A Demon's Past

Chapter 16

Destruction.

Andras waited for the door to open, and as soon as it did he could only stare.

Words failed to describe how immensely beautiful this woman was and had always been. It was an earth-shattering kind of beauty. One that went beyond a physical thing, because it took but a smile for you to know how beautiful she was inside as well.

She was nervous, he could hear the beat of her heart as she stared back at him, and as soon as their eyes met he could not help himself as he grabbed her hand.

He had no idea why he had done so, or how he could explain it to her later. But he didn't stop himself as he softly caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, hoping the action would coax her down from her frozen state.

She was paralyzed, and he could feel her anxiety. So he used his magic to soothe the storm in her mind until they were both standing on a beach with a tranquil sea.

"Hello, love" he whispered, he didn't mean to, but this moment felt fragile. He knew it made no sense but he felt that if he was quiet things would remain a secret, that he could keep a hold on this, on himself.

Arella managed a soft smile and his heart hurt, like it used to way before the planets had a name. He pulled his surprise back as she answered.

"Hey," she said back, and he felt calmer now that she was more relaxed. He had noticed lately she was quite a nervous thing, but he could not blame her. He knew about the death of her sister and her neglectful parents, but he could also guess it was more than that.

It was an issue with her very sense of self.

"You look," he started, his voice now barely louder than before "Absolutely breathtaking, angel," he said sincerely. He was still not sure how to approach his plan, how to make her trust him. But just while he decided, he would offer her the truth.

She blushed and smiled almost sadly, but that achy feeling was gone as fast as it came. He decided to use his hand to lead her away, hoping this would justify why he had so impulsively grabbed it.

By the time they were inside the limousine, he let it go, trying to convince himself he didn't mind having done so.

"I... want to thank you for this dress" she broke the silence, her voice now a bit louder than before. "It is beautiful."

"I'm glad you liked it," Andras said sincerely, he had chosen it for her trying to keep in mind what he had seen her wear comfortably before. 

"You should thank your friend for me," Arella added with a smile that felt a bit tense.

"I won't," he said suddenly, offering no immediate explanation.

"Why?" she asked stunned. He stared at her, amusement filled his eyes as he thought of something that would make her laugh.

"You see, darling, I am a very sore loser" he started with a smile "And if I were to admit she got it right, I'd have to give her thirty pounds."

Arella laughed as she asked "Pounds? Do you know where you are?"

"Yes, but we are both old-school British" to avoid saying just old "And we never did get used to American currency."

"How long have you lived here?" she asked.

"For most of my life" Deeply untrue, but it was what he'd told the world. He'd been pretending to be his own son for centuries. 

"Then you have no excuse," she said with a smile.

"I disagree," he looked out the window "I always have excuses."

She stayed quiet for a moment, the laugh he had expected never came, so he turned to see her.

"I..." she stopped for a moment, closing her eyes for less than a second and nodding as if she needed encouragement to get her next words out. "I wanted to ask you a question."

Well, this could potentially be very dangerous, but he nodded, urging her to continue.

"How did you..." she stopped and looked away "How did you know I had a dog?"

He stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, well he knew because he had seen--

No. She thinks he has only seen her once. He did not panic and the lie was as easy to summon as the nonchalant tone that accompanied it.

The lie slipped out easily either way "I do apologize for this, but" he cleared his throat "As soon as I told my friend your name she found your profile, I happened to glance at a picture of you with your dog." He had wanted to be truthful, but he was also a demon. 

"Oh," she said with so much relief he knew she had believed it. "She must be... a very good friend" he knew what she was asking once more. Now that he had avoided a possible problem he decided to ease all her worries.

"One would be inclined to believe that, but she is just very nosy." he rolled his eyes for good measure, "She was curious, it was the first time she'd seen me be so interested in someone."

Arella blushed at the comment and he smiled, it wasn't hard for him to tell she was attracted to him, after all, who wasn't? But attraction wouldn't cut it, he needed more. "We're almost there."

They had been on the road for half an hour, but time seemed to fly by when she was around.

"Where exactly is this party?" she asked.

"I couldn't tell you," Andras said with a laugh "I just show up, my driver is the one who knows, that is what matters."

She laughed again and looked down at her hands as she fiddled with one of the rings he had gotten her. It was open in the middle and had a moon and a star at each end. The diamond in the center of the star twinkled with the light, even though there wasn't a lot of it.

Maybe he was being too obvious, but the sooner the angel of night realized who she was, the sooner he'd get what he wanted.

"Are you nervous?" he felt compelled to ask.

She nodded "I... I don't usually go anywhere without Mist" she confessed "Crowds and new places and people are... hard for me."

He'd read her medical records, he knew she deeply depended on Maer-- Mist.

Again, He was reminded how selfish he was being, how much he was hurting her. How he had come into her life to uproot it.

And for the second time in a while, he felt surprised. 

Because for the first time in a very long time, he felt something.

He felt bad.