Dealing with Demons

by Melissa Haag

  Shaking off the snow, we walked inside. Mom and Aunt Grace still weren’t up.

  “You two have a seat,” Gran said, pointing at the two cups of hot chocolate that waited for us on the table.

  Morik sat next to me and watched me curiously as I took the first sip.

  “Don’t tell me,” I said. “You’ve never had hot chocolate?”

  Gran clicked her tongue in dismay as Morik shook his head. “Then, I should have done it up,” she said. “I wonder if we have any whipped cream.” She opened the refrigerator, mumbled to herself for a moment, then remorsefully reported that we didn’t have any.

  Just like that, Morik disappeared.

  Gran looked at his empty chair and steaming cup. “Does he do that often?”

  “With increasing frequency. Makes me wonder why he has a motorcycle.” I blew gently on the chocolate and only managed three sips before Morik reappeared by the door. He handed a can of whipped cream over to Gran.

  She smiled at him and patted his cheek. I caught a fleeting look of surprise on his face at the contact, but he quickly suppressed it. He followed Gran to the table and watched her add a mound of fluff on top of his hot chocolate. Gran and I both watched him take his first sip, which was more of a gulp. I wondered if it burned his throat, but he didn’t seem fazed by it. Based on the look on his face, he enjoyed the drink.

  By the time we finished breakfast, Aunt Grace had joined us. Morik and I listened to Gran and Grace make plans for a day filled with cooking and baking. It left us with nothing to do but stay out of the way.

  “Do you think Mom would mind if we went to Morik’s house?” I asked Gran.

  “No, she won’t mind. Be back by three, though. She’s invited Stephen over for dinner as long as you won’t be sleeping early.”

  I felt Morik glance at me. “Gran, because of what happened last night, it’d be best if we went back to the way things were.”

  “That’s smart of you both,” Mom said, walking into the kitchen. “I’ll call and cancel. It’s snowing too much for him to drive out here anyway.”

  She couldn’t quite keep the disappointment from her face as she fixed herself a plate.

  “Mom, if he’s willing to drive, we can make this work.” I looked to Morik for support. “Before dark we can say we’re walking to your house. I can spend the night there.”

  “Is it safe?”

  Her question caught me off guard. I had anticipated an immediate no. Did this mean she was warming up to Morik, or did she want to spend more time with Stephen enough that she could put aside her distrust of Morik?

  “Yes,” Morik answered before I could. He stood when Mom sat. Old world manners by today’s standards, which I found endearing. “Although your chant is stronger, my home is safer.”

  “Then, if you’re willing to take on that responsibility, I’ll agree to it. Just for tonight, though.” She gave me a “mom” look with that last part. After that, conversation switched to dinner and preparations.

  I excused myself from the table and took my plate to the sink. Morik followed suit, helping me clear the dishes. I washed while he dried. Behind us, the conversation didn’t flag, and they started to talk decorations. When we finished, Mom shooed us out of the house, telling us they would handle everything else.

  Morik followed me to my room, and I packed myself a bag. When I had everything I needed, I called good-bye to my mom and stepped close to Morik.

  In a blink, we stood in Morik’s living room. This time, toasty warmth enveloped us. He’d turned up the heat for me.

  He led me to the guest room, which had changed since my last visit. A large bed with a thick, white down comforter occupied the room and contrasted with the deep brown walls. Heavy white panels covered the room’s only window.

  He’d changed the room for me, and it looked beautiful. I would have been just as happy to sleep with him in his bed, though, like we’d been doing in my bed the last several nights.

  I set my bag down and turned to him.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He watched me for a moment as if waiting for something more from me. Not knowing what he wanted, I quickly thought of a question that had been bothering me.

  “Morik, if you’re supposed to be an option for me, why doesn’t my touch work with you?”

  “A future with me isn’t natural. What will happen can’t be predicted.”

  That didn’t sound very comforting.

  “What did you see when Brad kissed you?” he asked quietly.

  I hesitated, not really wanting to talk about it but knowing I owed him an answer.

