And before she could react, he threw the stake at her heart with deadly precision, turning her into dust instantly. Breathing out, James pulled the table back where it was supposed to be and, hearing more cries, started heading into the hallway to find an access to the basement.
But then he came to a halt when he noticed something shiny in the ashes. Usually when a vampire died, everything aside from metal turned to dust as well, burning up with the vampire. But this item was far more interesting than a watch, or maybe a pair of earrings. It was the necklace.
He had no idea what angel blood could do, but he knew one thing—it was definitely rare, and therefore it would be smart to grab it. So James did just that, stuffing it into the pocket of his jacket, along with the stake. He needed to be cautious. He had no idea how many more vampires there were. But he could also hear Arkie crying out in pain, and that wasn’t making staying cool and collected easy. It didn’t sound exactly like Arkemoz, but somehow James could easily tell it was him, and that just made him go faster.
He ran to the other side of the hallway, following another scream to a door. James practically ripped the door off its hinges even though it wasn’t locked, and he barely looked at the place as he ran down the stairs.
“The hell are you doing here?” exclaimed a male voice, drawing James’ attention immediately. Smug, blond bastard. There was a bottle of clear liquid in his hand. With a cross on it. James gritted his teeth, pulling out the stake and hiding it behind his back.
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” James asked as he walked up to the other vampire, stabbing him with the stake immediately. The momentary shocked expression on the vampire’s face before he turned to dust made James feel a little better at least. “I won’t be joining.”
Breathing out, he was about to walk over to the demon and free him. But before he made it, he froze in place, staring at the demon’s face. There were six, bright orange eyes on there. Stunning in the strangest way, and staring at James with horror and mortification.
James was stuck staring into the demon’s eyes, randomly switching from one pair to the next until Arkemoz squeezed them shut and curled in on himself, hiding his smooth, black face in his shoulder. James shook his head, walking up to Arkie slowly with his hands raised, as if he would get scared by James approaching too abruptly.
“Hey, Arkie,” he practically whispered, swallowing. “It’s all right now, okay? I’ll get you out of here.”
Arkemoz didn’t respond though, just somehow found a way to make himself look even smaller. He didn’t think James would hurt him, did he? Although James had already done that anyway, so he wouldn’t blame him for thinking that.
James shook his head. First he’d free Arkie, then they could talk about this. Or never talk about it if the demon didn’t want to. James wanted to fix this very badly, but he’d respect Arkie’s wishes if he didn’t feel the same.
Quickly checking Arkemoz’s chains, he noticed padlocks, holding the cuffs together. He wouldn’t need the keys to open these, judging by their relatively small size. He broke them off, even though it turned out to be a bit harder than he’d anticipated, and immediately ended up catching Arkie as he fell forward with nothing keeping him standing anymore.
“Whoa, I gotcha,” James said, trying to be soothing, but he couldn’t stop his worry from creeping into his voice. How much of the demon’s blood had they drained? And where was it? James couldn’t smell it at all if it was around, which was definitely a small miracle.
“Think you can walk, Arkie?”
There was a moment of hesitation before Arkemoz shook his head, burying it further into James’ chest. Wishing James could have made the bastards who had done this suffer for longer, he carefully put an arm under Arkemoz’s knees and picked him up bridal style. Arkemoz immediately responded by putting his arms around James’ neck and wrapping his tail around the vampire’s arm.
James did his best to ignore the pang in his heart that in particular produced. The tail looked different now. Much darker, thicker, and sharper. The edge of the flared end looked more like a blade now, but Arkie seemed to have no problems keeping it from cutting James, even though a cut or two would probably be deserved.
James rubbed the demon’s back, noticing a thin chain looped around the back of his head. There was just a thick metal hook holding the chain together, so James undid it, letting Arkie take it from there by pulling something out of his mouth and throwing it on the floor before hiding his face in the crook of James’s neck and one of his horns touching James’ jaw.
James turned around and looked at the thing on the floor with disgust. A bit gag? Really? The vamps must have been scared Arkie would bite them.
