit between his lips, his fingers suddenly fucking into you at a faster speed, skilled at touching you exactly right.

A second orgasm sweeps through you, and you ride it out on his face and fingers.

When you push at Donghyeok’s devil horns, he backs off, kneeling up between your legs, and he gazes down at you while he licks his lips, and brings his fingers up to his mouth. You can’t look away, completely enraptured as he licks between his fingers, as he sucks them into his mouth. His eyes are hot, raking over your body.

You want him bad.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Donghyeok asks, pulling his fingers out of his mouth. His hand drifts down to the front of his pants, and you watch him give himself a squeeze. “Looking like you want to eat me, baby.”

You want to take a bite out of him. Well, you at least can’t fight the urge to bite him, to leave the imprint of your teeth in the curve of his shoulder, to bite his neck again since he’d seemed to like that earlier. You don’t want to eat him, but you sure want to take all of him, to have this devil inside you.

Donghyeok slides the heel of his palm along his clothed erection, and you decide right then in that moment that you’ve had enough of waiting.

“I’m ready,” you tell him.

Donghyeok blinks, and again he looks more human than demon. “Ready? Like for… for sex?”

You nod.

“You want to lose your virginity with me?” Donghyeok clarifies. You nod, but that’s still not enough for him. “I need to hear you say it.”

“Donghyeok, please will you have sex with me. I’m ready to let go of the idea of my virginity. I’m ready to have sex, and I want it to be with you.” Can you be more clear?

Yes, you’ve waited a long time for this. You’ve picked and chosen, selecting this actual demon over some normal men. But despite Donghyeok’s demonhood, he’s treated you better and been more considerate than any of the men you’ve come close to considering doing this with before. You’ve just been waiting for the right man to come along, and the right man in this case just happens to be a horny, red-eyed demon.

Donghyeok kisses you once again, and then he waits, holding just above you until you reach up and pull him back in. He’s smiling when you kiss him, and again, he lets you take over, lets you touch him and do what you want. So when you run your hands along his ribs, when your fingertips reach the waistband of his jeans, Donghyeok just moans happily.

His hands join yours in the effort to push his pants down, and the demon above you laughs delightfully, kissing you thoroughly making you forget the slight nerves you feel at the prospect of finally doing this, finally having sex, instead you’re just excited, just laughing and moaning along with him.

As soon as Donghyeok’s pants are slid down and kicked off, you reach for his dick, touching him the way an ex-boyfriend of yours had liked. He’d always told you to make it all about him, taught you to do things the way that he liked.

“Wait,” Donghyeok says, “You don’t have to do all that. I’m already worked up for you, baby. You may think being a demon comes with supernatural endurance or something, but in this I’m no better than a human man. You’re gorgeous, and that makes me want to just…” He cuts himself off by kissing you, but you think you get what he means.

He finds you beautiful, and not only that, but beautiful enough that he feels at risk of cumming too fast if you keep touching him before he’s inside you.

“Then fuck me.” You whisper the words to his lips. “Take me as a virgin sacrifice, Donghyeok. Like I was meant to be.”

Donghyeok scoffs, kissing you again and then he’s moving. His hand brushes yours away from his dick, and he rolls his hips forward, pressing the tip against your entrance without actually entering you.

“Are you sure?”

“I find it beyond charming that you’re a polite, gentlemanly chaos demon, Donghyeok. Yes, I’m sure.” You shift your hips, circling them down, and Donghyeok’s dick sinks in.

He keeps going, pressing in deeper. He’s watching your face, and you hold his gaze while you adjust to the full feeling, the different feeling of having something this thick and deep inside you. Not a bad feeling, just a different kind.

“Don’t stop!” You gasp when Donghyeok just goes still inside you.

He holds himself above you, just looking down at you with this expression and all of these emotions in his red eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” You ask, lifting a hand up to cover his eyes, but it does nothing to block his radiant smile. “Are you gonna move or just dock yourself in me?”

Donghyeok laughs again, and you’re quickly realizing that’s your favorite sound. “Maybe I’m taking in your virgin sacrifice,” he teases, “Doing my demon thing.”

“Right, sure. But can you hurry up with your demon thing?” You move your hand from his eyes, pushing your fingers into his hair to find his horns again. Donghyeok shudders with pleasure as you stroke your fingers over the ridges on one horn and then the other. “You’re not acting very demonic, you know. Treating me all gently and tenderly.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You’d rather I bend you into strange shapes and fuck you hard and rough for your first time?” Donghyeok pulls his hips back and pushes back in roughly. It stings a bit, but you don’t mind all that much. And then he does it again. “Like this?”

“Sure,” you whimper, “Fuck me like you’ve done to all the other girls you’ve ever fucked.”

Donghyeok simply kisses you, getting you to melt beneath his lips, and then he moves again, thrusting into you. You gasp into the kiss, and Donghyeok takes advantage of that to deepen the kiss, making out with you as he fucks you, his dick reaching places that you didn’t even realize existed. He’s got your legs spread wide, his hips crashing against you repeatedly, drawing pretty moans from you with each thrust against your sweet spot.

