by Con Template
I didn’t hesitate to express my concerns. “What can you guys find that he wouldn’t be able to find?”
Coco’s red lips drew upwards into a smirk. “Phix is one of the most talented Demons in Sloth’s Kingdom. If Phix needs information on something, then he will do his best to get it. Most of the time, he comes back with something.” She eyed me. “How do you think we learned so much about what happened to his Dark Majesty in such a short time? Phix did research on his Dark Majesty before we got to your apartment. That was how we learned so much.”
I went quiet, recalling how much info Coco was able to give me about Eclipse’s situation in Hell. Though they didn’t know the truth behind the events, it was still impressive that Phix was able to garner such secretive information. “Is that why Phix is one of Sloth’s workers?”
Coco nodded. “Phix is one of Sloth’s favorite Demons. He’s the most hardworking. Every important task that needs to get done, Sloth always assigns it to Phix.”
“If he’s so good,” I started to point out, my memory roaming back to the inn, “then why couldn’t he figure out which Dark Majesty he was supposed to serve when Sloth assigned Eclipse to him?”
“Because it was an abrupt assignment and Phix wasn’t given any hint as to which brother it was. Once he found out which Dark Majesty it was, it became easy for him to dig for more dirt.”
“So Phix is like Gossip Girl!” I summed up, my eyes kindling with admiration.
Coco gave me a strange look, and I went quiet from embarrassment.
“You need a sense of humor, Coco,” I told her in a soft but firm voice. I resented how she never failed to make me feel uncomfortable. “You were funnier when you were acting on TV.”
“And you need to stop being short,” she countered, glaring at me for bringing up her glory days. “There. Was that funny?”
I blinked bitterly and changed the subject entirely. My mind journeyed back to Eclipse. “Why is he still recuperating anyway? Hasn’t he gotten enough rest?”
She shrugged. “He woke up earlier than expected.”
This still didn’t answer my question. “Do you know why he woke up so early?”
Coco offered another shrug. The elevator doors slid open as she said, “He was probably tired of sleeping and wanted to celebrate his birthday.”
I nodded halfheartedly, exiting the elevator with her. That made sense. Eclipse was as selfish as they come. I imagined the Demon wouldn’t want to miss out on a day that was specifically dedicated to celebrating his existence.
Torrents of wind wafted over us once Coco and I walked out of the apartment and hopped off the steps. The morning sky still possessed a gray hue, and although the sidewalks were sleek from the rainfall, it appeared as though the storms had shown us mercy for the time being.
I blew out an uneasy breath after another pressing thought besotted me. I glanced at Coco cautiously. We were now standing at the curb as we waited for Eclipse and Phix. Since I had her to myself, I wanted to bring up something that I couldn’t say when the guys were around.
“You’re not going to ask me why I’m not mad at him anymore?”
Coco grinned, her eyes scanning the quiet block. With humor infused in her voice, she asked, “How can any woman be mad at a hot piece of immortal ass like that?”
Even though I was amused that she was actually joking with me, I still managed to give her a look to be serious. At my reprove, she gave me a warm laugh.
“I’m sure he gave you a good reason to not be mad at him. I’d rather not know, just in case I get drunk and accidentally spill any secrets again.”
I smiled, appreciating the silent understanding between us. I wasn’t about to tell Coco the things Eclipse told me, but I simply wanted her to know that it was truly okay now. After venting to her about Eclipse these past few days, I felt that I owed her that much. Judging by the small smile on her lips, she was glad to be updated too, if only subtly.
“So, a getaway with just the two of you, huh?” she mused, watching as the Rav4 emerged from the parking garage. The engine roared throughout my neighborhood, echoing off the quiet street as it made its way over to us.
“OinkOink’s going too,” I corrected.
It was Coco’s turn to cast me a chiding look. “You know what I meant.”
I frowned at what she was suggesting. That pervert. She had such a dirty mind. “It’s not like that, Coco.”
“Uh-huh,” she hummed dismissively.