“Assholes,” James muttered out loud, adjusting how he was holding Arkie. “Let’s get you to your place, huh, buddy?”
All he got from Arkemoz was a small nod. James was really starting to get worried. Even more worried than before he’d found him. Who knew what holy water did to demons? And maybe like this, Arkie couldn’t talk either.
James should probably ask about that. But he’d leave Arkie be for now. The poor thing was clearly completely exhausted and probably in pain after this whole ordeal. James couldn’t shake the slight surprise at how Arkie was handling it, but rationally James knew that he had no reason to assume Arkemoz was in any way equipped to handle torture. He hadn’t been on Earth for very long, and everything probably worked differently in Hell, right?
As fast as he could whilst carrying Arkie, James started walking to the demon’s apartment building. Everything was quiet except the barely-there sound of sirens somewhere in the distance, and there was no one around, which was a good thing because Arkie was looking very much non human right now, and James doubted his magic hat would hide this. But even if someone had seen Arkie’s less human side, James probably wouldn’t have even noticed. He was too focused on just getting Arkie to safety.
The walk somehow took too long and no time at all at the same time, but finally James was pushing the broken apartment door open with his shoulder. Arkie was now softly snoring into the vampire’s shoulder, which was both adorable and extremely worrying. James just hoped sleeping would help Arkemoz get better.
“All right, Arkie,” James whispered to him as he closed the door behind them, even though he knew he wouldn’t hear it. “I’ll just put you down here, huh?”
He walked over to the bed, depositing Arkemoz carefully onto it. The demon grumbled something but didn’t wake up. He was keeping his tail firmly wrapped around James’ arm, though. The vampire gave it a careful poke, confirming that yes, the tail tip was indeed very sharp, and yep, the tail wasn’t just going to let him go.
Sighing, James gingerly sat down next to Arkemoz on the bed, looking at his face. It was more alien than James had been expecting, but at the same time, it somehow looked right. There was no nose or lips, eyebrows, not even hair. Just those six, now closed eyes, two slits where his nose would be, and the line of his mouth. The eyes in particular were interesting, though, because a pair was on Arkie’s forehead, then another about where human eyes would be, and then the last pair on his cheeks. James would have assumed the four extra eyes would be on the forehead only.
James touched Arkemoz’s cheek, marveling at how smooth his skin felt. It didn’t really feel like skin, actually. And in the dim light of the apartment, it looked even darker than it had outside.
James had always assumed demons were these hulking beasts with way too many horns and a fire obsession, but Arkie really wasn’t like that. Though to be fair, he was a small guy, maybe that was a factor. James had a lot of questions about all of this. But the main thing going through his head was that the longer he sat there, the more he wanted to run away.
He wouldn’t of course. He would never leave Arkie here just assuming he’d be okay. He would stay at least until he knew the demon would be okay. But that didn’t mean it was easy. He’d really fucked up, and he had no idea how to start going about...not even fix
ing this, just damage control.
James spent the next hour just sitting there, staring at the carpet and periodically checking on Arkemoz. Slowly, the demon was starting to turn back into his human form, the skin getting lighter and lighter, the claws on his hands and feet receding, and on his face a nose was starting to protrude, and the eyes got less and less noticeable.
It was a bit unnerving to watch, but James was also utterly fascinated. He’d come across creatures that could change their body, most notably werewolves, but they always did it almost instantly. Seeing it happen so slowly was just kind of hypnotizing. And James was hoping it meant Arkie was getting better.
Finally, after another hour, Arkie looked like he had before—though James couldn’t forget his other face—but he was still asleep. He looked pretty cozy with how he was hugging his pillow, and far too cute, but James was still worried. And he continued to be worried even when Arkemoz opened his eyes.
The demon stared up at James blearily for a moment, blinking slowly. His hair was all over the place, which was fair since he’d just basically grown it back, but it was also kind of startling because James had never seen him like this. He kind of resented that he was focusing on how Arkie looked right now since it was inconsequential, but he couldn’t help it.
