The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 5

I walk into the kitchen in my robe and slippers, Pumpkin following close behind. I take his vegetables out of the fridge and pour him his morning bowl, which he instantly gobbles down with his usual sloppy slurping sounds.

Zahra has already made a pot of coffee, so I pour myself a mug before walking into the living room.

"You look surprisingly well-rested!" Zahra says, stepping out from her office. "Were you finally able to get some sleep?"

"Actually, yeah. For once."

Despite the absolute insanity of that dream, it was the first night in a long time I actually properly slept through till morning

"Did you have more nightmares?"

"Sort of... it started out that way but... if I explain it I know it'll sound bonkers."

"More bonkers than your ex texting you about things that happen inside your dreams?"

Well, a hot bartender showed up and saved me with his magic powers. Then he tells me my ex is a nightmare demon, my dreams are real, and he's actually the king of all the demons.

Yes, I'd say that's substantially more bonkers.

"And then some," I say, rubbing my eyes and sitting down on the sofa. Zahra sits across from me in the armchair. "So remember the hot bartender I told you about?"

"Yeah, the one you said was like, unreal beautiful?"

"That's the one. Well, he showed up in the dream."

"Whoa. That's new. There's never been anyone else before, right?"

"Never. Then he shows up and basically launches Vic across the room and tells him to leave me alone."

"Wow," she says, her eyes wide as she nods.

"He said that he and Victor are both..." I pause. I'm not sure I want to share all of the details, especially since I can still barely wrap my head around them myself. "He said they both have the ability to influence people's dreams."

Her eyebrows shoot up and her eyes get wider still.

"Big time wow."

I'm leaving out the demon part. I know this is already nigh impossible to believe, so I don't want to push it. I don't even know if I believe it myself.

"You think I've lost it, don't you?" I ask, letting my head fall into my hands.

"No, not at all babe." She gives me a reassuring pat on the knee. "This actually reminds me of something my mom has said to me before. She believes that dreams exist on a spiritual plane of sorts, and when human souls go there, they can be visited by godly beings or demons."

My heart skips a beat as she says it.

"Demons??"

That was the last thing I expected her to say.

"Yeah, she would say that good dreams are messages from God and bad dreams were from the Devil. I don't think that's literal, of course, but maybe she's got a point with it being another plane. A lot of cultures have a concept of dream walking, maybe there's something to it."

"Yeah..."

Or maybe you were right on with the demon thing.

"It's just a lot to process," I add. "This is well beyond anything I am capable of dealing with."

"I mean, normal explanations kinda went out the window when your ex started traveling between your dreams and reality."

"How did my life get so fucked up?"