Daily Life With A Lilim Chapter 21

~Relationship Advice For The Troubled Lilim~

Instead of leaving with the others Amelia opted to stay behind with Ezraphel. It wasn’t necessarily because she had more questions about her own situation but that she noticed there was something off about the other woman. Ezraphel was rather good at putting up a front but at the same time she was just too expressive for it to be perfect. That woman wears her heart on her sleeve and even in the limited time Amelia has known her she could tell something was wrong. This was showed to be the case almost immediately after the others left as Ezraphel dropped both the façade and her disguise before proceeding to lazily float over to the couch, conjure up a tub of ice-cream out of nowhere and began eating.

‘This is so cliché’ Amelia couldn’t help but think to herself with a shake of her head even as she sat herself next to Ezraphel who conjured a spoon for her and the two began to sharing the tub of ice-cream ‘but damn if it isn’t a good one.’

She liked ice-cream sue her and besides Ezraphel looked like she needed a friend right now. After several minutes of silence Amelia felt enough time had passed for Ezraphel to get comfortable and they can get to talking about the obvious elephant in the room.

“So…”

But before she can even begin to string along a proper sentence Ezraphel abruptly broke down.

“WAAAAHHHH~” the Lilim wailed in sadness that was a combination of overdramatic yet completely genuinely.

Amelia jumped at Ezraphel’s sudden outburst and in the next moment the Lilim was clinging to her.

“Whoa! Okay um…” she trailed off a bit as she recovered but began rubbing her circles on the Lilim’s back careful to avoid the wings since those were erogenous zones and she was already feeling weird from the close proximity.

“Stanley hates meee~” she sobbed.

Upon hearing that Amelia closed her eyes and took a calming breath ‘god dammit Stan.’

Her immediate reaction was to decry such a notion, insult Stan and reassure Ezraphel that she was too good for him with extreme prejudice. It only took a moment of consideration for her to adjust the intensity of her words. It was easy to fall back into insulting Stan even if she didn’t really mean anything by it most times. Truth is Amelia didn’t hate Stan and she’s sure he doesn’t hate her either. Their dynamic just ended up being playfully antagonistic and the insults was just them bantering.

Even if she gave him a hard time about it Amelia was actually happy Stan found a girlfriend and seemed to be getting his life together. She much preferred him now to the sad (and kinda pathetic) state he’d been in before. So with that line of thinking Amelia decided to drop all pretenses with her next words.

“That’s not true” she spoke.

“It is~” the sniffled.

“No it’s not and you know it.”

Ezraphel looked up at her from her place in Amelia’s chest and sniffled “b-but he chose not to share a bed with me. He said he needed space and stayed on the couch all niiight~”

And with that she broke down again crying into Amelia’s chest which was awkward because Ezraphel was much taller, her horns were awkward to manage and the ice-cream tub was still between them. After getting the tub with the spoons inside on the coffee table Amelia frowned at the words. Liam already told her about Stan staying up all night on the couch deliberately keeping his distance as a form of punishment for Ezraphel. It wasn’t just proximity either, Stan was basically a robot when it came to interacting with Ezraphel, literally giving the bare minimum of attention to her and using every and any chance he got to not even be in the same room as her.

Again Amelia’s knee jerk reaction at the time was to confront him about it but she held herself back. She didn’t like people giving their unwanted opinions on her personal life, she utterly despised any and every attempts of third parties inserting themselves into her relationship with Liam and she wasn’t hypocritical enough to do just that especially to Stan. The man has made it clear through his actions that he wasn’t someone who got involved in other people’s business and she respected that about him.

So she kept her peace and after letting the problem stew for a while she came to a startling conclusion, for her. That conclusion being the she sympathized with Stan’s position because to say that Ezraphel done goofed would be a major understatement. Things only turned out fine because Amelia ended up being the one who drank the milk. And just like in all the other times she thought of that particular aspect of the incident Amelia had to take a moment to reconcile that she essentially drank her friend’s breast milk.

Life truly is stranger than fiction.

But back to the matter at hand, Amelia was the only person out of the group this could have happened to without it blowing up into something more…unfortunate. She was absolutely fine with becoming a Mamono but the others are way too opinionated to let something like this slide. Even Jamie as laid back as he was Amelia felt he would have the most visceral reaction out of them all if they sprung it up on him. Hell Liam wouldn’t be cool with it even if she would be.

Not that she felt they would reveal this fact to them if they got corrupted since Ezraphel made it pretty clear she only gave Amelia the option because she felt and/or knew she would be fine with it. Meaning that for everyone else she would keep things quiet and simply halt the corruption process before it got out of hand. Whether Stan found out or not the guilt would eat at Ezraphel and she would be in an even rougher spot than now. Worse if Stan did find out about it.

‘Focus Amelia you have a job to do.’

Having wasted enough time thinking about what if’s Amelia went to work consoling her friend.

“I think you’re looking at this the wrong way.”

“H-how do you mean?” she sniffled looking up at her with those doe red eyes that look so adorably sexy.

‘Don’t look into her eyes stupid!’Amelia averted her gaze a bit before continuing.

“I-I mean…” she trailed a little attempting to put thoughts into words before sighing “the truth is I’ve been where you are before with Liam.”

“You have?”

“A few times” she admitted with an uncomfortable look “just know that early in our relationship I was a lot more adventurous for adventurous sake and I uh, made it a habit of testing Liam’s tolerance.”

‘And sanity.’

Thinking about it Amelia made a lot of impulsive decisions that she regretted now, like admitting that she seriously considered going all in on adult content (i.e. porn). She was woman enough to own decisions like that but in hindsight letting people know that was just unnecessary. Especially framing it as graphically as she did and now her friends thought she wanted to be a hardcore porn star.

‘Ugh’

And don’t even get her started on her ‘Tik Tok phase.’

‘Uuuuuggghhh’

“The point is what’s happening right now between you two is just a setback. Like you said he says he needs space and in my experience the only thing you can do is give it to him and hope for the best.”

“I already know that.”

“You do?”

Ezraphel sat up and dried her tears “Stanley made it very clear last night that he will not give up on our relationship and abandon me.”

‘Can he even do that?’ Amelia wondered since for all intents Mamono have a ‘mate for life’ kind of deal going on with their relationship and their partners usually don’t want to leave in the first place.

“Not that I am worried about our relationship ending” she added which served to answer Amelia’s unasked question “however…” her lips quivered “I fear that he will never trust me again.”

“Ah, well…just give it time.”