Suddenly, Arkemoz’s eyes widened, and he quickly looked away, blushing and unwrapping his tail from James’ arm. James automatically reached out to touch the demon’s shoulder, but Arkemoz moved away. Not really out of his reach since there wasn’t anywhere to go, but James got the message.
“Um, are you...okay?” he asked, feeling about as awkward as he possibly could be.
Arkemoz touched his face all over, suddenly looking very relieved, before replying. “Yeah. I think…. Just tired.”
In an attempt to avoid more awkward silence, James stood up. “Right, that’s...that’s good, Arkie.” He ran a hand through his hair, turning away. “You should probably rest a bit more, huh? Recover. I’ll...be around somewhere if you need me. Just, I dunno, call out the window, or something.”
James wished he hadn’t taken a risky glance at the demon then. But he had, and so he saw the depressed, yet also resigned look on Arkie’s face.
“Are you okay?” James asked once again, this time with more alarm, as he immediately took a step closer. Arkie didn’t look up at him, just drew his knees up and hugged them.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, glaring off to the side at his pillow. James stared at him as he tried to process. Why was Arkemoz apologizing to him of all people?
“W-what?”
“That you had to...see that,” Arkie added, closing his eyes. James blinked at him, still having no idea what the demon was talking about. And then it suddenly started to dawn on him. James stood in front of the bed, frozen, dread slowly spreading through his entire body.
“You mean what you really look like,” James said, forcing his voice to stay neutral. He was getting the urge to punch someone, and getting angry was about the last thing he should do right now. Arkie just gave a short nod, keeping his eyes closed.
James couldn’t handle this anymore. He gingerly sat down on the bed again, taking Arkemoz’s hands into his own. Arkie seemed like he wanted to pull away, but he didn’t fight him. James had no idea if that was a good or a bad sign.
“Is that why you tried to hide from me?” James sighed when Arkie didn’t respond. The silence was answer enough. “Look, Arkie, I’m not disgusted, or whatever you think.” More silence. “Okay?”
“Are you lying?” Arkemoz asked, his eyes briefly flicking over to him. James couldn’t actually see his mouth over his knees, but he was sure the demon was pouting.
James chuckled quietly, but there was no actual amusement in it. “No, I’m not.” He gripped Arkemoz’s hands more tightly. Arkie looked up at him again, looking him right in the eye with his sad, orange ones. They looked faded now, though, compared to how they had looked just a while ago.
“I think you looked badass. Well, look badass. Really.” James tried not to smile when Arkie raised up his head and frowned in the most adorable way. “I get why you’re so into black now. Just wanna feel more like yourself on Earth, huh?”
Arkie’s eyes widened a bit, as if he himself hadn’t realized that. Maybe he hadn’t. James knew full well how oblivious one could be to their own feelings. The demon was staring at his knees again, still looking miserable. James breathed in deeply. He had to apologize for what had happened earlier. And probably explain. A lot.
“I’m….” He sighed heavily, staring at their still connected hands. “I’m really sorry, Arkie. About before. I’m an idiot.” James sighed. He was pretty sure not even Arkie was surprised by that information at this point. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away like that.”
Arkemoz shook his head, pulling his hands away. “It’s okay. You don’t want me to be your mate. I understand.”
“Jesus Christ,” James muttered, rubbing his eyes before putting his hands on Arkemoz’s shoulders. The demon somehow managed to both look up at him and curl in on himself further. “Arkie, I don’t…. I don’t want me to be your mate—I mean partner.”
Arkemoz now looked completely bewildered. Good. James would take that over him looking miserable.
“I mean….” He sighed again, taking his hands off Arkemoz’s shoulders and looking down. “I said a lot of shit this evening that just isn’t true. But I really do think you can do way better.”
Arkie looked down as he frowned down at his knees. James could practically see gears turning in his head. “I don’t get what you’re saying.” He looked up at him again, looking, if anything, even more confused.
