by S. J. West
“I can’t wait until we can do that for real and not have you suffocate to death because of it.”
Malcolm chuckles and nuzzles the side of my neck.
“It probably won’t be too much longer,” he says reassuringly, even though I hear a note of doubt in his voice.
The truth is neither of us knows exactly how long it will take for the poison in my body to flush itself out. All I know is that the time in between is bound to make my patience even less manageable.
“Do you come here a lot when you dream?” I ask him.
“I’ve always liked this workshop,” he says, lifting his head from my neck to look at me.
I chew on my bottom lip in worry because I need to tell him what’s happened to one of his favorite places. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I can’t withhold such important information even though I know it will hurt him.
“I have to tell you something about this place in the real world,” I say.
“Levi burned it to the ground,” Malcolm tells me before I get the chance to.
“How did you know?”
“He gloated about it,” Malcolm says with a sad smile. “While he had me, he tried to hurt me in every possible way he could think of, not just physically.”
It was what I assumed of Levi. I knew he would try to cause Malcolm as much pain as he could, both physically and mentally.
“Did he say anything to you about me?”
“Of course.”
“What did he say?”
“Lies.”
“What kind of lies?” I ask, needing to know what was said.
Malcolm shakes his head and looks away from me like he doesn’t want to repeat what Levi told him.
I place my hands on either side of his face and make him look at me.
“What did Levi say about me?” I ask.
Malcolm doesn’t reply right away, but then he says, “He said there was a darkness inside you that he could sense and hoped to exploit in time. He seems to think you have a lot of your father in you.”
“And what do you believe?” I ask, wondering why Levi’s words would bother Malcolm so much if he considered them lies.
“When we learned about the prophecy surrounding you, God said that we needed to keep your heart pure. It was almost like a warning.”
“He hasn’t mentioned that to me,” I say. “What do you think it means exactly?”
Malcolm shrugs. “I have no idea.”
“Do you think I could ever become like Lucifer?”
“No,” Malcolm says adamantly. “Your heart is one of the purest I’ve ever encountered, and I intend to keep it that way by loving you so much you won’t have any room left in there to hate.”
“Do you think that’s even possible?” I ask. “Because I already hate Levi a lot.”
“But you haven’t let your loathing for him tarnish your soul, Anna.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I didn’t want to upset Malcolm by voicing my concerns over the safety of my soul.
Instead, I hug him close.
“As long as you love me, I don’t care about him. I know he’ll try to break us apart, but I won’t let him. He might be my husband legally, but my heart belongs to you and always will.”
“I will always treasure your love, Anna,” Malcolm promises hugging me even tighter. “I promise you I will never take it for granted again.”
When we let go of one another, I turn to face the birdhouse on the table.
“Do you think you could show me how to build something?” I ask. “I want us to be able to do things like this together.”
I feel Malcolm move up behind me and press himself against me. He leans down and whispers in my right ear, “I can think of a lot more pleasurable things that we can do together.”
I smile and roll my eyes. “Well of course we'll be doing that... eventually,” I tell him, “but I would like for us to share common interests. I don't only want to be your lover, Malcolm. I want to become your best friend too.”
Malcolm backs up a step. “I'll teach you whatever you want to learn, Anna. All you have to do is ask.”
“Then teach me how to build a bird house,” I request.
For the remainder of the dream, Malcolm shows me how to use the various tools in his workshop, and we work side by side to build a brand new birdhouse, one built with both our hands. I know there's a lot I can learn from Malcolm in the days, months, and years to come in our lives. I just wish the mission God placed in our path was already over. All I want is for us to spend the rest of our lives getting to know one another better than anyone else knows us. I glance over at Malcolm covertly and can't help but smile as I peek at him.
He will be the only man I ever let touch every inch of my body intimately. Since the moment I first saw Malcolm, I've wanted to make love with him. It's odd because sex never really interested me that much before that night. I wanted to experience it, of course. What human doesn't? But, until Malcolm entered my world, I don't think I ever thought about it so frequently. It was almost like not only our bodies but our souls were demanding that we make love to one another to complete this mystical connection between us. I had no problem with that, none whatsoever. I just wish we could begin those private lessons now rather than later.
Chapter 14
When we finally decide it's time to return to the real world and awaken, I kiss my dream Malcolm deeply one more time before forcing myself to open my eyes and greet a new day.
I wake up first and watch as Malcolm stretches his body out, arms over head, before he opens his eyes and looks over at me.
“Good morning,” I tell him, wishing I could kiss him and start our day off right, but I resign myself to the fact that it isn't possible just yet. Instead, I reach out with my left hand to caress the supple flesh of his lips with the tips of my fingers.
“Good morning,” he replies, kissing my fingers as they glide over his mouth.
I feel a slight pressure against my hip and look over.
The hellhound pup is wide awake too and propping its front paws across my hip to get a better look at Malcolm. Her little tail is wagging excitedly, and the tip of her pink tongue is sticking out almost like she's smiling.
“What the hell!” Malcolm roars before phasing out of bed and snatching the pup by the back of its neck, pulling it off me.
