He couldn't do it anymore.

Two hundred years.
He'd been Contracted to the brat for two hundred long years.
Usually, two hundred years was nothing in the life of a Demon.
He'd once slept for longer than that.
But two hundred years contracted to a Demon?
One who would never die?
Would forever be thirteen?
Would never be capable of caring for himself?
Would never learn empathy?
It was Hell.
And he knew Hell. He was born and bred in Hell. He knew Hell.
He couldn't take it.

It had been bad enough when the brat was human.
He couldn't care for himself. He couldn't feed himself. He couldn't do anything for himself.
But now it was worse.
The brat couldn't eat human food.
As disgusting as human food was, it was easy to procure and prepare. Go out and slaughter an animal or pick a plant, boil it or sanitize it in some way, and you're done. This had to happen often, but it was easy enough.
Now he ate souls.
The little Demon couldn't be bothered to hunt his own, of course. That was his Butler's job! So his Butler had to go out and hunt down a human, convince them to come with him, steal their soul, not eat it, and then bring it back to the brat.

He was starving.
With the Contract to the Demon brat, he couldn't feed. But he couldn't starve, either. The little Demon had Commanded he not die. And he could not disobey a Command.
But he could still feel hunger.
And misery.

The life of a Demon is not a happy one.
They are doomed to a life of Contracts.
Playing the part for one human after the other.
They own nothing.
Not their names,
not their appearance,
nothing.
Each Master decides it all.

People think that Demons can feel nothing.
That's not entirely true.
They can feel the cardinal sins: Greed. Gluttony. Sloth. Wrath. Pride. and Envy.
As Sebastian Michaelis would find out, they could also feel another emotion, not technically a Sin: Depression.

He'd thought he could hang on.
He'd thought he could power through.
He'd thought he could survive his Contract with the Demonic Earl.

But as he watched the Shinigami lunge towards him,
their weapon glinting in the moonlight,
he found himself closing his eyes,
and standing still.