Evenfall

Demons

Again, there are a few content warnings at the end of this chapter for folks who want to check in with them. 

Today (Night)

Colby took him to another hotel. That was all Theo's life seemed to amount to—a long string of hotel rooms. Ones that Ken told him to go to. Ones everyone else took him to. Ones he stayed in with Abel. At least Abel had been across the street, safe in the bar. Theo could not even imagine a reality where the demon killed him.

That might have been the reality where he was able to finally kill himself. Lord knows he was not able to kill the demon; he had already tried. He was beginning to believe that perhaps he himself was the demon. There might never be an end to this unless he finally did it.

A peace washed over him. This was how he could make things right. This was how he could be a person, the strong person that Abel thought he was, instead of an escaped zoo animal. There were too many holes in him. Abel thought that maybe he deserved another chance before being returned to the shelter and put down, but Theo was tired of biting people. And he did not want Abel to have to care for him. As much as he loved his doting, it was not fair to him. He could not be restuffed, and it was unfair for Abel to waste his time trying. Theo failed the last time he tried to kill the demon, but he would not this time.

From his hunched-over position in the back seat, he could see that the hotel was actually a one-story motel. Colby parked in front of the office at the end of a long, squat building with aged sun-bleached paint peeling off the brick walls and a woefully unmaintained roof, and went into get a room. A few cars were spaced between the doors, but not many. The vacant sign poured blood-red light through the windows.

"All right," Colby said with a huff as he fell back into the driver's seat, keys to the room in hand. "Let's go."

Theo could not go anywhere. He had to remain in the back seat as they moved to a space in front of the room, then wait for Colby to open the door and let him out. "Remember what I fucking did to your hand," he growled before unlocking the cuffs. "Try anything, and I'll do that to one of your eyes."

Blood welled from the thin but deep wound in the back of his hand, dripping down his palm. In between his fingers, it had begun to grow sticky. But he no longer felt the pain. He glared but did not resist when Colby undid one of his wrists to pull the cuffs from around the seat, then re-clasped it to bind him as he walked him to the door.

It was musty inside, and the carpets and wallpaper were as outdated as the roof shingles. Theo sat on the bed as he had done hundreds of times before. Colby closed the door behind him and flicked on the dim overhead light. The globe over the bulb looked like it might have decades' worth of dirt and bug bodies caked to it. Theo frowned in disgust.

"You seem pretty calm," Colby observed, setting down the box he had been carrying under his arm. Theo recognized it with a jolt as the one his aunt had given him. The one that was supposed to re-start his life. Colby did not seem to notice his eyes lingering on the box, and smirked at him, thumbing the button of his fly open. "Did you finally remember your place?"

Theo had. But he needed to get this guy to trust him enough to uncuff him, reveal where he kept his knife or both. It would be even better if he went to sleep. And there was really only one good way to get any of those things. Theo laid back, rolled onto his belly, and presented his ass.

Colby laughed at him.

Twenty minutes later, Theo still had the cuffs on, but he knew where the knife was because Colby had used it to cut every inch of clothing off of him. Now, it lay on the table beside the box. Colby scooted toward the edge of the bed to lob his used condom toward the waste basket. Theo tried to sit up, but sharp pain lanced through him, and he dropped onto his back with a whimper.