Arriving back at the car, Hiyori felt revitalized, excited by the thought she had something that would make her cursed shadow tremble the same way she had throughout the years, every time the sun went down. She walked forward with the zip bag in her hands, raising it up towards Everlong's car with a triumphant look in her eyes. He did not stop her, already knowing the outcome beforehand. It was better to let her experience it now than later. And suffer its consequences when he wasn't present...

The moment she stepped close to the car, a bright streak of lightning ran through the clouds, rumbling like thousands of horses galloping through the sky. Hiyori was frozen in place, even dropping the little bag, falling to her butt as a big, wet stain formed between her legs very quickly. She saw it. For that mere split second, the world was brighter than during the day when the lightning revealed to her the same figure Everlong had been keeping a watch on since she first met her.

It was not human—not even resembling one. It was a thin, dark strand entirely made of black smudge, dripping from its appendages right onto the concrete below them. It was as if the hair stuck in the drain had gained sentience, rising up and imitating something human-like—without any success.

It stood on multiple squelching, coiling tentacle-like… things. From it grew out an elongated torso, which had other thin, continuously smoking tendrils attached to it, flopping in the air every time it moved. Where a human would have its head, it also had… something that only resembled the shape of a deformed skull. She could not make out any facial expressions, just the outline of its jawline, where the nose should be, or where its eye sockets may have been. It was continuously morphing, flowing. It was like a melting, black sludge sticking to the fur of a roadkill. It was clearly attached to the back of the car, looking at her. It wasn't gazing at the bag she dropped to the ground, not at Everlong or the cemetery behind them, but at her.

Hiyori only saw it for a fraction of a second before it was gone from her eyes again, but it was not something she was prepared to face. Unaware of the indescribable dread that would wash over her. Every positive thought, bravery, or playfulness evaporated from her immediately. What remained now was fear, anxiety, and the feeling that she was hopeless against something like that!

"It has been twisted and deformed by her own unfulfilled desires. Those pent-up feelings and resentment toward others resulted in this malformed being that has attached itself to you," Everlong said, crouching down behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, somewhat relieving her mind. "The more it fed, the more grotesque it became. It has lost all of its humanity by now, and it is an amalgamation of all that she hated. The only thing that alleviates her from feeling it is spreading it to others, feeding on their suffering. That is a demon... something that can and would only be interested in spreading its own misery."

"I feel it…" she whispered while her tears streamed down her face. "Those… things, attached to its body! Coiling around me at night, digging under my skin, into my brain!" she leaned forward, retching while trying to hold her mouth shut with one hand. 

"When you stepped into my office, it was attached to you like a parasite, fused with you. You barely had any time left."

"..."

"Luckily, now it is different!" He chuckled, standing up and pulling her up, "But you gotta be careful. You can't underestimate a demon, no matter the circumstances. If you get complacent, you get sloppy. One crack on your mind's defense, and this will happen. You fell from the top, feeling victorious, right down to the bottom, getting drowned in your own piss." 

"Yeah…" she nodded, looking at herself, letting Everlong joke about it.

"Come!" he patted her head, picking up the zip bag from the ground and stepping towards the car, but Hiyori's body refused to move. It still knew the thing was there. No matter if she wanted to go with Everlong, her body was not listening. "Come, Hiyori," he said again, holding her trembling hand. "Don't worry. It is just a low-level demon spawn. It can't physically hurt you."

They stood there for almost a minute before Hiyori finally blinked her baggy eyes and took a wobbling step forward, letting the smiling Everlong lead her to the trunk of the car. Opening it, to her surprise, he picked out a black skirt, a white blouse, a dark gray vest, and a change of underwear, perfectly at her correct size.

"Change quickly!" he threw a fresh towel on her head as he started to strip right in the middle of the empty parking lot. A moment later, above them both, a storm was getting ready to open the heavenly floodgates at any time. "One, you pissed yourself; two, we are dirty from grave robbing; and three, I won't let us stain my nice seats inside the car!" he chuckled, quickly dressing up in a fresh set of black trousers and white shirt. 

At first, Hiyori was doing it by reflex, listening to his words, but as she was pulling up her new underwear, her hands froze, looking up at him, wearing only that and her old, dirt covert top. 

"Why... Why do you have clothes in my size?" she stuttered, regaining some of her peace of mind.

