by Con Template
“Yeah,” Phix replied, grinning reminiscently when reminded of Coco. “Fame, fortune . . . and to be tall and skinny.”
I came to an abrupt halt, nearly tripping over his words. “Tall and skinny?”
He bounced his head like a bobbing figurine. “Yeah, she was really short when I first met her. Like your height and really overweight, like this big.” He extended his arms as widely as they could go.
“Coco was a former short, fat girl?” I gasped, stunned by this new development.
He beamed, recounting the memory of her in such a state. “Oh man, she was so cute. Her cheeks were really big and you could hardly see her glaring eyes when she looked at you. I accidentally called her a midget and she’s hated me ever since. When I was finally able to convince her to make the deal, she demanded that I not only make her rich and famous, but also skinny and tall.”
My mind was spiraling with confusion. I couldn’t believe that Coco and I had so much in common. I thought over how much she seemed to be annoyed with me and I couldn’t help but say, “Why does she hate on me if she was once short and overweight too?”
He shrugged again. “Probably because you remind her of herself? People usually don’t like to be reminded of why they were once so miserable.”
I nodded dimly, understanding what he was saying.
“Gracie,” Phix said tensely, steering the conversation back to more pressing matters.
We had been on enough tangents tonight. As easygoing as he was, Phix still took his duties seriously.
“I know you’re angry—and you have every right to be—but it’s not safe for you to be outside alone. I’ve left his Dark Majesty alone, and if anything comes after him, he won’t be able to defend himself. I know you’re upset, but you can’t change the circumstance you’re in. Can you just come home with me so I can keep you both safe?”
“No,” I retorted, getting absurdly angrier at the mention of Eclipse. It was childish of me to behave like this, but I truly had no handle on my emotions. I was too infuriated. “I hope he won’t be able to defend himself and dies.”
Phix gave me a knowing look. “I know you don’t mean that, Gracie.”
I didn’t, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I was about to loiter around campus for a while longer when a thought materialized in my head. I turned to Phix as I plucked off the last yellow petal from the rose.
“He can’t defend himself, right?”
Wariness treaded on his face when he noticed the vicious glint in my eyes. Phix hesitantly shook his head while from inside my bag, I could see OinkOink stare up at me in fear.
I got the answer I wanted.
Without forewarning, I threw my bag at his chest. “Let’s go back then.”
The confusion on Phix’s face graduated into mystification. Even OinkOink’s whimpering had become louder.
“Gracie, what are you planning to do to him—?”
Phix had begun to speak, but I couldn’t hear the rest of his words because I was already running back to the apartment. I had never ran so fast in my life. Before I knew it, I was already barging into the apartment without warning.
Coco was watching Tears of the Rainbow when she got up from the living room sofa. She uneasily watched as I sped towards the counter to grab a jar of salt. Just then, Phix came running in with my bag. His eyes shot open when he saw that I had salt in my possession. Before the Demons could stop me, I had already ran into the hall and poured a line of salt to separate the hallway from the living room—basically preventing them from coming into my room. I threw the empty jar on the floor and advanced towards the bedroom.
“Oh crap, Gracie!” Phix shouted while OinkOink barked fearfully from my bag. “What are you planning to do—?”
Boom!
I slammed the bedroom door with all my might, instantly drowning their screams into an ocean of indistinct mumbles. Chest rising and falling rapidly, I leaned my forehead against the door for a full second before I averted my gaze to the one who had caused me so much grief tonight.
Lying flat on his stomach with the white comforter clinging loosely to his bare back, Eclipse couldn’t have looked more at peace with himself. He resembled a beautiful Angel taking a nap.
Anger saturated my eyes when I recalled what I learned today.
He had lied to me.
The two-faced bastard had been lying to me this entire time.
I reflected upon all the embarrassment I felt tonight and I couldn’t control myself.
I was livid and I wanted Eclipse to pay for it.
As my insides rioted with a need for revenge, I seized a pillow and violently threw it at him. I watched as it hit his head and bounced off the bed. Not feeling the least bit satisfied, I grabbed another pillow that was bigger than the last and started hitting him with it.
Whack!
“You bastard!”
Whack!
“You miserable bastard!”
Whack!
I couldn’t stop myself from hitting him as shame plagued me. I was so lost in my fury that there was a point where I was tempted to kill him by smothering him with the pillow. I found myself not having the heart to do it. And because I didn’t kill him, I kept hitting him again and again because it was the only way I could deal with my emotions.
The entire time as I hit him, he didn’t react once. He continued to blissfully sleep, utterly unaware of the fact that I hated him more than anything in the world.
“You must really think I’m a fool, don’t you?” I whispered to his sleeping figure, my heart racing beyond limits.
In exhaustion, I felt my body slump to the sofa, the pillow still clutched in my hand. I shook my head, feeling my stomach twist in revulsion as I stared at him. My arms hurt from hitting him and I still wasn’t satisfied. If anything, I felt worse than I did before . . . and I didn’t understand why.
I clutched a shaking hand over my chest, where my heart laid. What is this feeling? What was this foreign emotion that was eating me up? I’ve had my pride hurt in the past and it was one of the most awful things I had experienced, but this pain felt different. It was a million times worse.