  “Beatriz, really. I would confide in her. Instead of turning away from me, she’d embrace my secret and help me raise the kids and prepare them for what would come. We wouldn’t hide them from you.”

  I looked at him with concern. “But it wasn’t just about hiding from you, was it? Belinda must have known Ahgred wanted the same thing. If he’s only out at night, that would explain why she added that bit about shuttering the windows. That’s the only rule that hasn’t made sense so far.”

  “It’s possible,” he agreed quietly, studying me. “So friendship calls to you?”

  “I’ve had a pretty solitary life,” I said, shrugging. Only after I said the words, did I connect them with his existence and his quest for companionship.

  He glanced around the room, lost in thought for a moment. When his gaze settled on me, he said, “I want to show you something.”

  Without waiting, he wrapped his hand around mine, and all light winked out. Cool air surrounded me as if we had stepped outside on a fall morning. Only, it didn’t smell crisp and fresh. Dusty, stale air filled my lungs when I breathed deeply. Under my feet, the ground felt hard and uneven. I shifted slightly and heard the slight sound of grit against stone.

  “Hold on. Let me find the light.” He moved a little, but his hold on my hand remained steady and sure.

  A flashlight clicked on. Pointed at the stone wall to my left, the bright beam still blinded me. Blinking, I saw a rough stone floor in the circle of light. The floor and wall of a cave. No water dripped eerily nearby or anything equally creepy, just a cool, quiet cave.

  Morik moved the beam of light slowly around the cavern. Items filled the area while walkways trailed through the stacked collections. There were tables, old and new, paintings, pottery, metalwork, hutches, things that looked like old woven sacks, fishnets—was that a bowling pin?

  Absently, I held out my hand for the flashlight. He surrendered it with a smile and followed me as I walked among his treasures. Finally, I had a glimpse of his history, the pieces of his life that helped shape him into the Morik I now knew.

  “Morik, this is amazing,” I said softly, looking everything over. I had a hard time imagining all the things he’d done and seen. A painting caught my eye, the texture of it and the swirl of colors drawing me closer. It reminded me of his eyes.

  “I thought we might find something here to add to your room,” he said beside me.

  I turned with a small smile, knowing he’d seen my interest.

  “I’d like that.”

  He let me browse through his things for a while, moving what I liked to the side. I found a vase, an old shell comb that I couldn’t quite surrender to him, and a beautiful old chair.

  I was still searching for more when I heard something in the back of the cave. Inching closer to Morik, I watched the silver swirl in his eyes as he focused on the area from which the sound originated.

  “She is of the line?” a feminine voice asked from the dark.

  My heart stuttered. I didn’t know if I wanted more attention from any others of Morik’s kind. Ahgred’s appearance had pushed me enough for the weekend. Make that a lifetime.

  “She is. Lurel, come meet Tessa. She is dear to me.”

  He said the last part quietly, and I thought he meant Lurel. My eyes searched the darkness for her. When she spoke from nearby, I jumped a litt
le.

  “Dear to you? Of course she is,” she said with a slight giggle.

  I didn’t like the way she said the last part. Apparently, Morik didn’t either.

  “Be nice, or leave,” he said abruptly, taking me by surprise.

  Worried about the reason for his anger, I moved closer to him. Just who waited out there in the dark? He reached out and twined his fingers through mine.

  “Ah. I see. Not just a link to your future existence,” a tall curvy woman said, stepping out of the shadows.

  Dark hair, like Morik’s, fell in waves down her waist. I wondered if hers hid horns, too. Wearing a long diaphanous dress, layered over a simply spun, fitted tunic, she glided further into the light. Her stride was so smooth, I looked to the ground to see if she actually used her feet to move. Her skin didn’t carry Morik’s reddish tone. Instead, her ashen-hued skin made her look sick.

  Her eyes swept over me, and she gave Morik a small smile. “I’m truly happy for you, brother.”

  Brother? My eyes bounced between the two of them. Other than the hair, there wasn’t much resemblance. Her eyes lacked the amazing colors that Morik’s possessed. Pale white orbs, they lacked any color at all.

