“You asked for my presence?” Apollyon stepped closer.

“I did, thank you for coming over. We have a situation we need to get under control instantly. Laura here has had information about us beaten out of her by her parents. I need a way to make sure that doesn’t happen again and to keep them from spreading it. How far can I go?”

“Legally? As far as you can explain yourself. As long as you can put reason to your actions, you are allowed to do pretty much anything in this situation.”

“And what do you suggest?”

“I assume removing them is not an option?”

Kate looked at Laura. “We can solve this permanently that way, but only if you really truly want that. You said you don’t want me to kill your parents, is that still correct?”

Laura hesitated. “I would prefer if you didn’t. But if you have to, I just need a place to stay and some money to buy food…”

“Let’s leave that an absolute last resort then. Polly, I need better options.”

“I see two choices, either you allow a certain basic knowledge and intimidate them into submission, or you place blocks into their minds, disallowing certain knowledge and actions.”

Kate sighed. “I had thoughts about the second option and I fear that their actions will escalate if they find out about the block. Intimidation worked with Henry. While he tries to avoid me, I caught his thoughts a few times and he hasn’t tried his little drink spiking thing again.”

Laura spoke up. “Wait, you don’t mean Henry Clayton, right?”

“I do.”

“He’s my brother, I wondered why he came back so different after vanishing for a few days. He never told anyone what happened back then.”

“He spiked my drink. I didn’t react in the expected human way and our dear librarians caught me deliriously beating his face in outside the bar. Our high inquisitor did great work with him already before I got to enjoy breaking his spirit. I hope you didn’t mind too much.”

“Oh no, he became really nice afterwards. We were never close, but he actually tried to keep my parents from hitting me after he came back.”

“Shall we try that on your parents as well?”

Laura nodded. “Let’s try.”

“Alright. Polly, what do you think of a fire-y entrance?”

“Hold nothing back.” The devil smiled. “Intimidation doesn’t work if you only go for ‘reasonable’. Get creative.”

“I think I know what to do. Laura, you ready?”

The human nodded shily.

 

Outside the house of Laura’s family, Kate and her temporary human companion teleported onto the sidewalk.

“I need a second to get an image of the inside. Preferable from the head of one of your parents.” Kate closed her eyes and looked for a mind to reach into.

That proved easier than expected. Looking through the eyes of the father, Kate noticed the perfect place for her little show.

“Ready when you are, Laura.”

“Ready.”

“Good. Oh, and please remember that a lot of what I’ll say in a moment is just for show. I don’t own you, okay?”

“I know.”

“Let’s go then.” Kate shifted into her demon form and teleported herself and Laura away.

 

Inside the house, Henry sat at the dining table with his parents. He was nearly cowering in his chair, the atmosphere was tense. Laura had run off after barely managing to grab some essentials and her parents wouldn’t forgive her for that this easily.

A voice echoed through the room, causing everyone to jolt up from their chairs.

“How bothersome… I had hoped that mortals eventually learned to not break my toys.”

A thin line of ice-cold flames ran around the room, eventually igniting the wooden cross hung on a wall and forming a gateway of sorts before it. Kate stepped out, followed by a sheepish looking Laura.

“NO! Nononononono-“ Henry stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind himself and audibly moving furniture to block it.

“Amusing.” Kate put on a condescending smile. “But I am not here for him. He learned his lesson and now you shall too.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Laura’s mother, Janette Clayton-Rowland, immediately raised her voice.

“Most call me the Librarian.”

“Oh, that bitch that my daughter worships instead of some proper god.”

“A proper god? Like the capital G God you worship? The one whose murderer I fucked thoroughly last year? She’s such a beast in bed.”

“How DARE you?!”

“Good question actually. How dare you? How dare you not be on your knees before me. How dare you beat one of my pets. How dare you speak to me in that tone. Rectify those mistakes.”

“What?”

“I told you to KNEEL.” That was more than just a slight raising of her voice. Kate made that word a mental command that both Janette and her husband Grant were unable to resist. “Now, for a quick history lesson in case you were too blind to notice. Your son had crossed me before. He knows what I can do. He returned to you changed.”

