Work Text:
Everything started in the heart of the flames.
What once had been the most stylistic manor in Yujing Terrace was now engulfed in a blazing inferno—one that burned hotter than hellfire itself. It was a massacre. The perpetrator had skillfully slain both your family and your servants, strewing their corpses across the room as if they were nothing but a hunter’s game. The only reason you’d been spared was because of your absence in the midst of the carnage, but you were just in time to witness the estate being razed to the ground.
Needless to say, you were powerless to save it.
You didn’t know how the fire started, or where’d it even come from, but the specifics were the last thing on your mind. All you could do was watch in silence as the flames crackled in your ears, eating away at the walls, the ceiling, and everything its fiery hands could reach. The columns of smoke have gotten thicker now. So much that they’ve coalesced into each other until all you could see was a hazy fog of gray. Your eyes watered. Your lungs burned for breath. A human being’s first instinct will always be to save oneself, but what was left to salvage when everything you’ve ever known was turning into ash?
Your family was an honest one—so unlike the greedy magnates that blackmailed their way into acquiring the Qixing’s favor. Commerce and business were the heart and soul of Liyue, and only a few could remain untainted by their own ambition. But even if you’d been raised by people with nothing but the purest intentions, that alone couldn’t save your parents from the envious eyes that lurked in the shadows. Mother laid in a pool of blood to your left. Father had been beaten to death to your right. If you’d arrived even a moment earlier, would you have joined them as a lifeless lump on the floor? Or would you have been able to prevent the tragedy altogether?
Run. Get help. Call the Millelith. Do something. A cacophony of voices—each one, a mangled version of your own—swirled across your mind, but the words sounded distant. Almost as if the smoke from the fire had made its way inside your brain to block everything out. The fact that you were growing light-headed by the second only spoke of how little time you had left, as well. You didn’t want to die; this, you were certain. But instead of bolting back to the entrance, you merely stared into the golden orange wisps crawling towards the center of the room like you were waiting for something. Like you hoped Celestia would drop a miracle right into your desperate hands.
The rafters above groaned from the destruction, and you peered at them as the wood slowly cracked and splintered in on itself. If you didn’t run now, you would get crushed under the rubble. If you didn’t snap out of your haze of apathy, you could never avenge your family’s demise.
So, like the pitiful sight you were, you prayed.
.
.
.
But it was not the gods who’d heard your plea.
“How strange. Only the strongest of wills are able to summon me like this.”
The moment you so much as blinked, you found yourself with one knee driven to the floor on the other side of the room. Though you had no recollection of consciously kneeling nor moving away from the ceiling that threatened to cave in, you didn’t bother with logical explanations. Not when a familiar face made itself known before you.
“...Zhongli?”
At least…you thought it was Zhongli. His face stood out amongst the citizens of Liyue, and had he not been one of your father’s closest affiliates, you still could have picked him out from a crowd with ease. Although, while the man right here wore the face of Wangsheng’s famed consultant, you felt as if he was someone else entirely. Golden antlers sprouted atop his head like branches dipped in the ichor of angels, but something told you he was someone far from the divine.
“Ah, yes. That is the name I typically go by,” he murmured. “But under these circumstances, you are to refer to me as Morax. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Morax.” You frowned at the way the words fled your lips so quickly like someone else manipulated your voice to utter them. Now, you were certain that something otherworldly was at play here.
Morax gazed at you for a moment, molten amber eyes flickering as if he’d gleaned all that he needed to know with just a single glance. “Poor little lamb,” he purred, leaning down slowly to probe your chin with clawed fingers. “You gave the world nothing but kindness and in return it smites you down to the earth. Such are the crimes of the gods you believe in.”
Dizzy from the smoke, you couldn’t even spare yourself the time to make sense of the situation. How did he get in? Was he the one that dragged you here? Morax chuckled darkly, and the sound of his voice set your nerves alight as he dragged his lips to the shell of your ear.
“Tell me, what is it that you desire?”