I gazed up at her, my eyes boring into hers with challenge. “You’ve never had a birthday getaway like this?”
“Yes,” she murmured, waving at the car once they came closer to us. “I’ve done it once with my ex when I was human.” Impishness grazed her features as the Rav4 stopped in front of us. “We did nothing but have sex on that getaway.”
I gasped, gaping at her with burgeoning eyes. I was stunned at what she was insinuating could happen between Eclipse and I.
Before any more suggestive thoughts could trickle into my mind, Phix had already gotten out of the driver’s seat. Dressed in jeans and a brown leather jacket, he strode over to us and promptly relieved me of Eclipse’s backpack. As Phix opened the back door of the car, Eclipse remained seated in the passenger seat (as I had ordered him to), looking perplexed. He silently evaluated the heavy backpack that was being dumped into the backseat. OinkOink, who was sitting in the front seat with him, was poking his furry head out of the window in curiosity as well.
The only thing I disclosed to Eclipse about this surprise was that I was planning on taking him on an overnight trip. I hadn’t even planned on telling him this much, but in an effort to ensure that our safety wouldn’t be compromised, I was forced to ask if he thought it would be safe for us to travel out of the city. Eclipse assured me that as long as he didn’t use his powers on this trip, the likelihood of us running into Demons would be slim. For the most part, he reasoned that we would be fine. With this reassurance in mind, I eased my worries aside and got excited for what I had planned.
“Thanks for helping me with all this, guys!” I chirped after Phix returned to us on the sidewalk. I beamed gratefully at the two of them, my hands proudly tugging on the straps of my backpack. “I can take it from here.”
Phix grinned broadly at me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I thought he was about to wish me luck on this trip, yet what came out of his lips completely contradicted the bubbly expression on his face.
“This is a bad idea, Gracie,” Phix hissed, his face still smiling while dread brewed in his voice. It struck me then that he was smiling not for me, but to put on a show for Eclipse.
“That’s what I said!” Coco hissed as well.
The cheeriness I displayed cooled as a scowl took over my face. I should’ve known that Phix and Coco, regardless of how much they bickered, would see eye to eye in terms of my shortcomings. It was evident that they had come to a consensus that my birthday plans for Eclipse—for lack of a better word—sucked.
Doing well to ignore the evil eye I was giving him, Phix forged on like a tow truck on a mission.
“Out of all the goddamn things for you to plan, you want to take him to do one of the most trivial things a human can do?”
He spared a glance at Eclipse, who was still staring at us, no doubt trying to figure out what we were chattering about. Phix plastered on another excited smile before turning back to me with a chastising look.
“Seriously, Gracie? What if he doesn’t have any fun? Do you know who’s going to get punished? He would never hurt you.” He dramatically pointed a shaking finger at himself. He looked like he was about to cry. “He’d come after me.”
“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” I appeased, waving a hand of dismissal. “He’s not going to come after you.”
“He told me a second ago that he was going to take it out on me if you fuck up!” he squeaked out in horror.
“Oh,” I uttered nervously. “Well then, lucky for you, he’s going to have fun!” I m
otioned for Coco to open my backpack and give me my proof. She did as she was gestured and handed me a manila folder. “Look, I have everything planned out.” I began to show evidence of my itinerary for the weekend. I pointed at all the nice pictures I printed out from my late-night research. “I’m not doing this by the seat of my ass. I have everything worked out already.”
Phix didn’t even bother to look at all my hard work. He remained convinced that Eclipse was going to be miserable.
“How about I book you guys a 5-star hotel in Europe and the two of you can have a luxurious experience there?” His eyes lit up. “Oh! What about Greece? Don’t you want to hang out in Greece, Gracie? I can make it happen!”
I let out an exasperated breath and handed Coco the folder. I glared at him while Coco obediently tucked the folder back into my backpack, shaking me slightly before she was done zipping it up. My eyes turned into admonishing slits. I held my palm up towards him.
“Keys, Phix. Give me the keys now.”