“He is weak now.” Grant couldn’t help himself.

“Is he? Or is it you who is weak? Kneeling helplessly before the very thing your dead deity hated so deeply. Henry, poor Henry, only tried to harm me. I don’t care much about those attempts, yet I still have to teach those poor souls a lesson when they try. But you harmed one of mine. My humans. My pets. I don’t like that. I prefer them unharmed. Pristine. By demon law, it is Laura’s place to choose your punishment. I would have just tormented you in hellfire and devoured your souls. Alas, she asked me not to kill you. Be a little grateful for that.”

There was no answer to that.

“Do I have repeat myself again?”

“N-no. Thank you… Laura.” Grant didn’t sound sincere enough for Kate’s taste.

“Laura, why don’t you tell them how to be properly grateful.”

Laura stepped out from behind Kate and looked down at her parents. “She asked me if she could simply kill you and I said no, understood? I said to keep you alive. You live because of me. I want you to never scream at me again, don’t even raise your voice. You will never hit me again, you will leave my stuff alone and I don’t want to hear another word about how I owe you anything for giving me a roof over my head or paying for university. You owe me for putting me into this world. No one asks to be born, especially not to people like you. Lady Librarian?”

“Yes, Laura?”

“Cutting their hands off if they try to hit me should be trivial for you, right?”

“Of course, but may I suggest something else?”

“Please.”

“You can only cut each hand off once. But you can harm the mind over and over again. A vision of their worst fears every time they attempt to act against you or break your rules. How does that sound?”

“Perfect, honestly.”

“Of course I will cut their hands off if they actually manage to do anything.”

“I have the urge to say ‘how sweet of you’ but that feels unfitting.”

“Does it? I think it’s quite sweet to grant your own parents such mercy.”

“If you put it that way. Okay, mum, dad, I will be leaving with the Librarian now. Touch my room and I will rethink my stance on getting you killed, okay? Oh, and don’t you dare and try to use Henry against me. He already got punished for his digressions. He learned to be better, now it’s your turn to do the same.”

Her parents still didn’t respond.

Kate sighed. “Do you really have nothing to say to your daughter?”

Janette was the one to speak. “Not yet…”

“How sad.” Kate tilted her head and placed the mental triggers into their minds, even disallowing the smallest mention of the library and its masters to anyone. “I have put your curse on them, Laura. We can leave whenever you want.”

“I don’t want to see them for the rest of the day. Fuck’em.”

“Let us return to the library then.” Kate and Laura vanished, as did the cold flames, allowing Janette and Grant to finally stand up again.

 

Back at the Library, Kate and Laura had found a cozy corner in the restaurant.

“Satisfied?”

“With how you handled my parents? Yes, I am. Thank you.”

“Good. They will also not be able to speak about what happened, but I intend to let them find that out on their own. Just a fun little surprise.”

“That’s going to be fun to watch, now that they can’t do anything to me anymore.”

“I sure hope so. Still, if anything happens, you can always come here for help. I know I said that you aren’t mine, and I don’t own you, but in a way you are mine. Mine to protect and care for. You only know about me and the others because we were careless. And that carelessness started with recruiting me. It’s my responsibility to make sure that all that doesn’t cause harm.”

“Hm…”

“Laura!” Monica stormed into the restaurant, followed by Apollyon.

“Moni! I think I heard something about you being here, but, fuck, am I glad to see you.” Laura got up to hug her friend.

“I heard about what happened. You can stay at my place for now… if you want.”

“I’d love to, thank you.”

It was quite obvious just by catching a glance at their loudest thoughts that the two had feelings for each other. Kate decided not to say anything.

Giving them time to catch up, Apollyon approached her Nightmare friend. “I assume everything went as planned?”

“It did. Not fully sure how effective it will be, but I am hopeful.”

“Good. I think those two will be busy with each other, so I wish to ask: are you free tonight?”

Kate giggled. “I am. Let me just… hey, girls? Will you be okay or do you need a teleport home?”

Monica chuckled and shook her head. “We only need a moment together here and then we’ll be on the way. A walk will do us both some good.”

“Alright. Polly and I will be on our way too now. You know where to ask if you need anything.”