The flames burned brighter now—casting a halo of light behind Morax that nearly tricked you into thinking he was your only path to salvation. This was a man intent to seduce you into making a bargain. Anyone residing in Liyue could tell as much. Your mother would’ve said that one can find more honor in death than in making a double-edged deal, but mother was dead and a hatred you didn’t even know was there began to simmer in the depths of your heart.
“I want to make those that did this to us pay,” you whispered, eyes riveted on your parents’ remains. “To make them suffer.”
He smiled a bit too widely to be considered sincere. “I believe those cover only some of my capabilities. I can very much give you all of that and more.”
There was a pause in the conversation. The fire crept closer as blood roared in your ears. “...What do you want in return?”
Morax’s grin shifted into the kind a swindler would show to his clients in the middle of a business dinner—warm and inviting but with a dash of cunning veiled underneath. You didn’t care. You were waltzing right into the maws of the Abyss, but if this was your only option, you’d gladly let him drown you in the darkness.
The next thing you knew, he had your back pressed against the marble floor—thighs draped across his shoulders as he tugged your hips closer to his face. Your own twisted with bewilderment when Morax bunched the hem of your dress around your waist. How did he…? When did he—
“It delights me to know that you understand the principle of contracts well,” he sighed, dragging the flat of his tongue across your inner thigh. A shiver ran across your body at the contact, spurring him on further. “You are as honest as a human can be. Yours is a soul that can sate me for decades. But as all contracts do, I require…proof of the pact you’ve made with me.”
When Morax lapped at your sensitive flesh once more, the appendage left a trail of fire in its wake—like he’d gathered the flames only meters away and branded you with them. He smirked, enthralled by the moan that unknowingly bubbled in your chest. Your kin lied dead in the very same room, yet you succumbed so easily to the temptations of the devil. Morax lifted his head from the nest he’d made of your thighs, eyeing the golden-black mark he’d traced into your skin.
“Your heart. Your soul. Your destiny.” His eyes glowed like flickers of light in a perpetual oblivion. You wanted nothing more than to chase after the sparks.
“I want them all, little lamb.”
…
Contrary to your prior assumptions, Morax wasn’t the feral demon that descended upon you that fateful day in the burning manor. “That was all a formality,” he said. “To let you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.”
He was quick to work on his end of the contract, too—having informed the Qixing and all of Liyue’s elite about your miraculous survival. As the last and only heir to your family’s prosperous business, Morax—rather, Zhongli, insisted for the send-off for your loved ones to be arranged by Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. On paper, this all seemed to lead to future collaborations between the two entities, but you and your newly-found sire knew that the terms of your contract went far beyond that of a flimsy business deal.
But sometimes, you wondered… Did Morax even want your soul at all?
“I don’t want them dead,” you told Zhongli the day after you’d settled into your new home. It was nothing but a small house situated in the mouth of the harbor—far from those that tried to strike you down. “That’s too easy. Too forgiving. And the gods know they don’t deserve that.”
He was occupied with studying the bouquet of silk flowers sitting in the middle of your desk. It was a gift he’d picked for you himself, in congratulations for a fresh start. Was it so interesting that he opted to pay attention to the flora instead of the pressing matter at hand? You frowned, wondering if the demon Morax would be easier to speak with than the human Zhongli, but you knew better than to confuse the two as different people.
Zhongli plucked one of the many blooms with a gloved hand, leaning across the desk to fit the stem behind your ear. Your face flushed with heat.
“It elates me to know how passionate you are for your cause but I suggest you take your mind off such trifling affairs for now,” he insisted. “There’s a travelling opera performing at Feiyun Slope tonight, and I thought it would do you some good to accompany me to dinner after the show. I managed to convince the owner of Liuli Pavilion to reserve us a table, you see. And…”
As the debonair gentleman before you went on about his planned itinerary for the night, you slowly gaped at him in disbelief. Gone was the demon with gold-tipped antlers and a sadistic smile that haunted your dreams. In his stead was a dashing bachelor that sounded like he was trying to court you with a good time. The disparities between his two identities only served to give you a headache. Wasn’t his demonic persona lusting after your heart, soul, destiny, or whatever? But if that were the case, why wasn’t he acting on instinct? Why would he choose to indulge you rather than get both of your business over with as soon as possible? The faster you could attain justice, the quicker he’d get his fill. That pulsating mark hidden between your thighs told you as much.
