Catharsis did not give the man time to open his fly. With a howling that rattled the apartment’s one window the demon drew shadow into solid shape in front of him. A protective foot solidified over the book, drawing it back under the demon’s congealing form. The man drew back from the churning black, mouth dropping into an ‘O’ of shock.

The demon let the horrid man’s own preconceptions lend it shape as shadows solidified into a broad chest, long arms ending with foot-long blades for fingers closing toward him. A head somewhere between a dog and a lizard bearing an impossible number of teeth that glistened despite the uniform blackness grinned at him from on top of its shoulders.

“Do you know I cannot hurt a good person? I could do everything I want, to you.”

The man whimpered, wetting himself as survival instinct threw him back from the demon. He pushed Elizabeth aside, hitting the closed door at a run. He fumbled the handle in a panic before finally throwing it wide. Catharsis let him get one foot over the threshold before claws dug into his arms dragged him back in. The man started to scream, one claw curling down his throat stopping the sound. He started to cry as Catharsis lifted him bodily to bring them nose to nose.

“What should I do to him, Elizabeth?”

Demon and man both turned heads to face the girl, one with curiosity the other bald terror. The girl stared at the mass of shadow for a long minute. Finally she shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Catharsis was disappointed. Not surprised, but disappointed all the same. He shook the man, bringing his attention back.

“If I smell you again, I will eat you. Slowly.”

He tossed the intruder out of the apartment.

A reach with one claw to push the door shut at the man’s departing back and turn the bolt before dissipating, Catharsis retreated into the shadows as the man fled the building. Elizabeth didn’t move. No apparent shock from anything that just happened. At most the demon picked up mild curiosity directed at the corner into which Catharsis had retreated. The demon stayed put, wondering why it had scared the man off. That was the last thing that would help. Some demon. Catharsis focused again on Elizabeth still transfixed. Still the girl stood there, no motion except to breathe.

The demon let out a sigh.

“He is gone,” Catharsis hadn’t spoken in many years. Had it always had so soft a voice? “You should rest.”

“Oh.”

Elizabeth walked away from the door mechanically. No jump at the demon’s voice, no added surprise. She stopped in the bathroom, grimacing as she did her business. With a tired sigh she finished undressing. The girl walked across the main room, returning her sketchbook to the small table and collapsed onto her mattress, curling up on one side. Catharsis hesitated no more than a handful of heartbeats this time before reaching out, flipping the blanket over the girl. With a crackling noise, demon equivalent to a disdainful ‘tsk,’ Catharsis cleaned up the blood spots leading to the bathroom. It then continued, removing every other mark of the man’s intrusion the demon found. It was only shocked by the action when it found itself on the outside of the apartment door, having seeped through the lock to scrub clean the doorbell, handle and face of the door. An unprecedented and unaccountable risk the demon didn’t even think about until it was already making it.

When it slipped back inside, Catharsis found Elizabeth asleep where it had left her. Another ‘tsk’ and it set about cleaning the rest of the apartment.

—

Elizabeth didn’t stir from sleep until the next morning. It was easy to tell, as she sat up quickly, eyes blinking wide. The cause being the smell of fresh pancakes and bacon that met her waking intake of breath. Catharsis had been careful to not let the air carry the scent to her until it was almost done. The girl swung her gaze around the room, eyes coming to rest on the table set with a short stack of pancakes and bacon so fresh it still gave the occasional pop.

“I didn’t think I had the stuff to make pancakes.”

“Do not think too hard on it.”

Why did I bother answering, Catharsis asked no one. More curious still, the demon was careful not to look at it’s roommate. Elizabeth didn’t hesitate over-long before setting to the breakfast with a will. Her alarm went off as she was halfway through the pancakes and Catharsis turned it off, restraining the urge to simply cut the clock in half. It would be petty, and no longer directed at anyone but itself anyway.

When Elizabeth cleared her plate, she turned to find an outfit laid out over her tidied bed. She gave the room another scan, seeing nothing out of the ordinary as there was nothing to find. Catharsis still kept it’s focus away from the girl. Nothing else broke the silent tension until Elizabeth had finished dressing. The demon caught itself feeling something like relief and wondered all the more at this situation. Elizabeth broke the silence with a question that did not help.

“Why are you doing all this? Did I- Did we make a deal?”

Catharsis didn’t at that moment have eyes to blink, or the demon would have.

“No, Elizabeth. You are right though, what I am.” No reason to bother with pretense. “You could, of course. Wealth, power, fame. All within your reach, if you want. Revenge.”

The girl didn’t even blink. Catharsis felt the unusual sensation of relief. Not that the demon expected her to take interest now, but form’s sake demanded the offer be made.

“With that out of the way,” they both knew the girl’s lack of response for the negative that it was, “might I instead, ask you a favor?”

The girl registered emotion for the second time in Catharsis experience. Surprise, the girl reaching back with one hand to catch the chair before sitting down hard. She tried to stare at Catharsis, face twisting in mild frustration as she didn’t know where to look.

“That makes no sense at all.”

“It is quite unusual. All the same, I ask.”

“What sort of favor?”

Hard to blame the girl for caution. More likely curiosity, the demon silently corrected.

“Letting me,” help you. Protect you. These the demon did not say. Hardly understood itself. “Out. With you, I could leave this apartment.”

“You’re stuck here?”

Catharsis hissed in distaste at the word.

“I am secure here. It is two-edged, for while no power could easily evict me, I have no security outside these walls without a vessel.”

“And you ask me now, because you saw how much I don’t care?”

That was true, after a manner of speaking. Yet the demon had an urge to defend its request. An urge that it suppressed of course, but the desire unsettled the creature all the same.

“What of it?”

Catharsis half hoped that would get a rise out of the girl. A flash of anger, a wave of despair. Elizabeth merely sighed softly as she looked around the room.

“Whatever. So how does it work?”

“Hold still.”

Catharsis had never done this before. The demon knew how, of course. There were demons that preferred wearing a living human as their reliquary. Catharsis had always felt the risks unnecessary when all that was needed with this apartment was to wait, and let fresh souls come to it. That, and this association would be something else entirely.

Catharsis glided from the corner to ‘stand’ past Elizabeth’s elbow. Defining one claw within the girl’s field of view as not to startle her again, the demon reached under her chin to her neck.

“This will likely hurt.”

Surprising no one, Elizabeth made no response. As Catharsis pressed the claw to her skin to begin, muscles tensed reflexively. Nothing more. The girl did not shift or make a sound as the demon continued. Even as a scratch went too deep, releasing a red drop to run down her neck Elizabeth didn’t move. Catharsis caught the drop before it reached the girl’s collar, drawing the blood into itself as it continued it’s work. A few minutes and with one more curl that ended where the scratches began the design ringing Elizabeth’s neck was complete. The whole pattern took on an angry red glow, a tiny hiss escaping the girl’s lips at the burning sensation. Then the heat, and any trace of the demon’s work faded to nothing. Catharsis was mildly surprised it felt no difference for being linked to a mortal. The glowing and heat wouldn’t have happened had it missed a step, so the seal was working.

“Can I move?”

“Oh, yes.” Catharsis smoothed all surprise from it’s tone. “It is done. Finish preparing for the day.”

Elizabeth did just that, making a couple sandwiches and gathering her things. She paused at the door, looking back into the apartment. Catharsis lacked anything to comment, and said nothing. Finally, a minute or two ahead of her usual schedule, Elizabeth stepped outside, locking the door behind her and heading for the bus station.