And once you get used to this new sensation of having a dick inside you, you really enjoy it. Donghyeok’s tongue being down your throat helps a bit too, his skill with kissing is definitely distracting you from the less pleasant sensations.

Your whole body tingles each time that Donghyeok buries himself to the hilt in you. He grinds forward, stimulating your clit, externally and internally. He touches your boobs, but that doesn’t do a whole lot for you. You keep your hands in his hair, on his horns, and that seems to drive him mad with lust; each time you’ve got your fingers on his black devil horns, Donghyeok jerks, fucking into you a little harder, a little out of control.

It’s one of those times that you’ve got a hand curled around one of his horns, your other hand cradling the back of his neck as Donghyeok kisses your collarbones, that he moans so beautifully for you. “Fuck,” he moans, “I want to give you everything, baby. Everything I’ve got, all for you.”

You want it, whatever that means. Whatever Donghyeok has, you’ll take it.

A moment later, he cums, heat flooding your belly, sticky and slick as he pulls out, streaking it across your inner thighs and your pussy.

“Everything, baby,” he murmurs, kissing along your collarbone to your right shoulder. He rolls his hips forward, filling you with his dick once more right as he kisses the sunflower mark he gave you that first night.

Fire ignited throughout your body, pleasure and desire tangling together, ramping up higher and higher. Your climax tears through you like a wildfire, and Donghyeok fucks you through it, hips driving against yours; his teeth dig against your shoulder, his tongue following to soothe the bitemark. You can only hold onto him, hold tighter, keep moving your body with his to keep the waves of pleasure coming.

Even once you’re coming down from your orgasm, your whole body is still tingling and warm. Donghyeok is all but stuck to you, both of you are all sweaty so your skin sticks together. His lips press to the sunflower mark he left on you, his hands slide against your ribs, leaving a hot tingle deep under your skin, and you have a feeling he’s leaving another mark, another claim or protection.

You can’t get a good look at the marks he’s left on you, but you can feel them all – the warmth of the sunflower on your shoulder, which you’re pretty sure looks a bit more yellow in the petals now than it did earlier; there are the hickeys and bitemarks Donghyeok left on you; now these new marks on your ribs, which look like a swirl of small inky spots that are resolving into anything familiar, and on the other side you swear it’s a fine-line rendition of the sun.

You wish you could do the same and leave a mark on him, more than the sparse hickeys you left on his throat earlier.

For right now, you settle for just holding him. You wrap your arms around him, and Donghyeok tucks his face into your shoulder, moaning softly as he rolls onto his side, bringing you with him. Your legs are still tangled, bodies pressed together, his dick still inside you though he’s gone soft.

“Call me crazy,” Donghyeok whispers to you, “I know we’ve only met twice before tonight, but I feel like we have a really good connection. I like you.”

Your heart races at the confession. “I like you too.”

You feel his lips curve into a smile against your skin. “Good. I’d hate for you to have just given up your virginity on a guy you don’t even like. A demon, at that.”

“It doesn’t bother me that you’re a demon yknow. You’re more decent than most of the guys I’ve known.” You trace your fingers down Donghyeok’s back, feeling two long angled scars by his shoulder blades, like that’s where his wings come and go from. “If anything, I don’t understand why a demon is interested in me.”

Donghyeok lifts his head, and he looks you in the eye as he says, “I told you earlier. You’re gorgeous, and the moment that asshole tried to sacrifice you to me, I caught a glimpse of your soul. You’re a pure soul, so utterly good that it pains me to look at you with all the layers peeled back, but not in a bad way. It hurts me the way it hurts to look at something you aspire toward; looking at you is like looking at the stars and knowing that you’ll never be able to hold one in your hand.”

But his hands are on you now.

His fingers trace over your ribs, and you can tell by the tingle now that he’s definitely left a new mark on you.

You take up his hand, pulling it up to your lips, and you place a kiss in the center of his palm. And when you look at his face, you see right there on his cheek that maybe. He’s closer to holding the stars than he thinks. You trace the constellation of moles on his cheek and down his throat, so similar to one that you see in the night sky.

Donghyeok leans his cheek into your hand, and he holds you a little closer. He presses his forehead to yours.

The candles behind you on the floor have burned down to nothing but puddles of cooling wax. The herbs and crystals and chalk symbols can be picked up and wiped away in the morning. But for tonight, you hold a demon in your arms, completely at ease in his warm embrace.

a/n: I'm sorry for the long wait on this one! Day 9 is finally being posted on Day 11, which has definitely put me behind, and is making me reconsider my decision to do this for this month. But I really liked writing this one! I've been very Haechan-biased since The Dream Show 3, so I needed to write this tbh.

If you notice any errors or if you feel I should include some more tags/content warnings, please let me know!

I hope you enjoyed! Reblogs are deserving of my eternal gratitude, likes are greatly appreciated, and your thoughts and comments are always welcome !

#haechan #haechan smut #nct dream #nct dream smut #nct smut #nct #nct 127 #nct 127 smut

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