A/N:  Just a heads up/reminder.  This will be the last official week I will be updating twice a week until I get the story finished on my side.  Of course there will be rare random bonus chapters periodically however.  So look forward to those.  (If for some reason I get really far ahead I might go back to biweekly every once in awhile.)

2859 Words

Originally published 7/22/21, did make a slight change due to an unintentional error 7/24/21

It's official. I am definitely not a fan of being in the veil. And it's not just the dismal lack of color that has me feeling this way. No, there's also strange sounds in the distance that are continuously giving me the heebie jeebies. I also keep getting goosebumps up and down my arms, and I can definitely feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. As if to illustrate the point I made mentally I immediately hear an animalist snarl in the distance and the fear inducing sound almost has me stumbling. I am personally not a fan of outwardly showing any signs of weakness, especially fear, but at that moment I can't seem to help myself.

I don't notice Taehyung moving up beside me until he starts talking. His statements are meant to explain away the sound. Well sort of. "Don't worry. He won't hurt you."

"He?" I ask. Hoping for more information. Maybe there's a reason he knows so much about what, in my mind, can only be a predator in the distance. Crap. No. Don't think about the fact that it could be a predator because then I will start thinking of myself as his prey despite Taehyung's assurances that he won't hurt me.

Taehyung nods and cocks his head to the side for a moment. "He is just surveying us from a distance. He won't approach us though." I think because I mentally called him a predator that gave life to my own mental attachment of 'not yet' to Taehyung's statement.

Despite hating being in the veil it doesn't take us long at all to get to my apartment. For some reason, I'm surprised to find out that we can walk through walls while in the veil. Well surprised and distressed. The new knowledge makes me wonder if some monster of some kind had been eavesdropping on me my whole life from the veil. I somehow doubted it though. If they had I probably would have been taken in and introduced to this world a lot sooner than this.

Once we get inside my apartment Namjoon turns to me. "Now, we can't interact with anything physically while in the veil. So, I want to see if you can pull yourself out of it. This time though, imagine you are underwater and reaching to break the surface."

It's weird to admit, but it's honestly relieving to know that while I could be spied on by someone lurking in the veil, at least the person doing the spying couldn't mess with my stuff. I mean that's like Poltergeist levels of creepy where the other is simply stalker level creepy. Who the fuck I am I kidding? Both are crazy creepy, one just happens to be another level of creepy. Poltergeist level of creepy would totally have the e's represented in the word 'creepy' as wiggly squiggles. I then picture the Greek E for epsilon in my mind and the word creepy in all caps. CRΣΣPY. Yeah sort of like that, but...only...not. I mentally frown at myself. Wait. No. That's the symbol for S, Sigma. It would look like CRεεPY, which doesn't look as creepy at all. Well Poop...

Surprisingly, I am able to manage to make my way out of the veil pretty easily. I find myself outside of it pretty much right away. I can only guess the reason it seemed easier is because after experiencing the opposite for the first time I had a better idea of what to expect. I don't miss the pleased look that appears on Namjoon's face when he follows me out of the veil. He seems to preen with pride, as if he were my teacher, and I was his pupil that had been struggling and finally accomplished the specific task or problem that I had been having the most difficulty with. Or perhaps the opposite is true and rather than the struggling student I was his best student. Either way, thinking of him in any kind of instructor-like or teacher-like capacity made me blush as I realized how much I didn't mind the idea of being his teacher's pet.

"Go ahead and start getting your things together." He commands me, and just like that any heated thoughts regarding him flee from my head. I mean there is still the mild curiosity of his reaction to seeing me in a school uniform that still tries to play out in my head, but I am somehow able to move past that since I have something important to say.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some more answers. Telling me we are all monsters, and then insisting I have to go with you isn't enough to cut it. What are you exactly? What am I?"

They each look at each other, and I know immediately that they are silently communicating with one another other once again. I imagine they are probably trying to decide what they want to tell me. I notice Jimin slunk down on my only chair, and I find myself frowning at how weak he seems to be. This is why I need to know what I am. I can't keep going through life with this constant uncertainty.

Namjoon sighs. "Jimin thinks you would be able to handle this. Hoseok, well I won't tell you what he said. Taehyung and I are both concerned you won't take the news well."