He cursed under his breath and bitterly handed me the car keys. “You better give him a good weekend then, Gracie!”
“If all else fails, give him a lap dance!” Coco encouraged.
Phix gave a thumbs-up at the suggestion, and as my response to that, I demurely flipped them off before running to the car where the birthday Demon awaited me.
“What’s with all the top secret conversations with the baby Demons?” Eclipse asked, reclining in the seat with a pillow behind his head. He was dressed in his pajamas: a white hoodie and white lounge pants.
“They were saying that they were sure we were going to have lots of fun this weekend,” I easily lied, tossing my backpack into the backseat.
Eclipse smiled before eyeing the stuffed backpacks. Though he appeared aloof, I could tell he was very curious as to what I had planned for the day.
“Where are we going, Gracie?”
“Can’t tell you,” I bristled, merging the Rav4 onto the road and setting our weekend into motion. “It’s a surprise.”
I waved at the baby Demons as we drove past them before speeding the car up and gunning us out of there before they got any smart ideas and endeavored to stop me from enacting my surprise.
Eclipse stared at the rearview mirror where the reflection of Phix and Coco were becoming smaller and smaller.
“What were the baby Demons really saying to you?” he asked casually, his voice knowing.
I pursed my lips, acknowledging that there was no point in telling fibs. Someone as clever as Eclipse had probably figured out from our body language—and the subtlety of me flipping them off—that it hadn’t been a friendly conversation.
“They think this surprise is a bad idea,” I finally admitted. “They were trying to convince me to hand over the reins so they could set up the birthday weekend instead.” I peered at him hesitantly. “Did you tell Phix that you’d come after him if I mess up on this trip?”
Eclipse laughed warmly, appeasing all my worries while he played with OinkOink. The puppy was happily barking, lying on his back and pawing at Eclipse’s hand in glee.
“I was partly messing with him,” he revealed coolly. He locked his assuring eyes with mine. The genuine confidence within them made me flush. “Whatever your surprise is, I’m sure I’ll love it, Teacup.”
●●●
“This is the worst surprise I’ve ever been damned to get in my life!” Eclipse bellowed at the top of his lungs hours later, his irate voice thundering across the mountainous terrain. If there were snow present on these green mountains, then an avalanche would’ve deluged down from the force of his booming voice.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Eclipse grunted, climbing up the mountain trail while I panted and struggled to do the same.
The soles of our shoes crackled over the hard rocks, reminding us with every laborious step how agonized we were.
As part of my birthday celebration for Eclipse, I had gone all out for this excursion. My conversation with Shin was still fresh in my mind when I came up with this idea. I remembered him telling me about his experience at Mt. Halla and how incredible it was. Though we were far off from Mt. Halla, I thought it would be exciting to take Eclipse mountain hiking and give him an unforgettable weekend. I had the surprise planned to a T. I stayed up all night to figure out our hiking trail, where we would sleep, our itinerary for each day, and our clothes for the weekend.
At the outset, I thought that Eclipse would be excited for this surprise. He was so fit and lean that I figured he had to be an outdoorsy person. I should have known that my assumption was off when we parked our car in the lot for hikers and Eclipse was looking as lost as OinkOink. I should have also taken the hint that something was off when I ushered him to go change out of his pajamas and into the hiking clothes I picked out for him. For a transitory second, he looked like he was about to haul ass. His personal opinion of this surprise was kept to himself as we hoisted our backpacks over our shoulders and began to hike up the mountain. Sadly, after several hours of huffing and puffing up the steep slope, Eclipse lost all reservations about sharing his feelings.
I could sense his fuming eyes on me, searing into my back. “Seriously, Teacup? Out of all the things you could’ve planned for my big day, you choose to take me hiking?”
“We’re here,” I answered rigidly, struggling to traipse up the incline. “So shush up and keep climbing!”
I turned to him while the glorious sun began to set beside us, casting a gold and orange tint over the lush land. All around us were mountains covered with green grass and towering trees that just exuded wonderment. The day was unusually warm and bright for fall. It was like the skies were also celebrating Eclipse’s birthday. It would’ve been a magnificent experience if not for the sexy complainer behind me.