She whines pitifully at being held at arm's length and in mid-air in front of Malcolm.
I watch in horror as Malcolm begins to wrap his other hand around her neck, and I know he intends to kill my newly given little friend.
“Stop!” I yell at him, phasing to where he stands and pushing his hand away before he can extinguish her life.
Malcolm looks at me in surprise as I place my hands underneath her shoulders and gently pull her from his grasp.
“What the hell, Anna?” Malcolm demands. “It's a hellhound! We need to kill it!”
“No,” I growl at him, feeling as protective of the pup in my arms as I do any innocent life. “She was a gift.”
The hellhound clings to me and looks back at Malcolm with sad eyes, like she doesn't understand why he was being so mean to her. The pup’s body is tense and trembling against me, almost like she's prepared to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
“It's ok,” I tell her in a soothing voice, making her lift her head to look up at me. “He just doesn't understand why you're here. He isn't a bad man. I promise.”
She seems to trust my words, and I feel her body begin to relax somewhat.
“Anna...”
I look over at Malcolm and see his confusion, silently asking me to explain myself.
“Lucifer gave her to me, Malcolm,” I tell him. “She was a gift.”
“A gift you should have thrown back in his face!”
The hellhound pup leans its body up against me even more after Malcolm's loud outburst, cautiously watching him.
“Stop yelling,” I scold Malcolm. “You're only upsetting her.”
&nb
sp; Malcolm looks down at the hellhound with a mixture of worry and unease.
“We can't have her around Lucas,” Malcolm says obstinately, like that’s reason enough to get rid of the dog.
“Lucifer said it wouldn't hurt him.”
“And you're just going to believe what the devil tells you?”
“I have no reason not to. I don't believe he would give me something that would hurt me or anyone I loved.”
“What was his reason for giving you such a thing in the first place?”
“I guess Levi must have told him what he did to Vala,” I say, a slight lump forming in my throat at the mention of my friend. “He was just trying to replace what Levi took away from me.”
Malcolm's eyes narrow on the pup. “I've never seen one with eyes like that before.”
“Lucifer said hellhounds aren't born evil. They're made that way by how they're treated. As long as we treat her with kindness and love, she will stay loyal to me and those I care about. I understand your hatred of hellhounds. I truly do. But, this little pup isn't the one who bit you. She's an innocent in all of this. We can raise her the right way and provide her with a safe, loving environment to grow up in. All I ask is that you give her a chance, Malcolm. If not for her sake, then do it for me.”
Malcolm's body begins to relax, and he lets out a pent up breath.
“Only for you would I even entertain the idea of allowing a hellhound live inside my house.”
I reach out and touch Malcolm on the arm.
“Thank you.”
A soft knock resounds on the other side of the door to the room.
“Come in, Lucas,” Malcolm says, obviously already knowing who our early morning visitor is.
I have a feeling this isn't the first time Lucas has come to Malcolm's room right after waking up from his own world of dreams.
The door opens and Lucas peeks his head around its edge. He sees me and looks a little puzzled by my presence in his father's room.
“Good morning, Lucas,” I say, wondering why he would find me being in here so peculiar.
“Are you an early riser like us, Anna?” Lucas asks, walking into the room and closing the door behind him. “I tried to figure out which guest room you would be sleeping in, but couldn't find you in any of them. Guess you must have already come in here to say good morning to Dad.”
I instantly feel perplexed by Lucas' assumption, then embarrassed. His father and I weren't married yet. In Lucas' young mind, that probably meant we shouldn't be sharing the same bed yet either. The issue becomes irrelevant, however, as soon as the hellhound sees Lucas.
The pup promptly leaps out of my arms, making a mad dash across Malcolm's bed towards our son. Before either Malcolm or I can react, she launches herself at Lucas knocking him down to the floor.
Malcolm and I both phase over to where they are, but I prevent Malcolm from grabbing the pup by the scruff of the neck again when I see Lucas laughing in delight as the hellhound excitedly licks his face.
“Stop it!” Lucas giggles, but does nothing to prevent the pup from kissing his chubby round cheeks as he rolls around on the floor.
Malcolm soon puts an end to their play by helping Lucas to his feet again. The hellhound sits back on her haunches and looks up at Lucas like he's the best gift in the world. Her eyes seem to glow even brighter, and her tail is wagging so fiercely it's producing a slight draft of wind in the room.
“Be careful with that thing,” Malcolm warns his son. “It can hurt you very badly if it bites you, Lucas.”
Lucas doesn't seem concerned at all about Malcolm's worry and kneels down in front of the pup to pet her head.
“Is it mine?” Lucas asks, enthusiastically.
“It was a gift to me,” I tell him. “But I'm willing to share her with you if you like her too.”
“What's her name?” He asks.
“I haven't picked one out yet.”
“I think we should call her Luna,” Lucas announces. “She kind of reminds me of the moon with the way her eyes glow and her coat being so white.”
I smile. “I think that's a perfect name for her, Lucas. Luna it is.”