Ezraphel shook her head “even if the sting from this event dulls with time I don’t believe Stanley will ever forget this.”

Amelia winced “yeah he can be a vindictive little bastard when he wants to be” then she grinned “so I guess you’ll just have to make him forget about this.”

At that Ezraphel’s expression turned sharp “I refuse to manipulate his mind.”

“Whoa! I wasn’t suggesting that!” she exclaimed “I was thinking more along the lines of copious amounts of earth shattering sex, five star meals and intense pampering.”

“Oh…well I was already planning on doing that” she admitted sheepishly before becoming saddened “however I fear Stanley will not even allow me the attempt. He is well familiar with my tactics already” Ezraphel explained “and he will not allow himself to easily forgive me nor will he let me attempt to assuage his anger. He will drag this out for as long as he is able.”

‘That sounds like him.’

They say the opposite of love is not hate but apathy. Stan doesn’t necessarily hold grudges he just ignores people he doesn’t like or have a problem with. He’s applying the same tactic with Ezraphel and it’s clearly having a profound effect given how depressed she is after only a few hours of this treatment.

“I can’t imagine he’ll do that for long” Amelia said “you’re both living together under the same roof and from what I can see you’re the one taking care of him. I say give it a few days. He wants space then give it to him.”

Ezraphel gained an uncomfortable look “is that the only way?”

“Yeah, there are just some things you can’t help and letting him deal with it on his own is the best choice right now.”

Ezraphel groaned as her entire body seemed to sag dramatically. Her pointed ears, wings and shoulders drooped, her tail went limp and sad puppies had nothing on her expression at this point.

“Is there nothing I can do to skip it?”

Amelia scratched her head to come with an answer “you could make this a learning lesson for Stan.”

“Huh?”

“I mean right now you do all the domestic stuff and take care of his uh sexual needs right?”

“I do.”

“That right there means that you’re not as powerless in this as you might think. Stan needs you and I’m not just talking about the domestic stuff either. Thing about it is you’ve been coddling him for so long that he’s gotten complacent but I’m pretty sure if you let him have a taste of his own medicine he’ll come running back to you.”

She had Ezraphel’s attention now “what do you mean have a taste of his own medicine.”

“Give him his space, keep your distance, don’t talk to him much and just do the bare minimum to be in his presence-”

Amelia was suddenly interrupted by a loud high pitch keening noise that sounded an awful lot like some kind of wounded animal. She was further startled to find that the noise was in fact coming from Ezraphel whose expression was that of long suffering. She had her eyes pinched shut, her arms wrapped around her stomach and her body pitched sideways until the side of her head landed on the backrest of the couch.

Amelia had to take a moment after the sound tapered off to get her thoughts in order and eventually ask “what was that?”

That was the most inhuman sound she’s ever heard come out of a humanoid. She didn’t think humans were even capable of producing a sound like that.

‘Is that a Mamono thing?’

It wasn’t just the fact the sound was dreadfully inhuman in nature but that Amelia actually felt it as well. A brief yet intense bout of sadness that almost made her choke up with emotion the more she listened to it.

Instead of answering the question Ezraphel spoke or rather whined “but I don’t want to distance myself from my Stanley~ I want to hug and smother and pamper him~”

‘Man she has it down bad.’

Amelia already knew this but it really was off putting and concerning just how much Stan has her wrapped around his finger.

‘And knowing him it’s definitely by accident.’

Still Amelia found it more than a little disconcerting that a powerful interdimensional magical monster princess was beholden to a single man to such a degree. Seriously if Stan was the type of incel neckbeard weeb most people think he is then they (as in the human race) would be in pretty big trouble right now.

‘Time for a different approach’

“It was just a suggestion” Amelia backpedaled “but honestly I think it would do both of you good to get away from each other.”

“Hrrrmmmm”

“Not for long!” she added quickly then sighed “just…have you ever heard the term absence makes the heart grow fonder?”

“I can’t say I have.”

“Well think of it like this. Right now the two of you are going through a rough patch. Stan is being a stubborn ass and very unreasonable by not wanting to talk things through so you can overcome this like adults.”

Not necessarily true but she’s trying to cheer her up and from the way Ezraphel nodded at her words it was working somewhat.

‘Time to drive it home.’

“I don’t think forcing the issue is going to work here even if your intentions are good. He’ll probably see it as a personal attack and double down with his stubbornness or something.”

“That is what would happen, yes” Ezraphel answered easily enough.

“So instead of trying to force the issue you need to take a step back and let him cool off in solitude” again Ezraphel made a face but Amelia wasn’t having any of it “trust me, sometimes people er-humans just need to be left alone with their thoughts. Stan strikes me as the kind of guy who is used to being alone with his thoughts.”

“I knooow~”

“So you know leaving him alone for a while will probably work out for the better.”

The Lilim let out a groan “but what am I to do if I’m not taking care of Stanley?”

“You can’t let your whole world revolve around him girl.”

“Why not?”

“Huh?”

“Stanley and I love each other very much” she said with confidence “even through this ‘rough patch’ as you put it I know for a fact that he still loves me. Why should our world not revolve round each other then?”

Amelia’s mouth worked but no sound came out. That was truly the most outrageous thing she’s ever heard uttered by a woman in real life. There are so many things she could say to that but in the end she took a step back from the brink and reevaluated the situation.

‘This has to be a cultural thing’ she thought to herself with a hint of desperation ‘it just has to be…right?’

She could not accept that Mamono naturally think this way unironically. She loved Liam very much but the thought of having her world literally revolve around him seemed…unsettling to say the least. She certainly wouldn’t want his world to revolve around her either.

“Okay…um…” she trailed off.

‘How the hell can I convince her that it’s okay to have a life outside of catering to Stan?’

“D-don’t you have hobbies?”

“Well-”

“That has nothing to do with Stan!” she added with some aggravation.

Ezraphel remained quiet with an expression of deep thought which spoke volumes.

‘Come on give me something to work with here!’

Thankfully Ezraphel’s thoughtful expression gained enlightenment, sort of “well I do enjoy travelling.”

‘Oh thank God’

“I usually use my spare time to explore the wider city of our home” then Ezraphel’s expression became dower “I originally wanted to find places where Stanley and I can go together.”

‘Oh dear God!’

Despite the thought Amelia latched on to something “you say originally?”

“Yes I understand now that the chances of us visiting these places are practically nonexistent for the immediate future but I still venture out to explore all the same. This world is…very fascinating and exciting” she ended.