  Morik seemed to relax. “Tessa, this is Lurel, one of the few of my kind that I can tolerate for more than a minute.” Though his tone was affectionate, he didn’t claim her as his sister. Interesting. I nodded a mute greeting, not sure I wanted to risk the standard “nice to meet you” greeting. It’d be a lie.

  “So what are the two of you doing in Morik’s cave of wonders,” she asked me, maintaining her impish smile.

  Shrugging, I looked toward Morik, unsure how to answer.

  “Doesn’t she speak?” she asked.

  Glancing back at her, I struggled to maintain a pleasant face.

  “Yes, I speak. We’re picking out things to take to Morik’s home.”

  Her gaze flicked to Morik, her smile growing. “She is adorable.”

  I didn’t particularly care for the way she spoke as if I were his pet.

  “Yes,” Morik said softly. “I believe Ahgred finds her adorable as well.”

  Sparks of red drifted into the liquid mercury of his eyes. Fascinated, I watched the change. Starting from the outer edge, the color began a slow spiral to the center as he spoke.

  “He lured her into the dark, using another human.” He glanced at me, and the red’s saturation in his eyes paused. “I prevented his touch in time.” The way he said it sent shivers down my back. He noticed. “We should return,” he said to Lurel.

  Her brow furrowed with concern. “Call on me if you have need.”

  Morik nodded and flicked off the flashlight. I blinked at the dark, and when I opened my eyes, we stood in my bedroom, the things I’d pointed out piled at our feet. I glanced at the alarm clock. We’d spent more time than I thought wandering his treasure room. My stomach rumbled as soon as my brain knew it was lunchtime. Funny how that worked.

  “So, what’s for lunch?” I grinned up at him and noted red still held his irises. “Hey. None of that.”

  I gently reached up to smooth his hair back. It was a simple touch meant to comfort and distract him. I didn’t want him to dwell on what could have happened.

  My fingertips brushed a horn. The ridged surface begged for further exploration. I traced it, and he held still for me. The sharp tip scratched against the pad of my finger, and he whispered for me to take care. Yellow replaced any trace of red, and I smiled at him, lowering my hand and accidentally brushing the tip of his ear.

  He closed his eyes with a shudder and hoarsely said, “Let’s look in the refrigerator.” Then, he vanished, leaving me with a hand still raised in the air.

  “Morik?”

  “I have many ingredients but am not sure what they could make,” he called from the kitchen.

  Shaking my head, I wandered out to him. Bent at the waist, he inspected the contents of his refrigerator. The position didn’t give me an opportunity to study his eyes, and I wondered what color would dominate them.

  I inched closer and looked over his shoulder to see what he had for food. When I rested a hand on his back, the muscles under my palm quivered then settled. His reactions confused me, but I refrained from asking, fearing another rule.

  Focusing on the food, I pointed out what we could use to piece together a sandwich. He even had an avocado.

  Morik began gathering ingredients and passed them back to me. I stacked them on the counter, and we worked together to make lunch. I noted his eyes once again swirled silver with veins of brown. Struggling to recall all of the color patterns during our time together, I turned to openly study him while he spread mayonnaise on the bread.

  Whenever I looked at his eyes for long moments, they pulled me in. The particles of color blended and swirled in soothing patterns. Captivated by the single fleck of violet that appeared, I moved forward. It drifted in from the outer edge and began its slow spiral to the middle. The middle acted as a drain or something because all the outer colors moved toward it. Never away. When they reached it, they disappeared. I inched closer to observe. His breath brushed my face. More violet flooded the iris, and I made a puzzled sound as I watched the center. No, it didn’t disappear because there was never a void of color.

  His low chuckle broke the spell, and I pulled back with a wry smile along with a mumbled apology. “Your eyes pull me in. I love the way the colors swirl.”

  He looked at me oddly for a moment. The violet drained, and black and brown crept in.

