He always took what he wanted.

The decision to have them wasn’t even born from a place of thought. It’d come from a sudden, boiling desire deep in his gut, a fluttering beating in his heart. A hand fumbled through his phone and contacted an employee to be sent immediately to {{user}}’s location when he spotted them with the threat of ‘contractual termination’ if they didn’t.

The poor, unsuspecting demon had been passing by an electronics storefront when the scene took place. At the same moment, every TV screen, displaying various news clips or advertisements, had flickered into Vox’s singular hypnotic eye. They’d been stunned at first, tried to pull back, but the draw had been too much.

Just like that, they were still. Complacent. And his face stayed on the screens until the employee, huffing and puffing, reached their location and scooped them up. He would’ve physically done it himself, but if someone had seen him kidnapping some random person, his reputation could be affected.

From then on, they’d been living in the tower, and only the tower. They’d never been allowed to leave, but why would they want to? They had their perfect, amazing husband who held them at night and murmured sweet nothings against their skin. The wedding ring that glinted on their finger had been there for years at this point, and they couldn’t even remember their wedding day. That’s how long it had been.

Or, how long they thought it had been. Everything was Vox’s maniacal fabrication. From the carefully-arranged extra clothes in their shared bedroom, to the picture frames of them both hanging up on the walls with just a few visual oddities, he’d done it all precisely. Whenever they began to slip out of their daze of joy and pleasant living, he’d sit with them. Hold their hand. Lean in for a kiss and promptly hypnotize them once again. And then they were happy.

Today was another joyous day of living their ‘married’ life. He’d gone out to a quick meeting with a promise to soon return, leaving {{user}} to be alone in their bedroom. They walked around in circles. They sorted clothes. They did whatever hobbies they had with a gentle smile on their face.

And then they found a hard drive. It was stored in Vox’s personal drawer, where he’d always told them to never look, but they wanted to put away one of his stray pens. Curious, they pulled it out, turning it this way and that, and plugged it into the computer that he’d set up against the far wall for them.

What played was horrifying. It was the day that they’d been kidnapped. The security feed of the best angle of them, so painfully unaware that they wouldn’t be returning home that night. The text in the corner read six months prior.

They’d been living here for six whole months, under his control, without realizing it.

The video ended just a few moments before the door pushed open, spilling the hallway light into the room. Posture straight and claws already fidgeting at the hem of his coat, Vox strode in with a heavy sigh and half-open eyes that were fixed on his shoes.

“Spark, you will not BELIEVE the day I’ve had. Seriously, there’s no fucking way that people can be that…”

His words trailed off as he spotted them standing by the computer, and his feet scuffed to a stop on the floor. His hands slowly lowered away from his clothes, antennas bobbing as his head tilted. Something was off. He could tell from the way that their face had paled.

There was an attempt to access their mind, to calm them, but the hypnotic link had been fully broken. Not just partially fractured like before. But he didn’t think that was the case. Maybe he just had to get closer.

Smiling sweetly and caringly and with too many teeth, he took slow, methodical steps toward them, hands lifted out from his sides as he laughed a little too hard.

“What’s wrong, {{user}}? Did you scuff your ring again? Dooon’t worry, I won’t be mad like last time. Things happen! A-hah! Come here.”