“Well there you go!”

Did she sound too excited? Amelia felt that but honestly she was just happy her new friend wasn’t that codependent on Stan.

“Now you have something to occupy your time when you’re giving Stan his space.”

“Oh…” Ezraphel looked down in sadness.

And we’re back to square one again.

‘No, I refuse to give up!’ she thought with fire.

“Again I think you’re looking at this the wrong way.”

“How so?”

“When Stan eventually gets over himself and the two of you return to your regularly scheduled dynamic you don’t want to pick up where you left off.”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“I’m not talking about you with Stan I’m talking about you Ezraphel.”

“Me?” she pointed at herself with a look of surprise.

“Yes you” she paused “I’m going to take an educated guess and say that you and Stan don’t really leave the house much, right?”

“That is true.”

“And I can see from your expression that it’s really frustrating, yes?”

“…yes.”

“So how exactly has he taught you about earth if you don’t leave his house much?”

“Stanley gave me a laptop and taught me how to use the internet.”

‘Stan you hopeless son of a bitch.’

“He left you alone with a laptop…and access to the internet…instead of teaching you himself?” she spoke slowly.

“Stanley says that it would be easier to have my questions be answered by ‘Google’ instead of him because he doesn’t know himself.”

Amelia massaged her brow ‘that absolute moron.’

He left an interdimensional magical monster girl princess to be taught about Earth…by the internet.

“Holy shit Ezraphel” she sighed.

“Is there a problem?”

“Yes, so much” she groaned “he half assed your education.”

“Stanley acknowledged his own limitations and referred me to something that could answer my admittedly many questions” she defended and Amelia almost rolled her eyes “I’d say it worked out just as well.”

Before she could have a blow out about this Amelia remembered how Stan was pretty upset about her taking selfies with Ezraphel and posting them on her socials. He even said he didn’t want her exposed to social media so at least he has enough foresight not to let her be exposed to that.

‘I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here and say he put safeguards in place or something.’

She couldn’t imagine what Ezraphel’s opinion on earth would be if she got exposed to the unfiltered internet.

“That’s not the point” she answered “he should have stuck by you and diligently explained things-but I’m getting ahead of myself. The real point is that Stan is not going to make that push outside his comfort zone.”

“You’re wrong” Ezraphel countered “I think Stanley has taken great strides to go outside his comfort zone. Why when we first met he would not even dream of spending time outside casually.”

“Right and how many dates have you went on outside?”

And this is when Ezraphel falters a bit “o-one.”

Amelia gave her a dubious look “you’ve been together for half a year and you only went out on a single date outside? That’s bad.”

“I know but what can I do? I have already made and will continue to make a push for more outside excursions however Stanley is very reluctant at the best of times.”

“I actually think you can make a better case for yourself here” Amelia spoke “see the problem is that Stan is a hermit with borderline agoraphobia-”

“What?”

“Fear of going outside” she explained.

“Oh”

“Right, so relying on a guy like that to act as your guide isn’t going to get you many results if any.”

“I see your point” Ezraphel admitted.

“So just don’t rely on him and take matters into your own hands. You go out exploring different places by yourself and later convince him to go out to those places with you.”

Ezraphel stared “you are suggesting I become Stanley’s guide.”

“Yeah, look I get that you’d want him to be the one to do it but in situations like this it’s better to take the initiative otherwise who knows how long it’s going to take before you make any progress following someone who is intent on dragging his feet.”

For a moment Ezraphel stared at Amelia before a smile curled on her lips and she began to laughing. It was a measured thing and she even covered her lips with a dainty hand.

~Set The Date~

Amelia sat there as she watched the Lilim continue to laugh trying and failing not to be captivated by the sound of her voice or be affected by her seemingly infectious mirth.

‘God what is wrong with me? It wasn’t this bad yesterday.”

Oh sure Amelia felt drawn to Ezraphel the day before when she revealed her true form but she never lost herself repeatedly like this.

Shaking her head Amelia forcefully laughed along with Ezraphel before asking “can I be let in on the joke?”

Ezraphel waved her hand “I apologize, it’s just when we first began our relationship Stanley told me that I should be the one to take charge because he felt he wouldn’t be good enough to do it.”

“That’s…” Amelia opted not to voice her initial thoughts on that and instead shook her head “yeah that sounds like him.”

“I know it may come off as indolent or insincere to you but in the context of where we were at the time I felt he made the right decision. He had so many doubts about us and I did not want to pressure him by being too overbearing” she then sighed.

Amelia tried to imagine being in Stan’s shoes. Someone who genuinely thinks relationships are a waste of time is suddenly confronted by a woman like Ezraphel who basically forces a relationship on him.

‘He was definitely out of his depth if nothing else.’

In that case she could see how foisting off the responsibility of managing their relationship onto Ezraphel would seem like the best play at the time.

However “it’s been half a year though.”

“Believe it or not he has changed in that time.”

Amelia frown became more pronounced “not enough in my opinion if you’ve only been on a single date. He should put in more effort.”

“I don’t mind” Ezraphel admitted with a shrug “I am a very patient woman.”

“You should though. I’m all for taking it slow especially if it’s someone like Stan but at this rate it’ll take a literal decade before you’re at a point where you can do regular dates.”

“If that is the case then so be it” she answered with a shrug.

Amelia’s mouth opened with a look of incredulity as she attempted to parse the words she had just heard. The way how Ezraphel said it you’d think it a jest however the expression she held betrayed the flippancy with which she spoke and Amelia knew that the other woman meant what she said. She would really wait a whole decade for Stan to come around with seemingly no issue. She took back her earlier thoughts as this was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever heard come from someone unironically.

So ludicrous were Ezraphel’s words that Amelia ended up blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.

“How can you say that!?”

At Amelia’s exclamation Ezraphel gave her a sort of melancholic smile “Amelia I have waited a hundred years to meet my Stanley. I can wait a few more for him to become wholly invested in our relationship. After all what is a decade for a ‘rough start’ in the face of the hundreds or possibly even the thousands of years we will be together?”

“…” Amelia had nothing to say to that only giving Ezraphel a nonplussed look.

‘Somehow I completely forgot about that.’

Ezraphel was practically immortal or at the least very long lived.

“Well now I feel stupid” she mumbled.

Here she was thinking in terms of human metrics (i.e. a couple of decades) when Ezraphel and by extension Stan will literally outlive generations to come.

‘No wonder she’s cool with putting up with Stan’s bullshit.’