I try not to focus on my curiosity regarding what Hoseok was thinking. I instead look over at Jimin again. He glances my way, and his lips lift in a soft, but encouraging smile. I imagine the only reason he isn't just in my head telling me the facts that way has something to do with his weakened state, and if not that then perhaps Namjoon told him to remain silent and let him work on telling me himself. "I understand that the news might be overwhelming. But, I have been living with this..." I pause to think of a good way to describe how I feel about my uncertainty. I ditch what I was about to say and start over. "Whatever I am has complicated my life for five years, and I have had no one to explain it all to me. I have had no one to give me answers regarding why I am the way I am. I need to know. And if this ties into what you are, well I honestly need to know that too."

"We are demons, Everleigh." Taehyung states. His words are coated with only facts, with no hint of emotion lingering over a single word.

I frown as I look at each one of them in turn. "I thought demons would have darkened shadow-tinted or blood red skin and horns protruding from their skulls. Not.." I pause and gulp for a second. I wasn't about to admit out loud how attractive I found each of them. "Well, I would never picture them to look anything like you."

"I promise we don't look like how you are describing what you perceive demons would look like. However we each do have the ability to cast a small glamour over ourselves so we are able to blend in better."

If this isn't what they look like I am definitely curious about their true selves. Wait, is glamour what I have been doing all along? But, they said small glamour. I think the ability to glamour myself the way I do could be called anything but small.

I really should probably be terrified right about now. I'm basically surrounded by demons after all. But, surprisingly that isn't the case. Instead I feel a sense of rightness with their explanation. As if a part of me knew that already and immediately came to terms with what they were telling me. But, that doesn't answer anything about myself. Before I fully formulate the thought I am asking the question that is currently haunting me. "So, if you are demons then what does that make me?"

"We believe you are a cambion." Hoseok replies.

"What's a cambion?" That word holds no meaning for me whatsoever. Hoseok is just being a jerk with his short answers.

"The opposite of a nephilim." Hoseok answers again.

I mentally groan. I swear he is doing this on fucking purpose. I'm momentarily tempted to take off my shoe and toss it at his head before I stop and think over the second answer he gave me. That word at least sounds somewhat familiar. I have no clue where I have heard it before though so I can't derive a definition from my spotty knowledge regarding it.

Luckily, Namjoon notices my confusion and offers me the definition I require. "A nephilim is the offspring of an angel and a human." He frowns for a second, obviously rethinking his previous statement. "Well, not necessarily human. It could be any other humanoid honestly." I almost want to ask what other humanoids actually exist, but that would just lengthen the already complicated and drawn out conversation. "A cambion is the offspring of a demon and another humanoid."

"So, you think I am part demon and part human?" I ask.

"Something like that." Taehyung offers quietly.

That makes me believe that he thinks my other half isn't human at all. Which reaffirms the fact my parents shared about seven years ago. That I most definitely am adopted. I'm not sure how a half demon became a ward of the state; if that is what I truly am at least. But once again, I find what they are telling me seems to somehow ring true.

That doesn't keep me from asking about it though. "What makes you think I am a cambion?"

"Your abilities. The way you need to feed the way you do. It's all a sign of being a cambion, or demon, under the Dominion of Lust." Namjoon calmly explains to me.

"Dominion of Lust?" I arch an eyebrow.

"Each of the Seven Deadly Sins are considered a Dominion. Think of it like different branches of a military I suppose. Under each Dominion slews of Legions exist to travel to Earth and coerce humans into committing that specific Dominion's sin."

"I'm guessing that makes your group a Legion?" I ask arching an eyebrow, even though I am pretty sure I understood that correctly. Namjoon nods and nearly smiles before he tucks that expression away. I look at each of them again in turn. "Are you a Legion under the Dominion of Lust?" Because, damn that would explain why they are all so hot. But, then again he did share that they were all wearing some kind of glamour. Did that mean they were nowhere near as sexy as these personas of themselves?

Hoseok gets a cocky expression on his face, and I mentally frown as I realize that I had been longing for its reappearance since the last moment I had seen it on his face when he stood across from me on the dance floor in the club. "I can definitely see why you would think so. But, no."

"We are a Legion under the Dominion of Gluttony. We work for Dionysus." Taehyung states while wearing a completely blank expression on his face. I would say it was emotionless if I didn't know for fact that he had emotions. There is no way someone could smile like he does without them.

My eyebrows furrow further in confusion. "But, that doesn't make sense. Dionysus was a Greek God! Not a demon! Next you are going to tell me that Aphrodite is the leader over the Dominion of Lust."

