Demon's Alter-Ego Ch. 21-23

"He left me," I said solemnly.

Shorn watched me with his red eyes, "I am quite content that Ezra left. In fact, I prefer it that way." He didn't sound pleased.

I studied his sloppy appearance, dress pants unbuttoned and a shirt that looked like it was hastily pulled on. His feet were bare, and it struck me as strange until I really grasped that I was in his home. He had every right to look any way he wanted.

"What did he say to you?"

His lips twisted in a grimace, but he didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Are you staying here?" Then he directed his attention to rolling his shirtsleeves up to his elbows.

My eyebrow rose at the question and him purposely not looking at me, "You won't stop me from leaving?"

He didn't acknowledge me for a space of minutes, slowly fitting the bottom shirt buttons into their holes. Finally, he raised his gaze to mine, still saying nothing. I interpreted that as he hadn't decided yet.

I crawled over and hesitated at the piping on the pillow. For the longest time we sat in silence until he crawled closer to meet me halfway with an outstretched hand. It cupped just outside my cheek, a moment away from a caress. A silent ask for trust. I bit my lip and inhaled the scent of storm. I didn't feel any sort of beguiling coming from him, instead just a brief draping of gossamer-thin loneliness spreading out and evaporating into nothing, as if it had never existed.

Keeping my eyes on him, I moved the side of my face into its warmth, knowing exactly what it meant. There was no time to react as he jolted forward as soon as my jaw brushed his hand. An arm of steel banded around me, lifting with an ease of strength that was scary. One second outside the boundary of his bed, the next in it, curved against the angles of his body. He quickly used his leg to jerk my own out from under so he could then drape his over it. I froze, my body locked tight in indecision as I took several moments to sort out my feelings and slow my heart rate. Behind me, it felt like he, too, stopped breathing, waiting. Demons were so unsettling at times and Shorn was the worst.

I consciously decided to relax, settling deeper into the plushness beneath me. I felt his loud exhale on my neck while he nuzzled underneath my hair. Surprisingly, it didn't take me long to fall asleep. Even more strangely, he seemed to fall asleep just as fast as me.

I awoke before he did with my face squashed in his throat. We lay partly on our sides with his leg thrown over my hip and grip fastened in my hair, close to the scalp. It was uncomfortable to say the least. My attempts at dislodging him were met with a rumbling growl that I could feel against my lips. As gentle as I had been, I still woke him up. Not unexpected.

Somehow, he pushed me in even closer and then, so deliberately, I felt his fist relax one finger at a time. I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt him soothe the top of my head with heavy, massaging movements. He offered no apologies, just slowly pulled his body away from mine.

"I slept on our quandary," he said without preamble.

I rolled onto my back and looked at the ceiling above me.

He flung his arm over me as he moved in the opposite direction onto his stomach and immediately started massaging my hip. With a startled thought I realized that he was like a cat, always kneading with fingers and hands on my body. A memory surged from my youth when I had purring tabby who would sit on my chest and stare into my face to wake me up. I had a stray image of Shorn doing the same. There was no way I was telling him that.

"Which one?"

He made a deep grumbly noise that had me turning my head towards at him. He repeated my words back at me, slightly amused, "Which one?"

I shrugged, "There seem to be so many these days."

"We'll start with the one that impacts me the most."

A smile formed on my lips, "Which one?"

He made the same noise.

"Are you chuckling?" I asked in disbelief.

He looked back at me with lidded eyes, "I may be."

I smiled wider, "The great Shorn, chuckling. I like it."

His face was unreadable as he contemplated me.

My smile faded and I shook my head, "Ignore me. What were you going to say?"

Instead of talking I watched his eyes change into their mercury depths. He blinked a few times and the red seeped back in until it was all that was left.

"Your silver eyes are beautiful." The animal instinct they indicated was probably more dangerous to me than when they bled, but I didn't tell him I parsed that out either.

His only response to my statement was to prop an elbow on the bed, place his chin in his hand and gently tug me closer.

"While you were practicing your magic the Dark was directing it to the prison Oldavai told me you saw."

