Lovers & Devils [BxB]

Epiphany waterfall

The drizzle didn't like my jumper very much, which was why it was polka-dotted a darker brown, and the slippery mud thought my black shoes were donuts that needed grassy icing. I was punished by spindly roots like a bamboo washboard, tremulous spiky plants that jagged my ankles—a fault with almost everything I wore! I plodded round the hill, upper lip curled ungainly as I scanned my chancy footing. There was a genial sound of water running, all I needed was a genial sight of the demon, but that was far-flung. Especially after...that. I should have been the one annoyed, furious even, but no. I was worried, and like a fool, I hankered to make things better.
      He was on the steel bridge, jacketed black, peeling the stem of a red flower like it was stringy cheese. A dahlia? It seemed more of a rose, or perhaps a carnation? I glanced at the sprightly waterfall and joined him on the bridge, the checkered steel booming. I made the mistake of flumping my forearms on the wet rail, though left them there anyway. Cold rainwater stampeded, sticking the sponging fabric to my skin. Kallista had drilled the names of flowers in my head. She said flowers were like a dialect—ever gifting me yarrow—but dialects were untold and rare. I lost that dialect, as I lost her.

     I shared my attention between the water coursing down mossy rocks and the flower. "Is that a carnation?"

     "Dunno. Just picked it up on the way here."

     "I forgot you just liked pretty things." I smiled teasingly. Orange toothed leaves struggled down the brown waves like little surfers and grasses growing in the river cheered.

     "Who cares about names when they all make the same sound?"

    "That...sure is one way to look at it." I grimaced. "You never fail to surprise me."

     Mammon started to tear the tops of the petal, so I pulled the abused carnation easily from him and examined it. It looked like a bunch of red leaves glued together at the petiole by a child for an art project. I tried to remember what carnations meant, but the harder I thought, the more painful it was. I moved my hand.

     "The fuck are you doing?"

     "Nothing..." I brushed away the black hair on the point of his pierced ear before tucking the flower behind it. Mammon stared at me wide-eyed and inculpating. "There."

     He looked away and drew the carnation from his ear and his hair replaced. He grunted—guttural, rough, unlike the soft way he twirled the carnation. "Cut the shit. How was your date?"

     I rolled my eyes, then smirked. The serrated petals swayed. "Cut short because someone decided to interrupt us."

     "You didn't have to come here."

     "You're right. I didn't." I gripped the frostbitten rail, rocking back and the frame did too. "But I wanted to."

     "Go ahead. Fucking yell at me already."

     "I don't want to yell at you...I just want answers."

     "I followed you 'cause I wanted to know where you were going. This ain't a safe fucking town, doesn't matter if you're an angel."

     I gaped at him. I had so many questions, but in an instant they vanished and I was left with a stammering mouth.

     "But, who woulda thought you were with that fucker?"

     A drop of rain dove when I looked at him gravelled. It rolled down the wing of my nose. "You say it like I...did something wrong by seeing him."

     "Maybe you fucking did."

      I scoffed in disbelief. "You're joking right?"

      "No I'm not fucking joking!" he barked, vitriol distilled in his machine eyes and it stunned me. He was a demon, I knew, but I could see that fact clearly in this moment. A knot of matted trees atilt like ghosts moving and clover flames on the dirt hill made it feel like it was his domain. His Hell. "What the fuck are you doing to me, huh?"