Demon

7. Falcon Industries

I found it hard to concentrate on my lectures again. My mind kept replaying everything that happened last night. When I got home I clasped into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I wish I could say it was a dreamless sleep, but Mars’ dead eyes haunted my dreams; in the morning I wrapped him up in my arms again just to prove to myself he was really here and safe.

“You’re really starting to creep me out.” He said.

Part of me wanted to tell both him and my father what had happened, to hopefully scare them enough not to let Mars do it again. A part of me knew it would cause me too much trouble with dad; finding out his daughter is married to a demon would probably cause him a heart attack. I plan to hide that bit of information from him for as long as possible. In the end, I just said I was panicked and tracked dad’s phone to the docks, and it was a good thing I did! I told them I didn’t see the demon they were chasing and just played dumb, but I got the feeling my dad wasn’t buying it; that or he was just being extra salty about the eye. He still wasn’t talking to me this morning.

I was using my lunch break to copy notes from Lara, the girl who sits in front of me; in hopes to catch up on the lesson I feel like I was absent for. I soon realised her notes were half sentences that they were clearly lacking the details I needed. Lara spent less time focused on ancient Egyptian civilisation and more time drawing detailed cartoons in the borders of the page. Not that I could judge, given the lack of words on my own paper.

Standing up from my little study sanctuary, I made my way to the ancient history section in search of some better study material. Most of what I found was based around the Romans until my eyes landed on a book on the highest shelf, ‘Ancient Egyptian Myths’.  Scanning the surrounding books, I couldn’t see anything else that might have helped. “That might be a start” Talking to myself I reached up on my toes to grab it but even on my toes, I was a mile off. Looking around I couldn’t see anything to stand on without going to grab a chair from the tables and I didn’t want to lose it.

You know when you know you can’t do something but you try anyway; that’s kind of what I did. Even though I knew I couldn’t reach it I tried again anyway, as if by some miracle I had grown a head taller in 30 seconds. Obviously, this was not the case. In the end, I just stood there glaring at the spine, the way a child glares at their mother when they’re sat on the floor in a supermarket refusing to move until they get what they want.

“Now what’s that book ever done to you?” A deep masculine voice came from my right. I knew it was Hades before I even looked over. His voice sent a rush of heat through me, causing my stomach to flip and a blush to spread over my cheeks.

Hades was leaning on the bookshelf, suited with his hand in his pockets and ankles crossed. A smile spread across his face as he took in my flustered appearance. 

“It made me feel short.” I pouted. A deep rumble came from him, a sound of amusement. He pushed himself of the bookshelf with grace and walked over; with no effort at all he reaches up and pulled the book from the shelf.

“We can’t have that now can we?” Placing the book in my hands, he places a soft kiss on my forehead, which I lean into. Instead of pulling back like I expected him to, he placed on arm around my neck and his other around my waist, pulling me closer. With my head on his chest, I could hear his heartbeat in my ears. I never thought a demon could have a heart but the pounding in his chest was in sync with my own.

“What are you doing here?” I didn’t pull away, just spoke into his jacket.

“I said I would see you again soon.” Finally pulling back, he tucked a piece of loose hair behind my ear, an action I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. “I also wanted to invite you to accompany me to a party this evening.”