"First of all, the key word in your statement is 'was.' He was a Greek God. When other religions began to supersede the stories of the Greek Gods they had become unsure of the reason for their existence. Without a reason to exist, former gods and goddesses simply fade away. Luckily for them, Lucifer needed soldiers to work for him, and he found a way to turn any humanoid, yes old gods included, into a demon through a ritual. Most demons are created, not all but most." Namjoon explains.

Before I can wonder about what type of humanoid they may have been before they were turned into demons Taehyung interrupts that thought. "And to address your other exclamation Aphrodite IS actually the leader over the Dominion of Lust."

"So, I'm assuming you think I am specifically a cambion of the Dominion of Lust because of the hunger and the way I feed?" I ask curiously.

"The Legions of the Dominion of Lust are primarily composed of Incubi and Succubi. Your abilities strongly suggest that one of your parents is either an Incubus or a Succubus. We are sure that you yourself are at least part Succubus." Namjoon explains to me.

So, I'm partially a demon that feeds off of lust and sex. Yup, that definitely makes sense. Wait, if they are demons then where are they taking me? "Does that mean you live in Hell?"

"We live in Gehenna." Jimin softly answers. I sincerely thought he might have fallen asleep; he has been so quiet.

"Where's that?" I arch my eyebrow in confusion.

"Dante Alighieri sort of got his poem right when referring to the nine circles of Hell. He just got the names wrong." Taehyung attempts to explain, but of course that tells me nothing outside of the fact that the poem, 'Dante's Inferno,' had some semblance of accuracy to it.

"Gehenna is the name associated with the eighth gate of Hell." Namjoon explains.

"Does that make it beach front property?" I jokingly ask, although I truly am curious. I mean I'll be living in Hell for the unforeseeable future. I kind of want to know what I am getting into.

A frown crosses over Namjoon's face. "No, the opposite of that I suppose you could say. Infernal Plains is the name associated with the ninth gate. No humanoid resides there. It is instead inhabited by abyssal fiends. And before you ask. Think of movies or television shows that have represented demons as non sentient nightmare-like creatures. Abyssal fiends closely resemble those nightmare-like fictional creations."

Okay, yeah. That is making me fear the worst when it comes to Gehenna then. "Do those abyssal fiends trickle into Gehenna sometimes?"

Namjoon's frown somewhat deepens and a pensive expression crosses over his face pairing with the way the corners of his mouth turn downward. "I won't sugar coat it. We do have to be on guard of that possibility, but it honestly doesn't happen often. I know you are probably concerned about your safety. I definitely get that. But Gehenna is a lot less scary than some of the inner circles. The only reason why some demons might compare the area to low income housing, is simply because for a demon the area isn't really ideal. I'm sure you are probably thinking of Hell as a fiery hot place. Well the inner circles most represent that. In the outer circles the climates are a lot cooler. I honestly think, because of this, that you will probably appreciate Gehenna the most."

"But is it safe?" I ask because I really don't want to have to worry about being infiltrated by these abyssal fiends they mentioned.

"Our home is the safest domicile in all of Gehenna." Namjoon confidently explains to me. It isn't a lot of detail, but I suppose I can live with that.

I pause for a second to consider what I want to know next. "I can't promise this will be my last question, but how do we get to Hell exactly? Or well I guess more specifically Gehenna."

"Within the veil there are several hidden gateways. We travel through one of those that specifically takes us to Gehenna, and not far from our home." He pauses for a second. "I do have to warn you though. If you are wearing a glamour, the magic of the gate will strip it from you after you go through it. I only personally know of one being who can keep their glamour intact the whole time." His eyes stray over to Jimin.

Damn so Jimin could constantly be wearing a glamour and I would never know it? Is that what makes his beauty so ethereal? Wait. Fuck. That means I won't be able to keep up my own Glamour. I sigh. "I guess that means I might as well drop my glamour now." I hate looking at myself in the mirror. Would it be too much to ask for some higher power to make me somewhat like Jimin? I concentrate on my glamour and replace it with the features I was born with. Only... I can't convince myself to change my eyes. I retain the eye color because I honestly hate looking into them unless I absolutely have to. So, I still keep the glamour of the jungle green colored eyes in place and hope that the small glamour stays there once we pass through this gate that is supposed to strip glamours away.