OC SPOTLIGHT: Sitri // nsfw

sitri is a demon, but he was always different from his peers. the realm of lust demons can be cutthroat, ripe with intrigue and manipulation, and sitri was never cut out for that. at heart he's gentle and sensitive, and compared to the others he seemed timid, unassuming, and even shy. that made him an easy target. he got teased and picked on, which turned into bullying, which turned into emotional abuse. his very home became an environment where sitri had to act the omega as a way to survive the fickleness of others.

thing is, he's still a lust demon, and there's no denying he’s horny on main in a very shameless way. but even in the art of seduction and sex, his fellow demons criticised him. it wasn't that he lacked practical talent, but they said his attitude was too soft. a textbook lust demon is charismatic, bold, self-confident, and assertive, but they kept telling sitri he was none of those things. try as he may to fit in and be like them, he could never act as dominant and domineering as the others. he always felt like prey among predators, a lamb trying (and failing) to disguise himself as a wolf.

being told that he was worthless and not good enough ate away at his self-esteem. he often felt invisible, and though he wanted to be seen he also feared being seen by the wrong people. they said he was so useless he might as well just disappear.

however, the prime of lust--ariel--knew that there's no 'right' kind of lust demon. just as there's a myriad different kinds of lustful mortals, there needs to be a myriad different kinds of demons to tempt them into carnal sin. ariel suspected that many a mortal would fall easy prey to sitri's sweet allure--he just needed to learn how to use it to his advantage, to weaponise it. and so it happened that sitri was invited into ariel and logan's bedchambers, to learn from the prince himself. 

ariel was right. from his first ventures into the human realm, sitri was quite successful. mortals always want to spoil that which seems pure and innocent and with sitri coming off as so soft and gentle, sinful humans flocked to him like bees to honey. as he started visiting the mortal realm to lure humans into his net, a whole new world seemed to open up to him. suddenly he had power, he found himself able to wrap people around his fingertips, to ensnare them in their own worst vices. and most importantly: he found himself really enjoying it.

by this point sitri is much more comfortable in himself, having realised he's not as weak and pathetic as the other demons thought. he develops his own kind of manipulative skill, and on his good days he can get quite sassy. but he still feels a need to prove himself to everyone, and after ariel has shown such faith in him he wants to make his ruler proud.

that's why he sets his sight on a certain monster hunter, who has killed and exorcised enough demons to make himself infamous among them. the man is a russian named kazimir and sitri decides that managing to ensnare someone like him has to prove his worth (... and impress the prince).

the first time they meet sitri has disguised himself as a pretty mortal waitress at some godforsaken tavern in the siberian wilderness. just as it seems like he has successfully lured a drunk kazimir into one of the tavern bedrooms, he suddenly finds himself locked in an iron grip with a consecrated knife to his throat--the hunter has seen through his disguise.

he could have died right there, but luck is on his side; he asks why kazimir would waste time and effort killing a humble thing like him when there's a wrath demon wreaking havoc in the village next door. when the hunter learns that the lust demon has an uncanny ability for sensing other nearby monsters, he decides to spare him and more or less use him as a radar to locate more malicious and dangerous creatures.

sitri, who had hoped to simply bargain his way to freedom, finds himself with a binding spell essentially slapped onto his forehead. that was not how he had planned for things to turn out. rather than victoriously dragging the hunter's soul to hell, he gets dragged around the european countryside and is made to lead kazimir to various demonic targets.

the way their relationship develops is very ... complex.

as a person, kazimir is gruff, selfish, and quite the opposite of charming. but funny enough, having to do with such an individual makes sitri himself more sassy. he's already frustrated from getting busted and when kazimir acts like a dick, sitri surprises himself by responding in kind. he's finally had enough of being bossed around and the hunter often questions his decision to bring the demon with him, since sitri can be such a lil shit. if they were video game NPCs you could put in your party, they would have some great banter.

the demon soon realises that the hunter is no ordinary human, because when ordinary humans get a nasty wound their flesh doesn't just knit itself right back up. for some reason kazimir can heal basically any injury in little to no time, but refuses to answer sitri's many questions about it.

in any case, having to accompany the hunter means sitri gets more chances to fulfil his original ambition. he still aims to seduce kazimir, and though the poor man has to endure endless temptations (like waking up with a sweetly scented demon cuddled up next to him) he stays strong. our lust demon finds it exceedingly frustrating, and goes through his whole repertoire of flirtatious methods to try to figure out what really gets kazimir going.

what he doesn't know is that the times kazimir likes him the most is when sitri is just ... being himself. despite being enemies, there's an undeniable magnetism between them. it's subtle at first, but you can't spend weeks and months travelling with someone without getting to know them better. there's moments loaded with antagonism and others where they, little by little, become more comfortable with each other's presence.

and all that unresolved sexual tension isn’t going anywhere. in the beginning, sitri scrunches his nose at the hunter for being rough and uncouth and downright boorish, but at the same time he'll happily rest his chin in his hand and bite at his lip watching the scruffy shirtless russian chop firewood. kazimir himself has a history of being aggressively straight... until he gets drunk enough to not be so picky. while he stays resolute in the face of sitri's advances, the image of the demon's lithe body and shapely ass often invades his jackoff sessions.

