by Con Template
The world seemed to have slowed with my growing anticipation. I did not miss the ominous pitch in his voice.
“What?” I asked, my interest piqued beyond its crescendo.
“You remember how I told you that the weather can sometimes be viewed as a susurrus of voices from the powerful entities around the world?”
I nodded slowly, my curious eyes urging him to continue.
“When Father Baek mentioned that the storm, which apparently was a very violent one, stopped as soon as you were born, he also said that it was as if the world fell quiet. When he said that, I remembered a night where I was sitting on my throne and something peculiar happened.”
I uneasily shifted in my seat. “What?”
The wheels of the bus creaked over the road, harmonizing with Eclipse’s words.
“For exactly forty-nine seconds, all of Hell fell silent. Everyone was completely and utterly quiet as they stared up at the skies. We all collapsed into silence because when the storms stopped, it stopped all over the world. For that suspended moment, it was as if someone had wrapped something over us.”
He sighed, still uncertain as to what took place that night.
“After those forty-nine seconds passed, the world kept moving. Many forgot about it, but it kept replaying in the back of my mind as one of the oddest things I had ever experienced. My brothers and the Elders of our world made a note of this phenomenon as well, and when we heard about the murders, it made sense that you were the cause of that brief silence over the world. That was how we found out you were a Source.”
I sensed from the way he spoke that this observation wasn’t as conclusive as he made it out to be.
“You think there’s more to it?” I pressed softly.
He nodded thoughtfully. “I think when you were born . . . a veil was placed over the world.”
“Another veil?” For some inexplicable reason, I got immense chills at the thought.
“I do not know what kind of veil,” he continued, “but it can only be viewed as astronomical. It had the powers to silence the storms of Heaven and the ability to arrest the unwavering attention of Hell. Only something extremely powerful could manage this type of feat.”
“Something anticipated my birth,” I reasoned out loud, thinking back to that malevolent entity. A troubling but inevitable possibility surfaced in my mind. I shot my eyes at him, panic surging within me. “Does this mean that it created me?”
Eclipse shook his head, immediately clearing any misconceptions I may have had about myself.
“Sources are Ancient Evils that predate Angels and Demons. You are not created. If anything, you are the Creator.” He glanced down at me, his eyes assuring me that everything was fine. “Your birth may not have been natural, but it was miraculous. Whether it was a cataclysmic or blessed event, it was miraculous nonetheless. There is nothing to be afraid of. If anything, it is this world that should be afraid of you.”
I let out a relieved breath, my fears subsiding slightly.
“So you don’t know what it’s all about?” I continued to ask, miserably summing everything up. “The miscarriage at six months, the revival at thirteen weeks, and the birth thirteen days later?”
He presented me with a frustrated expression that rivaled my own.
“I feel like I’m getting mind-fucked as well,” he admitted irritably, offended that he couldn’t figure this out. Resolution thundered in his next words. “The only thing I know for sure is that the fucker who took a part of your soul just made my life a thousand times more difficult than it already is. When I find him, I am going to burn him alive.”
One could always count on Eclipse to uphold Gandhi’s “no violence” approach.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked once the familiar lights of the city skimmed over my eyes.
We had entered Seoul and the city looked like a shiny playground. Bright lights, tall buildings, and endless amounts of people graced my eyes. I felt like I had escaped from reality and came running back into my fantasy world. In this city, I felt invincible, like nothing could touch me.
“We need to lay low. After how eventful our trip was and how popular we made ourselves, we should stay under the radar for the time being. I also need time to consolidate my powers. After that, we will be well on our way to finding out how screwed we really are.”
He laughed miserably at his own joke, and I smiled because the ironic thing was that he was probably right. Things weren’t simple. It was doubtful that things would get simpler once we unearthed more secrets.
“Until then,” he said distractedly, his eyes admiring the beautiful neon-lit world shimmering like a kaleidoscope around us. “School is back in session. It’s time for you to go back to being a normal college girl, Teacup.”