It felt like my heart was hurting, like it was breaking.
I remembered how grateful I was when he woke up from his coma—that someone I cared about was safe and healthy again. It was crushing to realize that one of my purest and most humane acts was wasted on a Demon who didn’t want to be here with me in the first place. I knew that he didn’t love me, but I thought he at least cared about me. I thought we were friends, but all of that was a lie.
I was worthless to him.
I was nothing but a worthless human to him.
“You were punished with me?” I finally voiced out to him, my lips quivering. Hearing myself articulate these hollow words made me feel worse, but I kept going because it was the only way to let this off my constricted chest. “You were sent to me because you had been punished with me? This whole time, I thought I was stuck with you, but it’s actually the other way around, isn’t it? It was you who was stuck with me.”
I truly thought that, despite all the doubt I had about him, I had found my first friend in the world. Someone I cared about and someone who cared about me.
It was illogical to consider a Demon your friend, and even though I knew better, I fought logicality and embraced the impossible. I realized now how stupid I was. He took care of me because he was responsible for me. He made me think he was attracted to me because he wanted to seduce my soul away from me.
I scoffed inwardly.
The truth couldn’t have been clearer.
Eclipse wasn’t my friend.
He was my gatekeeper—the one who was cursed with me.
“I ran around like an idiot for you, trying to find someone to help you. I even made a deal with another Demon and had to beg your brothers for help. And all for what? For someone as manipulative as you?” I laughed dryly to myself. “You must’ve had a blast . . . being entertained by my stup
idity. Now I know why you look down on humans so much, because you had one beside you who was the dumbest of them all.”
My lower lip quivered uncontrollably as I continued to sit there, drowning in my thoughts.
“I wish I never hugged you that night,” I went on, my voice shaking. The emotions inundating me were more than I could bear. “I wish I never called you my friend and I wish I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that I was special to you.”
In a world where he saw so many insignificant creatures, I thought I was significant—the exception.
But I saw the truth now.
I was simply the trash he was stuck with; the trash he had to carry around with him during his punishment on earth.
This is what I get, I thought regretfully. This is what I get for going against the bylaws of nature and trusting a Demon.
“I hate you, you manipulative bastard,” I whispered to him as my final thought for that awful, embarrassing, and eye-opening night. “I hate you so much.”
“Who’s there?”
20: Attack on Heaven
“What did I do to deserve this?” I asked several days later, sitting at a noodle stand with Coco seated across from me.
After I came out of my room and kicked away the line of salt, Phix and Coco barreled past the door, accusing me of killing their Dark Majesty and screaming that they would never forgive me if they couldn’t resurrect him. When they discovered that Eclipse was still breathing, they forgave me for scaring the “motherfucking hell” out of them. Since then, as Eclipse was still in recuperation mode, Phix and Coco had been taking turns watching us.
Phix watched me in the afternoon, picking me up from school while Coco took over the evening shift. Tonight, she was keeping me company as we ate noodles in the rainy night.
“You killed your entire family when you were a baby midget,” Coco reminded flatly.
Yes, leave it to Coco to do everything in her power to make me more miserable than I already was.
I fixed Coco with a pointed glare. Clearly recalling that I could easily hit her again, her healing black eye twitched and she immediately changed the subject.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, drinking her soju as rain poured over the red tent.
“Once he wakes up, I’m kicking his ass out to the curb.”
“Haven’t you tried to do that already?” she inquired critically, causing my bubble to deflate.
Over the course of the week, I had vented to her and Phix about how I shouldn’t have trusted Eclipse—that I should’ve trusted my instincts when I tried to vanquish him those first couple of days we met. It served me right to be such a big mouth, especially to a Demon.
I nodded sagely, agreeing with her point. Eclipse was one frigging hard Demon to get rid of. Unless he voluntarily left me, there was nothing I could do to get rid of him myself. I wrinkled my nose, considering my options before I caught Coco’s eyes. An idea bloomed in my mind.
Almost too cunningly, I said, “Help me get rid of him.”
“What?!” she screeched out, causing everyone to turn around to stare at us. She ignored all the stares and continued to gawk at me like I was a deranged lunatic. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not going to help you get rid of him!”
“Come on, help me,” I coaxed gently, trying to be friendly and charming. “Please?” I paused meaningfully and added, “I’ll give you cookies.”
Coco’s brows fell into a scowl. “Bribing me with cookies when Phix already told you that I’m a former fatty like you?” She shook her head. “You are so much more evil than you look.” She sighed when my glare settled upon her. “Why would you want to get rid of him?” she remarked instead. “Don’t you know how lucky you are to even be around him? From what Phix told me, no girl has ever been around him for this long. You should feel lucky to have his attention like this.”
“Oh yeah,” I retorted sarcastically. “I’m so lucky to be the trashcan your Prince got dumped into.”
Coco winced at the venom and truth behind my words. When she didn’t say anything to contest that, I looked down at my food and said, “I’m running low on money. Since you’ve been eating my food at home, can you pay for dinner tonight?”
Although she shot me a disgruntled look, she nodded. “I’ll just take money from someone else and we’ll be good.”