  “I think I know most of them,” I said. A wisp of violet came back, confirming his curiosity. Distractedly, I closed the sandwich he’d just finished and handed him the plate. In my mind, I sorted through the colors I’d witnessed.

  I expertly assembled a second sandwich, only slightly aware of his intense scrutiny as he ate. Yes, I did think I knew what they meant, but I’d need to test them before I shared my thoughts. Just in case I’d made a mistake.

  Putting away thoughts of colored particles, I asked what we should do for the rest of the afternoon. We still had three hours before my mom wanted us home. Once there, we’d decorate the tree together while the meal finished cooking. After that, presents. The thought of presents brought me up short, and I stifled a groan. I’d completely forgotten about Morik. What could I get a four-thousand-year-old man that he couldn’t get for himself or didn’t already have?

  He suggested a movie, and I agreed. It would give me some time to think. Before he led me downstairs, I peeked out the window at the gently falling snow.

  “We should go back early and make snowmen in the front yard,” I said. “Mom would like that. It could be our gift to the family.”

  He nodded his agreement, clearly amused by me. Moving away from the window, I followed him down the steps and stared around in amazement. He obviously spent a lot of time down there. There was a huge television centered on the wall; and on the shelves beside it, there were various gaming devices. A pair of recliners sat right in front of the TV.

  In awe, I approached the chairs while he used a remote to dim the lights and pull up a movie menu. One chair was well worn, and the other appeared new. He’d gotten it just for me. No bow or ribbon adorned it. It wasn’t a gift. He’d bought it, hoping that I’d spend enough time with him to use it.

  Settling into the chair, I suggested a Christmas classic. He started the movie then sat beside me. We watched in silence for a moment. The question of his gift bounced around in my skull until I gave in and revisited a topic that had made him run once already.

  “I asked you before what you wanted besides a companion, and you disappeared on me. I’m still curious.”

  He quirked a smile, still looking at the screen. “A kiss.”

  “You already asked for that and can kiss me whenever you want. Isn’t there something else you want?”

  His eyes flared in surprise, and his gaze flew to mine.

  I quickly backpedaled. “No. No, not that! I mean—”
I lost my voice for a second as a neon blush decorated my face. I tried again, slightly subdued. “Is there something else, material, or food, or something that you’ve wanted to own or try?”

  “Nothing, Tessa. You are what I want.”

  Yeah, I’d figured as much. It would make for a crappy Christmas for him. Then a spark of brilliance ignited a plan. We had one tradition in our family for the men we chose. I just hoped my mom wouldn’t throw a fit when I asked her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  We had the snowmen built in the front yard before three. I even added one for Morik.

  His years of crafting made it easy for him to sculpt the snow into lifelike human forms whose legs flared into a frozen mound. The time he spent shaping the face on my snowman brought a smile to my lips. Flecks of green swamped the silver orbs behind his yellowed lenses as he finished. It looked amazingly real.

  I turned back to my own very inartistic rendition of Morik. Three snowballs in decreasing size stacked vertically. I’d scraped a smile in the top ball to complete my labors. As I studied snow-Morik, trying to figure out how to add more life, a snowplow swept by. Snow sprayed far into the yard. After it passed, a rather large pile of snow blocked the end of the driveway.

  The wind gusted and mixed some of the freshly turned snow in with the continually falling snow. The blast swept over me, and I shivered. Wearing my old wool coat hadn’t been the best idea, but I wanted to save the leather jacket for the bike.

  Morik noticed my shiver and waved me toward the door, saying he’d shovel before he followed me in. I offered to help, but he insisted I warm up for five minutes first.

  I willingly went inside, and inhaled the myriad of aromas that greeted me. Gran stood at the stove, lid in one hand and spoon in the other, giving something a quick stir. When she saw me, she smiled.

  “Merry Christmas!” she greeted me. “Take off your things. I have cocoa ready for you two. I saw your pretty work out there.”

  I peeled off my gloves but held onto them.

  “I’m just going to warm up then go back out and help Morik with the driveway. The plow came through and buried it. Stephen won’t get in if we don’t clear it.”