I had to admit that it was downright amusing.
Eclipse, as healthy looking as he appeared, was ridiculously out of shape. Bless the genetic freak for being created with the perfect male body that would make Greek gods cry in envy because I had no doubt that he’d be one fat kid if given the normal genes of human beings. The ironic thing about him huffing and puffing while climbing up this mountain was that even though he was out of breath, he was still smoking!
“Maybe if you stopped smoking, we’d get somewhere,” I added crossly, ascending further along with OinkOink in my backpack. Over my shoulders, I could see that his furry head and upper paws were peeking out of the backpack while he stared at Eclipse.
“That’s it,” the Demon retorted, taking one final inhalation of his cigarette before stepping on it and flicking it off the mountainside. “I’m taking off.”
“You’re leaving me to hike alone?!” I squawked, flabbergasted. I stopped in my tracks and wheeled around to face him disbelievingly.
“Of course not,” he replied, fatigue coloring his face. He stuck his hand out. “Come here, tell me where the destination is, and we’ll be there before you know it.”
“B-but I thought you were conserving your powers?”
“I was . . . but I really don’t want to exercise right now.”
“You can’t leave me,” I wailed, bouncing back to him in urgency. The rocks on the trail shadowed after me as I ran down. I stared up at him once I reached him, my gaze ablaze with panic. I didn’t stay up all night planning to cancel the surprise now. “I worked so hard to plan this trip for us.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Eclipse blustered petulantly. He looked like he was seriously contemplating suicide to end his misery. “Don’t you know I have the stamina of a fat kid when I’m conserving my powers?” He gave me a suspicious look. “Are you still mad at me? Is that why you’re forcing me to do this? Are you punishing me?”
“Oh, just hurry up, you undercover fatty,” I dismissed tiredly, waving off his accusations. I was still slightly pissed off at him, but not enough to exact revenge in this manner. I grabbed his hand and started pulling him. “You brought war upon your father’s monarchy and y
ou can’t climb up a mountain? You can’t do a simple thing that so many other humans have done?”
This was what lit the fire under the soles of his feet.
Eclipse looked offended by what I said.
He looked insulted, absolutely energized, and unstoppable. He stomped past me, fighting through the physical limitations of his recuperating body and challenging the mountains that lower beings (humans) have conquered. It looked like Eclipse would conquer this thing, but when he reached another steep incline on the trail, he stopped in his position, sat down on a nearby rock, and simply gave up.
“What the fuck is wrong with you humans?” he panted hotly.
He evaluated our environment and the soaring altitude we were in. His eyes welled up with incredulity.
“You build cars and airplanes, and yet you use your legs to climb up the steps of Hell?”
“Ugh, that’s it,” I grumbled, kicking a pile of rocks over the cliff and stomping towards Eclipse. He eyed me suspiciously when I approached him. I gestured my hand at him when I got close. “Come on. I’ll give you a piggy back ride.”
“Are you serious, Teacup?” he enquired, gawking at me like I, the little piglet, had just offered him, Godzilla, a ride on her back.
For a moment, his astonishment usurped his exhaustion.
“Yeah,” I replied honestly. Wind whipped at us with force, flapping my ponytail about. “I gave my ex a ride on my back once when he was tired. It was no biggie. I’m sure I could gather the strength to do the same for you.”
His eyes flashed defensively at the mention of an “ex-boyfriend.”
“You gave a piggy back ride to an ex-boyfriend?” He snorted, standing up and looking me over in criticalness. “Was this boyfriend as big as a golf ball or something? How the hell did you carry him?”
“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” I shared in a matter-of-fact tone. I placed my hands on my hips and stared at him challengingly. I didn’t bother to tell him that this “ex” was just a serious suitor and not someone I labeled as my “boyfriend,” but I held back. He didn’t need to know anymore than that. “Which is more than I could say for you.”