I snorted at him, watching with jealousy as the bus treaded through the busy street where my fellow human beings were perusing about, unaware of how big and scary the world outside our civilization was. “How can I go back to my normal life after this? I’m going to be a hundred times more paranoid than before.”
“There is no safer place than Seoul,” Eclipse assured, corroborating the unexplainable “safe” feeling I had with my city. “Plus, I’m awake now,” he added darkly, confidence teeming on his face. He leaned in, brushing his soft lips over the side of my neck. The innocuous movement sent a surge of electrical current that had my nerve endings spiking up in yearning. “Every bad, awful, and evil entity may be after you, but you have the biggest, baddest, and most cunning son of a bitch by your side. There’s no veil of protection in this world that is more powerful than me. I promise you, as long as I’m beside you, you will always be on the winning side.”
Though it felt wrong, my lips curved into an even bigger smile. I truly believed that I had the best veil on my side.
If it were Eclipse against the world, then I’d choose him.
To me, the world could never measure up to him.
“Now, let’s get back to normal life,” he announced as the bus came to a slow stop.
We got off, stepped onto the congested streets, and started heading back to my apartment. I didn’t know what got into me, but as soon as we stepped on the ground, I felt relief sweep through me. We were finally home. We were home, and we were safe and sound. In a move I didn’t anticipate, I hurried in front of Eclipse and blocked his path. I then did something out of character: I hugged him.
I looped my arms around his towering body, placed my cheek on his chest, and breathed a sigh of relief as I embraced him, savoring the feel of him awake and conscious again. It was the most human emotion I had ever shown in my existence to date. The biggest irony was that I was showing it to a Demon.
When I wrapped my arms around him, I could feel Eclipse stiffen in shock. It was funny that the Demon could throw sexual innuendos and seduce me left and right, yet the one time I gave him a hug, he appeared thunderstruck. It was like he was astounded by a foreign sensation. After a few passing seconds where I continued to hug him, the stiff muscles under his powerful body relaxed. Instead of standing there like a tree, I could feel him loop his own arms around my back.
It was awkward at first, but then it just felt so wonderful. For the first time in my life, I felt at peace with my world. All the evils in the universe could be after me, but I had never felt more safe—or happy—than at that suspended moment in time. This odd sensation was nice, but leave it to Eclipse to ruin the human mood we were in.
“Are you okay, Gracie? Are you still worn out from our trip? Is that why you’re acting so strange?”
I pulled out of the embrace, flushing immensely. I digested my actions and felt embarrassment rain over me. Did I really just hug him? Oh my flying pigs. This weekend had completely fucked up my rationale. What was I thinking hugging a Demon?
“I’m feeling woozy,” I told him, frantically vocalizing what I was internally saying to myself. Dramatically and almost too desperately, I held up my left index finger as proof of my hazy sta
te. “I tried to feed you my blood so you’d wake up. It really hurt when I cut my own finger. I ‘hugged’ you because I was feeling tired and lightheaded and I needed to maintain my balance.”
Relief engulfed me when he laughed with adoration at my response. The normally astute Demon was actually stupid enough to believe my crappy excuse.
“Isn’t there a fairytale in your world?” he prompted lazily, kissing my index finger as rain began to sprinkle over us. “The one about a royal getting a kiss to awaken from their sleep?” His alluring eyes glowed suggestively. “You should’ve kissed me, Teacup. All the hibernation in the world wouldn’t keep me away from those gorgeous lips of yours.”
My heart pattered when he mentioned the fairytale story I was all too familiar with. Shaking, I feigned an eye-roll as a means of protecting myself.
I promptly began to walk through the crowd, eager to get home where I could be normal again. I didn’t know why I hugged him. I reasoned it was because it had been an exhausting weekend. As long as I got the rest I needed, I should be fine again.
“Glad to know you’re conscious and back to your old flirtatious self,” I said over the noise of the city streets.