I froze, thunderstruck by her words. “Wait, what?”
She furrowed her brows. “What?”
The alarm didn’t dissolve from my eyes. If anything, it heightened with outrage. “Take money from who?”
She scrutinized me for a long minute, dumbfounded by my ignorance. “What? You think money grows on trees? We Demons aren’t rich. We have to take money from somewhere.”
I gasped. “You don’t just create money?”
“No, we take it from someone else in the world.” She laughed. “When Demons tempt you and say they could give you all the money in the world, it’s a literal meaning. They literally have to take it from someone else.”
I reflected on all those times Eclipse spoiled Sanctuary with his money and the uncomfortable feeling it gave me. Now it made sense why I possessed those uneasy feelings. It was because, deep inside, I knew he had been stealing all along!
Coco gave me a funny look. “His Dark Majesty never told you?”
“Add that to the list of things he omits.” I scoffed. In addition to being an asshole, Eclipse was also a felon. Discovering his shadiness only added fuel to the animosity I had towards Eclipse. It was more imperative that I kicked his ass to the curb now. “Forget it. I’ll pay.” I looked at Coco once I dumped the money on the table. “Will you help me get rid of him or should I punch you again?”
She glowered at me, her bruised eye twitching in resentment.
“Hey guys!” Phix’s overly cheery voice interrupted. From my peripheral vision, I could see Phix running towards us with a big smile on his face.
“Hey Creator,” Coco unenthusiastically greeted, still giving me the stink eye. “Gracie here is threatening to punch me again. Can I hit her back if she does?”
“Not unless you want her Guardian Demon to burn you alive,” Phix answered worriedly, not realizing that Coco was joking. He was sometimes too naïve. It would’ve been adorable if I weren’t so bitter with my life.
“What are you so cheery about anyway?” Coco asked drearily, grabbing some beef from my noodles with her chopsticks and sticking it into her own bowl.
If it were even possible, Phix’s smile grew wider. “His Dark Majesty just woke up.”
I went still. The once dormant nerves in my body stirred to life at this announcement. Even though a small part of me was happy to hear this news, the other part of me remained furious with him. In addition to that, I was also caught off guard. I had been so angry with him that I hadn’t even anticipated what I’d do once he was awake.
I chewed on my lower lip, doing my best to not display any reaction. I pretended to ignore Phix and went back to eating my noodles, even though I couldn’t taste anything.
My only thought was that Eclipse was awake.
He was finally awake.
“Gracie?” Phix breathed out in anticipation. The idiot was truly oblivious to the fact that I was still pissed at Eclipse. “Did you hear me? Did you hear the good news?”
Where was this fool when I dramatically lined the hall with salt and went into the room to beat up his Dark Majesty? I couldn’t fathom the kid not understanding that I did hear him. I just wasn’t cheery with his news.
“I don’t care,” I said dismissively, loudly slurping my noodles.
“Not even a little bit?” asked a familiar voice that had my heart stopping mid-beat.
Someone stepped close to me. The recognizable enticement of his one-of-a-kind cologne engulfed my senses. As always, the tent that was once filled with fellow restaurant patrons was now filled to capacity with his powerful aura. A chair was pulled out from beside me. The heat from his body jumped into the air and swa
m over to me as he sat down. Even though I didn’t want to, my eyes seemed to have a mind of their own, and instead of ignoring him, my gaze wandered upwards.
My pulse quickened when our eyes locked.
A week had passed since he’d been in his weakened state and Eclipse was back to looking like his usual perfect, breathtaking, and damningly beautiful self.
He was dressed in another one of his impeccable black suits with a red silk tie, and there was not an inch on him that indicated he had been sick. His face glowed, his body radiated power, and his eyes were filled with vitality. He looked exactly like the Demon I met that night I was walking home, like he was the most stunning thing in creation.
He flashed me one of his striking smiles, and if I weren’t so pissed and didn’t hate him so much, then I would’ve melted before him. Damn God for allowing one of Lucifer’s sons to be so attractive when he did such awful things. And damn me for being so shallow as to notice such superficial things.
This is the bastard who made you look like a fool, I harshly reminded myself.
He wasn’t beautiful. He was despicable.
Taking solace in my hatred for him, I made sure to impart him with a malicious glare before I returned my attention to my food. It was a mistake on my part to look at him. It was harder to face the person who humiliated you than to yell at him while he was unconscious. I felt even more stupid now that he was awake.
“I’ve been looking for you, Teacup,” he went on softly, the enticing lilt waltzing in every part of his smooth voice. He permitted a moment of peace to envelope us before I saw him look at Coco and Phix from the corner of my eye. He turned back to me, his voice knowing. “I hear that you’re upset with me.”
I should’ve known that Phix had updated Eclipse on everything that happened while he was asleep.
From the way he said those words, I suspected that Eclipse was very well aware of why I was furious with him.
“Your Dark Majesty,” Coco started, her voice smaller than ever. She knew she was in big trouble. Even Phix, who was usually so easygoing, looked worried for her. “This is all my fault. I had too much to drink and I was being really stupid. I’m really, really sorry—”