what began as a strange business arrangement gradually gets much more complicated. sitri tells himself that the only reason he wants to get into kazimir's pants is to 'win,' and kazimir insists that he'd never give a shit about a demon. but still he goes from telling sitri to get used to it when he's cold to letting him borrow his coat or even snuggle up to him by the campfire. sitri grows to really love those moments.

one morning kazimir is woken up by vasilisa, who was once his wife. at first his sleepy mind would love to believe she's come back to him, but then he realises it's the demon in disguise, having taken the form of the woman who still haunts his thoughts. the pained look in the hunter's eyes as the truth hits him startles sitri and reminds him too much of how he felt getting manipulated by his peers back in hell.

after that he lays low for a while, and ironically it's in this absence of flirtatious advances that there's more room for the attraction between the two of them to take root. 

a lot of the time, sitri doesn't mind leading kazimir to his next target, especially when the demons in question turn out to be people who used to torment him. it's an odd kind of revenge, but it works. sometimes he gets the chance to gloat as a ghost from his past is extinguished before his eyes.

other times, the hunt leads to much more unpleasant confrontations. things don't always go as planned and sitri occasionally finds himself eye to eye with demons whose mere presence makes him regress into a much more subdued and anxious version of himself. it's a defense mechanism; he slips back into the omega type of behaviour that he had to resort to just to survive back in hell.

the first time this happens, kazimir doesn't know what to make of it. he lets slip a clumsy comment and when he realises that sitri feels hurt, he ... well, he doesn't apologise but a few days later he brings the demon a huge scarf. “y'know. 'cause you're always cold.” in that moment a strange warmth fills sitri, from within.

the demon stops flirting with the hunter all the damn time. he stops trying to tempt him into sin, content to just cuddle up to him by the campfire, soak in his warmth, and sleep by his side. sharing those moments has started to matter more to him than 'winning' by seducing him.

he settles for fantasizing about kazimir's rough hands when he touches himself, and for more reasons than 'only' lust. meanwhile kazimir is as sexually confused as ever but parts of him definitely wishes sitri would still hit on him, because when he takes care of his morning boners he thinks of little else than the soft demon.

as all of this is happening, sitri also gets to see the human realm from a new perspective. he had always just gone there for his own kind of hunting, but now he gets to live in it, and to meet the people that inhabit it in a new way. disguised as a normal person he gets to experience the best sides of humanity, such as hospitality, community, and creativity. little by little, sitri becomes enchanted by the mortal realm. yes, there's bad people, but there's so much good and beauty, too.

among the people they meet is march and charlie. as you may be able to guess, the first thing that happens is march and kazimir fight, but after that whole disaster has been defused sitri gets to enjoy all the comforts of a cozy cottage, including hot cocoa and baked goods. they run into vasilisa, kazimir's former wife, and sitri isn’t sure of how to describe the look in kazimir’s eyes, but the closest thing he can think of is grumpy terror. they also happen upon volkov, kazimir's mentor, who can't say he's surprised to learn that kazimir let sitri live. "the pretty ones were always your weak spot." (much later, kazimir and volkov end up helping march and charlie against a formidable enemy, but that’s another story.)

on the note of their business arrangement, things have definitely changed. at first, sitri had agreed to help kazimir find demons only to save his own skin. soon he'd realised it also meant he got to see some of his old enemies perish, which was a personal victory. and then comes a day that sitri learns of a demon who's tormenting a human town, bringing suffering and death in its wake. this time he doesn't know who the demon is and he doesn't care. he tells kazimir they have to find it and kill it, before it destroys more lives.

once the monster in question lays dead is the first time they kiss. the hunter asks “are you okay?” and as soon as sitri has answered a somewhat shaky “...yeah” kazimir grabs him by the scarf he gave him and pulls him into what's been brewing for months. sitri's heart flutter as he wraps his arms around the hunter's neck, and--later that night--his legs around his waist as they lay down by the campfire.

around that time is also when sitri starts tapping into some previously uncovered talents of his. what used to be fear and a desperation to prove himself worthy has turned into frustration and determination. he no longer feels an urge to demonstrate his value to anyone, but he's very ready to grow some teeth.

the personal demons of his past had told him he's so useless he might as well disappear. they get their wish, as sitri learns to make himself invisible--to any eye, no matter how sharp, but also to other supernatural senses. his steps become soundless, his scent disappears, his aura evaporates into nothing, and not even magic can uncover his presence when he decides to become completely undetectable.

it's the ideal skill for a vengeful rogue, making him perfect for scouting, stealth, and infiltration--and oh the things you can do when nobody even knows you're there. kazimir teaches him self defense, too, but sitri's methods are generally more devious than martial means. he's a ghost now, haunting other demons and monsters to the brink of insanity. by joining a demon hunter in killing his own kin, sitri has finally gone from prey to predator.

