by Con Template
I gaped at him in disbelief, not even knowing what to say to him now. His previous words echoed in my convoluted mind.
“The only person I trust is myself.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I breathed out when I realized what was at stake for him. If I wanted to, I could tell one of his brothers and he would be done for. If they knew of his true plans, then he wouldn’t be able to convert me, much less find Genesis’ missing items. He would be sent back to Hell where he would be imprisoned for all eternity.
“As a token of faith,” he declared, his eyes surprised that he was confiding in me this much. “I wasn’t planning on telling you anything to this degree. No one with the exception of my brothers knows the truth about what happened to my eldest brother, and no one else knows the extensive reason of why I’m here—only you.”
I swallowed tightly. “Y-you think telling me all this will get you a get-out-of-jail-free card?” I asked, my voice shaking as I stared at him critically. Though deep down, I had already made my peace with him, outwardly, I didn’t want to appear so easily placated. “You have a track record of being a manipulator and a liar. Why should I believe anything you’ve told me?”
He smiled lightly, finding amusement in my combative words. For a moment, I saw adoration in his eyes. Knowing that he had more to prove, he seriously said, “My fate is now intertwined with yours, Teacup. You have the upper hand in this relationship. Like I said the other night, your soul is yours to keep. I’m not going to torture you or force you into giving it to me—I want you to give it to me of your own freewill.” He sighed and added, “And if I leave as your Guardian Demon, then another will take my place. They will not treat you with kid gloves.” He moved his finger through the strands of my hair, wiping the rain off my cheeks. “They will not be patient with you, nor will they have reservations with torturing you for your soul. They will hurt you, and quite frankly, I can’t have that. If there’s any reason I should stay, it’s to prevent some other manipulative and sadistic Demon from getting his hands on you.”
His chocolate brown eyes intensely held mine.
“But this is your decision now, Gracie. I didn’t come here with honorable intentions and I probably won’t leave with honorable intentions, but I’ve explained all that I could in terms of my reasons for being here. After all that you’ve heard tonight . . . do you still want me to go to Hell or do you want me here with you?”
I turned away from him to stare at my surroundings, to think over my decision. In spite of his explanation, I was still furious with him—if only for the simple reason that he caused me so much grief these past few days. Regardless, I was also rational. After all the demonic things I had witnessed, Eclipse was definitely the lesser of all the evils.
Actually, after listening to everything he had to say, he was probably the most evil one of all, but my only solace was that I was one of the ones he wanted to protect. Just like my reasoning on the bus, if it were Eclipse against the world, then I’d choose him. There was no contest. I also reasoned that I had leverage over him now. I knew his secrets, which meant that I truly had the upper hand in this relationship. He had told me more than I could ever anticipate—which I knew wasn’t easy for him—and that counted for something.
“The only person I trust is myself.”
His previous words replayed in my mind, assuring me that for the time being, I was making the right decision.
“Fine,” I whispered, looking at him with a blank face. “You can stay.” As a smile took over his face, I sternly added, “But if you fuck up again, trust me when I say that I will kill you.”
Despite my threatening words, the smile on Eclipse’s face only grew wider. He was immensely relieved that he hadn’t been fired as my Guardian—that he could still be in my life.
“You won’t regret this, Teacup.” When a full minute passed and I still hadn’t responded to him, he frowned and asked, “You’re still angry with me?”
I scoffed, tilting my head at him. “And why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged affably, exhibiting an extraordinary amount of patience. “Because I didn’t lie to you?”
“You omitted certain truths, which is basically another variation of lying.”
“I’m a Demon,” he amended coolly, “it is in my nature to be crafty with my words.”
“You made me feel like a fool,” I snapped, briefly closing my eyes in exhaustion. I let out another long exhale. “To be honest, I still feel like one. I can’t believe I’m letting you stay. This is like keeping a murderous lion with me and trusting that it won’t turn on me. I won’t have anyone to blame but myself if it happens.” I pinned him with a hard stare. “I still hate you.”
“Did you miss me?” he asked instead, causing me to fall silent.
When I didn’t respond, he went on.
“You missed me,” he pointed out, walking closer. His voice was light, rich, and filled with certainty. “You’re angry with me, but you couldn’t be happier to see me like this . . . alive and breathing again.” He smiled, framing my cheek with his hand. His thumb traced over the curves of my rain-kissed lips. “I’ve missed you too, Teacup,” he whispered, gazing at me like he would a rare gem. “More than I imagined I would.”
“You were asleep,” I countered softly, shifting my face from his touch. I stepped backwards to put some space between us. “How could you miss anything?”
“I was aware,” he persisted, taking a step forward to bring us closer together.
“You know what? It’s getting late and I’m really cold,” I said dismissively, wanting to let things cool down. I had no more energy to deal with him. “Please take me home so I can do homework and sleep.”
He nodded, seeing how antsy I was becoming. “As you wish, Gracie.”
He extended his hand palm up, and like it was natural for us to teleport from one dimension to the next, I set my hand atop his and allowed the physics of life to bend for us. In just a fraction of a second, we were back on the streets, in a dark corner beside the busy crowd.