“...Does that cater to your interests?”
Zhongli stared at you expectantly with those glowing cor lapis eyes, and all it took was one glance to dispel your misgivings. Right. You should consider his generosity as a bonus. If your soul was going to be consumed by the devil at the end of it all, you sure as hell were about to milk this transaction for all it’s worth.
“It does,” you told him, smiling brighter than the morning sun. “I’d actually love that, Zhongli.”
He laughed softly—the sound making your chest flutter. “Splendid. I’ll drop by again at sundown to escort you myself.”
When your newly hired secretary showed Zhongli out of the door, she proceeded to list down your pending agenda for the day. Had it been a normal morning, you would have praised her ability to organize your schedule down to the last minute. It was a shame you’d have to disregard it all.
“Mei, please cancel everything after 5 P.M. I have a…personal matter to attend to.”
She paused, a puzzled look flashing on her face before adjusting her glasses. “I-I see. I’ll inform Gentry Maocai of the rescheduled date for your meeting, miss.”
“Thank you.” Another smile fitted itself on your lips. Barely a week on the job and you already wanted to give her a raise.
Just before Mei could turn the slide open the doors to your office, however, she flashed you a curious, backwards glance. “If I’m allowed to ask, miss, what is this personal matter you speak of?”
There was a pause that hovered in the air as your fingers reached across the table—caressing the delicate petals of the silk flowers, while you minded the one that Zhongli placed behind your ear.
“It’s a date.”
The first date you were going on after literal years, and it was with a demon. But despite the ridiculousness of it all, you didn’t have the heart to complain.
…
Scratch that. You were marching down to Wangsheng to file a mountainload of complaints.
The date went amazingly well. Zhongli had an eye for the things you enjoyed, and he’d executed his plans almost flawlessly. He peppered the atmosphere with smatterings of trivia that sounded pretentious and insignificant at first, but the more you considered his words, the more amazed you were with his endless stream of knowledge. And despite being a noble yourself, this was the first time in a long time that you’d been honored with an entry to Liuli Pavilion.
Case in point: the opera was outstanding, the dinner was heavenly, and Zhongli’s company made you grateful that you’d gotten stuck with him for a demon sire. The only downside?
The entire experience came at the cost of your own, hard-earned cash.
“Hm. It seems I may have forgotten to factor in the costs when I’d planned to take you out tonight.” He said the words with the beginnings of a pout that had you biting down your own laughter. “My apologies. I’ll make sure to consider these things beforehand.”
“It’s nothing,” you insisted, eyes trained on the cranes that flocked the rocky slopes below the wharf. “You told me you wanted it all, didn’t you? If you’re going to kill me after my justice has been served, then what’s a few extra thousand mora lost?”
Under the gentle rake of moonlight and the songs of the ocean, Zhongli remained deathly silent. The lack of a reaction from him aroused a raised eyebrow from you. It was nearing midnight and the harbor was quiet as it was, save for the nearby taverns that welcomed homecoming sailors at their doors. You wondered if you said something wrong, but the moment you spared Zhongli a glance, the smolder in his eyes told you it was the opposite.
“It’s getting rather late,” he said, voice stirred with an undertone that hadn’t been there before. “I best walk you home.”
And walk you home, he did.
Zhongli was nothing short of a gentleman in that regard. Someone that valued the comfort of the people around him among other things. But could you still consider him as such when he had you pressed against your bedroom door, mouthing at the sweet spot below the cut of your jaw?
“You’re right,” he rasped, teeth scraping deliciously against your skin. “I want it all. I want everything you can offer. Now tell me, little lamb, who do you belong to?”
He hoisted your leg up, wrapping it around his hips as Zhongli ground himself against your core. You moaned into his ear, feeling the mark on your thigh tingling with each kiss he’d trailed across your neck.
“You. I belong to you, Morax.”
A wicked smile curved against your throat as you heard the sound of a zipper being forced down. The hands at your waist prickled your sides with the taloned fingers, and when you dared to gaze at your sire once again, twin horns cast an ethereal glow in the darkness of your home.