Inwardly, I was still shaking from the impromptu embrace. It continued to amaze me that I actually hugged a Demon . . .
Eclipse’s lips drew into a soft smile.
“Glad to be back as well,” he whispered before looping our hands together and mindlessly adding, “Now, let’s go home. There’s a puppy that sounds like a dying seal waiting for us.”
“If that doesn’t mean you were created for me . . .”
17: Elixir of Life
It felt odd to be sitting back in class after returning home from a crazy journey. I not only resurrected my Guardian Demon from hibernation during this trip, but I also learned that I was born, not through natural means, but spawned by some malevolent, cataclysmic event that surpassed the birth of the Devil’s son.
Honestly, when you had the Demon of Lust looking at you in shock and telling you that he felt “mind-fucked” after learning how you were born, you know that you’ve got yourself an issue. It would be a tremendous lie to state that this newfound development did not scare the living daylights out of me. I couldn’t be more thankful to be home where everything was normal again.
I felt safer to be back in my college bubble where my main concerns were my grades and homework. Despite our safe return to Seoul and the normalcy of everything around me, I still found myself feeling edgy at times. I blamed my uneasiness on the behavior of the weather, or more precisely, the foreboding gloominess of the dark skies. The weather this year had been horrible and it appeared to have worsened since I returned from Serenity. Since Eclipse had conveyed to me that the skies were a foreshadowing of things happening around the world, I couldn’t help but feel afraid.
The skies looked too ominous and evil.
Something big was brewing out there, and I suspected it had everything to do with me.
“Grace? Did you hear what I said?”
A soft voice jerked me out of my reverie.
I dragged my eyes from the rainy window and turned to find Shin staring expectantly at me. I belatedly realized that he had asked me a question and was waiting for my response.
“I’m really sorry, Shin,” I uttered, gazing at him with dazed eyes. I gave him a perplexed smile. “I didn’t hear what you said.”
A kind chuckle emitted from him. His handsome face warmed at the confusion on my face. “I was just saying that class is over—that you should leave before you’re unknowingly stuck in another class session.”
My eyes bulged. I gazed below and like he pointed out, the lecture for our marketing class was over. It was just myself, Shin, and a couple of other classmates left packing up their belongings.
“Oh no.” I blushed, feeling like a complete dimwit. “How long has class been over?”
“A couple of minutes.”
He tipped his head to the side, allowing his half ponytail to fall over his gray jacket. The way the classroom light fell over him made him look refreshed, polished, and suave. I couldn’t help but blush at the way he was looking at me with his gentle eyes. “What has gotten you so lost in thoughts?”
“Oh nothing,” I lied, trying to play off my blush and trying to act normal. He didn’t need to know that I was thinking about Demons and all things catastrophic. “I was just bored.”
“You? Bored? In class?” He laughed as though that was the most ludicrous thing he had ever heard. “You’re always so diligent with your note taking though. I’m surprised.”
I laughed.
After we had been partnered up, it was funny that I started noticing Shin more around campus. I would wave to him in the hall and we would sit next to each other for our marketing lectures. Since then, we had small talks that bordered on flirtations every now and then. Despite being physically attracted to him, I had to admit that Shin had become a cool friend to have in my classes. He always made fun of me for being so studious. I imagined it was a surprise for him when I told him that I was “bored” in class.
I gave a halfhearted shrug as I packed my notebook and pen into my red bag. “We all have our days.”
He nodded, getting up with me. He stuffed his folded paper, pen, and cellphone into his dark jeans. “How was your Fall Break?”
“Hectic,” I admitted with filter. We began to descend down the stairs as students from the next class session started filing in. “Took a trip to visit my family in Busan. As usual, my family can be exhausting.”
“Families,” he said with amusement, holding open the door for me. “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.”
Or you can kill them and then live without them, I corrected in my mind before making a note not to say that out loud.
We walked into the hall where other business students were swimming from one direction to the other. I turned to him with a big smile on my face. “How was your break? Did you visit your family too?”