“What I’m saying is that you really should look around a bit more before making a decision like this.” James scratched the back of his neck. Explaining this to Arkie felt like the most awkward thing he’d ever done. He logically knew that probably wasn’t the case given how long he’d lived, but it definitely felt that way. “I mean I’m not opposed to, um, just having some fun, but you seem serious about this.”
“Of course I’m serious,” Arkie grumbled, folding his arms and fixing James with a glare. “Demons mate for eternity.”
James scoffed in disbelief. Something in him recoiled at the idea of being stuck with anyone for all eternity. But obviously he wasn’t going to say that. “All the more reason to, y’know, sample before making the final decision.”
“But I don’t need to,” Arkie argued, glaring harder. “I’m drawn to you, and I like you. Despite how confusing and aggravating you are.”
James chuckled, a grin making its way onto his face despite the awkward tension that was still very much present. “And that’s enough for you for eternity? Eternity is a long time, Arkie.”
Arkemoz rolled his eyes, making James grin more widely. Good to see his sass was unscathed. “Do you like me?”
James blinked. He hadn’t been expecting a question like that at all. And he had no idea how to deflect this because he knew what Arkemoz was trying to do, and he had to deflect this. “That…. That doesn’t matter.”
“Answer me.”
James raised an eyebrow at the commanding tone. Arkie was taking none of his shit. And James was clearly too far gone because even that seemed adorable to him. He breathed out, closing his eyes for a moment. “...Yeah.”
“Then I don’t see why we’re arguing about it,” Arkemoz finished, and though he was keeping a steely gaze and serious attitude, his cheeks were red. And James had never wanted to kiss him more.
“Because, a month down the line you might change your mind and realize that you don’t actually like me.” He’d almost whispered that last bit, feeling like all his strength to argue had left him. “How can you guys stay with each other forever? I don’t get it.”
Arkie shrugged, hugging his knees again. “It’s simple. The strongest of us choose whoever they like. And then they have offspring.”
James stared at Arkemoz for a moment as he tried to proc
ess that. And somehow the only thing he could say even after that time was: “W-what?” And he wasn’t even going to point out that there was no having offspring in this case.
Arkemoz frowned at him. “Do vampires do it differently?”
James still had his eyebrows raised as he nodded. “Um, yeah, yep, a little.” He shook his head. Now was his chance to explain this to Arkie, he needed to focus. And definitely not think too hard about how consent worked—or didn’t work—in demonic relationships. At least Arkemoz hadn’t been subjected to that, hopefully, given that he was here and without some huge demon hanging around him. “We do what humans do—in this case, date.”
Arkie tilted his head at him a bit, looking intrigued. Why was that so damned cute?
“Which means that, uh….” James’ palms had gotten really sweaty during this conversation. He only now noticed that. “Basically, you try out if you’re compatible with the other person. By, you know, hanging out with them, and...doing stuff.”
“Oh,” Arkemoz said, mulling it over for a bit. “So kind of like what we’ve been doing.”
James felt his face heat up. Goddamn. He couldn’t deny that, he’d definitely considered those activities dates more than just hanging out. “I…. Yeah, I guess.” He let out a laugh that was supposed to add a casual air to this whole thing, but it came out sounding way too nervous. “But with more, um, intimacy.”
Arkie hummed and seemed to ponder that over for a while once again. And then finally, he looked up at James again. “Well, that sounds like a good compromise. Let’s do that.”
“Whoa, wait, I didn’t say this is a good idea, or that we should do it.”
Arkie narrowed his eyes at him. He didn’t need to say that he was tired of this whole argument to get that message across. And honestly, James was tired of it too. Arkie was right—this was all manner of stupid. But he couldn’t just agree to this with how dumb this idea was. Especially considering how tempting demon blood was. He wasn’t feeling any desire to bite Arkie right now, but that could change at any point. And even though James was sure Arkemoz was stronger than him, it didn’t mean he wanted him to have to use force to push the vampire off. James wanted him to feel safe, not...this.
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