Your panties were off in a second, torn down the middle with one of his claws. You would have feared for your life had you been any more coherent, but Zhongli’s mere presence overwhelmed you. His body, his heat, his scent—they invaded your senses, rendering you vulnerable to each kiss, each bite, until all you could think about was him.
His length hung heavy between strong thighs, pressing your back further into the wood as he lathered his cock in your sinful essence. “Such a good pet,” Zhongli whispered. “So obedient. So accommodating. I’ll fill up this pretty cunt until you cry yourself hoarse.”
Zhongli filled you with little mind for preamble, hilting himself into your wet channel as he swallowed your pained gasps in a kiss. Being filled so much, so well made tears streak in the corners of your eyes, but your sire wasn’t interested in waiting for you to get used to him. All demons did was take, and take, and take, but what was there to steal when he already owned every part of you?
He rutted into you in an unforgiving pace—pumping his cock deeper and deeper until he could feel your walls mold around the shape of him. Zhongli found himself slowly getting addicted to the wanton noises that spilled ceaselessly from your lips, the depraved look in your eyes as your walls fluttered around his length. He dipped himself down, lips curled into a snarl with the intent to mark your neck, but he held himself back. As much as he’d like to brand you again with the same sigil he’d etched into your thigh—to guarantee that you never forgot who belonged to—he knew your body wouldn’t withstand the strain.
And getting to fuck such a pretty little pet only once was such a shame. Zhongli would never forgive himself if he ended up killing you before he could get his fill of that lust-drunk look on your face.
“Just as I will take all that you offer,” he murmured against your lips, “you will accept everything that I give to you. Is that clear, pet?”
“Yes,” you moaned, jerking your hips to meet his powerful thrusts. “Give it to me. Give it all inside. Morax—hah!” Zhongli smirked when he felt you clench around his pulsing cock, desperately milking him for his seed. And what kind of sire would he be if he didn’t indulge his pet every once in a while?
Your throat was sore with all the lewd sounds you’d let slip, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. Not when Zhongli was slowly guiding you to the pinnacle. In the back of your mind, you thought about how different this person was from the kind man that tucked a silk flower behind your ear, but you shoved the thought far, far away. All that mattered was the fat cock fucking you in half as the knot in your belly uncoiled with your release.
“G-Gods,” you wailed, fingers raking across his back as a starburst of colors exploded behind your eyelids. “H-Harder. More.”
“Your prayers fall on deaf ears, little lamb,” he laughed mirthlessly, harshly tugging your hair to force you to gaze into his molten gold eyes.
“I am the only god you need.”
Zhongli railed you through the aftershocks—the knob on your door digging painfully into your back as he chased after his own high. You remained still in his arms, every cell in your body overstimulated with a demon’s love, and you could only cry out in ecstasy when you felt him fill you with his spend. Zhongli coated every inch of your passage with himself, and if he couldn’t mark your body a second time, this will have to suffice.
The moment the haze of lust had risen from your eyes, you felt hot. Even hotter than when Morax found you inside the burning manor. Your strength had all but left, and Zhongli had to catch you in his arms to keep you from collapsing to the floor. You whimpered, leaning against his strong frame as he simultaneously balanced your weight and tucked his spent cock away. He’d never been quite the fan of aftercare, but for a soul as delicious as yours, he could make a few exceptions.
Your sheets provided gratuitous salvation from the heat of your own body—lulling you into slumber before you could even thank Zhongli for carrying you to your room. But instead of a demon with draconic eyes, you dreamt of someone else.
It was a man who wore Morax’s face, smiling kindly as he guided you to Yujing Terrace by the hand. He’d plucked one of the silk flowers in the gardens when the Millelith guards weren’t looking, and placed them in your hair.
“You are beautiful,” Zhongli murmured as he kissed the crown of your head.
When you woke up alone the morning after, you felt as if a hole had been punched into your heart. The dream hovered fresh in your memory, and you let yourself wonder if the Zhongli you knew, the Morax you knew would ever call you beautiful. But the thing about being partners in business was that you should never expect anything more than what was agreed upon in your contract.
That’s how things have always been, and that’s how they always will be.