(... though as a side note, it applies to all areas except the bedroom. in there he's more keen than ever on playing the role of prey, and who better to snare and (s)lay him than a professional hunter...? against all odds their relationship has reached a state of mutual respect, affection, and trust, which has sitri feeling completely and utterly safe for the first time in his life. with kazimir he can fully embrace his sexually submissive side in a way that's loving and safe, thoroughly trusting him to take good care of both his body and his heart.)

rumours travel fast but there's people in hell who won't believe that the demure and 'pathetic' sitri has grown into something more dangerous. those who decide to see for themselves return scarred (physically and/or mentally) or not at all. before long sitri is viewed as a traitor to his ilk... but ariel is oddly pleased. if sitri had known at the time, he would have felt accomplished, but he no longer worries about what other demons think of him. in the most unexpected and unlikely place he's found someone to love and be loved by,  in whose presence he gains the confidence to grow beyond his own constraints. the huge scarf starts falling apart with wear and tear, but sitri refuses to get it replaced and instead has it fixed and patched up, time after time.

the culmination of the trust between them is when kazimir tells his demonic lover about why he can't die.

him and vasilisa had been young when they married. it had been passionate and fiery, but hot flames burn out quick--and in his youth kazimir was ... not the best man around. vasilisa had eventually gotten sick of kazimir's cranky machismo, so one day when he came back from a hunt she was gone. he felt betrayed and angry, among other feelings he couldn't name, but failed to find her again.

years later he was tracking a witch who had allegedly committed a series of murders in the nearby towns. it's only when he finds vasilisa in the sorceress’ cottage that her secret is revealed; she's vasilisa prekrasnaya of folklore fame, taught by baba yaga herself. she had killed those men, yes, because they had been the abusive husbands and lovers of women who couldn’t leave on their own, like she once had. what's more--there's another man there, alyosha. he's a pure soul and tries to deescalate the confrontational situation, but in a fit of rage, kazimir kills him.

the sky grows black with vasilisa's anger. the thunder is deafening but her voice is like salt in a fresh wound when she curses him to never find peace unless he learns what love means.

it wasn't until his next skirmish with a monster that he realised how the curse had changed him. at first, watching every wound heal before his eyes, he thought that not being able to die was a blessing. but as the years went by the restlessness in his bones grew. it kept him walking for miles throughout the night rather than sleeping, and made him search out bigger and badder monsters, for reasons he didn't want to think too hard about. he had always been a loner, and even more so now, because what's the point of keeping people around when they all just age and die and leave you behind?

he later learns that vasilisa resurrected her alyosha as a strigoi, but that hardly dampened her distaste for kazimir. the witch herself hasn't aged a moment since the day she cursed him, but her deathlessness seems so different--she has a new husband, a child, a home, a life.

"but hey," kazimir finishes, glancing at the demon by his side. "maybe this curse isn’t as bad as i thought."

shortly thereafter, a demonic princeling decides that they've had enough of kazimir and sitri killing their brethren. they remember sitri all too well and boasts that "if nobody else will put that useless little thing back in his place, i will." they're the most powerful foe the two of them have faced so far, and just as they're about to rip the life out of sitri, kazimir throws himself in their way.

the demon meets their end on kazimir's sword, but the monster's claws have teared his flesh apart and he won’t stop bleeding. sitri cradles his head, asking him why, the salt of his tears mixing with the red on the hunter’s face. even now kazimir is too stubborn to confess anything out loud, but they both know why.

he dies.

sitri loses track of time, sitting under the unyielding stars with his shaking arms around kazimir's cold neck. 

there's one last thing he could try, but it could easily lead to his own death as well. it's worth the risk. with stiffened fingers and blinking through tears that keep falling, he finds the little amulet he's hid in a pocket all these years, puts his lips to it and whispers a prayer for help. he doesn't know if he'll answer, or if he would come before it's too late, but sitri has to try.

before morning, a familiar hand reaches out to fondly brush through his curls, the light tickle of sharp claws against his scalp. sitri turns to see ariel, the prince, and behind him the massive shape of his black dragon.

"what's wrong, my dear?"

many denizens of hell would think that sitri deserves to be executed, and he doesn't know if ariel is one of them. but the prince has watched him grow during his time in the human realm, becoming more than anyone ever thought he could be. the prime of lust works in mysterious ways, caring more for one of his favourites than the demonic victims of the unlikely pair. i’m proud of you.

sitri asks if ariel can bring his lover back, and the prince says yes--but at the cost of sitri never being able to return to hell.

a few weeks later, they're back on the road, passing through an ordinary village where sitri can't help but buy fresh bread and admire the local embroidery tradition. kazimir is still getting used to being undead rather than deathless, but hey, he's always been very adaptable. sitri is disguised as a human, with black hair, green eyes, olive skin, and a familiar old scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. when he turns to smile at the hunter it's like watching a sunrise.

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the more OC spotlights i write, the more i realise how much i love the ‘unlikely pairing’ / ‘falling in love against all odds’ / ‘enemies to lovers’ tropes, cause we sure have a fair few pairings of that kind… i hope you enjoyed reading his story and if you have any questions about sitri, comment below <3 

// art + sitri + vasilisa © me; kazimir + ariel © kubi.