WHO: Henry Claus Ceredig, Beelzebub, Gabriel, and then Iestyn Ceredig and maybe even Tinse and Merry WHEN: Tuesday, evening WHERE: BMCC Campus, and then a hospital and then maybe Casa Ceredig WHAT: Just a demon having a Good Time and then having a Bad Time WARNINGS: Mentions of past torture, some light violence (finger snapping, you know), and momentary assault, character death
It had taken a lot of courage for Henry to go back to his college campus after being abducted from there by Lucifer's minions. But after being reassured by Michael that they were all off limits to Lucifer, and a healthy dose of therapy, Henry had managed it. He'd made it almost a year, before a demon returned and necessitated a change of school.
Henry had finished his classes for the day by 2:30, but he had stuck around to do some studying in the library. He hadn't even realised he had been at it for five hours until his stomach rumbled and he glanced up at the clock and saw it was after seven. "Oh shit," he hissed, immediately gathering his things to shove them into his backpack. At least he had warned his husband that he was going to be studying so Iestyn wouldn't have been waiting for him for dinner or anything. He shot Iestyn a quick message to let him know he was coming home, and then he slipped his phone into his pocket and headed for the door.
The late autumn air was crisp and cool, and the sky was nearly dark when Henry emerged from the library. The campus lights had all come on, but as usual, the normal buzz the place had was gone and it was pretty silent and deserted as he made his way across the quad, towards the car park. He was humming to himself, some song that Iestyn had been practicing a lot lately, which was now stuck in his head. When he turned a blind corner, he felt someone grab him and he didn't even have time to react before he was being pulled back in between the car parking building and the admin building.
Henry let out a squawk, but he was spun around and a hand slammed over his mouth. And then he was looking into the face of Beelzebub. Henry's head swam and his stomach turned to ice. The last time he had been faced with Beelzebub he had fainted immediately. This time, even though the demon's aura was hideous and Henry sort of thought he might throw up, he didn't faint. He was, however, terrified beyond the telling of it.
"Don't scream, or I'll rip your vocal chords out," Beelzebub said. "Understand?" When Henry nodded, quick and terrified, Beelzebub pulled his hand back. He backed Henry up against the wall of the car park building and held him there, giving him a once over. Henry shuddered in horror, imagining all the terrible things that were about to happen to him. He had thought they were safe, but would they ever really be? God, he was going to die here- Would Iestyn ever know what happened to him? Would Merry and Tinsel ever be okay? Would Addy try to hurt herself again?
"Please-" Henry whispered to the demon, begging not just for him but for the well-being of the people he loved, "please don't hurt me." He was panicking far too much, at least at the moment, to snap himself out of the fear and get help. Begging was all his trauma brain had to offer.
Beelzebub smiled and he leaned back, loosening his grip on the young man. Henry stayed frozen in place anyway, sure that the second he made a move to run, Beelzebub would snap his neck. He was far too scared to try. "I got my cattle prod back the other day," Beelzebub said, as if this was just a normal, breezy topic for conversation. "And it made me think of your boyfriend. I lent it to Lucifer, see, and he used it on that welsh kid."
Beelzebub didn't know they were married which was a good thing, but just the mention of Iestyn in pain was enough to sap some of the fear. His breathing deepened from scared short gasps, to angry and heated, and his hands balled into fists. "Fuck you," he growled, finding his voice just a little.
"You could if you wanted to," Beelzebub said, chuckling a little. "Anyway, it made me remember the time I ran into you and you fainted like a feeb. I wanted to see if you would do it again. I'm almost sad you didn't, I was going to take you back to mine and try the cattle prod on you too."
Okay a little fear was back. His head was swimming and his heart was pounding and that aura was trying to snatch consciousness away, but he was clinging to it, and thank fuck.
"Lucifer would have a shit fit," Beezlebub carried on, "but I don't care what that fuckhead thinks anyway. "Would you scream as loud as your boyfriend, do you think? Hmm? Maybe we should get him here?"
Henry's head was beginning to clear, and though he was still terrified, the surprise had worn off. He could get himself out of this if he could find his fucking voice again. "You don't want to do that," he said, frustrated that it came out timid and trembling.
"No, I think I do," Beelzebub said, leaning in again. He reached out to Henry's pocket, though his hand took a side tour to grope Henry through his jeans because he was terrible like that. Henry whimpered and tried to curl in on himself, but a moment later Beelzebub stopped and went back to pulling out Henry's phone and holding it out. "I'll force you to watch as I burn him. Here. Call him. Call your boyfriend and get him here. Don't let him know I'm here. You alert him, you die. You call anyone else you die. Get him here now."
Like fuck. He couldn't do it to Iestyn and he couldn't do it to himself. He wouldn't survive. Not another few weeks of his body being starved and tortured. Neither of them would. "No," Henry growled, and then he gasped in pain as Beelzebub's hand shot out and snapped his pinky finger like it was a match stick. Beelzebub slammed his hand over Henry's mouth to muffle the yelp that followed.
"No screaming," Beelzebub cautioned him. "I'll snap your neck and make your body disappear. They'll never find you. Call your boyfriend."
Oh god, more pain was coming and Henry knew it. He shook his head quickly, and then his entire body tensed as he awaited it. Beelzebub snapped his ring finger and Henry screamed with his mouth closed to muffle the sound. Then another scream caught in his throat, when there was a painful tugging on his broken finger, as Beelzebub pulled his wedding ring off.
"Oh ho ho," Beelzebub said, a wide and happy smile on his face. "Well congratulations are in order, little feeb. I see you married that saint's son. Torturing a married couple is something I haven't done in ages," he said, a little wistfully. "Call him. Or I break every single bone in your body, one by one."
Shaking, Henry still refused. He would rather every bone in his body be shattered, than watch Iestyn be tortured. But god it hurt as he stifled another scream when Beelzebub broke his middle finger. His head was swimming, and he leaned back against the car park to take a breath. The pain was pulling him out of the fear. And Beelzebub holding his wedding ring was infuriating. When Beezlebub snapped his index finger, Henry found himself able to claw out of trauma brain and take steps to save himself. First, he fervently prayed to his guardian angel-
Gabriel, please! Beelzebub's here and he's threatening to take me somewhere- I'm at college. Behind the car park. Please help me.
Beelzebub snapped Henry's pinky and ring finger of his other hand, and Henry let out a furious growl. Once fear left him, he was the same man who had once rushed Wrath because he had thought she was a demon there to take Iestyn away. He had slammed his broken body into Lucifer - risking death - so Lucifer couldn't use him to torture Iestyn any worse that he already was. And now he had shoved Beelzebub away from him, bringing his knee up hard between the demon's legs, so Beelzebub fell to the ground.
"If you touch me again, do you know what my father will do to you?!" he screamed. He was still shaking with pain and horror, but he wasn't silent any more. "He'll turn your dick into a candy cane, you fuck." He didn't actually know if Nick could do that, but he'd seen Nick turn other things into candy canes, so it stood to reason- "He can get into anywhere. You can't lock him out. He's more powerful than you! You know why we're off limits to Lucifer? Because he's fucking afraid. Lucifer is afraid of my father. You think you're a match for him? You?! Don't you ever talk about my husband! Don't you ever think about him!" Henry was backing up because Beelzebub was glaring at him, his expression deadly. He just had to keep talking- Keep up the threats-
Thankfully, as Beelzebub rose to his feet and started to head towards Henry, there was a flapping of wings announcing the angel's arrival. "Oh yeah, and one of my best friends is an arch angel. You piece of shit," Henry hissed at Beelzebub, who immediately stepped back.