holy

xxvi

it was brett's calculated step away from eddy that broke the demon's heart.

and the angel's downcast eyes, his slouched shoulder, his timid posture—all took the remainders of eddy's heart and chopped it into indiscernible bits.

he was afraid of eddy, all over again.

"i'm sorry," eddy whispered, his voice thick with shame and regret. he'd always hated that he was his father's son, but even more so now. he wanted to tell the angel that this wouldn't change anything, but then he'd be lying. this changed everything.

brett bit his lip nervously. he wasn't quite sure how to respond, at all really.

"i—" he started, stopping abruptly once he realized that he had no words for the demon, "—just give me some time... please?"

eddy watched brett drag his feet back into the bedroom and slowly shut the door behind him as if it were too heavy to close. he did not hear the click of the lock.

and he could not cry this time, either.

instead, he was numb.

this was not how the demon wanted his first day home to go.

•••

"michael."

"i know, i know, i'm handling it, okay?" michael groaned, exasperated.

"time is running out. asmodeus is planning to attack, the prophecy—"

"god, i know—i'm trying my best. the demon and the angel aren't exactly cooperative."

"something must be done."

"i'm getting it done," michael retorted.

he would fulfill the prophecy at any cost, for the sake of heaven, and for the sake of brett.

•••

there were two major problems at hand, and brett couldn't figure out which one to deal with first.

first, there was the fact that eddy was quite literally the devil—satan, the antichrist, the king of hell, whatever you wanted to call him. the point was, that eddy personified everything heavenly beings were supposed to stand against. if he was unholy before, he was even more so now. and, by proxy, brett was unholy too. the thought made him uneasy.

logically, the angel should address this issue before the other.

but, the other was tugging aggressively at his heart and clouding all sense of reason and coherent thought.

it was that eddy had come so, so close to kissing him, and by the angels above he wanted that touch.

no, he needed it.

emotionally, this was the only problem he cared about—satiating his strange, somewhat animalistic urge to kiss the demon.

but he couldn't, on so many levels, because first of all, eddy probably didn't even like him like that, and second, kissing was so intimate and so... sinful.

just thinking about it made brett's cheeks burn.

no—there are more pressing matters at hand.

brett flopped on the bed in defeat, gazing longingly at the closed door.

what was an angel to do?

•••

eddy found himself in the city park, walking along that same trail he'd travelled along over a month ago, just a few days after he'd just met the angel, and just a couple of hours after he'd choked the smaller boy against his living room couch.