"What do you mean you can't?" Theo scoffed.
The demon shook his head. "I don't think I can at least. Assuming this is a summoning—which I don't know what else it could be— I can't leave the area in which I was summoned unless the summoner, that's you, says I can"
Theo, once again, was struck dumb by things this demon seemed to find normal. A small headache had begun to form purely from all the irrational information.
"But you didn't even try?" Theo went on. "I mean, if I had been put in some random guys basement I wouldn't just sit down there and do nothing"
The demon shrugged, his eyes glancing back to the window for just a moment.
"You're not a threat to me, so I wasn't all that worried, besides there's no way you would say I can leave" he spoke casually.
"Excuse you?" Theo scoffed.
The demon looked him up and down before meeting his eyes.
Theo wanted to argue, but knew he couldn't. The demon had to be around 6'6, was fairly muscular, and was a demon.
"You still want to see the sky?" Theo sighed, growing tired of the discussion and not willing to argue.
He still had questions upon question piled up in his head, but he wasn't sure how much more absurdity he could take in a night. Besides, he didn't exactly want to address how large the demon was compared to him.
The demons eyes lit up and within a second he had stood and made his way over to the window, but he didn't pull back the curtain.
"What's it like?" He asked, glancing back at Theo who had just stood from the table.
"The sky?" Theo questioned in return, standing before the window beside the demon.
He stood significantly taller but Theo tried to ignore it.
"Sometimes it's blue, but other times it's black, right? And then it can be grey or white with.. uh.." he paused. "What are they called?"
Theo almost laughed. He simply couldn't fathom how something so simple like the sky was so impressive to the demon. But he held himself back and did what he could to ignore the demons change in attitude.
"Clouds?" He answered.
"Yes" the demon nearly shouted, enthusiasm coating his voice.
Theo crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to get too comfortable with the demon despite how calm he felt.
"Well, it's about noon, and it's a sunny day. It'll probably be light blue, probably with some clouds.. the white ones"
"So the sun is up?" The demon started to reach for the curtains, then pulled back.
"That's what the light is coming from" Theo answered, pointing to the rays shining through.
The demon nodded.
"Can you open it?" The demon asked, his voice getting quieter and almost even gentle.
Theo pulled away the curtains and lifted up the blinds, squinting at the sudden brightness.
The demon didn't make a sound. His eyes were wide and, despite the pure blackness of them, had a look of wonder.
For a moment Theo expected him to smash the window and jump out of it, escaping to go wherever he wanted.
But he didn't. He just stared.
"Valerius" Theo mumbled without thinking.
It felt odd calling him by his name, but it felt wrong to address him as "demon" at a time like this.
"We don't have this in Hell" he whispered, as if he was worried he may scare the sky away.
"Don't have a sky?" Theo asked in a low voice.
"Natural light. Or clouds" Valerius elaborated, his eyes never leaving the window. "It's always just.. black. The only light is demon-made, or fire"
Theo tried to picture a pitch black land, only lit by other things. Not even a moon to light up the night.
When he looked up at the demon he saw his eyes watering and trying to close.
"Don't look right at it!" He demanded, breaking the calmness of the room.
He almost reached for the demon, but was still disturbed by the idea of touching him.
The demon finally looked away from the window and at Theo.
"You'll hurt your eyes staring directly at the sun.. I think. If it hurts to look at it you probably shouldn't, even if you have those demon eyes"
Valerius glanced back at the sun, squinted, then looked back at Theo.
"We don't have all the green either. Very few places in Hell have trees or grass" he changed the topic.
"I imagine you have a lot of things that we don't as well" Theo said.
The demon hummed. "We have lots of different rocks, rather than the plants. They carry lots of our food"
Theo nodded. Unexpectedly, he actually was interested in their discussion, even though it revolves around Hell.
Deep down there was still a sense of wrongness. The knowing that what he was doing was a great sin. And yet, in the moment, he easily ignored that thought.
"Valerius," Theo began.
"Val" the demon interrupted, looking out the window once more.
"I usually go by Val" he repeated when Theo didn't respond.
"I go by Theo" the priest continued without thinking.
He got a pit in his stomach. Another sign of how awful he was being right now, talking to a demon like this.
"Well, Val, I've got to put together a sermon for tomorrow. I should've been working on it before but.. yeah" he chuckled awkwardly.
"So you are a priest" Val seemed to state more than ask.
Theo froze. Was that a problem? Would Val attack because of it?
"I mean.." he began, but couldn't find any excuse.
Val seemed to catch on, speaking up, "I figured you were, but didn't want to assume" he spoke innocently.
Theo released a breath. "Yeah, the church is connected to my house" he gestured towards the end of the house.
"So you like.. own it?" Val said while peeking around the corner towards the door that led to the auditorium.
"I own the house. God owns the church" Theo clarified. He believed it would be wrong to say the church was his.
Val got quiet.
"Right"
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Family stuff keeps making me mess up the update schedule, but I'll get it under control I promise 😭🙏
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Crossed (BxB)
RomanceA priest at a small church accidentally summons a demon into his home. Now he has problems lining up- from being conflicted with the demon to being told a member of his own church could be just as bad. He goes down a spiraling path of trust and dist...