Because for as stubborn and bullheaded as Stan was Amelia very much doubted he could keep that up for a couple decades let alone hundreds or thousands of fucking years.

“Don’t be, I understand where you are coming from and you are correct I should be taking a more active role in advancing our relationship.”

“Right…”

“And I want you to be there for support.”

That brought Amelia up short “uh…in what way?”

Ezraphel looked to the sight in contemplation as she spoke “I…have seen a great many things that the earth and its people have to offer both for good and for ill. As one of the few true explorers in my family I am very familiar with travelling…and the need for companions to share the experience with” she hinted in an obvious fashion.

Amelia blinked at the woman’s adorably bashful expression then smiled “I’m sure I can clear up my schedule.”

That was just a front because of course Amelia is going on a globetrotting adventure with Ezraphel.

“And speaking of schedules” Ezraphel lead on “have you and Liam decided on a date for your ascension?”

As she spoke Ezraphel leaned in with a look of giddy anticipation that was almost palpable.

It made Amelia’s response all the more regretful as she winced “about that, we uh haven’t been able to find a proper window to slot that in” well they did but “does it really have to be a week?”

“Oh most certainly” Ezraphel nodded with uncharacteristic seriousness “you will need as much time for the both of you to explore your new body~”

Amelia felt a tingle down her spine at the Lilim’s words before the situation came back to her and she gave a groan.

“We really do have a packed schedule for at least a couple more months.”

For Liam it wasn’t just dealing with uploads for his YouTube channel. This month in particular he has to fly out of state once to cover an expo he’s invited to. Then both of them have to fly across the country for a convention. For Amelia she has contractual obligations with Twitch to do livestreams a certain amount of time and this weekend was supposed to be a break from all that. She’s in no danger of breaching said contract but she really can’t take another extended leave of absence.

It’s the same for the next month and the month after and yada yada etcetera.

She pinched the bridge of her nose “I don’t know when we’ll have that much free time but it’s not going to be anytime soon.”

“That is unfortunate” Ezraphel pursed her lips in concentration as she thought through this dilemma.

After a stretch of silence Amelia noticed the other woman’s expression and commented “what are you thinking?”

“If the issue is time then I may be able to help although…” she trailed off in thought.

“Hey if you’re willing to help I won’t say no. What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking about creating a spirit realm with a time dilation enchantment that will make time move faster inside than it does out in normal realm space.”

Amelia stared at her “you want to make a Hyperbolic Time Chamber?”

Ezraphel gave her a confused look “a what?”

“It’s a-”

“Hypeebolah Mine Chamber?”

“What? That’s not-”

“Hypeebonics Rhyme Chamber?”

“Huh?”

“Hyperglycemic Crime Chamber?”

“I feel like you’re doing this on purpose.”

“What do you mean?”

Amelia squinted her eyes at the far too innocent look on the Lilim’s face “you get one more.”

“…Hypertonic Lion Tamer.”

Amelia gave the grinning Lilim a deadpan look.

Ezraphel met it with a grin.

With that same deadpan Amelia offered a single “no.”

At that Ezraphel sagged a little disappointment “aw~”

Shaking her head from that bit of comedy Amelia went back to the matter at hand “so about that uh, spirit realm?”

Snapping back to attention Ezraphel nodded “yes, a spirit realm where time moves faster. It will allow you all the time needed to properly get acquainted with each other following your transformation…in theory.”

“Theory? You mean you don’t already have something like that?”

Amelia figured she would have created that to maximize the amount of time spent with Stan.

In response to both her words and seeming thoughts Ezraphel averted her gaze “yes well…” she coughed in her fist “on the subject of mastering enchantments I have found the ones involving the concept of ‘time’ to be…” she trailed off snapping her fingers “what’s the word?”

“Difficult?” Amelia hazarded.

“Bullshit!” Ezraphel snapped her fingers as she found the right word “time enchantments are utter bullshit in my opinion.”

“Stanley’s vocabulary has rubbed off on you I see.”

Ezraphel huffed with a roll of her eyes “well it is the truth. I have spent years studying temporal spells and enchantments and I find them to be some of the most tedious and mind numbing subjects” a look of disgust and horror came over her “so…many…calculations and equations, just for a simple stupid…” Ezraphel cut herself off before glancing back at a now wide eyed Amelia “ahem, sorry for that. I had unearthed some annoying memories.”

“Hey you won’t hear me complaining about someone expressing their hate for math. I still have nightmares about fucking quadratic equations from time to time.”

“Right!”

“So you’ve never done this before?”

“I haven’t but I am willing to try.”

“I figured you would have already to be honest.”

“I brought it up to Stanley once before and he said no.”

“Why?”

“He says I would just use such a room as an excuse to spend more time having sex instead of doing something more productive.”

“…wow.”

“I know right” she huffed “having sex is plenty productive.”

‘…no comment.’

“So can you do it?”

“Of course” she said confidently before her expression turned sheepish “though it may take some time and effort on my part, wouldn’t want any mishaps to occur after all.”

Amelia stiffened “what kind of mishaps?”

“Oh the usual when dealing with time enchantments. One mistake and time moves faster than you indented and you end up spending what amounts decades in the spirit realm for a single day out here.”

Suddenly Amelia wasn’t too keen on Ezraphel’s solution “uh…”

“But don’t worry I promise to be extra thorough with the enchantments before I let you and Liam inside.”

Despite the reassurance Amelia was still shaken by the possible implications of failure.

“Maybe we should hold off on that.”

“Oh, you don’t trust me?”

“No!” Amelia blurted out before catching herself “ahem, it’s not that I don’t trust you it’s just that last night Liam and I were floating around the idea of waiting until our wedding night to do it.”

Back then her mindset had a bit impatient so she didn’t really consider waiting that long but now that she had time to ponder everything it really does seem to be the best choice. Not only because they made sure to clear their schedule in advance so they would have a couple weeks free before and after the wedding but also because it felt fitting.

“I’m guessing from the look on your face you approve?”

Ezraphel was downright gleeful as she exclaimed “yes! I am so foolish! Why didn’t I think of that!?” she bonked herself on the head.

Amelia couldn’t help but feel amused at how much Ezraphel was gushing right now.

‘She looks more excited than I am.’

While she thought this Ezraphel continued “combing both human and Mamono customs into the ultimate symbol of love” she gushed dreamily “it’s so romantic~”

“Yeah…” it did sound pretty romantic.