Once we were safely back on ground, I disentangled my hand from his. For what felt like the millionth time that night, he foiled my efforts to separate us.
With the reflexive speed of a predator, yet the care of a man courting his lover, Eclipse cupped his hands over my face and brought my whole world to a standstill.
“I just woke up from being fatally ill,” he said in a hushed whisper, staring deeply into my eyes. For the first time that night, I placed my indignation aside and drowned in the pools of his mesmerizing eyes. “What I say now shouldn’t be mistaken as anything but an anomaly that will never take place again.” I opened my mouth to tell him to just let it go, but he went on quickly. “You can take it however you want, as a lie or as truth, but I’m just going to say it.”
I went quiet, the breath in my chest hilting in anticipation.
“I came for you because you were a Source and because I am power-hungry and ruthless. But if it isn’t already apparent, I’m very distracted here.”
He ran his fingers down my damp hair, his eyes searching my face.
“I’ve grown very . . . attached to you. I’ve told you this before, but I’ll say it again: your soul is yours to keep and mine to have if you decide to give it to me. I’m a liar and a schemer, but I won’t con your soul away from you. If and when you decide to give it to me, it will be of your own freewill . . . because you want me to have it. I’m never going to steal it from you. I will screw over everything else and I will have no reservations about it, but you will be my exception.”
I smirked confusingly at the oddity of his words. I didn’t know what to make of what he said. It actually felt . . . human.
“Another token of faith?” I asked uncertainly.
“Just simple honesty.”
“You must still be feeling sick.”
“I am,” he said jokingly, moving close to me as we immersed ourselves into the evening crowd.
I me
t his eyes with a twinkle of laughter and cracked my first genuine smile of the night.
“You must be so pissed that you had to tell me all of this.”
He smirked bitterly, his playful personality returning. “Leave it to the baby Demons to screw me over and force me to clean up their messes again. If I had it my way, I would never confide this much to you.”
“I know,” I replied.
We may be of different species, but our predisposition was the same. We were both reserved, closed off, and used to only trusting ourselves. Honesty wasn’t our area of expertise.
“I wouldn’t have told you this much if the situation was reversed,” I revealed, truly meaning it.
“I know,” he agreed softly, harboring no resentment for this truth.
“So why did you tell me?” I bristled, genuinely curious of his motives.
He didn’t seem to know the answer to that question either. He took several seconds to deliberate before saying, “Because we’re friends.” After another thoughtful pause, he added, “And because it wasn’t in your nature to hug someone like you did the other night.”
He smiled when I looked up at him in surprise. I didn’t anticipate him to catalog this anomaly of mine as something significant. When the hug happened, he acted like it meant nothing. I was surprised that he was bringing it up.
Powerful shoulders rose into another shrug. “I figured that if you went against your nature and made me your exception, then it was only right that I did the same.” He chuckled. “Plus, I’m still trying to get you into bed. Having you pissed off at me doesn’t help my cause.”
I cracked another small smile because, despite how dramatic this entire situation was, I was glad that I got more of an explanation (and secrets) from Eclipse. He told a hell of a lot of truths tonight and in the bigger scheme of things, his truths tonight outweighed the lies he had told in the past.
Now that we had bypassed one problematic episode, we still had the most important dilemma to concentrate on.
“What do we do about the missing piece of my soul?” I asked as we continued to walk down the rain-strewn sidewalk.
It had been a while since we last spoke about it. With my birthday nearing, it was a priority that we find the stolen piece as soon as possible.
“I need a couple more days of rest.”
When I gave him a look of disbelief, he added, “I’m fine now. Really. But I woke up earlier than expected. A good portion of my powers is renewed, but I’m not as strong as before. Give me a couple of days to allow my body to consolidate the rest of my powers. Once my full powers are back, we’ll get back to finding that missing part of your soul.” After his assurance, a grin of satisfaction came over his face. Much like a kid, he slyly asked, “We’re still friends, right?”
I shook my head. “I’ve disowned you as a friend. You’re lucky I’m even being civil with you.”
He faked a hurt face. We parted from each other momentarily when a crowd came through us, but reunited almost immediately.
“You can’t disown me as a friend, Teacup,” he said dramatically. A coy expression outlined his face. “Especially not with what’s coming up this weekend.”
I shot him a skeptical look. “And what’s going on this weekend, Ashtray?”
“Something very special,” he shared cryptically. He grinned when I gave him a “just-tell-me” look. At long last, he announced, “It’s my birthday.”
“What?!” I screeched, stopping in my tracks. An old woman nearly crashed into me with her shopping bags because I stopped so abruptly. Unfazed that I was blocking the flow of pedestrian traffic, I peered up at Eclipse in shock. “Are you serious?”
He faked an adorable and bashful expression by tucking his hands into his pockets. By now, we had become fixtures on the sidewalk that people had to walk around. We were buried in the masses, but it truly felt like it was just us who existed in the world.
“Why do you think my older brothers were so nice to me?”
I was dumbfounded. “Sloth gave you Phix, and Tony helped you get better as a birthday present?”