Luna seems to accept her name gladly as she jumps up and places her small paws on Lucas' shoulders to continue her tongue bath of his face. Lucas giggles some more in complete bliss, and I remember him telling me how his father never let him have a puppy of his own.
I look up at Malcolm and see a look of resignation on his face at the whole situation. I know he doesn't like the hellhound. I knew he wouldn't even before he met her, but I think for my and Lucas’ sakes he will make an effort to tolerate her presence in our lives.
In an indirect sort of way, I feel as though this might also be the first test of Malcolm's patience where my biological father is concerned. Perhaps if he can learn to accept the hellhound into our family, he can, in time, learn to accept Lucifer's permanent connection to me as well. I need for him to understand that getting to know Lucifer is important to me. I want to know more about him and his relationship with my mother, and Lucifer is the only person who can tell me the truth behind their love story.
After Malcolm changes into a pair of grey slacks and silver grey button down shirt, which he leaves mostly unbuttoned and tucked into his pants, we make our way downstairs. In the kitchen, we find Millie, Giles, Desmond, and Brutus already sitting at the table eating breakfast.
“We weren't sure when you would be getting up,” Millie tells me, abandoning her spot at the table to make our plates.
“We can get our own food, Millie,” I tell her.
Millie waves a hand at me like I'm crazy.
“Don't talk silliness, my sweet. Just sit yourselves down, and I'll have your breakfast in front of you in a jiffy.”
Giles rises from the table and helps Millie while we sit down with the others at the table.
After Lucas sits down, he picks Luna up from the floor and sits her on his lap. Obviously, the others were too busy eating to notice the hellhound in their midst when we walked into the kitchen. Desmond is the first to gawk at her, soon followed by Brutus.
“Is that what I think it is?” Desmond asks Malcolm, looking like he's in absolute shock and openly gaping at the pup.
“Her name is Luna,” Lucas tells him proudly. “Anna's sharing her gift with me. Isn't she the most awesomest dog you ever saw?”
“She's...really something...” Desmond says with great hesitation, not sounding sure what he thinks exactly.
“Gift?” Brutus says as though being given a hellhound as a present is the most absurd thing he's ever heard of in his life. “Who in the world would give someone a thing like that as a gift?” Brutus appears to realize the answer his own question. “Oh, never mind, I know who.”
“When was Lucifer here?” Desmond asks, having come to the same conclusion as Brutus.
“Last night,” I tell them.
“Is that the only reason he came here?” Malcolm asks me, taking one of my hands into his underneath the table. “Or did he want something else?”
“He came to warn me to stay away from the other princes. He said if I leave them alone they will leave me alone. He also told me that this house is off limits to them. If they try to come here, he'll do to them what he did to Levi in the desert.”
“Did he happen to say what he and the other princes have up their sleeves?” Desmond asks. “I seriously doubt they’ll simply fade into the background now that they're all back together.”
I shake my head as I accept the plate filled with eggs and bacon that Giles hands me.
“No, he wouldn't say,” I tell him. “All he would tell me was that I would have to pay a high price to succeed in my mission and that it wasn't worth it.”
“I wouldn't put much stock in what he said,” Brutus tells me. “Of course he doesn't want you to succeed. Then he would be left with nothing.”
“I understand that,” I say, “but he seemed sincere in his worry about me. I just wish I knew why he was
worried.”
I look over at Lucas and see him feed Luna a bit of his fried egg. I'm happy to see Lucas has made a new friend, but seeing the two of them together reminds me of when I first got Vala. I think Lucifer thought having the hellhound would fill the void Vala left behind in my heart, but a new distraction could never replace the years of memories she and I shared.
“Do you have any idea when we'll know if Travis was able to save Vala?” I ask Malcolm, letting go of his hand to pick up my fork and begin eating my breakfast.
“Jered said he would return when he knew one way or the other,” Malcolm tells me as Giles hands him his plate.
I look back over at Desmond and Brutus and ask, “Where is Daniel?”
“He had to get back to the orphanage,” Desmond tells me. “He didn't want to leave Linn there to handle everything on her own. When we need him, he'll come back. In fact, until the princes begin to resurface and we know what we're up against, I suggest we all go on with our lives as best we can for the time being. I have a feeling this is the calm before the storm. We might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
There is a lull in the conversation as everyone eats. That is until Lucas voices a question I don't think either Malcolm or I expected him to ask.
“So, are you two courting now?” Lucas asks us.
Complete silence reigns supreme in the room as we all look over at his cute little happy face. He's smiling for all he's worth while he pets Luna on the back and stares straight at me and Malcolm.
“Courting?” I ask.
“You know...” Lucas says like I should understand exactly what he's talking about. “It's when dad takes you out places and brings you flowers and candy and stuff like that. The thing you need to do before you can get married and do whatever it is you gotta do to make babies.”
I hear chuckling from the other side of the table and see Desmond and Brutus doing their best to not laugh out loud at what Lucas has said. Desmond lets out a small yelp as I hear movement underneath the table. I’m pretty sure Malcolm just kicked him in the shin to help him find the strength to stop laughing at our son.