by Rick Hautala
The human—or demon—shape was darker than ink, but patches of it—especially the eyes and face—were flaking off, and a dull, luminous glow shone through.
When she recognized Samael’s face, Claire was filled with joy. She started moving toward it, her feet sliding like in a dream, but then she suddenly halted.
“How can I be sure it’s really you?”
The glowing figure standing before her was hazy, difficult to focus on in the dark. It kept jumping around, shifting from side to side.
“This is the only way I can appear to you right now,” Samael said. “My true form after I sided with Evil.”
The odd distortion in his voice was unnerving, but Claire was convinced this was really Samael, not an imposter. A rush of cool wind surrounded him like a cyclone, and the glow coming from his form grew steadily brighter as the figure consolidated in the darkness of the bedroom.
“It is you, isn’t it?” Claire’s voice slid up and down the scale.
“It is, my love,” Samael said, and he held his arms out to her.
“Say ‘Honest to God.’”
Without hesitation, he said the words: “Honest to God.”
Claire went to him and wrapped her arms around him. It wasn’t arms at all that embraced her, but she was enwrapped by something warm and powerful and loving.
“You have to have faith,” Samael said simply.
“I do,” Claire said, and then she raised her face to his. The darkness was peeling away, flake by flake, and a warm, glowing blue light emanated from him. It was warm on her face…insubstantial…prickling like pins-‘n-needles.
Claire couldn’t believe it, but the sensation of pure joy being with Samael once again was almost too much to handle.
“So this is it, huh?”
She shifted closer and wound her arms around his waist, pulling him tighter. His hug was warm…passionate.
“It’s the best I can do…for now,” Samael said in a warm, honey voice.
He paused, and in that pause, Claire sensed that there was something he still wasn’t telling her.
“What is it?” she asked, tightening her hug and pulling him so close the rapidly receding darkness all but engulfed her.
“What’s what?” Samael said.
“You’re still not telling me everything,” she said.
For a long time, Samael said nothing. The only sound in the room was the gentle sighing of the wind, blowing through the leaves outside in the darkness.
“This is who I really am,” Samael said finally.
“But you’re changing. I can see it happening.”
She looked at him and felt an overpowering stirring of love deeper than anything she had ever experienced.
No regrets.
“And in the end, it doesn’t matter. I love you for who you are,” she replied.
But instead of embracing her tighter, Samael shifted away from her.
“You don’t understand,” he said, his voice low and flat. “For however long I’m in jail, I can come to you…I can be here with you, but only in my true form.”
He extended his arms wide, but then the truth hit her…hard.
He isn’t human at all!
What she saw…what she had fallen in love with…was nothing more than an illusion.
This mass of dark emptiness is who or what he really is.
“I can’t make love to you in this form,” Samael said with a trace of sadness and bitterness distorting his voice. “I can’t be with you the way…the way I want to be.”
“The way I want you to be, too, but it doesn’t matter,” Claire replied.
“You’re not afraid? You don’t think I’m hideous?…Most people are horrified when they see my true form.”
Claire was surprised that she didn’t feel the tiniest bit of revulsion as she pulled him close, crushing herself against him. Tilting her head back, she placed both hands on his jaw and brought his face down until their mouths met. The warm tingling of his touch intensified until it raced throughout her body like a powerful electrical current. Her knees grew weak, and she wondered again if this might not be real…It couldn’t be…It had to be the most intense dream she’d ever had.
But the kiss went on…and on.
She had no idea how long it lasted.
It could have been for less than a minute…It could have lasted for half of eternity…
“I’m your wife,” she whispered huskily, “and I love you…no matter what.”
She gazed into his eyes, which were shining now with streams of liquid silver light. The tingling sensation of his touch raced all over her body.
“Whatever’s going to happen next, we’ll deal with it,” she said. “We’re together right now, and right now is all that matters.”
They kissed again…and this kiss may very well have lasted the second half of eternity.
The End