“Haa~ I hope Stanley and I will also be able to enjoy such splendors” she sighed dreamily and for a moment Amelia swore she saw literal hearts in the Lilim’s eyes.

‘What in the…?’

Then she blinked and looked to Amelia “what is it?”

“Wh-I-uh…I thought you were already married.”

At this Ezraphel frowned “according to Mamono traditions yes however by your human standards at best I am only Stanley’s ‘girlfriend’ which I find ridiculous.”

“Huh, didn’t think you would care about that.”

“I don’t” Ezraphel assured “however for some reason Stanley won’t admit to the reality of our relationship.”

“Eh, I mean if he did say you were married that would bring up more questions since you’re not exactly wearing the right equipment so to speak” and to that she held up her left hand where an engagement ring was situated.

Ezraphel stared at it and for a brief moment her expression changed to a mixture of frustration, longing and, dare she say, jealousy which was wild to Amelia.

‘No way she’s actually jealous right?’

Then in response to her words Ezraphel harrumphed and turned away almost like a petulant child with that same expression of frustration.

‘Oh my God.’

Amelia almost felt a bit proud that she had something that could make Ezraphel of all people genuinely jealous. Then she realized the context behind the reason for her jealousy was the disparity between their partners.

‘Now I feel bad for her.’

In a battle of whose partner is objectively better there is absolutely no contest between Liam and Stan. Liam was just a better boyfriend/fiancée (and even husband) than Stan by virtue of the fact that he actually puts in the effort to make their relationship work as opposed to pawning it off on her.

Her thoughts were then interrupted by Ezraphel “that too is an issue that we will address in due time” she said in response to the ring “however what I mean is that Stanley will not admit it to himself that we are married.”

“Oh uh…”

“Did you know he has never once referred to me as his wife?” she said with a scandalous tone “can you believe that!?”

‘Yes.’

“I mean, it kinda makes sense doesn’t it?”

“How so?”

“I don’t know if you know this but Stan wasn’t exactly the biggest proponent of relationships. I used to think it was just the usual incel shit because the guy has obviously never been in a relationship himself and never will in my opinion because there is no woman in this world who would ever go for a guy like him” she paused looking at the Lilim “turns out I was right about that but I was wrong about his beliefs. Stan genuinely thought that relationships were a waste of time or a bad investment and that marriage is a scam.”

“He did say something to that effect before” Ezraphel mused.

“Well the good news is he’ll come around…eventually.”

“I know” Ezraphel sighed “his stubbornness can only go for so long and at least he is making an honest attempt to change.”

Amelia shrugged “if you say so.”

“Well” she clapped her hand and stood up “I think that’s enough of that. We still need to prepare dinner for when the others arrive.”

Amelia checked the time and agreed before standing up as well “so what are we making this time?”

Ezraphel gave a beatific smile “a classic.”

~The Comedown~

Stan had ridden the high of his overwhelming victory all the way to an ATM. It was as he was re-depositing what was left of his money that he was hit the ‘post nut clarity’ so to speak.

‘Oh my fucking God I took out five grand just to bribe my friends and a bunch of randos to all play against me so I could have a challenge. Kendrick is right, that is some anime villain shit.’

And if that wasn’t cringe-worthy enough he also flexed his wealth like a fucking DoucheTuber too.

“Eeugh” he audibly groaned.

“Should we be concerned about the noises you’re making right now?” Kendall spoke from the backseat.

“It’s nothing just uh…being hit with that post nut clarity” he admitted.

“Well glad to know your insanity was only temporary” Kendrick quipped.

More shots were taken at him from the backseat which he allowed if only because deep down he knew he deserved it. Granted his harebrain scheme actually worked as the negative thoughts on Ezraphel and her fuck up were the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. Did it mean he forgave her or would let her off the hook? Hell no, the punishment is still on and will be on for as long as he can hold out except now he’s less likely to be intentionally malicious towards her.

Speaking of Ezraphel Stan realized that he left her with Amelia. He left Ezraphel…who is most definitely sad and heartbroken…to cry on the shoulders of fucking Amelia for over two hours, close to three at this point.

‘Fuuuuuck me sideways’ he internally groaned.

In his mad dash to get away from Ezraphel and enact his scheme he completely overlooked that not-so-little tidbit. A major blunder on his part but at the same time even if he did take this into consideration it’s not as if he could have done anything about it realistically. He needed to be away from Ezraphel so sticking around to chaperone them was out of the question. He could have appealed Liam to force Amelia to go with them but even if that worked that would just leave Ezraphel alone to stew in her own morose regret and let’s be honest she’d just follow him under a disguise spell anyway.

At least with Amelia staying behind she could dissuade Ezraphel from stalking him. Also he didn’t want to deal with the potential fallout from Ezraphel’s mental anguish if it gets too bad. As for the consequences of leaving those two together Stan can’t say for sure how that will turn out. It really depends on how much Amelia hates him at the moment. Full disclosure neither she nor Stan like each other…at all. At best they have a grudging tolerance/respect but they are each other’s least favorite people.

It’s been like that since they first met though back then they actually despised each other. It all stemmed from their first meeting when Liam decided to drag her along to one of their group get-togethers. At that point she was the only person out of everyone that Stan hasn’t had dealings with prior and that admittedly made him nervous. Back then and still to this day Stan has the habit of becoming twice as caustic when he gets nervous as a defense mechanism.

It didn’t help that he could see for a fact that Amelia didn’t approve of his attitude and that rubbed him the wrong way. By the end of that first meeting things escalated into an argument and well let’s just say it put Liam’s friendship with Stan into question. That first meeting basically set the tone for their dynamic and at first glance it might seem similar to the one he has with Kendrick but the difference is that he actually respects Kendrick.

Stan did not respect Amelia.

He could not respect a woman who seemingly built her career through being a social media whore, appropriated otaku culture to appeal to weebs, did what was essentially softcore porn to attract pervs and amassed a legion of simps to act as her collective pay pigs. And that right there is the rub because while he couldn’t care less about her approval it rubbed him the wrong way that she didn’t approve of him yet kept making content geared towards profiting off of people like him.

People like Stan are literally her target demographic and while he has never and will never subscribe to wasting his money on online thots Amelia’s vocal and clear disapproval of him and his friendship with Liam felt like a personal attack. Liam was Stan’s friend, someone he deeply respected as one of the realest guys he knew and in his opinion too good for Amelia. The only reason why he kept it level with his disdain for Amelia back then was because Liam seemed genuinely in love with her.

God knows why.