"I'll leave it to your imagination!" he laughed, finishing dressing up and putting his and her old clothes into the trunk.

"Perv," Hiyori replied, quickly finishing changing. 

"Sort of," he answered, getting into the car as Hiyori hurriedly followed suit, not wanting to stay where she saw that… thing. Just as she closed the door, it was like the rain was waiting for that exact moment because it started pouring down so heavily that she thought their car had dropped into a river. 

"Do they all look like this?" she asked while Everlong started the car. They quickly left the little town and headed back out to the highway. 

"Nope. Does every human look the same?"

"For me? They sometimes do, " Hiyori nodded. "Same blank faces, same empty smiles, same scripted conversations as if they are stuck in a loop…"

"Well, it did influence you for a decade… anyway, my point is, their looks are as varied as humans can be. But there are categories."

"Categories?" she looked at him, watching his face from the side while he was looking at the road through the heavy downpour. 

"Yes, from Level 0 to Level 5. It is something that I made up, so don't go looking for them in any other places!" he chuckled. "I call apparitions that have almost no intellect the Level 0 ones. They are just a mark left behind by someone. For example, when you are sitting at home, and from the corner of your eye, you see somebody standing there, walking past your window, or things like that. The moment you look, it is gone, and you won't reencounter it. Those are Level 0 things. Creepy? Yes. Dangerous? No. Then, Level 1 is your typical ghost. They are weak. Usually, they just want to communicate with the living, telling them their stories so they can move on. Four out of five of them are harmless."

"There is still that one…" Hiyori mumbled.

"Yeah, and those are the ones that usually turn into Level 2 beings. From the usual hauntings to things like the one who is attached to you. You could call them a demon by then. Or how do you say it nowadays? A hipster ghost?" 

"Very funny…" she rolled her eyes but still smiled a little. "So my curse is just… a Level 2 being?"

"Yep. Sorry, but it is nothing special! She was probably a ghost that started to reform itself, choosing to morph into a demon instead. They are still unable to directly harm you or anyone else around you, but they sure will try to influence you, so you do it yourself. Nasty little fuckers." 

"If they do it a long time… Do they evolve to Level 3?" she guessed, receiving an approving nod and glance from Everlong.

"Yes. Now, Level 3 is where most of the things 'live,' if you let me paraphrase it that way. They can even manifest and possess things or other living beings; simply put, they are as dangerous as any human. There are big power differences amongst them, depending on how long they have been around or what kind of demonic belief they are part of. For example, some demons embody the sins of never-ending lust, excess pleasure, or emotions. The legends of succubi, your nation's fox demons, etc., all come from them. Then there are the kind of demons who love carnage, the voices that tell someone to go and murder his or her whole family, guiding the weapons in their hands. The so-called legends in the land of the Dynasty of the Ancients, the yāoguài, are also a prime example. If yours finally fed enough, it probably is going to be a revenger or torture-loving ghost, like the Slavic myths about the baba yaga."

"Charming…"

"Isn't it?" he laughed a little.

"Then what about Level 4?" she asked, taking a deep breath, not really knowing where it could go from there.

"True demons," he answered with simple words. "The ones who never were human to begin with." 

"True… demons…" she gulped, tasting the word itself, feeling a shiver run through her body. 

"Yeah. As you already guessed, there is a thing called the afterlife. Don't ask how it came to be because I don't know! And I'm not brave enough to ask or try to find it out. But there are things there that never were part of our reality. Our world. They are the true demons! Or angels. Depends on how you look at them."

"Did you meet things like them?"

"Yes." Everlong nodded immediately. "You will, too. They are much, much more civilized than you would think. I call them demons, and they can be dangerous, weird, and conniving but can also be curious, honorable, or good-natured. It's just easier to call them one thing than to go into the specifics every time."

"It is hard to believe…" she replied, licking her dried lips, listening to his words.

"Think of it this way; Picture a coin. On one side, there we are, humans. The other side is for the demons. Just as some of us decide to try and flip it and cross over, like the thing that is following my car right now, some demons decide to do the same and act more human than you would expect!"

"What about those at Level 5?"

"..." At her question, Everlong fell silent suddenly, scaring Hiyori for a moment.

"We don't talk about them," he replied in a serious tone. "There is a reason why some religions forbid to speak their God's name. Beings at that level, by just mentioning them, they would immediately know… and you don't want them to know about you."