Love, Your Demon | j.jk

Chapter 4 : Lectio Ab Inferno

"What's with your face?" JK huffed and sat on Willow's empty bedside table. With a frown, I gaze at my girl's peaceful slumber on her bed. The moonlight from her window shines on her. It must be nice to be human, to feel like a human. I wonder how that feels like; I always did.

I stand on a corner, appreciating my strong and beautiful twenty-three-year-old subject. Although, my face says something else. "Do you remember being human?" I wondered and asked him.

In lieu of answering me, he shook his head and silently meddled with Willow's stuff, specifically a Rubik's cube, which was once inside a box of her old toys. Well, my girl is a genius; she used to solve that in a minute at the least.

Of course, JK being a usual shadow boasts about freely touching it and not just passing through it, unlike me. He grouped the cubes into the same colors with his unnatural powers in no time, and I huffed. "Do you remember being human?" I repeated.

"Stop acting all innocent. You know what will happen to me if I know the answer to that," he rolled his eyes, carelessly throwing the cube back to its box. I hissed in surprise. He really likes waking Willow up.

"Honestly, I do not," I frowned, and he was doubtful about it.

"Seriously? How long have you been Willow's guardian?" he snickered then made his way closer to me.

"Twenty-three years," I proudly stated. Although on the inside, I'm shaking. His presence is too intimidating. Willow's shadows for the past years were all quiet, and they never once tried to communicate with me, even after duty hours, not like JK. He's actually the one who approached me first.

"And you don't know about Lectio Ab Inferno?" he spoke the unknown words fluently. As if he has been speaking it for his entire life.

"I don't," I shook my head fervently.

"Your friends never told you or Willow's previous shadows?" he asked, his forehead creased.

"Not once," I shrugged.

"You fool," after leaving that remark, he turned his back on me. He left me gaping at his rude compliment.

"Excuse me?" I squeaked. "You expect me to know such thing when I'm not..."

"What? Not me?" he assumed. "Not evil?" he added. "Lectio Ab Inferno is Latin for Lesson From Hell. How is it a lesson? Simple. Hell grants devils like me to know about their past life."

"And how is that a lesson?"

"In return of our souls," he sighed. "You do know that devils will never get the chance to have the next life, right?"

I nod my head yes, "Yes. We, too, have the same rule. If we insist on knowing our past lives, we won't be given a chance to live our next life," I sadly looked down. "And the lesson we must remember from that is..."

"To avoid temptation. There you go," he then sat at the end of Willow's bed. "Why'd you ask?"

"Nothing," I bit my lower lip. Perhaps, I should take his rude remark after all. Does Julia know about this? I've never really dug that deep about devils' rules and how it goes for them.

"Let's go to the beach," he suddenly said.

"What?" I grimaced. "No, I need to—"

As if on cue, Julia appeared in front of me, squealing. "Let's go to the beach!"

I looked back at JK, and he shrugged his shoulders. Did he plan this? I didn't know devils could see what will happen next. Is it a new power vested upon them or just plain coincidence? Perhaps, Penelope slept early tonight.

=====

On the sand, I sit as I realized that I'm tired to keep up with my heavy wings by standing. This is one of the moments that makes me want to transform into my fake human form. But as the Heavens said, we can only use our powers for the sake of our subjects.

I sighed after glancing at the far end of the beach. Everyone is cramming in space because of a duel. Don't worry; it's a friendly battle between an angel and a devil. But most of the time, it's the cause of misunderstandings among us.

"Why are you all alone here?" Jin swooped behind me. I gave him a small smile before looking back at the sea.

"You know I don't like violence," I laughed a little.

"Then what do you like?" he asked before comfortably sitting next to me.

"Huh?" his question startled me.

"Hey, stupid girl!" That voice, I rolled my eyes as I immediately find him walking in our direction.

"Stop calling me that," I gritted my teeth.

"You were foolish enough to turn your head when I called you with that nickname," JK smirked.

"Go back there," I politely shooed him away.

"I see, you don't want to be disturbed with your..." he glanced at me and Jin alternately with squinted eyes, implying something.

"Oh, no, no! Jin, this is JK, Willow's shadow, JK. This is Jin, a friend," I awkwardly introduced. The atmosphere suddenly turned thick and suffocating. Their unreadable expressions towards each other scare me.

"By the way," Jin spoke, saving the uncomfortable ambiance. "I heard Hoseok is back," he informed, and my pupils dilated in surprise.

"Where is he?" I quickly asked.

"I saw him near the huge speakers earlier."

"I'll be back," without hearing what Jin and JK had to say next, I zoomed away and headed straight to the dance floor where the huge speakers are located.

It wasn't difficult to find him. Hoseok likes attention, so he's probably in the middle of the dance floor mingling with others. As I've predicted, I saw him smiling widely, girls surrounding him. I observed closely, and from frowning, I smiled when I saw that he still keeps his hands to himself. Of course, he wouldn't do that. He's nice, and he should follow the laws given by the Heavens.

"Hoseok!" I did an enormous wave in the air with my hand to let him know I'm here. But instead of welcoming me, he starts running away, and I growled in disappointment.

If it weren't for Willow, I wouldn't chase Hoseok till the ends of the Earth.