He didn’t think their relationship would last mostly because he noticed even Liam himself seemed uncertain about her in those early beginnings. In the end he was proven wrong and their relationship ended up blossoming for lack of a better term. Now Liam being the upstanding and genuinely good person he was didn’t want to choose between his friend and his girlfriend despite the answer being clear as day. So he worked as a mediator to get them to an understanding.

He didn’t know what he did for her but for him being the investigator that he was he managed to figure out Stan’s issues with her and over time set the record straight. The guy actually started talking about her. Stan would like to think it was to convince him to give her chance but just as well he might have done it because he was so hopelessly in love and couldn’t shut up about her.

Ugh…

On another note Stan could sympathize with Liam’s position now considering how nervous he was with introducing Ez. Thinking about it now if for whatever reason any of them had a problem with Ezraphel he would rather figure out what the problem is and fix it than break off one of the few irl friendships he had.

In any case Amelia turned to be surprisingly relatable outside of her online persona. He would have never thought Amelia to be a stubborn, lazy and impulsive college dropout who couldn’t keep a job, mooches off her friends and was a general slob of a woman whose only redeeming features seemed to be her good looks and charisma. At least that’s what he got from Liam’s ramblings about her though obviously the man wasn’t so critical of her past when describing it and used more flattering words but Stan can read between the lines.

In the end she was just some girl who was genuinely into otaku culture and enjoyed cosplay as a hobby. Eventually some of her pictures blew up and she got a small following which she saw as an opportunity. Considering at that point she was unemployed, not on speaking terms with her parents and coming dangerously close to burning away the last her roommate’s goodwill she took the opportunity presented to her.

At that point in time E-Girls were starting to become popular and social media AdSense were being advertised heavily to attract more content creators. Amelia was in a desperate situation and she did all she could to both maintain her core audience as well as reaching a wider one. Thus she started experimenting with chasing the most popular trends eventually leaning into things that worked for her like streaming and otaku content while taking a step back from other stuff like doing Tik Tok videos and softcore porn.

After piecing together that bit of her history through Liam’s tales and a cursory background check out of curiosity he found too many things familiar with his own past to not respect her, begrudging as it is. While he will never really approve of her content he couldn’t knock her hustle. As the saying goes don’t hate the player hate the game and as someone who has been on the internet for over a decade he knew the game far too well.

After learning that he eased up on the antagonism and whatever magic Liam did with Amelia worked because she eventually adjusted her attitude. It didn’t mean they liked each other but they didn’t hate other either. At least he hoped she didn’t hate him enough to manipulate Ezraphel into doing something unnecessary and stupid out of maliciousness towards him.

Though looking at it from an outside perspective he didn’t exactly leave the best impressions for sympathy on his part. Ignoring Ezraphel is as big of a dick move as it sounded and the looks on everyone’s faces when he did it spoke volumes. They thought he was being an asshole for no reason, they didn’t say it but the thought is written on their faces through their reaction. This he expected from those not in the know but even Liam looked vaguely in disapproval at Stan’s choice in punishment.

God only knows what Amelia’s reaction would be and how she would address it because Stan knew for a fact that this would be the main topic of discussion for them. For his mental health he shouldn’t assume the worse but as a pessimist he couldn’t help but think about it. Would Amelia be the friend to console and reassure Ezraphel that everything would be okay or would she instigate/propagate unnecessary drama out of spite for him or as ignorant advice for the Lilim.

Unknowing to Stan the anxiety caused by the nature of his thoughts had the unfortunate effect of bleeding into his actions resulting in said actions becoming ever so slightly more erratic and chaotic. Said action at the moment happened to be him driving and needless to say the passengers were more than a little concerned. That is especially considering that most had been taking shots at him about his actions at the airsoft arena. Stan didn’t even notice at some point that they stopped talking nor did he notice the collective sigh of relief when they finally arrived at the airbnb.

After gathering his equipment he couldn’t help but look to the house with some apprehension. What would he find going inside?

His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder “hey.”

Stan turned to see Kendrick of all people “what?”

He raised a brow “I should be asking you that. You were uncharacteristically silent back there, even when we were making fun of you.”

Stan scoffed “I had bigger things on my mind?”

“Is it Ezraphel?” he guessed and before Stan can say any more he couldn’t “couldn’t help but notice you two were acting weird around each other. You two going through some stuff?”

“Something like that” he hedged giving the man the side eye.

“Hey it’s none of my business” he raised his hands “but just know I’m not the only one noticing this…or that Liam and Amelia are somehow involved too.”

Stan internally winced ‘I figured’

With his piece said Kendrick walked away hauling his equipment followed by Kendall and Jamie leaving Stan and Liam to follow behind.

“What was that about?” Liam asked.

“Kendrick just did a vibe check.”

“Oh, and what’s the consensus?”

“I fucked up.”

“You’ll have to be specific.”

“Just got confirmation that I brought down the whole mood because of this fucking drama with Ezraphel” Stan specified “I didn’t want anyone to notice and get involved.”

“No offense Stan but if that was the goal you did a really crappy job. Unless you thought you were being subtle with how you handled Ezraphel this morning.”

He cringed “ugh, I wasn’t trying to be subtle.”

“And that’s your fault but I wouldn’t say you brought down the mood” he paused “no that’s a lie you totally did.”

“You know you’re usually better at cheering people up.”

“It’s my job to report the truth and have people make up their own minds with the presented information Stan.”

“Ah right journalist” he nodded with a deadpan “I should have set my expectations appropriately low then.”

Rolling his eyes Lam replied “alright how about this, you didn’t bring down the mood any worse than you usually would-well…maybe a bit more than usual since you hurt Ezraphel’s feelings.”

“Is this your way of calling me a dickhead?”

“Hey you said it not me.”

Stan grumbled in response.

“But in all seriousness though while your uh ‘punishment’ is justified to fit the crime so to speak maybe don’t do that in front of everyone if you don’t want them to think any less of you. After all me, you, Ezraphel and Amelia are the only ones who know said crime so to speak.”

In hindsight it was so simple. All he had to do was wait until they went home to enact the punishment without alerting the others.

“Fuck” he facepalmed.

‘Now I look like even more of an asshole…and a guy who’s mistreating his girlfriend too.’

“Fuuuck”

“I see that my words have helped you reached an epiphany.”

“Something like that.”

“Then my work here is done” he started walking away.

“Hold up”

“What?”

“What are the chances of Amelia knowingly or unknowingly manipulating Ezraphel into doing something stupid that will cause me headaches?”