He shook his head. “My buddies and I hiked up Mt. Halla for the break.”
I clutched at the bottle of orange juice I was holding in surprise. The weather had been crazy these past couple of days. I couldn’t believe he’d brave the storm.
“Really?” I covered my mouth in slight wonderment. “How was the weather there?”
“Terrible,” he shared with a weary laugh. “The storm was awful. I slipped and fell a couple of times. My friends and I have a lot of bruises, and I think I caught a cold from the experience. Regardless, reaching the summit was well worth it in the end.”
“Yeah! I imagine!” I exclaimed, having a newfound admiration for him. I had always wanted to go hiking because people who reached the summit of any mountain would always boast about the entire experience, sharing with me that the view was indescribable and that I should do some hiking too. “Wow. That sounds like such a fun and exciting way to spend the break!”
He nodded before his eyes shifted to a section of the hall that was abuzz with activity.
“Is there a recruiter over there or something? Why is there such a big crowd of girls?”
I trailed after the direction of his gaze. My good mood turned sour when I caught sight of the one causing such a big commotion: Eclipse.
Dressed in a white jacket and jeans, he was sprawled over one of the business hall’s benches, sleeping on his side with his back facing towards us. His perfectly sculpted butt was in full view for everyone in the hall. Next to him was OinkOink, who was tilting his head and staring curiously at the girls who were checking out his master. The fact that Eclipse was asleep only gave my perverted classmates license to drool over him without shame.
“Gosh, who is that hunk?!”
“He’s so dreamy!”
“Dreamy? He’s freaking hot!”
Amidst the crowd’s appreciation for Eclipse and his . . . assets, Shin must’ve caught the jealousy in my eyes. “Is he your boyfriend?”
&nbs
p; I swiveled to him, caught off guard with his question. I looked at him and then at Eclipse’s back. I turned back to Shin and smiled wearily. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m sure it is,” he responded so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him. He imparted me with a charming smile before tipping his head towards the exit at the other end of the hall. “Well, I’ll let you get back to him then. Get some rest, Grace. I’ll see you around.”
“Bye Shin,” I waved, watching him walk away.
Once Shin was gone, I pivoted my attention back to the dead weight sleeping on the bench. My insides simmered. I stomped over towards Eclipse and attempted to glare at all of his admirers. Unfortunately for me, they were all really nice and not the slutty girls I wished they were.
“Hey Grace!” one of my classmates giggled as she walked past me with her friends. “You have to check out the hot piece of ass sleeping on the bench! If you’re having a bad day, he’ll be sure to make it better!”
“Thanks for the tip, Jenny!” I chirped cheerily even though inside, I was seething. I hated that they were checking him out and I hated it more that my classmates were such nice girls that I couldn’t actually hate them.
Sensing my presence, OinkOink removed his attention from the swarm of girls and turned in my direction. Upon seeing me, the little pup’s expressive black eyes lit up. With an excited bark that reverberated through the hall, he jumped off the bench and gleefully bounced over to me.
“Hi OinkOink,” I greeted when he was in front of me.
I stooped down and picked him up. His tail wagged excitedly, and when he was close enough, he poked his little pink tongue out and began to lick at my chin. My heart expanded at the love he was showing me. I had received this same greeting from him when we returned from Serenity.
I had expected to find him dead when we walked in from our road trip. To my surprise, I found him whimpering quietly on a pillow bed. Beside him was a 5x7 photo frame with my picture in it. Apparently Eclipse had placed my picture there so OinkOink wouldn’t be depressed. It was a heartwarming sight to see the puppy whimper in sadness as he huddled close to my photo, crying as if he was crying to me. But it was an even more incredible sight when he saw me. Like a rocket, OinkOink ran to me as though his life depended on it. I was so happy to see him that I even gave him a kiss on the lips while I soaked in the feel of him shaking excitedly against me. The attachment I had formed with him was amazing. I had missed him dearly while I was away and I couldn’t have been happier to have the oversized rat back in my arms.