My expression fell at his words. He tugged me even closer. My breath warmed my face the closer I got to his chest.

"Don't fret. Whatever discomfort you created was being used for oblation. It was feeding off them and giving it back to me."

My forehead furrowed. "I don't understand. The prison is not in the Dark."

"It's not?" The question almost sounded rhetorical.

"It is?!" Shock rippled through me.

"It is not entirely in the Dark, not entirely on Earth, not entirely anywhere, but it's anchor in the Dark is because of me."

My eyes widened, "Does that mean you have a constant energy supply?"

"My negotiations with the Affairs Office limit me in some regard, but yes." His head angled down closer to me, "I would prefer that they don't find out about you." His leg draped itself in the seam between mine and pressed down.

I kept my legs together and didn't let myself get distracted from the subject, "I would as well."

He clacked his teeth at me aggressively and I shied back with an annoyed look, but relented, letting him wedge his knee between my thighs. He lowered his head as his right hand curved above my own. He spoke again, "I believe there is one other variable to my relaxed state."

I closed my eyes enjoying the gentle attention of his fingers threading through my hair, "Yes?"

There was a weighty pause until I felt the pillow dip as he leaned closer to my ear, "That should be the answer you always use with me."

My eyes snapped open, staring above, not at him, partly because I didn't want to see his expression.

He moved his head back and continued to knead my hip, "Give some thought to what it means to say 'no' to me."

I shuddered and opened my mouth for an offended retort, I'd take anger over fear anytime. He lightly placed a gray finger on my lips and spoke quickly. "The other variable is that the Darkness had something else on its mind to hunger after. Something it knew instinctively it should not force from you. For once, it was not ravenous. It was patient and that has never been a trait of the Dark."

I nipped at his finger and he 'tskd' me before pulling it away. "The Dark spoke. I listened. Then it graciously left me to suffer the consequences on my own."

"You should not have forced me," I snapped back, thinking of his aggressive staging to get what he wanted.

"I do not believe Ezra was the only being there with me."

Not exactly the apology I was looking for. "And?" I asked waspishly, not really caring if he was subjected to the Eternal. After all, he made it out alive.

He sat up quickly and surprised me by agreeing, "And I should not have forced you. My brother made sure his displeasure with me was obvious and unavoidable."

Good. I hummed, hoping his behavior meant he was ashamed, but he had closed off his emotions and I couldn't read any.

He pushed himself off the bed, causing me to roll slightly. Once he was standing the Dark swirled around him and he was dressed impeccably in a deep red accented three-piece black suit.

I stretched myself up and scooted to the edge of the pillow. "Don't you need to use the bathroom, take a shower... something?"

We stared at each other. We seemed to do that a lot. My look was expectation of an answer, his one as if he was thinking it over. He wasn't.

"What prompts that question?"

I stood up and shrugged, "Just trying to figure out if you're mortal."

His smile was half formed and soft in response to my words, "In my own way. Stay in my office while I work."

I raised an eyebrow at his demand, and his face blanked out.

He remained stoic as he said his next words, "You can use a real bathroom."

My face flushed immediately, and I cupped my face into my palms, "Oh gods, Shorn! Nice come back." I peeked through the framework of my fingers and watched a portal to his office appear behind him.

"Come. Stay with me."

My hands fell to my sides, "I notice you are not offering me a chance to go home."

His growl vibrated in the room and his eyes glowed immediately, "I never ask a question when the answer is not open for negotiation."

I folded my arms across my body, switching topics, not in the mood to argue with him, "Your Darkness has been dressing me. What if I leave here and end up naked?"

"I remain clothed." He paused, looked away and then back to me, "Unless you would like me to end up naked in my office."

The flush that was leaving came back full force, "Uh... no... wait, did you just make a joke?!"

"Perhaps," he said straight faced, then he looked me up and down. "You have been here for days. The only beings alive who hold more Darkness inside of them our my own kind. You have breathed its air, imbibed its food and water, slept in its embrace. If we will it, it will be."