Liam raised an eyebrow but seemed to ponder the question “I don’t think she would manipulate Ezraphel and contrary to what you might think she wouldn’t interfere in your relationship just to spite you. As for the other thing it depends on your definition of ‘stupid’ and how it would give you headaches.”

That was basically the conclusion he reached with as well and while it was not the answer he was looking for he thanked Liam for it all the same.

“No problem” the other man replied walking off.

As Stan trailed behind him he internally sighed.

‘Looks like I’m relying on real world RNG to see if Amelia fucked me.’

~A Step Towards Independence~

‘Maybe I was overreacting.’

It’s been about a few hours since he came back with the sun was beginning to show signs of waning. Thus far things have been on the relative up and up. It seemed Amelia didn’t radicalize Ezraphel much to his relief though she obviously disapproved of the way he chose to handle her punishment. That is to be expected much like how he figured she expected him not to really give a shit about her opinion in this case.

As for Ezraphel a subtle vibe check on his part revealed the Lilim to be in better spirits than when he left. She even greeted him with a sandwich platter and drinks to tide him and everyone else over until dinner was prepared. That was ultimately a good thing and internally he thanked Amelia for being a friend to her. Externally he flipped her the bird when she made a vaguely disapproving noise and expression to match.

No words were exchanged because nothing needed to be said between them as they already knew what the other was about. Of course he was still leery of the two of them spending time together but that situation was out of his hands at the moment. He could only hope nothing bad comes from it…and after failing miserably to hope he opted to rely on distractions as a coping mechanism.

Luckily he found the perfect distraction with their chosen game of the evening, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Funnily enough he didn’t have to convince the others to take part in this one, heck he wasn’t even the one to suggest it. That honor belonged to Jamie, the evening MVP and they all unanimously agreed with his decision. They ended up doing five long matches each consisting of thirty rounds lasting for about three hours. It was during this time that Stan found himself once again realizing an undisputed fact of life…

Counter-Strike is still better than Call of Duty. It’s not even a competition really and Stan felt ashamed of the fact that he never thought to play old reliable instead of diving back into the bullshit that is Warzone. Playing Counter-Strike again after so long made him think back to a simpler time before shooters added gimmicks like perks, classes, kill streaks, vehicles, iron sights, going prone, leaning, sprinting, single player, voice acting and photo realistic graphics.

…was it mentioned this game, which has hardly changed since it was released back in 2012 still maintains upwards of 800,000 concurrent players on Steam, the largest global platform for PC gaming, at any given moment?

There is a reason for that as Stan experienced once again what it was like to play chess with guns. There are no sweaty plays in Counter-Strike unless you’re looking for a quick death. As a veteran FPS player who once dominated Counter-Strike lobbies it didn’t take him long to get back in the groove of things. There was still growing pains for the early games however as he shook off rust and was once again he was humbled by the fact that he could make rookie mistakes such as getting picked off early game, getting distracted, making bad plays and ultimately…flashbang himself.

Fucking up has never felt so nostalgic.

But as the games went on and he started getting into the groove again there is nothing quite like the butthole clenching rush of being the last man alive against a near full squad and clutching a win against the odds. Because as everyone knows in Counter-Strike every victory is a true testament of your skills…and every defeat is lag’s fault.

Stan wasn’t necessarily the star of the show here. There is an ‘I’ in airsoft but not in team and this was demonstrated by everyone pulling their weight and performing beautifully. Kendrick’s skills with the Desert Eagle were on point, Liam earned his title of Sniper God and even Kendall had her time to shine with an insane mad lad push with the P90 that was the stuff of legends. Then there was Jamie who acted as the leader and surprised the hell out of Stan with his performance.

At one point Stan’s pretty sure Jamie entered the flow state, opened his third eye, jacked into the mainframe and was listening to enemy comms because he beat almost as much ass as Stan did. As for Stan once he cleaned off the rust he dominated almost every match. The name of the game was chess with guns and he was the Grandmaster playing with M4s and AKs.

But no man is an island and while Stan snagged a few Ace and MVP status achievements what really stole the show was their teamwork and coordination. Really with how much of a well oiled machine they were as a unit you’d think they were an e-sports team but not even Stan could claim such a thing lightly. In any case with the success of their game time Stan was more than ready for a victory feast and Ezraphel did not disappoint.

“…hey Stan?” whispered Kendrick in awe.

“Yeah?”

“I know we don’t really see eye to eye but take this advice. Whatever kind of lover’s spat you’ve got going on with Ezraphel you should fix asap and keep that woman close you understand?”

“…yeah.”

The reason for this interaction came when they were all called for dinner and what awaited them was incredible to say the least.

“For our final feast together I thought we could go back to the classics.”

Classics turned out to be an amalgamation of classic Sunday dinner meals for which the main dishes are rosemary lamb shanks, classic beef stew, breaded pork tenderloins and puff pastry chicken pot pie. Side dishes include buttermilk biscuits, garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, parmesan baked potatoes and roasted veggies. For drinks there was an assortment of wines, fruit juices, water and milk. Desert she kept a secret for the time being not that anyone even asked considering the smorgasbord sitting before them.

As they actually started eating it became unanimous that Ezraphel once again hit it out of the park. And to compliment the good food they had good dinner conversation to go along with it.

“Stan did what?” Amelia said incredulously.

“You heard me” Kendrick spoke “man whipped out five grand and bribed everyone to play a game of 1v10 Rambo with him.”

“I don’t believe it. Mr. Frugal Investor over here actually flexed his wealth on you?”

“I didn’t flex” Stan defended with a grumble.

“Yes you did” Kendall scoffed.

“You did whip out five thousand clams Stan” Jamie commented.

“All for a game of airsoft too” Liam added “which I mean, weird flex but okay.”

“I needed enough money that none of you could justify refusing under the conditions.”

“You made the deal to give everyone a hundred dollars if any one managed to tag you.”

“Yeah and you all took the bait hook, line and sinker.”

“Didn’t figure you for a gambler Stan” Amelia commented.

In response Stan scoffed “oh please you all knew what happened in that arena, was I really gambling?”

“Why, what happened?” Amelia asked looking around the table.

“Yes tell her what happened” said Stan with a smug grin.

Jamie was the first to comment “Stan went Insane-O style.”

“He cheated” Kendrick refuted “I don’t know how or when but he definitely cheated.”

“Aw Kendrick is your bottom still sore from when I bent you over my knee and spanked you like the little misbehaving boy you are?”