Jesus, I thought it was something more of a biblical proportion. I would’ve never guessed that those were birthday gifts!
Eclipse nodded, grazing an affectionate finger over my rosy cheek. “You can’t disown a friend when their birthday is near. That’s against the rules, especially when my only friend in this world is you.” He laughed, undoubtedly knowing that he had me right where he wanted me. “You’re still my friend, right, Gracie?”
I was stunned that I was being guilt-tripped into being a Demon’s friend because his birthday was near. Although I was thunderstruck that he would use this as a means to get back in my good graces, I had to give him credit. He was truly an unpredictable and smart creature. I may have been a sadist, but I was a people-pleaser beyond comprehension. If it was his birthday, then it was my responsibility to celebrate it.
“I’m still mad at you,” I declared immaturely.
“As long as you’re still my friend.” He rewarded me with a beautiful smile before slyly tilting his head in warning. “In Hell, they make a big deal about my birthday. Since I’m away from home, I hope you make this birthday a memorable one for me.”
“Well, don’t expect too much,” I muttered, my mind already skimming over all the things I could do to make his birthday a fun one.
He chuckled again. “I’m looking forward to this weekend with you, Gracie.” His lips came near my ear. “If it’s not up to par, then I’m going to take matters into my own hands and make it special myself.”
A dubious expression came over me. “What are you going to do if you don’t like what I plan?”
He merely imparted me with a sensuous wink before walking ahead of me, leaving me to chase after him, bugging him for his answer. Wrapping one arm around me, he gave no more explanation on the matter. He simply covered his powerful body over mine when it started sprinkling again and became my shield as we walked home.
And just like that, after a week without each other, after a confrontation, after a confession, and after a heartfelt moment . . . we were back.
It felt like nothing had changed, but in truth, that moment was the beginning of a world of change that would turn our biblical universe upside down.
“I have waited several millenniums for you.”
21: The Eternity Milestone
I was pretty sure that it was universally frowned upon to celebrate the birth of the spawn of Satan.
It eluded me as to why I cared so much about his birthday, but despite how much he had angered and exhausted me, Eclipse was still the closest living thing I would label as my friend. With that type of label, I felt obligated to do something special for him. After several hours of research, I thought I had something amazing planned for his birthday. However, it only took one person to rain on my happy parade.
“This has got to be the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,” Coco critiqued the next morning while helping me pack for the birthday surprise.
“Why?” I murmured, packing energy bars, energy drinks, and water bottles into two already full backpacks.
“His Dark Majesty isn’t human, Gracie,” she went on hotly, staring at me like I was a deranged looney tune. “Who in their right mind would celebrate his birthday like this?” Her horrified eyes combed over the backpacks. “It’s so . . . human.”
“Why wouldn’t he like it?” I questioned defensively, proud of everything I had set up for the weekend. “I’m planning it.”
Coco rolled her exasperated eyes. “He’s a Royal Demon. He doesn’t care if you put ‘thought’ into it. All he cares about is whether or not he has a good time. And let me tell you . . . you’re going to make him miserable with what you’re planning.”
“How about you stop giving me your opinions on the birthday plan and just stuff the things I need into the backpack, Coco?” I dismissed coolly, having enough of her opinions. I didn’t spend hours coordinating this whole birthday we
ekend to give up because some former actress thought it was a bad idea.
I zipped up my pink backpack and slung it over my shoulders.
“How do I look?” I enquired meekly, modeling for her. My heavy backpack swished aggressively over my petite body as I twirled around to give her a full view of the outfit I was wearing: a dark purple tank top, black shorts, and white sneakers. My long curls were tied up in a high ponytail while a purple ribbon held up the hairstyle.
“Oh, now you want my opinion?” Coco appraised me judgmentally. She crossed her arms over her chest, her leather jacket smoothing along her short black dress. “In my opinion, you look shorter than usual.” I shot her a chiding look to be serious, and she resignedly said, “You look cute for a little midget girl.”
I smiled broadly, nodding in approval at her comment. Apart from the inescapable reality of Coco having little to no skills in the field of social decorum, I had actually found myself enjoying her company. I wouldn’t say that she was my favorite person in the world. In fact, I still found her to be immensely annoying and offensive. However, over the past few days, she had proven to be a cool person. She was honest and I could always appreciate that type of individual in my life.
I did a quick survey of the living room to make sure I had everything I needed. When I was certain I had packed all the necessities, I grabbed Eclipse’s backpack and stepped out of the apartment with Coco in tow.
“What are you and Phix going to do when Eclipse and I are away?” I asked once we entered the elevator. A mechanical humming coursed through the confined space as the metal cage began to descend to the lobby.
“Since he’s still recuperating, his Dark Majesty charged us to dig into your past some more,” Coco answered, mindlessly helping to zip up a loose zipper on my backpack. “Needless to say, we’ll be running around a lot.”
Her response intrigued me. Eclipse was as resourceful, smart, and cunning as they come; he didn’t strike me as the type who would delegate duties to someone else unless they were highly capable individuals. Phix and Coco, as cool as they were, appeared like total goofs to me. I couldn’t fathom the reason behind his decision.