My lips quirked. I had no delusions on who 'we' implied. The Dark and him. "So, that means if you don't will it then I'll be naked."

His face remained serious, "Would I do that to you?"

I narrowed my eyes at him again. I had absolutely no idea.

He held out his hand, "Please. You may wear whatever you are most comfortable in. Certainly not that outfit Oldavai had you in."

I hid my surprise that he remembered the pencil skirt with tight shirt and instead rolled my eyes, "That demon." I cautiously placed my hand in his and found myself in cargo pants, boots, and t-shirt.

He gave me a real smile at my acquiescence and tugged me through the portal. I found that as soon as we left the Darkness I could no longer feel its encompassing presence. It flowed around me in waves, but it was nothing like living in its domain. Shorn created a window seat for me out of Dark, but I was too antsy to sit still.

Since I had very little to do, I became his assistant. Waving away his stubborn objections, I answered his door, retrieved and delivered packages, and did anything else I could easily help him with.

I never thought that Shorn would be busy in quite the way he was busy. He was sought out, not just for demon matters, but literally everything. By the end of the day his smile was vanquished, his patience at its end. His eyes weren't bleeding though. I slid up to his side and leaned up against the desk facing him.

Without looking up from his computer he spoke before I did, "Coincidently, both Ila and Oldavai will be back tomorrow from their respective work travels. That may put a strain on our day. I'm already hearing questions about who exactly are you and how you can stand the smell, much less, my winning personality."

I snickered, "Is the sulfur smell so you can keep them away?"

He tapped on a key with finality and looked up at me with a toothy smile, "It is the best deterrent to keep pests at a tolerable distance while enjoying their discomfort. It's the equivalent of a do-not-disturb sign. Since I am not using it today there have been more personal rather than inter-office requests."

I nodded, speaking my thoughts, "There are demons here. They know what I am, if not who."

He shoved his laptop to the side and snatched me up, sitting me on his desk. I gave him wide eyes at the unexpected, unasked for permission to move my body. This is where he wanted me and this is where I would be. Period. Claws emerged from the tips of his fingers as he harshly shoved my knees aside and gripped my thighs. I cringed in anticipation of the pain, but he only pricked through the material, never drawing blood. Using his hold on me for stability he rolled his chair between them. "All demons in this office know who you are. You are Dove and you...," he paused and seemed to be weighing his words, staring at me in thought, "are under my protection." I watched the minute ticking in his jaw as he finished his sentence. I slitted my eyes at him, knowing he left something unsaid, letting him get to the rest of his thoughts in his own time.

His own partly closed, "And other's protection. For now, it's me they need to be afraid of. It's the hunters that might not realize the gravity of the situation."

Refusing to let him bully, I gave him my best saccharine smile, "Please refrain from threatening my colleagues."

He rolled in closer and wrapped his arms around my back, little glowing dots of silver appearing and disappearing in his eyes, "I'm just foreseeing opportunities for debate with Ila."

I couldn't help the laughter in my voice as I put my hands on his shoulders, "You're such the politician, Shorn."

He smiled, not showing any teeth, "I try."

I placed my hands on his head and weaved my fingers through his hair. A weird sort-of purr slipped out of his throat, quickly stifled when he pressed his chin on my thigh and murmured, "You'll stay with me tonight."

I looked down at the shiny black strands in my hand, deciding not to acknowledge his command, "It's strange, when I'm with you I don't hear the voices."

He angled his face to lay down on my leg, "Isn't that what you want?"

Unequivocally.

"Yes."

"I unmake them."

My hand stilled in his hair, "You unmake them?"

"Yes. That is what I am. I unmake, dismantle, pull things into their individual parts or make them think that one part is their entire world." His voice was soft, as if he was falling asleep.

"Where do they go?" I asked just as softly.

"If I choose, I will devour them."

"Oh," my hand continued its trail through his locks.

He raised his head and caught me around the waist to lift me from the desk, "Yours are not so easily dissuaded." His grip on my hand was tight as he pulled me into a portal. I was suffused with Dark as I walked through his home, it was a blanket enveloping me in warmth.