Liam decided to answer “we only managed to tag him once.”

“Once?” Amelia reiterated with shock.

“Out of the entire game” Kendall added.

“How long did you play?”

“Two hours!” Kendrick practically yelled “we played for two straight hours and we only managed to hit him once.”

Seeing the confirmation on the others Amelia came to the only logical conclusion “you cheated.”

Stan rolled his eyes “no matter how many times you say it doesn’t mean it will magically come true.”

“There is no way you only got hit once in a two hour 1v10 in CQB arena, it’s impossible.”

“Not impossible just a skill issue and as your fiancé can attest not one that I have.”

After that zinger they talked a bit more about the insanity that was the airsoft game before moving on to other topics. Eventually they managed to finish the meal and moved on to desert which turned out to be apple pie. Following desert they watched a few movies before once again breaking off to do their own thing. This mostly involved packing their bags for when they will be leaving out early to venture to the airport.

At this moment Stan should have been on his laptop however curiosity got the better of him and after much deliberation ventured into the kitchen. It was there he found Ezraphel flitting about with seemingly what remained of their shopping ingredients and the leftovers.

This had him ask the question “what are you doing?”

Without looking at him she answered “I am preparing meals for the others to enjoy on their way back to their homes.”

Stan leaned on the doorway “so home cook takeout then.”

“I prefer the term travel meals Stanley” she then looked to him “is there something I can help you with?”

“No just doing a vibe check.”

Ezraphel tilted her head “vibe check?”

“Checking up on how you’re doing.”

“Oh, well I am doing…alright” she hesitated before returning to her task.

“You seem alright.”

“Spoiled your plans?” she grumbled.

“What?”

“I find it unfortunate that you insist on punishing me like this.”

Stan scowled “well what the hell would you have me do? Let it go? After how much you fucked up?”

The Lilim sighed “I understand why you are doing this and I…agree given the circumstances” she edged “but it is frustrating nonetheless Stanley.”

Stan snorted “it’s called a punishment for a reason Ez, it’s not supposed to be enjoyable.”

“And the one administering the punishment should not be this cordial.”

Stan rolled his eyes “we’re living under the same roof and you make my food.”

You don’t go out of your way to be hostile against people who make your food. It’s the reason why he has no sympathy for people who antagonize service industry workers. Frankly they deserve everything negative coming to them.

She took a surreptitious glance at him “I don’t suppose there is anything I can do to alleviate my punishment?” she added with a sultry tone.

Stan was unimpressed “no.”

To that she frowned and turned her nose up at him “hmph.”

Some may question the legitimacy of his so-called punishment but they wouldn’t understand. Mamono in general are creatures of love and succubi even more so. The only other species who are more love-centric than them are the servants of Eros the Goddess of Love. It might not seem like it on the surface but Stan not giving Ezraphel his love and attention really does cause her discomfort.

He could feel it even now through their bond and it hasn’t even been a full day since he started. Not to sound like a sadist looking forward to her suffering or anything but things will only get worse for her the longer he kept it up and that’s the point.

Of course a vibe check wasn’t the only thing he came here for and since he wasn’t in the mood to be subtle he just went ahead and asked his question.

“So what were you and Amelia conspiring while we were gone? She didn’t give you any weird ideas did she?”

Stan observed that the question caused her shoulder stiffen before she glanced at him “w-what makes you think we were conspiring?”

‘Your reaction just now.’

Rather than say that he shook his head “what else were you two going to do?”

Ezraphel pursed her lips in response before once again returning to her task “we did not conspire however we did agree to keep in touch after this” she paused “if that is alright with you?”

“You don’t need my permission to make friends.”

“What about your approval of said friends?”

“Well of course I want to know who you’re hanging out with, wouldn’t want anyone being a bad influence around you.”

To that Ezraphel chuckled “oh Stanley I believe that statement to be height of irony.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m a bad influence yada yada. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong and you didn’t answer my question.”

“If you must know Amelia is of the mind that I should distance myself from you. In her own words she said I should not let my world revolve around you.”

“Yeah?” he said not letting any emotions show.

“And I agree.”

“Really?” this time there was a bit of shock and dare he say anticipation leaked into his voice.

“And since you refuse to be my guide Amelia has volunteered to be my traveling companion.”

“Traveling companion?”

“Yes Stanley, since you require space I will give it to you.”

He raised a brow at the small amount of smugness in her tone “that so?”

“That is so” she continued “while you ‘figure things out’ I will be preoccupied with going on excursions across the country with Amelia” she said almost triumphantly.

He nodded slowly licking his lips “and you both agreed to this?”

“That is correct.”

“Wow” he began eyes wide “that is…fucking fantastic!” he finished with a wide smile.

“Huh?”

“You know I was really starting to get concerned about you Ez.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“As flattering as it might seem on paper I find your level of devotion to me kind of uh…off putting.”

“O-off putting?” the Lilim sputtered with indignance.

“Oh don’t give me that, you were literally forcing yourself to stay in my vicinity at all times even when you’d rather be doing something else. And when you couldn’t convince me to do that thing you force yourself to stay by my side instead of just going out and enjoying yourself” his expression turned uncomfortable “I was really worried your co-dependence on me was stifling you.”

“Y-you were?”

“Still am” he corrected “I’ve never felt comfortable with how content you forced yourself to be with me just sitting at home doing fuck all Ez. I’ve always wanted you to get a life outside of being my devoted stay-at-home girlfriend.”

“Wife” she corrected with a frown.

“Whatever” he waved off ignoring how pronounced her frown became “point I’m making is, I’m glad you’re taking that first step towards independence. I know I should be the one doing this instead of Amelia but uh…” he trailed off making a complicated expression before shaking his head “in any case good for you” he gave her an exaggerated thumbs up “and godspeed I guess” he ended lamely before turning away but not before leaving her with some final words “oh and for the love whatever random omnipotent being watching over us right now, please don’t fuck it up.”

Then he was gone leaving Ezraphel alone in the kitchen. Ezraphel stared at the doorway for a long while before turning away. With a flex of her mana she erected a privacy barrier preventing all from hearing what comes next.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! STANLEY YOU IDIOT!” The Lilim screamed at the top of her lungs.

~To Be Continued~

Author’s Notes: I wanted to make each volume of this story ten chapters but to be honest this one kind of ran away from me. With that said there is one more chapter left until the end of the volume which is available now on Patreon at: www.Patreon.com/Streggaeworks

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